The Battle

"Setback…after setback…AFTER SETBACK! THIS ERA HAS PROVEN TO BE INTOLERABLY IRKSOME!" snarled Green as he lumbered forward out of his portal, the light within his being strobing throughout the area with each word, briefly lighting up the night. He had an angry snarl on his lips as dragged his coils across the ground behind him with his arms, his tone becoming increasingly more agitated with each word. "First Gumball's incursion into the forest…where he does nothing but go beastial for days…then that whole intervention with the darts…and now you take on a shape that renders the lonesome abyssalis cat into nothing but a docile kitten…" he continued, punctuating each word with an aggressive seething breath as he stalked closer and closer towards Penny, who was completely frozen in terror.

She'd only seen snippets of Green since this whole ordeal started, and only knew the true extent of his appearance from a single passage in a book, so to see him in full form right in front of her was practically overwhelming. He wasn't as big as Gumball first described, only about a head taller than herself at the moment; though Gumball had mentioned that he could apparently change his size at will. But even if he wasn't the size of a skyscraper at the moment it did nothing to subtract from the lethality of his appearance. Those blades at the end of the tips of his tail alone were really hazardous looking.

And that massive eye in his chest had a piercing gaze that seemed to penetrate your very soul.

"No…I won't stand for it anymore…" Green hissed further. "I will have my mayhem…even if I have to get involved directly." He looked down at his claws with somewhat curiosity, his anger momentarily vanishing as he began kneading the concrete, producing a grating sound that ruptured the air. "It's been several millennia since I walked the earth. Frustration aside, maybe I should get the most enjoyment out of this unfavorable scenario that I can, while I have the opportunity."

When Green spoke the word "enjoyment", it sparked a little glimmer of rage within Penny that steadily grew in strength until it completely washed out her fear. All she, Gumball, their families and a whole lot of other people have been put through, it was all because of the grotesque creature before her, and all because he deprived some sick amusement out of it. No. No more! She'd had it up to her neck with Green's twisted sense of entertainment.

Her rage caused her to morph out of her newly acquired abyssalis cat form and into her familiar dragon form. She threw her head up and poured all her anger into a roar that shook the night, which was followed by a pillar of her dragonic fire breath. After ceasing her roar and her stream of flames, Penny looked at Green with narrowed eyes, spread her wings and lunged at him. She did care that he was a timeless evil with capabilities beyond mosts comprehension, she was going to make him suffer for all he had put her and her boyfriend through, here and now.

Green looked up from his casual kneading of the ground, seeing the luminous orange dragon diving for him, claws extended, though his only reaction was a small smirk that just screams unconcerned. It quickly became evident why. Before Penny-dragon could make contact with her foe, four dark, double tipped stalagmites rose up from her shadow, catching her wrists and ankles in the grooves between the points and wedging them there. Penny was halted in place instantly, prone and spread eagle in the air. She thrashed about to try and shift free, but her limbs were wedged too tight.

She was unable to move.

"Hahahaha!" Penny looked up to see Green casually approaching, slithering on his coils and rubbing his claws together in preparation. Restrained as she was, she couldn't help but become somewhat fearful again, and it obviously showed in her eyes. "Fret not, young one. I'm not going to kill you. You're still too valuable of a contender. However…" he grabbed her chin and forced her to look him in the face, though he had no eyes to lock with. "I will be flipping your new, self-appointed role on its head. Rather than being the person who soothes the rabid beast with your undying devotion…" Green raised a claw and pinched his thumb and index claws together. "… you will become the instigation of his full wrath with your unbearable suffering!"

Green snapped his claws.

And, just like with Rob in the Dark Place, arc's of electricity coursed through Penny's being. Instantly, she felt every nerve in her body assaulted by intense voltages, her form sparkling and crackling like a bug zapper. She roared in agony, the pain so intense she instantly lost the anger needed to maintain her dragon form, reverting back to her primary fairy form, her roar shifting to a girl's scream of agony, her restraints diminishing in size along with.

It only lasted for a split second, and the electricity soon dissipated from Penny's body, but in that brief moment the pain had been so intense that she'd known nothing but the unbearable agony she was being subjected to, everything else about herself being forced out of her mind. The experience left her reeling intensely and panting heavily for breath as she lay limply in her confinement, unable to scrounge up enough coherency to even remember her own name yet. And she wouldn't get the opportunity to recoup either, for Green snapped his fingers again and Penny was assaulted by painful electricity once more.

Green, for his part delighted in her misery, a sadistic sneer spreading over his mouth as the electricity he was funneling through Penny's body illuminated his mostly featureless face. Still, as fun as this was, it was not his main objective.

