It was around midday by the time Nicole was able to pull herself together, the room in a mess and shambles from her rampage.

"I'm not an uncaring lazy mother! I'm not an uncaring lazy mother" echoed her inner thoughts as she took some deep breaths to relax from her anger.

"Uncaring lazy mother?" asked a little girl who was none other than Anais, her sudden presence making Nicole jump. It was clear the mother feline was thinking out loud.

"Um, nothing sweetie" Nicole replied. "It's just about something mommy read on the internet".

"Who on the internet would call you an uncaring lazy mother?" asked Anais. She knew her mother was not associated with any of those first two adjectives.

"Oh, some social media police who try to do a job only parents are capable of and only do nothing but mess around with our daily lives" said the mother cat, her tone trying to avoid deepening into fury as she explained the situation.

"The DAO?"

"Yes, them"

"This has something to do with what's going on with Gumball and Darwin doesn't it?"

Anais soon knew her mother's answer when Nicole pointed her paw at the computer, which still had the DAO's page about FOTOL on the screen.

Later, in the living room...

The family had one thing in mind they were discussing. And it was perfectly clear what the matter was.

Nobody was able to make any clear context out of what the what was going on between the DAO and Elmore Stream-It. Nothing was making any sense; Gumball and Darwin couldn't find any guide on how to correctly mark a video, Nicole had no explanation to why the fine per violation was beyond anything anyone wealthier could afford, Richard was.....(well, he had nothing about the situation because he had other "more important" matters at Joyful Burger most of the day), and not even Anais had any idea on what was happening. It just didn't add up.

"...and we have to pay $50,000,000 each time we fail to follow these guidelines? It's like they think everyone in the entire world is rich enough to afford a cruise every two months" finished Nicole after talking about the unreasonably heavy penalty.

"And at the way these terms of service are written, there's no way we're gonna escape what's coming" added Anais.

"It's like being threatened with deprivation of privileges if you get sweat all over the bed and not being given any clear details on how to accomplish that simple task" said Gumball.

"Therefore marking the punishment inevitable" added Darwin.

"Well if that's the case, I'm not making the bed clean of sweat ever. I won't do it!" said Richard with dignity.

"Richard, we're talking about the DAO and Elmore Stream-It" said Nicole, guessing that Richard was once again lost in his thoughts.

"So I don't have to do a chore so vaguely difficult it's burning my brain-IT BURNS! IT BURNS!!!" asked Richard before smoke began to emit from his ears, indicating his statement about his brain quite literal.

"No, honey. You don't" sighed Nicole.

Richard exhaled in relief before a silence followed....until he broke it with "What were we talking about again?"

"THAT'S IT! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! I'M NOT DEALING WITH THIS!" shouted Gumball before he ran upstairs, everyone focusing their attention toward his sudden scream and dash upstairs.

Darwin quickly darted after him before screaming "WAIT, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?". Everyone else also following them.

Once Darwin got into the kids' bedroom, he found Gumball on the computer, with the settings of their Elmore Stream-It account open on the screen.

"I'M SORRY DARWIN, BUT THEY HAVE TO GO!" screamed Gumball on the verge of an emotional breakdown, with a video of O Fortuna from Carl Orff playing in another tab at the same time. It was clear he was getting ready to delete all their videos out of fear of a violation.

"BUT IT'S TOO SOON TO TELL! WE CAN'T GET RID OF EVERYTHING WE SPENT OUR ENTIRE LIVES ON THE INTERNET WORKING ON!" screamed Darwin hysterically.

"I HAVE TO!"

"DON'T DO IT!"

"THERE'S NO OTHER WAY!"

"THERE'S GOTTA BE ANOTHER WAY! THERE JUST HAS TO BE ANOTHER WAY!"

"Yeah, you're probably right" said Gumball calmly, everyone else finally there to see the dramatic argument as the O Fortuna video ended due to signal issues.

"Phew" sighed Darwin relieved.

