Chapter 14: Malabranche
Teri x Gumball
(A/N): Woah-kay now! That was a really long wait and now we're back with the fourteenth installment of this story. Today we'll be looking at those left behind in Elmore following the events of chapter 13 and how they plan on moving forward. This is actually quite interesting because this is the first chapter in this entire story so far where Gumball and Teri don't make an actual appearance, only being mentioned by name or showing up in a flashback.
Oh and on another note, I apologize to all the readers who read chapter 13 and realized the mistake I made regarding Brock Braunwhen. In chapter 10, I described him as having the head of an Ox and in the chapter previous to this one, I slipped up and said he was a Bison. He's actually an Ox and I'm sorry for that little mistake, it was extremely careless on my part. That's all that needs to be said and I will do my best to make sure the story remains consistent.
Also, sorry for the absurd length of this chapter. I tried to keep it trim, but there's so much I need to cover here and lot's of this is a future setup for arc 2.
Shifu = "master" in Chinese.
(I do not own Cato Anderson and Amber Caesar, those characters are the creations of Fitroz777.)
(I also do not own Hiro Moonson, credit for that character goes to OkamiSamurai.)
-Torchwick avenue, October 24th, 2013, 12:04 PM-
"So this is what you guys do during missions? Color me unimpressed!" Jamie's voice grumbled to Carrie from the back of her head.
Sitting down on a bench facing towards the river that crossed through Elmore's lower business district with a pair of earbuds blasting death metal in her head, Carrie heard Jamie's gruff complaint and rolled her eyes in response. She wasn't exactly thrilled to be out here anyway, possessing Jamie's body and sitting quietly, but sadly neither one had much choice in the matter. After receiving a phone call from Rob during lunch, Carrie was alerted to the approach of another Nephilim (making this one the fourth attack in the two weeks following the NEA's arrival.) and pulled Jamie along, seeing as she was the only one willing to help out, though their partnership left something to be desired.
Quietly bouncing her stubby leg to the beat and keeping her eyes on the river, Carrie spoke as though she were talking to herself, but was actually answering Jamie's question,
"Normally the Nephilim would pop out of portals and start attacking right away, but nowadays they just come in from other areas." She said, feeling somewhat impatient with constantly having to answer the tomboy's questions,
"Rob thinks it's because President Nimrod is no longer receiving support from the senate to attack Elmore thanks to Enoch squad's decimation and is being forced to reroute his forces from other places in order to keep up the attacks." She added in, feeling as though that were accurate considering Teri and Gumball's earlier analysis regarding the Nephilim leader's shaky relationship with the rest of Babyloth's governing body.
Too bad they weren't here to enjoy this relative silence and another twinge of regret pierced the ghost's very being.
Hearing talk about politics already sent Jamie's mind spiraling with boredom and could feel her impatience starting to boil over,
"This is stupid! Why do you have to be in control of my body anyway! I already know how to fight!" She whined.
"You can't see them, Jamie. I already told you this and if you keep on nagging me with pointless questions, I'll grant your wish by stuffing you into one of Rob's cannons and using you as artillery. If we're lucky, your thick head may cause some damage." She snapped back.
Within the dark confines of their shared consciousness, Carrie heard Jamie snort and paid no heed to her threat,
"Kinda wished your boyfriend didn't wuss out like he did, at least he would've been here to act as your meat puppet and put up with your sass!" Her words stung as Carrie was reminded of Darwin's disappearance two days after they lost Teri and Gumball and a storm of negative emotions began to roil within, but hadn't the opportunity to launch a spiteful zinger back at her backseat passenger,
"What's Rob's deal anyway? Why's he dressed like a spaceman? I thought we were fighting evil giants, not flying to Mars!" She grumbled.
Lifting her eyes until she could see the apartment sitting directly in front of her (if this even counted as "seeing" considering how often Jamie's bangs cover both eyes completely as opposed to just covering one.) across the river, Carrie got a good look at Rob's hiding place and spotted the marksman perched within a window on the third story. The young cyclops seemed to have taken extra precautions following his defeat at the hands of Azura squad, donning more armor engraved with protective spells and adding some more features to both his helmet's HUD and Leviathan Book that improved targeting. Throughout the few times both Carrie and Rob protected the city themselves, the ghost found the young inventor to possess quite the logical approach to dealing with his enemies and with their combined knowledge, any Nephilim they encountered was quickly disposed of.
However, one thing that didn't quite sit well with her was how he was managing to develop such advanced weaponry in such short periods of time and while she understood that the cyclops was resourceful, his gear and armor seemed too impressive for someone who's financial situation is on the teetering point.
Sadly, even with all the time that had passed, Rob still proved to be quite secluded and Carrie rarely bothered prying into his machinations,
"Who knows? Everyone's got a gimmick nowadays: Gumball has his scythe, Teri's got her origami, I have my dark spells, you've got Tina-oops! Did I say that out loud? I forgot that she wussed out and took up permanent residence at the junkyard!" She sneered, getting back at her for her offhanded insult directed at Darwin.
From within her head, Jamie exploded with such ferocity that she temporarily took hold of her body's functions and delivered a rabid slew of insults and death threats to the ghost that was sharing her body,
"You pasty, empty headed, emo freak! If you insult Tina again I'll find a way to make sure you die again and this time, permanently!" She screamed.
Her temporary control was relinquished when Carrie took over again with a few twitches and countered the bully's insults with her own,
"Who are you calling empty headed, short stack! I've been in here for several minutes now and it still baffles me with how much vacant space there is! Tell me, do your thoughts leave an echo every time you think?" She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists as though preparing for a fight, even though her opponent was sharing the same space as her.
Before the actual shouting match could begin, Carrie's phone buzzed and whatever was happening was put on hold as she answered it to see that it was Rob,
"Okay you two, I need you to reel in that raw negativity because our target is almost-click!" The call was cut short as the phone was abruptly shut off.
Soon all the power around them died and Carrie realized that she had been sensing a powerful presence heading this way, but was too wrapped up in her spitting contest with Jamie to notice. Banishing her phone and earbuds to the nether, Carrie readied herself for the invisible monster that was on its way and prepared a spell on her lips. Up in the dusty old apartment building, Rob had his arm raised with all his cannon barrels directed at the river and remembered what he saw in his dream. The Nephilim was aquatic based and was using the river as transportation, prompting the polygonal Nephilim fighter to set up an ambush in an area that was bought by a few local businesses to be reconstructed, so there were very few people to worry about.
Before he headed out, he checked several maps online and figured out the Nephilim's possible objective,
"This river leads all the way to the dam. If they intend on wiping out all of Elmore and us too, then that is where it'll most likely go to." He speculated.
While he wouldn't have minded having Carrie possess him like she did every fight beforehand, he felt as though their odds of success would be greater if they could be in two different areas and invited Jamie along, seeing as she was the only one who volunteered. Whether or not this was a good decision on his part was to be decided once the Nephilim began attacking. After waiting an excruciatingly long forty-seven seconds, the river exploded to life and the battle began!
Neither of the two could see the monster in the dark waters below and the dense cloud cover wasn't helping either, but it's reveal came when a transparent tentacle shot out towards Carrie,
"Woah!" She shouted in surprise.
She cleared the area quickly and dodged the whip-like, translucent tendril before it could strike her. It happened very quickly and when Rob fired off three Ruby Sun runes, the tentacle had already retreated back into the water. Frustrated, Rob cursed and got up from his crouched position at the window, drawing with his guantlet a rune depicting four angel wings forming a square with their wingtips before leaping through the window itself.
"Wings of the rising dawn!" He shouted and the rune he drew began to glow a bright yellow.
From his back sprouted four fiery wings that shined like the sun and enabled the cyclops to safely descend to the ground before burning out like candles. He spotted the possessed hybrid on the sidewalk beyond the divide that was the river and saw that she was in prime condition, if not a little spooked. He waved to her and got her attention, prompting her to wave back once,
"I can sense that it's still here!" She called out to him.
Rob answered back with a raised voice,
"Keep your guard up! Visuals are poor here and this thing's fast!" He warned.
"Kind of got that already from the first attack, idiot!" Jamie snarled in irritation and for once Carrie agreed with her.
As soon as Rob fired off that warning, the Nephilim exploded from the watery depths and bore down on them both. It was a menacing creature, thirty feet in height with an appearance that was crossed between a glass sculpture and an octopus. Standing on three tentacles that appeared sturdy enough to act as supports, its bulbous head consisted of a single orb surrounded by three swirling pylons that connected at the top and at the base where its arms connected, a ring of red eyes surveyed every conceivable direction. Also at its base, just below the three tentacles were three pipe-like structures that could possibly serve as weapons or a form of underwater propulsion.
The monster let out a gurgling hiss that sent a shiver down Rob's spine and from two of the hanging pipes, streams of highly pressurized water shot towards the two standing before it. Both were lucky enough to dodge the attacks and to their shock, the water cannons were far more powerful then they appeared, for they cut through just about anything: concrete, lampposts and buildings too. Running down the sidewalk while keeping track of the Nephilim's deadly water streams, Rob trained his weapon on its head while simultaneously readying a defensive spell and let loose several rounds of Mica Shatter Arrow runes he'd previously loaded in.
BRAKKA! BRAKKA! BRAKKA!
The bullets that tore through the air burst into a raining swarm of grey stone arrows that sailed towards their intended target, but a barrier consisting of blue interlocking hexagons manifested and the arrows smashed into the surface before bouncing off with no effect on the creature itself.
Seeing this with his own eye, the armored gunman bared his teeth and let out a snarl,
"Agh! Not another shielded opponent!" He shouted in frustration.
Not caring the least bit for his misfortune, the Tri-pus aimed its third cannon and fired another stream straight ahead of him, effectively trapping the lanky pre-teen between two lines of fire. Seeing his predicament, the polygonal defender of Elmore wasted no time in using the rune he drew with his gauntlet and poured his spiritual energy into it. The magic symbol, shaped like a seven pointed star with a dot placed in between each point, lit up in a brilliant flash of light and continued to grow in intensity.
Placing the visor's shade over the glass of his helm, Rob watched as the river and it's surrounded get washed away in a sea of blinding yellow,
"Radiant eye of Helios!" He remarked, sounding off the spell's name.
Blinded by the flash bomb, the Nephilim aborted its attack and slipped back beneath the waves with a screech. On the other side, Carrie saw what was happening and prevented eye injury by wrapping herself in a cloak of darkness thick enough to block out the light. Once Rob's disorienting spell subsided, the possessed Jamie re-emerged and upon seeing that the giant octopus was nowhere to be seen, the specter reached out with her senses to locate the monster.
It didn't take long to find the hidden entity and a toothy grin flashed on horned girl's face,
"Gotcha!" She exclaimed,
"Let's skewer this piece of calamari while it's still confused: Turrim in testimonium mortis! (Tower of death's testimony!)" she chanted.
A black orb surging with red electricity appeared before her and with a simple wave of her hand, she sent the tennis ball-sized object sailing into the river with a splash. At first, the waters remained undisturbed, until a black stone monolith carved in glowing red runic letters shot up from beneath and carried with it a very confused and frightened Nephilim. The creature flailed about with its three tentacles, but could not find the water and Carrie took the opportunity to strike fast.
Crouching down, she leapt upwards, using Jamie's Herculean strength, plus the additional strength her powers provided to close the distance and grabbed onto a tentacle,
"HRAAUUGH!" She roared, combining both her and Jamie's rage as she pulled hard on the slippery appendage.
Using her momentum gained from the jump, the spirit inhabited child swung the tentacle, carrying the rest of the Tri-pus with it and flung the inter dimensional invader further into the city. Watching it go, Rob was surprised to see how easily the three story behemoth sailed overhead and continued down the narrow street. Once it collided, the first thing that happened was the barrier that protected the Nephilim shattered, overwhelmed with the constant ground contact and then the aquatic beast simply slid down the road, smashing several parked cars, street lamps, and storefronts before finally screeching to a halt.
Seeing this, Rob felt his jaw drop and his eye nearly pop: not even Gumball was capable of tossing a Nephilim that far!
Landing next to him, Carrie read the shock on his face and wiped her hands with smug satisfaction. This pleased attitude of hers melted away rather quickly though as she eyed the destruction caused by her throw and felt her hands dropped to her sides. When Rob turned to give her a strange look, Carrie quickly turn her head away and crossed her arms,
"I'm not paying for this!" She huffed in defense.
Rolling his eye, the space suit clad fighter pressed on to finish the job they started and beckoned her over,
"No one said you were, but we need to do this without leveling half of Elmore!" He shouted back to her.
"Now where's the fun in that?" Came Jamie's reply, unheard by Rob, but managed to elicit a snicker from the emo herself, who relished in a little chaos if she was to admit anything.
She followed close behind him, noting how his black plastic armor made him stand out in the mundane environment and ironically making him look like the invader instead of the downed monster they were heading towards. Everything seemed quiet at first, but given that the Nephilim hadn't burst into flames yet, it was best for them to tread carefully. The authorities were probably on their way at this point, so they had to finish this quickly and the less evidence left behind, the better.
When Carrie studied the Nephilim's downed firm and then her partner's weapon, an idea came to her,
"Rob, it's shields are down! You can take it out from here!" She stated.
Hearing her at first, the inventor had completely forgotten that it's defense was neutralized and hopped to it when Carrie's statement became evident,
"You're right! Hang on a sec-!"
SPLSSSH!
Having waited patiently for them to approach, the Tri-pus unleashed all three streams straight at them and both of them barely had time to get out of the way before they were cut down the middle. Unfortunately, dodging did not help much, as the malevolent spirit was already moving by the time it attacked and one of its tentacles stretched incredibly far outwards. As soon as they landed, the elastic tendril whipped about, smacking Rob first and sending him crashing through an empty store's window, while it quickly reached out and snagged Jamie's petite body with a slippery coil.
"Auuugh! Let go of me, you creep!" Carrie screamed, trying to pry off the tightly wrapped appendage with her hands, but they kept slipping and Jamie's concerned cries could be heard from within her subconscious,
"No good! Get it off before it wrecks my body!" She cried out in alarm.
Carrie wanted to tell the husky tomboy to shut up, but was plowed straight into a building, breaking through a layer of brick and sending her head into an agonizing spiral. She screamed as her ears began to ring and felt as though she had gone weightless, forcing her to forget which way was up or down. The torment was far from over though as the Tri-pus's tentacle was still wrapped around her torso and she was yanked out from the building before being sent straight into another one.
This repeated over and over again, with the evil giant seemingly toying with her as it repeatedly smashed Jamie's body through the solid surfaces that flanked either side. Despite the brutal punishment, Carrie seemed to be holding out and it was all thanks to the combined durability granted by both individuals, but each attack brought about more pain and the ghost was unable to free herself. Once the three story entity righted itself by reaching up with its other two arms and grabbing the rooftop of each building on either side, the Nephilim brought the tiny figure closer to its cluster of red eyes to finish them both off at point blank with a dark exorcism blast.
Meanwhile, Rob had managed to recover from his nasty fall, thanks to the enchanted armor's protective layer (which had melted after using up its only spell.) and stumbled out from the broken shop, a little dizzy, but fine nonetheless.
Shaking his head vigorously, the one eyed bizarro wondered if he should look into finding another means of breaking the Nephilim's magic barriers and preventing from having to engage them at such close range,
"This was so much easier when Teri and Gumball were here." He grumbled, hoping neither Carrie nor Jamie were around to catch that statement.
That however, became less of an issue when he saw how much trouble the two were in as soon as he left the store.
"Oh crud, that's not good!" He realized.
Through his own eye, he saw the Nephilim hanging from both buildings while holding the girls up close and charging up an energy blast that was red mixed with black. He had only seconds before that attack was discharged and he needed to get it's attention. Luckily, he was quite literally armed with a solution and began drawing a rune in midair while aiming Leviathan Book straight at them.
"HEY, MARTIAN WANNABE!" He shouted, desperately hoping his voice would reach it.
Fortunately, his taunt caught its attention and the colossal squid monster tossed the Carrie possessed Jamie aside like a sack of potatoes to instead concentrate it's beam on him.
Raising his cannons, Rob cocked a little smile and snorted,
"H.G. Wells called and he wants his tripod back!" he muttered the one-liner in the same fashion as a cheesy action hero before pulling the trigger.
From the shortest barrel in the gun cluster, a single copper pellet bearing the Burning Stars of Nyx shot outwards before glowing bright and splitting into a cluster of seven shooting stars that sailed straight at the surprised Nephilim. Discharging it's Dark Exorcism blast straight away and in a horizontal plane, the evil spirit managed to catch all seven flying projectiles in one shot. The collisions between the blasts of energy resulted in a series of violent explosions that sent anything that wasn't nailed down flying and this unfortunately included Rob as well.
Swept off his feet, the space suit wearing defender rode the shockwave like a leaf in the wind and crashed head-first into the concrete before tumbling to a stop.
"Ow! Ugh, that's... one way to get around the neighborhood!" Rob wheezed after managing to sit upright.
He coughed a few more times before pushing himself off the ground, back onto his feet, his glass visor/HUD had been smashed and was raining down shards of glass, he slowly turned to see what had become of the Nephilim,
"...By Jade!" He gasped.
The Nephilim, completely unhurt or phased by the explosion, was hovering right above him, its shiny glass skin catching the faint light of the sun breaking through the clouds as it just stared at the beetle-sized pest below. Moving before his mind told him too, Rob dove out of the way just as a tentacle came striking like a cobra and smashing the pavement where he once stood. However, one sudden move by that very appendage and Rob was tripped from behind, once again falling on his back.
Being placed in a vulnerable state now, Rob looked up and watched helplessly as the Tri-pus raised its tentacle to deliver the final blow.
With adrenaline coursing through his systems, demanding he take action, the boy tried to rearm his arm cannon, but remembered his visor being smashed and realized he would have to switch to his phone. There wasn't time though, he couldn't draw anything either and rolling out of the way wasn't an option either because he would still be too slow. He was trapped!
"Ferrum ora umbra! (Razor edge shadow!)"
SHLKT!
The Nephilim froze in its attack, as though placed on pause and it's many red eyes widened all at once while a tiny child wielding a shadowy sickle gracefully landed in front with a flip. As time slowly passed, a line formed straight down the Tri-pus's middle and the colossal entity fell in two halves, catching fire as both remains blackened. Soon any trace of the monster had completely faded from this world and the power returned to the surrounding areas.
Catching the whole thing on a strange camera from one of the nearby empty buildings, both Macey and Anais watched as Carrie within Jamie's body collapsed to one knee and breathed heavily while holding her head as the pain caused by the earlier debacle had ceased to fade. Neither the bunny nor the Calico girl had actually seen the monster both Rob and Carrie successfully vanquished, but they did manage to catch the whole thing on the strange device they held in their possession. The strange recording device was a basketball-sized sphere with an EMP resistant metallic coating, a small screen on the back, several buttons on the side and halfway along the sphere's equator was a thick black line that served as a translucent covering for the five cameras stored within.
Pausing the video and playing it back, Macey was amazed to see that the camera they bought from the Awesome Store actually worked,
"Holy crud, this thing wasn't a joke after all!" Macey happily exclaimed as Anais peered over her shoulder to see the footage herself.
"Excellent!" The pink bunny remarked before tugging her best friend back towards the entrance,
"Now let's head on back to school. We'll download the footage onto our computer after we make one quick trip to the mall and get the second item on our list!" She said.
The two highschoolers quietly made their way back onto the streets and began maneuvering through the alleys as police sirens began to wail in the distance.
Meanwhile, Rob had already opened a portal back to his duplex and was wishing Carrie and Jamie good luck on their trip back home,
"Hope you guys make it back without getting caught!" He said with a single wave of a hand,
"Thanks for the save by the way!" He added in appreciatively.
Nodding, the possessed teenager also waved and got ready to head out,
"Eh, it was no big deal, we're gonna need you later on tonight at Mrs. Jotenheim's cave and I hope you won't be too busy as per usual." She said, giving a slight nod towards his unusually packed schedule.
Rolling his eye, Rob shrugged off the subtle accusation and continued towards the portal,
"Pssh! Like hell I'm gonna waste time on my own when Gumball and Teri's lives are on the line." he said before stepping through the magical opening and turning around one last time to say his good-byes,
"I'll see you later at nine." He announced.
With a final wave, the portal closed and the two girls were left on their lonesome in a partially devastated sector of Elmore while the police were closing in. Taking to the rooftops in order to avoid detection, Carrie enabled Jamie's form to leap upwards and start running down the path she knew led to their school. Despite making rapid progress, Jamie was still agitated and didn't like being placed in the backseat any longer than she had to endure.
"Why are you still driving? I can walk just fine, you know!" she growled internally.
Shaking her head, Carrie continued as she took a mighty leap and flew over several buildings before her feet crunched on some loose gravel found on another rooftop before she took off again at full speed,
"Not happening. Your body's still in tremendous pain and you'll just wind up slowing us down, plus, if you're seen in this condition by the other students, they'll get suspicious and might find out that something's up. We can't let that happen." She warned, feeling another sense of dread building up within.
While Jamie wanted to protest, Carrie had a point and the bull headed pre-teen was left to seethe in silence while she thought back to the events that led up to this point.
-Flashback, two weeks prior-
-Russo residence, October 10th, 2013, 8:34 PM-
Today had been a bad day for Jamie. Not only was she unable to lift Tina's spirits today, but when she learned there was an attack happening at the Chanax building, she tried to hurry on over to help out and when she finally arrived, there was no one to be seen. After spending a lonely bus ride home trying to get in touch with anyone who knew anything about the battle that transpired, she made it home, quietly ate dinner with her folks and retired to her room.
Sitting at the edge of her bed, in a room that was plastered with posters of powerful athletes and rock bands and lifting a hundred pound dumb bell while her mind was elsewhere. She really wasn't sure where she could place her emotions right now and kept remembering the conversation she had with Gumball and the others yesterday,
"Rrrgh! I hate this! Why would Gumball and Teri choose to fight these Nephilim guys alone, except with that creepy one eyed toothpick. There's no way those lightweights can handle something this large!" She thought bitterly to herself.
Yet, there was a lot of evidence to contradict this as she had witnessed, starting first with the two of them standing up to Tina in the pool room, Gumball working especially hard in the gym despite having never taken Phys. Ed or any form of exercise seriously, Gumball somehow managing to hold his own against her and then there was the way she saw those two flying about San Francisco when all those explosions were going off around them. They looked so determined and it was something Jamie recognized on both of their faces throughout the past month. There was also that Rob guy, both Tina and herself had severely underestimated him, but Jamie saw it as a one time fluke and was sure nothing would catch her off guard again.
While working on her third set of 200 reps, her mattress vibrated and the orange haired child saw her phone's screen light up. Still lifting with one hand, Jamie checked her messages and saw that it was from Bobert. It read:
Come outside, I have some urgent news for you regarding Carrie, Darwin, Ocho, Gumball, Teri, and the one eyed delinquent classified as Rob.
When she read the names listed in the message, it instantly clicked that these were the ones that were heading out to fight the Nephilim that showed up earlier today and a surprised expression crossed her features,
"Huh, urgent news?" She wondered out loud,
"Did something happen? Are they in trouble? Do they really need my help?" She thought.
That had to be the case, was what her concluding thought was. She hadn't heard anything from them and she wasn't there when the battle happened, so something big must've happened. Realizing this was her time to shine, she got up from her bedside, let her weights drop with a heavy crash and rushed out the bedroom door while typing back:
I'll be right out!
She rushed past her mom and dad, who were both sitting on a massive couch watching television together, without saying anything to them and hurried out the front door, running as fast as her little legs could carry her. Once outside, she was greeted with the fresh evening air, the sun had already set and the sky was littered with stars. She stopped at the front yard and began searching for any signs of the droid, but the only things out here were crickets, unseen, but heard, and a car that passed by once, it's brights almost blinding her.
After a minute of quietly waiting, she started to angrily type back a message when the roar of Jet thrusters caught her attention and she looked up to see a small flying object heading straight towards her,
"About time!" She angrily huffed, wanting to know what was happening.
Upon approach, Bobert began to slow down and once he was practically on top of her location, he swung his body until properly oriented before beginning a slow descent. At first, Jamie could barely contain her excitement and was about to start demanding the little robot to start spilling the beans, but stopped when she noticed something off about his appearance. At first, she thought there was an excess amount of smoke coming from his foot thrusters, but on closer inspection, she saw that it was in fact a shadowy aura of sorts and his single eye was glowing red with a strange insignia showing.
A capital "I" with an eye symbol cutting through the middle of the letter.
While she wasn't sure what a robot like Rob was capable of, she'd seen him do strange things before and heard stranger tales from her fellow students, but something about this didn't seem right.
She took a cautious step back and curled her hands into fists,
"Bobert?" She greeted him suspiciously, unsure how he would respond.
The robot said nothing in response, it just continued to stare at her with that unblinking red eye of his and Jamie could feel her discomfort starting to get to her. She felt like aggresively repeating herself and took a fearless step forward, ready to begin shouting at whoever, whatever, this thing may be. She didn't get a chance to open her mouth however, as Bobert's eye began to shine with a purple light and high pitched noise began to sound within her ears.
There was no pain, but before the husky middle schooler knew it, her eyes rolled back and her body collapsed into the short grass with a soft thud!
Once she came to, she was laying on her side and on a concrete surface. Carefully lifting herself up, she was glad to know she wasn't in pain or feeling unusual, but when she glanced about she could see right away that she was in a warehouse of sorts. The room was mostly empty, save for a few crates and most likely had seen better days as it was very decrepit with lots of dust coating the floor. Running along the walls were thick power cables and windows caked with dirt and from the ceiling hung several bare bulbs, most nonfunctional with the only operating ones casting an eerie orange glow that illuminated the room.
None of it made sense to her, but she wasn't alone however, as there were seven other people here as well with faces both familiar and unfamiliar to her. Huddled close to her was Darwin, Carrie, Anais, and an older female blue cat who bore a striking resemblance to Gumball, whom Jamie recognized as Gumball's mother, though she looked like she'd been through the wringer. She could also see Rob in a tattered spacesuit pacing along the farthest wall, looking very impatient and frustrated and then there were two paper bears, whom Jamie had never met before but quickly made the assumption that they were Teri's parents.
She didn't see Gumball and Teri anywhere, Ocho was absent too, which was odd seeing as they were also mentioned to be heading out and Jamie couldn't help but wonder if something happened to them.
