"Drat!" II Taco stomped the ground in frustration. A little melodramatic, to be sure, but she was always a sucker for some melodrama, even during times of crisis. And having her main form of transportation suddenly ripped away from her — leaving her stranded in a universe she knew very little about and unable to get home due to the broken portal — definitely counted as a crisis.

A footstep behind her. She spun around and automatically whipped out her laser gun, charging it up for a shot. "AAAH!" Bubble shrieked, covering her face. "DON'T SHOOT ME!!"

"Oh." Again, the fact that Bubble was there had momentarily slipped her mind. "My apologies, I'm simply a wee bit... skittish right now." II Taco quickly stashed her weapon back into her shell before clearing her throat. "I don't believe we've met before. My name is Taco, obviously. And you are... Bubble?"

Carefully lowering her arms, Bubble replied, "Uh, y-yeah. But how did you know that? Oi don't look loike a bubble roight now."

Taco dusted herself off. "That's another thing I'll have to apologize for, I'm afraid. I was nearby when I heard someone say your name in the Perilous Forest, and I happened to overhear a slight bit of the conversation before... well, before my lettuce caught fire." She didn't have to fake the embarrassment for that.

Bubble looked around. "Woit... woi're on the BFB competing grounds? How did woi get hoire?"

"Ah, that would be due to MePad's teleportation application. I assume you know who MePad is?" Bubble nodded. "Well, when I was nearby, I had recently found MePad deactivated in the forest." The lies came easily to her. "Concerned, I began to try and drag him to society, but overheard you at that point and took a slight detour over. Once you accidentally bumped into me, we both fell onto MePad. It was then that... Rocky, I believe his name is? Rocky appeared from the brush and activated his teleportation, which... took us here, for reasons I wish I knew."

Bubble stared at her. "Rocky? Whoit was he doing there?"

Taco shrugged. "Moments after we arrived here, I saw Rocky activate MePad again, but they vanished before I could intervene. So, here we are."

"Here woi oire." Curious about something, Bubble peered around the side of the bathroom building. "Hey, two of the oither teams oire still here! Oit doesn't look like thoiy've fixed the portal yet... oi should probably-"

"Perhaps you should stay here," interrupted Taco hurriedly, before clearing her throat and continuing more calmly. "I mean, if the portal problem is truly still persisting, then we shouldn't give anybody any false hope. After all, if they see that we've travelled between the universes safely, they may think the portal has been fixed and get themselves killed."

Bubble froze. "Oh goish, oi hadn't thoight of that."

"It's not all bad, however!" Discreetly, Taco slid a pair of headphones and foldable satellite dish out from her shell and patted it. "There's someone on this side of the multiverse who won't leak the secret. Recently, I've been having trouble connecting to her, but contact should be simpler now that we're in the same world. Still, though, let us stay back here for the time being." She replaced the communication device. "But enough about that. I can tell from the look in your eyes that you've had a rough few days. Mind if you tell the story?"

"Oh. Uh, shoire? I mean, most of it was just spent insoide a cell, but..."

Taco smiled inwardly as Bubble began to ramble. This "Bubble" is easier to read than a book. Sitting down against the wall of the bathroom building, she silently began to figure out what the hell she was going to do next.

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

Squinting into the distance, Marshmallow called out, "Hey, I think I can see the island!"

Puffball yawned, lazily rotating in circles in the air. "Finally. This ride is taking FOREVER."

"Hey, it's not like trees are very streamlined in water," Baseball huffed. The ten of them were aboard the largest tree they could find by the shoreline, slowly floating through the ocean towards the increasingly large dot in the distance. "Besides, couldn't you just fly there before us?"

"And leave all my pals behind? Nahhh. It'd be even MORE boring on a lonely island."

"You could help speed us up," Leafy remarked, currently in the water and swimming to help push boat forwards faster.

"I'm good."

Baseball rolled his eyes. "Well, one way or another, I'm glad we're almost there. The sun's nearly set."

