The Search
It had been two days since the incident with the banner's and Penny was still a might peeved at her boyfriend for his antics, not even sure she even still wants to call him that. She has forgiven Gumball for a lot in the past, but she just couldn't bring herself to forgive this. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if it had solely been the banners, but then he went and pulled that stunt at recess later that day. Since she hadn't decided to get rid of Mr. Cuddles, Gumball had resorted to sneaking around and trying to ambush her and get rid of him himself. After all, why else would Gumball be around school at that time?
He was supposed to be suspended.
"Maybe Dad was right," she mumbled, standing outside her house, waiting for the bus, backpack on her back. "Maybe Gumball is just a good for nothing trouble maker and I shouldn't be going out with him."
Though it would be a shame if it turns out she needs to agree with what her father has been telling her father and break up with Gumball. They had had mutual feelings for each other for so long, and, despite having their ups and downs, their relationship has been wonderful. And, while he might be a screw up sometimes, Gumball had been their for her when it truly matters; like with the cheerleader tryouts, even attended Mr. Cuddles's funeral, despite some earlier misunderstanding, and, more importantly, his insistence that she didn't need her shell, that she would be beautiful to him even without it; a vow he had painstakingly kept, chasing her relentlessly when she tried to flee from what she perceived to be rejection. Plus, despite how angry she still is, Penny could still felt affection for Gumball.
What would all that have meant if their relationship were to just end?
"Uh, Penny?"
Well, speak of the devil.
Penny looked over her shoulder to see Gumball timidly stepping towards her, his poster fearful, but determined. Despite knowing she still harbored feelings for him, Penny found no humbleness within herself to offer him, merely huffing and turning away, eyes closed in indignation.
"Come on, Penny, can't we talk? Please?"
"If it's about me choosing between you or Mr. Cuddles again, you can forget it, Gumball!" Penny responded in a hostile voice.
"Penny, I swear that wasn't me!" Gumball insisted desperately. "I won't deny how much I hate spiders, especially Mr. Cuddles, but I would never do that to you, Penny. I would never want you to choose."
"That banner says otherwise," grumbled Penny, still not looking at him.
"Penny, I swear that really wasn't me! It was Rob, he sabotaged my banner."
"Oh, how typical, Gumball!" Penny partly shouted, finally turning to Gumball and shooting him an angry scowl. "Since I didn't make the choice you wanted me to make, you're trying to pass blame onto someone else!"
"But it's true, Penny," urged Gumball, rearing slightly back from his girlfriend's venomous look. "Rob was behind it."
"Oh, so I take it Rob was also behind you personally trying to kill Mr. Cuddles at recess yesterday too, huh?" asked Penny, crossing her arms.
Gumball couldn't suppress a shutter at that, mainly because the culprit truly behind that incident was an individual Gumball was trying really hard not to think about. Although he could say that it had been Rob, but something told him lying to Penny would not be a good idea, especially not at the moment, with how volatile her mood was at the moment. Maybe a half-truth would be enough?
"Well…no, Rob wasn't behind that…"
"Then who was responsible?" Penny asked, tapping her foot menacingly, detailing Gumball's attempt at a half-truth.
Gumball did not, really did not want to tell Penny about Green. Mainly because he doubted she would believe him; he could hardly believe it himself, what his new nemesis was, but also, he didn't want her to confront Green on the off chance Penny did believe him. Penny would most likely want for what he did to Gumball, who felt Green could probably swat Penny like a fly, even if she were to take her dragon form, the guy was indescribably large, even more so than Hector.
"Penny…I really can't explain…"
"Gumball, just…just save it!" growled Penny, turning away and crossing her arms, having misinterpreted his flinching and reluctance to tell her why he came flying at Mr. Cuddles out of nowhere yesterday as indications that he was just making excuses. "If you can't even admit that you were just being selfish and then…I don't even know where we go from here!"
Gumball blanched as if physically struck, his heart feeling as if it was shattering in his chest.
"Penny, are you…breaking up with me?"
Penny paused, unable to give an immediate answer.
"I don't know yet," she eventually said.
The bus arrived at that moment, Penny boarding without so much as a further sideways glance at him. Gumball watched the bus drive away; unable to join due to his suspension, heartbroken at the prospect that Penny might be breaking up with him soon. He didn't know what he would do if that were to happen. Penny was the most important person in the world to him, so if he lost her because of this…what would he have to live for?
