A/N: Remember what I said about no shipping?  I lied. This is going to include whatever the heck Martyn and Ren have  going on in the Traffic series. Don't blame me, blame "in love with his  boss" Martyn.

By the way, I read some old chapters and... the salt. It's awful /lh. I've outgrown it now, I promise, it was two years ago.

Sands of Time is another difficult game to adapt. Funnily enough, my version  has Hunger Game influences (I'm genuinely a big fan of the Hunger  Games).

Quick refresher: Stan Twitt uses he/they pronouns. "He" because the name Stan (Stanley) is a masculine name, "they" because  they're a caricature of a group of people.

This is going to be a more lighthearted, friendship-focused chapter. I struggled with naming this chapter because it was supposed to be combined with the next  chapter. I ended up choosing something Ren-centric. I think MCC 9's SoT  is an important turning point for Ren because he literally learned how to sandkeep from SoT's biggest fan, and Ren ends up being one of the best sandkeepers :)

-

I was scared of dentists and the dark

I was scared of pretty girls and starting conversations

Oh, all my friends are turning green

You're the magician's assistant in their dream

-

After the exhilaration of that Survival Games, the Blue Bats knew they had to calm down and keep it together for one more game. They couldn't celebrate early and let their egos take over. As they themselves had proved, anything could happen in the Championship. They went to the Decision Dome, giggling and nudging each other all the way. They should be exhausted after Survival Games, but their morale had never been higher. The adrenaline pumped life back into their veins and they were ready to tackle the next game, whatever it might be.

"Just no throwing, guys!" H called out with a grin.

"No throwing," Fruit echoed, a similar grin on his face.

"Then let's choose something we can't throw then," Ren laughed.

Ah, so they were all in a silly goofy mood.

The games arrived with their signature tinkling theme. H boldly declared, "We want Sands of Time! Or Build Mart. We just don't want Rocket Spleef."

When people started voting, the majority leaned towards Sands of Time, which the Bats were happy with. They threw their votes for Sands of Time, but there was a bit of doubt when the votes were counted, with Bingo being a possible contender. H, brimming with confidence, announced that if either game was chosen, they would win.

It almost seemed like a dream. H was sure they would win no matter what. No matter what happened, they would get into Dodgebolt. The hermits would be in Dodgebolt. Surreal.

"Ren?" H called out, immediately returning to his position of being the leader (or the "Hmama" as Ren called him).

"Yes?"

"If it's Sands of Time, I need you to listen to me."

As if on cue, the final game for the 9th Championship was revealed— SANDS OF TIME.

Sands of Time was a technological marvel by Noxcrew. The game took place underground with ten floors, one for each team. Red's floor was at the bottom, Pink's floor at the top. Each floor was identical with twisting mazes, dead ends, traps, and vaults. Noxcrew could easily configure the map from their control room on the surface. In the center of each floor was the timer, where participants could dump bags of sand to add time, and the sphinx, where they could bank their coins for a fee. There was also the "portal", which was just a glowing purple curtain in front of an elevator that would take them straight up to the surface. There was a lobby on the ground floor for participants to mingle beforehand, and it was also the place where participants would be sent to when they chose to exit the game (of course, if they "died" in the game, they would be trapped in a gigantic cage, and other participants were free to jokingly throw tomato plushies at them).

Cameras would follow participants around as they hunted the area. They could pick up golden coins glimmering in the dusty ground, grab bags of sand, fight "mobs" (that were just pop up figures attached to walls and floors), break traps, solve puzzles, and even attempt some parkour. And of course, it was every team's ultimate goal to find vault keys and unlike vaults— not to be confused with Iskall's work-in-progress Vault Hunters project, but that was a story for another time.

Again, like previous games, virtual health would be displayed on their suits. Once it dropped to zero, the participants' boots would freeze them to the ground, a sign that they had died. Participants had to drop all of their coins. A few seconds later, they would be directed to hidden doors in the walls which would grant them a quick and safe passage back to spawn. A team member would have to revive them for the cost of one bag of sand. Since participants would return to spawn through the walls instead of going through the actual area, they would gain no advantage, and they would lose precious time and resources. Hence, dying in Sands of Time was highly inconvenient.

Sands of Time might seem like a complex game with its variety of items (rusty keys, armour, water balloons, electric torches) and mechanics (fighting mobs, puzzle solving, parkour), but in the end, it was another game that tested teamwork. They had to race against the ever ticking time, with gongs ominously echoing through the area.

"Okay, it's Sands of Time." H might be relieved, but he was already mentally in fight mode. He knew it was crucial for the entire team to work together. H turned to Ren, and sternly placed his hands on Ren's shoulders. He stared straight into Ren's eyes. Ren was mildly surprised by the intensity and seriousness of H's stare.

"Ren, you are the cornerstone of this."

Ren gulped. The weight of the responsibility settled on his soldiers. H continued.

"You are going to be in the mid and you are going to grab everything in the area. We're gonna touch nothing. We need you to make callouts to us. Like, every twenty seconds on how much time is remaining."

H was experienced with leading, and especially so with coaching less experienced players. He knew their value, knew how to make them feel appreciated, and gave clear instructions that were easy to follow. While H made it aware to Ren that he had an important job to do, he phrased it positively. It was a big responsibility to carry, and H 100% trusted Ren with it.

The slightly insecure Ren wanted to prove his worth to the Blue Bats. Even when they won Survival Games, Ren had described himself as "the weakest player". After all this time, after all of their training, Ren sometimes still slipped into his insecurity (maybe it was a side effect of always joining the Championships with False, the hermits' PvP queen). So to be uplifted by HBomb of all people was very validating to Ren.

