Bad and Sapnap walked away from the bushes, both sorta glad to be leaving the place behind them. Literally. They had no idea how many crystals the mission had actually gotten the group, but they hoped it was worth it.

The heist had taken way more time than they thought it would and now they had to get to Ant's shop, back home, and to the portal all before 3-o'clock. They probably needed to hurry, but being exhausted and all, their energy didn't agree. Walking slowly it was then!

Sapnap was the first to break the silence.

"I'm glad we got the crystals, even if it might not be quite enough."

"Yeah..." Bad yawned and let his eyes droop in exhaustion. "If it saves a muffinhead from Dream, it was worth it."

Sapnap paused. The train fight flashed through his mind and he shook his head to clear it.

"Like me?" He asked.

"Especially you! But don't go running after him solo like that again this time around ok?" Bad looked up at Sapnap.

"Alright, but you can't overdo yourself like last time either."

Bad grumbled in annoyance and Sapnap chuckled.

"Deal." Bad mumbled with his shoulders hunched over a bit more to exaggerate his frustration. Sapnap noticed his same hand was hidden carefully so he couldn't see it.

"By the way, do you still have yours?"

"My what?"

"Your crystal?"

"Oh-... uhm no." Bad looked at the ground. "I gave it to Skeppy when we were-" His voice caught in his throat. Sapnap didn't push him to talk. "Going to the hospital..."

Sapnap nodded. "Oh right," He mentally said. "I knew that. Skeppy had the crystal in Hell."

"But he's better now, right? He did fine on the Hell trip." Sap said casually.

"I-I..." Bad didn't dare to look up. He paused and reconsidered his words.

"How was the Hell trip by the way?" Bad changed the topic, avoiding the question.

Sapnap noticed, but went along with it anyway. He would talk if he wanted to.

"Oh it went great! Sort of..." Sapnap said with a chuckle. "We got in no problem, got the gear from an old friend, who I now owe big time,-" He mumbled. "-and had a real fun time getting out."

Bad urged him to continue with curiously written over his face.

"Well we thought Skeppy's guard badge would get us out easy enough, but apparently they have these new permits or something for taking weapons out of Hell. Which honestly doesn't even make sense because if I had fit it all in the void then they wouldn't've even known so it's a pointless rule, that conveniently happened to fuck with us specifically." Sapnap ranted.

"Language. " Bad muttered.

"So I threw a molotov cocktail into a crowd of people, causing a riot, and we snuck through the portal while the guards were distracted."

"Did anyone get hurt?" Bad asked, concerned.

"What? No, everyone was fine. Hell, more bottles were thrown after mine. True Hell fashion actually, everyones prepared for that sorta shit."

"Language!" Bad yelled a little louder. "I guess it's been a hot second since I've visited." Bad giggled at his own joke and repeated it quietly to himself, "Hot second, get it?"

Sapnap chuckled along with him. "Well I'll have you to introduce to a buddy or two down there then some time alright? You're missing all of the fun!"

"Ok, after this mission."

Sapnap hummed in agreement. Bad was still shielding his hand from view, it looked like Sapnap was going to have take matters into his own hands if Bad wasn't going to show it willingly.

"And then the guards saw us, so we jumped through and had to book it.-" Sapnap continued the story. Bad looked intrigued, and was letting his guard down. "-So we went through the shortcut to ditch the guards, but they followed us, and Skeppy went back a few steps to grab his head-box-thingy and the guards split us up."

"Wait, why didn't he have it before?"

"Oh I told him to ditch it so we wouldn't stand out in Hell. The bright blue doesn't really match the vibe of the place we were in."

"Oh,"

"So we had to face the guards head on, and you know it was like an epic battle scene. Then we were cornered an-" Sapnap stopped himself short. Skeppy's shield had been what saved them, and he couldn't tell Bad about it before Skeppy did. "And then I- I dunno uh, kicked the guard in the chest so both me and Skeppy could run around a few corners and lose them.." He lied.

