Microphone and Eggy strolled back to the rest of their team only to find them arguing amongst themselves. Donut, Gelatin, and Naily had fortunately stopped and split apart for the moment, but now Fries, Flower, and Soap were standing in a rough circle, talking loudly over each other. "What's going on?" Mic asked as they approached the trio.

"They're fighting over who had the best gardening strategy," a gruff voice said. Knife stood nearby, looking annoyed at the conflict.

Eggy glanced down at their team's patch of grass. "Our section looks fine. I don't see why they should."

"That's what I tried telling them."

Mic stepped closer to the trio. "Guys, stop! Why do you feel the need to argue? Our part of this land is great as it is, with the regrown grass and flowers! I don't even know how you got those! Can't you just stop fighting?"

Soap turned to her. "I appreciate the input, Microphone, but at this point it's more of a battle for pride, rather than strategies."

"Why can't you guys see that the advice of a literal flower would be the best?" Flower complained.

Aggravated, Soap turned back and began to argue again, with Fries cutting in at various points. "Aaaaaaand we've gone back to nobody listening to me," Mic sighed. "Just great..."

Eggy just rolled her eyes and strolled over a ways to join Ice Cube and Pillow, who were spectating the argument from a distance. Pillow had a bowl of popcorn out. "Crazy, huh?" Eggy commented. "We were doing so well, and then boom - they start nitpicking at each other out of nowhere."

"I think it's all very entertaining," Pillow said through mouthfuls of crunchy corn.

"I just wish they'd stop arguing already." Icy sighed. "Why do I always get teams who can never work together..."

They watched for a bit longer as Knife joined the argument again. Flower called Ruby from Team 3 over for backup, then Ruby brought a few members of Team 2, and before they knew it, most of Team 2 looked like they were planning a mini-battle between Knife and Flower.

Eggy glanced at Pillow. "Can I have some of that popcorn?"

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

As Golf Ball approached her underground factory with Test Tube, Tennis Ball, and Coiny, she realized what must have happened.

After her spat with Basketball during the thunderstorm challenge, GB and Test Tube worked together to put a security system at the entrance of the factory - a metal door, activated by a simple handprint scanner. Anybody who had their handprint in the database could open the door with ease (other than her own, GB had only put TB's and TT's handprints in). Anyone else who tried would simply get an error message.

However, after Fan came rushing over earlier and distracted them all with the portal problem, Golf Ball had forgotten to lock up. Thinking back, she remembered that Pencil, Lollipop, and Yin-Yang had never even arrived at the portal with the rest of them.

They reached the entrance and sure enough, it was wide open. Golf Ball was the first one to enter, shooting down the first several sets of stairs before the walls opened up to reveal the rest of the factory. Several individuals were arguing on the ground floor.

Growling, Golf Ball grabbed a nearby pipe protruding from the ceiling and jumped off the stairwell. Normally, this would have meant suicide, or at least a long fall onto the Golf Ball Safety Net. This time, however, she activated a newly-implemented feature on her robotic arms. The hand holding onto the pipe detached from the arm somewhat, still connected by a long and strong metal wire. The wire extended as Golf Ball slowly lowered herself down to the factory floor, her hand snapping back in place once she was safe.

She stormed over to the group fighting with each other, none of them even having noticed her yet. "Come on, Lollipop!" Taco huffed. "I'm telling you, this will only end badly!"

"Don't listen to her, Lolly! Where's your sense of adventure?" Pencil egged. "Look at Yin-Yang! He's having the time of his life! Well, half of him is, anyway."

Yang kicked over a table, sending papers flying everywhere. "HAHAH!! I HAVEN'T HAD THIS MUCH FUN SINCE I WENT TO TEST TUBE'S GADGET ROOM!"

"Yang! Come on!" Yin complained, but he was barely able to control his other half. Fortunately, Barf Bag was there to clean up their messes the best she could.

Cheesy picked up the MMR and inspected it closely. "I can't even tell what half of these are supposed to be. What does this one do?"

"That's not important, can you guys please just stop this before-" Pie cut herself off as she spotted the owner of the factory tromping up to them. "Uh oh."

Reaching the group of seven, GB stomped her foot loudly to get her attention. She pointed to the top of the stairs, where Tennis Ball could be seen lowering himself, Test Tube, and Coiny down. "All of you. Out of my factory. Now."

Barf Bag tried to argue. "Hey, Taco, Pie, and I are just trying to get these guys to-"

"Save it," GB snapped. "Leave now, excuses later. Scratch that, I don't want to hear any excuses ever. Now get out."

Test Tube approached the group. "Hold on. There's no need for a conflict there, I'm sure we can handle this like civilized objects."

Golf Ball glared at her friend. "Do you know what happened the last time untrusted members of my team entered my factory without permission? Do you know what happened the last time Pencil entered my factory??"

"No, but maybe we can discuss that la-"

"I don't WANT to talk! All I want is everybody OUT of here!!"

