Chapter Text
BFDI had been over for quite some time now. There wasn’t much to do anymore. Pencil and the rest of Freesmart had tried filming a video diary; however Ruby had forgotten to take the lens cap off until day 1,127, which meant nothing but the audio had been recorded. As much as Pencil enjoyed filming things with her friends, that tremendous issue made her feel it was probably necessary to start again. Or maybe try something new?
It was the day after the whole thing had happened, and Pencil kept thinking about it. Maybe it was time to bring it up? She picked up her house keys from the coat hanger and opened the door, locking it behind her.
Now, where could the rest of Freesmart be?
Pencil walked along the streets of Yoyle City. It was pretty empty. How was she meant to find anyone?
Maybe I can just ask someone. She thought, sighing.
“Pencil! Hi!” Pencil flinched as she heard a familiar voice shouting her name. She turned around to see Ruby, jumping up and down on the other side of the road. What a coincidence.
“Hey, Ruby,” She muttered. Pencil was still a little bitter about what had happened yesterday, but at least Ruby probably knew where the others were.
“Are you going to go help us get Match out of the LOL?” Ruby asked enthusiastically, carelessly crossing the road to walk beside Pencil.
Match. She was all Freesmart would talk about nowadays. Pencil and Match used to be best friends, but when Match was eliminated in BFDIA, the two of them grew distant. But it wasn't like Pencil had any regrets about it; Match was a bit much for her anyway, and she definitely wasn’t ready to have her back. However, clearly Freesmart had different plans.
“Is that where the rest of Freesmart is?” Pencil sighed, avoiding Ruby’s actual question.
“Mhm!” Ruby hummed, “And Tennis Ball and Golf Ball!”
Of course. How else were they going to get Match?
“And I assume that’s where you're going too?” Pencil crossed her arms. Ruby nodded. “Let’s just go then.”
“Aren’t you excited to see Match again?” Ruby beamed. For a moment, Pencil thought she must have caught on to her un-enthusiasm, but clearly not.
Pencil sighed, “I guess.”
“You don’t seem very happy,” Ruby pointed out. Pencil’s heart skipped a beat. “Did you sleep well enough?”
“I slept fine, Ruby.” She hissed, “I just… Ugh," Her voice became quiet, "I don’t really want Match back yet.”
Ruby paused. Was it that surprising? “I thought you guys were best friends!”
“We used to be,” Pencil gritted her teeth, “but you know, she’s a bit…” She hesitated, “Needy…? Well that’s what I told Book yesterday, although she clearly didn’t seem to care enough.”
“Really? I never knew you thought that,” Ruby seemed to completely ignore what Pencil had said about Book, “I don’t think someone being too obsessive is an excuse to leave them trapped in a box for another year, though.”
Unfortunately, Ruby did have a point, but Pencil worried that Freesmart might shift their attention from her to Match. She liked being the team leader, she liked having them listen to her, and she liked Match. But something was telling her Match was going to replace her. She was more likeable after all. Maybe Pencil was just overthinking it.
“You’re right, we just grew distant after BFDIA…” Pencil lowered her voice as she entered earshot of the rest of Freesmart, TB, and GB near the LOL.
“Well, would you look at that! We’re here!” Ruby giggled to Pencil, before skipping towards her friends.
“Hi Pencil!” Bubble exclaimed as Pencil walked up to her friends.
Pencil forced a smile, “Hey! I heard you were getting Match out?”
Before anyone could respond, Pencil felt a bang on the glass beside her, “Oh my matchstick factory! Pence Pence, I, like, missed you!” Oh boy.
“Hey, Match! I missed you too,” She tried not to grimace as she noticed Book staring at her guiltily. She only glared back - now wasn’t the time for that.
“OM, like, G! I can’t, like, believe I’m being let out first!” Match seemed very excited. Deep down, Pencil felt a pang of guilt for how stubborn she had been previously.
“That’s if this Wall Teleporter works,” Golf Ball said, stepping forward, “It’s been in that museum for years now, and might not work anymore.”
Pencil rolled her eyes, “Whatever you say.”
“Hey!” Golf Ball snapped, “I’m doing you six a favour here, be grateful!”
“Can you, like, do it now?” Match asked, putting her hands on her hips.
“Impatient much,” She hissed, “But okay.”
Golf Ball put the thing she was holding to the wall and pressed a few buttons. Pencil couldn’t be asked what she was doing, but it seemed to be working.
“You can do this, Golfie!” Tennis Ball said encouragingly.
“Shut up.”
The weird contraption started making some noises, even glowing slightly, and before Pencil knew it, Match was suddenly on the floor beside the LOL.
“It worked!” Match said, poking her head up.
“Yoylecake!” Bubble cheered.
Golf Ball sighed, “Alright, we’ll be on our way then.”
