Author's Note:
Oh, my goodness. Sorry for the wait. In addition to being busy with college stuff, this chapter was a freaking challenge to write. There's so much action going on in here, and the change of pace is highly evident. What's more, I actually had to write an outline for this because I kept loosing track on what was supposed to happen next and where the characters were, and I still managed to get writer's block. This chapter just plain had no right to be this long. I really considered splitting it, but everything that went on was simply too important to cut. Hopefully this won't turn into one of those fics that only update once a month.
The good news is, I finally managed to send an invite request to AO3.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this painstaking effort of a chapter. It's quite a doozy.
Chapter 3: Chasm
Gumball stares at the generator, his one ticket to returning to Elmore back to his home, while Steven curiously shines the basement's walls. As they both walk towards the generator, Steven observes the strange symbols drawn on the walls; drawings of various bizarre creatures, some with multiple limbs, so as to illustrate movement. He wonders if these drawings have any meaning to them, and who could have drawn them. Gumball loudly taps the metal box, whose clanks bring Steven's attention.
"Hey!" Gumball calls out irritatingly as he stands in front of the generator's door. "Can you point your flashlight this way, please?"
Steven shines his flashlight at the generator, and Gumball finds the door opening the inner mechanism of the generator. He pulls hard and manages to open it slightly. A yellow warning sign of high voltage that is imprinted to the door fades out of sight as Gumball opens the door wider.
"Wait," Steven asks. "Should we even be doing this? This doesn't look safe, we should go and get help…"
Gumball turns to him with a look of annoyance. "We're alone, Steven," Gumball states. "There IS no help. We're the only ones around to fix this! We're just gonna have to try to do this ourselves."
"But," Steven sighs. "What about those things, then?" Steven flicks his wrist to illuminate the drawings, turning the light away from the generator. Gumball growls at having his light taken away. He couldn't care less about what was in the walls at the moment. He turns towards Steven in anger, only giving the walls a quick glance.
"Maybe they left, then." Gumball says sternly. "There's no one here. Light, please."
Steven disappointingly shines the flashlight back at the generator. Gumball peeks inside without saying anything else, and Steven looks away from him silently concerned: the drawings look too new compared to the rest of the tower, so someone obviously had been in the basement recently. He knows that, somehow, they aren't alone.
Gumball stares at the inside wiring of the silent generator, unsure if there is something actually wrong. He hums and licks his lips, and reaches towards the loose wiring, hoping to do something. Steven turns to him just in time to realize that –in trademark fashion– Gumball is about to do something stupid.
"Whoa, please be careful!" Steven warns him. Gumball just smiles.
"Don't worry," Gumball states in confidence. "I'll be just fine."
He grabs the wiring and tugs on it. Tons of electric circuits pump voltage into his arm and the rest of his body. He squeals loudly in pain as he lights up like a lightbulb and convulses erratically. Steven covers his ears and stares in horror at what is happening to Gumball, and swears he could see his skeleton. The lights in the basement start to flicker.
The power comes back. The portals appear.
Gumball lets go of the wiring and falls stiff to the floor, his fur and clothes blackened and singed. Steven stares at Gumball's unconscious body, shaking and breathing rapidly in shock as if he were electrocuted as well.
Then, Gumball happily sits up.
"Yeah!" he yells. "The power's back! Wooo!" He gets to his feet and starts to laugh and dance in joy, and grabs Steven's face. "Steven, the power's back! Yeah!"
Unfortunately, Steven is even more disturbed than before. Once Gumball lets go of his face and continues to dance, Steven feels as if he's talking to a corpse of his friend, and he feels his heart trying to tear out of his chest. He quickly swallows and holds his head with his palm, trying to think again.
"But…h-how…?" Steven struggles to ask. "How, uh… How are you not dead?"
"C'mon, I said I'd be fine!" Gumball laughs and bolts upstairs. "Now c'mon we're goin' home!"
