Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hi! Creator here, this is being rewritten!!!

https://archiveofourown.info/works/64602790/chapters/165934834

Chapter Text

The sun was just beginning to set, although the tall buildings had already cut its light into various orange and yellow strips that ran directly into windows or found themselves hovering just below the busy city grounds. The sky was a light pink fading off into a soft orange, signaling that soon a wave of black and blue would be washing over the city as it usually did. The faint sound of car horns and wheels on concrete were barely audible against the clicking of keys on a keyboard and the soft mumbling of an air conditioner within a nearly empty office.

Liam was busy at work on his computer, typing away at a text document without much acknowledgement to the world around him. He had been working on this text document all day, however his computer seemed to be acting up, randomly buffering out and deleting lines that he had just finished typing. Liam sighed and tapped on the back of the monitor as if that would help its buffering, of course; it did not. He sat back in his office chair and decided to wait out the buffering that was going on with his computer, he would ask his boss about it later.

"Goodnight Liam."

Liam took his eyes off of the computer and spun around in his chair, meeting eye to eye with his co-worker Owen, the tall silver nail holding a dull brown bag in one hand while the other rested on his hip. Liam had known Owen since the start of his working period at GTIAB Co, and the two had become good friends while working together. Liam had even met him a few times outside of work to grab a coffee.

"Wait were done already?"

Liam blinked, not realizing that the reason it was so comfortably silent within his workspace was because almost everyone had left their cubical and gone downstairs to clock-out for the night. Owen gave a small nod, relaxing his posture.

"Yeah, 6:30. Are you still working on that text document?"

Liam turned his chair back around so he could face the still buffering computer, shaking his mouse a little to get a grip on the arrow before he hit the save button and closed the tab, holding the power button on the side of the computer and shutting it off.

"The old thing keeps on glitching and deleting what I write, it's frustrating."

Liam got up off of his chair and stretched his arms. It felt good to move around after sitting on a chair for most of the day. Owen turned and moved towards the elevators just past one of the large glass windows that stared out into the sea of tall buildings and the smallest peak of some green just beyond it. He hit the down arrow button and shrugged, looking over his shoulder to see Liam coming up behind him and standing at his side.

"You should really talk about getting that computer fixed if it is doing stuff like that so often. Mine never had any issues though."

------

Liam pulled his bicycle out of the bicycle rack and hopped on, beginning to peddle away from the tall office building that loomed over him. The sky had turned from that soft pink and orange to a stronger purple and orange, the sun closer to the floor than it had been before. Peddling up a hill was not something Liam particularly enjoyed, although he was lucky no cars were passing down this street otherwise the journey would have been ten times harder. Once he was out of the main city, he could enjoy and even-paced ride on the Golden Gate Bridge sidewalk. He passed under several side lamps, staring out at the waterway and the buildings in this distance as the water slowly swallowed up the sun, its faint light causing the water to sparkle. The sky was now a bluish black with a very faint salmonish fade.

Liam always enjoyed his trip to and from work, as it gave him time catch fresh air and see the sights before he was stuck in an office all day. He continued to peddle on, his bicycle remaining steady on the concrete with fast turning wheels until it began to swerve, quickly running into the red metal bars on the side of the bridge and toppling straight over, bringing down nothing with it as it fully came to a rough stop after sliding a couple of inches.

All was mostly silent on the Golden Gate Bridge, the gentle breeze and faint car horns rung out into the night alongside the clicking and gentle turning of Liams bicycle wheel as it slowed itself to a stop. The bicycle lay motionless on the ground, its red paint faintly scratched up due to the concrete and one pedal snapped off against the force of the hit, jammed between two metal bars. The bicycle no longer had a rider. Liam was gone.

------

EBCDEC. The colorful blocks stood stacked sloppily in front of a small green tomato, Charlie. Charlie had been playing with these blocks for a while now, stacking them up and flipping each of them to reveal a new letter to him, simple baby stuff. Upon taking off the top E block and examining it, Charlie plopped it in his mouth and sat back on the soft white carpet, hearing the familiar sound of his mother's footsteps approaching for a moment on hardwood, and then on soft carpet. Charlie knocked the tower over with one hand as the block remained in his mouth, watching his mother come up to him as he tossed one of the blocks aside and picked him up, quickly taking the block out of his mouth and letting it fall to the floor.

"Now now. It's time for bed sweetie."

Alice took Charlie out of the room and into his bedroom, standing up beside the crib and giving him a small goodnight kiss before dropping him down onto the soft cushion. She took a moment to check and see if the nightlight was plugged in properly before she turned off the light switch, shut the door, and left Charlie alone for his bedtime. The room was illuminated dimly by the green stars that had been carefully stuck to the wall, aswell as by the golden triangle nightlight that sit not far from the crib, where Charlie lay comfortably on his back, his eyes closed as he grew sleepy almost immediately. Charlie had maybe gotten an hour of sleep atop his blanket, rolling onto his side before a strange sound began to wake him. He opened his eyes and sat up, the sound resembling something similar to static. Charlie waved his arms and found himself looking up to see a pair of pure black wings outlined with bright white hovering in the air. Charlie giggled with excitement as the wings fluttered, sending black feathers floating down and landing on his bed, one landing right atop his head. A hand reached out to him, patting his head and causing the baby to only grow more joyed.

"Charlie?"

Alice opened the door and turned on the light, only to find that her baby was not sleeping soundly or giggling excitedly within his crib. She rushed over and began frantically searching for her lost child, panic and fear welling up in her tired body as she could not locate him. Alice searched all over the room for her lost child, but he was nowhere to be found.

"CHARLIE?! CHARLIE??"

Chapter Text

The world was bright, lacking in shadows and corners where the sunlight might not reach. The sky was a bright cyan and the ground was a simple shade of green with sharp triangular blades of grass sprouting up from the near perfectly cut shorter blades that felt more like that of thin moss than actual grass. The suns light was not warm, rather it was oddly cold, yet not cold enough to be a great annoyance or possible danger to anyone. In the distances what was either bushes or odd trees lay still despite the occasional breeze that would pass by that would normally cause leaves to shuffle.

"I kid you not, looked at me with the dumbest look you could possibly..."

Liam opened his eyes only to find that the ground beneath him was not the solid concrete of the sidewalk, rather dry dirt and grass was what he was met with. Liam had had a rather rough landing judging by the pushed up earth he saw once he sat up, hearing footsteps rapidly comping closer to him as that one voice came to a slow stop.

"Heheh, uh...wher...where am I?"

Liam could see a tall pink magazine girl, Taylor, standing only a little way off from where he had landed, looking confused with a concerned dorky smile on her face. She leaned back a little and glanced over her shoulder for a moment towards the other people, her smile fading as true concern took over, leaving her more confused than ever. She began to talk once more, noting how she did not have her phone on her and how she could not contact anyone. Liam got up onto his feet as he noticed a small green tomato, Charlie, sitting on the ground, staring around curiously at the unknown place they were in. Not too far away sat a blue scented candle, Amelia, who seemed to be meditating by the looks of it. Taylors frantic chattering had alerted her as she opened her eyes, looking towards the commotion and taking a long second to realize she was not where she was supposed to be.

"Seriously, already? It's only been like two hour-"

A two liter soda bottle, Bryce, rolled over onto his side, staring at the other contestants who were just as confused as he was, aside from the baby, who seemed quite content with his situation, clueless to whatever might be happening around him.

"This isn't real. This is not real."

And lastly remained the moldy piece of bread, Charlotte, talking to nothing but air.

"You seriously think that would happen again? You already-...."

The other contestants stared at her as she finally picked up on her surroundings. Charolette had now joined their confused group, narrowing her eye as she surveyed her surroundings.

"What the..."

Liam slowly got up onto his feet, but a loud voice sent him stumbling back down onto the dirt, rightfully startling everyone, even scaring the baby enough to get the poor thing to start crying.

"Hello contestants, my name is- oh uh...sorry"

After a moment of silence, the baby was calmed after a small green block had been dropped from the sky, giving the little guy something to play with before the voice continued speaking.

"Hello contestants, I am your host Airy. And welcome to this competition called ONE."

Liam slowly got up onto his feet for the second time, getting a handle on his surroundings and recovering from the light bit of pain he had experienced upon landing here. Charlotte approached him and Amelia as the scented candle spoke in a lowered voice, almost as if she didn't want this invisible host to hear her.

"Please don't tell me..."

"Were in a gameshow, with an invisible host in the middle of nowhere! Great."

Charlotte spoke sarcastically, rolling her eye and putting her hand on her hip with a frustrated groan. Liam turned around to face the two, although his question was meant for Airy more than the two of them.

"One? Is that an acronym or something?"

"Yeah it stands for-"

Airy was interrupted when Bryce spoke up, frustration edged his voice and his expression was twisted in annoyance as he held his hands up, looking towards the sky.

"Where are we?"

Bryce looked more annoyed after he finished speaking, staring up at the full cyan sky with a twisted look of anger. Charlotte seemed to share his annoyance, however she made no move to speak.

”You are on The Plane.”

Airy responded simply, his voice rather dull and lacking in any sort of emotional tone, almost as if this was simply a husk of a person talking to them. Liam was unnerved by how dead Airy sounded, it did not help the situation at all. Bryce spoke again before Airy could continue.

”Why us specifically?”

That was a good question, why them? Liam didn’t think of himself as that special of a guy, then again, he thought about how things like this would usually pan out in perhaps a fairytale or a fiction book. A normal guy or group being pulled into a world full of magic. Granted, The Plane didn’t look very magical, and he didn’t exactly feel very magical being tossed right into the dirt.

"I just....picked you."

Airy responded. Nobody seemed to really like that answer, but it was an answer, what more could they ask for regarding that? Bryce facepalmed and confused.

"I do not have time for this. I have a job to go to and I need to pay my rent, send us back home!"

There was a long pause, leaving almost the entire group more frustrated and confused than they had been before. Bryce turned to Charlotte and shrugged.

"Are you gonna listen to us or not? Becau-"

"Enough chit chat. Let's take a look at your new names."

Liam listed his head up with a surprised look, his attention turning to an open area of grass where a growing shadow seemed to form only a few inches away from him.

"Oops, hang on."

Liam looked up to see a large wooden table heading straight down towards him. He stumbled backwards and landed on his back, although he heard no crashing or snapping of wood. Upon sitting up he saw that the table had been caught by some sort of hand, being set down before Liam could get a proper look at the hand. A couple of nametags landed on the table, prompting everyone to approach it slowly.

"...My name is Taylor-"

"How do you like your new name, Magazine?"

Magazine put the nametag back down on the table in one of the corners, crossing her arms with an annoyed look on her face.

"What is wrong with this guy?

Liam could tell nobody liked their new selected names, neither did he. He did not exactly want to be called Backpack, however it seemed like Airy would not let up until everyone started using these selected names. He could hear Bryce complaining about his name being Soda Bottle while Charlotte seemed unamused by being called Moldy, very much likely due to the mold on her face.

"Are...these names just based on our objects?"

Amelia, now Scenty flipped over her nametag before setting it back down on the table with the rest, now having formed a small pile on one corner. The only one that was not in this pile was Charlies, labeled with Tomato. Backpack watched the other contestants gather closer to eachother to seemingly discuss seemingly how stupid or weird this whole thing was, aside from Moldy, who kept a little bit of space between herself and the rest of the cast. Backpack watched as a small gust of wind picked up and blew Tomatoes tag right off the table, letting it land next to the baby.

"This is stupid take me back."

Soda Bottle spoke up from the small crowd.

"Wait, but don't you want to win the competition?"

"I don't care! Why should any of us care? Like I said before, I have a job! I have work tomorrow at 9 and I need to pay my rent! I can't be standing here playing in this stupid competition in...whatever the heck this place is!"

"You wouldn't even want to stay, for a chance to win a prize?"

Liam could tell Bryce would be complaining about this competition from the start to the end with how he continued to go back and forth with Airy about how stupid this whole thing was. While it was justified, hearing the same points over rand over became a little tiring.

"One wish? Psh, it's going to take alot more than that to get me to want to stay-"

A new voice finally spoke up, that being Magazines. She smiled in excitement, gazing up at the sky. Bryce seemed to inaudibly groan as she spoke, now his entire back and forth had just been practically thrown away.

"When does the contest start?!"

Chapter Text

"Okay...Stand back please."

The group of poor contestants took a few steps back from where they had been stationed originally, the only one not joining them being Tomato, who stay seated on the grass. It was only after a few seconds that Backpack noticed 6 shadows that stuck out from the normally bright area, one of these resting right atop Tomato. From the sky wooden pillars began to fall, sticking effortlessly into the floor with spiked bottoms. Backpack only had a short amount of time to react, reaching his hand out towards the baby.

"Tomato get out of there! TOMATO!"

Backpack pushed himself forward and jumped as the fifth pole lodged itself into the floor. He scooped up Tomato and landed on his stomach, knocking his head on the fifth pole as he slid on the ground for the second time today, hearing a loud crunch and a few gasps behind him. Backpack felt dizzy, lifting his head up to see nothing but wood until he carefully rolled over onto his side, holding the baby in his hands. It was only then that Backpack realized he couldn't fully move one of his legs because his foot was hitting the last pole, it had landed right inbetween his feet.

"Backpack are you okay?!"

Backpack saw Scenty rushing towards him, scooping up Tomato out of his grasp as the baby began giggling and laughing, having no clue that both he and Backpack had nearly died. Backpack stood up and put a hand on the side of his head, it felt as if his whole world was spinning in that moment. He managed to muster up a response after a few seconds, his voice shaky and quiet, gradually increasing back to a normal volume as he got himself together.

"Y-yeah...is...Tomato okay?"

Liam stared at the baby in Scentys arms, he seemed happy enough. Backpack was relieved he had managed to save him from being impaled.

"Airy what the hell was that?!"

Backpack leaned to one side to see Soda Bottle staring angrily up at the sky.

"Did you not see Tomato there?! You could've killed him!"

Scenty turned and walked back over to the group, setting Tomato down on the ground carefully and letting him idly play with the block Airy had gifted him a little bit ago. Backpack turned to look back at the six poles protruding out of the earth, wondering what these would be used for.

"I did not see him there. Even if he had died, I could just regenerate him."

Air responded, leaving the contestants beyond confused by this. Magazine piped up over the quiet murmurs of confusion, voicing the same question everyone had floating around in their heads at the moment.

"Regenerated?"

"Yes. Watch."

For a few long moments it seemed as though nothing would happen, everyone was left confused until suddenly a large stone had dropped from the sky and crushed Tomato under it, green blood and small seeds splattering across the grass right next to Magazine, who screamed in pure terror at the fact Tomato had just been crushed right next to her.

"AIRY!"

Soda Bottle shouted in both terror and fury. Rightfully, everyone was horrified by the situation. Scenty was left comforting Magazine, who was sobbing uncontrollably and trying to wipe the green blood off of her legs. Moldy seemed to be stunned, just the same as Backpack, and Soda bottle was well, being Soda Bottle.

"WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU AIRY?! YOU JUST KILLED A BABY! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU ARE EVEN DOING?!"

Soda Bottle continued to yell at the unresponsive cyan sky. Backpack slowly got down onto his knees and closed his eyes tightly as he tried to process everything. Suddenly the sound of giggling and laughing could be heard, sending the group into complete silence. Backpack opened his eyes to see Tomato sitting infront of him without a scratch on his tiny body.

"I regenerated him. Or respawned him is a better term."

Airy finally spoke, although nobody responded, not even Soda Bottle. Magazine raced over and scooped up Tomato into her arms clumsily, hugging the baby so tightly Scenty had to come in and try to snap her out of it before she accidentally suffocated the poor boy. Moldy turned her attention up towards the sky.

"So...we can't die here?"

"Yes, as long as you are here...you cannot die."

Backpack slowly got back up onto his feet, his legs shaking and breath heavy as he ended up backing himself into one of the poles, using it as a support as he tried to get himself back together once more.

"We- we....can't die..."

"Right. Thats what I just said..."

Soda Bottle moved closer to Backpack, reaching out a hand. Backpack took it and huffed a little as Soda bottle pulled him back straight up onto his feet. Soda Bottle turned his attention towards the other contestants, furrowing his brows as he made a sarcastic comment.

"Thats reassuring..."

Nobody spoke. Magazine had managed to calm down for the most part, but she would not let go of Tomato at all, atleast her grip had loosened somewhat. Airy seemed to move on from the situation very quickly, which while Backpack had expected, was still concerning to him. Did Airy really not care about the fact he had killed a baby? While he did regenerate Tomato, he still killed an innocent baby just to prove something. Backpack really wanted to go home now.

"This challenge is simple: Don't hit the ground. If you are one of the first three people to fall, you are eliminated. And the challenge will be over."

Magazine blinked up towards the sky, her voice shaky yet her tone had traces of a childish curiosity to it.

"A-and if we stay on the pole do we...w-win anything?"

"You win this challenge."

Magazine looked disappointed. Soda Bottle narrowed his eyes in disbelief as he stood next to her, turning towards her to speak as Moldy approached.

