Alternate Battle for Dream Island

ABFDI 8c: Running in Cycles

"I'm the team leader."

"No. No, you're not."

Eraser had been watching the two argue about this issue for what felt like an eternity.

"Why not? I'm clearly the better option!"

"That's just what *you* think; also, in case you don't remember, *I* was the one that won our little contest."

His eyes kept on wandering from one of them, to the next, back and forth like a ball in tennis, as they kept on making their cases for being at the helm.

"I *told* you that doesn't count!"

"And why doesn't it count? 'Cause you lost? Please."

He'd been thinking heavily about whether or not he should finally step in and present his own take on the topic; well, perhaps 'think' is the wrong word to put it. All he really cared about is whether or not they'll get angry or *really* angry in response to his *very* great idea.

"Also, we already saw how you've handled the team; literally on the *very* first challenge, we ended up losing because of you!"

"You *also* caused us to lose; don't you remember?"

"Maybe, but at least I actually got us to win at least once; unlike you!"

"Hey! That's not fair; I've only been leading for *one* challenge!"

"You're one to talk about 'not fair', the way you won our contest wasn't fair either!"

"I dunno, it sure *looked* fair."

"GRR!"

"Alright, you two." Eraser finally stepped in. "Quit it." Coiny and Pencil then fell silent and spent several seconds just staring at the pink manly one, befuddled. "Oh. Uh..." Pencil trailed off. "You exist. Right." Coiny frowned. "If you're so bothered about it, why not just leave?" "Because I know I'll *inevitably* get dragged back to you two dorks." Eraser sighed and went up to them. "And I'll have to keep on listening to you two bicker for the rest of time." He'd fold his arms. "How about this, huh? *I'm* the team leader; you guys can't control yourselves, so *neither* of you get it. Now, can we *please* move on?"

The other two aspirants found themselves agreeing with each other once again; it was extremely uncomfortable each and every time. "No way!" Coiny shouted. "Seriously?" Pencil added. "You, of all people? Rumors say that you don't have a brain; now you're saying that you have the skills to lead yourself, let alone us?" "Yeah, erasers don't have brains." Eraser conceded. "But seriously; what part of *any* of this makes you think brains have anything to do with it?" He'd take a moment to breathe. "The only thing that's standing between us and Dream Island are those other teams, and the only way to get them to budge is to push them out of the competition; just *what* are we doing focusing our strengths on each other instead of them? Why do we care so much about who's in charge when there's other, more important things on the line?"

Coiny and Pencil looked at each other, frowning. "For an eraser without a brain, that surprisingly made a bit of sense." The coin creature remarked. Pencil frowned. "Yeah. *That's* a shocker." Eraser shrugged. "Learned a thing or two from my pal, I guess." Pencil raised an eyebrow. "You've been talking to Pen?" She'd ask. "But didn't you say-" "Look, Coiny." Eraser turned his attention to the coin in question. "Who do you hate more: me or Pencil?" Coiny glared at him. "You're the one that insulted me in the balance beam, correct?" Eraser scoffed. "I thought you said that didn't matter?" "You remember *that*, but also don't remember that you brought it up?" Coiny groaned. "Just answer the question." Eraser continued; Coiny continued to dance around actually answering it. "...I guess I hate Pencil more; you're still annoying, but you haven't been. As much." "And you?" Eraser turned to Pencil. "Guess it's the same for me." The writing utensil remarked. "You haven't been here *that* long, so you haven't gotten on my nerves. Yet." "Well, I think that makes it obvious." Eraser remarked. "You guys hate me the least, so I'm the *perfect* candidate to be in charge." "Well, we're gonna hate you the most in a minute." Coiny remarked.

"There you guys are." Golf Ball suddenly entered the scene; she'd groan. "It's been a pain rounding all of you up. It's time for the next contest." Eraser then turned to her. "Hey, uh, I was thinking." Golf Ball raised an eyebrow. "That's a surprise." The one that did nothing but destroy tried his hardest to suppress his building rage. "So we're all competing in this competition to compete for Dream Island, correct?" "...Yeah." Golf Ball answered. "Well, what if I just... didn't?" Eraser asked. "What if I just walked away? Right now? What're you gonna do about it?"

