The Wacky World of the Wattersons

by Darren1138

The more things change, the more they stay the same. For the Watterson family, no words have ever been truer. Many years after the events of TAWOG, Sunbeam Watterson, son of Gumball and Penny, will take over his father's place as the residential troublemaker! Packed with new faces, new troubles, same mischievous adventures of this extraordinary family!

2. The Trouble

A/N~ You know what's funny, but also troublesome at the same time? The fact that everyone tends to start their stories with about one-thousand words, more or less. And yet, for me, I started this with a whopping 10k words?!

Gee, I really hope I didn't go overboard XD

But I'm really glad that my story is off to a good start, judging by the feedback. I hope you guys continue to like it But be warned, this next chapter is going to be another huge ride!

Reviews

SK Shi

Thanks! I'm glad I hit the mark on the TAWOG feel of this story. To be honest, there's a lot more of a heartfelt tone, more than the TV show could ever give. But TAWOG is one of those shows that knows when to hit you hard with emotional depth, and I kinda want something similar here. I will get to the more comedic elements from here to there, so hopefully, I can hit the right mark

Also, thanks to Azumadofu, DiamondDragon2003, Donolector25, I Am The Meta, Kenpachi Zoro, PublicCrown76, SK Shi, Spineshocker62645, The Disney Critic Gal, 4evaGumballFan345 and Going on and on and on for liking and following the story!

---

The Trouble

Just another regular day at Elmore Junior High... At least that was what everyone hoped for after the total chaos that happened the day before.

Even the perpetrator who instigated the whole incident was praying to whatever holy entity could possibly be out there in this wacky world.

Strapped at the back of his family sedan, Sunbeam fiddled his fingers together, anticipating all the horrible things his schoolmates and teachers were about to say to him. He felt constricted by his own guilt and shame, like a prisoner on bail, returning to a world where no one would forgive him. He constantly shifted his gaze at all sides, looking out the windows to keep himself at bay. His hands were being coaxed into reaching for the door and making a quick getaway, but he relented.

For all his doubt, his heart was still set on getting through the week without messing up, promising himself and his parents that he would walk away scot-free without another bad record to his list. All he had to do was to do good with one test. One test and it was all over. The promise made to the school would be fulfilled and Sunbeam would be allowed to have his fun through the break.

As the car reached its stop, Sunbeam looked out the window again, taking in the sight of Elmore Junior High. At first, he was expecting something of a welcome wagon; lines of students eager to have their say or riot against him. But at first glance, all seemed normal. Students were still heading up the steps, exchanging talks with smiles and chuckles, as if nothing happened the day before. Surely, they could have spotted the sedan and recognized it as the usual mode of transportation of the Wattersons, before locking their sights on it and stare at the kid.

Alas, nothing too bad was happening. Everyone was just going by their day. But it wasn't enough to dispel the nervousness inside Sunbeam. The kid knew he was still going to have to go in there and meet them regardless. The thought of having to take in the gazes and stares was enough to make his heart race with fear.

"Here we are." called Penny, the mother sitting at the right seat in front of the boy. As she turned her head to look at her son, she saw the nervous boy unable to move his body, his eyes still glued on the school. "Sunbeam?"

"Is it too late to call sick today?" urged Sunbeam, having second thoughts.

"No." groaned Penny. "You were never going to feign any illness anyways. Not on my watch."

"Fine." sighed Sunbeam. "Let's just get this over with. A whole week of faint stares and attacks from Linda Jonah."

"You'll be fine." assured Gumball, hands on the steering wheel with the car still running. With one look of his own, the young man gave his son a beaming smile. The boy grinned back, warmed by the affection his parents gave him. The recent talk he and his father had last night had given Sunbeam a new ray of hope that he would face the consequences of his actions and live up to his family's word to not cause any more mayhem, at least until Sunbeam's test was over and done with.

"Now, get out there and do your best." cheered Gumball before giving his wife a deadpan stare. "Your mom and I have to head to the mall to get ourselves a new stove. And this time, we both look at the recipe we want to make next."

"As if you're the one to talk about cooking..." uttered Penny as she rolled her eyes. Chuckling at his parents' behaviour, Sunbeam then finally gained the courage to each out and opened the door, exposing himself to a larger world where people might have not been too welcoming of the magnet of trouble, but still, he felt he could make it out alright.

"Have a good day, kiddo." wished Gumball.

"You take care of yourself today, okay?" added Penny.

"Yeah." said Gumball as he exited the car. With one more look at his parents, he waved them goodbye before he would face his school. "Love you guys."

"Love you too, son." said both parents. They then faced forward and the car began to move away, leaving Sunbeam to fend for himself. The boy turned to the steps of the school, watching the rest of the students enter the building.

Sunbeam took one big breath before het it all out slowly, telling himself to remain calm and go into the building. He pushed his body upwards to steady his backpack before he finally moved towards the entrance. Every step he took was another moment of hesitance and guilt driven into him like shoving a loaf of bread into a lunchbox, if that was how his dad would put it.

Stepping up the steps, the boy felt himself being pulled back, wanting to run away to some far-out place where he could hide for the rest of the day; maybe even tell his parents that the school was having an extended holiday for the chaos caused the day before.

But he didn't go forth with his desperate plan. When he looked back, he knew there was no way out of the situation he was in. If he ran, it was only going to hurt himself and his family even more, especially after the father-son talk he had last night. Remembering his resolve, Sunbeam turned back to face the school. With his strength back, he made his way to the door, ready to take the school on like a man…

The first thing he thought of doing was to bash his way in and slam the doors open to show the world what he was made of. He balled his fist and prepared to smash the door in… only for him to stop and, after realizing that force wasn't necessary at the moment, slowly opened it as normal.

When he looked into the school hall, Sunbeam could see the whole lot of students who were getting ready for their first classes. Another gulp descended down his throat, the fear coming back to him as sweat began to drop down his face. As he stepped in, he was expecting the full force of the student body to retaliate in a riot and bring agonizing pain to him for what he had done.

After a few seconds with his eyes shut, Sunbeam opened them up, expecting a stampede to trample him down, strap him up and torture him with all kinds of bad stuff. When he looked at the hallway again, he was shocked to find…

Nothing…?

At once, his fears were replaced by utter confusion. Nothing changed. Just the same hall with the students still at their lockers or walking through the corridor; some even within close proximity to Sunbeam and even then, not a single person seemed to bother.

Somewhat surprised by the lack of revenge in the school, Sunbeam took another breather before moving forward, still keeping his eyes open for the first sign of trouble.

He kept walking, passing through student after student. As he looked on, he took in the cues, seeing if anyone would be so willing to avoid or strike out against him. But as far as the boy went, no one seemed to bat an eye or raise a warning sign at him. Two boys were talking to each other while a girl was busy tending to what looked like a Venus fly trap in her locker. One more kid was probably eating his usual rations of meatloaf behind his friends' backs while another trio of kids were taking bets to see who could run up a wall, only to end in complete and painful failure as each one slammed into the floor.

Overall, Sunbeam appeared to be safe from harm. No one seemed to care about what happened yesterday and, for a moment, it looked like he was free from everyone's blacklist.

However, after a while, Sunbeam began to notice that there were some occasional looks he got from particular students down the line. As slight as the hints were, Sunbeam could feel the hesitance coming from them. There were eyes still locked onto the kid, while some others slowly shifted their bodies away from him.

But overall, there wasn't anything too antagonistic; nothing above a threatening glare from Linda, the local bully, but then again, that girl was always giving deadly glares to other students, with reasons far more diabolical than what Sunbeam had done.

The monster truck girl was the new bad egg of the school after several infamous candidates such as Sunbeam's father's own bully, Tina. If Sunbeam wasn't the one doing the trouble in one day, it was always Linda who would start it herself. Sunbeam would do his absolute best to not be in the firing line of her hideous reign of terror, for anyone unlucky enough to be in front of her would have a brutal pounding as she would literally roll right over them, squashing them to the ground. The taste of asphalt and whatever other stuff Linda's been driving over was not a pleasant experience, mind you.

Thankfully, Sunbeam was one of the quickest students to avoid her wrath. The ability to shapeshift and fly to places unreachable to most proved to be very beneficial, allowing him to come off unscathed in most of Linda's assaults. Unfortunately, such swiftness and flexibility earned him the envy of others, not helping with his reputation in the school.

Alas, while everyone wasn't making any sudden moves on Sunbeam, he was well out of the way, safely moving forward without any retaliations.

At least for now.

But while he was out of his schoolmates' radar, he still had to go through another obstacle; the teachers. And minutes into the school, he was about to come face to face with them sooner than he thought.

"AHEM!" Sunbeam's fur nearly shot out of his skin when heard those coarse but powerful coughs coming from behind him. He spun around to see Principal Brown standing crossly with a very dangerous look on his face. The man may not be as terrifying as Miss Simian, but he made his authority known. It always mystified Sunbeam how his dad had never feared such a teacher in the school. He was frankly the second strictest teacher in Elmore Junior High, making his power known to the students that any misbehaviour would result in the appropriate punishments. Sunbeam, being the epicentre of the many problems in the school, was no stranger to such punishments. Detention was the usual norm for someone so easy to get into all sorts of shenanigans, and being the close companion of an intentional troublemaker didn't help.

"I hope that you understand the predicament you are in." said Principal Brown.

"Perfectly clear, sir!" cheered Sunbeam, though out of fear than determination.

"Good. I will hold your word on it. Remember, study hard and prepare for the test. And if there are any more mishaps…"

"No problem, Principal Brown!" interrupted Sunbeam, not wanting to hear what was already told. "From now on, Sunbeam Watterson is trouble-free!" Swiftly, the kid ran off to avoid eye contact with the bumbling principal.

Nigel Brown watched as the boy sped off into the distance. Sighing, he hoped that Sunbeam did follow on his word. At least there was one thing that made him different from his father before him; that he was more committed to do genuine good than the usual chaotic good Gumball was so notorious for.

"NIGEL!" The principal's fur shot up in all angles, shockwaves sent throughout his body as the screeching call of his beloved sent shivers down his spine. Behind his back, the old monkey of a teacher crept behind him with her hands firmly placed at her hips. Her scowling face beaming dangerously at the hallway that Sunbeam sped into.

"That brat…" growled the spiteful teacher. The day before, she hoped the Watterson kid would have acted on her threats and removed himself from school for good. Apparently, Sunbeam was as stubborn as his deplorable father ever was. "He shouldn't be here."

"Now, now, dear." Principal Brown took the teacher's hand into his own, patting the back of the furry appendage to calm the beast he had poured his heart into. "Let's not be too spiteful. I give my students second chances, even those you don't like."

No matter what her man said, Miss Simian could never lose the ugly feeling she had for children. To see someone filled with so much hope sickened her. It robbed her of another happy day to see people suffer, and she thought she was going to finally have it with Sunbeam's expulsion from Elmore Junior High.

But she couldn't do anything. Nigel Brown had made his point clear and if she wanted to keep his love, she would be forced to abide by the rules.

She kept gritting her teeth, not bothered to even muffle the grumbling she did while watching Sunbeam's declaration of a no-trouble week. But she kept her hopes up. If anything, the Wattersons couldn't live with a promise for even a few hours at most, let alone an entire day. Surely, when the time was right, the boy would break his promise and end up in direr trouble. Only then, she would act on it.

She swore that Sunbeam Watterson, of all the children she hated, would not last long to see his graduation day here…

---

Sunbeam continued to zip past the hallway towards his locker, avoiding more possible eyes and ears of his schoolmates. He stopped right outside his compartment and opened it up right away. He frantically checked inside for his belongings to see if everything was intact. His sketches, notes, and some trinkets he collected from past escapades were all untouched, much to his relief. After the hectic series of events that transpired yesterday, he was worried sick that his stuff was either wet from the flood, or vandalized by vengeful students wanting payback for ruining their day.

After checking his locker, Sunbeam continued to load his stack of books before taking out the ones he needed, preparing for the next class. He looked around for any signs of trouble nearby, expecting Linda to lurk around the corner to try and make a clear run through the corridor to roll him over. His wings were already poked out of the holes at the back of his shirt ready to lift him up to one of the many escape routes he had planned out in his entire school life. Those impromptu survival courses his dad gave him sure came in handy at most times and now, it was a good time to be hasty.

Sunbeam walked to his classroom, keeping his visual on all corners for the slightest hint of danger.

PSST!

"ARGH!" Sunbeam jumped and spun around when a hissing noise startled him. His green fur flashed all at once, creating an aura of light that blinked with his fear. The boy shook like a camel in the Arctic, shivering all over. Fearing that someone might be out to get their revenge, Sunbeam was about to brace for the nearest ventilation shaft, when he heard the hissing sound again.

Following the source, he saw the janitor's cupboard opposite his locker, noticing the doors slightly opened. Creeping slowly towards it, the boy wanted to take a good look inside to find whatever little sneak was hiding inside.