Her movements caught the attention of Carrie and her head shot back in order to get a better look at her,
"Guys, I think Jamie is awake now!" She stated, alerting the rest of them.
It wasn't long until the Wattersons had their eyes on the stirring middle schooler, even the Pepakumas casted a curious glance their way before going back to their hushed conversation, Rob, on the other hand, didn't appear to notice and kept pacing. Standing up on her own two feet, Jamie checked the faces of the four gathering around her and scratched her big head with a single finger,
"Where am I and why are all of you guys here too?" She asked in a gruff voice.
There was a somber moment as a look of defeat and regret formed on the already dreary faces of the four before Carrie spoke up,
"We... we encountered the Nephilim on the rooftop where Anais said they would, there were too many of them and we were nearly killed, but-!" Her melancholic voice was drowned out when a clearly distraught Darwin cut in,
"Then those guys Gumball and Teri ran into at San Francisco came, the NEA or something, (I remembered the big guy with the Ox head), they helped us destroy the giants, but then they turned on us and kidnapped Gumball and Teri!" He sobbed, breaking down in tears as he relived the events and Carrie rushed over to wrap her arms around him as well as Anais.
Nicole shook her head and seemed just as ready to lash out, as she teeth began to grind together,
"They came crashing into my office, both Gumball and one of their thugs. I tried to save him, but he just... I was so close... I just..." she tried so hard to speak, but the more she tried the more her despair and rage began to threaten to spill out in a hurricane of fury, so all she could do was clench her jaw and grab hold of her own arm to keep from losing control.
Seeing the depressing state everyone was in (Jamie peeked at the Pepakumas and saw that they too, held the same anguish Gumball's mom had, though they looked less dangerous.), it all began to sink in and Jamie found it all very hard to believe. Having been held back several times in middle school, she knew what it was like to watch people she knew move on and disappear from her life, but this was not like any of those times. She may have never liked Gumball or Teri that much or hardly knew them, but being kidnapped? Sure that sounded like something she would do, but she'd let them go when she was done having fun with them and she sure felt sorry for the poor sap who thought they could do it permanently.
Spinning on her heel, Jamie began stomping towards what she believed to be an exit located to her right and wore her game face while Carrie called out to her from behind,
"And where do you think you're going?" She questioned, shooting the lion-tailed hothead a suspicious look.
Spinning around with her meaty hands balled up, she shouted back in that raspy voice of hers while shaking a fist,
"Where do you think, grandma edge lord? I'm gonna go find the people responsible for this and knock some teeth out before forcing them to tell me where those two dweebs are! If you guys wanna sit there and mope, that's fine by me, but no one picks on my classmates except Tina and I!" She boldly declared, largely because she wanted to do something dangerous and inspire Tina to start acting like herself again.
Hearing this, Anais lifted her head away from Darwin's and called out to her friend,
"You can't leave, Jamie!" She warned.
Confused, Jamie simply stared at her and folded her arms across her chest,
"And why can't I?" She asked back.
"Because there's a magic barrier keeping us locked in here." This came from Rob, who had been listening in on their conversation.
Turning to the brown haired cyclops, she cocked her head to the side and before the tiny bully could demand clarification, Rob simply walked up to the wall he was pacing by and a gave it good rap of the knuckles, causing a shimmering red field to manifest on the surface before rapidly fading from sight. There was a thin space just above the floor where the barrier stopped, but it was only a few centimeters thick. Otherwise, the room was completely enclosed in this energy field and there was no way of breaking it either.
Placing his hands in his pockets, the former void dweller's head hung low and he kicked a few loose rocks away,
"They took my weapons away and Carrie can't teleport or phase through it. I suspect they brought us here for an interrogation, but I doubt there's much about us they could learn from." He regretfully explained, though he was lying about that last bit.
With her frustration already maxing out, Jamie threw her hands up and growled,
"Ugh! Just who are these guys and why are they doing this?" She shouted.
"I'm glad you asked." Came a voice from behind.
Jamie, as well as the others, turned in the direction of the voice and found two figures marching down the hall. One Jamie recognized as Bobert, though it was abundantly clear that he was not in control and the other that came the kids recognized as Remus Satyrn, the bowl headed, telepathic NEA soldier with red scales and a penchant for being defensive, that is with his magic shields. The tension in the air began to increase rapidly and everyone present could feel it.
The first to start asking questions was Yui Pepakuma, who rushed past the others along with her husband and got right up close to the possessed Bobert,
"Who are you bastards and where is Teri?!" She demanded, raising her voice to dangerous levels.
"If you're holding her for ransom then we'll give you anything, just don't hurt her!" Fukijima begged, his eyes wrought with worry as he held out his hands as a peaceful gesture.
Nicole was beyond fed up though and brushed past the two with a dead serious expression marking her middle aged features,
"Give me back my son right now and pay for all the damage you caused us!" She ordered and if weren't for the barrier that separated them, she would've grabbed the little robot by the neck, or at least where his head connected, to throttle him.
Having already sensed their fear and desperation, the mysterious figure raised a clamp hand and speaking up in a voice that did not belong to Bobert,
"I do apologize for the distress we've caused you and for having to meet like this." He stated apologetically before placing the raised pincer on his chest, above where his heart would theoretically be,
"I am Iris, head administrator of the Nephilim Expulsion Administration or NEA for short, and I am here to inform you that your children, Gumball Watterson and Teri Pepakuma, have been selected by Central Twelve to serve in the Grand Army of Earth." He stated after introducing himself.
While this wasn't news to Nicole, Darwin, Carrie or Rob, Teri's parents were stricken with horror, while Anais and Jamie's eyes widened in shock as their jaws dropped.
Rolling his eye, Rob stepped forward and raised a finger in accusation towards Iris,
"Yeah, "selected" my butt, your men straight up kidnapped two of our own!" He spat, narrowing his eye at him.
"If you wanted our help, you could've just asked in the first place, jerk wad!" Carrie snapped.
To her surprise, she could sense that Iris was a spirit himself, but far older, ancient even, and felt a tremendous power emanating from him, a power that scared her.
Nicole briefly turned her head away to look at her and Carrie was introduced to a pair of eyes that could burn holes through solid steel,
"None of you should be making decisions like that, heck, none of you should be involved in any of this in the first place!" She scolded, giving her other children the same dreaded stare before concentrating on the NEA leader again,
"And you! I want to know exactly what's going on here and how this involves my son?" She questioned.
"And what did you guys do with Ocho and Hector too?" Darwin threw in, also wandering about the whereabouts and conditions of his fellow classmates.
Having patiently waited through their questions, Iris made a sound that sounded eerily similar to a person taking a deep breath before lowering his head for a moment,
"In all honesty, I never agreed with C12's decision to begin mass conscriptions of the spiritually gifted, but tough times and the data we've uncovered in the past few years have made the council very desperate." He began, sounding genuinely guilty and stressed, like he had this conversation before,
"Five years ago, on the fifth of September, the city of Jerusalem, came under attack by an enemy the citizens couldn't see nor perceive. Over the span of three days 56 lives were lost along with 16 Israeli soldiers before the Supernatural Commission was called into action and when we came to their aid, we discovered the enemy force to be of five units called "Nephilim", the ancient giants of old that nearly destroyed the world 6,000 years ago. After a battle that lasted twelve minutes with three confirmed enemy kills, the leader of the scouting unit, General Gorothim, announced that the Babyloth Republic had declared a state of war on the people of Earth and that we'll all be dead before a decade passed."
"For two years, the Supernatural Commission fought them whenever and wherever they appeared and we eventually sent a scouting force of twelve shapeshifters into the enemy's homeland to gather intel on their forces. Of the twelve sent, only two returned and brought with them terrible news. The enemy we were facing wielded an invasion force of 100 million units with an extra 300 million in reserve and terrifying weapons we knew not of." He explained in a grim tone.
There was a shared gasp amongst the eleven occupants of the barrier and fear quickly spread amongst them.
"400 million!" Carrie gasped.
"That… that can't be right! Just one of those things gives us enough trouble and you're saying that our enemies wield that kind of power?" Rob remarked, fear and dread carried heavily in his tone.
"Is there anything we have that can stop them? If they're that powerful then why haven't they invaded yet?" Anais questioned, knowing full well an army of that magnitude had enough strength to steamroll any opposing nation.
Shaking his head, Iris sighed once more and lifted his head to look them in the eyes,
"It was for this reason the NEA was formed and the secret order to begin recruitment of capable individuals was passed. As of now, we still lack sufficient numbers to repel an invasion of that magnitude, but we do know the reason why they are hesitant is because they fear Fjel and the other two divine regents. If we're lucky, the war will prove too costly and the Babyloth Republic will cease further military action." He replied optimistically, but was quickly replaced with doubt as his arms placed themselves behind his back,
"That is, if they aren't planning anything that would otherwise surpass these concerns of theirs. I pray that won't be the case..." he trailed off after remembering recent reports of greater aggressive attacks being carried out by the enemy and knowing that they're getting bolder.
After mentioning the three divine regents, Yui recalled some tales her mother told her about three powerful servants hand selected by the heavenly sovereign that ruled the cosmos to watch and protect those who peacefully dwelled on the Earth. They were each given a realm to govern, with the giant receiving dominion over the land, a serpent given rein over the seas, and a mighty dragon who ruled the air. The myth wasn't very well known and different religions had their own take on who ruled the heavens and the Earth, but hearing this slightly piqued her interest.
Fukijima on the other hand, cared not for the situation of the world or strange creatures, only in his child's safety and again demanded to know more about their missing child,
"And what happens if they do decide to attack in full force? Are you going to send Teri out to fight them? To die for you monsters?" The rectangular husband of Yui began to lose it as he already guessed what the next few words out of the possessed machine's mouth were going to be.
Keeping his hands out of sight, Iris continued to stare ahead as though looking straight through him and spoke as though he were reciting a passage,
"We all must do what is required of us to protect this world and its people. Teri will be fighting among millions of brave individuals and mind you, if the invasion does happen, then all of you will be swept up along with every innocent soul that happens to be in the way. As protectors we are giving you and your-!"
"YOU BASTARD!" Fukijima shouted, unable to stop his rage from boiling over.
Yui called out for him to stop, but the older paper bear charged forward, his drawn on shirt and tie suddenly shifting and sliding onto his paws, coating them with dripping ink as his fingers folded themselves into claws with sharp edges. He slid beneath the barrier with ease and with a thunderous roar erupting from his throat, he set his hateful gaze upon Iris before slashing away at his eye with his claws, hoping to blind him with his ink. Despite being caught off guard, Iris was easily able to avoid the initial flurry of strikes by taking a few steps back and behind him Remus stepped forward to offer assistance.
His superior officer denied his support by delivering an order straight to the telepath,
"Stand your ground, corporal! Concentrate on the barrier and leave him to me!" He snapped.
The soldier obeyed without protest and kept his focus on maintaining the barrier's integrity while Iris continued to deal with Fukijima's attacks. The seven trapped behind the invisible wall watched in stunned silence as the paper bear continued to slash away at the little robot, but his rapid strikes failed to connect with his adversary as he was simply too swift and difficult to hit. Most concerned of all of them was Yui, who knew what her husband had been trying to put behind him all these years and was tearing up at the sight of him in this state.
Fully confident in his capabilities, Iris was as slick as running water and continued to move in ways his new body shouldn't have, especially in such a confining space such as this hallway,
"So this is the power of the famous Ikari bloodline!" He exclaimed with excitement as a blackened hand came within inches of his optics,
"For generations the Ikari clan had served the mighty emperors of Japan as skilled assassins, possessing an unusual magic power that granted them complete control over the ink that covered their bodies and converted it into a lethal poison. Your late grandfather fought for the Japanese Empire of the Rising Moon during world war 2, correct?" He asked casually.
Fukijima lunged forward again, aiming low with the hopes of catching him before he could duck away, but was deflected by a single sideways swipe from the mysterious entity,
"I see you've done your homework!" He breathed, smirking a little,
"My grandfather died during the war and after it ended, my father sought to abandon that path completely. In order to honor my father's decision, I moved to America to become a doctor..." he set his sights on Remus before lunging straight at him with both claws extended, hoping that by injuring him, he'll set the others free,
"...and I won't let you drag my daughter into the life my father protected us from!" He declared.
He was a mere two feet away from his target when he felt Iris's claws clamp around his neck before pulling him back and sending him crashing face first into the dirty floor of the warehouse. Seizing both hands with his other manipulator, Iris uttered an incantation and two glowing blue rings formed around his wrists, acting as handcuffs. The male paper puppet struggled to free himself, but it was in vain and seconds later, he was encapsulated within a quantum lift field projected by the Bobert unit before being sent back through the barrier where he was dropped beside his awaiting wife.
While the others quickly gathered around to comfort him, Iris continued to inform them on the current situation and went about as though nothing happened,
"Unfortunately, we lost contact with Jormungandr squad shortly after dispatching them to apprehend the son of Jotenheim, so we may have to deploy a regiment in order to guarantee this town's protection and we'll also provide training to those who are spiritually gifted in order to aid in the city's defense." He then turned to Nicole and her children before extending a claw out in front of him,
"I do come with a proposal for the Watterson's and the Pepakumas. You are free to join us at Jeruzalem, you'll be provided suitable shelter there and the ability to see Gumball and Teri whenever they're not on missions. You'll have plenty of opportunities to find work and you'll be staying in one of the most secretive, well secured establishments developed by the UN's security administration. You'll be able to live together as a family!" He promised, showing no signs of secrecy.
Nicole did not take his proposal and only regarded the NEA's head administrator with scorn as she hissed at him,
"I already gave you people my answer: we're not leaving everything behind and I will not forsake one or any of my family member's safety for the promise of protection!" She stated in defiance before standing up and steadily making her way over until she was inches away from the magic barrier,
"I will get my son back and I assure you that once I have to fight every last one of you, you'll see that the Nephilim will be the least of your concerns!" She vowed, giving him the most frightening, bloodthirsty, violent glare anyone less than a god would be unfortunate enough to stare down.
There wasn't a response from the paper folk and Iris was still for a moment before shaking his head once again,
"Then I'm afraid there is nothing left to discuss." He answered remorsefully before spinning about face and heading down the darkened hallway,
"I'll be sure to send you my number tonight once I finish visiting the other citizens in this Bobert unit's memory banks who know of the truth and to answer your question Darwin, the spider is in the next room over with lieutenant Braunwhen. We're keeping him separate for his own safety because he regained consciousness early and acted out aggressively." He explained, still walking away.
This left a few concerned while Anais stood up to and called out after him,
"Once you leave, we'll expose all of you for your violations of humanoid rights, the public outcry will be tremendous and you'll have to answer for your transgressions!" The tiny bunny loudly proclaimed.
Showing no signs of concern, frustration or even slowing down for that matter, he simply answered back with a warning of his own,
"I would highly advise against such actions, the UN is closely monitoring the media and if it detects any mention of our activities then it will be blocked right away before a fire team is sent straight to the traitor's residence. You'll be apprehended within six hours of posting your report and will spend the rest of your lives in prison along with your family. Do make the right decision and try not to further complicate the issue, for your sake and your family's."
And with that he was gone.
After such a serious and intimidating gesture given by the spirit, no one said anything, just let the hopelessness of their new reality sink in along with all the other news that was force fed to them. For the first time, Jamie was left feeling scared and helpless, just like all her victims and even as everyone around her began to move at the commands of Remus, time seemed to stand still while her vision tunneled. It felt as though her entire world was falling apart and her simple reality that she felt was in her control began to slip further from her grasp.
Waving them along like a shepherd with his flock, the bowl headed barrier master barked out orders to the two families as well as the individuals present and kept his single eye on everyone that passed by,
"Come on everyone, I was ordered to escort you home and there are other places I need to be tonight, so let's not cause any trouble now, understood?" He said.
No one said anything and trudged along without resistance, with Jamie herself being the last one to leave.
-Elmore Junior High, October 24th, 2013, 12:17 PM-
The cafeteria was abuzz with people chatting about the recent power outage happening over the business sector of Elmore as well as the mysterious helicopters showing up and supposedly fighting an invisible enemy. None of the students were there obviously, but there were speculations regarding secret military weapons to possible terrorist attacks like the ones in San Francisco nearly a week ago. Sitting at a table by himself, Tobias had already blocked out these numerous discussions happening around him and instead was completely absorbed in his phone, which was playing a video showing a particular human in the middle of a rant.
"This is outrageous! Not only have we suffered at the hands of the radicals who attacked San Francisco, but multiple human businesses have been destroyed as well! Thousands are unemployed thanks to those animals!" Came the aggressive cry of a human dressed in a tuxedo with short, spiky, red hair, blue eyes, and a seemingly permanent scowl on his features.
This human in question was Nero Hamilton, leader of the Human Front, and the video Tobias was viewing was a recent interview between the faction's leader and another human politician, senator Selma Martinez of California, who also happened to have a few family members present during the attacks.
"I agree. The attacks were cowardly and unprovoked. Law enforcement is doing everything it can to catch those responsible for taking the lives of over four hundred citizens and according to my sources, the nation of Persepolis claims to have nothing to do with the attacks." replied the Latin-American senator, feeling sympathetic towards the people of her home state.
Shaking his head, Nero merely scoffed at her response, placing no effort into hiding his disdain for her and the individuals who potentially caused so much damage and mayhem,
"Whether it was the Persians or some other radical sect, the real problem lies within magic and those who use it. The nature of the attacks has left most investigators baffled because it resembles nothing like conventional warfare: Electric anomalies, spontaneous organ failure among the dead, attackers left unseen and San Francisco is not the only place hit, there have been reports of other places within Western civilization being struck. I think it's quite clear the cause of these incursions is supernatural." he stated.
This caused Tobias to raise an eyebrow in interest, though he already detested the man for his ideals regarding Bizarro treatment and had a sneaking suspicion where this was going, so he remained in his seat with his eyes glued to the screen.
Up next, senator Martinez seemed to be in agreement as she was slowly nodding, though a lingering question was present in her eyes,
"It is hard to deny that the nature of the attacks is anything, but natural. However, if that is the case, then surely the American's Supernatural Commission is already handling it and yet, you seem quite adamant that we take greater action, according to your early meetings with interviewers and US officials. What do you believe is really happening here?" she asked, folding her hands in her lap and leaning in a little.
Easing back into his chair with his shoulders still squared and hands clasped tightly together, a hissing sound like air leaving a tire came from his nose as he exhaled deeply,
"Studies have shown that the non-human populations are far more capable of practicing magic than humans themselves. I suspect some of these magic users are attempting to rid the Western world of human control by targeting our businesses and our people in order to terrorize us into submission. Our population is shrinking all around the globe and as a species, we've always been vulnerable to those creatures who wield power, yet lack the intellect and wisdom to wield such power. As representative to not just the humans in America, but to all of humanity, I advise we take greater measures to restrict the non-humans who pose a great danger not just to us, but to all of society." he advised, keeping his blue eyes fixed on the camera.
Tobias scoffed at this and shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose as he groaned in frustration,
"What a load of crap! What about the few humans who are capable of magic or the ones who are an actual threat to our freedom?" he questioned in disgust with no one around to answer his question.
His question was partially answered by the dark skinned senator from his own state, who seemed just as baffled, if not as disgusted as Tobias was, and she immediately retaliated with a few questions of her own,
"You say that we should restrain the Bizarros who wield magic and power, yet throughout history humanity has proven many times to be just as unworthy of power. During the classic times, humans have led crusades against the monsters populating the wilderness as well as their non-human neighbors, the constant wars with the east, the settlements of America, the first three American civil wars, the world wars and all the civil disputes following all the way up to today, all the products of power abused by multiple human beings throughout history." she listed carefully, making sure not to blame all of humanity for past transgressions.
This seemed to cause Nero great discomfort, as he appeared red in the face, his jaw locking up, and his legs uncrossed themselves before doing so again as he looked back once then back at her with slight embarrassment as he wasn't sure how to counter that,
"But, that doesn't cover the real issue here! Stopping the perpetrators and future evil-doers from committing terrible acts is what we should be focusing on. Magic is growing exponentially, far greater than we ever thought possible and it could be possible we may wind up facing something that none of us are prepared for." he quickly countered, hoping to jump off from the previous topic brought up by the senator.
Seemingly unphased by the difficult question asked by the human dominated political faction's leader, Selma shrugged and threw her hands up,
"You may be right about magic, it's an unpredictable phenomenon that's recently popped up in our society and our understanding of it is limited, but that's why I advise we study it wherever and whenever it appears. The United Nations possesses numerous brilliant minds and researchers and I have full confidence that they can collect as much data as possible to help create better responses to these uncertain variables. My home state is doing it's best to apprehend the ones responsible for the attacks and in meantime, we need to focus on rebuilding the businesses destroyed by-"
"Hey dude, whatcha watching?" came the raspy voice Banana Joe as it cut through the jock's focus and left him startled.
Jumping in his seat and accidentally dropping his phone as a result, Tobias whipped around to see the talking banana staring at him with his googly eyes,
"Uh, nothing really. Just some more bullcrap from Nero about recent events." he answered.
Upon hearing the name of the red haired human supremacist, Banana Joe's eyebrows knitted themselves together and a crossed expression slowly replaced his happy-go-lucky one. He'd already heard enough of him after getting back from the field trip and after that terrible fiasco, having people like himself getting blamed was like rubbing salt into the open wound. He didn't need to hear anymore from that moron and just mentioning his name was enough to upset him, so Banana Joe told his best friend,
"Don't listen to that garbage! My dad says that people like him are the reason none of us can get along and that listening to those airheads flap their gums is just an easy way to grow more resentful!" he barked, pointing at the phone as though accusing it.
Putting his phone away and sitting up straight, Tobias sighed,
"Yeah, you're right. I don't have any idea why someone so vile could spout off such nonsense. I mean, for crying out loud I was there and whatever was attacking us didn't seem to care whether we were human or not!" he shuddered, still remembering the building he was at collapsing in on itself.
With a small shrug, the yellow jokester took a seat next to his best friend and clasped his stick-like hands together,
"Beats me. My dad says most of the humans are okay with the bizarros, but there's always a few that are gonna be scared of us. Some hate us because they don't understand us and others are worried because they think we're superior to them." he said.
"Aren't we though?" Tobias questioned, not that he thought himself better than their homo-sapien counterparts.
Another small shrug from the animated banana and he pursed his lips,
"Hmm, maybe? I don't like to think of it that way though. I like to think we all have different talents that can help each other out. For example-!" he pulls one of his googly eyes off and sticks it on Tobias's shoulder,
"I can always keep my eye on you, get it!" he laughed.
Laughing along with him, Tobias plucks the eye off his shoulder and hands it back to him,
"That's unbelievably good advice coming from the guy who voted Gumball as leader because he was worried about "the other people" who wanted to invade and cause us harm." he chuckled teasingly.
Sticking his eye back on his head, Banana Joe chuckled nervously while a blush formed on his cheeks and he rubbed the back of his head with unease,
"Yeeaaahhh… that was a bad time in my life. My dad helped me on a history assignment once and when he saw the notes I was taking as well as the sources I was getting them from, he helped clear a few things up for me after a long talk. I really need to spend less time on the internet." he mumbled sheepishly.
"Eh, whatevs man! Let's head outside and go hit on Masami! I could use a good wingman after all, eh?" he remarked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively and nudging him with an elbow.
Having only sat down for less than a minute, Joe was back up again and Tobias was following suit while the class clown was laughing up a storm as another joke came to mind,
"Why don't you get William? He's the best wingman in the world!" he joked, referencing the flying eyeball that made his way across the cafeteria and towards a table full of kids from the eighth grade.
Slapping himself on the forehead and groaning as though in pain, the sporty lad muttered a response out to Banana Joe's quip,
"You said that last time, bud." he complained.
After dumping his cafeteria issued slop into the waste bin, the two boys shuffled on out of the lunch room and made a hasty run towards the exit. While moving down the main hallway Tobias and Banana Joe saw ordinary students walking to and fro, having their normal discussions and going about their everyday business. Frankly it was quite astonishing for the two that things were moving on like normal despite the number of unusual changes that had recently happened.
Turning to his best friend, Banana Joe was curious about something and knew only Tobias could answer his question,
"Hey, Tobias?" He started, giving the rainbow lad's shoulder a quick poke.
"Hm?" He replied, casting a sideways glance.
Seeing that as his cue, the class clown cleared his throat,
"Do you know what's going on with Tina? She hasn't been showing up to school as of late and come to think of it, neither has Ocho and Darwin." He rambled off.
Upon mentioning of his newest best friend, Tobias's lips quickly sank into a frown and he took a sudden interest in his shoes,
"I don't know, man. She's been holed up in her old man's home for weeks now and I've tried contacting her, but she won't respond. I've invited her to play football, grab a bite to eat at her favorite restaurant, terrorize some kindergarteners, catch a movie at the drive-in theater and I even asked her to join me at Masami's birthday party! Nothing works!" He exclaimed, throwing his hands up to the sides,
"As for Ocho and Darwin, I have no clue what they've been doing, although it's kind of weird that all three of them have disappeared at the same time. Heck, it practically happened on the same day Gumball and Teri were transferred overseas to that charter academy!" He then proceeded to grumble beneath his breath, something about Gumball being a lucky dog.
Thinking it over as well, this all did seem very strange to Banana Joe and the fruity boy also noted that all this occurred all around the same time period as the strange events that occurred in downtown Elmore. According to Charles Ferrier, Elmore's mayor, the U.S. military was doing some practice runs and testing out some new equipment that had some serious malfunctions, but promised that there was nothing to worry about. A bit fishy if you were to ask the banana, but that wasn't his main worry.
"Huh? That is strange, but you wanna know what's really strange? My mom's paintings have been really bizarre as of late!" He commented, his arms moving about all over the place and his voice was riddled with anxiety.
Tobias came to an abrupt stop and looked at him in a partially disturbed manner,
"Um, do I wanna know what kind of artist your mom is? Not to be offensive or anything, but you're mom's kind of loopy." He asked rather cautiously, ready to veer off this topic if it became too much for him.
Shaking his body like a humanoid would their head, Banana Joe displayed no signs of hurt or offense to his bud's inquiry,
"Nah, man, I know she's a little bananas, but that's not the main issue here. Actually, wait, that is usually the issue, but not this time. Normally she paints pictures of events that are yet to come and what she's been painting recently has me really worried!" He explained.
