Leafy blinked as the sunrise woke her up. She yawned, stretched, smiled a huge smile, then leapt to her feet. Despite the dead grass and half-burnt trees, it was a beautiful day outside. She could see Flower blooming across the field, her petals automatically unfolding to soak up the sun. "Good morning, everyone!" the lemon leaf called out cheerfully to the rest of the Losers. "It's time to start the day!"

"Already? Really?" Coiny complained. He was lying on his back. He flopped his arms once, then gave up. "Yeah, I'm not getting up."

Pin, who was already up, giggled. "Come on, silly!"

She knelt down to grab Coiny's hand, but he used his feet to push himself away, sliding across the burnt grass. "Catch me if you can!" he called out, quickly scooting away on his back much faster than the others though he could.

"Get back here!" Pin chased after him.

Leafy watched them for a moment, then glanced around at the others. Firey had gotten up but was already walking away. Needle looked like she was still asleep, while Eggy and Cake were just exiting their slumbers. And Clock was lying on the ground several feet away from the others. Even though it had been a few weeks since he finally got recovered, he was still sulking about being forgotten.

Leafy was considering going to talk to him when she heard a loud crunch come from behind her. She whirled around to see a startled Cake screaming at a giant jawbreaker that had crushed Eggy. Yellow yolk was splattered all over the ground, the jawbreaker, and Cake himself. Leafy rushed over, reaching them the same time that Needle did.

"What happened?" Needle asked.

"I- I don't know!" Cake seemed to have calmed some, but still looked on edge. "This enormous jawbreaker just fell out of the sky and killed Eggy!"

"Weird." Leafy inspected the jawbreaker and noticed that it was inside out. She had seen this before... but where?

Movement caught her eye. She turned to see iance, the team closest to them, crowding around two tall, wooden objects. One had a red top and the other, a pink one. Match and Pencil? Leafy thought. I thought those two got eliminated...

Looking around at other teams, she saw that each team was whole again (excluding BEEP) - they all had their previously eliminated teammates returned to them. Wait, Leafy realized. That means...

"Hey, what's this?" Needle interrupted Leafy's train of thought, grabbing a note that was stapled to the jawbreaker. "Dear contestants," she read out loud. However, she got no farther, as the jawbreaker promptly exploded and blasted her into the dirt. A figure stepped out of the sugary rubble.

"Oh my bakery! LOSER!" Cake shouted.

Loser hugged him. "Good to see you, Cake," he said in his old man voice. "The same goes for the rest of you Losers."

In the distance, Clock sat up. "Oh, hooray," he said sarcastically. "Loser's back. Whoopee." Then he flopped back onto the grass.

Loser looked concerned. "What's up with him?"

"Oh. Uhhh..." Cake was suddenly very interested at looking at his feet.

Leafy picked up the note that Needle dropped. "I'll tell you later. For now, I want to know what's going on, with all the eliminated contestants returning." She cleared her throat. "Dear contestants..."

--------------------

"...I know that episode 16 was supposed to happen today," Balloony read out loud to the rest of his teammates. "But something urgent was happening back at the Algebra Playground, and X and I needed to go make sure everything was ok." He paused. "What's the algebra playground?" he wondered.

"I dunno," Nickel replied.

"Me neither," Cloudy said. "But remember those swings from episode 3? I remember seeing the words 'Equation PGD' on them. Perhaps that's where Four is from?"

Balloony thought about it. "Yeah, but I've never heard of a place on Earth called the Equation Playground."

"Keep going, Balloony." This was from Nickel.

The airhead found the line he had left off at. "So because we will be gone for a few days..."

--------------------

"...episode 16 will not happen for a couple more days." Fries lowered the paper. "Man, that sucks. I was looking forward to the next contest! Whatever that might have been."

"Eh." Eraser shrugged. "I was getting a bit bored, actually."

"You're always bored," Marker pointed out.

Fries decided to continue. "Instead..."

--------------------

"...I chose to let the eliminated contestants roam around for a bit while we're gone." Gelatin snorted. "We saw that, alright. It's gonna be a while before I forgive you for trying to burn me, Firey Jr."

