Notes:

The teams are

False, Cub, Philza, Scott Major- Green Gazelles

Techno, Dream, Wilbur, F1nn5ter- Purple Parrots

DanTDM, George, Pizza Hut, Hbomb- Teal Tigers

Fwip, Shubble, Iskall, solitary - Pink Pandas

Captain Sparklez, Tubbo, Tommy, Fundy- Yellow Yaks

Fruit berries, quig, mini Muka, Nihachu- Orange Otters

Eret, punzz, tapll, Burren- lime lambs

Grian, Pearl, Ren, and Little Woods- Red Ravens

sapnapp, Karl, shubble, and Smallish beans- Gray Goats

Illumina, Quackity, Kara, and Krinios- Blue Bears

Everyone on the hermitcraft server is jittery with anticipation, it's the first day of the Minecraft Championships! Many of the hermits are going to compete this time and the first time people would be allowed on the server to watch the games so nerves are tense but more with excitement rather the anxiety.

Ren, Iskall, Grian, False, Ren, and Cub are all competing in this month's Championship games, and excitement radiated off the contestants.

"Ok, do you have everything you need?" Xisuma asks, his tail flicking as he looks over each of the hermits, checking and double-checking their packs for the proper supplies. His eyes flicking between his admin panels and the group before him, ensuring a mode of safe transport.

"Yep," Ren grins his tail wagging.

"Do you have the full moon stuff?" Xisuma grins.

Ren's ears pin back to his head. "Give me one moment," he says, before running off to collect his pack.

Xisuma laughs softly, "Well, double-check your stuff, and if you forget anything we can bring it over for you."

False grins, "You guys are coming?"

"Yep, MCC sent server mates private invites to exclusive box seats."

"And we didn't know about this?" Cub teases softly.

"I was told to surprise you."

"Who else knew?" Grian chirps fluttering up to perch on a fence.

"Everyone except for Mumbo and Scar," Xisuma answers; those two can't keep a secret to save their lives.

As Ren runs back over he spots his fellow contestants all slumped over laughing. Xisuma is leaning against a nearby tree.

"What happened here?"

"You'll see," Xisuma calls as he teleports them over to the MCC server.

As usual, the server's hub is a mess of people rushing around getting signed in and finding their teammates. Some had already gathered while others could be found still talking with friends before the games were to begin. Nervous gitty runs through the competitors. The months-long break only built more hype and excitement than anyone could have imagined. The event organizers sought to match this excitement with the team-ups they had picked out, the announcements have been posted just about everywhere.

False, Cub, Philza, Scott Major- Green Gazelles

Techno, Dream, Wilbur, F1nn5ter- Purple Parrots

DanTDM, George, Pizza Hut, Hbomb- Teal Tigers

Fwip, Shubble, Iskall, solitary - Pink Pandas

Captain Sparklez, Tubbo, Tommy, Fundy- Yellow Yaks

Fruit berries, quig, mini Muka, Nihachu- Orange Otters

Eret, punzz, tapll, Burren- lime lambs

Grian, Pearl, Ren, and Little Woods- Red Ravens

sapnapp, Karl, shubble, and Smallish beans- Gray Goats

Illumina, Quackity, Kara, and Krinios- Blue Bears

A blonde teenager runs past screaming his head off, he's followed by a blur of orange and a young adult with brown hair. They are running from their fourth teammate screeching something about a curse.

The tournament server has always been chaos, but it's a nice sort of chaos. In a warm friendly sort of way, like seeing friends or family after being away for a long time type of chaos, with stories of exploits and adventure shared between one another before the competitions pits them against one another.

The other teams have scattered around the plaza and are chattering 'calmly' waiting for the bell to ring.

The sounds of people laughing echo as people start to file into the voting dome. The dome sits within a ring lined with a cheering and screaming audience. Banners and signs are decorated in support of the different teams, creating a collage of colors.

Tommy high fives Dream and Techno before rushing off to go find his teammates. As everyone jumps into the pods laughing and pushing each other around, the arena lights up.

