Escapade For A Chance

The Race

When the window was open
When the windowpane gaped,
The wind swam and it sang and it flew
And it playfully circled the lonely room
Until it laughed
Still, a weight bore down on the window
Which slowly congealed over time
And as it wakes in the morning, it perceives
This weight as a truth it has always carried
Until it shuts
~~~
"Hey you! You're finally here!"
Profile Picture waves to the others, who had also received notification of some kind of post-season challenge. The letter in their hands looked hard-earned and well begged for, and they felt like their wish to truly feel included was finally bearing fruit. Profily was far from alone.
Fourteen objects, one human, and one island-eater looked around a grassy plain bordering an evergreen forest; this did nothing to ease their confusion.
"Firey? Leafy? I thought you two were looking for Dream Island!," popped Bubble from out of the crowd in her familiar accent.
"Our boat broke." Firey carefully pats Leafy's hand. "We just showed up to get our propeller back from X."
As if the mention of their name had cued them on, X hopped atop a particularly high mound of dirt.
"Hi everybody, thank you for coming. You probably don't follow number drama, but Three is an integer who used to do equations with us."
The plains go quiet after those words until Lollipop cuts the silence with a question.
"Who cares about them? I want to know why you invited us here!"
X's eyes suddenly shift to the ground. Uncertainly drips down their face like sweat. Whatever the equivalent to Lolli's stomach is, it sinks.
"...X?"
"We lost Three over a decade ago. They just didn't show up one day. When we checked their house, it was empty. We looked everywhere for any evidence of what happened to them after they disappeared, but eventually we had to give up and conclude that our friend would be gone forever."
The scattered crowd murmurs.
"I'm really sorry, X, I don't know what to say..."
"Oh! Oh! But here's the part you won't believe! After going so long without any answers, the other integers just told me they found a backpack with Three's name on it next to a bunch of broken branches. This is our chance to find them again!"
...
"So... are you in?"
Some contestants are still stunned, but everyone eventually nods their head yes.
"Thank you... it means a lot to me. How do you feel about splitting up into teams? You'll cover more ground that way. What about... hmm... four teams of four, since there's sixteen of you?"
"Speaking of four, where's Four?," asks Loser. Another voice rings out. It belongs to Taco. "...Yeah, why do you need us? Isn't he powerful enough to take care of the search?" "He didn't run off again, did he?" Everyone started to ask each other some variant of that nagging question.
X nervously scuffs his foot in the dirt. "We'll, um, talk about that when the teams are ready. First, you're all gonna race for these baskets, because the first four people who reach one will be the leader and get to pick their team members! The starting point is this dirt I'm standing on and the goal is over there!"
All four baskets sit upright around a tall pine tree that X points their finger at. The objects line up.
"Okay, ready, steady, go!"
Nobody fired a blank or anything like that. They wouldn't have needed to; the air explodes with the crunch of dead leaves. Woody notices a little gray spider near him. He breathes in and out slowly to calm himself down, but when it starts crawling up his leg he shrieks and makes a mad dash past the other objects.
Flower strolled at a leisurely pace, content with her previous win and preferring to enjoy the pretty scenery, until she saw Ruby get knocked over by Woody and land on the grass. The gem sighs at how far behind she is and the usual eagerness on her face wears off for just a second. The sight broke Flower's heart. Ruby supported Flower at her lowest, and she wouldn't hesitate to do the same. She picks her up and chucks her at the baskets, knowing Ruby's mineral composition is hard enough for her to be unharmed when she lands directly into the first one with a satisfying CLANG.
"Aw, seriously?" David davided. His longtime rival Dora was still standing on the starting line, rumbling ominously. She glanced over at him, disgust brimming in her eyes.
The goal is so close to the forest that Blocky could smell tree sap in the crisp autumn breeze. He could almost touch the pine tree- he noticed Woody trying to catch up and stuck out his leg for one of his classic tripping pranks. It didn't work as intended, due to a flailing arm batting him out of the way, but what it did accomplish was losing him enough time for Woody to grab the second basket.
