The Newcomer
An Amazing World of Gumball Story
By NeoNimbus
Chapter 21-The Unruly
It was just another day for Brian O'Quinn at Elmore Junior High, as the purple fox made his way to his locker to pick up today's materials for Miss Simian's class. But as Brian was minding his own business, he noticed a certain paper bear heading right in his path in a bit of hurry.
"Hold your horses there, Teri! Why are you in such a hurry? Class doesn't start until five minutes from now."
"I know that, Brian…" Teri began with a worried tone. "It's just that Banana Joe just sneezed on me right now and I have to get to the nurse's office before it's too late!"
"Teri, I don't think a simple sneeze is going to be the death of you." Brian said deadpanned. "Besides, that only happened once in War of the Worlds."
"I'm not taking any chances, Brian." Teri retorted. "Did you know that sneezing could affect 18-35% of the entire population?"
Rather than answer Teri's question, Brian cringed in response, disgusted to hear such a fact from the paper bear.
"Anyway, I have to go now or else I'm a goner." Teri informed the purple fox, as she quickly ran towards the nurse's office, leaving Brian on his own.
'That girl really needs to take a chill pill.' Brian thought, before he heads towards his locker.
Brian, along with Gumball and Darwin, were sitting at their usual spot in the school cafeteria, as he saw Teri happily chatting with the rest of the girls about the latest fads. Everything was turning out well until Leslie accidentally spilled some soda on the paper bear.
"Whoops! Sorry about that Teri." Leslie apologized.
Teri didn't respond right away to the flower, her body froze in fear. Then, after a few seconds, Teri let out a loud shriek, before she got out of her seat and exited the cafeteria, no doubt heading to the nurse's office.
Brian simply shook his head in disbelief and sighed in exasperation from the sight. It had been almost three months since he moved to Elmore and ever since his first encounter with Teri, he was irked by the paper bear's obsession with cleanliness, especially when he tried to shake hands with her and almost every day it ends with Teri heading to the nurse's office and today was no exception.
After the paper bear returned from the nurse's office, Teri was able to make her way to Miss Simian's class, just before the old, cantankerous baboon arrived. But as soon as class began, the paper bear began to complain about the humidity in the classroom. During art class, Teri was trying to paint her assignment as carefully as she could, but she ended up getting some of the paints on herself. Finally, right before it was lunch time, the paper bear accidentally stepped on a piece of gum when she was walking with her friends.
In all of those three instances, it ends with Teri heading to the nurse's office and Brian was getting increasingly annoyed by this.
'Geez Louise! How long is she going to keep this up?' Brian pondered, before he got out of his seat and made his way to the girls' tables, hoping to get some answer from them regarding Teri herself.
"Hey girls. Hey Leslie." Brian greeted them as soon as he arrived.
"Hey Brian, what brings you over here?" asked Penny.
"Just something important I wanted to get off my chest." Brian replied. "How do you and you friends deal with Teri's behavior?"
"What did you mean?" Carmen questioned the purple fox.
"Everyday at school, Teri always gets freaked out over every little things and I'm sick of it." Brian responded to the cactus.
"So she's a neat freak, big deal." Masami nonchalantly spoke. "But that's who Teri is and we just deal with it."
"But don't you wish that a part of Teri is changed?" Brian asked the cloud.
"Well…maybe a little bit." Masami replied. "But she's still our friend, no matter what."
"Are you sure you wanted to deal with Teri's obsession with cleanliness for the rest of your-"
"Brian, you made your point and we get it." Penny said, cutting off the purple fox. "But you can't just change people just like that. They have to make the changes on their own."
"Alright Penny, I understand." says Brian, before he headed back to his usual spot, somewhat disappointed by the response he just received. But when he arrived at his friends' tables, he noticed Gumball and Darwin giving strange looks at one another, as if they were in a hypnotic trance.
"You are now a chicken!" Gumball commanded.
Suddenly, right before Brian's eyes, Darwin began to behave like a chicken. But after a few seconds, Darwin went back to hypnotizing his older brother.
"You are now a donkey!"
As expected, Gumball got on to his knees and hands and began to neigh like a mule. But just like Darwin, this lasted another few seconds and Gumball once again began to hypnotize the two-legged fish.
As the Watterson brothers continued to hypnotize one another, each giving out a command to the other, Brian continued to watch this unusual scenery with astonishment. Then, an idea hit him.
