The Outsider:

Chapter 21: The Persona- Part One

The night in Elmore was something to admire and wonder in, even though the biting cold made standing outside difficult. The city lights gleamed like fireflies and the stars twinkled brilliantly against the velvety black sky that seemed to swallow up most of the area of the forest. A certain group of friends stood the top of the ski slope each with their own thoughts. Gumball wasn't used to the hard to balance skis and flounder his arms around hoping to compensate for this.

"Well, it sure is something," said Penny, her eyes on the stars as Jake pull the ski goggles off his face, shaking the snow collected on his fur off.

"Agreed," said Gumball enthusiastically, as he neatly tumbled into a snowbank.

"Nice moves Gumball," giggled Kelsey as the blue cat cleared his goggle from the snow on them.

"Phff, phff!" Gumball exclaimed as he spit the mouthfuls of snow out his mouth. "I really need to get the hang of this."

Kelsey dug her poles resting her chin on the handle into the snow as she watched the blue cat with polite interest as he clambered up.

"You know, you'd do a better job if you use your poles for balance, otherwise you'll end up falling over every time," replied Kelsey slyly as the blue cat responded with angry muttering.

"He's not like this often," explained Penny grimacing as Kelsey giggled in glee.

"Let's just enjoy the moment," replied Jake as they jumped out of the way for a pair of skiers who keep interweaving their paths. Jake found himself watching the boy and girl who had stopped and they were now in an embrace.

"Well, agreed," said Kelsey, grinning at Jake in particular who found himself grinning stupidly back before he shook himself out of it.

"So Gumball, looking forward to the holidays?" asked Penny, adjusting her scarf.

"Most definitely, I can't wait for Christmas," said Gumball, nodding in response. "There's Christmas presents, hot chocolate, Santa, and mistletoe..."

Gumball broke off at this as he and Penny both blushed deeply, and Jake and Kelsey both gave looks being taken aback by this. While Darwin looked over at Carrie who was just as startled.

"Come on, please don't tell me I'm the only one who is thinking about a holiday romance," said Gumball, goofily as he looked at Jake as if hoping he would suddenly declare his crush on Kelsey.

"Gumball, only you'd be the one to bring something like that up," said Jake, shaking his head as Kelsey raised her eyebrow at this statement.

"Are you not one for company or something?" inquired Kelsey as she brushed off her coat.

"Not at all, I never said that," said the coyote meeting the amber fox's gaze.

"Alright then," said Kelsey, but there was an obvious air of coolness to it.

Jake shook his head, thinking of ways to amend his statement. The shower of snow over him from passing skiers didn't help as the coyote's train of thought was shattered and Kelsey joined them skiing down the hill. The coyote waited as the others followed as he went down the ski slope. This night greatly reminded him of one October night where he had traveled to Elmore Museum... The museum! Jake's heart almost skipped a beat as he remembered the chilling presence in the backroom. Whatever was back there wasn't anything natural, as whatever existed in that room had plans of its own. Whatever it was Jake couldn't help wondering what could be back there. That sinister presence greatly reminded him of Randal. Jake knew one person who would be able to have the answers for him in the Elmore Museum. It was just a matter of getting to them.

The suit of armor stretch leisurely as Jake approached him, the poltergeist recognized the coyote at once springing off his pedestal to greet him.

"Young master Wiley, it is good to see you again," said the suit of armor in his raspy voice as his fiddle with his halberd and his plume of blue feathers on the back of his helmet. "Are you here for a tour of the museum after hours? Or perhaps do you wish to talk to me, I do so enjoy the company of mortals!"

"I'm not here for that kind of stuff Hugo, I was wondering, what exactly is in the museum backroom?" asked Jake, as Hugo's visor dropped off his face and he hastened to screw that part back together with his helmet.

"That's a question not many ask, especially not mortals. Suffice to say, the thing back there isn't one we deem worthy with interacting with other spirits, so it was locked away for good measure," said Hugo, suddenly becoming increasingly interested with his pike. "Master Wiley, why don't we visit a different part of the museum shall we?"

"Well, Gumball and I were once stranded in the backroom once by accident," stated Jake and the suit of armor leaped a foot into the air.

