Chapter 2

"What's it like?"

"Say what?" Gumball asked.

"You know, to be Mrs. Mom." Darwin replied.

"Oh well, it's pretty cool actually. I think I'm getting the hang of moving her around. I know she's competitive and all, but man, it's like I can lift our car with this body."

"Can you?"

"Sure." Gumball, through Nicole, slid open the window and made her way through the roof. She jumped toward the ground and went for family car. She then slowly lifted the car until it was overhead. "What do you think?"

"That's amazing." Darwin answered.

Gumball came back to the room and looked at the time. It was 10:30 now. Although midnight was still not that close, he did not want to waste unnecessary time. Gumball was well aware of the consequences. "Hey man. I'd really love to stay, but I gotta fly. Clock is ticking."

"Okay, buddy. Take care." Darwin replied.

"Don't tell mom about this." Gumball asked, as he pointed both his mother's hands to him.

"Don't worry, dude. You're secret's safe."

Gumball ejected from Nicole's body. Nicole, still disoriented, did not have enough time to adjust to the sudden switch in control. She fell to the ground, apparently knocked out. Gumball looked down at his mother. "Eh… she's alright." He left Darwin and her mom as Darwin assisted her to the bunk bed.

Gumball continued flying until he reached the antique store. A worry appeared in his face. He looked at the establishment and noticed the window glass was shattered. At the same time, he could hear the witch cursing at the situation.

He flew inside the shop now. It was a total mess, as if a tornado had struck the room. He saw the witch scrambling from place to place, as if looking for something. "What a mess."

"What's going on here?"

The witch looked at Gumball in surprise. "How long have you been standing there?!"

"Just moments ago." He looked at where his body is or was. All of a sudden, he was very worried. "Uhm- Witch, where is my body?"

The witch was panicky, but seeing as things were bad, there was no point to hiding the obvious. "Your body well… kinda… ran away."

Gumball's eyes widened. "What the what!"

"You need to calm down. We can still fix this."

"Fix this? It's 11 o'clock. I've got only an hour left. You said it was gonna be safe."

"It is. Which was why I wasn't expecting this."

The witch went over to the counter and to the door that led to the back room. Gumball trailed her from behind. The back room revealed an assortment of goods, mostly exotic. There was a television at the desk. Apparently, it was recording footage from a camera in the shop. As Gumball passed by, he also noticed a couple of flasks labeled 'volatile'. It was most peculiar as it was recently placed on the table. "What are these?" Gumball asked.

"Odor from cat's paws." The witch replied, rewinding the recorded video.

Gumball's face panned. Really? "You were capturing the scent from my paws?! That's gross!"

"You must've thought it strange why I agreed for a deal for just a quarter? I'm sorry dear. You know how witchy potions can have weird ingredients. I need it for a potion I'm making." She replied, her focus still on the screen.

Gumball's temper subsided. Rather, it turned into confusion. "I don't understand why witchy potions have to have weird ingredients."

"It's what we do. Besides, it's not all weird and magical. There's actually a bit of science to it. For one, you need a desiccant to capture odor. In this situation, I used silica gel to capture your scent. Vapor is captured and pressurized by sealing-"

"Boring!" Gumball responded. "What are you watching?"

"Right… Footage recorded earlier." The witch finally paused the video of the scene when it all started. "Oh dear. How did I not see this?"

"A mouse?" Gumball asked.

As the mouse moved away, Gumball's body almost sprung to life as it chased the mouse all over the room, creating a mess. It eventually caught the mouse and devoured it before heading out. The witch paused the video.

"What… the… what?"

"It appears your body has acted on instinct."

There was a long silence before Gumball finally said something. "Is that a good thing?"

"No, that would be a bad thing."

"Oh."

"Let me enlighten you. Instinct is a returning to a natural state. Every living thing has instinct, but it rarely comes to consciousness because of your spirit, which is usually in control. That's you. Now that you've been separated, there is nothing to stop your instinct from taking control of your mind, your memories, and everything. The mouse was the trigger. And the longer your body is in this state, the more dangerous your instincts become."

"Whoa! Are you saying I could actually hurt someone even if I didn't mean it?"

"That's not the half of it. We still need to find your body before midnight strikes."

They hurriedly left through the main door. However, Gumball and the witch soon stopped.

"Which way?" Gumball asked, panicky.

The witch looked at the shattered window adjacent the door. Hundreds of shards of glass were on the floor. The witch smiled.

"Oh man! Where do we go?"

"Calm down, dear. I think we're in luck." The witch replied.

"How so?"

The witch pulled a spray bottle and began to spray the fluid inside on the shattered glass. "Luminal spray, dear. It allows us to see bodily fluids. Luminol reacts with the iron in our blood, giving a bright blue glow."

