Hey there fellow readers and welcome to the true final chapter of The Newcomer. I hope everyone enjoys reading it. Make sure to read the special announcement following the conclusion of this epilogue as well.

The Newcomer

An Amazing World of Gumball Story

By NeoNimbus

Epilogue

The first week of summer had finally arrived and Brian wouldn't want it any other way. After surviving his first day in town and going on one misadventure after another, he was just glad that he managed to survive one whole year and looking back at it, Brian was actually grateful for being involved in all of them. Even better, he made a lot of friends along the way, especially Gumball, Darwin, Anais and Mike. He was also grateful to meet Rhonda, the girl of his dreams and current girlfriend. He couldn't imagine life without them. Right now, though, he needed to pack up a few things before they all showed up at his house.

'Let me see here...' Brian began, as he opened his duffel bag and began putting in whatever he could think of. 'I need to put in a few extra clothes, some tanning lotion and my sketchbook so that I wouldn't get bored once we head to the beach.'

After putting in the last item, the purple fox zipped up his duffel bag, satisfied that he was all set and ready to go, just as he heard his folks calling from downstairs.

"Brian, your friends are here!" Annie called out.

"Just be careful out there and have fun!" Gordon added.

"Don't worry, I'm coming!" Brian called back, as he carried his duffel bag with him and immediately headed downstairs to meet up with everyone.

After saying his goodbyes to his parents, Brian made his way out of the front door to see that everyone were all inside Olivia's van, clearly waiting for him to show up. Without any hesitation, he made his way inside and sat right next to Rhonda, before Olivia drove off.

"So..." Brian began, wanting to converse with his friends. "How's everyone doing so far?"

"We're all doing great," Mike happily replied. "It was even better after I saw Gumball and Darwin's sunburns."

"It's not funny, it's painful!" the blue feline rebuffed his friend's claims, prompting Brian to look back and see that both the blue feline and his brother were literally red from head to toe, much to his astonishment.

"How did you two manage to get sunburned that badly before we even got to the beach?"

"Gumball and I wanted to get tan real bad, so we laid in the backyard yesterday afternoon," Darwin explained. "It wasn't fun at all! It was really painful!"

"Darwin, how would your tanning even work?" Rhonda realized. "You're a fish. You would kind of dry out, wouldn't you?"

"I was just following the instructions from the suntan lotion bottle," Darwin explained. "It still didn't worked out as I thought."

"I just wish we could have seen that," Carrie jokingly stated, before everyone laughed their heads off, much to the brothers' embarrassment.

"I'm sorry to hear that happen to you guys," Penny sympathized with the two. "Just promise us that you two will use some tanning lotion from now on."

"Yeah, you two shouldn't do something that reckless the next time around," Rachel advised.

"After the pain I'm in, I'm not going to forget that one," Gumball agreed, with Darwin nodding his head.

"That'll be the day," Anais stated. Mike snuck around and gave the blue feline a pat on the back, causing him to shriek in pain, much to his amusement.

While everyone else continued to converse with one another, Brian and Rhonda turned to one another, deciding to strike up a conversation of their own.

"Feeling a bit nervous?" Brian asked first.

"A little bit," Rhonda admitted. "I mean, I shouldn't be feeling like this, but I still am."

"Just relax and have a good time. It shouldn't matter what anyone else thinks," the purple fox assured his girlfriend, who smiled back in response.

"You know, I think I will. Thanks for the advice," Rhonda said to her boyfriend.

"Don't mention it," Brian said with a smile, as he and the mouse sat back and relaxed.

Upon finally arriving at the beach, both the boys and girls immediately made their way to the changing rooms before they stepped foot on the sand. Brian, Mike and the Watterson brothers were the first to come out, with the purple fox wearing an orange pair of swimming trunks, while the maroon badger wore a blue pair with hawaiian flower designs, Gumball had his yellow pair and Darwin simply wore a yellow swimming cap and blue goggles.

"Wow, this place is fantastic!" Brian shouted with amazement.

"You took the words out of my mouth," Gumball agreed.

"Yes it is. I'm just glad to stretch my arms out for once." Mike simply stated.

"It would be a lot better if the girls would show up," Darwin noted, realizing that he hadn't seen any of them since they got here. "I wonder what's taking them so long?"

"Sorry for the wait, guys," Penny called out from behind, prompting the boys to turn around and get a good look at the girls and all of them stopped dead in their tracks upon gazing them.

In front of them where the girls dressed in their swimming attires; Penny wore an orange one piece swimsuit, Rachel had on a yellow bikini, and Rhonda had a white one piece swimming suit.

Needless to say, the boys were quite dumbstruck when they set their sights on them, too speechless to say anything.

"Guys, are we going to have fun, or are you going to gawk at them like drooling idiots?" Anais asked out of the blue, prompting them to snap back to reality and turn their attention to the child prodigy, who was wearing her purple Daisy the Donkey swimsuit.

"Sorry about that, sis. I guess we weren't paying attention, that's all," Gumball sheepishly replied, as he rubbed his head.

"Y-Yeah, what Gumball said," Brian feverishly agreed.

"Anais is right; we need to go out there and have some fun," Darwin agreed with his sister.

"Besides my girl here doesn't need to be in a bathing suit to impress me here," Mike stated as Carrie was just in her normal form as where clothes would be redundant. "So are we going to have fun or what?"

"Yeah!" everyone shouted unanimously.

With everyone on board, they all headed to the beach, but as far as Brian was concerned, every day was going to be an adventure and that was something he can always look forward to, especially in a place like Elmore.

Somewhere in a dark and isolated area, far from Elmore and from any known location, a ceremony was taking place, as twelve hooded figures were gathered around in a brightly dimmed room, with nothing but a table, a dozen chairs and a few candles that served as their only sources of light.

"Any news on our enemies' movements?" one asked with a Russian accent.

"Surprisingly, I have only seen a few lately," another answered. "It looks like they are keeping a low profile."

"It won't matter. In time, they'll eventually show themselves and when they do, it'll be our moment to strike back and wipe them out once and for all." one spoke with a cold tone. "We must be prepared until then. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir," everyone responded monotonously, much to the lead hooded figure's satisfaction.

"That'll be all for today. Until next time, everyone is dismissed."

With that, all twelve hooded figures went right back into the darkness, seemingly vanishing within the shadows, as the brightly lit candles suddenly went out, leaving the room in complete darkness.

So what does the last scene supposed to mean? Well, I can't say too much about it, but I will say one thing: it does foreshadow an upcoming sequel to this story. That's right, fellow readers: the sequel will continue Brian and his friends' adventure, but do expect more surprises in the future and check the first chapter of the sequel next week. Until then, thank you everyone and I'll be seeing ya in the next story!