Bad looked a little suspicious of the ending but didn't mention it.

"Well that's cool!" The shadow demon tried to say enthusiastically.

Sapnap used the second of hesitance to grab Bad's arm away from his hand and then grabbed his other wrist to get a good look at it. They stopped walking.

"Hey!-" Bad tried to pull his arm away but Sapnap's grip was strong.

Sapnap looked him dead in the eyes and Bad stopped struggling. Both of them were exhausted, but Bad was considerably more so. It was no use to fight it.

His hand didn't have his normal glove on it, which Sapnap scolded himself for not noticing earlier, and had a fair few number of cuts on it. He looked at Bad in the eyes, who quickly avoided his gaze.

"Where did you get these?"

Bad sighed, "I punched the glass covering the fire extinguisher with my hand. The glove only protected my hand so much." He said blandly.

"Why didn't you tell me!?" Sapnap dropped Bad's wrist.

"It's not that bad! It's just a tiny cut and the bleeding stopped anyway. I already checked and there's no glass in it either." He defended himself.

"I'm telling Antfrost we're coming over and getting that checked out while we're over."

"Didn't he already text us to ask us to come over? We're already walking there." Bad waved his arm over them to show them, walking to the potion shop already.

"Oh uhm yeah!" Sapnap caught himself, "I just forgot to text him back."

"You muffinhead, he's probably been waiting for a reply this whole time!" Bad scolded lightheartedly. Sapnap was glad the tension had diffused and Bad didn't catch onto the lie. He however, saw right through Bad's lie. His good hand was hovering over the cut one again, but a drop of blood by his foot proved it was "that bad".

Sapnap grabbed his phone from his pocket where he left it. He was glad he didn't put it back in the void because he wasn't sure he could've gotten it back out again. He noticed Bad was already continuing to walk and jogged a little to catch up quickly. He typed as he walked, causing a few extra spelling errors. 

Sap: me and bad are coming to the potion ship rn.

Sap: gtta grab potions and stuff, and Bad neds to clean cuts on his hand. Dripping blood.

Ant: what happened?

Sap: did a heist with fundy and others, got into a fight. Both exhausted.

Ant: ok, we have healing potions

Sap: Good, also any extra bags of holding?

Ant: can;t you guys use the void?

Sap: too tired.

Ant: bad too?

Sap: espciallly

Sap: he's holding the daggers he couldn;t put back in the void.

Ant: damn, how may did he use?

Sap: All of them

Ant: oh shit

Sap: yeah, see ya ther

Ant: see ya.

Ant: i'll get out some bandages. 

Sapnap pocketed his phone and looked forwards to make sure they were going the right way.

He then looked at Bad, who looked like he was contemplating something in his head. His hand had a drop of blood hanging on the end of his finger that he didn't care to wipe away.

"Hey Bad, why don't you normally keep the daggers on your belt? Wouldn't it be easier in a fight since you don't have to use magic to just grab it?"

"They're sort of heavy carrying them all at once. And that's a disadvantage when trying to be quick and swift. Plus I have to grab them off my belt, which is harder than ya know, flicking them right into my hand."

"Isn't using magic and getting tired quicker worse though? I accidentally set myself on fire once and I feel exhausted."

"Well, that's magic exhaustion for ya," Bad huffed a slight laugh, and let his shoulders relax with his own exhaustion. "And yeah, I guess it could be worse in some fights, but I haven't gotten into any real fights-" He paused, "-Besides recently of course," He added. "Since I was in Hell way more often, where that doesn't really matter as much for us." He said. Sapnap nodded.

"I felt so energized during that fight, but now like, it's all drained out of me. I could probably sleep for a full day." Sapnap said.

"I know what that's like," Bad muttered. "It'll wear off though. Rest just makes it faster."

"Good to know." Sapnap took a deep breath. "I wonder if caffeine helps?" He thought aloud.

"Maybe," Bad contemplated, "I don't drink coffee that often though so I'm not sure."

