A/N: I debated whether to name this chapter Target, considering the game Targét is mentioned. But then I remembered this fic is literally called BATtle Scars, so I might as well insert another bad and cheesy pun :D
(Honestly, the plot is held together by nothing but obscure references and puns/jokes hahah.)
-
"Thanks for having me over, Cub."
"Thank you for coming here to play."
False was currently at Cub's place with its unnaturally tall ceilings, each room lovingly decorated with expensive materials (seriously, where did Cub get those? How could he afford them?). False had walked past statues, several large murals, and chorus flowers growing behind a glass wall. Even though Cub's home was unbelievably lavish (his floors were made out of intricate patterns of glazed terracotta just because he could), it still had the warmth associated with every hermit. In Cub's living room were spaceship models, little trinkets he had collected over the years, and thick albums of photographs. On his table were neatly labeled files of redstone and building ideas. And of course at least five drones sitting in a corner. Normal Cubfan stuff.
But Cub had decided to have some fun and created his Targét minigames. False glanced at the black banner that hung above the door. "Targét" was written in fancy calligraphy font, with the smaller words "a shot above the rest" underneath it.
Cub had intended for his minigame section to be a place where hermits could chill and test their skills, but now it had another purpose— to help the hermits practice for the Championship.
("Thought I'll give it a shot at having two people play this," Cub had said when he invited False. False chuckled. "That was a pun, wasn't it?")
"This place looks fantastic, dude," False complimented Cub when they walked into the "Open Sesame" part of Targét. There were two "chambers", one with a red colour scheme, the other with blue. In front of the chambers, two targets hung on the walls, redstone lamps above them. There were also two airguns and a box of BB pellets on the floor.
"So, this is Open Sesame," False mused, stretching her fingers in preparation. She hadn't really touched a gun after the 8th Championship, so she was excited for the opportunity.
"Or rather Open "Seasme"," Cub quipped humorously, gesturing to a sign with an unfortunate misspelling. "Everyone keeps on roasting me about it."
False nodded, going along with it (the hermits were quick to accept any misspellings and have fun with it, like Scar's Aque Town). "Open Seasme. That's what it is," she chimed in.
"Anyways, back to the game." Cub walked around the room. "Basically I press this button to start the game, and then we go in." He gestured to the red and blue chambers. "You start to shoot at the target while standing on the pressure plate. When you hit the target, the door behind you opens up, you move on to the next stage, and shoot at the same target from the new position. Whoever reaches the end first wins!"
"Sweet!" False peered at the blue chamber next to her, and she wrinkled her nose. "You're gonna reset this, right? The doors are all open."
"Oh right, whoops." Cub quickly hurried around to flick a few levers. The familiar sounds of piston extending filled the room. "Had a test round before you came over."
False shrugged. "Good thing I noticed!"
"Your mind's sharp today. I'm starting to feel a little scared. Are you ready for this?"
False reached for an airgun with a grin. "I am! I'm totally ready for this."
Cub mirrored False's smile. "I'm going to start the game. Good luck!"
False took a deep breath. Even though this was a chill game between friends, she couldn't help but feel her muscles tense. False was used to the competitive nature of the Championship and it was showing.
Somewhere, a bell chimed three times, then the doors on both chambers opened. False quickly walked in and raised her gun. She hit the target with ease. "Now, I want to know how many times have you practiced this?"
"Uhhh, not that much, honestly. Not that much."
Considering how hardworking and "extra" Cub usually was, False would take "not that much" with a grain of salt. She hit the target, the door opened, and she entered the next stage. She could hear the doors opening on Cub's side, and a thought popped into her mind. "Wait, is this a race?"
"It is a race," Cub confirmed.
"Oh." False's voice was a little quieter as she focused on her shots. A race, huh? "You're a little ahead of me right now."
"Uh oh. First miss," came Cub's voice. "Second miss!"
"Aha!" False couldn't help but feel a tiny bit triumphant when she hit her target. "I think I'm moving ahead of you!"
"Ahh! Oh no!"
False laughed, amused by Cub's complaining. "I'm not going to pull ahead for long..." False frowned as she trained her eyes on the target, which was further away than ever. "This is Stage 8 when we start to struggle."
"Yeah," Cub chimed in. "It's getting brutal."
False winced when she heard her BB pellets ricochet off walls. "It's about not hitting the walls for me. Got to line it down the middle."
False could hear them both struggle for a bit, then the familiar click of a door— but not from her side.
"Ah, I think I'm one ahead!" Cub gasped, his voice moving further away.
