Chapter 15: Jeruzalem

Teri x Gumball

(A/N): Alrighty then, time to shift gears and locations because we are now focusing on our titular heroes and their seemingly hopeless predicament in the clutches of the NEA. Far from home and under the command of a new leader, both children of Elmore will have to find some way to cope in this new environment. During their stay Teri and Gumball will have to pass some rigorous tests as well as confront many deadly opponents and find ways to utilize the new abilities they now possess.

Some more OC's will be introduced.

Jiu = 9 in Chinese.

Hongxin = Red heart in Chinese

Tsukishiro or Shiroi Tsuki = White moon in Japanese.

If you enjoyed this chapter please leave a like and a review down below.

-Jeruzalem, October 11th, 2013 10:47 AM-

Waking up from what felt like the longest slumber in her life, Teri shifted underneath the covers of a narrow bed and slowly stirred. Rubbing at her sleepy eyes, Teri was surprised that they weren't replaced by a blindfold like they normally were before she went to bed and slowly cracked them open. The world she awoke to was unfamiliar to her, as it appeared to be a hospital room with a couple hanging plants in the corner and a window opened to a city she didn't recognize. This wasn't the most startling fact though, as she quickly discovered that she wasn't alone and someone was sitting right next to her.

The stranger was a bizarro male made entirely out of cloth bandages wrapped together in the form of a human with a few loose strands forming the eyes and mouth. He wore a white doctor's coat similar to her mom's and was holding a clipboard in his hand. He seemed to be staring at her, but Teri couldn't tell since his eyes were hollow and unreadable.

Jumping a little at the sight of the stranger, Teri sat up straight and tried to back away from the bandage person,

"What the- who are you? Where am I? What happened?" the paper bear said as she looked around the room once more and checked her body for any signs of damage.

To her relief, there wasn't any and the doctor responded after checking off a few things on his clipboard,

"No need for alarm, Miss Pepakuma. I am Doctor Jury or Sirious en Jury, if you prefer and you're in Jeruzalem. As for what happened, you were knocked unconscious by a poison strike and have been out for over half a day." he said in a voice that sounded like a gust of wind blowing between two sheets of paper, which given the fact his mouth was literally two strips of cloth, wasn't surprising.

Calming down now, Teri sat still in her bed and let all the events from yesterday catch up to her. One by one the memories flowed back into her mind like water from a faucet and she remembered her time with Gumball at the mall, the massive Nephilim attack on the Chanax building, the arrival of the NEA, and then…

Her eyes grew wide when the Azura squad flashed back into her mind and she gasped in terror when she realized what had happened,

"No! I need to get out of here! I need to get back to Elmore!" she screamed, throwing the covers off and leaping out of her bed.

She was stopped though when Dr, Jury grabbed her shoulder and prevented her from bolting to the door,

"I'm afraid that's not possible." he stated in a calm manner.

Brushing his hand off, Teri shot him a glare and started for the door again,

"Says you! You people kidnapped me and hurt my friends, you even tried to kidnap Gumball and Hector! I'm leaving whether you like it or not!" she angrily retorted.

She reached the door and tried opening it, but the handle wouldn't move. Realizing that it was locked, the paper doll decided to try sliding underneath the door instead, but stopped herself when she heard voices on the other side of the door and she realized there were two people standing outside. Probably guards, she thought and she looked around for an alternative route to escape through. Most surprisingly, the bandage doctor hadn't even gotten up from his chair and he seemed to be just observing her as she tried to find a way out.

Spotting a vent on the wall just above the TV, Teri figured she could fold herself up and slip through it. The thing is though, it was too high up for her to reach and the paper bear realized that she was going to need to construct a paper tendril to haul herself up. Spotting a notebook on the desk right next to the hospital bed, she dashed towards it and snatched it up,

"Yes! Freedom!" she exclaimed as she tore several sheets from the book.

She laid them on top of one another and placed her hand upon it before exerting her control over the inanimate objects: only to find to her surprise that she couldn't!

Before she could even question why, the doctor chuckled in amusement and leaned back in his chair, causing it to creak a little,

"Having trouble there, Miss Pepakuma?" he asked in a condescending tone.

Turning towards him with a furious expression, the middle schooler found his supercilious attitude to be quite infuriating and dropped the papers in frustration,

"What's going on? What did you people do to me?" she shrieked, feeling even more helpless than she already was.

Without showing any remorse or concern for her distraught state of mind, the bandage man continued on as though he were carrying a light conversation,

"After you were admitted to the hospital, we placed an inhibitor chip inside you that prevents you from using your powers and there's no way you can escape from this place, we've got guards placed throughout the hospital and even if by the slightest chance you managed to slip past the security, you'll never be able to escape Jeruzalem. The city is built in a geofront within a dormant volcano and the only exit is through the mouth of the volcano, which is monitored 24/7, surrounded by sentinel droids, and covered by seventy two layers of magic seals, which can only be lifted with permission from the city council." he explained, confidence present in every word he spoke.

This left Teri filled with a sense of dread and despair, she wanted to believe he was lying, but why would he? If what he said was true and there was only one way out that was heavily guarded then what chance did she have of leaving this place of her own free will, even her powers were restricted. She almost began to tear up when she realized that she may never be able to see Elmore, her family, her friends, and Gumball ever again.

That was until the doctor mentioned something else that caught her attention,

"Your companion, Gumball Watterson, was quite persistent that he could though. When he woke up, he nearly took Doctor Yensen's eye out with his claws and left quite a few scratches before security could detain him. Good thing we confiscated his scythe before he woke up, for a kid who recovered from surgery and suffered multiple ruptured organs, he sure is quite a fighter!" he exclaimed in fascination.

From her desperate position, wild hope began to fill her mind as she realized she wasn't alone after all and that the person she loved was with her, but was quickly shot down in dismay when she heard what he said in regards to his condition,

"What?! Surgery? Ruptured organs? What did you monsters do to him?!" she roared, clutching her fists and storming towards the room's only other occupant with her face contorted in anger.

Holding a hand in up in demand that she calm down and let him explain, Teri slowed her approach to a stop before listening to what he had to say, though she was still angry and worried,

"According to the report delivered by Hei, the one who captured him, he used a power from his scythe and it caused him some serious internal damage. Had he been brought here one hour too late, he could've died and we had to perform emergency surgery on his body along with a blood transfusion. He's up and running now, people with high spiritual energy tend to recover quickly and your friend has a lot of it." he explained.

While she was still beyond concerned for her boyfriend's well being, she was glad to hear that he was okay at least and felt her rage start to melt away, though her head was still swimming in negative emotions.

Once he had finished explaining himself, Dr. Jury asked her to have a seat and spent the next half hour asking questions regarding her health and others regarding her life in Elmore once the Nephilim started showing up. Wrapping up the interrogation, the medical professional deduced that she was physically and mentally fine before storing his notes in an envelope. Next he exited the room and Teri was alone for no longer than two minutes before a human NEA soldier dressed in full combat gear no different from a typical American soldier's, wearing the NEA emblem on an armband, escorted her out.

While traversing through the hospital's hallways, Teri was surprised to see that most of it was empty save for a few staff members, mostly robots, NEA guards, and some patients in blue hospital gowns being brought to different areas for treatment. It was definitely less crowded than her parent's workplace, but far gloomier, or was that just how she was perceiving it. They checked out at the front desk and the soldier brought her outside to a wide cityscape bustling with bizarros and humans alike.

While she never thought she would feel much positivity in a place where she was initially being held hostage, she was quite amazed by her new surroundings and had to stop for a second to take it all in. Like San Francisco, the place was built for diversity and every building she saw was designed to accommodate different species. Most of the people here looked like average citizens and were quite happy by the looks of it, as they hustled from one place to another. There were even normal things like restaurants, shops, businesses being held in towering skyscrapers and probably some homes too.

The only major difference she could see was that, for one, the sky was dark and devoid of stars, which she found was because the "sky" was actually the ceiling of an enormous cave, meaning the doctor was right about the Jeruzalem being built underground. Another thing she noticed was that most of the citizens were using some form of magic to get around, from ghastly carriages pulled by flaming skeleton horses to magic carpets that flew through the air in between the buildings and there was magic powering some of the appliances too, the first thing being spotted was a street lamp which was actually an ornate stone torch stand carved with glowing blue symbols and was topped with a blue flame.

The soldier walking with her noticed her marvelling at all the strange new sights and gave the child a little smile,

"Pretty cool, right?" he said.

Startled from her observational trance, Teri's head snapped in the human male's direction and she looked slightly flustered,

"O-oh yeah, definitely." she stammered,

"When I first heard of Jeruzalem, I thought it was just a code name for some super secure military base owned by the NEA. I didn't know it was an entire city full of people!" she exclaimed in surprise.

Nodding once, the soldier kept on smiling and looked about the grand city with warm familiarity as he began to describe it to her,

"Always gets you the first time you see it, but yeah, it's more than a city: It's a refuge. A fortress dedicated to the protection of the remaining few when the apocalypse hits. The world governments actually began construction of twenty of these back in the sixties when nuclear annihilation was a threat all too real for the people and it was also during a time when magic was starting to make significant strides amongst the populace, so a lot of contingency plans were made. Now the NEA uses them as headquarters and this one in particular houses up to half a million people, mostly families of the soldiers stationed here." he explained, before turning to her with a hand outstretched,

"I'm Jaydin Kallus, Private first class, by the way." he said, introducing himself.

Teri reluctantly took it and shook the soldier's hand,

"Teri Pepakuma." she responded politely before feeling comfortable enough to start asking some questions,

"So I noticed that the Nephilim haven't been really hitting us hard in the past and I assume this place is meant to hold more people once they start attacking in force." she said, to which the brown haired human nodded, allowing her to continue,

"So how many people can this city hold? Also, is your family here too?" she wondered out loud.

Walking around and waving to a group of uniformed officers, possible colleagues of his, Jaydin hummed to himself and tapped his chin with a finger,

"Around three million I do believe, but I heard rumors that Central Twelve wishes to expand the city to accommodate more people and yes, I do have a family here. My mom, my dad, my wife and her parents, along with three kids." he said, sounding very proud.

They walked along in silence for a bit while the city's white noise filled their ears, as Teri thought about what her escort just said and couldn't help but wonder if she could have her family brought here too. Will they bring them over to Jeruzalem? Will Gumball have his family too? Would it be possible for both of them to live normal lives here? So many questions she wanted to ask, but there was one that was more pressing in her mind.

"Where are we going by the way?" she asked, remembering full well how Amy said they wanted to capture them as recruits and this immediately got her thinking about training.

Pointing a gloved finger in the direction of what appeared to be a subway station's entrance, the soldier answered her question,

"There's a maglev train that's going to take you and several other initiates to the Venator arena, a sub level below the city's agricultural and the industrial level, where you will be tested to see how well you'll apply. I'm sure your companion is waiting there too, my buddy, Wilkes was the one assigned to him and I gotta say, I've heard a little bit about you two from my superiors: one month against dozens of Babyloth's Knights? Color me impressed!" he remarked, showing genuine awe while bringing his hands up to gesture at himself,

"I've been here for two years now and the best I've done was three kills over two missions in Washington state, you guys are going to do great in there!" he proclaimed, giving her a thumbs up.

While she was used to getting praise from her teammates back in Elmore, hearing from someone she just met honestly struck her as refreshing and was reminded that some of the people here were survivors just like them,

"Thanks, but I'm not sure what to expect when we get there." she said, rubbing the back of her head nervously.

Private Kallus waved her comment off and made light of the situation,

"Pfft! I'm sure you two have all the experience you need to survive Iris's trials, you'll be fine!" he stated in a friendly, reassuring manner.

This made Teri feel slightly better and she was glad to see that not all the people here were as cold and heartless like the members of the Azura squad.

Once they arrived at the maglev station, Jaydin directed her down the stairs where many young men and women were heading and Teri followed through, but not before she was given her backpack from Elmore fully stocked with all the needed supplies for battle. Thanking the soldier for being so kind to her and answering her questions, the paper bear waved him good-bye before racing down the stairs into the brightly lit tunnel. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, the newly arrived child was introduced to a loading station jam packed with different people.

She was surprised to see that most of the initiates were no older than sixteen and most were in groups talking to one another while others were quiet and quite frightened. They were all standing beside a glass tube where Teri supposed the maglev train would be arriving and there was quite a lot of shuffling around along with a seemingly endless chaotic chorus of chatter. She didn't see Gumball anywhere and was starting to get worried that he may have already gone on ahead without her.

"TERI!" came a familiar shout.

Turning in the direction of the noise, Teri spotted a familiar blue cat rushing towards her while brushing past swathes of bizarro and human children, his face a mixture of surprise, relief and happiness.

"GUMBALL!" Teri shrieked, joy filling her whole being as she tore her way towards him.

They both met up in the middle, catching each other in a loving embrace, laughing, and shedding tears of happiness as Gumball spun around with her feet lifting off the ground. They caught the attention of a few onlookers who regarded them with peculiar looks and a few comments, but none of this reached the united couple. Setting her down and pulling apart, the two still held hands as though either would disappear in an instant if they let go.

Seeing her here and now for the first time since he woke up in this scary place, Gumball was very glad to see her safe and sound,

"I'm so glad you're here!" he said, nearly crying.

Feeling the same way, Teri nodded and smiled at him, clutching his hands tighter,

"I know. When I woke up in the hospital, I was worried that I was the only one captured and then the doctor told me you were here and that you were hurt and I was worried that they did something to you and-!" she wiped a tear from her eye and shook her head,

"-I'm just glad that you're okay." she said, pulling him in for another hug.

While taking comfort in each other's presence, there was a cheer from all around them and when the two of them looked up, they saw a white, streamlined train with black tinted windows pull up into the station and a rectangular door on the glass tube slid open with a hiss as well as a door on the train.

Out came another NEA soldier, a humanoid with pale skin covered in black spots, an extra set of set of eyes next to the ones in front and three fingers on each hand, who beckoned them onboard,

"Alright initiates, climb aboard! I don't want to see anyone shoving or shouting, ya'll got it!" he snapped, sounding very agitated.

Seeing as he was carrying a loaded rifle, no one objected and all the kids quietly shuffled aboard the wheelless train. Taking her by the hand, Gumball led Teri towards the line of kids and Teri saw that he had his backpack as well with his scythe in it. What really caught her attention though, was the black mark on Gumball's left ear and the paper girl realized that it wasn't a stain or anything of the sort.

Wondering if it had anything to do with their battle against the Azura squad, Teri asked,

"Hey, Gumball, where did that mark on your ear come from?" her concern was very apparent in that airy voice of hers.

As if self aware, his left ear twitched and the cat boy's other paw raced up towards it, like a wound he was trying to cover before turning back towards her with an answer,

"I don't know, it was there when I woke up and when I asked the doctor, she just told me it must've been from a curse or something like that." he responded with a shrug when he noticed something off about Teri's appearance,

"Why's your left sleeve missing?" he questioned, very well aware of his girlfriend's acute attention when it came to her appearance.

At first, Teri wasn't sure what he meant and was quite certain that she wouldn't have missed a detail so trivial, but when she looked down at her arm, she saw that he was correct. The two lines that should've made up her blazer's sleeve cuff were gone and she knew she couldn't have erased it or forgotten to put it on. Then, just as quickly as she noticed it, the memory of last night's events came back to her and she remembered creating a barrier rune to stop an incoming car from running her over.

She wasn't sure how she did it, but she was sure that she had somehow manipulated the ink on her arm to form the symbol, a trait she never she had and all she could do was stare blankly at the spot while slowly muttering,

"I'm not sure, but I think I may have discovered a new power of mine?" she was still rather uncertain.

As if he couldn't have found Teri more amazing, Gumball gasped and his eyes widened like saucers,

"That's so awesome! Oh my Jade, you have to tell me what it is!" he exclaimed with joy.

Finding his utter fascination somewhat endearing, allowed for a chuckle to escape the paper puppet's lips and she figured she should tell him while they had a bit more privacy,

"Later and you have to tell me what happened with you yesterday. I'm still concerned about your health and I don't think you should be moving around so much after being operated on." she said, knowing this for a fact.

Realizing that she was right in her concerns, Gumball's memory flashed back to when he tried to use his third rune against Hei, only for a severe pain to rip through his abdomen followed up with him vomiting up his own blood and there was a deep sense of guilt he held for his reckless usage of power,

"Actually, I feel really great! The doctor told me that because I have such a high amount of spiritual energy, the healing process sped up and I was good to go early this morning. She did warn me not to be too reckless because while the healing process is accelerated, too much damage can still kill me and there's also the risk of exhausting spiritual energy to the point where it slows down too." he explained, sounding quite impressed.

It never occurred to the health addict until now that during all their previous fights with the Nephilim, while they never escaped uninjured from a fight (mostly Gumball), they were usually fine the next day and it now suddenly made sense to her why that was.

After waiting some time for the line to finally climb aboard the maglev, both Teri and Gumball were treated to a narrow interior similar to an airliner's and the two made their way towards the back where two seats remained unoccupied before taking a seat. One minute later, a guard wearing a grey uniform made his way up the aisle and handed each passenger eight bracelets with matching symbols varying from every individual. Once the entire cabin was full, the doors were closed and all the lights went out, causing some initiates to childishly scream.

Once the vacuum sealed tube was pumped free of air, the vehicle shot forward, propelled only by the electromagnetic force that guided it along the single track and the shipment of passengers was sent on a steady decline towards the lower levels, going speeds that exceeded the sound barrier. Despite the unease of being here, both Teri and Gumball couldn't help, but feel some childish delight in being set in a dark cabin while sitting by each other. The couple huddled in close and began whispering a few lines regarding the darkness along with a little flirting.

After merely two minutes of travel, a bright light filled the train through the windows and for a moment everyone on board was blinded by the sudden illumination. Once their eyes eventually adjusted, many faces peered out the window and were bestowed a beautiful sight. Through the glass tunnel there was an open space, so vast that it held an entire field and a forest that could be seen far in the back, with the ceiling being a massive display that showed a blue sky with white, fluffy clouds. Leaving the darkness of the geofront behind and entering this bright new environment almost made it seem as though they were transported to the midwest, away from the NEA.

"This is amazing!" Gumball gasped.

"How could they have fit all this in here?" Teri asked no one in particular.

"Do you think we can live down here, instead? This place is way more bright and cheery-looking than Jeruzalem." Remarked a girl with pink skin, purple hair and a lower body like an arachnid's, who was sitting behind them.

"Whooh! Camping time!" a boy near the back shouted, this one being around nine feet tall, covered in white fur, with two orange tusks and wearing nothing but a leather loincloth wrapped around his waist.

The moving maglev was filled with comments both positive and negative coming from all the initiates, with some finding this all to be thrilling while others were terrified of this new place, one kid was even bawling, saying he wanted to go home and looked no older than ten

Once the train descended upon a station filled with several guards, everyone grew quiet and a voice was heard over the PA system, welcoming them to their new environment,

"Welcome to Venator arena! Please watch your step when disembarking from the train and follow the guides as they direct you to the staging area. Good luck, initiates!" It was feminine and very friendly, though it failed to bring a sense of calm to the children.

"Oh great, an arena! Is this going to be some battle royale, where we have to fight all these kids to the death to see who gets the honor of being the NEA's new fodder feeder?" Gumball wondered bitterly as he got up and followed Teri out along with the crowd.

Stepping outside for the first time, Gumball was treated to a pleasant breeze and the scent of fresh pine filled his nostrils, he even spotted a few sparrows flying around, feeling slightly envious that they were able to enjoy their stay in this cage in complete ignorant bliss. The guards dressed in grey security detail, unlike the soldiers above, were giving directions and presenting some of the newcomers to racks filled with weapons of various kinds, all of which were magical,

"Alright for those of you who don't have a weapon or magical abilities or just need one, come here and grab one that best suits you. Remember, the Nephilim's fatal weakness is magic, so you best grab one if you lack magic and for those of you who've never been in a fight before please report to Sergeant Jordi. He'll take you back up to the city and you'll start your training before you're sent down here again to take the test." one of the guards, a giraffe man said while pointing a hoof towards a Bizarro male who looked human, but had beefy arms so big, his knuckles were dragging on the grass.

After nearly a quarter of the children left to follow Sergeant Jordi, the guide spoke up again and presented the remaining bunch with some more instructions,

"Those of you, who're already prepared, just follow Sergeant Belgari over there." he ordered, pointing towards a different figure.

Wearing the same uniform as the others and with bronze skin that caught the light, was Sergeant Belgari. He was quite short for the average male, but his bell-shaped head made him look a little taller. His head was a ringing bell in fact, tilted sideways so that the mouth was facing forward and his face was on the bell's ringer.

Waving them over, he started jogging in place, the constant movement making his ringer bang against his head's hollow surface,

"Come on, you light weights! Let's move it, we've got a lot of ground to cover and a nice jog should wake you all up! Let's go! Let's go!" he shouted, already taking off in the direction of the grassy field.

Rolling his eyes, Gumball crossed his arms and shook his head,

"I don't know who he is, but his face certainly rings a bell!" he joked.

This caused several kids around him to break the silence with heaves of laughter and Teri joined in, although as usual she found his pun to be ridiculous,

"Couldn't let that one slide, could you!" she berated, though she was still laughing.

"That was my best one, unfortunately. The other ones in my head rang hollow." he shot back.

She gently hit him with a notebook she pulled from her bag and took him by the hand,

"Alright, you dork, that's enough joking around! Let's follow that dumb bell and make sure we don't get in trouble." she said, tossing her own pun in.

Snickering at her joke, Gumball continued to run right behind her, but quickly tossed a look directed back towards the station,

"Are you sure you don't want to get a weapon?" he asked, wondering if she would like to arm herself with something a little stronger.