Gumball disappears quickly, leaving Steven to try to recall what happened. Gumball's tampering must have kick started the machine and got it to work again, somehow. Steven is sure that the electric generators in his universe wouldn't work like that, even if magic were involved. The generator in this tower seems to work in some sort of abstract logic –cartoon logic, if you will. After several more seconds of heavy breathing, Steven gets over his shock and swallows again.
"H-hey, Gumball!" he shouts. "Wait for me!"
As Steven starts to run out of the room, he can hear a faint rattling sound from behind the generator.
Steven once again finds it hard to keep up with Gumball, not just because he keeps getting distracted by the newly-lit ruins of the tower (in what little it has of lights), but because Gumball is going even faster than before. By the time Steven exits the basement, Gumball already enters the hallways above the lobby. He runs upstairs as fast as he can, stopping at the top to catch his breath before running again. When he enters the hallways, he quickly realizes how difficult it is running up an inclination and almost finds himself out of breath again.
Gumball is also starting to get tired, and slows down his pace. Normally, he would give up and collapse on the floor, lamenting of how tired he is. Not this time, he decides. He is going home and that's final, then he can complain about how tired he is. He starts to jog determinably, sweating and huffing through his mouth. In spite of the dryness in his mouth, he turns right and he starts to chant to himself: I can do this, I can do this, I'm almost home, I can do this, I ca—
He stops. Emerging from behind the wall at the right is a ferocious-looking animal, staring straight at him with ominous glowing eyes.
"…Can't do this."
He turns around and bolts down the hall, screaming in fear. In seconds, he turns left and passes by Steven. Confused, Steven runs ahead to find what Gumball had been so scared of. He turns right. At the end of the hall, the animal trots forward. The animal looks at him and chuffs, and Steven lets out a sigh of relief.
"Oh, Lion!" Steven giggles as he goes to greet his beloved pet. "It's so good to see you!"
Just as Steven goes to hug him, a strange orange creature pops out of Lion's mane on his back.
"Hello!" it chirps.
"Wha-a…?!" Steven stops dead in his tracks, and his smile quickly twists into a look of complete befuddlement. What is that on Lion's back? A fish with legs?
"So…" the fish asks sheepishly, "You… didn't happen to see a cat running by here, did you?"
"Uh…" Steven can't bring himself to answer. He simply points to Gumball's direction with his thumb.
"Okay! Thank you!" says the fish happily, and Lion proceeds to run past Steven straight to where Gumball went. Steven's eyes remain glued to the fish behind Lion's back as he runs down the hall and turns left. Even once he's out of sight, Steven practically forgets what he is doing as his mind tries to deduce what that thing was. Was that the friend that Gumball was talking about in his adventures? Was that who he called Darwin?
"Yo! Steven! You there?" A voice snaps Steven out of his uneasiness. He could recognize that voice anywhere. He beams and runs up the hall. He turns right.
"Amethyst!"
"Heyyyy!" she shouts from the end of the hall. "What's up, lil' man!"
Steven runs up to her. Amethyst whoops and extends her hand to high-five him. Their hands slap, and they proceed to greet and laugh at each other. Steven then looks to her for answers.
"What was going on there?" asks Steven. Amethyst knows what he is referring to.
"Aughhh," she huffs. "It's crazy. After the swirly thing showed up again, Lion went in first, so I got curious. When I got in, there was this giant fish. And it was… talking to Lion? Anyway, he got on Lion's back to… find someone, I think he said. Fish riding a cat." She scratches her butt cheek as Steven fails to respond. "Yeah it was… it was weird."
Steven turns around and looks where Lion and the strange fish, his curiosity emerging once more. He wonders if he should really meet these new beings, but he knows that he really wants to see more.
Amethyst sighs and rolls her eyes. "But now Pearl and Garnet can't enter, so they wanted me to fetch you," she crosses her arms and puffs. "Guess that means it's time to get back. This place stinks anyway, c'mon, go get Lion and let's go."
