The Newcomer
An Amazing World of Gumball Story
By NeoNimbus
Chapter 57-The Clones: Part 1
School was finally done for today, as everyone left the building and went home. Among the students was Hector, the friendly giant among his fellow peers, as he prepared himself to make his way home and call it for the day. But before Hector could make so much as a few steps, he heard Brian sighing in dismay, much to his curiosity, before he leaned down to confront the purple fox.
"Why the long face, Brian? Did something happen to you today?"
In response, Brian took a deep breath, before he offered an explanation to Hector.
"If you must know, I was originally planning to hang out with Rhonda today, but my friends suddenly made some requests and before long, I ended up accepting them on the spot. I just don't think I can accomplish them all."
"What exactly do you mean by that?" the giant questioned the purple fox.
"It all began this afternoon…"
Three hours earlier…
Brian couldn't believe his luck when Rhonda called him much earlier than usual and asked him if he wanted to come by her house to hang out after school. Unsurprisingly, the purple fox gladly accepted his girlfriend's offer, which left the mouse very happy. Right now, he just want to get through the rest of the day and-
"Hey Brian!" Gumball and Darwin greeted their friend, as the purple fox turned his attention to them.
"Hey guys, what's up?" Brian greeted them. "Why so cheerful?"
"Gumball and I finally got the new video game today and we want you to come and play with us." Darwin explained to his friend.
"Please Brian; it'll make our day if you showed up." Gumball pleaded.
Brian was about to decline their request, when he noticed that the brothers were giving him the puppy dog eyes, much to his chagrin.
'Darn! I hate it when they do that!' Brian angrily thought, before he sighed and turned his attention to his friends. "Alright, I'll drop by when I have the chance."
Brian's answer caused the Watterson brothers to happily rejoice, before they skipped off in the opposite direction.
"Well, it's just going to be for a few minutes." Brian said to himself. "After all, what else could go-"
"Am I interrupting anything, Brian?" a certain child prodigy asked, prompting Brian to look at Anais.
"Not really, Anais. I was about to go to the cafeteria and-"
"In that case, can you play with me this afternoon, just this once?"
Brian didn't respond right away and stare at the child prodigy, looking at him wide-eyed with innocence. As much as he wanted to decline, he didn't want to upset the four year old girl.
"Sure Anais, I'll drop by this afternoon." the purple fox replied, much to the child prodigy's joy, allowing Brian to resume to the cafeteria. "Great, this is going to be more difficult than I thought. What's next?"
On cue, Mike popped out of nowhere, causing Brian to almost fall on his back, before he regained his composure, wanting to hear the maroon badger out.
"Brian, thank goodness I found you! I managed to locate some very obscure retro cartoons and I wanted you to come by to my house to check them out after school!"
"That sounds good and all, but-" was all Brian could say, before being cut off by Mike.
"That's great! See you this afternoon then!"
With that, Mike made his way to the cafeteria, leaving Brian in the hallway on his own, as the purple fox couldn't believe what had happened just now.
"Great, this keeps getting better! Who's going to bother me next?!"
"Sorry to bother you, Brian…" a certain antlered peanut began, prompting Brian to focus his gaze on Penny."But I was wondering if you can lend me a hand doing some yard work at my house?"
"…Sure, what are friends for." Brian reluctantly said, giving the antlered peanut a smile, before he quickly walked away from the scene as fast as he could. "Darn it! I did it again! I really need to stop!"
In the middle of his brief speech, Carrie teleported right in front of the purple fox, prompting Brian to stop dead in his tracks, as the young ghost began to talk to him.
"Brian, is it alright if I borrow your body for today? Joyful Burger is unveiling its latest meal and I want to take a quick bite out of it! Anyway, just show up this afternoon."
Before Brian could say another word to the ecstatic ghost, Carrie teleported out of his sight, causing the purple fox to groan in dismay.
"Aw man, I can't believe that it happened again. I didn't even have a say in the matter. I swear, this can't get any worse."
Just then, a certain jock approached Brian from around the corner, as the purple fox decided to just hear what Tobias had to say to him, all the while silently cursing himself.
"Brian, can you be my coach for today? Banana Joe got himself injured during PE and I was wondering-"
"Sure Tobias, I'll meet you at your house this afternoon." Brian quickly replied, much to the jock's surprise.