While David had taken off, Dora continued shaking at the starting line. Leafy was so light that she rode on the wind, but the gentle breeze could only take her so far and she drifted slowly. Bubble struggled with all her might to pass Leafy, but the wind slowed her down too. Firey huffed as he ran. He could see his breath. If he wanted to, he could cross the finish line in seconds. He did not. Taco and Loser were nose to nose with each other, one never quite passing the other for long. Having agreed to share the basket if they won, Lollipop and Gelatin fist-bumped as they ran.
Balloony reaches for the knot tied around his head and releases a burst of air, almost in reach of the goal, until he slams into Profily, who the bump's impact sends directly in front of the third basket. The blue profile picture swiftly grabs their prize.
Spongy was doing his best, but lost his balance and fell when David bounced off his body to jump over the other racers. David wasn't ahead for long, though. Dora, finally unleashing her pent up energy, zapped herself towards the tree... shooting too far from her goal and passing it. She finally screeched to a halt deep within the forest path and started heading back. Meanwhile, her impact at the starting line was so powerful that Spongy absorbed a flicker of Dora's energy, flinging him across the field like a wet rag doll. He regained his balance and slid to a stop just in time to touch the last basket.
X climbs down the tree, making that characteristic squeaky toy noise when his feet touch the ground. "Yay, you did it! Woody, Ruby, Profily, Spongy, you each get to pick three more people for your team!"
...
"Got room for a Newbie Alliance, Woodster?"
Woody sees Lollipop and her jiggly friend approaching and waves them over. They go over a few choices together while objects scatter around and group up.
Blocky overhears the bunch on his way through Profily and a few other objects who soon disperse. "Hey, let's get together again for old times sake!"
"Aaah... well... no mean pranks, promise?" Woody, Blocky, Lollipop, and even Gelatin pinky swear on it.
Blocky and Woody went back and forth with the names 'Swag Squad" and 'Fun Force', and by the time X could understand their team's severely erased and rewritten handwriting it was already officially named 'Sworce'. Lollipop and Gelatin got a huge laugh out of that; when Woody saw their official team name even he couldn't help giggling. It's a silly word.
"Even though I was in the way of that basket I appreciate your resourcefulness, Balloony, would you like to team up?"
"And you're..."
"I'm Profile Picture, remember?"
"I actually don't remember, but it's nice to meet you. Sure, I'm in, maybe we'll make better first impressions this time."
"Hey, if you're looking for resourceful teammates David's over there," Taco suggests. "He and Balloony get along pretty well and I saw that trick he did with Spongy."
"Seriously?!," davided David, just looking for a team without Dora.
"Seriously."
Profily, Taco, David, and Balloony find each other and band together.
"Fl-Flower, warn me next time before you do that! ...But thanks for giving me a boost. I would love to have you on my team."
"Heh... sorry, Ruby. I'd love to compete with you." Flower blushes.
"Can I join as a fellow plant?"
"Sure!" Ruby picks Leafy, too.
"I'll go where Leafy's going!
Just don't tell her I went easy on her during the race," teased Firey, and the four of them decide to team up. Ruby's team thinks carefully about their name. Ruby reflects light, Firey gives off light, Leafy has the brightest sparkle in her eyes, and Flower has the brightest sparkle in her sweaters... maybe glitter? Time runs out and they just go with Team Maybe Glitter.
Spongy shakes a basket off his head. "Loser! I'm still your fan, will you be in my team?"
"I accept, but can I make a request? Bubble, Dora, maybe you were too far away this time, but I could see how much effort you two put in and I'm positive we'll pull through if we put our heads together!" Loser wheezes sincerely.
"Are you asking us to join? Yoylecake!"
Dora nods her head in agreement.
"Da."
"All right..."
Spongy looks over the new members.
"I don't know you very well... and you don't know me very well... but it's not like anyone else is asking to join my team. Since you're Loser's friends, I'll pick you."
Spongy, Loser, Bubble, and Dora eventually agree to team up, and as a nod to the circumstances that brought them together submit the name Team Zap.
"Well, ours will probably be good, as long as it's a longer name than the other team-" Before Taco could finish talking, Profily, Balloony, and David had already gotten X's approval for Team A Longer Name Than The Other Team (abbreviated as ALNTTOT).
...
Each team circles around the dirt mound when time is up in want of an explanation. Profily energetically clutches their basket.
"We're done picking our teams, so tell us why we're here already!"