The Newcomer
An Amazing World of Gumball Story
By NeoNimbus
Chapter 68-The Festival
It was Wednesday at Elmore Junior High, as Brian, along with his fellow classmates, were at their desks, preparing for another lesson from their teacher, as Miss Simian made her way into her classroom, prompting everyone to turn their attention to her.
"Alright class, listen up. Normally I would go on with today's lesson, but instead, I have a very special announcement. This Friday, Elmore will be holding its annual Spring Festival at Daisyland. So I suggest that each and every one of you save enough money for the festivities."
The moment the elderly baboon made that announcement, everyone was immediately excited by this, ecstatic that the festival was just around the corner.
"Wow, that's amazing!"
"I can't wait for Friday!"
"This is going to be amazing!"
"I hope they got some good food!"
While everyone was eager and looking forward to Friday, Brian, on the other hand, was thinking of more pressing matters, mainly his girlfriend Rhonda. Sure, they have hung out with each other, whether it was at the park or her house, but they always do that. The festival could be a chance to take his girlfriend out on an actual date for a change and perhaps have some fun together.
It was then that Gumball noticed the anxious look on the purple fox's face, prompting the concerned blue feline to talk to his friend.
"Brian, are you alright?" he asked, snapping Brian back to reality.
"Yeah, um, I'm doing good, Gumball." the purple fox replied, before becoming serious. "Do you think I should take Rhonda out to the festival?"
"Of course you can, Brian. I think that's a great idea…" Gumball began to explain. "The prices at Daisyland are half-off during the festival. You can get something good for your girlfriend."
"Gumball's right, Brian." Darwin agreed with his brother. "It's a great opportunity for you and Rhonda. So take this chance and go for it."
"Thanks, I really appreciate it." Brian said to his friends, before turning his attention away from them. 'I just hope I don't screw this up big time when the day comes.'
Just then, the school bell rang, as everyone got up and left their classroom, no doubt heading back home, while the purple fox, as well as his friends, made their way to the steps, before Brian turned to the Watterson brothers before speaking up.
"Thanks for the advice you gave me earlier. I'm going to Elmore Academy and ask Rhonda out."
"Anytime Brian. Glad we can help out." Gumball assured the purple fox.
"And remember, don't blow it." Darwin added.
Brian nodded his head in agreement and waved his goodbyes to the Watterson brothers, before taking off to Elmore Academy to meet up with his girlfriend.
Rhonda couldn't believe what she heard before the school bell rang. Her teacher, Mr. Dull, had informed everyone of the upcoming Elmore Spring Festival that is taking place this Friday and while everyone was excited by this, the mouse was quite nervous, especially since she and Brian have been hanging out for quite some time. Then again, they have always been hanging out with each other every day. A date was another story and Rhonda was quite nervous just thinking about this.
'I sure hope I don't make a fool out of myself.' the mouse nervously thought, before a certain green parrot spoke up.
"Girl, are you feeling alright?" Rhonda snapped back into reality the moment Edie asked her.
"Yeah, um, I'm doing pretty well."
"Are you sure about that?" Rose questioned her friend. "It looks like your mind was somewhere else."
Rhonda attempted to counter the rose's claims, but after a minute or so, was unable to come up with anything, before she sighed and answered her friend.
"To be honest Rose, I'm thinking of asking Brian out for the upcoming festival, but I'm not so sure if he'll accept it or not."
"Don't worry too much about it, Rhonda…" Momo began, as the peach attempted to calm the mouse down. "I'm sure he'll take you out to the festival."
"Besides, Brian should be the one asking you out, not the other way around." Edie bluntly informed.
"Well…if you say so." said Rhonda, just as Brian was making his way towards her. Immediately noticing this, the three girls jumped into the nearest bushes, leaving the mouse confused, before she turned around and saw the purple fox right in front of her.
"Oh, um, hi Brian." Rhonda bashfully greeted her boyfriend. "How was your day?"
"I'm doing pretty good Rhonda." Brian nervously replied. "How's your day going?"
"It's…pretty good, I guess." the mouse awkwardly answered her boyfriend's question.
"That's good to hear." said Brian, before he became quite serious. "Rhonda, I was wondering if you want to go to the Spring Festival with me."
"…Yes, yes I do, Brian." Rhonda replied, despite hesitating for just a moment. For his part, Brian couldn't help but smile, happy to know that his girlfriend agreed to go out with him. But before either of them could continue talking, a certain green gerbil suddenly spoke out of nowhere.
"Rhonda! Brian! It's good to see you!"
Startled by this, both the fox and the mouse turned their attention to Alison standing right in front of them. The two hadn't seen her for quite some time and they couldn't help but smile, as Rhonda, along with Brian, made her way to greet her cousin.