"Sunbeam!" But once he got close enough, the person inside spoke, calling out Sunbeam in a hushed whisper. When he looked closer, he finally realized who was hiding in there.

"Dawn? What are you doing?" asked Sunbeam. The fox girl looked out the cupboard, at both sides of the hallway before whispering back at Sunbeam.

"Concocting." she responded.

"Concocting what?" whispered Sunbeam, following on with the secrecy of it all.

"Get in here!" Dawn reached her hand and grabbed Sunbeam by the collar and pulled him in with her. The doors shut, leaving the two in dark and compacted space. Moments later, Dawn switched a flashlight on to illuminate the space around them. Now that they were alone, Sunbeam asked his friend what she was about to do that made her pull him into the cabinet.

"I'm not in the mood to ask." he sighed. "But I should. What's on your mind this time?"

"Okay. So, apparently, the other kids need some down time to ease their minds off the test for a while. I have a little plan to get them there." explained Dawn, rubbing her palms together. To Sunbeam, that was never a good thing whenever she did that.

"You're just hoping that we'd end up in detention again, aren't you?" said Sunbeam, totally unconvinced that this scheme of hers was primarily for the good of the students.

"What? Is it my fault that I enjoy the sorrows of pitiful kids as they tumble down the ladders of school excellence?" Dawn shrugged her shoulders dismissively.

"Continue." sighed Sunbeam.

"Okay. The plan's simple; you and I are going to rig the cafeteria's ice-cream maker and bring the joy of free tubs of chocolate crumble scoops for the whole day!"

Suddenly, a pang of excitement went off in Sunbeam's head. Just mentioning ice-cream was enough to fuel him with extreme delight; a day full of it was any kid's dream. Tempted to hear more, he let Dawn tell the rest.

"I've asked Hackman to help us with that. He will use his genius to get us into the kitchen and hack into the refrigerator. Because, you know, he's Hackman and he's… a hacker… Get it?" laughed Dawn as she attempted to put some haphazard joke in the plan. Sunbeam, however, didn't chortle one bit.

Of course, she would poke fun at the walking, sentient touchscreen pad and his talent for accessing electronic systems extremely secretive to most. Slapping her forehead, the fox girl continued with disgruntled disappointment. They would always contact him to find the most sensitive of documents or files that could help them take shortcuts through the school years. Unfortunately for them, Hackman had a moral code, preventing him from falling into their usual antics. Nevertheless, there were always subtle ways to make him do what they wanted him to do.

"So, Hackman gets us into the fridge, we get the ice-cream, smuggle it all out of the school and plan out a massive bonanza of free ice-cream!" cheered Dawn, though muffled enough to avoid any detection outside. "It's brilliant! Or should I say, brrrrr-iliant?!" Another fruitless joke went wasted with Sunbeam now staring unapprovingly of the attempt.

"One problem." interrupted Sunbeam. "What will the school do to us when we're done with it?"

"Oh, don't worry. My dad will vouch for us. He will get a legal statement, saying that the ice-cream was all his and the authorities will be none the wiser." stated Dawn. Sunbeam supposed her father would be enthusiastic of his kid making trouble at such a calibre.

But on to the task, the boy really wanted to go along with this plan. Who wouldn't want a cafeteria filled to the brim with tubs of glorious ice-cream? Instigating such a scheme would make him the most popular kid in school! Not to mention that the supplies of chocolatey goodness would give him the ultimate treat.

But then, his heart was starting to turn towards a different feeling of unease, his mind now stirring to a promise he made to his family. There was no way out this time; if another promise to the school was broken, it was all over for him. His family would have to find another school for him and everything will start to get messy from there.

However, it was a difficult decision to make; to choose between his family and his one only best friend.

"I-I… can't." he muttered.

"What?!" said Dawn, shocked that Sunbeam had rejected her plan. He had never skipped on anything that sounded fun and exciting, and now, of all times, he said he couldn't? "Why not?! It's going to be the biggest blast of ice-cream anyone could ever ask for!"

"I promised Mr. Brown that I lay low for this week until I pass that test." explained Sunbeam.

"Dude. Mr. Brown is just another boring old man who defies everything we youths stand for." mocked Dawn, still sour about how Principal Brown would ruin her mood every time he had to set them straight.

Sunbeam really wanted to have some fun with Dawn; the best moments of his time in school were always making the most out of every mistake or situation.

Dawn was just the friend Sunbeam needed, regardless of how notorious her family was. Maybe it was the habitual Watterson feeling that made him connect, or if it was those genuinely softer moments that the two did get into when they're not getting themselves into trouble. But when it came to having fun or causing trouble, Sunbeam couldn't be happier, even if their antics did land them in hot water most of the time.

It was difficult to say no. It really did hurt him to reject Dawn's request, but after thinking about his family, he just couldn't afford to risk getting himself into more danger. However, now that he thought about it, it was only for one week. Surely, after he would do his best in the test, then he would be free to do whatever they wanted, right?

Well, there were some things to be careful about, including something about a girl he hurt the day before…

"I-I can't, Dawn." said Sunbeam. "I promised my parents I wouldn't lift a finger on anything until the test is over. Otherwise, I'll be expelled indefinitely and we'll be forced to move out of town!"

Despite the sheer warning in his voice, Dawn didn't seem to get the whole picture. If anything, she was more puzzled about Sunbeam's demeanour than worried about his current predicament.

"Dude, who are you and what have you done to Sunbeam?" she nonchalantly asked. Her lack of empathy alarmed Sunbeam. Could it hurt to just imagine being in his shoes for one freaking time?!

"Dawn! I'm serious!" Sunbeam grumbled. "I can't cause any more trouble today! Especially not after what we did to Pearl! I don't want to make this any worse than it already is." He stopped, catching his breath. Not wanting to disappoint Dawn, Sunbeam wanted to be apathetic to her needs as well, but he had his own right to decide against something that would put an end to his time at Elmore Junior High. Dawn would have to understand what he was going through, whether she liked it or not.

"If I have to be the bane of the school's existence, then let me just prove to Principal Brown that I can be civilized." pleaded Sunbeam. But the insistence to leave her did not sit well with Dawn.

Betrayal at the highest level! How could her true friend, the one person who'd take up any offer for fun, choose to abandon their ways and embrace a more peaceful life?! He was basically breaking one of the tenants of their friendship!

Was this really the end of the Watterson way of life? The family she always admired for their ability to take on the world, now succumbing to the will of the public! It was all the more inconceivable for the young chaos bringer.

"Okay." she growled, freaking Sunbeam out. She sounded like that one weird dude who 'predicted' the apocalypse that he saw in a movie once, like she was giving a prophetical warning that could spell doom for the boy. "Fine. Associate yourself with the common folk. But I warn you! When you go out there and be a normal citizen, life's never going to be the same, I tell you!"

"Dawn, it's only for one week." groaned Sunbeam. Well, at least Dawn took it better than he thought, even if the reaction was a little over-the-top. "Once that is done, then we can have some of our usual fun. Deal?"

"Fine." Dawn sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Good. I'm glad we had this talk." chuckled Sunbeam, clasping his hands together. "Now can we please get out of this closet before someone thinks we're doing something newsworthy?" Dawn smirked at Sunbeam, about to throw shade at him for that last statement.

"You mean like doing something…?" she joked, sneaking a playful grin at Sunbeam.

"Yuck! N-no! Nothing like that!" gasped Sunbeam, blushing red. "Urgh! Let's just leave." Ignoring the giggles from Dawn, Sunbeam quickly ejected himself out of the closet, followed by the girl. "I'll see you in class later."

"Cool." Dawn uttered, waving her hand goodbye before she walked the other way, leaving Sunbeam to return to his trip to the classroom.

But as he turned away from Dawn, he failed to turn around in time before someone bumped into him. The collision wasn't too severe, but Sunbeam felt a sharp bump to the head. Shaking his head from the recoil, his eyes laid towards the person who collided with him, only for his heart to race wildly at the sight of the girl.

There she was; Sarah 'Pearl' Salem, just happening to bump right into him at the most inconvenient of times. Sunbeam's mind was racing all around; the trauma he had taken from yesterday's disaster was still eating away at his heart.

At any moment, that beautiful face would be tarnished by the feeling of anger that she must had felt after being washed away by his surprise celebration of her birthday, causing the boy to swell up in his skin with sweat.

He started stuttering, unable to speak properly to her face before she could say anything. His skin crawled in anticipation for the much-deserved blow right to his face.

"Oh! H-hi, Sunbeam."

Sunbeam didn't hear it right. Instead of being livid and hostile towards Sunbeam, the girl simply greeted him the same way she would everyone. When he opened his eyes, he saw her shy face, her smile right there, as if she had forgotten what had happened before. She huddled her books close to her chest while her emerald eyes stared into his.

If Pearl was angry, she seemed to be pretty bad at showing it…

"Pearl!" laughed Sunbeam. "I-uh… didn't see you here!" Seeing that Pearl didn't seem to hostile towards him, he really wanted to speak to her, but the boy couldn't throw away the fear that her attitude was nothing but a façade. Maybe she wasn't all that okay with him and maybe she was hiding some inner thoughts. Things like smashing Sunbeam in the head with a mallet, or drowning the boy in a toilet, or even having to call Linda to roll over him in an endless cycle of dragging torture...

Whatever the case, Sunbeam did not want to be on her bad side. He had failed one too many times already, and if change was being made, he will have to cease his pursuits on her, at least for now.

"Look, I-I got to go!" he cried, nervously stuttering in the process. His body turned around to speed out of there before he messed up again. Whatever friendship he had left, he had to preserve it. "D-don't mind me! I won't bother you anymore! I promise! I'll never have to speak to you again! See ya!" Sunbeam then picked his feet up and ran off, flying away before Pearl could say anything.

"But, wait!" shouted Pearl, but it was too late. Sunbeam was already long gone before she got to say what she wanted to see. "I just want to say…!"

A dust cloud drifted in front of the girl, leaving her barely able to say what she wanted to say before Sunbeam disappeared from her view.

"I forgive you…"

---

After barely being able to avoid another potential disaster with Pearl, Sunbeam was already at the door to his classroom. Before he opened the door, he grabbed onto the doorknob, panting from the rush from the corridor, letting the relief flow.

Having to go through another moment with Pearl at such a demanding time was not what he wanted. Too bad fate had to give him a reminder…

Well, the important thing was; he made it to class, and thankfully, nothing too serious had happened.

The boy turned the doorknob and opened it up. Inside, the room was already occupied, chattering and laughter filling in. All over the place, there were all of his classmates, going about their day before the eventual session with Miss Simian in a few minutes.

Sunbeam looked at the usual roster of kids. Of course, Linda Jonah, the residential bully, took up most of the back space, where not only was it spacious enough for a monster truck three times larger than the average student, but the perfect spot to catapult crunched-up balls of paper at her victims. Being a monster truck, she would need some special hands to squeeze up those rolls, not to mention having to actually use the stationery that she was forced to use, so the big girl had to use a special set of long, functional wires as limbs that would extend from inside her dashboard and out the windows.

At the front, lining up the majority of the middle were the Gang of Five; Elmore Junior High's very own basketball team; all of whom were different from one another. The very centre, of course, was taken by the squad leader, Jeffery. The anthropomorphic grizzly bear wore his usual team jersey, stamped with the Elmore Ducks logo at the right side of his chest area. His teammates were tossing their basketball around while the leader relaxed with his feet on his desk.

In front of them, Hackman the walking tablet; the kid who'd play a part in Dawn's ice-cream fiasco. The boy was already at work with a motherboard, playing around with the wires while having the data being displayed at his screen of a face. But the fun was interrupted when a basketball from behind slammed right at his back. His handiwork was tossed from his desk and the kid's face fell flat on the top. Poor Hackman, Sunbeam thought. He was always the main target for the jocks and Linda, being right in the firing line of both.

Then, there was Scoop and Poke, the brother-sister duo. A pair of walking, talking kitchen utensils who needed no introduction. They were the typical, inseparable twins who, as different they were, always played off of each other's strengths and weakness. They were also the school's monitors, always on watch for signs of trouble, especially the cafeteria where the majority of the troubles were. They were usually the foils to Sunbeam and Dawn's schemes, always out to get them. Hopefully, Sunbeam would do well to give them assurance that he wasn't up to anything until the test. They'd be happy to send him to Principal Brown's office the second he pulled something off…

Behind the pair was Gem, a rather bizarre individual but, at the same time, was much at home in Elmore as everyone else. She was like a stop-motion figure; a clay model dressed in a teal polka-dot dress who moved in a frame-by-frame pattern. All of her motions were done this way and it was amazing how things could still be done by her own hands. She paced from side to side, assessing the room and feeling very on edge by the collective noise of all of her classmates. A very timid person, if Sunbeam had to put it lightly…

At the very corner at the right, two more kids sat in a line. Gus and Takeda. While Sunbeam and Dawn were a quintessential pair of best friends, these two were far more popular. Gus was a black-and-white doodle of a dog like something out of a cartoon from the ninety-thirties, with a small moustache and a bowler hat, almost a spitting image of one of those old show entertainers (A/N ~ The art style for this character is something like that of Cuphead or Bendy and the Ink Machine because I can't really describe this simply enough). He was the class clown, always willing to pull off the worst of pranks on his fellow students. After every prank, he would always have a good laughing fit before making his curtain call, running off before anyone could catch him.