Another gadget, which is quite a surprise to Gumball due to his prejudice that witches were more traditional, just like Hector's mom. The witch let out a flashlight, but it was no ordinary flashlight. The light source was an ultra-violet emitter. She focused the light source toward the shards of glass. The shards had some traces that glowed blue upon hovering the flashlight over. "Apparently, you've stepped on glass and have drawn blood." The witched then hovers the light to what seems to be a trail of blood.

"We can follow the blood trail with your flashlight thingy."

"Exactly. Now let us make haste."

Gumball's body continued to run like the feral-minded feline he has become. His fur was messed up, his eyes look like that of snakes, and his claws protracted. It stopped in front of a crowd of people.

"Cool costume!" said one of the passersby. The fact that it's Halloween masked the reality that this was no costume and that something is indeed wrong. It seemed to be searching for something as a certain image of something flashed on the mind it was controlling. It had access to Gumball's memories, but somehow, he did not know what memory to call out. Every now and then, a memory would surface, but a certain memory had caught its attention.

"Gumball? Are you okay?"

The feline looked at the source of the voice, which turned out to be Carrie's. "What happened to you? You look like you could use a bit of first aid."

Gumball's instincts barely comprehended her words. Instead, it made great efforts working Gumball's brain, only to respond with poorly constructed phrases. "FISH! NEEED FISH!"

"O…kay? Why do you need fish?"

"F-FOOOD!" The cat replied.

Carrie looked at him puzzlingly. "You do realize that your brother is a fish, right?"

"WHERE!"

"I don't know. At your house?" Carrie replied, pointing her hand towards the general direction of their house a bit annoyed.

The cat ended their conversation as he proceeded to his house, leaving the ghost alone.

"Is it me or something's a bit… off with Gumball. Unless…" Carrie looked at the direction where she thought Gumball went and decided to follow that path.

The witch and the ghost of Gumball continued following the trail of blood printed on the ground. Unfortunately for them, the blood trail faded as they went further until it became completely gone. Blood dries up over time.

"So what now?" Gumball asked.

"I don't know. The trail's gone cold. And we only have forty minutes left."

"Forty minutes!" Gumball began hyperventilating.

"Gumball, your instincts can use your mind and your memories just like you do. There must be something that you know that could help us? Where do you think your untamed self would go?''

"My memories?! Oh man!" Gumball tried to think long and hard. "Come on… Come on." He said as he forced himself to remember? His eyes widened. Of course, the answer was a little closer to home, and it worried him.

"Darwin!"

Ring!

Nicole came out from the kitchen, her one hand holding an icepack over her head. "Why do I suddenly have a really bad headache?" She said to herself.

Nicole did his best to reach the door without losing her balance. She opened the door, revealing a familiar face from the other end.

"Gumball? My goodness! Where have you been? It's late."

He only growled as he stared at the much older female cat. His breaths were audible.

"Alright… We'll discuss this later." Nicole closed the door after her son came in. She then proceeded to the kitchen. "Have you had supper?"

"D-DA-RWIN." He replied in a growly voice.

"Darwin's upstairs, honey, but he's already eaten. You sure you're not hungry?" Nicole asked, but no response came. "Gumball?" She looked back to the living room only to find her son no longer inside. "Suit yourself."

Gumball's body walked clumsily towards the second floor hallway, approaching the door to their rooms.

Gumball's ghost and the witch finally made it to the front lawn of the house. Gumball immediately made it to the front door.

"Uh… Gumball?"

Gumball looked back and realized that the witch hasn't made an inch of an attempt to go through the walkway.

"What's wrong?" Gumball asked.

"You're a ghost, dear. As long as they don't see you, I won't have an easy time explaining to your parents who I am. I also don't think your family just lets strangers in."

"You need to try, man. I've got like twenty five minutes!" Gumball replied. He sounded agitated at this point.

The witch sighed. "I'll try."

Darwin was on the computer when the door opened. Darwin looked toward the door and was relieved to see Gumball again.

"Welcome back, buddy." Darwin greeted warmly.

Gumball stood there, his eyes stared and his drool dripping. He did not return his greeting.

"Gumball?" Darwin asked, puzzled at his brother's rather strange behavior.

His call was met with one step forward from the blue cat, followed by another. He was slowly inching his way to Darwin.

"Gumball?" Darwin was nervous now. "Cut it out now. If this is a joke, it isn't funny."

The blue cat finally made its attempt to make words. "F-FOOOD!"

Ring!

"Oh, that must be Richard and Anais." Nicole opened the door, revealing a short green lady with a pointy black hat. "Who are you?"

"Uhm…Uhmmm…" Without warning, the green lady then unveils a potion and splashed some of the liquid to Nicole's face, with some of the liquid ingested. Nicole collapses to ground, falling out of consciousness.

Gumball, who was just beside the witch, stood in shock and horror. "What did you do!"

"I… panicked?"

"Why!"

