Alternate Battle for Dream Island

ABFDI 1e: Took The Plunge

The Announcer and Golf Ball returned to - who could've *possibly* guessed - yet another commotion.

As it turns out (completely obviously in Golf Ball's case), there wasn't enough time in the world to get two of these guys on the same page on *anything*, even something as basic as what color the sky is, let alone a whole bunch of them. The two teams pretty much existed only on paper; the groups had fragmented and split apart into a whole bunch more as everyone went back to their respective cliques and congregations. They were all discussing about this and that, doing something or other, and they were all united by a common purpose of doing anything *but* getting ready for the Battle for Dream Island. The thought of winning such an island was perhaps still on the back of their mind, sure, but they're a lot like children; leave them unsupervised for even a second and they'll come up with a thousand and one *totally* better things to do with their time.

"People. People." The Announcer tried to get their attention. "Settle down. Get back to your teams." But that flat, monotone voice of his never had any chance at all of catching on against the constant back-and-forth, arguing and debating over some silly nonsense. "Come on. Back to your teams." The speaker box repeated, and again it fell on deaf ears; he then turned to Golf Ball. "Well?" The dimpled one sighed and stomped her feet a few times, shaking her head. "HEY!" The shout would finally break through, and everyone would immediately freeze.

"Finally." The Announcer continued. "Back to your teams, people." This time around, everyone immediately complied. "So, is everyone good with their teammates?" The two teams promptly collapsed into a constant stream of interjections and doubts. Pin immediately went up to the speaker box. "Well, of course not!" She'd exclaim. "I don't know what made you think any of us could *possibly* work together, or what Golf Ball told you; if I was asked, I think having us work on our own..." Leafy also stepped in with her own objections. Neither host really cared, however.

"Too bad. We're moving on."

-

"The second contest is to build a boat, get in it, and row it across the Goiky Canal. If you are the first to cross the line, your team wins; the other team loses and one of their members gets kicked out of the game."

And the two barely-functional teams were off to the races.

Pin started looking through the pile of assorted stuff that the hosts gave them to dig through and (hopefully) find *something* to hack a boat together. "Look over here, TB!" She'd wave at him to get his attention. "See anything good here?" Tennis Ball reluctantly fished through some of the scrap with his foot. "Hm." He'd nod. "There's some stuff here that could be useful! Hull parts, a generator, motors... We can build at least *one* functioning boat out of this stuff." "That's great!" Pin exclaimed. "You go and separate those parts from the other junk; Bubble, you go and drag them out for later; Firey, burn the stuff that looks flammable to sabotage the other team. "Yup!" Bubble gave her support. "On it!" Firey did the same. Meanwhile, Flower noticed the commotion and went in. "You guys better be doing *something* useful instead of just playing in the garbage!" She'd shout. "If we're in trouble, *you're* in trouble!" "We *are*, Flower." Pin scoffed. "And you should be too." She'd hand her a bit of the potential hull. "Here, haul this thing to the-" "NO WAY!" Flower threw it away. "I'm not doing *that*!"

"Hey, uh..." Pencil pointed at the rest of their team. "Why're they just playing in that... stuff?" "Probably up to no good, I bet." Coiny shook his head. "While they go waste their time, *I* got a few ideas in mind." He'd then forcibly shove Spongy, sending him falling down to the ground, then would start pushing him towards the water. "Huh?" Pencil was bewildered. "You're planning on using *him* as a boat? That's disgusting!" Coiny looked at her, shrugging. "I don't see anyone else coming up with ideas."

