Pencil wakes up one day to find herself back at the beginning of BFDI. With future knowledge of the contests to come, she tries to sway the competition to her favor.
While she was distracted with the leak, Teardrop took the opportunity to grab two handfuls of colored water and chuck them at Ice Cube and Bubble, scoring two direct hits. "Teardrop!" Needle scolded. "Don't treat Icy like that!"
To this, TD just shrugged nonchalantly. She turned back to Pencil and saw a watery projectile heading her direction, but Needle managed to reach out and intercept it just in time. She flung it right back at the stunned writing utensil, who wasn't able to dodge this time. "Woo! We're the last ones standing, TD!" They high-fived.
Pencil quickly resurfaced, coughing up liquid. "Eughh! A-Announcer!" she spluttered. "This- this is actually vomit!"
"Haha. Yes, I put real vomit in there this time, just for you."
"You are SADISTIC! think I'm going to be sick..."
"Well, if you need to throw up, you already know where to do it."
"Shut up!!"
--------------------
Approximately half an hour later, the Announcer turned on his TV screen. "Now that the taco contest has been wrapped up, here are the final scores for today's episode."
Oops! Ang larawang ito ay hindi sumusunod sa aming mga alituntunin sa nilalaman. Upang magpatuloy sa pag-publish, subukan itong alisin o mag-upload ng bago.
"In the danger zone are Bubble, Ice Cube, and Pen, which means the voting will only be between the three of them. So viewers..."
While he rattled off to the voters, Pencil studied the scores carefully. She'd been miffed earlier about being robbed of her 60 points, but that annoyance quickly went away after seeing she was still in first. Despite Bubble's low score, Pencil knew she'd be safe from the elimination — after all, in the first run of the show, Bubble had made it to the finals.
Yet... Match's elimination was making her slightly paranoid. Remembering that bowling would be next episode's contest, she resolved to make sure Bubble wouldn't completely botch her throw when the time came. And she'd have to be strategic about who she removed points from-
"Pencil?"
"Eek!!" the woodsicle shrieked, jumping a few inches and startling the object next to her in turn. She'd been so lost in thought that she hadn't even heard Needle approaching. "What? What do you want?"
Now looking a little frazzled, Needle spoke. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. But..." She glanced around furtively. "I need to speak to you in private. Can we get away from the others for a minute?"
Once again, Pencil was completely thrown off by this statement. "Um. Sure?"
"Great, follow me."
They wordlessly began to walk across the endless grassy plains. Internally, Pencil tried to figure out what exactly was going on. Needle wasn't normally still in the game at this point in BFDI, so it makes sense that she'd do a few things I wouldn't predict. But why's she talking to *me?* We've barely ever interacted, even in the past-future. Is this about how I treated Ice Cube? Or about Match's elimination?
Her mind continued to wander until Needle suddenly halted, forcing her to stop as well. They were definitely out of earshot of everybody else, and probably out of sight from any hidden cameras. "Alright, what's this about?" Pencil finally questioned, still thoroughly confused.
"I'll get right to the point. I know you're from the future, Pencil."
The woodsicle's heart skipped a beat. "S-sorry?"
"Your team name gave it away. FreeSmart? Really?"
"I... I have no idea what you mean," Pencil bluffed. Had the Announcer told on her?
Needle appeared extremely unamused. "It's a play on the word 'freedom.' You didn't want to have a team name that sounded 'dumb,' so you changed the end to 'smart.'"
Pencil's mouth went dry. "In two episodes," continued Needle, "there's a surprise debut, and David is the one to join the game. Firey wins Dream Island, but Leafy steals it from him before fleeing to Yoyleland. BFDIA is cancelled after episode five, and-"
"Alright, alright!!" Pencil clamped a hand over Needle's mouth, eliciting a glare from the other object. "There's no need to just yell it out. Do you want the others to hear?"
There was a muffled protest, and she removed her hand. "Why do you think I wanted to talk alone? Nobody else knows about this."
"Actually, the Announcer knows about me..."
"What?"
"But he's not going to do anything about it. Apparently, it'll just 'make the competition more interesting.'"
"That... huh. That actually sounds like him."
"Yeah."
The following silence was almost awkward, as the conversation's direction had been derailed slightly. "So." Pencil was the first to speak up again. "You didn't answer my question. What exactly is this about?"
"Right, right." Needle cleared her throat. "I want to extend the offer of an... alliance."
She let that word hang heavily in the air. It was quite a loaded word, after all, at least in the context of the knowledge they both possessed. Despite that, though, Pencil thought about the offer seriously. It was honestly very enticing — Needle could fill any gaps in her memory with her own knowledge of the competition. Pencil had gotten eliminated eventually, after all. Together, the two of them could dominate. And on top of all that, her current alliance had just lost a member.
However... in the back of her mind, she knew it couldn't work. They were both quite competitive. It would only be a matter of time before they'd go for each other's throats, and the alliance would shatter. But that wasn't it. There was something else.
"Do you trust me, Needle?" she asked suddenly. "Because these sorts of relationships are built on trust. And I'm getting the feeling that there's something you're not telling me."
Needle started. She clearly hadn't expected the question, so for a brief moment, her facial features gave everything away. "I knew it!" Pencil crowed. "You are hiding something! And if you don't think you can trust me, then I don't think I can trust YOU."
The sewing implement regained control of her expressions, and her current one hardened. "I would have explained everything had you accepted my proposal. What would you know about trust, anyway?"
"Plenty!"
"I'd think Book, Ice Cube, and especially Bubble from our time would disagree."
Pencil inhaled sharply. "Think very carefully about the next words that come out of your mouth."
Needle said nothing, choosing to cross her arms and stare coldly at her instead.
"That's what I thought." The woodsicle abruptly rotated on her heels and started walking back to where the other contestants resided. It was already getting late — the sun was dipping towards the horizon. "Just don't get in my way," she called over her shoulder, not bothering to turn around.
Neither of them would sleep very easily that night.
the plan was originally to release this on christmas along with a new Overtaken chapter but I never completed the OT chapter, oh well (hopefully soon? we'll see)
