"So... now what?"

Pen's words from half an hour ago echoed in Donut's head. Nobody had spoken again since then, but the five of them had silently and unanimously agreed that they needed a little bit of time to process everything that had happened. Well, the four of them - Lollipop was out cold at the time, too exhausted to stay awake after Loser's brutal onslaught against her shield.

It appeared now, though, that she was finally awake, even though she didn't look very rested. Donut sighed as he stood up and walked towards the others as they congregated, his eyes meandering about the fields as he did so.

He barely even remembered competing in BFDIA; his time there had been so short. The plains were somehow even flatter than the BFB contesting grounds, with the grass being a much lighter shade of green. There were almost no trees or structures around; in fact, the only things visible in the area besides the contestants were the old contest wheel and elimination area, as well as the Evil Forest way, way to the north. The platforms on which the host would stand when performing Cake At Stake were crumbling with age, and the seats for the contestants in danger had mold growing on some parts. It'd been years since any living thing had resided in the area.

After a slow moment, he met up with the others and sat down with them. An uneasy silence settled over the small group for a minute, before Lollipop stated, "Well?"

"Well, what?" Needle glanced at the candy.

"Well, are we going to figure out what we're doing next, or are we just going to sit here like a bunch of idiots?"

Pen spread his hands in the air. "Where do we even begin on that front?"

Donut sighed. "We need to stop Loser. Stop him from... killing everyone else over there, I guess."

"But how?"

That was the part nobody had figured out yet.

Rubbing her forehead, Needle glanced over at Donut. "Donut... I..." She sighed deeply. "I want to apologize for... not listening to you earlier. Or, I guess, not you per se, but just not listening in general back in episode 7. You were one of several others to be the first to see Loser for what he really was back then. I was still entranced by his popularity and..." She buried her face in her hands. "Jeez, I feel terrible."

"Hey," Pen replied softly. "It's alright. You weren't the only one."

"Yeah, but... how did so many of us not-"

"I think I get it now," Donut interrupted. "Of course, I've been extra biased against Loser after he stole and read through my diary, but I think I know why so many of you guys continued to trust Loser, even after that lie in episode 7. 'It was just one little lie, right?' Well, maybe. But I think you guys just missed a point, the point being this: if Loser had lied about the poppers to seem popular, then... what other things had he lied about to gain our trust?"

It was silent for a bit. "At least now we know he was hiding psychopathic tendencies," Lollipop snorted derisively. "Would've been useful to have learned that earlier. But that still brings us back to my original question: what the heck are we doing next?"

"Let's try starting with the abilities we know Loser already has." Needle started to count off on her fingers. "He can't be killed; he has at least two different methods of killing others; he can manipulate gravity, air, water, earth, and possibly fire, if Match didn't get away in time; he can go invisible... he has super... strength..."

She faltered. With each point she made, it was becoming clearer and clearer just how much trouble they were all in. "So it's basically impossible to stop him already. Wonderful," muttered Lollipop.

"Hey, d-don't think like that!" stuttered Pen, trying to stay somewhat optimistic. "What d-do we have? I can make doorways to places. Donut can read minds and has telekinesis. Lollipop can make indestructible barriers. Needle...? I don't know what you can do. You were in the mansion when it collapsed, right?"

"Yeah, I was. I can move through mirrors into this weird dimension Golf Ball calls the mirror... realm..." Her eyes lit up as an idea struck her. "...and I can take others with me! GB and TB discovered that when we were experimenting together with my powers. We also discovered that it's impossible to leave the realm without me! I can trap Loser inside!"

"That's great!" Pen exclaimed, his eyes lighting up as well. "How do you do that?"

"I... oh." The hope on her face was suddenly extinguished. "I can only take others with me... if I make contact with them."

"...and if you make contact with Loser, then he can just take your power and strand you in the mirror realm," Lollipop finished.

Once again, silence settled upon them heavily.