"Thats what you are worried about right no-"

Moldy reached out and put a hand on Soda Bottles shoulder, shaking her head as if to say 'you shouldn't say that right now.' Soda Bottle sighed and took a step back away from Magazine as Moldy took her hand away, narrowing her good eye at him before he spoke again. Backpack could heard Airy idly counting from five in the background as Moldy and Soda Bottle began to talk.

"You shouldn't be so hung up like that with her, she just saw a baby die right next to her! Cut her atleast a smidge of slack!"

"Okay okay! you don't have to scold me about it I got the idea already! Can't you cut me some slack? We are in the middle of nowhere with an eleven-month-old baby who DIED! And she's worried about this stupid host possibly giving u-"

Backpack felt the ground change underneath him. His balance was thrown off entirely as he realized everyone had been teleported up onto the top of the poles. Backpack looked over his shoulder to see the other contestants struggling just as much as he was. Soda Bottle had managed to balance somewhat alongside Scenty, while Moldy seemed to struggle a little more alongside Magazine, who still had Tomato in her arms, leaving a pole empty where he presumably would've been placed. Backpack tried to put both feet on the pole, but he ended up tipping backwards instead, floating his arms in a poor attempt to regain balance.

"No- No- NO- NONONONO-"

Backpack used what floor he had felt to push himself backwards, stretching his arms over his head and managing to grip onto the pole next to his, which happened to be Soda Bottles. Backpack struggled to hang on, tilting his head upwards to see Soda Bottle holding a handout to him carefully. Backpack tried to take it, but he slipped a little, sliding a mere inch downwards. Soda Bottle pulled his hand away.

"You good?"

Backpack took deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself down, staring down at the floor that seemed too far away now for his comfort. Not that being this high up was ever comfortable for him in the first place.

"I-I think so...I...I don't know any more I don't understand what's going on anymore...I-I never did..."

------

Fifteen minutes had passed since Backpack had fallen off his pole, and this had quickly become boring. Everyone had remained mostly silent, aside from Tomato making the occasional excited noise and Magazine showing a sliver of happiness by laughing at him. Backpacks arms were growing very tired from holding onto the pole, and he was beginning to slip and slide downwards.

"I...I really think I'm gonna fall soon..."

Soda Bottle stared down at him and shrugged.

"I couldn't care less if I win or not at this point. If I get eliminated, it just means I can get back to my life. I just really don't wanna die right now."

Backpack weakly nodded.

"Y-yeah...Same...where do you live by the way?"

Backpack decided it was atleast worth striking up a little conversation to pass the time, it wouldn't hurt anyone would it?

"Bridgeport. What about you?"

" I'm in the uhh...Bay Area."

"Bay...Area?"

"San Francisco..."

Soda Bottle snapped his finger and nodded before turning his attention to Scenty, who was balancing easily on her pole with no issue. His voice caught her attention, leaving her with one eye open to stare back at him.

"How are you so good at this?"

"I'm a Yoga Instructor. Allthough the more I think about it, I'm starting to think this challenge was made specifically for me."

Soda Bottle put a hand on one hip, furrowing his brows as he spoke.

"That sounds abit...egotistical don't you think?"

"No I don't think so...then again any normal person could find it safe to assume that thinking this....host...picked us specifically out of nearly 8 billion people on earth to be egotistical."

Soda Bottle and Backpack both stared at Scenty surprise. In the background Backpack could see that Magazine was starting to have some difficulties with Tomato, who was growing fussy over being held for so long. Moldy seemed to be trying to convince Magazine to toss Tomato to her, though Magazine kept refusing and saying that it was a stupid and dangerous idea. Backpack struggled to keep his eyes on the three of them as he slid further down the pole, trying his hardest to hold on with what little strength he had left. Magazine tried to keep her balance, but Tomato suddenly started thrashing about, eventually leading to her falling off the side of the pole, still holding the baby in her arms.

Backpack couldn't watch as the two hit the ground, but he quickly realized they were safe when he heard the sound of Magazines voice from below. He could see the two of them sitting on the ground, Magazine having set Tomato down with a rather traumatized expression on her face, Backpack couldn't blame her.

"And it seems that Magazine and Tomato have hit the ground first. This leaves one spot left."

Backpack continued to slide down the pole, his body barely hanging on at this rate.

"Whoever wins...I-I hope you enjoy your wish! It's a...shame I can't really get it at this point."

"Oh, if you fall you are not eliminated."

Backpack could heard the sound of Magazines shocked voice from below.

"After this competition, the three who got out will be voted on by the viewers to see whoever gets eliminated. Another challenge is played, and this will repeat until there is only one person left....and they win."

"Viewers?!"

Moldy spoke up, sounding very annoyed.

"Like on TV?!"

Backpack fallowed up after her. Soda Bottle was next.

"How long is this going to take?!"

"This might take maybe a few days...or weeks...possibly a month....A challenge takes some time to prepare so I expe- oh..."

Backpack had slipped off of the pole, falling downwards rapidly as his tired arms and legs had given out. In a mere second all he could hear was the sound of footsteps below him rushing towards his location, and then the sound of something snapping as his body hit the ground.

"And it seems like Backpack hit the ground first. He will be up for elimination alongside Magazine and Tomato."

Magazine had rushed towards him as Scenty and Moldy slid down from their pole.

"Are you okay?1 Oh god that looks painful!"

Backpack was left stunned after what had happened, his body felt so tired, and he could barely feel the excruciating pain in one of his legs as the rest of the contestants approached him. All Backpack could hear was a high-pitched squealing noise in his ear as a hand was placed on his shoulder, softly shaking him. He could just barely register Scentys voice saying his name over and over.

After a few seconds, Backpack fainted, leaving the others frantically trying to wake him up and tend to his broken leg to the best of their ability, although they had barely any resources to deal with such an injury. It had been a long day, and Backpack needed his rest.

------

It was early in the morning. The only light to be found came from the built-in lights within the store's refrigerator. The air was cold, and everything was as still as stone. In the distance muffled commotion mixed with the humming of conditioners and the sound of a door opening could be heard, alongside the jingling of keys and the coughing of somebody unknown aswell as the very faint noise of cars passing by. A faint clicking noise piped up alongside the crowd of ambience, and the bright store lights flickered on, displaying the shelves of products nearby. All seemed normal aside from one detail...

A tub of whipped cream had vanished off the shelf.

Chapter Text

Everything was pure black. Backpack found himself laying on the invisible floor of a deep black void, the air was cold and misty, as if it had just rained and snowed at the same time. Backpack could very faintly see traces of mist on the ground as he got a grip on what little surroundings he had. He sat up, noting how one of his legs felt completely dead, not even the pin and needle effect was present, it was as if there was nothing but concrete underneath. Backpack closed his eyes, although the scene around him barely shifted when he did so, it remained a simple black void.

"Hey. Do you need some help?"

Backpack opened his eyes, but he couldn't make out the figure standing over him. Their body was blurry, as if Backpack needed glasses to be able to see them properly. The only thing he could make out was a piece of light blue on them, and the fact they were a little tall. Backpack narrowed his eyes to try and see them better, but it was no use.

"Y-yeah...my leg is completely dead....I can't move it..."

Backpack decided to trust this blurry figure. They reached their hand out too him, which Backpack took. With a surprising amount of force Backpack was pulled up onto his feet, although due to his head leg he had to lean on this unknown person for support.

"What happened to you?"

They asked, pulling Backpack forward and leading him through this deep black void. Backpack quickly got the hang on just letting his leg drag, nearly stumbling over a few times before he got the right footing. Backpack dug back into his fresh memories, recalling how he had fallen off the wooden pole of The Plane.

"I fell off of a wooden pole and hit my leg on the ground..."

Backpack paused for a moment before he continued.

"Where are we?"

Before the figure could respond, a bright white light overtook every last spec of Backpacks vision. He shut his eyes to avoid being blinded by the light, feeling something poking his back. Backpack could hear the sound of muffled voices around him, and it took some time before he was able to open his eyes once more. He found himself staring up at the familiar cyan sky of The Plane. Backpack sat up, his memories a fuzzy mess. He could see the blurry outline of Magazine with Tomato in her hands, Soda Bottle not too far behind the two.

"Oh my gosh he's not dead..."

Backpack finally got a grip on his surroundings, trying to stand up. This quickly proved to be a bad idea as a searing pain shot through his leg, forcing him to sit back down.

"Ow- Ow ow ow ow...ow..."

"Airy are you going to do anything about this?! Backpacks leg is broken!"

Scenty stared up towards the sky, having to wait a few seconds before Airy gave his response.

"Yeah...one second...hold on....before I put the cast on...I'm going to have to straighten out Backpacks leg..."

Backpacks eyes shot open, he tried to protest, knowing that the process would most likely be very painful.

"No no wait you don't have to do that- no wait it can heal on its own wait its fine youdontneedTODOTHI-"

snap.

Backpack bit back a scream as his twisted leg was snapped into place by Airy. His leg felt as if it was on fire, he almost wished in that moment that he didn't have a second leg. The other contestants stared at him uncomfortably as a wooden cast was slipped onto his leg. It didn't exactly look well-built, with thin vines holding together the wooden planks and tree sap keeping them held in place further.

"Use these to help you walk."

Backpack watched as a pair of wooden crutches appeared by his side. He struggled to grab onto them and lift himself up, his arms trembling as he could hear the sound of wooden chips slowly snapping against his weight. Suddenly one of the crutches gave out, snapping into sharp pieces and sending Backpack falling back down as the other nearly slid out of his grasp. Soda Bottle moved over next to Backpack and held his hand out with a worried expression.

"Need some help?"

"please..."

Backpack took Soda Bottles hand, and he was pulled up off of the ground, managing to balance himself without too much help. Scenty stared at Backpack, looking worried about just how well that vast would hold up.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay wearing that cast? It looks....uncomfortable..."

Backpack stared at the ground, feeling Soda Bottles hand on his shoulder for a few moments before it was taken away. Backpack looked up at Scenty, his voice disappointed and a little tired.

"Dont worry, I'll get use to it...I'm just glad I'm not dead at this point..."

Soda Bottle blinked back towards the wooden poles that stuck out of the ground, then his attention shifted to the other poor contestants on The Plane.

"I can't even imagine dying in a place like this..."

"Tell that to the baby...he's had some experience."

Moldy commented, gesturing to Tomato, who was back in Magazines arms and being held comfortably. Backpack felt a little jealous as Tomato seemed to be falling asleep without much of an idea of what everyone else had gone through, but he shook away that jealously, Tomato was just a baby after all, and was suffering here in his own way just as much as every other contestant.

"Woah-"

Backpack tipped backwards, prompting Soda Bottle to try and catch him before he hit the ground. Backpack landed on his back and heard the sound of wood snapping.

"Are you okay?!"

Backpack could see Magazine looming over him as he sat up, having put Tomato down on the ground to come see him. Backpack noticed Soda Bottle messing with his cast which now had a crack in it as one of the boards had snapped. Backpack sighed.

"I'm alright..."

"Magazine, where did Tomato go?"

Everyones attention turned to Scenty, who stared back at them in confusion. Magazine turned to fully face the blue candle and pointed towards a spot on the ground.

"I put him right there, see-....."

There was nothing there, nothing but short spiky grass. Almost instantly Magazine began to freak out, frantically looking in all directions for where Tomato could have gone. Soda Bottle turned his attention up towards the sky, clenching his fist in irritation. Cleary he blamed Airy for this immediately.

"Airy...."

"Where did Tomato go?!"

"Oh right. He was eliminated...between him, Backpack and Magazine he got the most votes...so I sent him back."

Everyone stared at each other in discomfort before Moldy spoke, gesturing up towards the sky.

"How many voters even are there?"

"I dunno, I didn't bother to count."

Liam narrowed his eyes in confusion at this statement, but it seemed nobody else had fully registered what Airy had said before he continued.

"Anyways, moving away from the elimination...Its time meet the new contestants!"

Everyone on The Plane was shocked. New contestants? Almost instantly questions and protests began to rise from everybody. Soda Bottle and Moldy were frustrated by this development. Magazine just seemed too out of it to say much, and Scenty just seemed concerned about what she was going to do job-wise if she ever got sent back. Backpack could barely understand what anyone was saying, he just stared at the ground with a slightly disturbed look on his face. Suddenly a loud thump caught everyone attention. Everyone's eyes were on a new object, a light silver subway seat with dark blue cushioning that had small patterns stitched onto the fabric. For a solid minute, everyone was still and quiet. Magazine trailed towards the subway seat, narrowing her eyes at it tiredly and reaching out to touch it before she looked back at the small crowd.

"This is...just a normal subway seat..."

Magazine suddenly flinched as a tub of whipped cream landed ontop of her arm, causing her to recoil.

"Ow! what the-?!"

More objects began to appear. A double bass spawned in next to the subway seat, nearly tipping over as it leaned against the other inanimate object. Everyone took a step back and watched as a box of food spawned in, being knocked off the subway seat by the tub of whipped cream and landing on the ground with a contact lens landing next to it. Lastly, a red tray was spawned in, landing on its back. silence continued to occupy The Plane as the contestants stared at these inanimate objects. Moldy narrowed her good eye and spoke, breaking the silence.

"Are you sure you teleported the right things?"

"Yeah just...wait"

Everyone stood there once more in silence until something finally happened. The Subway seat had opened one eye, blinking both open after a second of taking in the space.

"What in the world...?"

Almost instantly the objects seemed to be 'waking up' in a sense. The subway seat pushed the tub of whipped cream off of him, who had opened his eyes the minute he hit the ground. The tray had hopped up onto its newly found feet. It seemed that these objects could gain limbs judging the sudden appearance of arms and legs on the rest of the objects, allthough the only one who lacked legs was the subway seat. The batch one contestants stared at these suddenly animated objects, the only noise coming from them being an 'uhhh...' by Scenty. Airy broke the awkwardness between the two groups, but not very well.

"Hello contestants, I'm your host, Airy! And welcome to this competition called One."

Chapter Text

"Not this again..."

Soda Bottle stared at the ground with one hand on his head, the other contestants were silent, still trying to process what had just occurred infront of them. The subway seat spoke after a moment of silence, sounding almost as confused as the batch one contestants were.

"Um...can someone please explain what's going on here?"

"You're on The Plane, here to-"

Backpack watched as moldy suddenly took a step forward, putting her hands on her sides with an unamused expression.

"An invisible host is holding us hostage to compete in a gameshow, for a wish for anything we want."

The batch two contestants exchanged glances before the airline food smiled.

"Oh! sounds fun!"

"Yeah I could get use to this place."

The tub of whipped cream nodded in agreement, leaving the batch one contestants baffled by how relaxed they were being about the situation. Backpack could only image what kind of conditions these people lived in if they were so relaxed about being taken away from the real world. Scenty voiced everyone's concerns on her own.

"Aren't you guys concerned about this at all? About getting back to your lives?"

The tub of whipped cream seemed to wave Scenty off as he replied, his tone casual and a little sarcastic.

"Psh...beats standing in a fridge all day."

-------

What little time was spent getting to converse with these new objects was enough to make Liam rethink many aspects of his life. He watched as Scenty approached the red tray, the two exchanging a couple of words. Apparently, this tray person didn't have a name, leaving Scenty confused and only asking more questions, which only led to more confusion as the tray talked about some 'human thing'. Liam then turned his attention to Magazine and the double bass, who seemed to be talking about some 'limb thing'. Backpack watched as the double bass suddenly retracted her limbs, falling limply to the ground. Magazine looked shocked, but Backpack could see a glaze of sad acceptance in her eyes, he couldn't blame her, she had been through alot of weird stuff already. Soda Bottle and the whipped cream tub seemed to be talking about jobs and 'getting caught'.

"Hey!"

Backpack looked over his shoulder to see the subway seat sitting there behind him. Despite everything about these contestants, Backpack wanted to be a little friendly, after all they were stuck in a similar position as everyone else. Backpack turned around, being careful not to tip over as he did so.

"Oh yeah. forgot to mention that the new guys come from a different world than you guys."

"That...explains nothing."

Liam pieced together most of the information he had gotten from listening in to the other contestants chatting. He decided to question the subway seat about this.

"So...from what I'm understanding, you guys come from a world of greater beings who rule the world..."

"Yup."

"And these..."

Backpack paused, staring down at the ground for a moment. The thought of greater beings ruling the world already seemed strange enough to him. It was as if these objects came from some kind of cult or strange isolated group. Backpack could only wonder what their day to day lives must've been like. He looked back up at the subway seat and continued.

"Humans...that's what they are called right?"

"Right."

"Okay. and these humans use you like objects on a daily basis?"

"I mean...we are objects."

"Yet you are forced to keep your sentience a complete secret to them?"

"Yeah it...kind of scares them."

The subway seat paused and seemed to think something over before continuing.

"There was this one time where a friend of mine, he was a white soda cup someone had dropped that had rolled over to my side. Some guy was blasting music really loudly on the subway, and he got- heh he got so sick of it he stood up and just started yelling at the guy. He was so freaked out that he fell over! Allthough he did kind of....hit his head and pass out...I'm sure he's alright though!"

