I just want to apologize to everyone for the delay and I hope the wait is worth it.
That said, I just wanted to thank Sal for his suggestions on this chapter.
Anyway, read and enjoy!
The Newcomer
An Amazing World of Gumball Story
By NeoNimbus
Chapter 28-The Brain: Part 1
It was just a typical day at the Watterson residence, as Gumball, Darwin and Brian were playing "Suburban Karate Master" and for the purple fox, he was just glad to take a break for the weekend after all the misadventures he kept finding himself in a few days ago.
'It's not much, but at least I could take a moment to relax a little.' Brian thought.
Suddenly, out of the blue, an explosion was heard above the boys' heads, leaving the purple fox startled by this, before Brian turned to his friends.
"What was that just now?!" Brian asked his friends with a tone of panic.
"Oh, that's just Anais doing one of her latest science project." Gumball nonchalantly explained.
"Why is your sister doing something like that in her own room?" asked the purple fox.
"Don't worry about it, Brian…" Darwin explained. "Anais knows what she's doing. After all, she is a genius."
"I guess you're right then." Brian reluctantly agreed. Privately, though, the purple fox couldn't help but be curious by what the child prodigy does in her spare time.
'Seriously, what would she be doing other than playing with her Daisy the Donkey doll?'
The project didn't go quite as well as Anais had hoped for, as she coughed up a few times before fanning the smoke out of her room. She could have sworn that it would work out well, but it turned out to be all for nothing.
"That didn't go exactly like I wanted." Anais says to herself. "Regardless, there's still work to be done and I won't stop until I say so."
With determination filling her mind, the young child prodigy began her work immediately, creating various diagrams, complicated formulas and scientific models, hoping that this time, her science project wouldn't literally blew up in her face.
While Anais was busy with her latest scientific work, within her head, her brain was working very hard to keep up with the child prodigy's pace, just like it has been doing for the last four years.
But keeping up with a child as smart as Anais was no simple task at all; every time its host has come up with another idea, it had to make sure that the information flow could make it on time for her to act on. However, Anais' Brain was becoming increasingly unnerved by this; all day long, twenty four hours and seven days a week, it was force to make sure that its host would always be ready to come with up some great grandiose plan and it was getting sick of it.
All it wanted was just some peace and quiet for a change; sure, it managed to have that whenever its host was watching Daisy the Donkey on TV every now and then, but it still wasn't enough. What it truly wanted was freedom, where it can do whatever it wanted at any given moment and move about freely, free from a confined space.
Sadly, though, such a thing was beyond its reach and Anais' Brain had to accept that it would be simply impossible to achieve such a desirable goal…wait a second! Of course! It should have thought about this a long time ago! Being in the body of a child genius, Anais' Brain had gathered enough information for the last four years and it only took a few seconds to realize what it needed in order to escape from its host once and for all.
With a newfound determination in mind, Anais' Brain began to run around all over its confined space and soon enough, smoke was starting build up from within its host's head.
Anais didn't know how long it has been since starting work on her latest attempt at her project, but it didn't matter anyway, since she was finished with it after only a few minutes. It wasn't a new world record, but she was fast enough to finish what she had set out to do.
"Phew, that took a bit longer than I had thought." Anais commented. "Oh well, at least it's finished. Now on to the-"
Before the child prodigy could finish her sentence, Anais smelled something burning in her bedroom. That was strange; she swore she got rid of all the smoke. There was no way that some of it still remained in the house, so where is it coming from?
'That's weird…' Anais thought, rubbing her chin. 'I thought I got rid all of them after that last fiasco. Wait a minute! I think I know where it's-'
Just as the child prodigy realized what had occurred, a series of cough interrupted her thoughts, as the smoke was coming out of her ears, clouding Anais' vision in the process. As the child prodigy continued to cough up the smoke, it didn't take her long to realize what was happening.
'What is my brain up to now?! Come to think of it, why is it behaving so-'
Suddenly, Anais felt an unexpected sneeze coming up, prompting the child prodigy to hold it off as best as she could. But the smoke that continues to pour out of her head made that task impossible. Unable to hold it back any longer, Anais let out a huge sneeze, propelling her brain out of her body.
Anais' Brain land on the soft, shaggy carpet and it couldn't believed what had just happened; the plan really worked out as well as it had expected, freeing it from the confined space that it had been in for almost so long. After all those years, its dream had finally come true after all.
Anais' Brain took a good look at its surrounding and instantly, it was happy with the scenery unfolding right in front of it. Clear blue skies, fresh air and infinite space all around it. This is exactly what it wanted and it wants to make sure it stayed that way.