This had nabbed Tobias's interest and the fluffy humanoid appeared visually distraught by this,
"What is it, man? Is a meteorite going to strike? Is the sun going to explode? Will the first bizarro ever to be elected U.S. President cause an outrage and spark a devastating civil war? Will Masami turn me down when I ask her out to her own birthday dance?" He was practically shaking the animated fruit by the shoulders as his anxiety climbed to intolerable levels.
After pushing the frantic, multi-colored jock wannabe away and allowing his googly eyes to stop spinning, he shook his head as to dismiss all those questions,
"Um, E.) none of the above, except for that last one, you really need to take a hint bud. No, all her paintings are painted black!" He finally stated.
A long pause was born as Tobias just stared at his friend with a blank expression, like as if he just told a joke he wasn't sure if it was funny or was deserving of a slap,
"So, is that a good thing or a bad thing?" He questioned with a high level of uncertainty in his voice.
Shrugging, the second member of the Elmore Duck's benchwarmers didn't have a clear answer for him,
"That's the thing, I don't know! It could be something very serious or it could simply be that Mr. Brown is planning an indoor school festival with the lights turned off. Who knows?" He responded.
"What's your mom's take on these paintings?" Tobias asked, placing his chin within the crook of his pointer finger and thumb.
"Eh, I never asked her. She's always either too cryptic or just won't talk about it at all." He explained, having done so before.
This was enough evidence for Tobias to consider the case closed and went back to walking down the hallway,
"Then it's clearly nothing to worry about. Come on, dude, wanna bet I can defy fate and get Masami to go out with me?" He said with that upbeat, arrogant personality of his.
Banana Joe chuckled a little bit, the ordeal of the paintings still fresh on his mind, but was willing to worry about it later if it meant seeing which ridiculous way his friend's plan will inevitably go wrong,
"I'll bet you ten dollars she'll insult you right before slapping you in front of everyone." He wagered.
"Tsch!" Was all he said in return as he swung his arms by his sides like he always did when he was overconfident.
They reached the doors soon after and entered the school courtyard where a large number of students had already gathered for recess related activities. With the exception of a few people, every one of Tobias's classmates was outside and playing. He spotted Anton hanging out by the wall with Idaho and Sarah as they exchanged conspiracy theories, Hector was seated on the school's playground equipment shed with Molly perched on his shoulder, Sussie was on the bench, staring off into space with her mouth agape and Juke was trying to communicate with Bobert.
It didn't take him long to spot Masami and Leslie engaging Carmen and Alan in a conversation of sorts.
With an eager grin stretching from ear to ear, Tobias's eyes practically lit up as he began bouncing up and down,
"Target spotted, dude!" He squealed before taking the banana by the hand and dashing straight towards the group,
"Time to go for the kill!" He declared, sounding much like a hungry beast aiming to snag its prey.
As they closed in on them, Tobias could hear all four members clearly and found that it wasn't a quiet conversation they were having, rather it was a heated debate between the cloud and the cactus. Slowing to a walk, Tobias crept forward with the jokester still in tow and tried to gauge the argument so he could step in as a mediator, possibly score a few sympathy points with either girls for playing in carefully. However, as time dragged on, it became abundantly clear that this wasn't a light subject being discussed and the two sides were locked in a serious row with one another.
"Masami, it's alright if you miss them and feel guilty for not having interacted with them in the way you wanted, but there's no need to dish out blame!" Carmen stated, trying to get the other one to calm down.
Fuming enough to have already darkened into a storm cloud, Masami was not having it and shouted back in respite,
"That's not it! Don't you two understand! Teri's been toying with Gumball's feelings from the start! Doesn't it feel kind of odd that as soon as they're confirmed to be dating, they wind up being shipped off to some fancy academy overseas? She obviously took advantage of his depression and manipulated him into leaving with her so she wouldn't have to be alone in this new place, wherever that may be." She spat.
Standing right behind her as her backup, Leslie let out a huff and folded his leaves in disapproval,
"Yeah, and Gumball never told anyone about it because she probably forced him to keep his mouth shut. She's a clingy, obnoxious, attention seeker is what she is!" The flower boy indicted rather harshly.
This came as quite a shock to both the opposing party and the two newcomers. Ever since Gumball and Teri began hanging out, Leslie seemed all for the two possibly getting together, ecstatic even. How and why he was throwing Teri beneath the bus all of the sudden was a complete mystery to everyone. Even to Tobias, while initially jealous of Gumball for scoring a hot babe like Teri with what seemed like relative ease, he didn't see anything that stood out as bad in their relationship and found it rather pleasant to see those two getting along.
He even appreciated the two of them for helping him make amends with Tina and was surprisingly happy with the friendship they shared.
Seeing two people stomp on what was considered by some a pretty decent relationship felt downright unfair and bitter, petty even. Luckily, both Alan and Carmen were patient people and slow to anger. They tried to get a good grasp on the situation themselves and Alan thought it through both logically and emotionally,
"I find your description of Teri to be somewhat inaccurate, sure she can be a little obsessive with hygiene, but she does it only with everyone's health in mind and she's never shown to be manipulative from what I've witnessed." He replied with that charming level-headed charisma of his.
Following up on his lead, Carmen laid it out for the rich cloud and her sassy flower friend,
"Besides, I think we should be happy that those two were able to find love within one another. To be honest, Teri has always been rather lonely and Gumball's been through a lot himself, having each other for support is a serious benefit for the two. I mean look at what happened to them, Gumball's back to his usual self and even though it's kind of hard to spot, Teri's been really relaxed whenever she's around him." said Alan's prickly girlfriend.
"And while it saddens me that they left without informing us beforehand, the fact that they were accepted to an academy of their choosing to pursue a higher education is something we should be happy for because it means our two friends are getting a better foot hold in life." Alan chimed in.
All good points, but it wasn't enough to wipe the scowl off of Masami's face and she continued to give the two a detestable glare,
"Uh-Huh, yeah, we'll see about that once he realizes just how terrible it really is to be stuck with her." She scoffed before turning and heading towards the school building,
"Come on Leslie, let's head back inside and see if there's anyone else who isn't completely brain dead." She beckoned.
Not even skipping a beat, the potted daisy boy tagged along with her and the two left the playground while Carmen, Alan, Tobias and Banana Joe looked on with shock. Once inside and out of earshot, Leslie spoke to Masami in regards of their plans. It's been two weeks since Gumball and Teri left and this was not looking well for them,
"Any luck on finding out where they went?" Leslie hissed.
Having returned to her colorless state, the floating cloud was calm, but her current progress in tracking the two down was still upsetting,
"I've had my butler working double time in procuring any sources that may lead to their location, but whatever school they went to is really stingy with releasing records in regards to their student's admittance." She sighed.
Allowing his petals to droop and his shoulders to slump, Leslie shared her sigh of defeat,
"What are we going to do when Penny gets back? She's gonna be here this upcoming winter and if Gumball's not here, then there goes our plan to get them back together." He whimpered.
That was starting to feel like a very real possibility and despite her best attempts to keep the news from reaching Penny, she knew it was only a matter of time before she would find out. If she could just find the school they're at, then it was possible she could pull some strings and have Gumball transferred back to Elmore, leaving Teri behind. It was a perfect plan and Masami could feel as though she was close enough to seeing fulfilled.
Right now she needed a better lead and after dwelling on it for a bit, the young Yoshida came up with something,
"Okay, so Darwin's not here anymore either, his little sister's in high school and Carrie's not very cooperative, so I can't get anything out of them, but maybe if I can convince my mom to contact the mayor and find out anything from him." She suggested, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.
Straightening himself out, Leslie snapped his head towards her and wore a hopeful expression,
"You think that will work?" He wondered out loud, feeling as though were too simple.
"Who knows? I would think that of all the people who've documented people leaving Elmore, the people at city hall would know and if that doesn't work, then maybe we should try asking Gumball's mom." she said, her pensive expression showing that she was deep in thought.
With no way of knowing for sure, the only thing Leslie could do for now was simply trust in Masami's resourcefulness and pray that she was able to find something in the upcoming weeks. He really wanted Penny to be happy once she got back and while it seemed as though no one had told her yet about Gumball's absence, there was no doubt the truth will soon be revealed to her. Last time they communicated with one another, Penny seemed to have improved with her attitude, but it was obvious she was still upset about her loved one's situation and Leslie didn't even want to imagine what her reaction would be once she finally learned the truth.
He prayed that would never be the case.
-Back out to the school courtyard-
Molly was never one to let something like lousy weather affect her outlook on any given day and was feeling just as positive as ever, even more so. Sitting close to Hector's head with her nose in a book, she was waiting for Carrie and Jamie to return from their mission and found herself slightly concerned when a considerable amount of time had passed. She even saved a sandwich for them in case they were hungry when they got back and was even willing to cover for them in class if they didn't show up in time.
Flipping the page while humming a little tune, the black sauropod was completely content while Hector was busy watching a family of birds nestled together in a nest made of twigs with a mother bird feeding her young hatchling while Hector wondered where the father could be.
"Hector?"
There was a delayed reaction as the giant continued to watch the birds before he jumped a little and turned his head a bit towards his quiet shoulder companion,
"Oh, sorry Molly. I was lost in thought for a moment there." He mumbled apologetically while scratching the back of his head.
Craning her long neck over to see what he'd been watching, Molly's eyes searched until they landed on the bird's nest and then it came to her,
"Ooh! You like bird watching!" She guessed.
Hector's gaze shifted from her to the animals she was referring to and then back to her again while he sat up a little,
"Sometimes." He answered in a neutral tone, though there was something more to it.
This gave leeway to a certain topic in which the tiny dinosaur was eager to hop into, a feat not hard for anyone to accomplish as she had lots to talk about,
"My grandpa's fishing buddy, Harry Portman, has a special spot in the park where he likes to watch birds! He likes to bring a big set of binoculars and would still for hours just to watch them fly by. Some people have mistaken him for a rock before and there was even a family that tried to use him as a table for their picnic once." She mentioned with a chuckle.
Hearing this, Hector laughed a little and his body shook, causing a mini-earthquake on his shoulder that caused Molly to bounce around a bit. While Molly and Hector appeared pretty much the same as they always did, there had been slight changes in their behaviors and it was more or less due to their time spent together. She still let her mouth run whenever a subject caught her interests, but she tried to keep it short and funny, fearing that she may one day bore him with her extensive blithering. Hector however, was far more talkative than usual, not in public per say, but whenever they met online, there was much he had to say.
"What was your question by the way?" Hector finally asked.
"Questi- Oh, right! Does your mom mind if other people read her magic books?" She asked with caution.
A good question, the colorful giant needed a moment to think about that and he wondered how his mom felt about others learning magic,
"Hm, I'm not so sure. She helped that one-eyed stranger with some spells a while back, but she didn't want to take Gumball and Darwin as apprentices. So you may have to ask her yourself." He stopped and then raised an eyebrow,
"Do you also intend to tell her about that book you "borrowed" two weeks ago?" He was clearly referring to the one magic book she took a while back.
The shy cheerleader seemed to shrink back a little as she adopted a look of shame and regret,
"I-I will, eventually. I've memorized all the potions in there and I have a real knack for making them. I just think that I want to learn more about magic is all." She explained bashfully.
Another chuckle and the ground Molly sat on shook, causing her to feel slightly confused, but Hector was already talking,
"Then you definitely have more of an interest than I ever did!" He jokingly proclaimed,
"Both my mom and my dad are powerful magic wielders, so it was only natural that they tried teaching me a few things in the realm of the magic arts. I never really picked up much from their lessons to be honest, mom tried to get me to read her books and my dad... I'm sure he visited me in my dreams, but I can't remember what we did exactly." He rubbed his chin as his thoughts began to center around his mostly absent father,
"Regardless, studying isn't really my thing and I prefer being active, but I know you have a great talent when it comes to reading, so maybe there is a chance mom will accept you as an apprentice." He said.
Molly's face lit up with a hopeful expression and she beamed at him appreciatively. Feeling more confident, she wondered if it would be a good idea to ask her tonight at the summoning, but was prevented from doing so when a figure jumped out of nowhere and landed right next to her on Hector's shoulder. To her surprise, it was Jamie and Carrie, though the former was in rough shape.
Waving a trunk at them, the blocky sauropod was excited to see them again and approached the two,
"Hi guys!" She greeted them cheerfully.
Beside her, Hector spotted them and waved with the hand opposite,
"Hey." Was all he said before setting his sights on the birds again.
Carrie, still in control of Jamie's body, waved to them both and gave the bangs that covered both eyes a toss,
"And how is our quiet couple doing these days?" She greeted the two with a teasing question.
Hearing the ghostly prankster say that, Molly's face quickly turned red and even Hector seemed to stiffen up,
"Um, uh, t-that's not... uh, HOW DID THE MISSION GO?!" She stammered before practically shouting out the question, though she was still blushing.
The possessed middle schooler's head shot backwards towards the other kids on the school courtyard and was relieved to see that no one heard Molly's little outburst. She glared at the dinosaur, who looked flustered and muttered an apology while gently tapping her her stump-like hands together. Sighing, Carrie got down to it and dug her hands into her pockets,
"You can say it was a smashing success, but Jamie's in need of a healing potion." She said.
"Am not!" An offended Jamie retorted from within her body's dark space.
Carrie ignored her and waited patiently as Molly grabbed her bag before fishing out a glass vial containing a sparkly, pink, transparent liquid to give to the battle damaged kid. Popping the cork, Carrie tilted her head back and downed the magic material which tasted like raspberries. The effects were immediate and all the cuts and bruises covering her body vanished completely, although the headache remained. It was an effective potion, but it had its limitations.
Handing the vial back to her, Carrie made sure that she thanked her before sliding out of Jamie's body.
Feeling better already, the bully stretched her limbs and shook her tiny hands as though she were making sure she could still feel them,
"I still feel pain." She replied spitefully, causing Carrie to shoot her a nasty look, to which she easily shrugged off.
Retrieving the wrapped sandwich she saved in her bag, Molly held it out for Jamie to take and politely thanked her,
"You guys missed lunch today, so I saved this for you as appreciation for keeping us safe from the Nephilim!" She said, flashing Jamie, a small, grateful smile.
Frowning in disgust, Jamie pushed the food away and turned with her back facing towards her before storming off,
"No thanks, I catch my own food, dweeb!" She replied, not sparing Molly's feelings at all before reaching the edge and surveying the playground before spotting what she was looking for,
"HEY, ANTON! I NEED YOU FOR SOMETHING!" She roared before leaping off the giant's shoulder and landing hard on the pavement, cracking it slightly.
"Aaah!" Anton screamed as he was chased back into the school building with a ravenous Jamie in hot pursuit.
As soon as she was gone, Carrie saw Molly pouting and felt a pang of sympathy for the shy girl,
"I'm terribly sorry for her rude behavior. She's been acting really bad ever since Tina shut herself away from everyone." She told her, feeling slightly responsible for the tyrannosaur's downed condition.
Shrugging it off, Elmore's resident quiet girl plopped down on her seat and just stared at her feet,
"It seems as though a lot of people are doing that as of late." She grumbled.
Setting down next to her, the ghost also seemed to take an interest in the living, orange, furry mat that was the ground and propped her head on her hands,
"I know what you mean." She said, her thoughts drifting towards a certain someone that was currently missing from her life.
-Flashback-
-Cerith Beach, 3 miles southwest of Elmore, Oct. 12th, 2013, 5:23 AM-
"What do you mean you're leaving?!" Carrie's shocked reaction echoed across the empty shoreline of Elmore's most popular vacation spot.
Standing at the water's edge, trying to hide the pain that kept threatening to spill onto his features, Darwin was at his lowest now and what he was about to do now terrified him.
But he had to do it, he had to make things right and he summoned Carrie here so that he could tell her,
"I have to. It was my fault Gumball and Teri were taken from us because I didn't have faith in their abilities to keep us safe." He said, his voice already cracking as his eyes brimmed with tears.
Shaking her head and reaching out to grab him by the shoulders, she held on tight as she tried to talk some sense into him,
"Darwin, none of that was your fault! They showed up two days ago and they attacked us! They knew about Gumball and Teri for weeks, so they were going to show up regardless." She said, looking him in the eyes, trying to make sense of what he was feeling,
"You were right to worry about him, about them! I know you were just trying to keep everyone safe and we will! I just talked with your mom, Teri's parents and Mrs. Jotenheim yesterday and she said she's gonna help locate the supplies needed for summoning Malabranche! I can have the ritual ready in twelve days and we'll be able to find out where they are!" She hoped this explanation would be enough to convince him to stay.
With a shake of his head, Darwin gently pushed his girlfriend's hands off his shoulders and took a step back,
"That's not it." He started, taking a deep breath,
"I'm a coward. As soon as you told me what was actually happening, all I could think of was "why is this happening to us and why is Gumball involved?" and then I wanted someone else to take the responsibility." He was shouting now, not at her, but rather at himself and he needed to take another deep breath,
"After the Nephilim showed up and nearly wiped us all out, that feeling grew and when we lost them, I realized what I truly was. I want to be better than that!" He exclaimed, kicking at the sand with his bare foot.
Hearing Darwin reveal himself to her like this, it wasn't surprising that he would think of himself in such a manner, he couldn't even make it through a horror film without crying, but it was still heartbreaking for her to have to hear it from him. She never thought little of him for being a softie, it was one of his major characteristics that she found admirable and she understood how passionate he was when it came to family. She wanted to let him know that it was okay and the ghost found herself drifting closer to him.
Reaching out with both hands to grab both fins and hold them up in between them, she caught his saddened gaze before whispering softly to him,
"You're not though. You still went after him after finding out, stood by his side even when our deaths seemed imminent and even now you're still pushing to overcome your flaws. You don't need to run away, just stay by my side and we'll save them, together." She promised, forming a weak grin on her soft features.
For what felt like the longest two minutes, the walking fish seemed to be riddled with indecision as he continuously looked from her to the sea and back again before his head sunk low while a light groan escaped his pursed lips.
Carrie blinked and saw that there was something more to this,
"What? There's something else driving your decision, is there?" She asked, trying to get him to look at her.
After avoiding her gaze for a minute, the floating specter released his fins and backed up a bit,
"Darwin?" She asked again, further encouraging a response from her boyfriend.
Knowing full well that he couldn't keep this up forever, the fish caved and huffed,
"Last night, I... I don't know, it's really strange!" He remarked, trying to derail the conversation.
However, Carrie was not going to give up so easily and pressed her arms to her sides while her face twisted into a more serious one,
"DARWIN!" She shouted, baring her fangs.
Jumping in fright while raising his flippers protectively over his face, he quickly spat it out before his girlfriend's wrathful gaze could set him ablaze,
"Alright! Alright! I had a dream last night where I met Gumball, except he wasn't Gumball, he was some powerful being called Fjel and he told me to go to the ocean! Please don't yell at me again!" He begged in that squeaky voice of his.
Having no intention of harming a single scale on his head, Carrie quickly settled down and raised an eyebrow in suspicion,
"You met Fjel?" She inquired.
Caught off guard, Darwin was speechless at first, but was more confused when he realized that she knew about him too,
"Wait, you know him too?" He replied, no longer trembling in fear and lowering his guard as a result.
Nodding, Carrie wasted no time explaining herself,
"Not in person. Mrs. Jotenheim told us about him yesterday at the cafe, Fjel is her husband and the reason the Nephilim are attacking Elmore is because they want to capture him. It's also why the NEA were after him too." She said.
"Really? I wonder what makes him so special?" Darwin wondered to himself as he rubbed the top of his head in a puzzling fashion.
He didn't think Hector would be such an important person to a group of hostile invaders, sure he was big, but that was really all Darwin could definitively state about him because there wasn't much else to him.
Carrie had a surprise for him though and she jumped right into it,
"He's far more powerful than you think. He saved my life and crushed two Nephilim at San Francisco." She replied honestly, remembering that moment with mixed emotions.
A look of surprise replaced Darwin's baffled one and he seemed to understand what she told him,
"I didn't know... wow! Two of them?" He uttered in amazement before getting back on track,
"Anyway, he spoke to me last night. He told me to go to the ocean and to follow Scylla's voice, that I will discover my true power when I find her and-!" He explained.
Now it was Carrie's turn to be confused and she threw her hands up in front of her,
"Woah, woah! Who's Scylla and how do you know this will work?" She cut in, wanting to know who this mystery figure was and why Hector's father was instructing him to traverse the ocean on a seemingly dangerous quest to find her.
Being familiar to the supernatural herself, the undead oddity had her reasons to worry, but Darwin seemed fine with it.
In fact, he seemed far more calm than he was minutes earlier,
"I don't know, he was awfully cryptic when he spoke (why is that always the case with ancient wise folk?), but he told me that I will also find out where I came from too." He claimed,
"If this works out, I can probably do more to help you guys out!" He was practically hopping with excitement and his flippers were furiously flapping as though he were trying to fly.
It was hard for her to accept that this was the path he wanted to go on, there was so much that could go wrong and she wanted him to stay here with her,
"Are you... are you sure this is what you want because you don't have to do this. I can get stronger and keep us safe." She said, gently pleading with him.
Sensing her distress, the two-legged fished walked over to her and wrapped his fins around her shoulders, pulling her in for a hug,
"I want to keep you and everyone else safe too." He whispered, letting this be his deciding statement.
Carrie held him close, not wanting to let him go, her eyes starting to water and she sniffled,
"I love you." She whispered.
"I love you too." Darwin responded softly.
The ocean's waves crashed again and again on the sandy shores, creating a rhythmic sound that soothed both of the kids as they enjoyed the final moments in each other's arms and watched as the sun began to rise, marking a new dawn.
Eventually they broke the hug, though it was a very reluctant action and Darwin shared the sadness that was in Carrie's eyes,
"I promise I'll hurry back as soon as I can!" He vowed.
She leaned forward and kissed him gently on the lips before giving him a stern, yet loving look,
"You'd better! I'll look after Elmore in the meantime and if... when we do save your brother and his girlfriend, I'll keep them safe too!" She promised back to him.
Smiling appreciatively, Darwin nodded and wiped the tears gathering in his eyes,
"Thank you... I'll be careful." He said.
"I'll miss you." Carrie replied.
"I'll miss you too." Darwin said.
They shared another kiss, this one longer and more passionate than the first as they leaned into each other. Then as soon as they were finished, Darwin turned to the crashing waves that seemingly beckoned to him and set foot into the cold, dark water. He waded far out until his feet could no longer keep in contact with the sandy banks and he was forced to begin swimming, using his tail to push him forward while his fins guided his movements.
He took one last look behind him, watching as his home, the family he lived with, the life he knew and the girl he loved start to drift away. He waved to Carrie one last time, who tearfully waved back and then he dipped his head below the waves, sinking further into the depths. And just like that, he was gone, leaving his ghostly girlfriend on the beach along with a green pair of shoes.
-present-
The memory of his departure still rang fresh in her mind and even though she had faith in his words, it wasn't enough to keep her from worrying about him. She missed him dearly and so did Nicole and Anais, whom he left them a note explaining everything. Another thing she worried about was how Gumball was going to take the news once they got him back, surely he would be just as upset as she was and after everything he must be going through right now, this would probably be the last he would ever want to hear after getting back.
Still sitting next to Molly with her tail pressed up against her chest while her head rested upon her folded arms, she wondered what Fjel had in store for Darwin and whether or not he'll return as something or someone different. It was terrifying to think about, having someone she cared about so deeply changed so much that neither of them could recognize each other and she lived long enough to see this happen in many living individuals. For ghosts it wasn't quite the same, they lived longer and most seldom changed their ways, like how before she met Darwin all she could ever focus on was misery and pain.
Sometimes she worried if she ever changed at all.
After a few minutes of stewing in her solemn thoughts, Carrie's visible eye set itself on Molly's sandwich and how the girl still seemed upset over Jamie's brash actions,
"Hey, Molly?" She slowly started, getting the dinosaur's attention.
"Huh? Oh, is something wrong, Carrie?" Molly replied questioningly.
Waving her hands in front of her and shaking her head, Carrie dejected the idea,
"No, not at all, but I was just wondering if you were going to eat that sandwich or not?" She wondered, pointing at the object in her grasp.
Swiveling her head until her vision panned on the food she was holding, Molly gasped a little in realization and turned back to Carrie,
"Oh no, not really. I was just saving it in case one of you two wanted it. Do you want it?" She cocked her head to side as she asked.
Flashing her a small smile and lifting herself up, Carrie nodded with great enthusiasm,
"Of course I would!" She exclaimed.
Feeling herself brighten up a little, Molly shared her smile and hopped up to her feet,
"Great! Here you go!" She responded, holding out the sandwich for Carrie to take.
She didn't take it however and just simply stared at the food being offered to her, then back at Molly with a puzzled expression. Remembering that she couldn't eat, the cheerleader blushed in embarrassment and drew her hand back. She felt pretty silly for somehow forgetting that piece of information despite her amazing memory,
"Eh-heh-heh, sorry I forgot. Here..." she paused as she opened her mouth and stretched her arms out in a welcoming gesture.
Seeing her opportunity, Carrie quickly dove into her maw and took her over, devouring the sandwich in a single bite before exiting soon after savoring the taste,
"That was pretty good!" She commented, still smiling.
Having never been possessed before, Molly shook her head before stumbling about in a dizzying manner. Despite having seen Carrie eat, she was surprised to find the after taste of bread, mayo and spinach leaves fresh on her tongue. It was a very odd sensation for the black sauropod and she wasn't sure if she was interested in repeating such an experience.
Having just eaten something, Carrie was feeling slightly better now and decided to head off to go spook some sixth graders before the bell rang,
"See ya Molly! Thanks for all your help and bye Hector!" She said, giving them both a courteous wave.
They bid her farewell before the ghost vanished into thin air and reappeared in the school main hallway. After confronting Carrie about what she heard and saw two weeks ago in Hector's cave, Molly was more than glad to know what was really happening and that she could help them out in her own way. When she heard about what really happened to Gumball and Teri, it inspired her to start learning all she could about magic so that way she could be of better use to the group and hopefully help Elmore survive this crazy mess.
However, if she was going to be helpful then she was going to need to be taught and there was only one person in Elmore who she could turn to.
Sitting back down again and watching the birds with Hector, Molly spoke to her best friend while they enjoyed the scenery,
"So, Hector, would it be alright if I came over to your place sometime in the near future?" She politely asked.
