Team 2

Fan's pacing was starting to wear a circle in the already-dead grass. "Maybe we can... ahg, we don't even HAVE a flux capacitor. What if... hmm... no, no..."

"Thought of anything yet?"

"AHH!" Fan leapt backwards, almost falling over. "Oh. Hi, Black Hole. And, uh, no. I still got nothing."

Black Hole hmmed. "Nobody else seems to have any ideas either. I think we're probably running out of time, too - we might need a second opinion. Do you have any friends you can call and ask for ideas?"

Fan tapped his chin. "Well, the only objects I can think of are the II contestants who didn't make it into season 2, and... AHA!" He raised his finger triumphantly, a lightbulb sparking into life above his head. "I know exactly who to call! Thanks, Black Hole!"

"Anytime," Black Hole vibrated as Fan ran off, quickly dialing a number on his phone.

Meanwhile, a dozen feet away, II Nickel sighed heavily, bored. "Still nothing?"

"Hey, I'm more of a 'take action' type of girl, not a thinker," Needle complained.

"Don't say that!" Saw comforted. "I'm sure you've had some great ideas before!"

Pen huffed. "Well, we could really use one of those ideas right about now. My ballpoint brain is all dried up!"

" "

"Huh?" Nickel turned to Box. "Can you repeat that?

" "

The coin glanced in Trophy's direction. "You sure? He's really stubborn when it comes to his-"

" "

"Alright, alright. Jeez!"

Reluctantly, Nickel stood up and walked over to where Trophy and Lightning were chilling, bonding over cameras. He caught the tail end of a conversation. "...know the rule of thirds?"

"Of course I do! I'm not an amateur!"

"Just clarifying."

Nickel reached them and cleared his throat, catching the duo's attention. "Uh, hey Trophy? Do you have any of your protein powder on you right now?"

"Um, yeah." Trophy pulled out a small, portable container of said powder out from his cup. He suddenly got suspicious. "Why?"

"We were wondering if you could try using it on the grass to see if it'll grow."

"No way!" Trophy replied immediately, holding the plastic container close to his chest. "I'm not wasting my precious powder on some cheap dirt. There's not even much in here."

"Oh come on, I've seen your room at Hotel OJ - you have TUBS of the stuff. And besides, it's not like you actually need it."

"I... don't?"

"Of course not! You're just as weak as when you first started the competition. The powder isn't doing anything for you!" Nickel chuckled.

Trophy gasped. "You dare call me WEAK!?"

"Hold on, guys." Lightning floated between the two before they could start a physical fight. "Nickel, that wasn't very nice."

"Uh, have you met me? I'm probably one of the meanest characters in either show!"

Lightning wasn't sure how to respond to that, so he turned to Trophy instead. "It wouldn't hurt to at least put a little on the grass to try, right?"

Trophy hesitated. He quickly thought about Inanimate Insanity's prize of a million big ones, and how he'd always wanted to be rich. Helping out here and winning the challenge would give him another chance to rejoin. So, for what was probably the first time in his life, Trophy swallowed his pride and said, "Fine. But we're only using a tiny bit!"

Before he could change his mind, he ripped off the container's cap with a single, deft twist, and sprinkled a pinch of pale protein power onto the scorched earth.

Nothing happened.

"I knew this was a bad idea," Nickel groaned.

"Maybe we should just give it a minute?" Lightning suggested nervously.

They gave it a minute.

Trophy screwed the lid back on. "Looks like this was a bust."

"No, wait! Look!"

Lightning had floated all the way down to the ground and was peering at it intensely. Nickel and Trophy bent down to be a better view, and lo and behold, a minuscule section of grass was green. As they watched, it turned greener and greener until the small patch had blades twice as tall as the dead grass and a new, healthy heaping of chlorophyll. "It worked!" Nickel cried. "I can't believe it actually worked! Guys, come take a look!"

The rest of Team 2, minus Fan, rushed over to see what the commotion was. "Wow!" Eraser gasped. "I think we've got this challenge in the bag."

Woody pointed towards Trophy's container. "Wah-wah?"

The golden prize sighed. "No, you cannot have any of this, Woody."

"Wawwh..."

