BFDI All Over: Flower in Bloom

Barriers, Pitfalls and Past Mistakes

"Why do you do the things you do?"

That was definitely not a question Flower had an immediate answer for, as she and Pencil lied down on the field, looking over the canal. The one they sailed across to just barely scrape by a team victory.

"I don't really know." Flower said, looking over at Pencil for a second, she was still just watching the water, "I wish I never did any of it."

Pencil had a lot of thoughts on her mind right now. For one, this was...tonal whiplash from someone like Flower. Just the other day, she was screaming at her and her BFF, calling them stupid and all sorts of mean names...being as much of a 'Flower' as ever and, now, she was acting like a completely different person.

"You can see why I don't wanna just drop my guard though, right?" Pencil responded, "At least, not right now."

Flower nodded to that. She knew her and Match maybe weren't her most frequent bully victims, (That prize would probably go to either Bubble, Icey or Woody.) but they were certainly up there.

"You don't need to," Flower responded, rubbing her arm awkwardly. "But for right now, we're supposed to be working together, right?"

Pencil had to think about that. On one hand, yeah, it was true - they were teammates, both out for the same goal. On the other hand, however, it was a bit suspicious that Flower would start acting nicer right before this big competition. Maybe it was a coincidence? The fact she knew about the balance beam not being the only challenge didn't help much, though.

"Teammates?" Flower sat up some, offering a hand to Pencil.

Pencil hesitated for a second, just long enough for Flower to get nervous, before she shook her hand.

"Teammates." Pencil said, resting fully back now, "I just really hope I never end up like you, Flower."

Flower really had to bite her tongue hearing that, and not just because it was an insult.

Flower woke up the next morning, sprawled out on the ground. The speaker box wasn't exactly nice enough to give any of the contestants beds to sleep on, so most of them settled for patches of grass on the ground. Pencil was already long gone, though.

"Guess what, Flower?" The Announcer said, suddenly approaching her, "You won a win token."

Flower gave a wide smile. She almost forgot about those. Even just having one might swing odds in her favor really quick. Not wanting to raise more suspicion though, she'd just try to feign ignorance.

"Oh uh, what's a win token?"

The Announcer, not gaining any suspicion, explained.

"As you remember, you were the one to grab the ribbon, that means you did better than the rest of the contestants. If you are about to get eliminated, you can use your win token to void half of your votes."

That explanation would go on to prove inaccurate, as the Announcer would later decide you could only use one before the votes were announced but, nevertheless, Flower would hold onto the green token close to her chest.

"Now it's time for Cake at Stake."

Despite not being on the eliminated team this time, Flower couldn't help but want to check out the scene. She saw the Squashy Grapes, all gathered on the cream-colored platform the Announcer had set up, a pink and red decorated cake sitting beside him, about to be cut up into nine pieces.

"If you receive a slice of cake, you get to stay for another day. If you don't, you leave the battle." The Speaker Box explained, "But don't worry, you'll be treated with TLC."