Tapping her backpack, Teri kept on running and answered back to him,

"Got what I need right here? Do you need another weapon?" she shot a backwards glance towards him.

Shaking his head, Gumball pulled out his compacted scythe and held it up in front of him,

"Just this and I have you with me, so that makes me more than prepared." he stated, flashing her a warm grin.

She smiled back at him and felt the same,

"That's the reason why we lost to the Azura squad in the first place, we were separated and couldn't match our foes on our own." she realized with regret, but shook it off.

What mattered was they were still alive and they had each other's backs, now all they needed was to survive the coming tribulations and plan their next move.

For two miles they ran, with Sergeant Belgari leading the front and with various other fighters on every side, both kids from Elmore were glad that they were athletic enough to keep up with everyone else, as many had already fallen behind. Looking around at the other teens and preteens selected to be trained, both newcomers were amazed to see just how many different weapons these people carried, with some looking ancient or basic, like Gumball's scythe, and others being homemade or upgraded conventional weapons.

After their light jog had come to a close, the destination they were aiming to reach turned out to be a larger crowd of people, several hundred in number and dozens of staff members to keep watch. Confused as to why so many people were packed in a grassy field at the edge of a looming forest, Teri looked around, but found nothing that stood out as particular. She wondered if escape would be possible, but when she looked up, she saw no openings in the fake sky above, except the tunnel which the maglev arrived in, and when she tried to use her powers on a sheet of paper she held, nothing happened. The inhibitor chip was still active and if she were to guess, they also gave one to Gumball that prevented him from using his scythe.

With a heavy heart, Teri's hopes were dashed again and her homesickness was already kicking in.

Without much to do, Teri decided to engage Gumball in some small talk regarding speculations towards the next events and all Gumball could come up with were some ridiculous ideas most likely from things he'd seen on TV. This went on for about half an hour and right when they were getting into the thick of some funny banter, there was a collective gasp from the crowd and the pair looked to see everyone's gaze had been directed upwards. When their heads shot up, they figured out what had caused the commotion and were met with a curious sight.

Descending from the sky above, was a red orb, a very large one! When it got closer it was estimated to be at least twenty feet in diameter and looked like the world's largest, shiniest scarlet marble. It slowly dropped until it was levitating fifty feet from the ground in front of the gathered throng of people and sat there for a moment while everyone remained in stunned silence. Then, from the object, a loud hum resounded across the field, causing the ground to vibrate and a shadow sprang forth, high up into the sky.

"Woah!" many, including Gumball, shouted, while few others screamed.

"He's huge!" Teri thought.

Morphing and reshaping itself, the amorphous blotch of darkness took on the shape of a terrifyingly strange spirit. Its face was obscured by a white, bird-like mask, with two hollow eye holes and in only one of them a single red eye glared down upon the curious/frightened crowd of onlookers. Covered in silver plated armor with only his arms being bare, the entity looked bold and intimidating, but that was further amplified by his dizzying full height, easily reaching about three hundred feet. Curiously, there were other avion-esque features that stood out to the naked eye, his elbows were covered in raven-like feathers, a belt composed of four bird wings wrapping themselves around the base of his ghostly tail and his dark spiky hair was also slightly reminiscent of a birds crest.

All in all, the giant that appeared before them left quite an impression on the two Nephilim fighters, filling them with a sense of awe and mystique.

After getting a good look at the ant-like people standing before him, the massive spirit placed both arms behind his back and a booming voice erupted seemingly from all around them,

"Hello and welcome, initiates!" he greeted, his overwhelming voice commanding respect, yet sounding friendly and inviting,

"I understand that many of you are new here and may be uncertain of your new environment, but you needn't worry. You're at home here and all those who stand around with you are your family now." he said, bringing a hand out and sweeping it in front of him in order to gesture towards every child he was looking at,

"I am Iris, your overseer, and I welcome you to Jeruzalem."

There were murmurs spreading throughout the gathered and many seemed either uneasy or impressed by the strange spirit, Gumball and Teri were the latter.

Raising a hand to command silence, Iris listened as all the chatter died down and he had their attention once again,

"As administrator of the Nephilim Expulsion Administration, it is my duty to ensure the protection of the world and its people by raising the finest soldiers to combat the encroaching threat of the Nephilim invaders. To many of you here, you've probably already begun sensing these threats in the forms of nightmarish visions or perhaps already had unfortunate encounters with the enemy. To those of you who'd been orphaned by the Nephilim and lost loved ones, you have no reason to fear them any longer, for you will have a chance to avenge them and to begin life anew." he promised and several faces amongst the crowd seemed surprised, even hopeful when his words reached them.

With a wave of his hand, a curved holographic screen popped up in front of him and on it was a display of Los Angeles, causing both the cat boy and the paper girl's eyes to widen,

"The Oracle of Delphi has received a vision, an assault far larger than any that has come before will be launched on the city of Los Angeles on the 16th of November and the enemy force will number in the hundreds of thousands." he announced.

Fear rippled through the crowd, sending waves of panicked screams and conversations regarding the hopelessness of the situation sprung up amongst those who've already faced the monsters on their own, some people even had families or friends in Los Angeles. A cold wet snake of despair snaked down the backs of those who escaped Babyloth with this information and hearing the statistics just made that news all the more foreboding. There was also something else that Gumball noticed and it had to do with the date the invasion took place on.

"Well isn't that just great! five days before my birthday." he muttered in frustration.

Spinning towards him with her eyes wide open, Teri regarded the blue feline with a bewildered look,

"Wait, what?" she questioned.

Before he could answer, Iris raised his hand again and the armored entity moved on to the next part of his explanation, shutting the display off and keeping his red eye focused on all of them,

"I understand there is much to be concerned about, but we have already taken steps to counter this attack. The mayor has been informed and has contacted the national guard to begin the evacuation of the civilians. The NEA has commissioned other military forces from all over the world to take part in what is to be the largest joint operation performed by this organization to repel the invaders and some among you will be taking part in this counterattack as well." he squared his shoulders and his eye seemed to glow with determination,

"To evaluate this, I've set up a little test for you and you'll have a chance to show your skill." He started.

The hovering display split into two separate rectangles with the one on the left showing a bronze goblet, which he pointed to,

"To start off, the objective of this test is to obtain as many points as possible by completing one of two objectives and the first one is to locate these relics in the woods. They are scattered in remote areas and are very difficult to locate, plus the forest is infested with terrifying monsters that you will have to fend off. Should you manage to locate one and bring it back to home base, you'll be awarded 100,000 points, the highest score for one item." he explained.

The left display flickered to now show and overview of the entire arena with the field they were standing in marked with a blue flag icon labeled "HOME BASE" and the air was filled with the sounds of initiates already drawing up plans or just crying out in utter disbelief at how difficult this mission sounded.

Then Iris continued, quickly silencing the crowd by pulling up an image of the bracelets they were given and he went on to explain the purpose of these items,

"These bands can be given by one person to any seven people they choose to be on their team and should a team carry a relic to the goal, they'll all be awarded the 100,000 points and will pass the test as a result. You may compete with other teams for the prize, but torture, sexual assault or harassment and killing anyone will be met with severe consequences. As a word of mention, I can see everything that happens in this arena and no action will ever escape my sight!" He warned in a tone that implied to everyone something dark should the rules be broken.

He then pulled everyone's attention to the next board which showed a list of monsters ranked from A to F, with the A ranked monsters looking deadly and extremely ferocious, like a hell storm given animalistic form and F looking fearsome, but small in comparison to the higher tiers,

"Your second objective, should you decide to ignore the first, is to kill as many of the monsters within the forest and not get disqualified. The monsters shown here are given points based in their rank, A being 50,000, B at 10,000, C at 2,000, D as 400, E being 80, and finally F being the lowest at 15. Keep in mind that all these monsters are extremely dangerous, but we have cybernetic implants that can control their killer instinct, so there is no danger of being knocked out." he closes the displays and places his hands behind his back once more,

"Once the hour has passed, your team will be awarded with the collective number of points obtained from every monster you killed, but do be warned, if you sustain too many injuries or get struck by their telepulse beams, then you'll be sent back to a number of infirmaries in disqualification." He concluded.

With the rules now explained, Iris morphed into a shadow and retreated back into his core which began to rise,

"The time is 12:00, in 1 hour the board and I will examine the scores of each individual. We aim to see how well each of you fare as a fighter, a teammate, and as a strategist, so do your best out there and don't forget, you're being monitored, any disregard to the rules or attempt to escape will be met with severe reprimands. Your inhibitor chips have been deactivated and you're free to use your magic. Good luck out there, initiates." and with that final message, he vanished into the blue beyond.

There wasn't even a pause in the reaction held by the group's more headstrong faction, with the ones who've already faced terror itself leaping forward into the fray, weapons raised and a symphony of bloodthirsty roars that rang out into the wilderness, challenging anything that lurked within. Pausing to ready themselves, Teri and Gumball remained with those who were far more hesitant in charging forward or just straight up frightened of the unknown and Teri handed Gumball a bracelet before wearing one herself to signify they were a team. Clicking the buttons on his scythe's handle, Gumball's weapon sprang forth, its deadly edge catching the light in menacing gleams and he swung it around before placing it on his shoulder.

Cracking his neck with a simple twist of his head, the duo's best melee fighter eyed the charging group and turned to his companion,

"We should probably split from the main group and start searching for some monsters to kill. I have a feeling a lot of people are going to go for the relics and I don't think we should bother wasting time searching for them either." he stated observantly.

Forming an origami wolf with a solid grey sheet of paper, Teri hopped on and scooted forward so Gumball could sit behind her,

"As much as I would like to get this over with as quickly as possible, you have a point there and we should just stick to what we do best. You got my back?" she asked, glancing backwards.

Clutching the shafted weapon in both hands and wearing his game face, Gumball complied with a nod before hopping on,

"Lead the way, Captain Pepakuma!" he replied with a quick salute.

Nodding back in response, Teri willed the folded beast of burden forward and the wolf tore its way across the field before disappearing into the line of trees with both passengers. Once beneath the forest canopy, all had grown considerably quiet, even the shouts of the warriors who'd entered before them had ceased entirely and Gumball was completely devoted to his sense of sight and sound. Taking the moment of quiet to begin with the inscription of more weapons and defenses, Teri was also curious and drew three black circles on each arm, thinking maybe she could try using that strange power again.

Hearing and seeing nothing while the origami wolf quietly bounded over fallen trees, rocks, and soft soil, Gumball was brought back to a recent memory and couldn't help but smile a little,

"Kind of reminds me of all those times we trained in the woods together." he said, feeling slightly at home here.

Noting the similarities in the environment here and the one back at Elmore, Teri too was brought back to those moments,

"Yeah, kind of." she whispered, keeping a lookout for any potential threats and any sort of monitoring equipment, seeing as Iris said he'll be tracking them, but failed to see any,

"Ugh! I wish I knew how he was monitoring us, I'd be able to form a plan of escape if I did." she scowled as a response to her lack of information.

Looking around and only seeing the same thing she was, Gumball too wondered how it was the overseer was able to monitor an entire forest, much less two kids,

"I don't think escaping this place is going to be easy." he said before suddenly realizing something,

"Wait, that's it!" he cried out.

"Hmm?" Teri grunted, her eyes already finding their way back to him.

Leaning in close in fear of someone, particularly Iris, was listening in on them, he whispered his plan to Teri,

"Why don't we play along for a bit and try to be the best soldiers in the NEA?" he silently suggested.

Raising an eyebrow, Teri wasn't following him and Gumball had to further clarify,

"If we make it to the top, we can join the battle in Los Angeles and when the battle ends, we can slip away!" he said, his eyes sparkling with enthusiasm.

Realizing that it may be their only shot in getting out and getting back to Elmore, to their friends and family, Teri's expression lightened up,

"That's brilliant, Gumball, but what are we going to-!"

"INCOMING!" Gumball shouted after catching something moving fast through the corner of his eye.

Not even five minutes had passed since they entered the forest and they were already being attacked by their first batch of monsters. There were six of them, a pack of creatures with slim bodies and builds similar to that of a dog's. Having memorized the list, both were able to recognize these monsters as Blood Fangs, F class to be exact and it wasn't at all shocking that they came in packs.

They moved around them like darting shadows, skull-like masks giving off a deathly aura and their red fangs snapping as they dripped with venomous saliva. Even at the speed they were traveling at, the Blood Fangs were able to keep up easily and though they appeared small, both kids knew very well those dagger-like fangs and sharp claws could easily rip them asunder, plus their numbers made them all the more threatening.

Then with a blood-curdling howl from what was probably the pack leader, they all began to attack, with three leaping high up into the air towards them and the other three keeping a tight formation around them.

Raising his scythe up to deal with the three above, Gumball charged up a low level Moonfire Slash and waited for them to close in,

"Back off!" he shouted as he swung wide.

Bursting to life, the flames coated the blade and from it leapt a great arc of burning silver that caught two of those unfortunate enough to be in its path. Cut through the midsection, both fell to the ground in two separate smoking pieces and the third shot towards Gumball, who was unprepared to deal with it the moment it bared down on him. Knocking him clean from the back of the Origami wolf, the two were sent tumbling to the ground and Teri's head shot back when she felt the weight on her ride lessen, seeing with trepidation what had transpired.

Forced onto his back with the Blood Fang's paws pressed into his shoulders, the creature bit down on his arm, but Gumball's second rune already activated and rendered the beast's attack ineffective,

"Agh! Bad dog!" he shouted before pressing his feet into the Blood Fang's stomach and launching it off of him.

With his strength renewed, Gumball's kick sent it flying like a discarded, shaggy pillow and slammed against a nearby tree, hearing its back snap like a twig along with its dying howl. Getting up quickly, Gumball heard one of them approaching and turned to see a black mass with a skull at the center already leaping towards him. It's jaws opened up, ready to deliver death with it's crushing red fangs, but didn't get the chance to when a trident made of water sank into its neck and sent the flying monster tumbling to the side.

Having quickly dispatched the other two with well-placed petrification runes, Teri, having reduced the other two to stone, quickly bounded towards Gumball and offered him a ride seeing as the last one was dead,

"That was quite the nasty fall. Are you alright?" she asked, inspecting his arm with a glance.

Brushing the dirt off his sleeves, Gumball inspected the torn area where the Blood Fang bit him and saw no traces of blood,

"Yeah, managed to activate the second rune before I was bit. I'm surprised how easy it was to kill those things, they're nothing like the Nephilim back at Elmore!" he said, feeling kind of relieved.

Nodding once, Teri helped him back onto her wolf and sent the origami racing towards another section of the woods while coming up with a plan,

"Okay, so we've each killed three, meaning we both have 45 points, let's go deeper into the woods. There's bound to be larger ones lurking there." she guessed, feeling positive that was the case.

Seeing her point, Gumball was on board with Teri's plan and mentally noted to be on the lookout for anything suspicious,

"Right, that makes sense. We should also keep an eye out for other competitors, they might give us trouble if they feel like we're too big of a competition." he added.

That made sense. The competition is likely to get fierce as time goes on and while the test's overseer strictly prohibited mutilation and murder, that shouldn't stop others from seeking out ways to stop them. Thus, their hunt continued and the pair journeyed deeper into the dangerous territory unknown to them.

-Overview room, 12:17 AM-

A quarter of an hour had come and gone since Iris released the novices into the arena and in that brief amount of time, many had already been eliminated. Of the four hundred that started out, only 168 remained, with over half being eliminated in numerous skirmishes taking place within the first two sectors. This wasn't surprising in the least, as the test was meant to weed out the weak and see which among the few were fit enough to become soldiers. Many of the selected were simply orphans and children brought in from major cities thanks to their discreet screening methods, most of which were inexperienced in the field of combat or hunting.

Watching their progress unfold within a cavernous, circular room with curved walls that acted as one large monitor displaying a map of the Venator arena and moving yellow arrows that served as indicators marking the position of every initiate. Iris, the overseer, watched it all with an unblinking red eye as multiple cables hung from his back, plugging the masked entity to the surveillance system and allowing him full coverage inside his head. Nothing could escape his gaze and with his eye on everyone now, he was able to mark their progress.

"The crowd's drawing thin now and everyone is starting to form up into smaller teams." he noted watching the yellow arrows starting to spread out in groups no larger than eight as more monsters marked by purple skulls on his display began to close in,

"Good, they're starting to get it. Once they've crossed into their territory, the monsters become attracted to them like flies to a carcass and staying in large groups will only serve to attract more." he thought, tilting his head up a little in satisfaction.

Like most animals, monsters will avoid all contact with civilization as much as possible, but they're not animals. They are the incarnate forms of Mephistopheles' rage and disdain towards the children of the Earth and much like their master, they lurk within the darkness that the wilderness provides, out of sight and out of mind as they prey on those who stray too far from safety. By lowering their numbers, yet staying together in small bands, the beasts will spread and their numbers will be far more manageable.

He continued to monitor certain groups with intrigue as quite a few had started for the marked areas of the relics, hoping to score an easy win, while many others began to venture deeper into the woods in search of more enemies to fight. Selecting certain groups and individuals within those groups, Iris carefully deducted their strengths and weaknesses before moving on to a certain pair heading towards an area simply marked as the temple ruins. Riding atop what appeared to be an origami wolf, a blue cat wielding a scythe and a paper bear who seemed to be controlling the beast, Iris already knew about these two individuals from Elmore.

"Gumball Tristopher Watterson and Teri Tsukishiro Pepakuma, two survivors from Elmore and according to the intel gathered from the former, both have been actively engaging the Nephilim for over a month now. Very impressive." he mused, thinking about the mission carried out by both Azura and Jormungandr squads.

While Azura squad was successful in bringing these two in, the elite capture team, Jormungandr, had proven to be unsuccessful in their assigned task and had just been retrieved at HQ in Washington D.C. after being bested by Grendella Jotenheim. Unfortunately, sending another strike team in to subdue Fjel's son wasn't going to cut it this time as the mother had also sent with the defeated squad a note stating that she will summon Fjel himself to crush Washington and while this was most certainly a bluff on the witch's part, it would not be wise to disturb the sleeping titan. No power wielded by any nation would be enough to halt the wrath of one of the Emperor's three divine regents, but he had other plans to ensure the NEA's presence would remain in Elmore. Starting tomorrow, he was to contact an exceptional Elmore citizen and form an alliance with him.

Right now though, his focus was on the contest and he could see that both fighters from Elmore were drawing nearer to the temple's ruin as well as another group of initiates, but what really drew his attention was the two large purple skulls encased in circles matching in color, signifying a large threat, making their way towards them,

"Let's see where that experience gets them in the face of what's coming." the avion-esque specter chuckled to himself deviously as he remained ever so watchful from the fake sky, a deity of this little world.

-Venator arena, half a mile from the broken temple, three minutes later-

"AAAUGH!"

SNAP!

Screaming as he was sent flying backwards through a tree that snapped in two upon contact and came crashing down on the forest floor with a heavy boom that sent birds scattering. Gumball's back was saved from permanent damage by the web of glowing purple veins that covered it and made for a pretty useful solid barrier. However, as soon as he tumbled to a stop, a burning pain spread throughout and left him gasping in shock, realizing that this pain was caused by the second rune somehow.

Up until now, he'd only used it once a day and now he knew there was clearly a limit to how many times he could use this power.

Fortunately for the winded cat, his adrenaline prevented him from staying in such a position as soon as the C class monster, simply called the "Bone Head", came barreling through the treeline and tried to trample him underfoot,

"Woah, uh-uh!" he grunted as he rolled out of the way of the charging beast's path.

Having narrowly escaped, Gumball was on his feet again, but the bear-like behemoth had spun about on its stubby legs and swung its round, heavily armored head straight at him,

"Moonfire Slash!" Gumball screamed, swinging a quarter charged wave of fire directly at the Bone Head's fast approaching blunt weapon.

The attack exploded on impact, forcing the bulky monster to groan in pain as its head was knocked in the opposite direction while the extremely light Watterson child was sent flying again after the shockwave struck him like a full-body sledge hammer and immediately found his head carving a trench into the ground before stopping,

"Okay, clearly I'm the bone head here. That was incredibly stupid of me." He self-chastised after lifting his head from the hole he made and shaking off the dirt.

Checking out the monster, he was relieved to see that his last-ditch attack left it dazed as it was stumbling about and shaking its head in a much needed attempt to rid itself of dizziness. Its forward section was also heavily armored with that reinforced bone layer, but its back and underside was only covered in a thick, brownish red, furry hide. Once it was ready to attack again, the wily scythe user suddenly had an idea and met his charge with one of his own again.

"See ya down under, Boo-boo!" he roared, filling his body with more energy as he sped forward.

Lowering its head and picking up speed with its powerful hind limbs, the Bone Head was dead set on flattening the kitten into a blue smear on its battering ram, but received a shock when the kid suddenly vanished. Seconds later, its stomach was cut open from throat to tail and Gumball came sliding out from underneath with the blade held upwards while the monster plowed into the ground. Seeing the mound of flesh and bone starting to disintegrate, Gumball was relieved that his new angle of attack worked to his advantage and wondered how Teri was faring against her opponent.

The answer to that was simply not too well. Several hundred meters away, Teri was being chased by a Manticore, a lion-scorpion hybrid as big as a car with the body of the fearsome savanna feline and the tail of a scorpion covered in cybernetic augmentations.

The creature was clever and fast, both having encountered it while being chased by the Bone Armor, so Teri opted to split up so that Gumball could handle the larger one while she dealt with the faster one. Being as light and agile as she was, Teri easily outmaneuvered every quick strike of the Manticore's tail and the beast resorted to trying to blast at her with it's Telepulse cannon. Weaving in and through tight spaces provided by the trees, Teri's wolf nimbly dodged every blue lance that came from behind and the telltale roar of the Manticore, signified to Teri that it was getting frustrated.

