Everyone stared at Flower for a moment, not saying a word or moving to help her.
"Drat," Golf Ball finally cursed. "I can't believe I forgot about the fish monster's annual migrating season!"
Match questioned, "The whatso?
Pencil turned to her. "You see, Match, at about this time every year, the fish monsters in the ocean migrate to the Yoyle coastline and go crazy there for about a month or two. We tried getting past them once, but they just eat anything they see. It's basically a wall of stark raving madness!"
"An impenetrable wall of stark raving madness," GB muttered. "There's no getting past them. Our boat is probably destroyed by now, anyway." She turned to TB. "I was hoping we could keep the other location a secret, but now I guess we don't have a choice."
"Other location?" Fries wondered.
Tennis Ball looked at the other objects. "About eight months ago, Golf Ball and I relocated her underground factory to a place about an hour and a half's walk east of here. It's a grassy plain, very similar to the one we competed in down in South Goiky, but there's also a lovely forest with golden trees nearby, as well as a small building and patio."
"OOOOOOOHHH!!" Puffball gushed. "GOLDEN trees???"
Golf Ball sighed. "No, they're not actually made of gold - they're just colored that way. But I believe that it is a suitable place to relocate, at least for now." She began to pace again. "We're running out of time and need to think of a new plan. Even between the 24 of us - 23 since Dora is still frozen - I'm not sure we can carry the LOL for an hour and a half." She was starting to wear a circle in the ground with all her pacing.
Book glanced at Ruby. "Hey, what about that box?"
"Huh?"
"The box we found in the science museum. The one that can fit anything inside it," Book clarified.
"Oh yeah! Pencil has it right now, and she's using it to store the FreeSmart Supervan."
Pencil overheard what they said. "No, no, no, Book! I'm not taking out the Supervan!"
"Pencil, come on. This is bigger than us. We can't just leave the rest of the objects trapped in there!" Book countered. "And we can use the Supervan to drive away from the city much faster than we could walk!"
Pencil just crossed her arms and pouted. It would have been almost funny in a lighter situation. Book kept going. "Unless you want to carry the LOL several miles...?"
Pencil glanced over to Match, who just shrugged. "Fiiiiiiiiiiine," Pencil relented. She pulled out the small wooden box. "Everyone step back."
Everyone stepped back. Pencil gingerly opened the box and the FreeSmart Supervan whirled out, landing on the ground and almost crushing Gelatin in the process.
Golf Ball stopped. "Where did that- never mind. At least we have easy transport to the golden forest."
"There's something else, too." Pencil reluctantly showed Golf Ball her box and explained how it worked.
"This is perfect!" GB was almost ecstatic. "Who's the fastest runner here?"
"Probably me." Needle.
"Alright, everyone. New plan. Needy-" *slap* "-and Puffball will go over to the LOL and use Pencil's box to transport it. Puffball, be ready to fly Needle out of danger in case the other human shows up. Book and Ruby will stick to their original plan. Everyone else, let's keep going to the HPRC to destroy it. It's at the eastern most side of the city anyway, and we're heading east, so it's simply more convenient. Pencil, how many people can your van fit?"
Pencil put her hand to her 'chin.' "Supervan, and there's five seats in there. Two people usually sit in the back one, but I suppose we could fit four in it. So that's eight people. But we have a large trunk, and there's probably enough room on the floor that we could probably have..." She paused. "Nineteen people. That's really pushing it, but we can probably fit nineteen people in the van."
"Hmm. We have twenty-four objects..."
"I can fly and carry Balloony," Cloudy offered.
"Yeah!" Puffball agreed. "I can take Fries!"
"-.. --- -. .----. - / ..-. --- .-. --. . - / - .... .- - / .. / .... .- ...- . / .-. --- -.-. -.- . - / -... --- --- ... - . .-. ... .-.-.- (Don't forget that I have rocket boosters.)"
"Excellent. Then everyone else can get in the van. Again, though, we don't have much time. Book, Ruby, Needle, and Puffball - get back to the HPRC in the next fifty minutes. Or else." They all nodded at GB. "Let's move, people!"
Needle grabbed the wooden box from Pencil and dashed off westwards. Puffball, Ruby, and Book trailed behind. Leafy picked up Dora and pushed her into the back of the van, then did the same with Flower, as she was still unconscious. Something slipped out of Flower's backpack in the process.
"Hey, check this out!" Coiny picked up the familiar orange device. "It's Firey's Speaker Box!"
Fries came over. "Huh. So Flower was the one who had it all this time?"
