Rerunning a Disaster

Chapter 4: The Time-Stopped Showdown

Rob stared up the escalators. Gumball had careened up there, and he could hear the cat wailing out to someone, but other than that, nothing. Rob was getting impatient now. Gumball's life was in ruins, all he needed now was to get rid of the feline once and for all.

"Gumball Watterson! Show yourself so we can finish this!"

"Mother, that man's yelling at escalators!" observed Billy as he and Felicity walked by.

Felicity looked snootily at the glitchy cyclops. "Don't stare at the weirdo, Billy dear. He clearly has issues."

A few seconds went by, Rob's threat seeming to have fallen on deaf ears. That Gumball was too broken down and cowardly to talk back. Time to take another matter into his own hands.

Just as Rob was about to scale the escalators himself to finish the job, he got a response. Just not from the person he was hoping for.

"YOU!!!"

There, at the top of the escalators, was Penny, staring down at Rob, her eyes full of disdain and hatred.

Naturally, Rob was confused. "The girlfriend?" he thought to himself. He'd planned to bump her off last of all to make certain Gumball would wish he were dead. Yet here she stood, acting as if she knew something was up.

With the push of the pause button, Rob willed all time to stop except for he, Penny, and Gumball, wherever he was.

"What do you want, Gumball's girlfriend? I'm in the middle of something here!" Rob called out.

"It's Penny, first of all." she responded, her tone oozing with venom. "And secondly, I'm aware of what you're up to, mister. I know all about the remote, what you've done to Gumball's family, and what you probably planned to do to me. Well, I have news for you, pal..."

In the blink of an eye, Penny hoisted herself onto the escalator's handrail, and slid down towards the ground level.

Before Rob could even think of anything to press on the remote...

*WHAM!*

Penny flew off the handrail, delivering a mighty drop kick into the cyclops' stomach.

"I'm not allowing this to go any further!" Penny cried out. "I'll see to it that you pay for your murderous actions!"

Penny threw herself and Rob into a tumble, rolling over and over until she rested on top. She then grabbed at his shirt and began to punch him violently.

Rob held on to the remote for dear life, which wasn't an easy feat given the beating he was receiving. In a desperate moment, he hit the slow motion button, which slowed Penny's next punch and made the impact hardly feel like anything. He then freed himself from Penny's grasp and stood up, clutching her by the neck with his free hand.

"I don't know how you know about my plan or the remote," he snarled, "but I won't allow you to further interfere with my goal of destroying Gumball Watters-!"

Penny suddenly flapped her wings to propel herself forward, ramming one of her antlers into Rob's eye. Rob lurched back in severe pain and released Penny, his attention having been too focused on his gloating to even react to the sudden attack.

After regaining his vision, Rob rushed into Penny, pinning her to the ground by the arms. As he smirked evilly at her, the fairy suddenly swung her leg, successfully kicking Rob in the face. She swung for a second kick with her other leg, managing to cause Rob to let go of her arms long enough to strike him with a fierce uppercut.

Penny bolted over towards where Rob landed. However, Rob made a sudden move and grabbed both of Penny's wings, holding her in place.

"Now I've got you, you meddling twerp!" he sneered.