"Alison, it's good to see you." the mouse warmly greeted the gerbil, as the two hugged each other.
"It's good to see you and Brian again." Alison greeted back. "Don't worry, Ally is managing her anger and she's starting to get along with people rather well."
"That's good to hear." Brian spoke with relief. "So, what brings you here to Elmore?"
"That's simple Brian…" the gerbil began."I just dropped by for the Spring Festival. That…and Ally and I were looking forward to seeing Mike again."
The moment Alison mentioned the maroon badger's name, both Rhonda and Brian noticed that the gerbil's face was blushing; leaving the two certain that she had feelings for him. It was also then that an idea came to the purple fox.
'That's it! I can have Mike and Ally come with us! That way, I can make sure nothing ends in a disaster during the festival and Ally can have a good time messing around with Mike's head.'
Satisfied that he had found a solution for the upcoming Spring Festival, Brian turned his attention to Rhonda and whispered his suggestion to her. Slowly but surely, a smile began form on the mouse's face and nodded her head in agreement with her boyfriend about it.
"I'll have to admit, that does sound like a good plan, Brian."
"So it's settled then…" the purple fox began. "I'll head to Mike's house and convince him to go on a double date, while you take Alison with you and convince her to go out with Mike."
With that, Brian left, while Rhonda grabbed her cousin's hand and went off to her house.
For Mike, he just wanted to kick back and relax, as he sat on the couch and prepared to watch some TV. But before he could press the button on the remote, the maroon badger heard a knock on the door, prompting him to get off the couch and make his way to the front door, before he opened it and see Brian in front of him.
"Hey Brian," Mike greeted the purple fox, before he saw a smile on his face. "I take it she said yes."
"Yep!" Brian said happily. "Hey, can I ask you for a favor?"
"Sure, what is it?"
In response, Brian took a deep breath before answering his friend's question.
"You see…"
A few minutes later...
"…So I was wondering if you could come with us?"
Once Brian was done explaining what he had proposed, all Mike can do was lean on the couch, his face in his hand, as he couldn't believe what he just heard, before he sighed and turned his attention to the purple fox.
"Okay, let me see if I got all this..." Mike began as he sat upright. "You want me to ask Ally out, just so we can go on a double date with you and Rhonda, just to make sure nothing bad happens?"
"Please! Will you do it?" Brian was ready to beg as Mike was the safest alternative he could think of.
"Have you forgotten what happened the last time Ally showed up?" Mike reminded his friend.
"That's because she didn't know that she shared the same body with Alison at the time." Brian countered back. "Besides, Alison assured Rhonda and I that Ally is managing her anger issue. Plus, I know Gumball and Darwin would cause more chaos if I had asked for their help."
"...Alright, I'll do it for you." the maroon badger reluctantly agreed. "I just hope that Friday doesn't end on an awkward note."
"Okay then! Let's get going to Rhonda's!" Brian happily stated, as he grabbed Mike by the arm and dragged him out of the house, much to his dismay.
'And all I wanted to do was watch a movie.' Mike thought, annoyed how his day was turning out.
After Rhonda brought Ally back to her home, the mouse convinced her cousin to get Ally out, to which the gerbil happily agreed. After putting some pepper on her nose, Alison sneezed; becoming Ally in the process, before Rhonda cautiously approached the gerbil.
"So Ally, how are you feeling today?"
"Aside from being cooped up inside Alison's head all day, I'm good." Ally nonchalantly replied. "But seriously, it's good to see you again."
"That's good to know. Anyway, Alison mentioned that you want to see Mike again. You're not nervous about seeing him, are you?"
"O-of course n-not." Ally replied after an attempt to break eye contact, her face slightly blushing. "It's just that I don't know how he's going to react if we do meet with each other again, after the trouble I caused."
"It's alright Ally…" Rhonda began, as she put her hand on the gerbil's shoulder. "All you have to do is just remain calm and don't get involved in any random fights."
Ally couldn't help but be comforted about this, as the gerbil let out a sigh of relief, just before she noticed that her cousin was looking at her with a smirk.
"If I know any better, I say you're afraid that Mike will turn you down if you try to ask him out."
Instead of arguing with Rhonda, Ally was left stunned by such a claim. At the same time, though, her cousin had made a point: even though she has been used to taking on anything, she had never felt nervous to begin with, especially around Mike.
But before she could say more about this, both she and Rhonda heard a knock on the door, as the latter made her way and opened it and saw Brian in front of her, with Mike right next to him.
'Maybe I should ask Rhonda later.' Ally thought, as she made her to the front door to see what the boys, particularly Mike, had to say.
