After months of my notifications getting spammed with song chains, more song chains, awws, complaints about Grian, even more song chains, Joe cannibalism, and another song chain… I'm finally back. 

Hello. :D

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" Hypnooooooooo-"

" Yeah?"

" You said that you picked the closest world you could find?" 

" That I did." 

" Well first off, you're a big liar." 

Hypno scoffed at the comment. "I said it was the closest, I did not say it was going to be the shortest trip."

He kept looking forward but he could just feel Keralis' glare piercing through the back of his neck. " Then be less ambiguous before letting me sacrifice my seat to Grian! My legs are going to snap like a twig at this rate!" 

As much as Hypno would like to continue messing with the wide-eyed hermit, he couldn't help but agree to his statement. Their long journey to season 9 was a lot more tedious than the season 8 trip. The road was a mess, there were less trees to use as shade, and the sun was scorching enough to burn their flesh. No one can blame each other if one of them just passes out on the spot. 

Actually, maybe he himself would pass out on the spot right now. He might have drained the bits of his energy on teasing Keralis.. He turned his head at the tired hermits behind him. "If this is reassuring enough, the new season 9 world is only an hour away from here. We're almost there!" 

As expected, their groans grew louder.      " Hypno, I hate you." 

"Love you too Keralis." 

Scratch what he said 20 seconds ago. He still has the bits of energy to mess with Keralis. 

Soon the banter died down and everyone silently suffered through the rest of the journey. Hypno pulled out a scroll and started unrolling it. It was a map that he hastily sketched before they left. He continued to reread the map, marking off different parts of the map they already passed by with a big red cross. He hummed in satisfaction and started carefully rolling up the map. 

Well, he was about to roll it up until a hand held a quick grip to it, catching poor Hypno off guard. The owner of the hand gave him a playful bump on the shoulder, a smile plastered on the creeper's face. " May I borrow this for a sec?" Doc pleaded. 

Confused, but he nodded in agreement anyway. Hypno watched as Doc took the map from his hand and started unscrolling it. He read the map for a good few seconds, eyebrows slightly raised to show his amusement. " I see.. " Doc mumbled. 

 " Doc?.." 

Doc brought the map closer to Hypno's view, pointing his finger at a certain part of the map. " I don't know if you're aware of this but there's a path to a lake, not too far from here." 

 " I was already aware of that. " Hypno smiled, staring suspiciously at the hermit." Just thought that it would take longer to get to season 9 if we took that path." 

" I know, but," Doc paused, waving his hands around to try and emphasize something... It's starting to sound like Doc had other plans, and he himself was going to be the key to setting it in motion. Doc let out a lowly chuckle as he rested his palm on his own neck. " If it isn't too much, maybe we can try the longer path? You know? For Zedaph’s sake? "

The talk about a detour he predicted, the Zedaph part however, came unexpectedly.  If Hypno wasn't already confused, then he is now. " I'm sorry wha-.. for Zedaph’s sake?"

Doc nodded, pointing his thumb to his side. Hypno's eyes followed where he pointed and landed on the hermit in question. " Please- just look at him, Hypno. He's a mess!!" 

" Doc, we're all a mess." 

Yes, Zedaph is indeed quite a mess with the sweat and the unkempt hair, but he's no different to the rest of the tired hermits for Notch's sake. 

" I know! But I'm just worried for him, okay?" Doc huffed, moving his gaze back at the path. " He's been obsessed with the 'infant- whatever inator' for a while now, obsessed to the point that it's probably affecting his health. I'll spare you the details, but all I'm asking is if there's a place where we can just let him relax for a bit."

".. Ohh. " was all Hypno could say. He looked back at Doc then back at the map in his hand.. I mean, the answer was pretty obvious, of course he's going to help get Zedaph to relax, simple as that. But… 

" Oh boy, the hermits are going to hate me for this." Hypno sighed dramatically, unscrolling his map to draw another longer route. Doc's knowing smirk grew wider as he looked at him. " Nah. They'll be thanking you for it later. It's Cleo you will have to worry about after this. "

No doubt, young Jevin's going to be orphaned after he deals with her. 

 Doc turned his head to give a big thumbs up to someone. Suddenly he felt another body lean closer to him and the creeper cyborg. He wasn't going to tear his eyes away from the map, but judging by the sound of that giggle, it looks like Beef has joined the party. " Thank you Hypno for your sacrifice . You shall be remembered."

Hypno chose to ignore it. " Alright. Let's do it." He grabs Doc and Beef by the arm and makes a dramatic U-turn. The hermits watched in confusion as they passed through the group. " Hypn- hey hOLd oN-" Zedaph yelped as he got dragged by the two redstoners. " Doc, BeEF, what the hEck!" 

