The Newcomer
An Amazing World of Gumball Story
By NeoNimbus
Chapter 67-The Cooking
Normally for Brian, Mike and the Watterson brothers, they would be spending most of their day playing video games, watching some TV and reading some comics. Instead, the four were heading to the Paxton residence after Rhonda called Brian for him and his friends to drop by, apparently in dire need of help. As they continued to walk towards their destination, Gumball decided to strike up a conversation, if only to pass the time.
"So Brian, do you know why your girlfriend needed our help?"
"Honestly, I don't know." the purple fox replied. "All I do know is that she apparently needs our help."
"Well if it's urgent to her, it must be big." Mike reasoned.
"Maybe it's best that we have Rhonda herself explain it to us." Darwin suggested.
As the boys continued to converse for several more minutes, the four eventually arrived at the Paxton residence, as Brian rang the doorbell, waiting for his girlfriend to show up any minute now. A few seconds later, Rhonda opened the front door, delighted to see the boys arriving just in time.
"Guys, I'm glad you're here. Come to the kitchen right away."
The boys obliged and followed Rhonda inside her home. As the mouse led them into the kitchen, the four took a quick sniff of the aroma perpetrating in the area.
"What's that smell?" Mike asked Rhonda as he didn't recognize it.
"I'm glad you asked." the mouse replied, as she took out some oven mitts from the nearest cupboard, before opening the stove and pulling a casserole out of it, much to the boys' surprise, before setting it up on the table.
"That's it? That's wat you called us over for?" Brian asked Rhonda.
"It's actually for a school assignment..." the mouse began to explain."You see, even though I'm good at sports, I never tried cooking before in my life and I want to make sure that I did it right."
"It smells really good!" Gumball exclaimed as his stomach rumbled.
"I don't know, Gumball..." Darwin began to express his doubt. "It smells good, but how does it taste?"
"Let's not jump to conclusions, Darwin." Gumball replied. "Rhonda might have done it on her first try."
"Well, there's an old saying: 'Don't knock it 'til you try it." said Mike, leaving the Watterson brothers confused by his statement, prompting Brian to sigh, before offering a simple explanation to his friends.
"What Mike meant to say it that you should try it out before judging it."
"…Oh!" Gumball and Darwin responded simultaneously, having understood Brian's last statement.
Rhonda, meanwhile, took out four plates and cut a slice of casserole, putting one piece onto each plate, before handing them to the boys one by one.
"Let me know what you guys think."
"When we're done, we'll let you know." said Darwin, before he and his friends started to dig in.
Unfortunately for the boys, the casserole, despite its appearance, wasn't as edible as they had imagined and as a result they all ended up getting food poisoning. Panicked by this, Rhonda immediately alerted her father about this, prompting Max to drive them to the nearest hospital right away. Thankfully for Rhonda, it wasn't as severe as they thought and after informing their family of what happened, everyone was with Brian, Mike and the Watterson brothers in the Patients Ward section, as the four could do nothing but lay around and moan in pain.
"Why does everything seem green?" Brian asked anyone that was around to hear him.
"What are you talking about, Brian? I'm seeing miniature versions of myself hovering above me." Gumball meekly replied.
"I don't know about you, but I'm seeing swirls right now." Darwin insisted.
"I can't see anything!" Mike exclaimed.
While the boys remained delirious, Nicole talked to Rhonda, clearly worried for their well-beings.
"Rhonda, do you know how this happened?"
"Well..." was all Rhonda could say, rubbing her head sheepishly and keeping her eyes focused away from the older, blue feline, much to the suspicion of a certain child prodigy.
"Why do I have a feeling that you have something to do with this?" Anais asked the mouse, prompting Rhonda to sigh before giving the child prodigy an answer.
"...Because I do."
Everyone was stunned by Rhonda's admission, as they didn't expect to hear that at all.
"Can you tell us what happened?" asked Gordon.
"Just be honest with us, dear." Annie insisted.
Taking a deep breath, Rhonda began to explain to everyone of what had happened. Once she was done explaining, everyone couldn't help but sympathize with the mouse, all agreeing that she never meant to get the boys sick on purpose.