"Hey Ally you want to go with me to the festival, great, see you at six." Mike said extremely fast, followed by him attempting to walk out the door.
"Whoa there, Casanova..." Brian began, as he grabbed Mike's shoulder. "I think you should do that again and this time, speak slowly so Ally can actually hear you."
"No, I heard him just fine." Ally said laughing at Mike, acting like her normal self. "But if that's how Mike is going to ask me out then I don't know if I should accept it."
"Look on the bright side, Ally. At least you know Mike's going to be the one paying for the food." Rhonda stated.
"Good point." Ally agreed.
"Oh no, Brian is paying for your food, Rhonda," Mike stated defiantly, as he signed up for this to help Brian, not be their source of cash.
"Lighten up, stripes. It was only a joke." Ally said to Mike.
"And it was a terrible joke." Mike sarcastically responded, while everyone could only chuckle by his statement.
"Since we're all here, why don't we go pick up a movie to watch?" Rhonda suggested.
"That's a great idea." Brian agreed with his girlfriend. Likewise, Mike and Ally agreed as well, before all four left the Paxton residence and went to LaserDisc Video.
For a while, everyone was undecided on what kind of movie they should watch, even arguing about it as well, with Brian wanting to rent a comedy film, while Rhonda wanted to see a fantasy film. Mike and Alison, on the other hand, continued to survey the shelves and eventually came upon an action film they both liked, enough for the purple fox and the yellow mouse to cease their debate and decide to rent the action film as well.
Now here they are at the Paxton residence, watching Jumbo, a very old 1980s action film, on the couch, enjoying the other's company. Ally, in particular, looked at Mike, as the maroon badger was starting to relax, prompting the green gerbil to do what she never imagined herself doing.
'Here goes nothing.' she thought, before Ally slowly put her head on Mike's lap, wondering what kind of reaction he'll give out. Sure enough, the maroon badger immediately recoiled back in shock, as he jumped off of the couch in surprise.
"Ally, what was that about?" Mike demanded an answer from the green gerbil, causing her to fluster in embarrassment, before she quickly came up with an excuse.
"I was, um, feeling tired. Yeah, that's what I was doing right now."
"…Alright, I guess that makes a bit sense then." the maroon badger reluctantly accepted Ally's response, before getting on the couch, trying to relax once more. The green gerbil, however, looked on with disappointment, as she wasn't expecting that kind of reaction at all.
'I wonder if I even have a shot with him.'
Two days later…
The day of the annual Elmore Spring Festival has arrived and as expected many people were starting to show up the moment it began. Thankfully for Brian, Rhonda, Mike and Ally, they were able to arrive at their destination faster than they expected, as Max offered to bring the four to the festival, even offering to pick them up when they're done. After the four bid the older mouse a farewell, Mike turned his attention to the purple fox.
"So, how much money did your parents gave you?"
"They lent me fifty dollars for today." Brian replied. "What about you?"
"Considering the circumstances of today, mom and dad gave me a hundred dollars." the maroon badger's answer left the purple fox astonished, his mouth hanging ajar and his eyes widened in disbelief.
"How did you managed to get that much cash?!" he finally asked, still amazed by this.
"That's simple…" Mike casually began. "I saved up my allowance before the festival. Plus, my dad loaned me fifty dollars before Mr. Paxton showed up."
Brian could only grumble in disbelief, lamenting that he's only got fifty dollars, before his girlfriend suddenly spoke up.
"Sorry to bother you guys, but we should be getting in."
"Rhonda's right." Ally agreed. "It looks like more people are showing up."
The green gerbil then pointed to one of many cars popping out of nowhere, as more people are coming out and quickly making their way to Daisyland, prompting the four to quickly head off to the entrance as fast as they could.
"Thank goodness…we got in…first." said Brian, as he and his friends were catching their breath.
"Agreed…I never…imagined…we had…to run…that fast." Mike agreed.
"Now that that we're here, let's just go have some fun." Rhonda suggested.
"Like with what?" Ally asked her cousin.
Suddenly, the four heard a commotion not too far from where they were, as they quickly turned around and saw two people at one of the sideshow games: an older, violet bird and a young, pink bird in a blue dress, the former clearly peeved, as he confronted a shady looking humanoid with a cone shape body, no doubt the proprietor of said game.
"Sir, I want my money back right now!" the older, violet bird demanded. "I hit those bottles fair and square. They should have been knocked over!"
"Are you implying that I have rigged this game?" the cone-shaped humanoid suggested, before chuckling with amusement. "I honestly have no idea what you're talking about."
Unwilling to argue with him any further, the older, violet bird, along with his daughter, grudgingly left the bottle game, as the attendant looked on with a smug look on his face, as Brian and his friends looked on, clearly unimpressed by what they saw, until an idea came to the maroon badger.
