Alternate Battle for Dream Island

ABFDI 6a: Loss of Power

"Let's do Cake at Stake."

A net would suddenly arrive and drop off Coiny and Ice Cube and Match and Pen and Pencil and Pin and Tennis Ball and Woody. Coiny groaned. "I'm *really* not looking forward to doing this." "For once, I actually agree with you." Pencil replied. "I *really* do not like Cake at Stake." "Oh, do you not?" The Announcer asked. "I guess we'll take the shortcut and eliminate you immediately, then." Pencil blinked. "I *really* like Cake at Stake." "That's better." If the Announcer could express emotion, right now he'd be feeling joy. "Now we can do Cake at Stake."

-

"So, the team who lost will do Cake at Stake; if you remember from last time, good old TD ripped the tie, so the Grapes won the tiebreaker. The Namers lost."

All of a sudden, the Announcer and all the present members of Another Name would be seated at the Cake at Stake place. "Hello, Namers. So, you know the rules-" "No, I don't, actually." Coiny interrupted. "Yeah!" Flower shouted. "It's just our first time here! And I already *hate* it!" "Okay, fine." The speaker box interrupted. "I'll explain it again for all you newcomers; so you all lost the previous challenge, and thus one of you must leave the Battle for Dream Island. I have here a cake with four slices. If you get one, you get to stay for another day. If not, you will be treated with TLC." "Yeah, yeah." Pencil nodded. "We already knew *that* much. But how do we vote?" "I was getting to that. Sheesh." The Announcer interrupted. "You will all vote among each other on who gets to stay and who doesn't; The person who gets the most votes will be eliminated."

"Rocky, you have a win token." The Announcer continued. "Would you like to use it now?" Coiny raised an eyebrow, noticing the distinct lack of Rocky in the vicinity. "Wait, hang on-" "No? Okay." The speaker box continued. "Pencil, you also have one; would you like to use it?" "Hm." Pencil looked at the green coin she'd been fidgeting with the entire time. "What's it do, again? I don't think you told me." "You've been participating in this competition for a while now, and you still don't know everything?" The Announcer asked. "Hm. Maybe I should have eliminated you immediately. "I WAS KIDDING!" Pencil quickly snapped back. "I'll use it." "Okay." A large magnet would then emerge from the mysterious gray box, which would pull the Win Token right out of her hands.

"Before we proceed to the voting, I'd just like to note that one of you is missing." "Oh, yeah." Coiny looked around. "Where *is* Rocky?" "You threw him into the giant pit." Pencil nonchalantly replied. "You call yourself a team leader, then you can't even remember-" "I know that!" Coiny interrupted. "Don't *you* remember that we also fell in, and we survived?" "That won't be an issue, though." The Announcer went on as if nothing was happening. "Just like what happened last time, we will just be randomizing his vote. Now get to voting."

Coiny angrily glared at Pencil before moving on. "I know we've had our differences, but *this* is something we should be able to all agree on." Flower nodded. "Yeah! Let's get rid of *you*!" Coiny was shocked. "*WHAT*?" "I saw what you did!" Flower continued. "You threw one of our teammates like it was nothing! We shouldn't have someone like you sabotaging my chances of winning Dream Island!" "It's *Rocky*." Coiny went to defend himself. "Since when did you care so much about *him*? Is there *something* you're not telling us?" Pencil raised an eyebrow, vaguely interested. "I don't care about him at all! He's useless!" Flower shouted back. "But he *could've* been useful; were you so dumb that you didn't think to just throw him to the other side instead of at someone else?" Coiny blinked. "Uh..." Pencil folded her arms, looking all smug. "Again, you *claim* to be team leader, but..."

"Shut it!" Coiny interrupted. "You did the same thing too! And speaking of..." He'd take a deep breath. "What I was *trying* to say is that we should all just vote for Woody." That block of wood could already notice that something terrible was brewing, and started to panic. "I don't like you guys, and you don't like me." Coiny continued. "But we could at least agree that we're *doing* something; even Rocky's good as a throwing weapon!" Pencil scoffed. "Would've been even better as a contestant on the other side." Coiny angrily grumbled before continuing. "Woody, he can't do *anything*! All he's ever done is be afraid of *everything*!" Coiny took a deep breath. A deep fried breath. Well, maybe not fried. "I'm voting for Woody. And if you guys have any *common sense*, you would too." Woody's panicking became a *lot* louder upon hearing that.

Pencil frowned. "I'm agreeing with you *twice* in one day?" She'd reflect on it. "At least one of us is changing in some sort of way; I'm voting for Woody too." "Well, I'm voting for Coiny!" Flower shouted. He and Pencil would look at her, unamused. "Seriously?" Coiny took another deep breath. "Again, this is over *Rocky*. Why do you care about him?" "Don't *you*?" Flower interjected. "You were the one that picked him to be on our team!" "Well, yeah." Coiny smiled. "I think he's super cool." He'd look at where Rocky should've probably been sitting. "But *you*? I know you don't feel the same way. You hate *everybody*, just like how everybody hates you. What gives?" "Well, maybe I wanted to be more caring for a change!" Flower explained. "Is that so wrong, huh? *HUH*?" Pencil was taking mental notes the entire time and finally decided to speak up. "Flower, *really*. Would you *really* do that?"

Awkward silence.

