Chapter 2 is here! As you might notice, this version of The Shell is going to take a pretty interesting turn..

With that said, enjoy the chapter! ^^

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It was a fairly quiet evening for the Watterson family, who were eating dinner. However, they were in a constant cycle, giving the person next to them a spoonful of their food. Darwin attempts to follow along, giving his portion of the meal to Gumball, but the younger cat did not follow, slumped over with a paw on his cheek.

"Why are we doing this again?" Anais inquired, between her spoonfuls of food.

"Because your father is always jealous of what's on his neighbor's plate." Nicole replied, following the motion all the same.

"But why do we have to do it?"

The older cat sighed, though was careful not to stop moving her spoon. "Because he always cries when he's the first one to finish."

Richard meanwhile was sitting there impatiently, mouth moving around frantically as he received nothing. "Nicole! Operation Greener Grass has failed! The chain is compromised! We are losing calories I repeat, we are losing calories!"

"What's wrong Gumball honey? Don't you like Darwin's dinner?" Nicole felt concern, seeing his rather depressed state. She had a hunch it had something to do with that headbutt she saw at the play, yet it didn't seem like too much of a big deal in her eyes.

"I don't wanna talk about it." The younger feline muttered, not looking at her once.

Darwin stopped eating, deciding to fill in instead. "Gumball headbutted Penny, and now he's never allowed to see her again."

"I meant I don't want anybody to talk about it." The other added in annoyance. The last thing he wanted was being bothered about it even more.

"Oh, come here.." Richard hugged him, though started taking a small bite of his dinner as he was close enough. It hardly phased the cat.

"So is that why your eye looks like that?" Anais pointed towards the injury with a dull tone, though raised an eyebrow as she noticed it. "That thing looks terrible, maybe you should get a doctor."

"Eh, it's nothing. It'll heal." The flash appeared again; Gumball quick to cover it. However, by then it was too late, as everyone had already seen it.

"That is not nothing." Nicole stood up immediately, abandoning her meal. It looked like some kind of engine sparked to life within her, though not in the best way. "Who else saw it? Penny?"

Darwin raised an eyebrow, confused as he could tell the other family members looked tense, almost.. Worried. It was as if they were scared of something. "Wait what are you guys talking about? What do you mean?"

"Nobody saw it! Ok fine maybe her and her dad, but nothing happened! Besides that vase somehow breaking even though I didn't touch it.." He muttered the last sentence, but it was no use, as the moment he finished his mother looked furious, yet also worried.

"That's bad! You can't just gloss over such a thing, we don't even know what you and Anais possess! This could be dangerous!"

"I still don't have context guys what are you talking abou-"

"It's nothing dude okay?!" Gumball now stood up, angry himself as the flash was seen more frequently. He faced towards Nicole, kicking away his chair. "What's so bad about it anyway? Everyone already knows we're pretty chaotic and destructive in general so it's not like they're gonna flip out or something!"

"You don't know that! This town is crazy enough, we don't need to make it worse alright?!"

"She's got a point Gumball." Anais added, though decided to keep quiet as she noticed he only grew more upset by that.

"Guys please I'm super confused right now-" Darwin was cut off again, the fish's concern prevalent as he felt like only a mere spectator at this point.

"Penny's literally going through the same thing! So what, I can't be myself then?!" Gumball shot back. The bowl next to him suddenly shattered, the chili sent flying towards Richard. The large rabbit quickly got over his shock, as he happily licked off the food on his face. This only further angered Nicole.

"No, this is exactly why! It's unstable and dangerous and we have to fix this right now!" She tried to grab him by the arm, but he was quick to dodge it, much to her annoyance.

"No we don't! It's nothing!" Gumball began to angrily stomp over to the stairs, ignoring the other family members watching the scene. A part of him felt pretty awful hearing his brother's bewilderment, but he didn't want to think about it right now.

"Where are you going?!"

"Isn't it obvious?! Just leave me alone!" He stormed up to the bedroom, slamming the door behind him. Once inside, for a moment he stood there, feeling a multitude of emotions colliding with each other in his head. It felt painful, as he slowly trudged to his bed, collapsing onto it and beginning to sob into his pillow. Everything was pouring out of him. It was only going to be a matter of time before he would have to face the music, to try and figure out what on Earth he could do to stop his mother from trying to fix his eye.

He didn't want to be fixed.

Knocking outside the window snapped him out of his thoughts, the cat lifting his head up as tears poured down his face, his voice shaking. He could see a familiar face standing behind it, looking upon him with concern from the ladder she was on. "Penny?.."

The blue feline quickly came over, opening it and letting her in. He wanted so badly to hug her, to thank her for being here, but he couldn't get his limbs to cooperate.

"Thanks. Gumball I came to.." Penny cut off, noticing his eyes were a tinted red. "Have you been crying?"

"No, I just have really sweaty eyes. Wait that's disgusting." He sighed, giving up trying to defend it. "Yeah I was crying.."

"Anyway I came to say... I'm moving to another school. Dad thinks it's for the best.." The peanut was hesitant to reveal this, as she glanced away. She didn't even like the idea herself, but what choice did she have?

"WHAT THE WHAT?! Excuse my French Penny, BUT THIS IS TOTAL BAGUETTE! It is not for the best that you're forbidden to be who you really are!" Gumball couldn't hide the utter shock and anger he felt. He had no idea he could dislike her father this much before, yet here he was.