"You know, I think I suddenly have an interest in hitting some bottles." Mike said with a smirk, before winking his eye at Ally.
"Sure, I don't see why not." Ally agreed, playing along with the maroon badger.
"Guys, are you sure that's a good…" Brian trailed off, as he quickly realized that the two had already left before he could finish his sentence.
"Don't worry about them. They can take care of themselves." Rhonda assured her boyfriend. "Now come on, I want to check out the shooting gallery."
Brian simply shrugged his shoulders, before he and his girlfriend made their way to the shooting gallery. Mike and Ally, meanwhile, made their way to the bottle game, before the former turned his attention to the proprietor, as the humanoid looked on with curiosity.
"Excuse me sir, but how much do I need to play this game?" the maroon badger asked the cone-shaped humanoid.
"Are you serious, kiddo?" the older violet bird questioned Mike as he came back, arching an eyebrow.
"Sir you may want to watch this…" Mike said before turning back to the attendant. "Look, if it'll make you better, I have one hundred dollars with me and I can play as much as I want." Mike then showed the cone-shaped humanoid his money and almost immediately, he seemed to relax.
"If you put it that way, you can have three throws for three dollars."
The maroon badger then handed the attendant three dollars, as he greedily snatched the money from his paw and immediately handed him the balls. While he was aiming, Mike could see what he thought looked like glue.
'So that's what he's doing.' Mike thought in amazement. 'He's glued the tower in the back down to the stand. In that case, I know exactly what to do.'
As the maroon badger grinned with amusement, the attendant walked over to the opposite side from where Mike was, before he turned his attention to Mike, handing him three balls.
"Alright kiddo, give it your best show."
'Oh, I will.' Mike happily thought, before he threw the first ball, knocking one tower of bottles down and throwing another ball at the next tower with the same result. As the maroon badger wound up his arm for the final arm, the attendant looked on with greed, eager for the usual reaction he received every now and then.
'I can't wait to see the look on his face! They always fall for it every time!'
But what happened next didn't go exactly as planned. Mike formed a smirk on his face and threw the ball as hard as he could, as it hit the center of the tower, bouncing off it and smacking the attendant in the head, knocking him out completely, his face slamming into the booth's ledge.
"Now you see," Mike began smugly. "That wouldn't have happened if you didn't cheat."
Ally laughed very hard, knowing full well that it was intentional: Mike never planned on knocking the bottles down. Mike grabbed a giant Daisy stuffed animal off the rack.
"Here you go, little one." Mike said softly as he handed the daughter the toy that dwarfed the little girl.
"Thank you, mister!"
"Bout time that guy got what was coming to him." The older, violet bird said as he led his daughter away with her new toy.
"So what toy do you want, Ally?" Ally was surprised by this, as she wasn't expecting the question. "I wasn't playing this just to knock out the guy." Ally looked at the prizes, trying to decide.
Shortly after making their way to the shooting gallery, Brian and Rhonda both paid the attendant, a light bulb, three dollars to play, as they grabbed a bb gun, both intending to shoot down their targets. Unfortunately for Brian, the moment he pulled the trigger, he ended up missing his target, as the pellet ricocheted everywhere, scaring off many people in the process. He made two more attempts, both resulting in missing its mark and ricocheting wildly, scaring off way more people. At that point, the fearful attendee immediately ran up to face a nervous purple fox.
"Look kid, I'll tell you what. I'll give you the grand prize if and only if you promise me that you stay away from this game for the rest of the night."
Reluctantly, Brian nodded his head in agreement, as the attendant handed him a golden Daisy the Donkey doll, before he and Rhonda left the shooting gallery almost immediately.
"Sorry about what I did back there." Brian apologized to his girlfriend.
"It's alright Brian, you did manage to get me the grand prize." the mouse assured the purple fox, which left him somewhat comfortable by this.
In the midst of their conversation, the two spotted Mike and Ally as they were heading towards their path, the latter holding a giant stuffed tiger, much to their surprise.
"Where did you guys get that?" asked an amazed Rhonda.
"Mike decided to show that attendant at the bottle game a thing or two about cheating. He was a real sweetheart when he got that prize for both a little girl and me." Ally explained.
Once Ally was done explaining everything to her cousin, both Rhonda and Brian were amazed by her behavior, as well as how Mike won her a prize. The maroon badger, for his part, simply shook his head and chuckled that Ally was actually acting like a normal girl for a change, before turning his attention to Brian.
"So Brian, how did you get that golden Daisy the Donkey doll?"
"I…was just lucky, that's all." the purple fox replied, which Mike decided to accept for now.