"Are you just going to lie there and let her suffer, you dull creature?" he asked, snapping his fingers after the current bout of electricity receded from Penny's body, bringing forth yet another crackling wave that washed over her body, Penny's cries of agony rising in pitch. "She's important to you, is she not? Are you just going to let her suffer?"

—

The pile of debris nearby shifted slightly, some loose bricks falling away to reveal a massive, navy blue eyelid that gradually opened to reveal a glowing orange eye with a yellow slitted pupil. The abyssalis cat didn't know how he ended up like this, one second he'd been basking in the company of another of his kind; whom he'd been painstakingly searching for for so long, the next he was thrown off her and impacted with this structure, which then collapsed on top of him. He was slightly delirious, but then the strobing of electricity and loud screams of pain drew his attention, his single visible eye revolving in its socket in the direction of the light and noise.

He noticed that the tiny individual whose appearance always instilled a sense of attraction in him for some reason was the one currently screaming in agony. He couldn't comprehend the scenario that was causing her pain, but the obvious agony and distress in her voice instilled in him a desire to act. And even an instinct driven animal like him could deduce why she was suffering. There was some kind of other creature before her, and whenever he moved, she screamed in agony. Without a doubt, he was responsible.

The single visible eye narrowed in anger, and it wasn't just because of the hazardous situation of the one that always seemed to captivate him through her appearance alone. No, whomever was hurting her; judging by his own appearance, was obviously a predator of some kind. And an abyssalis cat will never tolerate the presence of another predator.

With his trademark roar-cry, the pile of debris exploded outward as the abyssalis cat emerged from underneath and made a beeline for Green, who continuously snapped his claws again and again, subjugating Penny to more excruciating electrical shocks. Green turned as the approaching rebounding footfalls of the abyssalis cat shook the entire area, seeing him rapidly closing in on his position. Though Green made no move to evade, he merely smirked and snapped his claws once more, inflicting yet another intense electric shock onto Penny, who again wailed in pain.

And that's when the abyssalis cat plowed full bodily into Green, bowling him over and sending them both tumbling across the street, leaving a limp Penny confined in her restraints, unmoving. They impacted with the side of a building, the brick wall cracking as the abyssalis cat pinned Green there from the side with his paws, then proceeded to bite down on Green's neck below the jaw and began throttling him.

If this caused Green pain he didn't show it, just grinning as he was jostled around, watching as several people fled the building he was pinned against in terror.

"Yes…yes…"

The abyssalis cat then backpedaled from the building, dragging Green by his neck and then lurched around, releasing his hold and tossing Green into yet another building, which he impacted with with enough force to collapse the front end. More people fled this building as well, their screams of terror filling the night as they ran for their lives. This seemed to only amuse Green further, his smile deepening as he rose up from the rubble, only to be tackled yet again by the abyssalis cat.

—

Molly had, yet again, failed to heed the warnings of how dangerous the situation was. Rather than flee, like so many others, she had instead sought out Gumball, after recovering from the shock of seeing him turn into that thing. She didn't know what was going on but she was sure of one thing. Gumball was in trouble, and she had to do something. She didn't know what, but she had to do something. If Gumball could brave a limbo world of static, disco, burning blimps and shrinking holes that were your only means of escape solely for her sake, then surely she should be able to brave whatever was going on here and now.

At first she didn't even know where to go, but she soon saw the beast that Gumball had become appear on top of a building in the distance and begin firing beams of some kind into Elmore to devastating effect. Though even that wasn't enough to steer her off from her desire to assist Gumball somehow and made her way in the direction of the building he, or it, was firing that beam from. He disappeared from the roof of the building before she could even get close, but she still made her way there, hoping at the very least to find an indication to where he might have gone when she got there.

However, on the way, she stumbled upon someone very familiar, and who's current situation caused Molly to stop and finally produce a genuine gasp of horror.

"Penny…?" she mumbled, covering her mouth with her forelegs in shock.

Her fellow cheerleader lay prone high up in the air, suspended by what appeared to be large black stalagmites that jutted up from the ground. She didn't know how this happened, but Molly knew she couldn't leave her friend like this. Approaching carefully, Molly examined the nearest stalagmite and poked at it. It felt as solid as stone and Molly didn't have the faintest clue how she would liberate Penny from these things. But she had to do something, and a thought happened to occur to her.

Wrapping her forelegs around the stalagmite, Molly squeezed as hard as she could, gritting her teeth from the effort. Miraculously, the stalagmite fractured, then shattered. Despite her demure, awkward demeanor, Molly was still a dinosaur, and there were certain traits of her kind that even she possessed. Like dense muscles and bones. Rather than crumble into fragments, the stalagmite dissipated into wisps of darkness upon being fractured, Penny's left leg now dangling limply, free of restrainment. Molly repeated this process until Penny was left dangling only from her right wrist. Molly knew she had to be extra careful with this last one, for Penny had a good thirty fall feet to the ground once she was free.