'I wonder…' Brian thought, before he made his way to his friends, smacking both of their heads together, breaking the hypnotic trances from one another.
"OW! What was that for, Brian?" Gumball demanded, rubbing his sore head.
"Yeah, you didn't have to do that." Darwin complained.
"Sorry about that, you guys." Brian apologized to the Watterson brothers. "It's just that, I was quite intrigued what you did just now: hypnotizing one another by sheer will. In fact, can either of you show me how to do that?"
Both Gumball and Darwin looked at another, puzzled by Brian's strange request. Why was Brian interested in such a skill? Furthermore, why did he need such a skill to begin with? The only way to know is to get the answer from the purple fox himself.
"Sorry if I state the obvious, but why?" Gumball asked his friend.
Brian paused for a moment, trying to come up with a good answer to give to the blue feline. After a while, he finally managed to find one, hoping it would satisfy Gumball's curiosity.
"It's a bit hard to explain, but…"
Not too long ago, Teri made her way to the nurse's office, hoping she managed to make it on time before she got infected. Once the nurse again assured Teri that she was fine, in addition to removing some of the soda stains from her clothes, the paper bear happily walked out of the office, intending to regroup back with her friends at the cafeteria. But along the way, a certain purple fox suddenly made his presence known in the hallway.
"Brian, what are you doing here?" Teri asked, somewhat startled by the fox's sudden appearance.
"I'm sorry if I spook you, Teri." Brian apologized. "I was just wondering just how my fellow classmate is doing."
"Oh, that's very considerate of you Brian, but I should be feeling better in no time." Teri assured the purple fox.
"That's good to know." says Brian. "But before we head back to the cafeteria, I was wondering if you could look into my eyes…please."
"Look into your eyes?" asked Teri, clearly confused by such an odd request. "Brian, what are you-"
"Look into my eyes!" Brian commanded, as his eyes suddenly became a series of swirls and before long, Teri fell into a hypnotic trance.
"Yes master." Teri obliged, as Brian continued to use his hypnotic skill on the paper bear.
"Listen to me very closely Teri. When I snapped my finger, you will no longer be afraid of anything. You will be a very brave person from now on. Understood?"
"Whatever you say, master." Teri responded.
'Close enough.' Brian thought, before he snapped his fingers, releasing the paper bear from her trance.
"Brian, what are we doing in the hallway?" Teri asked, clearly not remembering the fox's recent action.
"Oh, nothing…" Brian half-heartedly spoke. "But if this will make you feel better, why not shake hands before we head back to the cafeteria?"
Teri looked Brian, somewhat confused by his strange request. Nevertheless, the paper bear decided to comply with the fox's request and before Brian knew what happened, Teri shook his paw, without cleaning it for once.
'I don't believe it! It really worked! I can't wait to show everyone the new Teri!' Brian was very ecstatic by this new development, as he and the paper bear headed right back to the cafeteria. There was no way that this will end badly.
For the next several days at Elmore Junior High, Teri was behaving completely different since Brian hypnotized her and understandably, her fellow students and teachers were quite shocked with the sudden change in her personality. No matter where she goes, she was no longer obsessed in cleanliness nor was she interested in spewing medical facts. In addition, she didn't make the trip to the nurse's office for a change, which only adds more confusion among them.
Today was no different, as Teri happily walked down the hallway and happily greeted Brian, Gumball and Darwin.
"Hey guys."
"Hey Teri." greeted the trio, although Brian was happy to see her. Gumball and Darwin, on the other hand, were feeling somewhat uncomfortable by Teri's new demeanor.
"Teri, are you feeling alright?" Darwin asked with concern.
"What do you mean?" Teri asked, arching an eyebrow.
"What my brother means is that you're not yourself lately." Gumball answered. "For the last several days, we haven't seen you clean door knobs, complain about the condition of the school and most of all, you haven't visited the nurse's office for once."
"Whoa there guys, I think you're being too harsh on Teri." says Brian, defending the paper bear. "I think it's good that Teri made a change for once."
"Brian's got a point, Gumball." Teri rudely spoke. "So do me a favor and stop acting like a square."
With that, Teri angrily walked away from the trio, leaving Gumball and Darwin in the hallway clearly dumbfounded by the paper bear's sudden change in behavior.
"What just happened?" Darwin asked his older brother.
"Beats me buddy, but I'm just surprise that she call me a 'square' to begin with." Gumball responded.
