As the sun rises on the second day of the championships, people watching are let back onto the server after returning to their own servers for the night.

The contestants have a different setup, they have small rooms in one of the side buildings. An open atrium area connects all the rooms together.

The bleary-eyed audience members settle into their seats as the courtyard is filled with contestants. An excited buzz fills the air. Everyone is eager to see what the day's activities shall bring.

Philza and Techno are talking quietly with Tommy, explaining some things and telling him to talk to the others, get a feel for how to act around different people. He's not in trouble or anything he just had a few questions.

Ren is chatting with Hbomb as his tail wags excitedly, jumping around and grinning. Snorting slightly Hbomb laughs, rolling his eyes. Ren always gets overly hyper close to the full moon.

The bell rings signaling the start of the first game of the day and the contestants' file into the voting dome. As usual everyone tries to break the elevators. They successfully get into the underground and have a fun few minutes running around in the basement.

A soft tingling sensation fills the contestants as they are teleported into their balconies.

Eggs are popped into everyone's inventories and thrown into the air. Soft clucking fills the air and soon a choice becomes clear.

"And the game is To Get To The Other Side And Whack A Fan!" The announcer yells excitedly.

The crowd goes wild and the contestants are pretty excited as well. TGTTOSAWAF is a fun game and is overall pretty fair. Different challenges come with different skill sets and abilities.

Most of the teams are ecstatic and are grinning wildly. Philza fluffs his wings up in anticipation as Fundy crouches on the ground and smiles widely. Others give their teammates high-fives and prepare for the first drop.

Some of the fans are considerably less excited than the contestants, knowing that some of their seat neighbors would complain about the hermits the whole time. It's a very small percentage of the crowd but it is very obnoxious for everyone else watching.

_______

There are six rounds of this game. The first is a Tera Swop Map where the contestants must use elytra or their wings to glide down to a platform. Some people smack into walls and have to restart. Grian as expected comes in first place. Philza comes second.

The second game involves throwing yourself at a wall and launching yourself with a trident through holes in the walls.

After that it's the iceboats, occasionally the contestants help each other out. Either by letting them sit in the boats or pulling them off from the edge.

The next game is the bridge game where contestants have to speed bridge and try not to get knocked off of their bridge.

The fifth game is similar to the fourth in that players must build up and jump. This time they jump off and use their elytra and glide to the next platform.

The final game is one that comes down more to luck than anything. The contestants run at a wall and at random they might pick the right door and be able to go through.

______

By the end of the game, the contestants are exhausted. Everyone had a ton of fun, and it's no surprise that the Green Gazelles - False, Cub, Scott Major, and Philza - won. Those four together are just about unstoppable. Of course, the Purple Parrots are nothing to sneeze at either and are able to do incredible things, having come in second place.

Naturally, some people are less excited about this... apparently having cat ears is unbelievable and majorly cheating. The contestants all have fun laughing about this and make sure that the hermits are ok.

..........

Doc grins softly, Bdubs snoring softly nearby. As expected he had passed out and the rest of the NHO is sitting calmly and talking to each other. Beef is being used as a pillow, Etho curling up on his back as a fox, as Bdubs leans against him. Chattering back and forth they grin as Bdubs starts to wake up.

"Bdubs tell him you don't need Redstone to make a fully functional base," Beef grins as he stretches his back out.

Etho gickers loudly at being disturbed and pops back into his humanoid form, "I'm with Doc you need to automate things."

Yawning Bdubs looks up and blinks, "What?"

"Bases with or without Redstone?" Doc hisses softly.

"Without," Bdubs answers, "Even someone as talented as I am can see it's unnecessary to make a base."

Their laughter echoes across and draws the attention of Xb. He's sitting in the corner clutching his water cup. He'd previously been talking with Xisuma who had been called away to deal with someone who was making some trouble with a friend.

Nodding to the others Beef stands up and walks over, sliding his back legs down he lays down, "You ok?"

"I'm just all dried out," Xb nods, "It's not the worst but it's pretty uncomfortable."

"I was going to go home before the next game if you want to come."

