Ch. 5 Gumball's Search

Gumball knew he was gonna get it from his parents. Mostly his mom. He opened the vent and slid down a long box that reached the vent to the ground.

"Gumball!" Darwin called. Gumball brushed himself off.

"I know... Mom is mad at me again..." Gumball gloomly said.

"No! Well, yes, but that's not the point!" Darwin said desperatly. Gumball stared at his best friend.

"What's wrong?" Gumball asked worriedly.

"It's our parents! They went out with a group to look for some supplies, and they should have been back hours ago! I'm worried something happened to them!" Darwin cried. Gumball put an arm around his friend and pet his head.

"I'm sure they are fine, Darwin. You're talking about mom and dad." Gumball smiled.

"Boys, you might as well come look at this." the doughnut officer said. Now that Gumball had time to observe his surroundings, he had realised that half of the adults weren't here. The officer lead them to the monitor room. Penny and Carrie were already at the TVs.

"Penny? Carrie? Why are you girls here?" Gumball asked. Carrie ignored the question. Penny, however, had tears in her eyes. Gumball immediatly went to her side. "What's wrong?" Gumball asked soothingly.

"My parents went with the group a-and... something terriable happened!" Penny cried. Gumball looked up and saw what she meant. Gumball stared at the monitor that was a camera was placed at the convience store. He saw the group on the floor tied together and, to his surprise, Larry Needlmeyer. He stood in front of them holding a knife.

"Larry? What does he think he is doing!" Gumball cried out. Carrie put a hand over his mouth.

"That's really unnecessary, Gumball." she said. Gumball moved it away.

"But our parents-!" again Carrie covered his mouth and she transformed to her more scarier form. That did the trick. Gumball was scared speechless. Carrie, back to her normal self, hovered to the officer.

"Officer, I would like to make a search and rescue group." Carrie said. The officer studied her.

"I can't let kids go out there on their own." he said.

"Then why didn't you stop Gumball?" Carrie said trying to use her silver tounge skill. The officer had to think about it.

"He slipped from my sight." he said. Carrie shook her head.

"You were right there in front of the vent. I watched as Gumball "sliped" by your lazy ass." Carrie explained. "All you had to do was a simple watch and could have prevented him from going, but no. You fell asleep. You're a sorry excuse for a police officer." Carrie made sure she put the cold insult in to let the effect sink in.

It worked. The officer began to tear up in the eyes. He broke down crying.

"It's not my fault! I try my best but I always screw up!" he cried. Carrie laughed. Gumball felt bad for the officer, even though he completely agrees with Carrie, it wasn't nice for her to insult him the process. Gumball pulled Carrie out of ear shot.

"Carrie. that was cruel." Gumball said. Carrie just kept laughing.

"I'm right though, arn't I?" she replied trying to contain her laughter. Gumball shook his head.

"You're just gonna have to apologize then." he said. Carrie now looked at Gumball with a "are you stupid?" type of look.

"Gumball, you know I enjoy other people's pain and misfortune. I don't have to apologize." Carrie said hovering away. She stopped. "You should thank me though... without the harsh truth, he wouldn't have let you go." She continued over to the officer. The officer kept bawling. Darwin was trying his best to cheer him up. Gumball hates to admit it, but Carrie was right. Her cruel ways actually helped his progress advance a little. He sighed and walked over to the group.

"Ok, now that we have that settled, would you let us go?" Gumball said to the officer. The doughnut officer was on the floor sucking his thumb. The officer nodded. "Alright Darwin, let's go help our parents." Gumball said making his way to the vent. Carrie flew in front of him.

"No way." she said. Gumball looked at her.

"I don't get you..." Gumball said narrowing his eyes.

"You can go... IF... we go." Carrie said. Penny stood next to her. Gumball sighed.

"Fine..." Gumball said giving up on the argument. Carrie high fived Penny.

Larry Needlemeyer sat at his cashier desk tapping his fingers on it. Nicole and Richard struggled to break free.

"Larry, you don't have to do this." Nicole said. Larry slamed his fist on the counter.

"Mrs. Watterson, all i want is to get rid of your annoying kids. They'll realize that you havn't returned, they'll start looking for you, and when they get here, I will slit them." Larry said. Nicole growled.

"Don't you dare hurt my kids!" she shouted. Larry put the knife under her neck.

"Temper temper, Mrs. Watterson." Larry said. Nicole stared him straight in the eyes, a fierce look in her's.

"Go ahead and slit me... I dare you!" she growled. Larry thought about it, but thought better of it.

"Larry, please release the others! They had nothing to do with this!" Richard said. Nicole was surprised by Richard's act of bravery. Larry laughed.

