Chapter Text
Snowball trudged up the stairs, heading to his room. Today's challenge had taken a toll on him, not because it was hard or anything, but because Grassy....
Got eliminated.
Every elimination, Grassy would always be first or second safe, so him getting out...
It just felt so unnatural. The opposite of what Grassy was.
He groaned, recalling how aggressive and angry he was during the challenge.
Each team was supposed to collect orbs located on top of tall, puzzle filled pillars.
The only thing he could remember was the host failing to properly use Four's anti-flyer device on Black Hole, instead resorting to excusing Black Hole from the challenge.
Damn it, he couldn't even remember who the host was.
How blinded by rage was he?
"Snowball?"
Price Tag's voice shook him back to reality. They backed away a bit when he regained his stature.
"You ok? You were really rough this challenge..."
Snowball blinked and rubbed his eyes. "Y-yeah." He glared at them angrily. "Why do you care?"
"Well, maybe it's because you literally tore yourself into three different mini snowballs when the challenge started."
"...Oh."
They sighed. "Look, I know Grassy's elimination was devastating-"
"What? No it wasn't!" Snowball yelled. "Grassy was a good fighter, but he got eliminated. Nothing I could do about it!" He crossed his arms. "Besides, that means more chances of me winning!"
Price Tag examined him closely. A look of understanding crept onto their face. "It's ok to feel sad, Snowball."
"Well too bad, because I'm not. Get out of here, wimp!"
Price Tag drooped down as they headed back to their room. They looked back up at him again. "You should probably go apologize to TV. You traumatized him real bad." They said before closing the door.
"TV...?"
"...oh no." He gasped as the flashback hit him like a brick.
Right there in front of him was the final orb.
It glowed weakly, painting the walls blue.
All Snowball Number 3 had to do was snatch it and bring it back to the other Snowballs so that they would be safe.
CLANG!
A loud metal bang rang from behind him.
He turned around, only to find a giant mechanical robot suit standing on the edge of the stairs.
"Snowball." A monotone voice spoke from inside the suit. Snowball immediately knew who was inside.
"You." Snowball's voice trembled with rage never before seen as TV opened up a hatchet on the suit's shoulder, revealing a literal machine gun.
"Snowball Is Grassy's Friend." TV said. "Grassy Is A Natural."
His screen flashed a deadly red as he finished that sentence.
"Naturals Must Be DESTROYED."
And with that, Snowball snapped. Was it TV threatening to destroy Grassy? Was it because TV caused Grassy to only get one point which resulted in their team losing, leading to Grassy's elimination?
Whatever it was, it didn't matter.
Nothing mattered anymore.
All Snowball saw was red.
"Please S-S-Snowball..."
Snowball's breath heaved.
His fist was dangerously high up in the air, threatening to smash down onto TV's already cracked and broken screen.
Pieces of the mech suit littered the ground around him, smoke trailing off lines of fire that scorched the walls and roof.
TV weakly grabbed at Snowball's hand that was wrapped around his throat. His screen flashing a sad face, pixel tears falling from his eyes.
Snowball stared at him with piercing eyes, his face flushed with anger. "...grrrRRRAAAHHHH!" He threw TV off to the side, grabbed the orb, and ran away as fast as he could.
He didnt look back.
That wasn't his problem.
Not anymore.
"...Whatever." Snowball grumbled to himself as he walked back to his room.
"It's all for the competition. It's all for that power. That's why I'm competing, not to make friends or give apologies to weaklings."
Suddenly, a soft prickly feeling poked at his feet. He made the mistake of looking down and seeing a green welcome mat made entirely out of grass blades, weakly stuck together with glue.
However, instead of "Welcome" being inscribed into the mat, were the words-
"Grassy." Snowball looked up to find himself standing in front of Grassy's door.
The usual loud bangs and bumps of Grassy jumping around, playing, and working out with his punching bag were gone, replaced by an eerie and depressing silence that made even Snowball shiver.
The thought of going in already pained him so much. He didn't want to see anything related to Grassy.