Takeda couldn't be any more different. He was literally a walking anime caricature. This cool-looking Siamese cat with his pair of shades, stylized in such catchy colours, was a stand-out among the rest. A real crowd pleaser for the ladies, with both his looks and his cool mannerisms made him the star of the class.

Gus and Takeda were complete opposites in both looks and personality, and yet, they were indeed the best of friends. These were the kids Sunbeam really wanted to be friends with. However, his troublesome luck always kept him back from even uttering a word to these two. So, they were not worth the effort now…

On the right side of the room, three seats were empty. Yet, Sunbeam's eyes were directly on that part of the class, since that was where Pearl and her usual posse of friends sat. If he wasn't in trouble already, he would always stare at Pearl's beauty from his seat at the front, admiring the glamour she presented as she looked at the sky. Still uneasy about the whole mess yesterday, Sunbeam decided to look away, returning to his seat.

Walking into the room, he passed another common troublemaker; Patty Dinkins. She was, to say the least, a clumsy one. It was weird, considering she seemed like the most advanced one of the lot. She was a goldfish, strangely enough, much like Sunbeam's Uncle Darwin. The difference was; she was a proper goldfish with no legs. Yet, she was able to have full sentience, being able to talk to others without problem. The only problem was; she had to remain in a fishbowl. To fully integrate with the real world, she was given a special robotic exo-suit that allowed the fishbowl to be attached and connected to it with special circuitry between the suit and the bowl. Using the power of her mind, she could control the suit's movements, making her capable of interacting with everyone around her. It would have made her the most awesome kid of the school, if she didn't have problems concentrating. If there's one thing Sunbeam learned from his uncle, being a goldfish came with its… intellect problems. Patty wasn't the smartest girl in class, and her lack of focus always rendered her unable to walk or do things properly. She was decent at best, but she always had to bump here and there, being the laughing stock of the class.

Sunbeam then stopped at the desk that was set right at the very centre of the front row. And who had the misfortune of being seated at the very front of the classroom, directly between the wraths of both the teachers and the bullies?

Yep, Sunbeam Watterson.

Fortunately, Dawn would sit to his left, often providing him with much needed back up against any incoming spit balls or thrash coming his way. The catch was; Dawn would throw the stuff back, and that wouldn't sit well for Sunbeam after class. Thank goodness he had his escape routes…

Unfortunately, today, for reasons already known to Sunbeam, Dawn was nowhere to be found, possibly up to no good. Sunbeam shrugged his shoulders. He didn't really need her protection, as he was already being messed with anyways.

As he sat down, already there was a lone piece of paper flung at the back of his head. Rubbing his head, Sunbeam turned around, spotting Jeffery smirking at him. The bear kid then gestured to Sunbeam to open up the paper. In it, it read:

"Nice job wetting the whole school, genius. The whole team had to skip a day of practice because of you."

Sunbeam looked back, apologetically, but it did nothing to dispel the animosity he was feeling from all five members of the team. He then looked back at front, awaiting the arrival of his most despised teacher, when a voice rang in his left ear.

"You still wanting to sit this one out?" Sunbeam leapt from his seat. Beside him, Dawn was already at her desk, leaning over to whisper into his ear. Her foxy grin flashed at the frightened boy with her arms crossed.

"Don't do that!" exclaimed Sunbeam, breathing heavily from the shock. "And for your information, yes. I'm still not going to cause any more trouble for the school."

"Alright." Dan sighed, shrugging her shoulders. "But you know what they say; old habits die hard..."

Sunbeam ignored Dawn's warning, vowing to continue on mayhem-free. His pension for trouble may be difficult to ignore, but it could be done. For at least one week, he had to survive and pass the test; study all the way and avoid all temptations of exciting activities and shenanigans.

Starting his day, the teacher soon came in, ending the parade of noises with one slam of the door. The elderly monkey walked into the room with her crooked body hunched forward in her stride like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Her left hand hung barely above the floor while her other arm caressed her books and paperwork, begrudgingly sulking about another terrible day at work. She sat at her desk, scratching her back without a care in the world, not even acknowledging the disgust of everyone in the room of her repulsive habit.

Their sickened feelings were quickly turned to fright when those yellow eyes with their dagger-like irises staring right at them, petrifying them into living statues. And if things couldn't get any creepier, it's the way how Miss Simian changed from an eerie, quiet bogeyman to a drill sergeant at the next moment.

"Alright, you maggots!" squawked Miss Simian. "Another day in class, another day in H-E-Double Hockey Sticks." Sunbeam rolled his eyes as he tended to his books to start his day in class, only to be interrupted when Miss Simian gave an announcement. "Before we begin, I have some news for you all." The class paid attention to the teacher, far more than they would in an actual lesson.

"The bad news is; the test will be postponed…" Everyone's faces were about to be lit up. Of course, they would. Who wouldn't give for some extra time to prepare (or, you know, have more fun) before the test? But Sunbeam knew Miss Simian all too well. Judging by how less unhappy she was, he could tell something wasn't right about this announcement. The postponement was only the bad news... so what was the 'good' news?

"The good news is; it will be changed… to today!"

"WHAT?!" A torrent of screams filled the room, utter shock emitting in the air, as if the end of the world was nigh.

"After yesterday's disaster, the principal wants to finish up the test as soon as possible to fix things up, so I decided to postpone the day of the test to today." informed Miss Simian, though everyone knew it was out of mockery than honesty. But the worst was yet to come for Sunbeam...

Miss Simian then left her desk and walked towards him, staring right into his frightened eyes. With the most wicked of grins, she was about to make sure that Sunbeam would not be let go so easily.

"Well, you wouldn't get it this early…" she said, creeping closer and closer until she was right in front of Sunbeam's face. 'If it weren't for someone…"

Sunbeam heard the collective groans coming from behind. Great. Just when he needed some time alone and away from trouble, his classmates had to be reminded of what he did wrong.

"So, good luck!" cackled the teacher as she exited the room to get the test sheets. "You're going to need it…"

"HAHAHAHAHA!" As Miss Simian chortled away, she closed the door, leaving Sunbeam at the mercy of many staring classmates. When the door was shut, the papers began flying, hitting Sunbeam at the back of the head like a shower. Rather than retreat underneath his desk, the boy just took the hit, more annoyed than frightened.

Now that the test was much earlier than expected, his heart was heavy with doubt and fear, making him afraid of what would happen if he failed now. But he continued to hold onto hope… He did study some things before, thanks to the watchful eye of his mother, so maybe some things could work out.

However, what worried him more was what would happen after the test. He might had been safe in class, where Miss Simian's animosity was directed to all children, so no one was allowed to do anything under her watch. However, the real challenge was outside the room.

Could he survive a day of being targeted? Could his escape routes save him long enough before the test results came?

"This day couldn't get any worse…"

---

The test was over… finally.

While some would lament the lack of proper studies to meet their demands, most would rather just live through it and hand in their papers so they could enjoy their freedom earlier, assuming the school would allow them that chance.

One such student eager to return to her comfort zone was Dawn… Now that she was done taking part in some lame test, she was free to move on and concoct her master plan.

And where better to start than her favourite venue of trouble?

The cafeteria…

When she went to the vacant cafeteria, she made her way to the kitchen door. Taking a peek over the doors, she could see the space completely empty. No cafeteria lady to tend to the food or watch over the equipment and stations behind the counter.

Perfect…

With the coast clear, Dawn burst right in, followed by her less-than-willing accomplice, the genius of her class. Hackman tattered behind the fox girl, his pixel eyes blinking left to right frantically. He wasn't the most disobedient student of the school, so convincing him to follow along was a challenge…

Especially without a certain someone's help…

Now that he was in, Dawn needed to make the most of it while he was still in agreement.

The fox girl snuck behind the counter, as to avoid being in the radar of the school's new camera system, installed as a security measure just to stop her and Sunbeam to curb whatever schemes they had there. The surveillance device scanned the room, having its lens watching every nook and cranny, every corner and side of the walls. Dawn had to be careful; one single millisecond upon being spotted and the whole system would send an alarm throughout the school, alerting Principal Brown of what was happening.

And yet, she couldn't help but laugh. The system may be flawless, but the way it was set up wasn't. How could the principal be that foolish to not have a camera in the kitchen, arguably the most important place in the area? Was he that paranoid over the costs of the school that he failed to set up one camera in there? Funny enough; he must had been that 'cost-efficient' that he made his own voice the alarm of the system.

No point complaining, she thought. She got into the kitchen and she was free to move around without getting caught. The ice-cream machine she was after was well behind the walls dividing the kitchen and the cafeteria, sat unused for her and Hackman to access.

"Okay, Hackman." she whispered, careful not to alert the system's acute audio receptors. 'Here's the jig. Get your systems ready."

"Are you certain this mission of yours will work?" beeped Hackman, calculating numbers in his head, which were projected on his screen in digits. "I am counting a 6.345631% chance that this scheme will be successful without reprehension from our teachers, a 73.6325% chance that we will be given detention, and an 85.23521% chance that we will be grounded."

"What's our probability for ice cream for all?" added Dawn, causing Hackman to count their odds again.

"93.524%..." told Hackman. Satisfied, Dawn rubbed her hands together.

"Good. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." she said. "Now, let's get it done."

"I don't know…" muttered Hackman. He stood still, unable to move to do the deed. Dawn figured she would need more convincing to do if she wanted to bring the tablet all in on her plan. Taking a deep breath, she marched up to the smaller boy and held him by the sides and proceeded to throw a motivational speech fit for war.

"Listen." she began. "Think about all the glorious ice-cream you could have and not have to feel gloomy about your dinner the next day!" She poured into her heart and soul all the courage and faith she could give the morally-obliged tablet. It wasn't her favourite course of action to make, but if it got her the results she wanted, then she'd give in just this once. The trick seemed to work as Hackman's sober attitude transformed, slowly approaching a more gleeful one as indicated by a crawl of happy emoji faces scrolling from right to left on the screen.

"Even if you can't eat it, considering you're an electronic device, you could do so much for the children! The children, Hackman!

"You could be a hero!"

"A hero!" cheered Hackman, finally fully in on Dawn's mission.

"Great! Now, get hacking!" ordered Dawn, pointing towards the ice-cream machine. Before Hackman could get started, however, she began to snicker, holding in her breath to stifle her laughter. "Get it? Because… Hack-man?" Unamused, Hackman crossed his metal cable arms together, displaying a face of disappointment.

"With your humour, there will be a 3.5243% chance that you will ever make a good comedian." snapped the tablet.

"Are those real statistics or are you actually trying to roast me?" asked Dawn, her humour spoiled.

"I don't see why it can't be both." Hackman shot back with a grin.

"Just do your job, flat face." groaned Dawn. Hackman proceeded to get his hands on the machine. From his palms, smaller, thinner wires extended out, tiny plugs inserting into the ice-cream maker. Once he was connected, Hackman scanned the machine, checking for all openings within and inspect its condition before hardwiring into the circuitry. The machine was almost as old as his parents were; antiquated technology that did not have any modern countermeasures to prevent him from accessing applications like most computer systems. All the easier for him to hack into the machine and manipulate it to his will.

Such a power could have granted him absolute control of the technological world around him. What overlord wouldn't give to have an easy shortcut to all the world's devices to bend everyone to their will? Dawn certainly would have had all the power in her hands put to good use, if Hackman didn't have a literal moral code in his system. A list of negative deeds was hardcoded into his mind, meaning that refusing to do things was not out of actual empathy, but programmed (or rather, forced) implementation. In short, Hackman didn't actually feel anything; it's all in his programming. Good thing Dawn knew how to manipulate the programming to her advantage by turning a misdeed into a heroic action.

While Hackman accessed into the ice-cream maker, he criss-crossed through the wiring, getting in touch with the mechanical build-up of the circuitry. Then, something came up inside; an odd feeling that troubled him.

"Uh oh." he beeped.

"What?" asked Dawn.

"The machine seems to be quite outdated." explained Hackman. "Some rusted parts and a cranky motivator. I'm afraid, in this condition, there will be a 43.4251% chance that it will break apart and… do all kinds of terrible things. That will leave our current odds at a 67.252% chance of success."

"Better than nothing." Dawn proceeded to watch the door while Hackman kept his connection secured. She did not want this minor inconvenience to get in the way of success, so, while the odds were good, she stuck to her course and prepared for the celebration. Hackman, on the other hand, wasn't so sure himself. While his moral choices were more programmed than natural, he did have his logical side, and there was an idea that could guarantee their success a little more.