"Can we still watch the games?" Xb asks grinning.

"Yeah, I wouldn't miss it."

As they leave the door swings open, Xisuma holding Exy's leg as Hels laughs at his misfortune.

Back on the hermitcraft server, Beef and Xb settle into the community area under the town hall. Xb shifts into his mer form and props himself up on the side of the pool, as Beef rubs up against a brush on the wall and curls up with his head on some pillows, burying the rest of his body in blankets.

The others understand why they went home, neither one does too well in stressful situations. Zedaph probably would have gone with them but he's having a 'very important' staring contest with Skizz.

The rest of the hermits are scattered around the room. Mumbo is playing cards with Scar and Biffa. TFC, Wels, and Keralis are intently watching as Cleo and Joe argue back and forth about whether to flavor his gummies or to leave them plain. Cleo says flavor them and Joe says leaving them plain is better.

Exy is pacing back and forth on the ceiling. Jevin has split into four and is rushing around annoying Hypno. Max huddles on the table away from all the chaos.

One of the mini Jevins catches Hypno running smack into his legs, "You smell."

Scooping the small slime up at eye level Hypno asks, "Jev, can you even smell?"

"Uh, nope," He grins, "not since I got cursed."

Hypno laughs for a moment, "You're just saying it in response."

As one of the other mini Jevins jumps onto his back, Hypno pulls him off gently setting him down, "You smell."

The other two Jevins smack into each other with a soft squelch, refusing into one, "Well, that's one way to get back together."

All snacks have been neatly stacked on the table; they had been a mess but someone made the mistake of asking if someone could fix this and Mumbo went into a bit of a programmed mode and cleaned everything.

There'd been a few dares throughout the day, one was people trying to pick Impulse up. That is not as easy as it sounds; he's half unbreakable rock and is pretty hard to catch.

Currently, Skizz is leaning back against the couch watching intently as Impulse and Zedaph show him how to preen his feathers.

"You just get all the dirt out?"

"Yeah and this helps spread oils around," Tango explains his tail flicking gently.

"You can't just take a shower?"

"I mean it helps, birdbaths are a thing, but this makes sure nothing bad gets in my wings."

"Cool, cool, uh how often do you do this?"

"As a group like this once a week or so," Tango explains, he allows Skizz to touch his wings, "Otherwise I preen just whenever I can."

"Like brushing hair?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

......

A slight murmur runs through the crowd. Some are saying the server is Haunted. Small objects seem to float in the air. Food trays are flipped. Oddly distorted laughter echoes across the stands.

Eventually, the crowd notices a tall red-eyed armored man watching whenever something happens. At times it seems that something grabs him. Dull footsteps sound as one of the Noxcrew Admins walks over with a lizard like-wingless dragon hybrid following close behind.

The air above the man glimmers softly as something pops into existence.

"Sorry suma."

"X, please don't keep doing this."

Exy floats down to meet eyes with his brother, "Fine."

The admin nods, "I take it you've got this from here."

"Thank you for letting me know, and as for you," Xisuma turns to Hels who backs up slightly, "Try not to cause too much trouble."

"Uh, I'll do my best."

Xisuma seems to accept this answer, "Ok, back to the others now."

Grabbing hold of Exy's ankle Xisuma drags his brother back to the hermits. Jogging slightly to keep up Hels laughs at his friend's misfortune.

"Let me go," Exy protests trying to carefully wiggle out of his brother's grasp.

"You are lucky you didn't get kicked out," Xisuma says pushing the door open.

"Well, I was only doing it to the people who were being mean to them"

This shuts Xisuma up, "Oh, well I think we can let this slide."

"Told you," Hels murmurs.

"Here," Xisuma pulls a small object from his pocket, "You can have this back as long as you don't point it at someone who doesn't want it."

....

After a lunch break, the contestants file back into the voting dome.

The chickens are thrown into the dome in a clucking wave.

"Release the chickens!" Quackity yells, laughter filling his voice.

The other contestants laugh as the blue bears are promptly dunked into the water.