"Mr. Watterson, you can't even sing the ABC's." Larry said wiping a tear away.

"Yeah I can! A-B-C-D-L-Q-R-I-C-E Cream... Ice... Cream..." Richard began to drool. Even though Richard had his moment, it was gone as it appeared. Nicole sighed.

"Once your kids get here, I'll will get rid of them from my life for good!" Larry said.

"Then you better think of something else!" a voice cried.

Gumball and Darwin jumped down from the vent and landed on Larry. They quickly brought his hands behind his back. Larry struggled to break free. Carrie lowered Penny next to the tied parents and helped untie them.

"Boys!" Nicole cried in joy. They were free of the ropes.

"Carrie, Penny! Get them out of here! We will deal with Larry!" Gumball said.

"Oh no your not! Not with out me!" Nicole said rushing to them. Carrie flew in front of her and picked her up from the floor.

"Sorry, Mrs. watterson. He's old enough to act like an adult." Carrie said. Nicole gave up on struggling.

"Boys, if you arn't out of here in 5 minutes, I'm coming in!" Nicole said as Carrie flew here out the door. Gumball tried his best to keep Larry's hands behind him, but he bucked them off and rushed for his knife.

"Run, Darwin!" Gumball said helping Darwin get to his feet. They took off down the aisles. Larry followed them.

"You won't hide from me!" Larry called out. Gumball and Darwin hid behind aisle 10. Gumball began to hyperventelate again. Darwin helped calm him down.

"We need to get Larry back to his senses." Gumball whispered to Darwin. Darwin looked around. He then grinned big.

"I got an idea." he said walking up to an air tank.

"Darwin... you are a genious." Gumball said smiling. He got up to help him bring the tank down. Gumball went and picked up an oil cone. "You ready?" Gumball asked his trusty friend.

"Yes sir, Mr. President!" Darwin said.

"I found you!" Larry called out. They saw Larry picking his pace up toward them.

"Darwin, prepare to launch!" Gumball said getting on the tank. Darwin sat behind him. "Ready?... FIRE!"

Darwin kicked the pressure lever and they took off. The aisles flew right by them. Larry's face fell. A sickening metal sound could be heard outside. Larry took off with the air tank on his gut. The tank flew into an aisle shelf with Larry's back on it. The aisles began to fall like dominos. In the last desperate effort, Gumball had pulled Darwin off the tank before they hit Larry. The boys got up and dusted themselves off. The store's doors opened and the group ran in.

"Boys! You're alright!" Nicole said. She rushed over and took them in her arms and hugged tightly. Richard went over to Larry and poked him with a stick.

"He's out cold." he said. Gumball slipped out of his mother's hold and went over to him.

"Maybe we should help him out." Gumball said.

Larry felt like hell. His stomache ached terriably. When he woke up, the first face he saw was Gumball's.

"Hey, Larry. You okay?" Gumball asked.

"Nooo... my stomache hurts..." Larry said trying to get up. He fell back gasping in pain. Gumball helped him up.

"Easy Larry. Sorry we had to do that to you. You were going kinda nuts." Gumball said scratching his head. Larry shook his head.

"I'm the one who's sorry. Especially to all of you. But I'm more sorry to Mr. and Mrs. Watterson. I said all those horriable things about you two. I don't know how I can make it up to you all..." Larry gloomly said.

"Well... there is one thing you CAN do." Carrie said hovering over. Larry waited for her to say something. Carrie wanted so badly to mess with Larry's mind, but she didn't want Gumball to dislike her for it, so she sighed and said "You can show us the store room and bring the supplies over to the school." Gumball smiled and mouthed "thank you." Carrie replied with a small smile.

"Alright, it's behind this door." Larry said pointing to a metal door.

Flint stood ontop of the store's roof. He watched a group of people carry supplies to a truck. The group got in and drove off toward the school. Flint jumped down and walked into the wrecked store.

'At least the kid can go out with a bang.' he thought. A beeping noise cut off his train of thought. He pulled out a walkie talkie. "Yeah?" he said with no hint of enthusiasim.

"Flint! What do you think you are doing! Stick to your objective!" a garbled voice replied. Flint silenced the walkie talkie.

"Shut up." he said. Turning around, he kicked a little box package. 'Huh?' He picked up the small red box. "Ooh, Pocky." he said to no one in particular. Walking out, he pulled out a pocky stick and chewed on it.

I have a confession. I expected this chapter to be a little shorter then the others. Also, I started to wing it on the psycho fight. And overall, I thought I did a descent job on this. Another chapter will be uploaded soon.