"…Alright, I'll see you this afternoon then." said Tobias, before he went in the opposite direction, as the purple fox facepalmed, dismayed by today's unfortunate development.
Present…
"…And that's how it happened."
Hector continued to listen on to Brian's story, as the friendly giant couldn't help but sympathize with the purple fox. It was clear that he didn't know what to do and the last thing that Brian wanted to do was disappoint everyone, including Rhonda. But then, an idea came to mind and after a minute or so of pondering, Hector decided to inform the distressed fox of what he had in mind.
"Maybe I can help you out with your problems."
"You can?" asked a surprised Brian. "I don't know, Hector…"
"Just hear me out at least." Hector insisted. "If it doesn't work, we won't talk about it ever again."
Brian pondered for a moment, thinking of the giant's offer; after a few minutes, the purple fox turned his attention to Hector, ready to give him his answer.
"Alright Hector, lead the way."
Happy that the purple fox accepted his offer, Hector put Brian on top of his shoulder, as the friendly giant made his way to the outskirts of town, until the two made their way to a rather large cavern, much to the purple fox's astonishment.
"Wow Hector, I never imagined that you would live in such a place like this."
"Well, when you need to move around and need to have some extra space, this is as close as it can get." Hector explained, as he and Brian went inside. "Mom, I'm home."
"Alright honey, I'm coming." Mrs. Jotunheim called out from the kitchen, as the witch made her way to the living room.
Upon seeing Hector's mom, Brian was astonished to find out that not only was she a witch, she was rather small compared to the friendly giant. As the purple fox approached the witch, he was about to say something when Mrs. Jotunheim suddenly spoke first.
"You can forget about making that smart aleck talk. I've already heard those before." Hector's mom bluntly informed the purple fox.
"Sorry about that." Brian apologized to the witch, as he rubbed his head sheepishly. "Anyway, it was nice meeting you ma'am."
"Apology accepted and it's nice meeting you too." said Mrs. Jotunheim, as she shook the purple fox's paw.
"Sorry for being rude mom, but can I talk with you for a moment?" asked Hector.
"Sure Hector, just come with me to the back of the cave." the witch replied.
With that, both the giant and his mother made their way to the back, while Brian waited patiently in the living room, whistling to himself to prevent boredom. After a few minutes, the purple fox was startled by Mrs. Jotunheim shouting.
"No! Absolutely not! If I let him do that, he'll probably abuse it!"
Stunned but curious as to what's going on, Brian decided to quietly sneak into the back of the cave, as he poked his head from around the corner and saw Hector and his mom apparently arguing about something.
"But mom, he's not like that!"
"And how am I supposed to know that?! I've never met the kid!"
"Sorry for being rude, but what's going on?" asked a concerned Brian, prompting both Hector and his mom to turned their gaze to the purple fox.
"If you must know kid, my son wants to use some of the crystals in the cave to create clones out of you in order to resolve your little dilemma." Mrs. Jotunheim explained.
"How exactly does a few crystals create clones of me?" asked Brian, prompting the witch to face palm in response, immediately regretting what she had said, before she pulled the curtain right behind her, revealing a bizarre looking machine, with two giant tubes sticking out and a dispenser-like mechanism in the middle of the machine.
"This machine right here is capable of creating an exact duplicate in a matter of seconds from the crystal itself, giving it complete sentience based off of the original."
Once the witch was done explaining to Brian about the cloning machine, the purple fox couldn't help but be amazed that such a machine even existed, before something else came to mind.
"Why did you have something like this to begin with?"
Mrs. Jotunheim didn't reply right away; instead, she took a deep breath before the witch offered an answer to the curious purple fox.
"When I first designed the machine, it was intended to harness the crystals in the cave as energy as an alternative source for electricity. But when the machine instead created an exact duplicate of me, I shut it down right away and hid it back here, so no one else would abuse its power."
As soon as Mrs. Jotunheim explained her reasons, Brian understood why the witch would be weary of him using the machine in the first place. He would be abrasive too if someone wanted to use the machine for their own greedy purposes.
"Mrs. Jotunheim, I get it that you don't want me to use the machine, but I assure you, I'm not the kind of person who would do it for any selfish reasons."
"That's exactly my point." Hector finally spoke.