Near the front of the tree boat, Basketball was eyeing a clump of rustling leaves. "I can hear you in there, Grassy!" she chuckled.

"Grassy's not in there!"

Basketball blinked. The voice hadn't come from the branches, but instead, from Paintbrush. The art tool's bristles suddenly parted to reveal Grassy peeking out from within. "Grassy's found a new head to perch on!"

"But then who-"

A bleh emitted from the leaves, immediately followed by a wad of vomit which fell into the sea. "Ah. That explains it."

Marsh glanced at Paintbrush. "Isn't it a little dangerous to have him up there? You know, with your... fiery tempers?"

Painty shook their head, but slowly, as to not dislodge Grassy. "Pie's been giving me meditation lessons recently. I've actually gotten a lot better at controlling my temper."

"Pie?"

"One of ours," Leafy chimed in. "Also, how is OJ doing?"

Glancing at OJ, Paintbrush replied, "He still looks the same."

"Jeez. I hope he recovers soon..."

Yawning again, Puffball rotated herself so that she was facing north, towards the shoreline they came from. In the distance, twin plumes of smoke slowly rose from Purgatory Mansion and the Perilous Forest. Far, far above the forest, but gradually drifting southwest, the MeCloud loomed in the sky; not much more than a speck at the moment, but still just distinguishable as something other than an actual cloud.

She was about to look away when some movement caught her eye. Slowly squinting in the direction of the mansion, Puffball watched a flying form grow closer to them until she recognized it. "Guys!" she gasped. "Bow's heading our way!"

"What??" Marshmallow and Paintbrush exclaimed simultaneously, scrambling to the back of the tree to get a better look. Indeed, Bow was soaring through the air in their direction.

It only took another minute for her to reach the tree's crew. "Hey y'all!" she whooped. "Check it out! I'm FREE!!"

"But how?" questioned Basketball. "I thought there was some sort of magic in the mansion keeping you there?"

"The mansion's, like, mostly gone at this point, so I think the magic just, like..." Bow opened her hands and silently mouthed poof.

Baseball peered behind her. "If that's the case, then... where's Dough?"

"Oh, I trapped him inside a vacuum." To this, she only got blank stares, so she elaborated. "A few mins ago, Firey entered the mansion, although I dunno what more damage he could have done. Dough saw him first and possessed him easily, but then Firey, like... fought back? I didn't even know that could happen. A moment later, Dough came back out, but he was glowing all red and stuff, and even had red eyes! I guess possessing Firey made... what's controlling him again?"

"Evil Leafy," Leafy elaborated.

"Yeah, her. I guess possessing Firey gave Evil Leafy the opportunity to, like, possess Dough back?" She shrugged. "Anyways, I found a vacuum and just vacuumed him up and hid it from Firey. It was then I realized I could leave the mansion, and here we are!"

"Are you sure he's trapped?" Puffball asked, suspicious.

Bow nodded, then shuddered. "Trust me. I was trapped in one of those things for days."

"Well, it's good to have you back, Bow." Paintbrush smiled. "We're trying to head to Idiotic Island, so that we have a chance to stop and... figure everything out."

Glancing at their tree boat, Bow got an idea. "You know... I miiiiiight be able to speed up your trip."

Leafy exhaled deeply. "I'd appreciate that. My legs are getting really tired from swimming."

"Then it's a good thing you'll only need your arms for this. Hang on, everyone!"

Alarm bells went off in Marshmallow's head. When a chaotic character such as Bow said something like that, it was usually best to follow her advice. "OJ," she said, nudging the drink, "hang on."

He blinked, before turning to see Bow dive downwards. Their tree suddenly began to glow bright pink. "That can't be good."

Everybody had just enough time to grab onto the trunk or a sturdy branch before Bow, controlling their tree, shot forwards through the water at high speed, taking the tree's passengers with her.

