Kratogenesis

The Show Must Go On (IV)

Four waited for the situation to calm down. They couldn't speak among the chaos and expect to be understood. However, the atmosphere was still frantic and showed no sign of improvement. "Looks like I'll have to do it myself." They joined the fevered crowd and cleared their throat, hoping to catch everyone's attention. It worked: after a few seconds, every contestant was looking at them. "About the meteor strike from yesterday..." Four sighed, as they still couldn't quite compute that all of this was real. "Golf Ball and Tennis Ball have helped me in the study of this event." Once summoned, Tennis Ball and Golf Ball walked up to Four. "As you may have discovered at your own expenses, we have all been affected by that meteor strike from yesterday, in a way or another, and proof of this is the odd physical behavior you have gone through." Four then grabbed X. "Some of you may already know this, but X discovered that a full recovery is pretty much impossible."

"Guess I'm stuck spraying ink all over the place!" Pen giggled, looking at Eraser.

"Why would I want to be recovered, anyway?" Snowball was pleased with his newly-found conditions, showing a bent metal rod.

"However, this is no reason to fear! The battle for BFDI will go on!" Four was radiating joy, especially in the last words of the announcement. "Now get back to your teams!"

"Wait, Four!" X sprang up. "Don't you think we're forgetting something?"

"What?"

X thought about it, and then dismissed their question nonchalantly. "Eh, whatever."

Four and X watched as every team slowly assembled.

"So, what's the contest?" Eraser looked curious.

"I'm glad you asked, Eraser!" Four snapped their fingers. Suddenly, eight contestants were trapped into big off-white orbs. "Eight people have been trapped inside the jawbreakers! Today's challenge is to free them! However, there are also some empty jawbreakers! Now go!" The teams started working on the strategy to free the contestants inside.

Liy looked at the jawbreaker. "I think I know what to do." When Pie asked her what she had in mind, she grabbed Pen like a spear. "It's gonna hurt, Pen, and it may take a while, but this'll work!"

"Whoa, Liy! Are you sure? You might just be causing Pen's death!" Pie's worries made Liy ponder over her potential actions.

Liy's meditation was cut short by an enthusiastic Pen. "No, it's okay, Liy! I'm ready!" He took his cap off.

"Welp..." Liy prepared to use Pen as a spear, as part of her original plan. "Here goes nothing!" She picked the jawbreaker with Pen's ballpoint tip, cracking it slightly. "Hey, we're going somewhere!" She then proceeded to pick it harder, cracking it some more. "See, Pie? There's nothing to worry about! Pen is doing just fine!" Liy was ready for a third strike. "Are you ready, Pen?"

"I was born ready!" Pen grinned.

"Okay, here we go!" Liy prepared to chisel the jawbreaker as hard as she could. Once Pen's ballpoint tip slammed against it, though, Pen's head dissolved, and the jawbreaker was now covered in ink. Liy was shocked, and let go of Pen as the rest of the body turned into blue ink. She couldn't believe that she had just killed her teammate, therefore going against the shared philosophy of preventing death.

"That's exactly what I was trying to warn you about!" Pie was dismayed, unable to think about anything else other than the harrowing scene. "Now we'll have to ask Four to recover Pen!"

Liy covered her face in desperation. How could she have done this? How could she have broken her vow to refrain from killing anyone again, just two challenges in? Once she mustered up the willpower to look up, she noticed something strange: Pen's ink was seemingly eating away the surface of the jawbreaker. "Wait a minute!" She pointed at the ink. "Perhaps all hope isn't lost yet!"