"I'm sure it was nothing." Brian sai, wanting to change the subject. "After all, this is Teri we're talking about."
Both Gumball and Darwin nodded their heads in agreement and went on with their business. Brian, however, couldn't help but be bothered by Teri's sudden outburst. Even so, he decided not to dwell on it too much and just forget that ever happened. After all, what could possibly go wrong?
The next day at Elmore Junior High, it was another typical routine for every student at the hallway, whether they are chatting among each other or simply get the required materials for the next lesson. Today, though, turned out to be way more different than anyone else has ever expected.
Without warning, one of the school doors burst wide open, prompting everybody to stop what they were doing and turned towards the commotion. Standing right in front of them was Teri, or at least it was supposed to be. Instead of wearing her blazer, the paper bear had swapped it for a black dress, wearing a pair of black boots and gloves, as well as a pair of shades and a bandanna over head.
Teri's makeover left everyone shocked all over the hallway, but none more so than her friends, as the group approached her with great concern over her new look.
"Teri, are you feeling alright?" Penny asked the paper bear.
"What do you think, antler girl?" Teri remarked, shocking both Penny and her friends. It was the last thing they ever expected to hear out of the paper bear.
"Teri, this really isn't like you at all." says Masami, furious at the paper bear for her comment. "We were fine with you not heading out to the nurse's office for the last few days, but your behavior is getting on our nerves. Plus, why are you dressed up like that?"
"That's none of your concern, cloudy. I'm my own girl now and I'll do whatever I want."
"Oh, is that so?" a certain deep voice asked, prompting Teri and the rest of the girls to see Tina staring right down at them with a look of amusement on her face.
"State your business, lizard breath." Teri demanded, irking the t-rex in the process.
"You think that your sudden change in attitude and personality is going to help you out? Well guess what, you've got another thing coming." Tina then reared her head towards Teri, bearing her sharp fangs, while Penny and her friends backed away in fear. What happened next, however, took everyone by complete surprise.
"Giddy up, yee-haw!" Teri shouted, before she pulled a rope out of nowhere and wrapped around Tina's mouth, as the paper bear got on top of the carnivore's head and pulled the rope around the her mouth by force.
"Get off of me!" Tina objected, before she ran around the area, desperately trying to shake Teri off of her.
"High ho Tina, away!" Teri remarked, riding on the dinosaur with no cares in the world.
The unusual escapade continued on for several minutes, as Tina tried to get rid of Teri, thrashing several lockers and almost squashing a few students along the way. Finally, after a long time, Tina's body was unable to continue and she passed out, collapsing to the floor.
"That's what you get for challenging me." Teri remarked, before being slowly approached by Gumball, Darwin and Brian, the latter completely shocked by the paper bear's action.
"Teri, what's gotten into you?!" the purple fox demanded. "You could have been seriously injured!"
"He's got a point, Teri." Gumball agreed with Brian. "What you did was very reckless back there."
"So what if it was? Someone has to make a fool out of that carnivore." Teri adamantly insisted.
"But Teri…" Darwin began. "We were just-"
Before the two-legged fish could say more, the door to the principal's office suddenly opened, as a glasses-wearing slug covered in brown fur came out of his office, before he noticed Tina on the floor, along with Gumball, Darwin, Brian and Teri right next to her, prompting him to narrow his eyes on the group.
"What is going on here?" Principal Brown asked. "Why is the hallway a complete mess?"
"Zip it, pops!" Teri retorted. "I just happened to take care of a simple problem, that's all."
"Teri!" Principal Brown scolded. "What is with that tone? This isn't like you at all."
"Shove it you furry slug!" Teri shouted, causing Principal Brown to recoil in shock. "If you don't mind, I have more important things to worry about."
Once the paper bear finished her words, Teri calmly left the hallway and disappeared around the corner, leaving an infuriated Principal Brown to confront Gumball, Darwin and Brian, before setting his eyes on the blue feline.
"Gumball Tristopher Watterson!" Principal Brown called out, prompting the blue feline to quickly point his arm at Brian, leaving the slug very confused by this.
"Brian O'Quinn?" Principal Brown asked, as the purple fox could only cringe in response. It didn't take too long for the slug to realize that Brian had something to do with Teri's unusual behavior.
"Brian, care to explain what caused Teri to behave in such a manner?"