Backpack had tried to picture that the best he could in his head, but he couldn't exactly imagine what a human could look like. All he could see was a mess of blurry shapes or a distorted figure. In the end he settled for a simple cloaked figure. The idea of a tiny soda cup scaring something that was said to be alot taller than any of the contestants here was amusing, yet the idea still freaked Backpack out.

"What were you doing before you got here...?"

<------->

It was a relatively quiet night on the subway train. A few passengers were scattered about, a guy wearing a black hoodie and blue pants mindlessly scrolling on his phone, a mother and her four-year-old trying to decide what they wanted to eat on their way home, an old man holding his cane on his lap, and a guy wearing a reddish orange shirt and light blue almost gray pants sleeping with one hand on one of the poles. Suddenly the seat below the sleeping man had vanished, leaving him to fall onto the ground and wake up in a startled panic. The guy with the phone looked up in surprise as he sat there, shocked as to what happened.

"Dude did you get that on camera?!"

The guy asked as he stood up. The man with the phone shook his head. The rest of the passengers started to gather around, the four-year-old pointing out the obvious about the situation while the old man seemed half deaf to what had just occurred.

"Where the hell did it go?!"

<------->

Jess had been practicing all week for the upcoming assessment. Though she was plagued with a cold, she still wanted to practice just the same as she would any day. Sitting idly on her bed in the early afternoon and trying her hardest to concentrate and play all the right notes on her double bass. Music had always been a passion of hers and her instrument felt more like a friend than just some object she could make noise with to please others. Suddenly though it felt as if her hand was holding onto nothing, the only thing still in her grip being her bow, which she dropped immediately upon opening her eyes and finding her double bass nowhere to be found.

"....M-Mom?!"

Jess got up and left the room immediately, leaving the bow on the floor and a hundred or more questions in her head.

<------->

It was a rather busy day at the airport. People were shoving each other through lines and using their luggage almost as shields from people who were trying to push their way towards their flights. Despite this packed airport not many people had stopped to grab some of the offered food, which was being sold at a discount due to the fact it was getting near its expiration date. One man had decided to stop and grab some lunch before he made it to his flight, grabbing the box only to find that it vanished right out of his grasp. He jumped, dropping his luggage and nearly knocking someone else over, who grumbled as he caught his footing.

He stared at the racket of airline food and took his phone out of his pocket, shakily dialing a number and holding it up to his hear as the other side eventually picked up.

"H-Hey Dale...? I-I don't think I'm going to make it to that resort....I think I'm sick..."

<------->

It was early in the afternoon at Magellan, with most of the highschool students finishing up their meals as the twenty-minute time period was nearly up. Most of the lunch trays had been taken aside from a select few that sat just near the selection of rather unhealthy food ranging from what appeared to be possibly expired meat to dried up vegetables that seemed to be devoid of nutrients, or in other words, the typical American school lunch. Suddenly one of these trays had vanished, yet there was not a single person to notice such even, as they were all too busy eating and socializing to notice such a tiny detail.

<------->

"Okay so what I'm thinking is we send the guy out to New York and see how he does at their place...or we could send him over to California and have Ross train him-"

Endless talking filled the office space as two people discussed a possible promotion of a lower employee. The man in the office chair stared tiredly at the other person sitting across from him, idly moving his pen off of some important papers as he listened to the other guy talk about possible options. Suddenly it seemed like one of his contacts had just vanished out of his eye, or in his mind, simply fallen out. He was left confused as he rubbed his eye, trying to figure out what was going on exactly.

"Sir are you alright?"

"Yes...I think I just lost one of my contacts...give me a moment.

<------->

The shopping center was busy with people walking down several isles. They had just opened their doors maybe thirty minutes ago, letting in the eager customers who wanted to exploit the many discounts that had been put up for that day, as it was a holiday. An employee had been tasked to check the freezer area to make sure everything was displayed properly. Upon checking the freezers, he noticed that one tub of whipped cream appeared to be missing. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, turning to another employee who had been tasked with a similar job.

"God Damit Ryan you did it again! How is it so hard to put ALL of the food items up?! Stop trying to take one for yourself!"

The other employee looked up from the box of cereal he was holding, looking surprised, confused and offended.

"But I didn't take any!"

<------->

"...Huh..."

Backpack didn't have that much time to think about anything before Airy started talking again, cutting off several of the chattier contestants off mid sentence.

"Now that you all got to know eachother a little better, lets name the new contestants...!"

The batch two contestants seemed excited for the most part, especially the red tray, who looked overjoyed to be getting new names. Moldy shook her head and stared at this in slight annoyance and disappointment.

"It's not as exciting as you think."

"Speaking of which are you going to drop another table on us?"

Backpack didn't like the idea of another table being dropped; the last one had nearly hit him as it fell from the sky out of nowhere. Airys next words relieved the batch one contestants of their temporary anxiety about the table.

"No...I don't have enough energy to make another table or name tags...so I will just list them off now."

"Let me just-..."

Backpack blinked only to find the subway seat had been teleported away from his side. The new batch of contestants had all been lined up in a row, allthough the contact lens was just laying on the ground.

"Okay there we go- hang on....get up..."

A black hand had reached out from the air and picked up the contact lens by the arm, pulling him up onto his feet and making sure he stayed up for a few seconds before vanishing. Backpack realized this was similar to the hand he had seen catching the table, this started to make him think a little about what was going on. He didn't like any of the ideas that popped into his head.

"Starting with you, your name is....Subway Seat..."

"Next is uh....Tray."

Tray looked disappointed in her name, staring at the ground as Airy moved on.

"And after that is...Contact Lens..."

"Next up...you are...."

the airline food seemed excited to get a name, similar to Tray, before being disappointed just like her.

"Airline Food...? Yeah...Airline Food..."

"After Airline food is...uh....Bassy..."

"And finally is...Whippy....Creamy..."

Whippy Creamy looked surprised and a little dumbfounded by this name.

"It was literally so easy....Whipped Cream...how could you screw this up?"

"I dunno...thought we needed more Y names..."

Whippy creamy rolled his eyes and threw his hands up for a moment before bringing them back down, shrugging Airys comment off.

"Whatever...just tell me when the competition starts..."

"Or what it even is."

Tray joined in, allthough Airy did not respond. Backpack wondered if he was possibly thinking up another challenge. This gave him enough time to join Subway Seat and Whippy creamy, who had broken off like the rest of the group into little pairs. He had spoken to Subway Seat a little, and he decided maybe he could make friends with him and get to know him more before the challenge started, maybe even Whippy Creamy too.

"Alright guys...-"

Chapter Text

"Okay guys....The second competition is to climb up to the top of one of these six poles. The last three to make it up to the top of a pole will be put up for elimination."

"Three, Two, One....Go."

Backpack had no idea how he was going to climb up any one of those wooden poles with a broken leg. He glanced over at Subway Seat, who just seemed to shrug as if to say 'I don't know either man'. Moldy had already approached one of the poles and had started to slowly climb her way up from the bottom. Somehow Airline food hadn't processed what Airy had said, because he seemed surprised when he observed Moldy starting the competition off, rushing over to the pole directly next to hers and latching onto it.

"I didn't expect it to be like right now but, alright..."

Whippy Creamy set off towards one of the poles as Magazine approached Backpack and Subway Seat.

"Airy really couldn't think of anything better for a second challenge?"

Subway Seat looked surprised for a moment as Magazine spoke.

"Oh, this is the second one? I guess we were a little late to the party."

"You didn't miss much..."

Backpack turned his attention away from the two as he saw Moldy reach the top of her pole in a matter of seconds. He had little to no idea how she got up there so fast. With a huff he wobbly made his way closer to the row of wooden poles as she announced her victory.

"That was easier than I thought..."

Moldy balanced on one foot atop the pole, staring off into the distance with her one good eye. She adjusted and seemed to narrow her eyes at something in the far distance before Airy spoke.

"Oh...I guess Moldy is the first one safe from Elimination..."

And with that, Moldy was teleported down next to Subway Seat.

"Wow your really strong for a piece of moldy bread!"

Moldys smile instantly faded as Subway Seat made that remark, leaving an awkward silence between the two. Subway Seat had most likely not meant it in a mean way, but the line had already been said. Backpack heard the sound of footsteps approaching his location, and he looked back over his shoulder to see Soda Bottle coming to a stop near him.

"I can't believe he's dragging more people in here to do this stupid competition."

Soda Bottle rightfully looked upset, but Backpack had no idea if he felt any sort of sympathy for the odd batch of contestants Airy had summoned from some other world. He really just wanted to go back to San Francisco.

"I just wanna go home..."

Scenty approached the two contestants, adding her input in.

"Can't he just replace us with people who WANT to do this?"

"I thought you guys would've wanted to compete here....remember the prize?"

This line of dialogue from Airy only seemed to upset Soda Bottle more. Scenty just looked mildly confused while Backpack had a similar expression of a kicked puppy in a New York alleyway.

"Well, you know we have lives to get back to, right? Magically transporting us here without any foresight isn't exactly the most appealing thing in the world. Besides after what happened to Backpack, we definitely arnt sticking around now."

Backpack had heard the same argument about being ripped away from their lives so many times that he felt himself begin to zone out the minute Soda Bottle began talking about how they were magically transported here. It wasn't until Airy said 'The challenge isn't that hard' that Backpack snapped out of it to put in his comment.

"I can't even use one of my legs!"

"We are not doing the challenge Airy."

Airy had fallen temporarily silent as Scenty spoke, maybe he had gotten the message and would send them back?

"Alright....well then I will just make it easier."

Nope. Apparently not. Backpack sighed and stared at the pole he was standing next to. Suddenly the ground began to tremble, and it wasn't until Backpack looked up that he could see that familiar hand very gently pressing down on the top of the pole, pushing it further into the ground. Backpack glanced towards the other contestants on their poles, who either did not seem to be paying attention, or just looked on blankly.

"How's this.""

"That doesn't make the situation any better."

Backpack was about to comment but he noticed Subway Seat looking a little confused about everything, holding his hands up for a moment as if trying to figure out how to do something.

"Oh geez I've never had to...walk before. How do I even...?"

Subway Seat tried to push himself off of the ground, grunting as he went nowhere. Whippy Creamy had reached the top of the pole after a short amount of time, looking rather proud of himself as he stood ontop of it in a fashion similar to Moldy with one foot out, however he was instead looking back down at the ground rather than straight ahead.

"Wow! That was easy!"

"Ok. Whippy Creamy is the second one safe....Oh. And Airline food is safe too."

The two contestants were teleported off of the top of the poles, back safely on the ground nearby Subway Seat, who was still struggling to even move an inch. Backpack could see Contact Lens and Magazine climbing up their poles with relative ease, however Airy did not seem to like how fast the challenge was going.

"...Okay, this is going too quickly...There....this should make it abit harder..."

Suddenly a gust of wind had picked up from nowhere. Almost instantly Contact Lens was dragged off of his pole by the breeze, with pieces of geometrical grass fallowing after him. Magazine tried to stay on her pole, but the wind had caused her paper body to flatten out, and eventually she was sent off into the distance with a shout of surprise.

Meanwhile, Subway seat was still failing at moving, but suddenly an idea seemed to come to his head. With a great amount of force, he pushed himself backwards, landing on his back and staring up at the sky.

"Alright...now if I could just..."

Subway Seat had started sliding across the ground with the speed equivalent of a snail that had just eaten some sugar, in other words, not too fast but not a snail's pace either. Obviously, this was gonna take awhile. Atleast Tray had reached the top of her pole, standing ontop of it excitedly with a few words of triumph before she nearly fell straight off of the wooden pole, thankfully being teleported at the last second and leaving her face down on the grassy floor next to Airline Food.

"Tray made it to the top, so she is safe also."

Backpack could hear a muffled 'nice' from Tray, before he turned his attention back to Scenty and Soda Bottle. The two just stood around awkwardly with annoyed looks on their faces.

"Will you try it if I make it shorter...?"

"No."

Yet again the pole had been pushed further into the ground, causing Scenty to facepalm and Soda Bottle to nearly join her. Backpack shook his head, this was getting old real fast.

"How about now...?"

"No!"

Backpack turned his attention away from the two annoyed contestant and noticed Contact Lens hovering in the air, looking rather pathetic, but Backpack couldn't blame him, they probably all looked pathetic in this place one way or another.

"Um....can someone please get me down from here?"

Moldy seemed to also notice Contact Lens, staring at him with a rather surprised look. Of course, nobody besides maybe Airy could reach Contact Lens, but Airy didn't seem to be paying attention to the poor contestant as he continued to speak.

"Just so you guys know...there are four safe spots left."

"...Cool..."

Subway Seat had gotten halfway through dragging himself over to the wooden poles, taking a minute to breathe and rest his poor arms. Backpack noticed that since Magazine had been dragged away by the wind, he hadn't seen her return, where did she go? Maybe she would be coming back soon. He wanted to ask Airy, but the voice suddenly spoke again.

"If you climb this pole, you'll all be safe."

Soda Bottle seemed fed up as he retorted in pure frustration and anger. Backpack had almost tuned out Soda Bottles arguments against Airy, was there even a point to argue anymore? but Soda Bottles last words had an air of sadness to them rather than anger, it fit the mood of The Plane well in Backpacks mind.

"Just send us back..."

Despite this, Airy had only pushed the pole in further, pushing it until it was just a few inches out of the ground, leaving the three contestants annoyed and hopeless once more. Airy tried to tempt Soda Bottle, but the object had refused once more. Backpack tried to move away from the pole, if you could even call it that anymore, when he felt a cold hand on his back, pushing him forward and sending him landing face-first into the wood, luckily it didn't hurt too bad.

"Oh shoot!....ow...."

"It looks like Backpack is safe from elimination this round."

Soda Bottle turned around to face Backpack, looking concerned at his position.

"Backpack, what happened?"

Backpack fell silent as he sat back up, thankfully Scenty had lent her arm out to him to help him get back up onto his feet. Backpack looked around, but he could see no other contestants near him.

"I got...pushed...by something..."

"And you landed on the pole..."

Soda Bottle finished his sentence. Backpack sighed and shrugged his shoulders in a sad acceptance.

"Yeah I know it's fine though, we can just wait until next round..."

Scenty seemed concerned with the idea of Backpack stayed another round, but Backpack seemed to have just accepted that thats what just was gonna happen. Scenty and Soda Bottle glanced at eachother, before making some sort of silent agreement. They approached the pole, Soda Bottle sighing as he put his foot ontop of it.

"Alright let's do this stupid challenge..."

He muttered, watching Scent put her hand on the pole. Backpack was surprised by these gestures, but he had no reason to complain about the two staying, it had already been done.

"Well, it seems like Soda Bottle and Scenty are safe from elimination this round. That leaves one safe spot left open for this challenge."

Subway Seat had managed to reach one of the poles, having dug large blades of grass with him as he stared upwards.

"Alright...now I just need to flip myself over...and-"

Subway Seat pushed himself upwards, but ended up pushing himself a little too hard and landing face down- or face 90s degrees angle? against the ground, sighing in defeat.

"Gosh dang it..."

"Oh...I made it."

Bassy had managed to reach the top of the last pole, standing there and staring back down at the other contestants, minus Contact Lens, who was still suspended in the air.

"And Bassy takes the last safe spot for this challenge. That leaves Contact Lens, Magazine, and Subway Seat will all be up for elimination."

"Can I please get down now?"

"Oh...right..."

Contact Lens had finally been brought back down to the floor as the wind ceased, causing the poor object to land flatly on the ground like a piece of cheese on a cats face, you've seen that right? Ahem anyways.

"Alright- wait....oh....Magazine..."

Magazine had finally been brought back. Backpack could see her sitting next to Subway Seat, staring at the ground with a shocked look on her face. She looked as if she had seen a ghost, or something scarier than that. Backpack was concerned, what had she seen? Looking off into the distance, Backpack decided maybe he should find out. With a huff he slowly started to make his way away from the main competition area, wandering off into the distance. Soda Bottle seemed to stray after him, however they were quickly drug back to the main area by Airy.

"Don't....leave this area..."

Backpack narrowed his eyes as Soda Bottle stepped away from him, looking annoyed that they had been stopped so soon. He wanted to ask Magazine about it, but she seemed to be frozen. Scent approached her and sat down next to her, maybe Scenty could help her out, something about girls just understanding eachother Backpack thought.

---------

It was early in the morning when Tomato had returned back to his crib, the room was mostly dark aside from a sliver of light being cast in through the window alongside the triangle shaped nightlight and dimly glowing green stars on the wall. Tomato, being a baby, had not questioned a single thing about what had happened, he simply yawned, got comfortable, and went right back to sleep as if nothing had happened, this probably would ruin his bedtime schedule though, but that's just a maybe.

Chapter Text

It had been around five hours since the challenge ended. The last five hours for Subway seat having been spent staring at the ground, zoning out. That was until someone finally decided to do something. Whippy Creamy approached Subway seat, his footsteps nearly silent against the grass. Whippy Creamy reached a hand out to him.

"Hey do you-"

Subway seat jumped a little, startled by the sudden contact as Whippy Creamy poked him.