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

The moment Pencil saw what was ahead of them, she knew they were in trouble.

She and the rest of Team 3 had continued their hike a while ago. Coiny estimated earlier that they probably weren't more than a few hours away from the competing grounds, which meant they might be able to make it there by or before nightfall. If that was true, it would likely be by, as the sun was halfway past the horizon.

Everyone was currently climbing over a large hill. The relentless rain made the grass a little slippery, but it was still climbable. Pencil was currently in the front; not by much, but it meant that she was the first to reach the top and spot the obstacle ahead. "Uh oh," she stated simply.

Tennis Ball, who wasn't far behind her, glanced up. "Hm?"

"Er... you, uh, might want to see this."

That just added to TB's confusion. "What is-" He stopped abruptly as he reached her position and gazed over the area below. "...oh."

"Why did you two stop?"

They both turned to see Golf Ball right behind them. "No more breaks, remember?" she ordered, not slowing her pace. "We need to keep moving if we want to get back before nightf-"

She finally reached the crest of the slope and instantly froze. Halfway down the hill, the green grass faded to a rich purple, surrounding an unforgettable landmark. To their left, Yoyle Mountain's summit stretched endlessly into the sky. To their right, the land curved into a shoreline, and barely visible from their position, a thin trail of gray glue from an old mistake led directly into the cluster of buildings.

The center and capital of Yoyleland... Yoyle City.

As the three of them stared in silence, the other objects reached the top and paused as well, one by one. Pie, Lollipop, and Coiny recognized it instantly, the latter inhaling sharply upon realizing where they were. While Barf Bag had seen the city before, it was only through the mechanical eyes of Roboty, transmitted via TV's screen. And the three II objects had never seen the place, but figured what it was based on Golf Ball's description from earlier in the day.

"Of course..." mumbled GB quietly. "We have to head east to get home. But Yoyle City is almost directly west to the competing grounds, which means we were always going to come across it. Arg!" She smacked her forehead. "How did I miss that until now??"

Cheesy whistled at the size of the city. "Well, it shouldn't be a problem, right? All we gotta do is waltz on through and-"

"Did you not hear anything I said earlier??" GB snapped. "This place is full of bad memories for me. Just seeing it again is..." She involuntarily shuddered. "We have to go around."

"Really?" Lollipop rolled her eyes. "First, you want to get back to Goiky as fast as possible, and now you want to take a detour?"

Still a little irritated at Lollipop from yesterday, Barf Bag opened her mouth to respond, but Coiny beat her to it. "Although she could have delivered that a little more... gently... I think Lollipop has the right idea."

"WHAT??" Barf Bag and Golf Ball exclaimed simultaneously, both whirling around. "You're agreeing with her?" the latter said in disbelief.

"Don't get me wrong, GB; I've always respected you, for the most part, and after hearing everything you said today, I don't want to put you in a position that makes you uncomfortable. Look at it this way, though — if we go around the city, it'll definitely take long enough that we'll have to stop for the night next to the city anyways. But if we go through, we'll get by it faster, and might even be able to make it home tonight. One way or another, the city will be close by. And personally? I'd rather get home tonight. Besides..." He scratched the back of his head. "...apart from everything that happened in the end, before we fled the city... I loved this place. Honestly, I've kinda missed it."

Golf Ball just stared at him for a moment before turning to look at the city again. "...fine," she eventually sighed. "If we must."

"Hold on..." Test Tube scanned the buildings carefully. "Didn't you say that the humans used a... neurotoxin bomb on the city? I don't see any green gas down there."

Yin nodded his head. "I was wondering the same thing. YEAH! I WANT TO SEE THIS AWESOME POISONOUS GAS!"

"That was nearly three years ago now," replied Tennis Ball. "It must have long since dissipated. The city should be perfectly safe to enter."

"Let's just get this over with," muttered GB, already walking down the hill.