"Sorry kid, no can do." Mrs. Jotunheim bluntly refused. "It doesn't matter if your intentions are good. You don't even know the kind of mayhem you might unwittingly unleash if you go through with it."
"Speaking of which, what would be the downside of the cloning machine?" asked Brian.
"Even though the clones can become an exact copy of the original, right down to the memories, they can also be very unpredictable in nature, varying based on the original's personality." Mrs. Jotunheim replied.
As the witch was done finishing her answer to Brian, all the purple fox could do is ponder on what to do next. All he needed to do was to get Mrs. Jotunheim out of the cave and out of sight, so he can use the cloning machine. Then, an idea came to mind and without any hesitation, decided to go through with it right away.
"You're right, Mrs. Jotunheim. Something like this is too dangerous to be used, no matter what."
"Look kid, you can argue with me all you want, but my answer would be-what did you say?" the witch asked suddenly, realizing that the answer Brian gave to her wasn't what she expected.
"You heard me, I'm not interested in using the machine, isn't the right Hector?" Brian then winked his eye at the friendly giant and almost immediately, Hector realized the purple fox's intention.
"That's right, mom. Brian said he's no longer interested after what you have told him."
"It'll make you feel better…" Brian began. "Hector and I could clean up the cave, while you just go out and get some fresh air."
Mrs. Jotunheim continued to look at the purple fox, still surprised that he changed his mind just like that. At the same time, however, the witch couldn't help but smile, glad that he finally got the hint.
"You're right kid; I really need to go out right now. In the meantime, you and Hector better do a good job cleaning up the cave before I get back."
With that, Mrs. Jotunheim grabbed the nearest broom and flew off, leaving the cave at the speed of light. Once she out of his sight, Brian immediately turned his attention to the cloning machine, intending to use it right away.
'That was a lot easier than I thought.' Brian thought, as he and Hector approached the machine, before the purple fox grabbed six crystals off the cave's wall. "So Hector, do you know how to work this contraption?"
"That's simple, Brian…" Hector began. "All you have to do is put the crystals in the dispenser, press the green button and get into the capsule right away."
Brian nodded his head, understanding the giant's explanation, as he put the crystals in the dispenser, pressed the green button and made his way inside the capsule. After waiting for a minute or so, the machine suddenly activated, sucking Brian in the capsule from one tube over another, before the purple fox exited out, dazed from being sucked in and out in seconds. Suddenly, the crystals were spit out of the machine and before Brian and Hector knew what happened next, they suddenly transformed into an exact copy of Brian. Initially, both the purple fox and the giant were left speechless, unable to say a single word. Eventually, Brian made his way to the six clones, impressed that the machine did a good job.
"Hello there, my name is Brian O'Quinn, the one and only." the purple fox greeted them.
"Oh, that's funny, my name is also Brian O'Quinn." one of the clones greeted back.
"Same here!"
"Me too!"
"Me three!"
Before long, Brian and his clones began to greet one another, humoring themselves in the process, until Hector finally spoke, cutting off their conversations.
"Not to be rude Brian, but maybe you should set yourself apart from your clones. That way, it'll be easier to tell who's who." the giant suggested with a tone of concern in his voice.
"…I can worry about that later, Hector." said Brian, after pondering for a few minutes, as he shrugged his shoulders before turning his attention to the clones. "Alright, listen up. Here's what you have to do…"
After telling them on what to do, most of the clones understood their counterpart's instructions, before they made their way to one of his friends, before Brian himself left the cave to meet up with Rhonda. Before he left, however, Hector expressed doubt as to whether the idea would turn out successful or not. After assuring the giant that everything will be fine, Brian went off to the Paxton residence, just in time to see Rhonda sitting on the porch, no doubt waiting patiently for her boyfriend.
"Hey Rhonda." Brian greeted his girlfriend.
"Hey Brian." Rhonda greeted back, before something else came to mind. "What took you so long?"
"I….had a few things to take care of. Sorry it took so long." Brian half-heartedly replied.
"Fair enough." said Rhonda, accepting her boyfriend's answer. "Anyway, come on in."
Brian smiled, happy that his girlfriend wasn't too upset and as he made his way inside the mouse's house, he couldn't help but feel relieved, convincing himself that, for once, nothing bad was going to happen.
