"You stupid couch!" grumbled Kyle, trying to get the couch off of him.

"Oh that hurts" was the response the couch gave. But Kyle didn't notice it's anthropomorphism, too busy trying to free himself.

After a few minutes of struggling, Kyle was free from the bounds of the couch. His relief was short-lived when he got a startle from two kids in the house.

"KYLE, WE NEED YOUR HELP!" Gumball and Darwin shouted after zipping down the stairs.

"AH!" gasped Kyle. "Don't do that! If I had biological organs, you could've given me a heart attack-".

"Not the time!" interrupted Gumball. "We-need-your-help-to-get-this-evidence-to-the courthouse-to-prove-that-Elmore-Stream-It-is-behind-all-this-".

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU SAYING!?". Kyle couldn't understand the young kitty through his speedy blabbering.

"What he was trying to say was..." began Darwin "WE NEED YOUR HELP TO GET THIS EVIDENCE TO THE COURTHOUSE TO PROVE THAT ELMORE STREAM-IT IS BEHIND ALL THIS!"

Kyle found he preferred incoherent fast-talk when Darwin's screaming almost literally knocked his head off. "OKAY! I GET IT! Now, my first question; what is your 'evidence' as you describe?".

"Anais found it online" answered Gumball. "She added up the information from news articles and pages relating to the entire thing".

"Okay?". Kyle was still unsure of how a little girl could be that smart. "Well, if it's real evidence, why can't you just send it via email?"

"We already tried that" replied Darwin. "But Stream-It partnered with a dangerous hacker to make sure we don't spill the beans".

"Anais is still upstairs trying to combat both of them" added Gumball.

"Alright, show me" smirked Kyle with his rotating 'mouth'. He was convinced this was part of the kids' childish games.

Gumball and Darwin did as Kyle asked them to and pulled him upstairs. When they opened the door, Kyle's mechanical eyes enhanced in awe when he saw Anais at the desk, typing into the keyboard, with digital texts on the screen".

"I won't give up, not without a fight" she declared, obviously in response to an order to delete the email. "You want it, come and get it".

"Okay, the intelligence of that girl literally scares me" whispered Kyle to Gumball and Darwin before they left the room. He didn't know wether to doubt anything now.

"Anyway..." continued Gumball, "We need your help to get this printed evidence across town to the courthouse so we can both prove the DAO was really not the bad guy and that they should take action".

"Now why the heck would I do that?" snarked Kyle, obviously not in the mood to be involved with these kids any further.

"BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T, ELMORE STREAM-IT WILL TRIUMPH EVILLY AND TAKE HOLD OF THE WAY WE USE THE INTERNET! THIS ISN'T JUST ABOUT US! IT'S THE ENTIRETY OF FLIPPING ELMORE WE'RE TALKING ABOUT! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!?" shouted Darwin, inadvertently spitting on Kyle's face while shaking him violently.

"Whoa, dude! Chillax" said Gumball, pulling his adoptive brother away from the steam-robot.

"Okay! I get it!" replied Smith, getting back up. "I'll help you. But how? I don't have a car. My roommate just drives me from point A to point B when necessary. So I can't drive you there-". Kyle stopped when he saw the cup of lemonade from earlier downstairs, right next to the box labeled "Dodj or Daar".

"But..." continued Kyle, gesturing to the kids to come closer. "...a little 'daar' can".

Gumball and Darwin looked at each there confused, but went along with Kyle's idea.

At the courthouse...

"And further more, we don't send teams hunting the internet for videos that are incorrectly marked. We leave that to Elmore Stream-It" finished Stanwell's lawyer.

Smith Williamson, and everyone else against the DAO, were starting to look like complete idiots. But Richard wasn't about to admit he was stupid and stood up to speak. "Do you take me and my wife for complete idiots!?" he shouted. "They are deceiving you all and the court rules in their favour!? THIS IS ALL ONE BIG CONSPIRACY!"

