They say we what we are, but we don't have to be

I'm bad behaviour but I do it in the best way

-

Battle Box. The PvP game that the 8th Championship's Yellow Yaks got annihilated by.

False followed the rest of the Blue Bats to the Battle Box arena— or at least, one of the arenas. There would be five identical copies for the arena so pairs of teams could battle it out at the same time. The participants observed the arena and started forming strategies.

There was a new Battle Box arena for each Championship, and this time, it was inspired by a train station. Two stationary trains were placed opposite of each other, and there were small ponds and holes in the ground to act as traps. In the center was a box filled with nine cubes of white wool. It was quite easy to spot the white wool considering the ground was covered with grey gravel. False kept the information carefully in her head.

Last time, her team was destroyed in Battle Box. The Pink Parrots in particular were consumed by some sort of weird Stan Twitt induced bloodlust, and her team was badly hurt. But this time, she and Ren had trained and practiced. Not to mention they had two good PvPers on their side. False took a deep breath. She should stop worrying and get herself ready.

Fruit was rummaging through the gear every team was provided. "Okay, we have leather boots, swords, guns and twelve bullets each. That's a lot."

H turned over the BB bullets in his palm. "Yeah, that's a lot. But onto the strategy now! Okay, so Ren?"

Ren turned, eager to please. "Yes?"

H was once again performing his leader duties and assigning roles to his teammates. "I'm gonna call you the wool guy. You do not run in for the middle area unless we call, unless you see them bum rushing. If you see them bum rushing to the middle, don't focus on removing the white wool, but their wool. So you give us time to come in there and kill them."

Battle Box could be won via two methods— either by eliminating everyone on the opposing team or placing cubes of your colour in the middle. In very early Championships, the cubes were made of plastic, but after participants started whacking each other with the hard plastic cubes (which they weren't supposed to do) and people got injured, Noxcrew changed them to be made out of wool, which was softer and easier to grab. Being hit by a cube would hurt about as much as being slapped with a Jellie plushie, unless the Jellie plushie was launched fifty meters into the air by a weirdly complex catapult that your genius classmate made (Etho, stop.) Anyways, that was why teams would have a designated "wool person" to remove the nine blocks of white wool from the box and replace them with your team's coloured wool. Each participant had a satchel of wool blocks, so if several people tried to "wool" at the same time, it could be quite confusing. ("Wool" was simultaneously a noun and a verb, and something more. It would evolve to become a meme due to a certain lime team in the future, but that was a story for another time.)

"Oh, so I'm taking the wool away?" Ren asked just to be sure.

"Yeah, if they place it," False confirmed.

"We're gonna take this methodically and try to kill everyone first before we place the wool. But if they rush to the middle, we need you to go there and stall."

Ren rubbed his palms together. "Gotcha."

False started stretching her wrists. Considering each player had twelve bullets, they would probably use guns a lot. False preferred guns to swords, so this might work in her favour.

"Go cause chaos, basically?"

Causing chaos was extremely easy for a Hermitcraft member, even without weirdly complex catapults or cow launchers that had a 95% chance of squeezing you to death (Etho, Zedaph, stop.)

"Yeah! You see the area right in front of the starting area? With the concrete or gravel or whatever that is? And the little walls?"

"Yeah?"

"Use those. Use those as cover and try not to get hit."

"Yeah," Fruit chimed in. "Just keep a good watch on mid."

"We'll come in as fast as we can once you call out they're rushing in," H told Ren.

"Alright!" Ren looked happy with his job, so H turned to the other hermit. "So False, wanna go right or left?"

False stared at the arena, not really sure what to do. Weren't H and Fruit the experts? Why were they asking her? H could've just given her something to do like he did with Ren. "I... do not mind," she ended up saying, her tone hesitant.

H did not like that.

"No no NO!" H boisterously burst out, and False jumped. "Make your decision! Right or left!"

False nervously laughed. "Uhh..."

"Which one do you want?" H relentlessly continued with a grin on his face.

False scrambled for an answer the way she scrambled for a brain cell whenever she was with the Hermitcraft boys. "Left looks blocked from here, so..." she started stumbling over her words. "There's no way left, is there? Unless through the carriage?"

"You can go through the train, probably."

False frowned, remembering how Dream had cornered her last time. "Won't it be easy to be trapped?"

"Yeah, but it'll also be easy to trap others." H was unfailingly optimistic.

Before False could reply, a horn sounded, and the Blue Bats tensed. They stared at their opponents on the other side— the Aqua Axolotls. This was the PvP team, and the two hermits were conveniently facing Technoblade first again. The first round was about to begin. The Bats gulped, but remained calm.

"Okay, let's do this," Fruit said coolly as he readied his sword. "Let's choose our power ups!"

