The Newcomer
An Amazing World of Gumball Story
By NeoNimbus
Chapter 60-The Opposites
The school bell rang for the last time at Elmore Junior High, as all of the students left the school building, with some heading home and others wanting to spend the remainder of their free time with others. For Penny and her friends, they were just glad to have finished their exam and right now, they just want to find a way to relax until they have to head back to school next week.
"So girls…" the antlered peanut began."What do you want to do for today?"
"As long as we stay clean and dry, I don't mind doing anything." Teri said to her friend.
"Normally, I would suggest heading to my mansion, but my dad is conducting a very important business deal there and I don't want to interrupt him." said Masami.
"There isn't anything good to watch in the movies this week." Molly stated.
"There aren't any new books out, so reading is out of the question." Carmen spoke up.
"I don't want to go home just yet." Leslie complained.
As the girls, and Leslie, continued to discuss with each other on what to do with their spare time, they failed to notice a certain mouse heading right towards them.
"Hey there." Rhonda greeted the group, prompting them to stop dead in their tracks and see the mouse right in front of them.
"Hello Rhonda." Penny greeted her. "How's your day going so for?"
"It's alright." Rhonda replied. "Brian's still grounded by his parents for unleashing a clone army on the town and my other friends are too busy with their school projects, so I got nothing to do."
"Sorry to hear that." Carmen spoke with sympathy.
"At least he took responsibility for his actions." Masami pointed out.
"Can't argue with that." Rhonda agreed, before something hit her. "Say, is it alright if I hang out with you guys for a bit?"
"I don't see why not!" Penny said happily, before turning to her friends. "Is everyone fine with that?"
"Sure."
"I don't mind."
"It's all good."
"I guess it's alright."
"Anyone who is a friend of my cousin is alright in my book."
"Thanks everyone. I really appreciate it." Rhonda thanked the girls (and Leslie), as she joined the group. "So, what was everyone talking about just now?"
"Well, my friends and I were wondering what to do and none of us can come up with a plan." Penny explained to the curious mouse. "Anyway, we were wondering if you might have something in mind."
In response, Rhonda pondered for a moment, hoping to come up with something. Eventually, after a while, the mouse finally got one and turned to the antlered peanut to inform her of what she had in mind.
"I think I know where we can go."
After Rhonda told them of her suggestion and everyone was onboard with it, the entire group went off to the mall and not surprisingly, it was quite packed, but still had enough room for them to roam around the huge area. As they began wandering around the mall, Penny decided to strike up a conversation with Rhonda, wanting to get to know her very well.
"So Rhonda, what do you normally do with your spare time?"
"Well, most of the time, I would normally hang out with Brian and play basketball with each other." Rhonda explained to the curious antlered peanut. "But other than that, I would also go dirt biking, do karate, play volleyball and baseball, go swimming and reading. That's all I can really think of at the moment."
Once the mouse was done finishing with her explanation, she noticed that Penny, as well as her friends, had a look of incredulity on their faces, astonished by what Rhonda would have considered to be a daily routine, much to her confusion.
"You really spend a lot of time doing those activities?" Penny finally asked, breaking the silence.
"Perhaps you should relax when you have the chance, Rhonda." Masami suggested.
"Yeah, the last thing you want to do is overdo it." Leslie pointed out.
"Sorry about that, you guys." Rhonda apologized to everyone. "I mostly do those things just to keep myself active."
"Sorry if I'm being rude, Rhonda…" Teri began. "But did you mention dirt biking?"
"I did Teri, but why do you want to know?" asked the mouse, as she arched an eyebrow, causing the paper bear to be aghast.
"How could you enjoy yourself while being covered in grass stains, sweats or dirt?! Aren't you worried that you might get sick or something?!"
"To be honest, I'm not bothered by it in the least bit." Rhonda's answer, however, didn't appear to calm Teri's nerves down. "But don't worry, I always clean myself up when I'm done."
Despite the mouse's assurance, Teri remained skeptical of her claims; fortunately for the paper bear, Rhonda didn't notice the uncertainty and doubt on her face, before the group resumed wandering the mall.
For the next thirty minutes, the group continued to wander around the mall, window shopping from one place after another, looking at items in varying price ranges. Unfortunately for them, they had a strict budget and as a result, none of them were able to get what they wanted, much to their dismay.
'There has to be at least one place out there that we can get something from.' Penny thought to herself, just before Rhonda suddenly spoke up.
"Hold it for just one second! I think I saw something I want to check out!"