Nicole just nervously smiled out of embarrassment, everyone staring at her husband's man-child like behaviour.

"YOU ALL WANT TO STAND UP FOR YOUR OWN WORLD FREE OF LIES AND TREASON! BUT YOU NEED THE COURAGE TO DO SO! SO, I'LL LECTURE YOU MY OWN INTERPRETATION OF MY STEAMING FRIEND'S WORDS" continued Richard, beginning to do his own version of Smith's motivational speech.

Smith cringed at the stupidity of the way Richard used his inspirational speech about hope and never giving up.

"...AND YOU KNOW WHAT I SAY WHEN TIMES GET BLEAK!?" continued Richard, "I JUST SAY 'OH YEAH? HOW ABOUT YOU KISS MY FIST WHEN IT RUNS INTO YOUR MOUTH AND SENDS YOUR TEETH FLYING EVERYWHERE' BECAUSE IT SHOWS THAT I WILL NOT STAND FOR IT!"

"SILENCE!" bellowed the Judge, hammering the Gavel twice.

"SHUT UP!" screamed Richard, unaware of who he was silencing. "ANYWAY, SO IF YOU FEEL LIKE ALL FAST FOOD JOINTS ARE CLOSING, IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO FIND A NEWLY OPENED ONE!"

"He rehearses for stage performances. What a dreamer he is" chuckled Nicole nervously. "C'mon, honey, that's enough".

"HEY, DOOFUS, HOW ABOUT YOU SHUT UP?" screamed one of the DAO agents. "YOU AND YOUR WIFE ARE ALREADY SETTING BAD EXAMPLES FOR PARENTS!".

Nicole's ears perked at that. "Bad example?" she asked, confused at the part about her being a terrible example.

"Isn't it obvious?" answered the same agent, crossing his arms. "We assume by default that any parent is too busy with other matters to look after their children. So why is a horrible uncaring lazy mother like you different?". Mike Stanwell facepalmed. He was still confused at why that guy was still one of their agents if he was gonna take the way they do things too seriously.

Nicole clenched her fists, them making a bone-cracking sound while doing so. All her anger needed was those very words to be said. The very idea that they could automatically call her a horrible mother by default. It was too much to take in. She began to growl in fury, her eyebrows lowering and her teeth gritted as she prepared to end the rude agent.

"Oh no" gasped Richard. "SHE'S GONNA BLOW!"

Everyone, knowing what happens when Nicole's rage is set off, ducked for cover behind the seats...except Smith.

"No she won't!" he declared. "I got this" and he got into a martial arts pose, getting ready to do what he needed to do.

Taking aim for the back of the feline's head, right between her ears, he pulled his metal hand back. Closing his eyes to gain focus, he propelled his hand forward. He brought it to a standstill just when he touched the fur on Nicole's head, then he slowly drove his fingers over the part between her ears, gently scratching that area.

Silence fell when Nicole's eyes widened, her furious growling coming to a stop. Then, almost instantly, she dropped to the table and quickly fell asleep on her back. She purred happily, her paws reaching into the air from time-to-time as she dozed into a dream.

Awestruck, no one said a word...until Richard. "How did you do that?"

"It's called 'the Nighty-Night Kitty', a martial arts move I learnt from watching videos on YouTube on the other side" replied Smith.

"Other side?" questioned Stanwell.

"It's best I tell you all when the time's right, like the end" answered Smith. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you".

Everyone just starred silence before the Judge spoke. "Um, okay. Well, thanks for your words everyone. We'll resume shortly after the break".

As everyone left the room, Richard carrying his sleep-purring wife over his shoulder, Smith glared at Mike. A glare that said both "Something's not right around here, so we could be wrong about you" and "I still don't trust your FOTOL guidelines".

At the Wattersons' backyard...

A cloud of dust built up around the corner of the fence, emitting from hard work and hasty amateur construction.

Getting some déjà vu?

Well, that'll be cleared up in a bit.

