Gumball made his way downstairs. As he made his way to the kitchen, he heard a lovely tune being hummed by Nicole. As he rounded the corner and gazed in, he saw her facing the stove, making morning pancakes; and by the smell of them, he knew they were going to be delicious.
Nicole, hearing Gumball approach the kitchen, turned herself around to face him.
"Perfect timing Gummypuss. I was just about to look for you to say breakfast is ready~" she spoke in a very cheery tone.
"Seems like someone's happy today." He replied, taking a seat at the table.
Nicole gave him a small giggle before preparing their plates. After she had set hers down, she walked over to Gumball and set his down in front of him. Before she walked over to her seat, she gave Gumball a small quick kiss on the cheek.
Gumball immediately blushed from that, before looking over to her. Nicole had a very sultry look on her face now.
'Oh she's good at this...' He thought, giving her another glance before taking a bite of his pancakes.
After they finished their meal, Gumball was finishing his glass of milk when he noticed her staring quite intently at him. He knew something was up. But what? As he focused on her seemingly endless gaze, he noticed she was deep in thought. As he set his now empty glass down on the table, and cleared his throat, this seemed to break Nicole's thought trance.
"Hey. What's on your mind?" Gumball asked curiously.
"Oh. Sorry sweetie. I just was...thinking of you. About us."
"How so?" He asked, now cautiously.
"Well...It's just, you've done so much for me lately. With the dates, the hugs, the kisses...the campfire. All of it! I just feel like I've yet to do anything major for you..."
Gumball stood up and brought his chair over next to hers and held her hands delicately.
"Nicole, you have done TONS for me. You comforted me, you confessed your love to me; Hell, you saved my life. TWICE! Don't think like this. You've done more than enough for me already. Trust me. If anything, I wanted to make it up to you more. No offense. Also, sorry for swearing. It just slipped..."
Nicole gave him a big hug. Why didn't she think of it that way? It all kind of made sense when she thought of it like that...
Nicole pulled away and held his hands this time.
"Sorry I thought that way sweetie. I don't know why I did."
"It's fine. Really." Gumball said warmly.
"Are you sure there isn't something I can do to make it up to you?"
Gumball was about to say no, but then thought of something. Something that he had been meaning to do; to learn. Last night he made a promise to her. Now he wanted to keep it.
"Actually there is something I would like you to do..."
Nicole leaned in a little, eager to hear what he had to say.
"What's that Gumball?"
"I want you to teach me. I want you to teach me on how to move on. Like you did." He said, now with a serious tone.
Nicole leaned back in her chair. This wasn't going to be easy. She knew. After all those years of isolation, she had perfected her methods; but they had come with certain costs. Perfecting herself was very hard. Mentally and physically. Although she had thought she was quite successful in both after it, that was proved otherwise when Gumball had returned. Now she knew she would have to train Gumball differently than herself. She would have to come up with a whole new plan.
Nicole let out a deep sigh, before meeting his eyes with hers.
"I will." She said, before raising her pointing finger.
"But, you MUST follow my instructions. If you don't, I can't be sure that it will work. Alright?"
Gumball nodded, before smiling. He would finally be able to feel stronger about this. He knew this would be a struggle, but he had to try. Even if he failed, he would learn something, right? His mom was strong. Mentally and physically. Although she had creaks, he could see her healing with him. Now that she was by his side, he knew this would be...well...interesting. Now all he needed was time. Something he was quite certain he had a lot of.
Gumball stood up, cracked his knuckles, and let out a deep breath.
"Alright. It's settled then. Let's do this!" He exclaimed, full of confidence.
Nicole gave him a loving smirk before standing up.
'Oh this is going to be interesting...' She thought, as they both headed for the door.
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As they both made their way onto the pavement, Nicole still felt uneasy about all this. She didn't want Gumball to get hurt or suffer mentally, but was afraid he would, if he still wanted to do this. She had to be absolutely certain he was willing to do this...
"Gumball, I wouldn't blame you if you still are uncertain about all this. You can still back out."
Gumball slowed his pace and faced her briefly before picking back up his speed.
"I'm not backing down. Not now. I have to do this." He said firmly, finally stopping with her in the middle of the pavement.
Nicole breathed a heavy sigh. She knew Gumball had made up his mind. She would really have to do this. All that was left to do, was move forward with her plan. The training would begin.
"Sit down here Gumball." She gestured.
Gumball obeyed and took a seat on the tar pavement alongside Nicole. She crossed her legs into a lotus position, and he copied.
