Buzz, ba-DING, buzz.

Grian excitedly checked his communicator, knowing full well what message had just arrived. But first, the Hermitchat.

<Rendog> MCC LISTS!!!!!
<falsesymmetry> WOOOO
<cubfan135> should we chekc them together?
<Grian> meet at the shopping district?
<Rendog> yea, does decked out work?

<falsesymmetry> ya
<xisumavoid> wish you guys luck!
<cubfan135> a-thank you

Grian grinned, enthusiastically launching himself on his elytra away from his mansion and towards the Shopping District, eagerly anticipating being able to see who would be on his team. He could just check it now, but he decided to be a good sport and wait to do it with the rest of the future participants. Last time he was thrown with his buddies from Evo, the ones he hadn't seen for years, so whoever's choosing the teams knows that they're doing, and Grian was glad for it.

Ten minutes and about half a stack of rockets later, he arrived at the giant ravager head of a minigame, also known as the front entrance to Decked Out. False and Ren were already there, and he waved to them from the skies while aiming for the ground for a nice landing.

"We're just waiting for Cub?" Grian asked, sticking the landing as per usual.

False shook her head. "I think Etho actually signed up too-"

"Indeed I did!" the happy voice of the ninja sang, and Ren jumped out of his skin, twisting around to see Etho casually sitting down cross-legged behind him. How in the six realms does he go unnoticed like that- nevermind, Grian was too afraid to find out.

"Oh, hello, Etho," he greeted, pretending he wasn't also startled out of his socks. "Is this your first MCC?"

The ninja nodded, not standing up. "Yep, yep, though I did play my fair share of the Hunger Games and Spleef back in the day."

"Oh, god, nostalgia attack," Ren gasped, falling to the ground and clutching his chest as if he were having a heart attack instead. "Next you'll be going on about fighting in the Squid War alongside SkythekidRS- I don't think I'll be able to handle it!"

The four Hermits laughed together, and when Cub finally arrived, he was a bit confused but still went along with the joyous spirit.

"Alright, are we ready to see who our next victims- teammates, I mean teammates, are?" Cub asked, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. The chorus of yeses gave him the answer he needed, and he continued, "Okay, who's gonna pull up the message?"

"I'll do it!" Ren called, pushing a few buttons on his own communicator. Grian gasped as what was usually displayed on the small screen of the wristband/gauntlet-like device was projected with light into the air, a holographic version of sharing your screen. The werewolf noticed the builder's awe and grinned, sharp canines on full display. "Ya like it? Iskall tricked it out for me."

"They always were amazing with their tech," Grian remarked, continuing to marvel at the projection.

Ren tapped and scrolled on the communicator, his actions on the device proudly displayed on the hologram as well. He looked between the other Hermits as his index finger hovered above the device, ready to click the message that contained the team lists. Grian gave him a thumbs-up and a grin, and he grinned back, poking the communicator and opening the message.

A colorful list of players and teammates popped up, and all five Hermits quickly scanned for their names. False cheered; she was placed on the Cyan Creepers with Dream, Shubble, and Tubbo, which ought to have an interesting outcome. Cub and Ren were on the Red Rabbits together, which also elicited a cheer, but Etho merely nodded upon seeing who he was teamed with. Grian found the ninja's team before his own, and saw he was put on Orange Ocelots with Technoblade, JeromeASF, and The_Eret. Oh, either they'll dominate the Championships, or they'll be too busy fighting each other.

The builder's eyes landed upon his own team alignment, and he had to bite back an ecstatic scream.

"Oh, Grian, who're these teammates of yours?" Ren asked upon seeing his friend's excited expression. "I know Pearl, but I don't recognize- who's Domrao?"

"A-an old friend," was all Grian answered with, rereading the names on his team over and over and over again.

Blue Bats: Grian, Domrao, Taurtis, Pearlescentmoon

Cub snapped his fingers in recognition. "Wait, I know who he is, he went to that Akademi place on that one destroyed server."

Oh, so they know Dom went to Akademi, but not Grian?

"If you knew Dom-" False gasped. "Wait, Grian, were you on that server too?"

Aaaaand the cat's out of the bag.

