The Gauntlet: Chapter Two

Heeding his mother's orders, Gumball made short work of tucking himself into bed.

"I sure hope Mom doesn't take things too far again…" he mumbled to himself.

Having been sent to bed early, he was not exactly sleepy. But the mere thought of what might be in store for him tomorrow was enough to make him feel exhausted already.

Gumball could not recall how long he lied awake or at what point he fell asleep, but the very next morning, he found himself rudely awoken by the cold air of the great outdoors.

Shivering where he lay, Gumball rolled around searching for his blanket but it was nowhere to be found. Gumball groggily rubbed the sleep out of his eyes to observe his surroundings.

"She took it too far again…" he groaned, throwing his face in his hands.

He was still at home in his bed but from the looks of things, his house had received an overnight makeover.

The whole room had been redecorated into what could only be described as a medieval dungeon, complete with thick stone walls, wrought metal decorations, grotesque looking gargoyles and even antique lanterns to provide illumination.

How exactly Gumball's family had achieved such an impressive feat, all in one night no less, remained a mystery…

And just in case he needed further reassurance he was not dreaming, not only was his blanket missing but the glass window had been removed and replaced with a cross shaped wind hole. Someone had obviously been dedicated to their craft.

"Ugh, all this just because I didn't wanna play a stupid game?" lamented Gumball, pulling his own cheeks in frustration and letting out a weary sigh. "Oh well, might as well get this over with…"

Despite appearances, Gumball was pleased to find that his clothes were still right where he left them. Though he was certain his closet didn't have a skeleton inside it the last time he checked.

Having dressed himself, Gumball made his way downstairs, finding the rest of the house to have been redecorated to a medieval theme just as his bedroom had.

With all the windows covered, the living room was shrouded in darkness; the only light coming from a few old fashioned lanterns that hung from the ceiling.

Most of the furniture had been cast aside to make space for a wooden table and two chairs at the center of the room. The same was true for the modern appliances which were either stored away or simply covered up. Curiously the TV remained in its usual place in front of the table.

Perhaps given the TV's antiquity, it wasn't so out of place after all.

The last thing that stood out in Nicole's den of dishevelment was the VHS tape that sat upon the table. A piece of parchment was attached to it; upon it inscribed the words 'PLAY ME NOW'.

"Oh man, do I have to?" complained Gumball, picking the tape up.

As if to answer his question, underneath was another note which said 'YES'.

"Ugh, fine…" Gumball groaned as he placed the tape inside the VCR.

After an interlude of static followed by some electronic beeps and blips, the fuzzy picture began to clear up and a familiar face appeared on screen, donning a crown and a cape.

"Mom?" questioned Gumball, watching her stare back at him from across the screen.

"Welcome, Young Warrior," announced Nicole. "I am Royal Blue and it is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the Gauntlet of doom!"

"Pfft, Gauntlet of doom?" grinned Gumball, struggling to contain his laughter. "That name is so cheesy even a mouse would pass it up..."

"Before you can have the esteemed honor of facing yours truly," she continued. "You must first defeat each of my minions in a game of their own choosing. And remember, you only get one chance at each game, so you'd better make it count!"

"Yeah yeah, can we hurry this up?" said Gumball, impatiently. "I never liked educational programs..."

"Very well, then. Take your seat and let the first challenge begin!" Nicole boasted from the TV.

"Wait a second," paused Gumball. "Mom, can you hear what I'm saying?"

"Well of course, I can," Nicole rolled her eyes. "I'm only in the next room-I mean, uh…"

His mother briefly stumbled before clumsily getting back into character. "Royal Blue knows not of this Mom of which you speak! And I uh… uh, this-conversation-is-over-bye!"

Nicole hastily turned off the video feed and the TV screen went blank. Gumball could not help but giggle at his mother's little slip up, given how seriously she was taking this whole thing.

...

Gumball took a seat at the table and sure enough, his first opponent entered the room and took the seat opposite him. Dressed in their cheap Halloween costume from the year prior and donning an oversized helmet, his opponent spoke to him.

But given the over modulated voice of the mask, Gumball had a hard time understanding what they said.

"Uh, Dad?" began Gumball. "Could you say that again and maybe try using words this time?"

Richard sighed, pulling off his Stellar Odyssey helmet and spoke again.

"I said, greetings Young One! I am the keeper of the fridge! You must pass my challenge if you wish to proceed."

"Yeah yeah, I know," dismissed Gumball. "Now what's the challenge?"

Richard responded by slamming a cloche tray on the table and lifting the lid to reveal its hidden contents.

"Behold!" Richard boasted with great theatrics and spirit.

Gumball flinched, not knowing what to expect. But upon closer inspection, he was almost disappointed.

"A sandwich?" he questioned.

"Oh no, not just any sandwich," Richard waved his finger. "This is the Ultimate Sandwich! Forged from only the finest ingredients, my masterpiece is composed of iceberg lettuce imported from the arctic!"

"The arctic?" repeated Gumball.

"Splendidly smoked sausages and succulent salami!" Richard continued.

"Wow…" Gumball licked his lips.

