Teri x Gumball: In between worlds

by FantasticSchaefer

Three months after a devastating break up, a depressed Gumball is surprised when Teri shows up at his house in the middle of the night with a monster chasing her. Soon Gumball and Teri find themselves caught in an invasion by invisible monsters known as "Nephilim" and have to prevent Elmore's destruction. Will this unlikely duo succeed or will Elmore be trampled underfoot?

4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Bridging the gap

Teri x Gumball

(A/N): What is up TAWOG fans? We're back with chapter four of the romantic/fantasy story, Teri x Gumball: in between worlds, and there are quite a few things that will go down in this segment of the story. The story will pick up the day after the battle with Toxic Pill and focuses somewhat on Teri's newly acquired assets along with Gumball's new power. Rob will not be making any appearances in this chapter, but do not worry because he does play an important role in the story and I will be sure to include him in later chapters.

Like the previous chapters, there will be another Nephilim appearing and we're now starting to settle into the life of Gumball and Teri as they face the constant threat of the evil spirits attacking their town.

Please enjoy reading and leave a review down below!

(I do not own The Amazing World of Gumball. All rights belong to Ben Bocquelet, the staff, Cartoon Network, and other respective owners.)

-September 17th, 2013, 7:57 A.M. school hallway-

Gumball shoved his backpack into his locker and slammed the door shut. The loud, metallic sound rang through the hallway briefly before fading amongst the sound of many other students walking and talking as they congregated in their various groups. With his textbooks and notes tucked under an arm, he turned towards the pale, paper girl who was standing next to him with her own school supplies in her hands. They met up again on the bus and discussed the events of yesterday throughout the whole ride to school. The main topic of discussion was Teri's runes that had been generously given to her by Rob, Gumball's former nemesis now turned ally for the duration of the human-Nephilim war, as a means to help her fight against the vile spirits.

Of course, Teri receiving magical items warranted a few teases from Gumball, like the one he was going to give her now,

"Wanna sit next to me in class, Teri the spell caster?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows in a mocking fashion.

His flat classmate regarded his little quip with the usual roll of her eyes and a glare that could strike even the fiercest cobras dead,

"I'm not some kind of D&D warlock or whatever it's called." she growled before cooling down a bit,

"And yes, I wouldn't mind sitting next to you seeing as we both have Math for first hour and you're actually pretty good at taking notes in that class." she answered, giving the blue cat some praise.

It wasn't that she was bad at math, she just had a hard time understanding some of Ms. Simian's lectures and somehow Gumball was able to take notes that get the gist of what she was saying, although his handwriting was a little sloppy.

They started walking to class, they had about seven minutes until class officially started and weren't particularly worried about being late, as long as they stayed clear of Tina's morning war path then they should be okay.

Gumball shrugged and kept a lookout for certain people,

"Eh, I find it easier to take notes when the world's dullest subject is the first hour." he said, already feeling a yawn coming on at the mere thought of sitting through that 1 hour bore fest. His improved academic behavior was actually thanks to his efforts to rid Penny from his mind via distractions, and while he was improving in school, his efforts usually landed him in the B- or C+ range at best. He was getting an A- Biology 2 now, so that was good.

He still missed Penny though, so even his best didn't give him much satisfaction.

They walked in silence for a few moments, watching as several students made their way to their respective classrooms or huddled together in small groups, conversing about things that concerned their little social circles. Teri spotted Carmen and Alan walking together and waved as they walked by. They stopped when Carmen reminded her of the cheerleading meet they were having after school and Teri promised their squad captain that she'll be there before the cactus and balloon wandered off: Alan's string tied around her branch as the couple made their way to class. She set her sights on Gumball because she had a question to ask him,

"Um, Gumball?" she started, looking down at her shorter classmate.

Gumball's ear twitched and he pivoted his head until he was looking at the paper cutout girl's face,

"Something up?" he asked, surveying her facial features and noticing that she looked rather serious.

Teri looked around for a brief moment in order to assure no one could possibly be listening in on their conversation, before she leaned over to whisper in Gumball's ear,

"What do you normally do in order to train?" she quietly asked.

Perplexed Gumball looked at her for a brief moment before answering as best as he could,

"Well, normally, I do my workouts in Phys. Ed and seeing as I usually have lots of time after school, I would spend about an hour or two training with my scythe when no one is around and if anyone is around, I'd go to my private place in order to do so." he explained, glancing at her once he had finished,

"Why do you ask?" he asked her.

Teri looked rather down, as she was staring at the floor, not really looking at Gumball and kept a sour expression on her face as though something was bothering her. She let out a long, angry sigh before turning to the blue cat,

"I don't actually know how to apply my abilities in a situation regarding the Nephilim." she muttered irritantly,

"The battle with Toxic Pill was just pure luck and instinct on my part and unfortunately, the evil doctor didn't label all the runes, except for the explosion one, so I have no clue what I'm working with. I was wondering if I can train with you sometime after school in order to develop a better strategy in defeating the Nephilim."

Gumball took this all into consideration, he definitely knew where she was coming from and also knew that they needed to spend more time together as a team in order to be effective against the invading spirits. During the battle in the desert, when he saw her use her analytical abilities and overall versatility in order to help them take down the well defended Nephilim monster, he thought that she was just a natural at it. Now he understood that she had to come up with stuff on the fly with the supplies limited only to her and actually had no practical experience in handling the items she had: plus, with the other four runes in her arsenal being a complete mystery in function to both him and the paper girl, they had to be extra careful when dealing with this kind of stuff. Also, there were his own mysterious powers that he had to deal with as well.

It wasn't a bad idea to start training with Teri seeing as they had a large gap to fill between them and the oncoming Nephilim, seeing as every single one they've encountered thus far has gotten considerably more challenging to deal with.

"Sure. I'll stay after school to work on homework and once you're done with cheerleading practice we can head on over to the woods in order to practice fighting." he said, giving her an earnest look and a smile.

She looked back at him and smiled gratefully. The two continued to make their way towards Miss Simian's room.

They reached their class with three minutes to spare, although there was a bit of a rush since Banana Joe accidentally tripped in the hall while holding a cup of water, splashing Bobert in the process, causing the robot to go berserk and start firing lasers every which way and that. You know, the usual antics. The two found a pair of unoccupied desks farthest from the window in the middle section of the class. Gumball was surprised to see Darwin right next to the two unoccupied seats, so he opted to sit in the middle in order to easily converse with his two friends.

"Hey Darwinner, how's it hanging, bro?" he greeted cheerfully, plopping down right beside him.

Laughing a little at the combination of his name with winner, Darwin gave Gumball a bright smile as he returned the greeting,

"Pretty good, so far, Gumball." he responded, sounding very enthusiastic and happy to see him. He actually was, seeing as his brother's mood was still showing signs of improvement and was just glad that he was doing okay and actually being interactive.

He then noticed Teri sitting on Gumball's right and he opted to greet her as well, seeing as Gumball had ridden with her on the bus this morning and were even walking in the hallway together as well,

"Hey Teri!" he said, waving a fin at her.

She placed her math book on her desk and turned to look at the little goldfish that was talking to her,

"Oh, hi Darwin! How are you this morning?" she asked politely.

Darwin shrugged and gave her a smile,

"Fantastic, I guess!" he exclaimed,

"I saw you and Gumball sitting together on the bus this morning, what were you two talking about?" he asked, glancing at Teri and then at his brother.

They both froze for a second, glanced at each other nervously before Gumball quickly turned back, armed with an answer this time,

"Oh, nothing much, just talked about the recent episode of Under the stethoscope that aired last night." Gumball responded, not showing any hints of suspicious behavior seeing as he had gotten pretty good at lying after nearly two weeks of fighting the Nephilim.

"Yeah, it was really funny, but we couldn't see it together last night so we decided to discuss it on the bus." Teri chimed in, hoping to add some authenticity to the lie Gumball had just fabricated.

Turns out they had nothing to worry about because the whole time they spoke, Darwin just kept smiling and nodding,

"Hmm, okay. I'm glad you two are getting along and bonding over something that you share interest in." he commented before moving on to what he had been up to the day earlier,

"Yesterday, me and Carrie visited Jamie in the hospital to pay our respects, evidently she was tossed out the cafeteria window and right into a truck carrying large amounts of Nitroglycerin. She's doing all right, the doctors said she'll be up and tearing everyone's arms off in no time. After that, me and Carrie decided to check out some CD's in the music store, you know, the one next to the mall, and then for the rest of the day we pretty much just chilled at her place for a bit." he said, remembering yesterday with fondness.

Gumball thought back to yesterday, after the integration of Rob in their fighting group and the battle that ensued afterwards. Not much had happened after that whole debacle that he could place in his memory. Rob dropped them off a few minutes after the assembly had ended and the two managed to get to class before anyone suspected that they were missing. Luckily, everyone was too busy talking about Jamie's "accident" that they didn't really notice that Gumball and Teri were covered in sweat and dust from the desert they visited not too long ago. After school had ended, Gumball remembered going home, working on homework with Anais, waiting for Darwin to get back, playing video games with his little bro when he did get back, eating dinner, and going to sleep shortly after.

He was very glad that he and Teri could keep pulling off these getaways, but was worried that someone was going to catch on soon. They needed some far more elaborate way to escape or perhaps some clever disguises to help them exit the school body when they needed to because they couldn't just keep tossing Jamie out the window. Regardless, whether it was fun and entertaining to think about.

Gumball nodded in acknowledgement and leaned back in his seat, staring up at the ceiling,

"That's pretty cool! Glad to hear you two had a good time." he remarked, placing a pencil on his nose and allowing it to balance on the soft, orange sensory organ on his face.

Teri looked over at him and scoffed at his behavior,

"Could you not do that!" she angrily exclaimed,

"You don't know where that pencil has been and balancing the eraser on your nose is just asking for an infection, also you could poke your eye out if it falls in the wrong direction." she explained, glaring at the goofy, reckless child.

Gumball sighed in frustration, pulled the pencil off his nose and set it down on the desk, right next to his books. He then proceeded to mock the germaphobe by repeating every word she said in a nasally, irritating voice. This warranted a retaliation from Teri, who pulled everything off his desk, sprayed and wiped the surface before placing everything back on to it. Gumball not liking his stuff being touched, grumbled a few curses and reminded himself to bring some dirt in tomorrow and hand it to her when she wasn't looking. For now though, he was just going to mock her some more.

Darwin watched the two go back and forth with their childishness and found himself laughing inwardly. Yesterday, after lunch had ended and everyone was outside in the schoolyard (anyone who wasn't too worried about Jamie that is.) he couldn't find Gumball anywhere and decided to hang out with Leslie, Bobert, Masami, Sarah, Carrie, and Sussie. While engaging in a friendly conversation with the bunch, Leslie, being the school gossiper added a comment about Gumball and Teri disappearing about a week ago during Phys. Ed and that the two were secretly an item. He obviously didn't believe it and just believed that the two probably had something they were doing that was very important.

However, seeing the two getting along very well with each other and even starting these silly fights made Darwin believe that those two might end up as a couple.

Suddenly a light went off in his head and he remembered that he wanted to ask Gumball about something really important. He was about interrupt the two, who were now really getting on each other's nerves with Gumball constantly writing stuff on her desk while Teri desperately attempted to wipe away the mini vandalism, when the whole room was silenced by a shout coming from the front,

"QUIET DOWN!"

Miss Simian stood in the front of the classroom, her hairy arms folded across her chest as she sneered at the rambunctious students. The whole class went dead silent and all eyes were on the ancient primate as she began marching towards her desk. She pulled out a folder, grabbed a pen and began taking attendance. After marking off every student that was present, she put the attendance sheet away and proceeded to the front of the class again,

"It disgusts me to see you all in such a happy mood today seeing as Monday was just yesterday. As such, I will make sure this lecture is particularly long so that you little children can start off your day with the proper amount of discouragement. Please turn to page 32 in your textbooks, we're starting lesson 1.3 today." she wasn't in a good mood today, although if she ever was in one than nobody in class remembered it.

Later

The lecture dragged on for what seemed like ages. Gumball scribbled down in his notebook different formulas while his mind drifted off in some distant place: it was like he was on autopilot. While daydreaming about fighting off the forces of evil and mentally asking himself questions that would otherwise make most normal folk consider locking him up in the looney bin, he heard the sound of paper crinkling and something moving on the desk. At first he thought Teri was doing something, so he looked up from his notebook and saw that it wasn't Teri as he initially suspected, but rather Darwin passing him a note.

Curious, he picked up the note and read through his brother's sloppy handwriting that was eligible only to him,

Could you help me out on something? Remember last Friday when Tobias got into a fight with Tina after he made a comment about her breath and got me, him, and Tina in trouble? Well, it turns out that it hurt his pride a little and now he's planning on pranking her at lunch in order to get back at her. I've tried talking him out of it, but he won't listen to me! Could you please help me stop him before he makes a tremendous mistake?

Gumball remembered hearing about that during the weekend and now that he mentioned it, he did notice that Tobias was giving Tina the stink eye yesterday whenever she wasn't looking. However, this wasn't much of a concern to him because for one, his pride shouldn't have been hurt because everyone knows Tina is a complete tank when it comes to fighting and that most of the student body knows not to mess with her. Also, he didn't want to get involved because he didn't want to have to face Tina's wrath himself either. Sure, he's fought creatures twelve times scarier than the prehistoric reptile that was his classmate, but that was because he had Teri assisting him and on another note, Tina was his classmate and he'd never want to harm her, even if she was a jerk.

He wrote down how he felt about the situation and his reluctance to get involved before passing the slip of paper back to Darwin. Darwin read the note over and frowned at the response he was given. He hastily scribbled down another message, waited for the teacher's back to be turned and passed it back to Gumball.

Gumball read the note several times over and let out a quiet groan. The note read:

Dude! How could you be so heartless! You know that Tina is very sensitive and if Tobias hurts her feelings even more, she'll eat him alive! Literally! Also, if this goes on, it's just going to spiral out of control and soon enough, everyone is going to get sucked up in all of it, including you and Teri!

That's just like Darwin all right, using guilt tripping as a means to persuade him to help fight the good fight. unfortunately, it was working too. As much as he wanted to just let Tobias get flattened by his own insecurities… and Tina, he knew he should step in and stop this before it became too chaotic. Also, why did he include Teri in the message?

He begrudgingly wrote a response stating that he'll gladly help him stop Tobias from causing himself and everyone else harm and passed the piece of paper back to Darwin. His little brother eagerly read the response and beamed back at his older brother causing the blue cat in question to blush a little at his little brother's cute, smiling face. He hoped that it would all be worth it in the end because if Tina caught wind of this and he finds himself trying to fend off a vicious Tyrannosaur attack, he was going to have a serious talk with Darwin and a rougher talk with Tobias.

He knew that Darwin was probably going to gather some sympathetic friends to help convince Tobias that what he was doing is a bad idea and wondered if he should ask Teri to help out with their plan. He didn't know what she could do, but he would be glad for the extra support. He realized that asking her now might not be a good time, seeing as Ms. Simian had invited Mr. Brown to help teach the lesson (actually, he just kind of popped in to talk to the teacher about something, but the hairy ape wound up inviting the even hairier slug-man to join in on the lesson for a little bit.) which meant an extra pair of eyes were now watching the class. When he looked over in her direction, he also noticed that she was concentrating really hard on the lesson being taught. He decided to wait after first period in order to ask her for her help.

After what felt like an eternity, Math class was done and everyone got up to go to their lockers as soon as the bell rang. Quickly going over his notes, Gumball packed his things and raced off after Teri, who was almost out the door with the other students. He rushed up to her and noticed right away something was wrong with her, she had a hand placed on her forehead and her face was contorted into one that expressed deep pain.

Concerned for his friend's well-being, he tapped her shoulder and the paper girl glanced over to see who it was. Seeing as it was her friend, she gave him a wobbly smile before grimacing once again,

"Need something, Gumball?" she asked, her voice sounding less sweet and more agitated.

Gumball placed his books under the crook of his arm and placed his free hand into his pockets, he still looked concerned for her,

"Actually, I was wondering what's wrong? You look like you just listened to one of Mr. Brown's long winded spiels of his childhood and then tried to burn out the memory by slamming your head repeatedly with the locker door." he asked, adding in his creative zingers in order to help lighten whatever negativity was affecting her.

The bear-like paper cut out just shook her head in frustration and answered with a pained look,

"I don't know exactly. I just received this headache during class and I'm thinking it could be a sign of a migraine or something worse. I'm heading down to the nurses office to see if it can be treated." she sighed, heading in the direction of the infirmary.

Gumball didn't exactly know how to react to this because on the one hand, this could be nothing and Teri's just blowing it out of proportion as an excuse to go see the nurse, but on the other hand, it could be something seeing as she actually looked uncomfortable. He decided that this problem was between her and Ms. Markham and proceeded to move onto the actual reason he wanted to see her.

Keeping his sarcasm in check, Gumball cleared his throat and proceeded to speak to her,

"Yeah, you do that. I was wondering if you wanted to help me with something, actually me Darwin, and some other kids to be exact?" he asked, peeking over to see if Teri was staring at him.

This came as news to her, mainly due to the fact that Gumball just mentioned that he and several others were involved in this event he went through the trouble of talking to her about. She lowered her hand from her aching forehead in order to get a full view of Gumball's face,

"What's going on?" she asked, now intrigued.

Gumball placed his hands together and took a deep breath, even explaining the situation seemed ridiculous to him because it was, in fact, ridiculous,

"Tobias is planning on pranking Tina during lunch in order to get back at her for beating him up last Friday in front of everyone. Me and the others are trying to stop him before he gets us all in trouble and I was wondering if you could help us in stopping him." he explained, albeit rather quickly.

It took her a moment to register everything the fast talking cat had just said and then she raised an eyebrow. It made sense why Tobias was doing it, the joke of a jock had a macho image he wanted to keep and being beaten up will definitely bring him down a peg. What she didn't get was why he was choosing to mess with Tina? Everyone knew Tina was stronger than most of the students here (Hector was definitely stronger and Bobert was debatable.) so her beating up Tobias should've surprised no one. She didn't know why he felt the need to prove himself worthy of challenging her, but then again it was Tobias they were talking about.

As much as she would have liked to help, something had come up yesterday that she couldn't pass up on,

"Sorry Gumball, I wish I could help, but I gotta help Idaho with his Biology project at lunch and I promised him, so I wish you and Darwin the best of luck." she said, looking very apologetic.

Gumball didn't really see it as a big deal and just shrugged it off,

"Pfft! It's alright, I'm pretty sure Darwin will have better luck finding people to help him, heck he could probably convince Tobias all on his own if he wanted to!" he exclaimed, sounding relatively confident.

"I will see you after you get kick- I mean when you get out of the infirmary. Hope you feel better." and with that he zipped off to his locker, leaving a confused and slightly agitated Teri in the hallway by her lonesome.

Disregarding what he was about to say, Teri continued on her way to her destination and hoped that the nurse would take her seriously this time. Her head was really hurting and she really wanted to make sure nothing was wrong. Also, thinking about Gumball helping a friend in need sounded really nice to her and made her heart flutter a little. Now she was sure something was wrong with her.

