Alternate Battle for Dream Island

ABFDI 1d: Plunge Into Insanity

"The second contest is to-"

Golf Ball, the newly-appointed diminutive despot, would suddenly whisper something to the Announcer. "Hm?" The speaker box fell silent as she continued droning on and on; while they were talking about what was presumably some boring, lame stuff, there would be a few murmurs from the crowd of contestants. "What if we just run?" Coiny asked. "Run?" Pencil looked at him. "Run away from all of... *this*. The island sounds cool and all, but battling for it just sounds like too much for it." Firey chuckled. "You can try, but they'll probably catch you. You're *way* too slow." "Grr!" Coiny and FIrey then started slapping each other. "Quiet down, you two!" Flower shouted. "I'm already embarrassed standing near you guys. Don't make me any *more* angry!"

"People. People. Quiet down." The Announcer finally returned. "We will be taking a short break before the next contest." Reaction to this news obviously wasn't positive. "Come on! *Really*?" Eraser shouted. "This is dragging on for too long! I wanna win that island *now*!" "That's good." The speaker box commented. "But we want to ensure that everyone else is feeling the same way. Take some time to get comfortable, know your fellow team members, and prepare yourselves for the upcoming battle." With that, the announcer thing and Golf Ball would walk away, not wanting to deal with their nonsense any more than they should.

-

"Alright, people!" Pin would loudly clap to get her team's attention. "I'm gonna get one thing clear so that you don't question me again: I'm in charge, alright? I won the last contest, I got to select the teams. I'm. In. Charge. Got that?" "So you had better balance than everyone. Big whoop." Pencil folded her arms. "Now we're supposed to just follow your orders blindly like it's no big deal? What a joke." "Yeah." Coiny nodded in agreement. "We were thrown into this all of a sudden, and now we're just expected to *suffer* because we couldn't react fast enough?" Pin folded her arms in disapproval. "You guys aren't gonna *suffer*. That's just ridiculous." She replied. "Especially not under my watch; you're all lucky that you got into *my* team, a team with an actual leader that knows what she's doing!" "Yeah, we know what you're doing, alright." Pencil scoffed. "Don't think I forgot the time you tried to stop me eavesdropping on Blocky." "Or when you pushed me away from Firey during one of our little slap fights." Coiny added. "All you're known for is just ruining the fun!" "Ruining the fun?" Pin was angered. "All I'm doing is defending those who can't stand up for themselves!" "Stand up for themselves?" Coiny raised an eyebrow. "Pin, look around here. How many of us don't have legs? We can stand just fine, thank you very much."

"Gois! Stop it!" Bubble suddenly stepped in. "Whot's wrong with you people? Pin has only ever done good things!" "If being a buzzkill is what this team considers good, I don't want any part of it." Coiny shook his head. "Totally." Pencil joined in. "Here's a hint, *captain*: you may have chosen us and all, but you best take a back seat if you want to get anywhere." "And what if I *don't*, exactly?" Pin asked. "You're gonna sabotage our team? Intentionally lose? You know where that's gonna get you, right?" "We could always just split apart. Make our *own* team." Pencil replied. "Ever thought of that?" Coiny nodded in agreement. "We may end up smaller, but at least we'll actually know a thing or two." Firey chuckled. "As if." "*Hey*!" Coiny shouted. "You can't do that!" Pin shouted. "Says who?" Pencil asked. "I didn't hear that speaker thing say we can't; I'm thinking I could take this whole 'being a team leader' thing for a spin." "Woah, woah, woah." Coiny suddenly interrupted. "We're in agreement on a lot of things, but *you* being team leader? Don't make me laugh." "I've already got a little team of sorts going already!" Pencil replied. "My best friend Match, and good ol' Bubs. Isn't that right?" "You don't even loike me being around!" Bubble shouted. Pencil sighed. "You were *supposed* to agree with me, ya know?"

Flower was being forced to listen to all of this and finally snapped. "Can all of you just *SHUT UP*?" She'd suddenly enter the scene. "How about make *me* the leader instead?" Coiny, Firey, and Pencil promptly burst into laughter. "You. Really?" Coiny commented. "Pin would make for a *terrible* leader, there's no debating that, but at least she actually gets *something* done." Pencil nodded. "All I've ever seen you do is talk about how beautiful you are; you don't even look that good!" "I know, right?" Coiny replied. "I reckon that Spongy looks *way* better than you; he may be fat, stinky, and disgusting, but if you *really* squint your eyes, he looks like a big block of cheese." "Are we sure Spongy even is a sponge, or is that just what we call him?" Pencil asked. "For all we know, he *could* just be an old piece of cheese. That'd explain a lot." "HEY!" Flower made her presence known once again. "STOP IGNORING ME!" "Flower, *please*." Pencil scoffed. "With that annoying voice of yours, it's almost *impossible* to ignore you."

Pin grew tired of this conversation that derailed far and away from what it was originally about (just like most things in life), and so she made her way over to Tennis Ball, who was busy babysitting Rocky and Spongy; those two had always been on a completely different wavelength. Pin sat down beside him, sighing. "Hey, don't worry." Tennis Ball quickly noticed and tried his hardest to be reassuring. "They'll come around." "That's *totally* helpful." Pin sarcastically remarked. "I know what I signed up for. I've been doing this for as long as I can remember. And yet..." She'd sigh again, deeply. "That speaker thing's even helped me along by just *forcing* us into teams, but it still seems impossible to get these people to agree on anything." She'd look at Tennis Ball. "I mean, who besides you is even *remotely* on my side?" "Oi am!" Bubble suddenly stopped by, waving. "Oi can still remember the many toimes you protected me from that mean Blocky, which is a surproise considering Oi don't really have a broin." "Hm." Pin nodded. "That's... actually nice to hear." She remarked. "Thanks." Bubble nodded. "Anytoime!"

