The Awakened

An Amazing World of Gumball Story

By NeoNimbus

Chapter 26: The Transformation

It was a warm afternoon at the Fitzgerald residence, as Penny, alongside Gumball, Carrie, Brian and Rhonda, were together working on the latest history project for Ms. Tulip's class in the living room. With Mike busy training his O-line how to block without the Great Wall of Ivan anymore, Darwin on a date with Rachel and Anais busy with another one of her experiments, the gang was a little short handed. The group decided to focus on studying the Civil War, as they are currently discussing on how it began.

"Gumball, do you know why the Civil War began?" Penny asked her boyfriend. She wanted to prove a point that he could pay attention in class.

"Something to do with slavery or something," Gumball replied with uncertainty.

"Well he got one of the reasons down," Brian simply said.

"I'm surprised you got that part right," Carrie spoke with amusement.

"Hey!" Gumball objected. "I paid attention!" the only response he got back were his girlfriend and everyone else arching an eyebrow. "Alright, I sometimes pay attention, but only to the important ones."

"Or it could be just plain dumb luck," Rhonda suggested, causing the gang to laugh their heads out, to Gumball dismay.

"Can we just get back to this?" he pleaded, wanting to change the subject so badly.

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement and resumed with their Civil War study. But then, they stopped what they were doing when the gang heard what sounded like a knocking on the door.

"I got this," said Penny, getting up from the floor and making her way to the front door. As soon as she opened it, however, Penny froze where she stood, getting a full view of the figure; she was an antlered peanut, with a body shape similar to her father, with a few wrinkles on her face, a small pair of glasses, sandals and carrying a cane for support. There was no doubt in Penny's mind who she was staring at.

"G-Granny Fitzgerald?" Penny nervously spoke after a moment of silence.

"Do I know you, sweetie?" asked a confused Granny Fitzgerald, adjusting her glasses. "Did I arrive in the right address?"

"Don't worry, Granny Fitzgerald, it's the same place you've been coming for the last sixteen years though it's been such a long time since you last came," Penny assured her, before she realized what she was doing. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't leave you hanging there like that. Please, come in."

Penny respectfully led her grandmother inside her home, as Granny Fitzgerald took a full view inside the building with serious intent.

"This seems like the right place," she muttered, before confronting Penny herself. "By the way, why do you keep calling me Granny Fitzgerald? Only my granddaughters are allowed to say that."

Penny looked on nervously, uncertain how to respond to Granny Fitzgerald's demands. It would have been very awkward if she explains who she is, especially after what happened.

"Penny, are you alright?" both Penny and Granny Fitzgerald turned to the opposite direction and saw Gumball, Carrie, Brian and Rhonda standing in the hallway, the former relieved that her friends had shown up in the nick of time.

"Penny?" Granny Fitzgerald incredulously asked, as she face the deer that she had met just minutes ago. "You're Penelope "Penny" Fitzgerald?!"

"...Yes, Granny Fitzgerald, it's me," she reluctantly answered.

"Oh my heavens. You came out of your shell," Granny Fitzgerald inspected Penny once more. She noticed something that didn't make any sense to her. "But…why don't you look like a normal fairy?"

Penny looked the other way and remained silent, not giving her grandmother an answer. Likewise, Gumball and his friends became quite nervous upon hearing Granny's question and looked at one another.

"Do you think we should tell her?"

"No! If we did, she'll get angry at us!"

"And if we don't, we'll just make the situation worse!"

"She might be even more pissed off than Mr. Fitzgerald was when he saw Penny like that!"

"I may be old, but my hearing isn't gone yet," Granny Fitzgerald spoke, prompting the four to cease their arguments and face the elderly old woman, who didn't look very pleased with the fact that Penny was a deer. "Now, would one of you explain what happened to my granddaughter?"

"Yeah um...our bad," Gumball sheepishly said.

"Maybe it's best if we go back to the beginning," Carrie started off her explanation. "It was three years ago…"

Three years ago…

It was a sunny but chilly day in Elmore Park, especially for Gumball and Penny; ever since they began dating, they were always enjoying each other's company, despite facing many complications along the way, including Darwin's attempt to break them up. Still, they manage to persevere such events and for the moment, they just to make the most of their day.

"Alright Penny…" Gumball began, before he threw the frisbee at her. "Catch!"

In just a few seconds, Penny jumped as far as she could, barely grabbing the frisbee, before she safely floated down to the ground.