Yoyle City was eerier than they remembered. It wasn't the fact that night had finally reached them; somehow, it appeared there was still power in a lot of the systems, meaning that most street lamps shone down on the pavement, illuminating Team 3's path as they shambled along the sidewalks.

No; it was the utter lack of plant life. While all the sentient objects living in the city managed to escape years before, any inanimate plants had a much harder time moving. The once-vibrant violet grass that was Yoyleland's signature feature was now grey and lifeless all over the city. The trees, too, had perished, but while the pink and green leaves were long gone, fallen trunks littered the roads and sidewalks everywhere. Some were still standing, which was almost creepier. And since the neurotoxin had lingered for months on end (although none of them were sure when exactly it had fully dissipated), the chemicals contained within had sunk deep into the dirt itself and poisoned it, rendering the soil infertile for any new grass or trees that may have hoped to grow again. Even the yoyleberry bushes and all the bits of moss scattered everywhere, between the cracks of buildings and sidewalks, had expired.

In short, it was a graveyard for any and all vegetation that once grew and thrived within Yoyle City.

"I'm glad Leafy's not here," Pencil commented, shuddering occasionally at the sight of still-upright trunks. "Or Flower."

"Or Grassy," added Tennis Ball.

"Or Tree," Pie put in. "So much death..."

Lollipop slowly moved her gaze from building to building. "A shame," she sniffed. "As colorful as this place is, it doesn't feel right without the trademark purple grass. At least the plant life outside the city survived." She halted suddenly. "What the crunch is that?"

Everyone else stopped as they came across a very large pair of scissors, sticking straight up from the ground, sharp ends impaled in the sidewalk concrete. Cheesy blinked. "That... uh. I have no words."

"Oh my mint, I remember this!!" Coiny exclaimed, hands on his head. "This thing just fell out of the sky one day and nearly killed me!"

"Where did it come from?"

"No clue. But..." He inspected the area carefully, then walked in a circle around the scissors. "...I think I remember this street. I didn't at first — the lack of plants really makes a difference — but I think we're actually pretty close to Fries' grotato farm!"

"OOOH, POTATOES? I WANT SOME!"

Test Tube sighed. "Yang, have you not been paying attention to anything? Even if there were somehow still potatoes in a farm that hadn't gone bad, the neurotoxin would have killed them."

"OH. RIGHT. Thanks, Test Tube."

Pencil tried to say something, hesitated, then said it anyway. "Forgive me for bringing this up, but... the Yoyle Needy used to be right across from the grotato farm. Isn't that... where the humans' spaceship crashed?"

They all went silent.

Golf Ball twitched. "I'm going to go around a few blocks as a detour. I'll meet you ahead." She abruptly turned and began to walk off without another word.

"Should we...?" Barf Bag trailed off.

"I'll stick with her, just in case." TT hurried after the grey globule. The others decided to keep moving forward.

It was only another two blocks until they reached the farm, and the spot where the Yoyle Needy once used to stand proudly. Due to the wreckage of a spaceship having ruined most of the farm's plants a few years back, the neurotoxin hadn't affected the place much, aside from making the soil infertile. However, the farm was still completely ruined, which was the natural result of a spaceship crashing into it.

Coiny smiled when he saw the farm. "Ah, memories. I've always been a sucker for nostalgia."

"I thought Lollipop was the sucker!"

"You know what I mean, Cheesy."

Pencil eyed the ruins of the ship carefully. "Memories, indeed. Some good, some... not so good." She sighed. "I miss the Yoyle Needy. And the clubhouse, and the FreeSmart SuperVan, and... well, actually, that's still intact."

Lollipop peered into the large gash in the ship's wall, which allowed her to see the wrecked room inside. "What a mess."

"Let's just keep moving," Tennis Ball spoke. He led the way out of the farm, and the team continued to move through the cluster of buildings.

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

A good chunk of the next part of the journey was mostly quiet. Test Tube and GB had rejoined them a while ago. Occasionally, one of the BFB contestants would point out something and comment on it, but otherwise, there wasn't much talking.