Then the monster tried something different, rather than going straight for her and getting blocked off by the trees, the powerful feline instead opted to cut her off completely.

Leading the beast towards a specific area, Teri hoped that it would continue to follow her, but was caught off guard when the rain of Telepulse rays ceased to fall around her and a loud snap was heard followed by crackling sound,

"What's that- AAUUGH!" she screamed in terror after turning her head back to see something terrible coming her way.

The Manticore, with its cunning, had selected a tree that was perfectly aligned with Teri's path and with a well placed jump, managed to tackle the tree with enough force to send it crashing down on her. The only thing that managed to save Teri was her quick thinking and reflexes, leaping from her wolf as the tree crushed it completely. With the weight of her backpack carrying her down, she hit the ground hard and rolled, managing to land in a sitting position before scrambling to her feet.

Seeing that it's prey wasn't crushed, but slowed thanks to the loss of her mount, the lion-like beast, with its predatory instincts in full drive, roared and took off after her. With only a few strides, the car sized monstrosity caught up to her and tried first piercing her back with its stinger. Turning around and seeing the attack on its way, Teri readied herself with a moon barrier rune. Quick as a cobra, the tail lashed out and struck only a glass barrier, creating a sharp Clack! upon impact before the barrier shattered.

Baring it fangs in irritation, a bubbling hiss left its throat and stabbed again and again, each strike barely missing as Teri was able to put her agility gained from years of cheerleading practice to use in evading the onslaught, once tired of trying to skewer the paper puppet, the Manticore lashed out with its paw and caught Teri within its arc, sending her tumbling away with a scream. After smacking into a tree, Teri was glad that she lacked bones because they most likely would've been shattered upon contact, the girl fell and got back up, quickly inspecting where the beast struck her. There was a single tear on her right side just below her arm, but nothing she couldn't patch up herself.

Grunting in pain, she muttered to herself as she began to run away,

"Great, forgot to replenish my disinfectant!" she muttered somewhat sarcastically as it was normally one of her top concerns.

Giving chase, the man-eating behemoth was almost upon her, but was slowed after its target tossed a bomb shuriken over her shoulder and disoriented the beast with a blast. With her distraction buying her a little more time, Teri continued to run until she reached that spot she was aiming for and spun around to face the beast that was now back on her trail. Thinking it had her now, the Manticore charged without hesitation towards her and raised its stinger to blast her back to the maglev station.

KRA-KOW!

Stepping into her trap, the three sheets of paper she left on the ground at the start of the chase, lit up as their symbols summoned forth a powerful lightning strike, so devastating that it blasted the monster to bits and Teri was rather stunned to see how much power three lightning runes could muster. Hearing the thunderclap as well as seeing the flash of light, Gumball came rushing towards her and saw to his relief that she was still here. Catching him at the corner of her eye, Teri turned with a comfortable smile and quickly made her way towards him.

"Did you get him?" she asked, referring to the beast he was tasked with defeating.

Spinning his scythe around until it rested on his shoulder, Gumball waved a paw and appeared nonchalant,

"When push comes to shove, you know I can get the job done!" he answered with a wink before noticing the scratch beneath Teri's arm and dropping the cool act,

"You okay?" he asked.

Looking down at the minor injury and shrugging, Teri's face showed no sign of distress,

"It's just a scratch. You see, this is why I'm not a cat person!" she joked, raising an eyebrow as she awaited his response.

Taking such a quip as a challenge, Gumball raised an eyebrow and erected himself in a manner one could say was formal,

"Well, personally, I like to think that I'm purr-fect! Way better than that cat-tastrophe over there." he retorted, cracking a half smile.

Laughing lightly at his reaction, Teri shook her head and gave him a light shove,

"Eh, maybe a little." she teased before pecking him on the cheek,

"At least you're house-trained." She snickered.

Now his smile faded and he immediately took offense to her comment,

"Hey!" he snapped, watching her giggle in amusement before setting herself down and getting started on their next ride.

It's been almost half an hour now and after slaying many low ranking monsters before encountering the two they just fought, the two were starting to notice just how quiet it has become. The shouts left by those who had clashed with the monsters earlier had died down and were replaced by the sounds of this artificial nature. One could assume that they were now considerably farther into the wilds and wandering hunters must have broken into smaller teams to better hunt for greater game or the relics.

This wasn't any particular concern of theirs seeing as they were sticking with their original plan and searching for greater prizes which given the two big guys they've just tussled with, it seemed as though they were marching into deadly grounds.

Once finished, Teri presented to him a dragon folded from black paper and Gumball was quite ecstatic to see this, for dragons were one of his favorite mythological creatures. Hopping on with her, they were set to go once more and the winged lizard scurried off with its passengers. They moved like lightning through the forest with Teri using the dragon's legs and wings to cross greater distances.

It was all going well for the first few minutes, but the traveling pair from Elmore was quickly halted by a wall of ice suddenly appearing in front of them and the experienced Nephilim fighters anticipated a fight by drawing their weapons while assuming defensive positions.

"Hello there, you two!" a voice called out from right next to them and they traced it back to the source.

To their surprise, it wasn't a monster, but a kid, actually the same kid they saw earlier on the maglev, the white, hairy giant with orange tusks and wearing only a leather loincloth around his waist. From his mouth, white mist poured out as though his breath froze the very air it touched and it didn't take a genius to figure out he was the one who created the ice wall. He looked really gruff, but his face didn't match and that seemed to be a good thing.

Accompanying the nine-foot-tall teenager was a robot panda girl whose exterior was made of a soft, inflatable material, giving her a fluffy, rotund appearance and her face was a circular digital display showing a panda face, only with long feminine eyelashes. She wore an amulet made of silver with a single ruby stone and a bracelet with a symbol matching the giant's.

Feeling slightly at ease once they saw them, they lowered their weapons, but kept them at the ready in case they would need them. Making his way towards them at a steady pace, with his partner at his side, the snow giant wore a friendly smile and his beady brown eyes seemed to show no signs of hostility or hidden intent. He looked as though he were greeting two friends in all honesty and this made it harder to fear him.

Waving his hand and maintaining his welcoming presence, he spoke in a raised tone as though he had no idea what an indoor voice was,

"No need to worry, we're not here to pick a fight! I am Rostislav Zhukov, but you can call me Ross and this here is my friend, Candi!" he introduced, speaking with a Russian accent.

The robot panda waved a stubby mitten paw and her display flashed a happy face,

"Hello!" she simply said.

Glancing at one another before quietly deciding to act as potential friends, they greeted them in the same friendly manner and Gumball started off with the introductions,

"Nice to meet you, I'm Gumball Watterson and this is Teri Pepakuma. We're both from Elmore." he said with a gesture towards himself and Teri, who seemed alright.

The giant and the panda looked at one another for a moment before both of them suddenly burst out laughing, with Ross even clenching his gut,

"Gumball? Such a funny name!" Ross commented, laughing even harder much to Gumball's chagrin.

Once she got her laughs in, Candi turned to Teri with a perplexed look and Teri caught it before the robot tilted her head to the side,

"Your name sounds Japanese." she remarked in confusion.

Nodding once, Teri answered Candi's unspoken question regarding her heritage,

"I'm actually American, but both my parents are from Japan."

Clapping her hands together, Candi's face switched to a look of delight with her mouth shaped like an "O" as her eyes widened,

"How exciting! I'm from China!" she responded excitedly, clapping her hands.

Surprised to see another bear here who was also Asian, Teri's eyes lit up with fascination and showed it with an excited bounce on her dragon,

"That's awesome!" she shot back before raising an eyebrow in suspicion of this bear,

"You're a robot though?" she stated in a tone that did not betray her confusion.

Smiling as though proud of this fact, Candi swung her arms a little ways while bouncing on her toes and nodded in affirmation,

"Sure am! Panda care unit Jiu or as I like to call myself, Candi, built by Beijing's Hongxin medical facility and I am one of a kind!" She happily declared, filling Teri with awe and intrigue.

Following their little exchange, Ross cleared his throat and placed his massive hands behind his back before emitting a serious aura,

"I see that you two made it very far, where's the rest of your team?" he questioned as his shaggy head swept around in search of any possible members nearby.

Shaking his head and spreading his arms out, Gumball gave the newcomers his straightest look,

"We're not part of a team, it's been just us since we got here." he replied honestly.

Nodding once and scratching his fuzzy chin with curving black claws, this was very pleasing to hear,

"So you two are very close? I bet you've been through a lot together." he stated, his brown eyes carefully analyzing their faces.

One look from him to each other was the only answer Ross needed and the giant with the Russian accent breathed a heavy sigh, with a puff of mist blowing out in between his fangs,

"I see. That is a good thing, we could use some guys like you and you're in luck, Paris sent us out to gather strong individuals to add to his team. We only have four so far and you two would make a very fine addition to our forces, so what do you say? Will you join us?" he offered, stretching out a furry hand to reveal an open palm that was furless and covered in tough, bluish black skin.

While his offer to join them was polite and seemed to be harmless, something didn't sit well with them. This was mainly due to the fact that neither wanted to join up with another team and then there was also the wall of ice he summoned to prevent them from continuing when he or his robot companion could've just hollered to gain their attention. Before they could give their answer, a question needed to be asked and Teri was the one to do so.

"What's Paris's plan?" Teri inquired, raising an eyebrow.

Seeing their hesitation and their suspicion all playing out before him, Ross slowly dropped the hand he was about to give them while Candi stepped forward and offered a much needed explanation,

"Paris had sent out two scouts earlier to an area that looked suspiciously like a nest of some sort, only one returned, the other was zapped back to the station, and reported that a relic had been spotted within the nest. The problem is, there's a lot of monsters in the area and Paris sent us out to find more people to recruit. Our hope is to create three teams of eight so that our team can infiltrate the nest and grab the relic, while the others draw their attention away." she was looking at each one hopefully, as though expecting her revealing of the plan to somehow gain their trust.

"That sounds awfully deceptive." Gumball pointed out, giving them a hard look.

Waving his hands as if to brush aside his comment, Ross was still looking rather relaxed about the whole thing, but his eyes were now starting to show something that both saw as dangerous as he laid it out for them,

"Don't think of it like that. I mean after all, no one is getting hurt and if we return to home base with the prize, we win, easily. Plus, maybe they'll offer redo's for the ones who lost, so they'll do better next time." he said, bringing his hand out again in a symbolic gesture of friendship,

"Come with us, to victory!" he offered one last time with a pleading smile.

Having heard enough at this point to know what kind of people these guys were, the Elmore duo decided now was the time to book it and with a single command, Teri's dragon was already on the move,

"Yeah thanks, but we'll do just fine on our own." Gumball responded, already turning his head as they started forward.

KLANG!

It was too fast for the eye to follow, but right as Gumball finished that sentence, something metallic struck the ice wall dangerously close to their heads and sent shards of ice flying as a small gash was carved into the surface. Heads snapping in unison back towards the two, they were just in time to see a spinning metallic discus return to Candi's amulet (it must've been magic because there was no where she could've been hiding that pizza-sized throwing shield.) and the robot's monitor was a solid, angry red. Ross meanwhile had dropped the friendly facade completely and was shaking his head in disappointment.

Breathing a white mist into his hand, a mace with a handle made of smooth ice topped with a spiky ball formed from icicles manifested and his grip tightened on the weapon before he let the head dangle by his side,

"That wasn't a suggestion, you two!" he growled through a clenched jaw.

Seeing no way out of this that didn't involve a violent confrontation, Gumball met the ice giant's subtle threat with a loud hiss, baring his fangs and letting his fur stand on end,

"And you guys need to take a hint!" he snapped back, eyes burning with rage.

Without uttering another word, the tusked bizarro arched his swinging arm back with the intention of destroying their origami, but Gumball wouldn't allow it and launched himself straight at him. With his speed already being heightened with twenty-five percent of his power, Ross couldn't even catch him and felt the feline's fingers latch onto his throat before he was thrown backwards with a scream escaping his lips. Smashing his head into the ground, Gumball planted his feet into the solid Earth and started to run, dragging the giant along like a ragged pillow as his head carved a trench through the dirt.

As soon as Gumball disappeared with his opponent, Teri faced off against Candi and made the first move. Launching the shuriken she already had out straight at the large Panda's feet, the fluffy robot failed to detect the small projectile and was torn from the ground as a ball of fire burst from beneath her. With a flap of her dragon's wings, Teri was airborne and she dug out some more explosive shurikens before raining fire down upon her opponent hidden in the smoke, filling the air with powerful blasts that shook the trees.

"Hope that shield of hers is strong enough to protect her from that barrage." she thought somewhat bitterly, though she didn't actually want to kill her because she was just another person.

Suddenly, from the obscuring cloud of smoke, a metallic object shot out, whistling through the air as it removed the dragon's left wing clean from its body and both paper beings were sent crashing to the ground with Teri letting out a sharp yelp. Leaping clear of the destroyed origami, the flat white bear gave her downed creation a pained look, Not again!, was her only thought in regards to losing her ride a second time today and she stood tall, ready to avenge her fallen steed. Catching the discus with the corner of her eye, Teri noticed a red glow emanating from the ruby stone at the center of the flying shield and one coming from the rising smoke, the amulet no doubt.

"So whenever she throws it, the shield will always come back to her, like a magnet. I wonder if she can control that thing's flight path?" she thought skeptically.

Emerging from the smoke not too long after, the unmistakable bear-form of Candi showed itself and her smaller, black and white counterpart reached back to withdraw another page from her notebook,

"This is a waste of time, you know! Just leave us alone or we'll all fail!" she shouted, exerting her force over the paper in her hand to form the four pointed edges of a throwing star.

Face still red, Candi spun around and jumped high, twisting her body through the air with an agility that one would not expect given her hefty appearance and flung the throwing shield again. The weapon shot towards Teri like a pizza cutter, which she dodged pretty easily by folding her right side in and the spinning disc struck the ground, bounced, ricocheted off two trees before bouncing back, slicing through Teri's shuriken with unbelievable precision!

Calling her throwing weapon back to her with the will of the amulet's power, Candi stood up from her crouched landing position and her face blinked back into existence, this time wearing a solemn expression,

"Try and grab your weapon, I'll destroy every one you try to create, and I won't let you leave either. There's so much riding on this mission and we need the man power!" she explained, trying to reach her with logic.

Once again, Teri didn't care and she stomped her foot while squaring her shoulders in defiance,

"You guys are lunatics! I don't know much about this Paris guy, but he sounds like someone who's willing to betray his comrades and that's not someone I can trust." she fumed,

"Gumball and I have a lot riding on our mission too! We're not sacrificing that for one that's doomed to fail!" she balled up her fist and grinded her teeth in agitation.

Spinning around on her heel and taking off in a sprint with the intention of gaining more distance, Teri retreated into the forest. Stunned at her tenacity and dedication towards achieving their goals, Candi was unsure as to what these two were trying to accomplish, but the action left her filled with shock and the six foot tall, autonomous machine reflected upon what she said. Not blind to the risks Paris's plan presented, Candi was certain that something could and will undoubtedly go wrong, but given the lack of logic Teri's plan carried, Candi shook her head while her screen turned red again.

It may not be a perfect plan, but the benefits were far too great to ignore and Candi needed to bring her in, so she set off after her with her shield at the ready.

-Gumball and Ross-

Back with Gumball and Ross, the former had managed to drag the colossal teenager pretty far all things considered, intending to ram his head into a boulder after giving his face a nice dirt bath first. However, the former Russian native would not have it and with a quick grab, he caught Gumball's head in his massive mit before tossing him away. It was Gumball's turn to introduce his own face to Mother Earth's soil covered embrace and the blue cat tumbled head over heels with his only brake being a bush.

"OwwaaAAGH! Freakin hairy oaf!" he cursed as multiple branches cut into his face and arms.

Rolling himself backwards and flopping ungracefully to the ground, the eldest Watterson child staggered to his feet while his vision danced in wild circles. Shaking his head and searching the ground, he found his misplaced weapon lying a foot away from his standing position and spared no time retrieving it. Once armed and back to his senses, he returned his attention to the brute who tossed him and saw him already back on his own two feet.

With his pig-like eyes meeting Gumball's black menacing ones, Ross let out a warcry that sounded through the forest and propelled himself forward with a single push of his foot.

Taking long strides, Gumball was caught completely off guard when he saw him fast approaching with no weapons and before he could strike, a fist connected with his jaw that sent the tiny person flying with a single uppercut. Feeling his teeth click together, a sharp cry of pain left Gumball's windpipe and his tumbling vision came to a halt after crashing once more into the solid dirt. Ross was relentless and came charging once more before he could get up before swinging hard with his massive foot to kick the downed cat in the stomach, sending him tumbling backwards into a tree.

"GAAAUUGH!" He screamed, feeling his spine bend in a way it wasn't supposed to.

Standing where he was with his fists clenched and his shoulders squared, Ross threw his head back to let out a thunderous laugh that came straight from the gut,

"Come on now! Why are you this weak? I can stand here and take a shot, you know! Probably won't feel anything!" He continued to laugh.

Slowly getting to his feet, Gumball was boiling with anger now and his teeth were grinding as he bit through the pain to get ready,

"Only if you're offering, you pantless wonder!" His mind seethed.

Charging up to forty percent, Gumball sprang forward, moving much faster than Ross was expecting before raising the butt of his scythe and slamming it down hard onto the Hyberborean's foot,

"HRRAAAAUUUUUUGHHHH!" Ross hollered, the pained scream rattling his vocal cords as he hopped about on one foot while holding the injured one with both hands and Gumball found himself to be the one laughing now.

His enjoyment was not to last however as the now furious hairy oaf breathed another stream of mist in his hands, forming another ice mace with a longer handle this time and swung it straight at the blue cat's head. Instinctively raising his scythe up to block, a wad of sharp icicles slammed into the scythe's shaft with enough force to send Gumball skidding to the side and when he pushed off, Ross was already attacking once again. Down it went, again and again, a never ending flurry of strikes that left craters in the ground as the giant wailed on his smaller adversary who was fast enough to dodge or parry the attacks away.

Feeling overwhelmed by the onslaught, Gumball opted to find a better position to strike from and leapt upwards once the next attack was deflected and the agile fighter flew over Ross's head to attack from behind. However, Ross had calculated this and was already twisted around just as Gumball was about to land, catching his head with his mitt before chucking him into the ground. Feeling his whole body being rocked and jolted with the excruciating experience of having his innards shifted, Gumball was sure he'd found a new level of hell for his body to enjoy.

Rolling onto his back in a desperate bid to get away, he was too slow and a spiked mace head met his raised scythe handle in a clash of metal and flying ice shards, with him barely holding back the frigid weapon,

"Was that supposed to be an attack?" came the ice wielder's mocking response, which Gumball barely heard as he continued to push against the back of his scythe's head against Ross's heavy weapon,

"Give up!" he shouted while putting his foot on the handle, pressing down with his weight and driving the mace further downwards against his struggling opponent.

Grunting from the added force, Gumball's arms felt like melting lead, but he slowly twisted his head and locked eyes with the white snow giant,

"Must be really embarrassing being the only one talking, you know? How about I break the ice a little?" he snarled.

In a blaze of silver, the fires of Gumball's soul power enveloped the deadly edge and forced its way upwards in a devastating burst, vaporizing the icy weapon's tip while blinding Ross completely. Screaming in hellish agony, the giant stumbled backwards with his hands clasped together over his face as the scent of singed hair stung his nostrils and his vision was obscured with a brightness that slowly faded, albeit painfully. Temporarily incapacitated, Ross was left open to Gumball's resurgent forty percent powered strikes as the boy drove his foot into his stomach with a flying kick, knocking the tusked colossus onto his back and began mercilessly slamming the butt of his scythe into any unprotected area on his face.

Taking multiple hits to the face while still trying to recover, Ross's rage boiled over to uncontrollable levels and with an ear piercing, rage infused howl, a stream of white mist spewed forth from his mouth like a geyser and swept the flailing scythe user up in its stream. This did not completely detain Gumball's movements however, and with his arms still free to move, the wily feline simply smashed the ice pillar with a well placed punch and he was free. Hopping off the enormous falling ice tower, Gumball touched down with the ground and prepared himself for the next attack.

Fully recovered and free of getting his face smashed in, Ross wiped at a cut splitting his lower lip, inspecting the blood smeared on his thumb,

"Congratulations, you may have earned my respect, Watterson!" he exclaimed with praise towards his opponent, flashing a smile that stretched from ear to ear.

Responding with a tsk, Gumball's face was lacking in any expressions except callousness,

"I feel honored." he remarked with sarcastic venom,

"You have my congratulations as well, you've done nothing but waste our time, crapsicle!" he scowled while twirling his scythe around his wrist with the handle and catching it.

Sighing and shaking his head in disagreement, the Russian teenager stressfully raked a hand through his hair,

"The only one who's wasting time is you, Watterson! You're a fool to believe that you and your friend can win this on your own. I was rescued by the NEA after my village was destroyed by the Nephilim and I survived because only I alone could see them." he spoke in a quiet tone now, his voice wrought with pain and misery,

"From that very day I knew the only way we are going to survive is if we fight together and if you're too blind to see that yourself, then you have no place here!" he was now concentrated on Gumball's small form with pure loathing.

To be honest, Gumball did feel a little sorry for the guy, he understood how he felt when the Nephilim first attacked his home and left him feeling vulnerable, isolated and fearful of what was to come. He would've had a good point, but Gumball could not afford to waste time arguing about this and retaliated with the same tenacity he started with,

"You have my condolences for your family and your home, but I have a home and a family that are still alive and I need to get back there with my girlfriend so we can protect it. I'm sorry, but I can't join you and your risky plan." he said, already lowering his body for another charge.