"Wait…" Steven says honestly. "Actually, um… Amethyst?"
Amethyst stops to listen to him curiously. "What?"
"I don't think I wanna leave just yet," he says. "I kinda just… wanna explore. I know this place doesn't look good, but I bet that I can really find some neat things here! During my time here, I got to see a lot of things, and I wanna find out more." Steven pauses and thinks. "But at the very least, I wanna say goodbye to these new people." He turns to Amethyst pleadingly. "Can I stay for a while longer?"
Amethyst raises her eyebrow. As far as she knows, Steven wasn't gone that long ago. As usual, she shrugs it off. She simply concentrates on what Steven says about the place and starts to look around. She stares at the grimy window and squints. After pondering quite loudly, she begins to nod. She turns to him with a determined smile as she is also overcome with curiosity.
"I got a better idea," she says confidently. "Why don't we get the other Gems to come here? We can all go exploring together. Yeah, let's see if we can sway them for once! We'll show 'em how to have fun!"
Steven's eyes light up. The very thought of the Crystal Gems having fun with him in other worlds, something he's been dreaming about for a long time, is capable of erasing any negative feelings. He whoops and laughs, and shouts loud exclaims of "YAY!"
Amethyst chortles on her own and high-fives Steven again, and they both set out for the Portal Room to find the other Crystal Gems. The run up and turn right, unaware of the figures in that hall's elevator corner. They reel back and watch them run, and whisper to each other.
"It's okay, dudes, I don't think they noticed us."
"Man, that hair is just insane! Am I right, guys?"
"You two really should keep quiet."
"My, I simply can't wait to see all the strange little things in this quite peculiar building!"
Gumball lies on the hall collapsed face-first in a puddle of his own terrified sweat, panting heavily. I'm so tired I'm so tired, he repeats in a wheezing breath. Once Lion turns left to find Gumball, he stops approaching him and stands still at the end of the hall, so as to not scare him to death. Worried, Darwin dismounts Lion to run to Gumball himself, allowing Lion to wonder up the halls. Darwin kneels in front of his exhausted friend, and reaches a fin to pet his fur.
"Hey Gumball, are you okay?" he asks gently.
Gumball lets out a muffled "huh?" when he feels the fin in his head. That voice… it can't be. Gumball throws his head up, his face sweaty and his eyes somewhat bloodshot from exhaustion. Right under his nose, his best friend and brother watches him with a bubbly smile. Gumball screams happily. He jumps up in a burst of complete joy that erases any impurity left in his body.
"BUDDY!" he exclaims. Grinning, he throws himself into his brother's arms and holds his head tightly. Darwin instantly reciprocates. They stand there holding each other affectionately.
"Hahahaha, ohhhhhh!" Gumball murmurs softly. "I missed you so much, buddy! I thought I'd go crazy!"
"Just thought you might need some rescuing!" Darwin giggles. "And maybe a little bit of company!"
Gumball thinks about that last part for a moment. He actually did have some company; he made a "sort" of a new friend and he enjoyed Steven's company. Did he betray Darwin? He assures himself that Steven is cool and all, but no one could ever replace Darwin, his dear brother. Gumball lets go of his embrace and grabs Darwin by the cheeks.
"Dude, let's get home."
"…Right." Darwin responds. Truthfully, he is still curious about the place and would like to go exploring, wanting to befriend aliens like he already did with that pink lion, in spite of how disturbed he is. But he'll respect his brother's wishes.
"Let's go!" Gumball announces. He starts running up the hall again as if he never lost energy, and Darwin isn't too far behind, running at the same pace. Just like old times. Gumball started thinking about Steven again. He would say goodbye to him, but he is in such a hurry to get out. Besides, they are heading the same way, so maybe he can—
He notices something in the corner of his eyes as he turns right one more time. He stops again abruptly, and Darwin barely avoids colliding with him. Before Darwin has a chance to ask what happened, both nervously turn towards the elevator corner. In the elevator corner stood a tall, slender blue bird, a small raccoon, a yeti, and a man with an oversized round head. In the corner, the light inexplicably glows red. The figures don't notice the brothers as the elevator finally opens its doors.