-Elmore Dynamics research and development facility, Oct. 24th, 2013, 12:45 PM-
Pulling into the parking lot, Rob, now wearing a blue company work tee and black pants, took a moment to eye the concrete structure before killing the engine. Scooping up his damaged armor and weapons, the boy dispatched from the vehicle and headed in through the sliding glass doors. Inside the main lobby, a room painted white with sets of comfy couches, chairs and desks lining the walls along with a decorative water fountain at the center of the room. The place was filled with workers, animate clipboards and humanoids wearing uniforms like his, walking two and fro or just stopping to make small talk.
This is where Rob worked for some ten days now and he still couldn't get used to how amazing this place truly was.
Walking up to the main receptionist, he flashed his ID card and the lady granted him permission to enter the facility. Carrying his armor under one arm and reaching into his pocket to grab his phone, the cyclops proceeded straight down the wide hallways, passing even more technicians and engineers as he did. He dialed a number and got in touch with the company's new CEO, hearing a familiar voice on the speaker greet him,
"Good afternoon, Rob." The deep voice spoke.
"Likewise, Iris." He responded.
"I take it your mission was a success?" Iris questioned lightly, though there was a slight hint in his tone that he already knew.
Nodding once before reaching a room marked B-12, Rob slid his keycard through the magnetic slot above the door handle and waited patiently before the display lit up green, causing the automatic locking mechanism to unlatch,
"Affirmative, though I had to take a few detours. I ran into seven police cruisers on the way here and saw three helicopters too. Security's getting real tight around here." He replied after pushing past the door and entering his small, private office.
"I'm afraid that can't be helped, but I would advise that you use that teleportation rune to come in if driving gets too risky." Iris suggested, having complete knowledge on all of Rob's spells.
Setting his gear down on the workbench and taking a seat in his swivel chair, Rob kept the phone pressed against his ear while he booted up his computer,
"Can't. If I show up in a portal, then that would arouse suspicion and besides, I need it to pick up Rachel once school gets out." He answered, tapping his fingers on the desk as he continued to wait.
A snicker was heard on the other end and it immediately dawned upon the cyclops that his boss was making fun of him,
"You'd make an excellent older brother, you know!" He laughed.
The brown haired worker slapped his head hard and the noise was heard by the one listening,
"You know she's three years older than me, right?" He groaned, finding his sense of humor just as deplorable as Gumball's.
"I know, but you fuss about her so much!" He teased with another snicker.
Finally seeing his computer light up, Rob logged in and pulled up several 3-D schematics detailing his battle armor,
"Yeah, you try living with a teenager who now has no after school job, who also has school work and needs to constantly do something before her boredom drives both of us insane! Don't forget that I also have to be on constant alert for Nephilim surprise attacks too!" He snapped while making some adjustments on the armor design,
"By the way, how's convincing Central Twelve to relocate Gumball and Teri working out for you?" He included, his shrill voice dropping to a serious tone.
Nothing but static at first before a heavy breath was taken and Iris's voice returned while carrying a heavy somberness,
"I've been working on that. The problem is, they're still being trained and with preparations being made to repel the Nephilim's invasion of Los Angeles, Central Twelve doesn't deem it appropriate to relocate military assets in the midst of a major engagement. Trust me, I'm doing all I can, but everyone's busy right now." His explanation was genuine and Rob already had a feeling it wasn't going to be that easy.
Placing a hand on his blocky forehead and giving it a good massage, the grey skinned pre-teen could feel his stress starting to slowly build again and his massaging hand clenched into a fist,
"I understand, but remember our deal: I work with you here and you give us back Gumball and Teri while leaving us be!" He reminded him.
There was a steady shuffling noise as though he were nodding and again, Iris replied,
"I am aware of that. Your innovations in electromagnetic propulsion weaponry is truly astonishing, not to mention the magic you've uncovered, and I'd hate to lose you. I'll continue to seek the council's approval and see to it Private Watterson and Private Pepakuma are transferred to Elmore as soon as possible, though I am uncertain I can give them much autonomy." He sounded optimistic, but careful scrutiny showed that much of what he said is doubtful.
Still, there was a shining ray of hope that Rob held onto and the boy held his tongue. He knew from Carrie that there was a plan tonight to locate their missing comrades by contacting Malabranche and that Mrs. Jotenheim was getting involved, a fact he found somewhat surprising seeing as she seemed hesitant to join in on the fight, last time he knew. However, while the plan showed promise of success, there were many uncertainties and after a recent encounter with the NEA's leader, he found another way to get them back.
Though, while this plan of his offered many benefits to himself and the others, the alliance he had forged with an otherwise sketchy organization was an uneasy one.
Once he had finished uploading the new schematics for his improved armor set as well as a new helmet visor, Rob unplugged the hard drive and scooped up the plastic protection gear,
"I'm on my way to the lab, I need to recycle this armor and build something with more flexibility." He stated before heading out the door.
On the phone Iris acknowledged his intentions and replied positively,
"I'll meet you there and might I suggest making a vest with plastic plating that can be swapped out once depleted. Whenever a rune is used on such materials, the surface it is embedded in tends to disintegrate after usage and this is especially the case with defensive spells." He advised.
Looking at the hole that melted through the armored chest piece, Rob noted this issue and figured that wouldn't be such a bad idea,
"Kind of like ceramic armor modern soldiers wear, that makes sense!" He said, picking up his pace.
He continued to meander his way through the facility's winding corridors until he reached the testing grounds where dozens of isolated chambers stood and within each one, scientists were experimenting with developing technologies. This place always amazed him whenever he came back here and he couldn't help, but smile every time he did. For someone who was so interested in tech, this was his dream job and after hanging up the phone his mind began to drift back to the fateful day when Iris contacted him.
-Don Luciano's pizzeria, Oct. 12th, 2013, 4:28 PM-
"Welcome to Don Luciano's, how may I take your order, sir?" Came the energetic voice of Larry Needlemeyer as he spoke to Rob, who was cleverly disguised as a human male who appeared in his sixties dressed in a sharp business suit and with a head that was rapidly balding.
Standing tall and narrowing his vision at the menu posted behind the rock headed clerk, Rob was quick to make up his mind,
"I'd like two New York slices, thank you very much!" He stated, even changing his voice to make it sound gravely and aged.
Nodding once, Larry typed his order in, casting one curious glance to the old man in front of him (perhaps he was curious as to who this sharply-dressed, old business fellow was or was just trying to figure out why such an orderly figure would care to visit such a sloppy, dilapidated establishment.) and was ready to ring up the price, but stopped to ask for one last thing,
"And would like a drink with that, sir?" He raised a curious eyebrow while remaining attentive.
Pursing his lips and glancing up at the ceiling, he pondered getting a soda, but went for a water instead,
"Just a medium sized cup of water, if you will." He replied.
With an affirmative bob of his head, the hardworking individual rang up the price and took the cash Rob handed out.
After catching his forced happy expression, Rob was taken back to a few weeks ago and a frown made itself present on his thin lips as he recalled a particular encounter with the register,
"You know, I think I've seen you before, on TV once." He proclaimed, playing it casual.
Surprised, Larry paused while counting his change and raised his rocky head up towards the stranger,
"Huh? Oh right, yeah, I've starred in a lot of commercials before. I'm surprised you noticed, I usually only get a few seconds and normally I'm just there to stand beside the store owner while he talks. I rarely get interviewed." He said rather sheepishly, clearly not used to being recognized or noticed despite working multiple jobs.
Rob stood still for a moment, feeling his fingers curl a bit as the corners of his lips seem to sag further and a small grunt slipped past them,
"Of course, of course... I remember seeing you in a police interview a few weeks back and heard that you were caught in the middle of some "incident" at a Joyful Burger restaurant a couple streets down the block. Something about an armed assailant?" He questioned through gritted teeth, as he flashed back to the fight with Tartarforas and how he had barely got him out in time.
There was a notable change in Larry's attitude the moment the aforementioned incident was brought up, going first from happy to shocked to downtrodden in moments as it all came back to him,
"Yeah..." he sighed, air hissing through his nostrils,
"That was not too long ago and honestly, I still have no idea what to make of it. First a blackout, then some crazy, one eyed maniac forces everyone out at gunpoint and as I ran, I heard glass shattering behind me. I come back hours later and the whole place is wrecked, like a bunch of animals were set loose or something..." he pauses once he realizes how long he'd been going on when there was work to be done and sighs again,
"I'm sorry, sir, I didn't mean to waste your time. I mean, I'm okay now, no one's hurt and the restaurant's being rebuilt anyway, so there's that. I'll have your order right out, Mr...?" He waited patiently for a response from the masked cyclops.
"I'm glad to see you're doing well, Mr. Needlemeyer, that had to be quite the terrifying experience and the name's Evil." He simply stated, feeling grateful that he was okay.
Handing him his change and entering his name into the system, the fast food worker raised an eyebrow as he read out the name,
"Eh-vil. Huh, okay." He muttered before shrugging and promising that the customer's order would be up soon before courtly waving him to the dining area.
Finding a relatively secluded area to sit, Rob made himself comfortable and took in the atmosphere of the place. Like many Pizza establishments, this one was brightly lit with a colorful interior (though there were a couple rough patches here and there) and the warm, strong smell of roasting dough was pleasant to the senses. He never visited this place as often as he would have liked to, but whenever he did, the discounts you could get from being a frequent customer or from solving the posted trivia questions were fantastic!
However, the bright and cheery nature of this place was not enough to lift his spirits.
It's been two days since their disastrous battle with the Azura squad and he was devastated. He'd spent most of his time locked away in his room, fixing his broken suit while coming out only to feed, perform bodily functions, drop Rachel off at school, patrol for a bit and then drive her to work. Today was Saturday though, so he was only required to drop her off to work and after finally discussing what happened to Teri and Gumball with her during the drive, her dreadful reaction made him want to stop by someplace to think for a bit.
Rubbing his forehead with his hand, Rob kept his gaze down at the table and tried to focus on the positives,
"At least Carrie and Mrs. Jotenheim have something planned out." He thought hopefully after receiving a text from the ghost yesterday describing her meeting with the troll witch, Gumball's mom and Teri's parents.
He'd planned on visiting Hector's mom yesterday, mainly just to see if Hector was okay and to seek out aid in bringing them back, but it would appear that she was in the dark too. This worried him significantly, if Mrs. Jotenheim needs help from a demon summoned by a ghost to locate their missing members, then surely the NEA is far more clever and resourceful than they thought. As much as he wanted to put his faith in this plan of theirs, he worried something could possibly go wrong or they wouldn't be able to gain the answers they needed and two of Elmore's mightiest defenders would be lost for who knows how long.
He had a plan though and he was pondering the possible outcomes while he awaited his order,
"It's gonna be a few hours until Rachel's shift ends, I should go to the archive of magic and contact Fjel. Perhaps he'll have a solution and a means of getting them back or he could just give me their coordinates along with a clear picture of where they're being held and I can just teleport to them." He mused while lacing his fingers together and using them as a cradle for his chin while leaned forward on the table.
The lone figure remained occupied in his thoughts while the sounds of the restaurant and the various milling customers went about unnoticed. He hadn't told Rachel about Carrie's plan yet, but he was confident that if things worked well with Fjel, then maybe he could assure her that everything will be fine and that he could do something. Maybe he could be the hero for once and save them.
That would be nice.
His thoughts are interrupted by the vibrations his phone set off, indicating a caller, and after stirring a little, Rob checks to see who it is. He figured it must've been Carrie or Rachel calling, but one look at the phone screen brought an abrupt halt to those thoughts. On the display, in clear view, was a logo shaped like a capital "i" with an eye symbol cutting straight through the middle and the cyclops was already familiar with this symbol.
Before he could so much as react, the cellular device surged with red electricity, causing the boy to drop it on the table and jump back in surprise, knocking over his stool in the process,
"What the-!" He paused mid-exclamation when he noticed how time seemed to slow down around him.
No, it didn't slow down, it completely stopped! Everything and everyone was stuck in a frozen animation and an eerie quiet began to fill the air. When he looked outside, he was curious to spot a notable barrier around the restaurant, a wall of broken glass, still held together by some unseen force and time seemed to be going on like normal on the other side.
It didn't take a genius to understand that this was some kind of separate space that froze everything within it (except him of course.) and Rob didn't hesitate to return his attention to the phone that was still cackling with red electricity. Soon, the image flickered several times and from the screen, a shadow sprang upwards, taking the form of a humanoid creature. This being, which now hovered before Rob, matched him in height, but was far more intimidating and spectral in appearance.
The frightening newcomer wore a set of armor that covered his upper torso, but left his arms bare and on his left shoulder, a pauldron resembling a bird's head. There were other avian themed aspects of his appearance, covering the portion where his waist should have been was a military kilt formed from four feathery wings coming together at the front, small black feathers sprouted from his elbows in contrast to his pale skin, his black, spiky hair also resembled a bird's crest in some ways and then there was his beaked white mask which was rather cold looking. From the left eyehole, a single red eye peered out at him and watched the startled individual with an animalistic curiosity.
If it weren't for the logo preceding his entrance, Rob would've assumed this was another random inhabitant of Elmore, most likely from the far outskirts, and the seasoned Nephilim fighter curled his hands into fists while gritting his teeth in anticipation,
"Iris." He hissed, glaring straight into his one eye with his own.
The specter continued to observe him for a brief bit before bringing both hands behind his back and straightening his back,
"Hmm, I'm impressed. Not only are you one talented weapons engineer, but a master of disguise too!" He commented, his voice matching the one that spoke through Rob's two nights prior, but with a bit more charm this time.
Crossing his arms, Rob turned his nose up at him and continued to look unimpressed with his human guise,
"If you came here to win me over with flattery, then you're wasting your time!" He shot back venomously.
Another pause, but this time Iris eyed him in a different way and seemed to take on a serious aura. With an unseen force, Iris pulled a stool out for him to sit on, even though his tail was still connected to the phone, before grabbing the one Rob knocked over and standing it up for him to sit on. This made Rob wonder if what he was looking at was a spirit of sorts, but he wasn't entirely sure.
"Time is the one resource I cannot afford to waste right now, Rob. Now have a seat, there's the matter of your friends that we need to discuss." He responded, gesturing with a single clawed hand towards the awaiting stool.
He had his attention at the mentioning of his friends and the polygonal figure was gripped with shock,
"Wait, what? You're the one who kidnapped them! I'm not discussing anything until you hand over Gumball and Teri!" He snapped, refusing to take a seat.
There was no change in Iris's posture and the avian-esque entity patiently waited for him to sit, but went on after a minute had passed with no change in the boy's position,
"Most of my superiors, Central Twelve that is, are fearful of what's to come and they have every right to be, but I believe now is not the time to be taking from our own people. We need allies, not more enemies and I came here on my own accord to seek out your cooperation." He gestured to the frozen space around them and the raven haired specter gazed up at him a red eye filled with optimism,
"I am head administrator of the NEA, if I can assure Central Twelve that I have a contact within Elmore, they may grant me permission to transfer Private Watterson and Private Pepakuma back to Elmore where they can remain as active sentries." He stated, offering him a positive possibility that Rob simply couldn't ignore.
Now Rob was leaning more towards his side, though there was still some doubt lingering within his mental scape and with a more relaxed expression, he loosened his arms a bit before asking,
"So why come to me of all people? Wouldn't somebody like Anais be a more reasonable approach to gain an ally, I mean how much do you know about me anyway?" His voice cracked a little, but he ignored it.
Iris remained still and studied him once before the avian-esque entity answered,
"If I told you that it's not because of your talents with magic and technology, then I would be lying, but that's not the only reason why I sought you out. I know you've been fighting alongside Gumball and Teri and that you want to protect Elmore. I can help you with that." He offered.
Now Rob finally sat down, willing to listen to whatever this stranger had in mind and started off with a basic question,
"So what do you have in mind?" His masked face allowing him to raise a single eyebrow in suspicion.
Pleased to see his cooperation, Iris wasted know time in getting right to it and with a wave of his hand, produced a holographic image of a company building Rob was somewhat familiar with,
"Recognize this company?" Iris asked.
Rob nodded,
"Elmore Dynamics. It's a research and development center for experimental technologies. I've acquired some discarded parts from them in the past and used them to power some of my tools." He explained.
With a wave of his hand, the image faded and Iris clasped his claws together as he discussed his plan,
"With my wealth and resources, I can buy the company and set up a few testing facilities reserved for NEA personnel. If you'd like, I can give you a job there and you can develop better weapons and equipment for yourself. You'll be given fine payment, your own private workplace, plenty of resources to work with and a flexible schedule, seeing as you're still a child. I believe such an offer would be beneficial to you due to your current living arrangements." He stated, casting a knowing glance in his direction.
Hearing all the benefits being listed from Iris himself, the ambitious inventor and fighter found himself in a state of awe. While he knew very little of what happened within the labs of Elmore's highly revered engineering corporation, he knew that their tech and funding was top of the notch and more than exceptional, he even managed to snag a few discarded Lithium type-3 batteries that he modified to provide power for his electronic weapons. There was no way he was eligible for employment in any job sector located within Elmore, but if he managed to land a job there and gained access to only a portion of their resources, he could bolster Elmore's defenses against the Nephilim to a level that was strides ahead of what he was currently capable of.
As good as all this sounded though, he knew very well that things never came without a cost and Rob was suspicious as to what Iris's price tag on such an opportunity would be,
"And what do you get out of it?" He asked, folding his lanky arms across his chest, his business suit and elderly disguise granting him a very powerful visage when he did.
If the armored specter was capable of smiling beneath that mask, then Rob was more than certain he was doing so and it seemed he was expecting this,
"For starters, I gain an ally, but cooperation goes both ways. I give you a job, money, resources, and most importantly, your friends, but in return, all I ask is you share your weapon designs for the sake of the world's defense and the new spells you've acquired, as well as any intel regarding the void, Hector and Fjel." He simply replied, before quickly adding one last thing,
"Oh and constant communication will need to be established, I would prefer to be in the know of all the events surrounding Elmore, to keep from getting caught off guard and to be able to intervene when necessary. Those are my terms and conditions." He said all this with the elegance of a salesman offering a pitch to a client.
Rob's eye widened in surprise and he felt his draw drop as well as a shiver crawling down his spine,
"How did-!"
"How did I know about the void and Fjel as well as Hector's connection with all of it?" Iris interrupted, his voice cool and self-assured,
"I am far older than you think, Rob. I know very well how the void works, what it contains and its effects on people. I was there when Fjel and the other two divine regents were appointed by Jade himself as the new protectors of Earth shortly after the Nephilim fell. I created the original Supernatural Commission and helped monitor the world of magic to keep dangerous individuals from using it to cause harm while also preparing the nations of Earth for the war that was coming."
He paused before producing another hologram, this one showing all the runes Rob used in the battle against Enoch squad and eventually Azura squad and Rob was left utterly baffled at how much he saw,
"I observed the battle through the eyes of Argus and the video cameras mounted on the helicopters I sent. I have met many individuals who've been lost within the void, your corrupted form was easy to recognize and these magic runes you've used do not show up in any of the SC's official records, meaning you've obviously retrieved them from somewhere." He finished drawing his conclusions without having to state the final verdict, for it was obvious the extent of what he knew.
Waving the images away, Iris leaned forward and placed a hand beneath his chin, resting it their while something flashed within his red eye,
"The importance of the void's location and Hector himself is paramount to winning this war, so Elmore's protection is on top of my list of priorities. Accept my offer and I guarantee you that you and your cohorts will have the best chances of surviving." He finished by holding out his hand, waiting for Rob to take it.
So that was it, accept his offer and not only does he get a chance to upgrade his tech, but he'll also be getting their missing comrades back too. That is, if Iris could persuade his superiors to do so and he wasn't so sure if Carrie and the others would be so comfortable knowing that he was working with the same people who attacked them in the first place. With all these facts spinning about in his head it was hard for him to weigh the pros and cons of each decision and Rob felt as though a great weight were being thrusted upon his shoulders.
The objective was to get Gumball back, but the question was should he attempt to follow through with a plan that was already plagued with uncertainties or should he trust the words of someone who had already caused so much trouble, but was willing to offer him so much?
Shaking his head and standing back up, Rob towered over the sitting specter, who eyed him curiously as he gave him his reply,
"You drive a tempting bargain, Iris, and though you provide a convincing argument, I'm afraid I'll need some time to make up my mind." He stated conclusively, placing his hands behind his back as he squared his jaw.
"Worried about your allies and what they would think if they found out you were working with the very people who already took from them?" Iris followed up, as if he saw right through him.
Rob merely stared at the raven haired avian figure, but his steady gaze already gave the sitting individual the answer he needed and with a slow nod of acknowledgement, he stood,
"I wouldn't concern yourself with such matters, should you accept my offer, I'll work under a different alias and remain out of Elmore's affairs unless an intervention is deemed necessary. Take your time to decide, I've already left my number in your list of contacts, but I advise you make your decision soon because after all..." he seems to take on a serious visage causing the very room to darken and his voice to deadpan,
"...there is a war going on and after the attack on Los Angeles, I assure you the Nephilim will continue to spread their destruction across the planet. We're running out of time to prepare for the worst, but it's up to you whether or not the people you care about are safe."
Feeling a lump in his throat, Rob audibly gulped and fixed his collar, which felt very tight for some reason. His mind returned to Iris's first warning about the Nephilim's strength and suddenly the weight felt much heavier. He was right, if they were going to stand a chance against Nimrod's army, then they were going to need better preparations along with their two strongest members and maybe some powerful allies too.
The cyclops watched as Iris hovered over the table where his phone lay, ghostly tail still attached to the screen and turned around one last time to face Rob,
"Even as we speak, Gumball and Teri are training hard. They are both very extraordinary and I can see why this strange city has survived so long. If I can transfer them back to Elmore, I am more than certain that all of you will keep Elmore safe." He said with a softer tone this time and Rob detected a bit of admiration in voice, not just at Gumball and Teri, but towards him too.
Once done, the armored entity melted back into a shadow that slithered back into the cellphone and with another burst of red electricity, the world around him resumed. The sounds of the restaurant and the people within seemed deafening in comparison to the unnatural quiet Iris's spell created, but none of it really bothered the disguised pre-teen. He was too fixated on the conversation he had with the NEA's head administrator and pondered his choices.
Not too soon after the exchange that took place beyond the scope of ordinary people, Larry came to his table carrying a tray with his order, greeting the supposed elderly gentleman with a simple call and Rob decided to put his problems aside to enjoy a nice meal.
-Present-
Two days after his meeting with Iris, Rachel quit her job at the gas station and in desperate need of cash to pay the upcoming rent, Rob called Iris to reconsider his offer. Now here he was, ten days later, working a job that he actually enjoyed and with resources the early likes of which he only dreamed of obtaining. So far, the only one who knew about this was Rachel, but she didn't know who was running the place and he intended to let her know once Gumball and Teri had been returned to them.
He hoped that he was making the right choice.
With a single swipe of his keycard, the door to his private workplace swung open with a hiss and before him stood a mostly vacant room with a few crafting tables, several drawers containing tools, a ranged testing area for his weapons that took up more than two thirds of the room and a single helper droid. The droid itself was practically a flying camera, a white, spherical device as big as a basketball, covered in multiple hatches that concealed various manipulators and tools with a single hole that ran from top to bottom containing a spinning rotor that kept the machine airborne. At the center of the floating ball's "face" was a single optical lens that glowed red and bore the logo of Iris.
"Pleased to see that you're alright!" The droid said through a speaker located directly beneath its eye in Iris's voice,
"I trust that you'll be delivering a full report on the battle sometime soon?" He asked in reference to Rob's clash with the Tri-pus.
Placing his armor and weapons on the table, Rob removed the damaged chest piece from the suit itself before disposing it into the recycling bin and making his way to a panel on the wall with his hard-drive in hand,
"I'll type up a report before I leave, Mr. Smithers." He replied, calling him by his new alias.
He wasn't sure if Iris was rolling his eye within Jeruzalem, wherever that may be, but the snarky cyclops liked to imagine he was. With the press of a button, the massive panel flipped over, revealing a 3-D printer and a built-in computer to input commands. Sticking the hard-drive into the socket, Rob uploaded the improved armor design within the device and watched as the printer's mechanical arm hummed to life before positioning itself over the slab to begin the creative process.
While that worked, Rob then turned his attention towards the Leviathan Book and started fiddling with the gauntlet. Behind him, Iris hovered towards another wall panel and from the droid's metallic body, an arm popped out, pressing a button. The panel slid open, revealing a tray full of freshly printed multi-colored blocks with strange symbols on them and Iris brought them over to Rob's table.
The young worker eyed the strange symbols, but continued to tinker away with his handy weapon while the possessed machine explained himself,
"During the Second World War, magic finally saw widespread use amongst the armies of the Triaxial alliance, consisting of the German Holy Light Empire, the Neo Roman Empire, and the Japanese Rising Moon Empire and following their defeat, the usage and study of magic began to grow, with many cases appearing in the sixties."
He gestured towards the symbols in front of him and said,
"Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, magic has risen to all new levels and many different types have been discovered." He sounded very excited to be explaining this and given what Rob had seen him do, it was quite obvious Iris was a master of sorts in the magic arts.
Lifting up his gauntlet for closer inspection, the polygonal being spoke his opinion on the matter,
"Well, I suppose that's a good thing considering what we're going up against is weak against magic, but it does seem rather coincidental." He replied.
Holding a metallic finger up to emphasize the point, Iris shifted himself closer to the boy,
"An astute observation! The Nephilim have indeed launched their attacks as the world's awareness of magic grew, but sadly we still understand merely a teaspoon of what could potentially be out there and has left quite a gap between us and our enemies, who know far more than we do. Which is why I have decided to initiate the first stage of your training!" He announced.
Setting the glove down, Rob twisted his head towards the metallic sphere and wore a look of confusion,
"Training?" He questioned, feeling as though he was already effective as far as combat and magic went.
Moving his spherical body up and down in a nodding motion, Iris again motioned with his manipulators,
"Indeed. In the five years we've fought against the forces of Babyloth, we've tried a number of ways to counter our enemies and while many lives were lost during the conflict, we eventually discovered certain techniques that are most effective against the giants." He then gestures towards the blocks and starts describing the different symbols,
"What we have here are all the known elements rune magic covers: Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Deep Earth, Celestial, Ice, Lightning, and Sound. We'll have you choose one of them and start training so that you'll become more proficient in the usage of one particular element." He stated, knowing there were other forms of magic that were quite effective against the Nephilim like Alchemy, light and dark magic and non-Runic magic too, but this is what Rob most commonly used in battle.
Curious Rob studied the elemental symbols and wondered why he would need to practice only one of them,
"But I've already got tons of runes I can use! Wouldn't limiting myself only to one be less effective in combat?" He asked, feeling as though that were a little obvious.