Each player could choose one out of the four power ups on their wall. False squinted at her choices. The first were four white water balloons labeled as "cobwebs"— when thrown at players' shoes, they could temporarily slow down the player (but they were notoriously hard to hit accurately). The second was a "speed potion" or a sticker that could be applied to players' shoes to make them temporarily run faster. The third was a "lingering potion of Instant Damage I", or a dark purple water balloon. The fourth was a special gun with quicker reloading time, and thus more bullets could be shot more quickly.

"What should I take?" Ren asked hesitantly. "The instant damage?"

"I can take the cobwebs," False offered, and reached for the white water balloons.

"We should throw the lingering potion at middle," Fruit commented, so Ren took it and weighed it in his hands.

Fruit took the gun, H took the speed sticker, and the Blue Bats were all set. When the countdown started, False felt a sudden wave of anxiety rush over her. She swallowed, and tried to move her fingers.

"Someone can take the cobwebs if I fail," she said.

The Blue Bats were now in second place overall. False could hardly believe it, and she wanted to maintain that second place, but there was that realist part of her that was murmuring, "This second place won't last long. Enjoy it while you can."

But before False could ponder on it any longer, the horn sounded, and False winced at the loud sound. It was time to go to battle.

-

We could be immortals

Just not for long

-

H leapt to the left train, Fruit to the right, and Ren to the middle. False hovered around H until she saw some Aqua members rushing towards the middle.

Stop it, False! She yelled at herself. Stop sticking close to H like a coward—

She inhaled, then nimbly darted to a concrete wall. False shot, but missed.

What happened next was a blur of confused yelling. Ren attempted to get to the middle, but he was eliminated. H got somebody, Fruit was fighting, and suddenly Technoblade was coming towards False. But for one instant, it felt like a month ago— False in her yellow lettered jacket instead of the blue one, with Dream charging towards her, and she felt her breath leave her body—

Techno fell in the hole, and False furiously whacked him with a sword. But for some reason, her blows never seemed to hit him, while every one of his blows hit her. Was it due to Techno's longer arms—

False's virtual health was dropped to zero, and an exhausted False fell backwards and leaned against a wall. "H-how- how did you—"

After False was eliminated, Techno ran towards the middle. With a jolt, False realized all of her team members had been eliminated. She'd been the last one alive.

"You okay?" Fruit called out.

False could barely breathe. "Oh my goodness, Techno is a beast!" she blurted out. "What the heck?!"

"We got two kills!" H said cheerfully. He surveyed the two remaining Aqua members as they filled the box with their wool. "That's Aqua. That's— that's the PvP team."

The Bats were silent for a while. Aqua won the game, and the Bats watched as they whooped. Then—

"I threw the healing pot at them!" H cried out and dug his hands into his hair in frustration. Players could pick up extra gear in the arena, and the healing pot (yet another water balloon) was one of them. "I'm an idiot!"

Ren laughed, more amused than frustrated. "Aww!"

"I killed them regardless, so..."

False was still in shock by how Technoblade had eliminated her. She was at full health and he was less than half when they fought, and she had the high ground, so why couldn't she hit him? She tugged on Ren's arm. "I need to find out how Techno got me," she vowed.

Once upon a time, False would be afraid of talking to 3-A students, but not anymore. She boldly strode up to Techno, who was wiping sweat off his face. Ren trailed after her, not wanting to leave False alone.

"Hi," False said bluntly, and didn't flinch when Techno made eye contact with her. "Hi, uh, Technoblade. I... really want to know how you hit me but I couldn't hit you."

The rest of the Aqua team regarded False with mild interest. Then Technoblade literally pulled out a whiteboard and a marker, and started drawing.

"I was in the hole, and you were out of it," Techno informed her. "It's Pythagoras' Theorem, basically. The hypotenuse is always longer than the two other sides, so I could hit you, but you couldn't hit me."

False nodded, understanding but also not really. "Ahh, I see."

There was an awkward silence, but thankfully for False, a bell rang, and she swiftly turned away. Time was up, and both teams retreated to the sides. The Bats were guided by teachers to the next arena where they would fight a new team. When Ren and False caught up with H and Fruit, they found their mentors were discussing the extra gear.

Fruit had decided he wanted the gun. "Okay, so what I'm gonna do with this extra gun is to go on top of a train and shoot them there. You can shoot three bullets quickly."

"I mean, you could instafrag someone right up," Ren piped in.

"Oh wait!" A look of pure delight crossed Fruit's face. "This is OP! I have two guns, and I can duel wield these!"
"Niceee." False knew Fruit was in his element, but it was still a little funny to see the innocent-looking Fruity B be so happy at the prospect of shooting people.

Their second round was against Yellow. This time, False followed Fruit instead of H and they crouched behind a wall together. False peeked out, and shot.

"RIPmeeks was shot by Falsesymmetry!" a voice boomed in her ear, and False felt herself smile.

"Nice, nice!" Fruit called from her right. Fruit was rushing to get the health pot and probably finish off Yellow.

The other Yellow members were swiftly killed, and the Bats ran towards the middle. "Dead, they're all dead!" Fruit cheered.