"....Need help getting up?"

"Oh-...y-yeah. That would be nice."

Whippy Creamy grabbed onto the top of Subway Seat and proceeded to flip him back over. Subway seat was nearly blinded by the light, popping his hands out to half-cover his eyes until they adjusted to the sudden change.

"Oh...that's bright....thanks, by the way."

Whippy Creamy shrugged, waving one hand in a dismissive gesture, although a faint smile couldn't help but crack onto his face.

"Yeah, don't worry about it."

The rest of the contestants had either been sleeping or just standing around. Scenty had taken a minute to wake up, her gaze sagged and body slouching a little, sleeping on this grass wasn't exactly the most comfortable experience. Upon standing up and rubbing one eye with her hand, keeping them squinted against the light, she spoke tiredly.

"Uhhh....how long were we asleep for...?"

Airy responded, his voice a little quieter than usual.

"Uh, it's been around four hours."

Scenty stared at the ground, taking a deep breath and trying to get herself to fully wake up. Turning away from Backpack and Soda Bottle, who were passed out on the ground not too far from where she had been sleeping, she began to walk, making her way towards the wooden poles and the other contestants. Moldy seemed to be sleeping up against one of the poles, Subway Seat and Whippy Creamy were chatting quietly about something Scenty couldn't understand while Tray seemed to be moving over to join them. Airline Food, Bassy and Contact Lens seemed to just be huddled together. Upon narrowing her eyes a little she noticed the tree contestants didn't have their limbs or faces. She had seen this before, as Bassy had demonstrated it when she first arrived to Magazine, so it wasn't anything new to her. Upon remembering Magazine, she scanned the clearing before noticing her sitting upright with her hands resting on her legs. Scenty seemed a little worried, as Magazine hadn't said a word since Airy had brought her back. Scenty shook herself a little, hoping she looked a little less tired than she actually was, and approached Magazine.

"Hey...are you alright?"

Magazine took a second to respond, she looked just as disturbed and uncomfortable as he had five hours ago, barely anything had changed aside from the fact she was actually speaking now.

"I....don't wanna be here anymore."

Scenty seemed a little surprised. Holding her hands up for a moment before putting one back down.

"Just a few hours ago you were super into this competition. Why'd you change your mind?"

Magazine fell silent, turning her attention to the floor. Scenty stood there for a few seconds before she sat down next to the troubled teenager. Scenty wasn't really good with teenagers, but she knew well enough that giving Magazine time to put her thoughts into words was needed here, so she did not say anything else.

"I....saw something when I was out there...."

Magazine gestured into the distance, nothing but flat grass and the occasional jagged bush to be seen. Scenty lowered her voice, she wanted to play this carefully, she had no idea what Magazine had seen, but whatever she had must've been bad with how disturbed she was.

"What did you see....?"

Magazine didn't say anything. She looked uncertain, as if Scenty wouldn't believe her.

"Magazine it's okay...I promise whatever it is- I will-...I will listen okay?"

Scenty put a hand on Magazines shoulder, trying to get her to open up. Magazine shifted a little to face Scenty, gathering up her words.

"When I was out there....It was dark like...it was nighttime...there was a sort of mist on the floor- I think...I-I could see stars...! But....I saw something in the sky...I-I just....This place is freaking me out! I wanna go home!"

Scenty couldn't help but sympathize, she pulled Magazine in closer and wrapped her arm around the trouble teenager.

Scenty gave Magazine an encouraging smile, hoping to cheer her up a little. She was curious about what Magazine may have seen, but she wanted to make sure that Magazine felt comfortable talking about it, and that Scenty supported her. She couldn't imagine what could be going on in Magazines head right now, it must've been a complete mess. Magazine took a deep breath and continued talking, looking as uncertain as she had before.

"I-I don't know...I....I don't know what I will do when I get home..."

"T-The thing I saw in the sky...it was like....i-it was like...reflections...of colors....a-and shapes! So many shapes and colors! W-when I looked at it I felt...it was like my soul left my body or something! I-It was so cold! I saw others there too...t-they all looked like they were sleeping...t-the hand we keep seeing it came down from the sky-...a-and when it reached out I could see th-"

In an instant, a large black hand had reached out and snatched up Magazine, pushing Scenty away immediately. She stood up, stumbling a little.

"MAGAZINE!"

Magazine was gone. The hand had vanished and so had the girl. Scentys shout had stirred up commotion among all of the contestants. Scenty had seen that hand before. Backpack had come to the conclusion that it was Airy, so Scenty said the first thing that was on her mind based on those assumptions, her shock turning into frustration.

"AIRY WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

Backpacks assumption had been correct based on Airys response.

"She got eliminated. So I sent her back."

"YOU COULD HAVE ATLEAST LET HER FINISH HER SENTENCE!"

Backpack sat up, still not fully awake at the moment as he yawned.

"Scenty...what's going on...?"

Scenty stared back at Backpack, she had so many questions. Airy took over at once.

"Now...Some of you haven't exactly been following the rules."

The contestants stared at eachother before Backpack stood up carefully, leaning on his wooden crutch.

"What rules-"

Airy spoke over him, quickly silencing him.

"So....I think its time to meet the new contestants."

Tray spoke up instantly as Backpack sighed, muttering 'not again...' under his breath.

"Wait there's more?!"

Scenty just looked beyond irritated, turning around and raising her voice up.

"SODA BO-"

Backpack held his hand up, shaking his head.

"Let him sleep...he needs it."

Scenty fell silent and then nodded in understanding. Once again Airy took over.

"These contestants they-...I don't really know where they come from so I am just gonna introduce them individually...they will be making sure none of you break the rules again..."

Backpacks eyes widened a little, this was a little odd. Scenty moved closer to him, shrugging her shoulders as if to say 'Yeah I don't know.'.

"Starting off we have uhh......hmm....Atom."

That familiar black hand reached out and seemed to pick something up from the ground with two fingers, allthough nobody could see what it was. As the hand disappeared, a small voice could be heard from the ground.

"Hey!"

Scenty glanced from side to side, but she couldn't see anyone near her.

"Down here!"

Scenty stared down at the ground and narrowed her eyes to see a tiny black speck on the ground.

"Hi I'm Atom! I'm an Atom!"

Scenty was beyond confused. This contestant was so small, how would they be able to do anything? They seemed nice enough though, Scenty had thought judging by Airys words that he would bring someone a little meaner to keep them from breaking whatever rules he hadn't even spoken of.

"Next up is uhh...Texty."

Scenty glanced upwards, noticing the other contestants had come closer. Suddenly that familiar hand had returned, pulling a rectangle out from thin air and accidentally shoving Bessy aside in the process, startling the poor double bass. Text had appeared in this box, and it took Scenty a mere moment to realize it was a textbox.

['What does "Más allá de la curva circular." mean in engl-']

['HI GUYS!!!!! :D']

"Next is...uhh....Folder."

Airy moved his hand over and summoned in this so called 'Folder' contestant. In an instant a loud bit-crushed noise had followed, alongside some sort of 'low quality' digital folder had appeared, leaving the contestants disturbed. Scenty was beginning to question alot of what she had believed in life.

"What is THAT thing?"

Tray asked, pointing at the idle Folder character. Suddenly it sprang to life, turning to face Tray. Their voice was just as bitcrushed as their appearance.

"Hello! My name is Folder. I can help you with all of your regular daily computer needs! I've got songs, documents, images, videos, and can answer such questions as 'What's the weather like?' 'How many dimensions are there in the universe?' and 'Can you set a reminder for 11:00 Pm on February 10th 20-'"

Soda Bottle rolled over and stared at the other contestants, taking a moment to adjust before. He sat up a little as he came to his senses, pointing at the Folder character as they continued to talk.

"Wait...who the heck is that guy?"

Soda Bottle sat up even more, a look of irritation crossing his face.

"Are you seriously bringing in more contestants?!"

"This one is uhhh....Abstracty."

Soda Bottle laid back down on his side, using one hand to prop his head up with an annoyed sigh, his words dripping with sarcasm."

"Doesn't look very abstract to me-"

A loud noise had startled the contestants, especially Soda Bottle, who had shot up instantly and pushed himself backwards as the new contestant arrived. It looked to be nothing more than a bunch of triangular shapes with various colors, the noise it made being similar to shattering glass in an empty void. The entity had begin to reshape itself, forming two sets of legs with its triangles similar to an animal. Soda Bottle narrowed his eyes as this 'Abstracty' fellow reshaped themselves into a form similar to maybe some sort of quadruped creature similar to a dog or a cat. The way this entity walked was no graceful, its limbs lagging behind or spazzing out randomly as it moved towards Backpack, getting right up in his face and forcing him to take a step back.

"U-uh-"

At once Abstracty began reshaping itself once more, multiplying its triangles and shifting into a greenish color. Backpack realized upon waiting a few seconds that Abstracty was shifting its form to appear like him, albeit not perfectly. Soon enough he was staring at an abstract version of himself, who stared back at him as its body refused to sit still. In a distorted, echoed voice it had finally said its first words since arriving.

" ̶t̶h̶g̶i̶N̶ ̶t̶A̶ ̶s̶r̶a̶t̶S̶-̶ ̶t̶n̶e̶m̶o̶m̶ ̶y̶r̶a̶n̶i̶b̶-̶n̶o̶n̶ ̶a̶ ̶h̶c̶u̶s̶ ̶s̶a̶w̶ ̶s̶i̶h̶t̶ ̶"

"I don't....feel so good-"

Backpack dropped his singular crutch, swaying a little before he fell backwards. Luckily Scenty was able to catch him, slowly helping him sit down on the ground and keeping on hand on his shoulder just incase something else happened.

"Do you have any idea what's happening?"

Subway seat and Whippy Creamy were idle next to eachother, watching the other contestants.

"Just as clueless as you are."

"Next is, uh....Stone."

Airy had brought forth yet another contestant, one who seemed oddly normal compared to the rest, a simple stone. Stone walked over to Subway seat and Whippy Creamy, earning a smile from Subway Seat, giving him a friendly greeting.

"Atleast this guy seems normal. Hey! how's it going?"

Stone glanced at his hands for a moment before he began to preform sign language.

'I know everything that has, is and will happen in the entire universe.'

Both Subway seat and Whippy creamy stared clueless at Stone, not understanding a single gesture he had just made.

"I don't understand that."

"Are we done with the freakshow here?"

Moldy had spoken after not saying anything for a long while, looking irritated by this train of events.

" ̶6̶8̶o̶n̶e̶i̶t̶a̶p̶C̶-̶ ̶?̶!̶?̶t̶i̶ ̶r̶o̶f̶ ̶e̶r̶u̶d̶e̶c̶o̶r̶p̶ ̶l̶a̶c̶i̶d̶e̶m̶ ̶e̶h̶t̶ ̶o̶d̶ ̶o̶t̶ ̶Y̶E̶N̶O̶M̶ ̶e̶h̶t̶ ̶r̶o̶f̶ ̶g̶n̶i̶h̶s̶i̶w̶ ̶f̶o̶ ̶d̶a̶e̶t̶s̶n̶i̶ ̶,̶d̶l̶o̶m̶ ̶e̶h̶t̶ ̶f̶o̶ ̶f̶l̶e̶s̶r̶e̶h̶ ̶e̶r̶u̶c̶ ̶y̶l̶t̶n̶e̶n̶a̶m̶r̶e̶p̶ ̶o̶t̶ ̶h̶s̶i̶w̶ ̶e̶h̶t̶ ̶e̶s̶u̶ ̶t̶s̶u̶j̶ ̶o̶t̶ ̶n̶a̶l̶p̶ ̶e̶h̶s̶ ̶t̶'̶n̶s̶e̶o̶d̶ ̶y̶h̶w̶ ̶,̶o̶r̶B̶"

Moldy looked over to see Abstracty was not imitating her appearance instead of Backpacks, mold infection and all.

" ̶.̶k̶c̶u̶s̶ ̶y̶e̶h̶t̶ ̶d̶n̶a̶ ̶r̶e̶h̶ ̶e̶k̶i̶l̶ ̶e̶r̶a̶ ̶o̶h̶w̶ ̶e̶l̶p̶o̶e̶p̶ ̶e̶m̶o̶s̶ ̶w̶o̶n̶k̶ ̶I̶ ̶,̶n̶o̶s̶r̶e̶p̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶a̶ ̶r̶e̶h̶ ̶e̶k̶i̶l̶ ̶t̶'̶n̶o̶d̶ ̶I̶ ̶.̶t̶l̶u̶a̶f̶ ̶r̶e̶h̶ ̶%̶0̶0̶1̶ ̶s̶a̶w̶ ̶t̶a̶h̶t̶ ̶g̶n̶i̶h̶t̶e̶m̶o̶s̶ ̶r̶e̶t̶f̶a̶ ̶r̶e̶h̶ ̶p̶l̶e̶h̶ ̶o̶t̶ ̶d̶e̶i̶r̶t̶ ̶s̶d̶n̶e̶i̶r̶f̶ ̶r̶e̶h̶ ̶n̶e̶h̶w̶ ̶t̶r̶u̶h̶ ̶y̶l̶l̶a̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶o̶g̶ ̶o̶g̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶h̶ ̶,̶c̶i̶r̶t̶n̶e̶c̶o̶g̶e̶ ̶d̶n̶a̶ ̶l̶a̶c̶i̶t̶s̶o̶g̶e̶ ̶,̶n̶a̶e̶m̶ ̶,̶e̶d̶u̶r̶ ̶s̶'̶e̶h̶S̶"

Moldy looked confused and angered by the unintelligible ramblings of Abstracty.

"I don't know what you said but it sounds like it was about me!"

moldy angrily stepped over and tried to grab onto Abstractys arm, but the triangles simply moved aside, not allowing her to grab onto anything. Moldy blinked, her hand felt numb, with a familiar pins and needles feeling overlaying ontop of it.

" ̶A̶A̶A̶A̶A̶A̶U̶A̶A̶A̶A̶A̶A̶A̶A̶A̶A̶ ̶A̶A̶A̶A̶A̶A̶A̶A̶A̶A̶A̶A̶A̶ ̶A̶A̶A̶A̶A̶ ̶H̶H̶A̶A̶ ̶H̶A̶A̶A̶E̶E̶E̶ ̶R̶R̶R̶R̶R̶R̶ ̶!̶!̶!̶!̶!̶A̶A̶A̶A̶A̶A̶A̶E̶E̶E̶U̶U̶E̶A̶A̶"

Abstracty had begun to tower over Moldy, its form contorting back into that similar animal shape, allthough alot bigger. The abstract being was simply screaming on and off like an alarm clock in her face, only getting louder and louder with each turn until Backpack was certain Moldy might go deaf if she continued to sit near the strange contestant, he felt like he was and he wasn't even close to the two of them. It wasn't until Airy had reached down and somehow gripped onto the back of Abstracty and moved it aside that it had finally shutup, leaving moldy paralyzed on the floor with Scenty going to go check on her.

"Anyways...."

Airy went on as if nothing had happened.

"The last contestant to introduce is- wait..."

"Right. Okay. The last contestant is..."

Airy had taken a moment to bring this contestant here, and when he did, Airline food nearly got run over as this new contestant came speeding onto The Plane, coming to a rough stop the minute they seemed to realize they were in a new place.

"Circle."

Circle turned around and stared at the other contestants. He was a simple poorly drawn circle with one dot near his left eye. Most of the contestants stared back at him. It took maybe twenty seconds before he said anything.

"Oh. Hi"

Chapter Text

"Hello new contestants. I am your host Airy, and welcome to this competi-'

"Heh, wait a second. Another one? I'm not doing another gameshow. I'm out of here."

Everyone had turned their attention to Circle, who started walking backwards off into the distance, that was until Airy reached down and brought him back. He kept trying to move backwards until eventually Airy scooped him up and sent him off who knows where, Backpack didn't really want to know that's for sure.

"Anyways, I am your host Airy, and welcome to this competition called ONE."

Backpack sighed, he couldn't believe more people were being dragged into this competition, and these new guys did not seem to be all that great, especially Abstracty. From the corner of his eye, Backpack noticed that Stone seemed a little panicked over something, but he wasn't sure what for, maybe this guy was worrying about his life before the competition? At least that was normal enough.

"Wait- why is it...? What...? Oh...okay."

Backpack could hear Airy muttering to himself over something. Before he had time to properly listen in, a cassette player had suddenly dropped out of the sky, being caught by Stone, who had jumped to catch it before it hit the ground. Backpack wondered if he had seen it falling before he did, it hadn't looked like it.

"There."

Airy muttered, before going radio silent. Backpack decided to go over to Stone to see what the cassette player was about, but before he could properly get over there, the cassette player had been snatched straight out of Stones hands by Abstracty, promptly pushing the poor contestant over as it was tossed into the air. The cassette player was being tossed around by both Abstracty and Texty as if it was some sort of ball, a plastic, possibly dangerous ball. Backpack could only compare the two to animals as they began to fight over it. Stone had stood back up as the cassette player was sent back into the air, rushing over to Soda Bottle and shoving him aside.

"Hey- what the hell?! What was that for?!"