" Change of plans, guys!" Hypno exclaimed. " We're taking a longer route!!" 

Their groans escalated to growls now. Yep, he's not going to make it out alive. 

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Nevermind. He might actually make it out alive. 

After about 30 more minutes of walking, the path started flattening the longer they walked and the forests soon came to view. The trees now shaded them from the scorching sun. The mumbles of the hermits turned into sighs, then whispers, then gasps as they finally entered the heart of the forest. 

From a distance was a lake. A big, beautiful, quenchy, lake. Hypno felt the thirst finally getting to him. The hermits were the same, because Keralis was already sprinting past them with a bucket in his hand. 

"Water!!" He exclaimed. 

Hypno looked back at the hermits, for the first time throughout this whole trip, smiling at him. One by one, they ran past him as they patted his back. The more pats he got, the more guilt he felt for putting them through this without rest. Geez. 

" Last one there is a lonely crab!! Someone screamed. He didn't know who, but a big splash was heard after that. 

" For goodness sake," Beef grimaced." Pearl's clothes are going to be soggy throughout the rest of the trip." 

As if on cue, Doc started stripping off his lab coat as he dramatically tossed it to the side. " Then it's a good thing that I'm already shirtless." He said proudly then ran off to the lake with another big splash. 

Hypno started to wonder if Doc really requested this for Zedaph’s sake or not. Lol

Well it didn't really matter anyways. Hypno approached the rest of the hermits that rested under the shade of the trees. He sighed as he leaned in the trunk and relaxed for a bit. He deserved this break. Everyone deserved this break. 

" Oi! Zedaph!" Beef exclaimed from next to him. "It's break time. We can make plans about the baby machine later." 

Hypno turned his head to witness Beef snatching a notebook from Zedaph's lap, then buried it behind his back. All Zedaph could do was angrily mumble. 

And the group fell into silence.. 

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The silence only lasted 5 minutes. 

" Sooo," Wels started. "How's life?" 

" Weird." Hypno replied. "I'm taking care of my friends who are now 5 year olds. You?" 

" Same as you." 

The group started giggling a bit. " Great conversation starter. But I'm actually curious. How's life with said 5 year old friends?" 

" Like I said, weird." Hypno sighed, leaning closer to the tree behind him. "I never knew how difficult it would be to clean up after one goopy little slime and his chickens. Everywhere I go, there's slime and chicken poop on the floors. "

" Slime?.. " He looked at Hypno in concern. 

" Oh- not slime from Jevin. I'm talking about the green stuff."

" Thanks to Iskall, no doubt. " Stress replied with a huff. " Me kid has been punting slime on poor Mumbo for days now. Had to confiscate it from him. What about you, Wels?" 

"Me? Well… Cub and False haven't been up to that much mischief for a while now. They snuck out once, but other than that.. Yeah." 

" Lucky." He and Stress mumbled simultaneously. 

" Oi. They're still a bit of a handful." 

Suddenly a dripping wet figure tackled the two closest hermit she could lean into. The two unfortunate hermits were him and Beef as Pearl joined in the conversation. "Boy, you haven't seen Gem. She's the definition of a handful."

" PeArL!!" Beef exclaimed as he shoved the soaked hermit away from him. " You're dripping!!" 

"- of good looks?" 

" PEARL!! 

But all Pearl could was shrug, purposely soaking the hermit to his dismay. " She's been taking advantage of her 'older sister privileges' to purposely annoy her friends. I have to make sure that she doesn't cross the line with her teasing."

" Gee, wonder where she got it from?" Beef mumbled. But all he received was another wet hug, this time it wasn't from Pearl. " Wha- DOC, stop! I'm not a towel!-"

" So Zed! How's life with your kids?" Doc asked casually, clinging closer to poor soaked Beef. 

" W-What? "

Hypno turned his head again to look at Zedaph. The man snapped back from whatever thought he had, realizing that he was being dragged to the conversation. Now that Hypno was closer to him, he finally noticed the bags in his eyes. Something that partially sets him aside from the other mess of the hermits. Now concern grew in his chest. 

 " Oh-.. It's okay. They're mostly just playing together and sleeping and.. Stuff." He paused for a sec until a dry chuckle finally escaped him. " You say that like Tango and Impulse are my actual children." 

" Well, they kind of are." 

"For now at least." Zedaph stated firmly, and everyone fell into an awkward silence. Zed must have noticed because he started clearing his throat. " I mean- I'm nothing compared to their actual parents, that's for sure. Can't beat the real life thing. Mostly. " He paused for a bit until he slowly pushed himself up. 