"Nice throw, Gumball," she praised her boyfriend, causing him to blush.

"Well...it was nothing, Penny. Also, nice catch back there."

Penny couldn't but giggle at Gumball's behavior. It was one of the reasons why she like him in the first place.

"Two out of three?"

"You got it!" Gumball happily replied, as his girlfriend threw the frisbee back at him. Gumball, by a stroke of luck, caught it, despite fumbling with the frisbee, before he regained his composure, readied his arm and locking right at Penny. "Catch!"

Gumball then threw the frisbee with all of his might, but what happened next suddenly caught him by surprise; Penny suddenly changed into her wolf form and leaped upwards, grabbing the frisbee with her jaw, before landing back down.

"Wow, that was amazing!" Gumball shouted with joy, only to notice that Penny was glaring at him, along with a growl. "Um, Penny?"

Without warning, Penny dropped the frisbee and angrily growled at her boyfriend, much to his shock. But his shock was replaced by horror when she went after him, baring her fangs out, prompting the now panicked Gumball to scream and flee for his life, passing by every park goer and accidentally putting them in harms way in the process.

"Excuse me!"

"Coming through!"

"Sorry about that!"

Gumball could feel his body tiring itself out, but he ignored it and continued to run with all of his life. Eventually, he found a tree small enough for him to climb up to, barely getting up to the nearest branch and clinging on it, just as Penny showed up and began barking at him.

"Penny, what has gotten into you?!" Gumball fearfully shouted at the top of his lungs, all the while clinging onto the tree branch with his life depending on it.

Just as suddenly as it happened, however, Penny reverted back to her fairy form, much to Gumball's relief, just before his arms gave up, forcing him to let go and dropped safely onto Penny's arms.

"Gumball, are you alright?!" she frantically asked.

"I am now," Gumball replied, his face blushing a bit, before giving her a serious look. "Why did you turn into a wolf and chase me up here?!"

"I...I don't know. That never happened like that before," Penny honestly replied. "This is a first for me."

"...Alright, I can accept that," Gumball decided to give his girlfriend a benefit of a doubt. "Why don't we just head back home and get some rest?"

"I could use some after that," Penny agreed, before she and her boyfriend departed and headed back to their homes.

The next day at Elmore Junior High, Gumball caught up with his friends in the hallway and told them of his brief but bizarre moment with Penny, how she suddenly transformed without warning and how she chased him up the tree until she reverted back into her normal form. Once he finished his story, his friends were understandably surprised by this.

"I got to admit, that is very strange," Brian spoke.

"I've heard of being crazy for someone, but that's pretty extreme," Mike joked.

"Dude, I was almost eaten back there!" Gumball retorted.

"Perhaps its just the hormone level. After all, you guys are in your teens," Anais suggested. "Puberty should be hitting you like a ton of bricks by now."

"That would make a lot of sense then," Darwin agreed.

"Hey guys," the group stopped their discussion and saw Penny right in front of them, though hardly in a happy mood, especially when she laid her eyes on Gumball. "Hope you're still not mad for what I did yesterday."

"It's...no big deal. Terrified, but I'm good," Gumball feverishly insisted. Penny's mood began to dip further into the blue, feeling ashamed that she let something like that happen.

"Looks like someone needs a hug," Darwin cheerfully said, as he held out his fins for a hug. Gumball wasn't letting that one slide.

"What makes you think you're the one hugging her?!" he angrily asked, feeling offended by Darwin's hug offer.

"Then we can both hug her!" Darwin suggested, which Gumball reluctantly agreed to. Anything for a hug from Penny.

"Watterson Bro Double Hug!" the brothers exclaimed, as they glomped onto Penny, who returned the hug in stride.

Suddenly, the duo found themselves unable to breathe, as they took a quick look and saw that Penny had transformed into her red beast form, staring angrily down at them.

"Too...much...hugging!" Darwin could barely speak, before she slammed both him and Gumball down to the ground. But as suddenly as it happened, a look of horror formed on Penny's face, as she reverted back to her fairy form and approached him, along with a stunned Brian, Anais and Mike.

"Guys, I'm so sorry back there!" Penny pleaded.

"Its..alright," Gumball insisted, his body twitching in agony.

"No more...hugs for me," Darwin muttered, barely able to stand up.

"Penny…" Brian began. "I think this is becoming very serious."

"Normally, you should have change based on your emotions," Anais noted, as she and Mike helped her brothers up to their feet. "But back there, you just randomly transformed without reacting to them."