Ross exploded with rage, frustrated with his opponent's unwillingness to cooperate and went back on the offensive,

"You don't have a choice! We're all soldiers now and we'll follow orders in order to ensure our victory! I'll do whatever it takes to win, even if it means bringing you back as an icicle!" he shouted, bringing his fists up to his face.

Breathing frigid air onto his forearms, great gauntlets of solid ice covered his already powerful fists, with icy spikes coating the entire surface for extra damage, and he covered his calves in spiky grieves too. With the added protection to his limbs, the giant tilted his head back, inhaling a large gust of air until his chest swelled up like a balloon and he lurched forward, unleashing a powerful blizzard from his maw that streaked towards Gumball, freezing everything it touched. Seeing the scale of the attack tearing its way towards him like a raging white bull of freezing winds and hurtling comets of hail, Gumball braced himself and charged up a Moonfire Slash to seventy five percent.

Sending the scorching arc forward, the two unrelenting forces of destruction, both complete opposites in nature, collided and stopped halfway before Gumball's grey fire tore through. Aborting his failed attack to dive to the side just moments before the powerful crescent could vaporize him, Ross took a moment to stop and inspect the resulting explosion caused by the torrent's death, watching in awe as the blastwave fattened any tree within its proximity, ruffling his fur with powerful winds before he turned again to attack Gumball, this time with his fists. Accepting his challenge, Gumball remained at his current level and raced towards him, both screaming as their weapons met.

-Teri and Candi-

With Candi hot on her trail and her shield always somehow finding her, Teri had not once found an opportunity to create a weapon or an origami or a drawing or just about anything without either being ambushed or nearly diced up by her accursed flying shielded. Pumping her flimsy legs as hard as she could, Teri was starting to regret her current situation and prayed for just one break so she could defend herself. Glancing over her shoulder, Teri spotted the oversized panda bot steadily making her way through the woods behind her with her throwing arm already raised again and Teri dove forward as the whirring sound the metal frisbee made grew louder before a slight breeze brushed the back of her neck, indicating that she was dangerously close to being cut.

The shield bounced off several more trees before cycling back to its owner and Teri got up again before turning around to face her pursuer, already tired of this chase,

"Would you give it up already! You can clearly see that I'm not going with you!" she desperately cried even though she knew it was useless.

Showing her face again, the artificial person still showed no signs of compliance and just regarded the feeble paper girl with those same apathetic eyes,

"No I won't and yes you will! There's no negotiating this, you're coming back with us even if I have to slice a leg off, which I will do next if you don't surrender!" she warned, already gearing up for another toss.

Feeling the same sense of dread she felt when Azura squad showed up and announced that they'll be taking them away, Teri's panic started to bubble up from underneath and she weighed her options,

"I can't keep running or else she'll just slice off my leg or I'll just tire myself. She can't get exhausted because she's a machine, so I can't outrun her anyways and I can't create a weapon because she just destroys them in an instant." then a thought occurred to her and she looked down at her arms, each one bearing three black circles she drew on earlier,

"Should I try it?" she questioned, unsure if such an ability were possible to do seeing as she couldn't remember how she did it in the first place.

Wasn't she just wishing she had a moon barrier rune before the car hit?

It was do or die time, she hadn't any other choice and right now was as good a time as any, considering Candi's hesitation. Closing her eyes and concentrating as hard as she could, she pictured in her mind a Hydro-trident rune appearing in the palm of her hand. Watching her carefully, Candi was unsure as to what the girl was doing, closing her eyes like that and figured it couldn't be a threat because she had the upper hand. Maybe she was surrendering?

Keeping her shield raised, the large panda slowly marched towards the other bear with a hand slowly outstretched and she called out to her,

"Hey, if you're thinking of coming with me, then I need to see your hands and-!" she stopped when Teri did just that and saw something that left her shock.

Somehow, on her left hand was a rune consisting of a diamond shape flanked by two triangles and the symbol glowed blue before a trident made of water manifested into her open palm. From within, Teri could feel the energy flowing outwards, a power like a roaring ocean and snaking down her arm towards her hand, an exhilarating rush she never thought she could feel in her whole life. Eyes snapping open to the beautiful sight of the weapon she created, she closed her fist around the handle and held it close for her to see,

"Oh my Jade, it actually worked!" her inner voice cried with a mixture of glee and surprise.

With a battlecry leaping from her lips, Teri then lunged forward with the icy prongs aimed directly at Candi's heart, the inflated machine backed off just enough to raise her shield and intercept the incoming stopping there, Teri went bezerk, stabbing, swiping and slamming with the ferocity of a wild animal and Candi was being pushed back, despite easily being nearly twice her size. Seeing as the trident will not disappear until it was thrown, Teri was free to keep attacking and noticed that one of her inkblots was gone, reminding her that she had five more tricks up her sleeve, literally. With her attacks getting faster and more accurate, Candi wasn't sure how long it would be until she popped something and thought of a way to throw her off.

Waiting for her to thrust forward, Candi quickly spotted an opportunity and the female robot side stepped, letting Teri slide past once she attempted another stab, before bashing her with the shield.

Knocked onto her side, the trident was forced from her grip and vanished into water vapor as Teri groaned from the impact. After pulling herself back from that embarrassing fumble of hers, the Pepakuma child saw that Candi was nowhere near her and spun around with her searching every conceivable direction. She spotted her running away, but not in an attempt to flee, rather to put some throwing distance between them and she began spinning around for another toss, Teri got ready for it.

Guiding the ink down to each hand and forming the only defensive spell she knew in each one, Teri took off in a sprint straight towards her adversary with a plan set in motion.

Watching with fright as the approaching paper girl sped towards her, Candi heaved the discus with the form of a professional athlete and waited for her to make her move. Holding her hand up and adding her spiritual energy to the symbol, her palm lit up before forming a glass wall before her. The discus smacked into the glass, bouncing off harmlessly before being pulled back to its master and Teri used the second circle on her left arm to create another spell to cast.

Seeing her attack fail and how Teri is somehow creating these strange new spells, the former Chinese nursing droid tried to come up with a plan on the fly,

"Four shots left, then she's defenseless again. I just gotta keep up the offensive until she runs out ammo, then I'll detain her for good this time." She calculated internally before moving on with her scheme.

She threw her shield again and Teri was quick to summon another barrier, bouncing the flying shield away from her. Rushing back again, Candi pulled the shield towards her and the magically enhanced weapon returned before seeing Teri raising her hand up. Realizing it was an attack, the panda droid was caught with an indecisive moment between attacking first or defending herself. With only seconds to react, she decided it was best to take the hit and raised her shield upwards.

KRA-KOW!

From her palm, lightning leapt outwards in strands of twisting white plasma and struck Candi's shield dead center. Despite its wondrous enchantment that gave its wielder an amazing combination of offense and defense, the shield was still metal and conducted electricity like a wire before spreading through to the robot. She screamed as her systems went haywire, her monitor blinking erratically while displaying broken, distorted facial expressions and her inflated black and white body lit up like a christmas tree with raw energy.

Then the spasms and sparks ceased, making everything eerily quiet and Candi, with her monitor blank, body still as a statue fell backwards before landing with a Fwump!

Breathing the biggest sigh of relief, Teri felt her knees start to wobble and she stared at the motionless body laid before her. She knew that as a robot, she would have to be weak to electricity and seeing as her shield was made of metal, it all just made sense. While the paper girl was still mad at the panda droid for trying to force her into her group, she still hoped that she was okay and after a moment of realization, she knew the machine was more than a machine because there was something about the way she acted that distinguished her from someone like Bobert.

Wiping her forehead and catching her breath, there was another feeling welling up from within: accomplishment!

"I can't believe it! I have more powers now and they allow me to use my spells without having to use paper!" she thought to herself with a giddy sense of enjoyment.

Before she could ask herself what else she could do with them or why she had this power in the first place, in the distance two explosions went off at once, two pillars of grey and white that could be seen from a distance and Teri was brought back to reality once more,

"Gumball!" she gasped to herself before sprinting forward in the direction of the ensuing chaos.

Stopping to form an origami helicopter with her three remaining large sheets of paper, she was airborne within moments and heading in the direction of her boyfriend's deadly scuffle with Ross.

-Gumball and Ross-

The entire forest around them was a horrendous mishmash of fire and ice, collateral damage from the fight that spun wildly out of control with both the cat and the giant going at it with nearly everything they had. Smashing their weapons against each other, it was Gumball's scythe against Ross's newly formed ice halberd, a weapon made to match the former's fighting style and technique. So far neither had given any ground as of yet, but that was to change in the next few minutes and the fate of this duel was to be decided.

Ducking beneath the halberd's jagged edge, Gumball sped underneath his reach and made a swipe at his stomach, but was blown back by another icy breath. Firing off another energized swing, the tiny middle schooler prevented himself from being frozen, but failed to take notice of Ross's follow up swing and the axe-like polearm caught him in the stomach. The serrated teeth of the halberd's edge dug into his clothes and scraped against his furry hide, however, his second rune activated a third time today preventing the blade of ice from cutting even deeper.

"Oof!" a winded Gumball gasped as he was sent flying back into a tree.

Clutching his stomach as he dropped to his knees, the unpleasant burning sensation was back again and with a vengeance this time, signaling to the scythe wielder that this was the last time he could use that spell. From a distance, Ross unleashed a blast of freezing air directed at him and the kitten was pinned up against the tree with the ice completely encasing his body. Having him trapped, the tusked giant wiped his hands together and started in another direction,

"Stay right there, little one! I'll be back soon after I return with your lady friend and then we'll all head back to our base camp where Paris is waiting." he said, thinking Gumball to be too exhausted to move.

With his face set in a furious expression, Gumball growled and felt the power he gained from absorbing the last attack burning through him,

"Don't you dare touch her!" he bellowed, already feeling his instincts to protect his loved one kicking in.

The shell of ice encasing his body glowed grey and cracks began to form as jagged flames began to cut through before the cocoon exploded into small fragments, releasing an empowered, rampaging pre-teen on a warpath straight towards Ross. Having underestimated his strength, the snow giant was swept aside as both of Gumball's feet connected with the side of his face and drove him into the ground head first, sending up an explosion of dirt clods. Putting the power to his legs, the big-headed cat pounced high up into the air, straight above the downed teenager and set his body into a spin.

"Moonfire: Midnight Rain!" Gumball screamed off the name of his new attack.

Spinning at top speed down, a cascade of miniature moonfire arcs were released in rapid succession, one after the other slamming straight down into him and Ross's body disappeared in the series of silver explosions that swept across the forest floor, decimating everything in its path. Gumball poured almost everything he had into this attack, his spirit, his rage, his desire to protect, and his desire for freedom all within this devastating series of blows. Once finished with the merciless downpour of flaming projectiles, Gumball landed in a crouching position, breathing heavily and needing his weapon to steady himself as his legs had grown weak.

Dripping with sweat, the boy was sure that this had to be the coolest and most dangerous thing he had ever done with the very tool gifted to him by Carrie,

"Okay… wow… that took… practically everyth… ing." he huffed and puffed as fatigue claimed his speech, he probably had less than twenty percent left now.

Suddenly, a very cold breeze grazed his cheek and with an immediate sense of dread, Gumball turned as a powerful blast of frigid air began to sweep away the smoke his attacks left behind. In the center of it all, like a nightmare that would just never die, a pillar of swirling white mist shot upwards, rotating faster and faster until it became a cyclone of deadly freezing winds that began to expand outwards. Gumball stepped back as he noticed the ground start to freeze up in front of him and Ross's Russian accent heavy voice called out from the raging storm,

"Such an impressive display of power, Watterson! I think it rude of me to not follow such a brilliant display of force with my greatest attack as well: Cyclone of the Hyperborean's wrath!" his silhouette could be seen in at the base of the cyclone and Gumball was surprised that he was still able to stand after getting pulverized like he did earlier,

"Seeing as you've already drained yourself, I'm afraid you're no longer of any use to us, so I'll do you a favor and leave you here as a frozen statue while we add Teri into our grand team of warriors!" he explained with a cold exposition that was very fitting of him.

Even though he wasn't in reach of the storm's billowing center, ice shards began to form of Gumball's body and all feeling he had in his extremities was lost to the cold, leading the boy to further despair as he realized the unfortunate position he was in.

Increasing the windstorm's ferocity, Ross hoped to expand quickly as to freeze the cat where he stood and be on his way soon after,

"Until we meet again, Gumball Watterson! You may have a chance to see her again next time, whenever that may b-!"

SHLKT!

There was no way for him to see it, to detect it, to provide himself any warning of what had occurred just now because his storm was supposed to grant him complete control of the area and yet, on his right side, just below his rib, a wound had opened up.

SHLKT! SHLKT!

Two more strikes, each one following so close it was like they both happened at once and with each deadly accurate strike, the Hyperborean's left achilles tendon had been severed and on his right hand every finger except his thumb had been removed. Curiously, the moment he saw the wounds left behind by his unseen attacker, a black, tar-like substance began to bubble out from the exposed areas while the veins surrounding the injuries began to blacken, like some kind of poisonous element. At first, he did nothing, but stare at his missing fingers and the gash that was running down his right side, unsure how to react, but the pain caught up to him faster than reality did.

"AH-AAAAUUUUUGGGGHHHHH! AUUGH!" he screamed as his innards began to burn with agony.

He tried to take a step forward, but his damaged heel prevented him from doing so and left him falling to the ground in a writhing heap. With his concentration centered on the pain, his cyclone died down quickly and left behind nothing but a field of white along with the Hyperborean's broken form. While the pain seemed to take hold of every sense he possessed, he began to feel incredibly ill, retching up the contents of his stomach as his white fur began to darken while his immune system slowly shut down and he saw someone standing before him.

Holding a scythe with a blade washed black and dripping a viscous substance that seemed to eat away at the ground wherever it made contact, Gumball stood as tribalistic markings slowly formed on the left side of his body, creeping its way down his left arm like running water,

"I am tired of people telling us where we belong." he said, voice filled with venom and discontempt not directed towards Ross, but towards the NEA and the Nephilim,

"The Nephilim turned our lives upside down by invading, the NEA tore us away from our home, leaving our families and friends to suffer and you dare tell me to abandon the only one I have left!" his voice raised along with his anger,

"DIE INSECT!" he shouted, barely sounding like himself anymore and more like something else entirely.

From the forest behind him, Teri's helicopter emerged and it's pilot spotted the frozen white patch in the middle of the clearing with the two figures at its center. After seeing all the fire and ice that dotted the landscape, the paper girl was surprised at the amount of destruction caused by the two and turned to focus on them. To her relief, Gumball seemed to have defeated Ross, with the hairy giant on his side covered in several injuries, but that relief quickly turned to fear once she saw the one she came to help. With his shirt being torn to shreds, presumably by the battle itself, she noticed all the markings covering his left arm along with the mask that was slowly forming on his head and the weapon he always carried at his side was pitch black.

With doctor Jury's words ringing like warning bells in her head, Teri was met with a fear like no other as she immediately recognized the danger Gumball was in and before her mind even told her to, she leapt into action,

"GUMBALL!" she shrieked at the top of her lungs, hoping that her voice would reach him and without a moment's hesitation, she used one of the final two inkblots she had to form a water trident before she let the weapon fly from her hand.

The three pronged spears aim was true and just as Gumball was prepared to take Ross's life, the antler that failed to finish forming on the left side of his head was severed, causing the mask to shatter,

"Ack!" Gumball screamed as he coughed up a bit of blood before dropping to his knees and watching as the marks on his body began to fade.

Succumbing to his injuries and to the high levels of stimuli his brain was going through, Ross fell unconscious before teleporting away in a flash of blue light (In addition to being hit with a Telepulse beam, if you fall unconscious or sustain serious injuries, you will be teleported back to the nearest medical district. The trick only works in the Venator arena due to the spells taking a long time to set up.), leaving nothing behind as the ice began to melt.

From behind, Teri set the helicopter down and made her way towards him as her legs picked up speed. Getting up slowly, Gumball fearfully kicked the scythe away from him as though it were infected and stumbled backwards, right into Teri's arms as she practically threw herself into a hug while sobbing into his shoulder. At first the cat flinched at the sudden contact, but after seeing Teri now with him, Gumball was struck with a sudden sense of relief and was even more so when he saw that she wasn't injured.

Twisting himself around in her arms so that he could hug her himself, Gumball nuzzled her shoulder while thanking Jade or any god out there for blessing him with someone so wonderful and shuddered at what could've happened had she not been there,

"Thank you." was all he could say before the tears came rolling down his eyes and he began crying.

Sniffling a little Teri hugged him tighter and kept an eye on his scythe while whispering in his ear,

"Please don't ever do that again!" she begged, having already seen the negative ways he could be affected by the power his weapon possessed.

Nodding slowly and keeping his face against the taller girl's shoulder, Gumball was already regretting his earlier actions,

"I won't and I'm sorry." he replied, really meaning it when he said it.

While glad Teri was able to stop him from hurting himself and from following through on a decision he would've regretted his entire life, he already felt as though he knew what was happening. Just like the first few times he used the Moonfire spell, Gumball never voluntarily activated it as it just did so on its own in response to a life threatening situation and just like the first few times, the effects it had on his physical and mental state varied. He knew he could harness its power, but he was going to have to be careful and find a starting point he could work from.

Right now though, all he could rely on was his first two powers and the amazing person here with him.

After a minute or two, the tender moment was ruined when a threatening sound like thunder came from above and the forest was concealed within the shadow of an enormous beast. Recognizing the roar as the beat to a pair of wings, both Gumball and Teri's attention was drawn to the sky while their mouths dropped in awe of what they saw. They didn't see much of the creature, for it moved too fast and was out of sight within moments, but both managed to glimpse its pitch wings as well as a feathery tail before it disappeared past the treeline.

To put it simply, the monster was massive.

And Gumball knew their best chance at getting a leg up in this twisted game of survival was to slay that creature.

Breaking the hug, Gumball snapped up the scythe and the bloodthirsty feline was already marching towards Teri's helicopter,

"Come on, Teri, we need to catch up with that thing and lop its head off!" Gumball remarked with murderous resolve.

Stunned beyond belief, Teri simply stood there for a moment, watching him go before ridding herself of her bafflement with a single shake of her head and set off after him,

"Gumball, wait! You shouldn't be overexerting yourself after what happened back there!" she cried out in alarm as she caught up with her boyfriend.

Wiping his lip with the back of his paw, there were traces of blood that stuck to the fur and the kitten could feel his body trembling a bit in addition to the pain that was ripping through his gut, clearly from the failed completion of the third spell,

"It's alright, I still have a bit of energy left." he replied before turning to her with a reassuring smile,

"Besides, I'll be riding close to you, so there's no way I'm gonna get hurt!" he complimented.

Still not liking this idea, but knowing that Gumball was fully confident in himself and her as well, Teri forced herself to smile back at him and slowly nodded in approval,

"Okay, but the moment things start getting out of hand, we're pulling out of there and hunting for a relic, got that, dork!" she said, placing her hands on her hips and forming a stern look on her cute features.

With that option being acceptable, Gumball was in agreement and took her by the hand to lead her towards the helicopter,

"Got it. We're going to win this thing and be one step closer to getting home!" he boldly declared before noticing some of the marks on her arm missing and that Candi was nowhere in sight,

"Did you defeat Candi with your new power?" he asked with a curious raise of an eyebrow.

Noticing this as well, Teri had completely forgotten about her fight with the robot Panda up until now and glanced down at her arm with the single black circle marking its surface,

"Oh yeah, I did and it was surprisingly easy to use it too!" She replied with a sense of pride.

Pumping the hand that held the scythe in the air and letting a triumphant cry, Teri giggled as she watched her furry lover to do a small victory dance,

"Oh yeah! That's what you get when you mess with the amazing Captain Pepakuma! Wooh!" he cheered, swinging his hips and still pumping his arm while his voice echoed through the trees.

Honestly, Teri never knew how she would've gotten by in this dreadful place without her adorable dork and she continued to watch him goof off while making her way to the helicopter. After getting his attention by clearing her throat, Gumball remembered what they were doing and snapped to it, rushing around to the other side of the paper vehicle before sitting himself down. With Teri at the command of the origami copter, the small craft lifted itself up and began its journey over the treetops in the same direction as the monstrous creature that passed by.

While the paper puppet was worried about what the next few minutes may bring, what concerned her the most was how eerily Gumball started to resemble the Nephilim they encountered on Babyloth during his transformation and worse, how the black mark on his left ear was slightly larger then it originally was.

-Institution of paranormal research and development, Jeruzalem-

Pressing her fingers against the keypad, Professor Hannes punched in a code and the metallic door slid open with a hiss. Hopping inside, the frog lady wearing a white lab coat and long, silky black hair atop her head, made her way over to the private terminal and after signing in, the bird-like mask of Iris popped up on the screen. The head scientist knew he was in the middle of the initiation process for the cadets, but there was a report she urgently needed to deliver and it had much to do with the scythe belonging to the recently conscripted member, Gumball Watterson.

Clearing her throat, Professor Hannes took a seat on the rolling chair set behind the desk and leaned forward on the table with her elbows pressed,

"Sorry to interrupt, overseer Iris, but my team and I have completed the analysis of subject 13965." She croaked.

Shy typed away at the keyboard and sent something that popped up on Iris's display. Accessing the file with a single look from his red eye, half the screen was immediately covered by the image of Gumball's scythe and attached to it was a file covering the doctor's tests and conclusions. Looking it over once, the raven haired specter sent the file away with a wave of his hand and turned towards the researcher,

"Thank you, professor. You and your team did very well." He said in a most pleased fashion.