Blocky and his crew were next to go through the garbage, looking for stuff that was *vaguely* usable. "Alright, guys." The cube confidently declared. "Here's the plan: we make our *own* raft, don't invite the others, complete the challenge and show them who's boss!" All the others showed their approval and quickly got to work; Leafy noticed them being hard at work and decided to approach them, wanting to give a little motivational surprise. "Hiya, guys!" She'd greet them. "Looks like you guys are already hard at work, huh?" "Uh, yeah." Eraser replied. "So, like, if you don't mind-" "Maybe me and the others can help out as well, you know? Extra hands are always helpful!" Snowball glared at her. "No way-" Blocky forcibly hushed him. "Suuuure thing, buddy! We *could* use the help, yeah!" He'd lie through his teeth. "Just get us some extra parts for the boat so we can put them together." "Alright, pal! Match, TD, c'mon!" Match frowned. "Like, *seriously*?" She'd ask. "Do you not, like know-" She couldn't even complete her sentence before Leafy was off to help them. Teardrop obviously wouldn't say anything, instead choosing to just head into the water and jump in.

The Squishy Cherries were similarly working heavily on their own boat; they'd gotten all the parts they needed and were now just working on putting them together. Pin and Firey put the hull together, Tennis Ball did the wiring to connect the generator and motor, and Bubble just stood there giving motivational support. Pencil briefly considered actually giving them a shot and helping out too, but one brief listen at Tennis Ball's constant jargon made her immediately regret ever thinking that; she'd end up setting out to build her own raft, hopefully one that wasn't as complicated or smelly. As she hauled all the parts she figured she needed, Match took notice and went up to her. "Hey! Like, what's up?" "I'm busy." Pencil flatly declared. "Also, we're on different teams." "So?" Match folded her arms. "That doesn't mean that, like, we can't talk anymore. Friendship isn't stopped by, like, rude, bossy people." "Right." Pencil briefly nodded before walking away. Match grew more antsy and ran up to her again. "Alright, seriously. Like, what's up with you?" She'd get in her way. "Does this have to do with, like, Icy?" "What do *you* think?" Pencil sarcastically quipped. Match sighed. "Again, like..." She'd glance around for a moment to make sure Ice Cube wasn't around. "I'm just saying what she, like, wants to hear. I'll take care of it, so, like, don't worry."

"Uh huh." Pencil nodded again. "So take care of it." She'd then walk around Match and continue along her merry way; the matchstick considered just ending it there, but there was a gnawing thought on the back of her mind that was getting harder and harder to just ignore. She knew how much it'd anger Pencil if she even so much as hinted at it, but... "Hey, like..." Match started. "Why are you, like, so *against* Icy joining us, anyway? It's not like she's done anything, like, *bad* to us-" "I knew it!" Pencil exclaimed, groaning. "Match, you can't just go around *befriending* people on a whim, you know that!" Match frowned. "But, like-" "We don't get them like we get each other, and you know that. We don't know how they think, how they operate! If we start telling them what we know, they might just immediately start going out telling everybody! Our lives will be ruined!" "But..." Match paused. "But, like, Bubble-" "Bubble was already a stretch!" Pencil continued on her rant. "I only agreed to it because it was easy to get rid of her, if need be. And now you want *Icy* to join us as well?" She'd glare at her. "It's like... It's like you like *them* more than you like me! After all we've been through..." The writing utensil couldn't even finish that statement, and Match couldn't even speak up. Pencil continued on building her raft, and Match would walk away.

When the coast had disappeared beyond the horizon, Coiny finally realized that *maybe* going off on a raft into open waters without even a single oar to make his way *perhaps* wasn't such a bright idea. All he had on his person was himself, his gumption, a boat that looked suspiciously like cheese, and Rocky. "So, uh..." The coin creature awkwardly stared at the rock, who was just standing there. "How's it going?"

