I wanted to thank Sal and Danny-of-TAWOG for giving out their suggestions for this chapter.

Anyway, read and enjoy!

The Newcomer

An Amazing World of Gumball Story

By NeoNimbus

Chapter 18-The Clueless

It was almost midnight at the town of Elmore, as a lone, red Scion xB drove in the quiet neighborhood, until it finally made its way to the O'Quinn residence, parking in the driveway. Once the vehicle came to a complete halt, a figure comes out of the driver's seat: he was a grey wolf, wearing a white dress shirt, a green tie and a pair of blue trousers.

'Man, what a long day at work! I'm really glad the weekend is around the corner.' the tired wolf thought, as he stretched his arms and back, before quietly entering his house.

After making sure that everyone was sleeping soundly, he mad his way up the stairs and into the master bedroom with little effort. But as he opened the door, he was unexpectedly greeted by his wife Annie, still in her casual attire, sitting on the bed and staring at her husband with concern, much to his surprise.

"Oh…hey Annie dear." the grey wolf greeted his wife. "I just got back from work right now and I was going to get some rest right."

Hoping to hear a quick response from his wife, the grey wolf received only silence instead, leaving him understandably worried. After what felt like forever, Annie, taking a deep breath, finally talked to her anxious husband.

"Gordon, we need to talk."

Gordon looked at Annie, as the anxious look from his face was replaced by concern. What was it that his wife wanted to discuss him about? Whatever it is, it sounded very important and he might as well hear from her now.

"Annie, did I do something wrong? I'm sure whatever it is, I'll do anything to make it up."

"You're not doing anything wrong at all, hon." Annie assured her husband. "In fact, everything is fine. I just wanted to talk to you about Brian."

The moment Annie brought up their only son surprised Gordon, as he silently panicked about Brian. It had been almost two months since they moved to Elmore and all of a sudden, his wife wanted to talk about their son. Did Brian get into trouble at school? Had his only son injured himself? Either way, the only way he could get some answer was to ask his wife.

"Sorry if I had to state the obvious dear, but why do you want to talk about Brian in the middle of the night? Can we talk about him tomorrow?"

"Gordon, I think this is the right time and place to talk about Brian right now." Annie insisted. "At the very least, try to stay awake to hear me out."

Gordon sighed, as he sat right next to Annie, doing his best to stay awake and listen to his wife as best as he could.

"Hon, I understand that you need to go to your work to pay the taxes for the house and keep a roof on our heads, but I'm just worried that you're not making enough effort to spend time with Brian."

"I do spent time with Brian when I have the chance, dear." Gordon said defensively.

"But you only spent time with him on the weekends." Annie pointed out. "Look Gordon, all I'm saying is that I want you to try to make some more time with Brian. That's all I'm asking for."

Once Annie was done finishing her sentence, Gordon pondered for a moment, thinking what his wife had just told him. Gordon had to admit, he had been pretty busy on the weekdays and the longest time that he had ever spent time with his son was just over three hours. Even so, he wanted to at least make up for the long hours he had for his work. With that in mind, the grey wolf turned to his wife, ready to give out his answer.

"Alright Annie, starting tomorrow, I'll hang out with Brian, just to make up for lost time." Gordon said with a smile.

"That's all I wanted to hear." Annie replied, happy that her husband was giving some thought to it. "Anyway, it's getting late dear. We'll discuss more about this tomorrow."

With those words being spoken, she and her husband prepared to get some good night rest, as tomorrow was coming right around the corner.

Morning has come at the O'Quinn residence, as Brian got out of his bed, dressed in his casual attire and made it downstairs to the kitchen. After all, it was the same routine that he and his parents would always have on the weekdays: his father would leave for work, while his mother would make breakfast for themselves before dropping him off to school. It was a routine that Brian was accustomed to.

Or at least, that's what he thought until…

"Good morning son."