His relief would be short-lived when Gumball said "I'll just terminate our account".

"NO! DON'T YOU DARE!" screamed Darwin as a fight erupted between the two kids, one trying to delete the Stream-It account and the other trying to swipe the mouse away.

A mess of words and fighting began as Gumball tried to get rid of their account and Darwin tried to stop him, the parents soon trying to intervene.

"KIDS, STOP IT! CALM DOWN!" were some of Nicole's words as she tried to seperate the younger cat and goldfish.

"STOP IT THIS ISTANT! I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON!" was heard from Richard in the midst of the chaos.

This went on and on...

...and on...

...and on...

...for about a minute until everyone heard some words from Anais, which were "WILL EVERYONE PLEASE CALM DOWN!?!?!?". Everyone in the room went still.

"Look, let's not lose our heads" continued Anais. "I mean sure, these guidelines are vague, no one will be able to follow them, and our financial state makes it clear we're not cut out to face a $50,000,000 fine. But it's not the end of the world. What could happen?"

Yeah, what could happen?

Well, you'll see in a bit.

"But what about the stop-motion steampunk robot from earlier?" you might ask.

Yeah, that's why the answer to "What could happen?" will have to wait a bit.

But anyway, north of the city, where a black watercolour-painted film-grainy steam locomotive was being fired up for a tourist train up a scenic line from Malford, California...

"I'll tell ya what happened" was heard from the mentioned steampunk guy. "A mad rampage during my morning jog".

"So much for an uneventful day like you 'predicted' on Elmore-Plus last night, Smith" chuckled another steampunk robot going by the name of Kyle.

"You know when you say something and you know it's not true? Anyway, she was that same cat I met in the city while on my way to Stellar Media the other day. You know, the one who works at the Rainbow Factory and ripped off my hand when I ran into her because I made her work papers fly everywhere?" Smith continued, showing his obviously remodelled claw-like hand.

"What the heck is with her?" said Kyle. "Her patience is probably shorter than her temper".

"Like I said, I'm sure she's not a bad feline. She was just probably having a rough day at work or something" reiterated Smith. Seeing that he aimed for an almost perfect moral state, he knew anyone could have stress and anger issues, especially if they have to work the majority of the time just to make sure the family has enough to afford a simple bag of bread and milk.

"You do have a point. I mean, I honestly want to do much worse when I fail to get this machine properly fired up-OW! Stupid wrench and valve gear!" sighed Kyle before his arm got bent from the strain of trying to screw a valve into place. "Anyway, what's the big deal?"

"Usually, when something like this happens, I'm guessing it's something truly serious and concerning, especially when it's affecting the entire family" stated Smith.

"So?"

"So, if it affects the entire family, it could be affecting every family in Elmore"

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that Elmore could be under threat from the powers-that-be"

Both of them just stood there in silence...before Kyle started laughing, obviously not taking his partner's words seriously. Smith could only do the same, albeit nervously, in response.

"I wouldn't worry about it" said Kyle after relaxing from his insanely annoying laughter. "I'm sure it's just another internet hoax. No biggie"

"Yeah. I mean, just because it's something happening with them, doesn't mean I should be too concerned about it" replied Smith.

"Besides, we have other matters to focus on at the moment" Kyle added, climbing into the cab of their oil-fired steaming hunk of steel.

Smith just followed him, setting the locomotive up for their trip into the Malford National Forest.

After pulling the lever on the ceiling that let off the sound of a steam chime whistle, they got the locomotive backing onto the small wooden turntable.

"Elmore could be under threat from the powers-that-be" were the only words inside Smith's recently electronically upgraded head as he sat in the cab while the locomotive was being rotated around.

Should he listen Kyle? Was this nothing to worry about? Or was it something his partner just wasn't seeing? Was Elmore a barrel, were the citizens a school of fish and was this "powers-that-be" a shotgun?