It's a beautiful mess of colors and sounds as the chickens pop into existence.

As the chickens flutter down Grian fluffs his wings out and flaps a few feet off the ground, Ren getting smacked a little in the process.

Many in the stands gawk at the hermits, merely hearing rumors of the server that changes those who lived within its domain there but never truly seeing those affected by the changes. Hushed whispers ripple through the audience at the sight of the hermits. Distaste and mistrust lace their muttering. The harsh murmuring is quickly killed off as the music floods out of the stadium speakers and Bingo! But Fast flashes up on the screen. Cheers erupt from the crowd as exasperate groans escape from the contestants. The voting chamber quickly fades away as trees and overgrowth fill the area around the contestants, bringing them to the new world ready for the game to begin.

Ren's tail wags excitedly as everyone gets ready to rush off and fill out the bingo cards. It's not the most exciting game by a long shot but, it's a pretty easy start.

As the clock ticks down Grian and Philza flick their wings open preparing to take flight. When they take off Philza grins up at Grian, as everyone starts looking for the needed items.

When the contestants start rushing off it's clear there's some difference in speed. The contestants with wings are much faster and can tell their teams which way to go.

Sapnap glances at his card, quickly taking stock of what materials items call for before delegating the different pieces to each of his team members. Karl and Sap take off towards a nearby cave going for the stone while Shubble and Smallish go to collect wood and sticks from the trees nearby.

Shubble takes off like a shot looking for clay in a pond with Iskall grabbing some rudimentary tools that Fwip and Solitary had crafted to go look iron.

Fruit Berries speeds through the landscape, grabbing any goods he can find and bringing them back to Niki to craft the items, like books. While Quig and Muka work together to get the more difficult components together as they take off deeper in the foliage.

Phil takes to the sky in an attempt to get the pieces that were further out from their team's warp point. False and Cub run to grab plants and materials before they get ambushed by one of the other teams. Scott diligently shaping the materials in an array of different items

HBomb runs into different teams, ending in different scuffles, while out grabbing goods and ends up limping back to the makeshift hub area for the Teal Tigers. George quickly grabs the materials from Hbomb before passing him some food to hopefully heal up before he races back out amongst trees. Pizza Hut and Dan mine away at the stone grabbing any ores within reach before returning to the surface to dump them before running out to get more.

Dream and Techno rampage through the terrain, bantering back and forth with one another as they grab at any item components and chase after the other teams for their resources. The pink-haired young man growls as he pursues the different teams, hoping to steal the already collected materials. Wilbur and Fin work quickly to gather any piece not stolen by the madmen and set to work crafting the piece with practiced ease.

Grain darts above the treeline, snagging sugar cane and grains of wheat before returning to drop off the plants to Little Woods as he sets to add the last few ingredients to the cake batter. Ren dashes through the forest and plains with his supply of wood and clay, nearly losing all of his resources when he runs into Sap and Karl, barely managing to fend them off before leaping over a river that would be too wide for any normal human to cross easily. His tail wags happily as he blots into some trees.

Eret crafts each item he can make. For a while Punz and Tapls act as guards and run, defending the builder while his expert hands work hypnotically to craft each item as fast as he can from the bingo sheet. Burren keeps a somewhat steady supply of materials coming as he outruns opposing team members.

Chaotic screams echo out from Quackity as Techno chances him down for his gathered resources. Illumia slips past the two with another load of logs for Kara while Krinios exits the makeshift mine he had set up before rushing over the furnace that Kara had crafted early in the game to smelt the gold and iron ore for the raw metal.

Tommy and Tubbo work as a chaotic well-oiled machine under the Captain's eye and order, gathering resources and fending off other teams is a great success, leaving Fundy to craft the items called for by bingo card.

By the end of the first round, it's clear that having wings was a distinct advantage before they had to go underground. As usual, there's a bit of good-natured grumbling through the contestants, but since the purple parrots had won the game it doesn't even matter.