“Thank you!” Book called back as the balls started to walk away.
Match was now on her feet, “I, like, missed you guys! It’s so nice to finally be out of that stinky chamber.” She gestured behind her to the LOL.
“Hey, not everyone’s as lucky as you!” A voice called from inside the big, grey box, but everyone ignored it.
“We’re glad to see you too, Match!” Ice Cube chimed in, walking up to her.
Before Pencil knew it, the whole of Freesmart had embraced Match in a hug, leaving her standing there. Do they hate me or did I just miss the hint- Match had reached for Pencil, pulling her closer. I’ll take that as the latter. A soft, natural smile grew on her face, just for a moment.
“So, like, what are we gonna do now that I’m out?” Match grinned after everyone had stepped back to give her some space.
“We had a video diary we were working on!” Ruby said, now eating gumdrops she had pulled out from who knows where.
“Yeah, but Ruby had forgotten to remove the lens cap the whole time,” Book said nervously, her hand behind her head.
“Hey! It’s not my fault I didn’t go to Gem School!” Ruby said, crossing her arms.
Pencil shot Ruby a quick glare, thinking back to when they had gotten stuck in Evil Leafy. After a moment of silence, she said, “Anyway, about the video diary thing,”
All her friends looked at her, some nodding.
“I was considering trying something new, especially now with Match here.” The last part was a lie. But they didn't need to know that.
“What like?” Icy asked, narrowing her eyes.
“Uh, I dunno,” Pencil tried to think, “Wh-”
“We could, like, make a vlog channel!” Match interrupted. As much as she didn’t want to agree, Pencil actually thought that was a pretty good idea.
“Sounds good,” She murmured.
“Isn’t that the same thing as what we did before?” Ruby asked, cocking her head.
“I don’t believe they’re quite the same,” Book responded, “And I mean, at least we’d actually have the lens cap off.” She glanced at Ruby, who looked at if she was about to complain, before Match cut her off.
“You know those weird family vlog channels?” Match asked, “We could, like, do something like that!”
“We’re not a family though,” Book said, seemingly confused.
Pencil scoffed jokingly, “You know what she means, Book.” She put her hand to her chin, “I actually think that’d be quite fun.”
“Are we going to have the clickbait-y titles as well?” Ruby asked excitedly.
“Yes! Exactly that!” As much as Pencil didn’t want to admit it, she was actually kind of enjoying talking about this with her friends, especially with Match here. “Anyway, let’s get back to Yoyle City, It’ll be easier to plan there!” Maybe all her worrying had been for nothing.
The six of them had headed back to the city, planning on what they could do with that silly channel of theirs, as they sat at the Yoyle Needy. Pencil liked how they listened to what she had to say rather than only Match, which honestly was never an issue in the first place. She must have just overthought it all.
They had all agreed Pencil would be in charge of managing it, being the previous team leader and all, and that Book would plan the videos. Except none of them could really decide anything else.
“Uh, so where exactly will we film?” Ice Cube asked, tapping her feet together as she sat.
“Why not Yoyle City?” Bubble asked, it did seem like the obvious answer after all.
“Yoyle City is… too recognisable.” Book drawled, “Once a large enough audience finds out Yoyle City still exists, they’ll probably just come and destroy the place.”
“Good point, I don’t think I ever would’ve thought of that,” Pencil joined in on the discussion, “Where else would we film though if not here? We can’t go all the way back to Goiky.”
“I’m sure one of my sisters knows a place!” Ruby exclaimed.
“Ruby, as helpful as that could be, we are not looking for your sisters.” Pencil sighed, putting her hand to her forehead.
“Maybe we could find a filming studio somewhere in the city? I doubt anyone would be able to recognise that,” Bubble suggested.
“I don’t think we’ve ever come across one yet…” Book added, “Plus we are not looking through 109,578 buildings. But it is worth asking someone if they know where one could be, even if it isn’t in Yoyle City.”
“And who exactly will we, like, ask?” Match questioned. Freesmart exchanged expectant glances, yet no one spoke up.
“How about we ask everyone we come across?” Pencil desperately suggested, grimacing.
Surprisingly they all seemed to agree with her idea and the six of them headed down the tall spiral staircase of the Yoyle Needy, ignoring Ruby’s wishes to jump down instead.
The first objects they came across were Fries, Pin and Coiny. They were all gardening, or at least only Fries was as Pin and Coiny were too caught up in conversation. Obviously, Pencil wasn’t so keen on talking to any of them, but she pushed through it anyway.
“Uhh, not that I’ve seen,” Pin said, looking down the street, “I haven’t been able to explore the city much, I’m still getting used to having limbs again.”
It was Coiny who spoke next, not giving Freesmart any time to respond to Pin. “I know! Go that way, turn left, turn right, go forward, go backward, turn 2763 degrees clockwise and then do a backflip.”