"Done!" declared Smith, pulling the tarp off the reveal a soda-rocket-powered monorail sitting on the fence, almost a replica of the one he was 'daared' to build earlier.

"Awesome!" said Gumball and Darwin in wonder and unison. "It looks like the one you built during our Dodj or Daar game".

"But better" added Kyle, pointing out the container-lid wings and ramp at the edge of the fence. "Now perfectly equipped for flying".

The kids didn't waste any time jumping onto the makeshift rocket, the evidence perfectly secured an envelope. As they made the adjustments, like the bicycle helmets and the tape-seatbelts, they heard frustrated high-pitched screaming from inside the room upstairs.

"Anais!" gasped Gumball and Darwin". They didn't know what happened. But one thing was for sure; they needed to be quick.

"Thanks, Kyle" said Gumball as he pulled the cord, sending him and Darwin on a high speed takeoff.

Astounded by the fact that the kids thanked him after the way he treated them, Kyle turned around, only to find a trail of soda vapour in the air. "Um, you're welcome?" said the dumbfounded steampunk robot.

"THIS...IS...AWESOME!" screamed Gumball as their rocket began picking up speed, hitting a solid and unexplainable 85 MPH.

Finally, they were fully free from the bounds of gravity when they flew right up to the sky from the ramp. "WOO-HOO" they shouted in unison, excited about their very first attempt at flight. But now was not the time to have fun. So they released the lids of the additional afterburners, pushing their rocket to it's limit.

Seemingly flawless their plan was, they were on their way to save the Elmore's social media network.

Little did they know, they had unexpected company.

"I know we're on a desperate mission to save Elmore, but do you think we could come up with callsigns?" asked Darwin.

Gumball instantly agreed. He too felt like whey were flying a military fighter jet. "Okay, let me see. Hmm. I got. I'll be 'Blue-Kitty', and you'll be 'Flaming-Fish', the Radar Intercept Officer. Sound good?"

"Sounds awesome!" replied Darwin.

Just then, Gumball got the idea that they were being watched. "Talk to me, Flaming-Fish", he said, imitating this mock-buster movie they have at home titled "Sky Rifle".

"Roger, I got it" replied Darwin, getting some glass-binoculars out to survey the airspace around them. "Nothing in sight. Wait. I think I got visual contact of something". A model RC plane came into Darwin's eyesight, most likely following them.

"Single?"

"Looks like a single"

Out of nowhere, another one came into view in front of them.

"SHOOT! THERE'S TWO OF THEM!" gasped Gumball, banking right to avoid a head-on collision.

After they regained a straight flight path, Darwin turned around to see an entire armada of RC planes directly behind them. "Um, Blue-Kitty?"

"Yes?" responded Gumball.

"What would you do if I told you that we were being followed by an entire army of remote-control model planes looking as if they're ready to attack us?"

"Well, that's simple" began Gumball, "I'd immediately engage into combat just like Rebel and Duck did in Sky-Riffle-there's an entire army of remote-control model planes looking as if they're ready to attack us isn't there?"

"Wanna take a look?"

Gumball did just that, gasping at the sight behind them.

"Where did they come from?" was Darwin's question.

"Not sure" answered Gumball before he finally realised. "Stream-It".

"Stream-It?"

"It's obvious. They hacked into the model planes to try and stop us from reaching the courthouse"

Both of them were silent for a bit before Darwin started chuckling.

"Dude, are you alright?" asked Gumball

"Sorry" replied Darwin, wiping a tear from his eye while struggling to speak through his giggling. "It's just............they don't have any ammo".

The two of them bursted out laughing at how seemingly cute and harmless Stream-It's tactic was. That was until they were cut off by the sound of rapid holes being pierced into plastic.

"WHAT THE WHAT!?" was Gumball's response when he saw that those models had toy weaponry taped around the wings, electronically wired to a battery system.

"HOW THE HECK DID THEY EVEN HAVE TIME TIME TO PLACE WEAPONS ON THOSE MODELS?" gasped Darwin.