Back in class, English Language Arts or ELA was starting and Gumball was already starting to feel the lull of the day dragging at him. This day was just so long and boring and he wished that he could be over it and what made it worse was the fact that he knew it was just starting. There was the confrontation that was coming up in lunch that seemed rather exciting to him, but it was still two hours away!

He noticed that Teri hadn't come back from the nurse's office yet and was somewhat curious about her whereabouts. It had been about five minutes since class had started and he figured she must be on her way back right now or is actually coming down with something. He knew that there was no way she would stay for long if it was nothing, seeing as the hypochondriac tends to irritate Ms. Markham with her various ailments or as Teri believes them to be. Maybe if they hung out longer, then she may eventually start becoming less paranoid and just choose to enjoy herself. Only time will tell and speaking of time, Gumball wished the clock would move faster.

With a packet on his desk, he opened to the front page and began filling out the vocab section. He filled it out really fast, seeing as he had highlighted all the words listed on the page that were in the book they were assigned. Seeing as the first section of the assignment was done and they had about seven minutes left until they moved onto the next section, Gumball decided he could take a short nap while he waited.

He soon felt his gargantuan head slump onto his desk and settle where it was. Using his book as a pillow, he got real comfortable, his pointed ears were sticking straight up in order to detect certain noises, he soon felt sleep overcome him and his world was engulfed in darkness as his eyes fell shut. Next came the nightmares he wished would never come today.

In his dream, he saw the incomplete highway bridge that ran out of Elmore standing vacantly in the morning sun as it always did. In the sky, a black, jagged crack appeared and something fell out of it and onto the bridge below. His dream self recognized that it was a Nephilim portal and that the city was in grave danger. Whatever fell out of the portal had taken up a form created from the concrete it landed on. It had a humanoid shape, resembling something like an upright sarcophagus used by the Egyptian pharaohs, although the face was a lacking in any features except for two black eye holes. The next image showed what appeared to be a massive cannon formed from asphalt that appeared behind the Nephilim. It began firing pieces of rock that it raked up with the cannon's claw-like protrusions towards Elmore.

Then the dream ended and Gumball found his head shooting straight up out of fright.

His heart racing, he looked around and saw that the classroom was still here and that everyone is safe. For the time being at least. Turning towards the window, he could see the sun already showing in the morning sky. They didn't have much time until that Nephilim appears and starts bombarding the city with chunks of concrete.

All around him, the kids were already gathered in groups for reading discussions. No one must've noticed him sleeping and when Gumball looked up at the clock, he could see that he had slept for eighteen minutes. Gumball wondered why no one attempted to wake him when the vocab session was done, but that's none of his concern. He had to find Teri before the attacks began and judging by past experiences was about twenty minutes from now.

Speaking of Teri, when he looked around he saw that she still wasn't absent. This came as quite concerning to Gumball because if she had been sent home then there's no way he'll reach the Nephilim in time before it started shelling the city. He needed to find her and he needed to do so, NOW!

Looking over to Ms. Simian's desk, he saw the haggard primate sitting down, head resting on her hand, and doing some paperwork while the students all around her continued to work and chat. This explains why no one bothered to wake him and Gumball immediately began thinking of excuses he could give the teacher so that he could leave class. If nothing worked then he could at least make a scene in order to distract everyone so he could make a clean getaway.

Luckily for Gumball, he didn't need to think of anything because a distraction made itself known the moment he started planning. In the back of the class, shouting could be heard between two people. Turning his head, Gumball could see Ocho and Bobert standing up and facing each other with angry expressions on their faces.

Gumball didn't know what was happening so he cupped a hand around his ear and began listening in on the conversation,

"You know darn well I'm faster than you, scrap heap!" Ocho shouted.

Bobert had his arms crossed and was glaring at the 8-bit spider, he looked unimpressed,

"By my calculations, I find that highly unlikely." he responded in a monotone voice.

Ocho seemed to flare up in a rage at the robot's comeback as his face began burning red,

"Well, yeah, you're calculations are wrong you walking ti-82, plus you haven't even raced me before." he seethed.

Bobert shook his large, oval head and continued glaring at the overly aggressive kid with his one eye,

"I don't have to. I've seen you in a race before and you can't even do that without a cheat code. As a matter of fact, I've recorded you using cheat codes 17 times in the past week, including the time you filled out your vocab sheet this morning. Result: you have no real talent and no way of beating me in any speed related activity." Bobert stated in a metallic voice.

Ms. Simian overheard the conversation, shot straight up from her desk, and began crawling over to where most of the students had gathered. She immediately broke into the circle and began berating Ocho for cheating on the assignment. This caused Ocho to flip out even more and began shouting at the teacher. Soon everyone had completely gathered around to watch the fight, including the winged eyeball, William, who usually served as Simian's snitch.

Realizing his chance to get moving, Gumball quickly and quietly made a break for the exit and began racing down the halls. He wondered if he should stop by his locker first and grab his scythe, but realized that if Teri was heading back now then he should probably grab her and inform her of what's happening. With his mind made up, he picked up his pace and accelerated towards the school infirmary.

-the school infirmary-

"The only one who's getting a headache around here is me! Now take these pain relief pills and get out of my office!"

And with that Teri was roughly shoved out of Ms. Markham's office and into the hall with a few red pills in her hand. She heard the door slam shut behind her, the force of which caused her frail body to blow forward a bit before she was able to stop herself by grabbing onto the door knob. The hallway was completely empty and silent, leaving Teri with a feeling of isolation and loneliness.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Teri stomped her foot on the ground which didn't have the effect she desired because her foot was too light to produce any noise except for a slight cracking sound, and angrily began making her way back to her class. Many negative thoughts began swirling through her head: anger, frustration, and humiliation among many of them. She spent nearly half an hour arguing her case and the band-aid nurse just kept brushing it off as something trivial without even giving her a check up or even calling her parents.

The nurse eventually lost her temper and decided that giving her some medications would be enough to shut her up before sending her out the door. Teri couldn't tell which was worse: the fact that she ignored a student's health or the fact that she just prescribed to her a medication that she didn't know what kind of effect it would have on her. She seriously wanted to investigate the nurse's diploma and academic background sometime in the nearby future. Maybe she could get one of her parents to come over and see for themselves if she was a legit professional.

She shook her head in frustration, she was sick of it all,

"Seriously, why doesn't anyone ever take me seriously? I know when I'm sick, why do I need to confirm it with some wack job crook who never takes her job seriously?" she muttered bitterly to herself.

She continued to wander the hall by herself, muttering to no one in particular as she vented her anger, and wondered what she was going to do when she got back to class. She missed a significant portion of it being in the sick room and was probably behind the others in terms of the lesson being taught. She figured Gumball must've been taking notes and decided that she could study with him after school had ended.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized that Gumball was actually pretty helpful when it came to people who were in need of it. It made her appreciate the cat's company a little more and actually wondered if she should do something nice for him in exchange for his kindness. She already invited him over to her house once and he seemed to enjoy that quite a bit. Maybe instead of going over to his house this afternoon, she should bring him over to her place. There were a few places she could think of that would serve as good training grounds and she could even think of a few activities that they could do together in order to pass the time.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she failed to notice a particular boy in a brown sweater and grey trousers rushing towards her. When she finally lifted her head, her eyes widened in surprise as Gumball rushed right at her with a somewhat determined look on his face. He reached out with an arm, caught Teri by the waist, tearing her off her feet, and continued on with his rush towards the lockers.

Teri almost had the wind knocked out of her on impact as she let out a gasp and then a slight shriek as the world soon began to move backwards. She had absolutely no idea what was happening or what had gotten into Gumball, but just by his actions alone, she could kind of tell that this was probably important. Still she felt uncomfortable, his shoulder was digging into her stomach like a fist from a heavyweight champion and her entire upper half was blowing in the wind like some living, terrified flag. Also, it was slightly embarrassing, both with him carrying her through the hallways like a princess and the fact that she was so easily swept off her feet and carried off.

She steadied herself by placing both hands on his back and lifting her head until she could see him clearly,

"Mind telling me what you're doing?" she asked, her voice filled with venom.

Gumball kept pumping his tiny legs and zoomed through the hallways with his irritated, yet confused passenger,

"Not much time! There's a Nephilim that's going to appear soon! Gotta get to our lockers!" he shouted, not caring if anyone heard because he was in a bit of a panic at the moment.

Teri tensed up, despite how natural this had all become to her in the past week or two, she still froze up when she heard that name,

"WHAT?! Where is it going to appear? Also, could you please put me down?" she asked, her voice lowering to a growl at the last question.

"It's going to appear at the bridge that hasn't been completed yet, you know, the highway one. Also we're at your locker." he said, screeching to a halt and setting the paper girl down.

Dusting herself off, she quickly opened her locker and began grabbing her supplies while shoving them in her backpack. While she did this, she shot Gumball a nasty glare that made the short, blue cat boy tense up until he was plank-like. He had no idea what he did, but he could guarantee that glare meant that he was in deep trouble. She slammed her locker shut after pulling her backpack out, slinging it over her shoulder, and storming past the terrified feline,

"Thanks for coming to get me and for the record, next time you decide to pick me up like that make sure your hand is a little higher." she angrily remarked, causing Gumball to first turn beet red and then white upon realizing what he had just done.

"Sorry, I thought that was your waist." he squeaked, his ears drooping in shame as he covered his face with his paws.

Teri just snorted in disapproval and picked up her pace seeing as Gumball's locker was down the hall and around the corner. While they quickly made their way to Gumball's storage unit, an explosion could be heard ringing through the hallway. Realizing the blast came from behind, Teri turned around and scanned the empty hallway for any signs of trouble,

"What was that?" she gasped, anxiety already starting to grip her.

She really hoped that this wasn't a Nephilim or else the whole school would be in danger. Luckily Gumball knew what it was and grabbed Teri by the hand, prompting her to follow along. Curious, she turned, ignoring the fact that he was holding her hand, and stared at the cat with a baffled expression on her drawn-on face,

"Not to worry, it's probably just Bobert and Ocho." Gumball stated, his eyes widening as soon as he realized what that meant,

"On second thought, we better get going!" he said, practically dragging Teri as he ran towards his locker.

Teri found herself once again being carried away by her friend and was starting to feel as though this was going to be a normal occurrence,

"Could you please explain to me what's been going on while I was gone? Also, quit grabbing me!" she shouted.

Gumball promised to do so after they reached their destination and the two continued to make haste because as the old saying goes: time is of the essence.

-12 minutes later, above the canyon in the outskirts of Elmore-

Soaring through the open air on an F-117 nighthawk crafted from folded, black paper definitely won Gumball over as being better than school, but he didn't have the luxury of enjoying the ride due to the fact that Elmore was about to receive a late morning shower of high velocity, concrete artillery shells in the next few minutes. They were already nearing the bridge, with Teri piloting the craft along the highway that was lined with natural red, sandstone cliffs, it was relatively easy to get to, and Gumball was prepared to strike as he already had his Nephilim-slaying weapon extended in his hand. The sky was bright and cloudless, making for a pleasant day today. The two students hoped that everyone will still be around to enjoy it.

Swerving around another cliff face, Teri continued to follow the highway that had long since been barred off by the government due to construction or lack thereof. She knew they were getting closer to target area and had already prepared a few explosive runes on their way here so that when they spotted the spiritual entity they could immediately begin an attack. They both had little idea as to what the Nephilim was capable of and didn't believe that it wasn't prepared for a confrontation with two hostiles.

Unfortunately, the only thing they had to go off of was what Gumball saw in his vision, but that's how they usually started off their battles anyway.

Feeling the wind tug at her body as she clung on to the triangular aircraft's nose, she called back to Gumball who was behind her and gripping on to some of the paper plane's folds with one hand as he kept a lookout for any sign of trouble,

"So you said that it had the ability to manipulate concrete?" she asked, banking the aircraft around another red mountain face.

Gumball merely nodded as he held on tightly in order to avoid sailing off into a mountain side,

"Yes, it even had a layer of concrete protecting its body. We're probably going to need to use your explosives in order to damage it." he suggested, feeling like that was the smartest idea.

Teri nodded, confirming that she understood what her furry companion had said. If his description of the Nephilim was anything to go off of, then their best plan of attack would be to have Gumball protect her from any of the beast's long-range attacks until they got close enough for her to use a few bomb runes in order to destroy the beast. They could also attack it from the air, but Teri was worried that it would spot them before they had a chance to attack.

While Teri thought this over, Gumball watched as the bridge slowly came into view after they made another turn along the highway. He didn't exactly have fond memories of the place, as he and his family had often gone over it and it almost always ended with them sailing over the edge and into the gorge below. He honestly wondered why the city abandoned construction on this place when it was so close to being completed. However, it was one of those things he always pondered, but was unmotivated into looking into it himself.

To make matters worse for both him and Teri, the moment the bridge came into view, they could see the Nephilim already waiting for them. It's body was already complete, but the massive cannon that was materializing out of liquid concrete that the creature was pulling from the road via some telekinetic force, was still in the process of being built. Gumball didn't exactly have anything to use as a form of measurement, but if what he saw during his nap in class was accurate, then the finished version of the cannon should be at least 200 feet long, if he were to guess. Right now, only the claw-like base had been constructed along with the aft end of the cannon's barrel. The Nephilim could be seen kind of gliding around the base of the cannon, as if on patrol and if it had spotted or sensed them approaching, then it wasn't doing anything about it because both Gumball and Teri couldn't see any other kind of activity from the creature that indicated hostility.

However, if this thing could build a powerful cannon that can fire concrete artillery shells from several miles away, then Teri didn't even want to know what it could create for close range targets.

Thinking fast, Teri slowed the craft down and began a decent towards the road below and behind a section of the mountain that stuck out in order to conceal themselves from the beast. Gumball noticed their speed decrease and that the craft was starting to lose altitude quickly. He looked up at Teri and wondered what she was doing,

"Teri, is something wrong?" he asked, scooting closer to the pilot in order to get a better look at her.

Not even glancing back at her passenger, Teri set the craft down on the paved surface below and hopped off, followed by Gumball,

"We can't just go flying in there without a plan!" she stated, willing the paper jet to unfold back into its basic form and then into a medium dog-sized, black paper ant before hopping back on it,

"It's sitting out there in the open, but that doesn't mean it's not well defended. I say we should make our way under the bridge, sneak up behind it, destroy the cannon and then the Nephilim itself." she said, having thought up the plan herself.

Gumball was actually impressed with her observation and her planning, he gave her a supportive glance and a thumbs up,

"Actually, that's a really practical and genius plan, Teri! I say we go for it and if we're somehow spotted, I'll be sure to defend us both." he said reassuringly, he held up his scythe to emphasize his point.

Giving him a shaky smile, Teri nodded at the Watterson child and felt herself warming up with pride. She wasn't the one who usually made these kind of plans because Gumball and, just recently, Rob were usually the strategists and the frontline fighters when it came to the war against the evil spirits. She normally remained as support and would only commence with sneak attacks while the enemy's attention was elsewhere or she would help guide Gumball around the battlefield in order for the scythe wielder to keep up with their adversaries.

Now was her time to shine as a planner and she was more than proud of the support Gumball was giving her.

"Hop on my ant!" she commanded.

Gumball did as he was told and mounted the paper insect on the seat behind her,

"Did you bring your uncle as well?" he responded jokingly.

Without really thinking, Teri found herself facepalming almost right away after hearing another one of Gumball's dreaded puns,

"Ugh! Really, Gumball?!" Teri groaned causing the not-so-serious blue cat to grin widely behind her.

To Gumball anytime was a good time for puns, even though most of his humor was just used to help him cope with his fear and his sadness at times.

With Teri on the offensive and Gumball on the defensive, they set their sights on the bridge and began scurrying up the mountainside. When they reached the top, they made their way across the mountain top and then down the other side, towards the bridge. The reason they took this little detour was because Teri didn't want to risk being spotted by going up the main road. Eventually, they reached the bridge and Teri mentally commanded the paper insect to crawl underneath the structure. So far, the monster hadn't done anything, so she assumed that they were successful in sneaking over here.

Being upside down now, Gumball had to wrap his legs around the ant's tiny mid-section in order to keep himself from careening into the empty space below. It was a mildly uncomfortable position to be in as well as disorienting and Gumball also found himself praying that Teri did a good job in folding the ant so that it was structurally sound enough to support his weight. Good news was, Teri definitely knew what she was doing when it came to origami and it made Gumball come to appreciate her crafting skills. She actually was very intelligent and that was something he'd never actually noticed about her because he never really had any meaningful interactions with her until this past month.

Gumball felt the bridge rumble a bit the moment they clambered underneath it and an ominous feeling made itself present in the back of his mind: something didn't seem right.

Maneuvering around several support pillars and climbing over concrete structures, the paper bear and the blue cat made their way across the underside of the incomplete highway bridge in very little time. Soon they were practically thirty feet from the end of the artificial overpass and if Gumball were to guess, they were right underneath the Nephilim. Coincidentally another rumble could be felt throughout the structure, giving both Gumball and Teri a chill that ran down their backs.

"Please tell me you felt that?" Gumball whispered, looking around nervously as they continued to move.

Teri was also nervous, but kept the ant moving as to assure nothing would happen to them if they stopped,

"Yeah, I did. Do you think it's already firing the cannon?" she hissed back at him, being the utmost cautious that she could be.

Gumball shook his head and continued to keep his voice low while he spoke,

"I don't think so. In my dream the cannon made a large boom when it fired, plus it was far from being completed when we arrived." he explained.

They were about twenty three feet from the gap that bisected the concrete passing they were currently clinging to. Teri was about to suggest that the Nephilim could possibly be ripping up concrete to use as ammunition, but she was cut off when something shot out from her right towards her face! Gumball saw the incoming object and without thinking, quickly swung his scythe at it.

The bladed weapon cut through the attacking object, effectively cleaving it in two. The object fell down the gorge below (although technically to Gumball and Teri, it was above them.) and when Gumball got a better look at the thing he had just cut down, he saw that it was a grey, human arm and hand with claws at the fingertips. It took him a moment to realize that the arm was made of concrete!

With fear and adrenaline rushing through him, Gumball looked around and saw three more materializing all around them from the ceiling that their ant ride was clinging onto. Teri, who had recovered from her initial shock, also took note of the various ghastly, concrete limbs taking form and began searching for a way out of this predicament. There was one in front of them, blocking their path forward and two more behind them, keeping them from moving back either. They appeared to be trapped by the Nephilim they aimed to destroy!

Gumball noticed the hand in front of them wiggling its clawed fingers and took it as a sign that it was about to strike. He raised his scythe until it was in the optimal swinging position, keeping his eye on the one in front, as he shouted at Teri,

"GET DOWN!"

Knowing what he was about to do, the paper girl quickly ducked her head down right as Gumball swung the curved blade from behind. The reaping weapon tore right through the wrist of the menacing limb with a sluck! causing the hand to to drop into the pit below. The handless appendage melted into liquid concrete and dripped down from the bridge as though it were dead.

The strike was actually rather difficult for Gumball to pull off because of the fact that he was hanging upside down while his legs were wrapped tightly around a stocky, paper ant. With gravity pulling on his body, his moves felt sluggish and he also felt himself tightening his leg's grasp on the ant because he feared any wrong move would send him falling to his doom. Lastly, being on the downside meant that the blood was starting to rush to his head, making his noggin feel hot and heavy accompanied with slight dizziness that distorted his vision.