The group obliged, as they stopped dead in their tracks and looked in the mouse's direction. Much to their curiosity, what they saw in front of them was a sports shop and on display was a soccer ball, with a label reading 'Half off discount' on it.
"Rhonda, are you sure you want to get it?" asked Carmen.
"I'm thinking about it, but I'm not so sure if I should go with it." the mouse replied. "On one hand, I can sure use a new one to replace the old one back home. But on the other hand-"
"I think its best you don't buy it at all." Teri suddenly spoke, cutting off Rhonda's sentence, before she confronted the surprised mouse.
"Teri is there a problem?" she calmly asked the paper bear.
"Of course there is a problem! Are you trying to get yourself infected?! Physical contact from anything is one of many ways to transmit the common cold! You could suffer the flu or worse!"
"That's it? That's what you're so concerned about?" Rhonda asked, surprised. "Teri, you're overreacting over nothing. No one can get ill just like that."
Before the argument can go on any further, however, a certain antlered peanut made her way between the two, hoping to stop the argument it before it even began.
"Alright you two, stop arguing this instant. We're here to have fun and I don't want our day to be ruined over something so trivial. Are we clear on that?"
"…Yes Penny, I understand." Rhonda replied. "I'll just get the soccer ball some other day then, for Teri's sake."
"As long as she doesn't buy it, then I'm fine with it." said Teri.
Once Penny was certain that the two were cool with one another, she decided that it was time to leave the mall, all the while hoping that this day didn't end on a bad note.
Wandering around the mall had left the group rather hungry, so after a quick conversation with each other, they decided to make their way to Joyful Burger for a quick bite. Once the group ordered their meal, they sat at the nearest table, all the while striking up a conversation with one another until their food was ready.
"So let me get this straight…" Rhonda began. "Did that really happen between Gumball and Darwin back at the tree house?"
"Unfortunately, it really happened." Masami admitted. "But none of us wanted to inform those two of what really happened and it was best if they thought they had kissed Penny and me."
"At least that story is believable, unlike that one with the virus." Molly remarked.
"I keep telling you it really happened!" Teri adamantly insisted. "None of you were there when it occurred! I almost lost my head and Gumball squashed that virus with his foot! I even washed it three times just in case!"
"I was wondering why Gumball was walking around with a limp that week." said Penny, as she rubbed her chin.
'Not to mention your behavior back at the mall.' Rhonda thought.
"Anyway…" Leslie began, snapping the mouse back to reality. "Did it really take you that long to notice that Brian has a crush on you?"
"To be honest Leslie, I didn't see the truth immediately." Rhonda admitted. "But looking back at it, I should have noticed it much sooner. I'm just thankful that Mike was able to point this out."
"Speaking of which, you seem to really know Mike pretty well." Carmen noted.
"We met in Elmore Elementary a few years ago…" Rhonda began to explain. "He can be a bit on the rough edge, but he's a nice guy once you get to know him."
The group continued to chat with one another, enjoying each other's company. But their conversation was interrupted when Larry came by to hand them their food, prompting everyone to grab their meals and begin to chow down. Soon, everyone was savoring their meals, including Rhonda, though the mouse unintentionally made a mess in the process, much to Teri's annoyance, agitated at the sight.
"Stop eating this instant, Rhonda!" Teri demanded, prompting the mouse to stop chewing and look at the paper bear with surprise. "You should be very careful next time! You're going to spread germs all over the place!"
Rhonda, however, was becoming irritated by the paper bear's criticism, as she put her meal down and talked to Teri.
"Excuse me, your majesty, but maybe you should stop overreacting over the little things and try to relax for a change!"
"Oh, is that so?"
Soon, both girls were arguing back and forth, criticizing the other's faults, while Penny and her friends looked on, the former becoming concerned that things were about to ugly.
"Rhonda, Teri, you need to calm down. There's no reason to argue like this."
Penny's pleas, however, fell on deaf ears, as the mouse and the paper bear were at each other's throats. Before Rhonda unknowingly slammed her fist on her meal, squirting ketchup all over an astonished Teri, as she froze with a look of fear on her face.
"Teri, it's not like that! I didn't even do it on-" was all Rhonda could say, before Teri yelled in horror, freaked out that she got covered in condiments, before she got out of her seat and headed straight into the girls' bathroom.
"Don't worry Penny, Masami, Carmen and I got this." Molly informed the antlered peanut, before she and her friends made their way to the girls' bathroom, leaving only Penny, Leslie and Rhonda at the table, as the latter looked at the antlered peanut with a look of guilt on her face.