And worst of all, this wasn't even his fault, but Penny refused to believe him. That is what probably hurts the most, her lack of faith in him, that she actually believes that he was capable of this. If Penny broke up with him for a legitimate reason at least he couldn't truly blame her, but he had done nothing to deserve this treatment from his girlfriend. He knew this for a fact. And to make matters worse, her unwarranted, unfair treatment was instilling in him something he had never felt towards Penny before, resentment.
He loves her so much and had never once been angry at her, but all of this hostility and cold shouldering from her was beginning to wear him down and he started to feel a little bit of anger and frustration at Penny's stubborn refusal to believe he would never do this sort of thing to her. But he didn't want to be angry at Penny. He loves her, he didn't want to have negative feelings of any kind for her.
The frustration, the conflicting emotions, the false accusations, it all accumulated in Gumball's heart to the point he couldn't take it. Squeezing his eyes shut, the twelve year old cat boy burst into uncontrollable sobs and ran off in a random direction, face in his hands. He didn't head home, there was nobody there anyway. Anais and Darwin were at school, mom was at work and dad was still dealing with grandma's mom's birthday.
He ran, for how long he didn't know, nor did he notice when it started raining, soaking him to the bone. The only water he was concerned with were the tears of utter heartache streaming his face. He felt so miserable he began to wish that the earth would open up and swallow him.
Which it practically did.
When Gumball gained enough composure to look up he found that he was headed for another one of those shadowy holes, situated in the middle of the sidewalk. He stopped before it, gazing into its dark depths for a second, then, with a deep breath and a determined look, willingly stepped into the portal, sinking through it like quicksand.
—
Sure enough, Gumball found himself within yet another orb of crackling green electricity in that dark place, Green's intimidating form before him, seeped in the undulating darkness, the tormented Rob hovering off to the side. This time however, rather than a smug, self confident expression, Green's lips were slightly parted in a look of what appeared to be slight bafflement.
"You had every opportunity to avoid that first portal, but you jumped in willingly," he hissed . "Why? I was looking forward to chasing you around town with my portals for a while."
"Because whatever you do with me couldn't possibly be worse than what I am going through already!" Gumball shouted, tears still streaming his eyes as he looked up at Green. "So if you're going to eat me or destroy me, go on and do it! I don't care anymore! Without Penny…I just don't care."
Green's sinister smile came back. "Ah, I see. The desire for one's own demise, so we have reached that stage already. Very well, as you wish. We shall begin."
"Wait, can I make one request?" asked Gumball.
Green chuckled sinisterly, "A good antagonist always grants a last request before getting down to business. What can I do for you, Gumball?"
Gumball glared at the suspended Rob. "Zap him again for me. You may be my enemy now, but what happened with Penny was his fault! I wanna see him suffer!"
Green chuckled again. This was perfect. Gumball was acting exactly how he predicted. With a snap of his claws, Rob burst into electric sparks again, howling and screaming in agony as he thrashed. It was the only thing he seemed to respond to now, being pretty much comatose the rest of the time. But this time Gumball didn't look away or feel any pity, just stared at the writhing Rob with a glare, a small flare of vindication growing in his heart as he remembered Penny's last heart wrenching words to him. Before long the energy ceased and Rob was limp once more.
"Alright," said Gumball, turning back to the gigantic creature known as Green expectantly. "So what's on your agenda, Green? What do you have up your sleeve?"
Green sneered deeper. "Not time yet, Gumball. Close, but not time yet. In the meantime, why don't you take a nap?"
Gumball became annoyed that Green still refuses to tell him what the end goal is, but what he said towards the end got his attention
"What do you mean "take a nap"? I had a decent night's sleep…"
Green poked a pointed claw into Gumball's suspended prison and he suddenly fell unconscious, as if put under a spell.
"Yes, almost time," whispered Green sinisterly, another orb of shadow revealing an image of Elmore, currently being soaked by rain.
The sun had just risen, but Green had his sights set on the horizon that the sun would eventually set beneath come the day's end, and when that happens the real game begins.
And in the meantime…
The orb shifted from a full city view of Elmore to just the Fitzgerald household, where a mail…person… was delivering a package.
"Prepare yourself, little Penny," Green said, licking his tapered lips in anticipation, "Prepare yourself."
