Bottle swung the door to Hotel OJ open with gusto. "Hellooooooooo!" she called out. "Anyone home?"

"OJ's always home," Tissues commented, bustling past Bottle. "He'll probably arrive in a second."

Right on cue, OJ stepped into the foyer and stopped when he saw most of Team 4 just past the entryway. "Oh boy," he muttered. "Are you guys here for Four and MePhone's challenge, too?"

"No, we're just here to visit!" Puffball sang. "The portal's broken right now, so we were hoping we could stop by to pass the time."

OJ quickly considered it. "As long as you guys don't blow up Bomb like the last time I let BFB contestants in, then that's fine."

"Oh don't worry!" Basketball assured. "The only object here who might do that is Blocky, but he won't. Right, Blocky?"

Blocky stayed silent.

"Right, Blocky?"

"...fine," he muttered.

OJ rolled his eyes. "I'll be keeping an eye on you. All you guys can come in, though."

"Woohoo!" Bottle cheered. She led the way inside, Basketball and Rocky hot on her heels. After them were Grassy, Blocky, Puffball, Bomby, and BFB Nickel.

OJ did a double take when he saw the last two. "Jeez, I forgot your universe had a couple clones."

"Yeah, II Nickel and I even sound alike!" Nickel agreed.

"That's disturbing." He led them through the hallway, stopping in front of the kitchen door. "Anybody want anything to drink?"

"Yeah! Do you have any orange juice?" Blocky asked. OJ gave him a weird look and he snickered. "Kidding."

Grassy raised his hand. "Grassy could use a drink!"

"Sure! Whaddya want? Juice? Milk?"

"Actually, he probably means water," Basketball interjected. "Being a plant and all, he needs more than the rest of us objects usually do. But he likes to absorb it through his grass blades - is your sink big enough to fit him in?"

"Er... I think so? Hang on." He turned to address the others. "The next door down is the living room, it has a big tv and a bunch of board games, and stairs leading up to the hotel rooms are at the end of the hallway, just in case any of you want to stay the night. Go explore on your own, I'll help these two for the moment."

"Thanks!" Puffball said as OJ entered the kitchen with Basketball and Grassy tailing behind.

Everybody else continued forward and decided to enter the living room together. There, they found Tissues spectating two objects battling against each other in a fighting game on the flatscreen television. "Oh, hey guys," Tissues said when he spotted them entering.

"One sec, whoever's there!" one of the objects, a sheet of paper, grunted. He mashed several buttons on his controller, but to no avail. "Darn! I lost again!"

The other object, a pickle, leaned back with a smug look on his face. "Don't worry! Keep practicing like I did, and one day, you'll be as good as me!"

"Maybe." The sheet finally looked away from the tv and gasped when he saw the new arrivals. "Oh! Hello! A-are you guys from Four's show?"

Blocky nodded. "Yup! I'm Blocky. These are my bros Bomby, Nickel, Rocky, and also Puffball and Bottle."

"Howdy!" Puffball twirled in the air.

The paper waved nervously. "Nice to meet you! I'm Paper, and this is Pickle."

Pickle looked at them, nodded, then paused. "Wait. I already know Nickel. Did he join Four's show?"

Nickel coughed. "No, I'm a different nickel."

"A different...?" Pickle's face twisted in confusion. Then he spotted Bomby. "Ok, I think I'm just going to go back to my game now."

He returned his focus to the tv screen. "Well, I should probably continue my chores now," Paper sighed. He stood up from the couch. "Do you guys need anything?"

"No thanks! We're just visiting for now, since the portal's not working," Bottle replied.

"What do you mean?"

A violent sneeze interrupted the conversation. Everyone, except Pickle, turned to see Tissues wiping his nose. "Sorree. The condishawn strikes again."

Blocky waved his hand dismissively. "We're pretty much used to it. Rocky here vomits all the time, for reasons nobody can ever figure out."

To accentuate the point, Rocky chose that moment to barf directly on Tissues. "Bad Rocky!" Blocky scolded.

OJ rushed in from the kitchen carrying a mop and a bucket of sloshing water. "Where's Soap when you need her?" he cried.

