Chapter Text
“Hey! Hey! Hammer!” Card greeted, running up to Hammer, the vast yellow grassland gave infinite ways to get somewhere, yet he still tripped over Weighty, a black weight with only hands and a handle on the top, “Oh, sorry!”
“Yeah, yeah,” Weighty dismissed, rolling his eyes.
“What’s up?” Hammer greeted, walking over and helping Card off the ground.
Card hopped up, “I just figured out I could do this!” he then snapped his fingers, vanishing.
Hammer blinked in shock, “...What?”
“And now,” Card began, his voice heard ominously, before popping out behind Hammer “Here I am!”
Hammer jumped in fear, “Oh my construction- don’t do that!”
“Could you ruffians stop being so loud? I’m trying to get my beauty sleep,” Crown huffed, before closing her eyes and leaning back on Carpety, who rolled his eyes. Crown had a white bit of cushioning that led to four golden arches that spanned over the red opening for one’s head, jewels lining the gold, and all four limbs. Carpety was a pale gray square of fluffy carpeting with all four limbs.
“You must’ve not gotten much sleep last night.”
“Precisely, that’s why- wait- HEY!” Crown yelled, jumping up to glare at Carpety.
Over near the bathrooms, Containery, a see-through plastic food container with a red lid and all four limbs, held a pointer stick and gestured to a whiteboard with several complex mathematical equations on it, “-and that is how you solve for the circumference of the Earth using shadows, any questions?”
Pencil Sharpener blinked, smiling wide, “What’s a circumference?”
Containery facepalmed, before stumbling backwards as Instant Noodles, a white plastic cub with a thin red lid and all four limbs, dashed past her, “Oops- sorry!”
“Watch where you’re running!” Containery snapped.
Instant Noodles looked back, before smacking into Steely, who turned around, the metal sheet scoffed, before turning to look at Scroll, a yellow-white strip of paper held together by two copper pins with only legs and no arms, “See? The birds just flock to me-”
Instant Noodles shoved Steely to the side, embedding him in the ground, as Scroll rolled his eyes, “Can’t believe I hang out with you.”
On a different side of the yellow field, Lavadrop stood beside Metal Ball, who was flatly staring into the distance, the former talked up a storm, “It’s so cool to have everyone in one place even though I can’t hang out with most of them because they’re not lavaproof but at least you’re lavaproof my good buddy so we can hang out isn’t that fun I think it’s fun I can’t wait to-”
As Lavadrop rambled on, Spaghetti, a pile of cooked spaghetti with sauce on a white plate and all four limbs, rolled out a roll of duct tape, giving a flat look to Solar Panel, who was two silver solar panels connected by two small i-beam, the latter hesitantly nodded.
Spaghetti walked over and forced the duct tape around Lavadrop’s mouth, “Oh my chef SHUT UP!”
Metal Ball uncomfortably shuffled, “That seems a little… rude…”
Spaghetti sighed, planting her elbow on Metal Ball and reclining, “Metal Ball you simply don’t understand that sometimes the masses don’t get the hint and you need to use force.”
Metal Ball glared at Spaghetti as Lavadrop continued to excitedly talk even with the duct tape.
“And sometimes you have to use a bit more force,” Spaghetti growled, walking over to punch Lavadrop, knocking her out cold.
“Yeah METAL BALL!” Ankle Monitor, a gray band with several black blocks attached to it with all four limbs, yelled, “You should know to let people do what they want! What are you, pro-totalitarianism!?”
Metal Ball flatly stared at Ankle Monitor before standing up and walking away.
Over behind the bathrooms, Spike Ball floated just above Watery Senior, who looked like Watery, but was a bit smaller, a bit more faded, and holding a cane, Spiky Ball looked up and down the road in front of them, before floating beside Senior, “Alright, let’s go.”
After a little bit of effort Spike Ball helped Senior across the street, she sighed contently, before Salad popped up below her, “That was really nice of you!”
“AH- W-what!? No!” Spike Ball huffed, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Surrrrre,” Salad nodded, smiling.
The two then heard a crash and looked over to see Watery Senior face down on the pavement “I’m okay!”
Mud kept driving, wiping water off her windshield, before suddenly slamming into it, she slowly looked up to see Concretey, a slab of gray cracked sidewalk with all four limbs, standing in front of her now wrecked car. Mud hopped up, walking towards her with a scowl, “Oh, now you’re gonna get it.”
“Y-You hit me!” Concretey defended, before feeling Mud grab her side and hoist her into the air.
Mud reeled a fist back before feeling a knife stab into her side, she flatly looked down to see Pearl, a white circular gem with no limbs, telekinetically stabbing her with a knife. Mud raised an eyebrow, “I will give you a headstart while I pound Concretey into the concrete.”
Pearl then rolled on Mud’s foot, causing her to growl and dropkick the gem across the field. Pearl smacked into Candle, causing her to turn around, a little confused, “Excuse me?”
Pearl stabbed a knife into Candle, the wax object flatly staring at him, “You done?”
“Kills you, kills you, kills you, kills you-” Pearl repeated, stabbing Candle again and again.
Candle picked up Pearl and dropped him a bit further away.
In a different part of the field, Note was storming around, before walking up to Watery, “Hey! Have you seen Magnet around? Me and him need to have a ‘chat’.”
Watery shrugged, “Nope, no clue.”
Note groaned and walked off in another direction.
After a moment, Watery sighed, “Alright, you can come out now.”
Magnet slipped out from behind Watery, sighing, “Thanks, I was hoping she would over me losing that challenge by now…”
A little nearby, Winner and Purple Face sat by themselves, Winner spoke up, “Is it just me or is something… off?”
Purple Face thought for a moment “...NaH!”
“I dunno I… I just feel like I shouldn’t be here.”
“Probably because you actually shouldn’t,” Broccoli snapped, he was a small-ish green piece of broccoli with only legs, “nobody wants you here!”
Winner looked off to the side, sighing, before Purple Face hopped up, “SuCh A hAtEfUl ReMaRk FrOm ThE wOrSt VeGeTaBlE!”
“HOW DARE YOU!?” Broccoli yelled as Winner slowly made their exit.
Over near the cliff edge, Ring cocked an eyebrow, staring at Fossilized Mushroom, a seemingly prehistoric figure, she sat still in the gray rock structure, seemingly eternally terrified. Screwy, a gray screw with only two legs, walked up beside Ring, “I still have no idea where she comes from.”
Ring rolled his eyes, “Who cares about that, why does she look exactly like Mushroom?” he gestured over to Mushroom with his foot, she was holding up Fluffy and Whiskers as the latter attempted to claw at the former.
Screwy looked over at her for a moment, “Who knows, and who knows how she got stuck in a slab of rock.”
“Heh,” Ring chuckled, “guess she really screwed up-”
Screwy kicked Ring between the legs and walked away as he writhed in pain.
Over on a wooded hill, Amber, a tall, orange amber fossil with a mosquito stuck inside of him and all four limbs, looked over a notepad, before seeing a snickering Air Freshener approach, she was a red tag with a green pine tree on the front, in tow was a seemingly unimpressed Brick.
“ Snck , hey, Brick, watch this,” Air Freshener whispered, before turning to face Amber, “Hey, Amber! How’s the weather?”