—
It had been a casual school day for Penny (mostly because of Gumball's suspension and he wasn't there to wreak havoc, intentionally or otherwise) and in what seemed no time at all she was getting off the bus and heading to the front door of her house. She'd half expected Gumball to be there waiting for her on her porch; probably having waited there since their unpleasant conversation that morning, but thankfully he seemed to have finally gotten the message that she didn't want to see him right now and was nowhere around. Oddly perceptive of him, actually.
And it also meant she could retain whatever peace of mind she had managed to scrounge up throughout the day. Maybe she could make up her mind about their relationship soon.
Stepping into the house she was met with the sight of her little sister in the living room, playing with Mr. Cuddles.
"Big sis, your back!" Polly said in her squeaky voice, the little peanut running up to hug the orange, shapeshifting fairy. "Mom, big sister is home!"
Their mother, Judith Fitzgerald, came in from the kitchen, stirring something in a bowl. "Welcome home, sweetie. How was your day at school?"
"Fine, mom," said Penny, putting down her little sister and shooing her away playfully. "Had to practice a new cheerleading routine. It's going to be challenging, but I think it's what is needed to cheer our team to victory."
"Sounds wonderful, dear," said Judith.
Penny looked around. "Where's Dad?"
"Oh, he'll be home late today. Trying to procure an important contract, and I am hoping it's going well," said Judith, turning back into the kitchen to finish making dinner. "By the way, a package came for you today. I left it on your bed."
"Thanks Mom," said Penny, heading up the stairs.
Package? She hadn't been expecting anything. Upon entering her room, she indeed found a package on her bed. It was wrapped in brown packaging paper and was wide and thin, like a painting. Penny huffed in irritation, dropping her bookbag and glaring at the package with her hands on her hips. Maybe Gumball hadn't gotten the message, if he was sending her lovey dovey pictures; which she suspected was what was in the package. She was tempted to just throw the thing away without even opening it, but decided she might as well see what length he had gone to this time, taking a pair of scissors from her desk and removing the picture from the packaging paper.
It was a painting, but it was anything but what she was expecting. The style was crude and splotchy, definitely something that Gumball could have hastily thrown together, what with his amateurish art skills, but the image depicted on the canvas wasn't of him and Penny, as Penny had expected, but of the open door to her room as seen from the hallway. But the most defining aspect; which held the majority of Penny's attention at the moment, was that in the picture someone was sneaking out of her room. A very familiar box headed, staticy individual with a singular eye and a convincing sneer. Rob. And in his hands, the Rob in the painting held a jar that held a captive Mr. Cuddles.
For a moment, Penny just stared at the painting, which obviously was meant to paint Rob as the culprit who had "spider-napped" Mr. Cuddles, not Gumball, her expression one of astonishment and disbelief. Normally such a crude drawing wouldn't prove anything, but the art style almost looked like Banana Barbra's. She was the mother of one of her classmates, Banana Bob, a rather eccentric individual known to not be "all there" upstairs, but if there was one characteristic she possessed that made up for her derangement, it was her uncanny ability to both predict and alter the future through her paintings. A painting from her was pretty much the equivalent of picture evidence for any occurrence that might have happened in Elmore.
And if this painting depicted Rob stealing Mr. Cuddles, that could only mean…that Gumball had been telling the truth and he hadn't been trying to force her to choose between him and Mr. Cuddles. If that was true, it means her hostility towards him all this time was for no reason.
"No… No, this can't be true…" whimpered Penny, dropping the picture to the ground and slowly backing away with a look of horror on her face, covering her mouth with her hands, realizing that there really was a real possibility she had been angry at him for the past few days for something that actually wasn't his fault.
In hindsight, it would be practically a first, but that doesn't make the situation any better.
"No, wait, this has to be a trick," said Penny, her confidence in her behavior for the past few days being justified coming back as she slammed her fist into her palm as she thought of a solution as to why this was happening. "That's it, this must be some kind of ploy Gumball is trying to pull off to get me to believe he's innocent."
Penny looked at the shipping label on the packaging paper for the return address. She had expected it to be the Watterson's address, but she actually found that the package had indeed come from the Banana residence. Briefly, her worry returned, but she calmed herself with a breath.
"Okay. Don't panic. It could still be a ruse," Penny told herself almost desperately. "Gumball probably just hoodwinked Banana Joe into helping him with this scheme."