"Into the back room! Master Wiley, do you realize how dangerous that is? The creature that dwells in there has been waiting centuries for a host to inhabit, you're lucky you even got out of there, never bring up this subject again," said Hugo firmly brushing the small coyote to the door. "Goodnight, and please get some rest and come back once you forget about that back room entirely."

"Alright then," said Jake, intending to keep that promise as he made his way back home. As much as he wanted to see what was in the backroom he wasn't sure if it was worth the trouble and the way Hugo had worded it, the thing in there sounded like a handful.

The coyote entered the hall of his house dusting off the snow from his clothes, giving his parents weary greetings as he made his way upstairs. He took a warm shower, getting the cold chilly sensation from his fur to be gone as he went to bed laying down on the soft sheets. The silence of the night was somewhat eerie as he adjusted his pillow fluffing it up and laying his head down on it. The neon blue numbers on his alarm clock seemed to slowly shift by and he fell into an uneasy sleep.

The coyote felt himself stirring, but not in the familiar setting of his bedroom, but in a damp and mildewy room. The very air in the room was like a poisonous fume as the are smelt heavily of decay as he looked around at the familiar walls, where the paint was peeling off and added to the decrepit look of the room. The question the coyote would have asked first was who brought him here. But he slowly realized he was no longer in his pajamas and was dressed in his winter clothes as if it had been of his own accord. With a shock of realization, he noticed that he was in the back room of the museum.

"Looks like you've got my invitation," said a voice in the room echoing all around him having no apparent source at all. The very voice seemed to seep from the walls. The very voice was as sharp as an icy dagger as the coyote's hairs stood up and he froze in place. "Don't be alarmed, I established a connection with you quite some time ago Jake Wiley, when you first entered this room, let us help each other."

The coyote wanted to yell out loud, he wanted to return to the familiar feeling of his bed and the safety of his own home. His mind, however, was numbed to his thoughts as if he was two separate entities. Jake stumbled to the altar and he ran his hand over it, a thin layer of dust was expelled from it as the coyote inched towards it cautiously. With a sharp, but quick pain, he felt a stab in his paw and he drew it back seeing there were several beads of blood on the surface of it. His very blood seemed to change its color from a scarlet red to a pale icy blue. It startled him and from thin air, there was suddenly a cup in front of it. A silver chalice, with weird writing on the brim of it and with a substance that appeared to be liquid, but seemed to have a chilly mist surrounding it.

"Drink from it," demanded the voice and Jake was forced by the burning sensation in his blood to lift the chalice to his lips and drain the whole cup. An unnatural weariness came over his body and he felt himself slump over and drift into unconsciousness.

Jake awoke, with a start, the buzz of alarm clock filling his ears as he yawned, and slammed his first on top of the alarm clock in order to silence it.

'That was one of the weirdest dreams I've had,' thought Jake as he jumped out of bed. He was taken aback by how vivid and real it had seemed as he reached for his clothes and his backpack. It suddenly dawned on him that he was wearing his clothes and his backpack.

'Strange, I don't recall getting into my clothes,' thought Jake as he stretched.

Jake pulled the sheets off of him and clambered out of bed. He dragged himself to the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. The coyote studied his reflection closely in the mirror nothing seemed too different as Jake pulled out his tube of toothpaste. He put on a dab of toothbrush and brushed thoroughly the welcoming taste of spearmint greeted him and he spat the paste and wiped rest of the toothpaste with the back of his pajama's sleeve. The house was quiet as Jake hopped down the entire staircase landing nimbly on his feet. He felt better and more refreshed than in a long time.

The atmosphere of the house was quiet besides the clattering of dishes. Glenn stood next to the table scanning the newspaper while Brooke was drinking coffee. They both looked up at their son startled by the fact he was already up and dressed.

"My goodness Jake, you're up bright and early," said Brooke beaming as he jumped into his seat and started going to town on his breakfast.

"Slow down sport, enjoy it," said Glenn chuckling as the coyote finished up, rushing over to both his parents.

"It's too good of a day to waste," said Jake as he grabbed both of his parents putting them into a tight hug, causing them to exchange shocked looks.

