SECOND PART OF THE FAMILY ARC TRILOGY! And things are getting spicy! I'm a smol, so I'm gonna act like one, you know? Wiiith a big game! Let's hope it ends well, ay?

Also I'm hiding so many hidden flirty implications here wow. Also puns... Because I felt like it.

Headcannons in this chapter
- Ok, pretty much all of the more observant hermits know about a loss of crushes. It's really not hard to tell. People like the girls, Joe and TFC know pretty much EVERY crush and are watching this play out XX.
- For as much as he brags, Ren's a sub. Also will get flustered if you... Ahem, charm him enough- he's not used to people responding like that!
- Yes, I forgot the fact that Doc wears no undershirt in my last drawings of him. So YEAH Doc wears just a ragged lab coat, with nothing underneath.
- Tango has demon wings, as he's half-demon (technically a demon hybrid?). He usually doesn't use them as much because they're much heavier than elytra, though he'd grow used to them if he tried. They also mean he can't get through normal two-block-high doors,  but he can swim better and fly higher if he used them.
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Underneath the weird cloud thing, all of the hermits had congregated in a big huddle. Most we chatting about recent events, with some tension still evident within words.

When X stood purposefully in front of everyone though, silence ensured at once. He almost smiled proudly at his own authority, but didn't for sake of actually managing the server-wide meeting.

"Hello, and thank you all for taking the time to come to this meeting. I'll get straight to the point, there's someone, or something, that has been... Well, messing about and pranking us all for... About a week or so now. It's getting out of hand, and we need to find out who it is and what they want. Does anyone have any ideas already?" X stated, eyes flicking warily between each of the hermits. All of which were mumbling quietly to each other, and not currently trying to kill someone else.

So the meeting was going great!

A few accusations were still being thrown around, but hey! It was better than many, many deaths.

"Who d'you think it is?"

"Not me! I had no idea what was going on..."

"Same here, until I got pranked."

"To be honest, I thought it was you. Until you got pranked."

"I kinda suspected Grian to be honest-"

"It wasn't me! I literally lost my C.P.S.T while most of the last prank was happening, and we've already established that I didn't do the Jingler one either!"

"Who else does really big, elaborate pranks then?"

Everybody came to the exact same conclusion. Looking amongst themselves, it also turned out that the two troublemakers they were thinking of weren't actually present either...

"... I think we all should pay Concorp a little-"

"WE'RE HERE!"

Cub and Scar flew very quickly into the crowd, almost crashing directly into Jevin and Tango. Doc and False immediately took out their trident and sword respectively, holding it to the vexes' throats.

"IT WAS YOU TWO, WASN'T IT?! YOU ARE SO GONNA PAY FOR-"

"IT WASN'T US! Seriously! We got pranked by the Jingler, remember?!" Scar stuttered, gesticulating wildly with his hands.

"If it wasn't you two, or any of the other major prankers on this server, then who was-" Ren was cut off by a ball of paper being lobbed at his head. The wolf hybrid growled, and opened it up. "Ok, who-... This just says 'Me. Duh.'... W-Who threw that-"

This time, Ren was able to dodge the second ball of paper being chucked at his head. It hit Joe instead, pushing his glasses askew. The American fixed Ren with a neutral face of displeasure, before he opened up his own piece of paper.

"... 'Check my notice boards'?" Joe said. All of the hermits shared a brief look of confusion and headed up to land on the cloud.

Sure enough, the third notice board had a new item-framed book pinned on it. A chest lay idly beneath it. All of their light arguing must've covered up the sound of block placement. Xisuma picked it up, and started to read it out to everybody else.

(Author's note: EVERYONE! Let's give X some appreciation for being a GREAT ADMIN PROTECTING THE SERVER! And just doing stuff like this for it too lol -claps-)

"Hello there, hermits! So, you guys wanna know who I am that badly, huh? Well I ain't telling you that easy- you gotta work for it! Throughout the server, I've hidden special NAMED objects in various locations. You should find them in order, because finding one gives a hint to the location of the next.

Once you find all 8 and put them in this chest, I'll give you my coordinates.

The first clue is this: Of a hue composed of fire and water, it lies in a place of forever.

Now hurry up, I'm getting impatient."

A scavenger hunt... Now this would certainly be  interesting... X immediately started thinking of strategies. Going in teams would make this easier... But what teams?

...

For some reason, X had the sudden urge to do a lot of ... Entranced people a favour.