" Anyways, shouldn't we be going to season 9 now? I'm sure none of you would like an angry zombie if we keep stallin-" 

"Nope! We're doing this for you!" 

"What-" 

Doc soon pushed between him and Beef, stared down at Zedaph, and just scooped him up on his shoulder. " We're swimming now!" 

"Doc! What the f- what's with you today!?" 

Zedaph continued to squirm from his hold, but shrugs it off as held a tighter grip on him. Mind you, without struggle. " Geez, you're lighter than usual." 

" At the very least, you can strip off my only dry shirt before you dunk me!"

Doc suddenly pauses… 

" You want me to strip you?" 

"Pfft- DOC!!" 

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In the end, Zedaph finally cooled down a bit. Both Mentally and physically. 

It did not cool down without the typical water fight though. From Keralis splashing a bucket load of water at Pearl, to Beef admitting defeat in the shallow waters once he was fully soaked, to Zedaph 'accidentally' slapping Doc with a fish as some sort of revenge. 

The soaked hermits finally rested by the edge of the waters and just talked. As much as Hypno would like to join in, he did not want to get wet, so he settled with just dry hermits as his conversation partners. 

He, Stress, and Wels cackled throughout that water fight, and let me tell you, he was starting to lose his voice because of it. Lol

But the weirdly peaceful afternoon with the hermits was a delight. This was worth it. 

" Yep. This was worth it." Hypno dramatically sighed. 

" Worth a scolding from Cleo?" 

" Definitely." 

The two hermits giggled from his response.

" So, what's with the whole 'For Zedaph’s sake' that Doc kept shouting about?" Wels asked. 

But all Hypno could do was shrug. " He didn't give me that many details. He only said that Zed was obsessed with the baby inator. I think to the point that it's affecting his health. "

".. So he's overworking himself? "

" Basically. "

" Goodness." Wels sighed, resting his face on the palm of his hand. 

" That's why I made the detour in the first place. You may have seen it from their actions, but Doc and Beef were desperate to distract him. Judging by that water fight, it seems that it worked."

Panicked screams and laughter could be heard from the distance. The three looked back at what's happening at the shore. Zed cackled like a madman as everyone tried to escape from the flopping fishes near their feet. How did Zedaph secretly collect that much fish? No clue. But Hypno scoffed at the thought of such context and just smiled at them. 

Now he felt bad just thinking of interrupting them. The afternoon blue sky slowly faded into orange as the sun started to set. They still have 40 minutes until they finally reach season 9.

It was now time to face the terrifying reality of Cleo's wrath. 

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" You guys are late." A stern voice was heard as they finally entered the world. 

Hypno's tensed body, prepared for the scolding, soon relaxed once he heard a different voice. The sky was now pitch black, but he could just make out a familiar silhouette standing with a lantern. An amused Grian finally approached them. 

" Cleo was wondering why you guys were taking forever." 

A smirk formed on Hypno's face. " We walked on foot, you guys were on a flying hippie van. Of course it took forever." 

" And you know what? It was worth it!" Keralis exclaimed from behind. " It was a really eventful trip. Just us hermits bonding with nature and the animals."

"...Weren't you cursing out Grian's name for taking the final van seat that YOU gave him-"

" -LIKE I SAID," Keralis quickly cut him off as he glared, "It was worth it." He glared even more at the giggling hermits behind him. " We found a nice lake, stripped naked and got wet." 

Grian wheezed, Beef pushed through the group and slapped Keralis in the arm. 

" KERALIS!!" 

After that, Hypno and the rest of the hermits roamed through the small lit area. A vegetable garden grew next to a covered area where a small chest storage was placed. " It was young Joe's idea to make the garden," Grian explained. " He wanted to make sure that you guys had food by the time you got here." 

Ahh, big brother Joe was welcomed to the adults as well. "Speaking of young ones, where are the kids?" 

Grian pointed at a familiar van in the distance, next to a big rock. " Cleo's with them. They should be asleep by now, so stay quiet."

" What about the baby machine?" Zedaph spoke up. " No one touched it, right?"

" It's also in the van. You can come with me while I'll go get some blocks and we can make a quick temporary base for the night. Alright?"

Hypno nodded to the response. As Grian and Zedaph ran off to the van, another person emerged from the passenger door. The hippie raised his shades and soon lifts his arms in excitement." Hey man! You all made it!!" Renbob exclaimed as he dragged the closest hermits to a hug. 

Suddenly he paused, pushing him and the hermits apart. " Geez man," he sniffed, "You smell like moss and sand. You all need a bath, man." 

" We already did. In a lake." 