"Or you're changing into forms that don't match your emotions," Mike simplified. "Happy hugs equal giant beast and playful games equal giant wolf."

"I...I think I need some time to think about what I did," Penny then turned around and quickly walked away from the group as fast as she could, before reaching her locker, intending to get her stuff for class.

She started fiddling with the lock before becoming visibly frustrated, causing the group to brace for whatever was coming. Penny began to transform into an ape, followed by a sheep and eventually settling into a squid, using her tentacles to rip her entire locker door off its hinges, right before she reverted back into her fairy form, but still stressed from her ordeal.

"She's becoming much more emotional than normal," Anais analyzed.

"Maybe she'll get better with time?" Brian wondered.

"Is it just me or is she getting big-" Mike found himself cut off when Penny unexpected appeared in front of him, now in the form of a dragon, pressing her face onto his.

"What did you SAY?!"

"...Nothing, Penny," a terrified Mike squeaked. Penny then raised her head to turn away before busting through the roof. She finally just got fed up with all the problems she was having and flew away into the sky, leaving the group wondering what to do next…and one giant hole in the roof for Rocky to clean up.

"We may need something less…conventional," Anais suggested.

Later that day...

After school was finished, the gang went with Carrie to her house in the hopes she may have a book on Penny's kind. Gumball, Darwin and Rhonda went to round up Penny while Mike, Brian and Anais followed Carrie to search her family library; old and long unseen by the world of the living with old, yet surprisingly well kept bookshelves that lined the walls full of old reading material from all over the world. Spiders and their webs coated the corners, giving it that perfect haunted mansion feel that the Krueger family was known for.

"I can't believe you have a library underneath your house," Brian stated. "I swear, Elmore never cease to amaze me."

"My parents love to collect old tomes, books and scrolls. If it's older than your grandparents or about anything supernatural, it's in this room," Carrie said with a sort of pride about her parents and their strange hobby.

"We should probably make this quick before Gumball shows up…" Anais began, dusting herself off from each cobweb in her path. "If he sees even one spider here, he'll just be in state of panic."

"Well to be fair, it would be entertaining to see how loud we can get him to scream," Mike joked, as a devious smirk came across his face. He saw a jar sitting on a table and a spider not to far above it.

"What exactly are we looking for? I can't really say I know what Penny is exactly," Brian admitted.

"We are looking for a book on "shapeshifting fairies". That's Penny's official species name according to her," Carrie explained.

"Are you sure there's such a book like that?" Mike asked his girlfriend. "They seemed to be quite rare."

"So was Bigfoot, yet you can find more books on him than you can on cats," Carrie retorted, floating her way to the nearest bookshelf. "It's a matter on whether the info is credible," she pulled out a book on Bigfoot from the shelf and threw it on the table to prove her point.

"So let's spread out and find this book. Penny needs our help before anything worse happens," Anais reminded her friends.

Everyone nodded their heads and split up, searching in a different section in the large library, hoping that one of them were able to find any books about Penny's species.

Thirty minutes later…

The search for any information regarding Penny's species was proving to more exhausting than they thought, as one by one, they have looked in every single bookshelf about them, but not one book made a simple reference to anything related to Shapeshifting Fairies. The gang had at least searched through half the library, but every book they came across were of little use to them.

"You guys find anything?" Brian shouted out, rummaging through the latest bookshelf.

"I've got books on zombies, mermaids and man-eating garden gnomes, but nothing on shapeshifting fairies," Mike responded as he put the book on zombies into his backpack.

"You better bring that back," Carrie warned, as she continued to search.

"Your parents need to know how to alphabetize," Anais pointed out. "My arms are getting sore from flinging every book off the shelf."

"Just keep searching. I'm sure we'll find something eventually," Carrie insisted.

"Guys, we're back!" the group turned to see Gumball, along with Darwin and Rhonda, arriving in the library with Penny, having been reverted back into her fairy form…and looking very down after what she did earlier. Though that was nothing compared to the trio assigned to get her. Other than Rhonda, who had to change out of her torn clothes and was now wearing a purple jacket, they looked as if they just came out of a burning building with scorched fur and burnt scales.

"What happened back there?" asked Brian.

"It took us forever just to get Penny back to her old self," Rhonda replied.

"Every time we approached her, she just kept getting away from us," Gumball added.

"Not to mention attacking us as well, though Gumball took most of the burn," Darwin happily concluded.