"I DON'T KNOW!" replied Gumball. "BUT IF THAT'S THE WAY THEY WANT TO PLAY, SO BE IT!" And he yanked the makeshift steering stick, turning the rocket around to engage the enemy.

"Initiating target system" said Gumball, imitating target-computer system beeps while holding a cardboard target symbol in front of him, trying to get a got aim. "Lock-on baby, lock-on baby". He then beeped loudly before declaring "Got a good lock, firing". And just after saying that, Gumball pulled a cord which released the lid of a soda bottle, sending rocketing away like a missile.

[KA-PLASH]

In an explosion of soda-droplets and vapour, one of the enemy RC planes was sent on a downward spin towards the ground, flaming up from the soda seeping into the electronic battery system.

"YEAH! ONE DOWN!" declared Gumball triumphantly.

"INCOMING!" shouted Darwin, pointing at one RC propeller plane armed with plastic bullets coming up behind them.

"DANG IT! I CAN'T SHAKE HIM!". Gumball tried to loose the opponent, but it would seem HacknerJ35.0 was greatly experienced with flying model planes.

From the model's perspective, it was only a few short beeps before a long one signalled it got hold of it's target. Then, a barrage of plastic ammunition was fired, aimed at the makeshift rocket.

"BANKING RIGHT!" shouted Gumball, doing just that. They managed to narrowly avoid getting completely destroyed, but one of their soda afterburners was leaking, obviously taking damage.

"WE'RE HIT! ENGINE TWO'S BEEN HIT!" panicked Darwin.

"SHUTTING IT DOWN! SHUTTING IT DOWN!" shouted Gumball over the commotion, reaching over to cap the top of the leaking bottle.

"Phew" sighed Darwin relieved.

"We're not out of the woods yet!" said Gumball, pointing out that they still had the same model plane on their tail.

"HE'S GONNA HIT US! WE'RE DOOMED!" Darwin panicked before he noticed Gumball placing a cap over another bottle. "DUDE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU'RE SLOWING DOWN!"

"I'm gonna bring him in closer, Flaming-Fish!"

"YOU'RE GONNA DO WHAT!?"

"I'll hit the brakes, he'll fly right by!" announced Gumball.

Darwin just covered his eyes and quivered like a puppy refusing to enter swimming lessons, not wanting to dare peek at what's coming next.

"And....." began Gumball.

[BEEP] went the target system of the model plane.

"NOW!" and at that, Gumball yanked the steering stick back, aiming the rocket upward and slowing it significantly from going forward at high speed. The enemy plane shot past.

Darwin couldn't believe it when he opened his eyes. They were okay. "You could've done that immediately!".

"Can't we have a little dramatic tension?"

And after saying that, Gumball tugged at another cord tied to another soda missile, releasing it, sending it flying towards it's target at high speed.

[KA-SPLASH]

"YEAH! TAKE THAT, MODEL PLANE!" cheered Darwin, observing their falling opponent.

Gumball leaned the steering stick to the right, turning their rocket to engage once again. They barrel-rolled upside down to get a better aim on one RC plane, only to coincidentally end up flying directly above another one.

"Watch the birdie" said Darwin when he got out a small camera, taking a photograph of the plane below them.

"DARWIN!" yelled Gumball, knowing this wasn't the time to play games.

"What?" argued Darwin. "You took your precious time waiting to brake!"

Gumball knew Darwin had a point, but still stood his ground. "That was for dramatic effect! Your photograph was just to mess around!".

While Gumball was rambling about how his dramatic effect was more justified, Darwin immediately felt the need to interrupt him when he saw another model plane coming up behind them. "Um, Gumball..."

"WHAT?"

"WATCH OUT!"

Heeding Darwin's warning and looking behind them, Gumball immediately took action after noticing the exact same plane. However, he had little time to react when another opposing plane appeared.

Both enemy planes shot past them in different directions.

Their rocket was caught in the wake turbulence, sending into a spinning motion.