"Hey, uh..." Firey also suddenly made his appearance. "You're Pin, aren't you?" Pin looked at him, unamused. "...Yes." The flame attempted a half-hearted chuckle. "Yeah, yeah. I knew that. Was just kidding." He'd smile. "Anyone who can show Coiny a thing or two's automatically a friend in my book." Pin raised an eyebrow. "Really?" "Yeah!" Firey nodded. "That's pretty cool, you know?" "See?" Tennis Ball interjected. "Things aren't *that* bad. At least, not as bad as they could be." Pin sighed. "...I guess." She'd look up at the sky. "Now I'm wondering if Leafy's doing any better than I am." "Considering the company she has?" Tennis Ball frowned. "She's probably doing *worse*." "Wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear." Pin sighed.

"Keeping this whole thing together's gonna be a thankless job, but *someone's* gotta do it."

-

"Man." Blocky sighed. "That was *way* too close." "Yeah." Pen nodded. "We could've been done for if we ended up on different teams!" "Does it really matter, though?" Eraser asked. "What's stopping us exactly from just... leaving?" "Yeah!" Snowball added. "I could destroy that box thing easily if I got the chance!" "This whole talk of teams and such has got me thinking, though." Blocky continued. "We've all been good friends for a good while, and that's good. But since all this stuff has happened now, I think we better make it official." "Who needs it?" Eraser folded his arms. "Who cares what *they* think of us?" "Yeah, but like..." Blocky explained. "Did you even hear what our team's apparently called? We're the Squashy Grapes! How lame is that?" "Aren't we the Squishy Cherries?" Snowball asked. "That *does* suck." Pen nodded in agreement. "I had some pretty cool ideas in mind, too; I was thinking we could name it after myself, and since we're Battling for Dream Island, we could-" "If we're an official team, or something, we could name ourselves something cooler!" Blocky went on. "I'm thinking we name ourselves something like, uh... the Pranksters!" "Doesn't sound *that* cool, though." Eraser remarked. "It's better than Squashy Grapes, at least!" Blocky defended himself.

"Heya, guys!" Leafy suddenly arrived at the scene. "I'm so happy that you guys could be on my team!" "Yeah, sure." Blocky replied. "Whatever, uh... Listen. Can we talk about something?" "Sure thing, pal!" Leafy answered. "It's about this whole 'team' thing. Particularly the name. What kind of name is 'Squashy Grapes'? Who came up with that? *What* came up with that?" "I think it's a fine enough name, you know?" Leafy remarked. "After all, does it really matter what you're called? At the end of the day, the most important thing is-" "Yeah, it's pretty important." Pen interrupted. "Hey!" Leafy frowned. "I was talking!" Blocky didn't really care all that much, though. "Look, can we just change it? I don't think I can ever stomach the fact that we're called the *Squashy Grapes*. Come on." "We're *totally* gonna be made fun of with a name like that!" Pen remarked. "Ah, relax. It probably won't be that bad." Eraser interjected. "After all, the other team's called the Squishy Cherries. They've got no room to argue." "Aren't *they* the Squashy Grapes?" Snowball asked. "But that just means they're *also* thinking about changing *their* name! We gotta come up with something new, something fresh, something *cool*, ASAP!"

"Well, again, I don't think the name's *that* bad..." Leafy began. "But if we're deciding on a new team name, I think we could be called the Friends instead! 'Cause that's what we are!" "*Boring*." Eraser commented. "I prefer the Pranksters. Really has a nice ring to it." Blocky suggested. "That isn't a particularly nice name, though." Leafy folded her arms. "Pranking isn't a good thing!" "Well, duh." Blocky scoffed. "It's awesome! It's funny!" "As long as it's not *you* being pranked, anyway..." Pen muttered. "Surely not, right?" Leafy frowned. "I mean, I've seen what you do; I'll admit it takes skill to pull off some of your pranks, but most of the time you're just hurting people and-" "Well, thanks." Blocky smiled. "Always nice to have a fan." "Well..." Leafy wanted to get her thoughts out, but found herself more and more paralyzed the more she tried. "Look, can we talk about this whole team business later?" Eraser asked. "It's kinda... you know, *boring*." "Definitely." Pen nodded. "Yup." Snowball agreed as well. "I guess we can put it off for later, after we've had our share of fun." Blocky remarked. "Something *has* caught my eye, after all..." He'd glance at Woody. "You've got nowhere to hide anymore!" He'd quickly get up and charge at him, causing that typical, familiar commotion.

Leafy could feel that she wasn't exactly welcome and decided to spend her energy on working with the other members of her newly-founded team. She saw Ice Cube and Match on their own, talking to each other about something or other. "Hey!" She'd sit beside them. "What're you two up to?" "Uh... Like, not much, really." Match replied. "We're just, like, playing a game or two to pass the time. Speaking of which, we're kinda, like, in the middle of one right now. Could you, like, not interrupt us?" "Oh! Uh..." Leafy smiled wearily, scratching her head. "Sure thing. I'll leave you to it, then." She'd then get up and walk away; once she was a good distance away, Ice Cube looked at Match. "She could've joined us..." She remarked. "Like, I'd prefer her *not* doing that." Match replied. "She, like, gives me the creeps."

Eventually Leafy settled down next to Teardrop, who was busy remaining silent as usual. "Hey, TD." Leafy smiled. "How're you doing? Feeling at home yet?" Teardrop, as she was wont to do, kept her mouth shut; she didn't really hate her, or anything, being mute was just her thing. Leafy nodded. "Ah, still don't wanna talk?" She'd sigh. "That's fine. That's... fine."

Leafy considered everyone to be her friend, so why was she always so alone?