Stranded in Paradise || TPOT x III AU

Chapter 13

Night was soon becoming day. Nobody really felt safe enough to sleep.
The pink team had collected themselves and were just watching out. Mostly for Pillow after what happened with Test Tube.

Thankfully Test Tube was fine. It was only a minor crack, so it wouldn't kill her or anything, but Fan was still concerned.

The yellow team and Box, Balloon, and Nickel also stuck together. Paintbrush had gotten their camera back from Teardrop and had dragged her over with them.

MePhone hadn't even checked in on the contestants. God knows where he was at this point, but it was fine.

Remote glanced up at the sky, which was starting to transition back into pinks as the sun was rising.
"How're you doing?" She asked her team, turning back to them.

"Tired, but fine." Tennis Ball grumbled.

"Fine might be a bit much." Golf Ball glanced at Test Tube, who was talking to Fan.
Golf Ball had tried to use what she had on hand (can I say this??) to patch her up, to at least keep the crack from getting worse.

"Okay, yeah." Tennis Ball sighed. "Guess I can't really say we're 'fine'.."

"At least none of us are dead..." Puffball murmured.

Balloon grabbed Nickel and Teardrop, and started walking off.

"Where are you taking me?!" Nickel snapped, glaring at Balloon.

"We should find Pillow. The sun is starting to rise."

"Fine! But I can walk, you know!" Nickel started to say, but he screamed when Balloon dropped him and TD.
He quickly got up and gave Balloon another glare.

Teardrop dusted herself off and looked around for a moment.

"Should we stop them?" Black Hole glanced at Balloon and Nickel, speaking to his team.

"It's fine." Yin-Yang said. "What matters is that we made it through the night, they can do whatever they want now, I guess.."

Tree nodded in agreement to Yin-Yang's statement, as Fanny rolled her eyes. "Fine. But I don't think they're up to any good."

The challenge was going to be wrapping up soon. All the teams were back with each other, and the blue team had found Pillow.

"So- er..." Balloon put his hands together. "Can you maybe like... not wander off like that again? We're meant to be a team, you know... We should at least all be present. Teams are meant to have people work together, not abandon everyone..."

Pillow only gave Balloon a vacant smile, staring straight at him. "But what about Pie?" She asked.
"That's- That's different, she died-..." Balloon sighed, before just giving up.

"This challenge sucked. I mean, not too much even happened, like, our idea didn't even work at all. Do these even work-"

"Wait, no-"

Balloon frowned at Nickel's misfortune when he slipped after trying to step on one of the banana peels like an idiot.
"Oh, that's gonna be good."
Balloon looked over as Fan snapped a picture, the rest of his team behind him.

"Goddamnit..." Balloon sighed, slightly unsure of what to do. He stared at Nickel, who just kinda laid there on his face in defeat. "Nickel. Get up."

Nickel only grunted. Teardrop walked over and nudged him with her food, before grabbing him and pulling him up.
"Ugh." Nickel scowled. "Don't laugh at me." He glared at Balloon.

"Who, me? I would never..." Balloon helped Nickel up and glared over at the pink team as Fan snapped another picture just because. "Can you stop that?"
Test Tube's eyes narrowed when she saw Pillow.

Balloon glanced between them for a moment, noticing the crack and connecting the dots.
"You know, Pillow. Violence may not always be the answer-"
"But it's fun." Pillow cut in.

"Whatever." Nickel grumbled, "Let's just get away from them." He also glared over at the pink team.

"Huh. You can put me down now." Fanny glanced back down at Tree, who had been holding her up so she could see what the other teams were up to.

"Thank god, my arms were getting tired." Tree set Fanny back down and rolled his eyes. "I was so close to dropping you."

"So what did you see?" Paintbrush questioned before Fanny could say something back to Tree.

"They found Pillow so they have like their whole team now. I saw Nickel fall like a dumbass, Fan got a picture of it though."

"I think the challenge is almost over. We probably only have less than an hour." Black Hole was staying pretty close to the ground. Not close enough to tear anything up, but still rather close.

"That's good." Tree responded, thinking. "Right? I can't wait for this to be over, honestly. I'm exhausted."

"You all look like you are." Black Hole moved up a little.

Fanny sat back down. "I hate being exhausted."

"Is she always like that?" Paintbrush asked quietly, leaning towards Black Hole.
"Yes." Black Hole sighed. "But you get used to it quickly."
"Sounds like a real pain."

"Guys! Only an hour left. We have to get ready for the challenge to wrap up!"

840 words
February 29, 2024
(i was gonna try and use this one chapter to finish the rest of this challenge up, but how could i pass up on publishing on a leap day?
im not dead i swear)