False started yanking the white cubes of wool out. "Ren, you place the wool," she called out.

The Blue Bats swiftly shoved their blue wool into the box, and won. "Boom, baby!" Ren called out. "But I think one of them wasn't feeling well, so..."

False's heart dropped. It was easy to overlook stuff like that in the heat of battle. Three Yellow members were standing around a pale Mefs, who was sitting on the ground. He was thirstily drinking water in the shade. The Bats hurried towards him, worried.

"I'm so sorry dudes," Ren said apologetically. "I saw you were standing still, so I shot—"

Mefs gave him a weak smile. "It's okay. You didn't know."

"I... I don't think this was a fair round. Maybe the points should be—"

"Stop." Quig shot Ren a look. "You killed three of us, excluding Mefs. You won fair and square."

"Oo... kay."

Ren still looked apologetic, but knew he couldn't do much about it because he didn't really know Mefs. The Bats wished him well, then moved on to the third round. Battle Box was a quick paced game and there was barely any time to worry about anything else. False nervously flexed her fingers.

"We win these," Fruit said confidently. "Every time. We got this."

"Oh yeah," H replied. "Easy."

They faced Red next, and False shot down both Dang and Philza. H was eliminated by a lingering potion, and the remaining members immediately pounced on the middle box.

"Let's go, let's go!" H cheered. "Good job! That was a good team!"

"Boom! We nailed it!" Ren declared proudly after they quickly placed their blue wool. He high-fived his team members, all of them sharing his smile.

"You guys were so good!" H cried from the sidelines. "Unfortunately I couldn't see the lingering potion in the middle, so..."

"Make sure to look out for dark purple water on the ground," False advised. "It's easy to miss it."

After sharing tips, it was time for the fourth round. "I've developed a little route," Fruit told the other three as they stared at the arena. "I'm not that good at it, but I will be."

False admired Fruit's confidence. (She wished she could be the same.)

They faced Cyan next, and both teams were evenly matched. Fruit and Sparklez somehow managed to kill each other at the exact same moment, and they laughed it off. In the end, it was just Pete and False left, and after a furious sword fight, Pete won.

"Nice, good try!" H said optimistically as he helped False up.

"Aww, that was close," Ren sighed as they watched Pete fill the wool with cyan blocks.

"That was my bad," H immediately said. H was always eager to take the blame. "Pete just destroyed me and I didn't do anything to stop him."

Pete laughed. "False, you did pretty well against me, wanna team up next Championship?"

"Hey!" H screamed, jokingly offended. He glared at Pete. "Stop stealing my teammate!" False just grinned.

The Blue Bats faced Orange next, which H claimed was "Team Hard Work Pays Off". The hermits' friend Pearl was on the other side, and they waved to each other before the round began.

"Aww, we were teammates last time!" Ren said, his tone nostalgic.

H huffed. "I'm not expecting you to go soft, Ren!"

"I won't!" Ren protested, and False rolled her eyes. "Suuure. You still apologize to Katherine every time we face her in Battle Box."

"That's because we're friends!"

The horn sounded, and the Bats followed their usual tactic. After a brief fight, it was only False, Fruit and Pearl left. As Fruit chased after Pearl, False rushed to the middle and started removing the white wool. After Fruit got Pearl, they both dumped their blue wool into the box and won that round.

"This strat is working for me!" Fruit happily declared.
"Niceee."

Round Six was against Purple, or as Ren called them, "the Purple Onesies". They were doing fine until Jerome sneaked up behind them and started hitting H and Ren. H was eliminated, and Ren was doing his best to survive. False tried to help, but her attention was distracted by the empty middle. Everything was a mess, and from what she could hear, it was just her, Fruit, and someone from Purple left. With her teammates yelling out "MID! MID!", False took care of the wool and helped her team win the round.

"NICE FALSIE!" Ren screamed while clapping.

"Let's go!" H whooped. "Didn't mean to stress you False, I was meaning for Fruit to go to the middle and protect you!"

False did distantly remember seeing Fruit rush to her side when she was in the middle. "It's fine! I was like, if he's on you, which he should be because," False swallowed, "he knows you're good at PvP, so I'll go for the wool!"

Fruit was the distraction. False would "wool". Everything worked out perfectly. Fruit and False shared a fist bump, and then they focused on their next enemy.

"Nice, we're in third," H commented. "We're beating Aqua!" That was pretty big because Aqua was supposed to be the PvP team.

Ren glanced at the leaderboard. "Llamas is killing it though! They've practically won every round!"

"That's Dream for ya," H said. "The rest of the Dream Team is on Green though. Don't think we've faced them yet— ah, it's Lime Time."

There was a solemn silence as they chose their gear, then H spoke up. "This team is good. Full concentration time! Big callouts! Listen everyone!"

"Okay," False muttered, her hands getting a little sweaty. They always did when she had to fight Dream.

"I'm going to go to the right as always," Fruit told them.

False wrinkled her nose. "I think they're gonna rush mid?"

