Welp, chapter 5 is here. Prepare for stuff I guess since this is action packed I guess? So um.. Yeah. Enjoy!
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"Well, look who came back finally. It was about time you showed up dork." Jealousy scowled, as Zach walked in rather angrily. "Having fun making friends?"
"He's not Zach's friend! Zach was pushing his self esteem down!" The other cat replied, only earning laughter. "Shut up it's not funny!"
"Shut up its not funny oooh!" Jealousy mocked, as Dark Gumball smirked, looking amused. "Geez, you really are a loser huh?"
"Zach is not a loser!" Too angry to even think, the cat stormed off, leaving the others laughing by the controls. Zach stomped down the area's passageways angrily, eventually sitting himself down, at least far enough away from the control room. He muttered his frustrations and anger towards what had happened, not aware of Gumball watching him from his cell a few feet away.
"Are you back to hurt me again or something?.. Its not as scary when you do it a second time to be honest."
"SHUT UP ZACH IS NOT IN THE MOOD!"
Gumball flinched by this response. "Okay okay sheesh. Did something happen or whatever while I'm stuck in here?"
"None of your business los-" Zach cut himself off, angrily crossing his arms as he stared at the ground. Almost out of character, tears could be seen streaming down his face, dripping onto the floor.
"..Dude?.." The normal feline was confused by this behavior, yet.. Sympathetic. "Um.. Look.. I know you tried to take over my body and tried to make me fade away, but.. I get it. You just wanna be accepted, right?"
"How do you know?" Zach looked up, staring at Gumball with a scowl. Though he looked surprised by this sudden talk. "You weren't laughed at and called a loser."
"Um, actually yeah. I have."
"Are you lying to Zach just to gain trust and escape?"
"No. Even if I did escape the other two would come after me." Gumball replied.
"Fine." Zach sighed, leaning back on the wall. "..Zach has to stay cool and nothing you losers are like. But its hard.."
He hugged his knees, looking more sad than angry. "They won't let Zach have feelings." Zach shifted his eyes back to the floor. "But that's Zach. Its not like Zach's original, Zach's just you but with a different personality."
"..Zach, listen."
The egotistical feline looked at Gumball with a raised eyebrow.
"..They're wrong. You aren't just another me, and.. You can be someone." Gumball said, leaning against the cell. "Look, I'll give you this. If you let me out of here, I can help you find who you wanna be. I promise."
"..Are you sure?..." Zach stood up, looking untrusting of this. Seeing the cat nod, he reluctantly agreed. "..Okay. Zach will help you."
He let Gumball out of the cell, at first worried that he'll be tricked. However, the other feline stood there, not running off from him or putting him in a trap. "..Why aren't you tricking Zach?"
"A promise is a promise dude, I'm not that much of a jerk to break it." The other responded, as Zach led him to the control room.
"Well.. Okay. But Zach doesn't entirely trust you yet."
"Fair enough. Let's just get there, okay?"
The two eventually found themselves at the entrance, and Gumball couldn't help but feel angry. He stormed into the room, quickly noticed by Jealousy and Dark Gumball.
"Look here you jerk! I'm not letting you take my body again or I'm gon-" The feline is quickly cut off, as he feels dark blue magic grab him by the throat, lifting him up as he struggled to breathe.
"Nice try Gumball. I'm in control now, and you can't do a thing to stop it." Dark Gumball said, laughing as he watched the other being strangled. "Wait.. How did he escape?" The sorcerous cat quickly faced Zach angrily. "How did he get out of the cell?!"
"Well uh.. Zach was just walking by and he um.. He grabbed Zach and managed to unlock it and broke out?.." Zach looked nervous, trying to explain himself. However this only made DG angrier.
"LIES!" Dark Gumball clenched his fists, the magic strangling Gumball tighter. "YOU LET HIM OUT!"
Jealousy gasped, now furious as well. "HE WHAT?!"
"Let Zach explain-"
DG cut him off. "Do you want your own body and soul?"
"Yes but-"
He cut him off again. "Then WHY are you foiling around with our plans?! You dumb idiot you'll kill us!"
"BECAUSE I'M TIRED OF BEING PUSHED AROUND BY YOU HORRIBLE JERKS!" Zach yelled, making the other cats flinch with surprise. He suddenly threw himself into Dark Gumball, punching him in the face. The other was caught off guard, as his magic fizzed out quickly, dropping Gumball to the floor.
Jealousy tried to restrain Zach, but was unsuccessful, as Gumball came behind and kicked him in the back, making him fall over.
"You okay?" The blue cat asked. Zach nodded.
Gumball ran to the controls, and managed to start going back into his body, however Jealousy and Dark Gumball grabbed him. All three fought for control, punching and hitting each other as they pressed buttons left and right.
"There I found him!" Darwin cried, the rest of the family running over quickly.
An angry power-hungry version of Gumball was cornered into a fence, hissing at the family. However, his voice suddenly changed to normal.
"No stop you stupid jerks let me keep my-" Gumball was cut off, as his voice switched into a deeper annoying one, fur briefly turning green. "Get off the controls you-" Soon THAT switched into a semi-deep voice, fur changed back. "Both of you stop! You're messing everything up!" It changed back to Gumball, who was desperately trying to fight, as he noticed the unnerved horrified family in front of him. "Guys knock me out! Before they do anything bad!"
"Gumball what's going on? Are you okay-"
"No time just knock me out!" He replied quickly, cutting Anais off.