When Gumball recovered, he found that their soda afterburners were flaming out one by one. "NO! NO NO NO NO! DON'T FAIL ME NOW!" panicked Gumball, trying unsuccessfully to get their rocket back into action.

The jet wash disabled all four engines, sending their aircraft into an uncontrollable flat spin bound for the very surface of the earth. This wouldn't be so bad if they hadn't climbed a remarkable 30,000 ft into the sky.

"WE'RE GOING DOWN!" screamed Darwin.

"Now now, let's not panic" reassured Gumball. "Let's just calmly find a solution". After a few seconds of this, Gumball contradicted his own words when he and Darwin started screaming in terror, their arms around each other in that "hold me" style from cartoons as atmospheric drag began to light rocket's downward facing nose alight.

"I LOVE YOU, DARWIN, AS A BROTHER!"

"I LOVE YOU TOO, GUMBALL!"

[-20,000 ft. and falling]

It seemed to be the end.

Until...

"WAIT! DARWIN, REMEMBER THE FAIL-SAFE?"

"YES?"

"INITIATE IT!"

[-15,000 ft and falling]

"JUST ONE PROBLEM!"

"WHAT?"

[-10,000 ft and falling]

"I FORGOT TO BRING SOMETHING TO INFLATE IT!"

"YOU WHAT TO WHAT WHAT?"

[-5000 ft and falling]

"I DIDN'T THINK WE'D BE FLYING THIS HIGH!"

"JUST INFLATE WITH YOUR BREATH!"

[-950 ft and falling]

Darwin wasted no time. Gumball's "HURRY!" did not need to repeated.

"GOT IT!" declared Darwin, grabbing the nozzle of an inflatable pool.

[-800 ft and falling]

"C'MON! OPEN!" pleaded Darwin, trying to open up the nozzle.

"ANY TIME NOW!"

[-700 ft and falling]

"HURRY!" panicked Gumball.

"I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME! BUT THIS STUPID THING WON'T OPEN!"

"WELL, MAKE IT OPEN!"

[-600 ft and falling]

"LISTEN LID; IF YOU DON'T OPEN UP, I WILL END YOU!" screamed Darwin.

"OH COME ON!" groaned Gumball. "I DIDN'T MEAN THAT KIND OF 'MAKE IT OPEN'!"

But as if by magic, the lid popped open.

[-500 ft and falling]

"I'D GIVE YOU A SMUG SMILE TO SAY 'I TOLD YOU SO', BUT TIME'S NOT GONNA ALLOW ME!" Darwin was indeed correct.

"THEN ACTUALLY GET THIS FAIL SAFE OUT!"

Darwin, with no moment to loose, inhaled so much he himself inflated almost at maximum capacity.

[-300 ft and falling]

Then, Darwin put his mouth on the nozzle and released all the air he could contain, the emergency pool beginning to inflate.

[-100 ft and falling]

"HURRY!"

At this point, Darwin himself was fully deflated like a balloon. Fortunately, the same couldn't be said for their fail-safe.

[-70 ft and falling]

"NOW!"

Gumball grabbed his deflated brother and boarded their emergency escape pool.

[-50 ft and falling]

Shutting his eyes, Gumball pushed themselves and the pool off their rocket.

Gumball, and his recently re-inflated adoptive-brother, watched as their aircraft slammed into the ground, exploding into a mushroom cloud of soda and water vapour.

"That was a close one, buddy" panted Gumball relieved. Darwin only looked at him to agree.

[-1 ft and falling]

The pool landed underbelly-first onto the pavement of the street. The impact combined with the bouncy nature of inflatable pools, sent Gumball and Darwin flying into a snack-bar shelf with bottles of sugary fizz drinks.

"We are not doing that again" groaned Gumball, pulling himself and his brother out of the mess of fizzy bottles.

"Agreed" agreed Darwin.

"Oh, more soda bottles" said Gumball, holding one of the bottles before opening it up.