With this in mind, Anais' Brain decided to take a walk outside of its host's bedroom, but not before it took a good look at the child prodigy, standing around on her own two legs and behaving like a complete imbecile, babbling nonsense and bumping into one section of the room after another.
Anais' Brain couldn't help but feel pity for its host's current state; on the other hand, she never gave it one whole break for all that thinking and it was still peeved by it. Not wanting to go back to its host ever again, Anais' Brain leaped out of the window and got away from her once and for all.
Gumball, Darwin and Brian went upstairs almost immediately after hearing more commotions coming from Anais' room. That and the fact that the child prodigy was coughing a lot left them a bit concerned, prompting the trio to take a quick peek in Anais' room to see if she was alright.
"Are you sure we should spy on her, you guys?" asked Darwin. "For all we know, she might be a bit busy at the moment."
"That's why we're here, Darwin…" Brian began to explain. "We'll take a quick look inside your sister's room and if nothing's wrong with it, we'll pretend like everything is normal."
"Brian's right." Gumball agreed with the purple fox. "All we're doing is just going in and check up on Anais to see what's up."
With those words spoken, the boys cautiously opened the bedroom door, poking their heads inside to find Anais running around in circle and giggling for no reason, before she suddenly dropped to the floor. Undaunted by this, the child prodigy continued to run around in circle on the floor, leaving the trio completely baffled by this unusual spectacle presented in front of them.
"Anais, are you alright?" asked Brian, prompting the young pink rabbit to stop what she was doing and saw both Brian and her brothers standing in front of her.
"Hello Gum-Gum, Dork-win and Fluffy Wuffy." greeted Anais, as she gave off a goofy smile.
Gumball, Darwin and Brian looked at one another, completely weirded out that the child prodigy gave them such a bizarre greeting. It was the last thing they would expect from her at all.
"Anais, what was that just now?" Darwin asked his sister, arching an eyebrow in curiosity.
"Me don't know. Me just feel like that." Anais replied.
"Alright then…" Gumball remarked, before an idea came to mind. "What's 2+2, Anais?"
"Are you serious, Gumball?" Brian asked, surprise by the blue feline's action. "She's obviously going to get it right."
"Duh...22?" Anais sheepishly answered.
Brian looked at the child prodigy, astonished that she had given out a wrong answer to such a simple math problem. Likewise, Gumball and Darwin were also worried for Anais; they have never seen her behave like this. Somehow, the young pink rabbit had suddenly become a complete buffoon and the boys were completely dumbfounded by her sudden change in demeanor.
"I wonder…" Brian muttered to himself, before he got closer to Anais, looking through the rabbit's ear to see what was going on inside her head.
"Hello!" Brian called out, leaving an eerie echo ringing inside the rabbit's head. As soon as the echo ceased, the fox's face suddenly went pale.
"Guys, I think you should see this."
Confused by their friend's statement, but also worried at the same time, Gumball and Darwin got closer to Anais and both took a quick look inside her head. After inspecting it a bit further, both boys looked at one another with astonishment.
"Darwin, did you see what I see?" asked Gumball.
"Unless I'm imagining this right now, I'd say that Anais' brain has gone missing." Darwin replied.
"That's what I thought." says Gumball, prompting the trio to blink simultaneously. After a few long seconds of silence, the boys suddenly began to panic.
"Aah! Anais' brain has gone missing!" Gumball fearfully exclaimed.
"What should we do?!" Darwin asked his friends. "Should we tell Mrs. Mom and Mr. Dad about this?"
"No Darwin! I don't think they'll believe our story." Gumball replied.
"I'm going to have to side with Gumball on this one." Brian agreed with the blue feline. "I say we go all over town and tracked down your sister's brain."
"But where do we begin? We don't even have the slightest clue where it went." Darwin pointed out.
Before either Gumball or Brian could give out an answer, the latter suddenly slipped and fell on to the floor, much to his confusion. As the Watterson brothers helped him up to his feet, the trio noticed a slimy substance heading out to the window. As the boys inspected the substance further, they spotted more of the stuff on the sidewalk, much to their surprise.
"Well, at least we have our answers." Brian commented. "Alright you guys, let's go get that brain!"
With that said, the trio, along with Anais, immediately headed out the front door, determined to locate the runaway brain at all cost.
Anais' Brain couldn't believe how big this town really was; sure, it had seen it so many times back in its host, but never like this in person. There were people walking all over the place, cars passing by and bright colors; never in its wildest dream that it would ever face something like this on its own.
As it continued to wander on the sidewalk, still marveling at its new surrounding, Anais' Brain accidentally bumped into what appeared to be some sort of purple moose in front of it. Since it was lost and had no idea where it going, it hoped that this fellow would help it out.