Even though he was able to fight, he was stuck in a position where he was limited and running out of stamina to carry on.

Simultaneously, the two hands behind them lunged forward, talons raised with the intention of shredding Gumball's vulnerable backside. What the Nephilim didn't take into account though was that Gumball had already figured this was going to happen and allowed his momentum to carry on over from the first strike until he had twisted his entire upper body backwards. Sliced up, the two attacking appendages joined their brothers in arms at the bottom of the cliff.

Seeing an ample opportunity to move forward, Teri forced the ant to race towards the bridge's edge in order to escape the various attackers that were starting to form out of the surrounding area after Gumball had finished off it's four buds from earlier. While Gumball desperately hacked away at every claw that attempted to slash them to bits (all the while trying to stay conscious!), Teri figured that this was the Nephilim's doing, but was confused as to how it had managed to find them. They were under the bridge the whole time, so how did it know they were there?

From the sides and from behind, Teri could hear and see the Nephilim's traps springing up, wriggling and writhing along with Gumball grunting as he continued to defend them from the onslaught of disembodied, palpable, human arms,

"Jeez, there's a lot of these things! It's like being at the kindergarten again!" Gumball shouted in frustration as he slammed the butt end of his scythe into the palm of a hand reaching for his face, effectively knocking it away.

The incomplete section of the bridge was about ten feet away from the two of them now. Teri wished that she could go faster, but she folded the ant in such a way that it became rather stocky in order to support Gumball's weight while hanging upside down. The downside to this was that the legs were made shorter which greatly reduced their speed. There were only so many ways a piece of paper could be folded and sometimes size could factor in as well, depending on what you were making.

They were nearly killed when a claw formed in front of her, attempting to knock the ant and it's passengers off the bridge. Thinking quickly, Teri swerved around the outstretched limb and dug a sticky note with an explosive rune written onto it from her backpack and placed it onto the vile thing. The rune flashed orange a couple of times and exploded with a loud, sharp bang, causing the concrete menace to explode into small chunks. The explosion's size varied depending on the size of the surface it was drawn on or the overall size the symbol, so it wasn't dangerous for the two spirit fighters as long as they were the correct distance away from the dangerous symbol.

Within a few moments, they finally reached the otherside of the bridge's first half and made their way back to the top, where the cannon was. The moment they were on level ground again, Gumball felt himself slide off the ant and onto the stone-like surface with a heavy thud! His head was swimming along with his vision due to being upside down for a while. Also being reoriented rather quickly caused the blood that was rushing to his head to drain back down to his feet. He figured they should have just flown under the bridge instead of clinging to the bottom of it like an… well, an ant!

Unfortunately, he didn't get much time to rest and regain his bearings as Teri began shouting at him to get off the ground. Sensing the distress in her voice, Gumball sat up and glanced first in her direction (his vision was tilting so it looked as though she were sitting at a slanted angle along with the paper insect she was on.) and then in the direction opposite of the gap next to him and saw that the Nephilim, no more than twenty feet away, was facing them. It's dull, grey sarcophagus-like body was melded into the asphalt, manipulating it like a liquid and allowing it's otherwise immobile form to move about the area freely.

Being rather close to it now, Gumball could see that it's "body" was covered in intricate carvings that swirled and flowed like ripples in a pond, giving the bland colored entity a stunningly beautiful appearance. The only thing that didn't move or change much was it's face: a blank circle as big as a dinner plate with two small, black holes for eyes giving it the appearance of some kind of mask. The being itself was at least ten feet tall, a bit on the short side for a Nephilim when compared to the others, but it did have complete control over concrete which gave it a bit of an edge.

Kind of like Silver Twelve, it was pleasant to look at, but still managed to radiate danger just by looking at it.

The limbless monstrosity did not approach the two, instead opting to stay in front of it's cannon, which was nearly complete at this point. Another thing Gumball had noticed was that the area around the monster and it's weapon of mass destruction was caving in like a crater, with the cannon's crater getting bigger and deeper as it continued to form. It took no brain surgeon to understand that it's only resource to use was concrete and so the more it consumed, the less there will be around it.

That's when it struck him.

Slowly getting back to his feet, Gumball stood beside Teri and began formulating a plan of attack. He saw the concrete around the massive weapon being drawn into the cannon itself and this gave him an idea. Keeping an eye on the Nephilim, which surprisingly hasn't attacked them yet, Gumball leaned in and began whispering to Teri,

"How many bomb runes do you have left?" he asked.

Teri didn't take long to ponder this question. She used up one bomb during the ambush under the bridge, she created ten runes on sticky notes and five on regular sheets of paper. In terms of preparedness, Teri would say that she could level the Nephilim with the amount of fire power she was packing.

She watched said monster continue to stand guard and observe the both of them while she leaned in and whispered to Gumball,

"Fourteen, why? What's your plan?" she asked, still not sure how they were going to approach this monster. For all they knew, the thing could be forming a legion of concrete soldiers behind them right now in order to keep them busy.

Gumball rested his weapon on his shoulder and pointed towards the gradually deepening pit around the cannon,

"Basically, the objective is to get you as close to the cannon as possible. I will distract Concretin over there while you fly over using your origami abilities and plant some explosive runes near the cannon. In theory, you shouldn't even have to reach the cannon, just plant a couple of bombs near the pit where the materials are being pulled in and they should be pulled towards the cannon." he explained confidently, although his brow was covered in sweat due to how nervous he was. He didn't like the fact that the Nephilim seemed to be waiting for them to make the first move,

"Once that's done, feel free to drop in and help me finish it off."

And with that Gumball place the grey scythe in both paws and dashed off towards the concrete giant. Teri was dumbstruck by his headstrong approach to the Nephilim in front of him. Sure, he'd become a bit more capable of taking on the ancient giants with everything he had been putting himself through during his private time, but there was still no way he could beat them on his own. Teri also knew she wasn't much better, she had no way of becoming physically stronger to take on the Nephilim through regular physical training, she was very frail: both physically and mentally.

She admired the boldness that Gumball had gained throughout the past few weeks.

She watched for a moment as Gumball raced towards the monster that seemed so terrifying. The Nephilim stopped moving back and forth when it saw the furry little fighter making his way towards it and locked it's gaze onto him as it prepared to defend itself. It's markings flashed red and faded quickly. In front of it, three tendrils of asphalt armed with curved talons rose up like the world's dullest and ugliest snakes and prepared to strike the approaching cat boy. Gumball noted the creature's defenses and pressed on, only this time with his scythe raised horizontally in front of him as he prepared to defend himself from an oncoming strike.

The Nephilim's "body" flashed red again and the concrete talons shot forward like vipers, extending until they reached the charging blue cat, claws aiming for his heart. Gumball saw how fast they were moving and panicked a little, he wasn't expecting them to be so fast! With very little time to react, Gumball dived to the right and executed a roll being careful to keep the scythe's blade as far from his body as possible. He heard a slight FWWWSSHH! as they shot by his rolling body: one of the nails even managed to slightly graze his back while he continued to tumble head-over-heels.

Stopping the moment he heard the attacking appendages strike the pavement behind him, he quickly snapped to his feet and swung his scythe as he spun around. Good news, he hit it! Bad news, he was too far away and his attack was too shallow and only managed to to graze the arm closest to him. Upon closer inspection, Gumball could see that the limbs were as thick as a Python's body and the blade only cut through two inches of the soft, liquid-like material. He also noticed that the hands and claws were made of hardened concrete, obviously in order to tear into its target. Either way, it was one point for Gumball and one for the Concretin.

The monster resumed its attack by sprouting another arm from each arm that was currently embedded into the concrete in order to continue attacking Gumball without wasting time. Gumball screamed a little, wrenching his scythe and himself away from the attacking limbs, hacking and slashing as they tried to claw or grab him. Soon, the Nephilim summoned an additional four limbs in order to impede the cat's attack further.

All the while, a certain paper girl watched in amazement as Gumball continued to hold his own against the deadly barrage the Nephilim was sending. "He's clearly scared and knows he's outmatched, but he's not giving up." she thought to herself in amazement, "I wish I could be that courageous. I always attack them when they're distracted or when I have cover because I simply can't face these things head on." this revelation filled her with some self-loathing. She had a plan to ensure the two of them a swift victory and yet, one oversight lead to the both of them getting caught anyway. She wanted to prove to Gumball and herself that she was capable of coming up with a plan and defeating the enemy with her magic.

She was worried about being seen as a liability and didn't want to be stuck on the sidelines as backup or just to be a small part in a bigger scheme when she knew she could do more.

She unfolded her origami ant and reformed it into an origami hummingbird with a simplistic design. Gumball had a plan and was risking his own safety in order for her to fulfill her end of it. She couldn't let self-doubt stop her from making sure he and the various citizens of Elmore don't die. If this mission failed because of her hesitation then she would only be proving herself right, that she was a burden to others.

Regardless of the role she played in this fight, she had a job to do. She would have to worry about bridging the gap between her and Gumball later. Hopping on the small bird, Teri could feel the narrow wings begin beating rapidly, until it and the lightweight female student were hovering several dozen feet from the ground and began heading towards the nearly complete weapon forming on the bridge.

Down below, Gumball was continuously fending off anything that appeared snake-like and that was darting towards him at near lightning speed. It wasn't looking good for him, he had already sustained a few injuries because of the overwhelming attacks that just kept racking up as the Nephilim increased the amount of tendrils to attack him with. He was also slowly being pushed towards the edge that he and Teri just came from and was afraid that if this kept up, he'd either get skewered by several sharp claws attacking all at once or he would be sent tumbling off the bridge after a strong attack.

With sweat pouring down his brow, his breathing heavy with exhaustion, and his cuts stinging as perspiration began running down and into the exposed wounds, Gumball swung as hard as he could and cut down three concrete tendrils that were attacking from the front. Unfortunately, that only meant a new appendage was going to sprout from the severed stumps, plus he was still dealing with seven other disembodied claws that continued to attack relentlessly from all other sides. Within the corner of his vision, Gumball saw something heading towards him and quickly side-stepped, allowing the claws that were reaching for his throat to slam into the ground a few inches from his right foot and quickly removed the hand from the rest of its arm with the interior, serrated edge of curved blade.

As luck would have it, this was all a clever trick so that Gumball would turn his back on a pair of attacking, Nephilim puppeted hands and Gumball felt a pair of claws rake his backside, tearing through his sweater, fur, and flesh causing a fiery pain to burn through Gumball's body. Gumball screamed, both in agony and in fright as he whipped around and quickly sliced the two arms in half. He could already feel blood start dripping from the ten marks that crossed the back of his upper torso and the pain was causing him to slow down a little. He knew he wasn't going to be able to take much more of this.

While preparing for the next wave of attacks, he noticed that it became unnaturally dark rather quickly despite the fact that it was morning and there were no clouds in the sky. He turned around and saw, to his horror, what was blocking out the sun. It was a giant fist attached to an arm as long and as thick as a school bus that stuck out of the ground where the shoulder began. Once fully extended, it was already curled back and ready to smash the blue cat into a bloody paste on the road. Being completely surrounded on all sides with the Nephilim ready to deal a crushing blow, Gumball realized that he had been forced into a trap!

Suddenly, a series of explosions filled the air with thunderous bangs and Gumball felt a shock wave pass through the area, causing him to nearly faceplant. Seconds later he heard the sound of cracking and something large breaking apart and crumbling to pieces. Looking over his shoulder, the kitten could see that the massive cannon the Nephilim was building had been reduced to a pile of smoking rubble, with smaller chunks being flung outwards in several directions.

Looks like Teri had done her job!

He felt a smile creep onto his face despite the amount of pain he was currently in along with the knowledge that he was surrounded and that he was about to be crushed to death. He was just happy that they managed to prevent the Concretin from causing any major harm to Elmore. Looking over to where the beast was, Gumball could see that Teri's surprise attack had completely caught it off guard and was now just staring blankly at where it's magnificent weapon had once stood.

Before it had any chance to return it's attention to Gumball, the blue cat was snatched up by Teri, who had dropped a few explosive runes in the cannon pit and waited for the weapon to be destroyed before heading back to rescue Gumball. She was glad that the encased Nephilim was too busy focusing on the destruction she caused and not on the flying Pepakuma child. She was also thankful that Gumball was alive, as the entire time she was waiting for the runes to activate, she'd been watching him getting torn up by the relentless attacks from the amorphous substance the monster controlled. Once again, she felt bad for not being able to do anything to assist him during that fight.

She chose to retreat to the other side of the bridge with hopes that the ancient giant wouldn't be able to reach them there. With Gumball sitting behind her, she listened as he tried to catch his breath. The blue cat was starting to feel that they needed a different strategy in defeating the concrete controlling monster because trying to defeat it in close quarters was just not working. They may have destroyed the bridge cannon, but the cocooned entity hadn't been killed yet.

He felt the hummingbird come to a stop in mid-air, it's tiny, narrow wings blurring as they flapped at incredible speeds causing the paper animal to vibrate ever so slightly. They had crossed the massive gap between the bridge and now the Nephilim was standing behind them on it's end. Turning around, Gumball and Teri could see that the monster was regarding them with it's black, hollow eyes as it remained in the same spot they had left it in: evidently it couldn't get across the bridge and wasn't attempting pursuit.

The two children felt baffled now, they had no idea how to defeat this thing.

"Any plans Teri? Cause that thing is not going to let us get close if we try." he asked, feeling unsure of his own abilities.

Leaving the planning once again to her was definitely a shock to Teri. After her first plan had failed, she thought that Gumball was going to take over in the strategizing department. She thought that he would at least already have an idea ready to execute the moment she completed her objective. Then she thought to herself that he probably did have one, but was airing on the side of caution due to his previous encounter and wanted to hear some suggestions from another source. He was trusting her judgement and wanted to see if she could come up with something better than what he had.

Now full of confidence and courage, Teri set her sights first on the Nephilim. One thing she had learned was that the sarcophagus-like creature manipulated concrete by liquifying it and hardening it at will in order to create overwhelming and devastating attacks. When they tried to sneak under the bridge it attacked them the moment they were underneath it and the cannon, suggesting it can sense them in a limited area. However, it can be easily distracted by one opponent as was demonstrated when it fought Gumball and failed to take notice of her when she flew over its head to destroy it's primary weapon.

She thought about doing another sneak attack using Gumball as a distraction, but that plan didn't seem like it would work because they already tried sneaking up on it before and also, Gumball was injured now and she would feel bad if she sent him in to do the same thing he did last time. She then noticed that the Nephilim didn't actually leave the concrete as it was melded to it by its "feet?" and found herself wondering if that's how it was controlling the mixture of rock, sand, and cement. Maybe if they could somehow separate its "body" from the road it will be rendered powerless?

With all that in mind, she began to survey the area for anything that could help the two of them. The monster still wasn't doing anything to attack them, but she could see that it was starting to form something behind it. Another cannon perhaps? Was it really that persistent? Teri thought this over, but pushed it out of her mind in order to keep her focus. She first looked on the road and saw nothing but craters and a few burnt spots from where her explosion was set off. Seeing nothing useful, she continued to look around and soon found herself looking at the support cables that ran along the bridge and then at the massive pillars that held the overpass above the canyon.

That's when she finally formulated a strategy that seemed guaranteed to win.

After forty seven seconds of waiting and watching Teri ponder an idea, Gumball was surprised when he saw the pale girl's flat, bear-like head twist around to face him. He saw a brilliant gleam in her eyes and knew that she was up to something. The confidence she was displaying filled him with the same fire that erupted in her eyes, he was anticipating what she had to say,

"What's the plan, Teri?" he asked, resting the scythe on his shoulder and leaning in with the intent of hearing what she had to say.

Clearing her throat, she hiked a thumb in the direction of the Concretin and spoke quickly and clearly,

"I may have found its weakness, unfortunately there's something I need you to do first and you may not like it?" she suggested, heavily hinting at another one-on-one fight between the little cat and the terrifying cement monster.

Of course, this was the last thing Gumball wanted to do, but seeing as Elmore was in serious trouble, he didn't see any other way out of it. Gumball's face went from hopeful to straight and then to a reluctant understanding of it before nodding and gesturing with his hand for her to continue. Teri then pointed at the support cables that she had been eyeing earlier and then back at the Nephilim,

"I need you to hold it off for a few moments while I set up a trap. Here's what you need to do in the meantime…" she explained.

She continued to go through with her plan, with Gumball patiently listening and doing his best to understand. Meanwhile, the Nephilim continued on with it's plans to exterminate the residents of Elmore city. The powerful being from the world beyond regarded the two fighters as annoying vermin, but kept its guard up, just in case. They were a tricky and resilient bunch as it had learned previously…

After a minute or two...

Leaping off from the black hummingbird, Gumball landed on the pavement with one knee on the ground and one hand holding onto his folded scythe. Thanks to Teri, his back was patched up with some cloth bandages she brought along with her and was no longer bleeding, which was a good thing. However, he was still in tremendous pain and landing on his knee may have looked cool, but it actually hurt really bad, so bad that it made him tear up a little and hold in a scream as he stood back up.

Across from him, about twenty feet away, the Nephilim had sensed his approached and was now focusing its empty eyes on the eldest Watterson child. Gumball could see that it was in fact, building another cannon as the base of the awesome weapon had already been created. Looks like his operation with Teri didn't really change much. They also needed to end this quickly because Gumball suspected that the fight with Bobert and Ocho was probably simmering down at this point.

He had two objectives given to him by Teri: the first was to somehow get the Concretin over to the edge, as close as possible she said. Next he had to use some of her explosive runes to remove the monster from the ground it was attached to when she gave him a signal to do so. Gumball had some doubts about this aspect of the plan, mainly due to the fact that when he first fought it, he was nearly taken out!

But orders were orders, he was just going to have to make do. It was do or die time and he was going to have to bring his A game into the mix. They had a limited time to do this and Teri was counting on him.

His scythe was folded up because he didn't want to bring it out yet and impede his progress. His objective was to get to the concrete cocoon that was containing the vile spirit as quick as possible and deal some damage to it. If he did so, he may entice it to back up towards the edge, plus it may underestimate him if it doesn't see his weapon drawn.

The morning air was really cool, the canyon walls were really great at directing wind currents along this section of the highway. Everything seemed to slow down for Gumball as he crouched down and got ready to sprint: his goal, to get around the Nephilim. The Nephilim kept watch over him, it's wavy markings flashing red once, and five tendrils, devoid of any pleasant colors began to rise out of the ground in front of it. The limb's tips began reshaping themselves until they resembled missiles, with sleek, pointed heads and four small, aerodynamic fins to better help guide their path as they cut through the air. Gumball guessed that this monster wasn't fooling around this time, "So it's bringing the thunder too, eh? Fine with me." he smirked deviously at the thought, his adrenaline causing him to feel aggressive and headstrong.

The missile tendrils arched back as they prepared to strike, Gumball took a deep breath and let it out as smoothly as possible, the fresh air felt great in his lungs. Without another moment's hesitation, he bolted forward! With the sudden action the armed cat displayed, the missile tentacles shot forward, the craters formed at their bases growing larger as they consumed more concrete in order to increase their overall length. Like the talons, they moved incredibly fast, forcing Gumball to react.

