[REWRITE OUT NOW] {COMPLETED} The Time I Was Human (Cookie Run AU)

Chapter 5: The Forest

"His power just keeps getting stronger... It's concerning...."

Lemon Cookie awoke with a start. As his eyes shot open, he realized that the surroundings he was in was not his room. That was a no-brainer, there were trees towering over him and grass beneath him.

He felt a sharp pain on his forehead. Reaching up to touch the spot that hurt, he felt a liquid-like substance on his hand. When he lowered his hand, he saw that it had fingers and was covered in a red liquid.

"That's strange," he thought. "What's going on?"

Slowly making his way to a nearby pond, he quickly realized from the reflection that he was bleeding. But another thing he noticed was that his face had changed.

Instead of being round like before, it took shape of more of a human's face.... but that couldn't be, right? His eyes had changed too. Now instead of being circles of icing, they took a distinct shape. His forehead was dripping with blood, and he had a pretty bad case of acne.

"What in the-"

Out of nowhere, a massive ball of paint splashed onto a tree behind him. No, it wasn't a paintball, it was a gumball! Lemon jerked his head in the direction of the firer, and saw Gumball Cookie bolting towards him at full speed.

Gumball was panting as he came to a stop in front of Lemon. He had also been turned human, and looked about sixteen. The entire upper half of his jacket was torn and in shreds, exposing his chest. His body was covered in bruises and a huge cut ran across his face. Mud and jelly was splattered all across his gumball cannon and on his helmet.

"Gumball, what the fudge?!" Lemon exclaimed as Gumball nearly collapsed into his arms. "What happened to you?"

Gumball forced a pained smile.

"I could say the same to you, Angst."

Steadying himself, Gumball grabbed Lemon's sleeve and said, "There's no time to stand around. We have to go."

This wasn't like Gumball at all. Normally, he went around destroying things with his cannon and claiming that it was "art" with a snarky attitude and a wide grin on his face. He almost never lost a fight or even got into any at all.

But when he was being serious, it meant something was seriously wrong. Lemon decided not to question it and follow along.

Gumball's grip on Lemon's sleeve was weak. He seemed tired from running or defending himself from... whatever it was.

"Let me carry you," Lemon said as he carried Gumball up into a piggyback position. "You seem tired. And you're kind of tiny anyways."

Gumball didn't even try to object. Lemon shifted the gumball cannon under his left arm and scooped up his lemon cube on the floor with the other.

Lemon decided it was a good time to run when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching behind him. Rushing through the trees, Lemon remembered how it was like to run the mile in middle school and how he always electrified a few fences whenever he got frustrated. That was maybe about 5 years ago, perhaps even 6. The last time he had even remembered running was 2 years ago, when Gingerbrave led all the Cookies out of the Oven. And he was even more fit back then.