“Coiny, that’s not going to take them anywhere.” Pin said dryly, glaring at her friend.
Pencil sighed, “Well, do you know anyone who might know where one could be?”
Pin shrugged and Coiny started yapping again, “I dunno, maybe ask like Firey or Gelatin? Ooh! Maybe Flower, she seems like she’d like theatre!”
“Let’s ask Flower!” Ruby exclaimed, jumping up and down.
“Assuming she’d be at her shop, we are not going all the way to Goiky to find it.” Pencil crossed her arms.
“I’m sure we could call her?” Book suggested.
Who even had Flower’s number? At this point they should ask Gelatin or Firey instead.
“I’ll go get my phone!” Ruby cheered, skipping off to who knows where. Everyone else seemed to follow, which gave Pencil no choice. This was going to be a long day, wasn't it?
When the six of them reached the top of the Yoyle Needy, which was supposedly where Ruby stored all her belongings, Pencil was already exhausted. They had done so much walking around already.
Ruby pulled out her phone and started dialing Flower’s number, grinning as she waited for her to pick up.
“Why is her contact name Fairy Godmother?” Book asked, slightly concerned as she looked at Ruby’s phone.
For a moment, Pencil was just as confused, before remembering what had happened in BFDIA 12.
“Hi, Flower!” Ruby exclaimed suddenly, holding the phone to her ear.
“What do you want?” Pencil heard Flower hiss back from the phone.
“We were wondering if you knew where a filming studio might be!”
“A filming studio?” Flower sounded disgusted, “Well, unless you want to film in my beautiful fashion store, I haven't got a clue.”
“I don’t want to see her ugly face all the time, so no!” Ice Cube exclaimed.
“HEY! I’M NOT UGLY! YOU ARE!” Flower screeched, causing Ruby to drop the phone and hang up. How did she even hear Ice Cube?
Freesmart decided to try and find Firey or Gelatin next, since Ice Cube had said they might’ve stumbled across a filming studio when they explored Yoyle City together with Rocky in BFDIA 13.
Thankfully, they didn’t even have to go anywhere, as Firey was up at the top of the Yoyle Needy anyway. Pencil turned around. There Firey was, hanging in a cage as punishment for stealing "Dream Island" all those moons ago. Whatever. He kinda deserved it.
“Hey! Firey!” She called. He must've been too busy screaming to hear her. “Firey!”
By some miracle, Firey stopped screaming for a moment as he looked up at Freesmart.
“Have you seen a filming studio or something in Yoyle City before?” Pencil prayed Firey wouldn’t start screaming again as she rested her arms on the railing.
“Uh,” He paused to think, looking off in the distance. But that only lead to even more screaming, as he had likely remembered he was in a dangling cage 210 metres in the air. We are definitely not getting any answers out of him like this.
“Right... let’s just go find Gelatin.” Pencil sighed, pushing past her friends to start heading down the stairs.
And so they went, heading down the 210 metres of stairs. Pencil was getting impatient at this point; it had already been an hour and they got absolutely nothing. But either way, Gelatin was fortunately not too far, only at the Grotato Farm where Pin and Coiny were earlier. Fries was also there, but there was no point in asking him. No one liked Fries.
“Hmm, I haven't seen any,” Gelatin pondered, “I’d say it is worth asking Tennis Ball and Golf Ball, they’ve probably found a whole map of this city by now.” He joked.
“Yeah, we probably should’ve asked them first,” Book pointed out.
“Golf Ball’s probably, like, sick of us by now,” Match said, “She did just get me out of the LOL, after all.”
“Mhm,” Pencil grumbled, “Anyway, Gelatin, do you know where they are?”
“I’d imagine they’re in the Science Museum or something?” He sounded uncertain, but it was worth a shot.
And so the six of them walked through the city for what was hopefully the last time today. Pencil’s legs had practically gone numb but there was no use giving up now, especially after getting this far. And by "this far", she meant in regards to how many people they had asked, which had practically no effect in the long run.
It wasn’t long before they had made it to the Science Museum, where, fortunately for them, Golf Ball and Tennis Ball were.
“What do you Freesmarters want now?” Golf Ball growled. Just the reaction Pencil had expected.
“We were wondering if you two knew where a filming studio might be?” Book asked, finally someone else but Pencil.
“In the city or not?” Tennis Ball asked, he seemed like he knew.
“Anywhere, I think,” Book responded. Yeah, sure. Because I'd love to walk even more just to get there. Pencil thought sarcastically.
“Well, there aren’t any in the city, but we have a friend who owns one,” He explained, “I’m sure he’ll let you use it!”
“Where?” Pencil asked impatiently. She wished they would just tell her.
“Well…” Tennis Ball thought, “Fan lives on Inanimate Island, right?” He whispered to Golf Ball.