"Magnificently melted mozzarella cheese!" added Richard.

"Double wow..." replied Gumball.

"Caramelized onions, so good they'll make you cry!"

"They will?" sniffled Gumball.

"Two thousand island dressing-"

"That's a thing!?"

"-Packed between two slices of perfectly baked whole wheat bread and a pinch of the finest sea salt in all the seven seas."

Gumball said no more, but the rumbling sounds of his stomach spoke for themselves. There was no denying this was a fine specimen of a sandwich, if not the finest he had ever seen.

"Alright, I get it, it's a very nice sandwich," confessed Gumball. "But what does it have to do with the challenge?"

"It's quite simple, my young szechuan," Richard leaned back on his chair with his arms folded. "If you can survive sitting in front of the Ultimate Sandwich for a total of ten minutes without eating it, you have bested me. But as if you could ever win! There's no way anyone could resist eating such a culinary delight straight away…"

Gumball was dumbstruck. He just could not believe his luck. Surely, it couldn't be this easy?

About ten minutes later, Richard pathetically shuffled out of the room sobbing over the loss of his masterpiece while Gumball remained, happily chowing down on his prize.

…

The next opponent entered the fray.

Her costume was more formal than imaginative, being composed of a gray business suit and a pair of pointy glasses. Gumball barely acknowledged her, as he continued to wolf down his spoils of victory.

"Enjoy your breakfast, Gumball," grinned Anais. "Because you won't be so confident once you see what I have in store for you."

Gumball raised a finger, signaling the need for a moment. After swallowing the remaining mouthful of sandwich he finally spoke.

"Oh, please…" scoffed Gumball. "If your challenge is anything like the last one, I think I'll be just fine."

"Come on, Gumball," Anais rolled her eyes. "We both know that Dad's game was just a formality. The real challenge starts and ends with me. I'm the smartest in the family and there's no way a dummy like you can beat me."

"It takes more than smarts to win," Gumball argued back. "You also need a little bit of luck."

"Is that so?" said Anais, raising an eyebrow. "Then let's put our theories to the test. It's my smarts versus your dumb luck."

"Just name your game," he replied defiantly.

Anais didn't need telling twice. With an incredibly smug grin, she pulled out a wooden tray carrying her game of choice.

"Well, here it is!" she announced, in a conniving tone.

How typical of her. Of all the things she could have chosen, Anais went with something that would flaunt her intelligence.

On the tray sat two identical, multi-colored cubes, with each face divided into nine squares.

"Rubik's cubes?" noted Gumball.

Placed behind them was a digital timer, it's crimson red numerals indicating that it had been set to sixty seconds.

"Here are the rules," Anais explained. "We take each other's cubes and get one minute to shuffle them however we want. Then we swap back. Whoever solves their cube first by restoring all the colors to normal, wins the game. Any questions?"

As clichéd as the concept was, Gumball found himself nervously caught by surprise. Solving puzzles was Anais' forte. And she knew darn well that her brother was hopeless at them.

Even if by some miracle he could actually manage to solve his cube, there was no way he'd be able to do it before she did. To say the odds were stacked in her favor would be an understatement. On paper, victory was all but assured for her.

But there was one oversight to all of Anais' scheming.

Although he was not as scholarly as his sister, Gumball was smart in a different way. When push came to shove, his resourcefulness was on a greater level than she could have ever imagined.

Gumball knew that there was only one way to ensure victory in a rigged game.

Perhaps influenced by the stress of the situation, he had quickly formulated his strategy on the fly. Whether or not he could actually pull it off, even he had no idea. They would soon find out...

He faced his little sister with skepticism and spoke.

"So we can shuffle each other's cubes however we want? And whoever solves their cube first wins?"

"That's right," nodded Anais.

"And there are no other rules?" asked Gumball.

"Nope," she replied, crossing her arms. "So, are you still feeling lucky? There's still a chance to back out before you humiliate yourself. What do you say, big brother?"

"I say... bring it on!" he grinned back at her defiant as ever .

"Then you really are as dumb as they come!" she chuckled, starting the timer.

Swiftly snatching their cubes off the table, both siblings got to work mixing them up. The seconds quickly passed by and all that could be heard was the clicking-and-clacking of the cubes being contorted.

Anais took her sweet time mixing up her cube while Gumball frantically twisted and turned his own. She could tell he was nervous yet determined. It was almost admirable.

"Aw darn it," cursed Gumball, as the cube slipped out of his fingers and on to the floor.

He hastily retrieved it as Anais snickered to herself. This was proving to be almost too easy.

Finally, the awful electronic beeping of the timer brought both of them to a halt.

"Hah, time's up," declared Anais. "Now we switch back."

"Fine…" replied Gumball.

Anais beamed with confidence witnessing her brother's obvious expression of defeat as they switched back their cubes. This game wouldn't take long...

It didn't matter how many times Gumball had shuffled her cube. Any Rubik's cube could be solved in twenty six moves or less.

'And I should only need a few minutes to figure it out…' Anais thought to herself.