"No, they're not." H sounded certain. "They're gonna take this methodically and go for kills."

The battle did not start out well. First, according to Fruit, Dream got the potion first, then Dream swiftly eliminated Fruit. Without Fruit to guard the right, Dream could easily pass through and hit False (False was usually stationed at the wall right next to Fruit). False felt something slam into her back, once, then twice, then she was gone.

The defeated Blue Bats could only watch as the entire team of Lime went to the middle and won the round. The Bats had all died, while everyone from Lime survived.

"I did get one hit on Dream," False said brightly. She was proud of that. At least she attacked back unlike last time in the 8th Championship.

"You guys need to yell at me to load my gun," H groaned. "I could've gotten Fundy and we could've gotten one kill... that was my bad."

"Dream was rocking that double gun action like... a mad cowboy!"

(False privately thought Ren fitted the "mad cowboy" description way more.)

"Yeah, he's so good with guns. Unlike me," H laughed.

"Load gun! Load gun, Hmom!" Ren cried out.

"Load gun!" H echoed.

They faced Green next, which H said was "another really good PvP team." "Get ready!" H yelled out.

False checked the leaderboard, then tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Yeah, these guys are in second place."

"They're all really good at PvP but Eret I believe," came H's voice.

The round began, and the Bats desperately fought, but they couldn't win. They weren't disappointed, but losing always made them a little sad (although they bounced back quickly).

"I got Sapnap, but not quite the rest," False laughed.

"Good job!" H replied almost automatically. "We're done with the teams we don't expect to beat. Aqua, Lime, and Green."

"Well, we got one battle left, but...." Ren stared at the leaderboard. "Aqua just jumped ahead. They're in third and we can't catch up to them."

"Alright, let's secure fourth," Ren said as their final match popped up. False blinked. They would be fighting against Pink, False's friends. In the heat of battle, False had somehow forgotten Grian was also in the Championship, and they would have to fight him.

"Oh, this is Pink. We got this," H said confidently. "I think they're gonna bum rush in. Ren, you need to call out if you see it."

As expected, Pink rush in the middle, and False yelled, "Grian's in the mid! Get him!"

"WHAT?" Grian distantly screamed from the other side. "Wait— OW!"

Fruit had quickly advanced on Grian, killing him a second time. False barely had time to laugh before she saw someone approaching her. "Stop targeting me, Jimmy!" False yelled.

"Never!" Jimmy cheered just as H came to False's help and they both eliminated Jimmy.

"Thank you H," False laughed. "Appreciated that!"

"Just one left," Ren called out, and Fruit and H rushed after Joel. Naturally, False went to the mid and started throwing out the pink wool and replaced them with blue.

"Let's go guys, we did so good!" H screamed.

"Nice, we secured fourth on that one!" Ren yelled.

False had to nod. "That was pretty good."

"Joel!" Grian crossly yelled from the other side. "You could've gone to the middle before they did! They were distracted!"

"Okay okay, I'm sorry! But I think we get to be lords now!"

Pink and Blue exchanged some playful banter, and Grian admitted although Pink had lost that round, they'd lost to friends, so it didn't matter much.

"You guys might get second!" Grian cheered. "Go! Go! Glory for Hermitcraft! Win this for us!"

Ren's smile suddenly dropped, and False was confused until she remembered hermits could return to the main campus if their team got second or first. Ren didn't want to leave, so False wouldn't leave as well. False was competitive, but she would always put friendship first.

The bell rang, and Pink and Blue said their goodbyes. The teams started to walk back to the Decision Dome to vote for the sixth game.

Ren glanced at the leaderboard. "Y'know, False and I used to come close to last before so..."

"I remember! And look at the teams we lost to!" H gestured at the leaderboard. "Dream, Aqua, and Green. All PvP teams. Those are people we expect to lose to. The fact that we bet everyone else is so good. Good job, guys!"

"Also, this arena is fantastic for Battle Box." Ren, of course, always had something nice to say about the Championship and Noxcrew. The Blue Bats chimed in with agreements.

As H and Fruit talked about their individual rankings, False noticed hers had gone from 24th to 18th, and proudly shared that with her team.
"Let's go!" H screamed, ecstatic. "You're better than half of the participants!"

False chuckled. "By two. I'll take it!"

"By two," H repeated, and laughed. "That's a lotta numbers! Ren, how're you doing?"

"Oh. Umm. Not great."

False's face fell, if only slightly. She didn't like Ren's sheepish tone. "What is it?"

"30th." Ren stared at the ground and looked ashamed.

False gasped. "That's not bad!"

H was so affected he nearly burst into tears. "THAT'S NOT GREAT?!" He screeched in Ren's ear, his voice skyrocketing in pitch until it came out like a squeak. "Are we comparing to last time?!"

"Well, uh yeah! Last time I did way better—"

False remembered what H had said to her, and applied it to Ren. "You're better than ten other people here. That's a lot of people."

"That's huuuge!" H's voice cracked slightly in the end.