"I'm sorry for what I did back there. I never meant to do that on purpose, I swear."
"It's alright Rhonda, you didn't mean to." Penny assured the mouse, having accepted her apology.
"Don't worry too much about it. I'm sure Teri will loosen up eventually." Leslie insisted.
As much as wanted to agree with her cousin, however, Penny was very worried that neither the mouse nor the paper bear were getting along with one another, due to their different personalities.
After everyone was done with their meals at Joyful Burger, Penny decided to take the group back to her house to hang out, though traveling there proved to be quite hectic, due to Rhonda and Teri not getting along with one another, to the point that they won't even look at one another.
Shortly after they left the fast food joint, both the mouse and the paper bear kept a long distance from each other, not saying another word to the other. Things got much worse between them when Teri saw three other kids playing a game of catch with their ball and scared them with one of her germ speeches, prompting Rhonda to intervene and scold the paper bear for her behavior.
Penny was just glad that she was able to make it to her place on time, as she lead her friends up to her bedroom, though her patience was wearing thin due to the two's constant arguments. But right now, the antlered peanut decided to think of something that won't cause Rhonda and Teri to get into another argument.
'What would be a good way for those two to get along?' Penny thought to herself, as her friends were busy chatting with each other. After a few minutes of pondering, the antlered peanut finally found what she considered to be the best solution.
"So, does anyone want to play 'truth or dare'?" she asked her friends, prompting everyone, including Rhonda and Teri, to stop what they were doing and focus their gaze at Penny. Eventually, after a minute or so of pondering, they eventually gave the antlered peanut their answer.
"Sure."
"Certainly."
"I don't mind."
"That's great then. I'll go first." said Penny, as she turned her attention to Masami. "Masami, truth or dare?"
"Dare."
"I dare you to make some snow."
Masami didn't seem surprised to hear this and obliged to her friend's request, concentrating as hard as she could, until her entire body turned grey and soon, she was able to create snow in the process, to everyone's amazement, including Rhonda's.
'I have to admit, that is pretty cool.' the mouse thought, before the cloud turned her attention to Molly.
"Alright Molly, truth or dare?"
"Truth."
"Who do you have a crush on?" Masami asked with a smirk, causing the long neck's head to sweat, as everyone waited patiently for her answer. Eventually, Molly took a deep breath and answered the cloud's question.
"It's Banana Joe." she admitted, causing some of her friends to gasp in surprise, while others were quite amused by it.
For the next several minutes, the game of 'truth or dare' continued onwards, with Molly daring Leslie to tickle Carmen, to Carmen convincing Penny to tell what she really thought of the latest book series out there. Just recently, the antlered peanut managed to get Rhonda talking about her least favorite activity, which happened to be cheerleading, something that didn't seem to surprise her or her friends, due to her tomboyish nature and right now, it was the mouse's turn, as she turned her attention to Teri with a mischievous smile, much to the paper bear's discomfort.
'I don't like the way she's looking at me.' Teri thought to herself, before the mouse began to talk.
"Alright Teri, truth or dare?"
"…Dare." Teri decided that it was better than telling the truth.
"I dare you to shake my hand." said Rhonda, as she extended her hand towards the mortified paper bear.
Teri hesitated for a moment, staring at the mouse's hand, uncertain whether Rhonda had it washed or not. But upon gazing at the mouse's smirk, the paper bear became serious and shook her hand with a firm grip, before letting it go, dismayed that she went through with it.
'I really need to clean myself when this is over.' Teri thought, before she confronted Rhonda, having decided on what to do. "Alright Rhonda, truth or dare?"
"Dare."
"I dare you to dress up as a cheerleader." Teri then pulled a cheerleader uniform from behind her back, complete with pom-poms, causing Rhonda to gasp in shock. Likewise, Penny, her cousin and her friends were stunned by this as well.
"What's wrong Rhonda, are you scared?"
In response, the look of shock from the mouse's face was replaced by determination, as Rhonda begrudgingly took the cheerleading uniform, along with the pom-poms and went to the nearest bathroom. After a few minutes, the mouse came out of the bathroom, now dressed up like a cheerleader, making her way towards the group, as Teri looked on smugly, prompting the mouse to glare at the paper bear.
"Happy?" Rhonda grumbled.
"Very, hehe." the paper bear giggled.
'We'll see about that.' the mouse thought, before she spoke once more. "Teri, I dare you to do ten push-ups."
"You're on!" Teri yelled and began to do some push-ups, despite her frail body. After what felt like forever, the paper bear managed to successfully pull off ten push-ups, standing and cheering with joy, before she took a quick sniff of herself and realized that she smelled awful. It didn't take too long to realize what had occurred.