"Perhaps our odds will improve with Sunbeam's help."

Dawn groaned, remembering how she was refused by her best friend. Disappointment was still aching in her mind that Sunbeam would lose out on an opportunity like this.

"We don't need his help. Not when's gone rogue." she uttered with all her fury. "To join the common, law-abiding folk, to go against the ways of fun and excitement. How can he trade that for a boring life of no havoc?"

Despite her frustration, Dawn had a small painful feeling in her heart. In all honesty, she understood why Sunbeam had to back off. Perhaps, she was willing to let him go so he could rest and take it easy. Somewhere deep inside, she felt a little bit of regret for going ahead without him.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Dawn cursed inside, seemingly dismissing her doubts. Why was she growing soft just because Sunbeam decided to take a break for one whole week? It was his choice to abandon the mission, not hers! Why bother to feel regretful?!Her desire for the ultimate joy day was more important than anything she had ever pulled off. After this, she was sure that Sunbeam would be the one to regret not joining her on this little adventure and thank her for making this ice-cream surprise a reality.

"Forget it." she vowed, punching her fist into her other palm. "Get the machine up. And don't tell me the odds again. Just do as you're told and you'll get it right." Hackman nodded, starting away with the program to manipulate the machine.

Meanwhile, while watching out for company, Dawn contemplated on her eventual success. Her ultimate plan to both excite her friends and wreak havoc upon those who opposed her, was about to begin. "I'll show Sunbeam. Today, I shall make this a glorious day for the Luna family!"

With a fist held high and her spirit higher, the fox girl would let this day be remembered by all.

"Let us all eat ice-cream!"

---

Smashing your face into a locker wouldn't be the best idea of stress relief. But for this occasion, Sunbeam just went with it. He frequently banged his forehead against the hard metal of his locker door, groaning with every hit. His brain was already being wrecked enough from a surprise test and the possibility of being mobbed by the entire student body, so what harm could it possibly do to trash himself against a wall to beat out his frustrations?

At least, they were mild bumps on the locker. There was no way he was going to break his own skull over a stressful day. That was something like… his father would do…

After beating his head on his locker for ten minutes, the boy grew tired. The test was finally over and, needless to say, he was through with it. There was no going back now. He hoped that every hour spent cramming all the knowledge he could by eating pages out of his reference books would serve him well enough to survive another semester.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the only thing he needed to worry about…

"Hey, loser!" The roar from across the hallway sent a powerful shockwave down his spine. His fur shot right up as his strands flashed a green light all at once. He turned to face the end of the corridor to witness the biggest horror known to Elmore Junior High.

Glaring right into his eyes were the angry headlights of the tormentor of the school. The wild noise of her engine revving up roared across the hall with trails of smoke puffing from out of her exhaust pipes. Large wheels dragging across the tiled floor. creating tire smudges on the already mopped surface. Her front grilled bumper bent downwards to make something like a smile; a rather cruel grin that told Sunbeam everything he needed to know.

"Oh no!" he screamed. "It's Linda!"

"Wanna know how to make a cat pancake?!" threatened the monster truck, revving up her engine again. Sunbeam's feet began to move slowly backwards, backing off from the ferocious sight of the worst of Elmore's bullies.

"How about we save that for Home Economics, huh?!" stuttered Sunbeam in a futile attempt to joke about his predicament. It only worked as much as he would expect; absolutely nothing. The monster truck started to rub her back wheel like a bull in a fight with a matador, seeing green instead of red.

Sunbeam was about to run off in another chase throughout the school. But he remembered that he wasn't supposed to be involved in any trouble. Yet, there was nothing he could do to talk anyone out of this. At this point, the whole school was against him, and Principal Brown was not within any safe distance for him to catch Linda in the act.

Looking at Linda, however, forced him to change his mind again. There was no point trying to reason with the bully, nor was there any way to stop her. It was either run or be roadkill.

"VRRROOOOM!" With the mightiest roar she could ever shout out, Linda charged forward at full speed, wheels screeching with. Having no choice, Sunbeam decided to finally run, fluttering his wings as fast as he could before he zoomed off with a raging monster truck behind him.

The chase was on; Linda hot on her wheels while Sunbeam flew like a comet, speeding through the corridors to escape the wrath of the bully. Students across the hallways retreated to the safety of whatever space they could find; be it another room, above their lockers or even a trash can; as long as they could get out of the way before being squished.

Sunbeam kept himself at flight, fluttering the hardest he had ever done, all the while, Linda was raging through, crashing into walls and lockers as she chased the fairy-cat down. The chase between predator and prey continued; echoes of a bygone era. At one time, his own father was prey to another bully, Tina Rex. Within these same corridors, the same chase was repeated again with their successors.

He was a common victim of Linda, and her routine was as predictable as it got.

Sunbeam reached the corner and turned right, heading for the one corridor that he knew all too well. Naturally, he picked his closest escape point. Upon turning, on his left and right above another set of lockers, he spotted a ventilation shaft, opened in advance, just in case anything bad was to happen.

Just before Linda could get her sights on the corridor, Sunbeam sought his chance and zipped right for the shaft, transforming into a tiny mouse before crashing into the tight space. Quickly, the boy reached for the grate and closed himself in, right before Linda swerved into the hallway. From the thin openings of the grate, he could see the monster truck stopping halfway, looking around for him. He kept his voice down, body lowered to keep himself out of sight.

Linda searched for the boy, unable to find Sunbeam amidst the corridor. She knew he was hiding away from her, and unfortunately for her, there were too many places a shapeshifting fairy could hide in. No point smashing through all the lockers to flush him out; she was already in enough trouble for previous attacks on other students. To keep her track record at a minimum, she decided that it was not worth the effort. Sunbeam was a difficult one to catch; pummelling him to the ground would be like catching a shark during a fishing trip.

"You can run, pipsqueak! But this whole school's my turf!" she warned him, knowing that Sunbeam was close. "You won't get away that easily!" After her threat was made clear, she drove off, leaving her victim to breathe. Sweat was dripping down pretty hard around his body and his breaths were heavy from his flying. No wonder his mother told him to use his flight sparingly; using up all that energy really depleted him of his stamina.

"Phew! That was a close one. Boy, if Dawn was here to see that, she…" He stopped himself, remembering that his best friend was elsewhere to conduct her scheme while he had to watch himself for a while.

"Oh, yeah. She must be in the cafeteria right now." he sighed. He vowed to his teachers and his family that he'd stay away from causing mayhem for the week. The test may had been over, but technically, the week wasn't. He still had to behave and be a good student without any incidents to his name, or he'd be expelled; test or no test.

However, deep inside, the temptation for fun and thrill remained, filling him with regret that he had refused another daring scheme with his partner-in-crime. Dawn was to him like what Uncle Darwin was to his dad; they were inseparable. Not one of them would do things without the other. To reject her felt like a blow to their friendship, no matter the promise he made to play it safe for one week.

"Maybe I should go check on her. I won't be involved. Just to see if she's okay. Then, I'll just walk away before anything gets worse. Yeah, that's it!" he talked to himself. If he couldn't take part in the ice-cream plot, then at least, he'd make sure Dawn was handling it well. Maybe wish her luck and then be on his way.

But he was worried about her. If she was to get caught by the school, then she would be the one to be punished, and they would be forced to expel her, alone. Concerned, he exited the ventilation shaft and dropped down onto the floor, returning to his normal form before walking to the cafeteria. His eyes scanned the area, on the lookout for Linda or anyone else who'd love a taste of justice.

He made it to the cafeteria, ready to open the doors for a little peek. Knowing Dawn's expertise, she should be ready to fire the ice-cream by now. He didn't want to interrupt the moment, much less have her pull him into the chaos again. He pushed the door with little force and moved his head over to see the event unfold.

What he would find, instead, was far from what he expected.

"Dawn?!" His eyes widened, his voice raised into a gasp. What he saw was beyond what he'd hoped for… in a bad way.

In the cafeteria, he saw the worst thing he could find in this time of day. It was a room in complete chaos! Food was flying everywhere and it wasn't just the ice-cream. Spinach, fries, burger meat and the meat-loaf of the day; bits of all the food were being flung around, followed by utensils and other miscellaneous items, turning the cafeteria into a warzone. Sunbeam wanted to leave the room to avoid the mess, but he instinctively went to the kitchen to find Dawn and Hackman, who were probably at the centre of the destruction.

Entering the cafeteria, Sunbeam ran right for the kitchen, dodging the incoming balls of food and other stuff as they flew and crashed all around him. Like something out of the Great War, the boy kept his pace, ducking and shifting everywhere.

When he reached the kitchen, things were far worse. The electronic appliances, like the dishwasher, the stove, the microwave and, of course, the ice-cream machine, were dancing like crazy, throwing off all the food and items everywhere out the kitchen. Electricity coursed through the appliances and the wiring, fidgeting and jolting out of control. The ice-cream maker was splashing out blobs of ice-cream, flavours of all kinds thrown out to mess up the cafeteria.

Behind the kitchen counter, there he spotted the two culprits. Dawn ducked behind the table, distressed and frightened by the sudden catastrophe. While Hackman was nowhere to be seen, Sunbeam ran to her, calling out to the girl.

"What the what is happening right now?!" Sunbeam shouted.

"Uh… a little technical problem?" joked Dawn. "Hackman's programming was far more sophisticated than I thought!" When he looked over to Dawn's right side, he saw Hackman, leaning against the counter, seemingly tired out. Sunbeam was about to call him, when a ladle crashed right onto his head.

"OW!" The blow to his head formed a bug bump on the boy's head. After rubbing his head, he called out to Hackman.

"Hackman! Shut this whole place down!" No response. The tablet sat still, unresponsive to his calls. That was when Dawn chuckled sheepishly.

"Uh… about that…" She then moved to show Sunbeam the state of their friend. Alarmed, Sunbeam saw two crosses at the eyes, suggesting that the kid was knocked out by something.

"Hackman!"

"P-P-P-P-P-PROCESSOR… OVER-R-R-R-R-R-R-LOAD…" Hackman beeped, lagging in his voice. He was deactivated and unable to help them, leaving Sunbeam and Dawn without a means to properly shut down the electronics.

"What did you do?!" Sunbeam yelled, barely missing a mixture of spinach and mashed potatoes from hitting his head.

"What?!" argued Dawn. "You think I have all the patience in the world?! I just decided to override him a little." She then showed him the mobile charger that she had with her. In an attempt to speed up the progress of her hijacking, she inserted the cable into Hackman, completely overcharging the poor boy and causing him to short-circuit. The resulting overcharge caused a surge in the current that completely corrupted the programming, turning the machines into weapons of mass destruction.

"Yeah, well, look what that got him!" shouted Sunbeam. Just then, a loud crashing sound was heard. The dishwasher threw a food tray into the security camera at the top, sending it spiralling out of control before being busted. Sunbeam had enough of the violence and sought to end this once and for all. "QUICK! We have to shut them all down!" Not wanting to argue with him, Dawn agreed. The two then tried to get over the top, landing on the stove. But as Sunbeam was about to jump off, he felt a sudden flush of heat on his foot, burning him instantly.

"YEEP!" The burning power of the stove threw him off, forcing him back behind the counter with Dawn and Hackman. Rubbing his foot and blowing on it to remove the agonizing burn, Sunbeam cried a little to seep out the pain.

After refreshing himself with an icepack, the boy breathed heavily. he was in a frenzy of panic and fear; his hopes of a trouble-free week were all lost at once. Suddenly, just when he was finally about to go scot-free for one day, he was rushed back into the world of trouble. And it was all the fault of the one person he trusted…

Angrily, he turned to face Dawn, giving the girl a rare, serious glare.

"You see?!" he growled. "This is exactly what I've been trying to tell you! We shouldn't be messing with the school for at least one more day! One day! That's all I asked for!"

"Well, sorry for being the life of the party here!" argued Dawn, defensively shouting back. "We have to do something!"

"Oh! Like you're the one to talk about safety regulations!" shouted Sunbeam. "Aren't you glad this is happening?!"

"Not when our lives are in jeopardy!" defended Dawn.

"Oh, and our lives weren't in jeopardy before?!"

"Well, I was more prepared, alright?! I didn't expect to cause this! If I'm going to live to spread chaos another day, at least I should put an end to this!"

"You should have thought about that before you rigged Hackman and made him animate the entire kitchen!" Frustrated beyond any reasonable doubt, Sunbeam flushed out his anger with a sigh. He took one more look at the devastating situation before them. The machines were still flinging and jolting around, with no end in sight. Sunbeam thought how fruitless his efforts were to avoid all of this, seemingly doomed to fail his family again…

Now, with no other option to go for, he had to fix this mess. If he couldn't get away with it, at least he should lessen the damage to soften the aftermath of what was to come.