"Well.. Okay.." She walked up to him, and swiftly punched him in the face, knocking him out.
"Anais!"
"Sorry mom, he did ask so, I did." She shrugged.
"Agh!" Gumball came back into the control room, and was thrown into the wall. He grew scared, as Dark Gumball cornered him, dark magic swirling in his fingers.
"I should of done this years ago.." The dark cat said, raising his arm up.
Gumball flinched, but felt nothing. Confused, he looked up to see Zach grabbing Dark Gumball by the neck, dragging him into some kind of pit that appeared.
"This is for hurting him." Zach threw the dark feline into the pit, the other screaming as his voice faded out. The egotistical feline soon dragged Jealousy over.
"Wait no, you don't wanna do this! We're friends!" Jealousy pleaded, as he was dangled over the pit.
"You were never Zach's friend." Zach narrowed his eyes, as he drop-kicked him in. "And never will be."
The pit closed up, not to be seen again.
"Zach that was awesome!" Gumball stood up, smiling with glee. "You totally kicked their butts!"
"Heh, of course Zach did, Zach is cool." The other feline said with a smirk. "Also... They were annoying."
The two were happy, glad that they got rid of the main baddies, however.. A thought came to mind.
Zach soon quietly spoke. "...How am I getting a body?..."
"...Um... Oh shoot..." Gumball frowned. He was unsure of how to solve this. "...I... I don't know..." He gasped, seeing his body fading out. "I think I'm getting back into my own mind..."
"Zach is dumb anyway, its impossible for Zach to get his own body.." The feline was soon surprised, as Gumball suddenly hugged him.
"I'm sorry I couldn't help you.." Gumball looked almost upset by this, hugging tighter.
Zach smiled, a few tears seen under his shades, as he returned the gesture, the other feline disappearing. "Its okay loser, Zach will be okay."
"Is he okay?"
"I think he's waking up!"
"Ugh.. My head.." Gumball sat up, suddenly greeted with hugs from his loved ones. "Oh hi guys."
"What happened?" Anais asked. "Did you destroy those things?"
"Yeah. They locked me up in a prison for a while, but Zach helped me escape and we took care of the other guys-"
"Hold on, Zach helped you?" Darwin raised an eyebrow, as he helped his brother up onto his feet. "Um, you didn't forget he was a bad guy, right?"
"Well yeah, but he helped me. He wasn't bad or anything like the other ones."
Before Gumball to continue speaking, he felt a horrible headache coming back, his eyes beginning to glow. His family were quick to step back, as a bright light blinded everyone, each having to turn away and shield their face.
It left just as fast as it arrived, the light fading as the feline's eyes returned to normal. He fell over to the sidewalk, keeping himself from losing his stomach, as he heard shuffling on the pavement nearby. Confused, Gumball stood up, noticing a figure on their knees. He approached closer, and soon grew shocked by the sight. "What the what?.."
Zach coughed, taking off his shades as he looked at him with the same shared expression. Seeing the other raise his paw, he flinched, afraid of getting hurt or yelled at. However, it did not come. The feline looked up to see Gumball offering his hand. Should he take it? He was originally a villain about to kill him. Zach faced the other family members, the latter being unsure of his moves, looking untrusting of him. He sighed, and took Gumball's hand, the other lifting him up.
"Are you okay?"
"..What?" He was caught off guard by this, as Gumball looked at him with concern. "Um.. Zach guesses so. This is weird."
"I know dude, but at least you're not stuck in my head right?" The other cat chuckled slightly, but stopped as Zach didn't really laugh. "Sorry."
"Its okay. Zach is just.. Confused. How does Zach exist?.."
Gumball shrugged. "I dunno, maybe my mind was generous." He led Zach to his family, who were.. Less thrilled about this to say the least.
"Okay so uhh that happened. But don't worry, he's a good guy now, he won't hurt anyone. He just wants his own life, but.. I think we might need to help with that."
"Um.. I don't know Gumball.. He was kinda a jerk before.. Remember?.." Darwin looked uncomfortable. "..I don't really trust him.."
"He has a point." Anais said. "But I'm more concerned by the fact you two look identical. How will anyone tell you apart?"
"Anais he literally wears shades 24/7, how is that hard to tell us apart?" Gumball grew annoyed.
His mother soon spoke. "As much as I like you helping others out, I don't exactly trust him either. We can't even afford it!"
Gumball sighed, looking at his father. "Well dad? Do you not like him either?"
"Eh. I just wanna be man of the house." Richard replied with a shrug.
"..Its okay los- Gumball. They don't trust Zach anyway, there's no point."
"But I can't just leave you here, you saved my life in there!" Gumball soon turned to his family. "Guys, please.. I just wanna make it up to him. Its the least I can do for him.. Can't you give him at least a chance?.."
Nicole looked reluctant, however soon agreed "..Well... Alright.. I'll give him a chance. But promise me I can trust you, alright?"
"I promise."
She now looked at Zach, just as worried. "And I can trust you too?"
"Zach promises."
"Am I going to have to get used to him doing that?" She asked.
Gumball shrugged. "I guess so."
"Alright then.. Zach?"
Zach raised an eyebrow, slightly confused.
"Um.. Temporarily.. Welcome to the Wattersons?"
Surprisingly, he smiled, feeling actually.. Happy. Gumball smiled as well, as he led him with the family home.
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Tbh I don't think anyone expected me to do a character redemption, huh? Well, I did.
Next chapter will be the epilogue, so stay tuned for that.
With that said, see you next chapter :)