Its mind made up, Anais' Brain proceeded to tug the moose's sweater, trying to get his attention. As the purple moose looked down to see who was tugging his shoulder, his face immediately went pale.
"Aah! A living brain!" shouted the purple moose, before running away as fast as he could.
Anais' Brain stood still, confused by the moose's reaction. It was not the response that it was hoping and it was clearly saddened by this.
As it lamented its situation, Anais' Brain was suddenly interrupted by the ignition of a vehicle, prompting it to turn around and saw an older puppet that the host indentified as Mr. Robinson, preparing to drive into town.
For a while, Anais' Brain considered asking Mr. Robinson for a ride, but it quickly feared that the older puppet would drive off in fear. Instead, it snuck up towards the vehicle and buckled itself in the back seat, just as Mr. Robinson drove off. After all, what could possibly go wrong?
It had been almost half an hour since Gumball, Darwin and Brian began following the pink substance around Elmore, all the while making sure Anais wouldn't wander off on her own, as the trio kept a close eye on her. During their recent search, the boys were dismayed to find that the pink substance had led them to a dead end, stopping by near one of the parked vehicles.
"This is going to be a lot tougher than I thought." says Brian, rubbing his temple in annoyance.
"We can't give up already, Brian." Gumball informed the fox. "We have to find my sister's brain before mom and dad finds out."
"Don't worry about it, you guys! I think I found her brain!" Darwin called out in the alleyway, prompting Gumball and Brian to make their way to the two-legged fish, dragging the former child prodigy with them. As soon as the duo made their way to the alleyway, they found Darwin rummaging through the dumpster.
"Sorry if I stated the obvious…" Brian began. "But what makes you so sure Anais' brain is there?"
"Look at this!" Darwin exclaimed, before the two-legged fish presented his friends Anais' 'brain'. Both Gumball and Brian, however, were far from happy with Darwin's discovery.
"That's not a brain; that is a cauliflower." Brian pointed out.
"Brian's right, buddy..." Gumball agreed. "You really need to be careful next time.
"You two shut your mouths!" Darwin angrily retorted. "That's no way to talk to Anais' brain!"
As soon as Darwin mentioned the child prodigy's name, both Gumball and Brian turned around and realized that Anais had wandered out of their sights, much to their horror.
"Where's Anais?!" a panicked Brian asked.
Just then, the trio heard a giggling from the streets, as they saw Anais frolicking around traffic, barely dodging one oncoming vehicle after another. The boys couldn't believe what they were seeing right now; if anything where to happen to the young rabbit, they would never forgive themselves.
"Don't worry Anais, I'm coming!" Gumball shouted, as he proceeded to come to his sister's aid.
Unfortunately for Gumball, Anais managed to make her way to the other side of the street, leaving the blue feline in the middle of traffic. Startled and terrified, Gumball barely dodged one car after another for what felt like an eternity, before finally making his way to the other side, just as Brian and Darwin came to his aid.
"Gumball, are you alright?" Darwin asked his older brother.
"I don't want to do that ever again." Gumball replied, still trying to catch his breath.
"That's good to hear." says Brian, before he spotted the former child prodigy playing with Tina's tail.
"Anais, don't play someone's tail like that." Brian called out, before he made his way to the young rabbit.
Anais, however, quickly became bored with this and promptly head in a different direction, just as Brian managed to catch up, as Tina quickly stared at the stunned fox, much to his discomfort.
"Tina, this isn't not what it looks like." was all the purple fox could say, before the carnivore promptly stomped him into the sidewalk and walked away from the scene, as Gumball and Darwin approached their friend with concern.
"Brian, how are you feeling?" asked Gumball.
"Ouch." Brian muttered, as the purple fox slowly got up and brushed off the dirt from his body.
Just then, the boys heard Anais' giggling from a distance, prompting the trio to the direction of said voice. When they got to her, they spotted the former child prodigy at the park, playing at the bottom of the seesaw, oblivious to the fact that a large child was about to get on the other side.
"Anais, watch out!" Darwin shouted, as the two-legged fish quickly ran towards his younger sister.
But the young rabbit managed to get off, as she chased after a butterfly, resulting in Darwin taking her spot instead. Before the two-legged fish could react, the large child finally got on top of the seesaw, sending Darwin flying, screaming for dear life. After what felt like forever, the two-legged fish plummeted down and finally slammed into the ground.
"Darwin, are you alright?" asked Brian, as he and Gumball rushed to his aide.
"Never better, Brian." Darwin happily replied, as he got up to his feet like it was nothing.