To the people watching from the stands, it's a completely different matter, people start screaming and arguing about the use of wings... but only with Grian's team. They don't mention Philza at all, the man had earned his wings long ago and no one is willing to threaten him over it.

It's fairly common with hardcore players, they don't die or take their elytra off which causes makes so that it starts to fuse to their backs. So when they respawn in the hardcore hub occasionally the elytra respawns with them, merging and becoming a part of their body.

If this happens the watchers give an option, to either remove the elytra or fully fuse it to their backs turning them into large feathered wings. Most players choose to remove the elytra and not have to bother with custom clothing or them being an actual limb that can get injured.

Philza had a fairly special case, he had lived for five years, without dying. So when the baby zombie finally killed him he was out for over a week. When he woke up his elytra had started to grow feathers. A very frazzled watcher had murmured something about an old legend about the Void and End having creatures that were the source of the elytra and how those creatures would give their blessings to select players.

Of course, those were only rumors that were passed by the oldest of worlds' inhabitants.

The game concludes and the contestants warp back the voting area before the Championships break for lunch, with contestants flooding out of the dome and into the large area surrounding the voting arena only for contestants and select guests. Some race to get food provided by the Event organizers, others meeting up with homeworld friends that had brought food. The general audience isn't allowed into the courtyard area, but Family and server mates are welcome.

The hermits enter into the large courtyard surrounding the voting arena, packs and travel bags slung over shoulders and backs. Chatting amongst themselves searching for a place to have their lunch. Soon they find a place that satisfies their eclectic groups' needs, providing enough shade for the hermits more solarly challenged with enough space for those who might need to stretch inhuman legs and perfectly placed next to a pond.

Lunches and meals are unpacked and passed around, till every hermit has some food, catering to any dietary needs that had been acquired over the year and a half. Laughter and conversation flow easily from the hermits, picking at their meals and enjoying the competition.

"Oh also," Bdubs says swiftly transitioning from one story to the another, "While I was getting some snacks during bingo, you'll never guess what I heard."

"What did they say?" inquires Joe.

"Eh?" Doc hums sleepily.

"Oh?" Xisuma quips.

"That a squirrel falling from space would die, not from the fall but from starvation because they can survive terminal velocity?" Zedaph says quickly. All eyes fall on the satyr in a general confused look on their faces. "What? It's true," he says before turning back to his lunch. Tango gently cuffs his head with a wing.

Bdubs quickly shakes his head, as if to shake away Zedaphs absurd claim. "Anyways, did you know that apparently the meteor that's been making our lives, oh so wonderful to live is just a scam and we are somehow faking our transformations for money," he says with an overly happy tone that was only truly seen when something had gotten under Bdubs skin.

The Hermits let out a few chuckles and huffed laughter.

"Oh, my," Xisuma says between chuffs, "That's mighty preposterous."

"Oh, how little do they know..." Beef rolls his eyes, as he gently swats Bdubs with his tail. The phantom leans into Beef and sighs.

The laughter dies down eventually, people still munching away at their meals and a few pushing the extras untouched food to the competitors and to the others. Talking amongst themselves and waving at the other competitors passing by, the lunch break closes as the prospect champions are rushed into the voting area again and the hermits take their place at the viewing area once again, waiting for the next game to begin.

.......

As SkizzleMan walks past one of the viewing areas he overhears something that catches his attention.

"Oh yeah, did you hear the other hermits are here, not just the constants."

"Wow, I'm surprised they would show up to watch people cheat."

"Would you stop with saying it's cheating, they clearly can't control what's happened."

"Oh please, look at them. How can they not be cheating."

Deciding not to get involved with that mess, Skizz pulls his communicator out and shoots Impulse a message.

SkizzleMan: Hey DippleDop

ImpulseSV: Oh hey skizz, I didn't think you were here

SkizzleMan: well I am

SkizzleMan: I haven't seen you in ages, do you want to meet up and talk!

ImpulseSV: sure,

ImpulseSV: if you want you can come up to the hermit box.

SkizzleMan: sure, where are you?