The cassette player had landed inbetween the two contestants, promptly breaking up into various sharp-edged pieces, leaving it unusable, as if there was any use with it to begin with, as they did not have any cassettes to play. Soda Bottle looked surprised, staring at the broken pieces on the ground, that could have possibly majorly wounded him or worse.

"Anyways, now that we've introduced all the contestants, we can start making the teams!"

Scenty looked worriedly up at the sky.

"We have to split into teams?!"

"Yes, since there are fifteen of you...we'll have four teams...three with four and one with three until I bring Circle back...that last team will automatically have him joining."

"You can start picking them now."

Stone already seemed to have selected Soda Bottle and Backpack as his team members. As Backpack and Soda Bottle began to follow them, Scenty quickly joined them.

"Do you know what's going on with this guy?"

Scenty asked, earning a shrug from Soda Bottle. Backpack stared at Stone for a moment before he began speaking.

"I'm not entirely sure but I think he knows more about...all this than we do."

"What are you talking about?"

The four of them came to a stop right next to one of the poles. Stone gestured for them to stay put as he ran off to do who knows what. Soda Bottle turned to fully face the two of them.

"I'm not sure if you saw, but I think he knew where that cassette player was going to land."

Backpack nodded.

"Both times. He caught it when it fell out of the sky."

Scenty looked confused, as if she hadn't seen these events occur.

"I'm...not following...."

"I was standing RIGHT underneath where it fell. Before those two...things sent it flying-"

Backpack looked off to the side to notice Stone dragging Texty over, the textbox trying to get out of his grasp. Stone had to fight the sentient textbox as it began to push him around a little. Eventually it gave up as it reached Backpacks team. Scenty looked even more confused.

"Wait that's five people. We can't have the textbox on our tea-"

Stone raised one hand up and pointed off into the distance.

"Am I...not being let onto the team?"

Backpack glanced between the two, looking confused by this situation.

"Why can't we have Scenty on our team?"

Stone just shook his head and continued to point back out into the distance. Scenty took a step forward to protest.

"But-"

Stone continued to deny, dragging the textbox down from the air. Scenty barely had time to react before the textbox pushed her away from the others with a bunch of keysmash, cracking her glass in the process with how forceful it was.

"SCENTY-"

Backpack wanted to go over there and help her, but Stone grabbed onto his arm, preventing him from going anywhere, and allowing the textbox to escape from his grasp. He let go of Backpacks arm and clapped his hands together, getting Airys attention.

"Yeah? Oh. Stone already assembled the team."

Scenty stood up, feeling the crack on the side of her glass, it wasn't life-threatening, but that didn't mean it was nothing either, it could easily be chipped away in due time. She looked uncertain and distressed by this. Soda Bottle looked irritated, dragging Stone aside, most likely to talk about what had just occured, leaving Backpack and the Textbox to sit next to eachother.

"Hey! Are you okay? That crack doesnt look too good."

Scenty turned around to see Tray standing there with Bassy and Contact Lens behind her. Scenty tried to force away her uncertainty with a small smile.

"Don’t worry its not much. Say...wanna be on a team together? Me, you, Bassy and Contact Lens could form a full team."

"Wouldn't that mean we would have to stay here longer?"

Scenty shrugged.

"Not necessarily, we can just loose each challenge."

The other three objects seemed to be onboard with this idea, giving their words of agreement.

"Okay, we have our second team made."

Moldy seemed to have trouble picking out people to be on her team. The contestants who were left weren't exactly the best ones. Eventually she sighed and pointed at Whippy Creamy, who seemed to be discussing something with Subway Seat. She definitely didn't want someone like Abstracty on her team, so picking those two would be one of the better options.

"Hey! You! on my team. bring Subway Seat with you."

Whippy Creamy stared at her and then shrugged, taking a few steps forward.

"Whatever you say."

"AHEM! could you uhh....help me in getting over there?"

Whippy Creamy sighed, this was going to take awhile.

"And it looks like Airline food has assembled the third team."

Airline Food was standing next to Atom, Folder and Abstracty, he looked confused by this, staring up at the sky.

"Hey wait I didn't-"

Airy cut him off, clearing his throat before continuing on.

"That means Circle will automatically be joining Moldys team."

Airy had brought back and dropped Circle off next to Moldy, he looked tired, as he he had just woken up from a killer nap. Whippy Creamy had managed to push Subway Seat over to the two of them, collapsing the minute he could and laying on the ground.

"Just...give me five minutes....or ten...."

Subway Seat began talking at once as his teammates gathered around.

"We should have a team name!"

"That's a good idea..."

Whippy Creamy sat up, it seemed nobody objected to this idea.

"Okay- we should be called-"

Airy, as he usually did, spoke over the contestants.

"Alright. Now that we have gotten all of the teams situated, we can start the next challenge."

"We should be the-"

"Your next challenge is to, um...ah...your next...challenge is-...um.."

"We should be-"

"Your next challenge is to...run to...the tree and back. The last team to have a member run to the tree and back will be...put up for elimination."

"Uh....go."

Scenty shook her head.

"He's really bad at making challenges. Anyways just- don't do the challenge and we'll be alright."

Scentys team had settled down on the grass and began to discuss experiences they had back in their own world, with Scentys experiences being the most interesting out of the bunch due to her hands on experience. Soda Bottle and Stone seemed to be done with their little disagreement as Soda Bottle came back over to stand next to Backpack, making idle conversation.

"Did you see what he did to that Circle guy? Those guys were sent here to keep us from breaking some rules but...even he seemed defiant. He wouldn't even let him walk away!"

"Well, I don't think that's any different from how he treats us."

"Yeah but he sent that guy away to who knows where...he never did that with us. He said we shouldn't wander off but we didn't really try to do that? The only person who did that was Magazine and it wasn't even on purpose! He didn't even say a word."

"Have we even...tried walking away?"

The two fell silent. Soda Bottle turned to stare off into the distance before taking a deep breath. He hadn't heard much of what Magazine had seen, but the girl had looked traumatized. After a few seconds, he began walking. Backpack watched him as he moved further into the distance, wondering what he would find if he went far enough. Stone came up beside Backpack and suddenly looked panicked, shaking Backpack and pointing at Soda Bottle Wildly.

"Hey-! What's wrong?"

Backpack nearly tipped over, staring at Stone in confusion. If Stone really knew more than the others here, then maybe this was something he should pay attention too, but Backpack couldn't understand Stones pointing. Stone took a step back and redirected his attention to the other contestants, who all seemed to be doing their own thing.

"Stone I can't understand you. What are you going on about-"

Backpack stopped mid-sentence as Stone ran off towards Airline foods team. It wasn't until Backpack focused more attention on the group of lesser known contestants that he had noticed Abstracty moving in Soda Bottles direction, gradually getting fast as it reshaped its body to match that quadruped appearance it had taken before. Stone had run directly into its path, stopping it from progressing. Abstracty did not seem to like this one bit as the two began to shove eachother. Eventually Abstracty had won as it pushed Stone aside, making a beeline straight for Soda Bottles location. Backpack turned and began to shout.

"SODA BOTTLE! LOOK OUT!"

Soda Bottle turned around just in time to receive a triangle to the side. Abstracty had impaled him with one of its triangles directly in his side, holding him up in the air. Abstracty wasn't being merciful, pulling on the poor contestant like it was in a game of tug-of-war with itself, before smashing him directly into the dirt and crushing his body and promptly ripping the plastic bottle in two like a kid tearing through a candy wrapper to get the contents inside. Everyone on The Plane was silent, aside from a light clicking noise Backpack couldn't pinpoint, the only other thing making noise was Abstracty, who was screaming jumbled nonsense and generally making alot of random sounds, piercing Backpacks ears in the process.

" ̶!̶!̶!̶U̶O̶Y̶ ̶T̶U̶O̶B̶A̶ ̶S̶T̶I̶ ̶N̶E̶H̶W̶ ̶E̶S̶N̶E̶S̶ ̶S̶E̶K̶A̶M̶ ̶T̶I̶ ̶T̶U̶B̶ ̶!̶W̶O̶N̶K̶ ̶T̶N̶O̶D̶ ̶I̶ ̶?̶?̶?̶?̶N̶A̶E̶M̶ ̶N̶E̶V̶E̶ ̶T̶A̶H̶T̶ ̶S̶E̶O̶D̶ ̶T̶A̶H̶W̶ ̶,̶S̶T̶I̶G̶I̶D̶ ̶E̶E̶R̶H̶T̶ ̶T̶S̶R̶I̶F̶ ̶E̶H̶T̶ ̶E̶S̶U̶ ̶T̶S̶U̶J̶ ̶O̶T̶ ̶E̶S̶O̶O̶H̶C̶ ̶U̶O̶Y̶ ̶T̶E̶Y̶ ̶I̶P̶ ̶E̶K̶I̶L̶ ̶E̶T̶I̶N̶I̶F̶N̶I̶ ̶E̶B̶ ̶D̶L̶U̶O̶C̶ ̶E̶G̶D̶E̶L̶W̶O̶N̶K̶ ̶R̶U̶O̶Y̶ ̶.̶Y̶N̶O̶L̶O̶C̶ ̶A̶ ̶T̶U̶O̶H̶T̶I̶W̶ ̶T̶N̶A̶ ̶N̶A̶ ̶E̶K̶I̶L̶ ̶R̶U̶O̶Y̶ ̶?̶?̶?̶?̶S̶G̶N̶I̶H̶T̶ ̶C̶I̶S̶A̶B̶ ̶O̶D̶ ̶O̶T̶ ̶U̶O̶Y̶ ̶L̶L̶E̶T̶ ̶E̶L̶P̶O̶E̶P̶ ̶N̶E̶H̶W̶ ̶D̶N̶A̶T̶S̶R̶E̶D̶N̶U̶ ̶T̶O̶N̶ ̶U̶O̶Y̶ ̶O̶D̶"

"Huh? Oh."

Airy had respawned Soda Bottle, who looked rightfully terrified. Airy didn't seem to acknowledge the fact Abstracty had just torn him to pieces.

"Are you guys not doing the challenge again? Oh wait Nevermind. Texty won immunity for you."

Upon turning around, Backpack had finally figured out where that clicking noise was coming from, Texty had keysmashed their way to the tree and back, coming to a stop with nothing but a little smiley face being left. Backpack sighed while Soda Bottle just sat down on the ground.

["You weren't going to do it. So I did :D"]

Backpack sat down next to Soda Bottle, who seemed to be recovering from the initial shock, although it was taking some time. Soda Bottle looked up and nudged Backpacks shoulder, pointing towards Stone, who seemed to be wandering towards Scentys team. Backpack trusted Stone completely now, after all he had tried to save Soda Bottle from being crushed and killed. In an instant commotion had sprung up again when Circle came by and snatched up Contact Lens with Stone chasing after him.

"CONTACT LENS!"

Scenty stood up and raced after them, but Circle was faster than both contestants with a large gap, reaching the tree on the far side of the field and tossing Contact Lens back to Scentys group. Stone jumped to the side to avoid being run over by Scenty on accident, this was the third time this poor contestant had been landing on the ground. Scenty narrowly avoiding him as she ran up directly to Circle, who had to put his hands up to avoid being shoved by her.

"WHAT THE HECK YOUR PROBLEM? WHY DID YOU DO THAT?"

Stone got up and tried to calm Scenty down, but it was no use as she grabbed onto Circles arm.

"Well you weren't going to do the challenge so I did it for you!"

"And it looks like Tex- Contact Lens has won immunity for his team. Scentys team is safe."

This announcement from Airy only seemed to enrage Scenty further. She took a deep breath and took a step back, taking her hand off of Circle. She sighed and began speaking.

"Listen. We don't want to win. We want to go ho- HEY WAIT-"

Circle had picked up Stone and proceeded to knock Scenty over the head with the contestant like a hammer to a nail, promptly shattering her glass. Circle dropped Stone a few seconds later, the poor contestant having a piece of glass scratch at his head. Scentys team had rushed over in a panic, getting Airys attention to respawn her.

"There we go."

Scenty had been respawned, looking disturbed by the fact she had been killed just as Soda Bottle had before for defying the challenge. Circle had already raced off back to his team, who looked concerned and horrified by what had just happened.

"Now its down to the team with Airline Food, Atom, Abstracty, and Folder and the team with Moldy, Whippy Creamy, Subw-"

"We...already did the challenge"

Moldy spoke, shrugging her shoulders.

"You...already did it?"

"Wasn't too hard. We just walked over there."

"Oh..."

"Well....I guess Airline Foods team is up for elimination."

Airline Food had been halfway through walking towards the trees in the distance when Air made his announcement. He turned around mid-step.

"Wait, actually?"

"Yeah. I guess everyone else made it to the tree before you.

"Oh..."

"That was really fast."

Airline Food moved back over to his team.

"Wait does that mean one of our team members is being voted off?"

"Yeah."

"Aw man. I hope I don't get voted off."

Airline food tipped his head to the side.

"Who's saying that?"

"Me! I'm Atom!"

"Are you on our team? I cant see you."

"Yeah, I'm an atom."

"Wait how do you get a human name?"

"What's a human? I'm an atom."

Folder had sprung to life, beginning to read out the definition of a human. Airline Food facepalmed, this wasn't getting anywhere.

"Please just be quiet!"

Abstracty, who had been sitting idly on the sidelines, suddenly began moving towards Airline Food. He took a step back and put his hands up.

" Hey wait nononNNONONONNO NOT ME I DIDNT EVEN BREAK ANY RULES-"

-------

Backpack and Soda Bottle had been sitting together since the challenge ended, staring off into the distance with disturbed looks on their faces. It wasn't until Scenty had stepped over to them that they finally seemed to stop spacing out. She looked just as disturbed as they did. She sat down next to them, not receiving any sort of complaints while doing so.

"These new contestants are insane..."

She muttered, letting the other two lean in closer to listen to her.

"That screwball from Moldys team went out of his way to keep us safe. He didn't even care about the competition when he came here! and he did NOT have to kill me to get some stupid point across!"

Backpack shook his head, pointing towards Texty, who was a little ways away, pushing around Contact Lens with Stone trying to stop them.

"If it makes you feel any better. The textbox did the challenge for us."

Scenty sighed, looking to the ground.

"Tell your stone teammate thank you for me. He didn't deserve to basically be used as a weapon. I don't know what's up with these contestants but...he seems to be the only reasonable one out of the bunch, if you....don't count Atom I guess but...Atom hasn't done anything and Folder is just...I don't know."

Backpack nodded. Stone had been trying to protect them, even if he did fail it was still worth counting the effort.

"I'm sure you'll be eliminated soon. There's always next time right?"

"Youve said that five times already."

Soda Bottle finally said something, shaking his head.

"Well its...optimism at least."

"I do not see how you can be optimistic when both me and Scenty have been torn to shreds twice for simply defying a simple challenge."

The three had fell silent, staring at the ground before Backpack muttered.

"....Sorry."

Chapter Text

Backpack accidentally kicked over one of the grass triangles that were placed delicately atop the flat grass, nearly stumbling over it as he approached Scenty and Airline Food, both of which seemed to be observing something. He came to a stop next to Scenty, staring at the two in confusion.

"...What's happening?"

"Look."

Scenty pointed over in one direction. Backpack lifted his gaze up to see Abstracty, although it wasn't how it usually was. The mesh of lights and triangles seemed to be constantly reshaping itself, looking for a suitable form to take, although it could not seem to find one. Backpack felt a trace of fear begin to stir, Abstracty had been violent ever since it showed up, what if it was going to do something again?

"H-how long has it been doing....that?"

"Ever since the challenge ended..."

Airline Food muttered in response, taking a step back to get somewhat behind Scenty. The poor contestant had been torn to shreds directly after the last challenge and he had not even done anything to deserve it, it was not unusual that he would want to back away. A few more seconds of Abstractys morphing had gone on before Airy came in, sending the Abstract form back into its 'normal' state.

"You guys got mad at me for not telling you, so...uh....I'm gonna eliminate someone right now."

Scenty nudged Backpack and pointed back towards Abstracty. The figure had begun to reshape itself once more, becoming a somewhat golden figure with brown and green accents, but it just couldn't seem to get the body shape it wanted, at first it had tried quadruped, then bipedal, then serpent. It kept switching out. Backpack took a deep breath and decided to approach it, Scenty calling after him to come back.

" ̶?̶U̶O̶Y̶ ̶E̶R̶A̶ ̶T̶A̶H̶W̶ ̶.̶E̶C̶E̶I̶P̶ ̶T̶R̶A̶ ̶E̶T̶A̶C̶I̶L̶E̶D̶ ̶A̶ ̶N̶O̶P̶U̶ ̶T̶N̶I̶A̶P̶ ̶D̶E̶L̶L̶I̶P̶S̶ ̶E̶K̶I̶L̶ ̶S̶I̶ ̶E̶G̶A̶M̶I̶ ̶E̶N̶I̶V̶I̶D̶ ̶R̶U̶O̶Y̶ ̶.̶U̶O̶Y̶ ̶E̶E̶S̶ ̶N̶A̶C̶ ̶I̶ ̶E̶R̶E̶H̶ ̶G̶N̶I̶H̶T̶E̶M̶O̶S̶ ̶S̶E̶R̶E̶H̶T̶"

Before Backpack could do anything else, Abstracty had lifted itself up and promptly kicked him back, sending him to the ground and smashing one of its triangular feet right right through Backpacks wooden cast, smashing it and his healing broken leg into pieces. Backpack couldn't hold back a scream this time, his leg hadn't exactly been healing well to begin with, this reset what little distorted progress had been made. Abstracty towered over him, its golden figure only growing in size.