The moment that their friend showed up at their house, the brothers rejoiced that "Brian" had stopped by to check out their latest game. Before long, they began to play like mad and much to their surprise, Brian was in the lead, prompting the duo to catch up with him as best as they could. After several minutes, however, the purple fox was able to maintain the lead, eventually finishing in first place, much to his joy.
"Oh yeah, I'm the winner! I'm the best! Who's the man? I'm the man!"
"Whoa there Brian, calm down." said Gumball. "There's no reason to gloat like that."
"Don't worry about it, Gumball. Brian's just having fun, that's all." Darwin insisted, before facing the purple fox. "Best two out of three?"
"You got it!" "Brian" replied.
As the boys began to play another match on their game, in the backyard, Anais waited patiently for Brian to show up, having already set up the table, tea sets and the dolls. As the child prodigy continued to wait, a certain purple fox unexpectedly showed up right behind her.
"Hello Anais." "Brian #2" greeted, causing the child prodigy to yelp, before she regained her composure and confronted the ecstatic purple fox.
"Brian, where have you been? I've been waiting for several minutes."
"Sorry about that Anais. I was at my house doing some last minute errand." "Brian #2" apologized.
"Well, I guess I can accept that." said Anais, as she lead the purple fox to the table, have him take his seat, before she sat down right across him. "Would you like some tea, Brian?"
"Why yes Anais, I would love to." "Brian #2" replied, as the child prodigy 'poured' some tea into his cup, allowing the purple fox to 'sip' it, before he gave Anais a weird look. "Where's the tea, Anais?"
"What are you talking about, Brian? We're just pretending to have tea." the child prodigy replied.
"Brian #2", however, continued to look at Anais, completely dumbfounded by her answer, which only added confusion for the child prodigy.
'He must have never done this before.'
Three houses away at the Badgero residence, Mike was sitting on the couch alongside with "Brian #3", watching some retro cartoons on the TV. At first, nothing happened out of the ordinary, other than laughing their heads off on some of the funniest scenes they ever watched. But then, the maroon badger noticed that the purple fox was laughing at every single scene, some of which weren't even funny to begin with.
"Brian, are you alright?" asked a concerned Mike.
"Oh yeah, I'm fine Mike. I'm just enjoying myself." the purple fox replied, before he resumed watching, all the while laughing his head off.
The maroon badger, for his part, continued to look at his friend, still weirded out by his strange behavior.
Initially, Penny thought that having someone like Brian around would make things easier when she's doing her yard work. But the antlered peanut ended up regretting this, especially considering how the purple fox managed to do such an awful job with it. Not only did Brian give her house a terrible paint job, but he mowed the lawn too hard, as well as trimmed the bushes too well. Needless to say, her house looks like a complete wreck.
"Brian, what did you do to my house?!" Penny shouted, demanding an answer from her friend.
"I, um, gave it a new look?" "Brian #4" sheepishly replied, before a fire burst out from the kitchen, much to the antlered peanut's chagrin.
When Brian showed up at Joyful Burger, Carrie was initially pleased that the purple fox managed to show up, as she already ordered her meal and waited for her friend so she can possess his body. But the moment her meal came, however, Brian suddenly took one bite and entranced by it, he quickly devoured it with one whole bite. It didn't help that it was the last meal they had and won't be selling them for the next three months, prompting Carrie to confront her friend.
"Brian, why did you eat the last meal?! You were supposed to allow me to take a bite at it. You didn't leave me a piece to nibble on."
"Brian #5", for his part, didn't respond right away, as he rubbed his head sheepishly, before he faced the young ghost once more with an answer.
"Um…oops?" was all he could say, as Carrie shook her head in disbelief.
Tobias couldn't believe how his day was turning out for him. When Brian dropped by at his place, the jock didn't expect anything odd to ever happen, as the purple fox helped him out with his exercise routine, from doing some push-ups to jumping jacks. Several minutes later, however, Brian suddenly became rather aggressive towards Tobias, especially if he ended up screwing up one routine; recently, the jock made a mishap when he attempted to do a pull up, only to fall face first to the ground, irritating Brian in the process.
"That was the most pathetic display of athleticism!" the purple fox shouted at Tobias. "How could you do a good job if you can't keep up the pace?!"
"I'm doing the best I can, Brian." the tired jock attempted to explain.