Tennis Ball did his best to intervene. Coiny just watched from the sidelines, conflicted between trying to help or just pulling out a bowl of popcorn and letting the drama unfold.

Suddenly, a searing pain spread across his back, and before he realized what was happening, an unseen force propelled him across the room, where he slammed into the opposite wall. He groaned, catching glimpses of the others staring at him in shock.

A loud exhale from above. Everybody looked up to see Teardrop standing at the top of the stairwell, looking down and over at them. For reasons unknown, she was wearing a pair of sunglasses. A tiny wisp of smoke emitted from her pointer finger, the hand of which was folded to look like a pistol. "What the..." Taco muttered. "I thought she was unconscious?"

TD lowered her extended pointer finger and, much to the surprise of most of the objects in the room, a laser fired from it. It shot straight towards Pencil, missing her by less than an inch and dissipating on the metal floor instead. "Yikes!!" she exclaimed, jumping backwards.

"What in the world??" Cheesy hollered. "How long has she been able to do that??"

"I haven't seen her use those lasers since BFDIA, but I don't k-know why she's suddenly using them on us!" TB stuttered.

Golf Ball dashed towards the nearest pile of stuff, hoping to find a weapon or shield of some sort, but another laser forced her to scramble backwards to the group. "Gah!"

"Where's my tranquilizing dart blaster when you need it??" Test Tube cried.

GB glanced about the room hurriedly as the others danced around to avoid getting shot, searching desperately for an escape route. There was nothing useful within sight, and the only exit to the factory other than the stairwell was the-

"Deprecated garbage chute!" she gasped.

Taco looked at her weirdly. "What?"

The dimpled scientist pointed to a large hole in the wall. Deprecated Garbage Chute it said above, in large, red letters. "That's a way out! If we can all get through there, we'll be able to escape!"

"Deprecated garbage chute?" Coiny slurred woozily, still recovering from the laser blast. "From what I remember, it's not nearly wide enough to fit most of us in there!"

"I recently widened the deprecated garbage chute."

"Why??"

"Evacuate now, explain later!" Tennis Ball voiced as he dodged another shot from Teardrop. "And stop saying 'deprecated garbage chute!'"

Pie glanced upwards. "That deprecated garbage chute-"

"PIE!!"

"-is way to high for any of us to reach, though. How would we get up there?"

"Like this!" Golf Ball grabbed Pie and threw her up, slotting her neatly through the hole. She nabbed Pencil next and, despite the situation, couldn't help but feel a little gratification from hurling the woodsicle into what was essentially a trash bin.

Tennis Ball snatched Yin-Yang and Lollipop out of the way of the next laser and tossed them into the chute one after the other. TD slowly began to walk down the stairwell, trying to shoot faster. Another beam of light struck Coiny, knocking him out cold. "Hurry up!" Barf Bag exclaimed.

"We're trying!" GB gritted her teeth as she picked up Coiny and hurled him through the gap like a frisbee. "Ok, take hold of us!" she ordered.

As quickly as they could, Taco and Test Tube grasped Golf Ball's legs, while Barf Bag and Cheesy latched onto Tennis Ball. The globules raised their arms upwards and activated the other feature of their detachable hands - a blast of compressed air sent four mechanical hands flying upwards. They latched onto the lip of the chute, then began to reel their owners in, passengers included.

A laser slammed into the wall right next to Golf Ball, barely brushing against the wire that connected her left hand to her left arm. For a split second, she was worried the wire would break, but it held fast.

The six objects reached the lip of the chute and turned around to see TD now pointing both fingers at the group. Test Tube nervously glanced down at the gaping pit beneath her. "Are you sure this is safe? I think are a couple of OSHA regulations not being followed here-"

"Yes, it's safe!" Golf Ball exclaimed, right before a laser hit her. The force of the shot was enough to knock her into the wall before tumbling down into the chute. Test Tube and Taco, still holding on, were dragged down as well. Their limbs accidentally swept the other three off their feet, causing them to slam into the walls as well and tumble down, down, down into the darkness below.

Teardrop patiently waited just out of view of the surface until Snowball and the Cherries arrived; they were also wearing sunglasses. Nodding to her, they began the descent into the factory as she locked them from the outside world. A major design flaw - although one needed a handprint to get into the factory, all it took was a push of a button to seal the door from the inside.

Removing her eyewear, revealing unusually glowing red eyes, she rapidly followed the other two down to the factory floor and wasted no time in joining their search. The search for a single, but very important, sheet of paper. It was the keystone to their plans, but there was a decent chance it no longer existed. They were betting on Golf Ball's tendency to never get rid of anything useful, but if the bet was a bust, they would likely get nowhere.

One of the Cherries grunted from across the factory. Snowball and Teardrop quickly hurried over to see Left Cherry holding exactly what they needed. All three (technically four?) of them smiled as they poured over the document and started to raid the base for tools and materials.

It was time to get to work.

I love connecting chapter titles from other books ;)