"I think we should split into teams. That way, while... Let's say two or three of us are searching with the hint, others an be searching for the others, or searching as well, because this person never said it was absolutely necessary to do them in order. We can tell each other the item and next hint in the group chat. How's that?"

Everyone nodded excitedly, ready for action. Now was where X would make some people very happy...

Once the teams were made, the hermits spread out, in search of the items that would reveal this mystery prankster...

And, like a shadow, a certain someone followed the first team, very happy with who the teams were.
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Team Grian + Mumbo
As it has turned out, two of the Architechs were  in the first team and the ones with the first initial clue. Neither minded though- why would they? It was time together, and whatever time together they had was nice, especially with how much work each had to put into Sahara.

Right now, they were searching around Ren's rail network, specifically the one nearest Mumbo and Grian's bases.

"What do you think they mean by 'hue composed of fire and water'?" Grian asked Mumbo. The taller hermit continued to watch Grian dive in and out of many tight spaces and holes using his elytra, until he responded.

"I think it's describing the colour of what the thing actually is. The second part says 'where it lies', so that's probably the location.... When we think of fire, we think of red, right?" Mumbo muttered, joining Grian up in the air.

"Yeah! And water would be blue... So that means we're looking for something purple?... That's not exactly helpful. There's a ton of purple stuff: obsidian, shulker boxes, wool... Those purple brick things you get in the end-"

"-Purpur."

"Alright, Meowbo, I know you like me, but tone the purring down a notch, ok?" Grian joked, drawing out a laugh from the said redstoner. As they flew around Grian's base, Mumbo had an idea: turning towards the blond builder, he held up his hands to be like paws and purred.

Grian fell out of the sky.

Mumbo yelled out unintentionally, diving down and grabbing Grian protectively in his arms... Though he wasn't quite able to nail a landing in time...

Luckily they were both still alive... Just a little crashed in Grian's base.

"A-Are you ok? I'm-I'm sorry, was that my fault? I shouldn't have distracted you from flying, I'm-"

Grian laughed, blushing lightly at Mumbo's concern. "N-No, I'm fine, it's just..." His blush worsened. "Y... You just... Looked... Pretty cu-"

(Author's note: I guess you could say that... Grian finds Meowbo/ Mumbo... Purrfect)

"Grian? You know the second part of the clue?" Mumbo asked, interrupting him. Grian followed the moustache hermit's gaze... To his infinity room. 'In a place of forever'. Forever. Infinity. The infinity room.

At once both hermits scrambled to their feet, jumping down and entering the completely white room... Or, what used to be a completely white room... The floor had been replaced with grass blocks and various flowers adorned every square inch of space. A shulker box sat in the only empty(ish) corner.

Grian opened this box for a second to see it filled nearly to the brim with empty maps, sea lanterns and item frames.

"... Ok then... I'll... Fix this later, but... Purple flower, right? So that would be either the short or or the tall one and- wait a second..."

Grian opened the chest once more, scanning a little more carefully. He turned back to Mumbo with a grin, and in his hands was a lilac flower and a note.

"We've found the first item... And it's called... 'Meow'... Um... L-Let's go deliver this and type the next hint in chat..." He said, quite unnerved by the strangely good timing.
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Team Ren + Iskall
Grian: Got the first item: purple flower named 'Meow'. The hint says: 'Best blue colour, it looks almost enchanting. Under something that should not be above.

Now it was Ren and Iskall's turn. The two diverted from their aimless route before and started looking around where they thought the clue might make the most sense.

... Yeah they had no clue, they were just going along with it.

"What do you think the location is, first? If we can get that, it should be easy finding the item..." Iskall reasoned. Ren nodded, tail swishing thoughtfully.

"It's hidden 'under something that should not be above'... I don't really get that part, you see... What's not supposed to be above? Maybe the nether hub?"

Iskall hummed, shrugging his shoulders. "There's no harm in trying."

The nether hub was still as grand and vast a ever. Black walls hid the miniature map world from the rest of the nether, though the blood moon recovered the lack of red. The glass was still wonderfully clear and cool to the touch... Though less could be said about the overall temperature of the hub.

"... Gosh, I keep forgetting how hot it is in the nether... Whoo! Let's make this quick, or I'll be too hot for even me to handle..." Ren muttered. Iskall found himself agreeing to this statement.