"Anyway, let's check out the roller coaster. I heard it's the fastest one in Elmore." Rhonda suggested, as she pointed to the ride just a short distance from where they were.
The moment the mouse said those words, the gerbil immediately froze where she was standing, her face going pale just by looking at it; the structure was at least two hundred feet tall and the tallest hill was four times larger where she was standing.
"Ally, are you alright?" asked Mike, as he noticed that the green gerbil wasn't her usual self, before she snapped back into reality.
"I-I'm fine, Mike. R-really, I am." Ally insisted, before she and her companions made their way to the coaster, despite the gerbil's reservations.
The moment the four arrived at their destination, Ally was relieved that a long line was right in front of them. Unfortunately for her, the relief was short-lived, as the line moved much quicker than she anticipated, forcing the gerbil to keep moving forward. By the time it was her group's turn, Ally reluctantly went into one cart with Mike, while Brian and Rhonda went into another. The moment the safety bar went down, however, resulted in Ally wrapping her arms around Mike's, much to his surprise.
"You okay, Ally?"
"I-I..." Ally didn't know if she herself could admit it. People were still getting into carts so she just blurted it out as quietly as possible to hope Mike doesn't actually here it. "I-I don't like heights."
"I'm sorry, what?" asked Mike, uncertain if what he just heard from Ally was true.
Before Ally could say anything, the coaster began to move, prompting the gerbil to cling much harder on to the maroon badger. As soon as the roller coaster reached the top, it immediately ran down at high velocity, as Rhonda was having the time of her life on the coaster, Brian was trying to hold down his lunch and Mike tried his best to console a freaked-out Ally.
Mike didn't know how long the ride was, but he was glad it came to an end, as he, along with his friends got up from the cart, with Brian rushing towards the nearest bathroom to throw up, while Rhonda waited for her boyfriend to recover, with Ally still clinging onto his arms, still terrified by the experience she was forced to endure, putting him in a rather awkward position.
"Ally, the ride is over now." the maroon badger said calmly, as the green gerbil obliged and released Mike from her grip, as they looked at each other with awkward silence. "Ally, I understand you have a lot of pride, but if you didn't want to go on to the roller coaster, you didn't have to."
"You're right Mike, I should have said something." the gerbil admitted. "It's just that, I didn't want to ruin everyone's fun and the least I could do was get this over with."
"It's alright Ally. I didn't want to go on the coaster either." Mike's answer surprised Ally, as she didn't expect that kind of response to begin with.
"Sorry to ask the obvious, but why?"
"I guess I'm not a fan of roller coasters." the maroon badger replied, shrugging his shoulders. "They bore me now."
As the two continued to talk with one another, both Brian and Rhonda regrouped with their friends, the former feeling much better, as the badger and gerbil turned their attention to them, before the former spoke to his friends.
"Alright, so what's next?"
Both the fox and the mouse pondered for a moment to come up with something, while Mike and Ally waited patiently for their answers. Eventually, Brian spoke up, as if he had found the solution.
"Why don't we ride on some bumper cars?"
"Now that is something that I can enjoy." Ally agreed with the purple fox, as she grabbed Mike's wrist, before all four proceeded to head off to their next destination.
The bumper cars proved to be much more enjoyable than they could have ever imagined, as Brian and his friends immediately got in line, despite accidentally knocking down a few people along the way. When their turn came up, each of them went into the bumper cars of their choice, each represent their fur color, before they immediately drove around the rink, bumping into each other and having a good time, especially Ally, before she and Mike began to bump each other one too many times, both laughing hard and having a good time, just before their ride came to a sudden end, sighing in disappointment, which left them both surprised as well as causing them to blush, immediately turning their attention in the opposite direction, before all four got up and exited the rink. It was then that Brian and Rhonda commented on what they saw just now.
"I've never really saw Mike having this much fun before."
"I know what you mean. The last time he had this much fun was back at the park when we were kids."
After leaving the bumper car rides, both Rhonda and Ally requested to get some food at the nearest concession stand, to which both Brian and Mike obliged. After they got some meals for the girls (as well as for themselves), the four sat at the nearest table they could find, as Brian began to tell them a joke.
"What did the fisherman say to the card magician?" the purple fox waited for one of his friends to answer, before deciding to answer them himself. "Pick a cod, any cod!"
Expecting to hear some laughter, all Brian received was awkward silence, prompting him to chuckle nervously, before Mike decided to make a joke of his own.
"What do vegetarian zombies say?" Mike gave them a chance to figure it out, before the maroon badger responded to their curiosity. "GRAINS!"
Soon, everyone, including Brian, began to laugh their heads off, while Mike was left satisfied by this, before they calmed down long enough for Rhonda to make a joke of her own.
