BATTLE SCARS | mcc9 blue bats | minecraft championship

26. The Underdogs

A/N: The first part is once again directly inspired by the Remember the Name animatic. Honestly Gen's animatics are sooooo life-changing. (There's one to How Far We've Come which introduced me to that song. And if you love Dogwarts, Pale White Horse / Where is Your Rider is compulsory lmao).

It throws me off my balance to write Pearl as a non-hermit because she IS a hermit and has been one long enough that part of my brain is convinced she's always been a hermit. Even though I was literally around when she was just hermit adjacent. I think part of Pearl's characterisation here depends on the fact that she is not a hermit (yet), but a good portion of that is already shown in the 8th Championship arc.

There's also a slight sprinkling of Treebark references even though Ren and Martyn literally do not interact in this chapter :)

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And now it all unfolds, the skill of an artist

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This was the third round of Dodgebolt. Green had two wins so far, and Blue had none. If Green won one more round, it would be game over.

The Blue Bats had each come so far. They weren't stopping now. They would fight tooth and nail for their victory.

And besides, this was the perfect time to strike, right? Whenever they felt defeated, they would pop off. It happened for Survival Games; it could happen here.

The Blue Bats exchanged grim but determined looks. The harsh spotlight casted sharp shadows on their faces.

The Blue Bats were the underdogs. They were predicted 6th, and now they were 0-2 in Dodgebolt. When it came to the audience poll, only 21% of voters believed Blue Bats would take the crown. Green had the support of the majority.

The Blue Bats had everything to gain, and nothing to lose.

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He doesn't need his name up in lights

He just wants to be heard whether it's the beat or the mic

He feels so unlike everybody else, alone

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Rendog. The self-proclaimed "weakest" player of the team.

He hasn't picked up a bullet yet, and he chose to duck behind his teammates. It wasn't because he didn't want to participate in Dodgebolt. It was because he felt like the bullets would be better off in his teammates' hands.

Ren had spent the first two rounds on the sidelines. That was what he was used to, even back on Hermitcraft. When playing casual minigames in the 3-H building, Ren kept on saying that he'd "never won anything before". And within the Hermitcraft sphere, his friend False was way more mechanically skilled than he was anyway.

But of course, despite his "derpiness" (or maybe it was because of it), Ren wanted to be useful. To be strong. To be significant to his friends in some way. And that was what he did in team based games like Survival Games of Sands of Time. He genuinely enjoyed being in charge of time and resources.

And now Dodgebolt.

While it was true that Ren was just grateful to be able to play Dodgebolt, he wanted to win too. He wanted to contribute to his team. He wanted to win as a whole.

Maybe there would be an opportunity for Ren in Dodgebolt. And maybe he would have the courage to take it, hold it tight in his hands, and let the bullet fly.

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Who the hell is she anyway? She never really talks much

Never concerned with status but still leaving them star struck