Nodding, the rosy cheeked frog rubbed her chin and carried on with what she knew,

"We were able to successfully test and document the runes Gumball's companion brought along with her, but the runes on Gumball's scythe are a different matter entirely." She stated with a little ribbit.

Beneath the mask, an eyebrow was raised and Iris stroked his chin with his taloned fingers,

"Explain." He demanded.

Clearing her throat and straightening up a little, Professor Hannes pulled her notes up on the screen for her to read off of,

"Yesterday, at 11:35 PM, about half an hour after they were admitted to the hospital, we attempted to utilize the first rune found on subject 13965, but the resulting test ended in failure after the plastic rod the rune was printed on bursted into flames along with the wielder. He's in the hospital right now with third degree burns on his arms and upper torso." She stated in a grim tone, feeling sorry for the poor scientist that was injured.

Nodding in acknowledgment, Iris let out a sigh and made a mental note to ensure that the injured staff member was okay later after the initiate trials were complete,

"That's very unfortunate." He replied sympathetically.

"Indeed." She said,

"We decided to have a look at the scythe while Watterson was undergoing surgery and we found two things: the three runes are connected with one another and most likely the wielder too. We also discovered that the weapon is made of an alchemical composite called Seraphium." She described.

There was a pause between the two as Iris took a moment to digest all of that and his eye seemed to glow with a faint sign of pleasure,

"So that means..." he started as he waited for the professor to finish the verdict.

"That Gumball Watterson is the current wielder of the scythe originally wielded by Kassius, the reaper knight, one of the four legendary soul fire warriors." Hannes stated, smiling with delight as she wrapped up her report.

"Of course it is. It all makes sense now!" Iris realized, despite already having his suspicions and he waved dismissively at the frog professor,

"Thank you, Professor Hannes, your work is very much appreciated and I will be sure to go over the files later on tonight. This is quite a remarkable find. You may return to your duties." He said.

Happy to have delivered her report, the professor was about to return to her studies when something was brought to the light of mind and she turned once again to the monitor,

"Say, Iris, did you also happen to read over that one document I sent you this morning? The one about the application of magic-based technologies to the common folk?" she asked, feeling somewhat suspicious when she didn't receive a return email from the head administrator.

Jutting his head back and rubbing the back of his head nervously, the specter's eye darted around every which way as though searching for an excuse,

"Um, I'm afraid I wasn't able to get to it today because I… fell asleep on the john!" he replied with a nervous chuckle.

Shooting him a look that said, "Really?" Professor Hannes could not have looked anymore skeptical and Iris knew she was on to him,

"Iris, I've known you for fifteen years now and I know for a fact that you don't consume food in order to live. I understand that teaching your pet parakeet choir how to hum Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah is far more entertaining than reading some boring-old online document." she huffed,tapping her webbed fingers on the desk and pressing her head on her hand as she waited for his response.

Sighing in defeat and letting his head hang low, Iris felt slightly ashamed and apologized,

"You know me too well, professor. I'm sorry, I'll read it tonight after my meeting with C12. You have my word." he promised.

Nodding once more, the frog lady waved him good-bye and signed off shortly after, leaving Iris by himself in the overview room to ponder while he zoomed in on Gumball and Teri once more,

"So Fjel has surrounded his offspring and the void with powerful protectors. Looks like I'm not the only one planning two steps ahead." He mused as he watched both the origami wielding paper doll and the mighty scythe wielder chase down a massive target heading for the temple ruins,

"In due time, I'll forge those two into the finest soldiers the world has ever seen and then, Jade, I'll show you just how capable I am of protecting everyone." He quietly promised and continued to view the progress of each contestant from his position high in the sky.

-Temple ruins, Northern sector of the Venator arena, 12:40 PM-

The helicopter moved as fast as Teri could push it, its rotors whirring away like a bee's wings and the winds that ripped by nearly left the two blind, forcing Teri to draw goggles on her face as a result. It was uncertain as to what Teri's origami ran off of, but if the paper bear were to guess, it may be spiritual energy as well given that she was starting to feel a little tired from traveling so fast and for so long. Come to think of it, maybe that's why she was always so low on stamina when it came to magic attacks, she spends so much time moving about on her paper creations, dodging and observing her enemies that by the time she attacks, she's practically drained at that point.

It was a good thing she had Gumball as backup, but given how tired he was and the injuries he sustained during his clash with Ross, they may be in for trouble once they caught up with the monster ahead of them.

Speaking of, while still quite a ways away from the beast, it was still very large and very terrifying to look at. The first thing that popped in Teri's head when she got her first look at the flying monster was a griffin, but upon closer inspection, it was more like a winged centaur. Mighty in stature, the monster's upper body was like that of a lumberjack's, broad shoulders with beefy arms that were thicker than any oak tree seen by the two children and it's head resembled more of a hawk's only it's feathers were red just like the ones on its body and two black horns protruded from its temples before curving backwards. It kept aloft on four massive wings covered in black feathers with the largest ones as big as canoes and its lower body was sleek like a feline's with four powerful legs flanked by a long, feathery tail that helped keep the massive creature balanced.

Seeing just how large and fearsome such this monster was made Teri question Gumball's sanity every time she thought about it, but remembering how many giants they fought before, the flimsy pilot would remain determined and thought of various methods to take down such a monster.

Noticing a drop in the monster's speed, Teri felt her attention spike and there was a noticeable spike in her heart rate,

"Get ready!" She shouted, hoping Gumball heard her over the wind.

Tensing up, Gumball watched as the Aviantaur (the name he'd given the beast upon seeing it.) began to grow larger in his field of view and began to tense up as result, feeling his knuckles turn white as he clutched his weapon's handle tightly,

"Let's keep our distance. That thing's massive and will no doubt be deadly up close!" He suggested, watching as the monster's shadow covered large swathes of the forest below.

"Right." Teri replied in agreement.

The origami helicopter and its crew of two continued to speed towards the winged behemoth, drawing closer and closer as it began to descend, but made sure that they weren't closing in too fast. However, the Aviantaur seemed to have taken notice of its pursuers as it suddenly fanned out its wings and snapped backwards, nearly crashing into the two. Pulling off some emergency evasive maneuvers, Teri expertly guided the craft in between the monster's wings and Gumball watched with awe as the building sized monstrosity was now behind them.

Pumping its wings until it was just above them, the black and red feathery fiend opened its mouth and let out a blood curdling screech,

"SQRAWK!"

Covering their ears, the kids tried their best to block out the sound and with a single flap of its wings, a cascade of feathers rained down on them like javelins. Spinning his scythe around in a full circle, Gumball tried to block any incoming projectile and Teri summoned barrier after barrier with her new ability, but every defense she put up was shattered in an instant. Despite their best attempts, several black feathers got through and tore the helicopter's rotor free of the body, sending the two plummeting to what looked like a massive Mayan pyramid below.

With both of them falling like rocks along with their tattered aircraft, Gumball's heart started racing once as the wind tore at him and he tumbled through the open air. They were lucky enough to avoid getting hit by any more feathers, but it seemed as though their luck was running thin when Gumball spotted the roof of the temple fast approaching. Realizing they had only seconds until impact, the blue cat twisted himself until he was able to spread his arms and legs to slow his descent and after spotting Teri he quickly sailed towards her before catching her in one arm.

Upon seeing him, Teri gasped and watched as he lifted his scythe up while charging the blade with fiery energy,

"Hold on!" He screamed.

With a powerful swing aimed downwards, the Moonfire Slash cut into the stone before exploding and leaving a large hole which they fell through. After landing hard on his feet, the second rune on Gumball's scythe activated and covered his legs in a protective webbing of glowing purple veins. While this prevented his legs from shattering on impact and gave him a slight boost of energy, a pain like no other surged through Gumball causing him to scream and drop Teri as well as his weapon before falling on his behind.

Getting up and seeing Gumball on the ground while clutching his head, Teri rushed over to him, her eyes lit with concern,

"Gumball, what's wrong?!" she cried in desperation, leaning in to get a better look at him.

Shaking his head and letting out a shaky breath, Gumball tried to bear with the pain while opening his eyes,

"It's- AGH! (wheeze) I-it's nothing! It's just that I learned recently I can't use my second rune three times in a short period of time and this is the fourth time I used it." while he was able to finish his sentence, his voice was strained, as though he were fighting through the pain and Teri saw that his nose was bleeding too.

Seeing him being pushed to the limit like this brought a sense of dread to the paper girl and she realized that for a while now, she'd always seen him as tough, tenacious and fierce. Now he looked like he was falling apart and that worried her so much. Grabbing a napkin from her bag, she started dabbing away at the blood running from his nose and gently brought another hand up to caress his face with.

Such a simple, yet kind gesture was somehow enough to ease the cat boy and a faint smile played on his lips as he looked up at her affectionately causing Teri to smile back,

"You need to take it easy, Gumball. You're not invincible and we need to get out of here before that thing comes back." she said, scolding him somewhat.

Gumball quietly agreed with her by nodding his head and after she finished treating him, he grabbed his scythe before being pulled to his feet by his girlfriend. Having a quick look around the room they were in, it was kind of hard for them to see because the chamber was too dark, save for the hole in the ceiling and the two could assume that the temple's chamber was quite large. Littering the dusty stone floor was an assortment of peculiar objects such as twigs, branches, a few weapons and most gruesomely the remains of some animals, though none appeared to be those of bizarros or humans, thankfully.

Then there was the smell.

It hit them like a putrid wall of rot and musk, as though something had been living here for a very long time and was using the temple as its feeding ground. There was another stench too, but neither of them could figure just what exactly it was. The whole place was unsettling and there was an uncomfortable silence that permeated the cavernous chamber.

The silence was finally broken when a roar from above got their attention and the two initiates realized they'd better get moving,

"Come on." Teri said, grabbing Gumball's paw so she won't lose him in the darkness,

"We need to find a way out before that thing comes back to make a meal out of us." she stated, squinting her eyes in order to better see in the dark and forming a hydro-trident rune on her left palm.

On her left arm, she had four inkblots left and on her right, only three.

Stepping away from the single column of light left the two completely engulfed in an inky blackness and from beneath Gumball's feet, twigs snapped and echoed down the empty room. The further they walked, the darker it got and the smell was even more rancid, causing both Teri and Gumball to feel nauseous. With so much stuff littering the floor, they tripped several times and after stubbing his toe on something metallic, probably a shield or some armor, Gumball cursed in frustration,

"Ow! Stupid piece of- Agh! Hang on a sec, I have an idea!" He growled.

Stepping in front of Teri, who was still holding his hand and feeling slightly bad that he was having a hard time, Gumball charged up a very low powered Moonfire blast, about one percent, and released it with a single swing. The glowing arc of flames traveled across the vacant room, burning several discarded sticks as it traveled and illuminating a pathway for them before crashing into a wall several dozen yards away. Even on one percent, the destructive spell was strong enough to blast through the wall and new light flooded in through the hole.

Happy to finally see where they were going, Gumball sighed in relief and began leading Teri to the new exit he had made,

"There we go much bet-!" He nearly exclaimed when a chilling noise reached his ears.

"SQRAWK!"

It was just like the Aviantaur's screech, only more shrill and ear piercing, causing their heads to snap around in the direction of the hellish noise. Following the scream, the rapid sound of claws scraping stone and branches snapping beneath a large, moving mass that was undoubtedly heading towards them. Soon, with the glow of the first hole they came in through, a hideous creature the size of an adult lion with pink, wrinkly skin, a streamlined, lower body shaped like a cat's, two pairs of scrawny, featherless wings fixed to its upper torso's dorsal side and a pair of bulging red eyes sat within a bird-like head with tiny horns and a black, snapping beak.

It looked like a smaller, uglier version of the Aviantaur and it was heading straight for them with a predatory look in its lifeless red eyes.

Summoning her hydro-trident, Teri hefted the magic weapon until it was leveled with her face and pulled back for a throw,

"Hang on, I'll take care of it!" The paper girl proclaimed, taking aim.

While Gumball was already getting in a defensive position, something was off to him and he looked around the temple's upper floor chamber once again,

"All these random objects, the horrible smell, and the way the Aviantaur was acting, I think this may be…!" with a sudden, dreadful realization that made his eyes widen and his blood run cold, the blue cat's gaze suddenly fixed itself on Teri, who was about to throw her trident at the incoming creature,

"TERI, NO!" he shrieked, reaching out to stop her.

Alas, he was too late and in a single motion, the trident was launched from Teri's fingers, straight at the charging monster. With a well-placed strike, the three icy tips ran straight through the Aviantaur's neck and broke through the other side in a shower of red blood. Stopping dead in its tracks, the pink creature made a gurgling sound as it choked on its own blood and when the magic weapon finally vanished, even more blood gushed out from its neck, spilling all over the floor in a massive puddle. With a dying wail that was choked by the escaping fluids, the monster's eyes rolled back as it crumpled on its wobbly four legs and after clawing at its own throat for a few minutes, the Aviantaur dropped to the floor in a writhing heap before going silent.

Then came an ear-piercing, fear inducing screech from the outside that made their blood run cold and the ceiling shook beneath the weight of a massive creature that came crashing down on the temple's rooftop.

Reacting quickly, Gumball grabbed Teri's hand and with a pull, managed to toss the paper girl over onto his shoulder before making for the exit. Suddenly, the ceiling broke and a massive claw came crashing through the falling rubble as it nearly swiped the screaming children. Recognizing the claw as belonging to the massive flying beast from outside, Gumball panicked and continued to run as fast as his legs would allow towards the hole in the wall he made while Teri tried to figure out what was happening.

"What's happening?!" she screamed, repositioning herself by propping herself up on Gumball's back with her arms and turning her head towards him.

Keeping an eye on the ceiling as the monster's footsteps caused dust to fall from the stone's cracks, Gumball picked up the pace and delivered a snappy reply to his shoulder passenger,

"What do you think, genius? That thing that's trying to kill us is a mom and you just killed its baby! This place is a nest!" He explained with an air of frustration.

Taken aback by this, Teri realized what she'd done and was mad,

"Then why didn't you say something earlier?" she snapped back defensively.

"I did, but you didn't listen to me and threw the trident anyway!" He replied, shooting her a nasty glare, but was taken off guard when the Aviantaur's claw punched through the ceiling again and nearly crushed the two beneath.

Having nearly avoided a fatal blow from the monster, Teri's anger instantly dissipated and was replaced by a growing need to just escape this place,

"Well hurry up and get us outside!" she desperately shouted before realizing something,

"And move your hand a bit higher, you're grabbing my butt!" she shouted indignantly, her face turning red the moment she realized where Gumball's paw was.

Not needing her to tell him twice, Gumball hightailed it towards the exit, pouring some energy into his scythe for an extra boost and leaping forwards just as the Aviantuar attempted to catch them once more, this time using its beak to smash through the ceiling. Out of the hole they shot and the two were once again bathed in the light of the artificial sky while the rest of the world came into view. As they sailed down the side of the enormous pyramid structure, Gumball saw that there was a courtyard at the base of the temple along with a pathway lined with a series of decorative pillars. While Teri was able to see a steep cliff rising behind the temple ruins, what caught her attention was the Aviantaur as it pulled its feathery horned head out from the hole it made and was turning to glare straight at them.

Suffice to say, it did not look happy to see them.

"Hate to say it, but I think Gumball and I are starting to become infamous for killing the children of monsters." Teri thought to herself with a morbid sense of humor.

Landing on the next level down, Gumball set Teri on her feet, uttering a quick apology for accidentally grabbing her posterior and taking a defensive stance in front of her,

"Can you get us in the air within a minute or less?" Gumball asked, not sparing her a glance as he kept his gaze locked onto the towering beast above them.

Pulling out her last large sheet of paper, Teri began folding right away and muttered out an answer,

"Yep, keep me covered." she ordered.

"Sure, but if that thing decides to come after us, then we're moving!" Gumball stated.

The good thing was, the half bird, half centaur behemoth didn't immediately lunge for them and instead spread its wings out to deliver another slew of sharp feathers down on the pyramid's side. Allowing for Teri to grab onto him so she wouldn't get blown away, Gumball spun his scythe around with both hands, feeling his strength increase by a small margin and the tight circle deflected every ballista sized feather that sailed straight at them. The impact of every airborne projectile was like a hard shove for the boy and he needed to steady himself with both legs in order to keep from being knocked down. Using eight percent of his energy coupled with the various injuries he sustained was already wearing him down causing him to breath harder and perspiration to drench his forehead.

However, while Gumball's defense kept both of them safe, Teri worked without delay and formed a dog-sized hummingbird out of blue paper. Watching as the black feathers continue to embed themselves in the stone around them or bounce off the spinning scythe with a hollow clang, Teri realized they needed better protection if they were going to escape. Using her notebook, she drew on a triple moon barrier, a three explosive runes she would fold into shurikens, and the vortex rune she had, but never used before.

Placing the triple moon barrier flat on the ground, Teri got ready and wore her game face,

"Gumball, get ready!" she exclaimed.

Gumball heard her and was joyful to see a clear glass dome materialize around them, watching gleefully as the sharp tip of a feather harmlessly struck the barrier instead,

"Nice!" He said, pumping a fist in front of him.

Spinning around to see Teri already mounted atop the hummingbird and bringing it to life with a flap of its narrow wings, Gumball joined behind her after leaping upwards. Once the dome shattered, the attacking feathered beast was angered to see the two already up in the air again and darting away. With a screech, the four winged bird centaur shot after them in hot pursuit and both airborne fighters descended down the pyramid towards the wide stone path.

Weaving like a needle and thread between the pillars, Teri piloted the origami with amazing expertise while Gumball turned to see the pursuing Aviantaur failing to even bother with maneuvers, instead opting to smash through the columns of stone,

"So I assume you have a strategy here?" Gumball asked, flinching when the thundering sound of rock shattering could be heard behind them.

Nodding, Teri kept her eyes in front and leaned forward to create less drag,

"Something like that, but it's very dangerous!" She explained.

While Gumball was left to ponder what she meant by that, he suddenly felt his insides shift as Teri snapped the bird to the right and banked hard, causing the flying colossus to do the same, albeit less gracefully with its body and long tail smashing several structures in the process. Picking up speed, Gumball could feel the wind ripping through his fur as it screamed past him and he leaned forward a bit while the temple came into view. She didn't stop until she had flown between the building and the cliff that sat behind it while the monster closed in on them.

Raising her explosive shurikens up in front of her, a villainous smile formed on the paper bear's face and when the shrieking red and black beast raised its claws to snatch them both out of the air, she tossed the three explosives straight into its path.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

All at once, the paper throwing stars exploded and the Avaintaur found itself blinded by the blasts while three shockwaves slammed into its body. Now that it was disoriented, Teri put the final phase of her plan into action, shooting forward like a high speed missile and passing beneath the house-sized creature. Once its plumed tail was behind them, the paper girl tossed over her shoulder her last spell and sped out of there as quickly as possible.

Noticing the strange object she tossed, Gumball turned his head to see what it was and scratched the side of it in confusion,

"Um, what was-!" he started.

However, his question was quickly answered when the vortex rune his girlfriend sent to the Aviantaur as a parting gift went off, causing the paper shuriken that housed it to shrunk and collapse in on itself as a powerful singularity formed. The effects of this spell were immediate and had a wide range, pulling in the Aviantaur's tail while also tearing chunks out of the temple and the cliffside, sucking it all in like a vacuum. Screeching in pain, the four winged monster pumped its wings hard as it tried to pull itself free of the all-devouring vortex, but its tail had already been reduced to atoms and the devastating spell threatened to swallow the rest of it whole.

Despite the distance Teri, Gumball and the paper hummingbird gained, the effects of the vortex could still be felt and Teri had to put everything she had into making sure they weren't pulled in,

"What the heck?! When Rob said this spell was powerful, he never mentioned it being this strong! No wonder he never uses this!" Teri thought with alarming realization.

Unfortunately, in the span of three seconds, the spell, while strong, could not withstand its own gravity and quickly collapsed, leaving nothing behind except a partially destroyed building, a cliff whose side had been gouged and a spooked monster with a missing tail. While Teri was glad to have survived that horrible near-death experience, the fact that the horned monster was still alive and kicking left her feeling very worried as well as frustrated. The ace up her sleeve was a failure.

Slamming a flimsy fist onto the narrow head of her mount, Teri growled in anger,

"Darn it! What's it going to take to defeat that thing!" She screamed, followed up by a wheeze as fatigue began to take its toll. She used up a lot of magic today and she could feel its negative effects.

Sensing her irritation and exhaustion, Gumball gave retreat a consideration and turned his attention once more to the Aviantaur. It hadn't gone anywhere yet, opting to just hover in place while it peered about its surroundings in a wild eyed manner and looking rather spooked. After going through something that traumatic, the mother avian was probably on the ropes or perhaps was trying to maintain balance after losing its tail.

It wasn't until Gumball saw the wall of stone behind the Aviantaur that he gained an idea and snapped his head towards his trusted companion,

"Teri, bring me in close!" He urgently commanded.

"Are you crazy? That thing will tear us apart!" A baffled Teri snapped with a perplexed look on her face.

Looking on with determination, Gumball shook his head and pointed with his scythe straight at the beast,

"Just do it! I have a plan!" He countered.

Teri wanted to argue with the blue cat, but knew that whatever chance they had at bringing the monster down, now was the best time and with a shake of her head she brought the flying origami to bear on their target,

"I hope you know what you're doing!" she called back to him, letting Gumball know that she was still uncomfortable with this reckless plan of his, whatever it may be.