False and Fruit were nodding as H continued with his speech. "The way we lose is if we don't finish. That's it. We need to finish. So Ren, we need big talks from you."

Big talks. Ren's palms were sweating (along with parts of him that weren't supposed to be sweating) but he concentrated on H's words. His team needed big talks from him. Ren knew he was talkative and had a pretty loud voice. He could do this. This was the perfect job for him.

"Okay." While Ren was nervous, he was also incredibly excited. He loved supporting his friends using his own skills. 

H's eyes were still intense. "You're going to be the main person here. That's it."

Ren was the main person. Ren had always joked about Doc (or Iskall, or Keralis) being his "main man", but now it was Ren's turn to be the Blue Bats' main man. He was significant. Irreplaceable. And with great power came great responsibility. 

Fruit added, "Yeah, you wanna gather all the sand that you can see, you wanna put it in, and you gotta tell us if it's low, when we should be coming back—"

"How much sand you have, if you have any vault keys, that kind of stuff." H mentally checked off his list of reminders.

The participants were then led to the Sands of Time complex and they mingled in the overground lobby. Funny how one game had completely changed the Blue Bats' morale. Just before, they were shivering in their boots and pulling themselves together with the force of sheer will. Now? They were determined to hold onto their first place. They didn't need to take risks. They just needed to stay up there.

"Hey, Blue!"

Blue's allies (if they were even allowed to have allies in the Championships), Pink Parrots, hurried over to them. "We're rooting for you guys!" Grian cried, excited. "Go win Dodgebolt for us!"

"And we're not gonna get last!" Joel reminded everyone. "Hear that, Reddit?"

Grian was currently raising money for charity, so he took the time to step aside while the other three continued to chat with Blue.

Joel patted H's shoulder. "Hey H, we might not have won last month, but I have faith in you this time! It would be so nice to see a hermit win."

"You guys deserve it too!" Jimmy added with a smile. "Like, you've been practicing like crazy."

"All the best to your team too!" False said. She still had banana bread left, so she passed them to both her teammates and the Pink Parrots. After a chorus of "thanks!", they were all quiet as they replenished their energy.

"Don't you think Sands of Time is scary?" Martyn began. "Like, we're all gonna go down in that elevator, floor by floor, and we'll be essentially trapped underground with a big gong going off every ten seconds or something. And we'll all be exploring individually, so it's not like you can stick with your team like in SG or Sky Battle."

"That's why Sands of Time is fun!" was H's reply. "It might test your individual PvE skills, but it also tests your ability to cooperate with your team when you're not physically with them."

Ren was oddly silent, which the others chalked up to him being focused. The other teams were all preparing themselves for the final game, with Lime in particular determined to bring it back after Survival Games. Cyan and Green were exchanging friendly banter on which team would take second place (since Blue was pretty much meant to get into Dodgebolt unless a catastrophe on the scale of Lime's Survival Games happened).

Soon, the participants were rounded up, and all forty of them stood in the gigantic elevator that  would take them down to all ten floors. The spectators cheered and waved their banners as the participants were slowly lowered into the underground. Darkness covered them for a second, then dusty bricks came into view. They had arrived on the first floor, which was Pink Parrots' floor. Grian gave False and Ren a fist bump, then the Parrots exited the lift. With a ding, the doors closed, and the elevator steadily made its way down again.

"Geez, this is always intense to me." Ren shivered. "Like, the teams are leaving one by one. Can't imagine what it feels like to be Red and you're the only team left in the elevator."

"Good thing we're Blue then," H replied.

They arrived on the next floor, and the four Purple Pandas exited. 32 players left, and the number would continue to dwindle. Sands of Time oddly had a "final boss" feel to it, which might be why it was such a popular final game option.

"Okay, it'll be our floor next." Fruit was bouncing on the soles of his feet, a little restless. He was still pumped up from his kills in Survival Games and was itching to show off a bit more.

The elevator slowed down, then the doors slid open. The Blue Bats were about to step out when Krtzyy from Green Guardians smiled and said, "See you guys at Dodgebolt!"

"Ohhh, we're beating your asses at Dodgebolt," H joked, but then Jordan from Cyan Creepers called out, "Not so fast! You're not guaranteed second place, you know."

"Yeah, but you're getting third due to the Captain's Curse," was Sapnap's retort.

H rolled his eyes fondly at the friendly banter between Cyan and Green. "Right, let them duel it out for second place." He placed his hands on Ren and Fruit's backs and ushered them out of the elevator. "We've got business to do here."

The floor was dim and quiet. Ren brushed aside the purple curtain and "held the door" for the Bats as they walked to spawn. They weren't allowed to do anything since they had to wait for every team to arrive, but they could certainly look around.

The sand timer loomed impressively in front of them. Water quietly rippled in pools, reflecting light from artificial torches. They could already see rusty keys and coins on the ground. Dark tunnels branched off from the main area. The venue for Sands of Time was truly gorgeous and one didn't need to be a crafter to appreciate it.

"Alright, let's talk about where we gonna go." H wasted no time. He jabbed a finger right beneath their feet. "I'll go underneath."

False, ever observant, took immediate note of their surroundings. They were standing in the elevated layer of spawn which circled the sand timer.  "Ren, get the sand from the top layer first. Like just go around the donut right now."

"Yup, yup."