Amber looked up and hummed for a moment, “Well, the weath'r seemeth rath'r cleareth f'r anon, though the f'recast didst predicteth st'rms lat'r, so we shouldst beest wary.”
Air Freshener began laughing as Brick flatly stared at her.
Amber uncomfortably looked to the side, “What's so comical?”
“YOU ACTUALLY TALK LIKE THIS!?” Air Freshener cackled, leaning against Brick, before wiping her eye and walking away, “Man, Brick I don’t know how you don’t find that hilarious.”
Amber stared at her for a moment, before turning away, frowning.
Brick stared at him for a moment, walking up, “Heh, guess you, uh, aren’t from around here, huh?”
Amber stared at him for a moment, before turning back to his notepad.
Brick was quiet, “...’m sorry, man.”
Brick turned around, walking as Amber softly replied with “Thank you.”
In another contained part of the field, Vacuum, who was a gray dustbag with purple metal lids keeping it contained, with a gray tube extending out her top with a purple metal nozzle, along with just two legs, was excitedly jumping around. “Omigosh it’s so nice to meet of all you!”
She dashed over to Windy and Rainbow, tightly pulling the two in, the latter was comprised of two small clouds with a rainbow arc connecting them, with only two arms, “It's so cool getting to meet the people responsible for that tornado last week!”
“We weren’t responsible for that?” Windy questioned as Rainbow whistled awkwardly.
Vacuum then dashed over to Bat and Ping Pong Paddle, the latter reclining, half-asleep, “And it’s so cool getting to meet season 1 veterans!”
Bat chuckled, “Thank you.”
Vacuum dashed over to Coal, “And it’s-!”
“No.”
“Okay!” Vacuum replied, walking away.
“You’re a loud one, aren’t you,” Ball And Chain grumbled, he was comprised of a dark gray metal chain leading up to his head, which was a light gray metal ball.
“Oh, give her some slack,” Taily dismissed, she was a green shed tail of an animal with yellow spots dotting her prehensile body, she only had two legs, “let people be positive.”
“Really?” Pencil Case asked, sitting behind the two of them, “that’s weird, whenever you’re positive, people get really annoyed and walk away.”
Taily’s smile and expression became a bit more forced as she grumbled out “Thanks Pencil Case.”
“Yeah people don’t really like-”
Taily forced his mouth shut with the tail, “THANKS. PENCIL. CASE.”
Ball And Chain looked at her for a moment, then walked away as Taily bashfully looked towards the ground.
In yet another part of the field, Thready was watching Solar Panel walk down a path alongside Hockey Stick and Hockey Puck, Solar Panel was made of two turquoise metal plates with cream colored lines marking the individual grooves and all four limbs, one metal bar connected the two plates. Hockey Stick was a light brown, with a bit of black tape near the base and two legs, and Hockey Puck was entirely black with two legs. Thready glanced over as Bushy sat down next to her, “So how’s it going?”
“Fine, currently I’m just waiting to see when Stick and Puck maul each other.”
“What?”
Thready pointed to Solar Panel, the hockey equipment were smiling, but whenever Solar Panel got distracted they shot each other a death glare.
“Their patience is quickly dwindling.”
“Hm,” Bushy hummed, “that’s… strange.”
“Just wait until you see Solar Panel’s diary,” Thready chuckled.
“...Have… have you… seen it?” Bushy questioned, “...why?”
Thready blinked, “...reasons…”
Across the path was Plug, reading a book, before Sapling walked up to her, the former had a white cord and base with shiny metal prongs, the cord seemingly fed into the distance forever, while the latter was comprised of a gray bag with a brown tree growing out of it, “Hey, Plug, what’s your cord lead to?”
“...I uh, don’t really think you need to know,” Plug replied.
“...” Sapling stared at her before beginning to follow the cord into the horizon.
“Hey!” Plug shouted, whipping the cord to knock Sapling off, “I told you to not do that!”
Steak, watching the ordeal, rubbed his eyes, audibly groaning as Slicey stood next to him with a blank smile, “Could you just leave her alone, Sapling?”
“Yeah, leave her alone!” Slicey repeated.
Sapling huffed, “But it’s so boring around here!”
“She specifically asked you to stop.”
“Yeah, she asked you to stop!” Slicey added.
“Please stop repeating me,” Steak sighed.
“Yeah, stop repeating you!” Slicey nodded.
Steak flatly stared at Slicey before he heard the sound of shattering glass, he looked over to see a pile of broken glass with a guilty-looking Lacrosse Stick nearby, he was largely white with a light gray handle, his face was on the bar and he had all four limbs. Glue Stick, a semi-tall object with only legs, an orange cap and base with a blue midsection, sat beside him, unimpressed.
Steak walked over, “What happened?”
Lacrosse Stick awkwardly laughed, “W-Well, you see-”
“He pushed Beaker and killed him on accident,” Glue Stick deadpanned, her voice expressionless.
“Gee, thanks,” Lacrosse Stick groaned.
Steak sighed, “Well at least he’ll be recovered.”
Over at the Beaker Recovery Center, he rolled out, he was made of completely see-through glass with red markings on his side, he notably had no limbs. He sighed in annoyance, before getting knocked over again by a sprinting Sign, who was a black sign with a white outline and arrow with only two legs. Sign frantically ran away from… something directly into Black Licorice, a stained white and gray candy wrapper that was opened at the top, strands of licorice flowing out.
Black Licorice turned around, kneeling down, “Hey, everything okay?”
“N-No!” Sign stammered, “Pearl’s going around breaking the recovery centers! What are we gonna do!?”
Licorice stood up, walking over to the nearby recovery center to see Beaker nervously watching Pearl repeatedly jump on his recovery center, crushing it, “HA! Now you can’t even come back!”
Beaker heard a click and flatly turned to glare at Camera, who was taking photos of Pearl’s destruction. Once the recovery center was thoroughly crushed, Pearl rolled over to Beaker, “Now for the finishing touch!”
Beaker desperately hopped backwards before Black Licorice picked up Pearl, “Alright, that’s enough out of you.”
“Hey! Let me go!” Pearl cried out, trying to wiggle out of Black Licorice’s grip.
Licorice sighed, “At least it was only the one.”
Sign awkwardly laughed, “...Well-”
~~~
Licorice rubbed her eyes as Boulder and Fireball carried the broken recovery centers into a trash pit, “And that makes 63, yep, he got all of them,” Boulder groaned, before turning to Smokestack, who was sitting nearby, he was a largely gray smokestack with strips of black around him and a yellow base, he was constantly billowing out a smoke cloud, Boulder scowled, “Thanks for the help.”
“No problem,” Smokestack replied.
“I was being sarcastic,” Boulder deadpanned.
“Boulder, be nice,” Fireball lectured.
Licorice sighed, “Well, thanks Pearl, now we’re all in mortal danger.”
“Just how I like it,” Pearl laughed.
Sign looked to the ground, “I wish there was someone that could help with all this-”
“Hello!” D interrupted.
Sign, Licorice, and Pearl all turned to see a cartoon D, colored blue with a wide smile, immediately the three of them screamed.
“WHAT IS THAT!?”
“OH MY CANDY STORE!”
“KILL IT! KILL IT!”
D flatly stared at the three of them, “Gee, thanks.”