Knowing full well how this was going to go in his head, Gumball left little room for doubt in himself and charged his scythe up to fifty percent. Faster and faster they went, with Aviantaur's streamlined form growing ever so massive in their field of vision and within a moment's time they were no more than a hundred feet away from their flying adversary. Once the monster had finally spotted the incoming pair of pre-teens, Gumball took that as his cue and leapt off his unusual ride with his scythe raised perpendicular to his left shoulder, his eyes set on the surprised creature's neck.

Closing the distance within an instant, time seemed to slow for the scythe wielder as he brought the inside of the curved blade against the Aviantaur's vulnerable throat and swung his body until his feet were aimed at the cliff itself. With a surprised squawk, the feathery fiend was pulled towards the cliff by the sheer force and slammed into the rock, making the whole cliff shudder. Kicking it up to one hundred, Gumball put one foot in front of the other, racing up the side of the rocky precipice and carrying the Avaintaur with him.

While the energy that burned through him gave the blue cat a rush that made him feel like an army of a thousand, it was already beginning to fade and he knew there wasn't much time left,

"With the amount I currently have, I'll run out in 8 seconds!" He estimated internally.

7

The top of the cliff was still a hundred feet away.

6

The wind tore at his face as he pounded the solid surface with his feet, every footfall bringing him closer to the top.

5

Feeling the sting of the scythe chewing into her neck and the burn of her back as it scraped against the cliff face, the Aviantaur tried to slow itself down by digging its claws into the mountain behind it causing Gumball's arm to feel like melting lead as he slowed down.

4

Not wanting to stop for even an instant, Gumball did the one thing his instinct told him and after digging his claws into the surface, he jumped!

3

"RRRRAAAAUUUGHHH!" He screamed as they flew through the air and with a final spark, his scythe was coated in flames.

2

Putting everything he had into his arms, he yanked hard and tore through the Aviantaur's neck.

1

With a burning wave of fire followed with a sound like a ripping canvas, the monster's head was removed from its body and Gumball fell towards the top of the cliff below him, completely drained of energy, before landing on one knee with his scythe hung over his shoulder. Behind him, the lifeless body of the building-sized bird-centaur hybrid dropped like a stone, smashing into the side of the temple and tumbling to the ground while its head followed close behind, bouncing like a disgusting ball of feathers and horns. Just like that, the fight was over and the victorious cat breathed a shaky sigh of relief.

-Overview room, 12:48 PM-

Seeing such a spectacular feat done by both the cat and paper puppet, Iris smiled beneath his mask and watched as Gumball's score shot up from a thousand to six thousand. With his fingers interlaced and folded onto his lap, he quietly congratulated the two for their amazing success even though no one but himself would hear it. With twelve minutes left and with most of the other teams either staging last ditch assaults on dangerous targets or with a lucky few even heading back with a prize in their possession, Iris knew he was going to be needed elsewhere to deliver the test results to Central Twelve.

He had a very good feeling about this week's batch, which was good considering the things that were to come next month and afterwards.

-Temple ruins, Venator arena, northern sector, 12:48 PM-

Leaning against his polearm for support and breathing heavily while sweat droplets dripped like a leaking faucet, Gumball was completely winded. While catching his breath, Teri approached from above before hovering to a stop and descending before him. Once she hopped off, the blue cat looked up and spotted her coming, an astonished look mixed with a happy smile decorating her bear-like features.

Once she was about a foot away, she placed her hands on her hips and leaned in with a sly look taking hold in her eyes,

"I thought I told you to take it easy, you reckless dolt!" she scolded, though her happy expression told Gumball that she was glad to see that his plan worked.

Allowing a wheezy laugh to escape his lips, Gumball brought the back of his arm up to wipe the sweat off his brow and just smiled mischievously,

"Pfft! That was easy!" he remarked, though his wobbly knees and hunched position told her otherwise.

Bopping him on the nose with a finger, she shook her head and came to his side to offer support,

"Dork. We're gonna head back to the field and take a break until the contest is over." she stated, her commanding tone already denying any argument that said otherwise.

Wanting to say something snarky, the joking kitten tried his best to think of something, but his thoughts were mud now and all he could about was getting eight hours of sleep. Allowing her to half carry him over to the paper hummingbird, Gumball once again thought about how lucky he was to have her by his side and turned his head a little so he could get a good look at her. She caught his gaze upon her and smiled back at him in return, quietly letting him know that everything was going to be alright.

Jade, he swore everytime he looked into those soft black eyes of hers, no amount of exhaustion or pain could keep his spirits from rising.

A few paces and they reached their unusual form of transportation, carefully hopping on before taking to the skies once more. Free of the ground's limitations, the pilot kicked into high gear and like a speeding blue arrow, the bird tore through the air back in the direction of the field from whence they came. Even though there was little strength left in his limbs, Gumball still acted as a lookout and kept an eye out for danger, not wanting either of them to get disqualified this late in the game.

After two minutes of high speed air travel, the grass sea of the southern field slowly began to stretch over the horizon, past the forest and such a sight was enough to bring the children from Elmore into a sense of ease.

Then something flew by in front of them, it was fast and looked like silver with a red trailing light at its center, and Teri almost let out a scream when it barely grazed the paper bird's pointed nose,

"What the-!" She cried out in alarm as she pulled back to a stop.

Having spotted the strange object too, Gumball tracked it and saw that it was a silver disc with a red gem fixed to the center, one that he recognized right away, following it with his eyes as it made its way back down to its owner below,

"Teri, look! Down below us!" he shouted, pointing downwards.

Following her boyfriend's direction, Teri spotted the familiar shape of Candi and her brow furrowed in anger at the sight of her, amazed that she was up and running again after their scuffle earlier,

"Oh great!" She growled in agitation.

Seeing that she was not happy to see her, Gumball sucked in a huge breath before letting it out and slowly making a suggestion,

"You know there's still time to run, right? We don't have to fight her right now." he quietly advised.

Watching her carefully, Teri noticed how Candi wasn't preparing for another throw and her monitor was showing her face too, a clear indicator that she wasn't being aggressive. Plus there was something in her hand and while Teri couldn't make it out from this altitude with all the foliage in the way, she figured it must've been something important. Still feeling tense and cautious, Teri came to a quick conclusion before getting back to Gumball,

"No, we should probably see what she wants." Teri said, though her tone carried a bitterness to it.

Arching a brow and scratching at the side of his head, Gumball was utterly perplexed,

"Um, you think that's a good idea? I mean, she and Ross attacked both of us not too long ago and I'm completely out of power right now, so I won't be able to-!" Catching Teri's sideways glance, Gumball stopped and listened to what she inevitably had to say.

"I know, but if she was going to attack us, we both would've been knocked out of the sky earlier. Her aim is quite sterling." she explained before setting a course for the ground,

"I think she just wants to talk." she said.

Rolling his eyes and folding his arms in front of him, Gumball huffed to himself,

"I still think this is a terrible idea." he grumbled.

Seconds later, Teri had successfully set them down several feet away from Candi and the two disembarked, though neither of them strayed away from their ride. Now holding the strange object behind her, Candi gave them a little wave, but neither of them returned it and her monitor flicked to a sad face. Sensing some clear hostility from the two, Candi kept her distance and after a brief period of silence that was only interrupted by some birds, the black and white bear droid finally spoke up,

"I'm sorry for throwing my discus at you like that, but I had no other means of getting your attention and I just wanted to say that I meant you two no harm. I'm glad you decided to stop by though." she said in a surprisingly upbeat tone.

Keeping up a serious expression, Teri stayed where she was and allowed a hydro-trident rune to form on her left hand,

"If you're here to recruit us to your team again then forget it, we're on our way back to the field and if I'm being honest here, I'm getting real tired of people telling us what team we should be on." she replied, already extending her fingers as if preparing to activate her weapon.

Stepping forward with his scythe raised in front of him at a menacing angle and his jaw already squared, Gumball puffed up his chest,

"Yeah, and if you wanna try us, we'll pop ya, windbag!" he said in a really gravelly voice, trying extra hard to sound tough, but one quick glare from Teri caused him to tone it down a notch whilst squeaking out an apology.

Wincing at the threat, the fluffy initiate felt another pang of regret for her earlier actions and imitated a sigh by heaving her shoulders,

"I'm not here to recruit you two." she answered.

Holding out her hand, she presented a golden goblet and the two recognized it as a relic.

Watching as their expressions switched from hostile to surprise and bafflement, Candi went ahead to explain herself,

"After I rebooted, I found Paris and the others standing around me. I told him what happened and he wasn't pleased in the slightest, so as a punishment for my failure he sent me out to go survey the nest again." She shivered as the memory resurfaced once more,

"When I wandered into the nest, the monsters were there and I was worried they were going to attack right away, but before I could return to the camp to deliver my report, I realized something. The ones that were guarding the nest were ant-like in appearance and in a way even acted like ants, so after I killed one of their workers, I was able to mask my scent with its remains and I simply pretended like I was part of the hive. Surprisingly, it worked and after I snatched the relic, I decided to leave those good for nothing thugs behind and strike it out on my own." she said.

Sure enough, when they looked, they saw that she wasn't wearing a bracelet that indicated she belonged to any team and that she was indeed alone.

Holding the relic out as a friendly gesture, Candi made an offering and shocked the two with what she had to say,

"I brought you guys down here because I wanted to join your team, if you'll allow me that is. I'm sorry we all got off on the wrong foot earlier, to be honest, I didn't want to obey them and I thought you two looked really friendly." she explained with genuine earnesty and even wore a smile that showed it.

Still holding out the relic for them to take, Gumball and Teri looked at one another for a moment and then back at her, still seemingly wrought with indecision. The forest grew quiet again and with the light overhead never changing it seemed as though there was no passage of time between where they started and where they were now. There wasn't much time left, that they both knew and the two children from Elmore needed a moment to make up their minds.

Holding up a flat flimsy finger, Teri asked the inflated panda droid for a moment to themselves,

"It'll just be a moment and keep the relic with you." she said, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

With a respectful bow and an appreciative glance, Candi spun about her heels and proceeded straight for a tree to wait behind that was well out of hearing range. Once they had a moment to themselves, Teri turned to Gumball and vice versa so the two were facing one another. Before either of them spoke, it was painfully obvious what both the cat boy and the paper bear were thinking.

"I think we can trust her." Teri stated as a matter of fact.

"Same here and besides, she's willing to help us win." Gumball replied with a nod.

Scratching the side of her head, there a doubtful expression on her bear-like features and the upright paper bear was indeed worried about something,

"Won't this mess up our plans though?" she wondered.

Shaking his head, Gumball doubted that was the case and hardly worried about it,

"I don't think so. Our plan is to get into the army and escape, so she'll be able to help us with that." he said.

As wrong as that sounded, they really wanted to go home and their only chances of doing that was to win this thing. There was also the upcoming battle that they were going to have to deal with, but that would have to wait and after a moment of consideration, it was agreed upon. Calling her back to them, Candi showed herself from her hiding spot and was curious to see the two already back on the hummingbird while taking off.

As she began to rush towards them, Teri pulled a bracelet from her pack and tossed it to the approaching robot,

"You're on our team now, so grab on and we'll take you back to home base with the relic." she offered.

With her monitor lighting up in sheer happiness, Candi's bulky paws reached up to her face and she gasped,

"Oh thank you!" she exclaimed much like a gleeful child who'd received a present from a parent as she bounded over with her hands playfully swinging by her side.

It was honestly kind of adorable to watch and when she grabbed on to the bird's narrow underside, Teri was surprised to find the massive robot to be very light. Underneath that inflated cover she must've had a very thin skeleton and compact electronics, at least that was Teri's theory in regards to the eight foot shield throwing fighter. How she's able to wield magical weapons and express complex emotions was also something that lingered in the back of her head, but for now, she just needed to concentrate on getting back to the field.

-Home base, Southern field, Venator arena, 12:57 PM-

Stationed around a flagpole upon which a blue flag sporting an eagle flapped gently in the wind and a pair of long tables that held eight out of the twenty relics already retrieved by teams from earlier, two guards in grey uniforms stood at the ready. One was an anthropomorphic lizard man named Miguel covered in orange scales with some green spots with a green frill traveling from the top of his head down his spine like an obscene mohawk. The other was a female named Stacy and Lacy who was a literal walking hourglass with faces located on both halves of her body and was capable of rotating by flipping onto her hands which also acted as feet.

With the initiation three minutes from being finished, the two (technically three) had been standing there for 57 minutes and were obviously rather bored, choosing to pass the time with small talk,

"...and so I wanna know what you think? Should I go into modeling? I mean, I do have a perfect hourglass figure!" Lacy, the current top half of the hourglass asked the orange reptile, who looked as though he'd literally rather be anywhere, but here.

From the lower half, Stacy groaned and shot a snappy comeback at her twin,

"For goodness sake, Lacy, we don't have the time for that!" she growled.

Rolling his eyes, Miguel began to survey the forest again for anything in particular while he thought of a clever quip, but to his joy, spotted something heading straight towards them,

"Hmm?" He hummed as he squinted and saw that it was three kids, a paper bear, a blue cat wielding a scythe and a robot panda with a magical amulet as well as a relic, all of which were riding what was evidently an oversized, blue origami hummingbird,

"Finally! Someone else to talk to- er, I mean, look! More initiates!" He happily cried out, almost out of pure bliss.

With that remark Lacy and Stacy stopped arguing and looked up to see the odd trio approaching. Making way so they could set themselves down, Candi dropped from the bird's underbelly and rolled to a stop at the table's edge before setting the goblet down in one fell motion. Clapping their hands in applause, Candi was surprised at first and then bowed gracefully as soon as she realized that they were cheering for her. Bringing themselves down for a smooth landing, the battered and exhausted pre-teens ignored the horrified looks coming from the guards at the sight of their injuries and packed up the origami before standing at the ready for more instructions, which Miguel was happy to give.

Walking up to all three of them and shaking their hands one by one, the orange lizard complimented the three on their successful completion of the test,

"Well done, all three of you! You're the fourth team to bring back a relic and probably the last one too." He remarked, checking his watch and seeing that they had one minute left to spare,

"Head on back to the Maglev station, the other teams are waiting along with some guards and they'll escort you back to a dormitory where you'll be staying until the orientation ceremony tomorrow, in which you'll be formed into squads and assigned to a captain. But seriously, well done you guys, that was a really close one!" he said, giving Gumball a pat on the shoulder.

Thanking the kind guard, the trio began their long trek back to the station and of the three walking back, two were completely worn out from their adventure in the forest and were walking as though their feet were made of lead.

Candi, of course, was the only feeling fine and was practically skipping the whole way there,

"Come on you guys! We need to hurry on back to catch the train and get to know one another!" She squealed with a youthful energy that seemed almost surreal when considering everything that had occurred about an hour ago.

"No offense Candi, but I really need everything and everyone to be quiet now. My head's pounding and I need to find a doctor before whatever it is gets worse." Teri groaned, feeling her head throb underneath her massaging fingers.

Surprised to see that her paranoia hadn't faded in this new environment, Gumball rolled his eyes in annoyance and just let it all out in a heavy exhalation,

"I'll say. The moment I find someplace comfortable, I'm gonna drop and not wake up until tomorrow." he yawned, stretching his limbs as he grew ever so tired just from walking.

Spinning around so that she was facing them whilst walking backwards, Candi, being the ever so helpful person she was, tried to offer some assistance to her two new teammates,

"You can ride on my shoulders, Gumball! I'm really soft and fluffy and I also happen to be one of the most sophisticated medical droids made by the Hongxin medical facility in Beijing. I can treat your symptoms, Teri!" she politely suggested.

Seeing such a nice bear offering such a comfortable place to ride, Gumball's face melted into a watery expression that was a combination of happiness and gratitude,

"Really? I would love that so mu-!" he started, almost crying.

"NOT HAPPENING! And I'm not letting you treat me either!" Teri snapped, cutting Gumball off completely.

Raising an eyebrow and staring at her with complete disbelief, Gumball wondered what was wrong with her,

"But Teri, she's just trying to help us-!" He froze as soon as Teri shot him a cold glare and Gumball was wise to cease all protest right away,

"You know what, walking is good for one's health too and seeing as I wanna stay healthy, I'll pass on the ride thank you very much!" he squeaked, shrinking away from Teri's wrathful gaze.

Failing to grasp what was going on between the two, Candi shrugged and simply spun back around with a shrug,

"Suit yourselves." she sang, still sounding upbeat.

The three continued their way up to the maglev station and Teri made a mental note to keep her eye on the other bear in their party, she didn't want either of them to grow too close to her.

-Babyloth city, Capital of the Babyloth Republic-

-18 years ago-

While Nimrod despised decadence, he did have to admit the craftsmanship that was practically carved into the grand, marble halls of the capitol building's medical wing was quite exquisite and pleasing to the senses as every design seemed to flow seamlessly into the walls, floors and arched ceilings that surrounded him. Less than a hundred years ago, the very thought of a united Nephilim people, let alone a presidential palace for the nation's head executive would've been thought as ludicrous by the tribes that roamed the land of eternal night and even the most optimistic of chieftains. That was until thousands of Nephilim, from tribes both mighty and small, heard the call of Jade to return to Earth and several received miraculous visions of sciences that will open a gateway to the faraway world.

This palace, this city, was a testament to nearly a century of progress, reformation and bloodshed in the unification wars to raise Babyloth as a prosperous nation geared towards the reclamation of their planet.

"We have the best staff any of the tribes can offer and so I ask myself, what's taking those bloody fools so long?" Nimrod snarled to himself.

Pacing about the massive halls of the presidential palace's maternity wing, President Nimrod, having slept very little in the past 20 hours (having spent eight of those pacing this very spot), was very anxious and every time a nurse or a medical shamen would appear through the doorway of the delivery room, he would stop to see if they beared any news about his wife or his newborn son, but would only be brushed aside after confirming that they're very busy. Running a hand through his thick, wild black hair, the elected leader of the newly formed Nephilim unified government could only wonder to himself how things were going with Marianne and Isaac and he swore to himself that if he had to wait another hour to see them, he was going to personally fire the chief of medical staff after snapping off his antlers with his own two hands. Thanks to the stress that came from running a moon spanning government of over 14 billion souls, Nimrod was able to keep a tight expression, but his mind was spiraling out of control and he found himself faced with a situation he never thought in his 200 years of existence he'd ever be lucky enough to experience.

He was going to be a father.

He was so lost in thought with this lingering aspect that he failed to notice the nurse approaching from behind and giving him a light tap on the shoulder that caused him to jump. Turning around to see the petite Nephilim female in a white medical dress, short black hair with a single braid that hung over one of her slender antlers and face obscured by a white mask covered in black markings that ended in a pair of twisting serpents that met on the forehead, an enchanted device that sterilizes the skin of the wearer, Nimrod felt his heart jump a little when she appeared to have finally brought him news,

"Mr. President, we're finished with the ritual. You may go see them and might I also offer my congratulations." she stated, clasping her hands together and bowing her head a little.

Releasing the breath he had been holding, the ten foot tall spirit pinched the bridge of his nose and felt himself relax a little,

"Thank you. For your services and respect, you have my deepest gratitude, miss." he said in a polite manner despite his longing to burst into that room to finally meet his wife and their child.

"It was nothing, Mr. President! You requested the best medical professionals and the Hermean tribe is always willing to do our best. For our glorious nation and its people!" She happily replied, following with another bow.

With a single affirmative nod and a dismissive wave of his hand, the president sent her off and proceeded past the two armed Republic Guardsmen flanking the door, where he finally laid eyes upon the most beautiful sight. In the small room, sitting on a bed surrounded by flowers and other exotic plants sent by relatives and adoring supporters alike, and clad in a turquoise hospital gown was Nimrod's darling, his ray of light, his beautiful wife, Marianne Sienna. She was a tiny thing, even by Nephilim standards, around seven feet in height, but managed to stand out thanks to the short bob of fluffy pink hair that covered her head and nearly obscured the slender antlers that curved outwards like tiny twigs. Like all other Nephilim, she had light grey skin and having formerly belonged to the Efer tribe, her eyes were amber in color, glowing like the flames her people were most associated with.

While she didn't see him enter, she did hear his approaching footsteps and a weak smile formed across her lips as she stared at the peculiar bundle of cloth she cradled so lovingly in her arms.

After nine months of carrying their child and over twenty hours of labor, she looked like she'd been through the grinder and while her husband definitely felt sorry for being somewhat responsible for all that pain and discomfort, he couldn't help but feel his spirits lift with every step he took that brought him closer to her. Feeling as though time had slowed down while walking, Nimrod finally reached Marianne's bedside and instinctively threw his arms around her shoulders, burying his face in that curly mess of hair and planting a tender kiss while inhaling her scent, a scent which smelled of sweat and body odors, but was all the more welcoming for him. Once she felt his kiss on the top of her head, the tired Nephilim woman craned her neck back until she could see him clearly and looked him in the eyes, taking comfort in the fact that he was here for her now.

Raising her hand up to brush aside a lock of hair and to caress his cheek, Marianne smiled affectionately at him,

"You're late." was her first greeting and she slapped him lightly, causing the toga clad president to chuckle at her cynical response.

"Me? Late? Crazy talk!" he jokingly responded before standing up straight and raising his arms in a grand gesture,

"I'm here now, aren't I?" he questioned rhetorically, causing his tiny wife to chuckle in amusement.

"Yeah, well, as soon as I'm admitted to leave the maternity ward, the first thing I'm gonna do is, for one, grab some real food because whatever it is they're serving here is definitely not something a mother should be sustaining herself off of and then I'm gonna march right into the Senatorium and give every last one of those old crones an earful because I'm sure whatever important business they had with you, it could've waited at least until after I'm done trying to push this little bugger out!" she complained, already in a foul mood for having to give birth while the baby's father was called back into office during those painful twelve hours.

