Alternate Battle for Dream Island

ABFDI 3a: Snowballing

"Guys, it's time for Cake at Stake."

Though the charade had only happened once at this point, everyone was starting to grow tired of it already. "Already?" Coiny interjected. "Really?" The speaker box turned to him. "Um, why not? Aren't you on the winning team?" "Yeah, yeah." Coiny grumbled. "But we could *all* use a bit of time off-" "Too bad." Golf Ball suddenly stepped in. "But first, we have to get Blocky and Eraser and Firey and Flower and Match and Pen and Pencil and Pin and Spongy and Tennis Ball."

-

The situation among the failers had gotten so desperate that they were trying to bounce on Spongy to get out of there.

"Keep it up! Keep it up!" Pin shouted. "You're not going to be able to get out of here if you don't!" Pencil groaned. "This is *gross*!" She'd complain. "I *can't* believe I have to put up with you or this junk for even a second!" "Well, you want to get away from me, right?" Pin quipped. "You gotta *earn* it!"

The nets wrapped those shenanigans up pretty quickly.

-

"Squashy Grapes. You've lost again." Golf Ball stated. "That's quite remarkable, really; you'd think losing once would be all the motivation you need to team up so you don't lose again, but here we are." "Well, of course not!" Eraser shouted. "Why would we want to team up with... with... *her*?" He'd point at Leafy. "Yeah!" Blocky continued that. "She was out there, not doing the contest, wasting her time while we actually did it! We could've won just fine if-" "Didn't you guys hear what they said?" Leafy folded her arms. "If we didn't find TD, it wouldn't have mattered if-" "Who *CARES* about TD?" Eraser interrupted again. "She *clearly* abandoned us, so why bother with her? If anything, she should get eliminated immediately!" "Don't be silly!" Leafy shouted. "Teardrop obviously didn't just *abandon* us; she just... Uh..." She'd turn to the drop of tears in question. "TD, why don't you say it for yourself?" "Yeah." Match nodded. "If you're finally gonna, like, talk, now would be, like, the best time." But despite the clear tension in the air, Teardrop remained firm and didn't say a word. "SEE?" Eraser threw up his arms. "SHE KNOWS WHAT SHE DID!"

"Alright, people. Calm down." The Announcer interrupted. "Let's count the votes." The screen popped up from the ground once again. "This time, we got-" He'd take a quick look at it, only to be frozen in (what is presumed to be) shock. "Zero votes again? That can't possibly be right." "Okay, *seriously*." Golf Ball stepped in. "Where even are these votes coming from? Who's casting them? Maybe if you actually told me, we could-" "Oh well." The speaker box continued. "I suppose you will vote among yourselves once again." He'd quickly look around, doing a headcount. "All of you are actually here for once, so the votes won't have to be randomized." "Hm?" Leafy looked around as well and saw someone that she thought wouldn't be there. "Icy!" She'd exclaim. "I thought you died?" "No!" Ice Cube replied. "Enough talking." The Announcer interrupted. "Get to voting."

"I'd just vote for Leafy again, but there's that whole matter with TD, too." Blocky remarked. "It's because of her disappearing that we're in this mess. And the fact that she's always so silent makes it so much *worse*! If someone's gotta go, it's her." "Yeah, totally." Eraser nodded. "Oh, c'mon!" Leafy interjected. "You guys haven't even heard her out!" "There's nothing *to* hear out!" Blocky fired back. "Teardrop, let's settle this right here and now; if you can talk at *all*, you better explain yourself before you get the boot." He'd angrily glare at her, trying his hardest to act intimidating to scare her into submission. "Well? What're you gonna say?" Blocky goaded her further. "Nothing! Yet again!" He'd turn to Leafy. "This is getting ridiculous. Let's just kick her out and be done with this." "Well, of course she isn't saying anything!" Leafy complained. "With all your angry pressuring, she doesn't feel safe saying *anything*! Isn't that right?" She'd turn to Teardrop as well, who would once again do nothing. "Maybe if you actually stopped and cared to listen instead of whatever you're doing now, you'd actually get something out of her!"

"Well... I hate to say it, but Teardrop kinda *has* to speak up, regardless of what we do." Pen put his own thoughts on the table. "She *did* just disappear, and you guys *did* have to find her. Those are things we can't question. The only way we'd know what happened for certain if she actually talked and explained *her* side of the story, and yet..." He'd fold his arms. "We can't have someone like that on the team. So I'll be voting for her as well." Blocky nodded, having been in agreement on that whole thing; however, he'd then stop all of a sudden. "Wait, what do you mean by-"

"Alright, fine!" Leafy was starting to crack. "If you guys want to talk about facts, then here's one; part of what we had to do was find Teardrop, regardless of what you think she did. If we didn't manage to find her, we would've lost automatically!" "Well, we *still* lost, even though we found her." Eraser brought up. "So?" "If more of us went to find her, if *you* guys went to find her, we would've been able to do so quicker! We could've covered more ground and figured out where she was faster. We'd have more time to complete the challenge, instead of having to worry about where she could be!" "Well, that's just wrong." Blocky remarked. "First off-" "Who's *really* the one who abandoned the team, with that in mind?" Leafy continued. "The one that disappeared, or the one that didn't look for them, even though they knew it'd mean they'd lose?" "Okay, that's enough." The Announcer would suddenly cut in. "Are you going to vote, or not?" Leafy took a deep breath, her facing turning red. "I'm voting for Eraser." She'd say. "*WHAT*?" Eraser was obviously quite furious about that. "What did *I* do?" "I *just* said what you did!" Leafy replied.

