Flower stood completely still, just watching the portal for a second...he found out? How did he find out?

Wait... of course, she nearly forgot that the Announcer could hear everything that went on inside the TLC. He must have somehow heard that, even through the "vacuum" of space. Was it via hidden speakers? Bluetooth? She wasn't sure, but now it felt like pretty much everyone knew. Well, it could just stay a rumor for now, right? Nobody had real, definitive proof... right ?

After finally making her way through the portal to Earth, she saw the rest of the recently-rejoined Freesmart, now standing on the 'final' Cake at Stake area - a huge, white platform suspended in the air, with a few red chairs. There wasn't any ladder, unfortunately, so Flower had to make due with climbing up the best she could. On the other side of the platform, she could see the eliminated contestants all stationed there, watching them. They'd be casting their judgement...

"It's gonna be okay, Flower." Pencil assured her. "We'll still have an alliance even after the game's over. Like we promised."

"Yeah, and you only have a twenty-five percent chance of leaving." Golf Ball said, "It's not great odds, but you still have a-"

" He knows ."

Golf Ball blinked in surprise. "Huh?"

"He...knows..."

Those two vague words were enough to give Golf Ball the same thousand-yard stare she had. Oh great, as if things couldn't get bad enough... and if he figured that out, how much else did he know? Did... did he know they had downloaded info about him off of TV?! She had to keep calm, though. Looking nervous would only incite more questions. It'd only make Announcer want to learn more... Maybe he was still in the dark about something? Hopefully...? Gah, she hated being unsure! She couldn't find out now, though... not without potentially destroying everything she's been trying to do.

"The eliminated contestants will choose who's next to be eliminated." Announcer said. "Pin and Pen are immune."

Leafy, while slouched over, gave Pin a small glare. Of course ... of course she'd get immunity now... At least the sun felt nice. She doubted she'd get a lot of sunlight after this, though, since she knew she'd be right back in the TLC again.

"Oh, by the way, Pin..." Pen suddenly said. "You know those weird berries I found in that city? I made you something!"

Pin looked around only to see Pen holding a large pastry, which looked kind of like a cake... or was it a pie? Either way, it seemed a few minutes overcooked and had a very distinct smell.

"Oh... nice !" Pin forced a grin. "Yeah, I'll... I'll pass."

"Oh...well, how about any of you guys?" he suddenly asked the eliminated contestants, waiting for Announcer to give the queue.

"I've seen what you made in that taco challenge." Tennis Ball sighed. "No thanks."

"I had to eat what you made in that taco challenge!" Firey added. "Count me out!"

"I'll try your pie, Pen."

Everyone looked over at Leafy, who finally decided to perk her head up. While she hadn't had them in a while, she definitely recognized the smell... yoyleberries.

"Oh...thanks, Leafy!" Pen smiled, tossing her the pie-cake-pasty thing.

Pin rolled her eyes, "Don't take that as a sign she's a nice person." She whispered to him. "Just keep an eye on her."

Leafy's eye twitched... partially at Pin's words but also at the taste of the pie. She wasn't just gonna spit it out in front of Pen, though... that wouldn't be nice.

"Begin voting."

Eraser, being the first one up, casually walked over to Flower's podium and slammed his fist on the blue button in front of her.

"That's what you get for getting me kicked off the balance beam!" Eraser shouted.

"Deja vu..." Flower muttered.

"That's one vote for Flower." Announcer said.

"Bleh !"

"Ahhhh! Ewwwww!" Ruby whined, getting a face full of vomit, via Rocky.

"That's one vote for Ruby."

"Spongy is next."

Spongy didn't have to think long about his decision either, dropping in front of Pencil's button and pressing his foot onto it, nearly breaking it due to the weight.

"What? What'd I do to deserve that from you?" Pencil asked, her eyes wide...only to lower them as she saw everyone giving her a very confused look, "...t-that was a rhetorical question, don't... answer that."

Everyone went quiet still.

"...you still smell."

Ice Cube's answer was fairly obvious.

"I want revenge!" She yelled, pressing Flower's button.

