"And that's how we'll retrieve X!" Four declares confidently, presenting the figures and methods on the chalkboard he previously pulled from thin air. You sit there in the grass, blinking at all the information they had suddenly dumped on you. "Uh...so...you want me to...just go up and talk to him?" You ask, a bit confused on why he would go through the effort of a half an hour presentation for you to just go up and ask X to come back.
"Talking to X is only PART of the plan." Four attempts to correct you. "Is walking up to him the other part?" You reply coyly, and he frowns. "Are you criticizing my plan?" He grumbles with an uncertain squint. You laugh and stand up. "No...no...I'm not. I can do that." You say, brushing the blades of grass from your knees. You momentarily struggle to stand. This new body was still a lot to get used to, but you were starting to get the hang of it, rather than staggering around like a baby deer. Still, to go through this whole presentation...it feels a bit like Four might be stalling.
"Are you worried that X will say no..?" You inquire, Four working to cram the chalkboard back inside of his head. They tap their fingers together, mouth quivering as they thought. "X is the best co-host I could have asked for! He likes to interrupt me and miscounted the votes that one time, but they are still a true friendo to me...so...yeh." He doesn't exactly wish to say that he's worried X will refuse, but his slight fret is written across his features. You reach out towards his head, patting one of your hands across the bump protruding from the left side. "It'll be okay, Four. I can't promise I'll be able to get him back for sure, but I can promise I'll do everything I can." He makes an unexpected motion, reaching up to cup the ball-like hand you've placed there. His determined gaze softens momentarily. A purple-ish tint darkens underneath his eyes and bridges across his nose. He giggles, awkwardly shuffling there for a moment. "Hahaaheh! You're...weird!" He manages to spit out. You stare at him, a little confused. Calling you odd with what appears to be a flustered expression was...random? Even for Four it's a bit of a strange reaction. He seems to pick up on your puzzled look, throwing your hand from his face and sliding back.
"Ahem! Wh-what I meant to say was...err...w-we'll have to find a place for you in BFB once you get X back! We'll work on that!" He claps his hands and vanishes, just like that. You stand there. You're still a tad bit stunned by that whole, very unusual interaction, but you have bigger fish to fry. As you walk a short distance away and part the bushes, you can see a large group of familiar objects nearby, standing across a scorched, barren landscape. The mass of objects are crowding around the bottom of a singular building. You move out from behind the bush, tripping over your own feet before you wobble back up into a standing position. As you draw a little closer, you spot X. He's sitting on the ground, not doing anything in particular. You feel anticipation rising as your clumsy feet start to move closer and closer to the yellow algebralien, halting suddenly as you run into something wide that slides in front of you.
You fall backwards, looking up to see what...or who you collided with. Another algebralien stands in front of you, one that you haven't seen on BFDI before. You quickly realize It's that Two character that Four had kept mentioning. From what it sounded like from Four, this interaction would likely not be pleasant...
Your breath catches, unsure what to say before Two holds their hand out towards you. You instinctively flinch, expecting to be hit by this supposed evil character. Instead, a pleasant, deep, accented voice can be heard. "Oop! Sorry about that! I really thought you might have seen me coming there, haha." They say. You look up in surprise, realizing that Two wasn't planning on harming you at all. They just wanted to help you back onto your feet. You tentatively reach your hand out, allowing them to pull you back up onto your feet.
"Say, I don't think I've seen you before....Ooh! Are you looking to join my show, perhaps?!" They ask excitedly, leaning forward. You laugh nervously. "O-oh, umm...a-actually...I'm just here to visit a friend. I-if that's okay. I'm not interrupting your show or anything, right?" Two waves their hand in dismissal. "Oh okay, no worries! We haven't started yet, so take your time!" They eagerly wave as they float away to take care of something else. That was...surprising. Two was absolutely nothing like you expected them to be, though you supposed it was a good thing. Now you would be able to speak with X without any issue.
The other objects seem to be preoccupied with speaking and playing with one another to care too much about some random individual visiting, a few of them even sharing friendly glances with you as you make your way towards X. Once you reach the yellow variable, you seat yourself down in front of them like you would do with Four so many times. They blink as you catch their attention. "Hey, X...how are you doing today?" You ask a simple question to spark up a conversation.
X shrugs. "Oh. Fine, thank you." He says with a friendly smile, patting the ground underneath his hands. "Do I...know you...?" He asks, tilting a brow as they analyze you. You shake your head. "No, no...but I do know Four."
"Four?" Now X looks a little skeptical. "Four never...mentioned anyone like you. He usually tells me about everyone he knows..." He mumbles, seemingly a little upset about that. You smile softly. "We've become friends recently, really..."
"Ooohh...that makes sense...it has been 65 days since we've last seen each other after all..." They say with a long sigh. You knit your eyebrows together empathetically. That was a long time to not see someone who you considered to be your best friend. "He misses you a lot...and he would really like to see you again." You attempt to reassure.
