Temporal Troubles || a BFDI AU

BFDI 1b: Retake the Plunge

"Now, teams. Choose your team name."

A few minutes had passed since the balance beam contest, and both teams were fully settled. Match and Bubble had forgiven Pencil for pushing them off after she explained that they'd be put on seperate teams otherwise, but otherwise, the team picking went mostly smoothly for them. And now...

While the other members of her team began to loudly talk over one another, Pencil sauntered over to the Announcer and said, "I name my team FreeSmart!"

"FreeSmart? That's not very creative, but alright."

"Whaddya mean? I came up with it myself! See, it's a play on the word 'freedom,' because-"

"No, I know what it is. I meant that it's not very creative to use the same name twice."

It took a moment for what that entailed to sink in, but once it did, a cold sliver of dread trickled down Pencil's graphite spine. She quickly glanced around to make sure no other objects were nearby, but everyone else was still arguing amongst themselves. Leaning in close, she whispered, "You know?"

"Know what?"

"You know... do you know?"

"I don't know. Do you know?"

"Of course I know what I know! I wanted to know if you know what I know... because if you know what I know, then I know that you know what I know, so that way I would know to... uh..." She trailed off, having confused both of them. "...you know?"

The Announcer simply stared at her (or at least, gave off the impression of staring) for a second, before she finally shook her head and grabbed him. "Look! Do. You. Know?"

"Yes," he stated plainly. "I know you're not supposed to be here."

Pencil was expecting that answer, but it was still enough of a shock to make her drop the host and take a few steps back. "So... what? That's it, then?"

"What's it?"

"You're going to send me back, aren't you? Or... I don't know, ban me from competing? Or something?"

The Announcer briefly glanced to the side to check how the other contestants were doing before turning back. "Why bother? This should just make the competition more interesting."

Pencil stared at him in complete disbelief, then rotated and sprinted back to her team before the Announcer could change his mind. As for the host, he cleared his 'throat' and spoke at a much louder volume to be heard over the clamor. "Okay, that's enough. Pencil has named her team FreeSmart. However, because Pin's team can't seem to choose a name, I'll choose one for them. They will now be called the Squishy Cherries." He heard someone complain from within the crowd, but didn't listen.

"Now... it's time for the first contest."

--------------------

About a quarter of an hour later, Pencil hopped inside the newly-constructed motorboat. "Looks pretty good! Hop in, everyone!"

Match cheered and jumped in next, followed by Bubble and Teardrop. Flower simply rolled her eyes. "Still waiting on that yacht..."

Firey tried to follow Needle in, but Pencil held her hand up. "Ah, ah, ah! You're not allowed."

"What!" he cried indignantly. "Why not?"

"You're literally made of fire! You could burn our boat down."

"But- oof!" Firey fell over as Coiny pushed him aside and climbed onto the boat. "Oh, you little..."

Coiny turned around and stuck his tongue out. "Ha, ha!"

As they bickered, Pencil grabbed one of the propellers and spun it forcefully, starting the motor. Their boat began to slowly move away, and on the shoreline, Snowball jumped. "Wait! Are you leaving without me??"

"You, like, bet!" jeered Match. Snowball leapt at her, but just face-planted in the water; the boat had picked up more than enough speed to create a gap too large to jump.

"Hang on!" Bubble cried. "Whoit about Rocky?"

The six of them in the boat stared at the shrinking form of Rocky, who sat obliviously on the shoreline, not moving a muscle. "Eh." Needle shrugged.

A scream. Everyone turned, and their eyes were drawn towards the sight of Blocky falling straight into the maw of a massive green fish monster. Seeing the Cherries' rectangular vessel ahead, Pencil muscled her way to the front of the boat and grabbed it. "Everyone, grab a side and start pulling or pushing to the left! We can't hit them!"

"Ah, seriously?" Needle exclaimed, placing her hands on the right side of the boat. Everyone else did the same, and together they managed to just barely dodge the obstacle in their path.

Coiny felt the deck continue to tilt under his feet. "Uh oh. The boat's leaning too far!"

"To the right, to the right!" ordered Pencil, causing everyone to switch sides. The boat righted itself and then almost immediately began tilting even more. "Wait, no! Left again!!"

"Too loite!" Bubble wailed. Their motorboat flipped over fully just as they hit the shoreline ahead, causing everyone to go in different directions. Bubble popped on impact. While Teardrop flew straight up, Coiny shot forwards and missed the finish line by inches, eventually slamming into a tree far ahead. Match and Needle spun off to opposite sides through the sand, both getting mouthfuls of the stuff. And Pencil rolled forwards a little until she bumped something just hard enough to stun her.

Then, silence. "Amazing entrance, FreeSmart," commented the Announcer sarcastically after a few moments. "Just goes to show how crucial it is to have a steering wheel."

Groggily, Pencil managed to sit up and look around. It took her several seconds to process that she was right next to the finish line, but the moment she did, she grabbed the ribbon and tore it as quickly as she could.

"And Pencil's team, FreeSmart, wins. Which means one of the Squishy Cherries is going home."

The woodsicle weakly pumped her fist into the air.

someone on Discord said this and I agreed so I added it