Plug showed up and wrapped herself around D, constricting them, “Just what’s your business here?”
D’s voice was strained, “Maybe if you let go of my ribs I’d tell you I just want to play a game!”
Every contestant in a mile radius instantly zipped to D’s side, Taily spoke “A game!?”
“What kind of game?” Bushy asked.
“A competition game! Eliminations, a grand prize! Fun!” D cheered on.
“I love prizes!” most of the contestants cheered.
Ankle Monitor shrugged, “...meh.”
“What IS the prize?” Bat asked.
“I get the feeling that it’s some kind of compilation of the first three seasons of Battle For Nightmare Moon,” Card noted.
“Yep!” D replied, holding up a BFNM.
The contestants blinked at them.
D sighed, “And 1 million in cash.”
The contestants cheered.
Another alien-like being walked out from behind D, a triangle-like yellow one, D gestured to them, “This is Delta! They’ll be my cohost!”
Delta waved flatly, “Hey.”
A crash was heard causing the crowd to look over, seeing Mud walk guiltily away from a broken pile of grass.
“Welp, there goes Beaker, the recovery centers are gone sooo,” Pearl hummed.
“THE RECOVERY CENTERS ARE GONE!?” Magnet shrieked.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got that covered!” D replied, holding out their hand, a discordant drumroll was heard, nothing happened. D looked at their hand, trying again, the drums sounded even worse.
Delta looked over at them, “Want me to do it?”
D tried a few more times, straining their arm, before sighing, “...yes…”
Delta held out their hand and with a drumroll, recovered Beaker.
Beaker blinked a few times, “I’m… I’m alive? I’M ALIVE!”
“Oh, thank the scribe, we’re not doomed,” Scroll sighed.
D began floating in the air, pulling out a notepad and pencil, “Well there’s… let’s see… 63 of you! That means we’ll be needing, let’s say 7 teams of 9!”
Delta teleported up next to them as D put the pencil to their mouth the sky behind them was beginning to crack.
“Kinda wish we had 64 contestants, 8 teams of 8 is so much nicer,” D sighed.
Delta blinked, “...I would say ‘well it’s not like one is gonna fall out of the sky’ but I get the feeling-”
A small circle of the sky behind the duo broke open, revealing space, a limbless sun, with a yellow body, orange spikes around him, and white eyes, flew out of it, excitedly proclaiming “HELLO! I’M GOD!”
D blinked, before writing down ‘Sun’, “Hello there, wanna join my game show?”
“What’s a game show?” Sun asked, flying up to them.
“It’s a game where you and other contestants compete to win a prize,” D replied.
“What’s a contestant?”
“You don’t get out of space much, do you?” Delta deadpanned, unimpressed.
“Not at all! I got bored and I wanted to talk to people! I haven’t talked to anyone in-”
“A week? A month?” D suggested.
“-3672 days!”
Delta’s eyes widened as D blinked a few times, “...Well then… I’m sure everyone will be happy to show you around!”
Sun flew down to the contestants, an arm and hand popping out as they waved, “Hello everyone!”
“I have to compete with the Sun.” Candle noted, exasperated, “The SUN!”
“Wait,” Winner began, “if you’re the sun, then what’s that?” they pointed up to the burning ball of fire in the sky.
“Oh! That’s just my mom,” Sun happily replied, looking up and waving, “Hi mom!!!!”
“Hi sweetie,” the sun replied, the booming voice knocking over the contestants, except for Sun, the letters, and oddly Smokestack.
D dusted themself off, before looking at the crowd, “Alrighty then! 8 teams of 8! Take as much time as you need!”
Watery picked up Magnet and walked away without much protest [2/8].
Coal looked over at the cast, before folding her arms behind her back with a smile, walking over to Steely, “Hello there, Steely.”
“Hey Coal, whaddya want?” Steely deadpanned.
“Well, I was hoping you’d be willing to join my team,” Coal offered.
“Pft, and why would I do that?”
Coal shrugged, “Oh, nevermind, I just figured such a brave, fearless soul like yourself would be willing to help a poor underachiever stay a bit longer.”
Steely blinked, thinking for a moment, before smiling, “Alright I’m in!” [2/8]
Steak walked around, looking for some people to join with, before hearing footsteps behind him, he turned to see Slicey happily following behind him, Steak watched Slicey bump into him before taking a step back. After a moment, Steak spoke “You’re gonna force yourself onto my team aren’t you?”
“No, I’m gonna join your team!” Slicey replied.
Steak groaned. [2/8]
Carpety pushed Fossilized Mushroom towards a flower patch, filled with dandelions, now smushed by a ton of rock. “Welp, no time like the present to study a living anomaly,” he then wiped his hands, looking up at the rock containing the prehistoric object. [2/8]
“Oooo you’re making a team? Can I join?” Pencil Sharpener asked, excitedly bouncing up and down beside him.
“What? Of course not! You’re absolutely useless!”
“No, this is BFNM, I’m the opposite of useless!” Pencil Sharpener replied.
“What?”
“We’re all the exact opposites of people from an alternate dimension so everything is the opposite so if I’m useless, I’m really useful!”
Carpety blinked in utter confusion a few times, “...Lay off the sugar water.”
Pencil Sharpener was standing still but vibrating rapidly.
Carpety sighed, “Listen, I get you’re trying to be cute and all, but I intend to win, and you are nothing more than dead weight.”
Pencil Sharpener pouted for a moment, before smiling, “Well, you think I shouldn’t join, I think I should, what do you think Fossilized Mushroom?”
Sharpener politely turned to the fossil, much to Carpety’s confusion, “...She’s… stuck in a metric ton of rock, she can’t really vote.”
“Well then she abstains,” Sharpener replied, turning to look over, “Hey! Glue Stick!”
Glue Stick turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow.
“Should I be on Carpety’s team?”
“Sure, why not.”
“What!? No!” Carpety shouted.
“Too bad! You’re outvoted,” Sharpener giggled, “You can join the team if you want Glue Stick!”
“NO!” Carpety protested.
“Eh, sure, not like I can join any other teams,” Glue Stick hummed.
“YES. YOU CAN. LEAVE.” [4/8], Carpety looked up at the 4/8, baffled “What!? No- Get that graphic out of here!”
Nearby on a small dip in the ground, Containery looked over a whiteboard, “Well, to make the most efficient team, you need a balance of traits, a leader,” she wrote down her own name, “next up is an athlete…”
Instant Noodles ran past Containery, taunting someone behind her, before Containery grabbed her arm.
“You’re with me.”
“Okay then,” Instant Noodles replied. [2/8]
Over near the recovery centers, Fireball dumped another busted one into a furnace before being approached by Vacuum, “Hey there! You seem pretty nice, wanna be teammates?”
“Uh, sure,” Fireball replied with a content smile.
Vacuum happily put her foot on Fireball’s back, before suddenly bursting into flames.
Fireball awkwardly watched her burn to death before Delta stuck their hand out and recovered her, Vacuum blinked, “We’re still teammates but let’s save group hugs for another day.”
Nearby, Coal approached Amber, “Y’know Amber, you’d be a great choice for our team, you’re strong, right?”
“I receiveth the humour thou art trying to dissemble me,” Amber deadpanned.