"Oh what if a speed potion would help! Both of us I mean-"

"Wouldn't we just be tired and fast?"

"It might be worth a try. Ant's sure to have some. Plus Tommy suggested it, right?" Sapnap asked.

"Yeah." Bad confirmed.

"You still remember the list for the potions?"

"Yep! But uhm, about that-" Bad paused. Sapnap stayed quiet so he could continue.

"Wilbur said something about needing strength, because and an axe to the head- Dream's head I'm assuming -didn't do much. What was that about?"

"Oh! Well during the hub fight with Skeppy and Velvet while the rest of you were walking back, Skeppy was able to land a hit on Dream's head with his axe. It was really weird, Dream hardly seemed fazed about it."

"Oh so that's where that crack came from."

"Yeah. honestly it just makes him scarier." Sapnap scoffed, "My best fucking friend, terrifying as fuck." He whispered to himself. Bad heard him, but didn't language him. 

"What-" Bad paused, "What else happened in that fight?" He asked cautiously.

"Well Wilbur broke his guitar when he hit it on Dream's head as a distraction. Feel sorta guilty about that, since it helped us and it's wrecked now. Niki kicked Dream in the back of the legs which was a badass move that bought us a few seconds of time. I think Velvet got hurt right before I respawned because his arm was dripping with blood-"

Sapnap looked at Bad's hand and raised an eyebrow, "-Like your hand right now."

Bad grumbled and looked down at it, it was significantly worse than before, dripping down his fingertips.

"Let's pick up the pace so we can get that healed quicker." Sapnap offered. Bad nodded in agreement and carefully put his hand down by his side.

It was quiet for a few moments between them. Sapnap could tell that Bad had something on his mind and was contemplating whether he should say it or not.

"By the way, how did you last so long before?" Sapnap asked to break the tension.

"Hmm?"

"Like, today you fought in a hallway, used the void, and shadow traveled a little, and you're absolutely worn out. But before, with Dream, you went so long without a break, and from what Antfrost said, it was way more. What was so special about then?"

"Heh," Bad chuckled a little, "So far you've gone all human-campfire twice right?"

"Human campfire." Sapnap scoffed, "Yeah, what about it?"

"Well what did you feel during those? Other than the fire that is."

"I was feeling freaking mad! The first time at the cafe and the void-.... demons-....." Sapnap realized what he had said, and his voice caught in his throat for a second. Bad looked at him sympathetically, giving him a moment to breathe.

"And in the hallway,-" He continued, swallowing his fear. "-The guard kicked me in the stomach with a fricken heel! It wasn't a really high heel or anything but I swear it was a steel toed boot or something. I'm getting a fricken bruise from it."

"Maybe Ant's potions can help with that too." Bad mentioned. "Either way, you were really mad, and that gave you the energy for magic. When we were fighting Dream, I dunno, I guess it fueled me as well."

"So emotions pretty much."

"Yep!"

"And when you saw Skeppy after Dream-..."

Bad stayed silent, and Sapnap took it as an answer enough.

"He's-" Sapnap started, trying to figure out how to phrase it. "Skeppy's going to be ok."

"If he was really doing bad, then Puffy wouldn't have let him leave yesterday, and he couldn't have kept up with me in Hell and-" Sapnap continued.

"That scar isn't normal.." Bad interrupted quietly.

"Huh?"

"You've seen it right? The black lines. That's not- they aren't- it's-..." Bad sighed, losing the words to describe it.

"I mean Bad, we don't know-"

"Dream does."

"What?"

"Dream knows about them. He was using a weird weapon I've never seen before. He caused it." Bad glared forwards, like he expected to see the man responsible in front of him at that moment.

"Maybe they're temporary? He just needs more time to heal?-" Sapnap tried to offer again.

"No-... no they're-..." Bad tried to say.

"Antfrost could have a special potion? Puffy could have medical- stuff?" Sapnap pushed, trying his best to reassure Bad. 

