You have no idea how you ended up in this situation. Well...almost. You of course recall closing in on the castle while following Bubble, but are at a loss for words for the events that perspired right after. As soon as you had stepped foot onto the pink bubblewrap tile surrounding the castle, the balloon dog guards were surrounding you, beating you into submission with their swords. Of course, these soft swords didn't hurt at all, but the sheer amount of them was overwhelming.
You recall Taco being the only one that really attempted to fight back, whereas X curled up and wailed, unable to understand what was happening. You vaguely remember the fleeting moment of when you looked up to Four, who's gaze was empty and devoid of any conscious thought, whisked away with you and the others as if he wasn't present at all.
Now, you and the others are in a small cell, Taco and Bubble attempting to comfort X, who is rather shook up by the experience. Ruby shuffles around nervously. "I seriously didn't mean to pop that guy...and his scream was so sad- it was like AAAAaaAargH!" Ruby screeched in X's direction, flailing her arms around. X screams as well, Taco moving Ruby to the side. "Maybe you shouldn't do that- ugh. I really want to get back to trying to win the BFB, but we need to figure a way out of here first. Look. The walls are inflatable, too." She said, pressing up against them lightly. "If we just tear a hole in it, we can all escape easily."
"I don't think that's a really good idea." You pipe up. "Tearing a hole in the wall might make the whole place collapse on top of us...and if we're unsuccessful, those guards are going to be on us again." Though you don't think the punishment delivered by a mass of balloon puppies is going to be very troublesome, you never know what to expect in an universe as strange as this. "Maybe...Four will have an idea. When they come back." You say, glancing up to the algebralien with hopeful eyes. Nothing. You sigh, attempting to tug your hand away one last time, finally slipping out of Four's grip.
Just as you start to think you're going to be here for a while, about to brainstorm with the rest of the group, you watch as Four lifts up their hand and stares at their fingers. He curls and extends them a few times, his smile fading as he does. "Four? Where did you go?" You ask with a relieved sigh, happy he was back from inside of his mind.
"Erm- I was- thinking. Nevermind that!" He aggressively motions to offer his hand out to you again with a grimace before pausing. This was not the place you were all in before, he realizes. "Where are we?!" He shouts, instantly agitated with this new, sudden placement.
"I maybe sorta kinda killed a guy and we maybe sorta kinda all be in jail because of that...sorry..." Ruby said, scratching the back of her head. "And we still hoiven't found Balloony." Bubble whines.
"Grr! We've spent too much time searching for him! And we still need to locate the other 9 contestants!" He looks around again, throwing his arms up. "Where's Spongy?!" He shouts, absolutely furious. "Oh...we must have left him behind..." X mutters, pulling out the Contestant Locator-inator from behind them, eyes widening as they see the updated location of Balloony on the device. "Umm...Four? Balloony is pretty close by."
Ruby gasps. "Maybe he's in jail, too. Just like us...poor Balloon Boy. We can't leave him behind!" Bubble and Taco nod, silently agreeing. You glance back to Four, who's becoming more and more irate by the minute. His face is purpled with rage, sharpened teeth grinding and fingers digging into his temples, rubbing in aggressive circular motions. He's trying desperately to swallow the screech he wants to send Ruby's way for her stupidity. It's her fault they ended up in this cell. All of this is stupid. All of this is a waste of time.
You reach up and place a hand against Four's upper back, stroking to try and soothe him. At first, Four arches away from your touch, uncertain about the prickling feeling of gooseflesh that rises. He looks at you, his furrowed brows unknitting as he searches your expression. Throughout all this rage and impatience, you remained a beacon of calm and kindness that eased the constant frustration he struggled with. He slowly relaxed into your touch and slumped against you.
"I have an idea on what we can do." You suggest softly, Four's tired gaze turning curious. He hums inquisitively, quietly ushering you to continue. "Well, we don't have a lot of contestants, but maybe we could give them a challenge to come up with a good way to get out of here...y'know, without the whole...building collapsing and slaughter of a bunch of balloon puppies...maybe the prize can be...umm..." Four's eyes light up. "An immunity token!" He exclaims. It's perfect! He clears his throat and moves in front of the others, a new, wide smile spread on his face.
"Alright everyone! I know it's been a while, but we have an opportunity to start the next co-"
"Oh My Spark, it is you guys!" A raspy voice cheers, interrupting Four. You and the others turn, surprised by the familiar voice. Firey stands on the other side of the bars, a ring of keys in hand. He's surrounded by a group of three balloon dog guards, Spongy in the middle of them with shackles around his ankles. Bubble, Taco, and Ruby rush to the front of the cell, reaching around the squishy, inflatable bars to greet him.