"Geez Jake, I haven't had a hug like this from you since you were in preschool," giggled Brooke as the smaller coyote let go of them.

"Can't we just sit down and enjoy the moment for once," replied Jake as he led them over to the table.

"Alright son, what's been going on?" said Glenn as he reclined back in his chair.

"The usual," said Jake shrugging. "School's been going well and all that, I managed to pull a ninety-seven on one of the quizzes I've had recently so, that's good."

"Good to hear son," said Glenn as he fixed his shirt's collar. "How are your friends Gumball and Darwin doing, and what about your lovely friend Kelsey?"

Jake's spirits seemed to deflate slightly at this, what was he going to say to her? He had left a bit suddenly after their friendly skiing event. Maybe he could work something out.

"Well, you ought to get going to Jake," said Brooke pushing him out the door comfortingly. "Go on, you've got a long day ahead of you."

"Right," said Jake nodding sardonically, as he looked for the bright yellow school bus. It usually took a while for it to arrive at his house due to this distance between his house and the school. The bus came around the corner quite literally on two wheels before hitting the curb sending a shower of sparks in Jake's direction and causing a horrible grinding noise before the doors swung open to reveal an exhausted Rocky.

"Morning little buddy," greeted the puppet yawning loudly before pouring half his mug of coffee down as Jake greeted him with a nod before moving down the aisle.

The usual signs caught his eye. Tina moved her foot out into the aisle in order to trip the coyote but he quickly jumped over it, rolling his eyes at her feeble attempt as he made his way to the back of the bus sitting in the seat in front of Kelsey, but not before giving her a warm smile.

The school day was far better than the coyote had previously. The coyote was able to distract Miss Simian from her lecture enough that they didn't receive homework, and furthermore Jake enjoyed a competitive game of basketball with Gumball and Darwin. It was on their way to lunch that they looked down the corridor to see Tina Rex and her usual cronies guarding the entrance to the cafeteria to shake down the students for their lunch money. Jake could feel a newfound anger simmering over him as the t-rex waited for them to approach.

"You know how this works, hand over your portion of your lunch money and no one gets hurt," said Tina, leering at them as she held out her small arm expectingly.

"I don't think you have me convinced," replied Jake coldly. Jake noticed that Kelsey had stopped in her tracks right in front of the cafeteria as Jake crossed his arms.

"Oh, so the coyote thinks he's a tough guy?" inquired the t-rex.

"Tougher than you, and I've developed more than a backbone against you pirates," replied Jake as he braced himself.

"Oh yeah?" asked the hybrid not at all convinced.

Jake surprised himself as he grabbed ahold of Jamie's green shirt. It was almost instinctive as he felt icy cold with anger. The whole hall seemed to freeze their attention focused on the coyote and the hybrid.

"Really," replied Jake with a grin as he pushed her back slightly causing her to teeter backward.

"I swear, you're a dead man," growled Jamie as she brushed off her shirt.

"I'd like to see you try horn-head," retorted Jake cracking his knuckles uncharacteristically. "It's about time that I taught you a lesson."

Before either of them could through a punch a blur of gray zoomed in between them breaking them up. A certain pale-skinned humanoid was standing between them.

"Okay, break it up!" said Cato bravely as both of them tried to reach around him to hit the other. However, the humanoid resolutely blocked them from touching each other. Eventually, both of them broke apart as Cato moved aside. The humanoid turned to the coyote with a disapproving look on his face.

"You shouldn't be picking fights with people, Jake. Least of all them, they're a force to be reckoned with," began Cato before Jake cut him off.

"I had it under control," replied Jake, slightly irritated. "Besides, you speak for yourself, you're the one who picked a fight with Randal once."

Cato turned slightly paler than he usually was at this. "That was different, I was protecting you from him, I didn't want to start the fight."

"Well, it sure looked like you were the cause behind it," said Jake, coldly.

The pale-skinned humanoid was taken aback by this. "What's your problem man?"

"I'm fine," said Jake shaking his head. "Just a slight headache is all."

"Well, just chill out a bit dude, come on," said Cato as he led his group of friends into the cafeteria.

The coyote hit the side of his head in annoyance at the pain coursing through it as he pulled the bandana off from around his neck before moving into the cafe with his friends.