"Hey, you two can't drink that, not without paying". It was Larry, pointing at the two kids from behind the counter before crossing his arms.

Gumball groaned in disappointment......until he got an idea. "Here, keep the change" said the blue cat, placing a candy wrapper from his pocket on the counter.

Larry raised an eyebrow. "That's a wrapper".

"Just a temporary substitute. We'll pay you back tomorrow".

"Fine" sighed Larry. "You'd better".

"Thanks" said Gumball.

"Gumball, what are you doing?" questioned Darwin.

"Here. Drink this" said Gumball, handing his adoptive brother a bottle of soda. "We'll need it".

Darwin, still confused, just went along with Gumball's idea and chugged down the bottle within seconds. "Why do we need this?"

"Because it's sugary, right?" replied Gumball.

"Yeah?". Darwin suddenly began to feel tingly. "Are you saying....".

"Yep" confirmed Gumball. "Time for a Sugar Rush".

After revealing his idea, Gumball's heart began beating rapidly. Then, his and Darwin's legs started to run in place in response to the sugar-induced energy flowing through their bodies.

"You still have the evidence?" asked Gumball, his voice speeding up and going into high pitch.

"Right here!" answered Darwin, his voice also taken over by the sugar rush like the rest of his body.

"And.....go!"

And at that, Gumball and Darwin were out of sight in a flash, leaving a trail of flames in their wake. Larry just looked dumbfounded at what just happened.

Down the street, Gumball and Darwin were bound for the courthouse, running faster than ever before. So fast their legs looked almost like wheels in that cartoon fashion. From their perspective, everything was so blurry it was beginning to look like a long light tunnel.

"WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT!" shouted Gumball, his mouth opening wide from the drag.

And sure enough, right up ahead, there was the building where the case was still wide open.

Just when they were about to reach the building.......

[ZOOM]

Obviously, they were overloaded with sugar as they shot past their destination, their flame trail burning up behind them.

"WE'VE PASED IT! STOP!" screamed Gumball in his speedy high pitched voice.

"WE CAN'T STOP! IT'S TOO DANGEROUS! WE HAVE TO SLOW DOWN FIRST!" responded Darwin.

"BULLCRUD! JUST STOP!"

Immediately, they metaphorically hit the brakes. When their feet finally stopped in place, screeching like car tyres, the sudden friction and reverse force sent them flying into the other side of the street in different directions, the effects of the sugar overload wearing-off.

Gumball landed into a road-side store box that smelled and tasted like the most disgusting thing ever.

"Vegetables?" gasped Gumball, spitting out a carrot. "Disgusting!".

When he got up and found Darwin, he immediately assumed he was in a better state than him, spotting his legs poking out of an ice cream cart.

"OH COME ON!" screamed Gumball, peeved at the fact his brother landed in sweet deliciousness when he crashed into a box of leafy greens. "C'mon, buddy. Get up! This is no time to lounge around!".

Gumball's assumption about Darwin being okay was suddenly shoved aside when he pulled him out of the overturned cart.

"OH MY GOSH! I'M TOO LATE!" gasped Gumball, noticing that Darwin was knocked out cold, a patch of red on his head. "No! NO, BUDDY! WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T GO INTO THE LIGHT!".

But it would seem he had lost his best friend forever.

"NO! NO! WHY UNIVERSE!? HE WAS SO YOUNG!" screamed Gumball over-dramatically to the sky. His head fell right onto Darwin as he sobbed uncontrollably. "YOU WERE MY BROTHER! MY BEST FRIEND! NOW YOU'RE IN A BETTER PLACE! SINGING WITH THE ANGELIC CHOIR WITH WINGS AND A GOLD RING OVER YOUR STRAWBERRY-TASTING HEAD!" Gumball's nose was hit by the smell of strawberry. "I could still taste his love of strawberry ice cream" he said tearfully.

If it's still not clear, the so-called 'injury' on Darwin's head was thankfully a molten scoop from the strawberry container of the cart.