“Haha you said it, now come over here,” Coal replied, dragging him over.
“Art thee trying to useth me as a meat buckler?” Amber asked.
“Whatever makes you happy pal,” Coal nodded, pushing Amber next to Steely, the former huffed as Coal ran off, before looking to his side, seeing Fluffy.
Amber knelt down, “Oh a dog,” before picking him up and scratching his ears.
“Woof” [4/8]
Sign nervously looked around, seeing everyone talk, before hearing a voice, “Feeling a bit overwhelmed?”
She turned around to see Licorice standing behind her, Sign huffed, “M-Maybe a bit…”
Licorice looked at her for a moment, “You can be on my team if you want.”
“...Y-Yeah, that works.” [2/8]
Rainbow awkwardly floated above the other contestants, sighing, before feeling a rock hit him in the back, he turned to see Mud glaring up at him, with an eye roll he flew down, “What?”
“I want strong contestants on my team, you’re with me,” Mud demanded.
“I don’t really-”
“You’re with me,” Mud restated, dragging Rainbow along. [2/8]
Winner awkwardly sat on their own, before Sun flew down suddenly “Hiii!!!”
Winner jumped back, “AH- Oh- uh, hi.”
“Wanna be teammates?” Sun asked, spinning.
“Uhm, I don’t… eh, why not?” Winner sighed.
“Yay!” Sun cheered [2/8].
“Then I’ll be with you two,” Taily noted, walking over [3/8].
“What? Why?” Sun asked.
“You guys seem fun,” Taily replied.
“Woo!” Sun cheered, flying up.
Taily and Winner stared at him, before the former spoke up, “To be honest my heat lamp broke and the sun will suffice.”
“Ah.”
Containery looked over her notes again, sitting in a dirt patch in a dip in the ground, “Alright, after the leader and athlete, we need a specialist, someone to do stuff no one else can do.”
“Uh, Containery?” Instant Noodles asked.
“Hm?” Containery asked, turning around to see Pearl stabbing Instant Noodles by telekinetically moving a knife to little effect, “Ah.”
“WHY IS EVERYONE SO DURABLE!?” Pearl complained.
Containery walked over and picked up Pearl, “Well telekinesis is special enough, you’ll be our crown jewel.”
“You called~” Crown said, walking over.
“No- well… why not?” Containery shrugged.
“Wonderful,” Crown replied, [4/8].
Over on the wooded hill, Lacrosse Stick and Plug stared at the group of contestants, both unamused, Net sighed, “Not many reasonable options, huh?”
“Nope,” Plug agreed.
The two looked at each other, speaking simultaneously, “Team? Team.” [2/8]
Black Licorice and Sign navigated the crowd, the former gently picking up Whiskers and petting her, the cat purring softly. Lavadrop excitedly ran up to the two of them, “Hi you guys! You seem fun, can I be on your team? I wanted to be on a different team, but they called me an obnoxious chatterbox, which I thought was mean, do you guys think I’m annoying? I hope not! Anyway I wanna join your team because you two seem cool, I can do all sorts of things like burn stuff and… I can burn stuff!”
Licorice and Sign looked at each other, the former shrugging as the latter nervously looked at Lavadrop, Sign spoke, “I-I guess.”
“Thank you!” Lavadrop replied, popping up between the two of them and hugging them.
“Too touchy!” Sign cried out.
Whiskers flatly watched the three of them, hopping onto the ground and face-pawing. [4/8]
Carpety sat on Fossilized Mushroom, still in the flower field, he sighed, scouting out good team choices.
Pencil Sharpener stood up, “Hi Pencil Case!!! Wanna join our team?”
Pencil Case looked over flatly, “I mean, I don’t really care.”
“Well I think you should join!” Pencil Sharpener called out, turning to Glue Stick, “Do you think he should join?”
“Sure, why not?”
“Then it’s deci-”
“Nope, no no no,” Carpety cut off, “even ignoring him being terrible at the game, there’s 1 against, 2 for, and 2 abstaining, it’s a tie, he doesn’t join.”
Pencil Sharpener looked around, “Hey Scroll!”
“Don’t you-” Carpety began.
“Should Pencil Case join our team?”
“Uh, sure I guess? Why should I care?” Scroll questioned.
“For the love of-” Carpety groaned as Pencil Case sat next to Fossilized Mushroom. [5/8]
“Scroll! You should join our team!” Pencil Sharpener added.
“SHARPENER. SHUT UP.”
“Uh, I guess,” Scroll said, walking over and plopping down next to Glue Stick. [6/8]
Carpety loudly groaned, “aaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-”
Over near the bathrooms, Card leaned against the wall, before seeing Lacrosse Stick and Plug approach, the latter spoke, “Hey there, we were hoping you would be willing to join our team!”
Card thought for a moment, “I dunno, I don’t really know you two.”
“I mean, weigh us against your other options,” Lacrosse Stick pointed out.
Card looked around, seeing Mud yell at Rainbow, Carpety bang his head against the ground, Sun rotate on a random axis, and Sign hearing a loud noise and cowering behind Licorice.
Card nodded, “Good point, I’ll take my chances with you two.” [3/8].
Carpety took a deep breath, the flower patch near-completely trampled, “It’s alright, you just need 2 athletes-”
“Hey Beaker!” Pencil Sharpener called out.
“End me,” Carpety sighed.
Beaker hopped over, “I dunno of how much use I’m gonna be.”
“Don’t worry about that! We’re having fun here,” Pencil Sharpener nodded.
Carpety peeked one eye open, before sprinting over and grabbing Hammer, who whipped his head around, “H-Hey! What gives!?”
“Apologies but I need an athlete before these morons pick a pile of dirt as our 8th teammate, you’re with us, and I’m sorry about that,” Carpety groaned. [8/8]
“Heeeey we didn’t vote on him!” Pencil Sharpener pointed out.
“DEMOCRACY. IS. MEANINGLESS. WHEN. THE. VOTERS. ARE. MORONS.” Carpety growled through gritted teeth.
Vacuum pulled over Mushroom with her wand “Wanna join our team?”
“Uhm, I guess, sure!” Mushroom replied, watching Candle walk over curiously.
“This seems rather laid back, can I join?”
“Sure! It’s always nice to meet new people!” Vacuum cheered. [4/8]
Air Freshener dragged Brick over to Slicey, “Hey, Brick, watch-”
“Freshy let’s just join a team already the options are getting low,” Brick deadpanned.
Air Freshener huffed, “ Fine I guess.”
Brick walked over to Steak, “Mind if we pitch in?”
“Not at all, I need someone to distract me from him ,” Steak groaned, pointing back to Slicey, who was idly kicking his feet. [4/8]
Nearby, Bushy was steadily helping Watery Senior walk, “Hey, that team seems pretty nice, wanna join them?”
“...What was that, son?”
Bushy sighed, “Nevermind, let’s just go join a team.”
Steak glanced up, “Well I don’t see much use in having the elderly so-”
“Well, would we rather take Weighty? Or Purple Face?” Brick cut off.
Steak opened his mouth for a moment, before pausing and sighing, “Alright, fine.” [6/8]
Coal plopped Weighty down next to Amber, much to Weighty’s protest “Hey I didn’t get a say in this!”