Ren chuckled, and he looked a little better. "Thanks, guys."

"People aren't just builders on here, Ren, remember that!" H cheered. "We spend our days training. You spend your days building crazy giant things!"

"That's true! And I'm proud of it!"

Three games left. The Blue Bats were currently in third (they lost their second place like False had thought. Second was probably too good to be true). Could the Bats reclaim their second place? Could they sneak their way into Dodgebolt?

Or did they peak at second, and for all the Championships afterwards, the hermits had to content themselves with ninth and eighth places?

False wanted to believe. So with her friends by her side, she did.

-

I am the sand in the bottom half of the hourglass

I try to picture me without you, but I can't

-

"I think we should get the other PvP games outta the way," Fruit suggested once games started rolling in the Decision Dome. "If they vote for it, that is."

"Oh. Doing some Survival Games?" Ren asked.

"Maybe get SG out of the way...? I think everyone's gonna vote Build Mart or something," Fruit idly said.

"Yup," False replied immediately. "Build Mart is good."

Once again, the Blue Bats decided to do everything in their power to not let Survival Games be picked. H even had a power up that would allow him to remove votes from a certain game. The first few votes were coming towards Rocket Spleef, and H said, "I'm not against Rocket Spleef, but I wanna kill it." Although Rocket Spleef was not a favoured game this time, anything was better than Survival Games. More votes were coming in, this time towards Ace Race.

"Let it be Build Mart or Ace Race!" False declared as she voted for Build Mart.

The Blue Bats stared at the voting results, their faces tense. "It's gonna be Ace Race— no it's gonna be Survival Games!" False burst out.

"It might be Survival Games!!" H practically weeped, tearing his hair out. "I should've used my powerup on SG to remove the votes! I RUINED IT!!"

Their hearts were pounding rapidly, and False's hands were clasped together in a prayer. As Ren screamed about stupid chickens and foxes, words flashed across the screen. "Vote tied! Picking a game from the ones you voted for!"

Their anxious eyes were glued to the screen, and they waited with bated breath. And for a few seconds, no one spoke. Then—

Ace Race!
H collapsed on the ground. "OHHHH, thank GOD! I was gonna be so MAD if it's Survival Games!"

"Alright, this is my game right here!" Fruit said confidently. "I am destroying this! Here we go!"

"Let's go!" H whooped, apparently rejuvenated after Survival Games wasn't chosen.

"You got this, Fruityloops! We've done some parkour practice, so we should be better at this too!"

Fruit glanced at his teammates. "Yeah, you guys will be nuts at this!"

"Just concentrate and ask if you have any issues." H repeated his words from before Parkour Warrior. "Don't hesitate to ask if you're struggling with something."

"Make sure to go to the right flowers. That's always what trolls me," False said, referring to the bright red flowers that acted as jump pads. There was a whole section of them, and Fruit knew they could be quite confusing to navigate. If you took the wrong route, you had to start over again. "If I go to the wrong one, I get stuck in the water. So just try to get those in order."

"Let's do this!" H said, determined. "Ren, let's get you up to 25th!"

"Let's go, baby!"

"Huh. If I can finish every lap in first place, I can get 500 coins," Fruit laughed as he read the instructions. "I don't think that's happening, but we can try!"

"Getting first on all three laps is really hard though, so it deserves to be rewarded."

Fruit knew he was the best Ace Race player in his team, and he had to do his best for them. Most of the participants were standing at the beginning of the Ace Race course, but they paused the competition for a bit because Quig wasn't feeling too well.

Ren glanced at H. "But they didn't pause Hole in the Wall for you, H! Geez!"

"I guess it was because it was mid game," Fruit answered.

"It was mid game, yeah. Anyways, hope Quig feels better soon."

Fruit frowned at the bright sun above them. "It is kinda hot today. It's September, but it feels like summer still. Take care, everybody."

"Ren why did you bring that back up?!" H erupted, but he had a giant smile on his face. "I was in such a good mood!"

"I'm sorry dude!" Ren was also laughing. "But dudes, it is amazing that they have 40 people from all classes playing this, and every event is pretty much 99.9% flawless, right? It's amazing."

"Yeah!" "Yup!" The rest of the Bats were quick to agree.

As participants aimlessly wandered across the beginning platform, Ren stumbled upon Grian. "Hey G! Aww, you've got a little..."

"A little pink waistcoat!" False finished for him, grinning.

Fruit paused to look at Grian. Grian was indeed in his Pink Parrots uniform, and he was chatting with the hermits. Fruit could hear them talk about how Grian looked like "he worked at Target" and Ren jokingly asked Grian "where are the DVD machines, bro?". Grian just responded with "you guys look like a biker gang".

"Alright, what we should do is to..." Fruit turned to make sure his Bats were looking. "See the far right and the far left? Go round there; don't go in the middle."

