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"Alright. Let's go over the plan again." Scenty nodded. It was a simple plan, but a critical one.
Backpack continued. "The next challenge there's an opportunity to die, we take it as soon as possible, and explore that, uh, place..."
"I guess. I wish we could've brought Soda Bottle with us."
"At least he got to go home."
Scenty nodded. She looked over at the tree they had to go to for the third challenge, deep in thought. Why were the votes fake, and how did Stone know? Was the show already fully scripted? Did Airy know what was going to happen already? Wait... did Stone—
Her thoughts were cut off by the monotone voice of their "host" coming from the sky. "Okay, uhh... the next challenge will be... f... fire. You, uh, don't... wanna get burnt. You'll be up, um, for elimination. If you get burnt. And die. First three people to die. Up for elimination." Scenty's heart started pounding. Oh boy. Oh god. Oh no. Looking at Backpack, she guessed he was probably thinking the same.
A few clicking sounds that sounded vaguely like typing came from the sky. "Look out."
A platform suddenly dropped from the sky. Fenced off with plexiglass maybe? It was something clear. What was on the platform though, no one could tell. It was far too high up.
"And uh... go."
She looked down and saw the floor was a series of jets. Was this really a good idea? A jet only a few feet away from her went off, erupting with fire for a few seconds.
"Scenty! If we both just stay on one jet, it'll eventually go off."
Scenty was staying where she was anyway. She didn't even know if she could move. But was this really a good plan? "Backpack, wait, I don't-"
A whooshing sound right beneath her feet. Heat, heat, heat, and immense pain. Fire crackled somewhere in the distance. It faded out, and for a moment, nothing.
She opened her eyes. Whatever she was expecting this place to look like, it wasn't this. A starry, sunset colored wall stretching on forever. Backpack appeared next to her a few moments afterwards. "Backpack... Is this what you saw?"
"I, uh, yeah, if I'm remembering right. I don't think I would remember this wrong. Anyways, this way. We don't have a lot of time probably."
Scenty nodded. Backpack led her on a wet floor that sent up rainbow sparks when you took a step to a wall with two armchairs and a table with a radio on it by it. A deflated-looking tube of toothpaste sat in the chair on the right. Their hand reached over the arm to fiddle with the channel dial on the radio, but it only played static.
Backpack opened his mouth and closed it again before saying anything. "H-hi." He reached his hand out tentatively towards the toothpaste and waved it in front of their face.
The toothpaste didn't respond. Their hand just kept fiddling with the dial. Did they even know they were there? Could they see them or hear them? Scenty put her hand on their arm. They looked around and briefly stopped turning the dial, but they couldn't be less interested. She removed her hand. What? Did they feel my hand?
Looking shocked, Backpack grabbed their arm and tried to move it. It moved, but they didn't even react. Their arm moved back to where it was before. Static.
"TOOTHPASTE!," Backpack yelled. "TOOTHPASTE, CAN YOU HEAR US?"
They didn't respond. Scenty joined in with the yelling. "TOOTHPASTE, TOOTHPASTE! ARE YOU OKAY?" She waved her arms around, and although she knew it wouldn't do anything, she felt like if she did, enough maybe they would notice?
"TOOTHPASTE, I-" Backpack was cutoff by a cry of joy from Toothpaste, and Scenty stopped her shouting as well. The radio wasn't playing just static anymore, there were voices. Incredibly distorted ones, sure, but they were voices. They watched Toothpaste carefully turn the dial. The voices only got more and more clear, and the clearer they got, the wider Toothpaste's grin became, and the faster Scenty could feel her heart beating.
"What... Who are—" Backpack vanished mid-sentence. Toothpaste was replaced with strange grass that pointed to the sun and distant trees a few moments later.
Scenty couldn't move. She could hear Airy's voice but it sounded so distant and distorted, as if played through Toothpaste's strange radio. "Scenty, Backpack, and Bass... y are up for elimination. Viewers, uh... vote in the... down there."
She felt a hand on her shoulder. "Scenty, are you okay?" Backpack was okay in some capacity. That was good.
"I... I don't know."