H cleared his throat and continued with his advice. "This is all communication, guys. We need to listen to each other. Ren, you need to be the big voice here. You have to call out to us how much sand we have. All times." H realized he might be being too vague, so he added, "If you have like three sand, you gotta tell us to come back as soon as we can. Okay?"

Ren was an attentive and eager student and latched onto H's words. "Gotcha."

H then heartily slapped Ren's shoulder. "Everyone, when Ren talks, shut up!"

Everybody nodded. They too understood the importance of the sandkeeper. Ren was determined, but remained cheerful. "Renmamma taking the wheel on this one, baby!"

"Yup!" H sounded pleased. "This is Ren's game." He turned to Fruit. "And no being stupid, Fruit."

Fruit's jaw dropped comically and he took a step back. Fruit looked mock offended, especially when H had been nothing but encouraging to Ren. "Whaaat?"

"No risks!" H declared with the ferocity of Edna Mode declaring "no capes!". "We don't need risks. We just need like a thousand coins. Just no risks. Be smart. We're in such a huge lead, guys," H emphasized again. Maybe one might find him repetitive, but H needed to get the point firmly drilled into everyone's minds. They were on the way to Dodgebolt and it would be so painful to lose it because someone made an unnecessary risk. Although H remembered his nightmare about losing Dodgebolt, he genuinely was excited to play it again, although a lot of that excitement came from bringing False and Ren to the Dodgebolt stage for the first time. But all in due time. They needed to get through Sands of Time first.

"I can't believe Survival Games pushed us so far." Ren shook his head. "We got so many frags!"

"We all got full iron like, super early," Fruit marveled.

False couldn't help but laugh at the sheer irony of it all. "And we didn't even want Survival Games!"

"Yeah!"

"Big true."

They quieted again. Judging from how much time had passed, the elevator had probably reached the lower floors like Lime and Yellow. Just a few more minutes to go. H tapped his feet to get rid of his nervous energy.

"Ren, first thing you do, you see all the sand around here? Grab it." H echoed False's words from earlier.

"Roger that."

"And then start going for the sand timer. Don't let the sand time go underneath like, 80. Keep coming back like every 30 seconds."

"Gotcha."

Ren had a slight frown on his face— that face he made when he was genuinely invested and found something challenging. Ren could be somewhat of a dork sometimes (False had flashbacks to all the times she had to physically pull him away from danger), but he was analytical and thoughtful. And above all, Ren was unfailingly loyal to the point he would risk himself for his team. Being the sandkeeper seemed like a perfect role for him.

"Let us know when it gets to 60 because one of us will need to run back then," False reminded him. Privately, she liked seeing Ren being deep in thought about strategy. False trusted H's teachings, and she trusted Ren to follow through.

"Yeah." Ren did a quick count of all the sand he could see. "Though I'm gonna run out of sand in the center too."

"Yeah, we know, and that's when we'll start coming back." H's voice was full of confidence. Ren would manage their sand, and everyone else would bring back sand for him.

"Cool, cool. I'll be the guard dog." It came out like a joke, but at the same time, Ren was serious. This was his duty to the team.

H flashed them all a grin. "And remember, no matter what happens: I'm so proud of y'all. We've come so far together. I almost don't want this to ever end."

They came together for a final group hug. False could tell Ren was probably about to give an emotional speech, so she nudged him and laughed, "Hey, we haven't properly won yet! Don't celebrate too early!"

A voice from the PA system. The countdown to the final game was starting. The Blue Bats let go of their hug and took deep breaths.

When Sands of Time started, they all instantly sprang into action. Ren went about collecting sand, while the other three darted into their chosen tunnels. They slapped markers on the floor and began to report back on their findings. Then—

"Ren, what's the time?"

"One-ten!"

"That's what I wanna hear!"

Technically, the Blue Bats wouldn't be running short on time for a while, but H wanted to train Ren and let him develop a habit of constantly reporting. The Bats went through the early-game Sands of Time motions— collecting rusty keys, lighting up paths, destroying mob spawners. Fruit went back to spawn and dropped off four sand for Ren.

"Time one-ten, sand nineteen!" Ren reported, his voice loud and clear.

H laughed. "You can calm down on the sand now. Focus on yourself and make sure it doesn't go away."

Since they wouldn't be taking risks, H and Fruit began to discuss an underutilized mechanic— banking their coins. Fruit agreed it could be useful for their situation.

As they explored further into the tunnels, False found herself in a spot with a lot of mobs and was advancing slowly. H reassured her that it was alright so long she wasn't going to die and was getting some amount of coins. "We're doing so good, guys!" H encouraged them again.

Fruit, who had been listening to False, came to her aid. False quickly briefed him on why she was stuck (wither skeletons and creepers in the same room), to which Fruit laughed and said, "Oh, that's the room." As Fruit took care of it, False moved forward. Fruit found the emerald vault key and False found the lava parkour, which H had quite the reaction to.

"No lava parkour!" H declared, then giggled. "Don't mumble those words!! It's not worth it."

They continued exploring with varying degrees of narration. False was mostly quiet because she was focused, Fruit was nonchalantly talking about marking tunnels with "the blue crap", and Ren's reminders about time rang through the empty air.

"Time one-twenty, sand three."

Just like that, Ren's nineteen sand had dwindled down to three. Fruit went back to mid, gave his sand to Ren, and tried locating where the emerald vault was. "Time eight," Ren called out, and an ominous chime rang throughout the area.

"I'm coming back with ten sand!" False yelled.

With False's return, they had all each came back and deposited one round of sand. Ren took their sand with thanks, and all three of them went off again. They were all constantly talking and exchanging information, yet they made sure they weren't talking over each other.