While he waited for the turntable to set to the right position, he decided to check his mobile phone and see if there was anything on the news that could settle him about the ordeal. News stories he found included "Conspiracy theories of a 'static dimension' surge online" posted by ELB News and "World War III fears erupt from penpal war between America and Canada" by everydayexpress.uk.

"Everyday Express, don't you have anything else to do other than supporting the right-wing with  your dumb nuclear war scares" chuckled Smith to himself. But his sense of humour would be ripped right out of him when he found a legit article by Channel 6 News titled "Users of Elmore Stream-It racing to comply with FOTOL".

"FOTOL?" he thought to himself.

Upon a closer look at the article, he found some information that was able to clear everything up.

Users of Elmore Stream-It scramble to mark their videos in order to comply with the DAO's new laws regarding FOTOL. Two weeks ago, the DAO caught Elmore Stream-It was collecting data and information from children, making it a long time violator of FOTOL. "It's outrageous that everyone still trusts this danger to users of the internet, but we won't allow any further violations of our FOTOL legislation in the future" said DAO executive Mike Stanwell at the press conference. The changes coming include the obligation of users to tell Stream-It if their content is aimed at children or not, and the removal of features such as likes/dislikes and monetization. Violators will be fined $50,000,000 per offence. "Things are gonna change on Stream It. It can be done with our eyes closed. Those criminals on the internet will never see it coming" finished Stanwell.

For Smith, the pieces were starting to click together.

"Oh no, not FOTOL" he said to himself.

"C'mon, Smith. Let's get this show on the road" was heard from Kyle, walking back to the cab as he had just finished setting the locomotive to the right track.

As they headed off to the station before the start of their journey, Smith still had his thoughts about the news page he had just encountered.

"FOTOL? DAO? For kids or not for kids? Removal of monetization? $50,000,000 fine?" flew around his head.

Before Smith fixated his attention to getting the machine under way, one previous thought made one final loop into his mind.

"Could Elmore be under threat from the powers-that-be?"

Later in the evening...

"I still think that track could use a little maintenance" said Kyle as Smith drove him along the highway back to Elmore.

"Yeah, totally agree" agreed Smith.

As the car made it's way towards Elmore, they noticed something once they were able to get a view of the entire cityscape.

Something different.

Something odd.

Something.........wrong.

The first thing to light the fuse for a series of questions was the sight of a cloud emitting from various parts of the area. The cloud looked dim and dark, with a glow of yellow and orange coming from beneath. It was as if several spot fires were lit.

As if, or confirmed?

Another sight that boggled up some concern was the state of every building and structure along the road. As they got closer and closer to Elmore, everything appeared to be looking more and more decrepit and dilapidated. Some were lacking on window panes, some were lit up in flames, some were about to cave-in, and some were being ransacked by looters.

After two sightings, the town was looking almost......dystopian.

The silence was broken by a "I know they say this a lot in Stellar Odyssey, but I got a bad feeling about this"  from Kyle. Smith could only nod in agreement.

Their anxiety was only about to be raised.

When they finally reached the neighborhood, they saw the place was even more post-apocalyptic-looking. Their sight was clouded with overturned burning vehicles, toppled street lamps, derelict houses, and people roaming the street resembling those guys from the Reuse and Recycling center's dump truck. They were screaming groups of words which included "THEY'RE COMING! I HAVE TO DO THIS!", "DON'T DO IT!", THERE'S ONLY ONE RULE IN THIS WORLD; EAT OR BE EATEN!" and "IT'S STANWELL! HE'S OUR DOOMSDAY! WHEN I FIND YOU STANWELL, I WILL END YOU!!!".

Smith and Kyle we're starting to find the situation quite terrifying.

"What the heck is going on!?" asked the former.

"I don't know. But something tells me your 'threat from the powers-that-be' fear is unraveling into reality. So, where is it?"

"What?"

"You're right, I'm wrong. So what do you say?"

"Um, I told you so?"

"Exactly!"