The game chosen is, "Ace Race!" The announcer yells as they explain the rules and how this game will work. Potions are handed out to any contestants who don't want fur or feathers to get soaking wet.

Everyone likes this game and the contestants have been warned beforehand of different rules for the different advantages some of the contestants might have. Ren can't use some of the short cuts as he can run just a bit faster than others. Grian has a slow falling potion, Philza can't fly when it's not a flying area. The game is as fair as it can get.

In Ace Race, having fur doesn't really give any sort of advantage. Fundy and Ren are considerably faster than others due to being part fox and wolf respectively. Ren loops the long way around the course, as others like DanTDM jump up the rocks. Cub has no such penalties as he's not any faster because he's a lion. For the water section of the race, they thankfully have been given potions to prevent the water from getting on their fur. If they didn't have potions they would be slowed down considerably. From having to run with waterlogged fur to shaking the water off, it wouldn't be quite fair.

The contestants with wings and feathers are in a similar position. They've been given potions to keep the water off their feathers. Philza and Grian have been given a special potion to give them slow falling in the flying bits. Quackity is allowed to compete as normal since his feathers are just spattered across his back and in his hair. Unlike Grian and Philza, he was born with his feathers, his great grandfather was one of the humans turned into hybrids.

Some of the others are given potions for water, and the rest are free to run as-is. The start buzzer echoes and The contestants are off.

Unsurprisingly Dream comes in first place with Grian hot on his heels, third place goes to DanTDM. The other contestants complete the race sooner or later and the team scores can be calculated.

The Pink Pandas come in third, with Yellow Yaks in Second, and to no one's surprise, the Purple Parrots are first. Seriously who let Dream and Technoblade be on the same team, seems like a bit of an oversight.

The fans watching don't seem too critical of the Hermits this round, it's clear Grian was hit with a slow falling potion to make the fact he would be flying a little bit fairer. Which makes it all the more impressive that he got second place.

....

Wilbur walks around the atrium, footsteps barely heard over the constant talking. People were calling their friends, but he had done that when he'd first arrived. Fragments of conversations floating through the air. Bedrock is mentioned, catching Wilbur's interest and slowing his steps.

"-so how's the bedrock stuff treatin' you man?" The voice is unfamiliar at first, but after a quick glance, he recognizes the person. Wilbur believes the canid man is called Ren, one of the Hermits who've been affected by that meteor thing as well as a fellow MCC competitor.

I wonder why those two are talking about bedrock...

Wilbur walks closer and hears the reply of an unseen face.

"I'm still not used to it. The spots of it are really uncomfortable and all the 'instincts' are super annoying. Looking in the mirror is weird because of my eyes." he pauses for a few moments, then mutters, "And nobody knows anything about this all."

At this point, he's completely stationary, and the other two have yet to notice him. Which is peculiar, seeing as he's stood right near them.

Might as well join in, try to share some knowledge.

With that thought, he turns to face them and step forward, all in a singular motion.

"Hi, Ren and.." Wil pauses.

"Impulse."

"Impulse. I'm Wilbur Soot, a member of Sleepy Bois Inc." He runs a hand through his hair, "I happened to hear you mentioning bedrock and thought I might be able to help."

Stars grow brighter within black eyes, swiftly giving Wilbur their full attention. "Really? Thank y-"

Impulse is cut off by the speakers coming to life, "Contestants I hate to ruin your fun but the atrium is closing now. Please make your way to your rooms, as swiftly as possible."

This announcement happens every night in an attempt to get the competitors to sleep at a decent time, each community room closed one by one; the atrium being the last.

Wilbur frowns, annoyed with the sudden intrusion, "I guess we'll have to pick this up at a later time." he pauses, considering his options, "I'm available at breakfast, maybe we could meet up in the garden area; most people don't go there so I think we'll have space."

"Sure. Yeah, that sounds good man." Impulse hastily replies; other Hermits yelling his name in order to get him to follow.

Ren grabs Impulse and starts gently pulling him towards the western exit. Wilbur waves then begins his rushed walk to the eastern door.