Even though Ren couldn't see what his teammates were doing, he had full trust in them. He hovered around the timer and took care of the coins in mid. Pouches of sand were in his hands, and whenever the timer went down, Ren topped it up.

Ren liked doing this. He liked collecting sand from the runners and passing on keys. He felt useful and valued.

Another chime. Ren looked up. They had enough time, enough sand, and his teammates were getting enough coins.

Sands of Time seemed to be going well.

-

Ah-ooh-ooh-ooh, ah-ahh-oh

And they come unstuck...

-

In the spectator stands, the audience was hyped. This was the final game before Dodgebolt, and with the Blue Bats' massive lead, they were pretty much going to Dodgebolt. Hermits in Dodgebolt! They would be making history!

The joy of watching Sands of Time was that the participating teams had zero idea on how the other teams were doing, while the fans of course had access to all POVs (this led to a phenomenon of backseat gaming in Sands of Time). It could be painful to see your team walk past a vault when the other team was clearing them perfectly fine.

Tensions were already high in the spectator stands, but they were about to get higher. Lime Llamas, a predicted strong team consisting of Dream, Fundy, Tubbo, and Sylvee, were doing whatever they could to get more coins. They had to risk not banking coins. Lime's fans were already in misery following Survival Games and they were all hoping for a decent, if not spectacular Sands of Time. Some of Lime's fans had given up already and had turned to Green Guardians which included Dream's two friends, George and Sapnap. Lime, of course, wanted Green to win the whole thing, in the same way Pink wanted Blue to win.

It all began when Dream saw a pair of iron doors, and innocently stepped inside.

The room contained a lava parkour. Dream turned back, then tried to turn the knob. It didn't budge. Dream reported back to his team, and when Sylvee asked if they really were iron doors, Dream confirmed that they were. Dream attempted the parkour, got burned, panicked, and returned to the iron doors. Those detested iron doors.

"Guys, I really need your help," Dream said into his intercoms. "I need your help, or we lose." He was beginning to panic, and everybody could hear it.

Dream's predicament was attracting attention among the audience. "Is there any way he can get out?" "How can he open those doors?" "Is that a glitch?" In response to the last question, Noxite gave a resounding "no".

As time went on, it became clear that it would take longer for Dream to be rescued, if he would even be rescued at all. His fans were becoming irritated and anxious. Some remained hopeful, while others started yelling at Noxcrew.

Sand was running out. The chimes became more frequent, each chime like a dull stab into Lime's hearts. Everyone was painfully aware Lime was in a horrible situation right now. They were essentially one runner short and needed time to save him, but less runners resulted in less sand collected. Time was truly the most valuable resource. Lime was stuck in a vicious cycle. Dream, genuinely panicked and frustrated, began to ramble about how the game mechanics weren't explained to players and how those iron doors were open, but then closed on their own.

"This is such a dumb trap! I'm sorry, but this is such a horrible idea. That is actually the dumbest mechanic."

Part of Lime's fanbase were positively rioting now, led by the very undignified Stan Twitt. Stan, who had Lime and Green merchandise plastered all over their body, stood up in a huff and barrelled towards the control room.

"GET MY MEOW MEOW OUT OF THERE!" Stan screeched. "THIS IS UNFAIR AND BAD GAME DESIGN!!! VERY UNPOGGERS!!"

Noxite tried to calm Stan down. "Principal Stan, I'm sorry for your loss but indeed this is a trap. The game mechanic is working as intended—"

"IT'S A PROBLEMATIC GAME DESIGN!" Stan stubbornly argued. "You're fired— I mean, you're cancelled! SandsOfTimeIsOverParty!!" In hindsight, maybe Stan yelling about Sands of Time was acceptable. At least, it didn't cause concrete damage unlike what Stan was about to do.

"I'M GETTING MY DREAMY BABY BOI OUTTA THERE!" Without any preamble, Stan barged into Noxcrew's control room. Instantly, Noxite and Scott stood protectively over the control panels.

"Principal Stan, you can't do this!" Scott scolded them. "You'll be rigging the game when you keep on accusing us of rigging the game! Besides, Dream and Lime would want to win fair and square. They won't like this, Stan."

Stan huffled and looked like a very upset netherwart that was soaked too long in slime. "MY OWO BBS ARE SUFFERING!" they argued. "Look at him SLUMPED on the ground in MISERYYYYY because the IRON DOORS TRAPPED HIM???"

"Stan, this is a final warning." Noxite's eyes were cold. "You don't get to control this. You're giving a bad reputation to the other Lime fans. It's a trap— they fell for it. This happens to every team. And besides, it's just a game—"

Stan exploded. "Y'ALL DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" he thundered. "I'M THE F*CKING OWO PRINCIPAL OF THIS SCHUWUL!! Dishonour on every one one of you! Without me, you would have nothing! No audiences, no money, no—"

"You know, you can swear without the asterisk—" Scott began.

The sky abruptly darkened. Thunder rumbled from above, and an overwhelming sense of doom washed over everyone in the control room. Scott swallowed and braced himself for the storm of /neg tone indicators, discourse, and #salt posts from the Blur family. This was Stan Twitt's true power— not his \ weather control powers à la Octagon, but his ability to sour an entire event and taint the fanbase's name forever.

Lightning from above struck the control panel. Alarm bells rang and lights flickered. Noxcrew attempted to hold Stan back, but the enraged Stan was too powerful. "LET HIM OUT!!" Stan wailed like an infant, hands haphazardly slamming buttons on the control panel. Noxcrew watched with horror as Stan disabled a number of key functions: the mob mechanics, the health system, the intercoms. Stan noticed a button that said "eject players", and with a triumphant smirk, they slammed their thumb on it.