“And you won’t,” Coal dismissed, “just be happy you’re on a team with people with arms.”
Weighty looked at Amber and Steely before sighing, “Fine.” [5/8]
Coal sprinted over to Ring, “Hey there, Ring, I have to ask, don’t you feel like these teams are pretty bad?”
Ring scoffed, “Of course, everyone’s just so… dull.”
Coal grinned, “Well, I have a solution for you, my team is full of athletes, you’ll never have to get up to help, just let them carry you to the finish line!”
Ring raised an eyebrow, “And what’s the cost?”
“Eh, you’ll just have help lead a bit.”
“Gladly,” Ring replied, walking over towards Coal’s team, the latter chuckling to herself.
“I’m joining your team.”
Coal turned around to see Windy staring at her, arms crossed. She spoke, “And why is that?”
“Your current plan is clearly to use some of the more gullible and less athletic contestants as meatshields in the game,” Windy observed, “and unless your plan is to lose 8 episodes and leave by default, you’re gonna need someone who can actually help with challenges, like me.”
Coal squinted at him, “...Fine, go ahead.”
As Coal walked away, Windy whispered to himself “Plus, someone needs to look out for them.” [7/8]
Spike Ball floated over to Plug, “Mind if I join your team?”
Plug looked at Lacrosse, who nodded, then back at Spike Ball, “Sure.”
“Phew, thought I was gonna be stuck with Slicey for a second,” Spike Ball sighed. [4/8]
Salad appeared behind Spike Ball “Can I join too?”
Spike Ball stared at him for second, slightly annoyed, Lacrosse Stick walked over, “Go ahead.” [5/8]
Plug looked at him oddly as Spike Ball flew off, “Why? Salad doesn’t do much.”
Lacrosse Stick sighed, “Listen, at least he’s cooperative and I don’t wanna hold out too much and get stuck with the Hockey equipment, I kinda hate those guys.”
“Good point,” Plug nodded.
Back in Containery’s little dip in the ground, she turned to see Solar Panel awkwardly standing behind her, “H-Hey, I was wondering if I could join your team?”
Containery opened her mouth, before Crown popped in, “If I may, I don’t mean to be rude, but while it’s not a no, even you must admit there are more appealing options, like Bat-”
“Sure, you can join!” Vacuum cheered on as Bat walked into the group [5/8]
Crown blinked, “Well there’s still Screwy, she’s a good lead-”
Screwy sat next to Steak, “This team seems alright.” [7/8]
Crown scratched her wrist, “Or, uhm, perhaps Sapling-”
Sapling leaned against Black Licorice, “You guys need an athlete, I’m an athlete, what do ya’ say?”
Licorice shrugged as Lavadrop gave a thumbs up “You’d be great for our team Sapling! It’s nice to have a-”
Whiskers slapped a paw over Lavadrop’s mouth. [5/8]
Crown and Containery looked at each other before looking at Solar Panel, simultaneously saying “Fine.” [5/8]
Spaghetti grabbed Metal Ball, walking over to Sign, “Hello there, we were wondering if you’d let us join your ranks.”
Sign nervously took a step back, seeing Spaghetti tower over her, “Uhm-”
Licorice got inbetween the two of them, visibly hesitant, “...Sure…”
Spaghetti smiled, “Glad to hear it.” [7/8]
Containery looked up to see Instant Noodles dragging Ping Pong Paddle over to the team, “Wait- Why are you?”
“He has several vigintillion dollars.”
Containery blinked, “Fair enough.” [6/8]
Watery and Magnet looked around, wandering through the area, Watery pointed over to Winner’s team, “Those guys seem pretty alright, I mean, they have the literal Sun, hard to ignore him.”
Magnet nodded, “Seems good!”
As the two walked over to join, they heard a voice, “Magnet.”
Watery and Magnet slowly turned to see Note giving them a death glare, she stomped over, grabbing Magnet’s wrist.
“We need to have a ‘chat’.”
Magnet awkwardly laughed before Sun flew inbetween the two of them, “Are you guys joining our team?”
“N- …” Note began. Before smiling, “Yes actually.”
“Yay!” [6/8]
As the teams formed their groups, they naturally formed a ring around the last few remaining choices: Ankle Monitor, Ball And Chain, Boulder, Broccoli, Camera, Concretey, Hockey Puck, Hockey Stick, Purple Face, Smokestack, and Thread.
Mud picked up Boulder and dropped her down next to her and Rainbow, “You’re with me.”
“Ok.” [3/8]
Thread walked over to Winner’s team, stretching, “You guys seem the least neurotic to me.”
“Interesting qualification,” Winner noted.
“I don’t wanna be stressed out by my teammates freaking out,” Thread shrugged, sitting down next to them. [7/8]
Winner looked over to see Broccoli walking over, scowling, “Oh boy here we go…”
Broccoli stared at Winner for a moment, before speaking through gritted teeth, “Hate to admit it… but this is probably the best composed team here,” Broccoli walked to the other side of the team, “I’m not gonna like it though.” [8/8]
Containery huffed, flipping through notes, “I’m gonna be honest I have no ideas.”
Crown turned to look at the ones left, before hopping up, grabbing Concretey and Smokestack, and walking back over.
Instant Noodles cocked an eyebrow, “Why those two?”
“They’re least likely to start a fight,” Crown replied, shoving the two of them into the dip in the ground. [8/8]
Lacrosse Stick huffed, Plug and Card stood at his sides, “Do any of us have any ideas?”
“Nope.”
“Nada.”
“Kay, wonderful.”
Purple Face approached, “HeLlO tHeRe! I wAs HoPiNg I cOuLd JoIn YoUr LiTtLe GrOuP!”
“Why,” Plug deadpanned.
“WhY, yOu AlL nEeD a TrUe LeAdEr! AnD i Am GlAd To SaVe YoU fRoM a FaTe Of LoSs AfTeR lOsS!”
“You’re not gonna go away are you?” Lacrosse questioned.
“NoPe!”
“Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay,” he flatly cheered. [6/8]
Spaghetti popped up next to Camera, “Hey there, I think you’d be a great pick for our team y’know, we need someone with a critical eye to make it through.”
Camera grinned, “Alright, I think I’ve got one of those!”
Spaghetti walked over and took a good look at her team, maybe this game would be fun. [8/8]
Mud surveyed the options as D popped up next to her “Hello there!”
Mud punched D in the face, caving it in, after a moment, their face popped back out with an unamused expression.
“Thanks, I just wanted to let you know that there are only 4 people left to choose!”
“So!?” Mud snapped.
“...So even if you convinced all of them you won’t have a full team and will need to combine with another team or split up and all join different teams? Good luck!”
As D disappeared, Rainbow turned to see Vacuum’s team looking for options, he flew over, “Hey, could our team combine with yours?”
“Oooo, sure!”
“Wait wait, whose on it?” Fireball asked.
“Well we’ve got Boulder and-”
“Oh why this team!?” Mud growled.
Bat immediately shook her head, “Nope, not at all.”
“I mean…” Candle began, “We do need an athlete…”
“ Her !?” Bat questioned.
“Seems like a good play,” Candle noted.
Bat stared at Mud for a moment, before sighing, “Fine.” [8/8]
Coal dragged Ball and Chain over without much protest, “You. Stay there.” [8/8]
Windy surveyed the newfound team, sighing, “This is gonna be a rocky ride.”