Fruit was referring to the beginning platform with conveyor belts that sped up your movements. There were stone bridges crossing a mud pit in the middle, but there were also two narrow paths to the right and the left. Most people would choose the stone bridges because it seemed faster, but the narrow paths actually posed less of a risk because if you fell from the stone bridges, the mud would slow you down. Besides, less people would go to the narrow paths, and so you could gain an advantage over everyone else.

"So go far right and around and you won't need to do a jump," H said. "Also, when you have speed, make sure you don't jump. Just run over the conveyor belts."

"Yep!"

"Oh!" Ren was peering over Fruit's shoulders. "I didn't know you could go around the sides like that!"

"Yeah, Fruit noticed this the first time he played," H remarked. "It's much smarter because you don't take away the speed boost."

"Yeah! And you eliminate the risk of falling into the pit!"

The countdown started, and this sent participants in a flurry. They pressed against each other, anxious to get a good beginning spot.

"Let's goooo! Let's get it! IT'S ACE RACE TIME!" H screamed his lungs out.

H's words ignited something inside Fruit, and he smirked.

Yup. It's Ace Race time!

The horn sounded, and Fruit dashed off like he was born to do this.

-

I'll be the watcher of the eternal flame

I'll be the guard dog of all your fever dreams

-

Fruit nimbly turned and managed to get the speed boosts on the far right. After being launched into the air, he grabbed onto a zipline and smoothly sailed over to the next platform. "I can get first place... I think."

"Let's get it!" was H's enthusiastic reply.

"I forget where to go," Fruit laughed. "It's been so long since I played this— oh Pete knows a shortcut!"

Fruit trailed after Pete and tried to overtake him. Unfortunately, that didn't seem very possible unless Pete slipped up. And Pete was the best Championship player, so it wasn't probable. It didn't matter a lot to Fruit. Ace Race was quick-paced and fun, and Fruit wouldn't mind losing to Pete of all people.

"Ren, you're beating me!" H cried out in delight. "Let's go! You're killing it, dude!"

"Toggle sprint technique changed my world! Aaand then I fell," came Ren's voice through Fruit's intercoms.

H laughed. "Brush it off! It's a marathon."

"Yup," came False's voice. "It's not a sprint."

Fruit felt as light as a feather as he soared through the air. This was his game, and despite the competitive element, Fruit felt... free. The wind stung his eyes, but his heart was singing. The speed was exhilarating, Fruit decided, his cheeks flushed with excitement.

Fruit could see Pete's green hair flash in front of him. "Me and Pete are dominating right now," Fruit informed the others. It was just them at the front without anyone else, and it was almost blissful. Until Fruit nearly tripped, and he gasped.

"WAIT! DUDE!" False's shocked voice came. "I bounced into someone mid air and they threw me off! That was soo bad—"

"Don't worry about it!"

"I didn't expect that to happen!"

"I'm in fourth right now!" H declared. "I'm catching up to you, Fruity!"

"Pete has secured first, but I'm getting second I think..." The finish line came into view, and Fruit dashed past it. One lap down, two more to go. "Yup, I got second!"
"Let's go!"

Fruit was catching up to Pete, and they nearly bumped into each other on the jump pad. They barely had time to mumble apologies before they were propelled into the air.

False nervously chuckled. "I'm so far behind, it's so bad—"

"Don't worry about it! Brush it off, you got this!"

"I know! I'm just a little stressed!"

Fruit successfully ran in front of Pete, and triumphantly zipped through the air. The wind whipped against his cheek, but that couldn't stop Fruit's smile from spreading over his face. "I'm in first! I overtook the lead!" He cheered.

"Let's go!" H screamed. "Aaand I tried a shortcut and I failed miserably."

Fruit could see a familiar shade of blue in the corner of his eye. "Whoever's behind me, let's gooo!"

"I'm in fifth," H told him. "But I'm not really that close to you, to be honest."

"There are a bunch of people with me at the back, so," False said quietly.

"Don't take any unnecessary risks," H advised. "Just play your own game, don't play anyone else's game."

"Yup, noted! Just wanna see which people I can overtake."

"THAT'S what I wanna hear!" H declared, sounding pleased. "More of that!"

"Dang's with me at the back, so it's okay!"

Fruit nimbly went through the course with practically no mistakes and nobody in front of him. "First place, second lap! Let's go!"

His teammates echoed his "let's go!" and Fruit went off like a rocket again. "Boom!" He gleefully whooped.

"It's the Blue Bat pressure!" Fruit could practically hear Ren's smile.

"TRUE!"

"I'm getting ahead," False panted. "Get outta the way, people!"

"I'm concentrating so hard." Ren's voice was strained. Fruit vaguely noticed Ren was pretty quiet this round, and H noticed as well.

"I like the lack of voices, because people usually talk when they have issues!" H exclaimed.

Fruit was bouncing on those red flowers. "I went the wrong way— oh whatever. Went the wrong way and I'm still in first!" He joyfully screamed.

