BATTLE SCARS | mcc9 blue bats | minecraft championship

7. And Again

We can't stand still because we're not done

We start off whispering about overthrowing the status quo

but soon enough we'll feel like crying out, "ARGH!"

-

"Let's try again," Ren told False the instant Scott announced the 6th Championship. "You in?"

"Did you even have to ask?" was False's curt reply.

Their wounds from the 5th Championship had barely started to heal, but the hermits were ready to thrust themselves in the world of PvP again.

Still, they didn't neglect their artistic hobbies and their studies (which they were all fantastic at, by the way).

"When Stanley approached the end of the video, he clicked the subscribe button," False said out loud, recording her usual outro. She switched off her mic and picked up her things.

"Hi! Watcha doing?"

False nodded at Ren. "I just finished recording an episode, now I need to go home and edit it."

"Sweet! See you tomorrow!"

Ren waved at False until she went out of sight. With a sigh, he looked at the tiny ugly cobblestone main campus in the distance, which looked tinier than ever now that their classroom was exponentially growing in size.

Ren knew out of all the hermits in the Championship, he was probably the least skilled in PvP. He even called himself the "weak link" in the 5th Championship, but his friends were quick to reassure him they would not play without him. Thanks to Scott and support from his friends, his insecurity had lessened, but he still wanted to improve himself so as not to drag the team down.

That was why he made his way down to the main campus alone to practice. Ren felt like he needed the extra practice. And he didn't want to use anybody's precious free time. He was fine by himself.

The main campus was a little intimidating without his friends, but Ren put on earphones, started blasting Britney Spears, numbed his nervousness, and worked away. Britney had always managed to hype him up

"My loneliness is killing me," Ren sang to himself as he punched sandbags. "I must confess, I still believe!" Pain erupted from his knuckles, but he knew the pain was necessary. He punctuated each beat with a punch. "When I'm not with you I lose my mind... give me a sign! Hit me baby one more time!"

"Nice voice!"

"Huh?" A surprised Ren hastily took out his earphones. "Oh. Umm. Thanks," he muttered, a little embarrassed.

Ren watched as H sauntered away like giving compliments was an everyday thing for him (which it probably was). H probably knew he was in 3-H, right? So why was he nice to the hermits? According to False, H didn't laugh at her or anything when he found out she was a hermit. Huh.

Ren also saw Herman Blur talking to another new teacher Cherry Twitt. They seemed to be getting along fine for some reason. Cherry Twitt may share a surname with Stan Twitt, but those two were totally different.

Thirty minutes of hard work later, Ren decided he needed a break. A thirsty Ren grabbed his water bottle and went to the water fountain to fill it up. A familiar flash of green came into Ren's view, and he blinked. It was the elusive Fruitberries. Ren was intimidated, but he wasn't going to let Fruit run away again. He put on a confident facade, stepped forward, and said,

"Hi."

Fruit looked at him, mildly surprised that someone was talking to him. "Hi," he said after a brief pause.