"Foirey! It's so gooid to see you again!" Bubble says. Firey's gaze softens from surprise to a soft, welcoming smile. Ruby practically throws herself against the bars, the balloons squeaking and stretching as she to flails her arms around towards Firey. "Can you please let us out of here please pretty please?!" Taco's jaw slacks open in surprise seeing Ruby's gesture. "Come on, Ruby- we need to take this seriously. Can you help us out of here, Firey?" She asks. Firey bites his lip, motioning for them to quiet down. "I...I can't."
"H-huh? But Firey, don't you want to try and win the BFB?" You inquire, noticing Four's frustration. He was just about to announce a challenge before he was interrupted, clenching his fists.
"Oh Flame, you bet I do. I miss you guys...I miss duking it out for the prize...I even had a dream last week where Four screeched me and woke up missing that, too!" He exclaims and you giggle. Four grins menacingly.
"Do you REALLY miss it, Firey?" He asks slowly. If Firey could sweat, he would surely be developing some beads on his forehead from Four's underhanded threat. "Umm..I uh..."
"So...what can you do to help us out?" Taco asks. "Mm...not much. I've got a lot of responsibility with this position...and if I do something like that without talking to um...the king...then...they'll put me out." He murmurs nervously.
"I will speak to this king person then!" Four declares. He is already a little agitated with his competition announcement being cut short with Firey's arrival. The rest of the group turn and look at Four, a little unsure if this is a sound decision. You feel the tension, wringing your hands together nervously. As much as you love them, you recognize their difficulties in communicating.
"Are you sure, Four?" You ask meekly. "Of course I am! I am the host and this is my show! Whoever this king may be, he is impeding on my progress and I will be putting an end to that!" Four says with his arms folded. "And they are holding Balloony hoistage..." Bubble thinks aloud, voice laced with worry.
"Well...funny you should mention that actually..." Firey replies with a slight chuckle.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Four squints at Firey. "Y'know...you're just going to have to see it for yourself to believe it." Firey utters, unlocking the cell. "I can take you to him. If anyone can talk to him about...anything, it'd be you guys." Firey sounds slightly hopeful, though his tired eyes betray his words. He hates having to be so vague about all of this, but he swallows as the balloon dog guards bounce eagerly into the cell, nudging their faces against you and the others to push you along. As Four is about to swipe at one, you reach up to grab his hand to stop him. He freezes suddenly, his fingers slowly curling back over yours just as before. Why did he like this so much? You nod up at him with a determined, yet sympathetic gaze.
"We just gotta get through this, okay?" You attempt to reassure him, though you are truly just as anxious for this kind of greeting. Everything has been so unfamiliar up until this point, though you needed to be there for your friend and his friends as well. "Y-yeh...okay." Four croaks in a deep tone after that, staring off in that same deep thought as he was in before. You hope that he won't be stuck in that trance for long, the group being led out of the small jail cell and up the squishy staircase. As you exit the prison, you and others quickly notice that the cell you were in is the only one there. No Balloony hostage. X watches the measurements on the distance to Balloony on the Contestant Locator-inator grow shorter as they were led upstairs.
In mere moments and few turns, you were led into the main hall, the throne of the king at the end. Resting in said throne is Balloony, looking nearly unrecognizable until you all start to grow closer. It's him, certainly, but that intricately woven balloon crown and cape indicate his newfound royalty.
And that sour frown that he wears as you enter this hall...he doesn't look happy to see everyone. Firey quickly moves in front of the crowd, kneeling down to one knee. It is time for him to play pretend, for what he hoped would be the last time.
"Uh...your majesty! These outsiders were detained outside of the castle and-"
Balloony raises up a hand to silence Firey. "Uhh...it's fine. You don't need to talk like that."
"Huh? But you said you wanted me to say that royal junk when we have company, remember?"
Balloony rolls his eyes and folds his arms. "Yeah, but this is hardly company..." He grumbles. "Just get rid of them. I don't really care how you do it." Balloony says with a bored shrug. Four's eye twitches. That sounded like an insult! "Hey!" They snap. "Are you seriously forgetting what you were battling for?!" Four shouts, presenting the BFB in his hand. "Pfft. No, I remember..." Balloony scoffs. "And I was pretty upset about losing that chance to win it at first, but then I realized I had something so much better here!" He gestures to the grand, extravagant ceilings and colorful plastic windows. Even you would have to admit, that even if it is all composed up of rubber and plastic, it does look luxurious.
"What I have going on here is worth more than any BFDI or BFB or crazy...limitless magical powers! Here, I have influence and all the power that I could want. There's something even better about it, too! And that's the fact I'm away from all the crazy people that were just- okay with hurting everyone!"