"Dude, they didn't need to know that!" he scolded his brother.

"Just stating the facts," Darwin calmly stated.

"Alright you two, that's enough," Rhonda berated them, before turning her attention to Brian. "Have any of you found what you're looking for?"

"Not yet," he admitted. "This library is quite big and at this rate, we'll be here all night."

"Found it!" Anais triumphantly declared, holding up a book with the title, "Shapeshifting Fairies: The Know-It-All's Guide to the Supernatural".

"You were saying?" Carrie asked with a smirk.

"Alright, you don't need to rub it in," said Brian. "Just help us out, would you?"

Carrie didn't reply and instead teleport right next to Anais, who promptly handed the book to her before Carrie opened it and began reading. At that moment, Mike grabbed his glass jar with his little friend and began to sneak up behind Gumball.

"Due to their rarity, there has been little information regarding Shapeshifting Fairies as a whole, but there are special things about them known only to their people.. The little bit of information that had been gathered is that when a shape-shifting fairy enters puberty, they'll experience symptoms such as violent mood swings…"

Penny suddenly began to laugh her head off, only to cry seconds later and suddenly grabbed Gumball's shoulder and stare right at him.

"Do you still think I'm pretty?!" Penny angrily asked Gumball. Gumball himself was too scared to say anything.

"Check," Anais spoke out before Carrie continued.

"...random transformations…" Penny turned into her Medusa form and began to squeeze Gumball with her tail, before letting him go and reverting back to her fairy form, though her boyfriend was clearly startled by her action.

"Check-a-roono," Brian remarked.

"...and finally, are easily scared by sudden loud noises that can make them temporarily lose all rational thought." Carrie concluded, just as Mike grabbed Gumball's shirt and let the spider fall down it.

"What was that?" Gumball asked, feeling something moving underneath his shirt. He slightly pulled the collar, looked underneath it and...

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Gumball screamed at the top of his lungs, his scream echoing the entire library. Penny, in turn, screamed with fright, turning into a jackalope and quickly hopped her way out of the library.

"...Double check," Darwin said with uncertainty.

"Mike!" Carrie didn't even hesitate as she quickly teleported into Mike's face, causing him to fall over, "What were you thinking?!"

"I-I-I…I wasn't…" Mike mumbled out as he force to look an irate Carrie in the eye, feeling regretful for what he just did.

But just then, a seismic shock wave shook the entire Krueger residence, startling the whole gang, followed by a tremendous roar for all of Elmore to hear. It didn't took too long to realize what had occurred.

"We have to go after her!" Brian shouted, as everyone but Mike and Carrie ran out of the library to check the situation.

"Mike, I need your help!" Carrie shouted, before she resumed reading the book, "There's a special potion that the fairies developed that can negate the side effects for Penny and give her back control over her forms. It's only to be used in extreme cases but I think this qualifies," Mike quickly picked himself up off the ground to help Carrie with the potion, not realizing that there was another problem altogether that they hadn't noticed.

As soon as Brian and the gang left the library, they were greeted by the destruction that laid right in front of them: The entire north wall of the house was demolished, dozens of splintered boards and broken furniture were all that was left in Penny's path of destruction. What really startled them was that Penny was nowhere to be found; the only clue being what looked like large footprints in what was once the living room.

"Oh man, this isn't good!" a panic-stricken Gumball shouted. "If her dad finds out what happened to Penny, I'll be a goner! He'll probably skin me alive and use me as a blanket for Penny's sister and use my flesh for-"

Gumball suddenly felt something hard smacking him in the face, leaving a red mark in its place; he then turned around and face Rhonda, no doubt the one who brought back his senses.

"Thanks, I needed that."

"It's alright, Gumball, but you need to calm down," Rhonda insisted. "Let's worry about the consequences later and just focus on finding your girl."

"But where did Penny go?" Darwin asked. "It's not like she'll give away her position."

"This girl can turn into a giant dragon! How could we not find her?!" Anais pointed out.

As if to answer her question, something big flew past by them, leaving a huge of gust of wind in its wake. After regaining their composure from the huge gust, the gang turned to whatever flew into its direction and saw Penny in her dragon form, flying straight into the Forest of Doom.

"At least we know where she's heading now," Brian remarked.

"So let's go there!" Gumball exclaimed. "The sooner we find Penny, the better!"

Everyone nodded in agreement to his statement, as the gang quickly exit the Krueger residence and head to their destination, praying that Penny would at least listen to reason by the time they arrived.