Rubbing the back of his neck nervously, Nimrod looked a little guilty and a sad whimper left his throat,

"I'm sorry, sunlight. It wasn't the senate that called me in, it was General Gorothim. There was an attack today at Fort Alexander, most likely insurgents from the Kyber tribe, and he needed permission to engage in a search and dest-" After realizing that he wasn't making for a very great case, he quickly zipped it and began twiddling his fingers, turning his head while muttering an apology,

"-I'm sorry." he apologized.

After causing him to tremble thanks to her infamous fiery gaze, Marianne turned her attention back to the bundle in her arms and gestured for Nimrod to come closer,

"Come, I want you to meet our son." She whispered.

Taking a seat right next to her, the tall spirit leaned in and when Marianne gently held him up, Nimrod carefully took Isaac in his hands, feeling how warm and soft he was before taking his first look at his face.

Time stood still.

Nothing around him seemed to move, not the air nor the very light that bathed the room, and as if he could not put anymore focus on the precious little bit of life resting within his grasp, the whole world just seemed to melt away.

Peeking out from a hole within the swaddling of cloth was a tiny face, grey, round with a button nose at the center, puffy little lips that quivered as he drew breath and a pair of eyes that were tightly screwed shut. He was fast asleep and breathing lightly and to Nimrod, nothing could ever look so peaceful as this sleeping child. There was a small tuft of black hair poking out from the edge of the blanket as well as a pair of nubs on the sides of his head where his antlers had yet to grow in and just below his chin, Nimrod could make out a little hand with all the fingers curled up.

Having been from one end of Babyloth to another, the tribal warrior, chiefton, and now president had seen all kinds of magic, but there was something about this one particular moment that made every single one of those encounters feel insignificant.

His whole world, no, his whole life had changed because he was staring at perfection.

Something so wonderful, so innocent had entered the world and brought with him endless possibilities.

Something both he and Marianne had waited nine months to see and now he was here, he was theirs and now they were a family.

Unable to conceal the bubbling well spring of joy that gushed from within him, causing his heart to thunder in his chest, his cheeks to flush a darker color and a shaky breath ro escape his lungs, Nimrod nearly sobbed. Watching her husband's reaction with great interest, Marianne could already feel herself catching the smile and sheer joy that was radiating from this goof of a Nephilim. Laughing out loud, the pink-haired giantess failed to contain her amusement and tried to cover it by cupping her hand over her mouth,

"You have such a dorky smile!" she snickered before bursting out with enough laughter that it made her legs kick and her already sore sides to scream out in pain.

Not caring in the slightest for her remarks towards his appearance, Nimrod hopped up from the bed and held Isaac up in the air above him,

"I can't help it! He's just so darn precious! Oh yes he is!" he cooed, bringing him down closer to his face so he could rub his own nose against his and continued to dote on him,

"Oh you're gonna be my happy little prince, aren't ya! You're gonna live in the palace with mommy and daddy where you're gonna have everything you want and once we have the Earth, I'll build you a castle too! Oh, you're gonna be so spoiled!" his silly antics went on and he continuously kissed Isaac on the forehead while his wife was practically dying of laughter.

With all the movement and fuss that was going on around him, little baby Isaac began to stir from his sleep. Reaching upwards with a tiny fist, he rubbed away at his puffy eyes and slowly cracked them open, gazing upon the unfamiliar face of his father for the first time. Seeing his eyes open and noting that they were black like his, Nimrod grew quiet and was still as he was now completely captivated by those eyes.

The two just stared at one another and Nimrod's fascination and love for Isaac continued to grow as time passed by.

Bringing him closer to his bosom, the Nephilim president plopped back down next to his wife and mother of his child as he turned so she could have a better look at him. Seeing his eyes open again, Marianne greeted him with a loving gaze and waved at the teeny bundle of joy that was looking back and forth between the two faces towering over him. Sticking her finger in close to his face, the baby reached up and grabbed it before pulling at it several times, unsure of what to do with the digit now in its possession,

"He's perfect, Marianne." Nimrod commented, his eyes never leaving Isaac's face as he brought her in for another hug,

"You're perfect." he whispered lovingly.

Giggling lightly, she kissed him softly on the lips and was once again drawn back to her child, though her face held a bit of tension,

"Do you think we'll be able to raise him on Earth?" she asked.

Raising his head and looking at her with reassurance, Nimrod nodded,

"Well, the portal hubs are thirteen years away from completion, but as soon as we're finished we'll still have to take extra precautions because there's still so much about the Earth and its… inhabitants that we don't know about. However, I am very confident that our armies will be able to retake our home and we'll be able to live the rest of our lives in prosperity." he explained, having spent countless hours discussing battle plans with his military advisors and generals.

From what they've managed to observe, the children of Earth possess very little understanding of magic and rely heavily on their machines to live in the otherwise hostile environments, even going as far to transform it to fit their needs. They're also divided and while millennia of warfare has provided them with weapons of terrifying power, their lack of unity and knowledge of the threat that's literally hanging over their heads will lead to their downfall. They were weak, underdeveloped and nasty little buggers that deserved to be wiped out for their lack of vision.

Adopting a solemn look, Marianne wasn't entirely thrilled about the prospect of war, as a matter of fact, she detested armed conflict after watching so many loved ones disappear from her life during her tribe's skirmishes with lesser groups and found the idea of sending millions to potentially die to leave a bitter taste in her mouth. However, throughout the many discussions they had throughout their marriage, Nimrod made it very clear that the children of Earth would not tolerate their arrival and that conflict was inevitable. The Nephilim had once ruled the Earth in peace for a million years and now within the span of six thousand years, not even a quarter of their time, they've managed to cause so much damage while ceaselessly slaughtering each other in droves.

As much as she hated to admit it, peace between their world was highly unlikely and the children of Earth would most likely see them as a threat or worse another poor race to exploit.

Taking Isaac once again into her arms, she slowly rocked him back and forth while rubbing his forehead with her finger,

"Think we should take a picture and save this moment?" She asked, already jumping off that particularly dark topic.

With his eyes lighting up like candles, Nimrod sprang to his feet and clapped his hands together,

"Of course we should, sunlight! Such a moment deserves to be remembered for the ages!" the president declared before snapping his head in the direction of the doorway,

"Guardsmen!" He shouted, snapping his fingers as to summon the two soldiers.

Popping their heads in, both guards saw the black haired president in need of their services and brought themselves before him,

"Mr. President!" the one with shaggy red hair with half his face covered in jagged ice tattoos greeted while dutifully bowing before his commander in chief.

"What is it you require, sir?" the other one with buzzed white hair questioned.

Waving dismissively towards the red haired one, he turned to the one with white hair and pointed directly at him,

"I am in need of your assistance. What is your name, Guardsman?" he asked out of respect.

Standing at attention and placing a hand over his heart, he introduced himself,

"Sir, it's Michael. Michael Bach Lilith, here to serve my people and my country." he announced.

Mouthing the name to himself and seeing how it sat on his tongue, Nimrod found it admirable and pulled out a blue crystal from his cape and handed it to the soldier,

"Michael, I need you to take a picture of my wife, my child and I so that we may capture this moment forever." he demanded, pressing a hand on his armored shoulder and giving it a firm shake, smiling brightly at him.

Without any hesitation, the white haired soldier from the Lilith tribe followed his orders and took a step back while holding the crystal up in front of him,

"It will be done, Mr. President." he replied obediently and waited for the president to get into position with his family.

Once Nimrod was right next to Marianne and baby Isaac was propped between them (He was still hadn't uttered so much as a peep yet and was looking about this strange new environment of his.), Michael filled the crystal with his energy and the device began to glow and levitate. Settling a foot above his hand, the diamond-like object rotated until its flat face caught the three in its reflection and the happy couple smiled while the baby just looked on in curiosity. With everything now set, Michael muttered the spell and with a single flash of light, the image of a happy family was forever imprinted within the gem.

-Babyloth City, present-

There were no walls or ceilings in the president's office, for the powerful leader of the Nephilim race saw it as too confining and was able to enjoy the wonderful view in its entirety. The "room" itself was but a well polished stone floor big enough for two American homes to sit on, lined with decorative pillars and potted plants whose leaves glowed various colors that switched between red, pink, violet, blue, yellow and orange while their trunks glowed white. The starless sky was in full view of this relatively vacant space and hanging in the sky above was the Earth in all its glory, covered in blue oceans, swirling white clouds, and green continents, all of which blended together like some divine artist's masterpiece. On the wall facing Nimrod's desk was an enormous purple banner with two pairs of eyes, the top pair being larger than the smaller pair below and angled in such a way they resembled butterfly wings with a circle encompassing it, this was the logo of the united Nephilim government and was also the common symbol of Jade himself, both of which brought the Nephilim together.

Even though it would seem that the leader of the Babyloth Republic was open for attack, he had nothing to fear, for his office was surrounded by a powerful barrier and his elite cadre of Republic Centurions were always close by him, ready to handle even the deadliest of threats without hesitation or mercy. Then there were the hundreds of Republic Knights that patrolled the presidential palace grounds and the hundreds of thousands of Guardsmen stationed throughout Babyloth city ready to be called into action. Finally, there was the president himself, who was a force to be reckoned with and he feared no attacker, nor anyone really.

Which is why he was currently slumped over on his desk, sleeping soundly while a pool of drool covered the slab that contained important documents he was supposed to be reading and signing while dreaming of a precious moment occurring so long ago.

After gaining clearance from one of the Centurions, Michael stepped into the office and was surprised to see the normally busy Nephilim asleep at his desk,

"Yeesh, that meeting last night with the senators must've done a number on him." he thought as a sweat drop formed on the back of his head.

Approaching him quietly, the white haired bodyguard of Nimrod brought with him another slab containing documents about a superweapon and stopped just short of the president's desk before tapping his shoulder,

"Mr. President." he said in a calm manner, never being one to raise his voice.

At the light touch of Michael's pointer finger and the voice that reached him, Nimrod's eyes snapped open and the raven haired Nephilim shot up in his seat, frantically turning about to get a better sense of where he was,

"Sorry, I was just- Is it Harrog agai- where are those sweet curl crisps I ordered?!" he demanded as soon as he was able to get his thoughts together and then he finally turned to Michael, who was dressed in the formal toga one would wear while residing in the presidential palace,

"Ah, Michael. What brings you here?" He questioned the young Nephilim soldier (who was approximately 102) while rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

Maintaining a serious composure and calmly sliding the slab onto his desk, the white haired bodyguard answered without much delay,

"You wanted a report delivered on the Tower of Babyl and it's prototype." He replied before eyeing the large puddle of slobber Nimrod unknowingly left behind and casually pointing it out,

"Also, you drooled all over your documents again, sir."

While fixing his own toga and cape, the president looked down and saw the mess, his face scrunching up with disgust,

"By Jade, not again! Ugh, not that I care for filling out this ridiculous thing anyway, but the senators are already barking up my tree over the loss of Enoch squad, despite the fact I told that over compensating, meathead of a captain, Az, to pull out of there!" He grumbled as he twisted his head every which way to find something to wipe the magic display with before eyeing his cape and contemplating whether or not he should use it.

"Use this." Michael offered, holding a rag he pulled from a pouch hanging from his belt out to the antlered giant.

Swiping it while grumbling out a thanks, Nimrod started wiping his work area and while he did so, continued to discuss matters with his trusted military commander of the Babyloth Defense Force,

"So how far has the development team gotten in terms of completing the weapon?" He asked, keeping up with his little task.

Rubbing his chin, Michael thought back to the report from the chief of the weapon's research and development sector and shrugged as it all came back to him,

"Crux says that the Tower of Babyl is still mostly in the testing stage for now, but isn't certain such a weapon can handle amplifying your energy to wipe out all magic users across the globe. They need five more years of research to perfect the weapon, but we do have a prototype ready for the battle of Los Angeles and should be capable of discharging a single blast." he explained, expressing very little emotion throughout the whole explanation.

Having already finished cleaning the drool off his desk and the slab, Nimrod had patiently settled back into his chair and pressed his hands against the lower half of his narrow face,

"I see. While I'm fairly disappointed that this war may have to continue for another five years, at least operation: Blindfold will deliver us a significant advantage over the NEA and may tip the conflict in our favor." he said, somewhat begrudgingly despite his overall optimism.

He simply hated having to send so many young Nephilim to their deaths and the five years leading up to now have proven just how cunning and malicious the defenders of Earth truly were. His tired eyes drifted towards the hologram crystal sitting at the edge of his desk showing an image of himself standing by his deceased wife while his son, a young boy in that picture, stood in front of them with both their hands on his shoulder and all of them smiling with genuine happiness. A happiness that had been drained when he lost what he considered to be the center of his universe and leaving nothing behind.

He needed to ensure that such a terrible thing did happen for more families across the lunar nation and he aimed to do so with this crucial battle coming up in about a month.

On another note, he was aware of more assets he could use on Earth and turned to Michael with the intention of pulling more info out of him,

"What of our allies on Earth? Are they prepared to do their part and begin the second phase of the operation?" He asked, having already established a few secret meetings in the past with these individuals he considered to be loathsome, yet useful for the time being.

"Of course, sir. Everything's proceeding according to plan and General Gorothim has 75 legions ready to begin the assault. Everyone's feeling ambitious, I even ran into Zeruel on the way here and he said it was a shame that we weren't pushing past the boundaries of the city to attack other areas." he stated in a somewhat pleased tone while fiddling with one of the sharp points of his antler.

Nodding in approval, Nimrod sat back and picked up the document Michael had brought him, activating the display with a single wave of his hand that brought the schematics of an inverted obelisk tower with a throne perched on top,

"Tell him and the other members of Seraphim squad that they'll have more chances to prove themselves once the conquest truly begins." He said, keeping his eyes glued to the display.

Dismissing himself, the commander of the national defense force proceeded back to the door from whence he came and was about to head out when he cast the president one last glance over his shoulder,

"Don't forget, Mr. President, there's much we still don't know about the people of Earth and once we arrive, they'll be ready for us, probably with everything they've got." he cautioned, placing his hand on the doorknob.

Waving his hand nonchalantly, the wild haired individual failed to show any concern although deep down he knew what possible dangers awaited to confront Gorothim's army,

"I am well aware of that, Michael, the NEA has proven to be quite troublesome and I'd be foolhardy to send 750,000 brave young men and women to their deaths without a proper plan. I'll be joining the battle after the initial stages have proven successful." He replied, now reading into the actual details of the document.

Bobbing his head once more in acknowledgment, the amber eyed Nephilim made his leave and the president was left to muse in his office, his eyes drifting once to the projection of his family and then to the lonely Earth that hung in the sky.

-Lantern Academy, Southwest Jeruzalem, October 12th, 2013 9:00 AM-

It was no surprise to say that the moment Gumball arrived at the campus's dorm room, which in all fairness was less like a typical dorm and more like a mini apartment, the weary cat went straight to bed and was out like a lightbulb for the rest of the afternoon. He did wake up eventually, feeling hungry and when he poked his head into the living room, he found both Candi and Teri on the couch, watching TV while not really saying anything to one another, making everything seem a little tense. Seeing as they weren't permitted to leave the campus, Gumball and Teri couldn't go out to eat with one another and so he settled for making dinner for the two of them, seeing as Candi couldn't eat.

The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful and everyone eventually went to bed without saying a word to one another.

At dawn's arrival (unless you had a clock, there was no way to tell seeing as they were underground and stuck in a perpetual night time.), they were called upon by a campus worker and following a brief breakfast in the main mess hall with the hundreds of initiates present at yesterday's test, they were brought to the academy itself. As soon as Gumball first laid eyes upon it, he was quite impressed, the main building was shaped like a crown, a complete ring of glass interlocking spikes with every alternating spine either pointing inwards or outwards on the building's exterior and the whole campus was surrounded by beautiful patches of gardens dotted with ornate water fountains. Walking up to the building as it stood, both Gumball and Teri felt as though they were entering a college designed by some abstract architect and immediately felt out of place.

The interior was just as beautiful as the exterior. Thanks to the building's sharp, leaning angles, the main halls formed an isosceles triangle, with the walls tapering to a point supposedly where the spines intersected and a line of lights were fixed to the top where the entire hall was illuminated. The building was high enough to support two upper floor levels easily seen from below thanks to the negative space that ran in between with various classrooms and facilities designated for academic purposes. There was no shortage of decoration and furniture at the base floor with more fountains and plants spread throughout the curving hallways and some benches with tables where quite a number of students could be seen either lounging about, studying or catching up with friends and colleagues.

Speaking of the students, the age disparity was quite obvious, ranging from as young as nine to probably their late teens and despite the number of bizarre forms each student possessed, each one was wearing some article of clothing that was akin to a school uniform, which was white and grey with options including a red tie or a cap.

Shivering at the unusually cold temperature, Teri rubbed her hands together before hugging her arms and leaning against Gumball, who was noticeably warmer than the surrounding area,

"Do they have to keep the building so cold?" she hissed, her teeth nearly chattering.

Keeping a steady pace behind the two, Candi had been silently following them ever since they got up this morning and finally spoke up,

"Of course they do. The cold temperature keeps the students awake and sharp during classes." she answered in a chipper tone.

Turning towards her and sharing perplexed expressions, Teri and Gumball wondered how she knew so much about this place and Candi was quick to catch on,

"I've been going to school here for about a year now." She said somewhat sheepishly, tapping her fingers together.

With his confusion now switching to shock and intrigue, Gumball was on the notion that she had been brought here recently and was taken aback by this revelation,

"Wait, what? You've been here for a whole year and yet, you needed to take the initiation test?" he gasped, feeling his jaw drop to the floor while Teri's widened and her pupils shrank.

Nodding slowly and reaching a hand up behind her head while her blue monitor displayed a bashful face completed with a dark blush,

"Yeah, when I first got here, my first test did not end well, so I opted to train for a whole year and study here before taking the test again. I haven't really made any friends, mainly because I've been too busy learning how to defend myself. That's how I got so good at using my ruby discus and well, I guess I can say I was pretty lucky to have run into you guys." she explained with a nervous chuckle.

Another uneasy silence befell the three as they once again thought about the situation as a whole and realized just how easy it could have been for them to fall behind. Most of the people standing around them hadn't even passed the test and proven less than effective in combat. It made all them really uneasy as to what the future held in store for them and suddenly the looming threat of the upcoming battle seemed all the more ominous.

The campus was not their final stop, as the throng of newcomers were led through the building and out the other side at the crown's center. Within the circular confines of Lantern Academy was a space designated specifically for recreational activities, a pathway that ran along the building's walls surrounded numerous courts where students and teachers clad in workout attire were participating in various sports and exercises, even sparring with one another in some areas. At the center of all this was an enormous statue of the Jade Emperor himself and that's where they were headed towards.

Peering up at the masked stone face of what many considered God, Gumball felt a sense of ease and familiarity,

"I've heard about places like this, some schools center themselves around the teachings of Jadism and have shrines and statues erected in specific areas, like the school's center. I think there's a school like that back in Elmore, but I'm not really one for religion and haven't really looked into that myself." he mused, though there was a twinge of doubt somewhere regarding the existence of Jade or any god really, considering that the Nephilim definitely exist.

If he did exist, then why would he allow all of this to happen?

Had he possessed the answer to that question, perhaps he could single-handedly solve all their issues, but the odds of that happening were laughable.

Once gathered at the base of the statue, everyone was instructed by the staff to wait and with some kind of hand signal directed at the school faculty, the students were quickly dismissed back indoors. Chattering picked up amongst the students and the resulting chaotic chorus of voices made it very hard for one to hear their own thoughts. Then all was silenced when a familiar red orb descended from the dark skies of the geofront and from it sprang the spectral form of Iris.

His single red eye glowed with a pleasure upon seeing them and his avianesque form drifted downwards while his core remained stationary,

"Good morning, initiates. I trust that everyone had a restful night given how active you all were yesterday, right?" He greeted curiously, his spiky head swiveling back and forth as he scanned the faces of everyone.

No one said a word and many looked rather troubled, Teri, Gumball and Candi in particular as they'd experienced several night terrors during the night prior.

Rubbing his clawed hands together nervously and with an awkward stance, he eventually moved on from that embarrassing spectacle before the crickets could be heard,

"Good to see everyone looking so lively today. Should I sing a tune? I know a great one Mozart once played before he became-!" he started to drift off in a nostalgic trance before the whole crowd spoke up at once.

"NO!" Everyone screamed in unison.

Not even startled by the outcry, the masked spirit looked on with amusement and his shoulders shook as he chuckled,

"You kids need to learn how to appreciate the classics, but I suppose I should get on with slightly more important matters." he stated with a circular motion of his hand before taking a more serious stance.

Leaning in close so he could whisper in Teri's ear, Gumball spoke in regards to Iris's humor,

"This guy's humor is just as flat as the pancakes I had this morning." He whispered, causing his paper girlfriend to snicker slightly.

Iris's head snapped in Gumball's direction and his red eye seemed to pierce straight through the kitten,

"I heard that!" He snapped.

"Eep!" Gumball squeaked, shrinking back in fear while Teri froze up.

Following his reprimanding of the former Elmore citizen, a massive holographic display popped up behind Iris's core, displaying the NEA's crescent moon and sword logo and the armored entity raised his arms in a welcoming gesture,

"To start, I am pleased to inform every last one of you standing here before me that you are no longer just initiates, but fully fledged members of the Nephilim Expulsion Administration and students of Lantern Academy." He officially declared as confetti sprayed across the screen and a bright sign that read: CONGRATULATIONS!, popped up accompanied with blaring trumpets.

A wave of hushed replies spread across the children like wildfire and the confusion could not be any more apparent. Up next, a scoreboard was shown and the top ten teams with the highest scores were on display for the whole crowd to see. Feeling their hearts soar, Gumball, Teri and Candi found their names listed in third place behind two other teams with a score of over 150,000 points.