Both steam-powered beings shared a laugh about that small bicker, bringing a sense of humour into them in this uneasy state of the city. Unfortunately, their relief from the reality was not to last when they jumped at the sound of metal screeching.

"WHAT THE!?"

When they looked outside, they saw a walking pile of fur with a face, burnt as black as soot and dust, plowing a chainsaw into the car's hood.

"Excuse me, sir, but can you explain why you're vandalising my buddy's vehicle!?"

"MINE!!!" hissed the voice that Kyle knew belonged to the principal of the city's Well-known school, Elmore Junior High.

"NIGEL BROWN!?!?" screamed Kyle, terrified at the burnt sight that Brown had become.

And the next moment was only going to be even more horrifying,

The being in the form of Principal Brown leapt onto the hood, rammed his fist though the windshield and powered up the chainsaw in his hands. Just after that, the chainsaw was propelled right into Kyle's metal arm. His screaming was only adding to the terror his friend Smith was experiencing at that moment.

"GET AWAY FROM MY ROOMMATE!" he shouted when he slammed his foot onto the gas pedal, putting the car into full speed only for Smith to hit the brake and swerve to the right, sending Brown flying off the car and into a fire hydrant. Relentless, the savage principal got back up and attempted to lunge toward the robots to take them apart when another figure leapt onto him, obviously attempting to pin him down, only to receive a bite on his head, breaking his grip on the principal, who hissed and sprinted into the distance.

The figure looked round, almost perfectly round. In fact, he resembled a donut. And there was one name that came into mind at the realizaton.

"Donut Cop?" was heard from Kyle.

"Okay, I've had enough of this! Can someone please give me an explanation to what's happened?" Smith blurted out. He really needed answers to what was happening in Elmore.

"Okay..I'll tell you..." began Donut Cop. "It was around the afternoon when it happened. Law and order in Elmore was beginning to fall apart. Everyone was looting and shoplifting, inflicting violence against any opponents, and that's only a handful of what's happened".

"How did this happen?"

"No clue. The only piece of evidence to suggest something was that the majority of everyone going mad were people known to use Elmore Stream-It and they kept rambling on and on about the DAO, FOTOL, rules and regulations, Stanwell, and that's only a mere example of what they were ranting about".

Smith was beginning to believe the thought he'd been trying to force out of his mind all day. Elmore was at threat from the DAO, Elmore Stream-It was going to change, and the update was something no one could comprehend.

Kyle could only look at him with a blank stare before saying "What about what happened this morning on your jog?"

"This whole ordeal must have something to do with it" thought Smith to himself. He just briefly looked at his partner, signaling that he had heard everything he had just said.

A few minutes later, down the street...

The car was speeding down the road above the limit and ramming into roadside objects like street lamps and trash cans, not like it mattered as law was no longer a thing in Elmore at the moment.

"Right here" said Smith before stepping on the brake pedal, bringing the vehicle to a halt right in front of a two-floor blue house.

The place looked like the home of the Wattersons, yet it looked almost like it was owned by no one at all. It's windows had spider-web-like cracks, the paint looked chipped, and the walls looked like they were about to give way. Both machines were confused. The Wattersons were definitely not the brightest lightbulbs when it comes to budgeting, but this was not the extent of their financial difficulties.

Smith was ready for something to be hurled out of the window again. So he cautiously entered the lawn by the left side before sprinting onto the veranda, Kyle not too far behind him.

When they rung the doorbell, it only fizzled out.

"Okay, I'm starting to get scared here" Kyle whispered the Smith, who only looked at him to show his agreement.

"Hello?" he called as he knocked his metal hand on the front door before it suddenly fell off the hinges and onto the carpet.

Some footsteps were heard from inside the house, before a blue cat entered the doorway, greeting the two by saying with a smile "Oh, good evening. Nicole Watterson. How may I help you?"

Indeed, it was Nicole. But she looked like she'd been sleeping on the street, with her fur all messy and her clothing all torn and ragged.

