The Diversion
Patrick could do nothing but scream and flail around helplessly as he rapidly plummeted towards the ground, tumbling in the air like he was a single sock caught in the spin cycle of a washing machine. The ground and sky alternated positions constantly, so much so Patrick quickly lost the ability to tell which direction was up or down. Elmore was beginning to gain more discernible features as the seconds ticked by, shapeless blurs of light giving way to buildings with lights on in the windows below. Eventually, Patrick was able to perceive the ground rushing up to meet him, the backyard of his house, in fact. He clenched his eyes shut, waiting for impact…
…then suddenly something seized him around the middle, halting his descension with a violent jerk.
Opening his eyes, Patrick looked down to see that, while he was still descending towards the ground; which appeared to be not more than thirty feet away, the pace of his descent had substantially lessened. Whereas before he was plummeting like a stone, now he drifted towards the ground like a feather. Looking over his shoulder, he discovered that Penny had managed to catch up to him, grabbing him around the waist and vigorously flapping her wings in order to slow his descent. She couldn't outright carry him to safety, Patrick weighed too much for that, but she had managed to slow his velocity to at least none lethal levels.
"Penny…" he said in a dumbstruck tone, the ground below coming closer and closer.
"Don't worry, dad, I got you," said Penny reassuringly in a strained voice as she struggled to keep flapping her wings.
Eventually, Patrick felt his feet hit solid earth, Penny landing beside him, appearing haggard and exhausted from the ordeal.
"PATRICK!" Patrick looked up to see his wife sprinting towards him and rigorously throwing her arms around him. "Are you alright?!"
"I'm fine Judith," he said reassuringly as he gently pushed his wife off, though internally he was still reeling from the ordeal. But he managed to push past it as he looked at his daughter gratefully. "Thanks to our daughter."
Penny was still struggling to catch her breath, but responded to her father's gratitude with an appreciative smile.
"Hahahaha!"
At the sound of the shrill laughter they all turned to see the tendril of Green casually receding towards them from above, looking at them with a sinister sneer.
"GREEN!" growled Penny, entering a defensive stance and spreading her wings intimidatingly. "Stay away from my dad!"
"YEAH!" screamed Polly, rushing up beside her sister and standing alongside her between Green and Patrick. She was still holding Mr. Cuddles. "Leave daddy alone!"
"Stay away from my husband!" said Judith, standing next to her daughter's, her expression protective.
Patrick watched as his family came to his defense. He didn't know how to feel about it. He was the man of the house and should be protecting them, but at the same time it was obvious this…Green was after him. He was about to suggest they run, but before he could he caught a brief sideways glance from Penny. In that brief moment an understanding passed between them. He was her father and she would defend him, but she hadn't forgotten what had happened earlier, how he was willing to harm Gumball, and if he tried to convince any of them to flee and leave the Wattersons with this demon she would not partake. Even if they could get away, she wasn't going to leave Gumball and his family to the mercy of this evil entity.
"Why don't you leave all of us alone?!" said Darwin, him and the other Wattersons walking up beside the Fitzgeralds, though they were standing between Green and Gumball.
"Yeah, leave us out of your twisted game!" declared Anais with a sharp scowl.
"And leave my son alone too!" said Richard, shaking a meaty fist at Green.
"Yes! Gumball has suffered tremendously because of you, you evil monster!" said Nicole, her eyes beginning to glow as her own abyssalis cat genes stirred. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!"
Patrick watched all this unfold with a look of realization. While his stance towards the Watterson's had always been the same as any other sane resident of Elmore, he'd even been pushed to complete animosity towards one of them mere moments ago, but right now they were all facing off against a common enemy. Patrick could no longer deny Green's existence, that much was certain, which means his intentions for Gumball, and by extension, Penny, had to be legitimate. Destruction. Carnage. Even death. Penny would be dragged through all of that, through the vile machinations of Green unless someone did something.
And it was the same for the Wattersons, if not moreso. Gumball was the catalyst for Green's plans, the unwilling participant in the chaos he wanted to descend upon them all. Like it or not, they had a common enemy, and if they had any hope of prevailing they needed to be united, not pitting themselves against each other. Penny wasn't going to retreat, and, if he was honest, Patrick didn't know if they could escape from this creature, given how powerful he clearly is, so it's best if they take a stand here and now. He knew it was going to take a little extra effort on his part, what with the stunt he'd pulled upon realizing Gumball's condition, but he was still willing to throw his lot in with the Wattersons.