"I visited Dream!" Bad blurted out with his eyes shut tight. The two stopped walking in the middle of nowhere.

"What?"

"D-Dream- Dream used-.." Bad stuttered, his voice cracking. His hands were clenched by his side and the blood from his hand was trickling faster.

"He used a weapon-... it hurt Skeppy!" He tried to defend himself. "I couldn't stand there and watch!"

"When?" Sapnap asked, demanding.

"Skeppy was in the hospital. Middle of the night." Bad's voice broke and ended with a whisper. His eyes were glued to the ground.

"So you snuck out? Went to the prison at night?"

Bad weakly nodded. "He-he-.."

"What did Dream tell you? If he's possessed by a void demon-... What did it tell you?"

"He asked me to join him-, said he was the only one who could cure Skeppy. I declined... I couldn't betray all of you like that..."

Sapnap was about to speak but Bad continued, "He said you and George were suspicious of him for a few days or something. I failed. I went in to get answers about Skeppy's scar and left with nothing." His voice broke, and Sapnap could see the tiny pricks of tears at the corners of his soft glowing eyes.

Sanap wanted to scream and yell at Bad for being so foolish and not telling anyone, wanted to lash out and let out his own pent up anger. But one look at the exhausted and grief stricken demon in front of him and he sighed, letting his anger blow away with his breath.

"How did you get in?" Sapnap asked with defeat in his voice.

"Punz works there. I used my IOU."

"Oh."

Sapnap knew that IOU was really hard to get, and Bad used it on a chance to save Skeppy. One that hadn't worked.

Sapnap put his hands on Bad's shoulders and looked him in his eyes. 

"We're going to fight Dream and force that fucking cure out of him you hear me? Skeppy and everyone else are going to be ok. So you just relax a little and don't fucking overdo yourself that much again you hear me? We can't fight any of them like this, and Dream knows that."

"Any of them?" Bad asked, sniffing.

"Well uhm-, Eret and Dream! Since they're probably working together." Sapnap caught himself again.

"Ok muffinhead."

Sapnap pulled him into a quick hug and felt Bad sticking his hand out to the side so he wouldn't get blood on his white clothing.

"Oh right he needs that checked out."

He pulled away first.

"First things first, potions to kick Dream's ass!"

"Language!" Bad laughed and yelled. Sapnap laughed a little too and took a silent note of the exhaustion lining both of their voices. 

They kept walking together in comfortable silence for a few short minutes. Bad's eyes watched the ground move underneath him more than the scenery in front of him, leading to an easily predictable fate.

"Ow!" Bad walked right into a pole outside of the potion shop.

He stepped backward and rubbed his head.

"Heh, didn't see it!" He laughed at himself. Sapnap looked at him with worried eyes, noticing the hazy gaze returned back with a tired smile. He didn't laugh with him. 

They walked into the potion shop, getting the attention of everyone inside with the little bell on the doorway.

"Hey guys we're here!" Sapnap announced.

"Hello!" A hermit with a wizard hat and robe waved behind the counter.

"Heya!" The other one said, with a red bandana tied around his head, pinning up his dark floofy hair. It reminded Bad of Skeppy a little bit.

Bad waved over a silent hi to the two.

Sapnap was surprised to see George in the room too, sorting through a ton of random items of his, littered on the floor, and a decently sized bag of holding next to him.

"Oh hey Sapnap, what are you two doing here?" George asked as he looked up at them.

"Need to get some potions and bags of holding. Plus Bad cut his hand."

Ant and Velvet emerged from the back room with bandages and supplies to clean Bad's cut.

"Oh you guys got here!" Ant said. "Good timing, we just found the bandages." He held them up to prove it.

"How did you cut your hand, Bad?" George asked, looking over to the shadow demon walking farther into the room.

"Punched glass." Sapnap answered for him.

"Woah why did you do that?" The second hermit asked.