"Hey! You guys deserved it for belittling me!" Firey Jr. complained.

"Calm down, Jr," Barf Bag said kindly. He harrumphed and crossed his arms.

--------------------

"In addition to the former Exitors," Tree read out loud to Death PACT, stealing a glance at Liy as he did so, "I have arranged something with Loser. He will be hosting a party for everyone at the mansion."

"What mansion?" Pillow asked.

At that moment, a large, two-story mansion materialized next to Gabop (or Bleh, or eight-names-at-once, or whatever the heck you like to call that team). As it appeared a few feet above the ground, it then fell to the ground, landing with a resounding whump that shook the earth and crushed Gaty. "Ohhh. That mansion."

"Aaaaand Gaty is dead!" Bottle announced cheerfully.

Pen groaned. "Yeah, we saw."

--------------------

"Is that everything?" Golf Ball demanded.

"No, there's more," Blocky responded. GB snatched the note from him. "Hey, give that back!"

Golf Ball read it, ignoring him. "The party will start at 7 o'clock tonight, and it will go for several hours. Ask Loser if you want to know more details. DON'T enter the mansion before the party, and make sure you're not in there when time's up!"

"Oh, so this is a contest?" Basketball asked.

Grassy threw his arms into the air. "Grassy LOVES contests!"

"Probably not. I think Four just likes time limits," 8-Ball theorized.

Golf Ball grunted and let Blocky take the paper back. "Well, I say that a party is a frivolous waste of time."

Tennis Ball opened his mouth to say something to GB, but got distracted by Pin and Coiny passing by. Pin was still chasing Coiny, who was still pushing himself along the grass with his feet. They were both laughing hysterically.

Blocky took the opportunity to continue reading the note. "One more thing..."

--------------------

Snowball lifted the paper away from Ruby's grabbing hands. "...since I'm gone, I won't be able to re... rec... recov..." He groaned in frustration. "I can't read that word."

Fanny sighed and glanced at the paper. "It says 'recover,' you dimwit!"

"Yeah, whatever." SB kept going. "I won't be able to recover any of you. Overnight, I did recover all of your teammates that died in previous episodes. But don't die again!"

Everyone on iance looked over to where Gaty had been squished by a corner of the mansion, then back at Bubble. The soapy sphere backed away from Flower and Snowball. "Uh, anyone got Yoyleberries?"

"I think, like, Pin might have still have some Yoyleberry seeds from BFDIA," Match said. She and Pencil were leaning against each other.

"Good idea!" Pencil raised her finger and stepped away from Match, causing the woodsicle to fall over with an oof. "I'll go tell Pin to give us some Yoyleberry seeds later. But right now, I want to go visit Loser!"

Match stood up with the speed of lightning (the natural kind, not the character). "Ooh! Me too, Pence-Pence! Let's go!"

They walked off together, with Ruby and Flower trailing behind. Bubble was about to follow when Snowball said, "Hey, Bubble."

She jumped a bit. "What?"

"Have you seen Lightning?"

Bubble thought. "Not that I can remember. But didn't Four's letter say that everyone was recovered?"

"Yeah," Fanny agreed. "But I haven't seen him either."

"Huh. I wonder where he is?"

--------------------

"Anything else?" Saw asked.

Taco took one last look at the paper, making sure to not shake off the tiny Ice Cube, who was sitting on her head. "Besides Four's signature, that's it, I think." She checked the back for anything she may have missed.

"Are you guys going to go?" Book asked.

Lollipop ignored her, but Saw didn't. "I'm definitely gonna go. I'm excited!" She repeatedly hopped from one leg to the other, giddy. "I've never been to a party before! This is going to be so much FUN!"

"I suppose I'm looking forward to attending," Lollipop said, directing herself at Saw instead of Book. "I'm not the biggest fan of Loser, but I've never been able to pass up an opportunity to go to a party. Tacoy, does it say anything about free food?"

Taco looked at her strangely. "Oh, wait, you mean actual free food, not the team. No, Four's letter doesn't mention it. But Loser knows the details." She folded up the note and stuck it inside her shell for safekeeping. "I think I also want to go."

