Ch. 6 The Second Encounter

That night, Gumball stared up at the ceiling.

'Hmmm. I should make it up to Penny and Mom. I did kinda hurt their feelings with me sneaking out for the past three days.' he thought. 'But... what should I get them?' Gumball thought long and hard. Then he came to a conclusion. He got up and stretched. 'I know what I can get them!' He made his way to the vent and opened it.

"Really Gumball?" a voice said. It startled him so bad that he clinged to the box. He looked back and saw Penny and his mother standing there.

"At least tell us that you are going out!" Nicole said worriedly. "It's dangerous out there!" she cried. Penny comforted her. Gumball's ears drooped.

"Aww, mom... please don't cry..." Gumball said sadly.

"Just... please be careful..." Nicole said. Gumball nodded and made his way to the vent. After slipping inside, Penny helped Nicole to a chair.

"Don't worry Mrs. Watterson. You know Gumball. Has an eye for misadventures." Penny said. Nicole just nodded. "He's also a..." she blushed and fidgeted. "he's a... great kisser..." she said. Nicole just smiled.

"My little boy is growing up." Nicole said.

Gumball stood in front of a gift shop of the museum. He knew he wasn't going to find much, but he figured he might get flowers or something.

'Do gift shops even have flowers?' he thought questoning his judgement. He shrugged and went in. Looking around, he saw only T-shirts and stuffed animals. 'That might work!' he went over to the stuffed animals and picked out a stuffed tiger and dinosaur.

Something fell to the floor behind him. He turned and saw a shocked Rachel over a tipped magnet shelf.

"Oops." Rachel nervously laughed.

"Rachel?" Gumball saw more coming out of hidding. Carrie and Masami hovered over to Rachel and helped her up. "What are you girls doing here?" Gumball asked. The girls exchanged glances.

"Err... nothing really..." Masami nervously said. Gumball narrowed his eyes.

"There has to be a reason to go out in a dangerous place." Gumball said. Carrie hovered up.

"Gumball, we-" she was cut off by a voice.

"Hey Carrie, I couldn't find any..." a ghost, no taller then Carrie, spotted Gumball. His hair spiked in the back and his bangs covered his left eye. "Who's this?" he asked Carrie.

"Max... this is Gumball Watterson. He's in my class." Carrie said.

"Oh really now?" Max said his curiosity peaked. He hovered in a circle around Gumball, studying him up and down. "Tell me, Gumball... what's on your mind?" Max grinned.

"Max... stop. I know what you are planning to do." Carrie said. Max chuckled.

"Relax, cousin, I won't do anything." Max said. Carrie narrowed her eyes.

"This is your cousin?" Gumball asked.

"Yeeeeahhh. He came from outta town before any of this crap happened to the town." Carrie said. Max held out a hand.

"Name's Max." he said. Gumball hesitated then shook it. "See? I won't bite." Max grinned. Carrie flew in between them.

"Alright, enough with the greetings. We could use your help Gumball." Carrie said.

"What do you need help with?" Gumball asked.

"Max want's to find these shadow creatures and tame one as a pet." Carrie said. "Which is ridiculous." Max stared at Gumball.

"Hey Gumball..." he said. Gumball looked at him. "I want to see inside your mind." Max grinned. Carrie flew in front of Gumball.

"Back down, Max." Carrie said holding her arms out to her side.

"I said relax cousin, I'm not gonna do much damage." Max said. "At least not TOO much." he chuckled. Then his expression became serious. "Move aside, Carrie." he said. Carrie stood her ground. "I said move aside!" he rose his voice. Carrie didn't move. "Fine, you leave me no choice!" Max's face began to deform and he rushed at them. Carrie was knocked aside and Gumball was hit with a force so powerful, it tossed him back and crashed him into the counter. Carrie flew right through Rachle and Masami. They watched in horror. Carrie recovered by flipping in the air and quickly flew toward an unconsious Gumball.

"Gumball... you okay?" Carrie asked worriedly. She knew he wasn't. When Max gets into people's heads, he likes to manipulate their memories. Carrie shook the motionless, pupiless Gumball. "Grrr... dammit Max!" Carrie growled. She jumped back when Gumball jolted up and Max came flying out of his mouth. Gumball gagged and coughed.

"Ugh, I hate it when that happenes to me..." Gumball gagged and wiped his mouth. Carrie was surprised and confused. Max slowly regained his hover. His cheek was swollen.

"What the hell? You didn't mention that he had an inner spirit!" Max said to Carrie.

"I-I didn't-" Carrie couldn't concentrate. 'What just happened?' she thought. Gumball got up. Max growled and rushed him again. Gumball held up his hands in defense and waited for the impact.

Nothing...

Gumball opened one eye and saw Carrie's cousin knocked out on the floor. He caought a glimpse of something transparent yellow vanish around him.

"Max!" Carrie said hovering over to her cousin.

"What did you do, Gumball?" Carrie asked.

"Err... sorry? I-I don't know what i did." Gumball nervously said. Carrie helped her cousin regain his hover. Gumball his other arm around his shoulder and helped Carrie carry him. Masami and Rachel stood silent. "Let's head back." Gumball said. They began to walk out when suddenly...

The museum rumbled and a loud explosion came out from the egyptian exhibit. Jumping out of the billowing smoke was a figure of a red cat.

"W-who is that!" Rachel asked shocked. Gumball's fists clenched.

"Flint..." he said under his breath. Flint back flipped in the air and landed on the head structure of the T-Rex.

"Dammit! Why of all places?" Flint tched. It has been a little bit of snooping around and then she showed up. Flint's senses went wild. He ducked as something flew over his head. He kartwheeled flipped down the spine of the T-Rex as daggers flew at him. He slid down the tail and rolled on the ground as the T-Rex crumbled.

Gumball watched as Flint avoided daggers. His attention fell onto a figure who walked out of the smoke. To his surprise it was another cat. Her fur was purple as were her eyes. She wore somewhat of a ninja outfit. Flint slid right infront of them and realized they were there.

"Sup kids?" he said. He jumped over the rushing cat. She landed close to Gumball. Their gazes met one another.

"It's never a party till you show up." Flint grinned evily. The purple feline drew her attention toward Flint. Flint stood there watching them.

She jumped up and threw more daggers. Flint grinned and picked up a pebble size fragment of the T-Rex and threw it. It bounced off the rain of daggers making them miss their target. The masked cat was surprised. The fragment bounced off the last dagger and hit the cat in the forehead. She fell with a thud. Flint laughed.

"Aww man. That was great." Flint said wiping a tear away. "By the way kids, you'd best stay out of the town. It's for the best." Flint jumped out of the window and vanished in the shadows. Gumball just watched.

"She would we help her?" Masami said. They looked to where the purple cat was. She vanished. Not a single trace.

"Let's head back." Gumball said.

Sorry if this seems a little rushed. I had a lot of distractions going on today and as soon as i reached the museum part. Ill get to more tmrw.