After shattering the last stalagmite Molly was quick to turn on the spot, extended her forelimbs and caught Penny bridal style as she fell before she hit the ground.

"Penny?" Molly inquired worriedly, gently laying Penny's limp form on the ground, cradling her behind her head in her right forearm and gently patting her cheeks with her left forefoot. "Penny? Are you okay?"

At the sensation of someone touching her face Penny gradually began to stir, slowly snapping out of the deep stupor the intense pain from moments before had forced her into. She squinted her eyes and grit her teeth before slowly opening her eyes, looking up to see her friend and fellow cheerleader squad member looking down at her worriedly.

"Molly?" she inquired curiously.

Molly smiled with relief. "Oh, thank goodness you're okay! You had me so worried!"

It was then that Penny remembered the circumstances that led her to recede into herself like she did, her eyes widening in terror. "Green!" she declared, hurriedly, though steadily, extracting herself from Molly's hold and stood up. "Gumball! Where's Gumball?!"

"Um…that's a little hard to explain," said Molly, standing up and standing beside Molly. "Though he hasn't turned green. He's turned into some kind of monster."

Before Penny could even try to decide whether it was necessary to explain what was happening to Molly there was a loud crash and both Molly and Penny looked ahead to see that the wall of a building in the distance was collapsing, then two massive figures rolled out of the debris.

Penny gasped in horror, recognizing the form of Gumball in abyssalis cat form brawling with none other than Green himself. Molly gasped in horror as well, though it was more directed towards the thing that the thing Gumball had become was currently fighting with.

"What…what is that thing?" Molly gasped.

"That, Molly, is Green," said Penny, her expression becoming enraged. "He's behind all of this. Gumball's disappearance, as well as why he turned into that thing."

Molly gaped at her, slightly overwhelmed by the brief revelation. "Buy who is he? What is he? Why did he do this to Gumball?"

"There's no time to explain," said Penny hurriedly, though decided her friend at least deserves to know the important stuff. "But what you need to know is that in order for this madness to end he must be defeated!"

Molly still looked somewhat confused, then her and Penny looked over at the tussling figures, both noticing that the abyssalis cat had thrown Green to the ground, straddled his chest, then proceeded to viciously swipe at his head and neck with his claws.

"It looks like Gumball has him beat. Does that mean it's over now?" Molly asked.

Something told Penny it wasn't that simple. If Green could be defeated by physical means then she doubted Carrie would have put so much emphasis on the spell needed to sever his link to their world. Besides, Carrie had described Green as a "demon", and from what little snippets she knew of the subject, demons were usually beings that were primarily unaffected by physical violence, at this towards their own person. That probably meant that the abyssalis cat's current actions were pointless and he should probably change tactics…

Suddenly, the abyssalis cat ceased his assault as the sound of something sharp penetrating flesh reverberated through the night. All was still for a moment, then the abyssalis cat let out another roar-cry, though this one was laced with pain. It was easy to see why.

Molly screamed in terror, covering her mouth at the sight she'd just seen.

"GUMBALL!" Penny cried out in horror and immense worry, reaching out for him helplessly.

Beneath the abyssalis cat Green grinned, the three scythe blades attached to the ends of his tail embedded in his would be adversaries left side. He was through letting the abyssalis cat pummel him aimlessly. It was time to see how enraged and dangerous the abyssalis can really be. And what could be more dangerous than a wounded animal?

The abyssalis cat continued to howl in pain, thrashing and squirming as the deep wounds that had just been inflicted on him sent unbearable agony throughout his body, crimson blood gushing from the wounds in spurts. As the abyssalis cat began thrashing he opened his mouth and, along with his cries of agony, began firing beams of electricity off at random, destroying several more buildings and ripping up concrete.

"Yesss…that's it, Gumball. Show them…show them your rage!" sneered Green as panicked civilians took to fleeing through the streets as the random beams of electricity tore through the buildings they had been taking refuge in.

Then Green slid out from under the abyssalis cat, slick as an eel, stood to his claws and, with his tail-blades still anchored in the abyssalis cat's flesh, jerked his tail around, dragging the abyssalis cat forward and flinging him into the distance, where he impacted yet another building, which was instantly reduced to rubble.

Grinning, Green then spread his wings and took flight, landing on the roof of another sizable building, looking down and seeing the abyssalis cat sprawled over the debris of his latest impact, blood running down from the three gashes in his side as he meekly thrashed in pain. Green's grin deepened, the light behind smile intensifying, and when he next opened his mouth a beam of green light identical to what had thrown the abyssalis cat off of Penny wearing the same visage shot forth, speeding towards the momentarily incapacitated abyssalis cat with the speed of a bullet.