This was worst time that Penny had ever experienced in her life; In a matter of one day, she found herself unable to control her forms like she use to and it didn't help that it was the result of puberty. What made it even horrible for her is that she unintentionally harmed everyone, especially Gumball, her boyfriend. This was starting to prove too much for her; she needed to get away from them, for their sake and the only place she could feel safe is the Forest of Doom; a dark and thick woodland full of dangerous and wild animals unfit for society. It might not have been much, but it was better than harming everyone close to her.

'As long as I am here, they'll be safe,' Penny thought.

"Penny! Wait!" Startled by this, Penny turned around and much to her dismay, saw that Gumball and her friends have managed to find her.

"What are you doing here?! You saw what I did back at Carrie's place!"

"Penny, it's alright. You have every reason to be afraid," said Gumball. "You weren't yourself back there."

"You're just going through a phase, that's all," Darwin added.

"Besides, we're your friends and we're going to stick together, no matter what," Rhonda spoke up.

"It doesn't matter. I can't control my forms like I used to."

In the middle of their conversation, Brian heard a quiet little chime from his cell phone, prompting him to pick it up from his pocket and check it. After a few seconds of looking at it, his face lit up, typing up a few words in the process, before putting his cell phone back and facing Penny.

"Mike texted me; he said Carrie and him are on their way with a cure for your situation," he attempted to raise her hopes up. "I told them where we are."

"But what if it doesn't work?"

"You won't know until you try," Anais replied.

Penny continued to stare at them with a mixture of fright and uncertainty. The stress of what was happening to her was proving too much for her to handle. Her rational thought still hadn't fully returned from Mike's prank.

"Penny…" Gumball began with a tone of seriousness and concern, prompting her to turn her attention towards him. "It doesn't matter what you look like and no matter how much pain that I am in or how complicated it will get, I'll always be there for you and I mean it from the bottom of my heart."

Penny was left speechless but touch by Gumball's speech, reverting back to her fairy form and gave him a big hug; she was glad to hear that her boyfriend would still be with her even as a monster. It meant so much to her.

"Here comes the cavalry!" Mike shouted as he and Carrie arrived carrying a weird orange-yellow liquid in a bottle.

"I see you guys managed to calm Penny down," Carrie flew up to Penny and offered the bottle. Penny only looked back in concern.

"Are you sure this will work?" Carrie didn't answer as she wasn't sure based on how rushed Mike and her were. She only flashed a smile, hoping it would be enough to convince Penny. After staring at her for a few seconds, Penny smiled, having accepted her friend's response and took the bottle and chugged it. After drinking the last drop, she, as well as her friends, anticipate for something strange to occur, but it appeared nothing was happening.

"Well...that's a new one," Brian remarked. "When has nothing ever hap-"

But then, Penny dropped the bottle and began to cough uncontrollably, much to everyone's shock, as they witness their friend fell to her knees and clutching her throat. It was clear that she was in pain and agony.

"What's happening to her?!" Gumball asked in a panic as he ran to Penny's side.

"I don't know!" a startled Carrie shouted and began flipping through the book, trying to figure out what was going on. Her expression went from startled to horrified as she realized her mistake: one of the pages for the potion was missing. In her haste to help her friend, she failed to notice something as basic as a missing page.

"Oh no," Carrie mumbled, as she dropped the book.

But just as she realized her mistake, Carrie noticed that Penny's body was being enveloped by a white light, prompting the gang to shield their eyes from the ever increasing glow, before it started to die down and disappeared, allowing them to see what had become of Penny.

"Guys, I'm feeling better now, though I do feel a bit strange from that potion."

"Oh that's great-AH!" Brian exclaimed as he, Mike, and Darwin quickly looked away, while Rhonda, Anais and Carrie looked with shock, their eyes widen and their mouths agape and Gumball fell to the ground unconscious while bleeding out from his nose.

Penny was no longer a shapeshifting fairy. Instead she was now a normal, regular deer. A butt-naked deer no less.

"Someone please put some clothes on her!" Mike shouted. Penny looked down to see what had happened, before she started freaking out herself and quickly ran into a bush, embarrassed beyond belief.

"EEK!" Penny shrieked from the bush. "WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?!" The air of concern that everyone had moments ago was now replaced with nothing more than pure awkwardness and embarrassment.

"Don't worry, I got you covered!" Rhonda called out, as she removed her jacket and headed over to her friend with it.