Awkward silence.

"Try it." Golf Ball flatly answered. "Whatever happens, that means you won't get to see Dream Island." Eraser blinked. "...It was just a hypothetical."

-

It took a good few minutes for all the teams to gather for the challenge.

"The ninth challenge is a relay race." Golf Ball announced. "Wait, GB!" Tennis Ball interrupted. "There's something that's unfair!" "Hm?" Golf Ball turned to him. "What's it now? We should be getting everything done ASAP; I know for certain that I'm not the only one tired of this." Tennis Ball frowned. "Well, our team, and also the Grapes, has more members than the Namers; if we all end up going, we'll take much longer!" Golf Ball thought about it for a second. "Hm. That *is* true." She'd remark. "Well, fortunately the solution seems simple enough: two of the Namers are just gonna have to go twice." "*What*?" Eraser shouted. "Well, that's not fair to *us*!" Coiny added. "I may be more energetic than most of them, but you'd be asking us to do twice the work! We'll be tired by the second time through!" "If you're more energetic, why do you complain?" Golf Ball asked. "Don't you wanna show off?" Coiny grumbled; the little sport globule shook her head. "Fine, fine." She'd concede. "No one goes twice; but for the other teams, only three of you get to go. The other two don't." "That's *also* not fair!" Pencil complained. "They get to choose *their* best players, while we're just stuck with ourselves!"

Golf Ball was growing more and more irritated by the second. "How about *this*, huh?" She'd snap. "How about I just eliminate the rest of Another Name?" The team in question would *obviously* raise their objections to that, but she'd simply continue on with her ranting. "You guys have lost more often, you clearly aren't fit to win Dream Island! How about we just skip the formalities and get rid of you?" "No way!" Eraser folded his arms. "I am *NOT* going back there; that wasn't part of the deal!" "Really, we could skip *more*; how about I just eliminate all of you and give *myself* Dream Island? I don't think any of you are actually qualified enough to own and run it, anyway!" Tennis Ball frowned. "Golf Ball, I'm still-" "SHUSH!" Golf Ball continued on her tirade. "You guys have no idea how much I've worked to keep this competition afloat; not only do I have to deal with you guys, I also have to deal with that speaker box! That pile of scrap is the only thing that's stopping me from just giving you all the boot, taking Dream Island for myself, and using it for my plans to-"

Golf Ball finally managed to stop herself upon seeing all the concerned and upset faces looking right at her; she'd frown, trying to pretend the past few minutes didn't happen, but every single second was a constant, painful reminder that it did indeed occur. She'd shake her head. "I... I don't know what *that* was." She'd remark. "Pretend I didn't say anything; whatever I said was probably nonsense, anyway." Pin raised an eyebrow. "What? That's crazy!" She'd remark. "Are you telling us that you want to just-" "Alright, new plan." Golf Ball was more than keen on following through with that. "Three people go on each team, but I randomly select which three go on the bigger teams; I'll use this five-sided die to figure it out." Eraser raised an eyebrow. "You carry a five-sided die with you at all times? Weirdo."

Golf Ball grumbled as she performed the delicate maneuver of grabbing the die and kicking it up with her foot. "Alright, for the Cherries..." She'd kick it twice more. "Pin, Bubble, and Tennis Ball will go." "Aw, what?" Firey whined. "But I'm the fastest out of all of us!" "Too bad." Golf Ball interrupted his interruption. "And for the Grapes..." Three more times this time. "Ice Cube, Teardrop, and Pen." She'd then look at everyone. "You guys all know what a relay race is, right? Each of you will run to that tree and back." She'd point to said tree with her foot. "You will be carrying the next person to go as you do so; the last one won't have to do that, just run to win. Got that? Good? Now GO!"

Pin would be quick to start the race, carrying Bubble and beginning to make her way to the tree. She ended up focusing a *bit* too much on the task at hand, however. "Oh noio!" Bubble shouted. "Pin, not so hard! You'll pop me!" "Huh?" Pin wouldn't notice until the bubble had well and truly disappeared from existence. "Oh no!"

Ice Cube and Teardrop completed the Grape's first leg of the race with no issues; the drop of liquid just sat on top of the cube of ice, and that was all well and good. When it comes to the second part, however... "Uh... How do I... get on?" Pen walked around Teardrop; he'd try to sit on her shoulders, but the lack of anything solid freaked him out. "Woah!"

