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It had been a normal day. Well, the usual normal.
Gumball and his family were going to the mall, mostly for family bonding time as his mother put it. He didn't really care that much at the time, but everybody else was pretty excited. It wasn't like he wanted to really sour any of their moods.
If only he knew how things would end up.
The car crashing into other vehicles, everyone mad at the feline, even though he was just playing with the windows.
Darwin getting upset by mysterious sentences hovering below Gumball, running off to somewhere the cat couldn't find him at.
His parents suddenly getting into an argument, and divorcing right then and there in front of him.
Losing Anais in a crowd.
Causing Penny to fall over that balcony, though.. Luckily everything froze before he could witness any more of it.
When he found out this was all another villain thing by Rob, Gumball assumed that it was like any other. That he would win the battle, save the day, reverse everything with that strange universal remote. How naive he was.
As Gumball was falling through the dimension of static, he couldn't help but recollect everything that happened so far. He wasn't stupid, he knew these events well. Rob had thrown the remote in, and they both knew that the cat would go running after it, leaving him to where he was now. Screaming, his paws having slipped from the edge of the portal.
He was pretty sure Rob said something to him before closing the rift, but at that point he was too far down to hear it. Spotting the remote, Gumball desperately tried to catch it, swimming through the air, or at least he assumed it was like air, but it was rather fruitless. A piece of debris soon smacked him in the face, knocking him unconscious for a brief moment.
Once the blue cat began to stir, it was too late. The remote smashed against the roof of a familiar blue house with a red tent on it. Unfortunately, he landed at the exact place, face planting harshly. He let out a yelp of pain, feeling the remote's pieces stab into him like glass.
Slowly standing back up, his pupils turned to small dots as he realized the situation. "N-No! It can't be broken!"
Gumball tried to scoop up the pieces, only to drop most of them immediately, seeing tiny pieces stuck inside his paws. It didn't help he was just injured by them seconds before. "Oh right, you're not supposed to pick up stuff like that with your bare hands."
However, he soon froze, as his focus was back on his injuries, freaking out as he began to glitch out and distort, the pieces doing the same before disappearing. It was like they never touched him. "..What the what?"
As he sat himself down, feeling shock by it all, the thought occurred to him. He lost his way out. There was no way of getting home.
"N-No.. This can't be happening.. This has to be some.. Some messed up dream! I bet I'll wake up any minute now!" Gumball glanced around, ears flat as he tried to remain positive, hopeful that everything was fine. His family was fine. He was fine. He was going to make it out. Neon letters were seen scrolling down from nearby, playing a familiar tune. Wasn't that the one his family was just singing? How did this place know that?
Minutes went by, his faith slowly fading. Was this it? Had Rob really won?
All he could do was.. Wait.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He couldn't remember how much time had passed. Was it days? Months? There never seemed to be any real sense of time in here. It felt slow, draining, like waiting for a doctor's appointment.
Gumball had been waiting a good while in this place, for anyone to come rescue him. There had to be someone. Perhaps Darwin came to his senses and was looking to find a way to help him? Was Anais his aid? The cat wasn't sure, but he knew them by now. They would be here any moment to come save him from this horrible place.
At the moment, he decided to keep base at the house he landed on, feeling a strange sense of comfort with it. He didn't like the eyes and teeth on it admittedly, but it was still a house. Thankfully, there was furniture inside, scarily matching the inside of his family's home, down to the couch and his room. Yet, there were no pictures of the family inside. All traces of whoever lived here were gone, as if it.. Never existed.
Gumball was sitting in the living room, angrily fumbling with an old video game console's controller. On the TV was some sort of videogame he had found floating in the static, and decided to play for a while. Unfortunately, it wasn't a very good one. "This stupid thing is so confusing! How did anyone in the 80s want to play this junk?!"
He switched the TV off, throwing down his controller as he leaned back into the sofa, letting out a sigh. There wasn't a whole lot one could do in this one area. The cat had at some points considered traveling around the dimension, but had shot it down right away. What was the point? There wasn't much here. He pretty much sees things fly by the home every minute, showing to him how.. Useless this world was.
