Alternate Battle for Dream Island

ABFDIA 21b: Bunch of Wanderers

The sun rose. They *think* it did, anyway.

They would spend a little while going through the whole process of waking up, discovering that they are, indeed, *still* stuck in this miserable little world, with its miserable little people, and its miserable little places. As much as they wanted to close their eyes *really* hard, concentrate for a few seconds, and open them to find themselves no longer in this miserable labyrinth, that just isn't how reality works. It can turn itself upside-down at a moment's notice, literally everything can change in just a few seconds, but it won't do so when they *really* want it. Of course it wouldn't. Why would it? It's just... the universe. It's not a living thing. It doesn't care for the needs and wants of its hapless lifeforms; it just *exists*. Everything that happens is the result of what is essentially random chance, of an uncountable number of decisions and actions that began from the very conception of this dimension, guided by laws and reasons that are completely and utterly unfathomable and incomprehensible. Good or bad, positive or negative, it all happens in equal measure, at equally random times, for equal reasons. And there's no concern whatsoever about where it strikes, either. Good things happen to bad people, and vice versa. There's no segregation, no separation between who *deserves* (from a certain point of view) good or bad things and who doesn't. The universe just does what it wants, whenever it wants to, and does it in whatever way it desires. And it doesn't have to care a single bit about what the creatures living in it have to say, think, and feel about it. It's too inanimate, too soulless, to care.

Firey was the one who got up first, being one to prefer waking up bright and early. His legs still hurt, his body still wasn't willing to go forward, but he *knew* that he had to. They all had to, or else they're gonna end up facing the exact same thing tomorrow, and the day after that. It sucks, but it has to be done.

...Does it *really*, though? They all wanted to get back to Dream Island, to be back with their fellow competitors, their... *friends*. But there's nothing and nobody that's saying they actually had to; it's just themselves, their conscience, their thoughts, saying that they do. Really, if they looked at it, there *really* isn't a reason to return; if anything, there were reasons *not* to go back. As much as they didn't want to recall it, they all wound up here through a series of unfortunate events, events that started from... *something* going on in Dream Island, something that very clearly wasn't good. Maybe it exploded, maybe its inhabitants went insane, maybe it was some other third thing.

Their instincts naturally drove them to get back there; to figure out what's going on, perhaps save their former allies and teammates. But if the Battle for Dream Island has taught them one thing, *anything*, it's that they're quite possibly the most inept, incompetent bunch of fools on Goiky, the planet, and perhaps beyond. They couldn't even save *themselves*, for crying out loud; in their journey to get back, they ended up in a horrific accident *and* wound up being even more lost than they already were. What're the odds that they can even get back there at all, let alone when they're most needed? What're the chances that they'll actually be able to help, instead of making things worse?

Eventually, everyone else would wake up as well, and they'd very quickly go through all the steps to get back on their feet, both metaphorically and literally. They had a whole day (or two, or several more) ahead of them, and given how delirious everyone has become, it's in their best interest if they *didn't* waste their time arguing and bickering over who messed up. What's past is past, and all that matters is the now, the present moment. Before too long, they were back to walking through the city, hoping to *eventually* make it to the opposite end. Or at the very least, reach a point where they could see the sun again.

"...Hey." Firey began. "what're you guys gonna do once we're done with this?"

The question arose after a long period of just... *nothing*. Yet more nothing. Familiar, well-known nothing. As stated many, *many* times before, they've exhausted all possible avenues of conversation and action long ago. All there was to look forward now were two options: they could either move on with their life, only focusing on what's most important, their most immediate priorities... Or they could spend the rest of eternity rehashing the same old ideas, squeezing what little entertainment was left out of them, until they eventually succumbed to their downward spiral of madness.