Brian paused in his tracks and spotted a certain grey wolf sitting on the kitchen table, happily sipping a cup of coffee checking the latest news on a laptop. After doing a double take, the purple fox slowly approached Gordon, bewildered by his unexpected presence in the house.

"Dad, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be getting to work right away?" asked Brian.

"Oh, don't worry about that Brian. I got a new schedule starting this week. Plus, I decided to take the day off and I want to spend some time with you." Gordon explained.

"That…sounds very good, dad…" Brian began, becoming uncomfortable by his father's decision. "But in case you have forgotten, I have school today and I don't think we'll have enough time to spend time with one another."

What came out of Gordon's mouth, however, left Brian visibly mortified on the spot.

"No big deal, son. I'll just tag along with you then."

As soon as the grey wolf gave his answer to his son, Brian froze with shock and fear, horrified that his father is coming with him to school. What his father had in mind for today, this would not end well with him at all.

It was just another typical day for Gumball and Darwin, as the duo, along with their fellow students, arrived at Elmore Junior High on time, as the school bus dropped them off and the Watterson brothers went off to their lockers, all the while waiting for Brian to show up at any given time.

"So Darwin, how do you think today will turn out?" Gumball asked his younger brother.

"The day had just begun, Gumball. But I think we should wait for Brian to show up and we'll see how the day will turn out." Darwin replied.

"Speaking of Brian, where is he? He's never been this late." Gumball muttered.

On cue, one of the main doors to the school opened, as Brian entered the school with a discomforting look. Curious by his demeanor, Gumball and Darwin were about to question their friend when, much to their surprise, an adult grey wolf was tagging along with the purple fox, wearing similar attires that Richard wore all the time, as he happily strolled along with Brian.

As soon as Brian made his way to his friends, he almost immediately answered their question right away, as if he had sensed their curiosity on the spot.

"I know what you guys are going to ask, so I'll just answer them right away. Guys, this is Gordon O'Quinn, my dad. Dad, these are Gumball and Darwin Watterson, my best friends."

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you two." Gordon said to the Watterson brothers, before shaking their paw and flipper, respectively. "Say, are you two fine with me tagging along? I always wanted to know more about this school."

Gumball and Darwin looked at their friend and back at Gordon, the former very worried about what kind of response they would give out. Sensing their friend's anxiety, the Watterson brothers then turned their attention back to Gordon, ready to give out their answer.

"Sure, I guess it's alright." Gumball reluctantly replied.

"If it makes you happy, then we're happy as well." Darwin assured the grey wolf, despite being uncomfortable by the idea.

"So it's settled then." says Gordon. "You boys just pretend I'm not here, while I just walk around and admire what so unique about this school."

With that said, both Brian and the Watterson brothers, along with Gordon, began walking down the hallway, with the boys doing their best to ignore the stares and curiosity from their classmates. As the trio made their way to Miss Simian's class, Gumball decided to whisper to Brian, hoping that the purple fox could offer some explanation.

"Brian, not to be rude or anything, but why is your dad here to begin with?"

"Also, why does he want to hang out with you even though this is the weekdays?" Darwin asked.

"It's a long and complicated story..." was all Brian could say to his friends, before a certain old, cantankerous voice spoke out of nowhere.

"Stop right there this instant, boys!" Miss Simian shouted, prompting, Brian, as well as his father and his friends, to stop in their tracks, before the old baboon resumed speaking to them. "Who is this fellow right there and why is he on school ground?"

It was then that Gordon confronted Miss Simian and offered her an explanation about his presence.

"I apologized for my presence, ma'am. My name is Gordon O'Quinn and I was wondering if it's alright if I see how well my son does in your class?"

Miss Simian, though puzzled by such a request, looked at Brian, who was looking nervously at his dad. Then, the old baboon gave herself a sinister smile; if there's anything that makes her really happy, it's seeing the misery on her students' face and Brian was no exception

"By all means, Mr. O'Quinn, come join us for our session." Miss Simian then let out a cackling glee, leaving Brian rather uncomfortable by the old baboon's response. He could only pray that this day could not go from bad to worse, as long as his father doesn't do anything to embarrass him.