"Ice Cube, genuine question." Flower crossed her arms, "Do you even remember what you want revenge on me for ?"

Ice Cube paused at that. She had to really think, trying desperately to recall exactly what it was that Flower did to wrong her.

"Um...no?"

"Then why are you doing this?"

"Revenge!" She repeated, happy with her answer.

"Of course..." Flower sighed

Bubble was the first of the eliminated contestants who really had to think about her decision.

"Oi'm...really not sure." She admitted. Everyone there was her friend...well, she only just met Ruby over video call, and GB was kind of mean to her sometimes. There was no easy choice here.

"Well, Roiby already had a vote, and oi don't wanna give one to moy original alloiance, so... sorry, Golf Boill."

Golf Ball would have been mad, but she was at least glad that Bubble was actually taking the time to think about her decision unlike everyone else.

"I'm gonna, like, go with Bubble here." Match followed suit, pressing GB's button. "We gotta stick to the original alliance."

"Of course..." GB sighed. "At least you do look nice with blue hair, I suppose."

"Thank you!"

Firey was up next.

"I'm voting for Ruby. She rejoined the game super late. It wouldn't be fair if she won the island when she didn't have to do half of the leg work ."

Ruby got worried at that, especially with Teardrop following suit and voting for her as well. She suddenly felt a lot more short of breath.

"Ruby now has three votes." the Speaky Cube announced, "Golf Ball and Flower have two, and Pencil has one."

"Are you sure I can't vote for Pin?" Leafy asked, finally finishing the last of the yoyleberry pie Pen made.

"Positive."

Leafy groaned, looking across the four she could vote for.

"I guess I'll vote for Flower. She's still the meanest one here."

Flower sighed at that, something Leafy was a little... discontent at.

"Oh, d-don't get me wrong, I appreciate what you've been trying to do..." She assured her. "But you just can't make your past disappear... I-I'm so sorry."

Flower didn't have a response to that... holy gardener , Leafy looked awful. She was more brown than green at the moment, and her edges looked dried and cracked.

Coiny meanwhile, quickly went in to vote for Pencil.

"Look, this isn't personal." Coiny said, "I was gonna pick Ruby, but then stupid Firey had to... ugh, whatever. Just know this is a throwaway vote. You got the least votes so far, anyways."

"Oh, uh... thanks, I guess?" Pencil shrugged. "You really need to stop holding onto that grudge, though."

"I stand by my decision."

Needle was up next.

"Hm... I don't know." Needle said, scratching her chin.

"Come on. Pick someone." Announcer rushed her.

"Give me a second, okay?!"

Meanwhile, Ruby glanced at GB, who was just beside her.

"Hey... do you know if you can make, like, regular phone calls with these DDS things?"

"I mean, yeah, usually ... you won't have a ton of minutes to spend on the line, though. Why do you ask?" GB whispered back.

"I just... I wanna call my sisters. I'm kinda freaking out 'cause..." Ruby gestured to her button, and the number of times it's been pressed already, "I-I... I need to talk to them, okay? I need them."

Golf Ball gave her an understanding nod. "I don't think the Announcer will mind."

"What are they saying?" Needle asked, scratching the back of her head, "Is she...talking to me?"

"Uh, hang on.." Pen stepped forward, trying to listen in while they talked...did Ruby say 'need them'? 'Knee helm'? 'New tie'? Wait... Pen knew what she was trying to say.

"She just called you 'Needy'!"

"Huh?" Ruby looked up from typing the number on her DDS... just in time to see Needle's rapidly-approaching hand.

Slap !

"Don't call me Needy !" Needle said, slapping the button with just as much force.

"B-but I didn't call you Needy!"

Slap !

" Owwww !"

"Okay, if the circus act is done..." Blocky sighed, going over to press Golf Ball's button, much to her frustration.

Woody waited until Blocky fully stepped off the platform before he made his choice, which was Flower.

"Nex' time, don' leave me to dry, o'ay?"

"Okay, Woody. Can we just leave this behind us now?"

"You still hur' me!"