However, Iris, as self-confident as he always was, answered right away,
"Using different elements is always preferable in combat, especially since the enemy always comes in different shapes and with different abilities. However, while this is good on its own, if a single soldier only uses different spells, they'll gain very little mastery over all of them and will be less powerful than one who has trained with a single type of magic." He said.
He then showed a holographic diagram of a human silhouette surrounded by numerous symbols with thin arrows pointing outwards to each one, while another showed the silhouette standing next to one symbol, the fire elements, with a bigger arrow to show a greater connection. Rob was quick to understand and suddenly it made sense as to why Gumball and Teri were so powerful. They trained every chance they got and while Teri utilized five different runes, she still mastered them well, though one could argue an individual spell paled in comparison to the Moonfire rune Gumball relies heavily on.
Leaning over the tray, Rob began considering his options and weighed the pros and cons of each element carefully, meanwhile Iris was watching over his shoulder,
"You can take your time to evaluate which one compliments your style best, but do keep in mind that you can switch to a different element to master if you feel as though you need to." He whispered.
With that in mind, Rob felt himself relax a bit and he thought more about what he preferred to use. He used a lot of Deep Earth based elements in his earlier battle because of the raw strength each one packed, but simple brute force wasn't something he was particularly well suited for, especially on his own. He needed something that was powerful, yet allowed him to keep fighting at a distance and eventually his eye landed on the yellow block with the Big Dipper constellation inscribed onto it: the Celestial magic.
"What are the capabilities of this one?" He asked, pointing directly at the element that caught his attention.
Iris's glowing red eye studied the symbol for a moment before a small hum passed through his speaker,
"Ah, I believe Celestial magic possesses advanced space oriented abilities. If mastered, one could travel instantaneously to certain areas on a battlefield, utilize cosmic energy for long ranged attacks and can even expand one's view of the world, but do bear in mind that this kind of magic is very unstable and can drain spiritual energy very quickly the more advanced spells you use." He explained while being sure to inform him on its setbacks,
"Very few have mastered this type, but those who do become extraordinarily effective on the battlefield." He quipped.
Sounds like everything Rob needed and while the cons were certainly intimidating, something drew him towards this mystical power. Reaching into his pocket, Rob felt his hand brush against the teleportation rune and his mind drifted back to what he first encountered in the archive magic, a bedroom filled with models of spaceships and star charts. Even after the void claimed his memory, the brown haired child still held onto his fascination with outer space, he was even jealous when he heard about Teri and Gumball and their brief voyage at the edge of the universe and considered it a dream of his to eventually touch the stars.
Call it fate or destiny, but he knew what he wanted the moment he laid eye on that element,
"Per aspera ad astra." He stated.
Iris watched him select the Celestial magic block and from his quarters in Jeruzalem, he smiled at the Latin phrase he used.
Through hardship and to the stars.
This boy was gonna be something alright.
-Elmore mall parking garage, October 24th, 2013, 5:32 PM-
"You uploaded the footage into our files, right Anais?" Macey asked as she matched her best friend's rapid pace.
With a single bob of her big head, Anais kept her focus solely on the red van awaiting them in the middle of the parking garage and delivered a basic answer to the Calico girl,
"Of course." She said, voice ripe with determination.
After realizing her mistake in believing that they could trust government officials to handle the Nephilim situation, Anais was determined to do something about it and had been planning something with both Macey and Chimera for some two weeks now.
Reaching the Awesome Store, the little bunny's knuckles rapped the driver side door and from within a pair of eyes appeared,
"Ah! Anais and Macey, such a pleasure to see you two again! I trust that the Spectral-O-meter has been helpful in documenting the Nephilim?" He inquired, hoping they weren't here for a refund.
"It has and we're here for something else too." Anais replied, getting straight to the point.
Relieved and surprised, the Awesome Store owner breathed a sigh of ease and a shadowy hand popped out from the window,
"What can I provide you with?" He questioned, waving his hand around in a circle.
Stepping up to the window, Macey started off by pulling out her cellphone and showing the shadowy figure a video of Elmore's mayor, Charles Ferrier, at a press conference going over the appearance of military helicopters over downtown Elmore two weeks ago.
"-And I assure you that there is nothing to fear. The U.S. Army was conducting a test with an experimental weapon and there was a slight malfunction. Everything is alright, we have things under control and any damages caused will be properly dealt with. On that note, our local law enforcement is still investigating the strange anomalies and our new security sentinels are still currently undergoing rigorous tests-"
With a single press of Macey's thumb, the video was paused and the blonde haired, big headed mayor of Elmore's voice was cut off, before placing it back into her pocket. The van's owner/driver stared at the two for a moment before shrugging and raising an eyebrow,
"Yeah, so? I've seen the news plenty of times kid, what's your point here?" He asked with slight disinterest.
Stomping her foot, Anais furrowed her eyebrows and scrunched her face up in anger,
"The point is that mayor Ferrier is clearly working with the NEA and keeping things covered up! My brother and another middle schooler were just kidnapped, my mom and several others were attacked and threatened by the very same individuals who are responsible for all of this! My other brother ran away because he was scared and to make matters worse, the mayor and the police have no idea what they're up against and are chasing literal ghosts here!" The infuriated high schooler stomped her foot again and let out a fearsome growl.
Nodding in agreement, Macey turned to the Awesome Store owner and wore the same determined expression,
"Yeah, so we aim to do something about it and fix our city so that everyone will be safe!" She declared.
Reaching up and rubbing a chin neither kid could see, the magic salesman raised an eyebrow at the two,
"Aren't you two a little too young to be involving yourself in politics?" He pointed out, knowing full well that Anais was five and the bearded one to be at least fifteen, despite her abnormally petite form.
"Yes, yes we are!" Macey answered, putting it rather bluntly.
"Which is why we were wondering if you had something that could alter our appearances and make us appear older and preferably different too. We want to start a political campaign against Ferrier and run him out of office during the upcoming mayoral elections in April!" Anais remarked.
His eyes widen in surprise and a hint of intrigue was present,
"Sounds rather ambitious, but I believe I have just the thing! It'll be a bit, but if you two would like to climb in and have a look around, feel free to do so." He insisted and without further ado, he slipped out of sight before opening the sliding door for them.
Climbing in, both Anais and Macey were greeted with the familiar sight of the shop keeper's cluttered and disorganized, yet fascinating storage. They heard the sound of footsteps making their way upstairs and while the scientifically inclined toddler was unable to wrap her mind around the physics that allowed for such a space to exist within a van, she'd already accepted that there were already forces in this world that were beyond anyone's mental grasp. Such was the case with magic and it made the brilliant young member of the Wattersons reconsider looking into those strange tales from history class that accounted for the unnatural.
Checking out a mysterious vase that held a seemingly inconspicuous umbrella, Macey grabbed it and popped open the umbrella's canopy before immediately being drenched by a rain storm pouring out from within the umbrella,
"Ugh!" She groaned before closing it up and setting it back where she found it.
Anais giggled while her tomboy friend stood there, sopping wet and shot her a cheeky grin,
"Didn't anyone ever tell you that it's bad luck to open an umbrella indoors!" She snickered.
Macey returned her little quip with a glare and the bearded high schooler shook off all the water,
"I thought you didn't believe in superstition!" She retorted.
Shrugging, Anais eyed a pair of leather shoes sitting on a shelf and picked them up,
"I don't, but I never believed my older brother could win a fight against a bigger opponent either." She chuckled, hiding her depression and wishing that he was back.
She wanted both of her siblings back and while she heard from mom that they had a plan to bring Gumball home, there was still Darwin to worry about, plus the NEA too. It's why she felt as though she needed to fix things, expose her brother's kidnappers and make them pay for their crimes. She blamed herself for not seeing this sooner, but she still believed that Gumball, Teri and Rob were not suited for handling this threat on their own and better preparations needed to be made.
Macey knew her friend well and made her way over to console her,
"Hey, don't you worry now. Your mom's gonna get him back and I'm sure Darwin's gonna come back too!" She said reassuringly, even giving her head a friendly rub.
She managed a weak smile before putting the shoes back and searching about the room with her hands on her hips,
"Yeah, but if they succeed, the NEA are gonna come after us again and Darwin may not have a family to return to." She replied, gritting her teeth and running a paw down her scalp, pushing her ears back,
"This is why we have to expose them and let the people know what's happening. That way we can do a better job at looking out for each other and find a way to stop the Nephilim." She stated in a matter of fact tone.
Macey stood still, admiring the pink haired bunny's resolve and was glad to see her taking action,
"Well, if this works out and we manage to secure ourselves a position in the elective campaign, I can tell my dad about the Nephilim too. Both he and my mom know a lot of people within Elmore's monster hunter guild and I'm certain they'll support us too!" She said, having already been led to believe that the Nephilim were no different from the monsters her own folks hunted and was eager to get back at the very monsters that took her uncle's life.
"Exactly, but for now, we'll just have to keep recording the battles that take place here." Anais explained.
Macey hummed in affirmation and the red haired girl turned as though she were searching for something,
"Right. Do you think we can find something here that'll replace Chimera's missing parts?" She asked in general.
While Anais was certain the Awesome Store contained something that could revive the plastic blocks Chimera lost in his skirmish with Bobert, she was very wary of this place's reputation for selling sinister items and tried to keep their list of requirements short when it came to shopping here,
"Um, that's okay, I already figured out what we needed and made an order online, so he should have them replaced in less than a week." She replied, giving the van's cluttered interior one look and shuddering.
Macey's eyes seemed to bulge out of their sockets and her jaw slowly hung open,
"Wait, you can purchase things online?" She gasped in exasperation.
It came back to her that Macey's family didn't own a computer (they were somewhat superstitious folk and worried that one's mind could get corrupted by the internet, so Macey had very limited phone privileges.) and while Anais was more than happy to enlighten her to the wonders of online shopping, such an explanation was put aside when the store's owner returned with a pair of necklaces in hand.
He held them up for the two to see and both saw that each one consisted of a chain from which dangled a half stone colored blue with a glossy sheen to it,
"Right here, I have what you would call a shroud stone. You put the two halves together and you'll be veiled with an illusion that makes people see what you want them to see. The effects can last twelve hours and require the same amount of time to recharge. It's the best one I have and it'll be most useful for your plans." He said before handing each one to the girls standing before him,
"What do you think? You can try it out here if you want, but you can't leave the store with them without paying!" He strictly mentioned.
Looking at one another before deciding to give it a shot, both the bunny and the Calico girl placed the chains around their necks before placing both halves of the stones together. Upon contact, the two rocks made a solid sphere and glowed blue, causing both Anais and Macey to glow as well. Soon, standing before one another, we're no longer two high school students, but instead two middle aged human females wearing full business attire with one having red hair and the other with pink hair.
The two gasped in surprise as they observed each other, completely captivated by this transformation and Anais's hands found their way to her cheeks,
"Oh my Jade, Macey! You look so different!" She exclaimed in surprise.
"You too!" Macey followed, completely awestruck.
Stepping in, the Awesome Store owner cleared his throat and gained their undivided attention,
"Sounds like you two are quite impressed. If you wish to reverse the spell's effects, you need simply place the stones together again and the illusion will fade." He further clarified.
They did just that and with a glow, the facade faded, leaving the two looking like themselves.
With no arguments being made, Macey and Anais were already set on purchasing the stones and turned to the shadowy figure,
"What's your price?" Anais eagerly demanded.
"Twenty five dollars." He said.
"Huh, that's quite a deal." Macey replied feeling rather pleased.
"Each." The store owner added with a scummy tone and a greedy look in his eyes.
Angered by the ridiculous price, Anais exploded and nearly hurled the necklace back at him,
"WHAT?! But it's a set! Why would you have a price set for each o- oh never mind, here!" She grumbled, forking over half the cash she "borrowed" from mom's bank account after already figuring out her PIN number.
Counting the wad of bills, he seemed pleased after seeing it all there and shoved the money in a suitcase before turning to them once more with something else to offer,
"You know, I can locate your brothers, if you wish?" He suggested.
"Let me guess, twenty five for each sibling?" Anais sarcastically responded.
Shaking his shadow cloaked head, the Awesome Store owner required no funds for this service,
"No fee required. Just give me their names and I'll find them with this all seeing orb." He replied, producing a magic glass ball from thin air with a few waves of his hands.
Now Anais's interests were piqued and her doubt was instantly replaced with hope. Was this real? Could he actually find her brothers? If that was the case, then getting Gumball back will be so much easier and at least they'll know how Darwin is doing!
She so desperately wanted to know and without waiting a single moment longer, she accepted,
"Yes, of course! Their names are Gumball Tristopher Watterson and Darwin Raglan Caspian Ahab Poseidon Nicodemius Watterson III." She said, listing off their full names in case she needed to be specific.
Both the driver and Macey were blown away by the second's unusually long name, but got over it quickly as the former began to wave his hands over the orb.
Then he stopped and looked up at Anais with a faint recognition in his eyes,
"Wait, Gumball Watterson? He's your brother?" He asks, utterly dumbstruck.
Anais was used to comments like this considering, both she and her siblings were completely different species and only nodded in response,
"Yep, my mom's a cat and my dad's a bunny, you can obviously see which traits we inherited." She explained for what felt like the millionth time to another stranger and was slightly tired of it, plus anxious because she needed to know where Gumball and Darwin were.
"Hmm, that makes sense. You're trying to capture videos of the Nephilim and a little while ago, a strange fellow named Rob came by along with this rainbow haired girl, both were looking for Gumball and Teri. Said that they were fighting the same evil spirits you guys are after." He recalled, rubbing his chin in thought,
"Such a strange team." He muttered.
Rolling her eyes, Anais felt that was the best way to describe all her eldest brother's relationships and allowed her body to slump forward,
"Ugh, you got that right! I mean, how the heck have they been beating these things for so long? Rob's a madman with too many toys to play with, Teri's a fragile hypochondriac with some impressive origami skills and don't get me started on how Gumball somehow managed to start wielding a scythe without managing to hurt himsel-!" She was about to let out a rant, but stopped when she saw the shopkeeper's head suddenly shoot up in alarm.
"A scythe!?" He suddenly started, his voice coming out as a snarl.
Unsure as to why a single word would set him off like that, both Anais and Macey were quickly consumed by fear and began to back up slowly. The shadow man however, was filled with rage and he stood up quickly, his towering form far more menacing then it was seconds ago. With an intense glare that bore straight through them like a flashlight shining through nylon, his voice bellowed as he demanded more answers,
"Was it silver? With a collapsible handle and folding blade? Three strange symbols etched into its surface? Tell me NOW!" His voice thundered on the last word and the whole van shook, sending multiple items crashing to the floor.
Now the high school duo was completely encompassed with fright and both were fully aware that escape was not an option, they wouldn't make it to the door in time and their feet refused to move. Suddenly, the van's walls seemed to close in all around them and the Awesome Store's enigmatic owner's eyes glowed like brilliant white stars in the midst of the darkness. Feeling trapped and vulnerable to his gaze, Anais crumpled to her knees and spilled everything she knew,
"Yes, that's exactly what it looks like! Carrie told us it had unusual abilities, but I don't know what it does or what connection it has to Carrie or Gumball. I swear that's all I know!" She pleaded, worried that somehow he will not accept her explanation and will unleash whatever horrifying wrath he had upon them.
But no such wrath came and the dark stranger looked upwards, towards the back door as if focusing on a single point. From his lips he uttered a single name,
"Kassius!"
Suddenly the back doors flew open and before the bunny and her patchy friend could scream in fright, a powerful gust of wind sent the two tumbling backwards and out the back door. They scraped against the pavement as the parking garage interior was suddenly brought to their view and Anais's elbow screamed in pain as the skin was torn after skidding some two feet to a halt. Ignoring the pain, the tiny toddler and teen snapped to their feet just as the doors belonging to the red van slammed shut before the van took off with a screech of its tires.
The Awesome Store and its driver soon disappeared through the access tunnel, leaving behind only the fading roar of the engine and the rancid odor of burnt rubber.
With that nightmarish episode now over with, Anais was glad to come out of it alive and relatively unscathed. She still had her shroud stone and Macey carried with her its other half, so they still had their plan. However, despite the positives, Anais developed a sense of dread for her brother as the mysterious store owner's rage played through her mind over and over again and she realized that Gumball may be in even more danger.
Right next to her, Macey grabbed her by the shoulder and shook her a bit, trying to get her attention,
"What was that about? Who's Kassius?" She asked, her eyes wild with fear.
Anais tried to piece it together, but all she could come up with was that Kassius may have had something to do with the scythe and perhaps had a negative encounter with the Awesome Store owner,
"I-I can't say for sure, but we need to get back home and tell Carrie!" She stammered, her heart still beating like a jackhammer and her mind still surging with her fight or flight instincts.
Without another word being uttered between them, they raced towards the garage's exit, checking the open window to see if they could spot the large vehicle and see where it was headed, but it was already long gone.
-Northern mountain range, Oct. 24th, 2013, 7:57 PM-
Nicole shivered as the cold mountain air seeped in through her jacket, causing her to adjust it in a futile attempt to stay warm and rubbing her numb paws together as well. Behind her, Dr. Yui and Fukijima Pepakuma remained close to one another holding hands and wearing heavy coats to prevent from being blown back down the mountain they spent twenty minutes hiking upwards. It was very dark out, even the night sky was blocked out by the never ending blanket of clouds and even with her exceptional eyesight, she nearly tripped over a root and bumped into several trees on the way up.
Having gotten very little sleep in the past few weeks, Nicole was tired and seeing as her boss was too busy making repairs to the Rainbow Factory she had to stay home until the work was finished. The lack of productivity and the loss of her life's basic structure was slowly driving her mad, but none of that compared to the sadness she still felt. She missed Gumball dearly and after Darwin took off while leaving a note behind explaining that he'll be back someday, she felt as though pieces of her were missing.
Were they okay? Are they both in pain from being separated from their loved ones for so long? Would they ever see each other once again?
So many uneasy questions her mind could not find the answer to and every time her grief reared its ugly head, she could feel it pulling her down.
She turned back to the Pepakumas, both of whom were in the same state as she was and like her, were trying to appear brave despite the pain. Unlike her, who still had one child to take care of, they lost their only one, the center to their universe and Nicole couldn't even imagine how horrified they must be. She prayed that Gumball and Teri were still together and keeping each other strong through this mess and that Darwin was still pulling through, wherever he may be.
"I hope Carrie and Grendela's plan works..." she thought to herself as her mind began to drift.
-Siren's Allure, Oct. 11th, 2013, 4:13 PM-
As far as cafes went, the Siren's Allure was pretty cozy in terms of atmosphere, but then again Nicole had only ever been to one cafe and that was with Yuki during their lunch breaks, so how was she able to judge these kinds of places? Sitting by herself in a lone booth, with a cup of warm coffee in her paws resting on the table, Nicole found it strange to have a whole day practically to herself and watching the customers bustling about in a very calm fashion somehow made everything seem like it was slower than normal. Though it goes without saying that she would've enjoyed this day better if things didn't happen the way they did yesterday and Nicole was still a wreck at this point despite her otherwise pleasant appearance.
After watching everything pass by for a while, Nicole was soon joined by two paper bears, who walked in through the front door and made a beeline straight to her table. Seeing them for the first time since last night, Nicole was shocked to see both of them in a state worse off then she was and felt her heart sank. For starters, while their faces were drawn on, they weren't done well and looked rather sloppy, even Yui's hair was messily scribbled onto her head and Fukijima didn't even bother to draw on a pair of spectacles.
What was more horrid was their expressions, clearly they had been crying for some time and there wasn't a single spark of positivity in their lifeless eyes.
Regardless, Nicole was relieved to see them here and smiled a little at them,
"I'm glad you two could make it." She greeted in a warm soothing tone, but her eyes were also looking a little dull too, which was heavily accented by the bags and the red that tinged them.
The only response from Fukijima was a slight tilt from his head and Yui closed brought her hands up on the table, lacing and unlacing her fingers together in an anxious manner,
"Because we're medical professionals, we're normally booked in advance, but we were able to cancel today after telling our boss that there was a family emergency. You should've seen the way he rolled his eyes because back then Teri would always wind up in the school infirmary and they would call us several times a month, even when she wasn't sick." She tried to laugh, but the sound resembled nothing like it and came out hollow before it melted into another fit of sobs,
"I don't know what she did to get herself caught up in all of this! I just want her back and I want answers too!" She cried, leaning into her husband's shoulder while he pulled her in for a hug and rested his chin on her head, looking down at the table as if wishing something would happen.
Unfortunately, while Nicole had already found out the mystery behind her son's strange behavior and how Teri suddenly became more involved with his life from her kids, it was too late now. After sending the kids off to bed, she called the Pepakumas last night and after a desperate Yui picked up, she told her to meet up at this very cafe with her husband. She wanted to tell them what she learned from her kids last night, but kept this meeting to herself, neither Richard nor her kids knew she was coming here today, especially Richard.
Last night she told him that Gumball was going to another school as part of a student exchange program and though it broke her heart to lie to him, she couldn't risk him panicking and spreading the news of the NEA, possibly getting them all arrested.
Staring down into her cup for a moment, Nicole thought about how rattled she was when she found out and knew it wasn't going to be easy telling them either.
Steeling her nerves, she got started and continued to stare downwards,
"Unfortunately, I already know the truth..." she said, in a low tone that barely registered to the adult paper puppets,
"... the one who visited us last night, the one named Iris, he was right about our kids, they've been caught in the middle of something big and we didn't even notice." Her fingers tightened around the paper cup's edge, causing it to crumple a little.
Startled, Yui's head shot and she slammed her hands on the table, but did nothing to make a commotion,
"Bullshit!" She growled, her eyes fierce and her fingers curling inwards,
"Whoever those monsters are, they're nothing more than a crazy cult of terrorists and I don't know why they're abducting children, but they have to be stopped!" She continued to silently pound the table as she began to shrink back down into her seat and despair took her rage's place.
Fukijima was still left in a bitter state and he shook his flimsy head in denial,
"There is no way our Teri-bear has been fighting some invisible threat this whole time! The only thing she's ever killed is germs and the only reason she's been sneaking off with Gumball is because they were taking care of a baby bird. She even said so herself!" He cried out in disbelief.
Hearing their accusations in defense of their daughter, Nicole came to understand that they were no doubt very protective and tried to keep their child close, which made sense given how frail they were, but given the reality of the situation, they still needed to know,
"I understand your confusion and trust me, I didn't want to believe it the first time I heard it either, but there's too much that adds up. You two have been hearing it all over the news right? The random power outages, the mysterious acts of destruction plaguing the city like the southern bridge explosion and the devastation at the airport and all the panic it's causing. It's because our home is under constant attack by an unseen force and our kids have been dealing with it as well as another person too." She sounded surprised, even as she explained it and before the two listeners could push this off as mere nonsense, Nicole continued,
"Iris said this had all started five years ago, during the September attacks in Jerusalem, so I did a little digging of my own and found that it all checks out. From 2008 to the present, there have been similar incidents occurring all over the globe and our governments have been covering it up with fabricated explanations. If you really look into it, you'll see that most of them don't actually make sense and I've fought one of the NEA's members last night. The power and skill they possess is clearly meant for something far deadlier." She concluded, still feeling the pain from her brief skirmish with Hei and realizing how outmatched she was.
Despite the evidence that was being told, both the circular bear and the rectangular bear remained skeptical,
"But that still doesn't add up. If these "Nephilim" are so deadly, then how are two kids able to beat them?" Yui questioned.
"Magic, of course."
The three parents turned, the realization that their conversation was in public and in clear earshot of those around filling them with dread. Six eyes found their way to a rather hideous troll carrying a wooden staff and wearing a purple dress, golden bangles, white/grey hair all tied up in a bun, and green wizened face upon which a pair of mismatching blue eyes sat as well as a bulbous pink nose and a single tusk protruding from the corner of her lip. She was short too, only half the height of Nicole and it didn't take long for Nicole to realize this was Hector's mother, the troll witch named Mrs. Jotenheim.
Before anyone could say something, the little lady hobbled her way over before taking a seat next to the female cat, not even bothering to introduce herself and started talking,
"The Nephilim are weak to magic and after watching Gumball and Teri for some time, they've seemed to become quite skilled at using it." She grunted, her raspy voice cutting through the air like a jagged knife.
Shocked to see this stranger show up out of nowhere and talking about the Nephilim, magic and also the kids, both the doctors had no idea what to think.
So Yui was the first to ask,
"Um, I'm sorry, but who are you exactly?" She was highly suspicious.
"And what do you mean you've been watching our kids? Are you some kind of stalker?" Fukijima asked, sharing his wife's skepticism and feeling awfully concerned.
Placing a few coffee beans she swiped on the table, Mrs. Jotenheim seemed hardly offended by the paper man's accusation and started to arrange the beans in a particular pattern,
"Name's Grendela Jotenheim and for the record, I've only watched them whenever certain visitors would show up to start causing trouble. Anything they do outside of fighting is honestly just boring and not worth my time." She replied in a casual manner, as though she were discussing a television series she held only mild interest for.
Watching her closely, Nicole was amazed that she already knew so much and started forming more questions in her head,
"You're Hector's mom, right? You're a witch that can cast spells and makes potions and more hocus-pocus, can you bring my son back?" She desperately pleaded, already willing to go whatever lengths to save Gumball, even if it meant trusting a mysterious witch.
"Hector? You mean that hairy giant that goes to the same school as Teri?" Fukijima asked abruptly, having only seen him while driving through town every now and then.
"Now that you mention it, I've never seen him admitted to the hospital and there's no records on him whatsoever?" Yui chimed in, though there was a bit of uncertainty because she'd never checked all the hospital files.
Growing impatient, the tiny troll slammed her staff into the floor and the sharp crack it made was enough to get the adults' attention,
"Number one: I'm a cleaning lady, not a witch, but I am a practitioner of magic. Number two: Yes, my son is enrolled in Elmore Junior High and finally, no Hector doesn't have any official medical records because if he did, then people like the ones who took your kids would've shown up earlier to take mine." She simmered down after giving them quite an earful and got to the point,
"So last night, my home was visited by some very rambunctious ruffians looking for Hector, so I gently sent them off to their main headquarters in DC with a note and suffice to say, I'm sure we're never going to have to deal with those hooligans ever again." She said, cracking a twisted grin while the jaws of the adults surrounding her dropped in unison and she carried on,
"Before I sent them packing, I heard one of the soldiers mention something about the capturing of two particular children and after checking my glass ball, my worst fears were confirmed so I decided to come pay you guys a visit."