"NOOOOO!" Scott was horrified. "You don't know what you've done!"

On the spectator stands, the audience panicked when the screens darkened without warning. Surprised gasps rang through the stands, with many turning to their phones for updates. The forums organized by Micheal C Reddit were in a frenzy. Was the power cut off? What was happening in the Sands of Time building? Were the teams okay?

"Not this happening in the eighth game!"

"Ughhh it's not like it matters, we all know Blue's going to Dodgebolt anyway after that unfair SG."

"Will Dream manage to get out? I'm licherally depressed after Survival Games :("

In this moment of uncertainty, the hermits huddled together to discuss. "I think Stan destroyed the redstone," Iskall huffed. "How dare they!"

"It seems pretty complex, we probably won't know how to fix it," Cub interjected.

The ever-competitive Doc was getting pretty worked up, especially with Blue so close to victory. "Come on, man! Don't break at the last game! I wanna see my hermits fight!"

Cub sighed. "I really hope they'll be alright... please don't be tilted by this freaky Stan Twitt incident..."

-

Like every other team, the Blue Bats were totally engrossed in Sands of Time. Ren was doing a good job of calling out time while H, Fruit, and False explored the tunnels. H was busy fighting off mobs when the lights abruptly turned off. The mobs froze and shut down, leaving H in total darkness. Thankfully, H was big on torches, and quickly lit up his surroundings (the ambient lighting in Sands of Time made it possible for players to see the area even if just vaguely, and the torches were mostly to prevent mob spawn and to mark down routes instead of providing light). "The heck happened?" H wondered out loud in his intercom, but only silence greeted him.

Something was wrong. Must be a technical issue again. It seemed like the power for the entire Sands of Time complex had been cut. The tension of securing their first place ebbed away and was replaced by a new tension, sharpened with genuine fear and worry. If he couldn't see or talk to his teammates, how could he know how they were doing?

"Guys?" H called out. His voice bounced off empty corridors, but he received no reply. "Hello? This is kinda freaky."

"This is kinda freaky this is kinda freaky" was the echo. H shivered and gripped his weapons. And then—

"HELLO?? ANYBODY FREAKIN' HERE?!"

H smiled in relief. Ren's voice was distant (since he was at spawn), but decipherable. "HEY REN! IT'S H!"

"HMAMA! DUDE, WHAT'S GOING ON? I'M TOTALLY FREAKING OUT RIGHT NOW! RD."

"LITERALLY NO IDEA. I don't like this at all, Ren."

Trust the two loudest members of the Blue Bats to communicate by yelling.

"WHERE'S EVERYBODY ELSE? I'M LONELY AND SAD!!"

Of course Ren was capable of sounding sad and pathetic even though he was hollering.

There was a pause, and then a faint "hellllooooo?" could be heard. "Fruityloops? Is that you?" Ren called out.

"YELL LOUDER," H demanded.

"HI GUYS," Fruitberries yelled in his loudest voice (which wasn't super loud compared to H and Ren). "I WAS PARKOURING AND NOW I'M STUCK ON SOME PILLAR."

"Okay, that's three of us." H took a deep breath, then raised his volume. "FALSE? ARE YOU OKAY?"

All three of them remained quiet, but nothing could be heard. H remembered False could be pretty quiet. Maybe she was just far away.

"HALLO?? FALSIE???"

"Falseeee where are you??"

They quieted and waited for the echoes to subside, but still no sign of False. "Maybe she doesn't have a loud voice," H suggested.

"I'm in the central location and I have pretty good hearing, so I should be able to hear her," Ren replied. "Anyone have any idea where she is?"

"We were right next to each other a minute ago, so it's strange that even I can't hear her," Fruit said.

"Pspspspsps Falsie!" Ren called out, a little desperate now. "Hi. Please. We all miss you!"

A crackle of static, and then the sound of someone tapping a microphone. "Hi, y'all," came Scott Major's voice with an edge of tiredness. "Really sorry about the power being shut down. Blame Principal Stan Twitt. He threw a fit and hit the control panels. We vow to make future control panels Stan-proof by using add-ons like Touch Grass and Ratio."

"Anyways, the game is paused for now, and likely won't be restarted. Please remain where you are at now. We'll pick up when the system is fixed. Also, since Stan pressed the "eject player" button, some of you might be accidentally sent to the lower levels via slides. We'll retrieve you and place you back in your original position. Once again, we're deeply sorry about this."

The three (?) Bats waited for Scott to give more information but he didn't, so when the PA ended, they discussed among themselves. "Maybe False was sent somewhere else," Fruit said.

"Yeah, sounds like it." Ren was dejected. "We would've heard her otherwise. After all, we're in pretty different locations and we should cover most of the area."

H was just a little irritated, but he didn't show it because he didn't want to upset his team. So many things had happened, from him fainting during Hole in the Wall to whatever that was going on now in Sands of Time. It sure wasn't easy being a Championship participant. He wasn't irritated at Noxcrew though, and his emotions were just a transformation of his worry for False. Being split up did not feel good at all.

A sudden scream from Ren snatched his attention. "OWWW! ME HAND!" Ren wailed.

Then a new voice. "Where the blazes am I? Oh wait— Ren Diggity Dog?!"

"GEEZ!" came Ren's voice. "Can you get off me? You're squeezing me to death, my dude. Also, your butt is kind of on my hand!"