“What, like Fanny? Isn’t she in the LOL?” Ruby asked; Pencil was just as confused. Who could they possibly be talking about?
Golf Ball seemed to ignore her question and sighed, “Oh, don’t bring them up again,” She rolled her eyes.
“But Golfie! I’m just trying to help them!” Tennis Ball pleaded; Pencil always cringed when he called her that, “And don’t tell me you’re still holding a grudge against the II contestants just because Test Tube is apparently smarter than you!”
“I never did that! I just don’t believe they would be any use to us, especially since they live so far away!” Golf Ball lied.
“Whatever!” Tennis Ball laughed it off, “We know some objects who own a filming studio all the way on Inanimate Island!”
“Right, uh,” Match murmured, “Where exactly, like, is that?”
“Well, as an atlas,” Book interjected, opening herself onto a page showing a map of the world, “I say it’s about there!” She pointed to a small island not too far from Goiky.
“Book, I don’t think you’re very up to date,” Golf Ball grimaced, “Inanimate Island has since moved much further up North and has remained there since 1648. So either you’ve been printed wrong, or you are just wrong.”
“What? But my pages get updated every time I’m recovered!” Book defended herself, closing her pages and trying to regain balance.
“Well, clearly not.” Golf Ball stated firmly, before narrowing her eyes, “Hand yourself over and let me look at the atlas!” She demanded.
Book put her hands on her hips, opening her mouth to speak before Pencil suddenly interrupted her, “We’ve already spent two hours doing this, Book, just show her the map.” As much as Pencil hated defending Golf Ball, she was too impatient to hold it back any longer and just wanted this over with as quickly as possible.
Book huffed and reluctantly opened her pages to the map, “Fine.”
Golf Ball grabbed her and started flicking through the pages, “Hmm… yeah… Book this is hand drawn.”
“What?!” Book exclaimed, slamming herself shut.
“Tennis Ball, go get them a map.” The smaller ball commanded
“Awh, okay,” He sighed, walking off into the Science Museum. Pencil was unsure as to why they’d have an up to date map in there of all places, but those two probably knew the city better than she did.
After about a minute of Golf Ball impatiently tapping her foot on the sidewalk, Tennis ball swung the doors open.
“Tennis Ball! Be careful!” She snapped, “You could possibly damage the ancient architecture of the building!”
“Sorry!” He panted as he handed her a folded up map. Its colours were rather pigmented compared to everything else Pencil had seen in Yoyle City, which was often faded or bleached. “Here’s the map you asked for!”
“Give it to them, not me!” Golf Ball ordered bossily, pointing her foot to Freesmart.
Tennis Ball flinched and handed Pencil the map. She hastily opened it. It wasn’t much different to Book’s map, but of course Golf Ball had to make a big deal about it.
“How are we going to get there?” Bubble asked, peering over Pencil’s shoulder.
“Well, if you looked on the other side of the map,” Golf Ball hissed, making direct eye contact with Pencil as she flipped it over in her hands. “You’d notice it would tell you to head North-West into Yoyleland, you reached the docks, and from there you sail.”
“Sailing?” Ice Cube asked.
“Yes, you idiots!” Golf Ball snapped, “How else do you expect to make it across the Channel? Did you think you were going to sprout wings and fly?”
“Ooh! We could get Puffy to fly us there!” Ruby suggested excitedly, practically bouncing up and down.
“Ruby, there is no way we’re doing that,” Pencil put her hand to her forehead, “It’s not like there’d be enough space on Puffball for all six of us anyway.”
“Puffy probably wouldn’t even want to, knowing her,” Bubble pointed out, “Especially if there’s no... reward for it.”
“You’re all missing the obvious issue with that,” Golf Ball tapped her foot, “Puffball is in the LOL, and this wall teleporter isn’t going to work again since you guys made me use it on Match.” Match laughed nervously. “You six should probably start packing our belongings if you plan on staying there for a while. Don’t expect them to have everything you need.”
“And be careful!” Tennis Ball added, an almost horrified expression on his face, “They don’t have Recovery Centres there, so if you die you can’t be recovered without having to go all the way back here!”
Pencil shrugged, “I’m sure it’ll be fine. As long as we don’t have to compete in another season, I doubt any of us will get harmed.”
“How, like, will we know who to talk to?” Match chimed in.
“Almost everyone knows each other there,” Tennis Ball explained, “Just ask the first object you see and I’m sure they’ll tell you where to go.” That island must be pretty small then.
“We’ll be on our way then,” Pencil said, folding up the map and putting it in her pocket.
She turned around and started heading in the direction of her own and Freesmart’s houses, thinking about what she might have to take.
Now with the most difficult part (hopefully) out of the way, surely this channel was going to go better than the video diary they had previously filmed.