Brian hesitated for a moment, uncertain how to answer the principal's question. Eventually, the purple fox realize that Principal Brown deserves to know the truth, before he took a deep breath and finally gave the furry slug his answer.
"You see Principal Brown; it began not so long ago…"
3 minutes later…
"…And that's how it happened."
Once Brian finished explaining everything to Principal Brown, the slug could only stare at the fox, rubbing his chin, as he pondered for a brief moment. From what he heard, Brian convinced Gumball to teach him hypnosis so he can help Teri be rid of her fears. Judging from the guilty expression on the fox's face, it seemed that his intentions were good; it was the results that he didn't expected at all.
"Brian, I know you meant well with your intentions, but you can't change people in a blink of an eye just like that." says Principal Brown. "They have to make the changes on their own."
"I know Principal Brown and I'm really sorry about it." Brian apologized.
"Tell you what…" Principal Brown began. "If you and Gumball could get Teri back to normal, I'll overlook everything that happened today."
"Wait a minute, Principal Brown! What do I have to do with this?" Gumball asked.
"Even though Brian was responsible for changing Teri, you were the one who taught your friend hypnosis to begin with." Principal Brown pointed out, before he turned his attention to Darwin.
"Darwin, I want you to cover for your brother and your friend when you get back to Miss Simian's class. Can you do that for me?"
"Don't worry, I won't fail you." Darwin happily replied, before he joyfully skipped his way to class. Principal Brown then turned to his attention to Gumball and Brian, as if was expecting them to do something.
"Don't worry Principal Brown, will get to it right away." Brian assured the furry slug, before him and Gumball left in search of Teri.
Gumball and Brian searched all over Elmore Junior High for several minutes, as the duo attempted to locate Teri in every known area they could possibly think of. So far, the two had searched in the nurse's office, the music and art classroom and so forth, to no avail. After a long while, Gumball was starting to loose his patience in their search for the paper bear.
"This is getting us nowhere!" Gumball complained. "We've searched every possible place that Teri might be in and there's no sign of her at all."
"Maybe we're not looking at the right places at all, Gumball." Brian stated, earning him a curious look from the blue feline. "Think about it. Since Teri is hypnotized, where would she go that she would otherwise not normally do?"
For a while, both the fox and cat stood in the hallway and pondered, trying to think of some of the areas that the hypnotized paper bear would end up in. Then, the duo's thoughts were interrupted by a loud crash in the cafeteria, prompting Gumball and Brian to make their way to said place. Once the duo arrived in the cafeteria, both the purple fox and the blue feline quietly sneaked into the kitchen and couldn't believe what they were seeing.
In the kitchen was none other than Teri, as the paper bear was rummaging through the fridge, eating whatever food or drink she could get her hands on. The rebellious girl had her clothes stained with juices, grease and ketchup, from head-to-toe. Gumball and Brian were appalled by Teri's behavior; not only was she behaving rebellious, she was becoming out of control!
"Teri!" Brian called out, prompting the paper bear to turn around and see the fox and the cat staring at her with a frown. "What are you doing in the cafeteria?!"
"I'm getting something to eat, Captain Obvious!" Teri bluntly responded, before belching out loud.
"Teri, you need to stop acting like this!" Gumball demanded. "If you keep this up, you might get expelled!"
"If you two squares are so worried, then you might as well catch me if you can." says Teri.
"What are you talk-" began Brian, before Teri pulled out a fire extinguisher out of nowhere and squeezed the trigger, blasting towards the duo. Startled, the duo ducked almost immediately, as Teri rode on the fire extinguisher, leaving the kitchen and the cafeteria.
"Oh man, how do we catch up to her now?" Gumball asked. "At this rate, we'll be in very big trouble for sure."
"Don't worry about that, Gumball. I managed to find some extra extinguishers lying around." says Brian, before presenting the blue feline two fire extinguishers in his paws, much to Gumball's satisfaction.
Teri was having the time of her life. She was brave and fearless and as far as she was concerned, the paper bear can do whatever she wanted around here and there was nothing anyone can do about it.
Just then, she heard two loud noises coming from behind her. Intrigued by this, the paper bear turned around and much to her surprise, she saw Gumball and Brian riding on fire extinguishers, as the duo proceeded to catch up with Teri.
"Teri, pull over immediately, so we can talk." Gumball called out her.
"No way, you square!" Teri replied, before she squeezed the trigger, increasing the speed from her extinguishers.