"Well, maybe the doctor will let us talk to them." Richard suggested. "I'm sure they'll be willing to forgive and forget."
'I sure hope so.' Rhonda thought, still feeling guilty for what she did.
A few days later…
Once the pain had completely gone away, Brian, along with his friends, made a full recovery from their ordeal and they were allowed to return home, but not before they forgave Rhonda for what she put them through. However, none of them had forgotten the experience they were forced to endure, especially Gumball, and right now, at the Badgero residence, the four were doing their best to forget it as best as they could. Unfortunately, they were still stuck on the subject.
"There is no way I'm going through such an ordeal like that ever again!" the blue feline proclaimed.
"So she needs cooking lessons. I'm sure there's someone in this town that will be willing to teach her." Mike reasoned to try and calm Gumball down.
"That's easier said than done, Mike." said Brian. "Rhonda only has a few days left until she has to show off her assignment. It's going to take a miracle if Rhonda's going to be good at cooking."
"Well, we're not going to find a miracle sitting on Mike's couch." Gumball remarked.
As his friends agreed with him on that last statement, it was then that an idea came to Darwin, as if he had found the solution.
"Wait a minute, maybe Gumball can teach Rhonda how to cook." Darwin's answer surprised both Brian and Mike, before giving the two-legged fish a look of skepticism. "Believe me when I say this, he's quite the natural at it and Miss Simian herself praised his cooking."
"Gumball? That Gumball?" Mike pointed to the blue feline in question.
"Yeah, the one and only." Darwin happily replied.
"Are you sure you're not exaggerating your claim?" asked Brian.
"I'm sure!" Darwin responded confidently.
"Then you can do it at your house because I'm not letting Gumball anywhere near ANYTHING that could destroy the house." Mike explained. But the maroon badger's response, however, somewhat irked the blue feline, prompting him to speak up.
"Chill out Mike. I'll admit that I can screw up every now and then, but I assure you, cooking is one of the few things I'm actually good at." Gumball assured the maroon badger.
"You're still not doing it in my kitchen." Mike stated sternly.
"If you really are as good as Darwin claims, then let's drop by Rhonda's house and perhaps you can show off your skill." Brian suggested, despite his reservations.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Darwin exclaimed.
With that, the four left the Badgero residence and made their way towards the Paxton residence, hoping that they can help Rhonda out in time.
It took only at least a few minutes to make it to their destination, but it was worth the walk, as Brian knocked on the door, him and his friends waiting patiently for the mouse to show up. A few seconds later, they heard a click, as Rhonda opened the front door and was understandably surprised to see them, despite what she had done a few days ago.
"Oh, I didn't expect to see you guys today. So what's new?"
"I'm not saying it." Mike jokingly replied.
Brian just rolled his eyes, before nudging Gumball in the side, prompting the blue feline to talk.
"Rhonda, promise that you won't get mad for what I'm about to say."
"Go ahead Gumball, just be honest with me."
The blue feline nodded his head, before taking a deep breath and speaking out.
"Is it alright if I could help you out on your cooking skills?"
Rhonda blinked her eyes a few times, stunned by what she just heard. Eventually, after a long silent, a smile formed on the mouse's face, much to the boys' surprise.
"You really mean it Gumball?"
Gumball nodded his head to show Rhonda that he was serious, causing the mouse to squeal in excitement.
'Wow, I never expected Rhonda to be this happy.' Brian thought in amusement.
"Okay! It's time to start cooking!" Darwin exclaimed.
Nodding her head in agreement, the mouse allowed the boys into her house, before leading them into the kitchen, though Mike remained in the living room, choosing to lie on the couch instead.
"I'm not eating whatever he's making." Mike called from the living room.
"Mike, why aren't you in here?" Brian asked the maroon badger.
"I only know how to make a few things with a stove. Believe me; you're better off with me out here."
"If you insist." the purple fox called back.
"Alright Gumball, show me what you can do." the mouse insisted, before she handed the blue feline a cook book, as he skimmed a few pages from the book itself. Eventually, after a while, Gumball found one he hoped would help Rhonda out.