Then, Gumball felt Darwin's belly rise up and down a bit.

"No! He's still breathing!" Gumball turned the legged goldfish over to make sure he was okay. "DARWIN! ARE YOU ALRIGHT? SAY SOMETHING! ANYTHING!"

After a few seconds, Darwin began to speak, albeit very weakly. "Take.......the....evidence.....to......the.....court...".

"No. I'm not leaving you buddy-". Gumball was cut short when he felt a plastic tube narrowly avoid his fur. Screaming in fear, he cowered down, covering his head as the same model plane fleet soared over him.

When he got back up, he saw Darwin offering the envelope to him. Gumball accepted it, but he still had no idea what to do. "I won't leave you buddy. We're both doing this".

Darwin then pointed his fin to Gumball's chest, obviously referring to his heart. "The....hero......is.....in.....you..." panted Darwin. "Now.....be......a....hero...".

Gumball, knowing that this is what Darwin would want, tearfully hugged him before sprinting down the road. "I won't let you down, buddy".

Seeing his adoptive brother running down the street, Darwin smiled weakly before passing out cold, either from the brutality of his injuries or hyperthermia from the ice cream container.

As Gumball took to the street, unbeknownst to him, a roadside CCTV camera turned when he came into view, following his movements.

"Hope-you-don't-have-a-smile-on-your-face-kitty-cat" sniggered the low-pitch text-to-speech voice inside the overridden security system. "Because-you-won't-like-what's-coming-next".

Sure enough, Gumball would most certainly not.

Panting and sweating, Gumball could do little to loose the armada of RC planes on his trail, which opened fire once again. Screaming in terror, he barrel-rolled to an alleyway. Seeing how wide their turning radius was, the planes continued forward, unable to follow the cat. Waiting 'till they were fully out of his sight, Gumball struggled to catch his breath quietly, in fear of giving away his location even though these planes had no way of hearing him.

"You can do this, Gumball" he told himself.

"No I can't" he said sheepishly.

"Yes you can!" he replied seriously, slapping himself in the face four times.

"What was that for?" he asked himself sheepishly.

"That's to encourage you to fight for Elmore!" He said seriously. "Now, are you a hero?"

"No!" his sheepish self responded before he slapped himself in the face again. "I mean yes!"

"What-is-this-activity-in-which-you-are-slapping-yourself-in-the-face-for?" asked a robotic voice. It was a friend who was apparently watching the young kitty repeatedly slap himself in the face.

"Bobert" gasped Gumball hopefully, knowing how Bobert could help him in this situation in many ways.

That hope was quickly shoved aside when Bobert suddenly froze.

"Bobert?"

Then, Bobert's eye went glowing red, his digital eyebrow going into that angry shape.

"Okay, Bobert, you got me" chuckled Gumball nervously. "Bobert? You in there?"

"Sorry-but-Bobert-is-not-home-at-the-moment" emitted the voice system of the small robot. "Please-leave-a-message-before-the-scream". Bobert's grabber-hand transformed into a powering-up blaster ready to attack. To Gumball, it was perfectly clear that Stream-It hacked into him as well.

Screaming some more, Gumball dodged the beam, narrowly avoiding it's powerful energy.

"WHAT THE WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Bobert didn't respond. "Initiating-combat-mode". Then, he began his transformation into his defence form, expanding four times his size ready to lay harm on the young kitty cat.

Knowing the presence of doom, Gumball had little options.

Spotting a convenient red flashlight, he knew there was only one chance of escape when he grabbed the mentioned flashlight.

"Sorry buddy" he whispered as he waved the flashlight in the air back and fourth. "HEY!"

[ROAR]

At the sound of a loud roar, Gumball dashed underneath Bobert while leaving the flashlight behind. After Gumball cleared the area, Bobert turned around ready to attack once again when...

[CRASH]

Out of nowhere, a large Tyrannosaurus Rex who happened to be in the area ran into the giant robot, knocking Bobert onto his side.