Fruit jumped towards a zipline, but his magnetic clasp somehow failed him, and he fell. As he dropped, so did his heart. "Oh no! My first!" he gasped. Fruit scrambled back to the zipline, but it was too late. Pete had gotten first.

"Oooohh I'm in so much pain," Fruit laughed to hide his pain. He tried not to let it affect him too much. "Goodbye, first place. I'm getting second though. Definitely secured second."

"Let's go!"

"Whaaaatever, Pete," Fruit laughed as he and Pete sprinted to the finishing line. "Second place!"

"That's huge, Fruit!" H responded brightly.

"How did Wilbur overtake me? What the heck, dude?!" False huffed angrily, but her tone soon turned gleeful. "AHA! He fell off!"

"Keep going, boys," Fruit said automatically, having long stopped caring about how False wasn't a boy.

"Alright, got fifth!" H cheered.

"I have to stay in front of Wilbur," False vowed.

Fruit was closely following Ren. "Yeah, Ren, if you're on those places without conveyor belts, just jump to make you go faster."

"Let's go! What places are you guys in?" H asked.

There was a pause. Then False muttered, "I don't wanna say."

"Focus on yourself! Let's do it!"

"Yeah, I'm overtaking some people now!"

As Fruit followed Ren, H followed False, and H guided her to the finish line. "H-how did I get past so many people?!" False exclaimed as she rushed towards the finish line.

"That's huuuge!"

"Yeah! I went all the way down to 39th and I came back in 21st! I'll take it!"

With three Bats finished, they cheered for Ren. (Fruit took some time to complain about his zipline glitch to Pete though, who nodded understandingly.)

"Go to the nearest red every time!" Fruit called out when Ren approached the infamous red flower jump section.

Ren sighed. "This is the part that gets me everytime!"

Ren fell, but managed to pick himself up. The Bats called out a lot of advice, but most of them were "take your time!". The last thing they wanted was to pressure Ren.

Ren zoomed across the finish line, and got 37th. False immediately tossed him a towel and a bottle of water. "Ugh, that was so bad," Ren muttered.

"That wasn't bad!" Fruit protested at the same time False yelled out "sweet!" and H let out another "LET'S GO!". Fruit couldn't help but smile. They were so supportive of each other, and if one member felt bad about themselves, the other three would drown out their insecurity.

"That was terrible, I'm sorry guys—"

"Wait. We're tied for first in Ace Race," Fruit excitedly pointed out.

"—those stupid flowers get me every time! I wish I could practice the flowers, but I dunno where they are!"

H turned towards Ren, his eyes blazing. "Ren, gimme a quick favour. Do me a really quick favour. You ready?"

"Yep!" Ren was always eager to follow H's orders.

H simply pointed at the leaderboard and didn't say a word. There, in big bright letters, under "Ace Race - Game Coins" were Red Rabbits and Blue Bats, both in first with 3095 coins!

"Ren, do you see where we finish?" H cried out.

A slight pause. "Yeah?"

"We're in first!"

Ren blinked like he'd just been awoken. "Oh. We're tied for first?! So my terrible performance meant nothing?! SWEET!" Ren pumped his fists in the air, and was so happy he nearly fell down. His shoulder crashed into H's, and H steadied Ren with a hand.

"Terrible performance?" H bellowed. "Ren, get outta here with that!"

"Let's go, guys!" Ren sounded absolutely delighted. "You guys are so freaking good! And I need to take a picture of those red flowers to figure them out."

"I need to take a picture of our tied first!" False exclaimed. "This has never happened before!"

"LET'S GOOO!"

"Let's go, dudes! Wow! That was insane!"

"You guys popped off!"

"Wait." Ren grabbed Fruit's shoulder, his blue eyes curious. "Fruity, did you win?"

Fruit exhaled. "Aaaa, I got second. I had a zipline issue, and Pete passed me."

"Dude, I was concentrating so hard I wasn't breathing, and I wasn't listening to anyone, so..." Ren laughed.

"Thank God I got first for the second lap, because if Pete got that too, he would've gotten 500 extra coins for his team, and they would be in the lead."

The top five fastest laps were shown, and Fruit was on it twice! Happiness bubbled inside Fruit, and he soon forgot about his zipline glitch. It suddenly seemed so irrelevant.

Ren clapped and hollered, "Niceee! BLUE BATS DOMINATION! That's what we like to see out there, man."

"Let's get it! Ugh, Fruit, you bet me by eleven seconds. Son of a gun."

Fruit snickered, and playfully shoved H. H shoved him back.

False looked amused. "Boys, save your energy for later. And Ren! We gotta take a pic!"

Fruit watched as the hermits positioned themselves in front of the Ace Race leaderboard. They were sweaty and their hair was sticking everywhere (due to the wind), but Fruit had never seen them look so happy.

"Let's go!" H yelled. "We're gonna kill it at other games too, and we're gonna get first!"

False laughed. "Well, to be honest, I'm pretty happy with our position now..."