"If Donut maintains contact with Needle, Donut could use his telekinesis to move Loser through a mirror," Bomby piped up.

The other four looked at him in surprise. He'd been so quiet since they'd arrived at the old contesting grounds, they'd almost forgotten he was there. Bomby looked at their faces and blinked. "I mean," he backpedaled, "maybe. It's just a thought."

Donut thought about it. "Would that really work?"

"Only one way to find out."

"But we don't even have a mirror."

"Leave that to me," Pen volunteered, before uncapping himself and drawing a quick doorway on the ground. It solidified in the blink of an eye and he jumped through. A few minutes later, he returned with a mirror as tall as him in tow. "Got one," he grunted. "Yellow Face's warehouse has so much stuff in it."

"Yellow Face? Urgh." Lollipop shuddered. "If this wasn't such a dire situation, I wouldn't want anything to do with that vile salesman."

The writing utensil propped the mirror on the ground, steadying it from behind. "Ready."

Needle placed her hand on Donut's shoulder, then glanced around to look for objects to lift. "Uh, Bomby? Lollipop? Either of you want to-"

"No thanks." Lollipop.

"I'll do it." Bomby.

The pastry nodded and raised his right hand, which in turn, lifted Bomby into the air. Gently - he didn't want to hurt his friend by throwing him into the mirror if their plan didn't work - Donut sent the explosive towards the reflective surface. Closer and closer, inch by inch, until-

He slid right through as if the surface was no more than air.

Needle gripped Donut's shoulder tightly in surprise. "Oh- oh my needle factory- it worked!" she exclaimed excitedly. A wave of relief washed over Donut and the others. Their idea might actually be a viable one.

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

BFB contesting grounds, fifteen minutes later

The patio in front of the bathroom buildings. A well-known location, and often the gathering place for contestants to hang about; once, it was even the site of various Cake At Stake ceremonies.

The door on the right of the shed-sized building slowly creaked open. A tan-colored object poked outside, furtively looking at their surroundings before retreating.

"What's it look like out there?" Needle asked Donut as he closed the door. The inside of the room had a few sinks and two stalls, as well as a very out-of-place doorway on one wall. The edges fluctuated slightly, and on the other side was a green, grass-filled field, Bomby standing some way away from the entrance.

Donut sighed and massaged his forehead. "Not great. There's a pit dug out - or, I suppose, probably earthbended out (earthbent? idk) - right in front of the patio, and I saw several objects trapped in there. There were some... corpses around the edge of the pit, so I guess it took a bit for Loser to corral the survivors in there. Loser was watching over the pit, but he had his back turned, so he didn't see me."

"That's horrible." Needle gulped. "Did you see Fries, Naily, or Pillow?"

"No, thankfully. I didn't see them anywhere, alive or dead."

The sewing implement blinked and breathed out a sigh of hopeful relief. For it would have been bad for them if Loser had gotten ahold of any of the aforementioned objects' abilities; Naily's teleportation may allow him to escape them, Fries' amplification would increase the powers he already had tenfold, and Pillow's future-telling would have made it completely impossible to sneak up on him.

Lollipop walked into view on the other side of the portal. "Pen's all set up," she informed. "It's ready."

Needle and Donut looked at each other and simultaneously nodded. It was time.

As quickly and as quietly as they could, they exited through the bathroom's door and closed it behind them, before taking a couple steps to the side. "Hey, Loser!" Donut shouted.

Loser whipped his head around, startled, searching for the source of the voice. "Over here!" Donut called out again. "Yeah, we're talking to you, you liar cube!"

The liar cube in question finally saw them. Smiling, he started to slowly walk towards the duo. Donut and Needle proceeded to do the same, stepping backwards as to go around the right side of the building. "Is that as fast as you can go?" Needle jeered. "I can crawl faster than that!"