Admittedly, there was something in the back of his head that told him he remembered this place, but.. Just as he was about to grasp the thought, it slipped away, like this world was actively trying to keep him away from knowing something. He hated it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nobody was coming for him.
Gumball knew this well by now. He had waited so long, he wouldn't be surprised if years had gone by. He had not seen a sign of Darwin, nor Anais. Though, he thought he did one time.
He had seen an orange figure float outside the house. Joyfully the cat had run out, screaming Darwin's name as he waved, but as he peered closer, he realized it wasn't him. It was instead a 3d-like model, strangely similar to his friend. The figure did not answer, floating motionlessly through the space until it was no longer in sight.
The feline after that point had given up. His days from then on were spent just.. Doing nothing. What was the point? He was trapped here forever, unable to escape, unable to talk to anyone. It was quite lonely. He couldn't imagine anyone else going through such a horrible experience.
One day however, this all changed.
As he walked outside the house, sitting on the bright green grass, he had been watching all the stuff around him float by. That was, until his eyes landed on a new portal, not too far from him.
"YES! THEY CAME BACK!" Gumball felt tears streaming down his face, as he cheered and cried with happiness. He began to run towards it, jumping across debris and random objects as fast as he could. At one point he even used old hairspray he found, which thankfully boosted his speed for a good while. He soon began to panic, seeing it was going to close. He couldn't lose this, not now.
The cat jumped off a ledge to a floating rock, paw reaching out to touch it. He felt his body glitch and distort violently as he got closer, Gumball trying to keep himself from letting out a scream in pain. It would be worth it. He was going to make it out.
He managed to pull his arm through, and with the strength he had, the feline pushed himself inside the rift, stumbling back out as it came to a close behind him. Gumball was speechless, practically filled with so many emotions he didn't know which to express. He made it. He was free. He was.. Home.
Though, his joy was cut short, as he noticed his appearance.
Saying that his body was messed up was a huge understatement. Parts of it distorted and glitched, occasionally effecting his mind as it felt like he was a bad tv signal. From what he could see, there was all sorts of wrong. Patches of static were seen on his body, occasionally flashing from what he noticed. His right arm appeared sketchy and gray, while his right leg was a green wireframe that had a lighter color underneath it. The only normal leg he had was unfortunately not much of an improvement, as his foot was disconnected, moving as if it nothing had happened. His tail was very much the same, being bright orange and rather puffy, floating not too far behind him.
Gumball stared at his new form in absolute shock and horror, unable to make any words come from his throat. Had he pushed too hard on the portal? Was this the other place's karma for his escape? All of it scared him. Whatever happened, he wasn't sure if it was fixable. The cat gasped, immediately pushing that thought away. He refused to dwell on it.
His eyes soon widened, as he overheard two voices from behind a corner. Tears began to stream down his face, as he smiled.
Darwin and Anais were just up ahead, walking down a cracked sidewalk. They seemed deep into conversation, with the young bunny explaining some sort of science thing to the rather confused goldfish. The moment was practically a miracle, as if the universe had decided to give the feline mercy.
Gumball began to approach, as his heart ached seeing his siblings again. Here, in the flesh. He wasn't stuck inside that horrible place anymore. He wasn't alone. His tears dried, as he got closer. Now was the perfect time to call to them. "Darwin! Anais!"
However, when he caught their attention, something felt.. Off. They were looking at him with complete confusion. Gumball stopped just feet away from them, trying to brush it off. "I'm so glad to see you guys, you have no idea how awful that other place was! There was all this static everywhere and I-I thought I lost all of you.. But thank gosh I was wrong! Kinda confused why you didn't come back for me though.."
"Um.. Sorry to interrupt your.. Whole thing but.." Darwin rubbed his head, as he gave a bewildered expression. "..Who exactly are you?"
Everything stopped in an instant.