Darwin almost screams, but Gumball is quick to cover his mouth. For all his bravery in dealing with Lion, he ultimately can't bring himself to approach these kinds of animals. They both try to step away, until Gumball notices something far more disturbing.
"Wait, dude…!" Gumball begins to exclaim as the figures start making their way inside. "THE ELEVATOR! IF THEY TAKE IT THEY'RE DEAD!"
"OH MY GOSH!" Darwin shouts as both their fears take a whole new priority. "CREEPY ELEVATOR! CREEPY ELEVATOR!"
They dash towards the elevator as the doors begin to close, yelling all the way. From the gap of the door, the bird can see weird creatures sprinting right at them.
"What thh—?!"
"HEY!" Gumball grabs the sides of the elevator doors with his claws and opens them, shrinking his pupils, and baring his teeth. "DON'TTAKETHEELEVATOR!" he yells rapidly.
The elevator's occupants all recoil and scream in panic. The red light from the corner making Gumball look devilish does not help for them. They scramble to the furthest corners of the elevator, trying to get away from the demon cat and fish, who are currently inside the elevator mashing the button for holding the doors open and flailing their limbs.
"COME ON, GET OUT!" they shout, unaware that they are blocking the only exit. Lion sits in the hall, watching all the creatures thrash around in the elevator. He scratches his ear and occasionally glances at the direction of the Portal Room.
"C'mon, Pearl! Don't you wanna know where I am?"
"No, Steven. I just want you back here! I can't bear to imagine what sort of eldritch monstrosities beyond even a Gem's understanding are lurking in there!"
In the Portal Room, Steven talks to the other Crystal Gems from the other side of the portal. Amethyst has her arms crossed and huffs in annoyance.
Both are unaware of yet two more creatures sneaking behind them in the same room, the taller one glowing rather brightly. The taller creature fought the urge not to shapeshift in fear, while the smaller one tries to guide both of them towards the door. They walk slowly, the taller one not taking her eyes off Steven and Amethyst, while the smaller one reaches for the door. She opens it gently and steps outside the Room, signaling the taller one to follow her. She takes her gaze off Steven and Amethyst and tries to step outside.
"Come on, Pearl. It can't be that hard!" Steven continues to persuade.
"Steven I just…" Pearl sighs. "I don't want to. I'm sorry."
Steven starts to pout. He looks at Amethyst, whose arms are crossed. Amethyst shrugs her shoulders. She's cool with leaving if it doesn't work out. Steven looks at the portal again and hums to himself.
Steven beams up again and starts to shout into the portal again. "Garnet, are you there?"
Some silence. "Yes, Steven," Garnet responds.
"Can you come in? Pleeeeaaase? You just need to wonder where I am! Please come in Garnet!" Steven knew Garnet could not resist his pleas. He made sure his voice sounded as tiny as possible to really get to her. Garnet takes a few moments to respond.
"Alright, I'll try." she says, ignoring Pearl's subsequent protests.
Letting out a chuckle in relief, Amethyst glances at the door, but takes back when she sees a yellow glow behind it. In her experiences as a Crystal Gem, something that glows meant something important, or she is simply instinctively drawn to the glow. She remains silent for some time.
"Hey," she slowly announces as she steps into the door back into the hall. "I'm gonna go check out something. You guys don't mind right? Nah, you don't mind."
The other Crystal Gems don't hear her, and Steven continues to persuade the other Gems to get in. She exits the room and begins her silent pursuit, following the glow.
The scene in the elevator remains chaotic as Gumball and Darwin continue to hold the doors open. The occupants are significantly less panicked the more but still no less scared, practically at Gumball and Darwin's mercy. Gumball grows impatient.