Coiny turned it over, revealing that the back panel had been opened. "I guess she deactivated it - looks like a bunch of wires were pulled out. It's useless now." Coiny carelessly tossed it behind him and Donut managed to catch it. The pastry inspected the box, then stashed it away for later use.
As Pencil climbed into the front seat to make sure everything was working, Golf Ball and Tennis Ball walked towards Seekayaitch. Pillow intercepted them. "Golf Ball, I-"
"Not. Now." GB hissed. Pillow just shrugged and decided to wait yet again.
Seekayaitch looked up when he heard the globules coming and sighed out loud. I suppose you want to know about your experiment?
Golf Ball looked around surreptitiously, but nobody else seemed to react to the human. He had projected his words into only GB's and TB's minds. "Yes, I do. I already rem-" She shook slightly as she thought about her past. "I already remember what happened, but... I want- I want to know about the third human. And why she..." GB couldn't even finish her sentence.
C glanced at Leafy, who was standing nearby. I suppose I don't really have a choice, do I?
"Nope."
Very well. Her name was Essaitch. Despite our similar names, she was not related to Emwhyaitch and I - she was simply a close friend. Close enough that when my brother and I discovered how to make inanimate objects animate, we asked her to help us eventually create BFDI. She agreed.
I must make something clear. Back then, we had no intention of harming you twenty in any way. We experimented on you all the time, but that was purely to gather data, and we never actually hurt any of you. Nowadays, of course, we don't care. I just brought that up because Essaitch showed signs of... breaking, which we did not notice until it was too late.
More context is needed for the next part. Remember how I said Evil Leafy was a failed experiment? Well, she wasn't the first version. We tried inventing a serum that would separate an object into two forms - a good side and a bad side - and we did, but we didn't use it on anyone because we were conflicted. Should we use it, in the name of science? Or should we leave it, in the off chance that it would hurt one of you?
One day, my brother and I needed to leave to get more supplies, so we decided that Essaitch could take you down to the Yoyle City Science Museum and give you a history lesson. We didn't know she had taken the serum with her. She injected you with it, and... well, the rest is history.
Tennis Ball glanced at Golf Ball, who was still. "I don't know everything," GB whispered. "I very clearly remember running through the museum, looking for somewhere to hide, but the rest is fuzzy."
Then I'll explain the rest again, including what you already know, unless you've told Tennis Ball. C gave her a moment to object. She didn't. As it turns out, the serum was incomplete. It was supposed to split your physical form... but it split your mind instead. One side inherited your worst traits - everyone has the potential for absolute hatred inside them. The other side got everything else. Although, it's not without anger or hatred - the alternate side just amplifies that specific emotion to an extreme. From what I know, I believe that your "evil" side comes out in times of extreme distress, or when you are reminded of its origin.
Both spheres were stunned. "I'm basically a... beta version of Evil Leafy?" GB mumbled to herself.
More or less. Do you still wish to hear the rest?
Golf Ball nodded.
When your "evil" side came through, Essaitch was fascinated. Right up until the point that you attacked her. You didn't do much damage, but she became furious. At some point, I suppose your normal self returned and you ran. You know how well that turned out.
Back then, you were just a ping-pong ball. After that incident, we tried transferring your memories over to what you are now - a golf ball. We locked all memories of Essaitch from your mind, hoping that you would never remember. And it worked, until that day you entered the museum again.
We tried creating the serum again, but with a new purpose. After realizing what exactly happened, we hoped that we could perfect it and use it to entirely remove any negative emotions from an object. As I'm sure you've guessed, the next test subject was Leafy. And as I told you before, it didn't exactly work.
Tennis Ball forced himself to sit down before he fell over on his own. Golf Ball followed his example as the two tried to process everything.
"One more question," Golf Ball said after a moment. "What... happened to Essaitch?"
Seekayaitch's expression didn't change. When we learned that she injected you with the serum, and what she did afterwards... was when we realized that she wasn't right anymore. We reacted in a way we normally wouldn't have at the time.
He paused. I mentioned earlier that the entire concept of the memory void, for whatever reason, would not work on humans. C chuckled. Well, to figure that out, we needed a test subject.
GB and TB stared at him in stunned silence. "You killed her... and she isn't able to come back?" Tennis Ball asked.
Correct. Afterwards, we quickly realized what we had done and were filled with grief for the longest time. But now, we can see that it was necessary to further progress in our studies. In the name of science. I would do it again in a heartbeat if needed.
For the first time, Golf Ball looked into C's eyes - truly looked, rather than just taking a cursory glance - and noticed the core of madness that had somehow taken over this human, hidden behind a thin veneer of intelligence and fake politeness. She stepped back, horrified. "You really are crazy."