" Yeah but still-" 

" RENBOB!!" a shout came from behind. Zedaph marched furiously, grabbing the hippie by the collar. Everyone gasped at the sudden force. "Zed! What the heck-" 

" What happened!?" he cut off the hermits' screams. 

" I-.." Renbob choked. " I don't-"

" The machine! What happened to the machine!? There's milk all over it!!" 

Grian also started shouting as he sprinted back from the van. " Zedaph, please!! The kids will wak-" 

" Did one of the kids spill milk on it?"

Renbob was suddenly taken back. His eyes glared at the angry hermit that was nearly choking him. 

" Who, Renbob.. Which kid spilled-" 

But the anger finally bubbled from the hippie as he held a grip on Zedaph’s collar . " Don't you dare accuse those kids, man. Yes, I gave them milk, but they never left their seats. They were well behaved throughout that whole trip! 

" Then who!?"

" It was me, man! " Renbob quickly spat out. He raised his hands up as surrender. " I was the only one who checked up on that machine thing. Now can you please keep your voice down…" 

Before the two could make a move, Hypno sprinted between the two and pushed them away, with hermits like Doc and Beef, grabbing Zedaph whilst he squirmed, wrapping their arms around his. " Zedaph!! What the f.. -flip was that for!?"

But Zedaph looked just as pissed at them as he was at Renbob. " He. Nearly. Broke. The only machine that can bring back the older hermits! It was already a pain just studying it for months and now!.Now!.."

Hermits gasped as Zedaph constantly squirmed in their grasp.. " He's basically ruined our progress!-" 

" Zedaph!! Get a hold o-of yourself!! " Doc pleaded as he finally pushed him further away from the hippie. " YES, you have every right to get pissed at him, I can understand that! But violence is a different story!!" 

" Doc, you do not understand this whole thing at all!  "

" Zedaph, please-"

" If this machine gets destroyed, the hermits will never come back. The hermits that we knew and love, will NEVER come back.. Heck, they might as well be considered dead. And I'll be honest, I don't know how to explain to their families how they 'died'." 

Soon enough, he finally escaped their hold, but this time he finally backed away from the hippie. His icy glare strengthened even more. " You say that they're our kids now, but let's all remind ourselves that they were also our friends. How do you think I feel every time I fail to fix this mess? Hopeless! I feel hopeless just thinking of a world without Tango, Impulse, Xisuma, everyone on this server!! They gave me a place in their hermit family, all of you did… How will their friends feel? Their families? They're freaking husbands and wives?!"

Zedaph trembled in his place, whether it was from rage or cold, it didn't matter. A muffled sob nearly escaped the hermit. " The worst part is that the hermits aren't even aware of it. They're just kids now. It's basically a restart for them.. If we do nothing about it, then they've just ceased to exist.. I-.." 

Silence finally filled the silent night. No moved from where they stood, no one dared to speak, everyone stopped shouting. Hypno had the chance, but he felt hesitant to speak. He tried making out a sound, but nothing came out. Zed must have noticed because.. 

" I'm sorry," he mumbled, his voice sounding hoarse." I'm sorry." He slowly backed away, then walked further away from the van and into the gardens. 

Hypno was ready to go follow him, but another person quickly passed by him before he could do it. Beef looked at Hypno silently, gave him a nod, then sprinted after him. 

He looked back at the rest of the hermits that surrounded the shakened up hippie. Renbob ushered Grian, who held on him tightly throughout that whole argument, as he slowly got back up with unsteady feet, placing his hand on his neck. " I-I also need a breather or two, man." He nervously chuckled. 

He placed a hand on Doc's shoulder. " By myself." he added before walking off somewhere else. 

Hypno forgot what happened after that. He could remember everyone silently agreeing on making the temporary base. At some point, Cleo finally emerged, complaining about the loud noises or something. He did not even know if Beef came back with Zed. 

It was a fun day while it lasted. It was unfortunate that it had to end like this.. 

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– Bonus Chapter–

Usually on a bad day, Renbob would just walk around an area for about an hour and finally calm down a bit. Well, it was kinda working. Walking around the giant lake under the moonlight was peaceful enough. But nothing could really make the hippie feel any better. 

" Evil X owes me a lot, man." he sighed. Maybe he could teach the evil counterpart some table manners. His spillages are going to be the death of him.. 

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I came back after almost 4 months, just to give you guys some angst-

Zedaph: (Tango, Impulse) 

Wels: (Cub, False) 

Keralis: (, TFC, Xisuma) 

Cleo: (Joe) 

Beef: (XB, Etho) 

Grian: (Ren, Scar) 

Hypno: (Jevin) 

Stress: (Iskall, Mumbo) 

Doc: (Bdubs) 

Pearl: (Gemini) 

Ex: (Hels)