Chapter 1: The Sweepstakes
It was a bright and sunny Thursday afternoon in the large city of Elmore, where most of its eccentric citizens continued their regular, and somewhat unusual, routines like they did almost every day. For Gumball Watterson however, it was just another long, boring day at his school, Elmore Junior High. Sure, weird things always happened in his hometown, but now, they became normal occurrences to him. As for school, every day was the same. Receiving homework from Miss Simian, sitting and eating throughout lunchtime, going home after school, so on and so forth. It was as if nothing ever changed there! Deep down, he wished something amazing, even more so than the crazy hijinks of Elmore, would happen for once. As he sat all the way in the back of the school bus with Darwin and Anais, waiting to be dropped off at their home street, he decided to ask his adoptive brother about his opinion on the matter.
"Darwin?"
The young goldfish turned to his older brother. "Yeah?"
"Have you ever wished something interesting would happen in your life sometimes?"
After listening to Gumball's question, he shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Weird things always happen here in Elmore."
The 12-year old decided to be more specific. "I mean something way out of the ordinary. Like winning a contest, getting chased by a group of bandits, or discovering a new land."
Looking at the eagerness on the blue cat's face, the 10-year old began to ponder on it more. "Now that you mention it…I agree with the contest and the new land, but the bandits, not so much."
"Darwin does have a point there," Anais agreed as she listened in on the conversation of her older brothers. "Contests are pretty common but having bandits chase after you would be life threatening and discovering an unknown land is incredibly rare nowadays."
She saw the disheartened look on her eldest brother's face, so she decided to reassure him.
"But…I'm sure something will come up eventually. Things happen when you least expect it after all."
She was a bit relieved when Gumball's face lit up. Even though Anais was normally a realist, it didn't mean she was unsupportive of the 12-year old cat's wishes for most of the time.
As Rocky slowed down at their neighborhood bus stop, the Watterson kids bid him farewell and went straight to their house, with the youngest one pulling out the house key from her pocket once they got there and unlocking the door to the living room. Richard's head popped right out of the kitchen doorway as he heard his children come in.
"Hey kids!" he greeted them in a chipper tone. "How was school today?"
Gumball shrugged his shoulders in response. "The usual. Same classroom lessons, same lunchtime, same gym lessons, you get how it goes."
Darwin and Anais rolled their eyes at their brother's snarky comment.
"Oh. Well, okay," The gigantic pink rabbit retreated into the kitchen to fix some snacks for himself to satisfy his voracious appetite.
While the 4-year old prodigy headed upstairs to her bedroom to read during her leisure time, Gumball and Darwin sat down on the couch to see what was on TV. Right when the blue cat turned the device on…
"Hiya folks! Do any of you wish you could take a break from the same old boring routines of everyday life and experience the joys of a long, relaxing vacation?"
The host was none other than Mickey Mouse himself, one of the most well-known celebrities in the world! He was now wearing a captain's outfit while smiling to the audience.
"Mickey Mouse?! I wonder what this is all about," The blue cat wondered out loud to himself and his brother as they watched the screen. This advertisement immediately caught their interest.
"Well, enter into the Seven Seas Sweepstakes to win a free trip aboard the Seven Seas cruise ship for 7 days and 6 nights!"
The camera zoomed out quickly to reveal a large ship behind the mouse, who spread his arms out wide to present the whole thing to the viewers who were watching. To create a more festive mood, "Feeling Hot Hot Hot" by Arrow began to play in the background.
"A cruise ship?" Darwin perked up at this.
"This ship offers some of the best luxuries you could find!"
"Cozy cabins of different varieties!" the scene transitioned to a Balcony Suite as Mickey served as the voiceover. There was a bed, cabinet, small TV, and balcony overlooking both the sky and ocean.
"Cool outdoor swimming pools!" the next scene presented a crowd of people, kids and adults alike, having a good time at the pools as the sun beamed down on them.
