Kratogenesis

Cake By The Ocean (XLII)

Once the party was over, Book went back to her house. She walked to her room and opened the door. The party Taco had set up was wonderful, but it was good to be back home. She sat on her bed and let out a sigh of relief. After a moment in the bathroom, she went back to her bed and smiled as she wrapped the warm blanket around herself. It was the first time that she had felt that happy. She didn't have to worry about abstract alliances or enmities staged by a crazed, dimpled graduate anymore: she could go back to being a serene person, ready to live life day by day.

In the meanwhile, Match was lying on the sofa, with her head touching Taco's soft tortilla shell. "Well, this was, like, awesome!"

"Yup, it was!" Taco faintly smiled as she was sipping iced tea from a tin can while watching a movie in Spanish.

Match blushed as Taco stroked her red top. "My hair is, like, awesome, right?" She giggled. "I dyed it blue a few years ago."

"Ah, neat!" Taco looked about. "I've never dyed my hair."

"Neither has Pence Pence, from what I recall." Match had been friends with Pencil since at least elementary school. Taco, however, was uncharted territory to her. After looking about, she had a topic in mind that could get her to know her new Mexican acquaintance. "Nice house! I guess you were inspired by, like, the style in where you live."

"Yup! Adobe houses are quite the trend in where I live." Taco nodded. "I've built it this way to match my tastes, but also to keep Snowball from melting during the hotter months." Taco noticed that Match was listening. "What's your team house like?"

"Not that big, but it's fancy! Pencil and I have gone with a minimalistic design, allowing lots of sunlight to enter."

After a brief moment of silence, Match yawned. "Like, yeah... I think I'll go home. I'm quite tired." She stood up and went towards the main door. "See ya soon, Taco!"

"Bye!" Once the door closed, Taco stretched a bit on the sofa. She thought about Match for a moment and blushed. Perhaps the flame was still alive. She grabbed a blanket, blushing in the process. Yes, it was! She took her shoes off and fell asleep on the sofa she had been lying on up to a few moments ago.

A ray of light kissed Taco's face in the early morning, revealing her freckles, but she didn't seem to notice. A while later, her teammates went downstairs to have breakfast; Snowball noticed Taco sleeping on the sofa. Weird. She was usually the first one to be awake. Snowball stroked her cheek in an attempt to wake her up.

Taco opened her eyes, emitting an indescribable noise. "Whaa?" She slowly woke up. "Oh. Good morning, everyone..." She made no effort to articulate the words as she stood up. The cold floor touching her bare feet helped her wake up, but only slightly. She limped through the coffee machine and made herself a big mug of dark coffee, no sugar, no milk. She got her energy back, one taste bud at a time. "Ah, much better." She joined the table. "What's the plan for today?"

"Oh! Uh..." Pen tried to come up with something, but something caught his attention: two figures were standing in the grassy field outside. He squinted. "Hold on..." Once he realized who the two people over there could have been, he gasped. "Guys! Are those Four and X?"

Eraser went outside to check whether Pen's theory was true. He took a good look and nodded. "It's them, Pen!" Eraser's confirmation of the theory made everyone in the house go outside.

Taco put her shoes back on and followed suit. "Uhm... What's the deal?"

"Four and X are back!" Pen replied in excitement. The two numbers were standing there, staring blankly as everyone walked up to them. "What are they gonna do?"

After a moment of silence, Golf Ball scratched her head. "Four! X! Where have you been?"

"I'm glad you asked, Dimples!" Four walked up to Golf Ball. "X and I went to the Bahamas for a while."

Golf Ball noticed that Snowball was trying not to laugh at the nickname Dimples. "And why?"

"Oh, just needed to unplug for a bit." Four stretched. "The situation was getting pretty heavy."

They smiled as they reminisced about the golden beaches. "Such lovely days..."

"Those fancy fruit juices were delicious!" X walked up to Four.

"Oh yeah!" Four remembered what their companion was talking about. "You know... Why don't we go there again? This time with the contestants?"

Finding no reason to block Four's plan, X nodded, letting them snap their fingers. The scenery had changed: everyone was now standing on the sand. "The next challenge will be a swimming contest!"

Many were having problems with sand getting into their shoes. Leafy, however, was not one of them. "Oh, nice! I needed a break, and I'm sure Grassy did as well!" She lifted her son, who soundly agreed.

"Alright! Get into your costumes, people! You'll send one of your team–" Four noticed Firey running towards them. "What's the matter?"

"Um, Mr. Number? Water is poisonous to me." Firey's statement made Four ponder over their actions. How could they let such oversight slip through the contest? They snapped their fingers. "Nothing's changed."

"Those who are normally vulnerable to water can now swim safely!" Four proudly announced.

"Oh, great!" Firey ran back to his team.

Four pointed at an island in the distance. "You'll have to reach that island over there. It's half a kilometer away from here." Four then looked at the flying contestants. "No flying allowed! Or else!" They took out a button as a means to make the fliers stick to their order, lest they be obliterated. "Understand?"

The representatives for the teams were ready. As soon as they heard the whistle, they began swimming. The contest was no problem for Needle, who swam in peace and took a clear lead over everyone else. Robot Flower was also at ease during the challenge. Pen struggled a bit, but he was pushing, followed by Match. Bottle was lying on her back, letting the waves carry her according to their whim. Woody was initially afraid of the water, but after a psychological assessment, he got to the task. Dora had reached Needle and surpassed her, but that was no surprise to anyone, as she was naturally very fast at doing anything. Meanwhile, Marker and Bomby were outracing each other.

Ten minutes or so later, Four squinted and noticed that Needle had touched the ground. "W.O.A.H. Bunch is safe!"

Needle's teammates cheered. "Who's in the mood for a cocktail?" Coiny smirked. "On me."

Robot Flower and Dora had an argument over who touched first, but they stopped after a while. One by one, the contestants reached the island: the only exception was Bottle, who had been under the whim of the sea for about an hour.