"Fire extinguisher was covered by it. Emergency." Bad explained. "My name's Bad by the way. I'm sorry I don't remember what yours was."

George shot Sapnap a glare but Sapnap ignored it, moving farther into the room. Fire extinguisher was specific enough for George to get the hint.

"I'm Bdouble-O! You can call me Bdubs." He held out his hand to shake.

"Nice to meet you!" Bad said, using his good hand to shake. 

"I'm Scar!" The wizard man said. "And this is Jellie!" He lifted up a grey and white spotted cat and made a cooing noise.

"Aww!"

Ant led Bad towards a sink to wash off the blood. Thankfully there was no glass in it and it was a pretty quick fix with a white bandage wrapped around it.

"I'd give you a health potion, but we're sorta lower than we thought we were and we want to save them for the trip. This should heal on its own pretty quick anyway."

"Thanks Antfrost. But how many health potions are we going to need? It's only two muffinheads to catch and there's a ton of us."

"Two?" Antfrost shared a concerned glance with Velvet and George.

"Bad, did you see the text Techno sent on the group chat?" Ant asked.

"Uhm no? What'd he send?"

"We have at least four people to catch now." George said. He looked at Sapnap accusingly. The hermits stood there awkwardly, not sure what they could do to help since they had no idea what was going on.

"What?" Bad asked. He looked towards Sapnap, who was staring at the ground in guilt. "Sapnap, you knew?"

"I'm sorry Bad, I-.. I just-." Sapnap started.

"Why couldn't you see it yourself?" Velvet asked, interrupting Sapnap.

"I-.. I uh." Bad paused. "My phone's in the void.." He said quietly.

Ant looked at him with a worried expression, slowly forming into anger.

"Why can't you just get it out?" He thinned his eyes towards Bad.

"I can! I- I just don't f-feel like it."

"Then prove it."

"Wait no Bad don't." Sapnap protested.

"Fine I will!" Bad said.

Bad flicked out his hand and his phone appeared in his hand. His eyes drooped even more and he shook his head violently to stay awake, the room spinning around him. He put his phone on the counter and rubbed his eyes. He had to lean on a counter to stay upright as his vision slightly blurred.

"Bad, you're exhausted! What did I say about overdoing yourself!" Ant said.

"I'm fine 'm just a lil tired." Bad said, finding a chair to sit on and practically collapsing in it.

"Might I recommend the magic of caffeine?" Scar said.

"What happened? Neither of you look in great shape." Bdubs asked hesitantly.

Sapnap sighed, it really wasn't much use to lie, and he was too tired to come up with a good one anyway. "We snuck into the lab to get some crystals, and me and Bad had to fight a few guards."

"Sneak into the lab?" Scar asked. Sapnap instantly regretted admitting it, and tried to think of a cover up before Scar interrupted his thoughts.

"Well why didn't you go through the ceiling? The camera's don't reach up there and the guards just assume it's rats."

"Wait what?"

"Yeah," Bdubs chuckled, "But don't try to do it with a pig on you. Scar and Tango learned that one the hard way."

"It was one time!" Scar defended himself.

The others were pretty surprised the friendly hermits would resort to thievery like-, well themselves, but didn't question it. Sometimes it's better not to know those things in detail. They knew the prison warden after all.

"Good to know," Sapnap said, nodding towards the hermits. 

"A small fight doesn't seem like it would drain you so much." Velvet commented.

"I also shadow traveled up a wall to block the cameras with my hand. And Sapnap turned into a human campfire."

"Oooh campfire? I love roasted marshmallows!" Scar said.

George didn't look surprised and just sighed. He knew it was bound to happen again after the cafe. Sapnap had no control on his magic yet. He made a mental note to pack a fire extinguisher himself when he got back home.

"I also may have rushed to the prison this morning faster than I should've in the shadows." Bad mumbled.

