Chapter 12: The Red Comet & The King Crab
Gumball and Darwin made it back to the ship. As they landed, Darwin was amazed by the sight of space, especially every section of the ship. Gumball was holding the star under his arm, glad to have retrieved it. "I'm gonna go find Carrie. Thanks again, Gumball," Darwin bid his older brother farewell before going off in his usual cheerful tone. Gumball handed the star to some Lumas to put away with the rest of the other stars.
"Well, let's get back and find another star while we're doing good, and pray it's somewhere easy," Nicky said. Gumball nodded and turned around, only to be greeted by Lo and Co. "Not safe to go!" they roared in unison, making him jump back in surprise, terrified over the entrances they made. "What is it now, Loco?" Gumball asked the white and black Lumas after quickly calming own. "You see…" Lo began. "…A red comet…" Co continued. "…Is passing by the planet. Everything is tougher, and you will be too if you go there," they finished the sentence together. Gumball however felt much more eager to go as result. "A comet that'll make me stronger while it's passing by the planet…? That sounds like a great time to go!" Gumball said cheerfully. "Then what are we waiting for?" Nicky asked as she landed on his head and grabbed onto his ears. Gumball climbed into the launch star and spun around, launching straight for the ocean planet. "But your items become useless!" Lo and Co said with a far too late hum.
While flying through space, Gumball could see the red comet beginning its task to circle the planet. It was as bright crimson red as it was told to be. Gumball entered the planet and landed in the same place as before, the main island surrounded by the practically infinite ocean. "Whoa..." Gumball said. His vision was now different. Everything was now in a red tint. "Where should we look for the star?" Nicky asked floating in front of him and nearly blinding him. Gumball was unsure for one moment, but he decided to fall back on his usual plan. "Let's go ask April and Zack. I don't think it'd be easy for me to search an entire ocean alone," Gumball suggested. Nicky sighed as they were both enthusiastic when it came to a gigantic body of water.
Gumball dove into the water with Nicky following. The ocean was somewhat bewildering to navigate. The barrels and damaged ships were previously used as watermarks. The fact that his vision was obscured by a red tint only made the water annoying. Gumball then found himself at the same cavern he first went for. "I think that's the cave. Well, what doesn't kill on the first try, usually succeeds on the second attempt," Nicky said while grabbing his ears. Gumball dove underwater, not liking her supposedly sarcastic words of encouragement.
Once Gumball got into the air pocket of the cave, he only took a momentary look of questionable sanity to find a junkyard of parts that used to belong to the ship the pink and green fish duo presumably lived on, and in the debris was a giant crab with one oversized claw over the other, and it too had a fancy crown to go with it. "Wow... that's a big crab," Gumball told his cohort while climbing onto one of the big wooden platforms left in the debris, surrounding the giant king crab. "Just use your ghost flower and everything should be easy," Nicky said. Gumball nodded and pulled out the rose. However, when he put it in his shirt pocket, it didn't activate. No matter what he did, the rose wouldn't turn him into a ghost. "...Oh no," he whined before the king crab had its giant eyes set upon him.
The King Crab smashed its big claw down on one side of the wooden platform that sent Gumball flying into the air. He screamed, grabbing onto one of the dangling stalactites and digging his claws into them. Suddenly he had an idea. "Nicky! Fly in front of its eyes!" the feline ordered, remembering how he can barely look at Nicky in this red tint without getting blinded. Nicky nodded, darting off in front of the King Crab. Just as he predicted, the red tint vision was everyone's eyesight at the moment, and the King Crab began furiously swinging around with its big claw, smashing some of the floating debris in the water and slamming its claw into the cave walls so hard that it actually left marks on it.
Gumball began navigating through the stalactites, his claws being the only thing keeping him from slipping. Once he got over the King Crab, he began furiously kicking the nearest stalactite until it began to break loose and fall down, slamming into the head of the king crab, piercing it and making it begin sinking to the ocean floor from the heavy stone now piercing its crustacean body.
The King Crab however was still alive, and it was still swinging its claw violently. Gumball just rolled his eyes and sighed. "I can't blind it when it's underwater. It's visions already blurry there," Nicky said. "Nothing ever can be easy, can it?" the young feline asked himself before letting go of the stalactite and diving into the water below, not enjoying this in the slightest. All he had to do though was avoid the big claw and he will be safe.
Gumball did his best to avoid the big claw, and when he got on the head of the trapped crab he grabbed the star with pulled it with all of his might. The red comet's effects were certainly true. He felt stronger as if he was Hercules himself. He pried the star out with a loud crack. He finally got it out in a bright light. The king crab began to shrink down as gumball surfaced the water of the cave, gasping for air and panting. Gumball soon saw a tiny crab submerge from the depths of the water.
"I bet mama's going to be excited for us to get to the next galaxy," Nicky said. Gumball nodded while letting the star turn into a launch star. The launch star dragging them into its center like every other launch star would. Gumball spun around and launched upwards, smashing through the cave ceiling and causing him to get a huge headache.
Once Gumball and Nicky returned to the ship, they were relieved. The red tint view was now gone and there weren't any colossal monsters trying to rip them apart. Gumball was groaning and feeling like this skull had been broken after the rough ignition from the launch star. "Take this to the power core, please," he said to the Lumas. A few of them nodded and took the star away.
Gumball in the meantime decided to check on his friends while Nicky was slumbering in his shirt pocket, tired from the painfully wet and long day they had. Gumball came to another part of the ship where patches of flowers were planted with various fruits and vegetables as well. In this wonderfully vibrant garden, Gumball spotted his brother and ghostly girlfriend talking to one another. "Hey guys," Gumball greeted them, having interrupted their little romantic moment.
"Oh hey, Gumball. How are you?" Darwin asked since he was worried for his older brother. He rarely saw him on the ship, yet they knew that the he was doing all of these dangerous events on each planet. "Aside from a sore tail and bad head, I'm fine. I figured I'd come check up on you two before I went to rest," Gumball claimed. "...yeah, we're fine... thanks again for helping us," Carrie responded awkwardly, somewhat finding the heroic attitude strange, remembering how he practically threw himself into suicidal actions like he had nothing to lose. "Why did you say this was your fault?" Darwin questioned further, the depressed blue moggy sighed before explaining everything.
"During the shooting stars that were crashing at us, I wished for us to be 'anywhere but the campsite'. Needless to say, my wish got taken too seriously," Gumball explained to them what happened now that they were in a calmer area. The two stayed silent while watching the friend who had saved them walk away to get some rest. It was a long day, and tomorrow, Gumball was about to land on a couple of more planets, find more friends and stars, and face more perils that were just waiting for him.
End of Chapter 12