Forgetting the anger he had towards Dawn, he decided to jump into action, calling on her aid to help contact the school authorities. They raced for the doors, hoping to shout out for help. On their way, they were pelleted by blobs of food, knocked endlessly by the harder objects thrown around by the kitchen. The run to the doors left them completely covered in slimy food and small bruises, but they finally made it to the exit.

But when Sunbeam tried to pull it open, the door was stuck, unable to break open as if it was locked. Assuming it to be a lack of strength from his rushed state, Sunbeam called Dawn to help him pull the door open.

"Dawn, give me a hand!" the boy yelled. Dawn grabbed the door handle with Sunbeam, both giving it their all to pull it open. But no matter how hard they tried, to their dismay, it still refused to budge.

When Dawn inspected the lock with her keen senses, she confirmed the worst!

"It's locked!" alerted Dawn.

"WHAT?! How?!"

---

The test results were almost in and, unfortunately for Miss Simian, she wasn't the one in charge of the scoring. She and Nigel were the perfect pair, but he still held things back that restricted her from taking full control over her students. Just once, wouldn't it hurt to inflict pain and suffering to kids she was forced to educate?

She grumbled her way to the teachers' office, where she would begrudgingly hand over her class' work to Mrs. Harriet to mark and score the kids' tests. At first, she thought it was a huge betrayal that Nigel had trusted another teacher to do her work. But after a while, she figured it was nothing more than a mere annoyance. She just hoped they'd fail, regardless of how well they studied, which again, was highly unlikely…

After she passed the papers, she proceeded to head back to the principal's office, where she would spend another hour with her precious.

However, something irked her to turn around. That primate instinct kicked in, hearing a commotion that was coming from the cafeteria nearby. Her impulse to the slightest sound of trouble drove her to investigate, hoping to catch the perpetrators responsible for the disturbance.

When she looked into the cafeteria doors' windows, she saw what was probably a combination… A mixture of terrible chaos and golden opportunity. There, she saw the Watterson-Luna pair, hiding in the cafeteria while a major storm of food and kitchen utensils flew all around them.

Shocked by the sudden mayhem, Miss Simian was about to bust right in to catch the troublesome duo in the act, sending them to the principal's office to inform him of their misdeeds. However, just as her hand reached for the handle, she stopped. A different feeling oozed inside, changing her demeanour.

Her hatred for the Wattersons had suddenly taken its course. From this seemingly chaotic turn of events, came a chance she could not afford to lose. Here the Watterson kid was, trapped in another bubble of trouble. If she could finally have the satisfaction of expelling the child from the school, then this was her perfect chance!

Grimly keeping herself away from the door, she then took out a bundle of the school's keys. Picking the one for the cafeteria, she then inserted it into the lock, twisting it and trapping the children inside. Without a care in the world, she released the key from the door and walked away, chuckling evilly. Who cared if the kids were being pelted and smudged with the cafeteria's condiments? They got what they deserved and they would have to be punished in the worst way possible.

"Hehehehe! If they can't leave this room, they will be exposed." she declared, her wicked joy evolving into a series of cackles. "Nigel won't have to worry about them anymore! HAHAHA!"

As Miss Simian left to laugh her joy away, someone else was watching the events unfold. From behind the door of an adjacent classroom, a lone student kept her eyes on Miss Simian, all while she feared for the three kids inside. The cat girl didn't want to be implicated in the incident, but her worries for a particular boy had prompted her to stay and watch, contemplating on what she would do.

When Miss Simian confirmed her intentions, the girl gasped, knowing the worst was about to happen to the victims inside.

"Oh no!"

Without hesitation, she had to make her way to find help. But who would she call upon to help? Who could be there to help Sunbeam, Dawn and Hackman out of this messy situation?

---

Her foot tapped impatiently, her arms crossed. Her nerves were almost about to burst in absolute frustration. For almost ten minutes since they were stuck in traffic, Penny had her patience tested by the endless complaints of a road-raging Gumball at the driver's seat.

Their trip to the mall was interrupted by a long line of vehicles that were heading for the same destination. In an unfortunate twist in their peaceful day, the mall was launching a promotion that almost everyone in Elmore couldn't ignore. A huge cut in the prices of, of all things, toilet paper! Like what was the point of this? There was no major crisis or plague hitting the town at this point. The world wasn't about to end. Why were people so obsessed with cheap toilet paper anyway?

While Penny was puzzled by the affair, to Gumball, the sales meant the worst thing he could face on the road. A huge traffic jam…

"Ugh…" groaned the husband, almost tempted to sound the horn. "Come on! It's not Black Friday! It's not even any Friday!"

Penny rolled her eyes, also wanting to have her voice heard. But as the calmer and more mature of the pair, she didn't want to cause a scene… which was exactly what Gumball was about to do. Climbing out of his seat and taking his body out the window, he threw a fit, swinging his fist wildly and yelling at the people at front.

"Hey! Why can't you extroverts get some peace and quiet back home, huh?!" Shocked and embarrassed by his childish behaviour, Penny retorted, pulling her husband back into the vehicle. She gave him another one of her angered glares while she ranted back at him.

"Gumball! Calm down and be patient!" she demanded. Gumball, however, didn't give in completely. He was quiet, but he wasn't totally out of his bad mood quite yet. "I don't get why you get so bad-tempered sometimes." Penny groaned.

"Can you blame me?!" argued Gumball, earning another impatient stare from his wife. "What? It's all in the DNA. You know how my Mom acts when she's in traffic."

"Okay. Then let's take our time and turn on the radio. Just listen in on some serenading tunes." suggested Penny, tired of hearing the same old excuses. Of course, however, Gumball didn't seem too enthusiastic, testing her again with another snarky comment.

"Honestly? How do you think that'll keep me in check?" Rubbing her temples, she then turned to her husband. Instead of another glare, she seemed to beam with happiness, somewhat optimistic again…

"Well, look on the bright side! If the music won't keep you quiet…" But it was a farce. Suddenly, she grabbed Gumball by the collar, startling the cat man. Once she had him in her grasp, she transformed into her wolf form, her hand turning into a paw which then extended claws that tore holes into the collar. Her angry growling was now wilder, demanding more power in her deadly stare.

"I will…" she growled with a much deeper voice. Of all the forms Penny could turn into when she was in a bad mood, this was her worst yet; calmer than her more monstrous forms, but still, it was far more threatening. Even her dragon form wasn't as traumatizing. Something about that beast in the night that gave Gumball the creeps more frightening than the more direct shows of force of her other demon forms.

It was more than enough to snap Gumball out of his own temper tantrum, submitting him into a state of fear as he sweated profusely. Thankfully, the threat was short-lived when he saw that the line was finally moving.

"Oh! Look at that! We're moving!" he laughed, still scared to the bone. "Let's… just get on with it!" Releasing Gumball, Penny reverted back to her normal self, grumbling to herself about how immature her husband could be at times.

The driver put his foot to the accelerator, slowly following the slow, but moving traffic jam, regretting about making such a fuss. He may be Nicole's son, but Penny was his wife, and wives are always the deadlier of the couples.

A sigh escaped his mouth. Today was not a day to be temperamental. Ever since his talk with his son the night before, Gumball wanted this day to be different. Sunbeam was to become a more model student and survive the semester to last another term in Elmore Junior High. If he could make it through, then he'd be the happiest father in the world. Hope had kept him this far, so he couldn't afford to waste it on a traffic jam.

"Let's hope nothing stops us this time." he whispered, not wanting to aggravate his wife again. The two remained silent as Gumball was forced to be patient. It was either this or being mauled to death by his wolf of a wife.

Then, Penny's purse began to vibrate, followed by the melodious tone of her smartphone. She took it out to answer the call. On the screen, it showed an unknown number. Wondering who it could be, she pressed the dial button, accepting the call. She brought the phone to her ear and answered, all while Gumball continued driving without a thought.

"Hello?" said Penny, while the caller began to talk. "Yes, this is Sunbeam's mother speaking."

Then, Gumball's nerves began to stir when Penny mentioned their son's name. He was hoping he would hear from the boy when he returned home from school, perhaps coming back with a positive note on his trouble-free challenge. To have a call about him this early spooked him. Good thing the traffic had stopped again; he'd be driving madly when he heard Sunbeam's name.

Gumball silently prayed, desperately hoping that Sunbeam wasn't in any trouble; intentional or otherwise. This was his last chance to prove to the school that he was capable of behaving and avoiding trouble, that he could become a well-respected student if he tried.

Please… tell me he didn't do anything wrong again…

Alas, when he saw Penny's face become startled, he already had his answer…

"GUMBALL! Stop the car!" yelled Penny, forcing Gumball to skid to the side of the road. Defeated, he had to assume the worst…

Yep… he definitely did…

"Uh huh…" Penny continued to talk to the unknown caller, hearing on what she had to say. After a while, she ended the call. "Okay! We're coming right away!" Putting off her phone, she sharply turned to her husband, with a face of alarm and restlessness.

"What happened?!" asked Gumball, also worried about his son.

"Eyes on the road, honey!" demanded Penny. "We're going back to school!" Knowing that his son was involved, Gumball hit the accelerator again and turned the other way, back to the school. Forget the new cooking pot, there was a son to tend to!

With the opposing lane of the road clear, the father went full throttle, speeding the car right for the school. The speeding vehicle zoomed through the streets, blowing away any walking folk at the sidewalks with the force of the speed. Penny grabbed onto her seat for dear life. She was about to tell Gumball to slow down, but she too was worried about Sunbeam that she didn't bother to stop him.

"What did he do now?!" yelled Gumball, while avoiding another pedestrian crossing the road. "I thought he promised us he'd do nothing bad!"

"Less talk! Full throttle!" ordered Penny, her motherly instincts activated. As he kept driving, Gumball set his sights on the road like a racer in a circuit, fully set on his destination. But almost five minutes in, there was another obstacle in the way. Hitting the brakes, the car came to a complete stop, almost yanking the couple off their seats.

Another traffic jam; this time, caused by a roadblock. Apparently, someone had the bright idea to cut down a tree to see if it could make a sound of pain when it fell. This caused the road to close down, while the Doughnut Sheriff was inspecting the flow of traffic at the centre of the cross-junction.

"Of all times!" groaned Gumball. "It's supposed to be a school day!"

"Get out of the car!" Seeing there was no other way, Penny exited the car, not caring about having their car stuck in the middle of the road. Ignoring the angered shouts of the drivers behind her, she immediately shut them all down by transforming into her mighty dragon form. The golden, burning reptile flapped her wings with enough force to blow their faces away. One look at her raging stare was enough to dispel all road rage, keeping them all silent.

Gumball also got out of the car, getting the idea of what Penny wanted to do.

"Hop on!" she told Gumball. Her husband climbed on board, tightly holding onto her neck while jittering inside. It wasn't his first ride on Penny in her dragon form, but the trips he had were not always smooth. As he expected, the dragon took off with voracious force, causing Gumball to scream like a little girl. Hanging on desperately, it took him a minute to adjust and feel more at ease. High in the sky, he tried not to look down, especially when Penny was flying wildly in the air.

All the while, however, there was still compassion that made him pray for the best. At this point, it wasn't about Sunbeam's reputation at stake. It wasn't even about his fate upon whatever incident had occurred.

All he cared about was Sunbeam's safety…

"Please, kid. Don't get hurt…"

---

Trapped in a room of war, Sunbeam and Dawn were left no choice but to defuse the situation themselves. Leaving the doors behind, they went back to the kitchen, met by the barrages of unending ice-cream blasts.

The machine fired globs of cream at them, freezing projectiles threatened to smother them up. The kids were splattered with ice-cream all over their bodies as they struggled to brave the storm. They became colder and colder with each hit, slowing them down.

"How much freaking ice-cream is in that small machine?!" shouted Sunbeam. The ice-cream maker was your average-sized kitchen appliance; it wasn't a full-blown giant like the machines at the Rainbow Factory. It shouldn't be spewing out this much ice-cream. But he was forced to eat his words, and a bit of ice-cream. By sheer coincidence, blobs of ice-cream started to fly towards him.

"Vanilla!" screamed Dawn, before the creamy, white ice-cream splattered on Sunbeam's face. Slightly dazed, he wiped his face, but another projectile headed his way.

"Chocolate!" Another hit, mixing the vanilla with sweet, brown goodness that couldn't be enjoyed. Sunbeam was unable to wipe his face on time before more ice-cream flew his way, piling on his face up.

"Green tea!"

SPLAT!

"Watermelon!"

SPLAT!

"Gravy?"

SPLAT!

"Tomato?"

SPLAT!

Flavour after flavour, Sunbeam then got hit by one more scoop of ice-cream. Oddly and tragically, in an instant, it began to burn him! Screaming in agony, he quickly wiped it off, but the ice-cream (?) had burned enough of his face until it was as red as the ice-cream that hit him.

"Chilli?! What kind of moron came up with these flavours?!" After they moved some more, Sunbeam and Dawn hid behind the counter again, re-joining the still unconscious Hackman while they caught their breaths. Unfortunately, the trouble had only just begun.