Normally in Miss Simian's class, most of the students would be busy studying today's lesson. But before they had a chance to do so, they noticed the presence of Gordon O'Quinn, standing right next to a rather uncomfortable Brian. After Miss Simian explained everything about the grey wolf's appearance in their classroom, her students greeted Gordon before the old baboon turned to the board and prepared to teach the class.

"Now that everything's settled, this is what will be learning today…"

While Miss Simian was discussing about today's subject, Brian, after making sure that his father was focusing his attention on the board, whispered to his friends, hoping they could him some advice regarding his situation.

"Guys, has this ever happened to you two before?"

"If I recall, mom did something similar with me and Darwin a while ago." Gumball whispered back. "But all she did was made things worse due to her meddling."

"Oh, I can hardly wait for that to happen." Brian replied sarcastically, both unenthusiastic and dismay by the blue feline's statement.

"Don't worry about it, Brian. Mrs. Mom eventually got the hint and stop meddling in our lives." Darwin assured the fox. "Besides, your dad is like Mr. Dad, but goofier and clueless."

"Is that so?" Brian questioned the two-legged fish. "Alright then, how do you and your brother deal a clueless dad then?"

"That's easy, Brian…" Gumball began. "We tie sausages to a plunger, stick it on his head, get the tape recorder and we just chill."

Brian looked at Gumball, completely dumbfounded by the answer he had just received. What kind of response did he just receive right now? There was no way it would work on his father at all; sure, he comes off as a goofball, but Gordon, unlike Richard, was quite smart and would catch on to his antics right off the bat.

Just as Brian attempted to rebuff Gumball's answer, the purple fox noticed Miss Simian staring right at him, with a big smirk on her face, as if she waiting for him to drop his guard at the right moment.

"Well Brian, is there something that you want to say to the rest of the class?" the old baboon asked with sheer amusement.

Before Brian could offer an explanation to his teacher, his father began to offer one for him to Miss Simian instead.

"Don't worry about that, Miss Simian. Fluffy Tail was just discussing with his friends about today's lessons, that's all."

"Ha! Mr. O'Quinn just called Brian 'Fluffy Tail' just now." Banana Joe stated the obvious, before him and the entire class burst into laughter, prompting Brian to cover his face with his own paws, while Gumball and Darwin tried to console their dismayed friend. All the purple fox could is just pray that the rest of the day would just end.

After another hour of lesson at Miss Simian's class, Brian, along with his friends and fellow classmates, made their way to the school gym for PE and much to their dismay, they were going to play a game of dodge ball against one another. It was bad enough that they have to face Tina and her gang, who always excelled at dodge ball, but for Brian, it was his father that proved to be the real challenge, as the two were talking about one another on the sidelines.

"No Brian, you can't go out there without safety." says Gordon.

"But dad, it's just a game of dodge ball." Brian explained to his father. "Sure it can be rough, but it's not like anyone here actually suffer any real injuries."

At that moment, both Brian and Gordon heard a few loud thuds out of nowhere, prompting the two to see Gumball and Darwin on the gym floor, their bodies covered in dirt and bruises from head-to-toe, no doubt from the dodge balls that Tina and her friends had thrown not so long ago.

"I stand corrected." Gordon said to his son. "Now if you don't mind, I want you to stay still, so I can make sure that you're suited up."

"Suited up? Dad, what are you t-"

Before Brian could even finish his sentence, the grey wolf suddenly dashed out of the gym, leaving a trail of dust in the process. Several seconds later, Gordon suddenly returned and the next thing the purple fox knew, he found himself in the center of his father's tornado. After what felt like forever, the tornado finally died down, as the grey wolf looked at his son with a smile.