He shrugged. Perhaps.
GB took another step back, then turned and briskly walked away. TB sighed and looked up. Leafy, who had watched the whole exchange but opted to stay quiet, met his eyes, and gestured over to GB. "I'm not entirely sure what just happened, but you should probably go talk to her."
TB nodded.
--------------------
Twenty minutes of speed walking brought Book and Ruby back to Fries' farm, the spaceship, and where the Yoyle Needy used to stand. Needle and Puffball were way ahead of them - Book wouldn't be surprised if they had already reached the LOL.
They climbed through into the bridge and looked around. Ruby pointed to a room marked 'NO UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ALLOWED.' "That looks important!"
"I hope it's the right room," Book agreed. "We don't really have time to look around the whole UFO." Careful not to step on any glass shards, she stepped up to the door and pushed it open. The wall around it was damaged enough that the lock didn't work anymore.
Surprisingly, the inside of the room was mostly intact. The only change from when Leafy had been in there was that the cryogenic chamber was detached from the wall and leaning against what they assumed to be the void machine. Book noticed with a start that the cryo-chamber had actually caused the glass tube on the void machine to crack, and red tendrils of energy were penetrating the cold surface, reaching for whatever was inside.
Without saying anything, Ruby handed Book a steel pipe she picked up off the floor. Book stepped forward, hefted the pipe into the air, and brought it down upon the glass with as much force as she could muster.
Crash! The tube shattered into a thousand pieces and glass flew everywhere, many bits hitting both Ruby and Book but none of them doing any real damage. The electrical strands of red and black energy emitting from the Tesla coils swiftly dissipated, and the constant humming coming from the machine stopped abruptly.
Then, as the dead zone's connection to their dimension was cut, any memories that occurred during death returned.
--------------------
Needle stared at the Locker Of Losers as she pulled out Pencil's wooden box. "So, how does this thing work?"
"I don't know," Puffball admitted. "Maybe try touching it?"
Needle shrugged and pressed the silver clasp of the box against the LOL. Instantly, it shrank down and flew into the box, which snapped shut automatically. "Awesome!"
"Woohoo!" Puffball sang. "Let's head back!"
Needle stashed away the container and took a step forwards, then suddenly collapsed to her knees. "Ahhg!!"
"Needy? What happened?"
Needle shivered for a few moments. "I'm... alright. I just... I think Book and Ruby destroyed the void machine. I just got a lot of memories that I don't even remember experiencing..." She shuddered again. "The void was so empty..."
--------------------
Pencil leaned against the side of the van and stared at the large hole Naily punctured in the HPRC, which revealed a whole mess of yanked-out wires and disassembled gears. Now that that was done, everyone was just sitting around, waiting for the other four objects to complete their missions and return. Tennis Ball and Golf Ball had been silent after privately talking with the human for a while. Leafy was still next to Seekayaitch, leaning against her steel pipe like a cane. Pillow was sporting a brand new backpack - where she got it, Pencil couldn't guess, and didn't really care. Some people were already in the van, but most others were just milling around.
Pencil suddenly remembered entering the science museum, being transported up to the humans' ship, discovering her origins, and being trapped in a chair. What the heck?? Where did those memories come from?
Out of nowhere, the memories of her 'alternate self' - that being the manifestation of the memories Emwhyaitch locked away in the void - returned to her. She slid to the ground as eleven months' worth of staring into darkness, punctuated only by talking to Match, Book, Needle, and Ice Cube, all of which who were there with her. Bubble was there for quite a lot of time, too, and Golf Ball and Tennis Ball became constant presences later.
Pencil could hear sounds of confusion come from some of the others as they remembered various times they had died over the past few years and been in the void themselves. She came to the conclusion that Book and Ruby had managed to destroy the void device.
Shakily, Pencil got up, walked over to where Match was lying on the ground, and joined her. They lay in silence for a moment before Pencil finally said, "That was weird."
"Yeah," Match agreed. They didn't say anything else for several minutes. Until...
"HE'S GONE?!"
Match groaned. "What, like, now?"
The duo sat up and glanced over at Golf Ball, the one who had just made that unholy screech. She was yelling at Leafy, who was yelling back at her, while Tennis Ball tried to calm them both down. But something was off. A cold feeling trickled down Pencil's graphite spine as she realized that Seekayaitch had vanished.
Facepalming, she stood and walked over. "What happened? Where's the human?" she demanded angrily.
"LEAFY here has allowed him to escape!" Golf Ball spat.