"That's good to hear." says Gumball. "Anyway, let's track down Anais before something else happens to her."
With that said, the trio rushed off to find the former child prodigy, hoping that wherever she is, she was at least safe and sound.
Anais' Brain couldn't believe what had happened; just moments ago, it was sitting behind the back of Mr. Robinson's car, just minding its own business. But when the older puppet saw it from the rearview mirror, its presence caused Mr. Robinson to crash to a nearby fire hydrant, before running from his vehicle in a hurry, leaving Anais' Brain on its own.
The astonished brain couldn't understand what was going on; first the purple moose, then the older puppet. Instead of helping it around town, they both gave the same reaction: a look of horror on their face, before running away screaming.
Anais' Brain doesn't know why they would behave in such a manner. All it wanted was some help to get around town and it was clearly upset that these two would respond like that.
As Anais' Brain tried to take its mind off from its unfortunate encounters, it noticed some people heading what appeared to be a toy store of some sorts. Cautious, but a bit intrigued, Anais' Brain decided to make its way to said store, hoping that the people inside were a lot nicer.
The last several hours proved to be tedious and torturing for Gumball, Darwin and Brian, forcing the trio to overcome one hurdle after another, just so that Anais could remain safe, but getting hurt in the process, whether it was falling into some debris or getting mauled by dogs. Unwilling to go through anymore pain and suffering, the boys finally put on her a leash, if only to prevent the former child prodigy from wandering off elsewhere again.
"I wish we have thought of this sooner." says Gumball, as he held the leash that Anais was on.
"But that still doesn't change the fact that we're no closer to tracking down your sister's brain." Brian pointed out to Gumball.
"Don't be a downer, Brian." Darwin said to the purple fox. "We'll find Anais' brain sooner or later. After all, it's not like it'll just be deposited in our laps."
On cue, the boys could hear people panicking and screaming from a distance, prompting them to follow the source, dragging the former child prodigy with them. Upon arrival, the trio was alarmed that mostly everyone was running out from a toy store for some reason.
"Run for your life! There's a living brain inside!" One shopper shouted, before he ran off.
Gumball, Darwin and Brian couldn't believe what they have just heard; somehow, they were able to find Anais' brain by sheer dumb luck.
"Well, that was inconvenient." Brian flatly said.
"Tell me about it." says Gumball, as he tied and secured the leash on a nearby lamp post, making sure that his sister won't wander off. "Now Anais, I want you to stay here. Don't move."
"Okey-dokey, Gum-Gum." Anais said to her big brother, complying with her brother's demand.
"At least that's been taken care of." said Darwin, before he, Gumball and Brian head off to the store, intending to retrieve Anais' brain and return it to its rightful owner.
Anais' Brain was just as stumped by the reaction it received upon its arrival to the toy store. As soon as it made its presence known to the busy shoppers, almost everyone fled from it, treating it like some sort of monster.
Anais' Brain was both confused and sadden how its day was turning out so far. All it wanted was to have a bit of fun, but every person it had met so far only responded with fear. It's like they have never seen an actual brain before in their entire lives.
As Anais' Brain tried to figure out the cause of their reactions, the main door to the toy store burst wide open, garnering its attention. In front of the brain was a blue feline, a two-legged fish and a purple fox, all looking at it with a frown. It didn't take too long for Anais' Brain to realize who they were.
"Alright, brain…" Gumball began. "I don't know why you ditched my sister like that, but whatever it is, this ends now."
"All we're asking for is that you come back to Anais right away. She can't go on without you." Brian explained.
"So would you please just come back with us?" Darwin begged to the brain.
Anais' Brain pondered for a while, leaving the boys very anxious to see its response. After a long while, Anais' Brain looked back at the boys and blew a raspberry at them, before heading deeper into the store.
'Geez Louise! Why is it always the hard way?' Brian thought in dismay, before he and his friends began chasing after it. As the boys looked from one aisle after the other, the two-legged fish caught a glimpse of Anais' Brain among some Daisy the Donkey dolls.
"There it is!" Darwin exclaimed.
"What are we waiting for? Let's get it!" declared Gumball, as the trio began to head towards Anais' Brain.
Undaunted by their actions, the defiant brain promptly grabbed the nearest doll and proceeded to throw it as a projectile, hitting one of the boys on the head. Before the trio knew what was happening, Anais' Brain began flinging the dolls with increasing speed, forcing Gumball, Darwin and Brian to duck for cover behind some nearby trash cans.
"Wow, that brain really doesn't want to go back to Anais at all." said an astonished Brian.
"Well it has to go back to her, whether it wants to or not." Gumball said to his friend.