"I think she's in Goiky right now," Basketball said as she followed the citrusy host into the living room. Grassy followed her in turn, the occasional drop of water dripping off the tips of his blades. He looked much happier.

"This room's getting pretty crowded," Nickel commented while OJ hurriedly tried to clean the floor. "Maybe we should move to a bigger room?"

"Seems like Bomby had the same idea," Puffball commented.

They all looked around the room. Bomby was nowhere to be seen. "...Blocky?" Basketball turned to the prankster, suspicion in her voice.

"I didn't do anything, I swear! He probably just wandered off!"

"S-speaking of bombs," Paper piped up, "does Bomb know that Bomby's here?"

Two surprised shrieks arose from somewhere inside the hotel. "I'm going to guess that's a no," Puffball chuckled. Paper rushed off to find the volatile clones.

While Bottle, Nickel, Rocky, and Puffball wandered off to explore some more, Grassy, Basketball, and Blocky stayed with Tissues to watch Pickle play his fighting game against an AI opponent. "This looks pretty neat," Blocky commented. "Can I try?"

"Sure! There should be two extra controllers."

"Sweet." Blocky grabbed one and hopped onto the couch, promptly joining the same mid-match. "Anybody else wanna join us?"

"No thanks, I tend to spread my condishawn whenever I play."

Basketball wiggled her toes. "No arms makes it tricky to use controllers, so I'll pass."

"Grassy will play!" Grassy climbed onto Blocky's head, third controller already in hand.

A bit nervous, Basketball studied the game. "You sure? It looks a bit violent."

"Come on, the kid knows Four. There's no way he doesn't already know what violence is like!"

"Alright..."

Pickle smiled when he saw Grassy's attempt at learning the controls. "Fear not, kiddo. I'll go easy on you for now."

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

Knock knock knock knock knock.

"Coming, coming!" Salt called out, mildly annoyed at the small detour. She rotated on her heels as she passed by the hotel's front door and opened it. "Sheesh, you're insistent. Pepper, did you lock yourself out ag-"

She stopped, because standing on the step were Lightbulb, Paintbrush, and Firey. "...oh. What are y'all doing here?"

"Sup, Salty!" Lightbulb extended her fist in greeting.

"Heyo, Lightbulb. Been a while." Salt accepted the fist bump.

Paintbrush gestured at Firey, who was still blowing air on his hands. "Firey got hurt and needs some bandages or something. Can we come in?"

Surreptitiously, Salt leaned outside and glanced from side to side. "I thought MePhone only allowed, like, eliminated II contestants in the hotel?"

"He's... not here right now. Long story."

"Alright, but if he comes back and you're all still here, don't think I won't, like, throw you under the bus." Salt stepped aside and allowed them to enter.

Lightbulb whistled as they walked through the hallways. "Man, I forgot how orange this place was."

"I like the color," Firey commented. Salt rolled her eyes.

They heard a commotion as they approached the main living room. Passing by, Lightbulb took a glimpse inside and saw the inhabitants going nuts. "How??" Pickle cried, clutching his head. "How did I get destroyed in this game by a child?!?"

"Grassy is the BEST at fighting games!" Grassy cheered proudly, throwing his arms into the air.

"You sure are!" Blocky agreed in bewilderment.

Lightbulb chuckled as she split off from the others and entered the room. "If you think he's good, try playing against Bottle in Monopoly..."

Salt continued to lead Firey and Paintbrush through the hotel. "Those boys and their video games," she muttered, mostly to herself. "Always getting in the way of my beauty sleep! Anyway, I think there's, like, a first aid kit by the stairs. How'd you hurt yourself anyway, fireboy?"

"I burned my hands."

"Say what now? Actually, never, like, mind. I don't even want to know how that happened."

"It's actually a pretty serious situation," Paintbrush scolded. "The portal that Test Tube made isn't working, and there's a bunch of objects stuck o-"

Salt snorted, interrupting them. "If the portal doesn't, like, concern me, then I'm not interested."

The art utensil sighed in exasperation. They'd forgotten just how irritating Salt could be.