"Okay here's what we need…"
A few minutes later…
Brian, Darwin and Rhonda gathered the required ingredients, while Gumball set up the utensils. Once everyone was done with the task, the purple fox decided to ask his friend about the next step.
"Alright Gumball, now what?"
"I can handle it from here." Gumball replied.
Before Brian, Darwin and Rhonda knew what happened, the blue feline proceeded to chop up some onions and put them in the pan to sauté them, while he pounded out a few chicken breasts on the cutting board with a meat hammer. Once he was done, he poured some flour in a bowl and mixed them with salt, pepper and eggs and used them to cover the chicken breasts, before putting them in the pan. After a few minutes of pan frying, Gumball carefully put them on a plate and sprinkled them with a few thyme herbs as the final touch, before turning his attention to the trio.
"Alright you guys, tell me what you think." said the blue feline, slicing a piece of the chicken breast and serving his friends with one plate after another, despite their uncertainty, especially Brian.
'Here goes nothing.' the purple fox, before him, along with his friends, proceeded to take a bite. The moment they did, their eyes lit up, their taste overwhelming them.
"Wow Gumball, this is really good!" Brian exclaimed.
"I never tasted anything like that before!" Rhonda agreed.
"As always, you know how to make a good meal." Darwin praised his brother.
"Mike, you've got to try this!" Brian called out.
"Ugh, fine." Mike got off from the couch and walked into the kitchen, as he grabbed a plate, before being served a slice of chicken breast from the blue feline.
"I hope you enjoy your meal." Gumball happily said to the maroon badger.
"I'll be the judge of that." Mike responded, before he put a piece of his meal into his mouth. A few seconds, his eyes lit up in the same manner as his friends.
"I never thought I would say this, but this tasted really good!"
"Thanks Mike, I'm glad to hear that." said a satisfied Gumball.
"What's in this?" Mike asked.
"If you must know, I put in some thyme herbs, salt, pepper and eggs." the blue feline casually replied, unaware of what was about to happen, as the badger's eyes suddenly popped wide open in surprise.
"D-did you say eggs?" Mike asked timidly.
"Yeah, he did. Why?" asked a curious Darwin, before the maroon badger began to gasp for air.
After informing Max of Mike's condition, the older mouse quickly drove him to the hospital as fast as he could; fortunately, they managed to make it on time, as the doctor took Mike in for treatment. Once he was healed up, Brian, along with Rhonda and the Watterson brothers, made their way into the Patients Ward to visit Mike, hoping he wasn't too mad for what the blue feline did earlier.
"I'm so sorry, Mike! I swear I didn't know you were allergic to eggs!" Gumball begged the maroon badger.
"It's fine, though I hope we don't make a habit of putting me in the hospital." Mike responded weakly.
"Let's hope that doesn't come true." Darwin remarked.
"So what now?" Brian asked.
"Well, you should probably get back to teaching Rhonda. I'll be fine here." Mike suggested.
"Hang on for just a second!" Gumball suddenly spoke out. "Who's going to taste her cooking? You know what happened the last time we tried it."
"Then you better make sure she gets it right." Mike said sternly.
"But Gumball does have a point." said Rhonda. "Maybe it's best if we could find someone who can volunteer and taste my cooking just in case."
"Yeah that's a great idea: poison the whole town!" Mike joked before Brian promptly punched him in the leg. "Ow."
"Rhonda's right. We need to find someone who's willing to taste Rhonda's food before she can present her assignment for Elmore Academy." said Brian.
"But who could do it?" Darwin asked.
"Have you tried Richard? I'm sure he'd love to be fed." Mike suggested as he rubbed his leg.
"I don't know, Mike..." Gumball began, as he rubbed his head. "Dad does like to eat all the time, but I don't want to get into trouble with mom if he gets ill."
"Wasn't he the one who thought mud pies were actually pies?" Brian asked.
"Yeah, I'll admit that one was pretty funny." the blue feline couldn't help but chuckle.
"Besides Mr. Dad, what about our classmates?" Darwin suggested.