However, his pride got the better of him.
He told Price Tag that it didn't matter. He told himself that it didn't matter. By refusing to go in, he was declaring himself a WIMP.
....
"I'm no wimp."
He slammed the door open and was immediately met by clouds of dust.
"COUGH COUGH! UGH DAMN IT!" He waved the dust away and looked around.
The room looked as if it hadn't been lived in for weeks, which was weird because Grassy got eliminated just a few hours ago.
Snowball wondered why this was until it hit him. Grassy didn't stay in this room no more.
He experienced another flashback, this one more intense than the last.
Knock knock.
"Huh?" Snowball paused his 100 Inch Smart LED TV (Blocky gave it to him as a gift. Unfortunately it was only able to play Blocky's Funny Doings International Videos.) He wondered who could be awake at 4 in the freaking morning, knocking at his door of all places.
He got up and walked towards the door. "Whoever you are, get lost." He said.
"....Snowball?" A small raspy voice called out from behind the door.
Snowball's eyes widened as he threw the door open to find Grassy standing there, shivering and scared.
"Grassy??" Snowball picked him up, worry etched on his forehead. "What are you doing here??"
"Grassy can't sleep because Basketball is gone!"
"Oh, yeah." Snowball recalled how both Basketball and Robot Flower were eliminated, not to mention the whole end of the world thing that went on a few hours ago.
Grassy sniffled. "Can I sleep with you Snowball?"
Snowball stared at the little kid in front of him.
Someone who could lift giant jets above their head with no worry, someone who, against all odds, made it to the final 20 contestants, unable to sleep without a guardian.
Snowball shook those thoughts out of his head. Grassy was still a child. A strong one at that. He couldn't think of any other youngling who could accomplish what Grassy had.
He smiled at the patch of grass. "Alright, fine." He carried Grassy inside, closing the door behind him.
He set him down besides his bed as he fixed it up, smoothing the sheets and pillows.
"Where will you sleep Snowball?" Grassy asked.
"Ah, don't worry about me. I usually fall asleep on the couch so it's fine."
Grassy continued to look around. "Snowball's room is messy." Grassy commented.
"Oh." Snowball chuckled embarrassingly. "I haven't really cleaned in a while, sorry about that."
Grassy smiled. "Basketball taught Grassy how to clean his room! Grassy can help clean Snowball's tomorrow!"
Snowball smirked. "Heh. Not a bad idea bro."
The more Snowball looked around, the more he realized Grassy's room was basically empty.
No covers on the bed, no toys littering the floor, nothing. Nothing but dust.
Because everything Grassy owned was in Snowball's room.
Great, Snowball thought, now I can't even enter my own bedroom without being reminded of him.
He was about to leave before he spotted something on top of Grassy's shelf.
He walked on over and got a closer look. It was three different picture frames, all in different sizes.
The smallest was a photo of Grassy and Blocky together. He remembered how Blocky stood up to Golfball for Grassy. He figured that Grassy saw him as an older brother.
He sighed in relief knowing he wasn't the only one in his group who enjoyed the company of that little green goober.
The second largest frame had Basketball and Robot Flower holding Grassy in their arms. As to be expected, those two were basically his parents.
For the final and largest picture frame, he saw a round silhouette carrying Grassy above their head. He expected it to be Basketball, for obvious reasons....
What?
.....
Something was wrong.
Snowball balled his fist, gripping it tightly. His breathing got heavier, his face scrunched in a frown.
What was happening? Why was he so angry all of a sudden?
He gripped the picture frame in his hand. Yeah, it was definitely Basketball. He could recognize that round figure anywhere.
He grumbled to himself. "What's so special about her? She may be smart, but I'm the strongest ever! If it weren't for me Grassy wouldn't have..."
He groaned and punched his forehead. "Ugh, GET YOURSELF TOGETHER SNOWBALL!" There was no way he was feeling like this. There was no way he was... JEALOUS.
He shook, enraged. Snowball wasn't the best at dealing with intense emotions. Scratch that, he was the WORST.