"Thanks, Tina!" called out Gumball, turning down the street to escape the inevitable brawl between Bobert and Tina.

Knowing he'd much rather be assaulted by plastic bullets than blasted by a robot, Gumball continued down the street, the envelope still in his jeans.

After reaching up to the button at the traffic lights, he made a dash for the other side of the road when the road light suddenly turned green.

Elmore Stream-It was not the kind of threat that gave up easily.

"Why are you going?" called a female passenger of one of the cars beginning to move. "There's child on the road!".

"I don't know" responded the driver. "The light is green! So we must be seeing things!".

"Stop the car!"

I can't!"

Gumball looked around to sight multiple cars moving forward towards him from all different directions. Knowing he could be boxed-in inside a tight gridlock, or worse crushed or run-over, he picked up the pace, trying to get to the other side.

[CRASH/KABOOM/SMASH]

Just when he thought his entire life would flash before his eyes, Gumball found himself on the sidewalk, narrowly escaping a pile up. But he had no time to dance around in celebration. He had to keep going.

And that was still not what Stream-It wanted to allow.

Gumball turned his head back and gasped in horror at the sight of a tanker-truck behind him. It was heading towards him at full speed and was out of control. Or it was under control, but not from it's driver.

"I CAN'T CONTROL IT!". Indeed, the construction man in the cab was no longer in charge.

"You're mine-gum-Ball" came out of the hijacked radio, changing channels to form it's words properly.

Knowing perfectly well who was taking control of the semi, Gumball continued his journey down the road to the courthouse, turning his head back around to focus of the path ahead.

"OH C'MON! GIVE ME A BREAK!" groaned Gumball in frustration when he saw the sight of some hacked military jets, all drones, in front of him. The moment they opened fire, he ducked and slid underneath the barrage of missiles, which narrow missed their target. Gumball took a sharp right down another alleyway, escaping the inevitable collision between the drones and the semi.

[KABOOM]

Panting heavily while briefly stopping, he looked back at the fiery mess behind him before looking back forward again. Then, a glimmer of hope sparked when he saw his destination a few blocks down.

"There it is! I'm gonna make it!" panted Gumball happily. With no second to be lost, he continued his sprint to the large brown building to bring Stream-It to justice.

"Not so-fast-kid" said the hacked television sets behind the glass store window, changing the channels for form a sentence.

Gumball covered his face when that same barrage of plastic bullets pelted down onto him. It hurt. It hurt real bad. But that was not going to slow down the young kitty just yet.

More trouble became present when some hacked cars narrowly missed him, crashing into the roadside stores and markets.

More drones opened fire on him, their missiles lighting up the sidewalk in spectacular yet terrifying display of fire and explosions.

Was Gumball going to give up at that? Not a chance.

That wasn't what the hacked construction vehicles were going to allow.

Terrified at the sound of a metal bucket diving down on him, Gumball used his reflexes and rolled onto the road to avoid getting crushed by a large yellow excavator, which ripped the concrete footpath off of the sidewalk with it's strength.

"You know-There's-A LESSON-in all-THIS" the TVs spoke the words of Stream-It.

Gumball tried to ignore them and continued down the road, determined to never let the media giant win.

Stream-It resumed. "When-you-have-TOO MUCH-hope..."

It was the next attack that would seemingly seal the fate of the FOTOL ordeal.

One moment, Gumball was still running down the road, scared yet determined.

The next...

"OW!"

His face cringed in pain at the sensation of something striking his foot.

The instant that plastic bullet slammed into his ankle, his footing was suddenly snatched away from him and he tripped over instantly. Before his face hit the concrete, he heard Stream-It finish it's statement through the changing TV channels.

"...you're blind-from-REALITY"

At the moment he heard those words, Gumball face-planted onto the concrete ground, passing out for a few seconds.

"When you have too much hope, you're blind from reality"

Those words were still ringing inside his ears as he blacked out.