When the first one reached him, Gumball stopped dead in his tracks and took a step back. The grey missile slammed into the ground in front of him and shattered into hundreds of small chunks as the Nephilim was unable to predict his unusual movements. The other four made their way towards him, three from behind and one coming directly at him from above.

Quickly predicting the trajectory of the one coming from above, Gumball grabbed a large piece of discarded concrete from the first missile (when they break they resume their solid forms.) and lobbed it at the incoming attached projectile. The two collided causing both to shatter on impact and more pieces to fall to the ground. The arch from the tendril remained where it was like the world's most boring rainbow.

As for the remaining three closing in on him from behind, Gumball, with only seconds to act, turned around and began sprinting towards the three incoming projectiles. Moments before colliding, Gumball dove forward and underneath the three spindly limbs of asphalt as they collided with each other and broke into little bits. And just like that, there was only Gumball and the concrete sarcophagus.

Getting up to his feet once more, Gumball finally extended the scythe's blade and continued to circle around the Nephilim cannon maker/operator. Within a few powerful strides, Gumball was near the cannon and almost in front of the monster. With its first wave decimated, the Nephilim proceeded to launch a stronger attack on it's only opponent. Moments later, Gumball felt a strong force press down on him, restraining the poor boy and halting his advance all together. In front of the Concretin, a red orb began to form and the temperature rose significantly: it was a doom blast!

Realizing how much trouble he was in, Gumball knew that this attack was capable of vaporizing almost any material it came in contact with. What's worse was this time he didn't have Teri as back up because she was too busy weaving together her master plan. Desperate to escape, Gumball struggled against the invisible hand that was trying to compress him. He was still standing, surprisingly, and he began wriggling his arms in an attempt to break free of whatever curse had him bound. Several feet away, the red orb's glow intensified, casting the world in a bloody, red glow. A hum began to make itself present within Gumball's ears, indicating he had very little time until he was atomized.

"Come on, come on! I can't die here! I can't let Teri down or everyone in Elmore!" he desperately thought as he let out an agonized groan while he continued to force his arms up against the pressing force,

"I. GOTTA. MOVE. DARNIT!"

And then, a familiar feeling began to resurface within Gumball's very being. A power that resonated from his weapon and into his little body. The gravity well that was trying to crush him to the ground seemed to dissipate and he was free to move his limbs and body again. Slightly surprised, but more relieved than anything, Gumball quickly snapped the scythe up in front of him and prepared to take the blast head on. It was too late to get out of the doom blast's range, so Gumball decided to deflect it away. To his surprise the entire blade was producing grey flames that lapped the air with its silver tongues. He remembered seeing this when Toxic Pill attacked.

And at that moment, the Concretin's doom blast reached its critical peak and was released in the form of a raging red torrent of energy directed at the scythe wielding middle schooler. The blast tore its way through the open air, easily closing the distance between it and its intended target, before engulfing the child in crimson. To the Nephilim discharging the weapon, the little boy should have been erased the moment the beam came in contact with his frail little body.

After a moment or two had passed, the beam died down and the world was back to its normal colors again. There was still an abundance of heat that had yet to vanish and the stench of burnt asphalt lingered in the air. The blast zone where the demonic spirits energy-based attack encompassed was filled with smoke that rose and drifted along with the canyon breeze. All the Nephilim needed was to see was whether or not the vermin had been reduced to atoms in it's last attack.

Before the smoke dissipated, a grey glow could be seen emanating from within the black column. To the Nephilim's confusion, the boy had survived!

Before it had a chance to react, Gumball came leaping out of the smoke column, scythe raised for a vertical slice as he glared menacingly at the monstrous spirit. After the doom blast was deflected by his magical weapon's amplified energy, Gumball could feel more energy bursting from within. He felt great! Incredible even! It was like it was his birthday and he had eaten tons of cake and was playing all his favorite games. The rush this power was giving him made him feel transcendent, invincible, unstoppable! Even his pain had faded the moment Carrie's gift had started feeding him power.

Now flying with the help of his amplified energy, Gumball quickly sealed the distance between him and his intended target. The startled Nephilim tried to back away from the flying mammal, but was unable to stop the two foot, curved, flaming blade from slicing into its masked face. When Gumball swung the scythe into the monster's face, he was expecting some resistance since the monster's shell was made of concrete, but instead the blade cut through it as though he were swinging it through the air.

The blade didn't cut very deep however, only leaving a shallow gash running vertically across the Concretin's blank face. The Concretin, not entirely dead yet, retaliated quickly by forming an arm with heavily reinforced knuckles and swung its fist at the furry blue kid standing on its upper torso. Having been too focused on landing his own strike on the stone-like monster, Gumball didn't see the fist shooting towards him and was clocked square in the middle of his face with enough force to send him crashing into the cannon.

Feeling his head spinning, Gumball got up on wobbly legs, surprisingly neither his face nor his back hurt, which could be due to shock, adrenaline, or the mysterious powers from the scythe in his hands. Either way, getting decked in the face by fist harder than stone and as fast as a speeding truck definitely threw his whole world in a spin. Despite the massive power-up given to him, he was still susceptible to being attacked and knocked around. He felt something warm and wet on his face and when he brought his hand up to it, he pulled his fingers away only to see them covered in blood, his blood.

Checking back on the Nephilim, he saw something that filled him with dread the moment it presented itself. The gash he had left on Concretin's face was closing up as it began pulling more concrete from the ground to repair the damage. Soon the vertical scratch had completely disappeared and the monster was now looming over him again. This was going to be a difficult fight as long as he was in contact with the ground.

There was some good news though, Gumball had successfully forced the beast to back up in the direction of the ledge that marked the end of the road. The best part was, he still felt empowered and far from being depleted! Standing tall, Gumball regarded the vile creature with his determined and menacing black eyes, showing no signs of cowardice,

"One for one." he chuckled, wiping away the blood dripping from his nose with the sleeve of his sweater,

"I guess things are really starting to heat up!" he said, his scythe's flames burning with greater intensity.

The Nephilim regarded his remark by forming ten Roman scissors all around it, having them rotate like sharks around a wounded animal. It was going on the defensive, this was both good and bad news for the spirit fighter,

"Forward! Not one step back! Teri's counting on me!" he thought once more to himself.

With amazing speed, the blue feline rushed into the frey.

Down underneath the bridge, Teri continued to tape and stick multiple pages with the rune of her choice inscribed on them to the support pillar she was hovering by. She was working as fast as she could, but the task was slightly tedious because she needed to make sure the explosion runes covered every square inch of concrete on the pillar while also making sure the blanket of pages covered a wide area. It was a dangerous plan that could cause massive amounts of damage to the bridge itself, but there weren't really a whole lot of alternatives at the moment.

She heard the fight above and was wondering if it was getting intense. She heard what sounded like five explosions, a doom blast followed by a series loud clashes between concrete and metal. She hoped that Gumball was okay and that he was holding off the Concretin as best as he could. He told her that he was going to put his everything into driving the Nephilim back to the edge and by the sounds of his screaming and cursing, he really was.

This plan of hers had a lot of factors that could go wrong and each one that presented itself filled the young girl with uncertainty and anxiety as she carried on with her task. Regardless of her worries, she pressed onwards with the knowledge that if this fails, she, Gumball, and the citizens of the faraway town will face a terrible fate. Despite all the complications that came along with this crazy idea, there were only two simple outcomes: they either annihilate the Nephilim or the city gets annihilated itself.

Whether it would work or not, it was do or die time and Teri was ready to go through with it.

Finally spreading enough hexagonal bomb runes, Teri pulled away from the pillar, which looked like some bizarre act of vandalism had been carried out upon it, and headed up to where she tied the steel cable she had retrieved from the bottom of the cliff. When she saw the cables running alongside the bridge in her earlier analysis, she remembered seeing a few get blown off from her bombing of the concrete cannon and decided to make use of them by tying it several feet above the bomb runes. Grabbing the free end of the disconnected support wire, she began leading it up to the top of the bridge.

According to her estimation, the cable should be long enough to run from the gap to the support pillar down below. It was time to see whether or not she was correct in her assumptions. She had some difficulty hauling it though due to the sheer weight the wire had and was causing her hummingbird to slow down while she made her way towards her intended destination.

As she got closer, she could hear the sounds of Gumball's struggle with the Nephilim getting louder. It seemed that he was successful in getting the beast to back up, but judging by the excessive amount of clashes heard between Gumball's scythe and the Concretin's numerous, flexible weapons, the battle was becoming more fierce as time wore on. She was really curious as to how Gumball was doing, seeing as he was struggling just minutes ago with the monster and wouldn't be making all those noises if he was in trouble.

After a few more minutes of dragging the monstrous cable to the top of the overpass, Teri's head finally peeked over the edge and she received her first glimpse of the battle. It was quite interesting, as that was the only word Teri could use to describe the situation. At first all she she could see was the marked back of the concrete controlling Nephilim and noticed that it was significantly closer to the edge than before, five feet or less perhaps. What she saw next was Gumball furiously attacking the monster's summoned limbs and weapons with a scythe completely engulfed in flames that matched the monster's color, albeit was a little brighter. He was steadily cutting through the various constructs with ease and even seemed to be a bit faster and stronger than he was before as he would even knock aside some of the monster's attacking limbs with a swipe of his hands.

She saw this before when Gumball had faced off against Toxic Pill in the desert, but was several hundred feet in the air atop an origami helicopter, and didn't exactly get a good look at it. Seeing it up close now was quite the sight for her, she'd never seen Gumball this capable before during any of his fights. Even as he took a beating or two from the Nephilim's various attacks, he still kept up with the attacks and pressed onwards, barely even noticing the pain. To Teri, it seemed that whatever power the scythe was giving him not only increased his speed and strength, but also changed his mentality from cautious and somewhat timid (in a fight at least.) to confident and even reckless.

Such a strange weapon. She wondered what else it was capable of, but more importantly where it came from. She remembered briefly that Rob told Gumball that the scythe was also capable of magic like Teri's runes and also, when she first came to Gumball's house and saw the weapon the first time, Gumball said Carrie had given it to him as a gift.

It made her wonder where Carrie got it from?

These questions were pushed off to the back of her mind when far more pressing matters were at hand. For one, even though Gumball was going toe-to-toe with the beast of concrete, he was still suffered from limitations. Even though his strength and speed had increased, Teri could clearly see that he was being worn out as his response time was a little sluggish and he was struggling to stay focused. Also, he wasn't invincible and combined with his now cocky attitude, he was obtaining some damage from his relentless foe. If he kept this up, his body will give out and he may be rendered unconscious.

And then there was the cannon that was still being built. Even though the Nephilim was concentrated on fighting Gumball, it was still using its power to construct the devastating tool and from what could be seen, it was close to being finished. It also came to Teri's attention that the reason the Concretin didn't use more concrete to finish Gumball off was perhaps because it was diverting more of its resources to finishing its primary objective. Was it really that determined to start firing upon the city?

Gumball made another dash for the Nephilim's body, his face twisted into a scowl and determination burning in his eyes as he cleared through the storm of attacking concrete assets. A flurry of swings directed at the monster's base forced the Nephilim back a few feet, giving Teri the chance she needed. Moving quickly, Teri forced the origami to rise up and circle the surprised entity while allowing the cord she carried to wrap around its upper torso. After a few laps, Teri had the monster entangled within her steel trap and she quickly tied it into a knot on the monster's back.

Pulling her attention to Gumball, she gave him the all-clear to move onto the next phase,

"Gumball, the explosive!" she shouted.

Gumball complied with a simple nod of his head, and dug into his pocket: pulling out a single sticky note with a rune drawn on it. Seeing him do this made Teri very glad that he didn't lose his sense of reasoning when he gained his power-up. Note in hand, Gumball dove forward, with one hand outstretched, and planted the deadly ancient symbol on where the monster's feet were.

The next thing Gumball did was scramble to his feet and made a run for it as soon as the hexagonal symbol written on the small piece of paper began flashing warningly. While he did his this his scythe's flames went out and left the blade cold and inactive. A few seconds later an explosion blossomed from the Nephilim's bottom section, causing a shock wave that could be felt several feet away. The fiery orb went out as fast as it appeared and left a plume of smoke in its wake. Simultaneously, a sharp cracking sound could be heard and through the smoke, Gumball and Teri could see that the tied up Nephilim had broken in several fragments at the lower sections. With gravity taking hold and a small tug from Teri's cable, the now-less-than-ten-foot-tall monster was sent careening off the bridge and into the ravine below.

Instead of sailing straight down to the road below, the cable wrapped around the Nephilim's torso tightened as it reached the end of the rope and swung hard… right into the pillar plastered with the very same symbols used to damage it.

Noting the danger that was evident, Teri swooped down and grabbed Gumball from the ground and pulled him into the air. Right as she did so, a sound so loud, like a thousand jet engines running at once, but more thunderous and violent, burst from underneath the bridge followed by a massive cloud of bright, orange flames and debris comprised of concrete chunks and a shower of dust. The combined explosive power of dozens of magic bombs was so tremendous that not only did it completely wipe out the Nephilim and the column holding the bridge, but also an entire section of the incomplete overpass. The pieces blown apart by the destructive magic first heaved into the air before falling down, down, down to the chasm below, causing thunderous roars to echo across the canyon.

That had to be at least thousands of dollars worth of damage right there, but then again, at least the Nephilim was destroyed, as was evident by the cannon it was building, melting into a puddle of grey stone mix.

Both the cat and the bear stared at the horrifying spectacle with awe and terror, Teri didn't actually mean to cause so much damage! She just wanted to make sure that the Nephilim was helpless when it struck and didn't try anything when it came in contact with the concrete support structure. Deciding that she didn't want to stick around when someone figured out what happened, Teri turned the small paper bird around and zipped out of the canyon and away from the highway, preferring to avoid any chance of being spotted by any people all together.

"Yeesh, not a pretty win, but at least Elmore is safe!" Gumball shouted, trying to stay conscious as he found that a lot of energy had been sapped from him and the pain from all the scratches and bruises was starting to return.

Not having a reason to disagree with her friend, Teri nodded and continued to survey the landscape for a spot to set down at,

"Yeah, maybe I should invest in finding out what the other runes do and hope we can avoid any collateral damage in the future." she said nervously.

She eventually found a grassy field just on the outskirts of Elmore where there were no people around to spot them and decided to take them down there. Her reason for this being that Gumball was injured and she wanted to get his wounds looked at and treated, since she always packed emergency first aid supplies before going anywhere. Ever since they left the broken highway overpass, Gumball's silver flames had gone out and his scythe resumed its normal state. As for her big headed friend, he was looking rather tired and was slouching in his position behind Teri while struggling to keep his eyes open.

Slowing down, Teri's origami bird came to a soft landing on the grass and the paper girl hopped off, extending her hand to a confused/exhausted looking Gumball,

"Why did you take us here?" he asked, giving the field a skeptical glance,

"We gotta get back to the school before Bobert and Ocho's fight ends. However, we don't exactly need to go back to class if they're still hamming it up." he remarked, taking Teri's hand and sliding off the black hummingbird.

Guiding him over to a spot on the grass, she sat him down, dropped her book bag on the ground, and began unzipping it,

"You were banged up pretty badly during the fight, I need to treat you before any of your cuts get infected." she said calmly in her soft voice while continuing to rummage through her bag.

Gumball had heard enough at this point. He got back up, much to Teri's surprise, and began marching over to the hummingbird that lay dormant. He didn't care about treating his injuries when the risk of getting caught and giving an embarrassing explanation to his teachers, parents, siblings and possibly friends was his biggest concern. He shook his head in disapproval and began muttering,

"We can't worry about that right now! We need to get back before they-!"

"Gumball, please!" Teri pleaded, raising voice to a serious and commanding tone.

Surprised at her sudden outburst, Gumball turned his head towards her with the intention to protest. He was going to, but then he looked into her eyes and found himself faltering. Her eyes, while stern, were full of worry and were begging him to just accept her treatment. He could already feel his will to resist melting the moment he looked into her deep, black eyes. With his words caught in his throat and the weight of shame for ignoring her concern bearing down on him, Gumball let out a tired sigh and made his way over to the spot he was just sitting at.

"Okay, but just so we're clear, I'm only doing this because I'm tired and I don't feel like arguing." he grumbled, obviously lying through his teeth.

He sat down in front of her with a grumpy expression on his face, criss-crossed his legs, and angrily placed his head on his hand. Teri, feeling glad for his cooperation, smiled gratefully at him and went back to gathering her medical supplies. After she found what she was looking for, she asked him to remove his shirt in order to apply her salves and bandages while also keeping the area from getting infected by bacteria that may be clinging onto the shirt. He did as he was told and Teri gave his body a close-up inspection.

Going through a bit of a rough time, Gumball's bandages were nearly reduced to shredded to rags and had nearly fallen off at this point. She was surprised to see that Gumball was actually getting leaner, despite going through only a weeks worth of physical training. In the past, during the rare occasions when the anthropomorphic feline misplaced his shirt (along with his other clothes in some instances.) he always had a bit of a gut hanging out, but now she could see that his belly was slimmer now. The sight momentarily caught her off guard and made her blush a little before she retained her focus.

All over his arms, shoulders, face, and back were cuts that spread out like a bizarre, painful, red spider web. She also saw that his little orange nose was broken and covered in dry blood and one of his whiskers had been burnt off. She quickly began cleaning the lacerations with a clean cloth and a water bottle before applying some disinfectant. All the while, Gumball winced and muttered some angered protests every time she came in contact with the exposed wounds. She apologized every time he did so and Gumball would just grunt in response, but he seemed to be alright. He did look like he was about to fall asleep though, prompting her to hurry up with the medical care.

While applying Band-aids and new bandages, Teri felt a tremendous sense of gratitude within her and felt like expressing it her current patient,

"Thank you." she said softly, placing a Band-aid on a cut that ran along Gumball's cheek.

Gumball yawned in exhaustion and raised an eyebrow when he heard her,

"For what?" he asked, wondering what she was getting at.

"For a lot of things actually." she started, pressing down on the sterilized bandage in order to make sure it stuck,

"For one, fighting the Concretin (seriously, where do you come up with these names?) both during your plan and mine, for defending me under the bridge, for listening and going along with my plans, and, well, for being a supportive and reliable friend. I really appreciate everything you've done." she said fondly.

Gumball heard her heartfelt thanks and felt his heart start racing while his face started burning, although he was unsure if this was due to the cuts on his face or the sudden rush of blood to his cheeks. She appreciated his company and thought that he was reliable! He couldn't believe he was hearing those words and most importantly she meant them too! All this time, he believed he was the world's biggest screw up with all that has happened to him and all the things he wished he could've done better.

Words could not express the happiness and joy he felt at hearing what she had to say about him. He knew he had to return it with a comeback just as good as the one she gave him. He wanted to lift her spirits and make her happy!

Clearing his throat, Gumball chuckled nervously and began scratching the back of his head,

"Well, thanks… that was really nice, um… I also wanted to thank you for everything you've done for me too." he stated skittishly, finding real hard to maintain eye contact for some reason.

