Alternate Battle for Dream Island

ABFDI 10b: Don't Be A Baby

This was the first time the Squishy Cherries were having a meeting because Tennis Ball called for one.

"What's going on?" Pin couldn't help but ask. "I'm not saying it's a bad thing that you're taking charge, or anything." She'd nervously look around. "But I do wanna know your reasoning behind it; you've always seemed to be just fine hanging out on the sidelines." TB looked at her for a moment, unsure of what to think. "Yeah. Sure." He'd nod. "Look, I don't really know what to make of this whole thing, and..." He'd grumble. "Sorry, I've just been through a lot; I haven't slept all night, it's kept on bothering me, and-" "Well, how can we help if you won't get to the point?" Bubble asked.

Awkward silence.

The bubble frowned. "Sorry." She'd continue. "Oi didn't want to sound rude; Oi just wanted to sound more assertive, make a name for moiself-" "It's fine. It's fine." Tennis Ball sighed. "Yeah, just..." Pin frowned, then turned to TB again. "Go on." The big ball would let out one final deep sigh. "First the thing with GB, now this..." He'd shake his head. "I think there's something down that gorge." "Uh... What gorge?" Firey asked. Tennis Ball blinked. "How can you *not* know which one? There's just the one." Pin stepped in. "The one we fell into." She'd explain. "The one where you two..." She'd gesture towards him and Bubble, not really wanting to say what comes next. "...Oh." Firey frowned. "Yeah, sorry. You can probably tell why I tried to forget about that."

"So, we were down there for quite a long time." Tennis Ball explained. "You guys probably noticed, right?" "Yeah." Bubble nodded. "You gois didn't come back from the challenge for a very long toime; Oi was thinking something bad happened!" "Yeah. Me too." Tennis Ball returned to frowning. "Speaking of..." Pin got the memo and nudged him, indicating him to keep going; TB shook his head. "Right. So, we were there for a long time, and I ended up just floating around in the water. Time passed, it became night, and..."

He'd shudder. The other Cherries looked at him wearily, but wouldn't try to snap him out of it. "Well, eventually, the conditions down at that gorge felt like a makeshift sensory deprivation chamber." "Sensory... what now?" Firey raised an eyebrow. "Huh?" Bubble shared his confusion. "Well..." Tennis Ball quickly made a summary in his head. "Basically, in that moment, it felt like... No, the point is that I felt *nothing*." He'd pause for a moment to breathe. "Again, it was dark, so I couldn't see anything. I was floating in the water, so I didn't feel gravity pulling me down, or my legs swaying and such. Also, everyone that survived whispered to each other instead of just talking out loud; since we had another team with us, that made things kinda awkward. So, I didn't hear anything either." "Okay." Firey nodded. "I think I get it now." "So, yeah. I felt nothing." Tennis Ball continued. "And then... I heard *something*."

The Cherries weren't all too surprised by this revelation. "Well, you said they were whispering, right?" Pin asked. "Maybe they ended up becoming a little too loud, and you just-" "No, I know what I heard." Tennis Ball interrupted. "It definitely wasn't one of us. It was someone... *something*... I don't know. It was different, that's for sure." He paused for a moment to breathe again, looking around as well. "Now, I know a thing or two about sensory deprivation; when you're denied of *anything* for as long as I had, your brain starts acting... a bit funny. I remember me and GB conducting a few experiments with it once, and the results weren't... great." He'd then fall silent for a little bit before getting right back to it. "Basically, your brain starts insisting that something *has* to be happening, and so it starts making stuff up. Makes you see, hear, and feel things that just aren't there."

"Well, that solves the issue, doesn't it?" Firey asked. "What you heard probably wasn't there at all, and-" "That wasn't my point." Tennis Ball interrupted. "My point *is*... I know when my brain decides to act up; as part of those experiments, I learned to discern what was real from what wasn't. You never know what you might end up running into, after all." He'd pause again. "I know what went down there. I know what I heard. Whatever it was *definitely* wasn't just my head."