"Why was the pirate wearing a paper towel on his head?" There was long silence from the trio, as the mouse took a deep breath and gave them the answer. "He had a Bounty on his head."
Surprisingly, they understood the joke, as the three chuckled in response, while Rhonda simply rubbed her head sheepishly, before Mike calmed down long enough to talk.
"Not bad at all, Rhonda. Maybe you should teach your boyfriend how to tell a good joke." the badger's remark prompted Brian to roll his eyes, before Mike turned his attention to the gerbil. "Alright Ally, it's your turn."
The gerbil hesitated for a moment, as she had never told a joke before in her life. She tried to come up with something funny, but despite thinking as hard as she could, Ally wasn't able to come up with anything.
"Sorry guys, but I don't think I have any good jokes to tell." the gerbil admitted to her friends. "I was never good at telling jokes."
"That's alright Ally, you were just too busy getting skilled at making bad kids cry." Mike joked, much to the gerbil's surprise. But instead of anger, Ally ended up laughing her head off, much to the relief of Brian and Rhonda, happy that the gerbil wasn't offended by the slightest.
'It looks like Ally is taking his joke rather well.' the purple fox thought, before he heard his girlfriend talking.
"Guys, we only have an hour before my dad shows up. Let's go for one more ride before he gets here."
"That sounds like a good plan, Rhonda." Mike agreed with the mouse. "So, where should we go?"
The four pondered for a moment, trying to come up with something to kill the rest of the hour. Eventually, an idea came to Ally, as she decided to inform them on what she had in mind.
"I heard that this place has a new attraction that recently opened up. I say we should check it out for ourselves."
Nodding their heads in agreement, the four left their table and decided to see the new attraction with their own eyes.
It took a bit longer then they imagined, but the four eventually made their way to the new attraction, but much to the dismay of both Brian and Ally, it turned out to be a free-fall ride, something that Mike noticed right away.
'Ally's worst nightmare made real.' Mike thought, as he spotted Brian trying to back away from the new attraction, until a certain mouse showed up from behind.
"Oh no you don't, Brian. We're not going anywhere until you give it a shot."
Before the purple fox could make his objection, Rhonda suddenly grabbed him by the tail and dragged him off with her to the gondola, while Mike and Ally stayed down for the moment and looked on.
"Ouch!" Brian yelped in pain, as Rhonda continued to pull him by the tail. "Can we talk about this?"
"C'mon Brian, just give this a ride a chance." Rhonda replied. "Besides, you might like it."
"There are people falling from the sky into a net! How is that fun?!" Brian yelled, as he continued to be pulled, before they find themselves facing an attendee.
"Hello! My boyfriend and I would like to ride this!" said Rhonda, as she let go of Brian's tail when he stopped resisting.
The attendee nodded his head in agreement, as he strapped harnesses around the fox and the mouse, until he was certain that they were secured. After a few more minutes, Rhonda was left dangling in the air, as the attendee helped her be put in a proper position, before he hit the remote, sending her down below the net. As she landed safely and laughing hysterically, Brian, meanwhile, did his best to calm down, still nervous about his involvement in the new ride.
'C'mon already! Let's get this over with!' the purple fox thought, just as his girlfriend left the net, before the attendee hit the remote, sending him plummeting down. Initially terrified about this, Brian's fear slowly disappeared and soon, he found himself enjoying the new ride; after a few more minutes, the attendee hit the remote, releasing the purple fox and sending him down to the net just like Rhonda, laughing his head off from his experience, before he saw Rhonda near the exit, her arms crossed and a smirk on her face.
"Alright, I'll admit I was wrong about my previous statement." Brian said to his girlfriend. "But seriously, thank you."
Mike and Ally, meanwhile, both made their way up to the gondola once their friends' turns were over, the latter feeling less tense after seeing Brian and Rhonda going through with it and decided to go first, as she and Mike soon find themselves being strapped onto a harness of their own. Even so, the gerbil felt very nervous about this, as she grabbed onto the badger's paw by instinct, only to pull back when she realized what she did.
'What was that just now?' Ally thought, before the attendee hit the button, sending the gerbil down, screaming for dear life, until she calmed down long enough to scream with excitement; after dangling in the air for quite some time, the attendee hit the remote, sending Ally down on the net, as she laughed hysterically of her experience.
"I think she had fun." Mike said to the attendee. "Well, might as well join them."
The attendee nodded his head in agreement and hit the remote, sending the maroon badger down, as he happily screamed with joy, dangling in the air for at least a few more minutes, before he was sent down to the net, landing down safely, before he got up and regrouped with his friends, with a look of eagerness on his face.
"That was fun, you guys! I say we go back there one more time!"