Green was the enemy, not Gumball, or even his family.
What was going on? He was siding with the Wattersons? Has the chaos already started?
"YEAH!" Patrick shouted from behind his protective family. "Leave my family and the Wattersons alone! We will have no part in your evil plot!"
The others were slightly taken aback at Patrick's words, more than one of them expecting him to want to flee from this creature that had just tried to kill him, but didn't protest. They all started screaming defiantly at Green's tendril, demanding he leave them in peace. However, he didn't appear too overly concerned with their angry protesting, a mischievous grin spreading over his slick lips.
"That's right. Look at me," he whispered sinisterly to himself . "All eyes on me. All attention on me."
Unbeknownst to the Wattersons and the Fitzgeralds another inky whirlpool had formed…in Nicole's shade, a large, narrow shape with spindly fingers slowly emerging.
However, amidst the rambling of the two families the one who was more intellectually inclined of both the groups suddenly felt the gears in her head turning. If Green was here to kill Patrick, why wasn't he still attempting to do so? Sure, they all stood before him in defiance, but would two average Elmore families really be enough to deter a being like Green? Unless…he wasn't really here to kill Patrick at all!
"Wait! EVERYONE WAIT!" Anais suddenly screamed over the angry protests of her family and the Fitzgeralds. "He's not really after Patrick! It's a distraction!"
Everyone blinked at her in confusion, but before anyone could inquire Green's tendril started laughing. "That's right, dimwits! Made ya look!"
Then Nicole was suddenly lifted off the ground violently, letting out a scream of surprise and terror as she was suddenly flung around and around in the air. Looking over, everyone saw that a long, black, grotesque arm had protruded from Nicole's shadow, seized her by Penny's backpack she was wearing and was now thrashing her around.
"NICOLE!" cried Richard in horror, running over and managing to grab his wife by the ankles, only to be hoisted off the ground with her.
Everyone else followed suit.
One by one, everyone present latched onto the previous person that had tried to grab hold of Nicole and pull her away from Green's arm, from Richard, to Darwin, then Anais, then Penny (having shifted to her minotaur form for added muscle), then Polly, then Judith. Even Patrick joined in on this human…? living chain, and with his participation they managed to get their feet on the ground and began engaging in a tug o'war with Green over Nicole.
"The darts!" she cried with dread, clinging to the straps of the backpack with all her might, apparently the only reason why it hadn't been torn off her thus far. "He's after the darts!"
The tranquilizer darts were the only method they had of keeping the abyssalis cat subdued. Without them the next time Gumball regresses the abyssalis cat would be free to wreak as much havoc as his instincts deemed necessary. No. They couldn't let Green take away their one way of keeping Gumball ( and by extension, everyone else) safe. The Wattersons and the Fitzgeralds pulled on Nicole with all the strength they could muster, while she herself clung to the straps of the backpack for all she was worth.
But the situation soon turned really bleak.
Despite her efforts, Nicole found herself unable to prevent the straps of the bag from sliding off her shoulders, now holding on with just her hands. She gritted her teeth in consecration, her knuckles turning white. But she could still feel the opposing force pulling against her steadily pulling the straps out of her grip, her fingers loosening. Nicole was strong enough she had once crumpled Harold Wilson's car like a tin can and shoved it in a nearby dumpster (because he had rudely sped into a parking space she was about to pull into), yet Green was matching her efforts with no apparent effort of his own, and even with the added assistance of those clinging to her ankles. Green's tendril nearby didn't even appear strained either, casually observing the situation as if he wasn't even a participant.
Green also knew their efforts to resist were pointless. They could not match his strength. The only way they could have prevented this was by keeping him from getting a grip on the bag in the first place, hence the diversion.
With a final strained grunt, Nicole tried to reaffirm her grip on the bag, but it was all for naught, her strength finally giving out, the straps slipping from her sweaty palms. Now, without an opposing force pulling against them, the Wattersons and the Fitzgeralds found themselves sent falling to the ground in sprawling heep, Nicole at the top of the body pile.
"NO!" she cried, looking up at the hand that now held the bag of tranquilizer..
"THE DARTS!" cried Darwin from underneath Penny's stomach, now reverted back to her fairy form, watching along with the rest of them as Green's arm extended into the air, the bag in its grip.
"Hahahaha!" laughed Green's tendril.
