Fanfic / Teri × Gumball: In Between Worlds

Teri × Gumball: In Between Worlds is a The Amazing World of Gumball fanfic written by Fantastic Schaefer. It can be read here.

Three months after a devastating break-up, a depressed Gumball is surprised when Teri shows up at his house in the middle of the night with a monster chasing her. Soon, Gumball and Teri find themselves caught in the middle of an invasion by invisible monsters known as "Nephilim" and have to prevent Elmore's destruction. Will this unlikely duo succeed or will Elmore be trampled underfoot?

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Teri × Gumball: In Between Worlds provides examples of:

Tropes A to G

• Adaptational Badass:
  • Teri can manipulate paper and can make it come to life, such as making an origami hawk, an f-16, a scorpion, etc. Traits she never exhibited in the show.
  • Gumball himself; he's more of a Cowardly Lion than an outright coward, but nevertheless is a total weakling. The fanfic retains the former trope, but it becomes downplayed as Gumball starts actively training himself to fight off against a group of Eldritch Abominations that are five times his size. Later chapters even mention that he has begun developing some muscle and his reflexes become fast enough that he's able to block off Jamie's rapid punches.
• Adaptational Nationality: In the series proper, Teri is (presumably) a regular American. However, the fanfic shows that she has Japanese heritage.
• Adrenaline Makeover: Teri, who becomes a braver and better fighter throughout the story.
• Always Save the Girl: Gender Inverted; Teri is the one who always saves Gumball when fighting.
• Angelic Abomination: The Nephilims. Although the story avoids any sort of religious references, the story behind Nephilims is that they are beings of Hebrew lore interpreted as the offsprings of fallen angels.
• An Arm and a Leg: Teri loses her leg during a fight with Penta Clawer. She almost loses her leg again during her fight with Uriel, which would've been permanently lost due to the fire.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Carmen gives one to Teri after she tells her that Gumball has a thing for her, asking her if she likes Gumball back but is too shy about it. She doesn't answer it, but she decides to dodge the question instead.
• Atrocious Alias: King Nimrod does not sound like a threatening name for the leader of the Nephilim.
• Attention Whore: Everyone thinks Teri is this because of her hypochondria and annoying everyone with her germophobia and OCD.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Teri, to make up for her lack of physical strength, is a very good planner and can tell where the weakness of Concertin is during the battle on the bridge.
• Badass Adorable: Gumball and Teri; the former is an excitable ball of fuzz while the latter is an adorable paper bear, but they prove to be quite formidable in combat throughout the story.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Gumball and Teri are starting to develop feelings for each other, but they still can't stand each other's personalities and traits.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Implied; Mr. Pepakuma informs Gumball that if it was Yui that was woken up, it wouldn't be a laughing matter.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Three of the Nephilims, Raphael, Thundero, and Toxic Pill, are all described as having bug-like appearances. Toxic Pill, in particular, resembles a pill bug (hence the name).
• Break the Cutie: In this fanfic, Gumball and Penny broke up because her dad lost his job and her family had to move overseas. Gumball did not take this very well; he became depressed for three months and the first week of school.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Gumball is the brooding boy because he was upset over Penny moving away, while Teri is the gentle girl who helps cheer him back up into his old self. Unlike most examples of this trope, however, Gumball isn't consistently moody and definitely not a serious person. Additionally, Teri has proven she can be rough on him when she wants to.
• Call-Back: A lot of episodes are mentioned in this story:
  • When Gumball and Teri are fighting Uriel, he reminds both of them of the virus they fought in "The Virus". Unfortunately, Uriel is too massive to be stomped on.
  • When Gumball meets Teri's parents, he remembers the time when he and Darwin folded them into Origami birds in "The Potato".
  • When Rob questions why Teri and Gumball were quick to let him join them in fighting the Niphilims, Teri points out that Rob still isn't the type of person she should trust, reminding him of the time he attempted to blow up her, Gumball, and the rest of the Elmore Middle School students in "The Bus".
  • Carmen having a smug look on her face when she thinks Teri has a crush on Gumball, just like her smug attitude in "The Best".
  • Darwin thinking that Gumball has a crush on Teri and he was just hiding it because he was too embarrassed to admit it. That sounded pretty funny when Darwin thought about it, remembering the one time Gumball thought that Darwin himself had a crush on Teri when he was actually interested in Carrie in "The Matchmaker".
  • Gumball and Darwin share a story they heard about their teacher Mr. Corneille getting stabbed in the thigh by a "girl with fluffy colorful hair" with a fork at Burrito Barn. When Gumball questions why anybody would use silverware as a weapon, Darwin reminds him of the time Sal Left Thumb tried to rob a gas station with a spoon, in reference to the events of "The Spoon."
  • Richard Watterson crossdresses as a lady named Samantha along with two other men and an old lady, just like in "The Lady".
• Cannot Spit It Out: Rob thinks that Gumball and Teri are playing a long game of "Who Can Last the Longest Without Admitting Their Feelings?" (Think of Love is War).