"The first step to learn in this process is to know what you need to let go of in the first place." She spoke in a serious tone.
Gumball nodded, and closed his eyes. Who and what did he need to let go of? What was bothering him the most? He let his mind wander. Distant and blurry thoughts raced all around him, before suddenly a single memory became more focused. A face soon became clear to him; it sent shivers down his spine seeing it.
"Penny..." he muttered, clenching his fists.
Oh how he had hated what she had done to him. She had played him like a fool. He had to let her go. But...how?
"I found a memory. Of...Penny. Of her face. I need to let it go. Now what?" He asked Nicole, drawing her attention.
"I want you to focus now. Focus on letting her drift into the other memories of yours. Let her face fade away into the other faces in your memory."
Gumball focused his mind once again. He imagined her face becoming one with the others. The harder he did this, the more blurry her face became. Gumball clenched his fists again for extra strength. It seemed to have worked, for her face was almost completely blurry and fading back into the swarm of other faces that Gumball saw. Just as it seemed that Penny's face had faded into nothing, a faint cry was heard from the back of his mind.
"Gumball..." it whimpered, as if truly broken and full of sadness.
Gumball recognized it as the voice of Penny. That voice sent more chills throughout his body. But just as quickly as it came, it disappeared. Now it was silent. The only sounds Gumball heard was his beating heart. He let out a sigh of relief. He had done it. He had let go of someone. Just like Nicole wanted.
"I did it Nicole! I did it." He stated, breaking his position, and laying on his back.
"Well done sweetie! I'm proud of you." She said, looking over and down on him.
"But we are just getting started. That was but only one piece of the puzzle. The other pieces will be harder. I can assure you."
Gumball felt a little disappointed by that, but understood. His small victory was just that. Small. The road ahead for this journey would be a rocky one. He knew. But every victory was a step in the right direction. Now that he took his first step forward, the rest of the hike had begun.
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Gumball had taken a short break. He needed to recover from that. He let out several deep breaths before opening his eyes.
"I'm ready to continue." He spoke, straightening his form.
"Alright. Now that you have completed the first step, we will move on to the next." Nicole said, resting her hand on his shoulder.
Gumball felt a tinge of relief from her touch, but knew it wouldn't last for long. Things would now only get harder.
"Let's begin." She said, now removing her hand from him.
Gumball nodded, and focused on maintaining his form that Nicole had instructed him to do.
"I'm ready." He said in return, closing his eyes.
"Focus on now multiple faces of those who you wish to let go, and do it."
Gumball concentrated scouring his mind, looking for more faces of those who he needed to let go. Then...he saw a face, and another. Then a third. Gumball instantly recognized one of the blurry faces that was slowly coming into focus first. How couldn't he? The bright orange face and rounded cheeks were unmistakable...
"Darwin..." he said, reaching out in his mind, focusing harder. Darwin soon became clear and his loving eyes soon gazed back at him. The way Darwin looked at him made Gumball feel like he was being stabbed through his heart. Darwin...was crying. His red puffy eyes seemed to show such sorrow; much like Penny.
"I'm sorry Darwin, I have to let you go."
"No! Don't leave me! Please Gumball!" He begged.
Gumball closed his eyes, and looked away. This would be too hard to watch. As he did this, he focused on him fading again; only this time, for him to fade into the blurry void with the others.
"I'm sorry...brother..." He spoke softly, as he heard Darwin's distant crying for him to stop. After a few seconds, silence was all around him.
Gumball then focused on the next face he had to let go. This time, a smaller and pink face came into view and Gumball knew who it was. It was his little sister, Anais. Her small bunny ears rested behind her head, and her large curious eyes looked into his.
"G-Gumball?" She asked curiously.
"Yes, it's me Anais." He said back.
Anais then smiled warmly at him. Something Gumball has rarely seen.
"You're here to let me go, aren't you?"
Gumball felt taken aback by that. How did she know? Then Gumball remembered she was part of him. This wasn't his real sister, only his brain playing fake scenarios and fake emotions.
"Yes. I must. It's the only way that I can help myself heal..."
Gumball then focused on her dissolving back into the void.
"I love you Gumball. Don't forget that..." Anais said, before blowing him a kiss.
Gumball felt happy then. At least she understood why she had to go. As he focused harder, her face slowly disappeared back into the blurry void around him. Soon enough, nothing remained of her. All that remained now was...
Gumball felt something inside him turn. A single blurry face was now in front of him. As it slowly assembled and become more clear, Gumball knew this was going to be a rough one. A seriously rough one.