An annoyed expression flickered across Loser's face and he began walking faster. The other two matched his pace. They passed the back edge of the bathroom building, and Donut almost glanced to the side, but Needle whispered to him, "Don't look there. It'll only attract his attention."

He subtly nodded before choosing to call out their foe once more. "Come on, slowpoke! At the rate you're going, you almost look like you're scared of us!"

Loser was sufficiently pissed off by now. Without moving his right arm, he casually transformed it into Blocky's laser cannon. A clear threat. "Now?" Donut whispered."

"Almost..."

They stopped several feet away from Loser, and he halted as well, right at the edge of the bathroom's back wall. "Not close enough," Donut cursed.

With an air of smugness, Loser began to raise his arm gun, but Needle yelled, "Oh, really? You're just going to shoot us from a distance? Come here and fight us face-to-face, you coward!"

The former celebrity glared at her, but she had struck a nerve. Almost reluctantly - although he didn't show it - Loser turned his arm back and began to close the distance between them. About halfway, Needle suddenly shouted, "NOW!"

Loser jumped, a bit startled, and took a split second to swiftly look around, in case there were any other objects around, waiting to ambush him. There weren't, but something shiny caught his eye. He turned to look at the bathroom's back wall, where there was a full-length mirror.

Now, let me explain.

Donut and Needle obviously wanted to lure Loser to the back of the building. But what Loser hadn't known was that Pen, a couple minutes ago, had created a small doorway on the back wall, one just big enough for him to fit the mirror through sideways. He then rested the mirror against the wall in a way that would both work for what Donut and Needle needed to do, and also cover the doorway that he'd made.

Like most of the other objects - Golf Ball had told several others what she'd learned from experimenting with their abilities - he knew that Needle could walk through mirrors like they were portals. But, as he didn't know what Donut and Needle combined could do, he was understandably confused as to why exactly there was a mirror on the back wall. Did Needle plan to ram him through it? Because that was a stupid idea. One touch, and he could trap her in there.

He became even more confused (again, understandably) when Donut grabbed Needle's arm with one hand and began to lift the cuboid into the air with his other limb. But despite his confusion, Loser decided he'd had enough of whatever charade his opponents were playing and decided to activate his own rules.

Once Loser was in the air, Donut took a single second to make sure he was lined up with the mirror before extending his hand forwards with as much strength as he could muster. Loser was suddenly telekinetically flying towards the portal at quite a speed, adding to his bewilderment even more. But the last thing Loser did before passing through the glassy surface was thrust out his own arm and then immediately yank it back to his chest, closing his fist as he did so.

Needle suddenly felt her body flying through the air, mysteriously being pulled along at Loser's mental command. Donut, who had been holding onto her arm, instinctively tightened his grip when he felt a tug, but the mysterious force pulling Needle was strong enough to also yank him off his feet. "What-!" he exclaimed.

Although Loser had already slid though the mirror's reflective surface and was no longer actively doing anything, Donut and Needle had more than sufficient kinetic energy to continue soaring through the air and straight towards the back wall. Before either of them really knew what was happening, they both vanished into the mirror.

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

The mirror realm

Loser emerged on the other side before the others, slamming into the ground and rolling a couple dozen feet before unceremoniously falling flat on his face. Needle and Donut came through a second later, coming to a halt after only sliding ten feet or so.

The first to get up, albeit extremely disoriented, was Donut. He was partially thrown off by whatever Loser had done, but also by the uniquely unusual properties of the mirror realm. For reasons undecipherable, he couldn't feel the ground when he was getting up, or after standing up. The pastry gingerly touched his hands together, but he couldn't feel those, either. It was utterly unnerving.

He suddenly remembered what had happened and looked around frantically. Everything, for miles and miles around, was white, with the ground being slightly off-white. It stretched endlessly into the horizon, occasionally being broken up by rectangular windows or blotches of haze in the air. Behind stood a doorway which gave a view into Goiky; next to him, Needle had just finished standing up; and ahead, Loser was getting to his feet. "Come on, let's get out of here!" Donut grabbed Needle's arm and raced away from Loser, towards their exit.