Now Smith was really starting to worry. But he kept it in and tried to remain polite and not comment on the state of the house. He entered the ruined living room before speaking.

"Um, 'evening, Nicole. I think you might know me from somewhere" he said as he showed his arm.

Nicole just looked to the left and scratched her head, obviously out of embarrassment as she tried to keep her smile on her face. "Oh, that day. Yeah, I'm well and truly sorry about that. I don't know what came over me".

"Nah, it's cool. I've taken much worse" reassured Smith. "Anyway, um, nice place you have."

"Has it always looked so.........run down?" asked Kyle.

"Kyle!" gestured Smith to his partner.

"No, it's okay" said Nicole. "And no. Not really. It was a few hours ago when we could actually afford a home".

"Actually afford a home?" asked Smith.

"Yeah, the DAO is toying with their puppets, which by the way are us, again" said Nicole, her cheery manner fading.

"I knew it" Smith muttered to himself.

When they entered the dinning room, they saw the table with piles of trash on it. The occupants of the collapsed chairs were a younger blue cat, a young goldfish with legs, and a big pink bunny.

"Gumball, Darwin, and Richard?" you might ask? Well yes. But much like Nicole, they too looked like they've spent their entire lives sleeping on the sidewalk. Gumball's sweater and jeans looked like they were homemade by amateurs and Darwin's socks were so torn they were barely able to censor his pixelated feet. Richard only had his underpants on as his attire.

"Good evening, visitors" Gumball and Darwin said in unison, pulling off their cutesy cheerful faces like usual.

"Um, hi kids" said Kyle, taken aback by their poor appearance.

"What are you eating?" was Smith's question when he saw the trash laid out on the table.

"Our dinner" replied Gumball.

The two robots looked at each other with faces that said "What?". Of course, they understood very well why this family was eating trash. Because it looked like it was the only thing they could afford.

"So, how long have you been living like this again?" asked Smith.

"For about seven hours" replied Gumball.

"And why are you living life like you have no money?" questioned Smith.

"Because our wallets were just doomed to be emptied as some rules just cannot be followed" responded Nicole. "Therefore, we cannot ration our finances too soon".

Smith was about to comment on what the mother feline meant by their budget being crippled even further, but was interrupted by a table leg collapsing, spilling everything on it onto the carpet, which included a wallet. It was open and clearly had some green notes visible.

"Isn't your wallet still full of cash?" asked Smith, now more confused than ever.

"It's just inevitable" said Nicole dimly and almost depressed sounding.

"Okay, can you guys just elaborate?" were the words that Kyle could release before a little pink rabbit also entered the room. And I'm gonna say yes to anyone wondering if this character happens to go by the name of Anais.

"Allow me to do the honors" she said. Unlike everyone else, she still looked pretty normal. Her orange dress and white socks remained perfectly intact and her fur wasn't rough like Nicole and Richard, and Gumball's. "It's the DAO. Their fines for violating FOTOL are so through the roof that they are unaffordable. Everyone's just preparing for the 'inevitable' knock on the door from the DAO and the words '$50,000,000 please' to be said" continued the four year old girl.

Smith was about the question how a four year old girl could know about all that, but was more concerned about everyone else.

Gumball could only look at him for a few seconds with a smile, before it faded, his lips starting to tremble, and his pupils swelling up in a way that indicates growing sadness with tears filling up inside. Then he fell off the chair and onto the floor, a puddle forming around his head as he bawled loudly, the floor not being enough to completely muffle it.

Everyone just stared at him blankly before he screamed "IT'S HOPELESS! IT'S JUST HOPELESS! WE'RE DOOMED! AND ALL BECAUSE WE CAN'T COMPLY WITH FOTOL!".

Smith couldn't put any words together. He couldn't bare to watch a 12-year old kid having a breakdown about a hopeless situation or an entire family preparing to loose all they have because some guidelines are just impossible to follow. This family was suffering at the hands of the DAO. No. The entire town was at the grip of the powers-that-be. He knew FOTOL, but this was stretching it over the line. He always despised FOTOL and their futile attempts to keep children safe, but messing with an innocent family was his breaking point.