"Don't you guys even dare!" Anais warned Brian and Darwin.

"We're not going to look!" Brian frantically insisted, his face still blushing red from the sight. "We promise!"

"Although I think Gumball got too good of a look," Darwin mentioned, as he looked at his unconscious brother.

"Well at least he can die happy now," Mike joked, as he walked over to Gumball.

"I think he may have done just that," Brian spoke, joining up with Mike and looking at the unmoving body of their friend. Mike put a hand on Gumball's throat before concluding there was still a pulse…going 150 beats a minute, but a pulse nonetheless.

"He'll live," Mike announced in an annoyed tone. He knew he was going to have to carry Gumball's butt all the way back.

"Knock it off, you knuckleheads!" Carrie scolded them, using the book to smack their heads. "This is no time for jokes! We need to help Penny!"

"Just as soon as she gets some spared clothes first," Rhonda brought up, with Penny right next to her, now using her friend's jacket for cover, her face still red from her discovery.

"I think we may have other problems," Anais admitted, "Like what do we do now that Penny's a deer?"

"We need to go back to the library and search for the missing page. I need to know what I left out and if there will be any adverse side effects to giving Penny an incomplete potion," Carrie explained, before turning to Rhonda. "Rhonda, take Penny to your house and give her some of your clothes. You might have something in there that's her size," Rhonda nodded and lead a very confused and shocked Penny away.

"Don't worry. You're going to be fine. I'm with you," Rhonda spoke reassuringly, as the two left for her home.

"Back to your house then?" Brian asked Carrie, who nodded and led the group back to her place, with Mike carrying the still out of it Gumball on his back.

For the next several hours, the gang looked through every inch of the library, checking every bookshelf from head to toe and rummaging through the dozen of piles of books that were laying around the floor, all to find that one missing page. But no matter how hard they tried, none of them could find that particular page, which could hold the solution for Penny's problem.

"Where the flip is it?!" Brian angrily shouted. "We've checked everywhere and it's no where to be found."

"It couldn't just vanish into thin air like that!" Carrie exclaimed. "It has to be around here!"

"Carrie, we've been searching for it for who knows how long," Mike talked to his girlfriend, trying to get everyone to face the facts. "There is not a single trace of it anywhere."

"We're just going to face the harsh truth…" Anais gloomily began. "That page might not be found at all and Penny will just have to adjust to her new form from now on."

"Speaking of which: Why is she a deer? Why not an elk or a reindeer or a moose or something else with antlers?" Darwin wondered.

"According to the book, if the potion fails it will force the drinker into one "normal" form and strip them of all their shapeshifting powers. The form they take depends on a variety of factors: Personality, gender, physique, etcetera. The only concrete requirement is that the form must have antlers naturally as all shapeshifting fairies have antlers," Carrie explained as she continued to look for the page they needed. "In other words, Penny must of had just the right combination of traits to transform into a deer. Probably her gender, slim physique, and overall caring and nice personality being the main factors." Everyone tried to wrap their heads around the book's elaborate explanation for Penny's predicament.

"Sometimes I feel like our lives are just a video game run by a random number generator. "Why is she a deer? Because she drew the number six!" Anyone else feel like that sometimes?" Mike asked around, with everyone raising their hands, paws and fins.

"We're back!" a familiar voice yelled, as everyone saw Rhonda coming down the stairs, along with Penny, now wearing her Elmore Academy uniform.

"Why is Penny wearing your uniform?" Brian asked his girlfriend.

"It was the only clothes I could find that weren't in the laundry. Plus, when we arrived, we were confronted by my dad and wondered who was with me," Rhonda explained. "He didn't believe me when I said it was Penny, so I had to explain everything or he wouldn't let us go. After a long time, he let us in and we came back as soon as we could."

"Sorry you had to go through all that trouble," Penny apologized.

"It's fine, Penny. It wasn't your fault," Rhonda assured her. This made Carrie and Mike cringe, but they both said nothing.

It was during their conversation that Gumball was starting to stir, having finally regain consciousness after what felt like a long time.

"Gumball, are you feeling alright?" Darwin asked, as he and Anais approached him.

"It's amazing you're still alive after losing that much blood," Anais commented, before pondering shortly afterwards. "Though now that I think about it, it seems scientifically impossible."

"Well our lives seem to run on the impossible, so I guess Gumball should count his blessings," Brian spoke.