"Well I don't want to go to school and have everyone hate us for basically poisoning them if we're not careful." Mike reasoned.
"Can't argue with that." Rhonda agreed with the maroon badger.
"Well then, we better go find someone who'd be willing to try Rhonda's cooking."
Everyone nodded their heads in agreement, before the four left the hospital to find their taste tester.
For the next several hours, Brian, Rhonda and the Watterson brothers talked to anyone who would help them taste the mouse's food so that she can pass her cooking assignment at Elmore Academy. Unfortunately for the four, rumors about Rhonda's cooking spread like wildfire the moment the boys had gotten ill and no matter how hard they tried to convince them otherwise, they stubbornly refused, coming up with one bizarre excuse after another, much to their dismay. As a result, the four have found themselves in a bind, as they sat on the bench at the park, sulking about how their day is turning out.
"I don't believe this! Not one person wants to help us out." Gumball complained.
"Don't get me started…" Brian began. "We tried to explain to them that Rhonda can improve on her cooking lessons as they trust us, but in spite of that, they all flaked out."
"I know what you mean, Brian." said Darwin. "Tobias claims to have a weak stomach, Carrie suddenly lost her appetite, Banana Joe said something about a family reunion and Tina decided to do homework! Seriously, since when does she want to do her homework?!"
"That's beside the point, Darwin." Rhonda gloomily said to the two-legged fish. "After hearing what I did, I doubt they'll try my cooking, regardless of my improvements."
"Don't say that Rhonda. I'm sure there has to be someone out there who would-" before Brian could finish his sentence, his girlfriend raised her hand, prompting to be silent, before the mouse spoke once more.
"I appreciate what you, Gumball and Darwin are doing and I really mean it. But the fact is no one wants anything to do with my cooking. Besides, it's not like our solution would just pop out of nowhere."
In the midst of her conversation, a certain robot made his way to the four out of curiosity, before making his presence known.
"Am I interrupting anything?" asked Bobert, prompting everyone to stop what they were doing and focus their attention on the robot.
"Oh, hi Bobert. No, you're not interrupting anything." Gumball said to the robot.
"We are, however, having a dilemma." Brian stated.
"What seems to be the problem?" asked Bobert.
Brian took a deep breath and explained to the robot of Rhonda's situation. Once the purple fox was done with his story, Bobert couldn't help but sympathize with their plight.
"I'm sorry to hear about that."
"Thanks for listening Bobert, but it doesn't matter now. I'm going to fail my assignment." said Rhonda.
"If it'll make you feel better Rhonda, I'll be your taste tester." Bobert's answer left the four stunned but at the same time ecstatic about this.
"You really mean it?" asked Darwin.
"Of course I will." the robot happily replied. "I can taste and analyze Rhonda's cooking and determine how much of an improvement she made. If my eyes turn red, then she needs to improve; but if my eye turns green, then she's making progress. Plus, because I'm a robot, I won't get sick no matter what."
"Thanks for helping us." Rhonda congratulated Bobert.
"Now let's go do some cooking!" Gumball stated out loud.
With that, the five went to the Paxton residence, intending to resume where they left off.
After arriving at Rhonda's house with no time to spare, Gumball, true to his intentions, helped the mouse out by starting with the basics, mainly the utensils that are needed, as well as paying attention to the certain amount of ingredients needed when it comes to the cooking process. Although Rhonda understood the basics right away, the cooking process took much longer than any of them had ever expected.
First, Gumball suggested baking a soufflé, as the mouse nodded her head in agreement and paid close attention to what she was doing. Unfortunately, she ended up putting in too much baking soda instead of puree and as a result, everyone got covered with scattered soufflé, though Bobert didn't seem to mind and tasted it, his eye lighting up red in the process.
After giving themselves a quick shower, the blue feline then decided to have Rhonda to try cooking some spaghetti. Aside from a few missteps, the mouse surprisingly did a fine job, after following the instructions as carefully as she could. At first, nothing seemed out of place and the robot, as well as his friends, eagerly took a bite out of it. However, they discovered too late that the mouse had put too much spices in the meal, causing the boys to run around the kitchen, as fire burst out of their mouths. Bobert himself wasn't affected by this, but played along just for the sake of convenience, as his eye suddenly turned yellow, which Rhonda concluded was neither good nor bad, but a slight improvement.