He did not feel Needle being ripped out of his grip, and had he not happened to have glanced behind him, he altogether wouldn't have noticed. Several dozen feet away, Loser had his hands outstretched and was somehow pulling Needle towards him, who was struggling helplessly in the air.

"No!" Donut cried. Thinking fast, he threw out his own hands and desperately grabbed for Needle. His telekinesis halted the sewing implement's progress midair, approximately halfway between the circle and the cuboid. They were, for the moment, at a standstill.

The jelly-filled pastry grunted with exertion as he fought to keep Needle away from Loser's grasp. "How... how are you doing that?" he asked between breaths.

Loser chuckled. "Simple." It was the first word he had spoken since the encounter outside the bathrooms. "Gelatin's ability allows him to control magnetic fields, doesn't it? And Needle's made of metal..."

It took a second, but Donut visibly flinched as the realization that Loser had absorbed Gelatin's power hit him. He lost his concentration for a split second and Needle jerked a foot closer to Loser. But he shook his head and pulled harder, now fueled by anger. Slowly, but surely, he managed to inch Needle closer and closer to himself.

Unfortunately, Loser realized this as well. Changing tactics, the cuboid began to walk towards Needle, closing the distance much quicker than his magnetism was. Donut nearly panicked and quickly directed one hand to pushing Loser backwards, while still having his other hand focus on Needle. It was working - Loser looked like he was moonwalking as he tried to fight against Donut's mind-over-matter. Once again, Needle drew closer to Donut.

Loser actually growled aloud. Rapidly switching tactics a second time, he, too, gave one of his hands a different job. Donut nearly leapt out of his skin as he suddenly saw a wave of flame emerge from Loser's palm and wash in his direction. He diverted his energy in one hand from pulling to pushing, and barely managed to stop the fire inches from his face with a mental barrier, forcing the firestorm away.

Loser must have taken Match's powers after she and Pencil erased Pen's doorway, he thought glumly. Then: I might not be able to feel this heat now, but my face is definitely going to be toasted when I get out of here.

...if I get out of here.

Once again, the two objects were in a deadlock. Each had one hand trying to pull Needle towards himself, but while Loser was focusing flame to shoot out of his other hand, Donut was concentrating on not being burnt alive by using his other hand.

It wouldn't last for long, however. Even though Donut was apparently stronger when using two hands for telekinesis, Loser had the upper hand (haha) when using only one arm to pull Needle. She slowly began to gravitate towards Loser, as hard as Donut tried to keep her on his side. On top of that, Loser had started to leisurely stroll to Needle again, but Donut couldn't move backwards any further - he already had his back to the gateway leading to Goiky.

"Why are you doing this?" Donut shouted over the roaring of the inferno. With nothing else working, perhaps reason would prevail. "You already have way more power than any of us! Why try and take more?"

"Oh, Donut." Loser shook his head, smirking. "Once you've had a taste of power, it's hard to go back. I don't know how any of you have resisted the urge to... to just rule over those who are powerless. And besides..." His expression darkened. "I don't need all this power just for personal gain. I'm surprised you haven't put the pieces together yet."

"Huh?"

"Lightning disappearing, then reappearing later at the party? Us mysteriously getting powers? How did that happen?? The only explanation I can think of is that they're responsible. If it's true, then I'm also gathering these abilities to fight against... well, you know who I'm talking about."

"No, I don't!!"

"Yes, you DO!" Loser was visibly frustrated. "I'm almost certain that it's them behind this. Bomby, and..."

A thought struck Donut, and he finally understood what Loser was talking about. Bomby's terrible secret. But he had learned of those events years ago; old news. Surely, they hadn't happened yet... had they?