"But there's no other way.."

Meanwhile, Darwin, Anais, and Richard were listening through the door. The large rabbit's stomach growled, to which him and the others shushed it. Luckily, it responded fairly quickly, stopping in an instant.

"What do you want me to do?.." Sorrow was heard in Penny's voice, as she looked at the feline with uncertainty. They both knew neither wanted this.

Gumball took her hands, as he looked right back at her, giving her a reassuring smile. "Be yourself, come out of your shell."

She looked away, slight fear setting in. "But maybe you wouldn't like the real me.."

"There's no way that can be true. Whatever is inside, we can deal with it together."

"Together?.." Penny fixed her gaze back to him, a small smile forming on her face.

"Together."

However, she paused. She didn't know if she really truly wanted to go through with it. What if it went wrong? What if she somehow hurt him in the process? The peanut quietly dropped her hands from the cat's, as she held one of her arms, stepping back. "..I can't.. This doesn't.. I'm not too sure.."

Gumball had a look of hurt in his eyes, though quietly contemplated, staring at the floor. Slowly, his eyes trailed back up, as he swallowed nervously. "..It's okay, I know what it's like.. I.. I have my own real me too.."

Penny raised an eyebrow, not expecting such a sentence. "Wait, what?.. Is.. Is that why your eye was flashing?.."

He nodded, letting out a sigh. Uncomfortableness was vaguely seen in his expression. "..It's a long story, but.. It's a little weird.. I wasn't really allowed to say anything about it.. My mom wants to try and make it stop.."

"..So.. If I may ask, what exactly is it?.. What exactly are you?.." She came closer, curiosity beginning to subside with her worry. It did make sense to her in a way, with how weird he had been acting tonight. Was that perhaps why she heard a vase smash downstairs earlier?

The cat paused, looking away. "..I don't really know. Okay maybe this wasn't the best idea.."

Penny tilted his head to get him to face her, giving a small smile of encouragement. "No, it's a perfect idea.. Maybe it'll be okay after all.. We just.. Gotta see, right?.."

Gumball returned the expression, as he took a few steps back, with a short exhale. This was it. He couldn't screw this up. "Alright, here we go.."

He concentrated, trying his best to call to it, to what his family wouldn't let him see, to what they were afraid of becoming themselves. Light cyan particles appeared around him, lighting up the room with a comforting glow. Penny watched in awe, as the particles soon grew brighter, and the pupils in the cat's eyes disappeared.

It became blinding now, the peanut covering her eyes quickly. Finally, the room darkened, allowing her to see. As she took her arm away, she looked back to see Gumball drop to the ground, letting out a small quiet gasp.

His fur and muzzle had become a brighter blue, and cyan stripes were patterned accordingly. The cat finally stood to his feet, glancing up at her, his eyes a cyan with diamond shaped lighter blue pupils. He blinked a bit, taking a look at himself as well. "Well uh.. How do I look?.."

Before Penny could respond, the bedroom door slammed open, startling the both of them.

"Son wait!" Richard came in with a look of panic, Darwin and Anais staying by the door. He froze, seeing he had arrived too late, his eyes widening in alarm. "Oh no oh no oh no!"

As his father panicked, Gumball was very much nervous at the moment, several thoughts clouding his head. This was a mistake. He must've screwed up. He didn't know how to return back. Everyone including him soon flinched, as several objects fell over onto the ground, thankfully not broken this time. The cat stared at his paws with amazement at this discovery. It all made sense now, this was his power! "Woah.."

His amazement soon ceased when he realized he couldn't control it. More items were getting thrown, some harshly than others.

"D-Don't panic just calm down.." Richard was coming closer, paws raised to a calming gesture, though his face was far from it, sweat forming on his forehead. Anais was carefully following behind him, saying the same reassurement, though the cat couldn't hear them.

If anything, he was beginning to freak out, realizing the absolutely huge decision he had just pulled out on a whim. He could see Darwin in the back of the room, confusion very much present in the fish's eyes. Did anyone even tell his brother about this? However, as the cat's eyes trailed over to meet Penny's, his emotions only grew, seeing she too shared the same expression.

Through his dad's rambling, one sentence stuck out to him.

"Your mother's gonna kill me! Or you, I'm not sure which!"

His powers absolutely went haywire now. Everyone and everything around him were sent flying, crashing into a wall. The furniture was creaking and groaning in protest as they slowly moved, items were smacking the others in the faces, it was nothing but chaos, only fueled farther once a shoe whacked Penny in the face, her crack growing larger by impact.

On cue, the window shattered, giving the feline his moment of escape. The thought of hurting her or anyone else in this room was horrible, and he didn't want that thought out of control either. He slid down the roof, letting out a scream as he fell off. However, he paused, finding himself floating to the ground. Though gentle was an understatement, him faceplanting onto the pavement.

Getting up, Gumball fled the area, trying hard not to look at the things around him suffering the same fate as his room.

"Gumball wait!" Penny recovered from the injury, running over to the broken window. At first, she hesitated to chase after him, feeling her now larger crack on her eye, constant light flickering in it. Though, she brushed aside her fear for now, exhaling. He needed her right now. She couldn't sit here and do nothing.

With that, she carefully slipped out, climbing down the ladder as she began pursuit. The three Wattersons meanwhile were watching this play out, unsure of whether to even move or not.

"..Maybe I should've said that last part in my head.." Richard received glares from both children with him, taking his cue to fall silent.