"Well Brian, what do you think?" the grey wolf asked his son.

But Brian, however, didn't respond to his father's question right away. Much to his dismay, Gordon ended up putting too much safety gears on his body and as a result, he ended up looking like an umpire. It didn't help that most of said safety gear were too heavy for the purple fox's body to maintain.

Brian tried to explain to his father about the weight he was currently carrying on him, but the helmet muffled his objection, preventing Gordon from hearing his son's complaints.

"Yeah, I'm glad that gears suits you real well." said Gordon, clearly misinterpreting his son's muffled words. "Now go out there and have fun."

Gordon then shoved his son to the gym floor before quickly heading back to the bleachers to watch Brian play, leaving the purple fox on his own, staring at Tina and her gang with discomfort, the former smiling with a hint of sadistic joy.

"This is going to be real good." Tina remarked, before her, Jamie and Anton prepared to throw their dodge balls at the suited-up fox, aiming squarely right where he is standing.

'This is not going to end well.' Brian thought, before he closed his eyes, waiting for the projectiles to come right at him and wanting to get through PE as quickly as possible.

1 Hour Later…

Brian, along with Gumball, Darwin and his father, sat at their usual spot in the school cafeteria, though the purple fox was hardly in a good mood today. Most of his body suffered many bruises from both the safety gear and the constant dodge balls that Tina and her pals threw right at him during PE, with one giving Brian a black eye in the process.

But that was nothing compare to what he had to endure during the last hour. In history class, Gordon began to question Mr. Small about his teaching ability, which resulted in an argument between the two. Things got much worse when the grey wolf decided to file a complaint to Principal Brown about Mr. Small's behavior, though Brian managed to convince him otherwise. Recently, Gordon almost got into an argument with Rocky about the cafeteria's foods, but backed off when he learned what today's specialty was.

Brian didn't know how much more he could take of his father's actions. With each passing minute, the anger within him was slowly boiling like a pressure cooker and it was becoming difficult to contain it. At this rate, it could practically blow its lid off at any given moment.

'I hope this day end soon, because I want to forget it ever happened!'

While Brian angrily stirred his cafeteria foods on the tray, Gordon, oblivious to his son's displeasure, was talking to the Watterson brothers much more about the purple fox, as the two boys listened on to the grey wolf's stories.

"So that's what Brian did when he was a toddler?" asked a bewildered Darwin.

"Believe it or not Darwin, its true. Brian would always go around the house playing superheroes with only his makeshift cape and in his underwear."

While Gordon was telling this to the two-legged fish, Brian could hear the snickering coming out from some of his fellow students, causing to grip the fork tightly and angrily stirred his meals much faster.

"What about that other story you told us earlier?" Gumball questioned Gordon.

"That's true too, Gumball. Back when Brian began drawing during first grade, he made his first painting using his face."

When the other students heard that, their snickering grew louder, causing Brian to rapidly stir his food, his face turning bright red in anger and growling in frustration, as he felt the blood pressure rising in his body.

"Is it really true that Brian had his first crush in elementary school?" Darwin asked once more.

"Indeed. As a matter of fact, I think her name was-"

"That's ENOUGH already!" Brian shouted, before slamming the fork on the table as hard as he could, much to the shock of his friends, classmates and especially his father, who was taken aback from his son's behavior.

"Don't you see what you're doing?! For the last several hours, you've done nothing but embarrassed me all day!"

"But Brian-" was all Gordon could say before being cut off by his son's words.

"You've been calling me by that nickname, dressing me up with that ridiculous safety gear and most of all, getting into an argument with one of the faculty members!"

"I could explain-"

"Then you have to tell my friends and practically everyone about my days in elementary school and that is the last thing I wanted to hear at all!"

"If you would just-"

"Dad, just do me a favor and go home! You've done enough already!"