Whipping out her phone, Penny typed the tracking number on the shipping label into the website for the postal service of Elmore. If Gumball had sent the painting as a desperate attempt to get her to stop being mad at him it would have to have been sent either yesterday or the day before, and if that was the case the legitimacy of the painting would be invalidated, for the incident involving Mr. Cuddles had occurred by then, and the picture couldn't be a prediction of it. Unfortunately for Penny the results didn't lean towards that possibility and she found herself dropping her phone and throwing her hands over her mouth in horror, falling into her knees as she stared at the information displayed on the screen.
According to the website, the package had been sent standard delivery and had been in transit since Friday, its arrival delayed because there's no post on Sunday. This clenched it. The painting had been sent from Banana Barbra, and if she had painted it Friday, she was predicting what would happen in the future. Rob stealing her pet.
Meaning it couldn't have been Gumball.
"Oh no…what have I done…" Penny mumbled to herself, hugging her legs to her chest and burying her face in her knees, her vision going blurry with the start of tears of immense guilt. "Gumball… I'm sorry."
She had been so horrible to her boyfriend and it wasn't his fault. In fact, the last time they'd seen each other she had told him…
"No…I…I have to fix this!" said Penny desperately, diving for her discarded phone and scooping it up from where it lay, sitting up on her knees as she frantically scrolled through her contacts for Gumball's number.
—
Darwin was currently doing homework in his and Gumball's room, left fin to his chin with a downtrodden expression. Suddenly the sound of a cell phone ringing caught his attention, and he looked over to see Gumball's cell phone on the nightstand, where his fishbowl is.
"Huh, I guess Gumball forgot to take it with him to…wherever he is," said Darwin, standing up from the desk and looking at the caller ID displayed on the screen. He gave a slight scowl at seeing the name; and was also a bit put off when he noticed Gumball had set it up so that little heart's bubbled around the name.
Darwin just scoffed and went back to the desk. Whatever Penny had to say to Gumball can wait until Gumball could answer his phone. But Penny continued to call repeatedly, and before too long Darwin found himself growing increasingly annoyed at the constant sound of Gumball's ringtone.
"Oh, jeepers creepers!" cried Darwin, gripping his head in frustration. "What's her deal? Usually it's Gumball who does the incessant calling in their relationship!"
Grabbing the phone from the nightstand, Darwin answered the call. "What do you want Penny? I'm trying to do homework."
On her end Penny was shocked to hear Darwin answer the call instead of Gumball. "Darwin? Where's Gumball?"
"How am I supposed to know? I haven't seen him all day!" said Darwin, putting his free fin on his hip in frustration.
Penny paused. "You…you don't know where he is?"
"No, I don't!" answered Darwin, his expression darkening further. "I haven't seen him since this morning, when he said he was going to go see you. I told him it was a bad idea, what with the sour mood you were in!"
Penny gasped at and bit the stubby end of her left arm that acted as her hand nervously, once again reminded of what she had last said to Gumball the last time she'd seen him.
"Hey, wait a minute," said Darwin, eyes narrowing, realizing that this could mean Gumball actually hadn't been home the entire day. "What did you say to him this morning?"
"Darwin, please stay on the line," Penny requested, unable to scrounge up enough dignity to answer.
Yep, that said it all in Darwin's option. Gumball was probably so upset by what she had said he hadn't come home.
Penny dialed as many numbers as she could and gathered them into a massive group chat, though only Leslie, Carrie, Masami and Carmen answered.
"This better be important, Penny," said Carmen with irritation. "You're interrupting my date with Alan."
"Listen, everyone, I need your help," said Penny, everyone noticing the desperation in her voice. "I need you to help me find Gumball.
"Oho, finally decided to get a little payback, Penny?" inquired Masami menacingly. "Just say the word, and I'll send lightning right where the sun doesn't shine…"
"No, guys…" Penny had to pause for a moment in order to compose herself. "I need to apologize to him. Apologies for all that I put him through for the past few days."
The silence was almost deafening.
"All right, what's going on here?" asked Carrie, "Just today you were still angry with him, now you suddenly want to apologize to him?"
"Yeah girl, don't wuss out on us," said Carmen. "He's the one who owes you an apology after that stunt he pulled Monday."
"Guys!" Penny snapped, then took another breath to compose herself as the guilt and shame returned almost to the point of making her break down. "Gumball didn't do it."
Again, there was silence.
"Wait, what?" came the high pitched voice of Leslie, the literal flour child speaking up for the first time. "Gumball really wasn't behind that? How do you know?"
Penny quickly explained the painting she gotten in the mail today from Banana Barbra, depicting the real culprit who had stolen Mr. Cuddles. It was enough to convince them, nobody in Elmore doubts Banana Barbra's paintings.