"I had the strangest dream, you guys…" he started. "I was right next to Penny when she began to act strange and without warning, she turned into a deer in front of me and everything went black."

"Gumball, that wasn't a dream," Gumball turned around and saw the same deer he a while back. "That really happened," Gumball's face turned to horror.

"Your dad is going to murder me," Gumball muttered, his entire body turning completely pale.

"Gumball, this wasn't your fault. You had nothing to do with this," Penny pointed out.

"She's right. It's our fault," everyone turned around and face Carrie and Mike, both looking down to the ground in shame.

"Guys, you don't-" was all Brian could say, before Carrie cut him off.

"Don't try to convince us otherwise, Brian! You saw what happened back in the Forest of Doom. It was my potion that turned her like that!"

"It was also my prank that made her run away," Mike sadly added.

"Carrie, Mike, there was no way you could have seen this coming," Penny tried to reason with them.

"Really, Penny? If I wasn't so rashed with my actions, you wouldn't be a deer right now!" Carrie rebuffed her. "I didn't even bother to recognize that a page was missing. Without that page, you're going to be stuck like this for the rest of your life!" It was rare that Carrie showed any large amounts of emotion but she sounded as if she was trying to keep herself from crying. She couldn't bare to let herself cry from all the guilt she felt and grief she caused her friend. Mike's face on the other hand was unreadable. Other than the fact that he looked ashamed to call himself a friend, he didn't register any emotion in his face.

Penny tried to counter her friend's claims, but she was unable to form a single word out of her mouth. Eventually, all she can do is sigh and simply drop the matter altogether. She can't argue with Carrie on that last statement: without that page, she'll be stuck as a deer for her entire life.

"Don't worry, Penny. We'll make sure you'll adjust to your new form," Gumball assured her, grabbing her hand. "It's going to take some time getting use to, but you'll manage."

"Thanks Gumball, I appreciate that," Penny expressed her gratitude.

Mike and Carrie looked at one another with uncertainty, before looking back at the scene in front of them, specifically Penny herself. Wherever she goes, her new form is going to be a reminder of the role they played in.

Present…

"...After that, we did all we could to make Penny's life as normal as it could be. A lot of people asked questions but eventually it worked itself out and no one seemed to care."

Once Gumball concluded their story with Granny Fitzgerald, she stared at with astonishment of the entire ordeal, how Penny was unable to control her forms, how everyone did their best to help and how it ended up backfiring them. Eventually, she turned her attention to Carrie, who was understandably nervous of how she'll react.

"Carrie, my dear, whatever you did three years ago, you did it for my granddaughter's sake. You meant well and you couldn't have known that was going to happen."

"But I should have been more careful!" Carrie retorted. "I should have found out about that missing page before creating that potion!"

"Carrie, that's enough!" Penny yelled, catching everyone off guard. It was such a rare event for Penny yelling that none of her friends could ever get used to it. "What's done is done. You did what you have to do help me and not once have I resented you for it. I'm grateful that you went through that trouble for my sake. So with all do respect, stop blaming yourself!"

Carrie remained where she stood, continuing to stare at Penny for the longest time, before a few tears streamed from her face and proceeded to hug Penny.

"Thank you," she quietly said, as her friend hugged her back in return.

But the event was soon interrupted with the opening of the front door, as Mike allowed himself in and appearing right in front of everyone.

"Hey everyone, how's the project going?" he asked, before he noticed an elderly antlered peanut he doesn't recognize. "What did I miss?"

In response, the gang told Mike of what they've told Granny Fitzgerald of the incident that took place three years ago after the latter wanted to know why her granddaughter was in her current form. Once they've finished their explanation, Mike nervously turned his attention to Granny Fitzgerald with fear on his face.

'Oh crap! What is she going to do next?! I'm part of the reason that Penny is stuck as a deer!'

Expecting the worse to happen, Granny Fitzgerald patted her hand on his shoulder, much to Mike's confusion. It was not what he had in mind.

"Mike, was it…?" she began. "I don't blame you for what happened. No one got hurt and as far as my granddaughter is concern, she's happy for who she is and that's all that matters to me."

"...Thank you, ma'am," Mike accepted her kind words. He still felt bad for his role but hearing Granny Fitzgerald's words were enough to relieve some of the burden off of him.

"Sorry if I sounded rude, but I realize that we didn't finish our project," Rhonda reminded her friends. "We only have a few hours left before sunset."

"Ah crap!" Gumball realized. "Mr. Fitzgerald will come back from his job any minute!"