Golf Ball suddenly stopped in her tracks. "Wait. Tennis Ball, where are we?"

He squinted at her. "We're heading in the right direction, if that's what you're wondering."

"I know we're not lost. But this street is... really, really familiar.

"I've been getting that feeling a lot during the walk, but I think that's just old memories of roads we used to walk resurfacing." He looked around. "Although, this part does seem... hm."

Pencil's eyes suddenly grew wide. "Uh oh. I know where we are."

"Where?" GB demanded.

Making sure she was looking in the right direction, Pencil pointed at an intersection. "The Yoyle City Science Museum is just around the next corner."

The ball froze. "Oh."

Giving Pencil a weird glance, Coiny commented, "Jeez, you could've been a little less blunt about that to her."

"I-" Pencil closed her mouth. "...you're right. Sorry."

"We're going around," GB said, having begun to shake involuntarily. "Th-that's non-negotiable. Let's-"

"Actually, Golf Ball..." Pie stepped forward. "I think we should enter the museum."

TB sucked in a breath. "Careful, Pie..."

She glanced at him, before turning back to GB. "Look at me," she said calmly, soothingly. Golf Ball automatically met her eyes. "I know you went through a lot at the museum. I know it sparks terrible memories for you, and may even bring out your other self. But it's like Test Tube and I told you earlier today; if you never conquer your fears, then they may conquer you instead. The more familiar you become with what happened, the less likely it'll be that Bozo takes control again."

No response for a minute. "At the very least, you need to try," Pie implored. "If it doesn't do anything, then we know to not try again."

Golf Ball closed her eyes. "You guys aren't going to let this go, are you?"

"Nope."

She emitted a deep, heavy sigh of defeat and simply nodded once. Satisfied, Pie stepped back again and let Pencil take the lead.

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

The museum looked exactly the same as they remembered.

For Tennis Ball, it was a place of mystery and scientific innovation waiting to be discovered. For Pencil, it was a reminder of a dark day for her and several friends. For Golf Ball, it was a mixture of both. And for everyone else... well, only the previous three objects had ever actually been inside the building.

The most surprising thing was that the vines and mold inside the museum was actually still green and growing. "Hm," Test Tube mused, "seems like this building's walls protected its inner vegetation. Oh look, a dandelion!"

"Finally, a sign of life other than us," remarked Lollipop. "...although that cube with skulls on it doesn't make me very optimistic."

Yin-Yang grabbed the cube. "I'M KEEPING THIS! IT LOOKS AWESOME. Yang, that's stealing! FROM WHO? LONG-DEAD LOSERS? HUMANS DON'T EVEN LIVE ON THIS EARTH ANYMORE, DUM-DUM! ...alright, fair enough."

Barf Bag pointed to two words written on the wall next to said cube, in what appeared to be blood: STOP HER. "Uh, GB, TB, do you know anything about this?"

They glanced at the message. "No," GB replied, shaking her head. "I'm 99.6% certain that that had nothing to do with me or the humans. But..."

She stopped in front of a row of four vases, the gap between the middle two considerably larger. "...this does."

Images flashed in her mind's eye — a spiked bat and an angry voice — but she shook them off and looked elsewhere. She'd never gotten the chance to fully explore the museum, much less the first floor. She needed a distraction.

"And a distraction you will get," spoke someone in tones too high for any of the objects in the room to hear.

A figure emerged from the shadows of the area's darkest corner, but they were still unseen due to an invisibility cloak draped over their body. Sure, they had the ability to make themself invisible. But they enjoyed the novelty of using something else.

Careful to not bump into anyone, the unknown object strolled across the floor until they reached the dodecahedron in the center of the room. Lifting their cloak up, they reached out with an arm colored a rich blue. Gently resting their palm upon the point sticking out of the polygon's top face — it was not actually sharp — they pushed down until a noise could be heard. One smiled. "There we go."