"I told you!" Leafy protested. "My new memories distracted me! He must have slipped away, or- or maybe his brother came back and grabbed him! It's not my fault!"
Tennis Ball physically stepped between them. "Okay, guys, that's enough. Look - we really don't have the time to argue about this, and we definitely can't go look for them. Once we're out of here and safe in Nearby Yoyleland, then maybe we can worry. But for now, let's just stop arguing and make sure we're all ready for when Ruby, Book, Needle, and Puffball come back. Alright?"
Leafy took a deep breath, then nodded. "Fine," Golf Ball grumbled, before stepping away and hopping into the van.
--------------------
Book stood up, rubbing her eyes. "Jeez," she said. "That was a lot of memories packed into a few seconds."
"I've only ever been in the dead zone, like, once," Ruby said cheerfully. "Time to head back!"
"Wait."
"What?"
Book looked at the cryo-chamber that the energy was attracted to a moment ago. "I know we don't have any time, but I'm really curious about what was in there."
She stepped over and peered through the tinted glass. "An... egg?" Indeed, there was an egg in there. But the colors were extremely muted, and it looked like it was collapsing in on itself. As Book watched, the egg suddenly crumbled to dust. Whatever the void machine had done to it wasn't good.
Book felt a pang of sadness for whatever creature was inside that egg. Poor thing never even got to hatch. She shook her head and turned back to Ruby. "Alright. Let's go."
--------------------
Another twenty minutes passed without incident. Everyone was inside the van now, except for Balloony, Cloudy, Fries, and Roboty. Pencil sat in the driver's seat with Match on the passenger side. Pillow, Tennis Ball, Leafy, and Coiny sat in the far back seat, squeezed together by TB's bulk. Flower and Dora lay on the ground in between the rows of seats, and everyone else was packed together in the back of the van.
Except for Golf Ball, who was pacing in the same spot she had been nearly an hour ago. "Where are they?" she muttered to herself.
Roboty began to beep. "-... .- -.. / -. . .-- ... .-.-.- / - .... . / -. . .-- / ... .... .. .--. / .... .- ... / .- -.-. -.-. . .-.. . .-. .- - . -.. / .- -. -.. / .. ... / -. . .- .-. .-.. -.-- / .. -. / - .... . / .- - -- --- ... .--. .... . .-. . .-.-.- (Bad news. The new ship has accelerated and is nearly in the atmosphere.)"
"WHAT?!" GB stopped pacing. "Are you sure?"
".--. --- ... .. - .. ...- . .-.-.- (Positive.)"
Tennis Ball stuck his head out the van's back door. "What's wrong?"
"The humans have gotten much closer. We need to leave NOW."
"But Ruby's back there!" Pencil protested from the front seat.
"And Book," Match added.
"There's no time." GB hopped into the back of the van. "We'll have to leave them behind."
"But-"
"Look!" Gelatin interrupted, pointing dramatically towards the city. Puffball emerged from the cluster of buildings. Book was sitting on top of her, with Ruby and Needle clinging onto her sides.
In seconds, they reached the van. Needle, Ruby, and Book jumped off Puffball and climbed into the van, with Ruby and Book taking the two empty middle seats. "Where's the Locker Of Losers?" Golf Ball demanded. Needle tossed her the wooden box.
It suddenly got darker. Everyone who could see the sky looked up to find that a large silhouette was beginning to block the moon. "Time to go," Pie said. Even the normally calm pastry was looking anxious.
Golf Ball slammed the van's back doors shut. Fries climbed onto Puffball, Balloony grabbed Cloudy, and Roboty activated his rocket boosters. Those five sped ahead as Pencil stomped on the gas pedal. The van's tires rotated in place for half a second before carrying the vehicle away.
For a full two minutes, the only sound anyone could hear was the soft humming of the car engine before Roboty's beeping filtering through the windows broke the relative silence. "- .... . -.-- .----. ...- . / -.. .-. --- .--. .--. . -.. / - .... . / -... --- -- -... .-.-.- (They've dropped the bomb.)"
Nobody needed a translation for that.
Pencil glanced into the rear view mirror. Reflected in it, through the back windows, was the city. A pulsating green globule was falling from the silhouette in the sky, straight towards the buildings. She looked away just before it hit, but it was impossible to miss the large green flash that lit up the terrain for a split second. Gas descended upon the city - nothing was physically damaged in it, but the neurotoxin would kill any living animal that was unlucky enough to breathe it. Not to mention that the gas would linger for years afterwards.
Nobody said anything else for the entire ride.
See you in IDFB 15 :)