Surprised at this revelation, both the Pepakuma parents and Watterson met each other's concerned gaze before turning back to the haggardly spell caster,
"But why would the NEA be after your son as well?" Nicole asked, despite having a suspicious feeling that there was already more to this woman's family than she wanted to know.
Placing a pair of beady eyes on the blue cat's face, Grendela cocked a small smile and chuckled a little,
"I'm glad you asked, but there's a long story behind this and we're gonna need some privacy." She proclaimed.
Before anyone presently at the table could offer to move elsewhere, the mother of Hector slammed her staff once more to the ground and from the top of the wooden pole, pollen began to fly all about the restaurant. All around them, people noticed the strange spectacle, but before anyone could really say something or react, the pollen inhaled caused them to quickly drift in a deep slumber and everyone, customers and staff was soon sprawled about the place, snoring away. Nicole, Yui and Fukijima were utterly amazed, yet stunned by this strange spell and with another tap of her staff, the lights went out, the doors locked themselves, and the blinds were drawn, making the cafe appear closed to outsiders.
Once everything was quiet, Grendela set her wooden shaft aside and placed both hands above the circle of coffee beans,
"Temporary sleeping spell. They'll be awake in half an hour and won't remember a thing, though I hope no one in here is a bed wetter." She chuckled mischievously after answering the question already written on their faces.
Under her breath, she chanted a spell and the beans that sat in front of her began to shake, moving about on their own. Soon, the paper bears and the cat lady bore witness to the amazing sight as the seeds began to sprout green, vine like tendrils that wove themselves together before rising upwards and growing into a small tree with a wreath of branches and leaves forming a circle at the top. Once the plant was finished growing, the troll witch pulled her hands away and took a deep breath before exhaling.
"For over a billion years, there was a war being waged over this planet between the imprisoned king of Tartarus, Mephistopheles, and the divine ruler of the seven heavens, the Jade Emperor." She started.
Within the circle of leaves, an image formed, displaying two humanoid figures: one clad in green royal garb with a pair of antlers and a halo behind his head and another cloaked in shadow with many arms and faces. The one in green was situated above the one in shadow, who was inverted in standing position and in between them both was the Earth. The half that fell beneath the Jade Emperor was green and lively while the half that fell below Mephistopheles was desolate and lifeless.
Despite the amazing display, all everyone else more or less heard this story before, especially Nicole who attended Elmore's Jadite church when she was little, but no one dared to interrupt the troll witch while she spoke,
"For countless eons, the Jade Emperor has driven the king of rot and his demons back to the abyss, but whenever he would re-emerge, mass extinction would follow and the ruler of the seven heavens needed someone to look after his precious garden world. So he formed the moon and with it, the first Nephilim."
The image shifted to show the hand of the divine creator hovering over the newly formed moon and on its surface the Nephilim stood, fiery spirits with antlers and wispy wings on their back that seemed massive on the moon's surface. Another thing that stood out was the fact that the moon was also covered in forests, rivers, and oceans. A curious detail to note for sure.
"Fiery spirits they were, whose power they received from the sun and with their newly appointed king leading the charge, they descended upon the Earth. To fight Mephistopheles and his demons, they would inhabit the bodies of Earth's creatures, for as spirits their powers were too great for this world and became mighty beasts capable of crushing the forces of Tartarus. For a million years, the Nephilim reigned over the Earth and Mephistopheles's rise was halted." She said.
The image that followed showed the Nephilim on the Earth, in the forms of terrifying monsters that crushed and burned the shadowy spirits that dwelled within the forests.
Then the story began to take its dark turn and Grendela's tone shifted to one of grimness,
"Everything was as Jade desired it to be, but his enemy was clever and while his forces remained at bay, his shadow spread itself to the Nephilim's king. For millennia, the Nephilim have been confined to their tiny kingdom on the moon, if they stayed on Earth for too long then they would become more like the simple creatures they possessed and if they ventured too far out into the heavens, their lack of sunlight would cause them to freeze to death. While the Nephilim's king was happy to serve the heavenly sovereign, he longed to touch the stars and after patiently waiting for a million years, Mephistopheles made his move."
With the next image came the burning form of a lone Nephilim spirit standing on the moon, looking longingly at the stars and behind him, shadowy hands reached out as if to claim the king. Both Nicole and Yui felt a shiver travel down their spines while Fukijima curled his trembling hands into fists. The next part everyone knew was coming and the green skinned troll continued the story's darkest chapter,
"Confronted by the voice in his head, the Nephilim king learned of a possible way to escape his meager existence tied to this planet and Mephistopheles taught him how to harness the elements through the use of symbols. Curious to know more, he continued to study while his subjects remained unaware and when the king of the abyss suggested that the animals could be used to help them escape, he turned his attention to the creatures he swore to protect to begin experimenting on. My husband, Fjel was one of those poor creatures." She explained with a hint of sadness.
What came next showed the spirit creating elements through the use of strange symbols while also changing the forms of many creatures into something unlike anything ever perceived by nature.
"However, the other Nephilim stumbled upon the king's experiments and after promising them a new life among the stars along with an empire that rivaled the kingdoms of Heaven, many were convinced and soon began their own tempering with nature."
The pictures began shifting at a faster rate, showing image after image of the curious spirits performing acts that were considered sacrilege, Landscapes were changed from the usage of powerful spells, new species were created while others deemed as failures were wiped out, beasts that were long extinct were brought back from the dead and even the veil between the world of the living and the underworld was torn open allowing more spirits into the world for them to stick into other objects. It was utter chaos and many innocent creatures were harmed because of it. Soon the Jade Emperor was shown overseeing the Earth and its abysmal state.
"It didn't take long for Jade to discover the mess his appointed caretakers had caused and so he confronted the Nephilim king, demanding he stop, but he refused."
The Nephilim king, now possessing a shadowy aura much like Mephistopheles, turned his back on the hand that was being offered to him and in front of the selfish ruler was a small city inhabited by several creatures Nicole, Yui, and Fukijima recognizes as humans,
"He then turned his attention to a new race his kind once experimented on and realized their capacity to learn, to create. With his followers fully drunk on power, they quickly enslaved these creatures known as humans, forcing them to build temples dedicated to their glory and experimenting on them too, creating the race humanity has labeled the bizarros." Grendela narrated.
This city, recognized as Sumer, was filled with idols and statues dedicated to the human's supernatural overlords and in the streets crowds of humans bearing animalistic traits attacked their brethren. This event was covered in the Jadite holy texts as a means to explain how the human race became divided into two separate species, but while Nicole took it as early man trying to rationalize the strange phenomenon, it suddenly made too much sense. For centuries the human race has often hated their inhuman counterparts and with how things were shown here, it was clear why this may have been.
"Jade pleaded with the king many times and when he kept his back turned, the cries of those being harmed as well as the prayers of those still loyal to him was too much for him to bear, so finally he took action against the very children he created."
With the righteous wrath of the divine ruler being brought down upon the Earth and the moon that continued to enslave it, everyone watched as the celestial bodies were engulfed with silver flames that shot from his open palm. The Nephilim's bodies, as mighty as they were, vanished amongst the sea of silver and everything else was miraculously spared. A truly awesome, gruesome sight to behold and it was a wonder if this was done for better or worse.
With a wave of her hand, the image vanished and the tree shriveled up before disintegrating completely, leaving the coffee shop dark once more. After witnessing such a tragic story, the darkness that covered the room carried an eerie tone to it and left the Pepakumas along with Nicole feeling uncomfortable. Clasping her hands together, Mrs. Jotenheim smiled once more and leaned back a little in her seat.
She seemed oddly pleased for someone who knew about such terrible things and reached the conclusive chapter of the story being told,
"Now I'm sure you all were led to believe that the Nephilim were killed by the Emperor's hand, but that's sadly not the case and as I had learned from Fjel, they were imprisoned within their own kingdom on the moon, in a space separate from our own called Babyloth. In order to keep the world safe, Jade appointed three powerful guardians known as the divine regents, one to govern each of the three realms of Earth: the sky, the land and the sea. For over 6,000 years, they've kept Mephistopheles sealed away, but his shadow still swells over the land and the children of Earth have become corrupted as well. War, greed, exploitation and pollution, the king of Tartarus has been whispering in our ear for as long as civilization existed and the world is once again placed in danger."
"But Jade always has a plan and when the world of man was to undergo a new era of magic, the Nephilim were to be released from their prison and a new war was to begin. That time is now I'm afraid and your children are a part of it now." She said, looking each and every one of them in the eye as she bore the news.
Shaking her head in disbelief, Yui, having heard everything now still demanded to know what her daughter had to do with this,
"But if war between Earth and the Nephilim was inevitable, why can only a select few see them?" She asked.
Picking up her staff and gently tapping the foreheads of each parent, she spoke softly,
"When the first Nephilim began possessing the humans all those many years ago, they left their mark on all of them, but there was something else they left behind, something they did not foresee. A seed within those they inhabited, it grew and spread throughout the generations and while only a few possess this trait today, it enhanced them spiritually, allowing them to perceive the Nephilim as they exist in between worlds. The greatest miracle was that our ancestors were allowed to thrive and in doing so, they've advanced in ways that have prepared them for the upcoming conflict. All of you carry this trait and when you passed it on to your children, it became stronger."
And so it was said. As unbelievable as it may have sounded, it turns out through thousands of years of development, their ancestors carried a trait completely unknown to the world and possibly to themselves as well, that they inherited before passing on to their children. Gumball, Teri, and maybe Anais too, could see the evil spirits because they themselves were spiritually strong enough to do so. Such was the way of fate and the fact that this strength was targeted by government made it terrifyingly clear how cruel fate could be.
Feeling his rage start to take hold again, Fukijima's clothes started to move again on their own and the ink snaked its way down his arms to his claws again as he shot up from his seat,
"If that's the case then why weren't we chosen instead?! Surely you can't expect children to fight in a war, if anyone it should've been us!" He screamed, steeping ever closer to lashing out with those poisonous claws of his.
Nicole too joined the angry and distraught paper puppet with her own angered stance and glared down upon the witch next to her,
"He's right! I've trained my whole life and have worked hard to keep my family safe, I will not stand by and wait for my son to get killed!" She roared, clenching her fists tight enough to make them crack.
Mrs. Jotenheim remained unshaded by their aggressive advances and didn't even brandish her staff, instead opting to talk it out,
"You wanna keep them safe? Pray to Jade, he's the one who selects his defenders and Fjel is the one who carries out his orders. He can open your eyes to the world unseen, but the reason Teri and Gumball were chosen was because they outshine all of you in terms of spiritual power. Teri is the combination of two powerful lineages, the Ikari clan and the Pepakuma clan and Gumball is... something else entirely." She calmly stated as though it were simple knowledge.
This didn't sit well with either the cat mother and the paper bear father as they seemed poised for an attack. They've spent nearly an entire day suffering at the loss of their loved ones and after finally figuring out why this was all happening, this woman had the audacity to tell them to just sit and pray for strength? To hell with that!
Luckily before they could act out, Yui, the voice of reason interjected after clearing her throat and maintaining focus on her true goal,
"I don't care about who has to fight who, can you help us get them back?" She pleaded, placing her hands together.
Stopping to stare first at the motherly paper puppet and then back at Mrs. Jotenheim, the two backed off while she simply shrugged,
"Of course I will. After all, your daughter and her boyfriend have been doing a pretty good job keeping the Nephilim from coming after my son." She responded with a some morbid chortling.
Nicole's anger flared again and she stepped forward with a fist raised to deck her jaw with,
"Why you little-!" She growled.
"However!" Grendela interrupted, raising a finger in the overprotective feline's direction and stopping her completely,
"I can track them down, but I don't have the means of getting to them and breaking them out of Jeruzalem will be rather difficult if I were to say so myself. Years of working with the SC, I know for a fact that their facilities are well guarded and I can't seem to get a hold of Erebus either, he must be off on another one of his trips. Before I spend the next few weeks trying to track him down, I'm open to suggestions. Do any of you know anyone who's supernatural and perhaps knows a thing or two about infiltrating magically guarded military installations?" She pointed out, wondering if there was a chance to make this easier.
A good question and if the situation weren't so serious, they probably would've laughed it off as some kind of joke. Sitting back down in their seats, Nicole, Yui, and Fukijima all pondered for a few minutes while drawing blanks. To Nicole, who was once led to believe she was capable of handling any conundrum life tossed her way, found herself frustrated and her pointed ears dropped while her tail swished in agitation. She wasn't used to dealing with supernatural stuff and only heard about things like this from Gumball and Darwin when they went on adventures with...
Then it clicked in her head and she suddenly shot up in her seat,
"That's it!" She happily proclaimed, much to the others' surprise before clearing her throat,
"Carrie, Carrie, Carrie, Carrie, Carrie!" She repeatedly called out.
Suddenly, within a flash of light and a pop, the ghostly form of Darwin's girlfriend materialized before their very eyes. Nicole was very proud to have learned this trick from her adopted son and was thankful for it to have worked. The odd thing was though, while Carrie had appeared, she was holding under her nostrils what appeared to be a shoe of some kind and to the mother's shock, it was Darwin's.
Upon witnessing the sudden change of scenery and seeing the odd assortment of people before her, Carrie froze up in embarrassment before dropping the shoe,
"...uhh..." was all she said as her pale, transparent face began to burn red in mortification.
Everyone, including Grendela, just looked at her with expressions that seemed unable to find a point between disgust and morbid fascination and things got awkward real quick.
Then after what felt like the longest forty-five seconds, Nicole finally built up the courage to wave and ask,
"Hey, Carrie, um, mind telling me what you're doing sniffing Darwin's shoe?" She tried to sound polite, but it was very hard not to be disturbed by this.
Not sure how this was possible for a ghost, but Carrie's face became a deeper shade of scarlet as her one visible eye shifted from one face to another, before she was finally able to formulate a sentence, kind of,
"Um, he was, uh, just taking a shower at, um, m-my place a-and-!" She picked up and tossed the shoe across the room where it struck the face of an obese, yellow rodent-like creature in a pink track suit, who was still asleep and sucking his thumb, before the flustered punk-rock chick shouted,
"-JUST FORGET YOU SAW ANYTHING! Now what do you want and why is everyone knocked out?" She questioned after seeing the state of the cafe.
Ignoring that, Nicole stepped forward and gave it to her straight,
"We're trying to figure out how to break Gumball and Teri out of Jeruzalem, but the place is heavily fortified. Is there anything you can do to help us?" She pleaded with her eyes and waited eagerly for her response.
Shaking her head and tossing her bangs a little, the little ghost resumed her cool mask of apathy before replying honestly,
"Unfortunately there's nothing I can do to break them out, but I do know someone who can!" She said.
"Who?" All four in unison asked.
A small smile formed on her thin lips and she crossed her arms,
"A powerful archdemon named Malabranche." She replied.
-Present-
-Jotenheim cave, Oct. 24th, 2013, 8:05 PM-
It was slightly warmer in the Jotenheim's mountain dwelling, but Rachel was still freezing as the cold air blew in through the mouth of the cave and the rainbow lass shivered as a result, hugging herself tightly in order to retain her warmth. She had arrived through Rob's portal along with said magic user and found the cavern to be occupied by three strangers, two of which she knew. Standing around a pile of assorted items that looked like it could've been gathered from a landfill that sat at the center of a ten-pointed star drawn onto the stone floor with red chalk encircled with red wax candles, was Jamie and Carrie, who seemed either really bored or anxious and then there was Mrs. Jotenheim, whom she heard of from Rob himself, but never actually met.
She knew they were here because they were attempting to gain information on the whereabouts of Gumball and Teri, which she hoped would succeed because things were starting to get rather dire and she was worried about them.
"I read on the news that the state of California is in the middle of evacuating Los Angeles because one of their oracles had predicted an earthquake the likes of which will be most devastating to the city and unlike anything the west coast has ever dealt with before." Rachel told Rob after listening to a discussion covering it in Geography class today and thought better of the situation (there was also talk of a massive party being thrown at Masami's mansion and while she didn't quite know her, she was pretty stoked about it.),
"I'm guessing this is really in preparation for the Nephilim's invasion?" She remarked.
Rob nodded, the cold having no effect on him as he just stared with a neutral expression at the candles in front of him and fidgeted with his fingers,
"There's no questioning it. If an attack was coming in the near future, then the evacuations would have to take place right away and it could be a while until everyone's safely relocated." he said before muttering to himself,
"I pray that this isn't the beginning of their invasion or else they'll most likely spread and come here too." he hoped this would not be the case and he wasn't alone in his troubles either, as Rachel also didn't want to lose her home as well as everyone she cared about.
Meanwhile, Jamie eyed the massive pile of items Carrie and Grendela spent a considerable amount of time locating and bringing here before twisting her head towards the class goth while scratching her noggin with perplexity,
"What's all this junk for?" She inquired curiously, amazed by some of the things found within the pile, including a black chain with an eyeball attached to one end, some golden drachma and an idol with many hands.
Going over the chant in her head for the seventieth time now, Carrie stopped and regarded the school bully with a single black eye,
"Tributes for the archdemon of greed and fatigue. Among the six other archdemons and Mephistopheles himself, Malabranche has been around since the very beginning, when Earth and the first living creatures were in their infancy. He knows so much about that were and things that are yet to come, but his knowledge comes at a cost and he requires all his summoners to toil away at finding him certain gifts as tribute." she explained before going over the ritual again in her mind.
Snorting in contempt, the half cow, half troglodyte folded her arms and gave her head a toss in the other direction,
"Sounds like Malabranche is just as high maintenance as that rainbow colored dirt wad Tina's so fond of." She muttered before spitting on the floor.
Seeing the orange haired kid's disgusting act done on her well swept floor, Mrs. Jotenheim growled like a wild animal and proceeded to hobble over with her staff to give the knucklehead a good whack with her staff, but noticed three figures approaching the cave's entrance. It was a very exhausted Nicole and two equally worn out Pepakumas who were also shivering and muttering complaints beneath their breaths. Glad to see them showing up, Mrs. Jotenheim walked straight up to the three with a big, warm, friendly smile (that just looked creepy altogether.) and clasped her hands together before rubbing them in anticipation,
"Glad to see you three could make it tonight. Please join the others around the circle and we can get started." she states invitingly while they obediently walked past without saying anything, although she did score a glare from Nicole as she passed her by and the troll witch knew exactly what that look implied, which meant nothing to her.
Observing the items required for the circle, the people present and then turning to Carrie, Mrs. Jotenheim asked her,
"Do you have the verse memorized, Krueger?" She raised a bushy eyebrow as her beady eyes never strayed from hers.
Nodding once, Carrie sighed and flipped her hair,
"It took me a while to memorize it, but more or less I've got it down or else we might wind up getting warped to another dimension or worse, nothing happens and I'll have to start all over." She explained with a warning.
Both Rob and Rachel shot her a nasty glare and stomped their feet in unison,
"Then get it right the first time!" They both screamed.
After sticking her tongue out at them, the spirit raised her arms up and ordered everyone to do the same. They did and so Carrie began the ritual, closing her eyes before her lips began to move, quietly chanting the long spell. While she did this, the wind began to pick up and Rachel felt something off about the atmosphere.
The only reason she came was because Rob mentioned and since she didn't have a job anymore, she'd always feel guilty if she just lounged about their house, but she was still too stubborn to do the chores. After promising to be supportive of Rob during his ordeal with the Nephilim, she wanted to be by his side more often, especially now with everything that's happened to him two weeks ago. Casting a sideways glance in his direction, the rainbow lass admired how strong he had become, he was here now among comrades trying to save his friends and even if he didn't see himself as close to them, Rachel knew he admired their companionship.
Several minutes went by and Carrie continued to chant, never ceasing the Latin sermon that continuously flowed from her lips. Everyone's arms were getting tired and some were very cold, but they all stood as they were, braving the elements in order to make this work. Soon the wind began to pick up speed and outside the cave, storm clouds began to gather in the skies above.
While the freaky weather caught the attention of those gathered, it failed to grab their attention as the Decastar which began to glow red and the candles around it burned green. Melting like wax, the assortment of acquired materials vanished and from the center of the symbol, a single pillar of blinding light emerged that widened dramatically until it reached the edge of the circle. Carrie's chant was drowned out by a cacophony of shrieks and roars that caused the other seven to cover their ears, now deafened and blinded by the demon's emergence.
Frightened to her core, Rachel screamed and crouched down until she was in a tight ball, her fluffy yellow/magenta hair tossing about in the wind like a fire. Pressing her hands tightly on her head, images of static and a lonely bedroom came to mind. She recognized this and if she wasn't already screaming as loud as her lungs would allow her, she certainly was now.
It seemed as though everyone else was having a similar episode as horrible past images flooded their minds with livid clarity and every soul brought to the whims of Malabranche's effect.
Then the light faded and the sound was replaced by a single booming voice,
"Who dares summon Malabranche, fourth Archdemon of the lord of rot, king of greed and fatigue?" His voice was so powerful, the cave itself shook with every word uttered.
Opening their eyes and slowly turning their heads, a few seconds was needed in order for them to adjust to the darkness before they got their first look at the demon. Once their vision was restored, there was notable confusion sewn into the seven living members as they first saw nothing, but a black shroud of smoke and at first, they believed they had gone blind. However, when it came to everyone's attention that the circle of candles were still lit, it was soon discovered that the black smoke is Malabranche and that his true form wasn't solid.
It left a very mysterious, yet disturbing effect on the motley crew of parents and children.
Being the only one who hadn't been effected by Malabranche's presence, Carrie greeted him in a welcoming manner and bowed,
"It is I, Carrie Krueger and I welcome you to the world of the living, O Malabranche, lord of greed! It is truly an honor to be in your presence!" She said with high praise and reverence while twirling a hand as a subtle indicator for the others to bow as well, which they did and Carrie continued,
"I bring you here so that I may humbly ask your vileness a single question in hopes that you would kindly answer!" She claimed, still bowing out of respect.
The shifting cloud of darkness that sat quietly inside the circle slowly began to change and form a visible body. A living mass of black arms adorned with glittering jewels and golden chains emerged from this smoke, hands and fingers that curled continuously as though trying to grab anything nearby and upon which this disturbing mass sat, two sickly legs that wobbled upon badly scarred/scraped feet that were in serious need of treatment. Both Yui and Fukijima regarded this repugnant creature with disgusted looks while Nicole, Rob, Rachel, Jamie, Grendela and Carrie were more surprised than anything.
With two pairs of hands on Malabranche's "front" forming a mouth and eyes with just their fingers, like weird hand puppets, the demon showed curiosity in Carrie,
"So, a specter seeks knowledge from the mighty Malabranche?" He barked in that thunderous voice of his before laughing up a storm,
"I have walked this Earth for billions of years, during the age of which the Anivas and their king Chakravartin first ruled this land, before our lord Mephistopheles brought about the great schism and throughout the war of the five suns! My existence is one of procurement, as is all creatures that live and once lived. Your hunger for knowledge has left me touched and I shall grant you what you seek, specter. Ask away, there is no question in which I cannot answer!" He loudly proclaimed.
Hearing his grandiose, self-centered gabbling, Rachel mentally rolled her eyes and let out a whistle through her nostrils,
"I hope his answer isn't as long winded as his first one, I could really do without the cryptic backstory, thank you very much!" The teen pursed her lips as her gaze shifted to Rob instead to get a read on what he was thinking and saw that he wasn't impressed either.
Keeping up with her formalities, Carrie went on ahead and asked,
"If your vileness so wishes it, I long to know how I can save Gumball Watterson and Teri Pepakuma, two dear friends of mine who had been wrongfully taken from the loving embrace of their friends and family!" She graciously asked the vile spirit.
There was no pause in the archdemon's answer and he simply spat forth,
"Ah, yes! To find and rescue the ones you seek your best chance will be to journey over to the city of Los Angeles on the sixteenth of November, but be warned: a terrible strife will bring the city to ruin by the clashing forces of the Earth and the moon. Death, devastation and treachery will spread and one small misstep could spell your demise!" His answer was followed up with a wicked cackle before something else crossed his lips,
"But, do not trouble yourselves into thinking this little mission will be the end of it. More fights are to come and Elmore, your precious home, will be brought to ruin by the ancient giants whose deathly parade can be heard even from the darkest pits of Tartarus!" He laughed ominously.
His warning sewed fear into the hearts of those listening and as they dwelled upon his words, Malabranche's form dissipated into smoke before fading away into nothing. With a gust of wind, the candles were blown out and the cave was cast into an unsettling darkness. Despite the fact that Malabranche had vanished, his laugh could still be heard within the ears of those gathered and slowly faded into a dull ringing noise.
For the longest bout of time, nobody moved nor said anything and then, once Yui couldn't take it anymore, she turn to Carrie, armed with the obvious question,
"What did he mean that Elmore was going to be destroyed?" She demanded, her light, airy voice was caught between a whisper and a scream.
Shaking her head and screwing her eyes shut to block out her own distracting thoughts, Carrie responded with uncertainty,
"I don't know! He's a demon, he could have just thrown that last part in to scare us. The spirits that dwell within Tartarus thrive on negative emotions and stirring up fear is one of the best ways for them to create chaos!" She explained, though her words failed to soothe the round-faced paper puppet or anyone else who was frightened.
Jamie, however, was far from frightened and showed an eagerness that heavily contrasted the group's main outlook,
"Who cares! If there's gonna be a battle in Los Angeles, then I'm all in! I get to visit another city, trash the place with no repercussions and bust some heads too!" She screamed with ravenous bloodlust and pounded her chest like a gorilla.
This earned her many strange looks from her companions and Grendela dismissively shakes her head,
"As much as I enjoy your enthusiasm, Ms. Russo, I'm afraid you'll have to stay here along with Carrie to defend the city. Rob and I will head on down to Los Angeles and rescue the other two who are missing." She explained.
This caused Jamie's expression to tighten into one of rage and she blew up at the tusked troll,
"WHAT?! Why on Earth would you wanna take that one eyed dweeb with you and leave me here instead? He's practically a walking golf club!" She bellowed, her beefy arms already raised to her sides with her meaty hands balled up into fists.
Clearing her throat, Mrs. Jotenheim raised a gnarly hand and a single finger popped up,
"For one, Rob's had more experience in dealing with the Nephilim and I have personally seen that myself. Two, I need someone who's gonna watch my back and not dash off into the first conflict they find. Finally, Carrie needs a partner to help defend Elmore while we're gone and you'll be less likely to get in my way if you remain here." She said, listing off all the reasons with her fingers.