Coiny looked up. "Did any of you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Cheesy wondered.

"Some clicking sound. From..." He uncertainly pointed at the dodecahedron, then stopped. "Hey! There's something new on that thing!"

That got everyone's attention. They all crowded around the polygon to see that some sort of panel had slid back on one of its faces to reveal a keypad. "Where did that come from?"

"Did somebody do something?"

"Don't look at me!"

"Hang on." Tennis Ball peered over the small crowd. "There's... text here?" Intensely curious, he began to read it aloud:

"My first begins the END, which will set you on your way; My second is second of SECONDS in a day. Join the END and BEGINNING for digit number three; And my last digit is the sound of the SEA."

Everyone was quiet for a moment as they absorbed this. "It sounds like a riddle," Barf Bag remarked. "And the answer would be... the correct code to enter into the pad?"

"Probably four digits long," added Pie.

Golf Ball hmmed. "'Second of seconds in a day...' well, the number of seconds in a day is 86400, obviously. So the second digit is 6. 'The sound of the sea' may be referring to the literal sound of the word 'sea,' which sounds like the letter C, the third letter in the alphabet. So 3 is last. As for 'my first begins the end...'"

"Oh, oh! I recognize that!" Cheesy cried out. "When I was looking at alternative jokes for puns, I read a riddle book, and there's this one I remember fondly. 'I am the beginning of everything, the end of time and space, the beginning of every end, and-'"

"Just get to the point!"

"Alright, alright, yeesh. The answer's the letter E."

"The fifth letter of the alphabet." Nodding, Golf Ball raised her left hand, remembered that she lost it a few days ago, and raised her other hand instead. "And 'join the end and beginning to create digit number three' most certainly means simply adding the first and last digits. That comes out to 8, so the final code is..."

She typed in 5683. The keypad lit up green. A panel slid over it, hiding it away once again.

And nothing happened.

"Erm..." Coiny scratched his head. "Maybe you entered it wrong?"

"No, the logic checks out," Test Tube confirmed.

Suddenly, the pedestal holding the dodecahedron emitted a grinding sound and began to shift. Everyone leapt away in surprise as it gradually slid back completely to reveal a stairwell, leading downwards into an inky darkness. After a second, lights began to flick on of their own will, one by one, eventually bathing the entire pathway in light.

They all stared at it for a solid minute before anyone said anything. "What." Pencil uttered. "How long. Has that. Been there."

"A SECRET PASSAGEWAY?" exclaimed Yang. "AWESOME!" Excitedly, he pushed past them all and ran down the stairs in anticipation. Everyone else simply exchanged glances, shrugged, and followed him.

Test Tube gasped when she reached the bottom. "Wow."

Lollipop looked at her strangely. "What? It's not that big of a secret underground room. A little underwhelming in size, honestly."

"Sure, but just look at all this science treasure!!"

Indeed, there was a lot of science treasure. The small room was shaped like a hexagon, and four of the six walls each had a table with two tall shelves next to it. All of the tables and shelves were covered in machines and gadgets of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Test Tube couldn't even begin to guess what they all did. Something that looked like an oversized oven was nestled within the wall directly across from the stairwell's exit.

In the middle of the room stood Yin-Yang, both halves equally awed at the sight of so many creations. Yang's cube was resting on the floor, dropped from excitement. "This room is... INCREDIBLE!" For once, they were in agreement. Almost in a fervor, Test Tube whipped out a notepad and began to write about every little detail she could see.

Fortunately, despite the small area, there was enough room for all ten objects to enter at once and wander around without bumping into each other. A rack of glass syringes — each one containing a liquid with a different, vibrant, color — caught Pencil's eye first. She studied the labels on the containers, which were written in both English and Yoylese. "Freeze juice, anti-poison, truth serum, fireproof elixir, sleeping potion, insani-tea, witch's brew... the more I read these, the more they start to sound like magical concoctions than things found in a science museum. What the heck even is 'liquid determination?'"

