The Entity

Transition

In the present:

After sprinting her way through the streets of Elmore while simultaneously trying to overplay the still very fresh grief about her daughter's passing by focusing on the situation at hand, Nicole arrived at her destination:

The Yoshida Mansion.

She took a deep breath in before knocking on the door. While Yuki and her were childhood friends, they haven't seen each other in decades before the cloud mother eventually returned with a blast that almost resulted in them destroying each other.

They were able to make up in the end before it was too late and remained on good terms afterwards, but despite Nicole wanting to reconcile with her in a more meaningful way, she never really found the time to do it afterwards.

Most of the time when she saw her since then, it was at work when Yuki was visiting her husband for something. Between working long shifts at the Rainbow Factory and taking care of her chaotic family, there was never too much time for a private life.

Because of that, Nicole was very unsure if Yuki would just accept her story and agree to fight by their side this easily. But Gumball said they needed all the power they could get and if any of them had the chance to convince Yuki, it was her. So she had to try.

Eventually the door opened and the woman she was wanting to speak to appeared in the doorway.

"Nicole-san. What a pleasant surprise.", she happily greeted her old friend.

"Hey, Yuki. Sorry that I came unannounced. I hope it's not a bad time.", Nicole awkwardly started.

"Oh, not at all. By all means, come in.", she invited her inside the house.

They walked towards the kitchen, which had an overly long dinner table. Yuki sat down in one of the seats and invited Nicole to take place in the one across from her.

"Fancy. I just realize I've never really been in here before.", she commented while looking around.

"Only the best that money can buy. Well, the house of your boss is not usually a location many people wish to find themselves at outside the working hours.", Yuki joked.

"Heh, true. Although I noticed he has been treating me somewhat nicer recently, not too long after you came back into town. You wouldn't have anything to do with that, would you?", Nicole asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow.

"Hmm, call it a favor. I definitely owed you one after taking things way too far upon our... argument when I returned. The first time I saw you at the office afterwards and you looked so miserable, I thought it was an issue that I could address with my husband.", she cryptically explained.

"You got him to change his mind!? I never saw anyone do that to Mr. Yoshida, least of all a woman.", Nicole quipped, remembering his misogyny with a frown.

"Let's just say this woman in front of you had some...", Yuki started before putting her fist on the table forcefully, causing it to make a thud sound while vibrating. "forceful arguments."

"That sure explains it. I was already surprised that he of all people would make me Employee of the month, especially after rather choosing a plant the month before."

"Glad to know that the lesson seemingly has stuck. If he ever seems to forget it, feel free to let me know. I'll give him a reminder.", Yuki smirked.

"Haha, will do. I'm really glad that we remained friends after that little argument a while back.", Nicole answered.

"Well, of course we would. It was a bit of a mess, but we made up in the end. We're not living in some weird contrasting sequel series where all of that got redone to still have us be at odds with each other.", Yuki replied.