"Hey Jake," said Kelsey awkwardly walking up beside Jake.

"Hey Kelse," replied Jake wearily as walked into line his head spinning as he leaned against the counter.

"Are you feeling alright, you just don't seem like you that's all," said Kelsey as she inched closer to him.

"I'll be fine," said Jake, hoping the pain would subside as he pressed his face into his face and brushed his messy fur out of his eyes.

"I see, would you like to sit with me, you don't have to, but I'd appreciate the company," said Kelsey, placing her paw on top of his.

"I'll pass," said Jake somewhat hesitantly as he looked over at the table of girls all waving for Kelsey to join them. "I've got some things I've got to do anyways."

"If that's your choice," said Kelsey backing away reluctantly before giving the coyote a quick hug. "I'll see you around Jake."

"Later Kelse," said Jake as he grabbed his lunch from the counter the wonderful smell of spaghetti and meatballs wafting into the air as he moved his tray to the nearest table. He munched down quickly on his spaghetti. It was quite delicious and satisfying as he slurped down the rest of it.

After a rather enjoyable lunch the Wattersons, Jake, and Cato headed into Miss Simian's class. The room was stiflingly hot as the baboon sat at her desk shivering slightly and sneezing profusely.

"Get to work on your lab reports on chemical reactions," said Miss Simian hacked as she tried to stop her fit of coughing.

The sweltering heat made it difficult for even Jake to focus as he usually used to high temperatures. Gumball and Darwin stood slumped over their textbooks in a lethargic state. The whole class was having difficulty following the lesson plan as they hurried around the room acquiring the chemicals they were going to use for the experiment.

Jake's eye drooped as he pouring over the beaker he was supposed to be looking at. The task was quite boring in truth as he looked at the pale liquid for any sign of change, but nothing about it had changed. Gumball yawn loudly getting a nasty glare from Miss Simian before she had to sneeze into her handkerchief. Even Cato showed signs of weariness as he floundered around with his chemicals almost spill some of his copper sulfate and the humanoid used his super speed to stop the glass from spilling causing the glass to resound as he went back to work.

"Having trouble keeping awake?" asked a familiar voice. Jake recognized Randal's voice almost instantly as he gazed at his glass ignoring the charcoal gray wolverine. "You may want to keep alert, your chemical reaction already happened."

The dusty brown coyote shook his head. Randal spoke the truth the process had finally finished and Jake hastily opened up his notebook to record his observations as Randal turned back to work on his own works. Over the past several days it was clear that something was troubling Randal as the wolverine had the habit of staying out in the halls in order to monitor the other students of Elmore Junior High as if to better understand them and find their flaws. Now however he moved from class to class as silent as a shadow. This sudden change in behavior had to be due to something.

Jake yawned lazily, the sweltering heat affect the sharpness of his mind as the room looked as if he was looking through a smeared camera lense. All the features of the room seemed to be fuzzy and the voices sounded as if they were coming from a long tunnel. He would have given anything to get out of the burning room. The coyote's eyes closed as Jake leaned over the counter his will to stay awake slowly draining away as he fell asleep on top of his desk.

Gumball roused Jake from his sleep, shaking the coyote's shoulder. Who quickly bolted upright.

"Huh? What happened?" inquired Jake as he hopped up from his lab table almost knocking over his own stuff in the process.

"You sort of fell asleep, you still managed to pull a decent grade on the lab a C-plus," said Gumball grimacing as the coyote facepalmed angrily.

"I should have paid attention," said Jake in distress.

"That's not all, Tina Rex and Jamie want to see you after school. From what I can tell it's not going to be friendly," said Gumball nervously.

"I would expect nothing less," said Jake bitterly.

"Maybe you should let me take the lead on this one," said Gumball placing his paw on the coyote's shoulder.

"You think you can just whisk my problems away Gumball," said Jake angrily throwing off his friend's paw.

"Well, we're just trying to help," said Darwin awfully softspoken.

"Help? That's funny, because if I recall you're the ones who usually are the source of my problems," snarled Jake spitefully in response. Both of the Watterson brothers were startled by this and stepped away from the coyote, who stormed off before either of them could get a word in.