They heard ticking sounds coming from the counter above. They turned around to see forks, spoons, knives and other kitchen utensils standing upright, bending down as if they were setting their sights on the two. Panicking, Sunbeam pulled Dawn and Hackman out of the counter and out of the kitchen, just in time before the utensils started to fly towards them. The sharp points and edges of the forks and knives aimed right for them, backed by the blunt forces of the spoons and others. Sunbeam and Dawn reacted by knocking down the table to shield them from the approach. The sharp utensils stabbed onto the marble surface of the table as if it was flesh.

Poking out of cover, Sunbeam delivered another rant.

"This doesn't make sense! Why are forks and spoons moving around?! They're not electronics!"

"This is fanfiction of a wacky cartoon, Sunbeam!" argued Dawn. "You think anything these writers come up with makes sense?!" After their narrow escape, Sunbeam set his sights on the wall where the circuit breaker was located on; the only way to end this mess. While the food fight was still happening, he had to make one quick run to cut off the power.

"We have to shut this place down, now!" called Sunbeam. But just as he was about to make the jump, he heard Dawn, shouting out to him in utter panic.

"Sunbeam! I'm being sucked in!" The boy turned around to see Dawn being pulled into a vacuum cleaner. Her body flew towards the monstrous nozzle of the cleaner as she held on for dear life. The machine kept inhaling in with enough force that her grip was slowly loosening. She extended her claws out to desperately cling on, but they were of no use, the table being scratched by her being pulled in.

Sunbeam frantically ran back to save his friend, dodging more of the food bits thrown from the kitchen in a series of somersaults and fly-by's. In one quick dash, he leapt onto the table and grabbed Dawn's hands before she let go.

"Oh no, you're not!" Sunbeam vowed.

A tug-of-war ensued as Sunbeam and the vacuum cleaner fought to take hold of the girl. However, the boy was losing his edge when his feet started to slip, sliding towards the vacuum cleaner. Seeing the situation turning sour, Dawn then looked around the table, grabbing hold of one of the forks before throwing it into the vacuum cleaner. The sharp object struck into the hose, clogging the cleaner as it choked on it, coughing uncontrollably like an elderly man on a bad day.

Dawn was freed from the vacuum cleaner's control, dropping down to join Sunbeam as they ran to the circuit breaker. However, stopping them was an army of appliances, standing in front of them to prevent them from shutting them down. As if the cartoony craziness of it all wasn't enough, they were backed by the stove as it too pulled itself out of the kitchen and roared with its flames fired up. Then, there was the fridge which also breathed out a freezing cloud of mist from the door.

Realizing the odds were against them, Sunbeam wanted to run, find a way to escape and let the problem die out when the authorities came. But he then looked at Dawn, who was also contemplating a way out from this catastrophe. When she looked at him, the two suddenly felt a spark; a burst of energy that they should have had from the start. It was their strength of dealing with trouble that was snapped back into their hearts and minds.

Suddenly, their fears were forgotten. A new adventure was out there and, as always, they would be the first to tackle it, together…!

"You ready?" Sunbeam asked, cracking a victorious grin. Dawn smirked back, ready to cause some mayhem.

"Always." The two faced the enemy ahead, now fuelled with a fire that set them forth. They charged fearlessly into the army of electronics, taking them head on.

The first to counter their charge was the dishwasher, spitting out plates at Sunbeam like Frisbees. Sunbeam leapt up, transforming into a beetle with sharp, sword-like front arms, slashing away at the plates before he landed on top of the dishwasher. Then, he sliced through the dishwasher like it was paper, severing the machine into several pieces that fell onto the ground.

Next, Sunbeam faced the refrigerator and morphed into a red bear, claws out with a vicious roar. The giant box tried to freeze the bear cold with its 'breath', but the animal's natural resistance to the cold gave Sunbeam the chance to catch up and gave it a powerful body slam, throwing his weight onto it and proceeding to slam it with his claws, scratching and denting the helpless storage unit.

Dawn, meanwhile, grabbed a pair of forks, wielding them like dual katanas. Using her natural knack for parkour, she jumped from table to table, avoiding the incoming toast slices from the toaster. The toaster was then assisted by three frying pans as they flung a fried piece of egg each towards the girl, threatening to sear her down. Dawn threw herself back to catch the pieces of toast and the eggs with her forks, skilfully putting them down on plates for a fresh serving of a breakfast fit for a king. At the end of her stunt, she twirled her forks before jumping towards the toaster, stabbing wildly at the appliance until it was completely crushed and broken. She then flew her hands out and caught the three frying pans before she spun around and threw them towards Sunbeam.

The bear was busy shaking a blender in his jaws when he saw the pans come right for him. Transforming again, he jumped up and shrunk into a three-tailed monkey, catching the pans in each of the appendages. He then directed them towards the microwave, decimating the device before it had a chance to throw a bowl of boiling hot soup at him.

With the appliances down, there was only one threat left to deal with. The giant stove, somehow detached from the kitchen, roared again, flames bursting out of its burners. It all seemed like a battle with a mighty dragon, with two tiny knights against a beast that towered over them like a ferocious monster.

And yet, despite their fright at the sheer power of the stove, they were determined to take it down. In one last show of force, Sunbeam prepared to transform into something far deadlier than any of the forms he had just used earlier.

"A mouse?" Dawn looked down to see Sunbeam morph into the tiny rodent form, wondering what the heck he was doing.

"Tiny but deadly…" chortled Sunbeam, unfazed by the size disadvantage. The two then looked towards the stove, watching it breathe fire again. With its power, it threw all the pots and pans it could take towards them. The children prepared themselves for the final boss battle, forks and gnawing teeth at the ready.

Countless years of video gaming and outdoor escapades would be put to the test!

---

Penny had been flying in the air for five minutes, Gumball desperately trying to hang on for dear life as the dragon speared towards the school below them. His screams were muffled by the blowing force of the air current against Penny's ears as she made her descent.

Aiming for the parking lot, she shot her back legs out front to prep her landing. The sudden shift in her body caused Gumball to nearly lose his grip, still screaming like a little girl. When the ground drew closer, Penny braced herself for a rough landing. Finally, her feet dragged across the rock-hard road, digging into the ground while her feet burned from the force of the landing. Gumball wrapped his arms around her neck, almost too hard for her liking. Her wings flapped violently as she made her crash-landing. Slowing down, her claws then caught onto the rough surface, causing her to flip over the ground and land on her back.

When she recovered, Penny reverted back to her normal form, blowing and fanning her feet from the intensely hot landing. Once she was done, she dusted herself of the asphalt caught onto her body.

"Okay! We made it!" shouted Penny, still fatigued by burns and bruises. When she looked around, however, there was no sign of her husband anywhere. "Gumball?" She finally looked below her, startling the wife when she saw what had happened to Gumball. The man was flat on the ground, dug into a hole caused by the impact of her final fall. Crushed and unable to move, he raised a finger, mumbling to Penny.

"I'll… be there…"

Penny turned to the school, remembering that her son was in need of help. At the front door, she caught sight of one of the school's teachers, standing at the entrance.

Filing her nails, seemingly unaware of the chaos happening inside, Miss Simian leaned against the door, probably waiting for Principal Brown before she would leave the school. Penny ran towards the monkey teacher, followed by a crushed Gumball who was cracking himself back into shape.

"Miss Simian!" she called to Miss Simian. The old coot turned her head to the mother's calls, looking ignorant as always. "Did you see what happened to our son?!"

"No…" the teacher nonchalantly dodged to answer the question. At that point, Gumball was already next to Penny after blowing his deflated head back to normal. Even a doofus could tell that Miss Simian was lying, but what baffled the couple was how she was being dismissive on purpose.

"Seriously? You couldn't even pretend to care?" groaned Gumball.

"I don't know why you two are here, but I've got important things to do." told Miss Simian. The lack of empathy was already starting to get on the parents' nerves. However, among the two of them, no one was madder than the mother herself.

Penny's brows furrowed dangerously low, steam coming of her nose as if she was a bull. Her dangerous glare was directed at the blissfully dismissive teacher. Her motherly instincts kicked in again. The safety of her son was in jeopardy and when someone was being ignorant about it, on purpose especially, her fire would be lit to extreme heats.

She never really hated Miss Simian when she was a student of the school, as she'd just be some annoying presence that Penny could just go through without major repercussions. However, when the ancient crook dared to put her child in danger, she was finally convinced by Gumball's countless mockery of her.

Storming towards Miss Simian, Penny stared her down, met with only equal annoyance from the older woman.

"What?!" spat Miss Simian, angrily.

"Listen, here, Miss Simian!" shouted Penny. "My baby's in there, and if you don't move right now…"

Then, Miss Simian bore witness to Penny's ferocity, watching the mother grow in size, towering and eclipsing over her. Her body buffed up, her skin changing from her golden gelatine texture to a rough shell of pure muscle. Soon, the monkey teacher was looking up at a barbaric monster; Penny's most violent form yet.

Penny's dark red eyes then shot right at Miss Simian's creasy ones. Then, she grabbed onto the teacher with her giant fist, completely wrapping her thick fingers around the crooked, thin body.

"I'LL TEAR YOU TO SHREDS!" With the mightiest of roars, Penny yelled at Miss Simian. The elderly woman's body swayed violently by the powerful shout that she almost bent the other way. Shaken with absolute fear, the teacher melted into the giant's fist, splattering onto the stone floor, completely whitened.

Gumball watched the whole scene with a combination of admiration and fear.

At times, when Penny got mad, she would really let people have it. Far from the shy little peanut girl Gumball first met as a kid, the amount of anger and authority she had as a devoted parent was almost on par with Gumball's own mother. Even if Penny could turn into other creatures with extraordinary powers, there wasn't anything different than what Nicole could do without such powers. Oddly enough, their anger spats were also similar for other reasons Gumball couldn't tell…

Nonetheless, when he saw Miss Simian drop to the floor, it gave him joy that such punishment was dealt.

Penny then returned to her fairy form, breathing heavily from her transformation. Gumball came up to her, rubbing the back of his head with sweat coming down.

"I hope never piss you off like that ever again, dear." said a shaken Gumball.

"Come on!" Penny grabbed Gumball's hand and pulled him along, running into the school to save their son and Dawn.

---

Facing the reanimated stove, Sunbeam and Dawn were armed and ready, standing in the face of absolute, red-hot danger. The flames burnt brightly like dragon fire against a knight in shining armour. The kids stared down the mighty enemy before them, about to use conventional means to beat it.

"I'll get his attention!" squeaked Sunbeam. "You deal some damage!" Dawn nodded. Armed with a fire extinguisher, she'd focus her attention on the flaming burners and keep them from fuming out its fires. To make sure she got to her targets, Sunbeam had to shrink himself into a meek little mouse, where his speed and small size could help him run around the cafeteria while the stove focused on him.

At once, the team split up, running from both sides from each other. Sunbeam scurried towards the stove, sticking his tongue out to coax it into attacking him. The stove bought the trick, firing balls of fire towards the little mouse. A torrent of flames raged through the floor, barely missing the boy when he jumped out of the way, just in the nick of time. The little rodent ran across the floor, getting himself away from more fire attacks with speed and agility. Flaming waves swept through the floor, forcing Sunbeam to hop onto table after table.

When the stove was distracted enough, Dawn grabbed her extinguisher and made her move to the burners. Jumping up in the air, she aimed the nozzle and pulled the trigger. A cloud of foam was jettisoned out of the funnel and onto the stove, blocking the burners and neutralizing the flames.

Unfortunately, extinguishing the flames wasn't enough. The burners were switched back on, somehow evaporating the foam off the stove. Angered, the giant then set its sights on Dawn, who dropped the extinguisher in a panic. It then unleashed its fiery rage onto her, thrusting a ball of fire towards her. Unable to move on time, Dawn stood petrified, too frightened to move away from the giant fireball.

Her whole body froze, only her mind was functioning, but it was like it was happening in slow-motion. As the fireball got closer and brighter, Dawn's thoughts laid towards her family and the failure to uphold their legacy. Despite being in danger multiple times, she had never come this close to a fiery death; at least, she hadn't felt like it. Now, it all seemed like it was going to be the end. Mere seconds felt like hours, giving her time to look back and feel regretful that she hadn't done enough to make her a certified professional of the Luna family.

But before she could be consumed by the enormous flame, she suddenly saw something rush in front of her. A large turtle threw himself in between the attack and the girl, using its shell to block the blast from hitting her, saving her from a horrible end. The turtle fell to the ground with its shell smoked with a black coat of soot all over it. Sunbeam stood back up to face the stove, transforming back into his normal form. He then put up a brave face, mocking the stove for the failed attempt on Dawn's life.

However, a second later, his triumph was quickly swiped away when the burns finally came to his back.

"OW! OW! OW!" Sunbeam jumped in the air, grabbing his back and screaming repeatedly from the burns. When he was finally cooled enough, he and Dawn took another look at the stove and saw that it was still fired up, literally, for more.