Coiny and Eraser similarly got through just fine. "Alright, *finally*." Pencil folded her arms. "I was going as fast as I could!" Coiny complained, but the writing device didn't listen. "Alright, Eraser. Let's make this quick. I don't wanna have to deal with you for much longer, and you probably don't either." "Yeah." Eraser nodded. "I got an idea, actually." He'd then pick Pencil up, much to her dismay. "HEY!" She'd shout. "Put me down, you- WOAH!" Eraser then threw her like a javelin, and she'd end up impaling the tree at high speed.

Tennis Ball, waiting with Pin for Bubble to return, would make his way to Golf Ball. "That *can't* be legal, right?" He'd ask. "That's not how a relay race works." Golf Ball let out a deep sigh. "I'll allow it." She'd remark. "As long as the both of them make it to the end, I'd say it counts." "*WHAT*?" Tennis Ball was shocked. "Whatever happened to doing things by the book? First that incident, now-" "I don't wanna talk about it." With that, Golf Ball just... left.

Pen kept on trying and failing to make this whole arrangement work, and eventually Teardrop had enough of it; she'd decide to just seize Pen by the arm and drag him to the tree and back, which worked a *lot* better than whatever he was trying. She'd then let go once they made it back, pointing to the tree. "Alright, alright. I'll go!" Meanwhile, Leafy and Match were busy doing the all-important job of spectating. "Why didn't Pen think about that?" Leafy remarked. "I know, right?" Match replied. "And he was talking so much about, like, common sense too; he says nothing's wrong with him, and yet, like, he keeps proving himself wrong."

Another solid throw brought Pencil back to the start, with Eraser running after her shortly afterwards. "Alright! Now scram!" The pink one shouted. "*SERIOUSLY*?" Pencil groaned. "You almost broke my legs with that!" "Worry about that later." Coiny interjected. "You won't feel the pain while you're still full of energy; just complete the challenge now, *then* complain about it." Pencil grumbled. "You'd be complaining too if you were in my shoes!" She'd then storm off; Coiny raised an eyebrow. "What are 'shoes'?"

Bubble finally returned to the rest of the Cherries. "Remember, Pin: not too hard!" She'd explain. "I'll try." Pin shrugged. "But we're falling behind; we gotta go, and fast!" The two of them would just about manage, then Pin would end up struggling a bit to get a good grip on TB, particularly one that would withstand going at such high speeds. Eventually they'd manage as well, however.

Pen would make it back to the start, letting out a loud yell of relief. "The Squashy Grapes are the first team to complete the challenge." Golf Ball announced. "Hooray!" Leafy exclaimed. "What's our prize?" "Uh..." Golf Ball looked away for a moment. "Here, take my five-sided die." She'd pass it over to her. "Just one?" Leafy asked. "But there were three of us running." "That's all I have right now, okay?" Golf Ball replied. "Really, you're lucky that you're getting anything; staying in the competition should be more than enough.

Pencil had just made it around the tree by the time Tennis Ball got going on his own; this challenge was turning out to be quite the suspenseful one, as the two of them ended up having pretty much the same speed. "Go, TB!" Pin tried to cheer him on. "Go, Pence-Pence!" Match cheered Pencil on, despite... the obvious issues. The writing utensil was starting to feel the adrenaline dissipating and the pain intensifying, but she kept on limping on. The Cherries were fairly confident that, despite the Namer's headstart, TB would be able to overtake her and win. But as he made it to the tree and went around, however, that big clumsy ball would end up tripping and would start rolling. Rolling in a direction that *definitely* wasn't towards the finish line.

Pencil, as much as she didn't want to, would drag herself over to the finish line, finally collapsing to the ground once she got the thumbs-up. "And Another Name takes second." Golf Ball announced. "The Squishy Cherries lose." The Cherries probably had something to say about that, but they'd be more focused on stopping TB from continuing his journey.

-

Snowball and Flower sat on opposite ends of the Tiny Loser Chamber, trying not to make eye contact.

"So..." The lump of snow mumbled. "Nice weather we're having, huh?"