"Donut, you're slipping!" Needle shouted. With a start, he realized that he was, indeed, slipping. He shook his head and refocused his concentration. But Loser had made good progress, and was close to reaching Needle. "Come on!" she yelled again through clenched teeth. "Hit him where it hurts!"

Where it hurts... Donut repeated in his mind.

In his mind.

Of course! He would have facepalmed if he had a free hand. Telekinesis was only one of his powers. Being very careful to keep most of his concentration focused on his hands, he physically reached inside Loser's mind and rummaged around inside. Come on, come on. There has to be SOMETHING in here I can use against y-

He flinched as he came across a very recent memory, paired with a wave of guilt so powerful it almost broke his concentration. It had been messily tacked down by other emotions, but it was enough. It would have to be.

"Hey! Loser!" he shouted across the void and through the crackling of the flames. Loser paused mid-stride. Donut continued, "You do realize that your reputation is completely ruined, right? Nobody will ever like you again!"

Loser laughed, contempt dripping from his voice. "You think that matters to me anymore? Why be famous and loved, when you can have power? Looming future threats aside, I don't need people to bow down to me of their own will, when I can make them do it. I don't need anyone to like me now."

"Not even Cake?"

The effect of this simple question on Loser was immediate. He flinched so hard that he stumbled backwards and nearly tripped on his own feet. A memory from about an hour ago resurfaced, so recent that the fragile walls of composure he had attempted to build up around it immediately crumbled to the amount of raw guilt it contained. His betrayal towards his best friend.

~ He calmly strolled over to Cake, poor Cake, who was still frozen in place from shock. The bodies of various objects were littered around the field. Many others had survived and fled, but Loser wouldn't worry about them just yet.

The cuboid reached the chocolate pastry and gently laid a hand on his 'shoulder,' carefully extracting the power of death from him. "Cake..." he said softly. "I-"

Light suddenly returned to Cake's eyes, and he flinched away from Loser's grasp. "L-leave me alone, y-you... you m-MONSTER," he spat, tears forming, before turning and sprinting away as fast as his legs would carry him.

Loser nearly broke right there and then. He had hoped that at least Cake would stay... but he could track him down and talk to him later. He pushed down the overwhelming sorrow he was feeling before turning to the only other survivors still nearby - a little group of objects protected by a purple bubble of energy. ~

The moment Loser faltered, so did the concentration on his powers. He accidentally simultaneously let go of Needle and stopped shooting fire at Donut at the same time, allowing the circular object to finally rapidly pull Needle closer.

But Loser recovered faster than either of them thought he would. He raised his eyes to meet Donut's, barely containing unbridled anger. Just as he began to lift his hands once more, Needle slammed into Donut at full force, and her kinetic energy shoved them both backwards through the gateway to Goiky.

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

BFB contesting grounds

Bomby, Lollipop, and Pen watched the mirror cautiously and apprehensively. Sure, maybe it was dangerous to be there, but if Loser emerged without Needle or Donut, then they wouldn't stand a chance anyway. And they had no way to tell what was happening on the other side - all they could see were their own reflections.

Without warning, Donut and Needle burst through the mirror's surface, scaring the three other objects there half to death. "Oh my gosh!" Pen exclaimed, leaping back. "You can't just DO that!"

Donut and Needle shakily got to their feet. Donut was breathing heavily, suddenly able to feel the strain his prolonged usage of telekinesis had on his body, as well as the burns on his face. He gingerly touched his skin and winced.

"Oh, dear, that looks terrible." For once, Lollipop didn't sound snarky, or sarcastic. "You alright, Bagel Brain?"

"I..." Donut felt completely and utterly exhausted. Looking at Needle, he could tell she felt tired as well, now that she could feel what the strain of almost being pulled apart had done to her. But when he glanced at the mirror...

"...I... I feel... great!"

It finally hit home. "We... I can't believe we did it! We actually stopped Loser!!"