Once the boys' mouths cooled down after several minutes, Rhonda, with determination on her face, decided to cook on her own this time, as she choose to make the same casserole she served the boys a few days ago. Initially, the trio was understandably concerned that she might make the same mistake, while Bobert looked on with curiosity. But much to their surprise, the mouse took her time, checking the cookbook every now and then, as she gathered the necessary ingredients and followed the instructions very carefully. Once she was done adding in the final touch, Rhonda put in the casserole in the oven, as she and the boys waited for several long minutes, before the oven timer rang, allowing the mouse to pull it out and set it on the table, serving up a piece and handing the plate to Bobert.
"Alright Bobert, here you go. Are you sure you want to go through with this?"
"Affirmative." the robot replied. "I said I would help out, no matter what. At the very least, let me taste it."
Rhonda nodded her head in agreement and along with Brian, Gumball and Darwin, looked on with anticipation, as Bobert 'ate' the casserole, analyzing the taste and texture of the meal he was eating. After what felt like forever, the robot was done with his task and faced the mouse, leaving her rather nervous by this.
"So, how was it?"
Bobert didn't respond right away, remaining very silent; eventually, his eye lit up green, a good indication that Rhonda had clearly made improvements with her cooking, much to her, as well as everyone's, relief.
"Looks like you're actually getting better with your cooking skills." Gumball complimented the mouse.
"I'll have to admit, that is quite impressive." Brian added
"At least now you won't be getting anyone sick." Darwin pointed out.
"Thanks for the kind words, you guys, but just in case, I'm going to keep practicing until I know I got it right." as Rhonda looked on with a confident look, Brian couldn't help but smile, as he and his friends were able to at least help her out.
The next day…
With more helpful advice from Gumball, Rhonda continued to practice her cooking talents and slowly but surely, the mouse made enough progress for her to practice on her own, as she prepped herself for the upcoming assignment she was forced to postpone.
Once school was over, Brian decided to meet up with Rhonda at her house, wanting to see how well she did, with Gumball, Darwin and Mike following him, the latter feeling much better after yesterday's unfortunate incident, as the four arrived at the Paxton residence, with the purple fox knocking on the door, as they waited for the mouse to show up.
"So how well do you think she did?" Gumball asked Brian.
"I'm sure she did real good." the purple fox replied. "She did look like she felt more comfortable after we've spent time helping her out."
"I hope that's the case. I really don't want to go back to the hospital." said Mike.
"Don't worry too much about it. Let's just wait for Rhonda to show up and hear what she had to say." Darwin stated.
While the boys were chatting with each other, Rhonda opened the front door and much to the fours' surprise, the mouse had a look of disappointment on her face.
"Rhonda, is everything alright?" Brian asked his girlfriend, prompting the mouse to take a deep breath before answering her boyfriend's question.
"Guys, I didn't do well." Brian, Mike and the Watterson brothers were saddened to hear this, before the look of disappointment was replaced by a smile on Rhonda's face. "I did great! Aside from a few errors, I did well enough for Mr. Dull to give me a passing grade! Thanks for the help, you guys!"
"No problem, Rhonda. Glad we could help out." Brian said to the mouse, while his friends nodded his head in agreement, before Rhonda spoke up.
"So, do you guys want to come in and have a bite?"
"Sure."
"I don't mind."
"I do feel a bit hungry."
"Eh, why not?"
The mouse couldn't help but smile, as she allowed the boys inside, intending to show off her newfound skills.
Next time on The Newcomer
Chapter 68-The Festival
When the festival arrives in town, Brian seizes the opportunity to go on a date with Rhonda and when her cousin Alison shows up, he convinces Mike to go on a date with her.
Tidbits
-This chapter took quite some time, mainly with how it should have ended, but eventually, it tuned out alright.
-I wanted to thank Sal for his help on this chapter.
I hope everyone enjoyed The Cooking and I'll see ya next chapter!