"We'll need more firepower." told Dawn. "Or in this case; anti-firepower." Sunbeam looked around the cafeteria, looking for anything that could be of use. The fire extinguisher wasn't going to be enough and all the drinks they could use were mostly spilt all over the place. The refrigerator was beyond repair, so nothing in it was of any use, destroyed and melted away.

There was only one idea that Sunbeam had that could work. At the counter, the ice-cream maker hadn't moved to join its mechanical brethren on the battlefield. By this point, it had made some much ice-cream that a huge mound of the cream formed over the counter, almost enough to inflict a sugar rush on twenty kids. It was probably more than enough to pacify a steaming stove.

"I know just the thing." said Sunbeam. Dawn noticed his glance towards the ice-cream, frightened by what he was up to.

"You'll get a brain-freeze far worse than inhaling liquid nitrogen!"

"It's worth the risk!"

Thus, making one more transformation, Sunbeam turned into a large, blue elephant. Stomping towards the ice-cream hill, he then swung his trunk into the cream, sucking it up as hard as he could. Despite the breaking of biological laws that this writer couldn't bother to rationalize with, the elephant managed to suck up the entire mound, bloating his trunk to the max. Loaded with extra cold ice-cream was strong enough to give the large pachyderm an ice-cream headache that could literally freeze the boy. He had to be quick to end the threat once and for all.

He readied his trunk, pointing it like a hunting rifle and aimed at the stove. The mighty machine still breathed fire, not fazed by the ice-cold power that was about to cover it whole. Encumbered by the time he held his breath and the spreading frost that crept inside his body, Sunbeam fired away, blowing off all the ice-cream from his trunk and bombarding the stove as it sat doomed and unable to stop the overwhelming force from covering itself up. The giant was buried in fifty tubs worth of ice-cream, trapping it and extinguishing the flames in an instant. The mound soon did its job in defeating the stove, dropping it down to a useless state.

With the mighty foe gone, Sunbeam transformed back to normal, watching the aftermath of the fight they had. After the fires were washed away and the reanimated enemies of the kitchen defeated, the two kids stood over a ruined room. Tables were tossed over and chairs flipped and bent. Food was dripping from the ceiling and the walls, stuck to the floor and staining the tiles in a sticky or slippery mess. But worst of all, the wreckages and 'corpses' of machines, mangled, mauled or shredded to bits by the combined might of brains and brawn. Though food fights were nothing new, the cafeteria had never been in this state of destruction for a long time.

Sunbeam stared at the scene around him, while Dawn roared with cheers of victory, standing over the smothered stove with a fork held up high.

His habitual excitement filled him with thrill and triumph. Another exciting adventure and a badass fight that left him glorified with victory. He did feel like cheering, cherishing the win he and Dawn had fought so hard for.

Yet, at the same time, there was guilt in his heart. The promises made to his family and teachers were instantly broken. He had gotten himself in trouble again… Betrayal was felt hard in his heart, hurting him inside. He felt like he was doomed by putting himself in the forbidden frenzy put upon him by the forces of the school's faculty. Now, only time would tell just what the repercussions would be, but Sunbeam knew he was going to pay the price for his knack for mischief, no matter how noble his intentions were…

So, what was he to do? What was he to say? He did, after all, save two of his friends from certain doom. Wouldn't that excuse him from the punishments promised to him? He felt like it wasn't a given; no one really trusted him to control his habits and, thus, no one believed he was capable of doing the right thing.

All except a few people…

After her cheering had ended, Dawn came over to slap Sunbeam at the back, laughing with glee.

"Dude! That was awesome!" she yelled. "We totally nailed them, huh?!" Sunbeam couldn't cheer back. He was too conflicted to even smile, at first. But remembering what he did, he did manage to grin just a bit. He may have destroyed the cafeteria, but he did so defending his friends in the process. If that was enough to convince him that he had done some good, then it was all he could ask for.

"Yeah…" he sighed, still smiling. At least some people found the good in his actions, even if one of them was, by all means, a real troublemaker herself.

"EEK!" Suddenly, Sunbeam felt a chilling pain strike his brain, straining him until he was petrified. His skin froze with icicles forming at the ends of his fur. Dawn chuckled at the frozen state of her friend, reaching for a fork and spoon to chisel the boy out of his icy coat.

"Told you you'd get a massive brain-freeze." With her fork whacked into the ice with her spoon, it shattered into pieces. Sunbeam shook and shivered, slowly regaining his warmth with the help of his fairy aura.

Then, there was a hissing sound. From up the ceiling, the two kids looked up to find a knife, stabbed right into a water pipe. A crack formed right in the middle, allowing water to spritz right out. The degraded state of the pipe didn't help to keep it all in for long, slowly breaking apart.

A sense of deja vu hit them, reminding them of the day before that something similar happened. What would follow wouldn't sit well with everyone…

"Uh oh…" uttered Sunbeam.

"Round Two?" asked Dawn.

"I guess…"

And then, in an instant, the pipes gave way… The whole school was about to be washed up again… All Sunbeam remembered afterwards was a wave of water, rushing into him before everything went dark…

---

Sunbeam…

Sunbeam…

Sunbeam…!

SUNBEAM!

COUGH! COUGH!

The darkness ended. Sunbeam was awakened by both the disruption of throat from water choking him up, and the soothing voice of a man desperately trying to wake him up. His vision was blurry at first, but when he opened his eyes for a while more, he could finally see again.

Before him, he saw the sky above him. In front of it, a silhouette loomed over him. A closer look gave the boy a clearer picture of who the man was. Suddenly, he was overcome with absolute relief and happiness to see his father.

Gumball had been by his son's side when the torrent nearly swept him and Penny as they entered the school. His wife was able to save themselves before the wave broke free, out the door and taking the children with it. When they tended to them, they did their best to resuscitate them. Thankfully, both children were safe.

Now, father and son were reunited. Gumball, overcome with extreme relief to seeing his son alive/ After coughing up some more, Sunbeam rubbed his eyes, drenched all over his body. Then, he felt the tight grip of his father's hands on his arms, shaking him back and forth. The boy's head began to swirl in dizziness as Gumball stopped to shout at him.

"Sunbeam! You okay?!" he desperately asked.

"You mean, if I'm not being shaken around like a ragdoll and suffering from a major headache?" coughed Sunbeam, woozy from the shaking.

"So good you're safe!" Gumball then brought his son in a crushing bear-hug, almost suffocating the kid until his eyes popped out and back in.

"My spleen…" squealed Sunbeam. After Gumball let him go, he then saw his mother behind Gumball, equally overcome with solace that her son was well and alive. She then gave him another tight embrace, almost causing the boy's nerves to burst. When she let go, she smiled, wanting to tell him how worried she was when she got the call from someone at school. At first, Sunbeam thought he was actually going to be spared from the retaliation of his mother.

But, as usual, things didn't always go his way.

"You have some explaining to do, young man! What were you thinking?!" yelled Penny, happiness replaced by anger. Gumball, in turn, also frowned.

Sunbeam fell silent. His battle with the kitchen had made him break his promise to his parents, and understandably, they had the right to be angry at him. The father-son talk he had before felt like it was wasted. Nothing had changed, and as a result, he was about to lose everything…

All, because he couldn't keep himself trouble-free for one week…

"Please, Mrs. Watterson!" Dawn came to his aid, her clothes and fur also dripping with water. "It wasn't Sunbeam's fault! He was only trying to help." But still, the parents were not assured. By this point, there was no excuse. Yes, he did save Dawn and Hackman, wherever he was, but it wouldn't be enough to compensate for how much damage he had done. There would be huge amounts to pay for, and they were already struggling to make meets end. Gumball would have to be fired, Penny would not be able to sustain a proper flow of parenthood and the kids would be left without proper education.

All in all, he had doomed the family.

But before he could suffer the consequences, Sunbeam had to step up and admit his wrongdoings. If he was going to enter a period of dark times, then at least he should end his good old days with a heroic stand, to ensure that his friends were not forgotten. Standing before his parents, defeated, he apologized to them, knowing that it wouldn't be enough.

"Mom… Dad… I'm sorry… I was…"

"AH HAH! There!" The boy stopped when a wailing scream was heard. From out of the school doors, Miss Simian and Principal Brown raced out. Their angry, stern faces beamed right towards the group. They marched down and met the troubled family, staring right into the eyes of the boy who started all of this. "I knew I caught you!" screamed Miss Simian, triumph evident in her voice.

"Sunbeam Watterson!" scolded Principal Brown. "I thought I warned you; never cause any mayhem for this one week!"

"I'm sorry, Principal Brown! I was just…!" Sunbeam tried to defend his actions, but the principal was not having it.

"You have broken the rules of this establishment!" interrupted Nigel. "I will not allow this to go on. I'm afraid I have no choice but to expel you."

Sunbeam and Dawn gasped. The girl finally understood the gravity of her best friend's situation, filling her with regret. Yeah, she still had happiness for being part of a massive fight, but it still ached to not get the whole picture, especially since she was about to lose Sunbeam.

Sunbeam's parents, however, stood their ground, much to his surprise. They might had ended up losing their place in Elmore, but they were still standing up for him. But it only filled him with more guilt when he had to watch his parents fight a futile argument.

"Please, Principal Brown. Is there anything we can do?" begged Penny.

"How about you pay for all the damages your son caused?" said Nigel. "And if you think combining the money with the Luna's is going to help you, you are so wrong."

"But Sunbeam didn't mean to do this!" argued Gumball.

"And you can't be bothered to see the error of his ways?" spat Nigel again. "I understand you love your son, Gumball, but there are times when, as a father, you must realize that he has done terrible things!"

Sunbeam sat idly by, watching the adults come to blows over what had happened. Again, he was forced to feel the pain and guilt for messing things up. Grief and trauma returned to torment him, leaving him unable to speak or do anything. Tears began to flow down his face, unable to take the pressure anymore.

He felt like running away, thinking that he was only going to bring more pain by being in everyone's presence. No matter how hard he tried, trouble was only going to find him and those around him would be consumed into it. Even the one person who could brave the danger, his best friend who revelled in the chaos, would have been in mortal danger because of him. There was nowhere the kid could be while he had people around him.

But then, Miss Simian began to chortle, cackling at the entire debacle. The old monkey was always there to see the Wattersons tremble in defeat and she would enjoy every last second of it.

Watching the teacher gloat in this tragedy, something stirred inside him. Suddenly, the fears he had over ruining people's lives, the trauma of being the cause of so much damage and hurt, they were all gone.

He remembered the fight he had with the kitchen tools and how much he had to lose if he had allowed the cafeteria to be destroyed. Dawn and Hackman would have been hurt… or worse… Thinking back to his intervention, he couldn't just let his negative emotions get the better of him. He knew what he was getting into when he opened the doors and attempted to fix things. And while he didn't prevent the damage, he did look towards the people that mattered more. In the end, Sunbeam took up arms and helped Dawn and Hackman escape the worst possible scenarios.

So, finally, Sunbeam realized that he had more of a reason to be involved. He may have had his doubts, but as long as he did something to help those in need, it was more than enough for him. Who cared about a downfall for his family at this point?! He saved lives! All the great heroes of his father's stories made great sacrifices for the better of their people, and so, putting his reputation aside to save Dawn and Hackman made him feel like a hero.

And here, he was not going to let some grumpy old coots bring him down. He was not coming back anyway, so why bother resisting…? He was about to let them have it. Transforming his foot into an elephant's one, he slammed the ground so hard that everyone shook from the impact. The argument ceased and the adults turned their way to Sunbeam, noticing the anger in his face.

"See here, Principal Brown." growled Sunbeam, walking his way towards the aging man. "I may have caused some major damage to school property." His teeth gritted, overcome with anger from the stress he was forced to endure. "But I'm starting to wonder if you should be the one at fault here!" He pointed his finger, blasting Nigel Brown with his own turn at accusations.

"What?!" Everyone yelped, flabbergasted by Sunbeam's sudden change in mood.

"I beg your pardon!" affirmed Principal Brown.

"How dare you?!" added Miss Simian.

Sunbeam's parents, meanwhile, were stunned. All their time raising the boy, they had never seen such anger from him. He was always willing to bend to the will of authority whenever it came. Now, here he defied it, letting all of his fears go to finally have his word. It may had sounded rude to them, but at the same time, they couldn't help but feel…

Proud…?

"That ice-cream machine was already breaking up!" Sunbeam screamed. "My dad has seen that thing ever since he first got into this school, and you can't replace that?!"

"I did?" Gumball retorted, but was given an elbow to his thigh by his wife. "I-I mean; yeah I did!"

"By allowing that machine to just sit there, rusting away, you may have caused a health hazard! I mean; why bother keeping something that old?! You could have just bought a new ice-cream maker. But no!We would have never been harmed should the school have replaced it sooner!"