This did not process well with the impulsive, bull headed pre-teen brawler, as she began scraping the dirt with her foot and lowered her upper body for a charge,
"I'll show you what twelve years of Gymnastics, competitive sports and boxing have made me, old crone! I've been a beast since the day I was born!" She proclaimed as a challenge.
With another roar, she charged straight at Grendela and raised her arms to both sides in an attempt to tackle the hunched figure. However, the witch was not having it and with an irritated sigh, she tapped the ground with her staff. Suddenly, a blue manifested around Jamie and the tiny powerhouse smacked headfirst straight into the wall before flying backwards.
With a single motion of her hand, she pointed upwards and the sphere began to levitate, much to everyone's surprise,
"For one, kid, I'm only 28 and secondly, I think you need to take a hike... down the mountain." She said.
And with a single point in the direction of the cave's opening, the sphere holding Jamie prisoner was sent flying out of the Jotenheim's home and straight down the mountain with the orange haired middle schooler screaming profanities the whole trip down. Everyone's attention was directed towards where she vanished and several seconds later, the sound of tree branches breaking interrupted the silence. The thing was, the crashing sounds never ceased and it was quite clear that Jamie's ride was not a smooth one.
Turning back to Mrs. Jotenheim with a look of concern and a thumb hiked over her shoulder, she asked,
"Is she gonna be okay?"
Shrugging her shoulders, the impish cleaning lady turned about and began casually hobbling over to the stove,
"She'll be fine. The bubble will pop only when it completely stops." She casually elucidated as though Jamie had been sent on a simple car ride through the countryside.
Fukijima still had his objections and raised a finger to voice his opinion on the matter,
"Um, but she's still bouncing around in the-!" The medical professional was cut off by Nicole as she rushed past him in order to talk to Grendela herself.
"What do you mean only you and Rob are going? Do you honestly expect me to just sit here and do nothing while my son is caught up in an urban war zone?" The baffled mother cat questioned.
Starting stove with intentions to make her son dinner once he got back, Grendela kept her back turned to the blue cat while she spoke,
"Have you been experiencing nightmares as of late? Strange monsters that have been dropping out of holes in the sky?" She asked rhetorically, for she already knew the answer to that one.
Nicole tried to speak, but she already knew it was pointless and after uttering a few soundless phrases, a defeated sigh escaped her that was heard by the grey haired woman,
"Fjel will grant sight to those the Jade Emperor chooses, he's given the others the ability to see because he knew that they had the best chance of keeping us safe and while you are physically capable, it's your spirit that needs strengthening."
She grabs several boxes of uncooked lasagna as well as a few jars of marinara sauce before setting them on the dirty counter and casted a glance over her shoulder so that her beady blue eye was focused directly on the highly capable Rainbow factory worker,
"You have quite a lot of time to spare and I'm certain there's a kind of training you would find beneficial to your cause." She said, shooting her a knowing smile.
Nicole knew what she was talking about and as much as she hated to admit it, she was definitely ill prepared for this conflict. Her humiliating loss with Hei was a painful reminder of that. Luckily she knew where to go, but she was going to need some time to get ready for the trip and she didn't want to leave without saying goodbye to Gumball, so she wasn't going anywhere for the next few weeks.
Seeing the Pepakumas starting to leave after thanking Mrs. Jotenheim for everything as well as Rob and Rachel, the latter of which promised to drop by every once and a while to discuss certain things, Nicole took this as her cue to leave and turned one last time to Mrs. Jotenheim,
"Thank you for your help." She said earnestly with a hint of a smile.
Grunting and waving a hand while she prepared supper, the withered troll called back to her in a gruff voice,
"Don't thank me until after Rob and I get your troublesome sprogglet back." She stated, not even caring to look her in the eye this time.
Again, Nicole questioned herself as to why she was putting her faith in such a rude person's hands, but unfortunately that was about as much as she could afford right now and she twisted on her heel to proceed outwards. For many years, she considered herself a follower of the Jadite faith, but not as strictly as her parents and rarely prayed to him for anything. In these trying times however, prayer may literally be the only thing she had left and so she made a mental note to try tonight before she rushed off into the frigid night air to catch up with the Pepakumas.
-Lhasa, Tibet, Oct. 25th, 2013, 7:21 AM-
Sanda Yoshida was never one to keep the windows to the temple closed, the old cloud loved the fresh air that flowed from the Tibetan plateau as it helped keep his mind clear and he wasn't afraid of being attacked, for any who dared to do so would be foolish.
Sitting cross-legged on the velvet cushion, lost in meditation, the kung-fu master felt the breeze flowing through the open window, gently pushing his beard and the cloud breathed in heavily. It wasn't long until a series of footsteps were heard, heavy, yet swift and nimble. They got louder and louder until a young wolf wearing a red bandana, a vest and loose fitting pants along with leather sandals approached the door of the temple and entered the master's meditation chamber.
"Shifu Yoshida!" He called out in greeting before placing a fist in his open palm and bowing respectfully.
Startled, the old cloud screamed and fell off his cushion, landing hard on his back,
"Gack!" He cried as he reached up and rubbed the back of his bald head whilst sitting,
"There's no need to shout, Hiro Moonson! There's no one else here and it's been a quiet day, sheesh!" He grumbled, hopping to his feet.
Looking abashed, Hiro bowed again and apologized,
"My deepest apologies, Shifu Yoshida! You summoned me and I came as fast as I could!" His amber eyes never left the floor as he continued to bow.
Dusting off his orange gi, Hiro's greatest mentor approached his student, his aging features showing no hostility and his his hollow eyes were full of kindness,
"That is quite alright, my pupil, and yes, I have indeed summoned you here. Have I ever told you about my former student, Nicole Senicourt?" He asked, lifting a curious eyebrow.
Shaking his head, the silver wolf was one of one hundred students being taught by the ancient martial artists and while he had seen many of his fellow students come and go, the name had never crossed his mind,
"You have not, Shifu." He replied honestly.
Stroking his beard with two fingers, Sanda began to pace the wooden floors of the temple building and began to retell the tale of one of his star pupils,
"Of course I haven't, that was over thirty years ago, back when I taught in a small city in California known as Elmore, and she's now grown up, settled down with a family while taking up the name Nicole Watterson. She was one of my greatest students and trained along with my granddaughter, Yuki. She was even champion of Elmore's kumite!" He chuckled in a nostalgic manner,
"Such a fiery young spirit, she was." He commented.
Rubbing his furry chin in thought, the eighteen year old wolf tried to remember if he ever heard of such a place, but seeing as the ancient leader of the Roaming Cloud school of martial arts talked of many adventures, it was near impossible for Hiro to figure out if he remembered,
"I see, but why did you call for me, Shifu?" Hiro questioned, his hands already reaching back to fiddle with his bandana.
Pivoting, the bald teacher raised a single finger and cleared his throat,
"Right, right, the reason I called for you is because I am sending you off on your first overseas assignment." He started, his calm tone laced with urgency.
Feeling his ears perk up and his bushy tail start to wag, a bright eyed Hiro was baffled, yet excited to be given such an important assignment,
"Overseas? This must be very serious! I wonder why he would send me though, I'm not even his star student, but I best not look a gift horse in the mouth." He wondered before turning on his ears to listen to what his teacher had to say next.
Placing his hands behind him, Sanda began pacing again while he delved into the mission's details,
"Now you see, while I teach young individuals to excel in the ways of unarmed combat, I also teach them to heighten their sense of mind and spirit!" He explained.
Having heard this at the start of every lesson, Hiro acknowledged this by placing his fist into his hand again and repeating the lesson he knew,
"Because the mind, body, and spirit are all connected! In order to master one's self, one must train to master all three!" He bowed again before standing up straight.
Smiling with delight, Sanda nodded and continued to pace across the room,
"Very good! Now Nicole had finished her physical and mental training, but left before she could complete the final test. However, an unfortunate event that concerns the likes of the Nephilim and those who fight them has caused her to reconsider finishing what she had started many years ago and will be arriving in a month's time." He explained.
The young wolf's excitement quickly melted into seriousness at the mention of Earth's deadliest enemy and his posture tightened a little. He'd been fighting on the behalf of the Yoshida order for many years now and has helped save countless lives from the terrible giants. The fact that another member was coming in order to train and help deal with the Nephilim threat was a relief as new fighters were always welcomed in his mind, but the thought of the Nephilim hurting more innocent people always left a bad taste in his mouth.
Still he no clue why he needed to travel so far if this supposed newcomer was coming here instead,
"And what would you require me to do, Shifu Yoshida?" He questioned, hoping he wasn't stepping out of bounds, though he knew the elderly master to be a gentle soul.
Stopping just in front of the young lad, the cloud pointed a finger and spoke clearly,
"While Nicole journeys here in search of knowledge, she leaves behind a son who is also in need of a teacher, one who has been awoken to the threat of the Nephilim and that is why I am sending you to America. I need you to teach this young fellow the ways of mastering the body, mind and soul!" He finally stated with full confidence.
Shocked beyond belief, Hiro almost lost his footing, but managed to stand firm and his brilliant eyes widened with disbelief,
"Wait, what?! He wants me to teach some greenhorn the ways of combat and help fight against the greatest monsters the world has ever faced?" His mind began to spiral as he shook his head and took a step back,
"Master Yoshida, while I am honored that you've selected me for this mission, I fear that I may not be ready for such a task and with all due respect, I'll have to decline." He replied respectfully while waving his hands about.
Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, Sanda figured the silver wolf would lack confidence and feel ill prepared to begin teaching another, but the old mentor was not about to give up on him.
Placing a comforting hand on his shoulder and looking the young adult dead in the eyes, he spoke softly,
"Hiro, for twelve years you have trained under my tutelage and fulfilled every task I've ever asked of you, no matter how impossible or ridiculous it may have seemed. You're an exceptional fighter and possess a compassion for others that makes you a suitable defender. I have raised you for a very long time, but you are no longer a child, you are an incredible young man, one that I am very proud of and it's time you learned your greatest lesson yet: responsibility." He complimented, giving his shoulder a hard pat and a gentle look from his dark eyes.
Feeling Sanda's heartfelt praise slamming into his soul like a high speed freight train, Hiro's doubtful expression wavered a bit and a smile slowly formed while his gaze was elsewhere. He always saw Sanda as a father figure, from the moment he was brought in from the streets and through all the tribulations he faced while learning by his side. He never turned down a task from the master and he knew he wanted to impress him by going off on his own to show that he was responsible.
But he still doubted that he could train someone who knew nothing of the martial arts nor has even met him before.
Sighing, the silver canine scratched his head and looked back at the orange gi wearing elder as another thought crossed his mind,
"But what if I mess up real bad and he winds up not learning or gets killed or becomes irresponsible with his new skills? What if he ends up like Titania the tigress?" This was just the tip of the iceberg as there were so many things that could go wrong and the disastrous consequences that could follow would leave him feeling utterly terrible.
Suddenly, he felt a pair of fingers pinch the bridge of his muzzle and the young wolf yelped before seeing a pair of hollow eyes looking at him with mild frustration,
"How many times must I tell you this? You're only guaranteed to fail if you've already assumed the worst and for the record, Titania was not your fault. She was my student and I taught her everything I could, but alas, she had her own ideas as to how she could better serve others, so her leaving wasn't anyone's fault. Though, I refuse to dwell on the past, I do sometimes wish things could've worked out better and we could've seen a more positive outcome." He lowered his head while stroking his misty beard, before ridding his thoughts of those negative times and returning his attention to the matter at hand,
"I have complete and utter faith in you, my pupil. Your compassion for others combined with your knowledge are all the tools you need for this mission, but if you still feel overwhelmed or uncertain as to what to do, don't forget, there are always others to turn to who can give you a helping hand." He said.
While the teenage fighter still felt as though he were being thrusted into a situation too grand for his undertaking, he'd already been through quite a lot in his life and knew that if Shifu Yoshida could trust him with this assignment, then he had nothing to fear.
Putting on his brave face, Hiro squared up his shoulders while fixing his vest and bowing once more out of respect for his teacher's wishes,
"I'll do my best, Shifu Yoshida!" He declared.
Granting him an approving nod, the bald martial artist dismissed the upright Canine and headed back to his cushion so as he could continue his meditation, but stopped when he heard Hiro ask one last thing,
"What's his name?"
Twisting his head while casting a glance over his shoulder, the bearded individual spoke only one name,
"Gumball." He said.
With a silent confirmation, Hiro wished his mentor a good afternoon and proceeded to head straight out while thinking about his future student,
"Gumball? That's a rather funny name. I hope this guy's just as funny and odd." He wondered.
His concentration was broken when he began to sense something in the capital city, some twenty miles away and after realizing that it was indeed a Nephilim, he unlatched his staff from his back before taking off on foot to challenge the invader.
-Krueger manor, Oct. 31st, 2013, 10:58 PM-
"Domus autem ossium! (House of bones!)"
With her concentration and maximum spiritual output, Carrie initialized the spell through the conclusion of the verse. From the ground beneath her, black rib-like bones burst upwards and enclosed the spirit within a cocoon that served as a magical barrier. Keeping her arms raised in front of her, the dark spell caster started her phone's timer with her telekinesis and concentrated on maintaining the barrier through sheer willpower.
"Four minutes is the longest I can hold it, but limits are meant to be broken." She thought with heavy resolve as she poured energy outwards.
For over nearly three weeks now, Carrie has trained hard to master the collection of dark magic spells within the family manor and every night within her own backyard, under the moonlight, she put in the time to improve. With Rob and Grendela leaving in the next two weeks, it was going to be up to her and Jamie to keep this city safe, so she had to be prepared for anything that could come. Should their mission succeed, Carrie also wanted to further help out Gumball, Teri, and Rob by being a better fighter and sought to be on their level.
When Hei explained how all three of them were stronger than her, the powerful ghost was stunned at first, but then came to accept it after remembering her first two engagements with the Nephilim.
With the timer hitting its two minute mark, Carrie could feel her power faltering a bit and pushed harder to maintaining the barrier's structure,
"It's funny how the Nephilim themselves are spirits, yet alone, I can't see them, but if I possess another person, the power of their soul amplifies my own and allows me to challenge them. Perhaps getting stronger will help solve this issue." This line of thinking helped further fuel her resolve and her effect on the house of bones doubled.
Then it was shattered by a single person calling out to her,
"Carrie, are you out here?" The voice, definitely female, drifted through the barrier's shell to the secluded emo's ears.
With her eyes snapping open, the ghost relinquished control over the spell and watched as her backyard slowly crumbled back into view as the barrier disintegrated. Spinning around towards the house, Carrie saw someone hovering within the arch of the back door and a gasp escaped her lips. There stood a female ghost, wearing a loose, long sleeved gown with a belt tied at the waist and a cloth veil upon her head (a style typically worn by women during the 1200's), her long white hair flowed out and over her left shoulder in a ponytail while her body glowed with an ethereal beauty.
This was Elizabeth Krueger, her mother and she seemed very pleased to see her.
Forgetting her training, Carrie shot straight towards her with arms outstretched and a smile upon her face,
"Mom!" She shouted with glee.
"There's my little angel!" Elizabeth greeted joyfully before catching the speeding ghost in her arms and hugging her tight.
Planting a kiss on the top of her daughter's head, the gentle spirit ruffled her hair a bit and Carrie laughed while trying to escape as her mother continued to play around with her,
"I can't believe it's Halloween night already! I was so busy, I completely lost track of time!" She exclaimed, completely flabbergasted by her mother's arrival.
Tilting her head up to survey the backyard, Elizabeth noticed all the craters and scars that pockmarked the area. There was also a distinct aura that filled the air and it was heavy, like smoke. With her senses sending all kinds of alarms to her head, Elizabeth's youthful features twisted into one of apprehension as she realized it was dark magic she felt and her attention shifted towards her daughter still caught in her embrace,
"Carrie, this aura I'm sensing, were you practicing powerful dark magic?" She interrogated.
Stiffening up, Carrie quickly pushed herself away and looked to see her mother's concerned black eyes burrowing into her own, before she immediately tried covering it up,
"No, mom, it's nothing like that! I mean I practice a little bit, but not with anything harmful!" Her mouth was working like a motor and her hands were waving frantically in her face.
Slowly shaking her head and placing a hand on her creased brow, the deceased medieval English woman was already beyond agitated,
"You know that practicing dark magic attracts all sorts of malevolent spirits, Carrie! Yes, some are relatively easy to deal with, but there are others that can cause serious trouble, even among the dead!" Then came another subject that she wanted to discuss with her,
"Just a few days before, I felt a powerful presence somewhere near here and I know for certain it was demonic in nature. Were you summoning demons, young lady?" She said, rather crossed and already had her hands on her hips.
Carrie's mouth opened and closed several times, but failed to produce an answer. She already knew about her mother's past with demons and how she strongly opposed dark magic of any sorts. How was she going to explain to her that she needed to practice because her friends were in danger and she needed to protect the city?
Lucky for her, she was spared from having to answer that question once her dad popped his head through the door before passing through and throwing his arms around both his wife and daughter,
"And how are my two darlings doing tonight?" He greeted them with a lighthearted question and laughed while picking them both up before swinging them back and forth a bit.
Laughing along with him, the side of Carrie's face was mashed up against Vlad's bosom (he smelled of sea water?) and her mother was completely caught off guard by her husband's aggressive affection,
"I am quite well, Vlad, my wandering sailor, but could you put me down please? I may be dead, but I can still get dizzy!" She protested, giggling uncontrollably.
Placing them both back, the bearded ghost smiled that same goofy grin of his and he took a moment to readjust his trench coat,
"Hee-hee! Second time now and that's never gonna get old!" He chuckled teasingly to himself before finishing up on fiddling with his coat and leaning in to peck his Elizabeth on the cheek,
"You're as beautiful as ever, my mirror mistress!" He said in a flirty tone, referring to the first time they met.
With a passion burning in her eyes, Elizabeth leaned forward until she was inches from his face and exchanged his flirty line with one of her own,
"I missed you, my wondering sailor man." She whispered before softly planting her lips on his.
While they kissed, Carrie flinched as images of Darwin came to mind and a feeling of loneliness settled in once more. She missed him dearly and seeing as he obviously couldn't bring his cell phone with him, there was no way for her to know if he was alright. She prayed that he found his way to Scylla and is safe wherever he may be.
With all this in mind, the sad spirit shook off her misery and watched her parents continue their make out session with disinterest,
"Gross." Was all she said as she narrowed her eyes in disgust.
While quiet as it was, it was enough to get their attention and the two lovers broke the kiss. Drifting a foot apart from one another with Elizabeth placing her hands behind her back and Vlad lifting his cap to comb his hair with his fingers, both blushed slightly. Then as if remembering something, the old sailor snapped his fingers and cleared his throat,
"Oh, right! Dear, you wanna tell Carrie the good news?" He suggested while tilting his head in her direction.
Cocking her head to the side a little, Carrie was intrigued and she floated up closer to the two,
"News? What good news?" She questioned, seeing the excited look that split her father's face with a grin and wondered what could be so important.
Waving her hands dismissively, the ethereal spirit shrugged her delicate shoulders and sighed,
"I'm not sure whether it counts as news, but it's just something I've noticed while drifting from one mirror to the next." She replied before meeting Carrie's curious gaze with her own,
"Roughly two weeks ago, I was summoned in a gas station's bathroom mirror by some careless woman and after she ran away screaming, I was about to depart for the underworld once more, but not before I sensed someone familiar." She said, placing her thumb and pointer finger on her chin as she thought back a bit,
"Now while I wasn't there for long, there wasn't any doubt as to who it was and I know for certain that it was my niece, Amber Caesar." She said, nodding with certainty.
Carrie's eyes widened while her jaw dropped and her hands flew up to her oval-shaped head,
"Wait, WHAT?! I have a cousin named Amber?" She shouted in astonishment.
Turning to one another with concerned looks, both Elizabeth and Vlad shrugged and turned back to her with an affirming nod,
"Of course you do! You already met all my family members in Transylvania and your cousins there, but your mother also had a sibling herself too before she died. A sister named Rose, who married a strapping young fellow named Libius Caesar." Vlad explained.
"They both died pretty young when a plague struck their town and after spending a few centuries in the underworld, they had a daughter they named Amber. I'm sorry if I never brought this up to you beforehand, I just presumed that they all stayed in the underworld and I had no way of knowing for sure seeing as it's hard to locate other souls in the afterlife, but it would appear that Amber had been brought into the world of the living." Stated Elizabeth as she fidgeted with her dress's sleeve cuffs.
Still blown away by the revelation regarding family members she never new about, Carrie's hands dragged down the sides of her face and let one drop while another found her forehead,
"That's so... incredible! Where is she now? What's she like? Are we the same age? What kind of music does she like? Wait, do they play music in the underworld?" She spouted off one question after another, but stopped when her parents began raising their hands as a signal for her to slow down.
"When I last noticed her, she was at a gas station in a town known as Colinas Verdes, which is a few weeks from here if you're traveling by foot and the strange thing was, I sensed that she was attached to someone else, perhaps a friend of hers? She's definitely close though and all I know about her is that she's older than you, about 14 in ghost years while you're just 12." Carrie's mother said with a shrug of her shoulders.
Mouthing the word, "wow!", Carrie's excitement never left her and she could already feel herself getting jittery just by thinking of all the possible things Amber could be,
"So why can't you guys home in on her location and bring her here?" She wondered, looking at both of them expectantly.
Drifting closer until he was able to place a hand on her shoulder, her father's face was taut with an uneasy look and Carrie was already sure she wasn't going to like what he was about to say next,
"Your mother and I already discussed this shortly after she arrived, she can't go because she's bound to the underworld and unfortunately, I need to do some investigating. Something terrible has happened in Seattle, seventeen people were killed this morning and while the causes of death are unknown, what's strange is that their souls haven't entered the world of the dead. It's like they've been obliterated by some powerful force and it's been happening everywhere lately too! Roughly four hundred people met the same fate in San Francisco, can you believe that?" He exclaimed in complete befuddlement.
If the air around the emo school girl could get any colder, it probably did and somehow, the ghost was able to feel it. She was brought back to the damaged neighborhood within the suburbs of San Francisco and watched as several injured people simply blipped out of existence when the Nephilim came close. If those monsters were wiping out the souls of all those innocent people, then what did that mean for the underworld and would such a disturbance cause severe side effects within the cycle of life and death?
While she had to ponder that for herself, her father was less inclined to dwell on such matters and took his daughter by the hand as well as his wife's while guiding them back inside the eerie manor,
"Since tonight is gonna be our last night together, why don't we sit around the fire and swap a few tales? I know a few adventures from my youth that should cheer you two up and if that's not enough for you, then how about some music as well as a dance?" He suggested, passing a wink to Elizabeth, who blushed again while rolling her eyes.
"You're not gonna try that old dance again are you? You know I hate it when you do that." She scoffed, though there was a hint of teasing in her eyes.
Wiggling his eyebrows, the old sailor claimed to make no promises and the two laughed some more while Carrie just groaned,
"You know what? You two can enjoy your dance together and I think I'll go spook some young trick-or-treaters for a bit or maybe listen to music for a while." She proclaimed.
This in turn only earned her more laughter from her parents and Carrie was happy to see them like this, proving that Halloween was indeed a special occasion.
-Masami's mansion, Nov. 1st, 2013, 9:35 PM-
Now in Rachel's opinion, there were parties and then there were rich people's parties. In celebration of Masami's thirteenth birthday, the cloud had her entire mansion's ballroom transformed for the evening and it was spectacular! The rainbow lass had never been to such a loud and festive birthday party before with her friends and she just couldn't get enough of it!
To start, the ballroom was massive! Everywhere she looked, she saw people from her high school, Elmore Junior High and other school districts spread out across the dance floor and there was still enough room to fit several tables with plates topped with simple party snacks to exquisite meals that seemed foreign and there were drinks of all kinds there too. The decor was eye catching and wonderful, hanging from the crystal chandeliers were colorful streamers that arched over their heads like rainbows while the massive, wall spanning windows were lined with white cotton to look like clouds and set up all around the room were speakers blasting music along with colorful lights that littered the dance hall with dizzying rapid light spots.
Dancing nearby a stage with a karaoke machine and listening to Clayton trying to sing along with a rap song that went hilariously wrong, Rachel was having the time of her life along with her two best friends, Clare and Sissy. Both were dressed in their casual clothes and while the blonde snake continued to shift along the beat with her mouth hanging open as she tossed her head about, Clare was content with just moving a single arm along while sipping at her soda, but she was having a good time nonetheless. Dancing along Sissy's wild movements and bobbing her head so that her voluminous hair was flying all over the place, Rachel was caught in a laughing fit along with her extroverted friend as they saw each other's dorky moves.
"Girl, you need a dance instructor 'cause I can't tell if you're trying to shake your brains out or if you're just having a seizure!" The sassy blonde teased.
Rachel continued to dance like no one was watching and turned to Sissy with a sly look on her mug,
"What brains?" She shouted in response.
Both howled with laughter as their dancing came to an end and Agathe twisted her triangular head to see Clare barely dancing,
"Yo, Clare! You're dancing like a zombie and your grey skin complexion along with your face is really selling it too!" She stated with no harm intended.
Watching her former principal, Nigel Brown bash his head against Bobert as the former howled with enthusiasm, Clare shifted her attention to Sissy and shrugged a little,
"Oh, that's fine. This place is a bit much for me anyway." She muttered quietly, not showing much care.
Pulling her own hair back with her hands, Sissy groaned with frustration and her green eyes burned with determination,
"Dang it, girl! I dragged you out here so you could have fun and you're gonna have fun tonight!" She declared, before turning to the karaoke stage, getting an idea and slithering towards the mopey high schooler,
"Come on, Clarey-fairy! Time to get crazy!" She shouted, grabbing her by the hand and dragging the surprised green haired teen away.
"What the? What are you-!" She stopped mid-sentence once she saw where they were headed and her protests became louder,
"No! No! We're not doing that! No! Sissy, let me go, LET ME GO!" She shrieked, tugging as hard as she could against her friend's vice-like grip, but could not break free.
Waving back to Rachel with an excited glint in her eyes, Sissy asked her to wish them luck and took off with Clare in tow. Shaking her head while smirking, the blue skinned teenager absolutely loved those two and never found a dull moment whenever they were around. There was still a minute left until Clayton finished his song, though at this point was just a loosely connected string of gibberish, and Rachel decided now would be a good time to go get a drink.