"That explains a little more." Ant said, sighing. "We have some extra bags of holding if you need them and plenty of potions. Anything in particular? We're bringing as many as we can carry for the whole group but it would be good if everyone carried a few, and we already have most of the health and fast heal potions in a bag of our own. "

"Oh right-, the list was speed, strength, slow falling, nightvision, and uhm-" Bad counted on his fingers.

"Fundy said health and regen, but if it's already packed then we're good!" Sapnap finished.

"Actually, could I take you up on the offer of magic caffeine?" Bad asked, yawning half way through his sentence.

Scar nodded and grabbed a backpack from behind the counter that Jellie was sleeping on. He dug through the front pockets quickly, shuffling the contents onto the counter top. There was a top hat way too big to fit into the pocket it was pulled from, an entire cat carrier plus a few cat toys, a wizard staff with a cube crystal wedged in the top that was easily twice the length of the bag, a bonsai tree, and a bunch of other glorious junk that seemed unnecessary to carry everywhere.

"Hmm I swore I had a few coffee beans in here somewhere." He mumbled as he pulled out a few small pouches and looked between them. "Just some useless ingredients for high level spells in these stupid things."

"Oh it's ok." Bad said, waving his hand. "I'll just grab a strong coffee before we leave. I have enough energy to last me until then, I think."

"Would a speed potion work?" Sapnap asked, remembering the conversation they had on the walk.

"Uhm, I'm not sure actually." Antfrost said.

"Couldn't hurt to try, right?" Bdubs chuckled.

"Maybe just split one to see if it even works," Velvet offered, grabbing a bottle off the shelf.

"Ooh! Would that make you fast for half the time or less fast for the full time?" Scar wondered aloud.

"If the half life is the same as caffeine, then probably half of the energy for the full time." George said.

"Nuh uh! Full energy, half time." Sapnap argued back.

"Oh what'd you know hothead." George crossed his arms.

"We should make bets!" Scar cheered, "I side with the fire guy!"

Sapnap shot a smug look at George who rolled his eyes.

"Well I'm siding with the smart guy!" Bdubs said confidently. He and George fistbumped while George smirked at Sapnap.

"Bdubs, what'd you have to offer?"

"Hmmm... Sew you a free cape when we get back home?"

"Deal! And uhm, how about some building materials? Or a new clock?"

"How about an IOU I can cash in later?"

"Oh those are dangerous," Scar commented. He looked at Jellie and asked, "What do you think?"

Jellie turned her head towards Scar and bumped her head on his arm with a 'pppprrrmh'.

"Alright, then. Deal!" Scar said.

"Wanna bet anything, fire guy?"

"Oh it's on, Georgie! 

"You're all muffinheads." Bad yawned again and put his head in his arms, resting them on the table in front of him. "Hurry up so I can drink the potion..."

"Don't fall asleep yet Bad. Skeppy isn't here to catch you when you fall~" Ant teased, earning a high five from his boyfriend next to him who snickered.

"Hrmm.... Skeppy's at the guard thingie, I miss him..." He mumbled, oblivious to what he was saying.

"Alright, if I win, you have to call me the smartest person in all of the dimensions, and gimme one of those toffee bars I know you're bringing on the trip." Sapnap grinned.

"Fine. But when I win, I want you to carry the fucking fire extinguisher yourself through Earth, admit I'm the best, and hand over some of those special energy drinks you have stashed."

"But you know those are for-"

"Ahp! That's the deal, take it or leave it."

"Fine asshole." Sapnap through gritted teeth.

"Language." Bad muttered through a yawn.

"Alrighty boys!" Velvet slid over two glasses of the speed potion to the two Hellspawn.

Sapnap downed it in one gulp and Bad drowsily sipped on it, both quickly perking up.

"Damn! This stuff is like magic!" Sapnap smiled.

"No duh." George scoffed.

"Wow, I actually feel a ton better!" Bad looked surprised but happy, sitting up in his chair quickly.

"How long do these last?" George asked, "Because if you're fast for the full time, we win."

"Nah, I feel fast, so this thing's only lasting half of the time. Watch."