Screwy walked over and dragged away Ankle Monitor, “At least we can be confident you’ll always prioritize one thing.”
“DOWN WITH METAL BALL!” Ankle Monitor shouted, holding up a sign that read the same phrase.
“Yep, that.”
Lacrosse blinked, “Wait, but that means-”
“YOU UGLY THING GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!”
“WE ALL HAVE THE SAME FACE!”
“NUH UH! PEARL DOESN’T!”
“OH THAT’S PEDANTIC AND YOU KNOW IT!”
Lacrosse Stick, Plug, and Card stared at Hockey Stick and Hockey Puck as they screamed at each other, Lacrosse Stick pinched where a nose would be.
“Told you we should’ve taken Ankle Monitor,” Card noted.
“I know,” Lacrosse Stick sighed, before walking over, “You two are with us.”
“WHAT!?” Hockey Stick yelled, “I’m not being on a team with HER.”
“Oh, like I’d want to be on a team with-”
“You two have literally no other choice, you’re the last two to be picked, please don’t argue and get over here,” Lacrosse Stick groaned, walking back towards his team.
Stick and Puck looked at each other, before huffing and following Lacrosse.
“Alright, team name,” Mushroom hummed, “any ideas?”
“The Bench Pressers!” Mud shouted.
“You don’t even own a weight set,” Boulder groaned.
“Team Victory!” Vacuum suggested.
“Oh that is asking for all of us to leave before merge,” Rainbow criticized.
“We need a team name that incorporates all of us,” Candle pointed out, “...what works…”
Fireball thought for a moment, “Uhm… how about… uhhhhhhaaaAll? All?”
“You want the team name. That incorporates all of us. To be All,” Boulder deadpanned.
“...yes?”
All [The team logo is a large lime green capital A with the shapes of the 8 team members within it, with two thin black capital Ls following it]
The team looked up to see the team name graphic appear above them, then looked over to D, who glanced up, “The names don’t matter that much and we’re on a schedule.”
Coal rubbed her chin, “We need a team name that’ll strike fear into the hearts of our enemies, we need a solid name that encompasses our power, what will our team name be…”
Amber, meanwhile, was petting Fluffy and poked his nose, “Hehe boop.”
Boop [The team logo is a red dog’s nose with the word BOOP written in all capitals inside]
Coal flatly looked at Amber, who innocently looked up at the graphic.
Steak sighed, “Well at this rate our team name is bound to be s-”
Screwy closed his mouth, “Shhhh! Whatever you say after that will be our team name!”
Ankle Monitor rolled his eyes, “Honestly, does it matter that much? So long as we’re not, like, Team Metal Ball or something I think we’ll manage.”
“Team Metal Ball?” Steak repeated, confused.
Team Metal Ball [The logo is a gray ball with the words TEAM METAL BALL inside in all caps]
Ankle Monitor fell to his knees, “What have I done?”
Containery rubbed the side of her head, “Alright, let’s actually think about our team name, ideas?”
“Well what’s our team really about?” Concretey asked.
“Getting far in the game, winning,” Instant Noodles listed off.
“I think making sure other teams’ strongest players leave is a priority,” Crown noted.
“Soooo… is this team mostly about terminating enemy strategists?” Ping Pong Paddle asked.
“Yeah, I guess,” Pearl agreed.
Team Mostly About Terminating Enemy Strategists, aka Team M.A.T.E.S. [The logo is a white square with a capital T inside of it, with a capital M, A, T, E, and S under it]
Sun looked at his team, “Well, we have someone named Winner, and we wanna win, so-”
“No-!” Broccoli protested.
“We’re The Winners!”
The Winners [The logo is… basically just The S! Logo but with the full word and more purple than blue]
Winner blinked, “Uhm… a-alright then…”
Carpety scoffed, “Well, we can’t possibly have be a worse name than that.”
“Sure we can! Watch: We’re A Worse Name Than That!” Pencil Sharpener cheered.
A Worse Name Than That [It’s the ABNTT logo but orange and the word Worse instead of Better]
Carpety slowly blinked, “...You’re going to give me an ulcer.”
Purple Face sniffed Salad, who turned around, confused, “Excuse me?”
“WoW! yOu MuSt Be SoMe CoStLy CuIsInE!”
Costly Cuisine [The logo is a silver food cloche with a green plate, the words ‘COSTLY CUISINE’ in black standing up on the plate in all caps]
“I- Wha-” Lacrosse Stick stuttered, gesturing wildly.
“We didn’t even mention our team name near that!” Plug called out.
Delta popped up beside them, “Like we said, schedule.” They then turned to face Licorice’s team, “On that, you 8 hurry up.”
“Uhm, we’re- uhm- uh-” Sign stuttered, “w-we’re uh- t-Team Name?”
Delta raised an eyebrow, then shrugged, “Good enough.”
Team Name [The logo is just the words ‘Team Name’ written in black in a white box]
To recap:
All: Bat, Candle, Mud, Boulder, Rainbow, Vacuum, Mushroom, Fireball
Boop: Coal, Ball And Chain, Amber, Windy, Fluffy, Ring, Weighty, Steely
Team Metal Ball: Slicey, Air Freshener, Brick, Steak, Screwy, Bushy, Ankle Monitor, Watery Senior
Team M.A.T.E.S.: Containery, Instant Noodles, Smokestack, Crown, Solar Panel, Pearl, Ping Pong Paddle, Concretey
The Winners: Winner, Sun, Taily, Broccoli, Magnet, Watery, Thread, Note
A Worse Name Than That: Carpety, Pencil Sharpener, Pencil Case, Glue Stick, Scroll, Fossilized Mushroom, Beaker, Hammer
Costly Cuisine: Lacrosse Stick, Plug, Hockey Stick, Hockey Puck, Card, Salad, Spike Ball, Purple Face
Team Name: Spaghetti, Sign, Black Licorice, Sapling, Lavadrop, Camera, Metal Ball, Whiskers
“Alrighty then! We can get started!” D announced, they snapped their fingers… nothing happened. They tried a few more times, before Delta sighed and snapped their fingers, causing a gray stone obelisk to appear beneath them.
D looked up, “Oh no! Delta has lost their precious baskets!”
Six gray wicker baskets on propellers floated away from Delta, they pulled out a notecard, emotionlessly saying “Oh no, my beloved baskets, please get them back for me.”
“The two teams that do not get a basket back to Delta will be up for elimination!” D called out.
“Really? Bottom two? Seems harsh,” Bat observed.
“Oh, forgot to mention, all eliminations are double eliminations! But we’ll explain more once two of you lose, ciao!”
D vanished as the teams looked up at the baskets, Lacrosse Net looked over to Plug, “Think you could get up there?”
“I could try,” Plug agreed, attempting to raise up into the air before falling back down on her face, she slowly raised up, “yep, not how physics work.”
Carpety sighed, “Well with a team with such a low average iq we might as well ask the voters for mercy now.”
Hammer cocked an eyebrow, “Dude, calm down, we haven’t even started yet.”
“What do you think we should do Fossilized Mushroom?” Pencil Sharpener asked, turning to the silent ton of rock.