"Okay Abstracty. That's enough. Lets go."

Backpack slid back a little to see Airys hand grab onto Abstracts back and pull him up, prompting the entity to let out a loud shrill, one so loud it had not only shattered Scentys glass, but promptly damaged Backpacks eardrums to the point of bleeding. One Abstracty had been taken out of the picture, everything seemed oddly quiet, especially to Backpack, who could barely hear anything.

"What just happened?"

Backpack could barely hear Atoms voice, and Folders as they began to ramble about something or other. Scenty had been respawned once more, quietly returning to her team on the sidelines.

"Backpack? Hey! Can you hear me?"

Backpack could just barely pick up on Whippy Creamys voice. He sat up to see the tub of whipped cream standing there with Stone behind him, dragging Subway Seat with him. Backpack shook his hands a little, his eyes narrowed. His leg was in agony and he had gained a splitting headache.

"I-I can hear you..."

"Well now that the elimination is done. We can introduce the new...challenge...gimme a second"

Stone had moved over and began applying pressure to Backpacks ears, this may have deafened him but atleast the bleeding could be controlled. Subway Seat and Whippy Creamy seemed to be discussing something. Scenty just looked rightfully disturbed. Soda Bottle had been woken up from his sleep when Abstracty had started screaming, he looked dazed. Moldy had gone over to get him up, allthough Backpack couldn't hear a single thing they were talking about.

Backpack couldn't exactly move from his spot, so upon Soda Bottle coming over, he had gone over to go grab the textbox and drag them over to their location. Whippy Creamy and Subway Seat had returned to their teams just in time to have a pencil be dropped onto Whippy Creamys head. Backpack had no idea what the challenge was, but he could see sticky notes and pencils being dropped to each team. Stone slowly removed his hands and rubbed them against the ground, shrugging his shoulders as if to say 'I have nothing else to give you, sorry.'

Stone had picked up the pencil and sticky notes and began to rapidly write on them. Soda Bottle narrowed his eyes and held his arms up.

"Stone. Don't do the challenge."

Backpack looked back over his shoulder to see Scenty tearing up the sticky notes while Tray snapped the pencil. The challenge must've been to write on those sticky notes. Backpack looked back to Stone, who had begun flipping through the sticky notes. Backpack had no idea what he was writing down, but Soda Bottle kept trying to stop him. Backpack blinked slowly and then decided to direct his attention towards Texty, the textbox hovering unmoving beside him.

["Why are you looking at me? LOL I cant help you!!!]"

Backpack sighed, his voice so low he couldn't hear what he was saying, hopefully he was saying the right things.

"Yes you can."

Backpack reached out and gripped onto the textbox, pulling himself up onto his good leg with a groan of discomfort.

["HEY!!! IM NOT YOUR SUPPORT!!!!"]

Texty had tried to push him off. Backpack hadn't realized how animated this textbox could be until it began to wriggle around like a snake, trying to get him off. It didn't take long until it had eventually given up, letting Backpack use it as a support to stand up. Backpack felt something tap on his back. He looked over his shoulder to see Stone shoving a sticky note into the palm of his hand. Upon holding it up, Backpack found that on the sticky note was Stones name written next to a bunch of numbers in decimal format.

"Wh...what is this for...?"

Stone took the sticky note back and continued writing, glancing up for a moment and gesturing at Backpack to do...something. Backpack had no idea what Stone wanted. Backpack decided to let Stone do what he wanted, maybe he was trying to communicate with them. Backpack did realize though that if Stone wrote on the sticky notes, they might be safe this round. Soda Bottle kept trying to stop him, the two were practically shoving eachother around, even the textbox had joined in to push both of them around, dragging Backpack along with it.

Backpack could see the other teams from where he was, Atom seemed to be trying to draw, picking up the pencil and holding it up to the best of his ability. Upon finally getting a grip on it, Atom had accidentally tossed the pencil into the air. It took a minute before it landed, stabbing poor Airline Food in the leg.

"SORRY! SORRY-'

"WHY ARE YOU STRONG ENOUGH TO TOSS A PENCIL?! YOUR AN ATOM!!!"

Stone had run off towards Scentys team, who seemed to be practicing some sort of Yoga. Stone came to a stop and observed them before Tray pointed him out.

"Stones right next to you."

Scenty opened one eye and looked back over her shoulder.

"Did you need something?"

Stone stared at her for a moment before reaching down to grab the sticky notes. Scenty shot up and grabbed his arm, preventing him from doing so. She looked irritated.

"Hey! Don't take those."

She let go of Stones arm with a sigh, letting him back up and run off once more. Backpack closed his eyes, trying to get the splitting headache he had to atleast lighten up a little, the suns bright light was not helping one bit. He opened his eyes upon feeling Texty shove him.

["Look :P --->"]

Backpack barely had time to react before Stone ran directly into him, coming to a rough stop and grabbing onto his zipper, unzipping Backpack and shoving the notes inside before rezipping him back up. Texty had finally shook Backpack off, put Stone caught him before he could land on his bad leg, helping him sit back down on the ground.

"Both Scentys Team and Backpacks team didn't draw anything...so Moldy and Airline foods team are safe....I couldn't actually find any of Backpack Teams sticky notes...so I guess Scentys team is safe...since they still have theirs...Which means Backpacks team will be up for elimination"

Backpack could just barely hear Airys words, he could hear Scentys surprised and irritated shout much better. She seemed to be arguing with the host now, the two going back and forth about how this was unfair because Stone had hid the sticky notes inside of Backpack, to which Airy had simply responded he didn't see such an act. Soda Bottle had moved over to stand beside the rest of Backpacks team as she continued to rant to the host. Backpack held one hand up to one of his ears, slowly Scentys voice was becoming more and more muffled. Stone had moved away to the sidelines as Scenty kept ranting, picking up her sticky notes and rushing off.

"Hey are yo-"

Backpack couldn't hear anything anymore, he stared up at Soda Bottle, feeling his mouth move yet he had only the slightest clue as to what he was saying. Soda bottle seemed to sigh and sat down next to him, putting an a hand on his shoulder with a simple shake of his head.

-----

It had been some time since the last challenge. Scenty looked defeated while the rest of the contestants seemed either half asleep or worried about what might be coming next. Suddenly everyone seemed to perk up, allthough Backpack had little idea why. stone rushed over to Backpack and Soda bottle and handed them a singular sticky note. Upon taking it, Backpack went to question Stone, but he had vanished, dropping the rest of the sticky notes onto the ground.

Backpack realized that Stone had been eliminated. Upon looking down at the sticky note, he sat up.

'The votes are fake. You have no control. There is nobody watching.'

Backpack handed the sticky note to Soda Bottle, who looked tired and disturbed. Backpack stared at the other contestants, if Stone was being honest, then this would probably crush some of the contestants. Soda Bottle handed the sticky note back to Backpack. After a few seconds, he tore it in half, and then tore those halves up until the note was practically dust. If he was gonna break it to them, a note wouldn't be right way do it.

Chapter Text

"Your next challenge is to do one-hundred pushups. The last team to do a total of one-hundred pushups will be up for elimination..."

"Three....Two...One....Go."

Backpack hadn't heard a thing about the challenge, not like he wanted to do it anyways. sitting on the ground, Backpack could only think about the notes Stone had gave him. He had not looked at them yet, perhaps he would later. After a few moments he took his eyes off of the ground to watch Soda Bottle glare at Texty, who seemed to be preoccupied with bouncing around.

Scenty had returned to her team, being greeted by Tray.

"Welcome back Scenty! Feeling better?"

Scenty wwiped one of her eyes with her hand, taking a deep breath as she sat down next to Bassy.

"Yeah....I'm sorry you had to see me lash out like that...I've just had alot built up."

The three other contestants showed their understanding. Tray had begun a new topic about what yoga they might do next, which Scenty seemed pleased to engage in even if her mind was in several other places at once.

"There's no way I can do one-hundred pushups...I've never even done one!"

Airline Food stared at the ground, having to squint a little to see Atom sitting there. The tiny speck seemed to think for a moment before responding.

"Well, I guess you better start learning."

Airline Food stared at the ground, until suddenly a lightbulb seemed to go off in his head. He cleared his throat before looking up towards the sky.

"Airy! Were done!"

"Oh? I guess....Airline foods team did one hundred pushups...so...they are safe."

Atom seemed puzzled by this.

How did that just work?"

"If your curious about the functio-"

Meanwhile Moldys team had been doing somewhat of a good job completing the task. Moldy had volunteered to do the push-ups since subway Seat was physically incapable of doing so, Whippy creamy had no idea how, and Circle seemed distant, sitting off on the sidelines.

"What are you at now?"

Whippy Creamy asked, leaning against Subway Seat as Moldy sat up, taking a deep breath and wiping her forehead.

"Forty...whew I need a breather..."

Subway Seat seemed astonished, and his words only added to it.

"Wh- How the heck did you get so strong?!"

"Spelunking"

"Sple-what now?"

"Spelunking...caving....cave exploring, they all mean the same thing. I like exploring caves in my free time."

Whippy Creamy and Subway Seat glanced at eachother, they hadn't heard about this yet. Moldy leaned back a little on the ground as she continued speaking.

"I used to go cave exploring with my friend Parker and his buddies."

"Well...some time ago I went into this one cave and I don't know how, but I came into contact with some sort of fungus called Oandida Buris, which was spreading through where I lived...It was not very common but it was said to be spreading rapidly. Thats why there's...mold on my head. The idiots working there forgot to put up the sign."

Circle had stood up and moved over to the rest of the group, standing abit away from the rest of the group as he began talking.

"That doesn't sound too good..."

Moldy shrugged.

"My friend Parker and his buddies have been giving me money to help with a possible treatment. I couldn't be more thankful for them, but now that I'm here I'm not sure what's going to happen. Thankfully I am not going to spread it to any of you it just doesn't work like that so, yeah."

Moldy had reached about seventy pushups before she had taken another breather, only thirty more before she reached one-hundred.

"Can you tell us more about your life stuff?"

Subway Seat seemed to most interested to hear about Moldys life out of the bunch. Moldy stared at him for a moment before responding.

"Why do you care so much? Youve got your own lives to deal with, right?"

Subway seat shrugged.

"I guess so. Some guy spilled some coffee on me a few weeks ago and got into a fistfight with the guy next to him for it. Hasn't been cleaned since."

Whippy Creamy blinked and stood up straight, taking his hand off of Subway Seat. Circle spoke up.

"I mean, none of us are gonna see you after this competition is over anyways. What's the harm in telling us more?"

"Yeah! tell us about your friends!"

Moldy sighed, she guessed there was no other choice, if they really wanted to know.

"Well I can tell you about Parker I guess. As you know he's one of the guys helping me pay for a possible treatment. I kept insisting I didn't need his help but he kept persisting until I gave in. And then he got his friends in on it...It became this whole big deal."

Moldy paused, there seemed to be something on her mind, but she did not speak it outloud. She decided to change direction, pointing at Circle.

"You know, we haven't heard a single thing about your life. I mean- Subway Seat has said a little and I'm sure hearing about Whippy Creamy standing in a fridge all day would be less than interesting."

Whippy Creamy scoffed

"Hey! Whippy Creamy always has interesting things going on...it's what makes me so awesome."

Circle seemed to pause for a moment before he started speaking.

"Uhhh well...."

Moldy continued as she went back to her pushups, trying to regulate her breathing so she could speak properly.

"You said something about being in a competition before right? What was that about?"

"Uhh Yeah. It was called Battle For Circle. Everyone looked and talked exactly the same. Gosh everyone else there were idiots too! I built this perfect statue of circle and he picks the pile of garbage! Some stuff DID happen that might be interesting but....That's a story for another day."

Moldy had finally finished all one-hundred pushups. Circle had to get Airys attention for the host to announce such things. Clearing his throat, Airy started speaking.

"It looks like Moldys team has completed the challenge and done a hundred pushups. This leaves Backpacks team and Scentys team left to do a hundred pushups."

Nobody moved.

"Uhhh...well...If neither of you are going to do the competition...then I guess I have to put both teams up for elimination."

Almost instantly Scenty began cheering. Begging the viewers to vote and send her home for her while her teammates cheered along with her. All Backpack and Soda Bottle could do was stare at her sadly from a distance, knowing that her fate wasn't at the mercy of any 'viewers' watching them, or was she?

Readers. Vote in the comments bellow who you want to be sent back out of both teams. That's right, its a double elimination. You can pick one from Backpack, Soda Bottle, and Texty. You can also pick either Bassy, Contact Lens, Tray, or Scenty from Scentys team. voting ends when the next hits goal is reached. I want you to think about this :3

-------

Charlotte had been busy for the last fifteen minutes preparing dinner, chopping away at various vegetables and sliding them off of her cutting board and into the pot to cook. The sound of knocking on her door had caught her attention.

"Come in!"

Upon seeing her friend Parker enter the room, she smiled, setting her knife down carefully on the counter as he shut the door behind him. He gave her a small wave.

"Hey Charlotte, how are you doing?"

"I'm doing good! I cant really see out of my right eye anymore but, it's not that big of a deal."

Parker scratched the back of his head. He looked a little worried for a moment before putting a smile back on his face

"Heh yeah. Well, I just came by to check up on you, see how you were doing."

"I was just making dinner! You can grab something out of the fridge if you are hungry."

Charlotte gestured to the fridge behind her, but Parker declined the offer.

"No thanks I already ate. I was gonna actually ask you if you wanted to maybe go caving with us again next week? Allyn found this cool place and its just on the edge of the state!"

Charlotte had a rather good idea of where this was headed. That gold coin had always had a way of picking the most dangerous caves to go exploring, this one was probably no different.

"I would but, you know how it is now. I gotta be careful, especially with this mold. I wish I could come but, yeah."

Parker nodded.

"That's understandable. But hey! Glad to know your atleast taking this a little seriously now. And your not basically stealing our money anymore."

Charlotte laughed a little, feeling mildly embarrassed by that comment. Before she had been reckless, especially with the money her friends had given her. But the two had soon enough gotten over it and even started joking about it as Charlotte had begun to manage it better.

"Oh Stop! Please I have learned my lesson. What am I gonna say now?"

Charlotte stepped around her counter and went up to Parker. She knew she could pull off this next bit without consequence, her and Parker had been friends for years now. She wasn't actually sure what was going on in her head, perhaps this was something she had just wanted to do for awhile.

"Oh my god pay me back please i'm sorrrryyyy! Do-"

Charlotte had vanished. Parker blinked, rubbing his eyes as if he couldn't believe it.

"Charlotte...?"

Chapter Text

It had been maybe five hours after the challenge had ended, and all of the contestants were eager to see if one of them would be sent home, aside from Moldy and Airline Foods Team, who had won the challenge. Scenty had been listening to her team go back and forth about their lives before being sent to The Plane, with Scenty surprisingly putting the least amount of words in.

"I hope Jess is doing alright now."

Bassy started, with Contact Lens quick to jump in with a question.

"Is that your human?"

Bassy nodded in return.

"Yeah, she takes me to band for school. Her mom actually passed me down from when she was little."

Contact Lens seemed a little surprised. Tray seemed to gasp in surprise, a bright look in her eye.

"Which school?!"

"Magellan."

Tray seemed excited by this piece of information.

"I'm also in Magellan! I think I've seen your human around, she's the one who always wears purple right?"

Scenty watched as Bassy and Tray started chatting about this Magellan School. Scenty was glad to see her teammates having fun, allthough she felt that the longer she stayed on The Plane, the more her sanity was going to drop. She looked towards the grassy floor, feeling as if a weight was holding her down, keeping her from moving, as if she couldn't leave even that spot if she wanted too. Scenty looked back up, blinking whatever thoughts that were starting to develop away.

"I'm sure she will be happy to see you when you get back! And her mom too."

Scenty smiled, trying to keep her eyelids from drooping as her teammates looked back at her.

"Yeah."

"I'm not totally sure what mine will be up too. But I hope he gets that job promotion."

Contact Lens spoke, getting a nod of acknowledgement from Tray before she pointed at Scenty.

"I guess since your the only one of us that can live like a human, what are you excited to get back too Scenty?"

Scenty tipped her head to the side, whatever thoughts she had been trying to push away about her life coming back to her in that moment. She had to force herself to remain calm as she thought about all the things she was missing out on at the moment, she couldn't even remember how long they had been on The Plane. She took a quiet breath before speaking.

"Well, I've been thinking about my family a lot. My friends too. They're...probably worried about me."

Scenty flinched when she felt a hand on her shoulder, but was relieved to find it was just Bassy.