  Rob: I think we all know that Gumball is just a wuss when it comes to asking girls out, but yeah they seem to have a thing for each other.
• Collateral Damage: Throughout the story, the Nephilims cause quite a lot of damage to various parts of Elmore. Rather than everything going back to normal the next day, the damage remains, eventually causing widespread concerns. Additionally, there have also been casualties thanks to such damage, such as the death of a close friend of Richard and Louie (though they thought he had died of heart failure).
• Crush Blush:
  • In Chapter 5; Both Teri and Gumball after staring at each other for so long.
  • In Chapter 6; Gumball when he sees Teri coming to get him to fight the Storm Squad.
  • In Chapter 7; Both of them after Gumball lands on top of Teri.
• Color Failure: Gumball, when Yui asks him how long he and Teri were dating.
• The Comically Serious: Fukijima Pepakuma. When his wife asks Gumball if he's dating their daughter, he just smirks.
• Comically Missing the Point: Banana Joe doesn't get it when Tobias is making fun of Gumball and Teri of being a couple. Even when he explains it, Joe still doesn't get it.
• Consummate Liar: Unlike Gumball, Teri can pull off very good and convincing lies. Gumball is unsure if he should be either amazed or scared of this skill of hers.
• Darker and Edgier: The story captures the lighthearted spirit of its source material, but given what the concept is about, there's a lot of action and overall more violence compared to the show. Additionally, the story deals with themes of heartbreak, romance, and inevitable destruction that are taken more seriously than in the show (comparatively at least). Lastly, there's quite a bit of profanity here and there, though it's mostly present in later chapters.
• David vs. Goliath: The Nephilim are massive giants, while Gumball and Teri, and later Rob, are ants to them.
• Deadpan Snarker: Gumball retains his role as such from the series, but Teri, Carrie, and Rob are also shown to be masters of sarcasm themselves.
• Death Glare: Teri gives one to Gumball after he carries her through the hallway by her waist.
  Teri: Thanks for coming to get me and for the record, next time you decided to pick me up like that make sure your hand is a little higher.
• Diagonal Cut: How the Teri and Gumballs first fight Silver Twelve ends.
• Dirty Coward: Tobias, when Ocho exposes his plans to humiliate Tina in front of her during his fight with Bobert. Tobias then runs away to the boy's locker room to get away from Tina. Darwin calls him out on this.
• Disney Villain Death: Concretin falls off the bridge and then exploded.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: How Gumball, Teri, and Rob know when the Nephilims are coming. Then later on in the story, Anais's old friend Chimera tells her that he's been having nightmares of these monsters coming to Elmore as well.
• Elite Mooks: The Se'arot (Storm) Squad, consisting of Raphael, Torax, Thundero, Brahka, Olaf, and Leliel.
• Everyone Can See It: The people that can see that Gumball and Teri have a thing for each other are Dawrin, Carrie, Rob, their classmates, The Wattersons, The Pepakumas, and Mrs. Jotenheim.
• Evil Is Petty: King Nimrod's reason for wanting Elmore to be wiped off the surface:
  Torax: "Well, he's an idiot for wasting time and resources trying to wipe out an insignificant smudge because he's an emotional wind bag."
  • Gumball lists the possibilities as to why Nimrod wants to destroy Elmore, all of which border on this trope:
    Gumball: "Maybe he fought someone here long ago and is now seeking to destroy his former rival? Maybe he went on vacation here once and didn't like the food? Maybe he wanted the collector's edition mini-figure of Captain Punch that came with the kid's meal at Joyful Burger, but was too late because they were out of stock? Maybe he and his wife had a bad time here and got a divorce and-!"
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Torax goes berserk when Gumball and Teri killed Raph, Leliel mourns Olaf for a bit, and then Uriel comes to Elmore to avenge his sister Leliel.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Combined with Pet the Dog; Rob admits that he's glad Gumball is feeling happier now that he started hanging out with Teri (even if it's for reasons different than what he thinks), claiming that he didn't want to torment Gumball when he was still depressed over Penny moving.
• Foil:
  • Fukijima Pepakuma to Patrick Fitzgerald; both are very protective of their daughters and question Gumball's behavior and influence. However, Fukijima seems more lenient on Gumball hanging out with Teri compared to Patrick.
  • Teri Pepakuma to Penny Fitzgerald; they both became love interests to Gumball and it's because of him that their shells (literally for Penny and metaphorically for Teri) broke. However, she's opposite of Penny is a variety of ways: Teri openly finds Gumball annoying, has frequent arguments with him, and generally has greater difficulty hiding her feelings.
  • Teri is also one to Rachel; The two have changed Rob and Gumball's lives, with Rachel giving Rob the only person he cares about while Teri was able to lift up Gumball's spirits after a devastating breakup with Penny. What sets them apart, however, is that Rachel doesn't have a family anymore (as they no longer remember her), doesn't seem to possess romantic feelings for Rob, and is a bit more meaner than Teri.
• Friendly Tickle Torture:
  • In Chapter 3, Teri is on the receiving end of this by Gumball.
  • In Chapter 5, both Teri and Gumball engage in one.
• Gasshole: Strongly implied; Rob, while talking with Mrs. Jotenheim, recalls the time he ate out at Burrito Barn, Elmore's top Mexican restaurant. The aftermath involved Rachel forcing Rob to sleep outside and banning him from ever eating there again.

