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The repeating bangs were like background noise now, and even though she wouldn't admit it, Puffball was exhausted.
The sun's setting.
My head hurts.
When she looked up, she noticed Fries' bold expression starting to falter.
How long has he been like that?
"What?" She asked. She attempted to put on an accusatory tone, but it did nothing. She dropped it quickly. "You unsure about this?"
Fries shrugged and crossed his arms. "Not really. As long as you're sure." He seemed fine, apathetic as always. Puffball exhaled.
"I'm not."
There was a long pause before Puffball spoke up again. "I don't know what to do, Fries. I can't do anything." With how futile these escape attempts were, she might as well be doing nothing.
Maybe Golf Ball had been onto something all those times she called her useless.
She startled forward as the feeling of Fries's presence above her head shifted. He was sitting down now.
"That's stupid," he stated. He didn't try to make it anything else. "You can do lots of things."
Once it became apparent Fries was waiting for a response, Puffball began again. "I did so badly during BFDIA. And I wouldn't have if I could have just…"
She trailed off, cursing her younger self for being so naïve.
"Let your team win?" Fries guessed.
"…Yeah."
"I know I sang a song about it like ten years ago, but I don't think anyone actually care all that much, if it helps," he said.
"But I care. I still think about it a lot… I wish I had just—done things differently!" Puffball sullenly cast her gaze down to the expanse beneath her.
No wonder my team now didn't trust me. I can't just settle for average.
Why couldn't she just let herself be average?
"Well, there's a lot of things we wish we could've done differently. Can't do anything about it now."
Well, there was one time she'd tried to drop her attention-seeking.
"And in BFB, I tried blending into the background," Puffball went on aloud. She didn't want to think about the betrayal anymore.
"And just when I tried to take this competition into my own hands, I got out early. Again."
Another stretch of silence.
"Lightning asked for my help with this. I have to do it."
Because if she didn't, who was she?
A disloyal brat? An object with nothing going for her but a funny voice? A jealous idiot?
"You don't have to do anything if you don't want to," Fries bluntly pointed out. "I just do stuff I enjoy. If I don't like doing something, I stop doing it."
Puffball sighed."I think that's not how I work." She could barely handle the thought of failing everyone again.
"That's fine too," Fries replied.
"But maybe you have the right idea. It's about time we tried something new." She turned to the upside-down city. It was dizzying after looking at nothing but the barrier grid for weeks.
"So… we can try it your way. Let's head back." She started flying in the direction of the city.