"And delicious food made by the finest chefs, especially our all-you-can-eat Lido buffet which includes our most famous shack, Kronk's Burger Joint!" Multiple snippets of famous chefs, such as Princess Tiana, Mung Daal, and Colette, were displayed on screen as they prepared their dishes and sat them out for hungry passengers in the buffet, with the aforementioned Kronk doing the same at his burger shack.
"It also includes relaxing spas, fun shops to explore, gyms to get yourselves fit…" the next set of scenes featured spa customers relaxing in message chairs while wearing white robes, passengers shopping around a clothing store for beach outfits, and people being trained by a guy named Mr. Gar in a fitness center.
"And movies that you can watch either during daytime or under the stars!" A crowd of people were now sitting out on the deck watching the big screen as the sky switches from day to night.
A new scene was now focused on Minnie Mouse, wife of Mickey and co-captain of the Seven Seas, as she stood in the ship's corridors, donning a co-captain's uniform while smiling at the camera. Four kids named Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby stood alongside her, two on her right and two on her left, grinning as well.
"And as for the young ones," Minnie began to speak. "…we offer some exciting places where they can truly enjoy themselves, hanging out amongst one another as they eat snacks, watch movies, and get on the dance floor!"
The camera slightly panned upwards to display three small moving screenshots above the mouse woman and ducklings' heads, whose sights were now set on said screenshots.
"The Kids Kove, for ages 2-9," the first screen presented a group of small kids playing games with each other.
"The Tropical T, for ages 10-13," the second screen had tweens and young teens hitting it off on the dancing floor."
"And the Teens Turf, for ages 14-17," the third screen featured teenagers sitting at a booth laughing and talking amongst themselves.
Each screen glowed as the club names were mentioned, before disappearing to make room for three new screenshots of different areas.
"And let's not forget about the arcade, candy shop, and outdoor water park!" the mouse woman continued.
Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby beamed with excitement as all these fun places were brought up, with Gumball and Darwin feeling the same way as they observed the whole thing on television.
The commercial switched to a shot of Daisy and Donald Duck, who laid their menus down once the camera was on them. They were both dressed in formal clothing while sitting at a table inside a beautiful restaurant.
"We'll also be serving dinner in our dining room every single night," Daisy spoke up first. "Especially on Captain's night, where everyone will enjoy fine dining with the captain and his main staff."
"So, make sure you bring along your best elegant clothing to join in!" Donald chimed in next. "Just sign up for Anytime Dining so you can go whenever you feel like it!"
A couple of Minions delivered food to Daisy and Donald's table as they finished speaking. The next sequence in the commercial was of Goofy standing at the bow of the ship, overlooking the beautiful water in front of him. He turns his head to the camera right next to him, a wide, toothy grin on his face.
"During this 7-day cruise, we'll also be visiting three islands to explore and shop around!" The tall dog man explained, holding up three fingers to prove his point.
"Stellawand Island, hosted by Oswald the Lucky Rabbit," a new footage took over the screen, with the aforementioned Oswald (Mickey's long-lost older brother) standing alongside his wife, Ortensia the Cat, in a shopping area of the host island, smiling and waving at the camera.
"New Motonui, hosted by Chief Moana," the second footage displayed a young teenager named Moana grinning and standing proudly on a luxurious beach with her pets Pua and Hei Hei standing on either side of her.
"And Grand Lamina, hosted by Timon and Pumbaa!" the third and final footage featured the meerkat and warthog duo with wide smiles on their faces as they stood by each other at a pool resort, holding up their coconut drinks with tiny umbrellas.
Once the island scenes were done, a close shot of Pete was shown, a cell phone in his hand as he stood on the Lido deck of the ship.
"You can even download the Seven Seas Hub app onto your phone to keep in touch with your friends and family on board, locate places on the ship, and stay informed about daily cruise activities and news."