Grian nodded, grinning sheepishly. "Yup. Watched the server fall into the Void myself."

"Taurtis went there too, didn't he?" Etho added. Grian nodded once more, though a bit confused how the ninja knew--well, he was famous for knowing a bit too much about everyone, so perhaps it was just another unexplainable Etho thing.

Ren looked around at his friends, not getting why they looked confused and/or stricken. "Wait, what happened on that server?"

False, Cub, and Etho looked to Grian, sensing that it was his story to tell, but he merely brushed it aside. "That's for another day, maybe when you're openly looking for a horror story. Long story short, bad stuff happens, server is destroyed, I knew people there."

"And you're reuniting with them?"

"One of them," Grian answers Ren, "Taurtis doesn't count since we were on Evo together, but Dom, I haven't seen him since high school."

"So you're reuniting with high school friends and Pearl in an ultimate battle between a bunch of other people?" False pieced together.

Cub laughed. "Seems legit."

"I'm guessing the reuniting is going to be a wild event?" Etho guessed.

"You know it," Grian said, grinning.

two days later

"Grian! GRIAAAANNNNN!"

The said man was instantly tackled and shoved to the ground, and he pushed back with his legs, laughing as it erupted into a miniature kerfuffle while Cub and Ren, who had accompanied him to the Hub, looked on in amusement and slight confusion. They needn't worry, though, all fights were fun and games when it was Dom.

"Dom- ow, not the arm-"

"Oops, right, sorry," the Japanese man apologized, backing off on the left arm Grian had far too many scars on. "Oh, these two are your Hermit friends, right?"

"Yeah, Ren's the furry having a midlife crisis, Cub's the evil scientist having a midlife crisis," Grian said, switching to Japanese for the sake of being able to insult his friends without the risk of retaliation from them.

Dom barked out a laugh, which only increased in joy upon seeing the perplexed expressions on said furry and scientist. "Oh, gord, they don't know Japanese do they-"

"Nope!"

"Ooh, who are these guys Grian?"

Grian made eye contact with the taller, darker man in blue walking toward him, and he proceeded to tackle him as well. "TAURTIS!"

Taurtis threw a few light punches--well, it felt light, but Taurtis was pretty strong, and Grian's pain threshold never went down after high school, so he wouldn't be surprised if there were a few bruises by tomorrow. "And the handsome rogue tries to fight back, but the gremlin is a strong one for something so tiny!" Taurtis self-narrated as Grian tried to pin him down, nearly succeeding. "The gremlin attempts a strike, to the left, to the right, but the rogue is so incredibly amazing and agile he dodges it all and flips the gremlin onto its back!"

"And then you fail to flip me onto my back," Grian added in Japanese, simply slapping Taurtis's hands away.

"Go Grian!" Ren cheered, a bit confused, but he's got the right spirit.

Grian chuckled, standing up and helping Taurtis to his feet. "Taurtis, this is Cub and Ren," he introduced, gesturing to his Hermit friends, "Cub and Ren, this is Taurtis."

"Well that was a lame intro," Taurtis snorted. "You couldn't have said, I dunno, best friend since kindergarten?"

Dom piped in with his own suggestion, "Fellow survivor of Akademi's destruction?"

"Partner in dealing with the Killer Bunny?"

"Ally in running away from literal gods?"

Ren and Cub looked so confused, it was glorious.

"Hey!" Pearl's voice called.

Grian looked for his friend, his grin widening when he saw her. "Pearl, over here!"

The Legacy member jogged over, a smile set on her face. "Hi Dom, hi Taurtis, long time no see, huh?'

Taurtis laughed. "I haven't seen you since the Watchers!"

"I don't think I've seen you since the days of Build Swap," Dom added.

Grian gasped. "Nostalgia much?"

"Right, so we're gonna go find the rest of our team," Ren chuckled, walking away from the joyful reunion, Cub following close behind him.

"Train hard!" Dom called. "If Grian here could kill the leader of the Japanese mafia, all of us could one-hundred percent beat you people!"

"What?!"

The four friends ignored the confused outburst from the Hermits. It was likely the first of many.

But who cares?

It's reunion time.