• Gray Rain of Depression: The story kicks off with a rainstorm that reflects the deep depression Gumball was in over his breakup with Penny.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Teri gets jealous of Sherry, a new student at Elmore Junior High, even though Gumball just mentioned her, so she decides to dress differently to get Gumball's attention because she thinks Sherry would take him away from her.
  Inner Demon: You're afraid he's going to be so blown away by her that he'll forget about you entirely.
• Grew a Spine: Teri, as time goes on, becomes much braver and self-confident to the point where she stood up to Tina by telling her to convince Gumball and Darwin to get Tobias to apologize.

Tropes H to Z

• Heartbroken Badass: Gumball. Ever since he and Penny broke up, he was a sobbing wreck all throughout the summer but pushes through it during the battles with the Nephilims since he's well aware that his life is on the line.
• Hypochondria: Teri, just like in the series proper.
• Hypocrite: Darwin calls Tobias out for planning to humiliate Tina to get back at her for bullying everyone, but he is bullying her for it.
  Darwin: Do you really think humiliating Tina is going to make her stop harassing you or anyone else? Did she go away when you called her breath smelly last week? Did she cower when she heard Ocho reveal your "grand plan" during the classroom fight? When has hurting anyone eased their suffering? Also, you're a complete hypocrite because you claim you want to stop bullying when you've been bullying her yourself! You've been doing so behind her back the entire time and it's cowardly!
• It Can Think: The Nephilims are shown to be intelligent creatures. How intelligent, however, varies, but those that are the more smarter ones are capable of planning ahead, learning the tricks of their opponents, expressing sympathy for their fallen brothers, and even speaking proper English. Aspects that Gumball understandably dislikes about these particular Nephilims.
  "He honestly didn't know which was worse, a Nephilim that attacked [him and Teri] with brainless animosity or with smug intelligence and the occasional monologue."
• Jerkass Realization:
  • Downplayed with Teri. In Chapter 2, she realizes that despite his obnoxious and gross lifestyle, Gumball is actually a nice guy who will look out after others when a situation calls for it. This was because he had younger siblings to take care of while some of her self absorbed behavior came from her being an only child. She decides to hang out with him more as a result.
  • Played straight with Tobias. In Chapter 4, he realizes that what he's done to Tina is no different from what she's been doing to everyone else.
  • Gumball admits late in the story that one of the reasons why the breakup with Penny took such a toll on him was because it made him realize how much of a screwup he can be. Gumball felt personally responsible for Penny leaving because he knew that her parents (primarily her dad) didn't like him because of his mischievous behavior. Not only would such behavior get Gumball in trouble, but sometimes Penny as well, and felt that one of the reasons they moved was to keep her away from him.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: Brahka is killed by Hector with a single punch while she was distracted during the middle of her monologue.
• Knight of Cerebus: All the Nephilims pose a far more serious threat to Elmore (and the world by extension) compared to the any antagonists found in the series proper, and the story takes a significantly darker route the moment they show up. However, a particular case can be made with Tatarforas; there is absolutely no humor to be found in the chapter she shows up, torments Gumball, Rob, and Teri using their worst fears, and probably would've succeeded in killing them had Gumball not finally figured out her weakness.
• Like Brother and Sister: Rob and Rachel. Unlike Gumball and Teri, their relationship is more platonic with only a handful of Ship Tease here and there.
• Little Miss Snarker: Teri eventually develops into one, which she blames on Gumball.
• Long-Distance Relationship: Averted with Gumball and Penny; they promised to stay in touch even after the latter moved, but were ultimately unable to keep that promise.
• The Lost Lenore: While Gumball is showing signs of recovery, mostly thanks to Teri, it's still evident in later chapters that he hasn't completely moved on from Penny since she was the love of his life.
• Love Epiphany: Gumball realizes that's he's in love with Teri during the fight with Tartarforas when she transforms into her. Teri also figures out that she's fallen in love with Gumball after her mother spells this out to her in the following chapter.
• Luminescent Blush:
  • Teri when people think she and Gumball are an item.
  • Gumball when Teri asks him if he called her cute when she's embarrassed.
• Meet the In-Laws: In Chapter 3, Gumball meets Teri's parents (although they're not dating... yet).
• Meaningful Name: Some of the Nephilims are named after Arch Angels.
• Moment Killer: Gumball kills the moment with Teri because they had to get back to school before the fight with Ocho and Bobert ends.
• Moral Myopia: Uriel whines to Teri and Gumball about them killing his crew, they both call him out that they showed up to destroy Elmore and kill innocent lives.
• Morality Pet:
  • Downplayed with Rachel Wilson; she and Rob bicker a lot but it's clear she's also one of the few people he genuinely cares about.
  • Played straight with Teri; it's because of her that Gumball is getting better. He's also getting along better with his classmates, his grades are improving, and the teachers are more tolerable to him.
    Nicole: "Well I'm glad both of you are getting along well. I'm also pleased to hear that your grades have been improving as of lately and that you're taking your studying habits seriously. I think Teri has been a good influence on you, both academically and emotionally."
• Named by the Adaptation: Teri's last name is never revealed in the show, but the fanfic gives her Pepakuma (which loosely translates to "Paper Bear" in Japanese).

• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Chapter 9 has Gumball go off on his own to fight Tartarforas. When Rob and Teri find out about this, they're beyond furious for several reasons. One, Gumball fighting the Nephilim all by himself nearly gets himself killed in the process. Second, Gumball's recklessness ends up attracting Carrie's attention who just so happen to have been nearby, causing her to find out about the Nephilims. Third, Carrie had to endanger Tina's father by possessing him in order to help fight off Tartarforas, which a later chapter reveals that he's still recovering from the injuries sustained. Lastly, Teri in particular feels betrayed because Gumball made a vow to her that they would always fight the Nephilims together, which ends up causing her insecurities about feeling useless to come back.
• The Nicknamer: Gumball does this with some of the Nephilims' Silver Twelve: Toxic Pill, Concretin, Window Hopper, Flakey Platter (who's real name is later revealed to be Olaf).
• No Body Left Behind: When the Nephilims die, their bodies become husks and are then consumed by purple flames until there's nothing left. This actually becomes important for Gumball, Rob, and Teri to figure out if they're truly dead.
• "Not So Different" Remark:
  • Discussed with Rob. The reason he has Rachel as his roommate is because she reminds him of when he was still trapped in the void.
  • Lampshaded by Darwin, as he thinks Gumball and Teri are more alike after the two started to hang out more. They're both self-centered at times, but nice when they're not thinking about themselves, they can be easily flustered, can be very obnoxious when it comes to their obsessions, and they have absurd fears: Teri with germs & Gumball with Spiders.
• Odd Friendship: Tobias and Tina form one in Chapter 4 after Gumball and Darwin (with some help from Teri) convince Tobias to apologize to Tina.
• Official Couple: Carrie & Darwin, and Alan & Carmen.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Rob wishes to join Gumball and Teri in defeating the Nephilims, if only because he wants to be the one who defeats Gumball instead.
• Paper Master: Teri can manipulate origami. Apparently, it runs in the family. However, it's stated that there are limits to what she can create or control.
• Paper People: Teri and her parents, of course.
• Pet the Dog: According to the first chapter, Tobias was one of the people who tried to console the post-breakup Gumball.
• Primal Fear: Teri with fire. Justified, she's made of paper.
• Pungeon Master: Gumball. A trait of his that deeply annoys Teri, but eventually begins to rub off on her.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Gender-inverted with the savvy Teri and energetic Gumball.
• Second Love: Teri is slowly becoming this to Gumball.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Downplayed. While Teri doesn't use makeup, she instead draws a skirt with a few ruffles, a ribbon under the collar of her blazer, and then draws black stockings by shading on her legs (note that she's made of paper). Played Straight when Gumball sees her.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: Teri denies that Gumball is her boyfriend and vice versa.
• Single-Target Sexuality: Gumball was this to Penny before the break-up. He's starting to have feelings for Teri.
• Sinister Scythe: A gift from Carrie that Gumball got from her to help cheer him up after his breakup with Penny. It comes in handy when fighting the Nephilims.
• Snakes Are Sinister: Window Hopper.
• Spider-Sense: Carrie can sense supernatural stuff happening in Elmore, but it quickly goes away before she can check it out.
• The Strategist: Teri fits this role in fighting the Nephilims.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Based on the description given, Teri's round yet angular appearance is a mixture of her parents'. While they're both paper bears just like Teri, her dad is completely angular while her mother is completely rounded.