"And is this making you feel better?"

"...eh, alri'... let's just lea' it at this, okay, Flah-weh?"

"Sounds good to me..." Flower sighed, a bit happy that Woody would hopefully calm down around her. The vote was still locked in, though, unfortunately enough.

Golf Ball, while watching this, quickly had to nearly dive off the platform altogether as she dodged a very high kick from Snowball. Even though he missed, he still managed to hit the vote button fine... and then hit it again... and again... and again...

"Your other votes won't count." Announcer said, which was the only thing that got him to stop...and then kick Golf Ball off the platform anyways.

"...and... five." Ruby said, punching in the last digit for her home phone, where the others could pick it up.

"Hello?"

" Diamond , hey!" Ruby called, her usual happy tone as she held the DDS up to her ear. "What's, ya know... going on?"

"... hey . I'm trying to enroll in gem school right now... you know, thanks to what you did."

"What... what I did?" Ruby's smile faltered some, as Diamond continued.

"Yeah, you know...sign up for Dream Island without talking to any of us about it first? You could have gotten us all to try out for the game, but nooooo !"

Ruby stammered a bit.

"D-Diamond, it wasn't like-"

"I don't wanna hear it, Ruby! Do you have any clue what a slap in the face it was to see your dumb grin show up in those auditions without us ? You didn't think we wanted Dream Island too?!"

"D-Diamond..."

"Shut it!" The other gemstone snapped. "I don't wanna hear it! I don't wanna hear your dumb voice again! Oh... by the way, I'm watching the show right now... enjoy the Tiny Loser Chamber, you traitor !"

Not long after Ruby heard her sister hang up, she heard TB press her button, giving her her final vote.

"Sorry, Ruby..." TB muttered. "It was either you or Golf Ball... but it wouldn't be fair to vote for Golfy now ."

Ruby didn't respond... she just shakily sat down on her platform, wrapped her arms around her body with her legs close to her chest, and started to cry. Tennis Ball patted her head, trying to comfort her.

"Ruby, you have been eliminated."

Announcer, however, didn't seem bothered by Ruby's plight, and instead tried out his new quadruple laser teleporter on her. It was also barely any faster than the double laser teleporter, but it looked way cooler.

"Poor Ruby..." Pencil sighed. "I mean, I knew one of us had to go, but... wow ."

"You're not done yet." Announcer added, 'A previously eliminated contestant is about to rejoin the game! We'll find out who it is at Cake at Stake"

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

After a fan cover of the latest 'Cake at Stake' song, the elimination platform went from four chairs to fifteen to be able to seat all the eliminated contestants. Despite this, Pencil decided to sit away from her alliance, instead taking her seat with Match. It was a bit cramped on only one small chair, but they managed.

The screen came up, showing they got eight-hundred thirty-six votes.

"Wait... that's not right." The Announcer suddenly said.

Dink!

The vote number changed...to one-hundred and three.

"Wow, that's... that's not very many." Leafy commented.

"Maybe not for BFDI standards." Announcer said, "But I'm sure someone is blown away by how many votes this is."

Everyone seemed a bit confused by that, but Announcer refused to elaborate.

"Blocky, Ice Cube..." Announcer said. "Both of you got zero votes."

"What?!" Blocky cried out, "Not a single person?! I demand a recount!"

"I-"

Ice Cube didn't even get more than one syllable out that time, as both she and Blocky got hit by the laser teleporter.

"Snowball and Tennis Ball... neither of you did much better. You both only got one vote each."

"That's one more than I would have liked..." TB sighed. "But I'll take it."

Snowball however, remained silent...biting his tongue, even.

" Say the line, Snowball ." Announcer egged him on.

Snowball sighed in defeat.

"What did I even do?"

"There. Quota complete. You may leave now."

That was all the speaker box was waiting for to zap away both him and TB.

"Coiny and Rocky-"

"Bleh!"

Announcer stopped again, as he was hit with another projectile of vomit.

"...you both have two votes each."