Thankfully, he knew one easy way to deal with overbearing feelings. As the incredible Hulk always used to say...
SMASH.
He lifted the picture frame above his head, ready to smash it on the ground with all his willpower, until a glimpse of the photo stopped him dead in his tracks.
That round figure was no sports ball.
It was...
"...Me?" His fingers trembled as he gripped the frame in his hands, seeing the print much more clearly now.
There he was, big bro Snowball, lifting Grassy up and above the sky, the little plant waving his arms around in ecstasy.
His breath hitched. He was this close to smashing the most valuable thing in the world to Grassy, and it was him himself.
He gulped, holding back tears. He didn't want to be here anymore. In a hurry, he grabbed all the pictures and bolted out the door, leaving Grassy's room fully bare with nothing left behind.
He ran back to his room and slammed the door behind him, clutching the photos close to his chest. This was too much for him, too much.
He wasn't supposed to feel like this. None of this made sense.
"Ughhh..." He groaned, massaging his forehead.
Maybe he could go to sleep. Forget all that happened today. Yeah, that sounded like a plan.
He switched on the lights....
And choked.
The bed covers were adorned with flower and leaf patterns, accompanied by a Grassy plushie and bootleg Blocky, Basketball and Snowball plushies.
A Robot Flower action figure sat atop his desk, which was covered in multiple crayon drawings of various contestants being lifted up by the grassman himself. One certain drawing of the green goober carrying Black Hole made its way onto the fridge with another high resolution photo of all of Grassy and Snowball's best moments together.
Toys were scattered on a fluffy teal carpet, the most prominent being a bucket full of water which used to be snow, that Snowball used to regenerate parts of himself that he lost. Grassy would often make snow castles out of these, and although the cleanup was messy, it was worth it seeing him so happy.
In every direction that Snowball looked was something that reminded him of his little bro.
His small best friend.
The son he never had.
"It's ok to feel sad, Snowball." Price Tag's word echoed in his head.
....
The first tear fell.
Then the second.
And a third.
Then everything came gushing right out. He clutched his arms tightly, coughing and choking from the intensity of his emotions.
The tough Snowball, crying alone in his room. What would the other objects think of him...
But that didn't matter right now.
He wasn't going to forget Grassy ever existed. He wasn't going to act like all the times they spent bonding was going to go to waste.
No, he was going to mourn for him as if he died, no more holding back.
Creak.
Snowball looked up, his eyes wet and tired.
Creak.
He sniffled and wiped his tears away, walking towards the source.
Crea-
He stopped it right in its tracks.
A makeshift, smaller punching bag called to him in the midst of the night, a little project he and Basketball created to allow Grassy to practice his punches without going to the A-Twos-Ment park for the Strength-testing game.
It was Grassy's favorite hobby. His favorite toy.
He let go. It creaked again.
And again.
And again.
"And again!" Snowball laughed. Grassy pulled in his punch and slammed the box with all his might.
"Again!"
Grassy planted his feet and swung his arm around.
"You can do it Grassy!" Snowball beamed with pride. "Come on!"
"Hiiiyaaaaa!!!" Grassy punched the box so hard you could see impact frames. It detached from its string and broke through the wall and into the other rooms.
"Hey!" Book yelled.
"Sorryyy!" Grassy apologized.
Snowball wrapped his arm around him, ruffling his grass blades. "GRASSY THAT WAS AWESOME!! I SWEAR I COULD SEE IMPACT FRAMES WHEN YOU PACKED THAT THING!"
Grassy's blades ruffled in the wind. "I'm Grassy!"
Snowball chuckled. "Yes, Grassy. Yes you are."
He smiled.
Creak.
The box spun slowly in the wind.
Creak.
Another tear fell down his cheek. One final goodbye until they met again.
Creak.
He caressed the box and spoke to it as if it were Grassy himself.
"I'm proud of you, bro." He said softly. "Wherever you are right now... I hope you know that... It was the greatest, being your friend." He stood up and gazed at the stars out the window.
"Until we meet again, little greenman."
Creak.