Chapter 3: The Pieces

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Hearts pounded with every footstep across the broken sidewalk, sweat dripping from their foreheads. An aura of tension loomed over the Wattersons, Penny, Ben, and Rob, and with the recent events that transpired, who could blame them?

Not only do they have to get to the Awesome Store in time to fix a universal remote that could undo the effects of the Void, but they also have to deal with an army of corrupted cartoon characters, some of them their former friends, out to get them.

"Come on, Anais! Run faster!" Gumball shouted.

Anais ran as fast as she could, but her height and size didn't help in the slightest, looking like she was squirming in mid-air than actually running. "I'm trying! Ugh! Curse these stupid legs!"

Anais tripped on a crooked sidewalk and fell head-first onto the ground. She turned back and saw the horde of corrupted cartoon characters charging at her with full force.

Anais screamed as one of them, an old purple moose creature with large antlers and a brown sweater, lunged at her, his mouth gaping in an impossibly large manner.

Just before he could tackle her, Gumball grabbed Anais in the nick of time, causing the moose to hit his head on the pavement. Anais heavily breathed, holding onto Gumball tightly, never wanting to let go. "T-Thank you, Gumball."

"Don't thank me yet!." Gumball replied.

The Wattersons, Penny, Ben, and Rob continued to sprint across the Void-infected wastelands, with the corrupted cartoon characters still hot on their trail.

"There's gotta be some way to stop them! We can't keep running for long!" Nicole said.

"Maybe a wonder hug can cure them!" Richard suggested.

Gumball, Darwin, Anais, and Penny immediately get flashbacks to the day the joy virus started. Richard gave Gumball and Darwin a wonder hug to get them out of a bad mood, and in turn, made them overly happy to the point where they became zombies and in turn infecting the school. The only reason they turned back to normal was that after Miss Simian got turned into a joy zombie, the music tape coincidentally dropped to the ground and the sad music played all over the school on the PA System, effectively curing the virus.

"No!" Gumball, Darwin, Penny and Anais shouted collectively.

"Why? Those creatures look so sad and gloomy, they look like they need some love! And a hug that contains all the love and joy in the world can get them out of their bad mood!"

"Dad, the last time you did, you turned us and the entirety of my school into brain-dead, overly-joyous zombies! And turning those batch of mindless zombies into another batch of mindless zombies isn't the best idea and doesn't help anyone in the long run!" Gumball stated.

"I did?" Richard asked.

"Yes!" Gumball, Darwin, Anais, and Penny collectively shouted.

"Besides," Gumball looked over to the horde. "They look happy enough! Their smiles are so gigantic they could reach the bottom of the Pacific Ocean and crush the titanic if they wanted to."

"Come on, guys! You got to trust me on this!" Richard suddenly stopped running, and turned around in the other direction, heading towards the horde of corrupted cartoons.

"Richard, what are you doing?!" Nicole shouted.

"I'm about to give them all the love in the world!" Richard shouted back. He stopped mere inches from the horde and opened his arms wide. "Now come to papa!"

An 8-bit spider emerged from the horde and dashed towards Richard.

Nicole gasped. "Richard, watch out!"

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