Coiny picked up a strange-looking rectangular box. A cylindrical hole on one end was lined with various circuits. The letters S.E.S.C. were engraved on the top. "What's this?" he wondered aloud.

Pie glanced at it. "It looks like a laser pointer."

"Eh, I was thinking it's a dimensional portal, or something."

"MAYBE IT'S BOTH!" Yang chimed in.

"Only one way to find out." Coiny fiddled with a knob on the side of the machine. "Huh, whatever this is, it has different settings- whoops!"

His fingers accidentally brushed against a button hard enough to press it. Without much warning, the device shot a single laser from its front hole. The beam bounced off a wall, off Yang's cube, off a mirror, and narrowly grazed the end of Lollipop's scarf before finally hitting Pencil square in the chest. She flew back from the force and rammed right into a shelf, which immediately fell over on top of her, burying the woodsicle head to toe in papers and electronics.

"Pencil!!" Barf Bag exclaimed, rushing over to help. Huh, so it WAS a laser pointer, sort of, thought Pie before grabbing the shelf. Together, she and Barfy managed to lift the shelf to an upright position again, but Pencil was still obscured by the pile of various science junk.

The junk shifted, and a hand stuck out. Coiny dropped the S.E.S.C. and grabbed the arm, yanking upwards with all his strength until the owner of the limb was pulled out of the pile. "WHAT is THAT?!" Cheesy suddenly shrieked.

The others shouted in surprise as well when they saw what was wrong. "What? What is it??" Pencil asked frantically, until she looked down at her body. "AAAAAAAAHH!!"

She had transformed into... something else. Instead of a No. 2 pencil torso, her body was now a gray, rectangular prism. Instead of two stick legs, she now had six — two in the front, two in the back, and two in between — and instead of two arms, she had four... or were those antennae? Either way, they were on top of her head, which was not where they were supposed to be. "COINY, WHAT DID YOU DO??" she yelled, freaking out. "TURN ME BACK!"

"I'm trying!!" Coiny had already picked up the device and was frantically looking through the options on the knob. "Mouse, raccoon, parrot, rabbit, deer — what are these things? Wait, why is there a 'KILL' option??"

"DON'T USE THAT ONE!!"

"Aha! A 'revert' button!" Clumsily aiming the operational end of the device at Pencil, he activated it again. Another laser fired out of the hole and slammed into Pencil, but this time she was expecting it and braced herself so she didn't fall over. Within seconds, her extra limbs disappeared, and her rectangular form morphed back into her original cylindrical one.

Coiny threw the S.E.S.C. to the ground, where it bounced off and slid underneath the nearest table. The resulting silence that followed was one of complete and utter disbelief from most of the objects in the room.

"Well," Pencil finally said. "That... was something. I think I'm going to go lie down upstairs." Shaking slightly, she stepped over the items littered around her and walked up the steps unsteadily.

Test Tube slowly began to continue her scribbles. "Fascinating," she murmured. "So much amazing tech within this one room alone."

"More like so much insane tech." Cheesy rolled his eyes, but continued looking at stuff anyway. After all that, however, he definitely didn't plan to touch anything.

Still a little dumbfounded, Tennis Ball bumped his foot against something when trying to step forwards. He directed his gaze downward to find a thick book with intricate designs on one cover lying on the ground. "Hello..." Curious, he bent down, picked it up, and flipped it over. "'Goikian History?'" he read.

Golf Ball froze. "What did you say?"

"Goikian History. It's the name of this book. I wonder if it means history for the region of Goiky, or the whole..."

TB faltered upon seeing the expression on GB's face. "Golf Ball?"

"I know that book," she whispered.

"What?"