(Author's note: OH BUT WHICH PAR-)

Unfortunately, even though the boys tried taking as little time as possible to check out the hub, the temperature still prevailed. The nether hub wasn't a place you were supposed to stay in for too long; by this time, Ren and Iskall were sweltering.

"... Ok... That's enough... That's it: I'm too hot..." Iskall panted, taking off his leather jacket and straightening his back. Behind him, Ren gave a look of confusion, before Iskall yanked his shirt off in one pull.

Quickly, the wolf hybrid covered his gasp and now even more flushed face in his hands. His companion, however, took his blush to be from the heat. Iskall patted Ren's shoulder gently to get his attention; this only caused Ren to blush more when he looked up to see a topless Iskall very very close to him.

(Author's note: I guess you could say that... Ren's face was on fire)

"You look pretty hot too. Let's go back to the overworld, I hear you've been working on your dragon skeleton and I for one would like to check it out! Never mind the item for now." He laughed, guiding Ren towards the right portal. Ren didn't show any resistance.

Both noticed the overload of blue blocks adorning the floor of Ren's floating island at the same time...

Ah! 'Below something that shouldn't be above'! Islands weren't supposed to float! Now... To pick the 'best blue colour': a water source, lapis block, blue wool, cyan terracotta and blue tinted glass lay below the structure. All had a chest in front, presumably carrying themselves.

"Huh... Which one do you think looks-"

Alas, Ren had already gone ahead and opened the chest in front of the cyan terracotta. The ground opened beneath him, and before he could even yell out in surprise-

Renthedog was slain by making the wrong choice

Iskall couldn't help snorting in laughter as he quickly collected Ren's items. He was going to ask Ren to think about whether the hint saying that the blue block was 'enchanting' mattered... But hey! At least his theory had been proven true...

In one way or another... Now, time to give the next hint (and... Wait for Ren to respawn... And calm him down).

Though, he couldn't really help being a little unnerved by the name...
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Team Doc + X
Iskall: We got a lapis block named... '-wolf whistles-'... The hint is 'The one thing that currently is usable here.'

"Here, why doesn't this prankster take a hint back? I'm not solving that. What kind of 'hint' is that anyway?" Doc grumbled. To be fair, it was quite a different hint from the last two times... Shorter, and less informative, and far too cryptic to search for implications.

Or, so he thought...

Xisuma on the other hand was determined to at least find this one item: it was him who told the others to go look for them, so it would only be fair to search for some himself... With Doc.

Did he mean to make a group consisted of him and the cynical German?... Maybe, but that was besides the point... He had to at least try and convince Doc to help, because them both hanging around Python's towers wasn't going to help much.

"One that we're going to need to use. C'mon Doc, help me out. I need you." Xisuma said. The creeper hybrid he was trying to convince barely glanced upwards. "Can't you see the pleading expression I have on right now?"

"... I'm going to give you a second to figure out what's wrong with that sentence."

It took around about that time for the admin to realise what the issue was. Sighing at Doc's pettiness, X turned around to face him, taking off his helmet. The admin's half brown, half blond locks still stuck up from being underneath a helmet for so long, though he tried fruitlessly to pat it down.

This gesture immediately caught Doc's attention: after all, X hardly took off his helmet, and in the bright sunlight looked (admittedly) very soft- NO cute- NO J-JUST... INTERESTING - without it.  Rendered rather speechless, he could only stare in intrigued awe at the other male's appearance.

Until a piece of paper being chucked at X's head ruined it.

Xisuma almost dropped his helmet in surprise, stumbling over his own feet. Luckily for him, Doc couldn't be a stoic savage without great reflexes, so he found himself in Doc's arms instead of the hard floor.

What a time not to have his helmet on... The thought ran through X's head as he blushed unwillingly, hiding his face on Doc's shoulder and wishing that the hybrid could learn what an undershirt was for.

Doc didn't seem to notice, as he picked up the dropped piece of paper and read it. "'Didn't X make something that DOESN'T WORK until 1.14?' I don't know, did you, X"

"I-Um-I- Y-Yeah! It was for preparation for the new update, it's supposed to fix a glitch that currently prevents the design from working... I-It's in that tower over-"

Doc had already flown off.

Xisuma paused before following.

Both hermits made it on top of X's (currently not working) pumpkin and melon farm safely, and as the second hint had implied, a chest was placed in the centre. It was also surrounded by many randomly placed pumpkins, melons and sugar piles, but neither minded much- they had gotten the next item and hint.