H wagged a finger in front of False's nose. "NO! Don't be satisfied with that when we can win! Aim higher, Falsie!"

The Blue Bats' spirits were high after their Ace Race win. And so when they entered the Decision Dome for the seventh game, they thought they could crush just about every game.

... They didn't know their worst fears would come true.

-

And live with me forever now

Pull the blackout curtains down

We could be immortals....

-

"Alright! We're 700 coins from first!" Ren whooped. Lime was leading, followed by Green and then Blue.

Fruit sighed. "I'm really worried Green is gonna try pick SG? Like, both the green teams? And they're just gonna try make a lead from that game."

"Uhh, the good news about that is that the lower teams are gonna have power up items and they don't want to play SG. Other than Aqua, of course."

Fruit considered H's rational analysis. "Yeah, true."

"I actually think it is more likely that it's not picked than it is picked."

"That's true!" Ren piped in.

"If it's picked, we can still pop off, don't worry," H said comfortingly. "We're not bad at any games! We're not! You can tell by the place we're in right now!"

Teams started to receive their power ups that could impact voting results. Usually, the worst team of the previous game would have a power up, and a few other random teams would receive some as well.

"Wait, Aqua was the worst team? That's a good thing," Fruit commented.

"But it's a bad thing they got an upgrade," H reminded him. "They're gonna want SG."

"Green got another power up as well..."

"Yeah."

Fruit shakily exhaled. "Uh oh."

"This might be interesting," came H's voice from Fruit's side.

Just as the first votes started pouring in, Orange dunked Green, and Green couldn't vote. "YES! They dunked Green Guardians! That's huge!" H screamed.

"That was great!" False agreed. "Green is the second right now!"

"Vote for Build Mart or Sands of Time," H ordered. "We just don't want Survival Games."

A chill descended upon the team after H's decisive words. Fruit dearly hoped H hadn't jinxed it.

"It's so close," Fruit sighed. He couldn't tear his eyes from the screen.

H was frantically counting the votes when time went out. "Yes! YES! NO!" he screamed in despair. "It's a fifty-fifty!"

Fruit clutched his hair. It felt like his chest was constricted. "Nooooo!"

"It has to be a fifty-fifty," False muttered.

"Vote tied! Picking a game from the ones you voted for!"

... So this was just like last time when it was a tie between Ace Race and Survival Games. Luck had been on the Blue Bats' side, and Ace Race was mercifully chosen. Back during the Audience Takeover, Survival Games narrowly missed being chosen as well. Fruit stared at the screen, his hands sweating. Luck had been on their side, but had they used too much of it? What would happen now?

They didn't want Survival Games. Maybe they should've gotten it out of the way in the beginning. But it was the seventh game, the Championship was almost ending. Survival Games was a huge risk. It could change everything. Fruit's forehead beaded with cold sweat.

"Oh no," False sighed as if she had already resigned herself.

"VOTE TIED! It didn't matter!" H hollered. His face was unusually pale, and Fruit instinctively placed a hand on H's shoulder.

"Uh oh," Ren laughed nervously if he too knew the outcome.

Fruit hated how his stomach lurched, hated how he had a feeling the hermits were right. A sense of doom pressed against his chest, and he gulped. Anything but SG, anything but SG—

Bright red words, the colour of danger and pain, flashed across the screen. Fruit's heart sank. Next to him, his Bats wailed in despair, but Fruit could barely hear them.

SURVIVAL GAMES.

-

We could be immortals...

Just

not

for

long.

-

A/N: Yeeeee sorry for the cliffhanger, but this chapter is way too long aha.

There is so much SG foreshadowing in the source material and I'm surprised. First Battle Box won over SG in Audience Takeover, SG tied with Ace Race, then SG tied with BOTH Rocket Spleef and Build Mart. Who wanted SG so much?! And why did the team who wanted SG the least won lmao. It's so dramatic, I love it.

MCC Pride teams have yet to be announced, and I really don't mind if my streamers don't play (although I would LOVE to see more hermits).

"Let's go" count is 21 this chapter, and I'm pretty sure H said most of them :D Also for this fic, MCC 9 Battle Box is supposed to be False's redemption for MCC 8 Battle Box (I mean, she'll get an even better redemption in MCC 10 lol). It was actually really hard to make inter-team dialogue, even for people like Grian and Pete. So if the Blue Bats seem trapped in their own world, that's why lol.

Lyrics from Immortals by Fall Out Boy. Honestly, imo the whole song fits the Blue Bats very well. Like the first verse:

"They say we are what we are,
But we don't have to be,
I'm bad behavior but I do it in the best way,
I'll be the watcher of the eternal flame,
I'll be the guard dog of all your favorite dreams"

Tell me that doesn't sound like False, H, Fruit, and Ren in that order. False being slept on by Reddit, H being the "villain" because he defeated Techno and co, Fruit being supremely talented but not really recognized for it before MCC 9, Ren being the "guard dog"... mmm yeah

Thanks for reading!! Comments appreciated <3