"Wait a minute, Gumball. Why are you still afraid of him?" Mike questioned his friend. "I thought you two were cool with each other."

"Whenever my dad's around, he enjoys spying on Gumball and I, wanting to make sure nothing "funny" happens between us. It really got started after the "incident"," Penny explained. "My dad just doesn't trust Gumball that much."

"Then we shall have to fix that," Granny Fitzgerald said with a smirk.

It was almost night at Elmore and for Patrick, he looked forward for some rest and relaxation, especially since he finished up another construction in town, which meant more growth for this place. As far as he was concerned, he just wanted to head to his bed and call it a night.

'Another day, another job well done,' Patrick happily thought to himself, just as he arrived home. After parking his car in the driveway, he got out of the car, made his way to the front porch and opened the door, allowing himself inside, before he got a good glimpse of his daughter and her friends studying together on their latest school project, much to his surprise.

"Penny, what's everyone doing here this late?" he demanded of the group. Everyone then proceeded to turn around to see that they were definitely there longer than they thought.

"Where has the time gone?" Brian asked.

"We're almost done anyway so we shouldn't be too long," Rhonda replied.

"You guys can finish whatever you're doing tomorrow-" Patrick was cut off by the tapping of a wood on his shoulder. He turned around to see Granny Fitzgerald, holding her cane like she was about to beat someone upside the head with it.

"Hello Patrick," Granny Fitzgerald greeted with a serene smile on her face, which only scared Patrick even more.

"Oh...hello there, Mom," Patrick meekly greeted her. "I didn't know you were coming..."

"I decided to drop by and see how everyone was doing. Is there anything you were going to say to them?" Patrick immediately did a 180 and addressed the group with a look of fear.

"Carry on," Patrick spoke as calm as he could, hiding the fear of punishment in his voice, before going upstairs to bed. Granny followed suit to the guest room, but not before giving the group a wink

"Goodnight everyone," Granny said with a pleasant smile as she went upstairs. Everyone waved goodnight to their elder before finishing up their work in peace. That was until Carrie remembered something.

"Mike! You never gave me that book back!"

Next time on The Awakened…

Chapter 27-The Upgrade

Just when the gang thought they had the advantage with their Chaos forms, the OverHundreds show just how little they really know.

Tidbits (we have a lot to talk about this one. Or at least Sal does. You can skip it if you don't care but he does bring up some interesting points about what was going on with us during this chapter.)

-When we first created the idea for this chapter, Sal and I wanted to offer a good explanation why Penny is a deer instead of being a shapeshifting fairy.

-Prior to this, like everyone, we both made quick assumption that Penny was a deer (or some other animal with antlers) due to the theory being popular to fans at the time. We had no way of knowing that she would ended up being a shapeshifting fairy.

-Will Penny ever return to her real form? That's for another story and for another time.

-Sal Notes: I apologize in advance for this wall of text but I need to speak about this. This chapter has a personal stake in it for Neo and I. First: It shows us that we can't just do whatever we want or make something up and not have someone complain about it or point out that we were wrong, regardless if we're not already well aware of that fact like we don't want the show or something. Penny would always be a problem in this story, regardless of what we did all the way back in February. Keep the shell on and we would have to explain why she put it back on. Call her a deer or whatever and we would have to explain why she's a deer or whatever. "The Shell" was something Neo and I were dreading, even if we didn't admit it and for this very reason.

-Second: We could of taken the easy and lazy route and just said "It's an AU story. Why does it matter when it's no longer following the canon of the show to the fullest. We have cats that shoot fire!" but we couldn't accept that so we had to do this the hard way. We refuse to have our readers see us as not willing to try to fix our mistakes or work with them into something more. You guys don't deserve that.

-I've rambled about this for too long but it had to be said that one decision almost a full year ago required a 6000 word chapter dedicated to it just to give what we think is a good explanation. We hope that this satisfies those who were curious as to what we were going to do about the fairy thing. If it doesn't, well we gave it our best shot to come up with a logical explanation. Whether or not it's the best possible explanation is for you to decide. Neo and I will await your judgement, O Faithful Readers. But when you do, if you think we didn't make a good explanation, ask yourself if you think one was at all possible, given the rules of TAWOG. Put yourself in the writer's shoes before going to town on their work. Judge wisely. Judge well. Thank you for your time.

We still hope you enjoyed The Transformation and we'll see ya in the next chapter!