• Stronger Than They Look:
  • Rob first shows up by throwing Jamie out the window.
  • Teri is literally made of paper, yet she can throw objects at Gumball with enough force to knock him back.
• Talking Is a Free Action: Averted. Brahka is Killed Mid-Sentence by Hector while getting distracted during a monologue, proving that talking is NOT a free action.
• Through a Face Full of Fur: Gumball after he realizes that he was purring and when Teri calls it cute.
• Tom the Dark Lord: One of the Nephilims is named Olaf.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Rob gave Teri magic runes to help her combat the Nephilims.
  • Gumball when he learns new powers from the scythe.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness:
  • Gumball is starting to act like his old self again thanks to Teri.
  • Teri became a little more impulsive and confident ever since she started hanging out with Gumball, which Gumball Lampshades in Chapter 5:
  Teri: I'm still going to tell you that your overly positive emotions are your fault seeing as you're the one who started this conversation by thanking me!
  Teri: But seeing as your gladsome attitude is contagious...
  [she tightens her grip on his hand and immediately takes off in a sprint, dragging the now astonished Watterson child along]
  Teri: ...let's go have some fun!
  Gumball: Never thought you to be one who was impulsive!
• Too Dumb to Live: Despite Torax warning him not to touch it, Raph grabs the origami plane, but doesn't know that it has an explosion rune on it. The explosion then goes off in his face and instantly kills the overconfident idiot.
• Troubled Fetal Position:
  • Teri when the Nephilim that's chasing her finds her at the Wattersons' house.
  • Gumball and Darwin find Tobias this way in the boys' locker room because he thinks Tina is going to kill him.
• Tsundere: Teri is the Dere (sweet) type after Gumball compliments her.
  Teri: There he goes making me happy again! What is with this dork being able to make me want to hit him one second and hug him the next?
• Why Won't You Die?: Gumball says this verbatim to Tartarforas, who keeps regenerating no matter how many times he slices her up.
• With a Friend and a Stranger: Gumball and Teri (friends and later a couple) team up with Rob (stranger) to battle the Nephilims. The stranger part is downplayed, however, since Gumball and Teri actually know Rob.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Teri believes that she's a burden to Gumball, but he tells her how much she has helped him throughout the story.
  Gumball: Of course you've done a lot, Teri! You've done so much for me in the past month: you've managed to pull me out of a depression that has been plaguing me for three months (although I still have some issues to settle.), you've helped me fight the Nephilim by making sure that I can keep up with them, I have been saved by you on many different occasions, you took down Toxic Pill's shield all on your own, your second plan succeeded in defeating Concretin, and you're really smart and observant. You're awesome Teri and if it weren't for you, I probably wouldn't be here to say these things.
• You Are Not Alone: Teri tells Gumball that everyone misses Penny just as much as he does. While he apologizes to her and his friends, she corrects herself.
  Teri: No, no, no, no I didn't mean to make you feel bad for feeling sorry for yourself. Everyone handles grief their own way, we knew why you weren't talking to anyone and we understood that you needed a little space. I just wanted to let you know that you don't have to keep this pain to yourself and you can talk to me or anyone else really if you need to.
• You Must Be Cold: Gumball gives Teri his jacket because she was getting cold.

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