"These are the long ones right?" Antfrost looked to Velvet who nodded, "10 minutes I think."

"Starting the timer!" Bdubs exclaimed as he clicked a button on his phone. (Time King!)

"Well we better do stuff while we have time then!" Bad jumped up from his seat and walked to Antfrost quickly. "Could I have a bag of holding and the potions I mentioned earlier? And I should probably get my stuff out of the void while I can! Then I can put those in too, so I don't need to take them out on Earth."

"It's like he's on a sugar rush!" Scar chuckled.

Ant handed Bad a decent sized bag and left to the back room for the potions. He already had the health and regen potions packed up in a separate bag so he could distribute them later, but they had plenty of stock of most of the others.

"Oh right, I can put these away!" Bad grabbed the daggers on his belt and started to flick them into the void one by one, leaving his favorite diamond one where it hung.

The hermits gave him some questioning glances, but the others paid him no mind.

Sapnap grinned with energy as he was handed his own bag and bounced on his heels. He packed away a few potions for himself too, along with some fire-res for the people around him for worst-case-scenario.

"All we need now is camping supplies right?" He asked.

"If you have armor and weapons then yeah," Velvet said, "I guess our traveling supplies are coming in handy again." Velvet looked towards Antfrost with a loving smile.

"We can go home and pack it up after the five or ten minutes of the speed potion wear off." Antfrost said. 

"You two have everything handled?" He asked the hermits.

"Yep!"

"Mh-hm!"

"Oh before you guys go-" Bdubs shook his hands in the air to get their attention. "Does anyone want a cape! Specialty of B-Double-O myself!"

"Ooh can I see them?" Bad perked up, getting distracted from whatever he was doing and setting his bag on the floor next to the counter.

Bdubs grabbed out an armful of them from his own bag of holding.

"I always keep stock on me, great for business!"

George stopped organizing his bag to take a look at them, and Bad ran over. Well, he technically walked, but with the speed potion effect it was practically running. Thankfully he didn't knock over any potions, but Ant still scolded him to slow down.

There was a red and black one in the pile that caught Bad's eye. He pulled it out and held it up to get a better look at it.

The cape had a fade of the colors, with red at the bottom and black throughout the rest. The linside was lined with a dark turquoise color that contrasted the other two nicely and was soft. It had pockets sewn on the inside too, and a few small loops of leather for small weapons to sit.

"How much?" Bad asked excitedly.

"First one is free." Bdubs clarified.

Bad's eyes lit up brightly, literally, and the tip of his tail wagged.

"He's like an energetic puppy." George scoffed, looking at another cape in the pile. It was mostly blue with red and white spots littered at the base and a green mossy collar.

"Ohh this one's nice!" He remarked.

"Can you even see the color?" Sapnap asked accussantly. He was walking around pretty quickly and looking at all of the bottles on the shelves, already bored with nothing to do.

"I can see blue dumbass!"

George looked to the hermits to clarify. "I'm colorblind. Red-Green specifically."

"Hmm, well what about this one then?" Bdubs offered, pulling out a different blue cape, with gold trim and white fuzzy lining on the inside.

"It also serves as a blanket with the fuzzy lining and insulated fabric between the layers!"

"A blanket you say?"

"George, if you get that, you're going to sleep through the mission!" Sapnap whined.

"Oh you like to sleep too?" Scar asked, "Bdubs is the king of sleep back home."

"I think I'll take it, a king must know what he's doing." George smiled, shooting a glare at Sapnap who rolled his eyes.

Bad tried on the cape and twirled around.

"Oh it has a hood too!" Bdubs said.

Bad noticed it and flipped it on, feeling silly for not seeing it earlier.

It shadowed his face so his glowing eyes were the only feature that could be seen. His horns didn't quite fit through the fabric, poking the top instead.

"Oh uh well-" Bdubs chuckled.

"I love it!"

"If that's the one you want, you can tear the fabric for your horns and I can hem more nicely when you get back."