Carpety slowly turned to look at Hammer, “Sometimes you don’t need evidence to make a conclusion.”
Over near the base of the obelisk, Coal paced back and forth, “Maybe we could use a catapult? Trebuchet? I don’t suppose any of you can climb…”
Amber slowly turned to Windy, “Thee can just flyeth up and grabeth the basket, c'rrect?”
Windy smiled, “Yeah, but I wanna wait to see if she remembers that.”
Air Freshener squinted up at one of the baskets, “Brick I’m gonna throw you at it.”
“Wha- why?”
“To get the basket,” Air Freshener grabbed Brick and tossed him in the air, he made it a solid meter before careening back towards Earth, Screwy barely dodged out of the way.
“Agh-! Don’t toss bricks around!”
“Especially when they’re gonna get a concussion when you do!” Brick shouted.
“I quite like her plan,” Watery Senior noted, Bushy looked at him.
“...Really?”
“Yes, knocking the baskets down will make them much easier to handle.”
Bushy looked at him before shrugging, “Alright, let’s give it a shot.”
Lacrosse Net began gesturing to the obelisk, “Alright, here’s the plan, Plug, you go and-”
“UGH! Don’t even think about standing next to me!” Hockey Stick cut off, glaring at Hockey Puck.
“Don’t cut Lacrosse off you big jerk!” Hockey Puck shouted back.
“Oh I’M not the one who's big .”
“HOW D-”
Card grabbed Hockey Puck and dragged her away as she yelled at Hockey Stick, saying “You two. Alone time. Now.”
“Thanks, Card,” Lacrosse noted, “anyway, as I was saying, Plug: You snake around the obelisk, me and Card will climb up you, if that’s okay?”
“Yeah that’s fine,” Plug nodded.
“Alright, we’ll try to get the nearest basket, jump up to it, and give it to Delta,” Lacrosse explained.
Spike Ball raised an eyebrow “Why not just have me fly up there and push it?”
“You’re gonna puncture the basket and I don’t wanna lose on a stupid ‘technically not all of the basket is here’ technicality.”
Spike Ball thought for a moment, “Fair enough.”
Plug snaked over and wrapped around the obelisk, facing a basket, “Come on up!”
Lacrosse walked up before getting shoved to the side by Instant Noodles, “You snooze you lose!” Instant Noodles dashed up the cord, Plug shaking to get her off, unintentionally tightening the cord.
“HEY! GET OFF! GET OFF!” Plug yelled, before Instant Noodles jumped off her head to grab the basket.
“Let’s g-” Noodles’ leg was then bitten by Plug, who electrocuted her, “BZBZBTBBZBZZZZTTT”
Noodles fell straight down, dropping the basket in the air, Plug grabbed it in her mouth and moved over to Delta, her speech muffled, “Hee yuuu gh!”
Delta took the basket, as D called out “And Costly Cuisine is the first team safe! Good job guys!”
Plug smiled, before trying to unravel herself, “Uhm… why can’t I loosen up?”
Crown awkwardly walked away from the back of the obelisk after tying Plug up into a knot.
Plug attempted to pull back from the obelisk but failed, “Ow- ow, okay, guess I’m here now.”
Lacrosse Stick frowned slightly, before walking beside the obelisk and sitting against it, “I’ll keep ya’ company.”
Crown grabbed Instant Noodles’ leg as she stayed face down on the ground, dragging her back to the team.
Steak stormed over to his team, “What are you all doing!?”
Air Freshener turned to him as she threw Slicey into the air, he came back down and hit Bushy, “Getting the basket, you?”
Steak sighed, “You’re not gonna get the basket doing that! Make a trebuchet or something.”
Air Freshener rolled her eyes, “At least I’m helping.”
Screwy walked up next to Steak, “Calm down you two, let’s work this out: Air Freshener: Your plan is good but you need better execution, Ankle Monitor has the best throwing arm and Bushy is the lightest, have her throw him up.”
Ankle Monitor glanced up from her phone and got pulled under the basket, she rolled her eyes and grabbed Bushy, nearly tossing him up to the basket.
Screwy then turned to Steak, “You, me, and Brick are gonna try to find ways to get it to Delta once we get it down, Air Freshener, Watery Senior, and Slicey? You three scout out other ways to get the basket down.”
Air Freshener looked at Screwy, before sighing, “Fine.” Air Freshener moved to give Ankle Monitor room as Brick caught up to Screwy and Steak.
Steak looked down at Screwy, “How do you get them to listen to you?”
“By not yelling at them,” Screwy said.
Over with Boop, Coal was still brainstorming ways to get up the obelisk, “Well, we could maybe do shot put with Weighty-”
“Not in a million years,” Weighty cut off.
“Why not just have me climb up it?” Steely questioned.
“You’re not getting the basket that way,” Coal replied, rolling her eyes.
“Bark bark!” Fluffy butted in, pointing to Windy.
“Shut up Fluffy!” Coal snapped, before looking at Windy, “Wait you can fly.”
Windy laughed slightly, “Amazing the dog noticed before you.”
“Just go get the basket,” Coal groaned as Windy flew up, seeing Rainbow next to him.
“...Why are…”
“Hm?” Rainbow hummed, looking over, “Oh, my team started shouting at each other and I was getting annoyed,” he pointed down to his team, Mud was saying that if they kept jumping they might jump high enough to get the basket and that the Ls in Fireball’s name were weighing him down. Bat was attempting to come up with an actual functional plan, none had noticed Rainbow’s leave. “To be honest I was kinda pretending there was suspense, here, by the way,” Rainbow handed Windy a basket while pulling out his own.
Windy took the basket, flying behind Rainbow towards Delta, “Oh, thanks.”
Both handed their baskets to Delta as D announced “And that’s safety towards All and Boop! Three baskets are left in the air, better hurry!”
Containery paced in circles, “Well, we could maybe try to toss Pearl up high enough to telekinetically pull the basket down.”
“If I get cracked because you threw me in the air I will spill the blood of everyone on this team,” Pearl threatened.
Crown rolled her eyes, “We don’t have blood.”
Containery poked Instant Noodles’ unconscious body with a pencil, a jolt of electricity flowing throughout her, “She won’t be of much help, will she?”
Crown huffed, before tossing Pearl to Solar Panel, who nervously watched him scowl. Crown quickly made her way over to Team Metal Ball, seeing Ankle Monitor toss Bushy in the air, Crown spoke first, “Hello there, how’s the throwing going?”
“It’s going,” Ankle Monitor replied, “Whaddya want?”
“Well, I just thought I’d point out that now would be an excellent time to knock Metal Ball out, before she builds up momentum with her team, just a thought.”
Ankle Monitor glanced over at Team Name, the 8 members circling a basket’s shadow, she then looked back at Crown, “You think I’m stupid?”
“Huh?”
“I’ll knock out Metal Ball after we win the challenge, go back to your own team,” Ankle Monitor laughed, tossing Bushy up to the basket, he grabbed it, dragging it back down with him. The rotor on the basket then proceeded to shave off the top third of his head.
“...Ow…”
Ankle Monitor grabbed the basket and chucked it over to Brick, he caught it with his foot, put it down, and got back to building a trebuchet with Screwy and Steak.
“This is going shockingly smooth when only one of us has hands,” Brick noted.
