The Fine

Prologue - The Introduction

Howdy.

You most likely don't know the being of whom is providing the details of this story. Well, let me introduce myself before we get into my tale.

My name is Smith Williamson. I'm a steampunk robot who recently returned from a surgery which included some electronic features like a vocal drive. Forty nine years old, recently moved to this city in California that goes by the name of Elmore, and I have applied for work at the Stellar Media Studio at the edge of the city as a set supervisor. Now, I'm no Larry, but I also have multiple part-time jobs and occupations such as flying stunt planes for airshows, making reviews and commentary about the cinema industry, speaking out against any form of discrimination, volunteering for heritage railroads around the state, searching for memes on Elmore Plus, supporting multiple causes like racial equality, climate action and world peace, and giving all I have to make my dream of becoming an animator a reality.

But enough about me. This story is about one particular kid you might be familiar with. The sarcastic-in-nature yet optimistic 12-year old blue cat also living in this city, lives in a family of five including an adoptive brother and best friend.

Yep, I know what you're thinking. Of course I don't actually, but if you're thinking exactly what I think you are, you're correct; Gumball Watterson.

Who'd you expect? Bugs Bunny?

I'd introduce you to his life, but I figure you're very familiar with his adventures and therefore he needs no introduction. What I will explain, however, is some details important to the tale you are about to endure just like he did.

It's no surprise that Gumball, and his adoptive-brother goldfish Darwin, use Elmore Stream-It, Elmore's local video-sharing website which they use under the username "Gumball&Darwin." Why wouldn't they? It's as popular as this site I heard of called "YouTube", at least locally. You'd really expect to find so many kids and adults alike viewing or using the site for various purposes, like information, entertainment, promotion of content from other sites, trolling for attention, you name it. If you use the other mentioned video-sharing site "YouTube", you'll find your expectations quite clear.

For years, Elmore Stream-It has been plagued with very little issues. Most of the problems were unnecessary updates and removal of some features that drew noticeable controversy, and don't get me started on the automated copyright system. So nothing that was really implemented by the powers-that-be could really threaten anyone who uses this website.

That was...........until one day.

It was a day most users of Elmore Stream-It will never forget. No one noticed it until News broke out the following morning, but Elmore Stream-It was in deep trouble. So deep you'd have to dig deeper than three Mariana Trenches to find how deep the threat of the situation is.

Apparently, they were found to have been collecting data and information from young users. The accusation was made by none other than the Daily Activity Oversight, or commonly known by its abbreviation DAO. As they have discovered, the actions found to have been committed by Elmore Stream-It are a violation of the Federal Online Threat Obliteration Legislation, also known by its abbreviation FOTOL.

Such an accusation was in no ways able to be even processed, but evidence has been obtained by the DAO. And there was no way Elmore Stream-It could escape the threat of a lawsuit. The fine was expected to be $72,000,000 if the local media giant was found guilty of all charges. In an attempt to avoid such a heavy consequence, Stream-It pinned the blame on the users, who created the videos found to be collecting the data in the first place.

It was eventually settled at that and some huge changes were announced the following morning. No one could possibly escape the inevitable new era for Elmore Stream-It.

Particularly not the Wattersons.

-Smith Williamson