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

Static

Ring, ring, went Lightbulb's phone as she tried to call Fan across universes. She and the other ten survivors of Hotel OJ's collapse were traveling southwards in mostly silence as the silhouette of a certain mansion slowly grew larger and larger on the horizon. The sun was high in the sky, but despite that, everyone could feel the warmth on their backs gradually recede as they walked farther and farther away from the mysterious heat source.

Click. "Ugh," Lightbulb complained as the attempted call ended automatically. "The connection is not having a good day. Third time's the charm, though!"

The normally quiet rings were clearly audible through the lack of any noise other than footsteps. Usually, the objects would have something or several something to chat about, even if they didn't know each other too well (several of the objects from Goiky were still getting properly acquainted with MePhone's group). But the destruction of the hotel had dampened the mood quite a bit... minus Lightbulb's, of course. Grassy also managed to keep his spirits high by attempting to teach Rocky pattycake while they both sat atop Basketball's rubbery head.

Lightbulb's phone clicked again, but it was a different type of click. A voice came from the speaker, garbled by static but still recognizable as Fan's. "Hello?"

"Hiya Fan!" Lightbulb answered cheerfully, catching her companions' attentions. "Finally got through to you. How's it hanging?"

"What *grzzzzt* can't *grzzzzt* lots of static."

"Jeez, I think the connection needs a therapist or something," LB muttered. She repeated, more slowly this time, "I SAID, how's it hanging?"

"Oh. Decent? *grzzzzt*hing's changed, reall*grzzzzt*"

Paintbrush leaned towards the receiver. "Fan, can you hear me? Something weird has happened over here, and we wanted to tell you about it."

The reply came after a second. "*grzzzzt*o ahead, but *grzzzzt* bad connecti*grzzzzt*"

Painty opened their mouth to start telling the story, but Lightbulb beat them to it. "So basically..."

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

"Sorry, can you repeat all of that, but more slowly?" Fan spoke into his receiver. "The connection is absolutely terrible today. It's mostly static!"

A pause. "Earlier today, the hote*grzzzzt* heat source *grzzzzt* burst into fla*grzzzzt* we're going to P*grzzzzt*"

Fan sighed. "I don't think this is working. Can you just text me what happened instead?"

"What? We can't *grzzzzt*"

"I SAID, just text me-"

Bad connection, his phone suddenly said in a monotone text-to-speech voice. Ending call to save data.

"Wait no don't do that-"

Click. Fan emitted a frustrated sigh.

Nearby, Microphone had overheard some of the conversation. Well, not much; but the fact that Fan and Lightbulb's connection was full of static was odd. Is that just for their connection? she wondered. Or is the problem the phone connection between universes?

She decided to scoot away from Fan until she found a spot away from any of the other objects dotted around the plains. Once her Gain had been properly set, she hissed, "Psst, Taco. Are you there?"

After a moment, a reply came through, but like Microphone had worried, it was filled with static and hard to understand. "I'm *grzzzzzzzzt*ything new?"