Once Brian said those words to Gordon, the grey wolf felt like an arrow had just pierced through his heart. Shocked and deeply hurt by his son's words, Gordon, his head hung in shame, got up from the table and exited down to the hallway.

Once Gordon was finally out of his view, the anger that was boiling within Brian slowly disappeared and before long, regret and guilt took its place, as the purple fox was horrified what he had done to his father.

'Great Brian, look what you have done!' Brian thought, before he got out of his seat and went after his father, hoping he could find Gordon and quickly apologize for his behavior.

For the last several minutes, the purple fox checked each part of the hallway, hoping he could locate Gordon, but so far, he had no luck. He checked almost everywhere he could possibly think of, from some of the classes he had taken, the schoolyard and even the men's bathroom, but to no avail. At this point, Brian came to the realization that his father had already left, much to his dismay.

'Aw man! I'm too late!'

"Brian! Are you alright?"

The purple fox turned around to see Gumball and Darwin heading to his direction, before they stopped right in their track, sweating madly and panting very heavily from their running.

"Hey guys." Brian gloomily greeted his friends.

"Brian, what's wrong?" Darwin asked.

"Yeah, why the long face?" Gumball questioned the purple fox.

Despite some hesitation on his part, Brian took a deep breath and before offering his friends an explanation.

"Guys, I couldn't find my dad anywhere in this school. I searched almost every place that I could think of, but I couldn't even find a lead. I wish I never had told him off like that in front of everyone."

"Don't worry, Brian. I'm sure he'll accept your apology." Gumball assured his friend.

"But what if he doesn't want to accept it?" a doubtful Brian asked.

"Don't be so sure about that until you tell him." Darwin pointed out.

"Thanks, you guys. I should really take a chance." says Brian, somewhat relaxed by their words.

"Sorry to break this moment, but we have a routine to maintain." a voice rudely spoke out, prompting Brian and the Watterson brothers to turn around and much to their dismay, they saw Tina, Jamie and Anton standing right in front of them.

"Don't you think that beating me up at PE was enough?" Brian asked, clearly not in the mood to deal with them.

"That was just the tip of the iceberg, furball." Tina replied. "But Jamie's right. You better hand over half of your lunch money…or else!"

"Come on Tina. Give Brian a break on this one. His day was already bad enough." Gumball insisted.

"Gumball's got a point. Can't you guys just do it another time?" asked Darwin.

"It doesn't matter whether furball here has a good or bad day. Either he coughs up half of his lunch money or he's going to get a knuckle sandwich." Jamie remarked.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I've got more important things to worry about." says Brian.

"You just made the worst decision of your life." Tina said, as she prepared to give Brian, as well as Gumball and Darwin, a beating they'll never forget.

"Stop right there!" a voice shouted out of nowhere, prompting everyone to turn around and saw Gordon behind them, as the grey wolf slowly approached the t-rex with a serious expression on his face.

"Dad!" Brian happily said.

"What do you want, wolf? Can't you see I'm in the middle of something?" Tina asked rudely to Gordon.

"Young lady, I suggest that you and your friends stop picking on my son and his friends and apologize to them this instance." Gordon demanded, prompting Tina and her gang to laugh off the grey wolf's words, before the t-rex reared her head to Gordon's face.

"What if we don't feel like it? What are you going to do then?"

Suddenly, Gordon grabbed Tina's nose with a hard grip, leaving her and everyone surprised. But before the dinosaur could have a chance to react, she found herself forcefully staring at the grey wolf's stern face and began to talk to Tina once more.

"Let me rephrase what I just said: I suggest that you and your friends stop picking on my son and his friends and apologize to them now."

As soon as Gordon was finished with his sentence, he released his grip from the terrified dinosaur, before he turned around and glares at Jamie and Anton, both shocked and astonished by the grey wolf's action, before all three turned to Brian and the Watterson brothers, ready to give out their apologies to them.

"W-w-we're sorry for picking on you guys." Tina bashfully apologized.