"C'mon! Why aren't you getting out?" he demands. Darwin turns to him in realization.
"Dude, we're blocking the exit!" he says.
Gumball relaxes his posture, mentally smacking himself. "Oh," he says embarrassingly and turns their back on them trying to get out of their way, with Darwin following. "Okay. Alright, we'll just leave you guys to just exit calmly…"
The yeti finally decides to take action, and quickly but gently grabs Gumball by the collar of his sweater and tucks Darwin underneath his other arm, standing between the elevator and the building's corner. Gumball and Darwin freeze up and stare blankly with eyes wide open, Gumball lifting his knees up and tucking his arms on his chest. All the other figures proceed to quickly exit the elevator, panting heavily.
"A-a-alright, alright," the bird stammers, pointing to the two brothers. "W-what do we do with 'em?"
"Let's dissect them!" the raccoon hollers jokingly. Gumball and Darwin's pupils are non-existent at this point. The bird glares at the raccoon.
"C'mon, Mordecai! I was just kidding!" the raccoon says in his defense.
"Oh, no! Please don't harm the poor creatures, Skips!" begs the man. "Can't you see just how frightened they are?"
On cue, Gumball and Darwin begin to stare at Skips with bright puppy dog eyes.
"Yeah, Pops is kinda right…" Rigby rubs his chin somewhat sarcastically then starts shouting. "Let's keep 'em as pets!"
"Rigby, shut up," Mordecai chastises. He turns to Skips. "Just let 'em go, alright? They're not that dangerous."
"Don't worry, I wasn't going to do anything." Skips drops the two brothers from his grasp, and they quickly stand to their feet, somewhat irritated. They do not really appreciate feeling threatened like that. What a bunch of idiots.
"Uh…" Mordecai tries to explain. "I think we… got off to bad start there…"
"It's alright, we just wanted you to get out of that evil elevator," Gumball says condescendingly, pointing towards the elevator currently closing its doors in a sinister manner. He begins to make his way towards the Portal Room. "Now if you'll excuse us, we have to get back to our own worlds, thanks."
"You guys stay out of trouble now!" Darwin says in sincerity as he follows Gumball with a smile on his face. They inattentively pass by Lion, who watches them go. He returns his vision towards Mordecai and the others, who stare back in stoic confusion.
"Did we just get talked down to by kids?" Rigby remarks.
"Good thing Benson's not here," Mordecai jokes slightly. "Or, we're definitely not gonna hear the end of it," he turns to Lion indifferently. "Hey, man."
Headfirst and soundlessly, Garnet finally manages to get in the tower. Her head turns at various angles, her tryclopian vision scanning and studying the strange new sights, and observing a vast sea of new probabilities from just this one room.
"Weird," she remarks. "But I'll get used to it."
"There!" Steven giggles excitedly, happy to have Garnet with him as well. He turns towards the portal again. "Now you do it, Pearl!"
There is some silence, then, an audible sigh. "Alright, then. I'm coming in. I sure wonder what this portal leads to."
A foot en pointe emerges from the portal and touches the floor. The rest of the body follows, eyes covered by a single hand. The hand departs, and Pearl lets her eyes stare in slight befuddlement at the room in this unknown dimension, then at Garnet, then at Steven.
"Well…" Pearl tries to comment as she continues to stare. "I can't say I have ever seen anything like this before. It's… unique I suppose."
Steven smiles at her widely and happily, and Pearl can't help but smile back. Her smile soon fades as she notices something missing.
"Where's Amethyst?" she asks as her brow starts to furrow.
"Uh…" Steven says confusedly as he begins to look around frantically. "She was just here with me!"
"Ugh! Are you serious? Amethyst!" Pearl passes by Steven and angrily begins to walk towards the door. Steven nervously follows her, and Garnet sighs and moves with them. They exit the room.