Golf Ball thought hard. Way back before she and the other objects were trying to flee the city due to the incoming neurotoxin bomb, she had interrogated one of the humans — Seekayaitch — for the events of what happened to her the night Essaitch attacked her. He had told her that he and Seekayaitch had left you with Essaitch for a history lesson. She knew they'd gone down to the science museum for it, but she'd always assumed they had been on the main floor when it happened... until now.

The dimpled sphere flinched as another memory properly resurfaced, the one that had been bugging her. She remembered that book. That book was what Essaitch used to teach her human history, at first. She knew this room. It was the very place where Essaitch injected her with the experimental serum and created her "evil" alternate self.

The memories kept flooding back, overwhelming her with fresh images of that horrible day she'd tried to repress for so long. "I- it's- I need- they're- she's got-" She started to hyperventilate.

"Golf Ball!" Tennis Ball exclaimed, now thoroughly worried. The others had started to look over in their direction in concern.

Twitching violently, Golf Ball just stated, "I need to go," before abruptly turning and lurching up the stairs. Dropping their respective items, Tennis Ball and Test Tube bolted after her, the others not far behind.

They reached the top quickly, their eyes having to momentarily adjust from the brightly-lit passageway to the considerably darker museum lobby. When their vision was clear again, they saw Golf Ball facing Pencil. The latter object had her back to the door. "Guys!" she shouted. "She's-"

Golf Ball turned, and it was clear what Pencil had been trying to say. The globule's face had transformed from the typical object's face into the darker dimples that represented her... other side. "L̵̼̳̖͛̓ͅę̴̖̝̲͚̘̎͠ͅA̶͔͚̦͂͒̊̑̐v̴̡̧̖̱̰̗̾͋E̴͈͑,̶̗͆" Bozo spoke, her voice a deeper and distorted version of Golf Ball's. Even though he was expecting it, Tennis Ball still faltered upon seeing Golf Ball like that again, causing the others behind him to bump into his back.

Taking the opportunity, Bozo turned again and leapt at Pencil. The woodsicle scrambled out of the way just in time, allowing the orb of evil to soar through the exit of the science museum and into the rainy streets. In a blink, she had run off.

"We CAN'T let her get away!" Test Tube exclaimed in a panic. "It'll be impossible to find her in the city if we lose her!" She sprinted past Pencil and out of the door only to immediately run into something hard. "Oof!" she exclaimed, doubling over to catch the breath that got knocked out of her.

The others rushed outside after her, but quickly became a tangled mess as each of the BFB contestants skidded to a halt, seeing who Testy ran into. "Oh my sugar," Lollipop gasped. "I don't believe it. Dora?"

Dora stood proudly in the middle of the street. "Dadadadadadadadadada. (It is indeed I, my fine, lavender friend. How are you?)"

"What in the world are you doing here, Dora?" Barf Bag was completely flabbergasted. "Aren't you supposed to be eliminated?"

"She escaped during the initial week when our universe collided with theirs," Tennis Ball responded, gesturing to the II objects. "It was an accident. I guess Four never tracked her down. But why did you come HERE, of all places?"

"Dadadadadadadadadada- (I journeyed to this location a few days ago on a noble quest, with the purpose being-)"

"Hey, we don't really have time for this!" Test Tube butted it. "Golfy's getting away!"

TB shook his head. "Right, right. Sorry, Dora! Both that we can't understand you and that we can't take the time to translate you right now!"

He and the others dashed off in the direction Bozo went. "Dadada. Dadadadadadadada. (That is understandable. My quest is somewhat time-sensitive as well. Good luck, comrades!)"

Without another word, she zoomed away through the buildings, leaving behind only mysteries and questions yet to be answered.























haha you forgot Bozo >:)

Feels good to return to Yoyle City after so long! (and to see Dora again ❤)

How many of you have read Pencil's Personification? If you have, you might recognize the S.E.S.C. ;) The YH3 series is one of my favorite BFDI series on Wattpad, and it's also based around stuff from IDFB, so I thought it'd be fitting to put a reference to it here