Overtaken - a BFB/II2 fanfic (very slow updates)

A Hot, Sunny Day

Blocky wiped a few water droplets out of his eyes as he dialed Fan's number. Grassy, still damp from swimming around in the lake, was sunbathing on Blocky's head. He had to make sure he kept himself walking straight to prevent Grassy from rolling off.

After a few rings, Fan picked up. "Hello?"

" 'sup, Fanboy?"

"Hey, Blockman! How's it going over there, in my universe?"

"Not bad. OJ's letting my team stay in the hotel until the portal's fixed. How's it going in my universe?"

"About the same, I suppose. But I'm still worrying about-" He suddenly cut out, replaced by a short burst of static. "-aven't been able to contact them since that weird burst of feedback yesterday, and Taco's vanished."

"Sorry, who are you worrying about? Static censored you for a second there."

"Team 3."

"Ah." And then: "Wait, what about Taco?"

"Four recovered her yesterday, but apparently all-" More static. "-still alive. She was comatose, though, like Teardrop and *grzzzzt* and Cherries, but like them, she's just... gone."

"Weird. The rest of Taco's team will probably be fine, though. As much as I dislike Golf Ball, she can sometimes work herself out of a sticky situation. So can TB and Test Tube. They're stronger together."

Fan sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right."

"Anyway, I called to ask you about something. Puffball found a multicrystal in the lake over here, and-"

"Really?? Wait, what color?"

"Uh, yellow."

"AHA!" The sudden shout from Fan made Blocky wince and hold his phone away from his ear for a second. "So THAT'S where *grzzzzt* Leafy and I were fighting over that crystal, back when we all first met *grzzzzt* but we dropped it and it *grzzzzt* only itself to the IIverse. I always wondered where it went, but I could never find it." He gasped suddenly. "Wait, do you *grzzzzt* fix the portal if we replaced the crystal currently powering it?"

Blocky took out the gem from behind his back and inspected it. He'd given it a quick clean before leaving the lake, scrubbing any remaining mud off and fully revealing the two large cracks spreading across the surface. He slowly twisted it around; the sun shining on the crystal simply bounced off most of the time, but at just the right angle, the sunlight would slip through the cracks and it would turn golden; glowing from the inside as if it had a miniature sun of its own. "That's what we were thinking. Grassy and I are on our way to Test Tube's lab now."

"Awesome. Hi, Grassy!"

"Hi, Fan!" Grassy piped up from atop Blocky's head.

"You good up there, buddy?" the wooden cube asked.

He felt Grassy nod. "It's getting kinda hot, though."

"That tends to happen when you sunbathe." He turned his direction back to his phone. "I'll hang up for now until we get to the lab. I mostly just wanted to let you know what we were doing. Also, is your phone or connection ok? I'm getting more static than usual from you."

"I noticed the same thing; a lot of your words are cut out for me. I don't know *grzzzzt* problem is though. I'd meet you at the portal from*grzzzzt* about to be an epic showdown between Flower and Knife, and I definitely don't want to miss it."

"What?! Aw, man. You guys have some more exciting events over there than over here."

"Heh, usually it's the other way 'round. See ya!"

"See ya." Blocky hung up.

--------------------

A few more minutes of walking, and Blocky began to feel the heat. At first, it was just the sun, which began to beat down harder on his head now that Grassy had gotten off and was strolling beside him.

But soon, it was evident that there was another, separate heat source coming from another direction. Blocky was trying to figure out which one when they stumbled across Lightbulb. He didn't even see her at first until they almost ran into each other. "Yo, watch it!" Lightbulb warned, swerving out of the way just in time.

Blocky blinked. "Sorry. Hi, LB."

"Hiya. Where ya headin'?"

"Test Tube's lab. We're gonna go and try to replace the crystal in the portal cannon with this one." He waggled the gem in his hand. "Wanna come?"

She shook her head. "No can do, buckaroo. That zone's a no-go. Way too hot."

"Huh?" he said with confusion.

"It's boiling over there. I tried to enter myself, but it was like walking through... uh... a toaster. It just ain't possible."

He leaned to the right, catching a glance of the Dr. Fizz and water vending machine in the distance. "Huh," he said again, this time with curiosity. He realized that whatever the second heat source was, it was coming from the direction of the lab. "Did Test Tube leave something on?"

"Blocky, it's really hot here," Grassy whined, starting to back away towards the hotel again. "Can we go back to the lake?"

"You don't need his permission, Grassy ol' pal! C'mon, I'll race ya!" Lightbulb took off towards the hotel and Grassy dashed after him, laughing with glee. Blocky took one more glance at the vending machine before following them, pulling out his phone to update Fan.

He answered on the first ring. "Did you get it working?" the handheld fan asked breathlessly. The sounds of cheering objects filtered through the speakers. "Sorry if I sound rushed, but *grzzzzt* Flower are neck-to-neck right now. It's gonna be close!"

The cube wished he could see the competition. "I didn't; I couldn't even get close to the lab, because it was too hot, for some reason. It felt like there was some extra heat source coming from the direction of the lab."

"What? That's bizarre. Lightbulb texted *grzzzzt* she'd turned everything other than the portal off before going to sleep, so I don't know what- oh, hold on. I think something else is happening."

The cheering became muffled, presumably from Fan putting his hand over the receiver. "What the..." Blocky heard him mumble quietly. "What's he doing here? How'd he even *grzzzzt* the EXIT?" A pause. Some of the cheering died away, replaced by sounds of confusion.

Someone's voice cried out. Suddenly, all the cheering turned to screaming and panicked footsteps. It became clearer for a second as Fan took his hand off the microphone. "I'M GONNA HAVE TO CALL YOU BACK-"

Fan disconnected, leaving a bewildered Blocky standing alone in the middle of a sun-bathed field.

ayyyyyyy we back (for now)

I'll try to update somewhat more frequently, I already have most of the next chapter written out; I've been pretty busy lately, but I also haven't been updating this cause of motivation (fortunately, there's not too many more chapters to go before the real action starts, which I'm going to enjoy writing more overall)