"Well, I'm sure they will be happy to see you when you get back."

"Yeah! Especially with how badly you've wanted to leave, the viewers will totally vote for you!"

Scenty felt a sliver of hope return once again after it had faded out in the last hour, with how much she had been begging, she almost wouldn't be surprised if she got out.

"Heh...I'd hope that would work."

The team seemed to be growing closer than before, which was at a rather sad time considering the fact one of them would be eliminated soon. Tray had continued to talk to Bassy about Magellan before Airy had finally spoke, having been quiet for the last hour.

"Alright, it's time to eliminate two people..."

Two familiar hands had reached down and gently moved all the contestants over until they were in a straight line. Scenty seemed confused.

"Wait, two people?"

"Yeah. I thought to make this a little faster, I would eliminate two people instead of one. Just for this challenge. One for each team."

Scenty stared ahead, she could only wonder who from Backpacks team would be eliminated. Airy paused for a long moment, as if thinking about something before continuing, clearing his throat.

"Based on the votes we got....we-....w....we-....what?....why would you-"

Airy began muttering, none of the contestants could understand just what he was muttering about, he was too quiet for them to make anything out. After a minute of silence Airy continued.

"It seems as though on Backpacks team, we got a tie between Texty and Backpack. so I guess I can't eliminate either of them. I guess it wont be a double elimination.

Backpack still couldn't hear a single thing Airy was saying, Soda Bottle had to try his best to translate with neither of them knowing sign language. Scenty felt almost relieved, it meant the elimination was going by faster, she didn't even think about how Backpacks team must've felt. Airy continued on.

"Okay...And the person who will be eliminated, after receiving the most votes is.....Bassy."

Scenty felt hopeless. The best shot she had of leaving had been ripped away, given to someone else. A horribly familiar hand reached down and scooped Bassy up, sending her away without a word, atleast not any Scenty could hear as she thought about how things were going to go. Tray and Contact Lens seemed both happy and disappointed by what had just happened. Tray moved to comfort Scenty as she seemed to be cracking up emotionally, but the scented candle shoved her out of the way and grabbed onto the hand.

"SEND ME HOME NOW!"

She screamed, pulling on one of Airys fingers. He seemed startled, moving his hand back and knocking over Soda Bottle in the process, before hitting Texty, who vanished from sight as they tried to get away. Airy seemed confused for a moment, before he continued on, shaking Scenty away from his hand as he pulled it back up into the sky.

"....Oh. It looks like....Texty...is eliminated aswell."

Backpack could only watch as Scent broke down sobbing, falling onto her knees while Tray went over to try and calm her down. Contact Lens stared on, looking slightly disturbed by what was going on, he didn't exactly seem to know what to do at the moment. Soda bottle motioned for Backpack to stay put, not that he had any reason to move. Soda Bottle walked towards Scenty and Tray and knelt down next to her. The two seemed to be talking about something, something Backpack couldn't hear. Backpack tried to move over to go see them, but the sudden shaking of the ground startled him. Everyone looked over to see a giant wooden tub had landed ontop of Contact Lens, promptly crushing him.

"...Oops."

Airy simply recovered Contact Lens, who looked paralyzed after being crushed. A decent amount of water had fallen from the sky, filling the tub in an instant and sending bits of water flying out, a large droplet hitting Airline food. Backpack got up onto his one wobbly good leg and moved back, staring up at the tub. Backpack had a sinking feeling that something was about to go wrong. He looked back over his shoulder at Soda Bottle, who suddenly seemed to look panicked as he rushed towards Backpack. Before he could reach him however, the contestants had been teleported above the pool.

Backpack dropped straight into the water, opening his mouth to try and catch abit of air, but he only met water. He looked up ,seeming the various blurring figures of the other contestants above him as he sank deeper into the tub. Backpack tries to push himself back up, but his cast was weighing him down, keeping him from going back up. Backpack looked around, but he couldn't find anything to help him. His lungs were screaming at him for air, but he had no way of providing. Upon looking back up, he could see that out of all the contestants, Airline Food was trying to swim down and grab him. Soda Bottle seemed stuck afloat, and everyone else either struggled to swim or hadn't noticed Backpack sinking somehow. Backpack tried to reach out to Airline Food, but his whole body felt weak. Airline Food grabbed ahold of his arm and tried to pull him up, but the cast made him extra heavy, only making it an inch off of the wooden floor. Backpack stared downwards, his body beginning to feel numb and mind clouding. He struggled to keep his eyes open as Airline Food continued to drag him along the wooden floor, but eventually he had permanently shut them.

It was dark for a few minutes, no sound, no sight, no feeling, not even an emotional one. In what felt like an eternity and a second a second at the same time, Backpack found himself standing in a rather colorful void, seeing traces of mist on the 'ground' where he stood. He could see his reflection underneath him, staring back at him with a blank expression. Backpack noted how one of his legs felt completely numb, he had to balance carefully on his good leg just to keep himself standing. He could hear what sounded like radio static, and it only took a small look around for him to notice two chairs with a table in the middle, atop that table was a simple radio. Upon taking a step, Backpack watched as colorful lines and scribbles jumped up from the ground, as if he was walking on water and these were water droplets. He dragged his dead leg forward with him as he made his way over to the radio, grabbing onto the wooden table for balance. Somehow he hadn't noticed the blue and white toothpaste person sitting on one of the chairs, his hand flipping through channels and a soulless expression on his face. Backpack stood there for a moment, unable to make eye-contact with this unknown person, he simply looked ahead into the colorful nothingness.

Backpack moved over and sat down on the other chair, staring ahead into the void. He felt as if he couldn't think, any time he tried to form a thought he was only met with those colors and patterns. Backpack opened his mouth, but before he could even make a noise, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked over to see the other man had put a hand on his shoulder, holding one finger up to his mouth as if to say 'be quiet.'

Backpack closed his mouth and stared ahead, feeling the hand be released from his shoulder. All was quiet in that moment, aside from the gentle static of the radio. Backpack for a moment felt as if a thought was coming to him, a simple memory, a black void, was this it? The mist on the ground felt familiar, but his memory seemed to be different. Before he could get further, a sudden rush of life had hit him like a truck.

"BACKPACK!"

Backpack stared ahead at the familiar grassy floor, his cast gone and hearing intact once more. Soda Bottle rushed over, shaking Backpack as he seemed to be stuck in a trance, unable to being himself back to awareness. Backpacks thoughts of that black void had run away at once, but he could vividly recall that colorful nothingness, that radio, those chairs.

"BACKPACK! BACKPACK ARE YOU OKAY?!"

Soda Bottle continued to shake him. He could see Scenty standing next to Tray, she looked guilty and mortified. Backpack could only fall to his knees as Soda Bottle tried to kept him to snap out of it, snapping his fingers infront of Backpacks eyes to no avail. Backpack would be stuck like this for awhile.

---------

"I was riding home on my bike when it happened."

After thirty straight minutes of nothing, Backpack was finally able to sit down with Soda Bottle and talk. Soda bottle stared at him, looking more concerned than ever. Soda Bottle seemed to think before speaking.

"You said you saw a guy in there?"

Soda Bottle spoke as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing, but the on-edge look Backpack gave him seemed to tell Soda Bottle enough.

"...Yeah."

Backpack nodded a little, pulling his knees up to his chest and holding them there with his arms.

"Did you see anything else...?"

"I was...sitting in an armchair...in a colorful void that stretched out in all directions. My leg felt like nothing but dead weight. The guy there- he was flipping through a radio. I tried to speak but he silenced me. Before I knew it I was back here..."

The two fell silent. Silence filled the conversation for about two minutes before Soda Bottle picked it back up again.

"You know this will be the last time we ever talk to eachother right? I don't know if you heard but its either you or me getting eliminated."

Backpack could only nod. His mind felt as if it had run a race three times over in the middle of winter. He could only hope he would be eliminated. Upon staring at the triangular blades of grass sticking out of the ground, Backpacks thoughts seemed to wander to a much brighter topic than his death and afterlife experience.

"You ever notice how all the grass here is pointing towards the sun?"

The two stared up at the cold sun, they could only wish it gave off the amount of heat the sun back in their world did. Backpack flopped down onto his back, daydreaming about the idea of feeling an actual suns warmth for once, being cold all the time wasn't exactly fun.

"....okay-"

Chapter Text

Waking up at 7:34 had become Bryce's routine for approximately three months now. As soon as the annoying beeping of the alarm began, Bryce opened his eyes and squinted them as he came face to face with the wall. He groaned as the early sunlight filtered through the blinds, temporarily blinding him for only a second as he rolled over to face his tiny apartment, raising a hand up to hit the button on the alarm to silence it. He rose up out of bed, stretching and preparing himself for another possibly annoying work day. Moving over and kneeling down, he opened up the minifridge sitting next to the oven and opened it up, pulling the milk carton out and checking it make sure it hadn't expired. Unfortunately, it had.

After tossing the carton into the trash, he settled for a bowl of dry cereal and a cup of water before heading out of his apartment and heading off towards his workplace. Upon parking his car and stepping outside, he stared at the fast food joint in front of him, Epic Burger. He had to mentally prepare himself to go inside, as he did everyday. And so the work day began, all though for once something new actually happened. As Bryce pulled some fries out of the deep fryer, letting them sit for a moment, one of his co-workers came up to him. Upon being sent to the back, he quickly found out that his salary and work hours had been cut. Of course, this wasn't ideal.

From there the rest of the day seemed to fly by into the night. Bryce had continued working, clocked out, stopped at a bar, and then went home to the best of his ability. upon unlocking his apartment room door and tossing the keys on the small table, he didn't have much of a thought to close the door before he fell straight into his bed, falling into a deep sleep from there to escape the headache he had gained upon driving home.

------

"Hey guys, check it out."

Upon turning their attention to the skies, it seemed as though Airy had summoned a couple of clouds to lay still in the air.

"I made....clouds."

"Oooo I like those clouds!"

Subway Seat started, being joined by Circle and Whippy Creamy as they complimented the clouds. After a minute Airy continued on.

"Alright, now that we got that out of the way. It's time for the next challenge."

Circle took a step back towards Subway Seat, who seemed to want to say something. Suddenly a stone had fallen from the air, bouncing off of Circles head and landing in Subway Seat mouth, promptly choking him. Whippy Creamy instantly started panicking, all though Airy barely seemed to notice. Another rock had fallen, dropping onto Atom, who had been crushed by it. Jeez, there's alot of people being crushed here...

"Your next challenge is to throw your rock into the tub-"

Moldy had already picked up the stone, chucking it into the air and watching as it landed in the tub of water.

"The last team to throw the rock into the tub will be up for elimination. Three. Two. One. Go."

"And Moldy wins immunity for her team."

Moldy sighed, turning back to her teammates with a small shrug.

"This is getting old."

Scenty and her team had settled down in their usual spot. Tray had begun talking about something related to being eliminated. Scenty had joined in with Contact Lens standing quietly beside the other two, listening in.

"Those clouds look nice."

Airline food had been trying and failing to toss the rock into the tub, watching as it landed on the grass. He exhaled and went over, picking it up off the ground before looking up to see Folder sitting there, dormant. Suddenly, a lightbulb seemed to go off in Airline Foods head. He stood up, holding the rock out towards Folder.

"Hey Folder, can you throw this rock for us?"

Folder sprang to life, staring down at Airline food as he began to speak.

"Rock Throwing, specifically directed to another person, is a criminal offense in many countries, and could result in a-"

Airline Food facepalmed as Folder continued to talk about how rock throwing could result in getting sent to jail. Airline food took a few steps back.

"You keep saying these things! Isn't your purpose to help us out? We just need you to-"

"My purpose is to-"

Airline Food only grew more frustrated with Folder. Why couldn't the guy just do stuff instead of talking endlessly about random things they didn't even understand? Airline Food, in a fit of built up rage, tossed the rock at Folder. Folder was silenced as the rock bounced off of him and landed in the tub.

"And Airline Foods team is safe. That means Backpacks Team and Scentys Team are the last to throw their rock into the tub."

Airline Food there with his mouth hanging open. Folder suddenly moved up, towering over him and staring down at him. Airline Food blinked and held his hands up.

"Listen here you. I am your desktop assistant. I am here to assist you with all of your daily computer needs. I've got videos, songs, and can even check the weather. I would appreciate it if you did not throw rocks at me. Do it again and I will personally f-" Woah hey Folder this fic is rated E for Everyone lets not go there...ahem...anyways-

Backpack stared at the ground, his thoughts still on that place he had seen upon his death. Picking up the stone on the ground, he could only think about the notes Stone had given him, he wondered what else that contestant had known. He narrowed his eyes, noticing that the rock almost seemed to be deforming in his hand. Backpack watched as the rock continued to contort, as did the world around him. Backpack tried to move but he was glued to that spot, staring at the rock as it contorted into nothing but jumbled shapes. The world around Backpack faded out into nothing but sticky notes, and he could only see the familiar, distorted face of Stone staring up at him, trying to say something to him, something Backpack couldn't make out. At once the strange distortion had ended, and Backpack was left staring at the rock once more.

Backpack put the rock down with a disturbed look on his face, his hands shaking as he covered his eyes, unable to really do anything else.

Scenty and her team had been practicing a simple form of yoga. Contact Lens had been side-tracked however, staring at Backpack. In a split-second decision he ran over and picked up the rock, tossing it up and into the tub. His teammates quickly started up, with Scenty being confused and angry about what he had just done while Tray seemed more concerned. Contact Lens moved over to Scenty.

"And Contact Lens throws the rock into the tub for their team. That means Backpack is up for elimination this round."

Airy spoke, but his words were barely acknowledged. Scenty crossed her arms, but before she could say anything, Contact Lens interrupted her.

"Scenty. I don't think you've noticed but Backpack needs some support right now."

Scenty leaned back a little, she almost seemed to object before stopping herself, staring over at the poor contestant, who didn't look back at her. She looked back at Contact Lens as he continued speaking.

"You've been so caught up in wanting to leave, have you even acknowledged what he's gone through? I think out of all of us he's having one of the worst times here. I know you've also had a bad time here, and trust me we all feel bad for you...but please...I think you are one of the only people who can atleast understand what's going on with him. Think about it. You didn't even try to save him when he was drowning! Were you only thinking about yourself?!"

Scenty stared at Contact Lens. She seemed to be piecing things together in her head. When it finally clicked, she looked more guilty than ever. Without another word to Contact Lens she walked away, going up to Backpack, who finally looked up at her from the ground.

"Scenty I-"

"You don't deserve to be here Backpack."

"Wh- Scenty no I know what this is its not-"

"You didn't deserve to watch a baby get crushed. You didn't deserve to have your leg broken. You didn't deserve to go basically deaf! You didn't deserve to watch your own teammates get slaughtered over nothing! You didn't deserve to DROWN! I don't know why I ever prioritized myself. I don't know why I didn't help you, I don't know why I didn't help the others. It took me too long to realize this."

Scenty had to wipe tears from her eyes as she continued on.

"I don't want to be here I really don't. But now that I know you'll be sent back home, safe, that's enough to make me happy now. It's- It's not just you. I am not sleeping another day here until I am THE LAST CONTESTANT in this hellish show! And I will make sure that happens."

Backpack stood up, unable to come up with any words to say in response. He took a deep breath and hugged Scenty, who quickly returned the favor.

-------

Backpack and Scenty had been sitting together for awhile. After the emotional air had cleared, the two had begun some small talk to lighten the mood while everyone else did their own thing.

"So what will you do when you get back?"

"I don't know. For as long as I've wanted to leave, I don't have much of an idea of what I'm going to do."

"...If I'm in the right headspace...I'll probably try to figure out what the heck is going on with this place."

Scenty laughed for a moment before she spoke back.

"Hah! I don't imagine you'll get very far with that."

"Why not?"

"You've got nothing to go off of! You really think your going to have any useful information about this place when you get back home?" <

"I dunno it's...just a hunch...no need to get so uptight." <

"I'm just saying. What are you gonna do? interrogate random people? See how far that gets you."

Backpack laughed.

"Don't give me any ideas!"

The two began laughing, it had been a good while since a moment like this had been shared and upkept, it almost felt too good to be true, atleast in Backpacks mind. The two would go on discussing what they would do once they get sent home, mostly Scenty. Even with Scentys words, Backpack was determined to find out just what The Plane and One was about, and hopefully get some answers not just for him, but for everyone else.

Chapter Text

Backpack and Scenty had been sitting together for about three hours discussing what they would do when they got home. Backpack had a solid plan from here, investigate One and The Plane as much as he could. The other contestants just seemed to be idling around. Subway Seat and Whippy Creamy seemed to be discussing something while tray lay motionless on the floor, staring up at the sky. Moldy was propped up against the wooden tub, watching Circle pace around as he seemed to be describing something confusing. Contact Lens was helping Airline Food fish the rocks out of the tub while Atom was probably somewhere. Folder was just being Folder.

"Alright we can-"

Airy started, causing the contestants to glance upwards towards the sky. Before Airy could continue, the sound of faint crunching leaves, twig snapping and cracking of glass could very faintly be picked up, getting louder in an instant. Backpack and Scenty stood up, glancing worriedly at eachother while Contact Lens was pulled up by his feet out of the water to listen in, having basically been used as a really bad fishing rod. The sounds died down after a second.