She casually began fiddling with her cube, eager to take her time and watch her brother's struggle to keep up. But much to her surprise, he suddenly didn't seem bothered at all. He hadn't even turned a single side yet.

"Batter up…" he whispered, raising his cube high in the air.

Perplexed by her brother's odd behaviour, Anais couldn't help stopping to take notice.

"Huh? What are you…?" she mumbled.

Then with no warning, Gumball swung the Rubik's cube down, slamming it against the hard surface of the table, shattering the cube into pieces. Anais blinked a few times, trying to make sense of what he was doing.

Following that little distraction, Gumball wasted no time picking up the scattered pieces, like he was playing a game of knucklebones. With the separately colored pieces now in hand, he quickly got to work putting the pieces back into place as Anais looked on.

Suddenly, it all made sense to her...

Gumball knew he couldn't solve the puzzle logically, so he was going to solve it illogically. There was no rule that said he couldn't break the cube and solve it by reassembling it.

Though his little trick had evened up the odds, Anais remained unconcerned. Because she had been going easy on him this whole time. Only now, was she going to start playing seriously.

"That was a clever trick, Gumball," admitted Anais. "But I can still solve my cube faster than you, the old fashioned way!"

"We'll just see about that!" goaded Gumball.

Another intense minute went by, filled with the clackity-clack sounds of the cubes continually being contorted. Try as he could, for every piece Gumball managed to put in place, Anais remained one step ahead.

Until finally…

"Done!" announced Anais, placing her cube on the table.

"Me too," replied Gumball, snapping in the final piece of his cube and placing it next to hers.

"Haha, I win, I win!" exclaimed Anais. "I solved my cube one second before you did therefore I've won!"

Gumball said nothing, hanging his head low as Anais laughed heartily, relishing her victory.

"Even your dumb technique was no match for my brain," she said while tapping her head. "Sorry Gumball, but there are no prizes for second place."

But then... ever so quietly, Gumball made a little noise. At first, it seemed like he was actually going to break down into tears. However, upon closer inspection, he was… chuckling?

His little fit of giggles quickly descended into a full on fit of laughter.

"Huh?" said Anais, taken aback. "Just, what's so funny?"

She had not expected him to face his defeat with dignity much less with laughter.

"You're so predictable," said Gumball smugly, leaning back in his chair. "You might wanna look at your cube again because it doesn't look solved to me."

"What are you talking about?" said Anais, incredulously. "Of course, it's solved. Why, all the sides clearly match-huh!?"

Anais gazed down in absolute, unimaginable horror as noticed her little oversight. The cube was almost solved. But two squares impossibly remained in the wrong places, right next to each other. It was as if their colors had magically swapped places while she had been shuffling the cube.

"B-B-But how?" she gasped breathlessly. "T-T-There's no way I could've made a mistake…"

"Well, it looks like you did," shrugged Gumball. "The proof is sitting right there before you."

"No, there's no way!" Anais panicked.

Frantically, she looked at her cube and then back to his and then back and forth again. She was about ready to descend into hysterics from pure disbelief.

"Y-You must've cheated!" she spoke accusingly.

"How so?" argued Gumball. "Exactly, what rule did I break?"

"You uh… but I… you just…" Anais struggled to find the words. "I don't understand, it doesn't make any sense…" she rested her head in her arms, pulling her long rabbit ears.

"Then allow me to explain," said Gumball, relaxed and composed as ever. "Breaking my cube was only part of my strategy. You said we could shuffle the cube however we wanted, right? Well, that's exactly what I did."

Gumball chuckled again, taking delight in explaining his amazing plan.

"While I was shuffling your cube, I made sure to swap two of the stickers before I gave it back to you. By swapping two stickers, it becomes impossible to solve the Rubik's cube the normal way. But there's no rule saying that I couldn't do that."

"But how!?" demanded Anais. "I was watching you the whole time, there's no way...!?"

And then, she remembered… The memory came back to hit her like a speeding truck.

That moment where he had fumbled and dropped his cube. She thought he was just being clumsy but no, he must have done that intentionally to make her lower her guard!

"You swapped them while you dropped the cube…" murmured Anais.

"Precisely," nodded Gumball. "You were just so sure that you'd win, you failed to see what was right in front of you the whole time."

Her big brother's words rang true and grim realization dawned upon her.

"Are you saying that you… you outsmarted me!?" exclaimed Anais with great shock.

"That's right," grinned Gumball. "You might be smart Anais but you're also big headed. And that's what makes you so predictable. Let me guess, next you'll say, No, I can't possibly lose to you!"

"No, I can't possibly lose to you!" cried Anais only to sharply gasp as Gumball's words rang true yet again.

"Sorry little sis, but there's no prizes for second place."

A taste of her own medicine, it was definitely a bitter pill for her to swallow.

Forced to admit defeat, Anais meekly left the room on wobbly legs, constantly mumbling to herself 'How could I lose?' over and over again.

The only way to ensure victory in a rigged game… was to cheat without getting caught.

Gumball had lucked out on the first two challenges but would his luck last through the remaining two? He could only hope so...

End of Chapter Two