The large cat man put his phone up close to the camera to give the viewers a sneak peek of the app, the screen on the device enlarging to showcase a better view. As he pointed out all the contents, the pages on the Seven Seas Hub featured a chat room, a map of the cruise, and a list of scheduled events that will be on the ship.
"It's completely free on the app store!" Pete stated once more as the final screenshot displayed the actual app on the mobile store with the "Free" label below the title.
"Hurry though!" Mickey appeared again on the TV screen, up close to the camera. "The ship sets sail on March 30th, and this offer ends on March 14th, so if you want to have the greatest adventure of your life, visit our website at /sweepstakes to sign up and win this free vacation for you and your entire family!"
The link to the website appeared below the mouse's face so the audience would know where to go.
The commercial came to an end as everyone said their final line with the company's logo showing up, the whole entire cruise ship blurred in the background.
"Seven Seas! Ocean luxuries to enjoy in the breeze!"
Gumball and Darwin sat still on the couch, mesmerized by what they had watched. They didn't even bother to pay any attention to the other programs on the screen. Slowly, they turned to one another.
"Darwin…are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Yeah…"
At an instant, they both screamed out the same thought. "WE NEED TO SIGN UP FOR THAT SWEEPSTAKES!"
Richard and Anais popped out at the sudden shouting, the former from the kitchen doorway and the latter from the top of the stairs.
"Boys! Is there something wrong?!"
"Yeah, what's going on down there?!"
"Nothing!" the boys answered back in a happy tone.
"I'm going to that website right now!" Gumball exclaimed, jumping off the living room couch and dashing up the stairs with Darwin right behind him. As the brothers passed by their sister, Anais stood there in confusion, wondering what got them so hyped up.
Inside the bedroom, Gumball turned on the computer and went straight to the Seven Seas website to sign up for the sweepstakes. Thankfully, today was March 12th (two weeks away from the day the cruise would set sail), so he entered his name, how many people were in the family, their home address, and the type of room they could share (the Balcony Suite). He even signed Darwin and himself up for the Tropical T while signing Anais up for the Kids Kove. Before he could click the "Enter" button though…
"Gumball, wait! Shouldn't we ask Mrs. Mom for permission before we do this?"
"Oh, come on, Darwin!" The 12-year old cat huffed out. "This is our only chance! There could be other people out there signing up for this right now and win the sweepstakes before we do!"
"I know that! But…I just don't want us to do this without telling everybody else."
Looking at the unsure expression on the 10-year old, Gumball sighed and began to reassure him as much as possible.
"I don't like to do something behind our family's backs either. Well, most of the time, but this is a free vacation for crying out loud! Something like this could never happen again for the rest of our lives! Don't you want something fun and exciting to happen to us like always? Don't you want us to spend some quality time together as a family to make some unforgettable memories?"
This was one of the few moments where Gumball had a point. Everything they saw on the cruise ship commercial looked extremely promising, but at the same time, Darwin didn't want him and his older brother to cover something up like this from their parents and younger sister. So, he took a deep breath and sighed, making his final decision…
"Alright. Let's do this."
The young cat immediately perked up at the answer. "I knew you'd come through with it!"
With one click, the Watterson's were officially contestants for the Seven Seas Sweepstakes. A message popped up on the screen, congratulating the boys and notifying them about a letter containing the winning tickets coming through to them a week from today (if they were chosen as winners), meaning they would have to wait until next Thursday on March 19th.
"One week from today? Pfft, I'm sure we can handle the wait," Gumball stated in a confident tone.
"Yeah. We can do this," Darwin agreed.
However, they proved themselves wrong when they constantly checked inside the mailbox multiple times throughout the following days.
Well, that's the end of the first chapter. I'm happy with how it turned out so far. In the next one, we'll see the reactions of the other family members when they find out about this contest.
I do not own any of these characters. They respectfully belong to Ben Bocquelet, Cartoon Network, and Disney.