"There's only two reasons I could see this happening." Pencil continued. "One: you want to get rid of Coiny because you think he's another obstacle on your way to winning Dream Island." She'd pause. "*Or*..."

More awkward silence.

The Announcer spent a moment to randomize Rocky's vote. "Rocky's vote goes to Coiny." He'd announce. "HAH!" Flower shouted. "See? Rocky *HATES* you!" Coiny blinked. "Rocky's *gone*." He'd reply. "He-" "Yeah!" Flower continued. "He probably left because he didn't want to see you again!" "People, quiet down." The Announcer interrupted. "It's time for Woody to cast the deciding vote; I need to focus on him." Coiny glared at the piece of balsa. "If you know what's good for you, you're kicking yourself out." Flower did the same thing. "If you *really* know what's good, you'd get Coiny out!" Their constant overlapping shouting would end up not affecting Woody's decision much at all, if the speaker box is to be believed. "He votes for Pencil." He'd turn to look at everyone again. "Coiny. Woody. You each got two votes each; it's a tie." "So?" Pencil asks. "What happens next? Do they *both* get eliminated?" Coiny angrily glared at Flower. "Look what you did!" He'd shout. "You've gotten our team into even more trouble, all because you-" "No. Of course not." The Announcer interrupted. "This means that there's gonna be a tiebreaker."

The speaker box then threw the two up for elimination one necktie each. "Whichever manages to break their team necktie first is safe. Get it? Tiebreaker?" You can probably guess how that went. "Well, that was easy." Coiny scoffed as he threw his necktie, now in two pieces, into the air like celebratory confetti. "Coiny is safe." The Announcer announced. "Woody, goodbye." And the piece of wood was flung much like everyone else was.

-

Tennis Ball was quite surprised to see Golf Ball around when he descended into her Factory to grab a few things.

"Oh! GB!" He'd work up a smile. "It's been a while, huh?" Golf Ball wouldn't even bother to look up from the small pile of things she'd assembled. "It hasn't been *that* long." Tennis Ball frowned. "...Still." He'd focus back on his own pile of stuff, stuff that the Cherries had requested for future use. "I mean, since you *are* one of the hosts, I figured we'd be seeing you more often..." "I've been busy with my own things in the background." Golf Ball interrupted. "Ever since last time, I didn't want to be in the spotlight ever again." "That makes sense." Tennis Ball nodded and immediately focused back on his own thing right away. He knew how much she didn't like being distracted from her work; something had been in the back of his mind, however, and this sudden encounter was enough to jog his memory. "...Hey, GB?" He'd ask. "Hm?" Golf Ball briefly gave evidence of her still caring. "What's this, uh... TLC thing the Announcer's talking about?" "TLC?" Golf Ball seemed confused. "You know, the thing that speaker box says the eliminated contestants are treated with." Tennis Ball clarified; GB remained silent for a little bit, somewhat hesitant. "...Not a clue what that is." She'd finally answer. "That's something the Announcer's *also* been keeping from me."

There'd be a few seconds where they'd keep doing whatever they were down here to do, before the two balls picked up the conversation again. "Speaking of which." Golf Ball continued. "Has he told you anything yet? Anything useful?" Tennis Ball frowned, not wanting to admit to her that he still had absolutely nothing. "...I'm trying. I'm trying." He'd say it twice, as if it would somehow make her less disappointed. "I tried asking him about some things when I asked for him to recover Firey, and he just-" "Oh!" Golf Ball's eyes lit up. "Right, right." She'd quickly finish up the last of the things she needed to do, packing up all the stuff she'd collected into a neat little bag she could easily drag around. "Gotta go."

Tennis Ball briefly considered just letting her be and have her get back to... whatever it is that co-hosts do. But something just kept on bothering him, kept on nagging just enough to be unbearable. "GB! Wait!" Golf Ball immediately stopped in her tracks. "Huh?" She'd turn to him. "You know..." Tennis Ball awkwardly trailed off. "We could hang out sometime, you know? Sometime during the night, we could just-" "Hang out?" Golf Ball let the thought simmer in her head for a while; it felt *disgusting*. She'd drop the bag and slowly approach him. "TB, what's gotten into you?" Tennis Ball became a little red. "...Nothing." He'd meekly answer. "It's just-" "I thought we already went through this?" Golf Ball continued. "At the end of the day, we're all well and truly alone in our struggles; the only thing anyone actually focuses on and cares about is themselves." Tennis Ball frowned. "I just thought we could-" "We've both got things on our plate. We can't just... *hang out*." Golf Ball interrupted. "That's just ridiculous. It's a waste of time. Especially considering..." She'd trail off, turning away slightly. She'd then shake her head. "I gotta go; I need to get these things up where they need to be ASAP." She'd pause. "...You should do that too." And with that, she'd be off.

Golf Ball had always been rather distant; there were many times where she'd go on about how getting too attached to certain things (especially certain people) is unhealthy and gets in the way of actual productive work. He could understand where she was coming from, knowing of one too many experiments where something went awry when he was distracted for even just a single second. But this time, it somehow felt different; it left a metaphorical sour taste in his mouth that just wouldn't go away.

He was in the middle of a stressful competition, trying to keep a team together and fighting against others that just about wanted him dead. She was managing said competition, trying to work under some shady and ominous supervisor while constantly running into secrets and conspiracies left and right. Out of *all* the times that could potentially justify admitting to weakness, to needing a shoulder to cry on, now felt like the best time.

And yet they were alone.