"It's okay, Pearl! There's no rush!" Steven assures her.
"She could get herself into trouble," Pearl affirms as they walk down the hall. "I'm not taking any chances. We have to find her before something happens in this crazy place."
"There is no rush, Pearl," Garnet states, and they all pause. "Whatever happens, we'll deal with it as a team, but now we need to relax. None of us know this place, so we need to be as calm as possible."
Steven nods in approval, but Pearl stares at her in a bit of embarrassment. Garnet's statement didn't do much to ease her worries, but she's willing to do as she says. "…Right," Pearl responds, and they start to walk again. Pearl slows down her pace, letting Steven catch up. He smiles at her reassuringly, and Pearl smiles back, though still feeling unsure.
However, even more uneasy is the glowing creature. She and the smaller one are out of the Portal Room, but she still feels unsafe, still fighting the urge not to shape shift. Her eyes move rapidly and her mouth feels dry. She isn't used to being in such an alien place. She suspects she's beginning to get paranoid; she hears footsteps and from the hall in front of them. She stops, listening to her own breath and heartbeat. The smaller one turns to look at her.
"Penny, why are you stopping?" asks the smaller one, disturbed by the alien sights, yet there is no trembling in her straightforward voice. She did a surprisingly good job in maintaining composure.
"Do you hear that, Anais?" Penny asks disconcertedly, looking behind her. "The footsteps on both sides?"
Now that Penny mentions it, she also can hear the footsteps from both sides of the hall, confirming it wasn't Penny's paranoia. She doesn't act scared, but she feels it. Would the crippling thought of being ambushed and killed have something to do with the fact that she's a rabbit? No, she was certain it was the sheer unfamiliarity. Anais gulps. She stares at the hall in front of her, not daring to go forward, while Penny stares at the hall behind her. Both are rigid and waiting.
Then Anais's brothers emerge from behind the left wall. She stares in surprise and relief, and her brothers stare back.
"Sis?!" Gumball shouts at her.
"Darwin? Gumball?" she shouts back.
"What?" Penny turns around alerted upon hearing her lover's name.
"PENNY?!" Gumball yells even louder staring straight into her form. Gumball's surprised expression doesn't change, but Penny begins to smile in relief and affection upon seeing his face. All the feelings of fear are washed away, and her glow begins to blaze brightly in loving joy at him. Gumball tilts his head and smiles caringly, admiring his girlfriend. It was so good to see her again.
Soon, Darwin and Anais start to giggle. Gumball turns his attention towards them, and all three siblings proceed to tackle each other in hugs. Happy and playful giggles from the Watterson kids grow loud throughout the halls, and Penny still stares lovingly at Gumball. Gumball decides to exit the group hug to walk over and embrace his girlfriend tightly. Though slightly taken aback at the sudden hug, she returns it fondly.
A door creaking distracts Amethyst. She stops to look at the barely open door. She looks back at the hall to hear some little voices that also catch her attention, but now her curiosity is pointed towards the door. She decides to look through the door first, then she can see what's going on behind the left wall. She curiously pushes the door and puts a foot forward. Just a quick look—
There is no floor.
Her startled yelps echo throughout the whole building, far louder than anything else. Everyone stops dead silent. The chats between friends regarding the place and creatures, stopped. The siblings and girlfriend reunion, interrupted. The Crystal Gems' search for Amethyst, frantic. Lion's ears and eyes, perked and wide.
Everyone is almost hypnotically drawn to the doors. They soundlessly travel down the vast halls, searching each one they can find.
They open them. They see an empty concrete abyss where the rooms used to be, lightened by the skylight.
Steven and the Crystal Gems stare at Amethyst clinging precariously to the doorknobs, also silent, saved for some anxious panting. They all stare at the vast chasm below.
All senses are numb.
A/N: I hope the addition of Regular Show characters won't deter your enjoyment of this fic. Stay tuned.
~Elcee