"Hurt everyone...? What are you talking about, Balloony- BFB was fun!" Taco defends, Balloony standing up abruptly from the throne. "Fun?! You think being over-inflated until I popped was fun?! Or being killed by flying forks?! Or being dead for almost 3 episodes because of all the host changes?! I thought it was fun until I finally got away from it! Fun in total safety...now this. This is pretty fun." He says, leaning back into his throne and grabbing the glass of water from the armrest, swirling it around almost menacingly while looking down at Firey.
Firey gulps just seeing small droplets of water spill over the cup's rim. "Umm...I-I don't know, Balloony...I don't feel all that safe right about now."
"Yeah. That's why I'm demoting you."
"Huh?" Firey doesn't have time to react before the cup of water is thrown at his head, the contestant disappearing with a scream as the droplets make contact with him. You and the others around you gasp, surprised by the sudden murder that happened before you. Bubble cups her cheeks and wails. "Ahh! No! Why would you, Ballooiny?!" Balloony slowly descends from the throne and makes his way across the floor towards Bubble with a smug grin.
"Think about this, Bubble! You and me- we've always been the inflatable underdogs with our...popping issues. You could be my new royal guard lead if you want...and you'd never have to worry about bursting and dying ever again!"
Bubble takes a small step forward, timid. "N-never pop agoin...?" She mumbles, seemingly curious. "Yeah, and I've even established a whole system where you'll get all sorts of benefits! I only had Firey in that position because he was the only fellow contestant I had here...but you...you know exactly what it's like to be me!" He says, and Bubble takes a few more, less hesitant steps forward.
Four notices this and frowns, looking down at you. "What does Bubble think she's doing?! Stop her, Y/N!" You raise a brow at this notion, unsure what Four expects you of all people to do, especially when he won't even let go of your hand. Thankfully, you don't need to say much at all, Ruby, Spongy, and Taco already having a visceral reaction to this situation, Taco tugging at Bubble's arm to try and stop her.
"What the heck are you doing, Bubble?! We just got you back!" Taco asserts.
"I don't want to lose you guys! We're all supposed to be friends!" Ruby cries.
"Yuh!" Spongy agrees.
"Come on, guys- you really believe that?! That we're all just friends when most of the people we knew just left BFB- just like that! It sounds to me like friendship only runs rubber-deep where we're from- You'll see how much better it is if you stay here! Sure, there's no Cloudy...or BFB...or salt and vinegar, but it really is better! Here, you'll actually be able to stay alive!" Balloony states, Bubble yanking her arm out of Taco's grip and rushing forward, hand raised. Balloony doesn't have a moment to react before Bubble's arm flies down and smacks against his cheek with enough force to cause his head to rupture.
A deafening pop echoes throughout the room as Balloony's body buckles to the floor, Bubble standing there with her arms tucked against her chest, sniveling. Taco and Ruby rush to her side to comfort her, while you look up to Four, who watches the situation before him intently.
In an instant, an eerie silence washes over the castle as the balloon guard dogs whimper and bounce away, tails tucked between their legs. Now all that's left is the sound of the conversation before you as Bubble hiccups. "Aww, Bubble- it's okay...we knew you weren't going to leave us!" Ruby says, patting Bubble's arm.
"As someone who's been accused of...abandoning her team way more than she wishes she would have been..." Taco sighs. "I never thought you would do that."
"It's just...I never thought Ballooiny would do that! It's like I couldn't even roicognize him!" Bubble sobs.
"The power...just...probably went to his head is all. It'll be okay. You can talk about it later when Four recovers him..." Taco reassures. X steps next to Four, looking up at them as well. "That's umm...probably a good idea...to not bring back Balloony right now." Four hums affirmatively. "No. Not yet. It's a good thing Bubble took care of that mess. I was getting tired of Balloony's dumb...words..." He grumbles, digging around in his head. "I suppose I am pretty grateful though! Let's see..." He eventually pulls out a small, aloe vera plant sitting in a clay pot, sliding over to Bubble while dragging you along the floor.
"Bubble!"
"A-ah! Y-yes...Four...?"
"Good job taking care of that annoying situation that happened just now." Four reaches out, roughly shoving the potted plant into Bubble's palm.
"Ooh..." Bubble looks down at the gift, uncertain on why Four would give her such a thing. "Umm...is this part of the choillenge?" She asks, you piping up from your spot on the ground.
"He's just trying to say thank you." You clarify so Four would not have to attempt. Though you understand his strange, sudden actions, it's obvious that others often don't. Such a thing is something that quickly upsets your host friend. Upon the clarification this time, he smiles a little wider for Bubble, who smiles back.
For the first time, Four doesn't seem all that scary to her. "Oh, yoylecake! Thoink you so much, Four!" She cheers, happily bounding away.
You glance up at Four again, who appears to be much more content than before.
"Hey, Four."
He glances down at you.
"I'm really proud of you." You say.