A surge of relief shot through the objects, followed by joy. Pen cheered aloud while Needle and Donut laughed, their exertion almost forgotten. Lollipop and Bomby smiled, but while the former's was one of genuine happiness, the latter's was one of melancholy.

Donut flopped down onto the grass and closed his eyes. "I need a nap," he said, unable to stop giggling as stress release.

"Same here," agreed Needle, before gasping. "Wait! The other contestants are still trapped in that pit!"

"Oh gosh, you're right. Let's go help them out!" said Pen enthusiastically. He, Lollipop and Needle began to head over to the front of the bathroom building. "I'll catch up to you guys in a minute," Donut called after them, the escalation beginning to return to his body.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and relaxed, immediately feeling much better. The grass felt soft and calming under his sugary skin. Much better than the grass back in the old contesting grounds. Woody had really poured his soul into regrowing the fields here.

But even as Donut relaxed, he realized something was still bothering him. A tidbit of what Loser had said, nagging at his mind...

Bomby.

The pastry opened his eyes and slowly lifted himself up to see Bomby sitting nearby. His friend had his legs drawn up and pressed against his chest with his arms hugging them close, like he was in the fetal position, except that he wasn't lying down. "Bomby?" Donut asked carefully. "Are you alright?"

The explosive shook his head. At least he's being honest. "May I ask why?" he continued.

"You wouldn't understand," came the answer. "It's almost too late, anyway."

Donut's suspicion was growing more and more by the second, so he turned to fully face his friend. "Try me. If it's too late for... whatever, then it wouldn't hurt to unload, right?"

Their eyes locked for several moments before Bomby looked away. "...they'll be here soon. Even if I told you, you couldn't do anything," he mumbled, almost too quietly to hear. "None of you could. The power they hold over all of you specifically-"

Donut jumped to his feet when he heard the word power. "Is it them?" he asked quickly. "The one you've been working with?"

His friend looked startled. "How did you... did you read my mind??"

"No, I would never. I... I found that letter addressed to you, and what you replied, all those years ago."

Again, Bomby looked surprised, before cursing under his breath. "I knew I should have burned those."

Which gave Donut all the answer he needed.

Before his teammate could say anything else, the pastry bolted towards the front of the bathrooms, over to where Lollipop, Pen, and Needle were helping the flying objects pull the other survivors out of Loser's dug-out prison. His fatigue had been forgotten. "Guys!" he yelled, catching their attention. "Hurry up and get everyone else up here!"

"Hey, woah! Calm down! What's the problem?" Pen wondered.

"I- it's hard to explain. But we're all in danger, and we need to get out of here!"

Gaty, who had just climbed out of the pit, blinked in confusion. "But I thought you guys took care of Loser?"

"It's not Loser! It's someone else-"

Ding.

Donut paused. Confused, everyone looked at the left bathroom door, which opened and was revealed to not be a bathroom after all; instead, it looked like the inside of an elevator car. And inside the elevator car were what appeared to be several dozen floating silver bracelets.

"What the..." Lollipop muttered, before one of the bands soared forwards and latched itself to one of her wrists. "Hey!" she complained, immediately using her other hand to try and pull it off. But it was wrapped tight.

Faster than anyone could blink, all the bands suddenly whizzed out of the elevator before the doors closed and leapt towards the other contestants. They slid themselves around arms, legs, and sometimes bodies - one per object - tightening as they did so and locking on. Most of them tried to wiggle, pull, or shake their bands off, but it was futile.

Donut felt a band loop around and squeeze his own right wrist before there was any chance to stop it. Seconds later, he jumped a little as something on the inside of the band poked him in the arm. "Ow!" he exclaimed.

Very quickly, his vision began to twist and swirl. He tried to stay standing, but lost the battle against gravity and toppled to the ground, barely feeling the impact. The last thing he heard was another ding as the elevator arrived again, this time, holding an actual passenger. Through blurry eyes, Donut tried to see who it was, but then the world went black.

how the hell do I keep making these chapters so damn long