Alternate Battle for Dream Island

ABFDI 17b: The Realization

Pin locked the door as she went inside Tennis Ball's apartment, *really* making sure that *nobody* would get to listen in on them.

TB was busy yet again, tinkering with his collection of DDS' and briefly muttering to himself whenever he was taking notes. "So, uh..." The pushpin, as always, had to start the conversation. "You were right, huh?" The ball sighed. "Yep." He'd nod. "I figured."

He'd quietly put away everything he was working on (having found a few little hidden corners where he can hide anything that'd *probably* make him look suspicious), lightly kicking his chair so that it'd spin around to face her. "There's no doubting it; the Announcer came down here, made us Battle for Dream Island, had us split apart and turn on each other, all for... *something*." He'd pause to reflect. "Something." He'd reiterate. "Something..." He'd angrily kick his feet around. "That's the thing, though; it's *extremely* clear that something *is* going on, but why?" He'd take a deep breath. "I mean, no offense to you or anyone else, but I just don't see you guys having anything special that he'd be interested in. GB's right about a few things; you guys mostly focus on yourselves, only do one or two things when talking to others, and aren't really driven to do much of anything."

Pin sighed. "Yeah, I agree." She'd remark. "I mean, that *stings*, but I can see where you're coming from; having had to deal with you guys for quite a while now, I can *definitely* see how we all tend to do... the exact same thing. Over and over again. Even *I* fall into that habit myself, trying my hardest to keep things together, but..."

Ellipsis.

She'd roll her eyes. "Although, if I was asked, I don't think you're that much better either." She'd remark. "You're smart, and that's kinda you're entire thing; whenever you aren't competing, you're over here working on your... work, not interacting with others and focusing entirely on stuff that's beyond most of us." She'd shrug. "Not saying that what you do is *bad*, or anything. Of course not. It's just that you *also* do that repetitively, regardless of how it ends up for you."

Yet more awkward silence.

"*Anyway*." Tennis Ball continued as if nothing happened; nothing ever *does* happen, really. "Speaking of; now that I think about it, considering that none of you guys have anything of note... I think the speaker box went to us because of something we- er, *I* have." He'd frown. "I mean, I don't wanna brag, or anything; unlike Golfy, I haven't really been all too..." He'd roll his eyes. "But anyway, what I mean is that we're the only two that's ever intensively studied on what's been going on in the world; why we're here, why we're together, why things are the way they are, and so on." He'd pause for a moment to breathe. "We've worked at it for quite some time now, and quite a lot before the whole competition started. We've got quite a few ancient artifacts down at the Factory, stuff we've been analyzing and studying for *ages* now. But we never really felt like we managed to uncover *anything*... significant." Another breath. "I mean, we've found evidence of, like, stuff *far* greater than all of this existing way, *way* back; that sort of stuff is *definitely* interesting to us. But to you guys... not so much."

"But interesting enough to the Announcer." Pin interjected. "Yeah, pretty much." Tennis Ball replied. "Given what we've seen of him, he *definitely* would know a thing or two about what we're dealing with. Maybe he actually knows the significance of what we're unearthing, maybe it's of interest to him, maybe..." He'd glance around for a second. "Maybe he doesn't want it to get out." The pushpin raised an eyebrow. "He came down here because we know too much?" She'd ask. "I mean, things *kinda* line up if we view it that way." TB replied. "All this time he's been driving us to fight against each other, to turn on ourselves and hurt anyone that gets in the way between us and Dream Island. Why would he do that instead of, I dunno... giving it to one of us at random? Or *not* giving it away?" He'd pause. "Maybe he wants us to destroy ourselves, to bury whatever knowledge we've found, maybe for good. Or maybe this is all just to distract us from it, to make us forget."