Impulse sends directions to the Hermits box seat and a few minutes later Skizz knocks on the door. Stepping outside for a moment Impulse grins at his friend.

With a start Skizz realizes something, he hasn't seen Impulse in person since he was affected. It must have shown on his face, because Impulse takes a few steps back, "Impulse, what happened?"

Impulse looks down and fiddles with the hem of his shirt, "It was, uh, I've told you about the meteor."

"Yeah, but... what happened to you?" Skizz asks poking at one of the bedrock splotches.

"Oh, Uh, I'm part bedrock, I guess."

Skizz's face flashes through several emotions and settles at a mix of disgust and rage.

"Sorry?" Impulse mutters as he freezes up a bit.

Stepping forwards Skizz wraps Impulse in a hug, "I'm going to fight that rock for you DippleDop."

"Please don't," Impulse mutters as he hugs back.

"Give me a good reason."

"You could get affected," Impulse says as he pushes Skizz back a little.

"Fair... how's Tango?"

"He's here, would you like to come in?" Impulse invites as he holds the door open. Skizz nods and lets Impulse bring him in. As Impulse drags Skizz over to Tango he has to take a moment to process what he's seeing.

Sure he doesn't really know the hermits that well but they are still his friends and seeing what happened to them hurts weirdly. It's unfair that this is happening to them and that the one time they get to go out and have fun, they get mocked and accused of faking.

Tango spots Skizz and his wings poof out in excitement, "Skizz, hey man," he greats, his tail flicking wildly.

Skizz waves to Tango, "So you're a bird?"

Grinning Tango spreads his wings and shows his feathers off, "I'm a Phoenix."

"Nice," Skizz grins, "So uh, how have you been?"

"Ehh, it's fine, life's crazy but I wouldn't leave the hermits for anything. They're family, you know. I wouldn't let you go off and do something dumb so I can't let the hermits get hurt by themselves."

Frowning Skizz looks around the room, most of the hermits are talking quietly as they wait for the next game to start. Tails and ears flick around, "You have to promise me. Both of you. If anything happens please tell me, like you said we're family. It hurts not being able to help."

.............

As the contestants gather around the dome they chatter and spread out as they wait. Tommy somehow managing to convince Philza to race Grian across the waiting area.

It's a close race but Grian wins. His wings were grown and his body changed to be good at flying. Philza's much taller than Grian, but he's not really built for flying, rather him adapting to his wings over time rather than his body being built for them.

A buzzer sounds and once again the teams are dropped into the decision dome. As the chickens are thrown they settle and "The game is Hole in the Wall" lights up as the game of choice.

The contestants grin and cheer as they are teleported into the jump pad area. The rules are clearly stated along with an extra rule for players with extra body parts; gives them either an extra life or permission to flutter wings, depending on needs.

Overall it makes everything just a bit fairer. It levels the playing field.

And of course, some people scoff at the need for extra rules.

The game pauses before it can begin so the admins can explain something to the crowd, "If you don't like something just avoid it," Wilbur mutters under his breath.

Cub grins at this and flicks his ears around. A few minutes later the ground lights up and the game begins.

The first round started with the timer ringing loudly through the area. Contestants line the outer perimeter of the center ring facing any direction that the wall could come from. Tensions are high, with eyes glancing quickly to each and every wall. A loud mechanical sound rings out as the first wall leaves the Eastern wall, people quickly shuffling into place to slip between the gaps in the wall. It chugged at a steady pace, moving in measured intervals like a clock ticking, slowly as the round began.

More agile members of the contest, like Fruit, Dream, and Illumina, manage to vault over the higher cut-outs while the other slips through the lower sections.

The tempo of the game begins to pick up as the round continues, first coming slowly and easily predictable before they begin to increase in speed and difficulty. Multiple walls emerge from different directions, moving toward the center platform before all but one drop from view. People begin to get knocked off after the third wall. Grain's wings get caught on a wall after he wasn't able to pull them close enough to fit through a small opening and is pushed into the pit of slime in the bottom of the area. The screaming of the crowd fills the air.