"But how do we do that?" asked Darwin. "We try persuading it, but that didn't work out at all."
"Well, there is one way we can do." Brian informed his friends, earning a curious look from both Gumball and Darwin.
Noticing their reaction right away, the purple fox whispered to them about his plan. After several seconds, both the blue feline and two-legged fish nodded their heads, understanding what Brian was talking about, much to his satisfaction.
"So it's settled." said Brian, before him and his friends positioned themselves. "On our mark…get set…"
"CHARGE!" the boys shouted simultaneously, charging right towards the aisle, ramming it as hard as they could. The trio's unexpected action caused Anais' Brain to lose its balance, struggling to keep its composure as best as it can. Despite its best effort, the stunned brain eventually slipped off from the aisle, dropping towards the floor.
"Don't worry, you guys, I got it!" Brian shouted, before he leaped towards Anais' Brain, grabbing it at the nick of time.
Much to his surprise, however, the brain was quite slippery than he imagined and almost immediately, Anais' Brain was able to slip out of the purple fox's grasp. Stunned but determined, both Gumball and Darwin attempted to grab the brain with all their might, but their efforts proved to be futile, as Anais' Brain effortlessly slipped out of their grasp.
'You have got to be kidding me! Stay still for a moment!' Gumball angrily thought.
After several more minutes of trying to grab the relentless brain, it finally slipped some distance away, as Anais' Brain blew a raspberry at the boys and immediately ran towards the other side of the toy store.
"It's getting away!" Darwin shouted, prompting him and his friends to follow its lead.
But before they had a chance, the trio stepped on a leftover brain juice, causing them to skid uncontrollably towards a display of action figures. Unable to stop, the boys collided with the display head-on, knocking several action figures to the ground.
"We really need to be careful next time." Brian commented, before him and his friends got up to regain their composure.
As the purple fox began to remove some of the discard action figures from his hoodie, Brian noticed that Anais' Brain was climbing up towards to a window, no doubt leading to the alleyway.
"Guys, we're going to lose that brain!" yelled Brian. "I'll head to the alleyway while you two go grab Anais."
"You got it, Brian." says Gumball.
"Don't worry; we'll meet up with you." Darwin assured his friend.
With that in mind, the boys split up, hoping that they weren't too late to catch up with Anais' Brain.
Brian head out to the back of the store, locating the back door. Without any hesitation, the purple fox immediately opened it and went out into the alleyway, just in time to see Anais' Brain climbing out to the other side, on top of a dumpster. Determined to catch it once and for all, Brian ran as fast as he can, hoping the runaway brain didn't notice his presence.
Suddenly, a net appeared from the corner of the building, ensnaring Anais' Brai, before it began pulling away. Panicked by this surprising turn of event, Brian ran even harder, before making his way to the corner of the building as cautiously as he could.
'I just hope I don't get spotted.' Brian thought to himself, before he poked his head from the corner, hoping to get a glimpse of the person who snatched the child prodigy's brain.
The person in question turned out to be a green octopus, dressed up like a scientist, from the lab coat and all the way to the medical gear. Brian had an uneasy feeling about the doctor, as he looked at Anais' Brain like he had won some prize and smiled with glee.
"Ah, I see I got myself another specimen; just what I need for my collection by yours truly, Dr. Octagon."
As the purple fox continued to look on, Brian felt a slight tap on his shoulder, causing him to yelp, before quickly realizing that it was Gumball and Darwin, the latter holding the leash that Anais was strapped to.
"What's going on, Brian?" Gumball asked the purple fox. "Where's Anais' brain?"
"Some crazed octopus managed to catch your sister's brain before I had a chance." Brian responded, before he and his friends could hear the engine starting up. They have no doubt that the octopus planned to drive off with his merchandise.
"That's not good." Darwin pointed out.
"Agreed." says Brian. "We have to follow that car and take your sister's brain from that octopus before it's too late."
Both Gumball and Darwin nodded their heads in agreement and along with Anais, the boys soon followed the doctor's car, not knowing where he was going, so long as they could get the child prodigy's brain back safe and sound.
Next time on The Newcomer
Chapter 29-The Brain: Part 2
Gumball, Darwin and Brian tracked down Anais' brain to a house that is anything but normal.
Tidbits
-I considered giving Anais' Brain a talking role, similar to Gumball's Brain, but I decided to make it more of a silent character instead.
-For the voice of Dr. Octagon, I have Rob Paulsen in mind, due to his role as Doctor Scratchnsniff from "The Animaniacs".
-It's been a long while, but I was finally able to do a two-part chapter for the very first time.
I hope everyone enjoyed read part 1 of "The Brain" and I'll see ya next time in part 2!