Looking over, they all saw, to their horror, that Green's serpentine tendril had scooped up the dart gun Darwin had discarded earlier in his coils and tossed it to his arm, which proceeded to catch it. They could do nothing as, before their very eyes, the bag of darts and the tranquilizer gun were crushed in a massive clenched fist, the sound of breaking plastic and grinding metal reverberating through the backyard.
"There goes your safeguard," hissed Green's tendril smugly, opening his fist, the remains of the tranquilizer equipment and Penny's backpack falling to the ground, consisting of shredded fabric and small shards of metal and plastic.
Everyone all threw the tendril a dirty look at his condescending tone, except for Darwin, who was looking around, desperately, hoping that Carrie would suddenly appear with that special ink. "Come on Carrie, now would be a good time."
It goes without saying that Green was utilizing his precarious connection to their world vigorously right now so now would be the opportunity to cast the spell meant to sever that connection, so it would be a good time for Carrie to appear with what they need, just in the nick of time. But, unlike what happens in the movies, there was no last minute scenario that turned the situation in favor of the good guys.
In fact, quite the opposite happened.
From his vantage point in the pile people Richard saw out of the corner of his eye that Gumball had begun sinking into his own shadow like quicksand.
"GUMBALL!" he cried in terror, using his impressive girth to dislodge himself from the pileup.
He managed to reach Gumball just in time to grab hold of his massive left forepaw, which was the only part of him still sticking out of the bubbly liquid Gumball's shadow had become, and pull back with all his might.
"GUMBALL!" cried Penny, Darwin, Anais and Nicole, just as Richard had, struggling to get out of the pileup themselves, but had much less success than him due to their less substantial body mass.
It was here that Green dropped his humorous expression. Unlike the tug o'war session with the bag prior, Richard's attempts to keep Gumball from sinking fully into the portal were actually somewhat working. It was probably because the sucking aspect of the portal didn't generate as much force as Green's own strength and the big wide load of a father was heavy enough to actually halt Gumball's descent and act as an anchor.
Green decided not to tolerate it, this had gone on long enough.
As Richard continually tried to pull his son out of the frothing dark mass he saw a green light and, looking down, noticed the face of another tendril appearing below the surface of the liquid shadow, snarling as it looked up at him.
"But out, lardo," it hissed from below the surface before jutting upward from the quagmire in a black splash, headbutting Richard between the eyes and launching him off Gumball's forepaw, which proceeded to fully sink into the shadows and vanished.
Richard sailed through the air and plowed into the others just as they had managed to disentangle themselves from each other like a bowling ball, producing the sound of bowling pins being knocked down as they were all scattered throughout the yard.
"GUMBALL!" Penny cried mournfully on her stomach, having been the one who landed the closest to the shadowy puddle he'd vanished into, reaching out to it helplessly as it too vanished, leaving nothing but bare ground where Gumball once lay.
"Hahahaha!" one of Green's tendril chuckled sinisterly. "Enjoy this last peaceful evening everyone! For come tomorrow, when night falls the true rampage of the abyssalis cat shall begin!"
Penny gritted her teeth upon hearing those words, gripping handfuls of dirt as angry tears spilled forth from her eyes.
"Give him back!" she growled in a trembling voice, shifting to her dragon form and turning on the spot to confront Green's tendrils. "GIVE HIM BACK TO ME!"
"In fact, let me assist in making it "peaceful" for you all…"
Before Penny-dragon could attack something shot up from her shadow and impacted her in her neck. Her expression wavered, shifting to shock momentarily, before she reverted back to normal, standing, an astonished expression on her face as a dart protruded from her neck. Apparently, Green hadn't destroyed all of the darts, having fed a few into a portal he'd opened in his clenched palm as he crushed the others. And Penny wasn't the only one. Just as they all had stood back up from Richard bowling then over the others had found dart's shooting up from their shadows and now protruded from various points of their bodies as well. A second ticked by, then they fell to the ground simultaneously, out cold.
"That's for keeping the abyssalis cat tranqed for so long!" said both the tendrils that had accosted Patrick and head-butted Richard together with a sinister tone, them, and the arm, receding back into their respective portal's. "Enjoy your naps!"
In the end, the Wattersons and the Fitzgeralds were left unconscious on the lawn of the Fitzgerald's back yard, the only one amongst them having not received a dart being Mr. Cuddles, though all he did was flee into the house to find a hiding place. He was beginning to believe he would have been better off flushed down the toilet.