"If I were you, I suggest you shut your yappers!" "Brian #6" berated Tobias. "Otherwise, you'll be spending your days living in a van down by the river! Is that you want?!"
"Um…no?" was the jock's answer.
"Then get your butt up and exercise right now!" the purple fox shouted, as Tobias got up and put in his best effort.
Brian was surprised by how his day turned out for him. For the last several hours, he and Rhonda played some basketball and watched some TV, all the while enjoying each other's company. When the sun was finally setting, Brian said his goodbyes to Rhonda, before the purple fox made his way home, happy that for once, nothing bad happened.
'Well, today turned out good for a change. I sure hope it stays like that.' Brian happily thought.
By the time the purple fox eventually made his way back home, he noticed that his clones had also arrived at his residence as well, apparently discussing how today turned out for them.
"Hello there and how was everyone's day?" Brian called out to his clones.
In response, the clones told him that everything went well and they somehow managed to accomplish what they were set out to do. Some of them, however, seemed reluctant to talk about how it all went and as much as the purple fox wanted to dwell on it, another problem suddenly rose up, much to his dismay.
'Oh no! What am I going to do with them?!'
In the midst of his thoughts, his mother called him out through the window, as Brian and his clones listened on.
"Brian, are you there? Dinner is almost ready, so wash your paws before you eat."
The moment Annie says those words; the clones became ecstatic and proceeded to make their way to the front door. But before they could make their way to the front porch…
"STOP!" Brian shouted, prompting the clones to stop dead in their tracks and turned their gaze to their counterpart. "Don't be in such a rush. Just wait outside for a moment and I'll be right back."
Reluctantly, the clones obliged, allowing Brian into the house, before he gently closed the door behind him. But almost immediately, however, panic and anxiety soon expressed itself in the purple fox's face.
'What do I do now?! If my parents see seven of me in the house, they'll be asking questions! I need to come up with a plan…and fast!'
At the moment, he could hear the clones from outside becoming restless; demanding to know what was taking so long. At the same time, the purple fox caught a sniff from tonight's dinner…wait a minute! That's it! He just found a solution to his problem!
With that in mind, Brian made his way to the kitchen, with Gordon and Annie sitting at the table with a meatloaf in the middle, no doubt what his mom had cooked for dinner.
"Hello mom and dad…" the purple fox greeted his parents, as he grabbed one plate and cut a slice from the meatloaf."Don't mind if I help myself with this lovely meal."
Before Gordon and Annie could say anything, their son disappeared in a blink of an eye. A few seconds later, however, Brian reappeared once more, with the plate and his meal nowhere in sight.
"Man that was so delicious! Can I help myself with another?"
"Um, sure, I guess." Gordon replied.
Brian happily helped himself with a slice of meatloaf before pulling off the same disappearing act. Soon, the purple fox made the same move for at least four times, before Brian had the last slice of meatloaf, which, by then, was nearly depleted.
"Brian, are you alright?" Annie asked her son, as she and her husband were rendered speechless by his behavior.
"Sure mom, I never felt better." the purple fox replied. "Anyway, I have to get to bed right now so I can get ready for tomorrow."
With that, Brian made his way upstairs, still holding onto his plates, as Gordon and Annie remained dumbfounded by their son's unusual behavior.
Once the purple fox made his way inside his bedroom, Brian gently closed the door right behind him, before turning his attention to his clones, who are seemingly having the time of their lives. After bringing them their meal and quietly leading them to his bedroom, he was just glad that his parents didn't figure out their existence. But then, another problem soon popped up in his mind.
"Now what am I supposed to do?" Brian asked himself, not realizing that tomorrow would bring him many more problems.
Next time on The Newcomer
Chapter 58-The Clones: Part 2
Brian's situation becomes complicated when his friends confront him and things gets worse when the clones decide to rebel against him.
Tidbits
-After all this time, I was finally able to come with a chapter for both Hector and his mom. It may have taken such a long time, but I'm glad that I got to this chapter.
-Believe it or not, Jotunheim are the last names for both Hector and his mom and no, I didn't make this up. I found it at the Gumball wiki.
-I wanted to thank Sal for his help on this chapter.
Hope everyone enjoyed part 1 of The Clones and I'll be seeing ya in the next part!