More and more are pushed off as the speed increases till only a few are felt on the platform including Hbomb, Pizza Hut, Fruits, and False, the others succumbing to the slime pit below. From the hermit viewing box, whoops and cheers ring out for False as the only hermit on the ring. Slowly those who fell victim to gravity wade their way out of the pit and to the small platforms at the bottom, helping each other out of the slimy ooze. Techno reaches out a hand to Grian, which he grateful takes and is heaved out of the pit easily by the battle master.

"Thank you," he chirps, a bit embarrassed that he was stuck.

"No problem," Techno acknowledges with a small nod.

After the remaining contestants are fished out of the pit and brought back up to the ring, a quick break is allowed for those to catch their breath before round two starts.

A horn rings through the area as the crowd cheering picks up again. Once again the walls come slowly with everyone passing through with relative ease before they start to come quicker and quicker, knocking off more people with each passing wall. Some fall quicker than before while others manage to last a few seconds longer. By the final horn for round sounds, contestants out of breath and lean over on their knees to catch a much-needed breath on the arena, while those below recover once again from falling.

The crowd roars as the final round starts, the Teal Tigers and Blue Bears battling for first place. The beginnings of exhaustion pull on the minds of some people but adrenaline burns through them to keep everyone alert. The walls seem to come faster sooner, keeping the contestants on their toes at all times. Some power through the final round, bounding over the walls and slipping through the holes in the wall. More seem to last longer but eventually, people fall, tripping on themselves or others.

By the end of the game, the Teal Tigers snagged first place. The crowd screams out for the winners. The whispers of cheat becoming abated as the extra limbs seem to hamper those who possessed them. Fur and feathers get stuck to slime, needing to get brushed out.

As the Contestants walkout from the game area, they all are covered head to toe in sticky green slime. Ren laughs as he helps Grian wipe some of the slime off his wings.

"Tango is not going to like this."

"No, he's not," Cub grins shaking off slime that clings to his body. The hermits all know how much it bugs Tango when his or Grian's wings get overly dirty.

False grins, "Welp, we'll see you tomorrow."

Fluttering his wings softly, Grian perches next to them on top of a fence, "I'll shower first, then most of the slime will be gone."

"Smart," False hums softly, ringing some slime out of her hair.

.......

From up in the audience there's a soft murmur, they don't know what to think. The hermits are all sorts of weird creatures. Heck, you can't even tell what's up the blond woman, who knows what she can do.

There have been several mutters about how it's so weird seeing the contestants from the Dream SMP work together. It's different from the show that they are used to seeing. Of course if what was happening on the SMP was real the Watchers would've shut it down by now.

The boys would work together like a well-oiled machine amongst their teams. None of the hostility is usually seen on the show the server would produce. Quips and quick lighthearted insults are thrown between the competitors like that of friends rather than the enemies they portray themselves to be. The servers contestants showcasing their abilities as expert parkorers, battle masters, and skilled builders put on more direct display then the show would allow.

.....

"Well, at least your wings are clean now," Tango sighs, Grian's wings had gotten all gummed up with slime and all the hermits are sitting around picking slime out of fur.

"Thanks," Grian grins, flaring his wings out and shaking them softly, a few feathers float out, dislodged from the slime.

Exhausted groans and pained whimpers escape the competing hermits as sore muscles ache for relief and something to soothe them.

"Are the rumors still circulating?" Cub asks, leaning into Scar's picking and petting through messy fur.

Skizz looks up from where he was talking to Zedaph, "Yeah, a lot less than before but not as bad as the first round. I think after you guys got smacked off it changed a little. People couldn't justify you guys cheating."

Notes:

he Dream SMP is a show put on by a group of friends, they started as a joke but it got insanely popular. It works like this because if I had everything working like it was real the watchers would have intervened and put a stop to all the wars. If you need more explanations feel free to ask me.

I hope you have enjoyed reading and have a wonderful Day/Night.

Let me know what you think of this and if you would like to see some of the Dream SMP Dudes in the meteor effects :)