"You knew this was going to happen, didn't you?" asked Teri.
"Yes…yes I did." Rhonda replied with a smug look on her face, causing the paper bear to growl in aggravation.
"Rhonda, I dare you to clean up every doorknob in this house."
In response, the mouse immediately went back to the bathroom and grabbed the closest rag and sanitizer, before she immediately dashed off, as Teri, along with her friends, followed her around. One by one, Rhonda was able to clean the doorknobs from the second floor to the first floor and after several minutes, she was able to finish cleaning up the last doorknob from the front door, but by then, the mouse was completely exhausted from running all over the place.
"Had enough?" Teri asked Rhonda, as the paper bear approached her.
"Not by a long shot." the mouse retorted. "I dare you to jump into that mud puddle."
Teri turned around and saw a mud puddle that was a few inches away from her. Though a bit squeamish by the sight, the paper bear put her fear aside and without any hesitation, jumped into the mud puddle as hard as she could, getting herself covered from head to toe in the process, before turning her attention to Rhonda.
"I dare you to touch Carmen's head."
"Wait, WHAT?!" Carmen exclaimed in surprise, before Rhonda touched the cactus' head, as the mouse recoiled in pain from the sharp needles. After having the needles pulled and her hand disinfected with rubbing alcohol (courtesy of Leslie), Rhonda turned her attention to Teri once more.
"I'm not done yet! I dare you to…"
Before long, the mouse and the paper bear continued on with their dares, each getting much more hectic than the last, while Penny and her friends could only look on, the former losing her patience with each passing minute. Today didn't turn out the way she had hoped and instead of having a good time, it was getting much worse instead. She didn't even know how much longer she could tolerate such behavior at this point.
"I think they're taking this truth or dare game way too seriously." Leslie commented, finally breaking the silence.
"No kidding." Masami agreed. "They've been at each other's throats for quite some time."
"It was fine at first, but now it's becoming ridiculous." said an unimpressed Molly.
"Penny, we've got to do something." Carmen spoke to the antlered peanut with concern.
"Don't worry Carmen; I know exactly what to do." Penny then took a deep breath and before they knew it, she screamed as loud as she can. "Rhonda and Teri, stop this nonsense at ONCE!"
The moment the antlered peanut yelled out those words, the mouse and the paper bear ceased their wave of dares and turned to face an irate and upset Penny. Likewise, her friends were shocked to see such an expression on her face, as the antlered peanut made her way towards Rhonda and Teri, completely fed up with their behavior.
"All I wanted was for everyone to get along, but you two choose to argue with each other instead." Penny scolded both Rhonda and Teri. "You two should be ashamed of yourselves!"
Rhonda and Teri continued to look at the antlered peanut, still amazed to see such anger from her face, before looking at one another. Soon, guilt and regret formed on their faces, feeling bad for what they have done, before they faced Penny once more.
"We're sorry, Penny." Rhonda apologized to the antlered peanut.
"We never meant to ruin anyone's day." Teri insisted to her friend.
For a long while, not a single response came from Penny, her face still expressing anger. But slowly, the antlered peanut's expression disappeared, replaced by calmness, before she finally spoke to the concerned duo.
"Apology accepted, you guys. I'm glad you two realized what you were doing was wrong. And don't worry, we still have enough time to make up for today."
Both Rhonda and Teri smiled, happy that they were able to make amends with their friend for their actions.
"But right now, you two need to take a shower." Penny pointed out.
"Penny's right, you guys. You two reek." said Masami, prompting everyone else to make similar comments to the two as well.
"Sure, we'll get to it right away." Rhonda assured them.
"Same here." Teri insisted.
With that, both the mouse and the paper bear made their way inside Penny's house, but not before they looked at each other and smiled, realizing that, in spite of their different personalities, they can get along with each other very well.
Next time on The Newcomer
Chapter 61-The General
Mike meets with his grandfather who turns out to be a retired military general and the person who taught Mike basically everything he knows about strategy. Hilarity ensues while they're in town.
Tidbits
-It's weird not seeing Brian in this chapter, along with Gumball, Darwin and Mike. But at least they were mentioned.
-First time I was able to write up a chapter focusing exclusively on Rhonda and despite the challenges, it wasn't bad at all.
-I wanted to thank Sal for his help on this chapter. Also, I want to thank Supergogeta14 for one of his suggestion.
I hope everyone enjoyed The Opposites and I'll be seeing ya next chapter!