the competition was getting heated, ever since four was gone, the cracks started to show. contestants couldn't be recovered, due to donut's lack of ability. donut slowly lost interest in hosting. that was until episode 9, when gelatin discovered something yellow and chubby peeking out of fries' cardboard box. during cake at stake, gelatin gave it a bite, a scream then emitted from whatever was in there. gelatin quickly jerked his head up, revealing x, still in gelatin's mouth. gelatin slowly brought them down, with x stroking the bitten nub.
"x, you mean to tell me you've been here the WHOLE TIME?!" gaty angrily questioned the variable sitting on the ground.
"um... yeah.. when you multiplied four and zero, i ran away because I got scared... i've been hiding ever since, but i guess you've found me!" x answered.
donut brought x to take position as host, demoting donut back to contestant. x began hosting duties by listing off the voting results, mistakenly reading them backwards, revealing right away that stapy was eliminated.
"make sure foldy gets her cake, alright? probably don't have to remind you to give bell hers, because, y'know..." stapy requested to puffball.
"okay, dokay..." puffball solemnly replied. she disregarded stapy's orders and ate foldy's cake, besides, would she really check? however, she would save bell's cake for whenever she would come back, as she was still dead. puffball missed her a lot, almost bringing her to tears a couple of times, after all, she got killed the episode after they started dating... she wouldn't forgive naily for a long time.
the challenge was then being explained, it looked like...
"basketball!" x exclaimed.
"yes?" basketball asked x politely.
"oh, uh... not you, that's.. the challenge. sorry.." x replied while worriedly twiddling their thumbs
"oh, it's okay, x!" basketball reassured them. x smiled and explained that the last team to finish loses, not realizing that they didn't elaborate enough. when told, they explained that the teams had to throw balls to weigh down a basket and press a button, last team to do so, loses.
yellow face had a brilliant idea. "hey, marker! let's play toss the balls!"
"okay!" marker chirped, doing as he was told.
"free food is safe!" x cheerfully yelled.
"at least i'll still be here if she ever comes back... for now." puffball spoke to herself. she sat on the grass, tears started falling down her face, her breath becoming inconsistent. fries saw her in tears, and approached her.
"puffball, i know i may have been hard on you before, and I know this isn't the best time... but i want you to know something." fries consoled her.
puffball looked up, her face red from crying.
"i know something the other contestants don't. alright, so, remember when donut said he had the factor of four within him? when four was supposedly multiplied by zero, x ran away, then four got compressed inside of donut, that's how he has all of these hosting powers! what i'm saying is... i know how to bring four back. and with four back, bell will be yours again." fries whispered. puffball took deep breaths to be able to speak coherently,
"you would do that... for me?" puffball asked, softly.
"i mean, not just for you. order just needs to be maintained again. without four, who will give us the bfdi? who will recover us? we've never even gotten to thank four for the things they've done for us! it's only fair that we return the favor." fries answered.
"yeah.. you're right. four deserves way more recognition. they're the real one here."
"we'll go through it tomorrow." fries ended off.