"....Start the elimination now."

Airy reached down with one hand and gently moved all the contestants into one area, managing to pick Atom up and move them over to sit next to Folder. After a few seconds of silence, Airy began to announce the elimination.

"The person eliminated is-"

Suddenly after a mere two seconds of leaves crunching, the sound of glass shattering followed be an inhuman scream echoed across The Plane. Backpack and the rest of the contestants could only listen on helplessly as Airy seemed to be in pain, screaming and grunting before going silent. The contestants glanced worriedly at eachother, having no idea what just happened.

"....Airy?"

Scenty spoke, all though she got no response. Backpack watched Airline Food climb down from the Tub, dragging Contact Lens with him like a sack as he moved over with an equally worried look. Suddenly it felt as if the group of contestants were so small, probably due to the fact Circle, Folder and Atom had all vanished. Backpack looked to Moldy, who had been with Circle during the elimination, but she just shrugged her shoulders with a disturbed look, staring off into the distance.

Ten minutes of pure silence followed as the contestants stood around, waiting for Airy to return to send Backpack Home. Ten minutes turned into two hours with Backpack sitting on the ground, staring at the grass quietly. Subway Seat and Whippy Creamy had started talking quietly while Tray had pulled her limbs back in, laying as an inanimate tray on the ground. Contact Lens had sat down beside her while Airline Food sat on his own. Backpack looked up towards the distance, noticing how the grass very slightly pointed at an angle towards the cold sun. He stood up and began to walk forward. He could see Scenty in the corner of his eye, watching him s he walked off into the distance. He wasn't being stopped this time.

Backpack continued to walk, the competition area disappearing from view. After a minute he realized that the sky was slowly starting to darken, turning from its odd dull aqua color to a more softer blue before that blue began to darken as the cold sun set into the ground. Backpack continued to walk until the very dim outlines of stars began to make themselves known in the darkening sky. Liam suddenly stopped, he could see the outline of something big in the distance. Upon further inspection he realized there were trees here, actual trees all though their top haves were geometrical similar to the bushes he had seen. The grass was now tilted sideways as he made his way up to the tree line, narrowing his eyes as he tried to see past it, but there were too many trees in the way to really see far. Backpack pushed his way through the bushes, flat leaves crunching under his feet as me moved around the bushes. After a minute of walking he came to a stop, having reached the other side and emerged into a clearing area. The sky was completely dark with glittering stars of various colors hovering overhead. Backpack stepped forward but something crunched under his foot. Looking down he noticed three sticky notes that read out 'ONE', must've been one of Stones notes. Backpack picked them up and stared them away for later before he progressed further, until he came to another dead stop, his mouth hanging open both in fear and surprise. Just up ahead, sitting in one spot in this clear open area.

It was the Batch Three contestants, except Texty seemed to be missing from the bunch, and sitting behind them? a large plug extending its wire infinitely into the sky. Backpack was completely silent, but despite this his presence was immediately noticed by Stone, who stood up and ran over to him. Backpack began to freak out.

"STONE? STONE WHAT IS THIS?? HAS THIS BEEN HERE THE WHOLE TIME?!"

Stone ran up to Backpack and put a hand over his mouth, promptly silencing him after a few seconds of muffled screaming. Stone pointed back over his shoulder at the other batch three contestants, who seemed to be sleeping, atleast as far as Backpack could tell. That was good, atleast he wouldn't run the risk of Abstracty running over and killing him. Backpack took a deep breath and gave Stone a thumbs up, causing the other to remove his hand and take a step back. Backpack exhaled quietly and continued in a whisper.

"Stone....what is this place? Why are we not allowed to go here? What is this plug?"

Backpack knew Stone couldn't answer him directly, and it seemed to frustrate both of them. Stone tried to convey his words through sign language, but Backpack couldn't understand what he was saying. To be honest Backpack was glad to see Stone. Backpack stared at the ground.

"I'm glad to see you again Stone. Do you...know what happened with Airy?"

Backpack looked back up to see Stone staring at him for a few moments, seeming to make a gesture as if to say 'I am glad to see you aswell'. Stone then shrugged, looking a little worried by whatever was going on. Stone then gestured to Backpack and made a sort of arch motion. Backpacks eyes lit up as he unzipped and took out the sticky notes before rezipping.

"Yeah, I still have these."

Stone held his hand out and Backpack handed him the sticky notes. Stone flipped through them before he held his hand back out. Backpack was a little confused. Stone blinked and then scratched one finger against the sticky notes.

"Oh! Yeah I have a pencil."

Backpack reached into his pouch and pulled out of the pencils hat had been given during the sticky note challenge. He handed the pencil to Stone, who thanked him with a small nod before he started erasing and writing new things onto the stick notes, writing something on the back of one sticky note before handing it back to Backpack. Backpack looked down at the sticky note.

'So remember how I said I know everything that will, is and has already happen in the universe?"

Backpack seemed confused, he never remembered Stone saying that. Granted Stone never said anything. He continued reading, having to squint to read the small text, thankfully it was neatly written.

'That's not entirely true. I have a vague idea of what's going on and right now I am just as clueless as you are. Airy took us batch three contestants from our respective worlds to be guards basically. I know you might be thinking 'why would we ever agree to that?' well to put it simply Airy has gotten into the heads of us through some sort of dream stuff. The only reason I got off the hook is because well, I saw the concept of this coming a long time ago. It's also not very strong in some cases. Whenever we acted out Airy would send us back here to 'sleep' some more.'

Backpack looked up from the sticky note at Stone and slowly handed it back, but Stone handed him the whole bunch instead. Backpack nodded and put the sticky notes away aswell as the pencil, taking a moment to process what he had learned.

"What is the plug?"

Backpack pointed at the large plug next to the sleeping contestants. Before Stone could even try and mime an answer, the sound of glass cracking could be heard. The two looked over to see the deformed shape of Abstracty lifting its head up and glancing over in their direction. Stone turned back to Backpack and shoving him back, pointing back towards the tree line. Backpack had only a few seconds as he took off running, disappearing into the forest as the distorted sound of Abstracty rapidly grew near. Backpack looked back over his shoulder just in time to see the abstract jumble of shapes clinging on the sides of trees and bouncing off of clear areas on the floor to charge at him like some sort of strange kangaroo. Backpack jumped and landed on his stomach, landing in one of the bushes off to the side. Abstracty seemed to loose him in the woods, pacing around for a couple of seconds with a disturbing growling noise before it disappeared back off into the brush.

Backpack sighed in relief as he stood up. He knew he couldn't go back to that plug, not with that thing prowling around. Maybe he could come back and see Stone later. He moved back through the trees and made his way back to the competition grounds, being met by Scenty.

"Backpack where did you go?! I saw you wander off!"

Backpack stared at her for a few long moments with a disturbed look on his face before he smiled a little.

"You don't wanna know. Listen lets just....talk for abit okay?"

Scenty looked as if she wanted to say more, but she just nodded and backed off, sensing his unease.

"Alright..."

Chapter Text

Two hours had turned into five months for the contestants on The Plane. In the time of poorly coping with the fact they were stuck in this area, Folder, Circle and Atom had returned to the competition area about three weeks after they vanished, their only response to being missing being that they had simply wandered off. Not everyone could take this answer, but there wasn't much else to go for.

"Take a deep breath, step your right foot forward at a 90 degree angle. Exhale as you bring your hands up into warrior one, and hold this pose. Next, you wanna inhale, bring one hand to the front, one to the back for warrior two, exhale and hold this pose."

Scenty had taken a liking to teaching the batch two contestants how to do yoga. She had found it to be quite a nice distraction from the growing feeling of dread that was beginning to weigh heavily on her. It reminded her of her home, which now seemed so distant in her mind as she observed her students copy her actions to the best of their abilities.

"Scenty! Scenty!"

Scenty opened one eye to see Circle running towards her, coming to a clean stop beside her. Scenty took a deep breath and broke her pose.

"Keep holding warrior two...whatsup?"

Scenty put on her smile as Circle began to talk about the work shift and rallying everyone up to get the last stake out of the ground. Scenty blinked and nodded.

"Yeah I'm almost done. We can call it a shift then. For now you can start by getting Whippy Creamy out of the shed."

"Mhm."

And with that Circle took off back towards the shed the contestants had built, leaving Scenty to go back to her yoga lessons. She turned back to her students, examining the fact Tray looked as if she was about to fall over before continuing.

"Alright, next you want to breathe in...and bring your front hand up..."

Circle had run over to the shed placed not too far away from where Scenty was holding her lessons. Whippy Creamy was inside, sitting on one of the cut up logs and listening to Folder talk about something Circle couldn't understand as he drew closer.

"Everyone stares at Redtail's corpse and Firepaw gets immediately converted to their religion. And then while Firepaw learns about the concept of old people, Bluestar makes Lionheart the new going to be leader of ThunderClan. Tigerclaw quietly throws a tantrum. Just a millisecond later, Firepaw proves he has no idea what he's doing by dragging a ShadowClan cat back to camp. Everyo-"

Circle interjected as Folder continued to speak, getting Whippy Creamys attention with a simple snap of his fingers.

"Hey. Were uprooting the last stakes soon."

Whippy Creamy stared at Circle for a moment before he sighed, sitting up and then getting up onto his feet.

"Okay, Folder can you pause?"

"Certainly!"

Whippy Creamy clapped his hands together, rubbing them a little as Circle moved away. Meanwhile, Scenty had since finished her yoga lesson. She seemed pretty proud of her students for getting this far.

"Alright shifts over! Subway, do you wanna mark it down this time?"

"Sure."

Subway carefully lifted himself up off of the ground using his hands. Whippy Creamy had helped him learn this trick to get around easier and while he wasn't the best at it, he was still happy he could move around without having to slide against the floor. He moved over to the tub of water, going back behind it and glancing at the various cuts in the wood as he made his way over to the sharp-ended stick, settling down and picking it up.

"How was your shift Atom?"

Subway asked as he edged another line into the wood, setting the stick back down and turning himself to face the mere atom.

"It was good. I floated in the pool a bit."

"Grass?"

"Oh yeah, sorry..."

Atom moved over and picked up one of the triangular blades of grass, holding it up and moving it as they spoke.

"Where's everybody going now?"

"They gotta get the last stake out for more wood."

"Oh."

After the small exchange, Atom had moved away, leaving Subway Seat alone for the time being. Suddenly about a cups worth of water was dropped onto Subway Seat, startling him. He looked up to see Contact Lens peering down at him from the top of the tub.

"Sorry..."

Subway Seat sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

"It's alright....Anyways- Shifts actually over Contact! They need your help getting the last stake out!"

Contact Lens pulled himself up and out of the tub of water, slipping right off the edge and landing ontop of Subway Seat, bouncing right off of him and onto the ground. Contact Lens got up onto his feet, rubbing his head with a stiff sigh.

"You know we have a ladder right...? You don't need to throw yourself off the side every time."

Subway Seat couldn't help but chuckle a little, despite the fact he was cold and soaking wet, aswell as the fact he had just been hit by Contact Lens, he couldn't help but laugh most of it off.

"I know its just more fun that way."

"Tell me that again when your leg breaks or you hit someone and crush them.."

"Oh stop! I'm too lightweight to crush anyone!"

"Atom."

It was nice to exchange some lighthearted banter every once and awhile and have a few laughs. Contact Lens shook himself dry before continuing, his expression twisted a little to look somewhat curious and serious.

"Anyways- Did we get everyone?"

Subway Seat shrugged, looking back towards the other gathering contestants.

"I think we are missing Moldy and Backpack."

Contact Lens kicked at one of the triangular grass blades, watching it tip over with ease.

"Where even is she? I checked her usual spot once or twice while I was swimming around but she wasn't there."

Subway Seat looked back at Contact Lens, a little surprised by this news. Moldy had confined herself to one spot beside the tub as her mold only got worse. She would try to be friendly but lately she had been getting more irritable and snappy. Scenty had been keeping her company for a few weeks after Airy vanished, but Moldy had eventually just stopped responding to her.

"I don't know honestly. She will probably show up later."

Backpack stood silently, staring upwards at the triangular leaves attached to equally jagged branches. Something about this area had just kept him coming back. He had tried to visit Stone again but got warned to stay away as Abstracty had only gotten more and more aggressive each time it awoke from its slumber, eventually reaching a point where it was too dangerous for Backpack to even step near the area. He was playing a dangerous game just being here. To keep anyone else from possibly loosing their life, he had said for the others to stay away from the woods due to natural predators, despite how unnatural The Plane was on it's own. This half-lie wouldn't last forever, but he hoped it would last long enough before someone got permanently killed being curious.

"Hey."

Backpack finally took his eyes off of the canopy of triangles and squares to look back over his shoulder, seeing Moldy standing there. She didn't look good at all. Her mold had grown exponentially, covering about forty percent of her body with some fungus growing from the nick in her head. She seemed to be struggling to breathe a little and her good eye was half closed. Backpack wondered why she was out here of all places, especially after his warnings all that time ago.

"What are you doing out here?"

He asked, turning to face her as she shrugged.

"I should be asking you first. Why were you just standing there staring up at the sky like that?"

"...I guess-"

Backpack turned his attention back to the canopy and too the bits of the night sky he could see in the small gaps between the leaves and branches. An idle breeze had come by, causing the branches to rustle and a couple of leaves to fall from their respective places, landing on the ground. Backpack could see why Airy had placed the Batch Three contestants here to sleep, the area just felt so natural compared to everything else.

" I'm just daydreaming...people always talk about how the forests make them feel at home. Granted I grew up in San Francisco so it's not THAT natural to me. Well I mean I did live in an area with trees and all of that nature stuff but- ah well-..."

"No I get it. It feels natural."

Moldy had moved forward and stood beside Backpack, copying his position as she looked up to the various branches and leaves. She gave a small chuckle as she continued talking, her voice just a little quieter than before.

"Well, it's not completely natural but hey, it's something."

Backpack could only smile a little at the comment left by Moldy. He had come out here often just to sit and daydream about his life back in San Francisco. He wished the sun could rise on this side of The Plane so he could see just a little better, but at this rate his eyes had almost completely naturally adjusted to the darkness. Sometimes he found himself counting the stars, seeing how many of one color he could pick out, so far blue had the most.

"...I have to ask though. What is that long thing sticking up into the air past the trees? Is it some sort of tower or something?

Backpack stiffened, blinking quickly. He had forgotten the plugs wire could probably be seen from a certain distance away. He opened his mouth to speak but couldn't get any words out until a few seconds later.

"I'm not...sure. I don't want to venture too far out into the woods and be eaten by something."

Moldy stared at him with her one good eye for a long moment, almost as if she was trying to analyze him to see if he was lying. She then shrugged with a small dismissive 'hmm' before looking away.

"That's fair."

"Anyways. I heard Circle muttering something about getting the last stake out of the ground awhile ago. I think they are planning on doing that now. They might be looking for us."

Backpack had forgotten about the plan to get the stakes out of the ground. He watched Moldy walk back towards the way she came, looking over her shoulder to see if he would follow her.

"You coming?"

Backpack nodded and trailed after Moldy as they carefully moved back through the woods and emerged back into the grassland once more. As they drew closer to the competition grounds, Moldy made one more comment before she split off.

"Try not to get too caught up in your daydream sessions, you might loose track of what's real."

Backpack watched her walk off towards the other contestants, being greeted by Scenty as she started talking and apologizing for being distant. Backpack watched from a distance, letting her words sink in. He glanced down at the ground, blinking slowly before he began to move over to join the ground to help uproot the last stake.

Chapter Text

Hello Hello, it is I, the creator of the HFJONE Traumatized Numen AU...back from the dead. Consider this chapter as little breather ey? Alright lets get into this. I will be answering some probably not asked questions and giving a tiny bit of feedback, this chapter will also be a QNA chapter so you can ask questions (lore related questions can be avoided, mainly huge spoiler ones)

Question Number 1: Is Traumatized Numen AU Cancelled?

Answer: Nop! Ive just been busy and have forgotten to check in on it

Question Number 2: When will it be back?

Answer: Probably within the time frame of a week to a few weeks, I gotta reread the whole thing (cringes) and get it all settled

Question Number 3: Tumblr blog?

Answer: not dead

Question Number 4: Will hit goals still be a thing?

Answer: Yes but they will matter alot less

Question Number 5: Moldy?

Answer: Im working on it.

Chapter Text

So incase you havent noticed by the title change....yeah this AU got canned

It was fun for awhile but slowly I just kind of got out of HFJONE and also I COULDNT REMEMBER WHAT THE AU WAS EVEN ABOUT AFTER LIKE- A LITTLE BIT??? IT WAS WEIRD

So, heres where it stops, pats your head.

The AU blog will also be dead but itll stay up for whatever you might wanna ask- same for here! I can drop lore details without dying now! Hooray!!!

Chapter Text

Hey

wanna see this get remade?

I got you! https://www.tumblr.com/hfjonetnau