Now it was Teri's turn to be confused, she had no idea why he would be thanking her. Looking at him oddly, Teri took a step back in surprise,

"What do you mean?" she asked, looking downtrodden,

"I can't really do much because I'm nothing like you and Rob. I'm so frail, I can't even withstand a small breeze, let alone the attacks from the Nephilim. You and Rob are so bold and can challenge those monsters while I have to rely on you to distract them so I can hurt them. I haven't done much at all and I feel like nothing but a burden to you." she was starting to sob, she didn't feel that important at all and didn't deserve much praise.

Gumball was taken aback by this, "Has she always felt like this?" Gumball wondered. He couldn't believe that such a smart and talented girl like Teri would feel like nothing but excess baggage to the team. For all that he assumed, he always thought that he was the joke of the team with how careless he could be and even looking down at his battered form kind of proved it.

He shook his head, there was no reason she should feel this way, not when she was so incredible,

"Teri." he started, taking a step closer to her, now maintaining eye contact, although the paper girl was having a hard time doing the same,

"I don't think you're useless or cowardly, if that's what you're thinking." he said earnestly.

Teri sniffled and shook her head in disbelief, she didn't believe him or herself,

"It's not that!" she exclaimed, trying to hide her face now because she was ashamed and didn't want him to see her like this even though it was pointless,

"I know what I can do, but I wish I could do more! I try to make sure you don't get hurt, but you always do and sometimes I do too. I always have to stand back and watch you fight and it upsets me that I can't stand by your side and help fight them off. Every time there's a fight I always wish I could do so much more!" she was now overwhelmed by her sadness and self pity and broke down sobbing again.

Watching his friend and fighting partner being reduced to a crying mess, really brought Gumball down on an emotional level that he could only understand as empathetic sadness. It was very clear to him now how she felt inside. She felt as though there was not much she could do when it came to fighting the Nephilim and protecting someone she cared about.

Even if you could fight and bring down an opponent that seemed so terrifying, what was worse was watching someone close to you getting hurt and not being able to do anything about it. Gumball could relate to that feeling of uselessness: it has happened before so many times to him when he'd find himself up against bullies or people who wished to do him/them harm and while he could have done something to protect those around him, he'd panic and stay away or he'd try to fight and just end up getting beaten in the process.

Still, Teri was wrong about herself.

He walked over to his crying classmate, if she noticed him approaching her then she didn't show it because she still kept crying into her hands. When he reached her, he placed a scratched up paw on her shoulder, grasping it gently. Startled, she jerked her head up and pulled her hands away from her face, she didn't have any visible tears because she needed to draw them on in order to express sadness, and met Gumball's eyes with her own.

A comfortable smile was forming on his face as he stared at her affectionately,

"Of course you've done a lot, Teri! You've done so much for me in the past month: you've managed to pull me out of a depression that has been plaguing me for three months (although I still have some issues to settle.), you've helped me fight the Nephilim by making sure that I can keep up with them, I have been saved by you on many different occasions, you took down Toxic Pill's shield all on your own, your second plan succeeded in defeating Concretin, and you're really smart and observant. You're awesome Teri and if it weren't for you, I probably wouldn't be here to say these things." he said, giving her the warmest, most genuine smile he could give.

If her heart could soar, it would have entered orbit by now. There was truth in his words and his look assured her of that, causing his speech to strike home with her. She had been so wrapped up in what she couldn't do that she had forgotten about the many things she had contributed to their battles with the Nephilim. Gumball was right, she was more helpful than she realized.

Feeling warm inside, her sad face was slowly replaced with one that expressed thankfulness towards Gumball causing the blue cat in question to mirror her expression. They both had weaknesses that made it difficult for them to fight the invisible monsters, but their individual strengths gave them the chance to rely on each other and pull through each obstacle they run into. Without much care for the world around them or the time restraint that had been a pressing concern for two students (mainly Gumball.), they both stood there in the grassy field for a minute or two, just enjoying the comfort they brought one another.

However, the reality of the situation eventually wrestled its way back into the young boy's mind and Gumball panned his gaze over to the hummingbird and then back to Teri, shattering the serene moment,

"Uh, sorry for being the guy who has to end this little moment, but we should really get heading back to school." he said nervously, hiking a thumb towards the folded bird construct.

Teri blinked a few times in surprise and shook her head, clearing it of the foggy, peaceful thoughts that occupied her conscious and looked to where he was pointing. Noting that they've been out for a while, Teri kicked it into overdrive and quickly began gathering her things, shoving them in her book bag, and tossing Gumball his torn-up sweater,

"Put that on, we need to hurry!" she quickly stated, sounding rather frantic.

Gumball obliged and quickly covered his bare upper body with his daily attire before grabbing his bag holding his precious weapon and making his way towards the silent, unmoving bird. He thought about the journey back to school and realized that they would have to take a detour in order to avoid being seen coming from this general direction, however, the primary issue was that any detour would take more time. Staring at the origami they used as a means of transportation, Gumball had an idea and turned to the cute paper girl brushing past him,

"Hey, Teri." he said, causing her to turn around upon hearing her name being called,

"I have an idea of getting us back really quickly and without anyone noticing, but it depends entirely on you and your crafty paper skills. Can I count on you?" he asked, smiling and raising an eyebrow.

Knowing what he was getting on about, Teri returned the mischievous cat's smile and nodded.

-Elmore Junior High, seven minutes later-

With the amount of time it took them to get from the school to the bridge combined with the time it took them to fight the Nephilim, treat Gumball's injuries, and get back to school, they were gone for a total of forty six minutes. They may not have been the greatest team of fighters the world has ever seen, but they did know how to end a fight quickly. Most their time gone was taken up by travel and the two seriously hoped their absence hasn't gained anyone's attention.

Heading towards an open window on the third floor, a sleek looking paper aircraft with a flat, wide, spade-shaped fuselage, two cylindrical engines mounted on the sides towards the rear with two small wings attached along with two fins slanted at an angle, known as an SR-71 blackbird shot through the opening and into the empty classroom. Unlike most of Teri's aircraft which were just origami versions of the actual thing, this one was an actual paper craft with several large sheets of paper folded together, giving the aircraft a sealed cockpit for her and Gumball to sit in. She also showcased another ability that relates to her paper powers and that was when she drew some windows on the blackbird, they became like actual windows. She said that it was related to how she was able to draw things on her face like eyes, a nose, and a mouth that function as actual facial features. With an enclosed cockpit, they were able to climb higher and move faster through the air without too many risks taken for themselves.

The problem with the paper blackbird though, was that while Teri was easily able to fit into it thanks to the flexible nature of her body, it was slightly cramped for Gumball. Another issue that made itself present was when they crash landed in the vacated classroom belonging to the eighth graders, Gumball was flung through the paper thin cockpit, out the classroom door, and into one of the lockers across from the room they landed in. The lack of a safety harness was an issue that he and Teri overlooked and now the cat was feeling the repercussions for his negligence in the form of a sore back.

Getting up to his feet again, Gumball cracked his back and waited for the world to stop spinning,

"That's the last time I ever fly economy class." he groaned.

He watched as the pilot of the speedy aircraft climbed out of the control cabin and unfurled herself until she was at full form. Being made of paper definitely had its advantages as the only Pepakuma child didn't suffer from anything except for a little dizziness. She looked at Gumball with an apology already written on her face,

"Sorry, I was trying to pull up, but I forgot to factor in your, um, weight and it threw off the plane's center of gravity a little." she explained with a bashful smile.

Gumball accepted her apology and dusted himself off. It didn't really matter to him because he was just happy to be back, safe and sound with Teri. he was about to thank her for flying them back, when he heard a voice call out to him from the end of the hallway,

"THERE YOU ARE!"

Spinning on his heels, Gumball turned to face the newcomer who was shouting at him and spotted a familiar, transparent figure floating towards him with another floating figure following closely behind. It was Carrie and Masami! Completely caught off guard, Gumball quickly stood up with his back straight as a plank and tried to act casual even though he was already sweating bullets,

"CARRIE! MASAMI! VERY NICE TO SEE YOU TWO!" he shouted very loudly, while quickly, yet subtly glancing over at Teri then at the crumpled SR-71 that stood out in the empty class like a sore thumb.

Teri caught on to what he was covertly telling her: Masami and Carrie were coming and she needed to get rid of the plane, pronto! She quickly rushed over to the aircraft and placed her hand on its surface. Upon contact, the aircraft immediately began unfolding, piece by piece, before it was eventually reduced to five large sheets of black paper the size of blankets.

Meanwhile, Gumball continued to watch as the ghost and the sentient cloud continued to drift towards him with Masami wearing a tired and irritant expression on her face and Carrie with a blank expression on the part that was visible from her bangs. Judging by how they were rushing towards them with not-so-pleased expressions, the twelve year old could definitely guess that they had been looking for him. He hoped that they hadn't been looking for too long.

Carrie was the first to speak to him,

"Where were you?" she asked, her voice full of both worry and frustration.

"Miss Simian sent us to look for you ten minutes ago, what have you been up to?" Masami asked, following Carrie's question.

Having already thought up an excuse on the way to school and discussing it with Teri, Gumball opened his mouth to say something. Unfortunately, before he could so much as utter a peep, Teri stepped out of the classroom after putting away her paper supplies. She casually glanced at Gumball, giving him a small smile and then turned to face Carrie and Masami, who were both slowly dropping their jaws in shock,

"Hi Carrie! Hi Masami! Have Ocho and Bobert calm down yet?" the paper girl asked innocently.

There was definitely a lot confusion between the two pale, floating girls as they tried to process what it was they were seeing here. They found Gumball, who had been missing ever since the fight broke out between the spider and the robot, in an empty eighth grade classroom, covered in bandages, and was with Teri: Alone! Masami, being one for drama, already drew her own conclusions, while Carrie on the other hand, while the prospect of Gumball being alone in an empty place like this with the girl he had been hanging out with for roughly a week and a half was completely baffling and somewhat intriguing, she was more curious as to why Gumball was injured.

Regardless, the two girls immediately felt awkward, turned about and proceeded to make their leave,

"You know what? We'll tell you guys later, you two kids have fun!" Carrie said quickly, not even facing the two as she waved back at them.

Masami just remained silent and moved along with her ghostly friend. Gumball, panicking, immediately stepped up to say something about the situation they were clearly reading into wrong. Sweating bullets, Gumball frantically waved his arms as though to gain their attention and shouted,

"I THINK A LITTLE CONTEXT IS NEEDED HERE!" his voice was sharp and cracked a little, hinting at the large amount of stress he was feeling.

Halting in their tracks, the two girls whirled around with an eyebrow raised (although for Carrie, she could have had both raised and no one would notice.), and regarded the boy with a listening ear, albeit with a little suspicion added in. Feeling relieved that the two girls didn't rush off to go tell everyone else something that could have resulted in a lot of trouble for both him and his paper friend, Gumball felt his body relax along with his mind. Clearing his throat, he straightened himself out and looked the two girls in the eye,

"You see when that little scuffle broke out in the classroom, I panicked and ran away." he said, feigning fright by using his voice and acting out his emotions with his arms,

"And then I heard the explosion and decided that I should probably get as far away from here as possible and so I left the school."

The three girls listened to the story the blue feline was compiling. Both Masami and Carrie seemed to be buying into it as it was something that Gumball would do or at least it wasn't completely out of character for him to dash off when things threatened to spill out of control. Teri, on the other hand, having been with him for over half an hour just kept silent along with a straight face while he spun his lie. She was actually quite impressed with how well he was holding it together, although the speed of which he was speaking seemed a little too fast and his acting seemed a little forced, mostly his expressions. However, looking at the two floating classmates she often conversed with when she wasn't with Gumball or when she was just hanging out, she could see that they were starting to believe in his story, which was good enough for her to accept.

Gumball continued with his incredibly simplistic, yet believable lie,

"I ran down the road a ways and wouldn't you know it, some guy is walking his dogs while eating a meatball sub and I accidentally bumped into him and he spills it on me. Then his dogs attacked me and that's why I'm all shredded up like this." he finished, crossing his arms and giving that same wide eyed expression he always wore when he was fibbing.

The two girls briefly looked at each other, wondering if they should give his story any credit. Once again, everything he said was plausible and didn't seem to out of the ordinary for the trouble attracting boy. Carrie realized something that he forgot to mention and turned back to Gumball, armed with a question,

"Um, okay, but why were you up here with Teri by yourselves?" she crossed her arms and glared at the cat.

Gumball paused to think about it, come to think of it, there wasn't really a good excuse he could come with that would bring the two of them out of this sticky situation. He felt himself start to panic again, he didn't want anyone to think he and Teri were an item, okay well, he liked Teri and wasn't embarrassed to be seen with her, he just didn't want anyone spreading rumors that were not true. When the silence began to stretch out for too long, Gumball began fidgeting with his fingers and wondered if he should just make a run for it or try to change the subject,

"When he came back, I saw that he was hurt and decided to help him with his injuries."

Gumball felt his worry stricken thoughts come to a halt as he stared at the normally quiet, female student he had recently gotten to know. The other two who were waiting for Gumball to respond, now had their attention on the girl who matched them in color. Teri continued on with her explanation, looking completely calm and competent, as though she were just carrying out a normal conversation with two best friends,

"I was worried that the fight would spill out from the classroom and into the infirmary, where I was treating him and so I moved him somewhere quiet and out of the way. Ms. Markham wasn't there because she had to go get check on anyone who could've been injured in that scuffle between the two boys and so I was the only one who could help him and besides, I wouldn't let a best friend go about his day while injured." she said, turning to Gumball and giving him a subtle wink.

Once again, Gumball found himself feeling appreciative of Teri and her various skills. Not only was she an excellent planner, medic, and friend, she also knew how to pull them out of a tough spot with other people. She could lie and look so casual about, which made him wonder if he should amazed or worried about this trait.

Hearing this from Teri made a lot of sense for the two girls, who looked at one another and shrugged simultaneously before turning back to the two with apologetic looks,

"Oh! Well that was awfully nice and thoughtful of you, Teri." Masami admitted rather sheepishly, feeling kind of down that there wasn't anything juicy to spill about the two. She also felt a little guilty for prematurely jumping to conclusions, but was over that guilt in a heartbeat.

Carrie seemed cool with the situation and gave a more relaxed response,

"Well, I'm glad you guys are alright. Bobert and Ocho completely trashed the classroom and the seventh grade hallway, but everyone else got out unscathed." she said in a monotone voice.

Feeling his anxiety leave him like an evil demon during an exorcism, Gumball was now pressed down with relief. He was so glad things worked out for everyone and nothing embarrassing happened. Then he heard Teri let out a giggle that sounded so charming and innocent that he couldn't help, but look over to see what she was going on about,

"Yeah, I'm glad we all got out okay. Gumball was REALLY good company." she remarked slyly, glancing over at her furry blue friend with a wily grin.

Never mind what he thought earlier, Teri was now trying to mess with him and the worst part was, it was working,

"You're not helping!" he snarled, baring his fangs and extending his claws menacingly.

Teri just gave him an innocent smile that hid her evil intent and caused him to get angrier. The little cloud and the big-headed ghost just stared at the two blankly as they started to go at each other with curses and insults. After wasting enough time listening to their banter, Masami left, telling the three that she was heading down to the gym where third hour was starting while Carrie remembered something else and broke the two from their cursing match before the language became more profane,

"Oh, Gumball." she said, breaking into the conversation.

Gumball immediately stopped with his slew of slander as if he were paused and turned to the emo with a curious expression,

"What's up, Carrie?" he asked, quickly shooting a nasty glare in Teri's direction, the latter sticking her tongue out at him before quickly retracting it when Gumball tried to poke it with his index finger.

Carrie brushed her bangs out her face before letting them fall back down, indicating that what she was about to tell him was serious,

"Darwin also sent me to find you as well. During the fight, Ocho mentioned something about Tobias planning to prank Tina and the T-rex chased the jock wannabe out of the classroom. Darwin went after them, along with some friends, and told me to go find you." she explained, her usually apathetic voice now carrying a hint of worry, not for Tobias, but for Darwin.

Gumball felt his eyes widen until they were like saucers! This was not good, definitely not good. Tobias had been planning on carrying out his spiteful act during lunch and when he left to go fight the Nephilim, he'd planned on coming back as soon as possible. He never expected it to wind up like this! If Carrie had been looking for them for over ten minutes now, then it may already be too late.

Flinging his arms in the air in an overly dramatic fashion that surprised both Teri and Carrie, Gumball could already feel his panic taking hold as he tried to think of something to do while assessing the situation at hand,

"WHAT THE WHAT!? Do you know where they are now? Are they hurt? Are they in detention? The infirmary? The emergency room?" he shouted, allowing his guilt of not being here to help his brother wash over him.

Raising her hands (stump? Finger hand? Tendril? She didn't really have hands or fingers, kind like Darwin.) in a comforting gesture, she spoke to him a low and assuring voice,

"Calm down. When I ran into Masami on my way here, she told me that she saw Tobias making a dash for the swimming pool room with Tina in hot pursuit. If my guess is correct, he's probably holed himself up in the boys locker room." she explained, giving the anxious brother of her boyfriend some reassurance.

Teri also looked completely surprised despite having absolutely nothing to do with the conflict between the school bully and the school sports fanatic. She more or less felt bad for Gumball because she hated seeing him look so upset and frightened. She had no siblings to protect and fawn over, but she knew for a fact that Darwin meant so much to Gumball and knowing the fact that he could possibly be in danger with trying to stop a clearly enraged Tina was probably driving him to a near mental breakdown. It was such sad sight that Teri wanted to help him with his struggle.

Gathering whatever courage she could, Teri turned to Gumball and called his name, forcing the clearly spazzy kitty to turn to her. Seeing his clearly desperate and terrified eyes gazing into her struck Teri in her mental soft spot and caused her to take a deep breath before speaking,

"Gumball, I know I said that I wasn't going to get involved, but we need to go, now!" she stated simply.

For a moment, Gumball pushed his fear aside and looked at her perplexedly,

"Wait, I thought you said you couldn't help because you had to help Idaho?" he remarked, not quite understanding where she was coming from.

"Oh yeah, there was that, but I was more or less scared of confronting Tina and to be honest, I'm still scared of her. I will stand beside you and be your support, just as long as you have an actual plan and a plan to get us out if things go wrong. Plus, it's not lunch time yet, so I'm available to help out." she admitted. There was also a hidden desire to make sure that Gumball didn't get hurt any more than he already was.

Understanding her now, Gumball gave her a quick nod and grabbed her by the hand,

"Thank you and don't worry, I'll think of something, hopefully not too reckless." he said with a knowing grin.

This worried Teri a little, but wasn't able to say anything because in another instant, she was quickly yanked off her feet and carried off once again to another fight by Gumball. The blue cat shouted a thank you back to the Krueger child before disappearing around the corner with a flimsy, paper girl flapping behind him like a screaming banner. They were well on their way for the final confrontation of the day and the two hoped they weren't too late to change anything.

While they ran, Carrie watched them leave while wondering why she could sense Gumball's scythe on his person and why she could sense strange magic coming from Teri.