The crowd was speechless. Sunbeam's defence had rocked their minds like a surprise hit at the movie box office. An unexpected turn of events that suddenly shifted their minds to a whole set of emotions.

"But… this is…!" Nigel Brown was about to put Sunbeam in his place. However, there was a new player to this debate; one who had been by Sunbeam's side since forever.

"No." said Gumball. "He's right. Was it any surprise that you wouldn't be of any help?"

"Excuse me, but who are you to speak about responsibility?!" argued Nigel, pointing his finger at his former student.

"At least I'm acting on it now!" shouted the father, reliving the frustrations he had in this school before. While he was not as guilty as his son was, Gumball understood the complications of a school unable to catch up with disciplinary action. "Sunbeam's right! This whole thing would have never happened if you had been more careful with what's going on! I mean; what have you done to make sure I wasn't being tortured by my bullies?! Or how about that time when you put me in detention with some of the worst students this school had ever had?!"

"B-but…" Now, Principal Brown was slowly losing his edge. He was sweating from the sudden rise in opposition to his rule. "It's school protocol!" Gumball was about to yell again, but, this time, it was Penny's turn to interject.

"Protocol?! You call putting your kids in danger protocol?!" yelling the most she had ever had, while turning into the Gorgon monster with her venomous snake hairdo and deadly glare for a moment before reverting back. Her attention then shifted to Miss Simian, who had been quite casual over the matter, not even once lifting the finger at them.

"And what about you, Miss Simian?" scolded Penny. "Standing around, filing your nails, while the kids were being buried in ice-cream?! You couldn't even care less, could you?!"

"Now, don't you dare…?!" Miss Simian tried to shout back, but no one seemed to get the message; never interrupt a mother whose kids were in mortal danger!

"When Gumball and I came to school, you were just dilly-dallying with outside the school, doing nothing! Like you don't even want to help the children!"

"Wait…" Dawn then joined in, putting the pieces of a puzzle together. "Was that why the door was locked?!"

"WHAT?!" Everyone else shouted. Even the principal was shocked, and now, he was livid! His undying love for Miss Simian may keep him restricted from standing up fully for his students, but when the line was crossed, even she was not above the law.

"You locked them in there?! Is this true, Simian?!" he pressed his shock towards her. With her beloved against him, Miss Simian was finally struck with nervousness.

"No! I-I can't be blamed!" she stuttered, now looking more frightened. With the weight of the argument solely against her, Miss Simian then erupted in a fit of rage, now shooting her finger at the children.

"Your kids are the guilty ones! They were the ones who decided to go, anyway! So, it's their fault for being there in the first place!" She crossed her arms, grinning at the fact that the children were indeed responsible for implementing a scheme behind the school's back. "Like I told you, these kids have been nothing but trouble!"

"Trouble?" But then, Dawn came by and pointed her thumb at the window between outside and the cafeteria. "How about taking another look at the cafeteria?" Everyone came over to see what she was talking about. Then, after taking a look inside, they were stunned again.

Instead of a cafeteria completely decimated by the havoc that ensued only a few minutes ago, the place was somehow back to normal! The tables and chairs were put right back up and the floor was squeaky clean. The spots and stains of food were also gone, with not a single speck left untouched. Of course, the machinery destroyed by the kids was still left littered there, but a heap of the trash was kept nicely in one corner, ripe for a janitor to come and clean with a little more convenience.

"What the-?" They couldn't believe it. How could such a random disaster turn into a miracle worker? Principal Brown was actually impressed by the cleanliness of the cafeteria, amazed that all of this happened because of two troublesome kids.

Gumball was not going to let this go unpunished, however. After all, as his son boldly stated, it was more of the teachers' fault in this case.

"As for the damage done to the equipment, that will have to be your problem and your problem alone." he gloated. "Unless you want to back your arguments up with the authorities…" The older adults simply groaned at him. To think; that the one person in Elmore who would win an argument was the one guy who terrorized them.

But Gumball didn't expand upon his joy. Despite the damage, Sunbeam did the right thing; to save his friends and defuse the situation before it got worse. And for that, he was proud of him.

"More importantly, he saved his friends from a total disaster. And he did it the ol' fashioned way." With his hands firmly on his hips and his leg over what looked like a cliff from out nowhere, with waves splashing all around him and a ray of light behind him, Gumball declared that the day was saved thanks to…

"The Watterson way!"

"Where did that come from?" asked Sunbeam.

"Cartoon goodness, Sunbeam." said Gumball, still revelling in the glory.

At last, the principal had to give up. After the massive weight of arguments, there was already so much he could take. He supposed that the situation was over thanks to Sunbeam and Dawn's antics. As disgruntled as he was towards the reparations and payments needed, he had to concede. The Wattersons would always be tied to trouble, as if it was embedded in their DNA. No matter how many times he tried to defuse them, there was no stopping them. For once, he had to consider the possibility that, maybe, it was for the best to just let them be…

"Alright." he sighed. "I suppose Sunbeam has caused more good than harm, for once."

"WHAT?!" screamed Miss Simian, shocked that her own love had taken their side.

"My love. There is no need for this kind of behaviour." he argued. "After all, you did intentionally put them in harm's way. And for what? This?!" He waved his hand towards the leftover water coming out of the doors, indicating the damage done. If Miss Simian didn't have to be such a crook, then maybe the damage could have been lessened.

Then, Penny came over and stared right into Miss Simian's rotten eyes. The two women glared dangerously towards each other, but the fairy was the one to speak.

"I'm starting to see why Gumball hated you. In fact, I always knew; but now, I'm starting to feel just the same…" Penny taunted. "And if you ever hurt my baby again…" She then turned into her wolf form and growled viciously at Miss Simian, haunting her again. "You will suffer…"

"HMPH!" After the brief scare, the teacher turned around and headed back into the school. Principal Brown just shook his head. Apparently, the drama had given him a migraine, and that was only just the beginning.

"Now, please, just head home and return to your normal lives. If I can call it 'normal'…" he grumbled, following Miss Simian back inside. However, as he got up the steps, he turned around to look at Sunbeam. For the first time in a long while, the boy could see a genuine smile on the man's face.

"And about your test, my boy…" Nigel said. "We'll be looking forward to seeing you improve the next time." After that, he turned around, closing the doors and leaving the Wattersons the big clue to Sunbeam's fate. The boy jumped up with joy, having a good feeling about what the principal hinted at.

"YES! That means I passed, right?!" he shouted with elation. "I just gotta have!"

"I think that's a yes, coming from Principal Brown." stated Penny, shrugging her shoulders.

Finally, after such a tumultuous day at school, Sunbeam had managed to survive, after all. Thank goodness, he thought. After putting the entire school in jeopardy, he would have to watch as his family paid up everything. Now, he could rest easily, knowing that he did his part to protect them. If anything, it made feel like a badass.

And why wait for more? There were other good things to come his way…

"Hey, Sunbeam!" Sunbeam turned to the road. There, he spotted the two popular kids in his class, Gus and Takeda. They stood there, the black-and-white character waving enthusiastically at Sunbeam.

Naturally, Sunbeam walked over to them, wondering what got them so excited.

"That was the bomb!" cheered Gus, slapping his arm around the cat boy. "A spectacular performance! I can imagine the masses gathering like it was the Great Depression! Only more joyful and definitely fatal!"

"Oh! Uh… thanks." stuttered Sunbeam.

"And how about that killer wave you and Dawn made? Very cool." praised Takeda, dropping his shades a bit downwards to show his eyes a little.

Sunbeam couldn't believe it. He was being complimented by two of the most popular kids in school! Not that doing damage to school property was rewarding or anything, but who cared?! He was somehow being praised by these cool guys!

"So, how about it, kid? Care to meet up some other time?" offered Gus. Sunbeam was having the time of his life, now being asked to join them in their gatherings! And if Takeda had credited Dawn in the conversation, then that must had meant she was to be invited as well. Excited beyond belief, Sunbeam couldn't say no.

"Sure!"

"Cool. See you around." Takeda snapped his fingers, giving Sunbeam a point of his fingers to bid him farewell.

"Tally-ho!" wished Gus as the two walked away from the school. Sunbeam remained stunned, almost about to drool, thinking about all the fun stuff they would get to do.

And the heat just kept on coming.

"Hey, Sunbeam." Right behind him, Sunbeam was graced by the presence of Pearl, who was also there to spectate the drama.

"Pearl!" Sunbeam jumped, still unable to speak properly. His heart fluttered both with affection and guilt. He hadn't gotten over the fact that he nearly drowned his crush yesterday. So, why was she here, smiling at him, no less? "Wh-what are you doing here?"

"She was the one who called us, sweetie." answered Penny.

"You did?" asked Sunbeam.

"Mmhmm." Pearl, nodded in approval.

Yes, she was the one who called his parents when she witnessed Miss Simian locking the door. Instead of focusing her energy on the teacher, however, she went straight for the payphone and called them.

"Oh… Uh, thanks…" Sunbeam rubbed the back of his head, extremely flattered that his crush attempted to save him. But that still didn't answer the question; why did she do it, even after Sunbeam nearly got her killed.

"My pleasure!" cheered Pearl.

"I… uh…" Sunbeam struggled to say something, but he needed to say what he needed to say. Finally, he decided not to let his stupid feelings stop him from being sincere. "I'm sorry about what happened yesterday! We were planning to give you the best birthday surprise ever, and…!"

"It's okay, Sunbeam! Chill!" affirmed Dawn, holding her hands out to stop Sunbeam from exasperating. "I'm sure you didn't mean to nearly drown me and the girls back then." Then, a sneaky smile crept up on her face. "In fact, that was the most fun I've had in a long while!"

"Really?!" exclaimed Sunbeam. His heart soared when he heard that Pearl actually enjoyed the flood yesterday! Yeah, it still engulfed others, and Sunbeam did feel somewhat confused as to why Pearl would be happy about being washed away. Regardless, it didn't matter, at least because everyone made it out alright.

"Mmhmm! I mean; I hate the thought about drowning in the middle of school, but it was worth it." told Pearl.

"You think so?!" Sunbeam could hear this all day and he would still be struck with love. "Well, Dawn and I can cook up some more fun! Just- uh- feel free to ring me up, huh?"

"I… think we've had enough trouble for one day." giggled Pearl.

"Oh! Right! Hehehe…" laughed Sunbeam sheepishly.

All the while, Gumball and Penny watched the exchange between the two kids. Apart from the former's apparent jealousy of his son being invited to join a group of cool kids, something that he failed to do back in his day, he couldn't help but feel overwhelmingly happy that Sunbeam did something good for the girl he loved. It was a start, but surely, with enough effort and hopefully, more consideration, he would earn her heart.

"Just like his father." mused Penny, also relishing in her son's joy while poking fun at Gumball's own romantic endeavours in the past.

"But it worked, didn't it?" teased Gumball, elbowing Penny in the arm.

"Shut up." giggled Penny, blushing.

After a brief but loving chat, Sunbeam had to call it a day. He wished the moment lasted longer, but looking at the Sun setting down, there was not much time left for talk.

"I'll see you around, then." offered Sunbeam.

"Yeah! Definitely!" cheered Pearl. "How about tomorrow?"

"Oh yeah!" The two shared a heartfelt laugh.

"Well, goodbye!" Pearl wished before she spun around and ran the other way. Sunbeam simply drooled with amazement. Sure, it wasn't a solid beginning to a beautiful friendship, but it was a start nonetheless.

The bliss was short-lived when Dawn came over, giving Sunbeam a noogie to the head and snapping him out of his trance. The boy was taken aback by the sudden assault to his head, pushing Dawn off after a rough shake-up of his hair.

"See? Just get yourself in trouble with me, and you get want you want." told Dawn.

"Yes, Dawn. You really are a miracle worker." laughed Sunbeam.

"Couldn't have done it without 'ya, buddy." The two gave each other a fist bump. For all of Dawn's stubbornness and obsession with havoc, Sunbeam was glad she wasn't exactly malicious. Thankful that she was truly his best friend, he couldn't have her any other way…

As for his family, Sunbeam was greeted by a collective hug from Gumball and Penny; their disappointments and anger all gone. Warmth and affection took over. Gumball was especially proud that his son had taken his advice and not let the trouble get to him. Sunbeam braced the storm and although he nearly got expelled for it, he was glad the boy stood up to himself and was rewarded with all the good things a kid could have in friends.

"We're very proud of you, sweetie." said Penny. The three continued to hug, seemingly dazed by the power of family bonding.

Sunbeam was especially thrilled. Finally, a day went by, and he managed to achieve the goals he made in school. He got the chance to be with the cool guys and, more importantly, he had a shot on being with Pearl.

But, of course, he was able to make something of himself. He stood for what was right and saved not only his own skin, but his parents' as well.

For once, everything was right…

"Does this mean I'm off the hook?" asked Sunbeam.

"No, you're still grounded for a month." said Penny.

"Eh, worth it…"

THE END