"Y-y-yeah, we were j-just kidding, t-that's all." Jamie nervously insisted.

"…What they said." was all Anton could say.

Once Tina and her friends finished apologizing to them, the trio quickly ran passed by them as fast as they could, before disappearing from around the corner. Brian and his friends, meanwhile, stared at Gordon with shock and awe, stunned what the grey wolf did just now.

"Are you boys alright?" Gordon asked with genuine concern.

"We're fine, dad. It's just that, what you did back there, that was amazing." Brian said to his father.

"Oh, it was nothing." says Gordon, rubbing his head sheepishly.

"Are you kidding, Mr. O'Quinn? You're the only person besides mom who can intimidate the likes of Tina." Gumball excitedly exclaimed.

"Yeah, if it wasn't for you, we would have been goners." Darwin pointed out. "It's such a shame that no one was there to see this."

"Well, that explains why everyone was watching the whole thing behind us." Gordon noted, prompting both Brian and the Watterson brothers to turn around and saw their fellow classmates behind the grey wolf. Before long, some of them approached Gordon, both impressed and amazed by his action against Tina and her friends.

"Wow that was amazing!"

"How did you do that?"

"Were you afraid back there?"

"Can you teach me how to do that?"

Surprised to hear their curiosity, Gordon began to answer each question one after another, while Brian stood there and watched with a smile, happy to see that his fellow classmates began to have a new-found respect for his father.

The rest of the afternoon at Elmore Junior High went on without any further incidents. After the school rang for the last time, Brian bid the Watterson brothers goodbye, before he went into his father's red scion xB and took the long drive to their residence. Once they were on the road, the purple fox decided it was the right time to talk to his dad.

"Hey dad…" Brian began to talk. "I just wanted to say thanks for the help back there."

"No problem, son." Gordon happily answered. "I'm just glad I was able to make it there on time and prevent that t-rex from harming you."

"Yeah, it could have been worse." says Brian. "Listen dad, I'm sorry for telling you off at the school cafeteria. I wish I could have done it differently back there."

"It's alright Brian, apology accepted." Gordon said to his son. "I'm also sorry that I didn't inform you about my reasons to hang out with you in the first place. If I have known how today would have turn out, I would have come clean with you in the first place."

"It's alright, dad. I forgive you after what you did to Tina." Brian assured Gordon. "To be honest, I'm glad mom talk to you last night."

"Thanks son." Gordon said with a tone of relief.

"Just promise me that you don't do something like this ever again." says Brian.

"Don't worry Brian, I promise." Gordon insisted.

After what felt like forever, Brian and his father finally made their way back home, before parking on the driveway. Once the engine died down, both the purple fox and the grey wolf got of the vehicle, the former made his way to the front door before opening it.

"Hey mom." Brian happily greeted his mother, as he made his way upstairs and into his bedroom.

"Hey there sport." Annie greeted back, before she saw her husband making his way inside the house.

"So, how was your day with Brian?"

Gordon smiled in response to his wife's question and before long, he began the long story of how things went today.

Next time on The Newcomer

Chapter 19-The Transfer: Part 1

When Rhonda unexpectedly shows up as part of a school exchange program, Brian seizes the opportunity to hang out with her.

Tidbits

-From the beginning, Gordon O'Quinn was always meant to be a wolf, though he originally had brown fur in mind, before quickly switching to grey instead.

-Basically, Gordon is an amalgam of Nicole and Richard Watterson; although he is hardworking and responsible, he tends to be a goofball when it comes to his family, including Brian.

-For the voice of Gordon, I have Scott Bakula in mind, due to his voice role as Danny the Cat from Cats Don't Dance.

-This chapter was quite challenging, mainly because it's the first time I wrote one solely focus on one of Brian's parents. Still, it was good to do a chapter revolving around one of them.

I hope everyone enjoyed reading this and I'll see ya next chapter!