The trio agreed with the maroon badger, all eager to get back on, as the four soon went back to the gondola for another round of fun, unaware that a certain red bear and his cohorts are looking on, the forming glaring at the purple fox intently.
"So Ivan, do you have idea on what to do?" Ray asked his friend.
"We should at least think this through, especially since Mike and that green gerbil are there with Brian and Rhonda." Joey pointed out.
"What they said." Lloyd simply said.
Ivan pondered for a moment, thinking very hard of a good plan, until one eventually popped up, as he turned his attentions to his friends with a devious smile.
"I say we drop by and give Brian and Mike a friendly greeting, if you know what I mean. In fact, here's what I had in mind…"
Soon, the red bear had his friends huddled up in a circle, discussing with them on how they'll pull his plan off.
After going through another free-fall ride, the four headed over to the nearest table, tired but happy, discussing if they should stick around or just wait for their pickup to arrive. Although Brian wanted to have more fun, his friends disagreed with him, having their minds made up, to which the purple fox obliged to honor their demands.
"So it's settled. It looks like we're going home for tonight." said Mike.
"But at least we had some fun." Rhonda added. "Anyway, I need to use the bathroom for just a moment."
"Same here." said Ally, before the two went off to the girls' bathroom, leaving only the boys at the table, as Brian turned his attention to Mike as he decided to start up a conversation.
"So, what did you think of today and your date with Ally?"
"It didn't turn out as bad as I thought." the maroon badger replied, as he took a sip from his drink. "Ally was actually calm and polite this time around."
"Now that you mentioned that, she has been nice lately." Brian commented. "It's as if she and Alison's personality are melding together into one."
"After we showed them the videos, I have a feeling that those two are working with each other like a team." the maroon badger agreed. "However, I think that in a few months, Alison and Ally might become one new individual."
"By then, they won't have to worry about swapping places." Brian stated, before a question came up to his mind. "After this, would you consider calling Ally your girlfriend?"
Almost immediately, Mike spat out his drink, clearly surprised to hear this from the purple fox, for it was the last thing he ever expected to hear. As the maroon badger turned his attention to his friends to answer his question, both he and Brian sensed something was amiss, as they turned their attention and saw Ivan and his goons heading towards to them, much to their surprise.
"Having fun so far?" the red bear casually asked the two.
Both Brian and Mike, however, didn't answer Ivan's question, as the two looked at each other nervously, hoping that at least one of them had a solution to their situation.
"Mike, I hope you have a plan to get us out, 'cause I don't have any good ones with me." Brian whispered to the maroon badger.
"I think I got one, but promise you'll follow my lead." Mike whispered back.
Before Brian knew what happened next, the maroon badger got up and suddenly both of them turned in the opposite direction and ran far away from Ivan and his gang as quickly as they could. Undaunted by this, the four began to pursue after them, prompting the fox and the badger to push over several trash cans along the way in an effort to slow them down.
"Wait a minute, how come you chose to run like I was planning? I was actually expecting you to ignore me and fight them." Brian noted, as he pushed another trash can down.
"Four against one isn't the best of odds." Mike replied, pushing another trash can down along the way. "I'm crazy enough to pick a fight with someone twice my size, but I'm not insane when four people are rushing towards you."
So the duo continued to run around the festival, turning around every corner, with Ivan and his goons remaining persistent with their intentions. Eventually, despite being way ahead of their pursuers, both Brian and Mike found themselves in a dead end, much to their dismay.
'Great! How do we get out of here?!' Brian though, while Mike looked around their surroundings, hoping to find an opening. Much to his relief, he was able to find one through the fence, which gave him an idea, as the maroon badger made his way to the purple fox.
"Mike, what are you-" before Brian could finished his sentence, the maroon badger grabbed him by the collar and threw him over the fence as hard as he could. Thankfully for Mike, his friend was able to get over there safe and sound.
"Give me a warning next time!" Brian scolded the maroon badger.
Mike, however, didn't respond right away, as he began to climb up over the fence. But just as he was about to make it to the top, the maroon badger felt something gripping his legs, as he turned around and saw that Ivan and his cohorts behind him, having somehow caught up to their target, as the red bear immediately began to pull on his legs, while Brian looked on with shock from the other side.
"Brian, you have to go right away!"
Mike's pleas, however, fell on deaf ears, as the purple fox immediately ran towards the fence and quickly climbed up, grabbing the badger's paws and soon, both sides were pulling Mike in a ferocious tug of war. After what felt like forever, Brian succeeded in pulling his friend over to his side of the fence, albeit without his sneakers and they continued to run, until both dived through the bushes, as the fox turned to the badger.
"That was a close one Mike. I thought we were goners for sure." Brian whispered to the maroon badger.