Note, over with the Winners, blinked, “Hey… hey wait!” she then ran over to Sun, “You can fly! Just go grab the basket and give it to Delta!”
“Oh, right,” Sun replied, flying up to grab the basket, once he grabbed it, he looked away from Delta, “ooo is that a bird?”
Note shouted upwards, “Don’t get distracted! Just give Delta the basket!”
Sun approached the bird, “I’ve never seen a bird before!”
“NO COME ON!”
Winner looked between the two of them, before grabbing Taily, “Can we chat?”
“Um… sure?”
As Winner pulled Taily away from the team, Carpety sighed, “Why even put in an effort? With a team so feeble, one might as well sit around and wait for elimination.”
As he spoke, Hammer tossed Glue Stick in the air and hit her into the basket, causing both to fall to Earth, Hammer caught Glue Stick, then the basket, before swinging the hammer head up into the basket yet again to launch it to Delta. Delta was briefly knocked off balance, before re-centering and holding it up, allowing D to announce “A Worse Name Than That is safe!”
“Excuse me what?” Carpety questioned, turning around.
“Yeah, maybe don’t give up instantly next time,” Hammer criticized, Carpety turned back around, thinking.
“Does anyone have any decent ideas?” Black Licorice questioned, “I’m running on fumes here.”
Camera looked at Whiskers, who was asleep in the middle of three flowers, Camera took a photo with the flash on, causing Whiskers to wake up and jump into the air, landing inside the basket Sun was holding.
“...That works,” Spaghetti hummed.
Whiskers hissed down at her team, before looking at Sun, she clawed at his face, causing him to let go of the basket, “AGH ANGRY KITTY!”
Whiskers leaned to the side of the basket, causing it to fly over to Delta, who picked Whiskers up, “Good kitty.”
Whiskers purred as D announced “And that’s immunity for Team Name! One spot left!”
Sun flew down to earth, rubbing the scratches on his face and unable to open his eyes as Note stomped over, “Nice going, now we’re bottom three and about to lose!” She pointed over to Team Metal Ball, almost done with the trebuchet.
“S-Sorry I just-”
“If you were gonna be this useless maybe you should’ve stayed in space,” Note growled, walking away.
Sun opened his eyes, frowning and looking away.
Ping Pong Paddle reclined, watching Steak put the finishing touches on the trebuchet, “Welp, we’re doomed,” he looked to see Smokestack beside him, “Unless you’ve got a groundbreaking plan or something.”
Smokestack looked at Ping Pong Paddle, “...maybe.”
“Well, give it your best shot,” PPP yawned.
Smokestack stood up, walked over to Team Metal Ball, ripped the basket right out of Steak’s hands (“Wha- Hey!”), walked over to the obelisk, jumped and rotated 180 degrees on the y axis, and bellowed out tons of smoke from his head. Plug and Lacrosse Stick coughed loudly as Smokestack handed Delta the basket, “Here.”
“...Uh… thanks?”
Smokestack gave a thumbs up and fell back to the ground as Team Metal Ball looked at him, dumbfounded, Containery ran up, “You could’ve done that the whole time!?”
“Yeah.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Well you were coming up with your own plan and I didn’t wanna be rude.”
“I- …Nevermind, at least we’re safe.”
“That you are!” D cheered, scaring Containery as Smokestack seemed unperturbed, “in the most obvious irony ever, The Winners lose the first challenge alongside Team Metal Ball!”
Note glared at Sun, who awkwardly rubbed his wrist.
Broccoli suddenly appeared in front of the camera, “Hey voters, here’s why I should stay-”
“Actually the audience is voting on your team,” D cut off, “the audience will only be voting on Team Metal Ball! The Winners will be voting on one another. Every challenge, the team that performs worst will be at the mercy of the viewers, while the other team will vote on one another!”
“Wait, how was our loss worse? We almost got it to Delta!” Bushy defended.
“True but… let’s be honest that was a lot more embarrassing than the Winners’ loss.”
The team was about to protest, before they collectively said “Fair.”
D turned to The Winners, “See you all at the voting ceremony!”
~~~
D set up a voting box on a picnic table, before teleporting away, after a moment, Watery went up to vote, before getting suddenly pulled into a nearby bush, after a few seconds, he walked out, grabbing a piece of paper and depositing his vote in the box.
Soon after, Magnet went to vote, before being pulled into the bush, after a similar amount of time, he walked out and deposited his vote.
Sun flew up to the voting box and wrote his vote down on a piece of paper, before flying away with it in his hands.
~~~
An hour or so later, the team sat on two picnic tables as D and Delta were at the one the voting box was affixed to, “So, I was hoping this would go smoothly, but one of you didn’t vote, who was it?”
Sun blinked, pulling out his vote, “I, uh, thought we were reading them out?”
Note facepalmed.
Delta rolled their eyes as D spoke, “No, but this does mean the vote cannot tie, which is convenient, so we’ll roll with it.”
Sun awkwardly looked away.
D pulled out the first vote, “Alright, as I’m sure you all noticed, voting is not anonymous, so let’s take a look, Note, to no one’s surprise, voted for Sun.”
Note glanced over at him.
“Thread also voted for Sun.”
Note smiled at her while Thread looked entirely unamused.
“Watery voted for Note.”
Watery and Magnet both glared at her, Note rolled her eyes.
“Magnet voted for Note, the votes are 2-2.”
Sun looked confused as Note shifted in her seat slightly.
“Taily voted for Note. Votes are 2-3.”
Note looked over at Taily, visibly confused.
“Broccoli voted for Sun. Votes are 3-3.”
Winner looked at Sun, then at Note.
“And, Winner voted for…”
Note leaned in as Sun blinked in confusion.
“Note. Note is eliminated 3-4.”
“WHAT!?” Note shouted, “WHY!?”
Winner flatly stared at her, “That right there is why, Magnet and Watery hate you, you’ve been nothing but abrasive, and even if he gets distracted, Sun can fly, I’ll take my chances with him.”
Note huffed as Sun looked at Winner confused.
“Welp, don’t worry too much, we will be doing rejoins,” D encouraged, before snapping their fingers, a door appeared in front of Note, reading ‘English Not Typically Read At Notably unConventional Eliminations. Or E.N.T.R.A.N.C.E.
“I still think you’re stretching for that acronym,” Delta observed.
“Shut up,” D lightheartedly replied, Note groaned, walking in the door and slamming it behind her.
The team slowly got up to leave, Sun leaving his vote on the table, after everyone else had left, Winner took it and read it, sighing, “Yep, figured.”
Winner crumpled Sun’s vote for himself up and tossed it away.
Vote for which member of Team Metal Ball should leave HERE!
Side note: If we can reach even 10 votes, then I’ll actually adopt Inanimate Insanity Invitational’s voting system and let you vote on one member you want to keep safe from contestant vote! (This will make contestant votes happen at the start of every episode alongside viewer votes instead of at the end like here, however
Update: If we can just get one more vote than y'all can vote to save, if you're reading this and haven't voted, please do! I have the email recording disabled and it's free!)
Lacrosse Stick walked up to the obelisk, setting a bit of coffee down beside it as he held his own cup, Plug leaned down and picked it up in her mouth, before setting it down at the top of the obelisk and smiling at Lacrosse Stick.