"Stop yelling in my ear! I'm trying my best!"

H finally recognised the sass and the British accent. It was unmistakable, especially considering the only two teams above them were Purple and Pink.

"Martyn?!"

-

Lady, running down to the riptide

Taken away to the dark side

I wanna be your left-hand man

-

When the lights abruptly shut off, False jolted. She held her weapon close to herself, but before she could do anything else, the ground underneath her gave way and she fell down a slide. A scream tore from her lips and she searched for anything to hold onto, but the walls were slippery smooth. It wasn't like False was scared of heights and speed— the hermits have made roller coasters that were more terrifying— but the unexpectedness and the unknown freaked her out. She knew this wasn't supposed to happen, so just what was going on?

False landed unceremoniously and she winced. Her items clattered next to her, and she blindly felt for them. The area was still completely dark. She fumbled for a torch which let out a dim light. Ah, so she was still in the Sands of Time complex. But it was oddly silent— no mobs, no gong, no footsteps.

Then Scott's announcement came, which at least provided an explanation for False's predicament. When Scott said players could be accidentally transported to different floors, False's heart went cold. What if this wasn't her floor? Who did she end up with?

"Hello?" False whispered into her coms. Nothing but static. She let out a sigh.

It was silent for a few seconds, then False made out the sounds of someone yelling. She couldn't tell who it was or what they were yelling, but hope leapt in her chest. At least someone was with her. "HELLO?" False yelled with all her might. "Ren? H? Fruit?"

False didn't know if she was heard, but then she heard two distant voices yelling— one male and one female. The male voice was fading in and out and False could barely hear him, but the female one seemed closer.

"HELLO?" False screamed again, her voice cracking slightly. Dammit, maybe she shouldn't have yelled so much after winning Survival Games. Who knew she had to yell just to have an idea of where she was at?

There was a pause, and then a faint "hello?" from the female voice. False perked up and started moving towards the voice, but the twisting corridors were difficult to navigate.

"Hi!" the voice continued, clearer now. "This is Kara!"

Kara. A familiar name, but False didn't know who she was. Kara was a regular participant (maybe? False didn't have a good memory) but False forgot which team she was in.

"I'm False!" she cried back. "From Blue Bats."

"What— Blue? I'm from Cyan! You're supposed to be two floors above us!"

It felt like a bucket of cold water had been dumped over False's heart. She was two floors away from her team? "Um, I kind of slid down, so yeah. The floor gave way beneath me."

"Oh my goodness, are you hurt? Do you need anything?"

"Just a few bruises, which is fine. I just wanna go back," False confessed.

"Wait for a sec, False. I'm gonna talk to Pete." There was a pause, and False could hear Kara move away and then yell.

Right! Cyan was Pete's team. Suddenly everything was a lot better when False realized she was on a floor with someone she trusted.

Kara then returned. "Okay, I've told Pete about you, and he's going to tell everyone else. You'll be fine here, I think. It's dark but it's not dangerous."

"Thanks. Remind me who's on your team again?"

"The other two are Jordan and Puffy." False's heart leapt again— more names she recognised. Suddenly she felt lucky she ended up on Cyan's floor. Kara continued.

"I can talk to Pete, Pete can talk to Jordan, and Jordan can talk to Puffy, so we're just playing a game of telephone. We're a bit scattered."

False laughed. "I can tell."

Throughout False's conversation with Kara, they had both been moving around to get closer to each other. They exchanged multiple "hello"s to get a better bearing of each other's locations. Finally, False arrived at a wall.

"... I think you're on the other side of this wall?"

False heard Kara knock on the wall which confirmed her suspicions. "Yup. All of our hard work and we end up separated by a stupid wall."

A smile quirked up on False's lips. "Well. At least... we kinda found each other?"

"Wait! I think there's a rusty door here. I'll go get a key... ooh, I have that." False was enjoying Kara's narration— she seemed friendly and sweet. False heard the sound of a door unlocking, and then footsteps. "Oh hey! You're around the corner!"

False turned and hoped she didn't sound awkward. "Hi!"

Kara had long, reddish brown hair and kind green eyes. She also had on a cyan hat, probably her team outfit for this Championship. She wasn't in 3-A; maybe she was in B or C?

"Nice to meet you, False! Although I wish we met under better circumstances, haha."

"Nice to meet you too! And yeah." False let out a chuckle. "I think Stan Twitt really screwed things up for all of us."

Kara huffed. "And we were doing so well too... oops, not supposed to spill our team's secrets! Well, you guys will probably be in Dodgebolt anyway, so."

The two girls sat down and chatted to pass the time. False's anxiety about being separated from her team slowly ebbed away, and she found herself liking Kara's company. Occasionally Kara would have to go and yell at Pete, or listen to what Pete had to say to her. "My voice is going to be totally ruined after this," Kara laughed.

"Mine too. I mean, I kind of did a lot of shouting during Survival Games." False couldn't help but flex.

Kara's eyes widened. "You guys were seriously insane! Like, I've been here since the 1st Championship, and I'm completely honest when I say I've never seen anything like it before."

False was amazed. "Wait, you've been here since the 1st? That's so cool!"

"I won that one too!" Kara said proudly. "That was team Purple Pandas. Things were a little different back then, but it was still really fun."

They could end up talking more about the Championships, but a certain somebody interrupted their conversation.

"HELLO," a deep voice boomed from above. The girls shared startled looks. "THIS IS TECHNOBLADE FROM AQUA SPEAKING. IS ANYONE HERE?"