-pool room, two minutes later-

Bursting through the double doors, Gumball skidded to a halt and allowed Teri to float back down to her feet. Glancing around the massive room the pair were treated with the familiar sight of the enormous swimming pool that centered the room, the various benches that lined the painted walls, the high board that towered over the body of water which lead to many uncomfortable situations for many students and was not the place for those who were wary of heights. The whole room smelled of chlorine, stinging both their nostrils as they breathed in huge quantities of air after running/being dragged down several flights of stairs, through many hallways, and even across half a wing of the building. It seemed rather peaceful in this place, that was, until they got a good look at the crowd gathered around the locker rooms.

The sounds of excited chatter and shouts filled the air as two dozen students (some of whom, Teri and Gumball could recognize on sight) gathered around Tina, the terrifying tyrannosaur, while she stood outside the changing room designated for males only. Of course, she didn't look very happy, as the duo knew exactly why and she had a good reason to, and looked as though she were about to break down the door any minute now. Gumball guessed the only thing stopping the big bully was the fact that she wasn't allowed to or the fact that most of the students gathered around her were stopping the bipedal lizard from doing so.

Blocking her path was a familiar goldfish and a goofy-looking banana with googly eyes: Darwin and Banana Joe! Gumball felt his heart leap out of his chest the moment he saw his little brother unharmed. Watching and listening very closely, Gumball could see Darwin waving his fins franticall, a look of desperation planted on his otherwise calm and collected face as he tried to calm the T-rex down,

"Tina, you don't have to do this! Tobias is scared and he's not going to mess with you anymore, you don't have to beat him into-!" he cried out, but was rudely cut off by Tina's roar,

"Out of my way, fish face! He'd better get out here now or I will go in there myself and rip him to shreds!" she growled in her deep gruff voice.

"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE YOU UGLY SACK OF REPTILE FILTH!" came Tobias' high pitched shriek from the otherside of the locker room door.

Tina let out another growl and glared first at the door and then at Darwin and Banana Joe, the latter of which looked like he was ready to split,

"You have one minute to step aside or else I'll squish you two pipsqueaks, before I stomp that stupid, loud mouthed, pansy boy into the ground." she snarled, her yellow, reptilian eyes burning into both Darwin and Banana Joe's.

Seeing that the situation was escalating, Gumball knew he was going to have to act quickly because Tina wasn't exactly one to hold back on her threats as he remembered the many different times he found himself on the underside of her foot. There was just one problem though: Tina was like a huge monster, but unlike the ones he and Teri fought daily, Tina was a classmate and fellow student. He couldn't use his scythe on her because that would be wrong and facing her without any easy way out was literally scaring him now.

"Please tell me you're scared too." a voice whispered beside him.

He turned and saw that Teri was standing right by his side and was completely frozen in terror. He let out a half hearted and completely anxious filled chuckle as he turned to look at the lizard that has brought him so much pain in the past,

"You kidding me? Any more scared and the pool room isn't going to be the only thing that's soggy and smelly." he admitted with a squeak. He couldn't believe he was thinking this, but he'd honestly rather take on any of the Nephilim in the past than deal with this threat.

However, he knew that his little brother was right there, risking his own safety for the sake of someone else who, honestly didn't deserve it, at least in his opinion. He always thought that the narcissistic jerk was going to get what was coming to him one day in the form of a few broken bones after running his mouth to the wrong person. Yet, Darwin was right, despite how mean he was, he really didn't deserve to actually get hurt for his stupidity and if Darwin was willing to do whatever he could for someone he considered a friend, then he might as well stand beside his brother, although protecting Tobias was just a side benefit in his mind.

He didn't have any wacky escape plans or schemes to confront the bully and knock her down a peg. None of those things would have actually solved anything and would instead serve to fuel Tina's anger. He was going to have to use diplomacy, seeing as there weren't any other safe options.

Shaking somewhat, Gumball gulped audibly, and took a nervous step forward, the room seemingly growing larger and more menacing than it originally appeared. Teri rook notice of his actions along with his clearly visible discomfort and grabbed his wrist. Gumball felt the flimsy paper fingers wrap around his right forearm and jumped a little, turning only to see that it was only Teri,

"Are you alright?" she asked, looking down at him with a nervousness that he noticed when he went to go fight the Concretin on his own.

Wiping the perspiration that was gathering on his brow, Gumball felt a shaky sigh escape his lips and he closed his eyes only for the briefest of moments before gathering his thoughts and reopening them to see the paper girl he found so reliable,

"The truth is, I don't have a crazy plan that can get them and us out of this. I'm just going to have to talk to her." he said, looking back over to where the crowd was and saw the towering, prehistoric, killing machine glaring dangerously at Darwin while her tail was wagging in anticipation.

Teri wasn't surprised that Gumball didn't have this convoluted scheme that involved cheap tricks, smuggling, improvised tools, or deception. This was definitely a complicated issue that had to be resolved by talking to someone in order to reach an understanding without escalating the issue even further. It was just terrifying because tensions were at an all time high now and one wrong move or word could land them in hot water (or pool water.) and she could tell that Gumball feared the potential negative outcome to all of this because from past experiences, Tina has shown to be rather… tough to get through to.

With time running out, Teri tugged on Gumball's arm, prompting him to look at her once more,

"Let's go then." she ordered, although her voice was a little shaky,

"I'll be by your side, just to let you know!" she whispered reassuringly, giving his arm a gentle squeeze.

Seeing her act courageously in the face of a dangerous situation (a situation that they couldn't fight their way out of at least.) caused the fearful blue cat to temporarily lose sight of his fear. It was still there as far as he could tell, but her confident words despite the uncertainty in her eyes, voice, and body posture made him understand that it was okay to be afraid, but could still do something right if he pushed forward. This was the same kind of courage she was referring to back on the grassy fields and now he found himself in her shoes, metaphorically speaking.

Finding the right push to get his brain going, Gumball's face formed a shaky smile reminiscent of the person holding him currently and nodded,

"Okay. I know what we should do!" he stated, although his voice cracked a little causing Gumball to immediately cringe at the wimpy way he sounded and he cleared his throat as a response as he prepared to discuss his idea,

"I'm gonna go over and try to talk to Tina, but I may have to talk to Tobias too. I feel as though an apology is needed here." he stated, his voice a bit clearer than before.

They both looked over to the locker room again and saw that Tina was getting impatient. She angrily stopped her foot causing the whole room to shake a result. Several ripples spread across the pool and the lights hanging overhead swayed a little, causing the shadows in the room to dance like ghostly figures. Regardless of the intimidating gesture, Darwin and B. Joe continued to stand their ground although they were now both hugging each other and shaking nervously as Tina lowered her ginormous head until her snout was a foot away from them,

"Thirty seconds left. Get out of the way or I'll swallow you along with that colorful coward." she growled, her breath blasting the two of them, who looked reviled at the repugnant smell.

Gumball knew he needed to act now, he quickly turned to Teri and revealed the final part of his plan,

"Okay here's what I need you to do: go get a teacher that isn't Ms. Simian or Mr. Small and tell them what's happening. That way if negotiations break down, at least the ambulance or a funeral hearse can come and collect the remains." he said, still feeling doubtful of his plan.

Teri seemed rather offended by his request and shook her head objectively, seeing the last part as ludicrous,

"I said I was going to stay by your side and I'm going to do that!" she whispered defiantly, clutching his wrist even tighter.

Gumball could already feel his hairs splitting at the stubborn girl's reluctance and began to feel his fingers reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose in agitation. When he thought that she was going to be supportive, he figured she'd at least have the decency to go get help when he asked her to. No point in protesting if there was no one left after the oppressor had finished them all in one swift strike, which was quite possible in Tina's case.

Glaring at her, the eldest Watterson child stood tall and began to protest,

"What the what! Teri, this is serious, you need to go get help before things could possibly get ugly, also I don't want to see you get-!"

He heard a growl and two kids screaming, Gumball whipped around and saw that Tina had evidently lost enough patience to continue with the countdown and was already raising her foot to crush the banana and the goldfish into a colorful paste mixture. Realizing whether or not Teri was on her way to get help now was completely irrelevant at this point, Gumball immediately sprung into action. Cupping a hand around his mouth, he gathered as much air in his lungs and shouted as loud as he could,

"HEY! T-REX!"

His shout echoed off the cavernous room's walls, briefly filling the entire space with the sound of his simple jibe before fading away entirely, and promptly halted the overgrown, female lizard from plowing the two helpless students into the ground like rooted vegetables. The small crowd of students turned in the direction of the shout and soon all eyes were upon him and his paper partner. The moment Darwin set his eyes on him, there was a brief look of surprise and genuine relief written on his face before it was quickly replaced with horror and confusion when he saw the number of bandages covering his brother's face and hands along with the tattered state of his sweater. Tina, meanwhile was just eyeing the either very brave or very stupid cat with something akin to surprise, suspicion, discontempt, and malice.

She moved the foot that was hovering a mere four feet above Banana Joe and Darwin's heads away and back on the ground. She then turned to now face the two intruders that dare to stop her from carrying out her justice against someone who clearly did her wrong the first time around and had the audacity to plot her humiliation afterwards. The air seemed to grow still when Tina simply stared at Gumball's now clearly shaking form without showing any notable signs of interest, although it was kind of hard to tell how she was feeling because her face offered very little in forms of expression,

"What happened to you? Did someone run you through a roadblock or something?" she joked rather harshly, pointing out the disheveled state the twelve year old kitten was in.

No one laughed or made a single sound, causing Gumball to sweat some more as he nervously pulled at his sweater collar,

"Heh heh, Y-yeah, well, you sh-sh-should see the other monster! The experience, um, kind of left him, um, in pieces." he countered, his voice clearly lower due to everything seeming to happen all at once. He really wished that this wasn't happening now and that they were just going to their third hour classes like usual. Why did Ocho have to open his big mouth and let Tina know what Tobias was planning.

Tina seemed to find this funny or just plain absurd as she began chuckling at his little comeback,

"Heh, sure. Let me guess, you're defending the coward too? Should I squish you and your cowardly girlfriend as well? I'll admit, I wouldn't mind crushing a few more dweebs so I can figure out how I'm going to painfully beat that little twerp into a new graffiti paint." she said threateningly.

She took a step forward and then another, soon the crowd of onlookers made a path for her to make her way towards the blue cat and the paper girl. Thanks to her enormous size, she was able to reach the boy and girl within a few large strides and was soon towering over the both of them. Her threatening presence forced Gumball and Teri to unconsciously take a step back out of fear. Up close, they can both see the individual scales that covered her brown, mottled body and the massive muscles that rippled beneath. There was no doubt that she could wipe them out with a simple attack from her legs, her tail, or her jaws if she wanted to.

She leered down at them, letting out a snort that nearly blew Teri away had she not been holding onto Gumball's wrist nervously the entire time, and growled at the trembling kitten,

"If you wish to run, now's your chance. Do so and I will leave you both alone." she suggested, her voice deep and menacing despite her fair warning. She didn't need to utter the final part in order to make them wonder what would happen if they continued to defy her.

Still, Gumball and Teri remained where they stood, trembling yes, but remained firmly in their spot. Despite the overwhelming fear they were both feeling and the knowledge that whatever Gumball says could result in a painful outcome, they still felt the need to do what they came here for. Looking at Tina's eyes, Gumball swallowed his fear and with a shaky voice, he spoke to her,

"T-Tina, me and Teri don't want to fight you-?" he looked back at the aforementioned girl and saw that she was standing behind him, partially folded in order to conceal herself from Tina's view, and was shaking uncontrollably,

"What happened to standing by my side!" he hissed, his fright vanishing only to be replaced by anger.

The cowering member of the cheerleading squad briefly glanced up at him before averting her gaze at her feet,

"Sorry, It's just something I do whenever she's angry." she whimpered, sounding genuinely sorry and ashamed of herself.

Feeling his initial anger towards her fade, Gumball sighed. He didn't blame her, he too would often resort to cowardly defending himself if Tina was on a rampage. Heck, even Jamie getting fussy was sometimes enough to kick in his fight-or-flight instincts and send him in a frenzied dash towards whatever exit was nearby.

He did notice that she was still holding onto his wrist, meaning that she was unwilling to leave him, or it could just be a matter of security, either way, she was still here and that was enough for him. Letting the matter drop, Gumball turned his attention to Tina once more. The school bully was still as intimidating as the last time he looked at her and he could feel a cold shiver work its way up his spine,

"Sorry about that." he apologized, hoping that his little moment with Teri didn't tick the overpowered schoolgirl off,

"Anyway, what I was trying to say was… I'm sorry... for Tobias' earlier actions." he said, pausing every now and then to find the right words.

His words caused a bit of a reaction within the throng of students within the swimming pool room. A lot of the students within Gumball's class felt their eyes widen and their jaws collectively drop upon hearing the normally self centered preteen utter an apology for someone else's sake. Even Darwin was looking on in awe when he heard Gumball, his brother, the one he's known for years, say something like that. Behind Gumball, Teri stopped cowering and looked up in surprise, she could have sworn she heard Gumball apologize for Tobias which seemed horrendously unlikely.

Tina on the other hand, did not appear to be moved by Gumball's attempt at persuasion. Her eyes still held distrust and anger that burned within. Snorting irritably, Tina lowered her head until it was leveled with Gumball's face, forcing the blue cat and paper bear to backup quickly and hold their breaths as Tina's sour breath blasted them at full force,

"I don't care about your apology." she said, sounding rather frustrated and disappointed,

"The only one who should actually be standing here, trembling, and apologizing is that little worm that you think you're so righteous in defending." she stated, letting another growl escape from her throat as she tossed another glance in the direction of the boys locker room.

It was here when it finally clicked within Gumball's head that he knew what he had to do. It may be not what she wanted initially, but maybe he could help Tina and Tobias smooth over their relationship. Casting aside his fear, Gumball stood tall and looked at Tina with a calm and confident expression plastered on his face,

"Is that what you want? For Tobias to apologize and for you guys to make amends over what had happened." he asked, feeling pretty sure that he nailed it on the spot.

Tina shot another glare directed at the little boy in front of her and raised her voice to a frightening level,

"I want him to pay for saying such mean things behind my back and then planning on humiliating me just after I get back at him for making a mockery of my dental hygiene! Do you even know how hard it is to make your breath smell good when you live in a landfill and the only thing you can eat for breakfast and dinner is whatever happens to be crawling around!" she shouted, her voice causing the whole room to rumble as all the kids there felt her frustration being sounded through her angry retort.

Now that Gumball thought about it, he never realized just how bad Tina had it. He had been to her home on multiple occasions in the past and understood that it wasn't the best living condition to be found in. if it was hard for her to just find food in that place, then he'd have to imagine that getting her claws on toothpaste and such must have been extremely difficult. There was also the fact that she had tiny arms and probably couldn't reach her teeth if she tried, but that was not her fault either.

Realizing the delicateness of this situation, Gumball pondered his next answer very carefully. He could try sympathizing with her, but it was Tobias she was angry at, not him, He couldn't use Tobias' ignorance as an excuse either because whether he knew or not, didn't make what he did any better. After a moment, he finally boiled down to a solution he decided was the best, but to be honest, he didn't know whether or not it really was.

Inhaling and exhaling deeply, Gumball kept his posture straight and his eyes on Tina, his expression calm and sympathetic,

"Look, I can't take back anything Tobias had said or done or planned to do that made you hurt, but right now, I can guarantee you that he probably feels sorry for what he did based on how you reacted-!" he was cut off by an angry Rex child stomping her foot in agitation,

"That little punk is only in there because he's hiding from his crimes and he's too afraid to face me, because HE'S A GUTLESS COWARD!" she shouted, directing the last four words in the direction of the closed off boys bathroom.

Guess that wasn't the right choice of words. Gumball could still see that Tina hadn't really calmed down yet and was now severely worried that she was about to go on another rampage, this time knocking him and Teri aside and flattening everyone else before attacking the fluffy jock. Before Gumball could go into panic mode, he saw someone take a step beside him and looked to see it was Teri now taking the stage,

"Tina!" she shouted, her fear seemingly gone, although Gumball could still see traces of it in her posture and her eyes.

The T-rex angrily swung her head in the frail girl's direction, creating a slight breeze that pushed her back a few feet,

"What do you want, lightweight?" she snapped, adding the nickname she and Jamie would often use to mock her in the halls.

Taking a moment to gather herself, Teri let go of Gumball's wrist, who had actually become accustomed to it and now was vividly aware of its absence, and took a few steps forward. All the kids in the crowd had their eyes on her and while this would normally intimidate regular folk, it didn't bother Teri too much because she was used to performing and being in front of large crowds of people. She was very well aware of her fear towards Tina, but felt as though she may have a solution for her, plus seeing Gumball compose himself and talk it through in a logical more sympathetic fashion earlier gave her the confidence to speak up just now,

"If it's Tobias you want to see, then why don't you let Gumball talk to him instead and have him come out to apologize himself." she said, trying to maintain her cool in the prehistoric beast's presence.

Tina immediately regarded the paper girls suggestion with scrutiny and distrust,

"And what if the two just try coming up with some kind of escape plan while their in there?" she said skeptically, not exactly trusting Teri's plan or moreover not trusting Gumball seeing as she knew he was sneaky and didn't exactly like her either.

Teri thought about this, but came up with an answer within a short period of time,

"There aren't a whole lot of ways to escape from that locker room, especially not in the short amount of time it'll take you to notice. Plus, where will they go? They still have to go to school and they can't exactly leave Elmore, either. What it boils down to basically, is that escape is not necessarily a good idea, even me and Gumball had this discussion when we first came here." she replied honestly.

Tina opened her mouth to let loose another rebuttal, but no words were ever able to force themselves out of her throat. She realized that the paper girl had a point: there was no way the two could easily escape the school without her knowing. She could beat them to the entrance if they tried sneaking through the vents and if they tried going out a classroom window, she could just circle around the school and spot them when they tried. Plus, she did have their scent down and could track them if they tried running away.

Either way, she had the upper hand no matter what, so she wasn't too upset over this plan,

"Okay." she said, finally agreeing to a peaceful solution.

She turned to Gumball and glared at him, forcing him to start shivering like a mountain climber in his underwear,

"I will allow you to enter the locker room and try to convince that slimey wad of an ego trip to apologize and if you fail or try to escape… well, you already know the gist, although I may also include a weekend with Jamie so that you guys can reconnect after that… window incident." she sneered at him and Gumball swore he could see a slight smile forming on her long, narrow face. A smile that showed a vicious tormentor that lurked beneath, waiting for something to go wrong and was eager to be set free. Gumball seriously hoped that this went well because he seriously didn't want to see the darker side of the unbelievably strong classmate of his.

He nodded weakly and proceeded on his way to where Tobias was holed up, his palms were already sweaty and clammy feeling after just finishing up the conversation with the oversized reptile. He took a quick glance over his shoulder and saw Teri smiling at him and while also giving him a thumbs up. Once again, she was being supportive, even when there was little she could do to help Gumball, she still showed that she was reliable and willing to lift his spirits even during times of uncertainty. It was a trait of hers that Gumball was growing to love and respect and made him want to do more for her in the future.