'She just has to choose the hard way.' Brian thought, before both he and Gumball squeezed the trigger on their own extinguishers, increasing its speed, as the duo tried to catch up with Teri as best as they can.
Teri, however, remained undaunted by their actions and continued to fly throughout the hallway. Through every twist and turns from one corner after the other, both Gumball and Darwin continued to chase down the paper bear, the latter trying to shake them off with all of her effort. After what seemed like forever, the duo was finally able to catch up with her once more.
"Teri, we're not kidding around here. Please stop this at once." Brian pleaded with the paper bear.
"What makes you think I'm going to comply with that demand?" Teri asked, clearly unimpressed.
"Alright Teri, you gave us no choice." says Gumball.
Before the paper bear knew what happened, Gumball and Brian pulled some ropes behind their back and before she could have a chance to react, the duo quickly wrapped her with their ropes, binding her in the process.
"Alright, we got her Brian." Gumball said to the purple fox.
"That's good and all, Gumball…" Brian began. "But I just realized something."
"What's that?"
"How do you stop these things?"
Gumball froze, his head sweating madly, as he clearly didn't expect to be asked such a question. But just when the blue feline realized this, Gumball, Brian and Teri sensed something in their path, as the trio turned to see a wall zooming up in their path. Startled by this, all three kids screamed in terror, before they ended up crashing into it. Once the dust settled down, the trio, by a miracle, was unscathed from the crash, aside from being covered by leftover foams.
"Wow! I can't believe we survive that." Brian commented.
"I know what you mean, Brian. I'm more surprised by the fact we didn't suffer any serious injuries." Gumball pointed out. "By the way Brian, how's Teri?"
Brian turned to see Teri sitting right next to him and Gumball, completely dazed from the crash. Fortunately, she didn't suffer any serious injuries, much to the duo's relief.
'Alright then, it's now or never.' Brian thought, before he began to use his hypnotic skills on the paper bear.
"Listen to me closely Teri. When I snapped my finger, you will no longer be brave and fearless. You'll be back to your timid, old self and you won't remember a single thing. Is that understood?"
For a while, Teri remained dazed and unresponsive to the purple fox's command. Eventually, the paper bear simply nodded her head, having somehow listened to every single word from Brian. Satisfied by this, the purple fox snapped his fingers and before long, Teri was back to her old self, as Gumball and Brian sighed with relief.
"Gumball…Brian…" Teri began. "What happened?"
"Well Teri, it's a long and complicated story and-" Before Gumball could elaborate any further, Teri noticed something very wrong with her surroundings.
"Guys, what are we doing in the hallway? Furthermore, why am I covered in foam and what happen to my outfit? Finally, am I covered in food stains?"
Gumball and Brian didn't respond to Teri's questions right away and only nodded their heads in response. Once they confirmed everything the paper bear had asked, the duo proceeded to plug their ears, as Teri let out the loudest scream that Elmore Junior High has ever heard.
Once Teri was able to calm down, both Gumball and Brian took her to the nurse's office to get her all cleaned up, the latter deciding to stay with the mortified paper bear, while the blue feline headed back to Miss Simian's class to cover for Brian's absence. Once Gumball left the nurse's office, Brian turned his attention to Teri, hoping she would at least listen to him.
"I'm so sorry about everything that happened, Teri." Brian apologized. "I never meant for things to get out of control."
"That's alright Brian, I know you meant well." Teri responded, accepting the purple fox's apology. "I'll admit I shouldn't panic over every little detail."
"Still, I shouldn't have hypnotized you at all." says Brian. "Is there anything I can do to make it up?"
"Just one…" Teri began, before she became stern and serious. "Don't pull a stunt like that ever again."
"I promise Teri." Brian assured the paper bear, much to her satisfaction. "Don't worry; I'll cover for you when I get back to class."
With that, Brian left the nurse's office, having come to accept that there are some things that shouldn't be tampered with.
Next time on The Newcomer
Chapter 22-The Bodyguard: Part 1
After Ivan threatens to beat up Gumball, Darwin and Brian in the afternoon, the trio decided to hire themselves a bodyguard for protection.
Tidbits
-I'm well aware that there's an episode called "The Virus" coming up on the show (which is Teri's first major role). However, I decided to give Teri one first for this story before that happens.
-Wasn't so sure whether I should split this chapter into two parts or not. Thankfully, that didn't happen at all and it turned out the way I had expected.
Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and I'll see ya next time!