"Yeah, I'll admit that was pretty reckless back there, but thanks." Mike whispered back.
"So, do you have a plan to get Ivan and his goons off of our backs?" asked Brian.
"Actually, I do." Mike reasoned with the purple fox. "Since we can't take them head on, we'll have to lure them back to the last person they want to meet."
"Are you implying we should lead them to Ally?" asked Brian, prompting the maroon badger to nod his head for confirmation, before the purple fox continued to talk. "So how are we going to get her attention, along with Rhonda's?"
"Let's worry about that later. Right now, I'm going to check if the coast is clear." Mike then made a quick opening from the bush, just to see Ivan and his pals turning around the corner and out of sight, much to his relief, before facing Brian. "Alright, let's head back to the table. It'll probably be the one place they'll show up."
"That doesn't sound bad, Mike. But just to be safe, let's put on some disguises before we get to our destination." Brian suggested.
"Oh, really?" Mike asked the fox, as he arched an eyebrow.
Getting some disguises proved to be quite easier than expected, as Brian found some from a trash can, allowing him and Mike to blend into the crowd and avoid detection from Ivan and his goons. But the maroon badger, however, was far from happy about going through with it.
"I can't believe you made me wear this." Mike complained, wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses. "These disguises are unnecessary."
"I know they're corny, but I'd rather play it safe than face Ivan's wrath." Brian justified his action, wearing a pair of Groucho Marx glasses.
The two continued to walk back through the festival, eventually making their way back to their table, just in time to see Rhonda and Ally looking for them; after doing a double check of their surroundings, both boys ditched their disguises to the nearest trash can and met up with the girls, though both were hardly happy when they showed up.
"Guys, where have you been?! We've been looking for you everywhere!" Rhonda shouted.
"You guys better have a good reason for ditching us like that." Ally demanded an answer out of them.
"I don't know how to explain it, so I'll let Mike do the talking." Brian then nudged the badger on the side, as Mike simply shrugged his shoulder and turned his attention to the girls.
"It began like this…"
For the next several minutes, the maroon badger told Rhonda and Ally of the unexpected appearance of Ivan and his gang, how they barely escaped his grasp and how they had to disguise themselves just to make it safely back to them. Once Mike was done with his story, both girls calmed down, having understood the situation they were in.
"That makes a lot of sense now." Ally commented.
"No kidding." Rhonda agreed. "Let's get back to the entrance real quick before…"
The mouse trailed off, as she saw Ivan and his friends heading towards their path. But as the four got closer, they all stopped dead in their tracks and much to their dismay, they saw the green gerbil with them, the same one who beat them up at the park a month ago.
'Oh no!' Ivan, Joey, Lloyd and Ray thought simultaneously, as Ally turned her attention to Mike.
"Fight or run?"
"That's up to you."
In response, the gerbil cracked her knuckles and along with Mike, leaped toward the red bear and his pals, as they proceeded to beat them up mercilessly. Brian and Rhonda simply shrugged their shoulders and decided to join with their friends in the frenzy.
After knocking the daylights out of Ivan and his goons, Brian, Rhonda, Mike and Ally decided to call it a day and head out to the main entrance, waiting patiently for their pickup to arrive, as the maroon badger turned his attention to the green gerbil.
"Ally, are you alright?" asked Mike.
"Don't worry about it stripes, I'm fine." Ally assured him.
"Are you sure about that?" Brian asked the gerbil.
"You did wince when you punched Ivan's face." Rhonda noted.
"Other than that, I'm good." Ally replied, shrugging her shoulders.
The four once again continued to wait for their pickup to arrive, before Brian turned his attention to Mike.
"After this, would you consider calling her your girlfriend?"
Mike turned around and saw Ally chatting with her cousin, before turning to the purple fox for his answer.
"Hmm…not yet. I'd consider her my pick for someone to take to a fight, but I wouldn't say I'd date her yet."
"Fair enough." said Brian. "But at least you two had some fun".
"I will admit that much!" Mike said enthusiastically. "This was worth it and beating Ivan's gang up again was also worth it."
The boys couldn't help but laugh their heads off, as they had a good time tonight, despite the unexpected surprises that occurred.
Next time on The Newcomer
Chapter 69-The Triangle
Spring break has arrived and all Mike wanted to do was rest and relax. But he soon found himself in the middle of a love triangle between Carrie and Ally.
Tidbits
-Wow, another long chapter for this story, though I was happy how this chapter turned out.
-First time this chapter focused mostly on the OCs, but don't fret, Gumball and his family are still part of The Newcomer.
-Just wanted to thank Sal for coming up with this chapter idea.
I hope everyone enjoyed reading The Festival and I'll see ya next chapter.