"Look, I don't speak with a lot of people. Business is always slow."

"Gumball Watterson!"

Gumball cringed at the way his name was called out. From the unconscious blue cat emerged the ghost of Nicole Watterson.

"Hi mom?" He said with a nervous smile.

"You led a stranger into our house and then she attacks me. How could you do this to your mother!" She exclaimed.

"Mom, there's no time. Darwin's in danger."

"How so?"

"Ahhhhh…" Yelled a voice coming from upstairs.

The three waste no time as they head upstairs. They pass the hallway and immediately go inside the room, where they saw a feral Gumball pounced on Darwin, preparing to dive his teeth on him. Gumball revealed all of his teeth, all of his very sharp pointy teeth. Darwin only tried to push Gumball's face away. Darwin could see from the corner of his eye a short yet stout woman standing just after the door.

"Help me!"

Gumball's ghost, realizing that his brother was in grave danger, wasted no time racing back to his body. The ghost entered through the right ear and was soon inside. Gumball's body stuttered as a struggle was going on inside. This allowed his grip to loosen and let Darwin go. Darwin ran as fast as he could to and behind the witch.

"Are you okay?" The witch asked.

"Yeah. Is Gumball going to be alright?"

Just as Darwin asked that, Gumball's body stopped twitching. It seemed everything was back to normal, until Gumball opened his eyes, revealing a pair of snake eyes. Gumball again made his approach toward the two.

"Gumball!" Nicole yelled. She made her way to Gumball, also approaching from the ear. Unfortunately, she too was not strong enough to wake Gumball from this.

"What's happening? Why is Gumball still acting this way?"

"Gumball had left his body for too long, his instinct had gained a much stronger hold of his mind."

Darwin and the witch walked backwards slowly, not wanting to make sudden moves.

"Gumball, you can fight this!" Darwin yelled, with no effect.

Gumball just continued his slow walk to the two.

"Aww man, it's always like this every year." Darwin said, his voice very tense.

"I'm quite surprised. Must be a running gag." The witch replied.

"Don't be surprised." He replied.

Gumball was now mere inches from Darwin and the witch. The two hold each other tightly, not wanting to go. "So… this is it, huh?" Darwin said.

"My sincerest apologies to you and your brother… and your mother."

"What did you do to Mrs. Mom?" The fish asked.

"Nothing." The witch replied discretely.

Just as Gumball was ready to pounce on them, a new voice echoed in the room.

"Not so fast!"

Darwin and the witch looked to see a familiar ghost emerge from the window. It was Carrie. Carrie was in no mood for talking. She too rushed straight into Gumball's ear to help fight and control his instincts.

Gumball slowly woke up. He lay on his side of the bunk bed. His head was aching, but it was much more muted at least. He also felt a sensation of pain from his legs. What just happened? He thought to himself. It was not long before he realized that he had finally done it. He was finally in control of his body.

"Welcome back, buddy!" Greeted a familiar orange fish.

"It's great to be back, Darwin." Gumball replied

"Well, most of you anyway."

Gumball looked to see the witch was still there with him. She came up with a mirror to point a few very noticeable changes in his features. When Gumball looked through it, he realized what she meant. His teeth were still showing and his claws are still protracted. Still, it's better than nothing.

"It'll probably fade in time." The witch magically revealed a broom hiding from her dress. She then hopped onto the broom and immediately made her final preparations. "I'd love to stay, but I have no more reason to be here. Our transaction is complete."

"Okay then. I guess I'll see you around."

"Wait! Where's mom?"

"I'm right here." Nicole replied, although her voice was largely ignored with the exception of the witch. Nicole is still in her ghost form.

"She's right beside you. Just make sure she gets back in her body before midnight. Happy Halloween." The witch finally made her way out through the window, leaving Gumball, Darwin, and the ghostly form of Nicole alone.

It was not long after that Carrie arrived inside the room. She approached Gumball. "I hope you learned your lesson."

"To be honest, Carrie. I think I've lost my appetite doing crazy stuff for a while." Gumball replied. Carrie could look through behind Gumball, noticing his fingers were crossed.

Carrie just sighed. "Whatever. You need to get those wounds disinfected while we get your mom back to her body. It's only ten minutes before midnight."

"Relax Carrie, her body is just downstairs. Ten minutes is plenty of time. What's the worst that could happen?"

Just at the front door, where Nicole's unconscious body lay, a mouse appeared from a mouse hole inside the house. The mouse stopped in front of the blue cat, but then, continued on his way. The mouse's scent reached Nicole's nostrils. Her eyes blink, revealing a pair of slit eyes.

THE END

A/N: I enjoyed writing this story and I hope you did as well. I look forward to writing more if I get the chance. I would also like to take this time to wish everyone a Happy Halloween and don't forget to watch the latest episode of the Amazing World of Gumball (if you haven't already).