"Really?!" They ask in a shrill voice, a hopeful grin spreading across his cheeks. "Of course! Why would you be surprised?"
"Well...65 days ago, Four told me to go here with Two...and I didn't want to fight! Fighting with Four is...really, really impossible!" He says, throwing his arms up in defeat. "Since then, I've been playing patty cake with Two, but...well..." They hold up their hands towards you. The palms are red and blistered, looking painful.
"Jeez, X, what happened?!" You gasp, the grotesque wounds on his palms difficult to look at.
"Well, I underestimated Two's patty cake power...we would play all day, every day since I came here! It got competitive...and we started playing so quickly, the friction caused my hands to catch on fire! And now..." X flops over onto their back, a squeaky noise heard. "I am very bored."
You pat one of his nubs to soothe him. "I'm sure...Four would really love to have you back. We could really use your help, too." X looks perplexed by what you mean. Four wants HIS help? He didn't exactly do too much as a co-host, and when they did try and help, they messed up a lot...still, they sit up, clumsily starting to get up onto their feet. "Oh, okay...I do miss Four. A lot, really...are they...okay?"
"Yeah, they're okay. Better than when I first met them, that's for sure." You reply, X starting to follow once you turn to leave. This went so much easier than you feared it would, though it starts to make you think...there was no evil sorcerer or bitter goodbyes between friends like Four had mentioned. You don't think Four would lie to you, but see a possible delusion of how Four views the world. If anything, this reality is something you will need to keep in mind when approaching situations that negatively impact Four. As you venture behind the bushes with X, you trek a little further away from the scorched field and onto a purple, craggy rock surface that lay outside of it. "Four! Foooouur!" You call out, X cupping his hand around his mouth to call as well. "Fouuuurr! I'm baaack!" He says aloud with worry before large blue hands grip the indentations in his body and yank the variable back. He makes an abrupt, surprised exclamation as he's pulled away. It's only a short distance before X is smushed into Four's body, the blue number hugging him tightly.
"X! It's you! I'm so happy you're back!" X flails their arms around as Four squeezes them tighter, muffling underneath his crushing arms. "Mm mmm mm-mmm fmm!" He loosens his grip on X and raises an eyebrow, looking down at his friend. "What was that?" He asks. X takes a much needed breath, smiling. "It's good to see you too, Four! Now where is...everybody else?" He asks, squinting as he scans the landscape.
"Oh...uh..." Four doesn't exactly know, he realizes. You finally manage to make it over to them, panting and bracing your hands on your knees for a moment. He was a lot further away than you thought he would. "Y/N, what took you so long? Did you forget the coordinates I gave you in the plan?" Four asks, appearing to be a little cross with you. You sigh. With all the other useless information he crammed in that presentation, the precise coordinates of where you would be meeting was the last thing you would have remembered. Still, you don't wish to sully the good moment. "Yeah...sorry."
"Mm. Well, you DID manage to bring X back, so I am very grateful for your help! Hooray!" He cheers, squeezing X tightly again before gripping them by their head and forcing the yellow algebralien to stand beside him. Just like old times. They stand there with vacant stares and wide smiles like you had seen them often do in the show, X blinking as his eyes trail over to Four. "So...where ARE the contestants, Four? You never answered my question."
"Oh. Oh, yeah." Four jerks back to consciousness, suddenly reminded. "I can only assume our final fourteen has suffered the same fate that I did! 65 days ago, when Two sent us away, it turns out that they sent us scattered across the multiverse!"
"Oh no! That is...AWAY away!" X exclaims with surprise and slight dread for his dear contestants and friends.
"It is...I was found by Y/N here, who took care of me until we could return here...so now that we're together again, I need ideas, X! How are we going to find the other contestants?! Jumping from universe to universe would take forever, and we don't have forever to finish the season! The show has already been going on for two years!" X ponders with a finger on their chin before a brilliant idea finally comes to them. He reaches behind his body, pulling out a large, cartoonish-looking gun. The item is a sleek green with squiggly, lime green lines wrapping around it's barrel, all coming to a gaping, funnel shaped hole at the end. It's adorned with three yellow, button-like lights resting on the side, a dial and screen underneath. "I can use the Contestant Locator-inator that Tennis Ball let me borrow...just in case of Golf Ball-related emergencies! Although I don't think this is one of those, so..." They go to put the gun away, you gesturing in a panic.
"B-but this is an emergency, right, X? So maybe...in the grand scheme of things, it COULD be Golf Ball-related..." You stammer, attempting to come up with an excuse. That little item would be absolutely perfect for this mission. X smiles wide, hand starting to fidget with the dial. "I guess that is true! Okay, gang...who are we going to get first?"