"These are the top ten teams who've scored the highest and will be joining the Grand Army of Earth." Iris announced, continuing on as the students continued to look on with awe at the names listed and some in the crowd were even cheering,

"For those of you who've failed, that's quite alright, you are free to try again next month or so and may take your time at this academy to form teams, develop strategies or even train for the next test, though be warned, the environment within the arena will always be different, so you must be absolutely prepared. For those who don't wish to join the armed forces, you may also stay here and study for a different profession, Jeruzalem is a place of opportunity where talent can be utilized and you can learn more from the school counselors, but you'll still be trained as soldiers." He explained.

Hearing this, Teri was brought back to her conversation with Jaydin and remembered him telling her that he lived in the city along with his family. His wife and parents must all have jobs here, does that mean if Teri's family were to come, would they be allowed to work as doctors in this place and live together in relative safety in Jeruzalem? Another question she had on her mind was why were the top ten required to serve while the rest were allowed to choose their own paths? Was there some kind of benefits soldiers were given that regular folk weren't? It'd make a lot of sense seeing as the organization that runs the place is built around fighting the Nephilim and begs the question on what other places were doing in terms of recruitment?

While she pondered this, Iris began announcing the new teams, starting first with the team that came in first place and called them up to the platform that the statue stood upon,

"Helen Carolina, Judy Barbara, Tyler Higgins, August Dolce, Sakura Ayanami, Collin Frankfurt, Kanshi Kalem, and Morgana Templeton." he called out the list of names and to everyone's astonishment, a group of kids ages ranging from 14 to 18 marched up to the statue, all of which were humans from various countries and wore the semblance of a professional soldier or an athlete, with everyone looking sharp and disciplined, hardly children at all,

"All of eight of you managed to come in first place with over 650,000 points after snagging five relics from dangerous locations across the Venator arena and slaying three A-class monsters all within the record span of 27 minutes and 15 seconds. I congratulate all of you for your bravery, tenacity, and sharp wit." Iris commended, waiting for everyone to give a round of applause and the eight figures stood tall and proud while still maintaining a strict stance in front of the crowd of onlookers before Iris continued,

"Your years of training have paid off well and you shall hereby be known as the elite special operations unit, "Imperious" and shall begin your training under the command of Captain Howard Brekkit!" He concluded, once again waiting for another round of applause and the eight winners bowed their heads in respect before they were dismissed by the armored overseer.

After seeing such fine young men and women present themselves as the high-ranking champions they were, Gumball realized that both Teri and himself were extremely lucky in that they managed to survive and gain experience from all their battles in Elmore in order to gain their position amongst the top three. That and the fact that they were also lucky to run into Candi a second time. Clearly, none of them could otherwise hold a candle to people who've trained for so long in such a place as this.

Up next was another team that managed to snag three relics, not from their given locations, but by setting up traps for unfortunate novices before stealing away their prize and not a single one of the four had managed to kill a monster that was above the D-rank, so they only beat Gumball's team by about 150,000 points. They were given the squad name "Desert Tarantula" and sent off with another captain to begin learning better ambush tactics. Then up next was the trio of odd misfits themselves and as soon as Iris motioned them forward, a pathway was made for them as they strolled up to the stage.

Looking around at all the young faces they passed by, Gumball recognized that some were completely dumbfounded by what they were seeing and others were downright enraged, which was understandable, given that neither of them really looked like winners. There were several curses hurled from the crowd directed at Candi, whom the female panda bot recognized with disdain as Paris and his gaggle of thugs as they called her traitor, worthless, and other things as she passed by without any interest. When Gumball and Teri looked, they assumed that the blonde haired human boy in the red trench coat with a glare that could melt steel beams was Paris and the other impish boys and girls were his cronies.

They looked like real nasty people and Gumball was happy to see that Ross wasn't with them, but sad at the same time as he remembered what he nearly did to him.

Once on the stage, Iris was right beside them and seemed all too happy to see them up there, which confused everyone,

"Coming in third place with over 150,000 points, these three managed to snag a single relic and took down an A-class beast in the Northern temple ruins. Out of these three, two are new here and have been engaging the enemy for over a month and one has been dedicating herself to perfecting her skills so she can find herself up here, among the elite. I hereby declare you three members of the urban combat patrol unit, "Moon lance" squad and you are to begin training under the supervision of Captain Abu Ghadafi! Congratulations to all three of you!" he praised and the crowd cheered again.

It was their first time seeing the overseer of the NEA up close and the first thing the motley crew noticed was that, for one: he seemed positively ancient, even for a ghost as there was a noticeable aura that just seemed so alien resonating from the ebony-haired, bird-mask wearing specter and when he turned to dismiss them, there was something in the way he was looking at the small team, namely the one's from Elmore, that they caught on to.

He was very strange indeed and neither of them knew what to make of this shadowy leader of the army they were now a part of.

As they proceeded back towards the building, a person rushed up to greet them, ordering them to form up in a straight line, which they did and introduced himself,

"Private Watterson, Private Pepakuma and Private Candi, it's a pleasure to meet you! I am your captain, Abu Ghadafi of Moonlance squad and it is an honor to be working with you!" He announced with a heavy Arabic accent, shaking their hands individually with a bright smile on his face.

To their surprise, the captain of their unit was very polite and charismatic just by his movements and gestures alone. A fine bizarro with the physical characteristics of a panther, his upper body was anthropomorphic while his lower half was like that of the actual junge cat's, making him out to be centaur-ish. Covered head to toe in fine, well groomed black fur with a purple sheen that caught the lights and piercing, gorgeous emerald eyes, he was really handsome. His only attire was a golden breastplate made of interwoven wicker strands and golden armbands on his biceps, giving him a distinct style of a Persian warrior.

Greeting him in return, everyone seemed to be getting off on the right foot and the tall panther man kept his approachable tone as he went on about the squad's mission and purpose,

"As a former member of the Persian Military Police, I have had my fair share of military experience and I have been selected as leader of this squad for my expertise in urban combat! My aim and my mission is to forge you into the finest soldiers for Earth and making sure we are ready to deploy to Los Angeles within a month!" He explained, keeping his back straight and his head held high as he paced back and forth,

"The training will be grueling and we have a lot of obstacles we must learn to overcome, but here in the NEA, no mountain is too steep for us to climb over, no ocean is too deep for us to dive in and no giant is too mighty for us to topple! We are the elite, the proud and finest force the world has ever known and we will win! Do I make myself clear?" he shouted.

"Sir, yes, sir!" They shouted in unison.

Shaking his head, Captain Ghadafi shouted again, louder this time with more brass and less charm,

"Terrible! You hushpuppies need to speak up! Now again: DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?" he leaned in and stared directly into the eyes of Teri, who was almost shaking at this point.

Taking in a deep breath and letting out with everything they had, they screamed,

"SIR, YES SIR!" sounding much bolder.

"I guess that'll have to do." the panther captain said as he trotted around them in a circle before taking the lead,

"Right, we'll head off to Fort Alexander, we'll run drills and basic formations all day until you're doing them in your sleep! Single file, forward, harch!" he commanded!

They did as they were told and composed themselves in a single file line before marching off towards the campus with the captain at the front towards the side, while Candi was up next, followed by Teri and lastly Gumball. Feeling happy that their quest for freedom was one step closer to being completed, Teri felt more confident in herself and was certain that whatever came next wouldn't be as terrible as the trials they endured in the arena. Thinking back to the arena, Teri remembered something Gumball mentioned after Iris appeared and turned to face him,

"Hey, Gumball! You said your birthday was on the 21st of November, right?" She whispered, making sure that she doesn't catch the attention of the other feline in their squad.

Bobbing his big head and smirking at her, Gumball remembered mentioning it,

"Yep. Why do you ask?" he inquired.

"When we get home, I'm gonna give you the best birthday you've ever asked for!" She declared, flashing him a look that displayed her resolve and her passion, making Gumball feel as though he were being lifted.

Smiling back in appreciation, Gumball thanked her for everything and they continued to march on to the first day of their new lives.

-Jeruzalem ministry of defense, central Jeruzalem, 10:17 AM-

Within the cavernous meeting room of the city's central government facility, thirteen figures stood at the center of the room, but only one was actually present and the ones that circled around him were in fact located around the world. Twelve glass cylinders set in a circle, each roughly the height of a man and a hologram within, presenting a number 1 through 12, with an audio line beneath that flared up in jagged distortion whenever a member spoke. The ones behind these displays were the men and women in charge of the UN's Supernatural Commission, Central Twelve and the one in the center was none other than the head administrator of NEA, Iris.

The massive chamber they stood in was dome shaped, completely white all around and sterile-looking, invoking a feeling of cold for all those who entered. The conversation between the Councilmen and Iris left echoes that bounced off the walls as a battle plan was being discussed among the individuals,

"...and you intend to repel an invasion force of 750,000 with an army a third that size?" The one marked "7" questioned in his scrambled voice.

"We can send more troops if you wish, administrator. Aren't you cutting it too close by sending in such a small counterstrike when our enemy's power has proven more than a match for even our best units?" the hologram marked "3" followed up.

Keeping his hands behind his back and standing tall, the NEA's overseer shook his head in a respective decline towards 3's proposition,

"250,000 will be enough, councilman. Thanks to the vision provided by the Oracle, we know the Nephilim will concentrate their forces in central Los Angeles and will attempt to spread outwards in a campaign of rapid dominance." he explained before pulling up a display showing a detailed outline of LA's streets and buildings as several red circles appeared around the city's center before expanding while several blue arrows surrounding the Nephilim's expansion began to close in.

"The first and second waves sent in will prevent the forces of Babyloth from spreading until the Orbital Aetherion Cannon "Jupiter" launched on the very same day is overhead and ready to fire down upon the invaders." he said.

The image switched to a 3-D side view of the city itself along with the surrounding terrain and above was a satellite with three focusing lenses stacked on a rotating dish located at the bottom fired streams of white, fiery projectiles onto the battlefield from above.

The members of Central Twelve remained in stunned silence as the holographic screen switched back to the overview of the city and with the red circles representing the Nephilim's advance reduced in size as Iris began to wrap up his description of the operation,

"According to our estimates, the power delivered by the resulting orbital bombardment will cut the enemy's numbers down by 65 percent, at which point we'll send in the third wave along with the Blackstar-class aerial destroyer, Prometheus, to mop up the remaining Nephilim in the area." he concluded, switching off the display with a wave of his hand.

As expected, the council was silent for a moment and after patiently waiting for a response, the grey entity was provided with an opinion,

"Sounds highly effective." came a response from 1.

"What of the city itself? Surely the damages done during the battle will be catastrophic!" Came the concerned reply of 5.

"And how well prepared is your force for the Nephilim themselves? Surely they'll send powerful units to take the city: the Republic's knights? The centurions? The Seraphim squad? General Gorothim? Has the Oracle been able to identify certain attackers or possible weapons otherwise unknown to us?" 6 followed.

Last of the ones to question Iris's battle plan was number 10, as she was at Delphi when the Oracle provided clairvoyance to the SC,

"What do you intend to do if your counter strike fails to contain the Nephilim or worse, is completely annihilated. The oracle herself and many others like her showed a vision of darkness after the forces of Babyloth arrived and that is something most, including myself, find concerning." she stated, causing many to respond in agreement.

Feeling his facial muscles twitch beneath the mask, Iris did his best not to come off as alarmed or irate as he reached up to scratch an itch on his neck,

"I do follow everyone's concerns and with all due respect, members of Central Twelve, denying the enemy any ground for which to mount an invasion is the NEA's utmost priority. The brave men and women that will be participating in the battle are of exceptional skill and talent and will hold the line at all costs. Winning this battle with such a small force is paramount to effecting the war as a whole as not only are we hopelessly outnumbered, but the enemy's knowledge in magic simply outstrips our own and if we are to push back our defeat, we must show them that any conflict with us will be far too costly." He stated, twisting his head so that he may peer upon all those who were watching him with the confidence and suave only a leader could pull off,

"Should we fail to hold the city and push them back, I'll have the twelfth battle fleet positioned along the coastline and they'll unleash their full might onto the city, flattening everything along with what remains of their force. A pyrrhic victory, but a victory nonetheless and we'll have to adjust our strategy after the battle. As for the uncertainty that was portrayed by the Oracle, we have no clue what it means, but the fact that it correlates with Babyloth's first major offensive means they may have something planned that could affect the world as a whole and thus further stresses why we must deny them any chance of taking Los Angeles or any other piece of territory." and with that he bowed his head in respect, showing that he was done with his assertion of the given situation.

The chamber was filled with the mutterings of the council members as they discussed amongst themselves the practicality of this plan and whether there was something else that needed to be brought to their attention. There was not and once the discussion was wrapped up, they all went silent to signal that they've reached a consensus. Taking the spotlight, number 1 spoke up and delivered their verdict,

"Very well, overseer Iris, you may proceed with your operation and we'll inform the U.S. of the estimated damages provided by your logistics team. There's been a call for evacuation given to the mayor and the PR department has already fabricated a story for the masses. We pray that you may be successful, for we do not know what the future holds beyond this and the outcome of this battle may determine the rest of the war whether we win or lose. May Jade be on your side, Iris." he remarked with a final prayer before his display switched off and the others soon followed.

Once he was alone in this vast, empty space, the leader of the world's largest unified military force let out a shaky breath before a hand shot up to his feathery black hair and combed through it with his fingers. For five years, he'd been waiting with dread for this inevitable moment, carefully monitoring the Nephilim and their covert strikes as they tried his hand, tested their resolve, and eliminated thousands of individuals who they deemed as a threat to their plans, while he complied with equally deadly force. Despite half a decade of making breakthroughs in magic, science and technology, recruiting and training millions of fine individuals into the most effective fighting force the world has ever known, Iris knew they weren't ready to face the full might of Nimrod's Republic and the ominous warning given by their seer was far less a comforting sign and more like the toll of death's bell.

By the heavenly sovereign's name he hoped that he was watching over them and knew without doubt that a miracle was going to be needed if they were to survive.

-Babyloth city, Nov. 15th, 2013, 1:07 PM-

To say the capital of this fine nation was big was an understatement.

The city was simply all encompassing to one who stood at its lowest tier.

Home to over ten million souls, Babyloth city was one of the mightiest economic centers and the beating heart of united Nephilim people. It's three tier structure was a testament to the thousands of tribes who came together at the start of the new century under the banner of Nimrod and the senate to bring forth the coming age of reclamation. Formed within the titanous trunk of the Lunar tree, two circular platforms jutted out like discs embedded into its sparkling surface forming the two upper tiers with the highest being reserved for the political elite, the second level belonging to high ranking military officials and served as a training grounds for the army's Knights and other elite members.

It was this middle section that Gorothim Zak'al was familiar with, having made it his home several decades past after he was accepted by the senate as one of the first candidates for the Republic Knights program before eventually making his way up the ranks to High General and part of Nimrod's elite Centurion guard. To be honest, he still preferred the rugged plains the Zak'al tribe resided in for centuries instead of the beautifully sculpted geometric architecture that dotted the middle tier disc along with the twisting, intertwining hollowed out tree trunks that acted as skyscrapers and supports for the uppermost level. He, among the other members of his tribe, were very accustomed to the nomadic and brutal lifestyle of the Sea of Tranquility, with him personally enjoying the thrill of battle wherever it may take place.

Clad in full armor plating with some fierce-looking images of gruesome battles depicted on the chest piece, the Nephilim general was bulky and intimidating. There were marks of previous engagements shown in the form of scars crisscrossing his face and some branches of his antlers missing. His head was also shaven into a mohawk that draped over the right side and was emerald green at the tips.

Not that he was one for appearances as he preferred to dress lightly or wander about in his skeletal, six armed metamorphosis form, he did need to look his best for the task at hand.

After wandering the narrow, winding streets of the second tier for over an hour, passing by many elite soldiers who often saluted him and went silent out of fear, he moved with purpose until he came across a golden circular platform with a sun rune baring many twisting rays and a crescent moon in its circle and stepped onto it, his metal boots making a clanking sound as they made contact,

"To the staging grounds, south of the portal hub." He commanded with a growl, thinking hard as to where he wanted to be.

The platform lit up a bright golden color, as though the sun itself were shining below his feet and a pillar of light shot upwards, enveloping him completely. Once the light dissipated and he was able to see again, he was no longer surrounded by the elaborate housing units of the military tier and now found himself on an elevated platform facing out towards an open gathering spot while the enormous tree of Babyloth city along with the sprawling metropolis of the lowest level rested miles away from his current location.

Flanked by two guards garbed in red, ceremonial robes, carrying nothing but short swords strapped to their belts and faces concealed by elaborate crested helms, Gorothim marched towards the platform's center with his head held high and his shoulders brought back, making sure his pace was steady. Before he reached his location a podium rose like liquid from the polished black glass floor and he stood behind to face the open gathering area in front of him. Standing there, in 75 neatly arranged squares of ten thousand Nephilim soldiers each, was the official invasion force that was to embark for Earth and attack the city of Los Angeles.

Placing his hands on the side of the podium, the glass surface beneath his fingers lit up blue and a series of trailing lines snaked their way downwards before making their way behind him on the stage before shooting up into the sky to form a towering screen showing his scarred visage for all the soldiers to see.

Taking a deep breath, Gorothim cleared his throat and looked out to the vast sea of silver bristling with spears, like spines of a terrifying beast,

"Sons and daughters of Babyloth." He began, his voice echoing throughout assembly thanks to the assistance of floating platforms hovering about, projecting his voice and image for all to see,

"For half a decade, our fellow comrades and myself included, have covertly carried out missions against the forces of Earth, testing their strength, wiping out threats before they could impede our crusade, and installing fear and confusion within those unsuspecting and those who are wary of our presence. Tomorrow, marks a new beginning, for there will be no more lurking in the shadows, we shall bring forth the might of our legions upon the NEA and their pitiful defenders at Los Angeles and deal a crushing blow to our enemies! The likes of which they'll never recover from!" He boomed raising his arms up and hearing the roar erupt from the thousands of mouths, feeling the vibrations of hundreds of thousands of spears slamming the ground in unison in a chaotic display of unified aggression.

Seeing the bloodlust and ferocity that filled the ranks of the organized columns caused Gorothim's face to split in a wild grin while his dark eyes lit up with a hunger that seemed to swallow up any semblance of a man before composing himself once more and raising a hand that forced the legions to grow silent in a short manner of time.

Once it was quiet enough to hear a pin drop from the other side of the assembly field, Gorothim cleared his throat and continued in his brass, booming tone,

"For roughly six thousand years we've toiled in this prison, scratching a living from the dirt and fighting amongst ourselves in senseless conflicts over scarce resources and differing beliefs. We are but a shadow of our former selves, children of gods long since faded and now we have a chance to reclaim that glory. The call of Jade has united us! He is calling his children back to Earth, our homeland, to reclaim it from those who follow in Mephisto's shadow and continue to desecrate the Earth with their greedy, short sighted ambitions! Let us, the children of Heaven, the rightful protectors and rulers raise Hell on Earth!" He bellowed, eliciting another positive, aggressive roar from the interplanetary assault force.

While he reveled in the thoughts of leading the Nephilim's first full fledged assault on the Earthlings, the general himself did not necessarily believe in Jade or fought for the cause of Heaven. Simply put, the concept of a higher being failed to grasp any solid belief in the warmongering Nephilim and believed this war was to be fought for greater gains than some simple myth blind followers entertained themselves with. However, religion did have its benefits and as a leader, Gorothim would use anything to rally the people under his command.

With his powerful speech delivering an expected high moral amongst the Guardsmen and Knights of the Republic's army, Gorothim eventually retreated back to the confines of the grand hall behind him and another high ranking official took his place. The passage that led to the main portal hub was vast, big enough to let several brigades pass through the space between the line of pillars of smooth green marble and Gorothim's footsteps could be heard echoing across the vacant building. He needed to meet up with someone in private and was heading the portal hub where no one was allowed for now seeing as operation: Blindfold was to be put into action tomorrow, Nimrod wanted absolutely no chance of anyone leaving and spoiling the surprise for those down below. All of which was good for him and his accomplice.

Once he passed into the terminal itself without any harassment from the guards stationed there, Gorothim proceeded down the silver walkway as row upon row of secluded gateways to Earth stretched on for what looked like eternity in front of him and his occupied thoughts were soon interrupted when he spotted a poster showcasing the four eyed emblem of the Nephilim nation with the president himself in front,

"Hmph!" He harrumphed in disdain for the elected political figure.

His body was engulfed in a glow that transformed the grey, Mohawk-sporting entity into a towering six armed skeleton with an elongated skull, bones as transparent as glass and legs sporting an extra knee with a taloned foot that dug into the silver tiles beneath him as he scratched the poster with one of his claws,

"I'll take everything from you, Mr. President! One of these days that victory you aimed to achieve will be ripped out from your grasp and I'll be the one to hold the true mantle as the next Nephilim king!" He snarled as he continued to rip the poster to shreds in a sheer fit of rage.

Once the piece of paper had been reduced to a pile of ribbons that scattered in the wind, the angered general continued to stomp his way down the pathway and kept a lookout for his ally, Metatron.

(A/N) And there we have it folks! Teri and Gumball's first day in the NEA and with what's on its way, all that has come before will seem like a cakewalk.

It all comes together in the Arc 1 finale, Rob and Grendela coming in from Elmore to save their fellow defenders, General Gorothim at the head of a relentless assault, a nefarious plot by Nimrod, and Gumball and Teri finally at the forefront of what is to be the largest battle in all of arc 1. Chapter 16: The end of the beginning.

The war begins.