Sinking into the crowd of party goers, Rachel made her way back to the refreshments table and observed several of the students as she passed by. The one that stood out the most was Hector, the friendly giant, who had positioned himself in the back of room with his legs parted to create an archway for the stairs that lead further into the Yoshida mansion and in the palm of his hand was Molly, who was clutching his other hands thumb and pointer finger in order to dance with him. It was clearly evident that both were happy with one another, as they weren't talking, but the expressions they wore were ones of joy and content. Such a cute sight!
In the center of the ballroom was the guest of honor herself, who was surrounded by a mob of students, mostly from her class as they wished her a happy birthday, handed her last minute presents and attempted to start a conversation while several dozen were already happening at once. While she had a lot to deal with, the little cloud girl seemed perfectly happy and was having a blast with all the attention she was getting. Rachel hadn't brought her anything, but she did say happy birthday to her when she greeted them at the front entrance and figured she would just get lost in the crowd if she attempted a conversation.
After drifting through the sea of wildness that was the party, Rachel couldn't help but feel a sense of deja vu the longer she stayed here,
"Why does this all feel so familiar? I feel like there was a party once and I was in it along with some familiar faces here." She notes as her mind constantly drew comparisons, but ultimately failed to produce an original source to compare from.
Finally reaching her destination, the rainbow lass eyed a fancy tray carrying large quantities of her favorite soft drink, Pepper PhD, in elaborate wine glasses and she made her way over to pluck one up for herself. She was pretty close to the table when a towering figure wearing a white spacesuit with a helmet covered in tinfoil walked backwards and accidentally bumped into her. While it wasn't enough to knock either of them over, the spacesuit wearing figure spun around and uttered a quick apology to the magenta/lemon haired teen,
"I'm so sorry, ma'am! It's kind of hard to see with this- Rachel?" He spoke with recognition.
Knowing that voice and that suit from anywhere, Rachel's eyes widened with shock,
"Rob?" She gasped.
Pressing a button on the side of his helmet, the tinted visor slid upwards, revealing a single yellow eye and some glowing static panels from within the dark space. He seemed surprised to have bumped into her here, though he did say he was going to the party earlier and was expecting to find her with her friends on the dance floor somewhere. Rachel, on the other hand, was happy to see him and leapt into his arms with an excited squeal,
"I'm so glad you could make it!" She exclaimed, crushing him with a bear hug before stepping back and looking him up and down,
"What's with that getup?" She inquired.
Feeling his static darkened a bit, the walking assortment of polygons started explaining what took him so long to get here,
"Well, I took a trip to the archive of magic today, but for some strange reason I couldn't interact with the barrier and contact Fjel. I tried using magic, but it was no use, it's like he's keeping me out or something." He grumbled in disappointment before noticing something different about Rachel,
"Is that a new kind of eyeliner?" He commented, leaning in to get a closer look.
Pushing her hair aside as to better show off her eyes, Rob's eye widened with satisfaction and Rachel admittedly found it cute,
"Yeah, it's something that I picked up at the store yesterday, but it's kind of cheap." She said, grimacing at the fact that she was still out of a job.
Pulling back a bit, Rob understood completely and gave her a thumbs up,
"Well, I think it looks great on you!" He complimented, flashing a full set of pearly whites at her.
Shrugging once and tying her hair back in her headband, Rachel was more or less fine with her appearance,
"Yeah, but I really need to find another line of work soon. I feel bad that you're the one who has to be the breadwinner and want to pitch in with the house funds. Maybe I can start up a photography website and have people hire me as a professional photographer?" She suggested.
While Rob was happy for her consideration, he wasn't unhappy with his job and it wasn't an issue if that meant she could focus more on school and hanging out with friends,
"I mean as long as you think you can do it, but you don't have to feel obligated to pitch in with the finances any time soon. You still have school and your friends to hang out with, besides I love my job at Elmore Dynamics!" He explained, making sure that he was being supportive.
Pursing her lips, Rachel thought about it for a bit, but was then reminded of her friends and realized that they were about to start singing,
"I'll have to think it over. Wanna come dance or you just gonna be a wallflower the entire evening?" She asked with an inviting smile.
Grabbing a cup of soda and raising it up to his lips, the cyclops shrugged,
"What can I say? It's a growing experience." He chuckled at his little joke while taking a sip.
Shaking her head and grabbing him by the arm, Rachel gave the lanky boy a tug,
"Come on! You gotta dance a little and besides, you got nothing to be embarrassed about." She said, tugging him once more, harder this time.
Not budging from his spot, Rob refused and continued to sip at his cup,
"What are you talking about? I'm not dancing to this boy band crap!" He argued, referring to the song playing through the speakers.
After listening for a moment, Rachel recognized the song and crossed her arms in offense to his his remark,
"It's OneRepublic, dude, and they're not a boy band! Also, counting stars is not crap, you just have a bad taste in music! Now come on, quit drowning in isolation!" She exclaimed, grabbing him by the arm again.
Leading him into the throng of party goers, Rachel spotted the karaoke stage with both Agathe and a very petrified Clare ready to sing. While walking behind her, Rob at first figured he wasn't going to do much, but after a moment or two, he discovered his head to be moving to the beat of the song. At first, the introvert could only wonder why this was, but after getting one good look at the girl pulling him, it all became very clear to him and a dorky grin broke out across his polygonal features,
"Darn it! It's her, I know it's her! Whenever I'm working or fighting I feel tense, but whenever she's around, that bubbly personality of hers always somehow makes me lose touch with my serious side!" He realized as his static darkened again.
As big of a pain she could be, whenever something brought her spirits up or got her excited, that same boundless energy would somehow infect Rob with those good feelings and before he knew it, the inventor would find himself rolling along with her antics.
Like now, as he stopped to pull her closer and when Rachel's confused gaze met his mischievous one, he grinned as his hand found its way down to hers,
"You know, Rachel..." he paused as he waited for the right moment and then synced up to the song's lyrics,
"...I could lie, could lie, everything that drowns me, makes me wanna fly!" He sang.
Spinning her around with one hand, Rob took a step back as Rachel came to a stop, this time with a bubbly grin on her blue face and she grabbed both of his hands as the song's main chorus began.
Lately I've been, I've been losing sleep,
Dreaming about the things that we could be,
Baby, I've been, I've been praying hard,
Said no more counting dollars,
We'll be, we'll be counting stars
Still holding hands, they spun in a slow circle before breaking off and dancing on their own. Both were not well versed in dancing and awkwardly shuffled about while moving their arms in patterns that somewhat simulated movement. They looked ridiculous, but that was alright because the moment they saw each other, both could not help but laugh along before Rachel slid in real close and pressed her left side against Rob's right before bouncing with her legs.
(Main chorus, but louder this time)
Lately I've been, I've been losing sleep,
Dreaming about the things that we could be
They sang along with the next line while still pressed up against one another,
"Baby I've been, I've been praying hard,
Said no more counting dollars,
We'll be, we'll be counting stars!" They sang in unison, until the band cut to the instrumental.
From the stage, Sissy spotted the rainbow lass dancing with a stranger in an astronaut suit and quickly recognized that it was Rob. Delighted beyond belief, the snake girl abandoned her sing-a-long with Clare, who was also happy to scamper off the stage, and slithered all the way up to where the two were dancing. Once she made her way up to the small circle that had formed around the two, she called out to them and tossed them both a microphone before pulling out her cellphone to begin recording.
At first both were slightly confused, until the next part began and they quickly started singing,
"Oh, take that money and watch it burn,
Sink into the river the lessons I learned."
They repeated those lines four more times, while Rachel began dancing again, but not too erratically and while Rob was content to just stand there and try to follow along with the verse (he was a little embarrassed to suddenly have so many people watching him while broadcasting his voice to the people gathered in the karaoke area.), a little nudge from Rachel got him moving again.
Then the instruments stopped and the singer's voice slowly uttered one line for them to follow,
"Everything that kills me... makes me feel alive!" They we're both back to back while striking separate poses and the small audience went nuts.
Cheering along with the crowd, Agathe hopped up and down with her tail while howling at the top of her lungs,
"You go, rainbow girl!" The serpentine blonde cheered before turning her attention to Rob,
"Rock it, moon boy!" She screamed in encouragement.
Suddenly, like a gun shot to the head, Rob's vision exploded with light and a searing pain ruptured his cranial cavity, causing him to scream while crumpling to the linoleum floor. Seeing Rob on his knees and in pain, the audience gasped, causing Rachel to stop dancing to turn and see what's wrong. Seeing Rob hunched over, furiously clawing at his head with his eye screwed shut and teeth gnashing, Rachel dropped the microphone before immediately rushing to his side.
Kneeling down beside him, Rachel placed her hands on his shoulders and tried to get his attention,
"Rob! ROB! What's the mat-!" Her desperate cries of concern were cut off when she saw him glitch out and transform into something else.
Still in his spacesuit, Rachel could only see his head, but instead of blocky, grey surfaces, his his skin was smooth and blue, like hers, but darker and his hair was also normal, being wavy and brown with parted bangs. For some reason she couldn't explain, this person she was looking at seemed familiar and the longer she looked, the more it seemed like she'd seen him around before. She continued to try to reach him, but Rob's head was still in pain and he remained blind and deaf to the outside world.
Meanwhile, memories began to slice into his consciousness like a serrated knife and Rob was transported back to a time when he was little.
-Flashback, six years ago-
"Come on, moon boy! Let's go take our base back from the aliens!" A young, nine-year-old Rachel shouted from Rob's front yard.
Peeking out his bedroom window, six-year-old Rob saw her and three others waiting for him on his front lawn. He recognized the rainbow lass that lived next door, with her short, curly hair that shows different colors depending on her mood, that bright smile displaying a chipped front tooth, and those big, black eyes that always seemed full of wonder and excitement. Next to her was his friend Gumball and his little brother Darwin, whom he originally thought to be a pet at some point. Then there was a white humanoid with blue eyes and tuft of hair on his head, Gumball's other friend and neighbor, Cato Anderson, who was also a friend of Rob and Rachel too.
They were all wearing cardboard armor, bike helmets, knee pads and elbow pads while carrying water guns in their hands. While this may have looked silly to anyone passing by, all four of them liked to play astronauts every chance they got and didn't really mind what others thought. Such was the simple joy of being a child.
"Come on, man! There's a lot of them and we need your help!" Cato shouted, waving his gun in the air.
Jumping up and down, Gumball and Darwin began chanting,
"Moon boy! Moon boy! Moon boy!" The brothers sang and the other two joined in.
With his single pink eye widening with joy and excitement, Rob jumped up and down on his bed as he called back down to them,
"I'll be down in a minute, just let me go get my spacesuit and my gun!" He shouted before disappearing back into his room.
There was a collective cheer from outside his window and this prompted the blue cyclops to hurry as he searched for his "equipment" that was somewhere in his messy room. After a few seconds of frenzied searching, the brown haired cyclops practically turned his whole room upside down and only managed to find his orange spaceman costume along with his water rifle. Scratching his head with pink fingers as he surveyed the chaotic landscape that was his bedroom floor, the six-year-old failed to locate his helmet and growled in frustration,
"Where is it?" He wondered out loud before hearing a noise from downstairs.
Dressing up and grabbing his water gun, the hyperactive child raced out of his room, down the hall, straight down the stairs and into the living room where his dad was sitting on the couch with a newspaper in one hand. Leaning over to pick up the remote that had fallen and caused the noise, Rob's dad spotted the little one standing at the edge of the living room. Unlike himself, his dad was violet with white hair buzzed short and his calloused hands were yellow.
Just like the first time Rob saw him in Fjel's dream, he was wearing a simple yellow work shirt, black trousers, leather shoes and a tie fixed below his collar.
Seeing his son in his space getup and carrying a rifle, the older cyclops smirked a bit while his white monobrow lifted ever so slightly,
"Out to go slay the Xenobloods again, eh, moon boy?" He asked with an amused chuckle.
Bobbing his big head up and down in a blurry motion, Rob rushed you to him and waved his arms about in distress,
"Yes, but I can't find my helmet anywhere and it's not in my room! I checked all over the place!" He shot off in a string of babble that only his father had gotten used to.
Nodding once in acknowledgement, Rob's dad sat up straight and pointed towards the dining room,
"It's on the table where you left it along with your action figures." He replied.
Without even hesitating, Rob had already left the living room and made his way into the next room over. Recognizing this place too, the cyclops watched as his memory played on and his younger self spotted the plastic, bowl-shaped helmet surrounded by all his alien and soldier figurines, which seemed minuscule in comparison.
Snatching the helmet up and discarding all the toys within, Rob places it upon his head before heading into the kitchen to fill up his water gun.
From the outside, his friends could be heard calling for him and several knocks were heard on the door,
"Better get out there quick, Robby!" His dad shouted, switching on the television set before setting it to the news channel.
Screwing the cap back on as fast as his little fingers would allow, the tiny child ran as fast as he could to the front entrance, earning a brief scolding from the purple cyclops and flung open the door to see all his friends eagerly waiting for him.
"Ready?" Rachel asked, brandishing her water pistol before him.
Raising his squirt gun in response, Rob let out a cheer,
"Yeah!" He shouted.
From behind the nine-year-old girl, Gumball, Darwin, and Cato raised their weapons and joined in on the cheer,
"YEAH!" They shouted in unison.
"You kids have fun and don't forget to clean your room when you get back home, Rob!" Rob's dad shouted from inside the house.
Rolling his eye, Rob returned his father's command with a simple response,
"Yes, dad!" He promised.
"I mean it this time." Was the last thing he said before Rob walked out and shut the door behind him.
Turning to his motley crew while they took off towards the sidewalk, the blue cyclops pumped his legs in order to keep up and quickly joined up alongside Gumball and Darwin. Rachel was in the lead because she was the oldest, followed by Cato was eight while Rob and Gumball were both the same age and that left Darwin being the youngest at the age of four. Marching along like soldiers, the cluster of kids made their way to the park and with the sun shining down on them, a good water fight seemed in order for the small group.
Calling Rachel's name, the blue girl dressed in cardboard armor turned her head so she could see behind her and saw Rob waving a hand to get her attention,
"So who's taken over our base?" Rob asked, squeezing his hand beneath his helmet so he could scratch an itch that was irritating his cheek.
Holding up her three fingered hand, Rachel began listing off names while her hair changed from lime green to reddish orange,
"The big baby, bomb boy, the green alien, and germzilla!" She said, holding up another hand to add an extra finger.
In order, that was code for Tobias (her little brother.), Julius Oppenheimer jr., Alan Keane and Teri Pepakuma.
"Oh and don't forget about the slime too!" Cato reminded her, referring of course to Clayton.
"So five to five, huh? Cool! I call dibs on squirting Teri!" A young Gumball declared, pumping his fist upwards.
Elbowing him in the side, Darwin shook his head and gave him a scolding look,
"You can't, remember? Last time you sprayed her with water, it was on the playground, she screamed and told her mom, then she called the school and then Mrs. mom got really angry after she found out!" He berated, reminding him of last time.
Feeling his enthusiasm diminishing fast, Gumball lowered his paw and his head along with his ears drooped,
"Aw. Stupid Teri and her mom!" He muttered beneath his breath.
Had this not played before his very eye, Rob would've completely forgotten that Gumball and Teri rarely got along back then, which was a far cry from how they acted recently.
Gently punching his shoulder, Cato flashed him a devilish grin and tried to cheer him up,
"Forget about her! Let's go after Alan instead!" The eight-year-old offered with a wicked laugh
This worked and Gumball, along with Darwin, also laughed evilly while rubbing their hands together. Further plans were made to ambush the kids at the park as they continued to walk and Rachel immediately paired up up with Rob,
"You're gonna help me soak my little brother, right Rob?" The eldest child in the Wilson household inquired and Rob nodded in agreement.
"You bet! What are we going to do about Julius though? He's really strong and mean!" He questioned, having presumably heard of him or encountered the bomb head, Rob didn't know because he couldn't remember that far.
Jumping in at the chance to attack his greatest rival, Cato stomped his foot and pointed a finger at the sky in an overly dramatic fashion that got everyone's attention,
"We'll attack him first! If we fight together, then we can beat him and drive the rest of the aliens out of our base!" The white humanoid declared with a fire in burning in his eyes.
Without hesitating, the children cheered again and now completely hyped up on Cato's declaration, they charged at full speed towards the park, laughing and shouting the whole way there
-Present-
Returning from his unwarranted jog down memory lane, Rob's body glitched again and he was back to his deformed state. With the pain subsiding, Rob opened his eye and saw that he was at the party again, surrounded by a crowd of terrified onlookers. Trying to make sense of what happened, he felt a pair of arms shaking him vigorously and his head twisted to see a mess of colorful hair along with a pair of concerned, yet relieved eyes staring back at him.
Seeing as he was back to "normal" and responsive, Rachel breathed a sigh of relief before dropping a sudden interrogation onto the confused lad,
"Rob, what was that? You were spazzing out for a moment and then your face switched into this... different version of you. What happened." Her voice laced with concern while more questions varying in form swirled about her mindscape.
Staggering to his feet and pressing a four digit hand to his forehead, the void's former prisoner could not believe what he had just witnessed,
"It was a lost memory! Fjel told me to "find my missing pieces" and now it all makes sense!" So many positive emotions were broiling over within him now, despite the jarring experience he just went through.
Not only was he able to recall a piece of his childhood, but now knowing he had friends back then was a strangely wholesome experience that he failed to describe accurately. He had more questions though, like how was he friends with Gumball and Darwin? What happened to them over the years? If he was Rachel's neighbor then shouldn't his old house be there too? Also, who was that ghostly white person with them? His name was Cato Anderson, that much he remembered, but not much else popped up about him and he hadn't seen him anywhere in Elmore either, so what happened to him?
There was so much he needed to know right now, but he was happy to just have this little piece to hold onto and kept replaying the memory over and over again like a movie.
Seeing as he wasn't responding right away and many people were starting to get suspicious, Rachel began guiding Rob through the crowd and towards the door at a hastened pace,
"We're going home, right now!" She commanded, looking about nervously as she felt many eyes on them.
Getting a good look at the place now, it finally occurred to the tall pre-teen how much of a disturbance his little "episode" had caused and suddenly felt very small. The music had stopped playing so he could hear everyone whispering and often asking if he was alright. Even Hector and Molly were glancing his way and while that was slightly unsettling, it failed to compare when he saw Masami herself glaring at them in agitation while they slunk off towards the massive wooden doors.
They were almost there when a small, colorful cloud approached them, wearing a headband similar to Rachel's, except his had green stripes unlike her yellow ones and Rachel noticed that he looked eerily familiar,
"Hey, I can call an ambulance, if your friend needs it?" He politely offered.
Then, for some strange reason completely beyond her, the rainbow lass's face contorted into rage and her hands balled up into fists as she snapped at the little fellow,
"Would you beat it, you dumb baby!" She shrieked, causing the boy to flinch in response.
Seeing the frightened look in the trembling boy's eyes as he raised his hands to protect his face followed by the alarmed look Rob wore and everyone else's surprise, Rachel came to terms with what she just did,
"Wait, why did I do that? I mean I know I'm stressed out right now, but why did I just call him a dumb baby? Why is all this becoming so familiar?" Her head began to spin as she realized something was horribly wrong and a dark presence began to form within the back of her mind, taking on the form of a memory.
Getting over his initial shock, Tobias then realized something and he lowered his arms while peering closer at the mysterious girl along with her cyclopean companion,
"Hey wait a sec! You're the ones who showed up at my house that one day." He suddenly realized.
And that was the last thing she remembered when her minded drifted and darkness clouded her vision. Seconds later, she found herself locked away in her bedroom, not the one at the duplex, but one the one at home. Her old home. Curled up on the bed clutching a thick, brown comforter tightly within her hands, she sobbed uncontrollably, wetting her pillow sheets with her tears while two people outside screamed and yelled at one another. She couldn't make out what they were saying, but she knew they were talking about her and when their voices raised even higher, Rachel cowered beneath her sheets while pulling her pillow over her head to block out the noise.
Even though she couldn't remember what happened before Rob found her in the void, she knew exactly who those people outside were and fear caused her to tremble as she told herself that she wanted to get out of here.
"Stop. Stop! Stop this! I don't want to be here anymore, I don't want to ex-!"
Then she awoke and when she looked about her surroundings, she saw that she was no longer in her bedroom and the people from the party were gone too. She was lying on the couch, in the duplex and kneeling right next to her on the carpet was Rob. He wasn't in his spacesuit anymore, donning his yellow tee and red running shorts, he looked so happy to see her awake.
"Rachel!" He cried, lunging forward and wrapping his arms tightly around her.
Surprised and confused, Rachel hugged him back, but was glad to see him here nonetheless,
"Wha- what happened? When did we wind up here?" She stammered, feeling a little disoriented.
Popping back up while keeping his hand next to hers, Rob wasted no time explaining how they arrived to their duplex and what happened at the party,
"I teleported us back here after you fainted! You began muttering something and then your skin started to turn to static! I thought you were in trouble, but I didn't know what to do, so I set you down here and waited for several minutes and then..." he trailed off for a moment to catch his breath and then resumed with a calm demeanor,
"...and then you woke up." He finished.
If she wasn't scared before, she definitely was now and after hearing what happened to her, the normally sassy, bubbly teenager was sinking again into another round of depression. There was something about the void that lingered in her mind and the more she thought about it, the more she realized she didn't want to know. Maybe forgetting about her past was best for her and for everyone else?
Bringing her knees up to her chest, she hid her face behind them and started to cry, just like she did in her memory,
"I don't want to go back..." she whispered with a shaky breath.
Barely catching that, Rob was taken aback and he froze with his mouth agape,
"What...what do you mean? Are you talking about the party?" He knew there was some kind of connection between her and that kid that showed up, even he seemed to recognize her and he tried to figure out what could've set her off.
Slowly giving her head a shake, Rachel pulled her legs in tighter and her sobbing continued,
"No. My old life. I-I never want to go back to that... that horrible place!" She tried her best to speak clearly, but it was very hard with all the crying and having to remember such a terrible moment,
"It's the same reason why I quit my job. I saw that woman walk in and she was looking for me. I wanted to talk to her, but I was so scared for some reason and I felt this horrible, dreadful feeling that told me to run, so I did." Her voice broke into more sobs as her arms traveled upwards to hug her legs.
Rob remembered that day when she quit working at the gas station and how she told him that she saw the woman that they originally thought was her mother come wandering in while asking someone if they could help her find someone she was supposedly missing. She was completely broken up about it and Rob couldn't bear to send her back out to find another job, but with rent being due soon, he had no choice. He called Iris the next day and took up the job he offered him.
Realizing it was best not to ask her what she saw, the cyclops sat down right beside her and pulled her close until her head brushed up against his shoulder. He could feel her shuddering with every breath she took and kept her face hidden, but didn't seem uncomfortable. Rubbing her back with his hand, Rob remained silent for a bit and waited for her to eventually settle down.
Once a considerable amount of time had passed, Rob leaned in close and whispered softly to her,
"A long time ago, you and I were neighbors and friends too." He simply said.
Hearing this, Rachel at first thought Rob had gone crazy, but when she lifted her head and turned to see that he was being completely honest, she was visibly befuddled,
"What do you mean?" She asked back.
Keeping his arm around her, his yellow eye lit up with joy as he recalled the happy memory still fresh on his mind,
"I remembered it back at the party, you and me, we knew each other and were friends who played a game called astronauts, but that's not all. There were others too, Gumball, Darwin and another kid named Cato, we were all best friends who knew each other when we were little. We were so happy together." He spoke with such a happy tone and Rachel couldn't help but want to believe this was somehow true.
Somehow the idea that she was friends with this brainiac and the cat boy years ago seemed extraordinarily unlikely, but then again, here she was, with Rob being a person she couldn't imagine life without and when she met Teri the other day, she had already considered hanging out with her and the cat she seemed so fond of. Had they not been taken from them, they probably would've gone to Masami's birthday party together and had a good time. She knew Rob would've had a good time too because deep down inside, she knew he cared for them and if he ever broke out of that shell of his, maybe they'll become closer.
She continued to ponder on this and Rob laid his head back on the couch's squishy head rest while staring at the ceiling,
"I wish I remembered more, but that memory alone is enough for me to know that there's something worth digging into and I'm going to find it, I'm going to piece back together all the missing pieces." His mind was on fire now and the young inventor's technical mind was already working overtime to analyze anything he could from what he gained tonight.
Nestling up beside him, Rachel's focus was on the wall ahead of her, but her mind was elsewhere and was riddled with dark thoughts,
"But what if what you're looking for is too painful to bear? What if it's best that some things are left forgotten?" She asked, full of doubt.
Squeezing her shoulder and looking back down at her with a comforting look, he still remained optimistic with his answer,
"I've thought about that before and I too am very afraid, but I can't help but think that somehow, at the end of all of this, we'll come out better than we are now." He remarked with hope.
Choosing to remain silent, Rachel thought about his answer and wondered to herself if this quest Rob had started for the both of them was really worth it. That, she didn't have an answer to and the rainbow lass decided not to tire herself out with meaningless conjecture. She did fall asleep however and Rob felt her head on his shoulder grow heavy while her breathing had become a loud, rhythmic engine that ran while she slept.
This he didn't mind, he was glad he could be here for his friend and would stay here until morning came, until he had to go to work where Iris was undoubtedly waiting for a report on tonight's events.
(A/N) Four months into the making and it's finally finished! Damn, I'm so happy right now!
So yeah, this was all set up for things that are to come in the future and there's still lots to figure out later on that this story hasn't quite dived into yet. I hope that you guys loved the new characters included in this story, I asked all the fanfic writers listed above if I could include them into the story and I am very grateful to all of you for accepting my offers. I'm really happy to be expanding my story's cast to include all these wonderful characters.
Not much to discuss down here really, but I did decide to have Rachel's hair change color as a strange trait all rainbow lads and lasses have when they are younger before it starts to settle into certain shades. We did see Tobias change colors on multiple occasions throughout the show and I just kind of wrote this off as an ability they retain, but can do upon command.
Also, even though I just said it in the chapter, I do not own the song "Counting stars", that honor goes to OneRepublic and I really wanna make sure we stay on good terms.
Other than that, we'll be catching up with Teri and Gumball in chapter 15, simply titled, "Jeruzalem", which will be out in short order.
Have a good rest of your day everyone and thank you all for your patience and support. Please type in your reviews down below and stay safe out there! See ya!