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

Team 3

The door to Golf Ball's underground factory opened, and Test Tube stepped out, shielding her eyes from the bright sun. "Jeepers, Golf Ball. I didn't realize how dim the lights down there were until now!"

"They were damaged after the lavapocalypse," grumbled GB as she also emerged, holding a vial filled with blue liquid. "I simply haven't replaced the bulbs yet."

Barf Bag, Pie, and Taco climbed up the stairs after them. "Ah," Pie sighed. "Fresh air. It was starting to get stuffy down there."

"Welcome baaaaack!" Ruby trilled, spinning over to the group. "Where's Tennis Ball and Coiny?"

"Coiny fell into the incinerator by accident, so Tennis Ball's fishing him out," Taco explained.

As the spots cleared from Golf Ball's eyes, she decided to look around. Far off on the plains, most of Team 1 was being bossed around by Flower, Fries, and Soap (minus Naily, Gelatin, and Donut, who were all arguing with each other). It looked like they were gardening, and they were somehow making significant process. Nearly everyone on Team 2 was crowded around some spot, but Fan was only about a dozen feet away from GB's own team, talking to someone on his cell phone.

Team 2 began to drift apart somewhat, and GB realized with a shock that the thing they had all been looking at was a very vibrantly green patch of grass. "What! How did they manage to do that?" she protested.

Test Tube followed her gaze and stiffened. "That's not good. Quick! Let's see if our growth solution will work."

GB knelt down. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tennis Ball and Coiny run out of her factory's doors. She carefully tipped her blue vial over and let about a third of the liquid inside pour onto the grass. "Step back," she said to nobody in particular.

"What? Is it dangerous?" Cheesy asked. He, Yin-Yang, Lollipop, and Pencil had come over as well, although Pencil watched from a distance.

"Well, there's a 27.57% chance that this formula will simply cause an explosion, rather than the intended result."

They all stepped back. Then the grass blades began to tremble, and everyone took another step. However, the result was rather anticlimactic - instead of the grass coming back to life, or exploding, it simply shriveled slightly, somehow looking even more dead than it did before. They stared at it. "That doesn't make any sense," Tennis Ball said, thoroughly confused. "I thought we got the formula right!"

"So did I," Test Tube hmmed. "Looks like it's back to the drawing board..."

Lollipop glanced at Barf Bag. "I'd bet my entire stock of fork repellent that you failed because of her."

An angry expression crossed Barf Bag's face - a rare occurrence - until Pie placed a hand on her 'shoulder.' "Deep breaths, Barf Bag. Just ignore her for now," she said softly. Barf Bag closed her eyes and tried to calm down, breathing out slowly.

Golf Ball rolled her eyes at this and started walking back to her factory's entrance. "Naturally, the one time I could actually use a living grass sample, Grassy's on another team," she muttered to herself.

But just as she reached the doors and opened them, Fan rushed up to them. "Guys! Guys!" he shouted. "There's- the- we need you!"

"Woah, slow down, buddy!" Test Tube said. "What's going on?"

Fan pointed to his phone. "Lightbulb says there's something wrong with the portal!"

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

Team 5, a few minutes earlier

Marker pushed open the door to Test Tube's laboratory. "And here we are!" he announced jovially.

Everyone entered and started heading down the stairs - except for Clock. He stopped at the doorway and sighed. "Well, I can't go back to Goiky, so I guess I'll just stop here."

"Don't worry, Clock!" Suitcase said. "We'll be back before you know it. The contest won't last that long!"

"Which is why we should get this bag of grass seed back ASAP," Leafy said, shifting the burlap sack around in her arms. "I don't want to run out of time."

The trio waved to each other and Leafy and Suitcase continued forwards. The Cherries reached the bottom of the stairwell first and Right Cherry called up, "Last one to the portal is a rotten egg!"

They dashed forwards just as Teardrop exited the stairwell, hot on their heels. Together, they raced for the window that led to Goiky. Just ahead of their opponent, the Cherries leapt through first. "Hah!" Left Cherry cheered. "We w-"

He was abruptly cut off as the portal deleted him and his sibling from existence. Teardrop saw this and tried to skid to a halt, but her momentum carried her forwards into the portal. She too, vanished without a trace.