The coyote pushed through the hallways not caring who he bumped into or pushed past. He even brushed into a familiar looking amber fox who looked concerned as the coyote left the building into the cold outside.

"Stupid kids," said the coyote kicking up snow as he walked to take out his frustrations.

"Well, look who's here," said Jamie who was leaning against a street light as the coyote approach. "Your timing is impeccable."

"Cut the crap Jamie, I've got places to go," said Jake, tightening his backpack down and glaring at her.

"I'm sure you do, but you're not going anywhere."

With that the hybrid grabbed the coyote's arms forcing them up into the air before kicking Jake hard in the ribs. The coyote was knocked off his feet sliding through the snow skidding to a halt in front of a large snow bank.

The coyote tried to get up, but the toughened hybrid was already behind him, seizing his arms and forcing them still as she knocked him down onto his knees.

"Tina, time to make him hurt," said Jamie, with a horrible grin.

A weird sensation came over Jake, it was like his limbs were being tied to invisible strings as his body began to fight back against Jamie's grip of its own accord.

"Hold still..." said Jamie through gritted teeth, but the coyote had no intention of staying at that very spot as he flipped out of her grip landing behind her.

"Uh oh," said Jamie as the t-rex slipped on a patch of ice skidding into the hybrid and colliding and being knocked to the ground as the coyote rushed over to them.

Part of him wanted to check if they were alright, but it was like his body was on autopilot. He hit the jaw of the t-rex with a backflip kick staggering her as the dusty brown coyote dodged a strike from Jamie. The coyote countered launching himself at he and knocking her to the ground in a swift move.

"Hey what are you doing?" asked Jamie as the coyote lifted her into a surprising feat of strength and tossed her into Tina knocking both of them backward. "That's impossible!"

"I just rewrote the rules!" snarled Jake triumphantly. The coyote could feel his mouth moving involuntarily to make the words.

'Please, stop this madness, someone is going to get hurt,' thought Jake but his body didn't seem to register this as he threw himself into the fray battering the two bullies in a swift series of blows, jumping from one to the other, each time catching them off guard.

The coyote leaped over Tina's tail barely missing his leg, this didn't stop him however as he delivered a punch that caused her whole snout to shudder with pain. The feeling of anger seemed to flow through him like a bolt of lightning filling him with fury as he knocked the hybrid down with a lunge, dodged, and delivered an uppercut to the t-rex.

"Don't hurt us!" squealed Jamie, her voice hilariously high-pitched and frightened. Jake felt his face change into a grin of satisfaction.

"I can't guarantee that."

But with a heave of willpower Jake fought back and he fell to his knees drained as he backed away from the bullies frightened by what had happened.

"No, I'm not going to hurt you," said Jake, frightened slightly as the two bullies exchanged looks of bewilderment.

"Then what was all that about?" asked Jamie.

"I don't know," panted Jake in response as looked at the sheet of ice in front of him. He noticed he didn't look the same. His eyes that were usually a bright green had turned to a cold blue color.

'What's happening to me?' thought Jake as he looked at his own paws.

Hope you enjoyed the first part of this episode. Let me know what you thought of the chapter in the comments, once again all support is appreciated, and if you feel like following this story or favoriting it go ahead as I greatly appreciate the support. I'll be starting to work with my beta soon on future chapters. Also, keep your eyes peel for an Outsider spinoff called The Pup that will be set to show up this Halloween. As always thanks for reading. Anyways, in the meantime stay cool and hang loose! Nomad going silent.

Next chapter- The Persona- Part Two

Jake finds himself locked in a mental battle with the spirit that is now trying to take possession of his body. Meanwhile the gang must stop a possessed Jake from causing too much damage and help the coyote break free.

Nomad's Notes:

-I purposely made the lead into this chapter a bit deceptive as I wanted it to be more of a surprise to you guys and gals. Though I'm sure Steelwall5 suspected something, congrats if you did pal.

-Hopefully I will be coordinating with my new beta as we exchange ideas for this story. And for who it is I want it to be a surprise. ;)

-The spirit that was in the backroom is in fact possessing Jake, you'll get a good look at him in the next chapter.