"Huh, a bit extreme, but it's proven Gumball's innocence a bit sooner than I expected," Darwin commented with an unamused expression.
"So it was that Rob jerk?" inquired Carrie, regret in her voice to. "Ah, now I kinda feel bad. Poor Gumball."
"Why are you calling us Penny?" asked Carmen. "You should be out there trying to find him."
"I know!" Penny said frantically. "But it's been hours, and according to Darwin in all that time he hasn't been home."
"Yep, wasn't here when I got home," Darwin clarified with an aggravated voice.
"And that's why I need help! There is no telling where he is now and the more of us there are searching for him the more likely we'll find him quickly. Please, guys, I really need your help," Penny pleaded.
They all agreed to lend their assistance, though Carmen had to be coaxed by Alan, due to her reluctance to cut their date short, but Alan, refusing to let such injustice go unanswered, offered to help. He, Carrie and Masami could act as eyes in the sky; though Carmen gave Masami a strict warning not to flirt with Alan. They all felt a little strange to be feeling sympathy for Gumbal like this, for he usually was the one who causes havoc, especially for Penny, but it appears it actually wasn't his fault this time and it wouldn't be right not to make this right.
However, there was one individual not so keen on offering his assistance.
"Well, you guys can count me out," declared Darwin.
They were all taken aback by both Darwin's response, as well as the hostility in his voice.
"What? But Darwin we might need your help most of all," Penny pleaded. "You know Gumball better than anyone. If anyone can figure out where he might be it's you."
"I never said I wasn't going to go looking for him, but I don't see why I should throw my lot in with you," Darwin shot back. "After all, none of this wouldn't have happened if Penny hadn't so easily fallen for Rob's scheme."
Penny felt her heart seize up at the accusatory words of her boyfriend's foster brother.
"Now Darwin, that isn't fair," chastised Carrie. "Gumball is known for making dumb decisions and not thinking things through."
"I won't deny that, for even I am not unaware of how much of a dunderhead he can be, but this time should have been suspicious, at least to Penny," replied Darwin without the slightest change of demeanor. "After all, when Penny thought Mr. Cuddles had been flushed down the toilet and Gumball discovered otherwise he went through so much to reunite them, even though he hates spiders. And not just that, Mr. Cuddles put Gumball through a proverbial nightmare when he was trying to bring him to her, not to mention but him repeatedly. Would he have done all that just to make such a stupid decision now?"
The only response that could be heard from Penny was her finally breaking down, her sobs echoing through the group chat.
"Darwin!" they all chastised.
"Quit being so hard on Penny!" said Masami. "She just made a mistake. We all make mistakes sometimes."
"Yeah, and besides, I don't remember you speaking up on Gumball's behalf Monday," said Carmen.
"Would it have mattered if I had!?" asked Darwin. "Would it have accomplished anything other than to slap a target on my back as well? The only one indicated had been Gumball and he and I both knew that me speaking up for him would only have gotten me dragged into the situation as well. In the grand scheme of things, what would that have accomplished?"
There was nothing but silence on the group chat other than Penny's weeping.
"No…everyone, Darwin is right," said Penny, having regained enough composure to speak. "I jumped to conclusions and made a horrible mistake. I don't blame him for being mad at me. Gumball has suffered a lot because of me. But Darwin please, we could seriously use your help in finding him. Please, if not for me, then for Gumball."
Truthfully, Darwin knew that it would be more efficient to join a group search than search solo, it just took a little coaxing to get him to swallow his pride and agree. Though he also had to bring Anais along. He couldn't leave her home alone, Dad was still dealing with Grandma's birthday and Mom was going to have to put in extra hours today for leaving work early yesterday. Though Darwin would suspect Anais would probably be an effective asset to the search, what with her status as the most intelligent person in the family. Darwin hadn't even had a chance to inform mom about this, having only been home a few minutes.
Hopefully they will find Gumball before she gets home.
—
As the children gathered and then dispersed to coordinate their search a dark figure watched them from his dark realm, their quarry floating next to him, suspended in a pulsating ball of green plasma, eyes closed in peaceful slumber induced by his captor.
"Search…children," Green hissed with a narrow, menacing grin. "Yesss, search to your heart's content. But you won't find him, not until I let you, or, more accurately, until I let him find you. Though you may not recognize him when you do encounter him, and neither will it be likely that he will recognize you either."