Alternate Battle for Dream Island

ABFDIA 10b: Well Done

The failures just kept on happening.

Even though the door wouldn't budge one bit, regardless of whichever buttons they pushed in whatever order they could think of, they still couldn't think bother to go with the sensible option and walk away with yet *another* unresolved mystery in their minds. Instead of going back up to the surface, taking a deep breath, and going back to whatever it was they wanted to do, they *willingly* chose to stay put, stay right where they are, and keep trying to solve this puzzle they didn't even have a start in. One of them would give it a go, then they'd miserably fail, then another one would try, and they too wouldn't succeed, and then *another* would have a shot at it, they would *also* end up empty-handed, and so on, and so forth. It was just that. Over and over again. Maybe it was four an hour, maybe it was for two. Who could say? They couldn't notice the time passing in the depths of darkness. Instead of going up to check where the sun was whenever they weren't attempting the enigma, they just idly sat around, waiting for their turn, thinking about all the possible strategies that they hadn't tried yet. Sequences of buttons playing on a loop in their brain, or whatever served as their brain, while everyone else muttered and grumbled in agony as the number of failures continued to shoot up.

"We've been at this for, like, *forever*!" Flower shouted. "You've tried this 2,763 times now, and you've all gotten *nothing*! Let me have a go!" "You *just* did." Firey remarked. "Multiple times. You're probably a good portion of that 2,763, I think." "WHAT'RE YOU TRYING TO SAY?" The one with the petals shrieked. "THAT *I'M* THE PROBLEM?" "You're *all* the problem here, if you asked me." Snowball grumbled, mindlessly pushing a random order of buttons; after waiting for a few seconds, he'd be completely and utterly disappointed to find that *still* nothing had happened from their efforts.

The flame rolled his eyes. "I think *I'm* the one that's supposed to go now, but I'm still thinking about what to put in next; if Flower wants to complain so much, she can go ahead." "Fine!" The 'beautiful' one hastily pushed SB aside and started frantically pushing buttons, pressing one almost every second. "I'll show you, I'll show all of you!" She'd mutter. "I'll be the one to open this door, and you'll all *finally* appreciate me and all my hard work!" She'd keep at it, continuing to press buttons for well over a minute, *far* longer than any of the other attempts they've tried. She then proceeded to press the last few with stronger, renewed zeal, effectively slamming a fist onto the last one. "YES!"

No. There was *still* nothing.

Firey took a deep breath. "I'm gonna go back up." He'd flatly state. "See if anything's going on at the surface." Bubble, who had been awkwardly and silently sitting in the back the whole time, would let out a deep breath of relief. "Oi was wondering when *someone* was gonna soi it!" She'd exclaim. "Oi didn't want to, because one of you moight see me as a wimp, or something!" "Well, you are." The mound of snow commented. The inferno would make a rather disapproving gesture towards him, just barely visible with what little light was available from his flame. "You don't have to feel bad about it." He'd remark. "You've already stayed here for *this* long; really, I would've left ages ago if it wasn't for *them*." "HEY!" Flower shouted. "What's *THAT* supposed to mean?" The one that's hot (literally) wouldn't bother to respond, already making his way to the stairs; Bubble would follow behind him, though would cautiously maintain her distance. The one with the petals would grumble. "...I'M GOING TOO!" She'd shout. "I need to do some photosynthesis! Don't be slow!" After a little while, that'd leave just Snowball to keep doing the boring, mundane, tiring work.

He might as well. It gave him *some* silence for once.

After an uncomfortably long, incredibly silent ascent, they'd make their way back to the surface. The sun was already well into the process of setting by this point, with the blue hues on the horizon making way for oranges and reds. Flower very quickly pointed her petals towards the big ball of plasma, wanting to get just a *little* bit more energy for what was bound to be a long night. As she took in the light, she'd notice Firey whispering something to Bubble, then both of them quickly leaving her behind. "HEY!" She hastily got back to business and started running after me. "You are *NOT* abandoning me! What're you doing?" "We're *not*." The flame remarked. "You were just clearly in the middle of something, and we didn't want to bother you." "Yeah." Bubble shook her head. "The *one* toime someone does something noice for you, and you just throw it awoy?"