Kara was the first to react. "Hi, Techno! I'm Kara from Cyan. How are you speaking to us?"

"FOUND A CHINK IN THE ARMOUR, A HOLE IN THE WALL. Okay seriously, all floors are connected with secret passages. If you're loud enough, your voice can get through the hollow chutes. Those chutes are how players get sent to floors beneath them. Anyways, I bring a message from above. Have you seen a False Symmetry from Blue Bats?"

False's heartbeat sped up. "That's me! I'm False! I'm safe and unharmed, with Kara on Cyan's floor."

"Good. Thank you. I'll pass that message up."

"Thanks, Techno!" False cried up at him.

"You're welcome." And then Techno left.

"Well that was... something." Kara squinted at the ceiling as if she could make out those chutes Techno was talking about. "Didn't expect Aqua to be able to talk to us without the intercoms. Then again, it's Technoblade. He always finds a way."

"True, true." False thought about her Blue Bats again— they must be really worried. After all, she literally vanished without a single trace. "It's interesting how we're all communicating by yelling at each other, and we're communicating with other teams too. There's... a sense of solidarity."

"Yup. The community always bands together when something bad happens." Kara hugged her knees to her chest. "I think that's one of the reasons why I like the Championships so much. I usually join with my friends, but the overall atmosphere is pretty sweet."

Perhaps it was Stan's meltdown that caused Sands of Time to, well, literally freeze in time, but the community just became more united. Taking care of people from other teams, playing a long game of telephone by yelling between levels... Stan Twitt probably wanted to cause discourse and conflict between different groups (while elevating their own UwU babies), but ironically False now felt closer to her supposed opponents. After all, they were all in this together.

So Stan accidentally created a weirdly wholesome bonding activity? That probably wasn't his intention. False, who was being a little petty, relished in that thought.

You're never getting what you want, Stan.

-

I love you when you're singing that song

And I got a lump in my throat

'Cause you're gonna sing the words wrong

-

It was Spifey who ended up passing the message to HBomb in the hollow chute between Aqua and Blue's floors. "FALSE'S ALIVE!" H declared triumphantly. "She's with Kara on Cyan! Y'know, the team Pete's on!"

Ren instantly let out a sigh of relief. So all of their stupid shouting had paid off. They had managed to contact Aqua, who had managed to contact Cyan from below. "Geez! Almost had a heart attack about that!"

"I can't believe that long game of telephone worked!" came Fruit's voice. "And our message didn't get distorted! Yay!"

Ren turned to Martyn next to him. "Hey, you wanna try and contact Purple so they can contact your team?"

Martyn had fallen all the way to Blue's floor from Pink. He was shot out of a chute and had slammed onto Ren, but thankfully neither of them were seriously hurt. Ren did complain about having Martyn's butt be "permanently imprinted" on his hand, to which H and Fruit chorused in unison, "we can hear you". After that, Martyn and Ren had been hanging out at spawn.

Martyn shrugged. "Nah, they're probably not that worried about me. At least Joel probably isn't. Timmy's a wet paper bag as always. And Grian... he trusts me. I think."

Ren's eyes were wide and sad, and Martyn was abruptly reminded of the pleading eyes emoji. "But you're part of their team! They have to be worried, because I would be worried if you got lost!"

"Aww, I'm touched, but you're not my teammate, Ren."

"We can always adopt you later!"

"Ren, I don't mean to be scathing but I'm not a replacement for your lost team member just because we're both blond," Martyn said.

"Okay, I may have a bit of separation anxiety," Ren admitted.

"Yeah, well, I mean, you and False are like a 'buy one, get one free' package," Martyn quipped.

"Yeah, you two will play together ten times until what Herman Blur dubs as 'the divorce arc' happens, then you guys will come back for one last triumphant (or not) reunion, dress up as maids, and never team again," H said.

"H, are you being a prophet again??" Fruit's voice sounded.

"Maids?" Martyn echoed, skeptical but also amused.

"Yeah, Martyn, I'm kinda having a prophetic vision of you in a mint maid dress with... lacy stockings?"

"Well that sounds very very sexy," Ren said, rather unnecessarily and completely unprompted.

"We can still hear you, Ren!" Fruit yelled.

"Get a room!" H shouted. "Or an altar. Or a burning tower. Whatever. I'm receiving prophetic visions again— hold on, what's gray, long, and strong?"

"Yeah, I think my brain's being fried," Ren said sheepishly. "I miss Falsie! I know it's just been 10 minutes and 41 seconds, but I'm worried, dude!"

At least Ren was taking his timekeeping duty seriously.

"She's literally with Pete's team, she'll be fine," H reassured Ren.

"And from what I heard about you hermits, she's probably more worried about you than you are for her," Martyn commented nonchalantly.

Ren opened his mouth, then shut it. Annoyingly enough, Martyn was right.

"Y'know, if we can talk to Aqua, then we can also talk with Purple, right?" And before anyone could stop him, Ren grabbed a torch and started yelling at the ceiling, "HELLO? CAN ANYONE FREAKIN' HEAR ME? RD."

"Geez dude, your voice is pretty loud," Martyn mumbled. He went up next to Ren and also started yelling, "HELLO, I AM STRANDED HERE."

This went for a few minutes as they tested different spots. Since Martyn landed near Ren, the chute that he went down in must be close to them. Finally, a faint voice replied. "Hello? I hear someone!"

Ren was delighted. "Hi! This is Ren Diggity Dog comin' atcha from Team Blue Bats! We're from the floor below!"

There was a slight pause as the other person took it in. "Oh, Ren? I'm Ryguyrocky from Purple. How are you guys doing in this blackout?"