As the face slowly become clear, the large pink blob formed into a very big and chubby bunny face. The face...of his father.
"Dad..." Was all Gumball could say.
His father looked around himself, before replying.
"Hey son! I'm glad I found you!"
"Y-you are?" Gumball asked quizzically.
"If course! Who else am I going to ask for food from?"
Gumball felt his fear start to melt away.
"Come on dad, you know I don't have any food here."
His dad seemed to ponder for a moment before replying back.
"Hm, maybe your mother has some good food..."
That statement. The second his dad had said that, Gumball remembered what Nicole had told him about his dad. About his...eating habits. About their maxed out credit cards...about his lack of affection towards her...
Gumball felt his blood now boil. His fear was replaced with sheer anger.
"HOW COULD YOU?!" He yelled to his father with gritted teeth. "HOW COULD YOU BE SO CARELESS TO HER?"
Gumball saw his father drop his goofy and cheerful expression, and replace it with sternness. Something he was quite bad at trying to pull off.
"SON! You aren't to speak to me like that. You must learn to not shout at me."
"Why don't you learn to GET A JOB!" Gumball yelled angrily.
Gumball then focused on his disappearance. He heard his father now scream in terror. He opened an eye to see what was happening. As he watched, his father was shaking his head side to side very quickly. His face now seemed to start to fade. Gumball continued listening to his agonizing scream as he slowly kept being more and more blurry. With the scream growing in intensity, Gumball knew he had to stop this, some how. Then he got an idea. As he reached himself closer to his dad in his mind, he swung his fist as hard as he could and made contact with his cheek. This act silenced him, but knocked both of them back.
As Gumball got up, Gumball saw him open his mouth, but no sound came out. Finally, he completely faded from view and became one with the void. It was over. Gumball had won; yet again.
He opened his eyes, and let out a sigh of relief.
"Did you let the others go?" Nicole asked him, resting her hand back on his shoulder.
Gumball looked towards her, and crawled closer to her, before kissing her deeply. After a moment, he pulled back and looked her in the eyes.
"I did it. I finally did it..." he softly whispered to her.
Nicole pulled him into a warm hug.
"Well done Gumball. Well done..."
Gumball rested his tired head on her shoulder. He was victorious in removing the people who he was fearful of losing; the people who he couldn't seem to let go. He was now free...
Nicole stroked his sweat dampened hair and let out her own sigh of relief. After months and possibly years in her case, she had refined her techniques of moving on, and helped herself mentally and physically succeed. Now, she was successful in helping her son make the first great step to letting go of his past. This was going to be hard, no doubt about it. This thought was now constantly lingering in her. Gumball may have mentally removed a few people from his memory, but their past actions would still remain to haunt him if he doesn't conquer them. Also, his mental training would mean nothing without physical training as well. The mind is a complex thing. To fuel its thoughts and actions, one must take care of it and improve what it controls as well. Their little "yoga sessions" wouldn't cut it this time. He needed REAL training. The same training she had to endure as a child to make her into what she is today; although perhaps with a little improvement.
Nicole then stopped her playing of his hair, and helped them both to their feet.
"That's enough training for now. You need rest, along with a shower and a meal."
Sniffing her hand that she had rubbed his hair with prompted her to scrunch her nose in obvious discomfort.
"Make that a shower first..."
Gumball gave her playful punch on her shoulder as they now headed back to the house.
As Gumball headed into the bathroom, Nicole made her way into her room. Opening her closet, she pulled out a notebook and a pencil that she had gotten several years ago but never used. She thought it would be best to write out a plan for Gumball's training. She didn't want to forget after all.
As Nicole jotted down a few things, she then separated them into categories and made a basic chart on the next page as a final copy of her "idea rough draft".
Mental Training: Include exclusion of both people and previous events
Physical Training: Include Aerobic, Flexibility, and Strength exercises. Include some mental exercises as well
Consumption: Increase amount of food consumed for Gumball. Several servings per meal
Sleep: Make Gumball sleep effectively and efficiently
Nicole was proud of her little chart that she had created. It turned out good. Now that she had a plan of what to include, she planned on using it so. Now that he was done for the day mentally training, it was time to include something else; food... lots of it.
"Speaking of which..." she said to herself, as Gumball could be heard emerging from the bathroom and into his room.
Nicole made her way downstairs to make them a meal truly worth devouring. If Gumball was going to train hearty , he deserved to eat like it as well. With a happy swish of her tail, she made her way downstairs to the kitchen for its preparation. Tonight, they would have steak.
A lot of it.