Finally, he found the words he needed. He bent down onto his knee and gently stroked the young cat on the head before saying "Yes".

Gumball looked up at him, his face still wet from his crying, saliva running down his nose, and his eyes still teary and puffy.

Smith continued. "Yes, it could be hopeless".

Gumball just slammed his face back into the floor and resumed his sobbing fit.

"But is that the wall that's standing in your way?" Smith resumed. "No. The walls are your perception. It's the perception that the situation is void of hope. Now, I'm not the best when it comes to emotionally moving words, but I will say that this situation will only bring everyone else to the same fate if we just sit here and do nothing. In fact, I myself once felt like I would never get the chance to speak when I was your age. I never thought it would be possible to be electronically upgraded like I was last month. I wasn't very optimistic back then, but I don't want to see anyone else look at the world as dimly as I did. Do you want to know what I say when times get bleak?"

"What?" said Gumball, once again pausing his crying to pay attention to Smith's words.

"I say 'no'. Just 'no'. Because it shows that I will never stand for it" resumed the robot. "So if you feel like your legs can't carry you anymore, it's never too late to get up again".

Gumball was still teary-eyed, but this time had a small smile growing on his face. "Really?" he sniffled.

"Every word" confirmed the steampunk robot.

"Honestly, that was so corny I felt like I was walking in all the corn fields of the country combined" said Kyle after a brief silence.

"Corny or not..." began Gumball. "...thanks"

And just after that, Gumball leapt right onto Smith for a hug. "Ow". He flinched a bit because of the hot metal surface of the steampunk robot, but didn't care as long as he showed Smith how thankful he was for his wise words.

Smith was surprised at the fact his simple words recharged this kid's optimism in a dire time like this. He looked at everyone else and saw them also finally looking as if they had never been so hopeful before. He just smiled back with his rotating mechanical arch-shaped 'mouth' before he put Gumball back onto the ground so he could stand up again.

"But how are we gonna face this threat?" questioned Anais. "We're going head-to-head against a federal agency that has control over our daily lives. The most we can do is start a petition on difference.org or bring the matter to court".

"And that last part was my idea of doing something about it. Not just for you, but for the entirety of Elmore" Smith said those last few words in an epic sounding voice. If this was a screenplay, imagine the camera zooming out to show the city.

"What?" the Wattersons said in unison.

"That's nearly impossible" said Nicole. "At the rate we're going at, even if we're not as broke as we currently appear to be, we can barely even think about affording a lawyer-".

"No need to worry about that" interrupted Smith. "I got ya covered."

"We already have lawyer?" asked Darwin excitedly. "Where is he? Where is he?"

Smith just gave them a look that said "You're looking at him right now."

"You're a lawyer?" asked Richard.

"I don't charge much as I aim for an at most nearly-perfect moral state" answered Smith. "And not just a lawyer. Now, I'm not Larry, but I also work at the Stellar Media studios on the other side of the city, with multiple part time occupations like stunt-plane flying, volunteering for tourist railroads, supporting good causes like racial equality and world peace, making my dream of becoming an animator a reality, etc.".

The Wattersons just stood there for moment before giving him a group hug, knowing that there was a chance to fight back. After a few seconds, they broke the embrace before Smith took notice of Nicole, Richard, Gumball, and Darwin's torn and ragged clothing again.

"First, you're gonna have to look ready to fight" he remarked.

Everyone just laughed in agreement...until they noticed Kyle was no longer present in the room.

They went into the living room and found him slowly walking backwards outside the house, obviously having enough of what was going on.

"I don't think I'm gonna get involved" he said right before darting down the road.......until he was hit by a hijacked modified and graffitied bus.

Everyone gasped, signaling a "I'm okay! Much like Smith, I've survived much worse than this-"

The wreckage exploded.

"Still okay!"