In a rare instance of (almost) an entire team working together towards a single goal, the Squashy Grapes had finally managed to complete their boat; it was pretty boxy, but okay enough at doing the job. It could comfortably support the entire team with plenty of room for them to breathe, but Blocky had other ideas. "Alright! Push!" He'd lead the charge as the team pushed the boat over to the water. It took a while of pushing, but they'd eventually manage. "Quick! Get on!" Blocky, Eraser, Pen, and Snowball would quickly get on and form a defensive line to prevent anyone else from getting in. "All of you, c'mon!" Blocky continued shouting. "Uh oh, the water's getting deep!" Leafy panicked; she'd scramble to climb on, but eventually the boat had drifted too far away and it was pretty clear that only those four would remain on board. "Job well done, guys!" They'd all give each other high-fives. "So, uh. What now?" Eraser asked. "Yeah!" Pen added. "I just noticed we don't even have any oars! How are we supposed to start moving?" Blocky then looked at Pen with a strange look in his eye.

"Aw, man!" Leafy frowned. "I wanted to get on the boat too." Match scoffed. "I knew this was going to, like, happen." She remarked. "I want revenge!" Ice Cube chimed in too. "Huh?" Leafy looked at Match. "Why?" "Like, are you being serious?" Match looked back at her. "Blocky's known for, like, being *extremely* rude. Obviously they didn't want to, like, have you or any of us on board." Leafy frowned. "Well, that's not nice!" She'd reply. "Why would they do such a thing?" Match shrugged. "That's just, like, what they've been doing." She'd sit down. "My advice? Stop expecting them to, like, change for the better. They're never going to, like, be your friend or anything like that; instead, you gotta start acting, like, aggressive. Like me!" Leafy raised an eyebrow. "That isn't very nice either..." "Yeah, yeah, I know." Match scoffed. "That's just how the world, like, operates. You're not gonna get far if you keep being nice to, like, everyone. I myself want Dream Island, like, pretty badly. I'd be willing to betray you if it was, like, needed." "Hey!" Leafy shouted. "Hey!" Match shouted back. "At least I was, like, honest about it!" She'd sigh. "And now that you, like, know all that, you should take that into account! You gotta, like, show that you mean business. No more Nice Leafy!"

"All done!" Tennis Ball declared their masterpiece of a boat complete. "Better late than never." Pin nodded. "Let's get this thing to the water!" Pin, Bubble, and Tennis Ball would start pushing the thing over, and would do so with little to no difficulty; as they were just about to reach the water, however, the constant jostling caused Bubble to brush up against one of the sharper bits of the motor, causing her to pop. "Go! Go!" Pin didn't care whatsoever and got on the boat first as soon as it started floating, Tennis Ball hastily scrambled to get on as well, made easier by a ladder he added as a little touch. "Start the motor!" Pin ordered. "On it!" Tennis Ball used his technical knowledge to do just that, and within seconds they were well on their way. A then-recovered Bubble would emerge into the coast. "Oh noio!" She'd shout as she watched the craft slowly disappear.

Meanwhile, on Blocky's boat, they decided to make use of Eraser and Pen as oars; the latter would gasp during one of the brief moments he was above the water. "I can't believe you guys *seriously* thought about doing this!" He'd shout. "Tough luck, bud." Blocky quipped. "Hey! What's that noise?" Snowball suddenly interjected; looking behind them, they saw Pin and Tennis Ball *very* rapidly approaching them. They didn't even have time to process it before the two collided, sending all six of them flying at high speeds. Everyone was sent in all sorts of directions, but, through some cosmic fluke, Pin was sent on a trajectory that threw her straight at the finish line; she wouldn't even notice as she crossed it, as the subsequent impact and slowing down took over her mind. "ow." She'd mutter as she finally came to a complete stop.

Pencil was still in the middle of building her raft when the Announcer announced the results. "And Pin's team, the Squishy Cherries, win." "Huh." Pencil nodded. "Guess it all works out, then." "Which means one of the Squashy Grapes is going home." The speaker box concluded.

Which one, however? And who was going to decide? Definitely not some mysterious people watching from beyond, that's for sure. That'd just be silly.

-

Coiny was just sitting around when Blocky suddenly emerged from the water, giving him a good fright. "Hey, uh..." The cube began. "Mind if we hop on?"