He made his way through the crowd of students that still hadn't left the swimming room and were spreading chit-chat amongst each other like a frenzied swarm of bees. Gumball stared at all the people as he passed through the narrow space they provided for him, "Sheesh! Why are all these people still here? Don't they have something better to do than watch a negotiation potentially fail between an insecure and insensitive rich kid and a T-rex with breathtaking anger management issues… actually wait, on second thought, if I were one of the onlookers, I probably would've stayed too because this sure would've beat Phys. Ed." he thought sarcastically to himself.

He didn't like feeling like some kind of spectacle at a zoo because that's what these kids made him feel like. He also didn't particularly like what they were whispering about, questions like: where did he get those scratches from? Did he get in a fight with someone? Is he seriously planning on trying to escape? Doesn't he know we have a dress code? Is he dating Teri? And Why's his head so big? Were common ones that floated around him. It was all really annoying and made him also very anxious for some reason.

He finally reached the door and saw Darwin and Banana Joe standing there, waiting for him. Darwin seemed ecstatic to see him, as was evident by the joyous expression that decorated his facial features and by the way he was excitedly flapping his fins. Banana Joe didn't do much, he just smiled and stood there. Darwin rushed up to his big brother and wrapped his arms around his waist, pulling him in for a tight embrace, and burying his face into his sweater. Gumball was momentarily stunned by the overly affectionate move made by his aquatic, adopted sibling, but quickly returned the embrace as he was glad to see him. All around them, people began commenting on their interaction, especially the students that didn't know them that well, but they were mostly ignored by the Watterson children.

Darwin looked up at him with bright eyes and a smile that could melt anyone's heart,

"You came to help, dude! Thank you so much!" he cried, hugging him even tighter.

Gumball returned the smile and gave a little chuckle,

"No problem, man. Sorry for bailing on you guys in the classroom. I, uh,... got really scared." he said, glancing off to the side because he was uncomfortable with fibbing to family members.

Darwin gave Gumball one last squeeze and pulled away, taking a few steps back to examine Gumball's body. He seemed troubled by the sight of multiple bandages covering him and he looked back up to Gumball with a quizzical expression,

"Um, what happened to you by the way? You look as though you dragged through a field of broken glass." he asked.

Once again, Gumball didn't like lying to anyone, especially Darwin of all people. To be honest, when this whole Nephilim war began, he often wondered if he should bring it up to the walking goldfish, but felt like if he did so, the poor guy would panic and be constantly on edge whenever Gumball went by himself or whenever he went to sleep. Darwin has been known to go to extremes to keep the mischief maker safe and he especially didn't want to know what he'd do if he found he was fighting against terrifying beasts that were invisible and had powers that were otherworldly.

He decided to dodge answering his question and tell him the lie he and Teri came up with if he decides to ask about it later. Plus, he didn't want to test Tina's patience and wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible,

"It doesn't matter at the moment." he said, waving his arms in front of him as a signal that he was shutting down this topic,

"Right now, I need you to help me with Tobias. You're also pretty good at convincing people, heck, better than me anyway, and right now we gotta get Tobias and Tina to make up." he stated.

Darwin just stared at him with a puzzled expression for a moment, wondering if he should press the matter of his injuries further. It seemed rather odd that he was being rather evasive with his questions and his uncomfortable body posture indicated that he may have been hiding something. However, he brushed it off as Gumball taking the priority of helping Tina over his own issues and went along with it.

"Okay!" he said, with an excited nod and began heading towards the boys locker room.

Gumball felt a sigh of relief leave him as he watched Darwin practically bounce over to the yellow door that blocked the world from the male changing room. For a moment there he was worried that Darwin was going to keep questioning him and even saw a little suspicion in his brother's eyes. He was going to have to get better at making up stories around him as it was easier to lie to people who didn't really know him than it was with people who were close to him. Clearing his mind, Gumball followed his practical best friend into the boys locker room, shutting the door behind him.

Teri watched the two boys head on in where Tobias was hiding and found herself smiling a bit. Once again, she found herself witnessing some of Gumball's selfless acts and it made her feel good that she was working with someone who can put the needs of others ahead of themselves. She knew he could just as well be the opposite, having seen that aspect of him many times in the past and sometimes whenever they were together, but the more she got to know him, the more she understood that he was just a goofy, helpful person who could get hung up on himself time after time. Despite the short period of time she had spent with the blue dork, she found that she admired him for all the traits that made him who he was, even though she swore that she'll never admit that out loud.

Entering the changing room where the male students would change into their swimwear, exchange a few words about whatever topic they had in mind, and would shower off after swim class was over, the two boys immediately noticed that nothing looked out of place. The room lined with tile had an odd odor that came off as a mixture of cleaning chemicals, male body odor, and male hygiene products: definitely not unusual by normal standards. They didn't see the colorful Wilson child on the benches that were bolted to the walls or nearby any of the lockers or anywhere in sight really. Something was off.

Gumball scanned the room before turning to Darwin,

"I don't see him anywhere, dude. Do you think he may have fled?" he asked, sounding rather worried.

Darwin raised his gaze towards the vent grate on the ceiling and saw that it was bolted shut. He couldn't have escaped that way, it was also at least twelve feet from the ground and there was no way that the scrawny fluffball could have gotten up there without something to haul over and boost him up. Unfortunately, that was the only way out, seeing as there were no windows in this room, for obvious reasons, and the only doorway leading out was the one they came in from and there was absolutely no way he could've snuck past him, Darwin, Banana Joe, an entire crowd of kids, and the ever watchful Tina. he turned to his brother and shook his head, indicating that him escaping was unlikely,

"I don't think so, man. I think he may be in the showering section, further in the room." he said, pointing a fin to where the shower stalls were located.

Gumball stared down to the end of the small room and let out an agitated sigh; he knew he was being lazy, but he really hated looking for people or having to proceed over to another area just to talk to someone. If a Nephilim appeared nearby or even rather far away, he'd be up in a heartbeat, but because this was just some talk session between an ego driven idiot and themselves, Gumball found himself becoming very irritated with any delays. He knew it wasn't very courteous or thoughtful of him to be thinking this way, but sometimes old habits die hard.

He began striding towards the cleaning area, grabbing Darwin's fin as he walked by and began dragging him with him,

"Ugh, come on let's go get him." he moaned,

"Stupid Tobias, making me walk all the way back there when he could've been up front." he muttered lightly.

Darwin picked up on what Gumball had said and read his angry facial features to conclude that Gumball was very irritated with the kid they came to help,

"Um, dude, no offense, but he's probably very scared right now and is just hiding because of Tina. There's no need to get irritated with him." he said, not trying to sound accusing, but was trying to help him understand.

Snorting to himself, Gumball just stared straight on ahead while continuously walking with Darwin in hand. He knew Darwin was right and felt ashamed of his actions, but wouldn't show it on his face. Instead he just kept his mind on the task, but he did answer to Darwin because he didn't want there to be an uncomfortable silence,

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I just hate walking, you know, and also if he's taking a shower while all this is happening, I'm going to be really peeved." he grumbled as a response.

Not finding his excuse tolerable, Darwin just facepalmed and continued to berate his older brother for his absurd logic,

"FYI, It's not a very long walk and there's no water running, how could he be showering? Also, why would he be showering?" he asked, exposing the holes in Gumball's reasoning for his anger.

The blue cat said nothing as he was too stubborn to admit he was wrong and proceeded to walk faster to the shower room. His silence was all Darwin needed to know that he was right and wasn't really all that surprised. One thing he was glad for though, was that Gumball really was back to being himself.

Marching into the shower-filled section of the changing room, they found that was Darwin was right in his suspicions, and saw Tobias in the room, curled up in a corner, knees hiding his face as though he were hiding from the world. He looked absolutely miserable, there was no other word to describe the state he was in. At first, neither Gumball nor Darwin said anything, allowing a heavy silence to hang in the air for an unspecified period of time. They've seen him break down a couple times when something bad happened to him or fly into a rage when someone said something hurtful, but this was something they'd never actually seen the three fingered kid do. There was nothing they could say at the exact moment as they didn't know how to process the exact misery that Tobias was conveying to them.

Then after what like an entire ten years had passed, Tobias peeked out from between his raised knees, his eyes red from crying, most likely, and glared directly at the two,

"What do you guys want?" he croaked, his voice sounding horrible. He must have been crying.

Gumball, not quite knowing how to address the situation to what was clearly a broken and upset person, nudged Darwin forward with a simple shove, silently suggesting for him to speak up. The bipedal fish shot the nervous cat a glare before quickly glancing back at Tobias. The orange/blue cloud person just continued to stare at them as he patiently awaited an answer.

Feeling rather uncomfortable, Darwin folded his fins in front of him and looked in his general direction,

"We, er, Gumball had a talk with Tina." he started.

Tobias immediately lowered his gaze, dread filling his mind the moment the lizard's name was brought up,

"I'm guessing she wants me to go out there so she can kill me?" he assumed, his tone dark and heavy with despair.

Shaking his head, Darwin quickly responded with a hopeful and cheery tone,

"No not at all! When Gumball came to the pool room, he talked to Tina for a bit and she agreed to let you go if you apologize-!"

"I'M NOT SORRY FOR WHAT I SAID OR WHAT I PLANNED ON DOING! SHE HAD THAT COMING FOR A REALLY LONG TIME NOW!" he suddenly shrieked, cutting off Darwin before he could finish what he was going to say.

Coming from outside, Gumball and Darwin could hear a deafening roar that could only belong to a certain T-rex girl that they all knew very well and all three came to the conclusion that Tina was eavesdropping on their conversation; evidently she didn't like his little outburst. Hearing the dinosaur's bellowing cry of rage, Tobias whimpered and seemed to be trying to disappear entirely as he curled himself up into a tighter ball. Darwin cried out in terror before quickly grasping onto Gumball for comfort while Gumball quickly called out to the school bully before his fear consumed him entirely,

"Hold your horses Tina, we're still talking to him!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

After he finished shouting at her, the entire room went silent, without a single person moving a muscle or making a sound. They stayed like this for twenty odd seconds, silently praying that Tina wouldn't come bursting in for Tobias' little quip. Luckily, Tina never came in and the room remained silent, although now they could hear Tina's heavy breathing blowing underneath the door from over twenty feet away. Regardless, they had to be careful with what they say, Tina may be listening in on them in case they might be planning something and saying the wrong words may wind up triggering her.

After calming down, Gumball and Darwin turned back to Tobias, who was still cowering away in his designated spot. On further inspection, they could see that prideful student's green and white headband was now drenched in sweat, indicating that Tina's sudden interruption must have scared him even more than he was earlier. Nobody was going to blame him though, Tina roaring was enough to put everyone on edge.

Darwin continued on with his persuasion, talking smoothly to him,

"Look, Tobias, no one's disagreeing with you on Tina's "stress relief techniques", but you gotta remember that she's a very sensitive person. She wants everyone to treat her like a normal student and not as some monster to be feared." he explained, measuring his words very carefully.

Tobias said nothing and continued remain in the fetal position on the tile floor of the shower room. Whether he was listening or acknowledging the consequences of his actions or just shutting them out was up for grabs because neither of the boys could tell. Gumball decided to take another approach seeing as he probably wasn't interested in Tina's problems,

"Dude, if you're upset that Tina beat you up in front of everybody, then you should know that that is a complete waste of energy and brainpower. Anyone who's ever been bullied by her usually gets their butts whooped, me and Darwin, especially-!"

"Actually, it's mostly Gumball." Darwin quickly intervened earning him yet another glare by Gumball.

Gumball continued,

"Anyway, no one was expecting you to win that fight and getting back at her with a petty prank is not going to win you any popularity points with anyone." Gumball said simply, folding his arms in satisfaction with his statement.

Tobias' head snapped up from behind his legs and now had rage-filled expression planted on his face. If looks could kill, Gumball and Darwin would be ghosts right now and that would only make one of them happy. With his eyes filled with white hot anger, he allowed his legs to slide down, revealing the rest of his torso, and he pulled himself off the ground until he was standing upright,

"You think I was planning on pranking her to be cool?! I know that pranking her wouldn't get me any special attention, I was planning on doing so because I was tired of her picking on everyone and wanted to finally strike back! I wanted her to know how it feels to be picked on, defeated,... humiliated." he snarled, his voice faltering on the last word.

It all made sense to Gumball and Darwin now: he felt as though he was sticking up for the kids of Elmore Junior High by giving Tina a taste of her own medicine. It was definitely a bad idea because he's twisting a personal vendetta as a form of justice when it was actually just revenge, plain and simple. Gumball and Darwin despised Tina's antics and also wanted her stop bullying everyone along with Jamie as well, but they both knew that hurting the two girls was not the way to accomplish such a goal. They were both difficult people to deal with, but they were still people nonetheless.

Darwin stomped his foot, a clear sign of anger, although his face showed nothing but disappointment. This caused Tobias' face to relax a little and take Darwin a bit more seriously, although he was confused as to why Darwin appeared so upset. Even Gumball was surprised by Darwin's frustrated gesture that it forced him to pay attention as well,

"Do you really think that humiliating Tina is going to make her stop harassing you or anyone else? Did she go away when you called her breath smelly last week? Did she cower when she heard Ocho reveal your "grand plan" during the classroom fight? When has hurting anyone eased their suffering? Also, you're a complete hypocrite because you claim that you want to stop bullying when you've been bullying her yourself! You've been doing so behind her back the entire time and it's cowardly!" Darwin exclaimed bluntly, his tone sharp and accusing.

Both Tobias and Gumball were stunned into silence. The last time they had ever seen Darwin so visibly blunt and upfront towards someone who wasn't Gumball was about a year ago when he decided to speak his mind about all the little quirks that people did that annoyed him. He was without a doubt right about the entire "bullying" thing and had every right to be angry with Tobias and his backwards view on justice and helping others, but this was just so out of the blue for the normally cute and optimistic goldfish to be so visibly upset.

After he had finished his tangent, Darwin's angry faced reverted back into a more sympathetic one and he looked sorry for his outcry, as was evident by the way he stared down at his shoes while holding his own wrist,

"I'm sorry about that, I didn't mean to shout." he apologized before straightening out his pose once more and looking a surprised Tobias in the eye,

"What I'm trying to say is that Tina is willing to make amends and you should seize that opportunity to do so as well. If you make an effort to actually be friendly to her, maybe, just maybe, she'll be friendly too. She's mean, but the truth is she's like that because she has it rough and is lacking a lot of self-confidence. She protects herself by lashing out at others who tease her in order to avoid getting hurt. We came here to ask you to, just for once, swallow your pride and go apologize to her so that we won't have anymore situations like this." he said, sounding very genuine in his concern.

Tobias was at a loss for words, he knew that Tina didn't exactly have the best place in life and her appearance made it very hard to fit in. He was also very well aware that his self-centered point of view is what lead to his fellow classmates dismissing him and finding him distrustful. Even though he had everything at home, he felt as though that gave him some kind of place above his peers and that what applies to him at his house should apply to him here. He always got what he wanted back at his place, but here, his sense of entitlement was what caused him to angrily lash out at others whenever he didn't get what was in front of him. He picked on Tina because she was an easy target for him to place his pent-up frustrations on. She was poor and had an even poorer social life and was seen as the root of all evil by the students.

His own misery caused him to lash out at people and that made him just as bad, possibly worse than Tina. the girl had very little to go off of, what was his excuse?

Overcome with guilt and shame, Tobias felt his shoulders sag and his blue, puffy lips curl into a deep frown. Keeping his eyes lowered to the ground, Tobias could practically count every tile that layered the floor, his feelings making him hyper aware of every little detail that he could see. He really felt as though he messed up and it left him with a heavy, lead-like feeling in his gut that made him nauseous. He was racked with so much guilt that he just felt completely disgusting all over.

Slowly, very slowly, he raised his head until he was looking at Darwin directly, making the little goldfish student wonder what it was he was thinking now. Then with a nod so subtle, it was barely noticeable, he finally announced his decision,

"You're right. I had no right to do the things I did and claim to be the better man in the end. I will go out there and apologize to Tina for the things I said about her and for the awful deed I nearly conducted. Thank you for talking to me about this." he said, his voice low and, Gumball dare say it, humble.

Nothing better described the scene that Gumball just witnessed best as unbelievable. It truly was because the spoiled rich kid with an ego blown horrendously out of proportion was now admitting his own faults and taking responsibility for his actions. It was so bizarre for Gumball that all he could do was stare at Tobias in disbelief as he began walking towards the locker room door without any show of hesitation. Was this really Tobias they were just talking to and were now watching head on over to fix a problem he had started.

Only time would tell and the brothers were forced to follow the fluffy, walking rainbow swirl of a kid out into the pool room where everyone was waiting. Tobias, being the first to exit the room, received an audible gasp from the crowd of students along with many raised eyebrows that rested above wide eyes. He knew this was because everyone probably made the assumption that he would be too scared to face Tina alone and would come out cowering behind the Watterson brothers as a kind of human shield. Seeing him walk out alone and with a confident, yet friendly look on his face collectively blew their minds.

Everyone except Tina, that is, who was just standing above the huddle of people with her face a few feet from the door. She still looked very grumpy and seeing Tobias Wilson exit the locker room lit the fire within her eyes again and everyone could see she was rarin for a much anticipated fight, if it ever came to it that is. On her word to Gumball and Teri, she did not immediately attack Tobias, opting to listen first before judging whether or not he should be reduced to a colorful smear on the gym wall.

Among the crowd, Teri kept an eye out for Gumball and Darwin, her height and ability to slip through the throng of people made it very easy for her to get a better vantage point, although she feared that she may need a shower after this because she bumped into several people and she could've sworn she saw Sussie (who was caught up in the confusion while in the school hallways and went along without so much as a clue as to what was happening.) sneeze into her noodly, puppet arms and didn't even use a handkerchief. The nerve of some people! She was relieved when she saw a familiar blue cat in a ragged sweater and walking goldfish wearing nothing but green shoes follow Tobias out of the men's changing/shower room.

Everyone settled down the moment Darwin closed the door and within a moment's passing, the pool room was silent like a tomb. Everyone's eyes were now glued on Tobias and Tina, both facing each other with a different emotion masking their faces. It was now anyone's guess as to how this would play out between the two.

In a hilarious moment, Tobias began to speak up, but at the same time, Tina began speaking too causing the two to get mixed up in their own words,

"Oh, sorry, you go first!" Tobias said sheepishly, holding both his hands up as a peaceful gesture.

Tina at first looked agitated, but stopped when she noticed that Tobias actually seemed nicer. This was a bit of a shock for the tough junior high student as she expected the wannabe jock to be prideful and vindicating. She still kept a stoic and strong expression, but she was now less aggressive in her response,

"Um, okay, thanks." she said baffled, scratching her neck nervously with her foreclaws,

"So are you here to apologize for what you said and for planning to prank me, wimp?" she asked in a growly voice.

Everyone's eyes were now resting on the one Tina had spoken to, who just looked at her calmly and nodded slowly. A small frown formed on his face as he grabbed his sweaty headband and pulled off his head, allowing for his afro-like, mostly blue hair to fall out a little and increase in volume as it was no longer constricted by the tight band of cloth. He held the headband in front of him as his eyes lowered to the ground, shame written all over his face.

In a quiet squeak of a voice he answered,

"Yes." his eyes remained on the ground,

"I'm sorry for all those mean things I said about you, even the ones you never heard and I'm sorry for trying to get back at you after you had been hurt. You didn't deserve to hear all those things and I was stupid for not seeing your side of things. I discovered why you hurt and lash out at people and I also wanted to say that I'm sorry for what you have to go through." he allowed it all to pour out, his guilt and his foolishness.