"Oooh thank you!" Bad said. He took it off and handed it to Bdubs, who carefully cut slits in for the horns and handed it back.

"Can I get a picture for advertising?"

"Absolutely!"

Bad posed in front of some of the shelves with a bright smile, totally contrasting his earlier mood. These speed potions really had something to them.

Bdubs snapped a photo with both his and Bad's phone, handing Bad's back.

"Thank you so much!" Bad cheered, running around the room with his new cape flowing behind him.

"Bad slow down! You're going to break something." Antfrost said.

Bad stopped and decided to send the photo to Skeppy, asking if he wanted one too.

He was a little disappointed it was a 'nah' because he didn't have an excuse to run one over that instant and see Skeppy, but he smiled at the plan to meet early at least.

"What'cha smiling at?" Ant prodded, shifting into a cat to jump onto the counter Bad was leaning on to get a better look. 

Bad stood up quickly and shielded his phone from view.

"Geppy just agreed to meet early at the portal." He said casually. His eyes started to droop a little bit.

"Ohhhh-" Velvet started, before getting cut off by a familiar ringing noise from Bdubs phone. Bad instantly felt a little more exhausted, reaching to the table for support.

"HA!" Bdubs cackled.

"Awwww, I really wanted a new cape." Scar whined.

The ten minutes were up, and George and Bdubs had won the bet.

"Ah fuck!" Sapnap swore. He too felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him. It wasn't as bad as before, but sitting around doing nothing was probably the cause of that.

George walked over to Sapnap with a confident smile. "I expect at least four of those drinks at the Earth gate, and I'll bring the fire extinguisher for you to carry."

"Oh come on!"

"A deal's a deal, Pandas!"

"I can get you three but the rest are with him already."

"Fine, but after this mission I want the last one."

"Fine." Sapnap spat, folding his arms over his chest.

"We should head home and get supplies now." Antfrost spoke up. "We're running short on time."

"Yeah that's a good idea," Bad said, clutching his new cape over his arms. The white bandage on his hand didn't have any blood soaked through which was a good sign, but the rest of him looked pretty worn out again.

"Thanks again for the cape! It was really nice to meet you muffinheads!" He waved with his good hand, before grabbing the bag of holding and potions ant had given him from the ground beside the counter.

"Hopefully we see you again soon!" Scar waved back.

"And less tired next time!" Bdubs chuckled.

George slung his bag of holding with all his stuff in it over his shoulder, and held the cape folded up in his arms.

"Thanks." He nodded towards the hermits, "Next time I'll bring a friend to buy some of your capes. I'm sure he'd love the vomit yellow ones in that pile."

"They're moss green,-" Bdubs chuckled, "-but thanks anyway."

George shrugged, "Eh, same thing to me."

"If you guys are missing any supplies, text the group chat." Velvet said, "We might have extra stuff to bring if you need."

The others nodded.

"Are you ok with the shop?" Antfrost looked towards the hermits.

"This is easy peasy! It practically runs itself!" Scar said. Jellie meowed next to him to agree.

"Alright then, any problems just text me!" Ant said.

There was a chorus of byes and lots of waving as the group filed out of the shop.

The little bell on the door rang as the door closed shut.

Scar, Bdubs, and Jellie were the only ones left. It was peaceful for a few moments, until Jellie promptly stood up from her comfy spot on the counter.

She jumped onto a shelf that had been mostly cleared, and decided to finish the job with one swoop of her paw.

Bdubs sighed as he looked at the glass on the floor, sitting in a puddle of whatever potion was in it before.

"I'll get the dustpan from the back."

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So these are taking a little longer to make but they're longer and i'm doing more editing so i hope you guys like them! also i finally made the cover for the first book! which readied 2.kK reads! s maybe just go check out the intro page to see the full thing? anyway thanks for reading and have a good day or night! (sleep like Bdubs and George if it's night though!)

(this might be the longest chapter at 5936 words!)