"Wow, that's really comforting!" Coiny gave a sarcastic smile as he threw his hands up in the air. "I made it nearly halfway through the game, tried to help Leafy out, pulled my weight on my teams... and I get the exact same fanfare as the mute, armless, neverending barf machine that got out second !"

Rocky let out an angry 'hmmmph', followed by...

"Yeah, because you helped so much! How many slap fights did you get into with Firey again? Speak for yourself, you jerk!"

Coiny didn't have time to question what he just heard as both of them were quickly sent back to the TLC soon afterward.

"You've been holding up okay, right, Match?"

"Yeah. I've kinda just, like... adapted, I think. It still, like, sucks , but... hey, we're almost, like, done here, right?'

"Yeah..." Pencil sighed. "It does not feel like two years have passed."

"It does when you're, like, stuck in a box for most of it." Match let out a weak laugh. "Come on, Pence-Pence, I know you can, like, totally win this!"

"Aww, thanks, Match!"

"Teardrop and Firey..." Announcer continued. "Despite being opposites, you both got the exact same number of votes, at four each."

"Only four?" Firey asked sadly. "Oh well... at least I got more than Coiny ! Am I right? Give me five, TD!"

Teardrop chose not to return his high-five, likely because she knew full well what would happen if she did . She instead just waved her arms frantically at the Announcer, her way of saying 'just put us in the box already!"

And put them in the box, he did.

"Eraser and Needy..."

Announcer waited... Needle didn't respond.

"Both of you have gotten the same votes as each other...both Eraser and Needy got only four votes."

"..."

"Eraser and Needy will not be joining the game."

Still nothing.

"I will now be sending Eraser...and... Needy ...back to the TLC."

Needle folded her arms.

" Needy ! I am calling you Needy ! React already!" Announcer suddenly shouted, almost enraged by this as he got up in her face.

"I think she just gave up on you." Eraser admitted.

"...I hate both of you."

Announcer unceremoniously used the laser teleporter again, just wanting to stop looking at them.

"Whatever. Now there are only five possible returnees." Announcer said, "Will it be Bubble, Leafy, Match, Spongy or Woody?"

"I like my chances." Spongy said optimistically.

"I don't care who it is..." Leafy sighed, "Just as long as you keep me out of it."

"It's, like, totally gonna be me anyways." Match added, "Right, Pencil?"

"Aw, def !"

"Third place is a three way tie." Announcer said, "Bubble, Spongy and Woody all got eight votes each."

"Oh noio!" Bubble yelled, especially since, in place of zapping her, Announcer simply threw a small pin and popped her. Her recovery center was still in the TLC, anyways.

"OMG, that was uncalled for!" Match huffed.

"Oh well..." Spongy sighed, "At least I still have my pride."

"Do you?" Pencil asked, confused.

"...No."

Woody just sighed. "I really di' become a jerk, huh? Oh well... if Flah-weh can fix he'self, so can I!"

Flower wasn't sure if she should feel proud or insulted by that. Regardless, the two of them both got sent away shortly after.

"Match and Leafy, you are the final two!"

"Final... two?" Leafy asked, squirting her eyes at that. "You're... you're sure about this?"

"I triple-checked the votes." Announcer said firmly.

"Well, best of luck to you, Leafy..." Match said. "'cause I, like, still got a good feeling here."

"Yeah, definitely." Pencil agreed. "Oh, yeah... here you go."

Match was handed something else... a small, bright purple sweater, one with a cute little flame pattern across it. "Flower made you this. You're officially in Freesmart now!"

"OMG, thanks!" Match said, "We're totally gonna..."

"I will now reveal the votes."

The TV began counting up... only for Leafy to completely dwarf Match - she only had thirteen votes to Leafy's forty-six , well over thrice the votes she received.

"Oh..."

Pencil frowned at that. "Oh well... You're still in Freesmart no matter what, okay, Match?"

"Okay..." Match hesitated, "I can, like, keep the sweater at least, right?"

"Of course. I'll win it for you, Matchy!"

The two gave each other another quick hug before Match teleported out of her arms.

Leafy, meanwhile, was completely still. Her mind was still processing what TV had said.