Naturally, this heartfelt and honest response caused quite a ripple throughout the crowd: every student there now began questioning whether or not this was Tobias they were seeing and listening to. Even Teri, who initially disliked the multi-colored, sporty classmate, felt that his humble apology was rather touching and gave her a teensy bit more respect for the student. Most surprising was even Tina was downright shocked by his apology, her eyes were wide with surprise and her body became more relaxed. There was no begging for mercy, no spreading blame to her or anyone else, nor was there any attempt to defend himself: he flat out admitted that it was his fault and apologized to her for it.

While all the people gathered began discussing their confusion amongst their friends or just out loud to themselves, Tobias felt as though he'd done all he could and placed his headband back on his noggin and looked up at Tina once more,

"Anyway, thanks for listening to me, I meant everything I said." he said in earnest and began making his way towards the exit,

"I'm gonna go to class and think about my actions, so later, I guess." he waved them goodbye and continued walking.

That was until a massive, scaly foot planted itself in front of him, blocking his path entirely. Nervous, the sports kid looked up at the owner of the foot with wide eyes and his mouth slightly agape. He felt himself start to sweat bullets when he saw that Tina was glaring down at him and wondered if his apology had somehow upsetted her even further.

However, Tina dropped the angry expression, instead putting on one that appeared more… friendly?

Sliding her foot back, Tina stood at her full height and kept her gaze on Tobias, her yellow eyes showing more sympathy,

"Before you head out and to go sulk, I just wanted to say thank you and that I too, have an apology to make. I'm sorry for bullying you and your friends, I know that it was mean of me to pick on people much smaller and weaker than I am. Both me and Jamie hate being teased about our appearances, our flaws, and our lack of social skills and it causes both of us to attack those who are mean to us. I know she's not here right now, so that's why I'm speaking for her as well, but I want to let you know that we're not mean because we just want to be, we just… feel insecure about ourselves and having everyone draw upon that as amusement is what causes us to get angry." she uttered, her voice somber and her eyes full of hurt and sorrow,

"I want to start getting along with you and everyone else. Wanna be friends?" she asked, extending a three fingered claw towards the now completely blown away 7th grader that was just about to bear his shame on his own.

First he just looked at her hand, then back at Tina's face, looking conflicted as to what to do from there. He was still feeling guilty for what he had done and knew that his narcissistic tendencies weren't going to disappear anytime soon, just another obstacle he was going to have to learn to overcome. Then again, maybe being friends with Tina would help him get over his troubles and would hopefully help her along the way too. This could be the start of something wonderful, the more he thought about it.

He reached out with his own blue, three fingered hand and grasped onto one of her talons, feeling the smooth, strong material between his fingers. He smiled, nodded and backed up so she could see him properly, seeing as her arms were short and she already felt the handshake, so she knew what he had done. He kept a happy expression on his face and placed his hands at his sides and shrugged his shoulders up and down,

"Yeah, sure thing man! I will try my best to be respectful of your feelings and your appearance, but, uh, could you perhaps tone down the bullying a bit?" he asked, feeling as though he should still stand up for those who have been bullied by her.

The tyrannosaur did her best impression of a shrug and gave him the faintest of smiles,

"I'm not making any promises, but I will try to be easier on others, maybe let them off with a threat for minor felonies." she said somewhat jokingly, although this caused everyone there to tense up a little because if she follows through with it and Jamie gets out of the hospital, everyone suspected that Jamie's psychological torture was going to be put into great use.

Still Tobias seemed to buy into as he just shrugged once more and thanked her regardless,

"Well, it's a start, I guess." he quipped with a roll of his eyes,

"See you later then?" he waved at her and she waved back.

"Later, shrimp!" she returned with a chuckle.

They both smiled at one another for the briefest of moments before they both began heading towards the exit. The whole crowd of thirty or so students erupted into a roar of applause and cheers causing both the T-rex and the humanoid cloud kid to whip around in surprise at the over the top reaction from the group of people they honestly had forgotten was there. Everyone was clapping, shouting a few compliments directed towards the two of them, while people like Banana Joe and Darwin rushed over to both of them to congratulate them on their newfound friendship.

Standing amongst the gathering, a certain blue cat boy just watched as he relayed the entire scene over and over again in his mind. Tobias and Tina had made up and were now working to possibly be better people, he knew that were multiple ways this could end, but he remained hopeful. It was definitely going to be a long, bumpy ride with the two, but perhaps they will bridge the gap that was ever so present between them. Even though he kept a straight face, he was very touched at what he had just witnessed and felt as though his heart was coursing with joy.

He saw someone approach him from the side and he turned to see that it was a familiar paper girl who had stayed out with Tina while he and Darwin dealt with Tobias. He greeted Teri with a warm smile and a small wave with her mirroring the salutation moments later. She seemed genuinely happy to see him because her grin was stretching from ear to ear and her eyes sparkled with joy,

"Did you see that! That was wonderful! Thank you for talking to both Tina and Tobias! You have no idea how kind that was and how much you just helped the school!" she cheered, her form radiating happiness like the sun.

Gumball felt a blush creep onto his cheeks and he turned away bashfully, he could hear Teri giggling at the silly sight of the shy dork,

"Thanks Teri, but I didn't really do a whole lot in terms of convincing, that was mostly Darwin." he muttered once he was able to face Teri again.

Shaking her head in disagreement, Teri pointed at the two kids who were attracting a crowd,

"You shouldn't be so doubtful, you not only stopped Tina from hurting Tobias, but you also convinced her to allow you and Darwin to talk to him. Your actions kick-started a wonderful interaction between two people riddled with their own issues and come to an understanding in the end. You really are kind and brave and you should be proud of that." she exclaimed, suddenly pulling her arms behind her back and feeling a slight blush spread across her rosy cheeks,

"I'm very proud of you and thankful for what you've done." she said sheepishly, occasionally averting her gaze because of her display of affection towards the boy she considered wonderful.

Feeling moved by her compliments and the gratitude she showed him for the second time that day, Gumball felt his heart starting to race again and his face burning up with the overwhelming happiness that was spreading through him. Once again, self doubt kept him from believing that he could do anything right and from seeing what he was actually capable of. Ever since he and Penny broke up, he felt as though he were unworthy of praise or any positive attention because it felt as though everything good that kept coming into his life would eventually leave him and ultimately lead to him believing that if he ever got close to anyone they were just going to eventually leave him too.

Hearing her praising him for his good deeds just kept on pushing Gumball in all the right ways and he started to feel something he hadn't felt in such a long time. He was genuinely happy to have Teri as a friend and supporting partner throughout the entire ordeal that had been happening for a month and a half now. He had faced several scary things and she had been by his side through all those moments and he felt as though she were someone he could always rely on to help him through those scary times.

He needed to make sure she knew of his thoughts on her and how she was such a great person to him,

"Teri." he said gently, having his cute classmate look him in the eyes now with a curious expression,

"Thank you very much for being there for me. If you hadn't stayed by my side while I stood up to Tina, I probably would have fled the moment it started to look rough. When you spoke up to her and finished the sentence that I couldn't, I was completely blown away by your bravery and wanted to be as bold as you. You are a wonderful friend and I wouldn't trade you for anyone else, thank you so much for just being there and for giving me the means to go about the day." he finished with a wobbly smile because he felt as though his words were too cheesy and that he was starting to sound more like Alan.

However, Teri didn't see his statement in the same manner he did, she was deeply touched by his words. On their way back to the school, when she was patching him up from the fight with Concretin, he said something similar and called her awesome and a vital part of the team. Hearing it again in this context, gave it more meaning and made her feel like someone who was actually appreciated by another person just for being their friend.

In the cheerleading squad, all the girls were friends and could get along to perform some amazing tricks as well as get back up together when they were recovering from a bad practice or when something went horribly wrong. However, if she left the team, there was bound to be a little sadness at her absence, but were bound to find a replacement for her shortly after. They did so when Penny moved away and had now welcomed a mermaid girl from another seventh grade class named Sherry onto the team. The same outcome would no doubt occur if she were to suddenly leave the team.

Going along with what Gumball had said, her leaving him would have resulted in very different outcomes and could lead to disaster for both of them and for the city of Elmore. They were both thrown into this mess by fate and none of them could change that, but it never necessarily felt like they were just stuck together. They both just kind of accepted their new roles as the city's defenders against the forces of destruction and Gumball's words showed Teri just how much her presence meant to both him and Elmore. He accepted her for everything she was and she was glad for it.

From a distance, Darwin was done telling Tobias that he did the right thing and that he was a real man for displaying his emotions, admitting his faults, and humbly apologizing while also forgiving Tina at the same time and turned to see where his older brother was. He soon spotted his beloved sibling still in front of the locker room with Teri. they were only talking to one another, but from what he could see, they were talking about something deep and personal. Darwin could see from the affectionate way they were looking at each other while speaking that the two must have developed a strong bond and kind of figured that the two of them were becoming closer. He thought about going over to see what the deal was, but ultimately decided against doing so because he wanted the two to have some more alone time so that they could discuss whatever it was going on between them. With a knowing smirk, he turned and began making his way towards the exit, "Nice going, Gumball! I'm so proud of you, dude!" he thought happily to himself.

While both Teri and Gumball and Teri enjoyed a moment of comfortable silence with either person, the PA system chimed with what sounded like a xylophone ringing in a happy tune before principal Brown's voice cut in,

"Attention students, this is principal Brown speaking, I regret to inform you that due to the damage done to the seventh grade hall, school is cancelled for today until we can figure out how to deal with the damages. I suggest you all call your parents and have them come pick you up and if you are lacking in a cellular device or any means to contact them, please head on over to the principal's office immediately, we'll alert your parents and have them come at once to retrieve you. Thank you very much for your attention, stay safe and have a good day. Also next time, if anyone is having issues or is in conflict with other students, I'd seriously advise you to resolve it in a peaceful manner and/or take it to our guidance counselor, Mr. Small. This goes especially to you, Bobert and Ocho. Anyway, enjoy your time off, I will be waiting for any students who need help." and with another bell chime, the PA system fell silent.

With the announcement being heard by every student in the school, the entire pool erupted in a collective cheer as they realized that they had just received a free a day off. Soon all the students bum rushed the swinging doors and left the entire pool room vacant. Soon silence fell upon the room again and the place had a more eerie feel to it, the gently lapping water from the pool as it struck the edges was soothingly spooky and the creak of the swaying ceiling lights added more to the unease.

This did not bother the two sole occupants of the massive room that much though. Gumball and Teri did not run along with the crowd because they were both rather perplexed by the situation that was just announced to the two of them. They never actually understood just how bad the damage was in the seventh grade hallway because they never actually got a chance to see it. They were still wearing their backpacks because they didn't even bother with putting them away in their mad rush to get here earlier.

Gumball glanced about the room that had never changed once, yet seemed so foreign to him due to the lack of activity or people within it. The sheer silence and emptiness of the room was nearly enough to send a chill running down his spine. Pushing his thoughts on the room's vacancy aside, Gumball redirected his attention the room's other occupant,

"Well, we better get going. I suspect that Darwin had already contacted my parents and I wouldn't want to keep them waiting when they arrive. Wanna walk with me to the front entrance?" he asked, still feeling rather appreciative about her compliments towards him.

Teri seemed to jump a little when Gumball spoke to her. Having been so lost in thought, she nearly blocked out what he had said. She was thinking about the exchange that happened between them and was legitimately happy for how things turned out today. However, her pleasant thoughts needed to be pushed aside because she completely forgot that Gumball was with her right now.

She looked at him and quickly came up with an answer,

"Oh, um, actually I was wondering, would you like to come over to my house and spend the night there, like we did two days ago? I doubt my parents would disagree on having you over and I also know of this great forest that's several blocks away from where I live that we can go to in order to train. That is, of course, if it's okay with you and your folks." she said, fidgeting nervously with her fingers as she awaited his response.

Gumball actually had no qualms with going to her place, heck, he was hoping he could over to Teri's place sometime this week and since she was offering, why should he refuse? He knew he'd have to contact his mom and let her know of his change in plans, but he doubted she would have any quarrels with this. He hoped that Darwin or Anais didn't have any plans that they wanted to include him in on today, there was always tomorrow though. As for his dad, he probably wouldn't mind that he was at someone else's house, but he would be upset that he'd have one less plate to steal from during dinner. Obviously, it wasn't that big of a deal.

Giving Teri a smile that glowed with enthusiasm, he nodded and accepted her request,

"Yes, I'd love to spend the night over at your house tonight, just as long as your parents are fine with it." he stated, his voice laced with eagerness that also infected the paper girl, who despite her germaphobia, actually didn't mind this joyous contagion.

She gave him a quick nod as she pulled a pencil out of her backpack, drew a pocket on her blazer, and pulled out her flip phone, which looked like a scrap of paper folded in half with a screen and buttons drawn in on the interior by a marker. She began tapping at the buttons as little words began to fill the screen and she began to walk towards the door leading into the school hallway. She continued to talk to Gumball, who was striding next to her, while she wrote out a digital message to her folks,

"Okay… and send." she said, hitting the send button and watching the message get delivered to her mother,

"Okay, now I'll just have to wait for the response." she said, looking back from her phone to Gumball, who had already whipped out his smartphone, shot a message to his mother, and put away all in under a minute.

He pondered some ideas as to what they could do, since they had a lot of time on their hands now, but decided that it was best left to Teri since it was her place they were going to. Despite all the circumstances surrounding today, Gumball was pretty glad that this school day wasn't too uneventful. Turning to her, he popped the feeble paper person a question regarding any activities she may have planned for today.

Scratching her chin and staring up at the ceiling, Teri thought about what order they should do the activities she had already listed in her head. She was having trouble fitting training and school work into the schedule, seeing as both would take up a lot of time, and thought about anything else that might cut into their time together. She ultimately decided that training first would be best because it was really important that they learned how to work together and come up with techniques that they could utilize in their fight against the Nephilim, plus she read somewhere that exercising was a great way to enhance the brain's performance when it came to homework.

They passed in between the doors and proceeded down the school hall to where the main entrance was. It was right then, where Teri gave him her answer,

"I think we should work on our fighting skills together first, then work on whatever homework we have, and then just relax and watch T.V. or something else if you're up for it." she responded.

"I like it, except for the homework part." he said, hoping he could persuade the paper bear to lay off the assignments for a little while seeing as he just wanted to have fun.

"Sorry, but you know the rules at my parent's place." she said, having to remind him that she doesn't make up the rules at her folk's place.

Gumball felt his ears droop and his expression go sour,

"Oh yeah… I should've seen that co-?" he felt his pocket vibrate and he quickly checked his phone.

His mom approved of him spending the night over at Teri's.

"Yesssss!" he shouted, pumping a fist in the air before panning over to Teri,

"Mom said I could stay over at your place!" he proclaimed with excitement.

Teri checked her phone and saw that she too had a message from her mother. She also gave her approval and told her to check with Gumball's parents. She quickly texted back that Nicole gave Gumball permission and joined Gumball in his celebration,

"My mom said you can stay at our place too!" she cheered.

Not wanting to waste more time, the two quickly dashed off and down the hallway, nearly knocking over a few surprised teachers in the process. After a few quick turns and rounding a few corners, Gumball realized that they weren't heading towards the main entrance, but rather towards the seventh grade hallway. He was following Teri the whole time, so he guessed that there was something she needed and decided to question her about it,

"You forget something?" he asked, raising an eyebrow while ducking under Carmen's prickly branches.

Teri weaved around a large, hefty looking student with purple skin and mint green hair while spoke to the blue cat behind her,

"Yeah, my hand sanitizer." she answered simply.

That wasn't too surprising and Gumball could already feel his eyes rolling, but decided to ask anyway,

"Why do you need it exactly?"

"Your wrist was really sweaty, do you know how many pathogenic organisms live in sweat alone? I don't wanna risk getting impetigo or MRSA! Also when we get done with training you're showering first."

Gumball groaned as a response, couldn't help but ruin a perfectly wonderful moment that promises a lot of fun with a lousy excuse to sterilize her body and his with bacteria killing chemicals. He was really going to have to talk to her about that germaphobia thing sometime in the future. However, it eventually just faded into a lesser evil that he felt he was going to have to go along with in order to appease Teri, that wasn't really going to affect them that much later today. Either way, today was very good and a lot had been accomplished that Gumball could feel good about.

He had an overwhelming feeling that things were going to get better for his classmates later on and his relationship with Teri was going to be spectacular. Call it optimism, call it a sense of fate Gumball was just happy with the promising future ahead of them. If every day was like this, then the Nephilim will eventually be defeated and Elmore will be a better place. There was joy to be found in that kind of hope.

(A/N): And a really long chapter finally draws to a close. Wow! This was quite the write for me, I mean, I never expected chapter 4 to be this long. I'm doing this on google docs and the page number this chapter ends at is 72. Yeesh! I'm gonna have so much fun going back and editing this one, but I feel great because I love writing this story.

Okay for starters, I wrote several chapter outlines for this and the upcoming ones and that's why I originally thought this was going to be a short chapter. When this was mapped out, I had initially planned on focusing on two (technically three.) conflicts for this chapter with Gumball and Teri resolving all them all within a short time span. The first conflict that was made evident was with Teri's lack of self-esteem when it came to fighting alongside Gumball (and Rob, but mostly Gumball.) and where she sat on the team: was she just a little helpful or was she just a burden? The next conflict that was introduced was the grudge that Tobias had with Tina over the events that were briefly mentioned in the chapter prior. Then there was the Nephilim fight that drew in both Teri and Gumball and threatened the safety of Elmore.

At first I already knew how I wanted this to all play out and started with the introduction of one issue, but pushing it aside when a larger more imminent danger presented itself. After I had finished up with the fight I was pretty much halfway done with the chapter and when I got back to the issues presented near the beginning of the story, it got stretched out even more because I realize that there was so much more to add in that would help define the characters. So yeah, that was what is was like writing this chapter: planning it out and adding or taking more to it in order to make it refined. Obviously, I haven't looked it over yet, so I'm not certain everything is ready just yet. I also apologize if some of the moments and quotes seemed a little cheesy.

I had a lot of fun writing this and will get started on chapter five, which is called "looking glass" and will follow Gumball and Teri the next day as they decide to hang around Elmore while the school is being repaired. Rob will be appearing in that chapter, but not as a combatant. What he will be doing can be discovered if you read the next chapter. XD

I'm really happy with how this story is going, I love how Gumball and Teri are very supportive of each other and try to make either person as happy as they can. I also loved the dynamic between Tobias and Tina in this chapter, they both have their own issues that cause them to have difficulties interacting with others and I felt like a confrontation like this was entirely possible. Their relationship is definitely a rocky one for sure and will definitely have its fair share of challenges. I hope I can focus on some of the characters of the show and flesh them out a little in this story because I love this show's characters for their diversity.

Anyway, that is all I have to say for now. I hope to see you guys for Teri x Gumball: In between worlds chapter 5: looking glass. The next one will have action and more moments with Rob. thank you all so much for reading this, I hope you all have a wonderful day.