ONE Human

Part 3: The Echoes

(Lava Bucket's POV)

"The votes are fake, you have no control."

I may have dodged a bullet this time since Airy said that there was no elimination when we joined, but this was still shocking. They had been lying saying that voters will send one of us home but it was all up to Airy at this point. Backpack looked at me and said "We had to show you this since you're on our team and you wanted to help us." This was when I started to panic and said "Well, we gotta tell everyone else this and maybe we could probably-" I then heard Airy say "Everyone get in your teams, it's time for the next challenge." I became frustrated thinking Airy was hiding something but at the same time, I didn't know what else to do.

Pearl rolled along and said "But we just had a challenge two hours ago." I heard Moldy reply back with "Don't question it. It's just something you'll have to get used to." Airy then explained to us the next challenge, apparently we had to do 100 pushups and the last team to do so would be UFE. I didn't know what I should do but I was still shocked by the message that was there that I had to figure out what it meant, since like my teammates, I wanted to get to the bottom of this. After a bit I got distracted by looking at the other teams, one of them had already got done according to Airy, and the team that Pearl was on was getting it done, Pearl looked like he was doing great along with help from Moldy, that's when I noticed that Scenty's team wasn't even doing anything. This was really confusing since I had no clue why they weren't doing the challenge.

I had no time to dwell on that though, since I had to figure out what the message meant. Who wrote it? Why is Airy telling people to vote if it's not true? Why lie about the votes? My mind went to all these questions but I couldn't think of any answers. My mind was in a battle for answers until I heard something. It was a very faint mutter that sounded like it was whispering or something. I looked around to see what it was but I didn't hear any muttering, whispering or anything that sounded like what I had heard. Another thing was when I did hear that mutter, I couldn't make out what they said. I could only make out one bit of it at the end, "etic". My team although still in a state of disbelief, looked at me with a bit of concern. I asked them "Did you guys hear anything a minute ago?" Soda Bottle shook his head, Backpack said "No not really.." and Texty typed "Nope, sorry." I figured it might've been in my imagination, especially since this show seemed like it was going to be toying with me a lot. So I just accepted the facts and said back "Never mind, It might've been something I daydreamed.." I went back to my train of thought trying to think of not only answers to my questions, but also what I heard and what "Etic" meant.

(Pearl's POV)

Ten minutes had gone by once we got done with the challenge and I'm glad our team was safe but the two teams that were left didn't look to be doing the challenge. This was when I started feeling a bit anxious, I didn't know why I felt this but I was a bit more concerned for Lava Bucket. I was able to infer how much she wanted to go home, but on the other hand, she was the only friend I ever had ever since I came to life, plus she was a human which made her more interesting from everyone else. Eventually Airy decided that both teams would be UFE and that made me more nervous for her. I realized that she was thinking about something due to her serious expression, I was thinking about it for a bit until I heard Scenty screaming in joy telling whoever was watching to vote for her. I couldn't focus on that though since I had to know what Lava Bucket was thinking about.

So once everything was settled down, I rolled over to where her team was and once they noticed I was there, I asked "Hey, can I borrow Lava Bucket for a second?" I saw Texty type "Go right ahead." And that's when Lava Bucket got up and said "Should we go somewhere private?" I nodded and started rolling over to where I saw a clear area as Lava Bucket followed me. After I looked around to make sure we were alone, she then asked "Why did you want to see me? Feeling lonely again?" I replied with "No, I just notice you looking tense during the challenge. Did something happen? Or did your teammates prank you?" She then got a bit defensive and said "What? No! It's just what they showed me really made my gears start turning." I looked a bit confused, not knowing what that expression meant until she told me it meant her thinking. So I asked her What her teammates showed her and she said "It's better if I show you." She then walked over to where she saw the thing and as I followed her, I noticed there was a bunch of sticky notes on the ground, and I saw a message that shocked me.

I couldn't believe Airy had been lying about the votes this whole time. Lava Bucket said "I had been wondering about this for a while, I have to know what's going on here, and that's what my teammates are trying to figure out, that's why I want to help them." I wanted to help her as much as I can before she goes, so I said out loud without thinking "Can I help as well? You three can't do it on your own." But before she could answer Airy chimed in and said "It's time for the elimination." Lava Bucket looked at me and sighed saying "I'll see you later, if I can." She headed over to the elimination looking worried, especially when she looked at Scenty who was talking about how much she wanted the voters to have voted for her. Lava Bucket looked like she was about to cry of guilt or something. It ended up being Texty who would end up going home, but I wasn't even focusing on the scene that was happening after the elimination because I became more and more concerned for Lava Bucket, I could tell from her expression how bad she felt. It looked  like she wanted to do something about it, how she wanted to help Scenty get home. I then noticed her getting up moving towards Scenty along with Soda Bottle and Backpack and they started talking, hopefully about all the shady stuff happening. A huge thud however knocked me over before I comprehend what they were saying.

Lava Bucket helped me up once she noticed I was knocked over and we saw a huge tub of water and that led to Airy explaining the next challenge. All of our teams had to stay afloat for the longest time and the first team to sink would be UFE. I then noticed Lava Bucket panicking out of her mind. I asked what was wrong and she said "I don't have anything to protect this Lava! I could die from this challenge! If I lose all this Lava, I could probably die!" That's when I started to panic as well and it rose when Airy started counting down to the challenge starting. Lava Bucket shouted for Airy to stop but is was too late as we all ended up in the water. I didn't have time to focus on anything because I heard a scream and something dashed off the water. I then saw some lava drop in the pool and realized it was Lava Bucket who ran, and that's when I heard a thud.

To be continued