"I've GOT to join!" Ice Cube agreed. Teardrop gave a thumbs up.

Book sighed. "Well, looks like I'm not wanted here." 'Head' hanging low, Book trudged away from the rest of her team. Taco almost said something to her as she passed, but hesitated for too long.

"You've got to talk to her someday," Icy said. Taco just nodded.

Book kept going until she reached the Losers, but Pin wasn't there. She turned to see a round, metal object sliding across the ground in her direction at high speed. "Coming through!" it shouted.

Book leapt back to avoid getting tripped by Coiny, who chuckled maniacally and kept scooting away.

Pin paused next to Book to pant heavily. "Hello, Book. Don't mind Coiny, he's just being Coiny. What's up?"

Book sighed. "Oh, you know, the usual."

Pin glanced over at Gabop. "Hmm. You should definitely talk to Taco when you get a chance. But, if you want to hang out with us for a while, I'd be happy to have your company."

Book smiled. "Thanks."

"First, however, we have to catch that coin creature!"

Pin broke into a run and Book chased after the duo, grinning.

--------------------

"Look at them," Donut said to Gelatin, almost condescendingly. He was indicating the large group of contestants and Exitors alike that surrounded Loser, fawning over him like he was some sort of god. "It's crazy. You'd think that the eliminated contestants at least would get tired of him, seeing as how they've been with him for a while now, but noooooo."

"Eh, he's not too bad," Gelatin shrugged.

"Well, I still don't get why they like him so much, even after he lied to us in episode 7," Donut complained. "Like, come on!"

"Calm down, Cherry D! It's not that big of a deal." Gelatin leaned on Donut. "Anyway, I take from your very vocal opinion on Loser that you're not attending the party."

"Actually, I think I will. I like parties - I'll probably just avoid him."

"Really? Awesome!" Gelatin pumped his fist. "We can be the Jelly Duo! Crashing parties all across Goiky!"

Donut sighed. "We're not even- you know what? Yeah. Sure."

"I'm gonna go see if I can convince Barf Bag to come!" Gelly rushed off, leaving Donut to observe the Loser-centric crowd on his own.

Suddenly, Donut noticed something. A familiar-looking book was sitting next to Loser on the ground. "Hey!" he yelled.

The Loser Fan Club stopped and looked at the jelly donut as he walked over to the lopsided cuboid. Donut pushed through the fanatics and snatched up his old diary with gusto. "That's MINE!" he said angrily.

"Hey, don't steal from Loser!" Remote pointed at Donut accusingly, as if he were the culprit instead.

"Yeah!" the general crowd agreed.

"Now, hold on," Loser said, holding his hands out and instantly shushing everyone. "That book is, in fact, Donut's. He just happened to leave it in the jawbreaker with me back in episode 7, when I got eliminated."

"You didn't read it, did you?" Some of Donut's anger had been replaced with worry.

Loser scoffed. "Oh, PSH. I would never read someone else's private property!"

"Phew." Donut was relieved. Feeling a bit awkward now, with several pairs of eyes watching him, he slipped out of the crowd as quickly as he could and walked away.

It wasn't until he was back with the rest of his team that Donut noticed the various colored post-it notes sticking out from his diary.

--------------------

Lightning flew faster than he ever had before. Unwillingly as it may have been, he was reaching speeds that only Four could compete with. Yet, he would not reach his destination for several hours.

The charged bolt of energy fought against what was controlling his mind, and fought hard, but with no result. The binding on his brain was just too much for him. He had his targets, with nothing he could do to stop himself from, well, targeting them.

By late night, Lightning would reach the competing grounds of BFB. And then the fun would truly begin.

Yeah, that last part was probably a bit too melodramatic, but I'm a sucker for that stuff lol

Anyway new book! I know I'm in the middle of IDFB:C, but this has been in the back of my mind for a while and I wanted to try it out. I'm not completely sure of the direction this is gonna take - it might be a straight storyline, or it could be a mix of that and maybe oneshots or something - but I'm excited to see what it evolves into. Hope y'all enjoy it!