"Well, like, I guess that's that." Match remarked. "We're, like, voting for Eraser too." "Yeah!" Ice Cube agreed. "Well, that's three votes to three." The speaker box remarked. "Teardrop, Woody, place your votes now." Blocky scoffed. "How can *either* of them vote?" He'd ask. "Woody can't speak at all, and Teardrop... We already went through why she just *can't*! She can't speak up, even if it's to save her-" Teardrop finally had enough and angrily pointed a finger at Eraser. "Well, that's one way to do it." Golf Ball remarked. "Woody, it's up to you; your vote either gives Eraser the boot, or causes a tie." She'd then look at the speaker box thing. "Well?" "Hang on." The Announcer stared at Woody for a good while, doing that same magic from before. After a good minute or so of awkward nothingness, he'd finally have his verdict. "Woody votes for Leafy." Leafy gasped. "But, but-" "What?" Match suddenly interrupted. "It's not like that, like, changes the result." "Eraser is eliminated at four votes." The Announcer announced. "This is just *RIDICULOUS*!" Eraser shouted. "Now it's time to send him to the TLC." The speaker box continued. "Our sender scoop thrower hasn't been tested yet, but I'll use it."

The arm of a catapult then began to emerge from the platform where the Announcer stood; though Eraser would try and evade it, it'd end up catching up to him no matter what he did. The moment he was fully on, he'd be sent out and away into the distance towards the TLC.

-

"I don't really get it either. It's been stumping me."

Before too long, word of what went down once again made its way over to Tennis Ball, who'd quickly report on everything to Pin; everything was just fine, exactly how they expected it, but this time around there was *one* thing that caught them by surprise. The pushpin nodded in agreement. "What do your findings say about Pen again?" She'd ask. "Definitely *not* this." Tennis Ball replied. "There's just absolutely nothing at all that indicates he would have any negative feelings towards Blocky and the rest, nor have the ability to challenge them on something like this." He'd sigh. "Basically everything just points to him being another one of them; they'd pulled pranks together, bullied others together, all that's typical of them."

Pin contemplated it for a good while before looking back at Tennis Ball. "How about we walk it out?" She'd ask. "Walk it out?" Tennis Ball raised an eyebrow. "Whenever I'm confronted with anything... not good, I mostly just take a deep breath, get up, and walk around aimlessly." Pin replied. "I just go where everyone isn't. Helps clear my head. Make sense of things." Tennis Ball thought about. "I suppose that could work." "I suppose?" Pin's interest was piqued by that response. "You know more than the rest of us, right? How could you only suppose that-" She'd take a quick glance at Tennis Ball again, and it all started to make sense.

Regardless, the two got up and started walking in whatever direction took them away from everybody. "Could it be the stress getting to them?" Pin asked. "This competition obviously caused us to feel a lot more irritated and angry about things; I didn't expect it to start happening *this* quickly, but considering what they've been doing..." Tennis Ball nodded. "Yeah, that'd make sense." He'd agree. "Blocky's made a lot of enemies, what with all his pranks; it's only inevitable that he starts fearing for his life, for the possibility of anyone striking back, even if he doesn't want to show it. And that goes with all of his friends as well." "And Pen has been the victim of several pranks himself, right?" Pin asked, and Tennis Ball nodded. "Yep *none* of them are safe." "Then it really *does* seem it's just inevitable, you know?" Pin remarked. "Being good friends can only go so far; regardless of if it's a total stranger or your best friend, you can't help but be *mad* at someone that embarrassed you." She'd let it simmer for a moment. "Here's my theory: Pen got pranked a couple times before this whole Battle for Dream Island got going, and he's been waiting for a good while to get back at him. Since he isn't as good at the whole pranking thing as Blocky is, he figured this was the best way to go about it."

Tennis Ball thought about the whole thing for a moment. "That *sounds* good..." He'd trail off. "But that doesn't answer one *very* important thing." "Hm?" Pin turned to look at him. "Pen, much like the rest of Blocky's friends, isn't really one to think much." Tennis Ball explained. "They mostly just do whatever they like, not caring at all about reasons or consequences." He'd go through his mental notes, making sure they were all right. "If what GB's saying is true, Pen was able to... actually make a sound argument." "For once in his life." Pin chuckled. "Isn't that concerning?" Tennis Ball continued. "For someone like him to suddenly act, suddenly *be*, so smart?" Pin looked at Tennis Ball with a smirk. "What, you're concerned that someone might be smarter than you?" Tennis Ball groaned. "It's *totally* not that..." He'd sigh. "I'd be perfectly fine with it if it was anyone else; but someone like Pen tends towards going to *opposite* direction when it comes to learning anything. Him suddenly doing that sticks out like a sore thumb. It's off." "*Everything* about this is off." Pin replied. "Calm down; I'm sure there's a rational enough explanation for this in due time." Tennis Ball grew more fraught. "Maybe for *one* incident, sure." He'd concede. "But considering what I've found-"

It was then when Pin and Tennis Ball came across a rather peculiar sight; Pen and Pencil were talking to each other, as if they were good friends. It didn't really seem that off at first, but given that they were on opposite teams, and given everything that's happened...

"See?" Pin gestured towards them. "Maybe we can get some answers."