Ren was pretty excited to have established contact with Purple, especially when it was with someone he'd teamed with before. "What's cracking my dude! It's nice talking to you again! We lost a team member, but we know she's down there with Cyan, so it's all good."

"I think our team is fine? We all heard each other, so I guess we're lucky."

"Nice," Ren said automatically. "By the way, have you guys managed to speak to Pink above you? We have someone from their team."

"Ohh, really? No, can't say we've heard from Pink."

Martyn took the opportunity to speak. "Hi! I'm Inthelittlewood-also-known-as-Martyn from Pink Parrots, and I'm currently trapped here with H, Fruit, and some guy with the voice of a potato."

Ren was mock-offended. "Exsqueeze me??"

"Okay, Martyn from Pink down with Blue. So basically you just sort of yell around until someone from another team replies?"

"Kind of? Maybe? Hopefully? Don't really know, my dudes."

"This is the real final game," Martyn joked. "To Communicate With The Other Side through a Hole In The Wall."

"Alright, I'll do my best. Hope this gets solved soon!"

With that, the voice from above went away. The three Bats and Martyn remained in the darkness.

"So, do you guys know why Stan went ballistic?" Martyn asked.

"No idea, although I suspect it has something to do with Lime or Green. They're Stan's favourites for this Championship," H replied.

"Yeah. Green's doing pretty well, but... hah, I guess Lime was no match for our Grian."

"Grian slayed," Fruit offered. "That was seriously iconic."

Martyn perked up. "Ohhh, Grian's gonna be so excited when I relay this to him."

It was then that the lights flickered on again. They all blinked, unused to it after ten minutes spent with torches. A whirring noise sounded from deep within the complex, a sign that the systems were running again.

"Hello, hello, hello," came Scott's voice. "Good news: we've repaired the systems! If you're stuck on another floor, please stay where you are— our workers will come and guide you back to your floor. We'll do a quick check of everyone's locations and resources before the blackout and make sure it's the same. Sands of Time will resume shortly. Thank you for your patience."

"Let's go!" H cheered.

"We're back in business, baby!" Ren sounded very pleased. "Anyways, guys, to pick up where we've dropped off, we were searching for the—"

"Ren, we're not alone," H reminded him.

"Yeah, please just ignore my existence," Martyn drawled. "It's not like I'll be a threat to your team."

"That's probably what Lime thought about you guys before SG," H pointed out.

"True! Never underestimate the underdog!"

Ren took a deep breath. "Fair point. Well, I guess we'll be parting ways soon, Martyn."

"Ren, stop saying it like I'm going to die—"

"It was a privilege to meet you in these unprecedented times, and I sincerely wish you and the Parrots good luck. We shall meet again, my brother from another mother."

Martyn looked somewhat bemused by Ren's theatrics, but extended a hand for Ren to shake anyway. "Well, see you soon and good luck to you too!"

The two shook hands. At that precise moment, False entered, a Noxcrew helper beside her.

"Hi?" False said. She sounded a little confused, but that was how she usually sounded like, so she was just confused to a normal degree. "Wait, Martyn's here??"

Ren's face instantly lit up. "Falsie! We missed you, dude!"

"FALSIE'S BACK!" H screeched in joy, his voice echoing in the mazes.

"Yayy—" Fruit began, but his words dissolved into coughs. "Ugh. My voice is so dead. Yayyy," he continued, voice smaller this time.

Another Noxcrew helper stepped out of the curtain and gestured for Martyn. With that, the players finally returned to their previous positions. And once the intercoms started working, they didn't have to shout anymore.

"False!" H cried out. "How are you? You good?"

"Yeah, I was getting to know Kara. Unfortunately haven't picked up anything on Cyan's strategies," False joked.

"Cyan's a strong Sands of Time team. Well, it's not like we need a perfect strategy. Just don't be stupid."

"I feel that comment directly attacking me," Fruit laughed.

Ren cleared his throat. "Okay, we're back in business, baby!"

"Ren's right. Let's not be distracted," H called out. He could switch from being goofy to serious in a few seconds. "Ren, how much time and sand do we have left? And have we found the green vault yet?"

Just like that, the Blue Bats were back. A chime sounded, sand slipped away, and they were once again racing against the clock.

They had accumulated over 3000 coins, and were on track to get more. While Blue Bats may not get first in Sands of Time, they were certain they could keep their first place overall. After that came Dodgebolt, and if you took it a step further, future Championships.

How far could the Blue Bats really go?

-

I just wanna, I just wanna know

If you're gonna, if you're gonna stay

I just gotta, I just gotta know

I can't have it, I can't have it any other way

-

A/N: Not me putting in all the Treebark references lmao. If you read the fic in its entirety, you could probably see the point when I became a fully fledged Treebark clown.

I'll be honest, the SoT side plot popped out of nowhere. I wanted  some drama and ended up with a bunch of people yelling. It's still fun  though, and we got Purple13 and Renchanting crumbs :)

Lyrics from Riptide by Vance Joy.

Apparently  MCC's gonna come back in March (2023), which I'm excited about even if  my streamer Ren has been away from MCC for a while. You know what,  Scott, give us all the False-H teams. I spent last MCC watching them  with heart eyes. And also that last Fruit-Ren team had insane Blue9 vibes for maybe two games. Just give me anything from those four and  I'll be content haha.

Glad we're all still into the Blue Bats in our year 2023. Thank you for your votes last chapter <3 your comments are what keeps me going!! Thanks for reading :D