(Author's note: I guess you could say that was... Sweet)
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Team Zedaph + Impulse + Tango
Xisuma: Me and Doc discovered a cookie named... 'Nice reflexes'... Anyway, the next hint is 'Try and catch me. I'll be waiting where wings cannot follow.', but the 'I' is written kinda weirdly.

"Darn it, my device-thing's on low battery." Impulse muttered, scowling at the red low battery icon. Zed and Tango only laughed at him.

"Impulse, when is your C.P.S.T NOT on low battery... Or dead?" Zed snickered, punching Impulse playfully in the shoulder. Just as he was about to hit back, Tango mussed up his hair from the other side: gah! A super effective distraction of two cheeky, adorable boys!

W-Wait-

"Aaaanyway... What do you guys think about this thing we're supposed to find? Cus it just says it's 'somewhere where wings can't follow'... So where can't you fly?... Wait, can't you fly everywhere though?"

No one responded to the half-demon's question. Four seconds passed by, and the silence became awkward.

"... Right...?"

"Tango, you can go anywhere with your wings... If you use them. We can't." Zed explained, pulling out his own elytra wings to prove his point.

"Aw, c'mon. You guys can go literally anywhere I can, except..."

A flash of understanding... Well, flashed in each of the ZIT members' eyes.

"UndeRWATER! But where exactly underwate-"

"Didn't X say that the 'I' in the hint was written really weirdly?"

"... You don't think it's at my-"

"Let's go!"

And they were off, in a flurry of flapping and cartwheels and crazy hoots of childish boys, free and high in the air.

(Author's note: Speaking of high... I guess you could say they were... High in love with each other?)

Before they knew it, the three had arrived, far faster than they'd originally thought. Zedaph landed directly on the edge of Impulse's mountain, with a playful flourish. Impulse, knowing his base best, landed more precariously on a ledge of rock a little lower down. Both noticed the strange, new additional wall of gold blocking the circle-water from escaping.

Then there was Tango, who immediately dived headfirst into the water.

SPLASH!

... And immediately shot back up to the surface.

"WOAH! There are a LOT OF FISHES HERE!" Their currently-quite-wet member's yell alerted Zed and Impulse to look down, and lo and behold, the gold wall now made sense.

Tropical fish schools of every colour swam freely around their vast diameter of water. A good few even started swimming around Tango, who looked be having the time of his life... Just like a child.

An imaginary arrow of cuteness went through both Impulse and Zedaph's hearts simultaneously.

"Hey, guys, I think we're supposed to catch the named one! Dang... I've got one bucket on me, and there's a lot of fishes here... D'you see anything special from up there?" Tango's yell, ironically, broke the trance Zed and Impulse were in because of him.

The wine-eyed hermit shook his head, though now started searching a little closer.

The tawny-eyed one glanced once up, and once down before smirking, a small blush growing on his cheeks. As he shook his head, his smile grew a little more.

"Oh wait a second... Is... That a single salmon?" Zed asked, pointing behind where Tango was. When he turned around, Tango found he was close enough to see that the salmon was indeed named and looked to be 'guarding' a piece of paper... But he wasn't close enough to actually read the name.

Regardless, this was the fish they needed alright...

The redstoner felt his demonic side spark up, curled up in his gut, telling him to stop. Stop and stay still. Still so it didn't hear him, or his movements, and completely miss him. His muscles tensed instinctively, poised, ready to pounce... But not yet... He'd need to wait for the perfect moment until-

SPLASH!

A red and gold blur was all that the two viewers saw until a smiling Tango flew up to them, bucket of salmon and next hint carefully in hand.
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Author's note
OK. DID NOT REALISE THIS CHAPTER WAS GON BE THIS LONG.

I've split it because this currently is at 3000+ words already and I don't wanna kill y'all with boredom.

Plus shoutout to @thebirdfantasy for prompting both the entirety of 'Wolf in Sheep's Clothing' being sung and many epic song puns being made. From one time skip. Led by moi, Aqua and Pi lol. Thanks senpais, y'all amazing.

Now, to start on the next few items...

OH WAIT RIGHT ALSO

BOOM!
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???
What was going on?

... From what it looked like, someone had been messing with...

The entire server?! And they were good at it too... They'd even got the entire server playing this weird scavenger hunt thing to find them...

Now that, he had to admit, was impressive...

Perhaps they should be paid a little visit...