"You are," False's voice was strained as she focused. "You are one ahead. My shots are not going in the center at all."
"Yep, this is when it starts to get hard"
"Stop hitting the walls!" False cried out jokingly as if her bullets could hear her. "Go towards the target!"
"Go straight! Ugh, it's way off. Bullets, behave!"
"Do they even— I can't even tell where my bullets are going now. I think they're going up way too high."
Both of them were still relatively calm even in the middle of a race, and could afford to exchange remarks about their shots. At one point, both of them were stuck. "And man, this is the easiest setting too," Cub laughed.
False's heart pumped. She knew she was behind Cub, but she would catch up with him soon. Just one more shot— just a little closer—
"Oh! I got it!" False hurried into the next stage, a smile breaking out on her face. "I think I'm equal with you now!"
They continued to chat, but their sentences were fragmented since they were giving most of their attention to their shots.
"This is how you improve on long-distance bow shooting," Cub commented thoughtfully.
False thought about how Cub's minigame trained their ability to shoot at targets from different distances. "It's definitely one way."
In the end, Cub managed to win, a mere second before False proceeded to the next stage. False sighed when she saw that she still had two more stages to the end. "Ooh, congrats Cub." She patted Cub's shoulder. Both of them had beads of sweat on their foreheads. "Hey, I want to know where you were aiming at? My bullets kept on hitting the walls."
Cub pointed at target. "Just a little about the target. Like, at the honey-coloured tiles."
False nodded. She could see what Cub was talking about. Shooting static targets from a long distance was difficult because they had to estimate where the bullet would end up, and they had to take factors like wind and friction into consideration. It sounded rather... mathematical, compared to intuition, which False tended to rely on. "The race was pretty close, man," False ended up saying.
"Yeah, that was close!" Cub agreed. "I got to the final, you got to the second to final one?"
"Yeah, but you literally locked me out," False laughed, nudging Cub teasingly. "I would've gone to the one before the final! The door shut in my face."
"Aww, bad luck. So, uh, did you find this helpful?"
"Yeah? Even though the targets in the Championship are moving targets, it's still nice to y'know, work on my accuracy."
Cub tapped his chin. "Well, I have more games here, and I would love to play them with you. But first," Cub sighed and stared at the bullets littering the floor. "We've got to clean this up."
-
Cub and False played some more minigames and had a great time. After an Open Sesame rematch (which False won narrowly), they decided to call it a day. When they checked their phones, they both saw a new message from Pearl in the Yellow Yaks group chat.
Pearl: :O False have you seen this?
Pearl:
Pearl: H says you're underrated by the community!
Cub: Wow nice
False: he did what??
Ren: !!
Pearl: :D
False: i... don't know what to say haha
False stared at her phone, flabbergasted. She read the words again and again as if she couldn't believe it. "I'm actually a little afraid of facing FalseSymmetry in PvP! She's nuts with a bow! I believe she'll be on a good team soon and she'll carry in Dodgebolt. Mark my words."
... That being said, she couldn't be too surprised, right? H had talked about her PvP skills multiple times before, both before and during the 8th Championship. It was another thing to post that publicly for everybody to see. False swallowed.
Cub was reading H's post on his phone. "You'll be a good team soon, eh?" Cub nudged False. "Who are you teaming up with next time?"
False admittedly had not thought much about it. "... Ren as usual? We haven't decided on the other two yet."
"Hmm, maybe you guys can ask HBomb."
"That'll be cool, but I dunno if we dare to ask him. He's a 3-A PvPer. Like, he's been teamed with so many good players lately. He even got into Dodgebolt three times in a row!"
(The hermits did not know that it was due to that exact fact that H wanted to team with low profile players.)
"It won't hurt to ask," Cub offered, a smile on his face. "Maybe it's time to step out of the comfort zone."
"You're right. Maybe I'll try to find H at school." False put her water bottle in her bag. "Thanks again for helping me practice."
Cub waved. "No problem! I'm always happy to have someone to play minigames with."
-
After another one of Stan Twitt's grueling assemblies, the hermits were eager to cleanse their ears and return to their 3-H campus, but Herman Blur stopped two hermits.
"Sup Herman? What's going on?" Ren asked, watching as all the other hermits walked away, some shooting him and False curious looks.
Today, Herman had sheep horns and bat wings, and his face was covered with symmetrical purple markings. "Someone wants to talk to you two," Herman replied. But before they could ask Herman who, a familiar voice interrupted them.
"Hey False! Hey Ren!"
The trio turned to see H, Fruit, and Cherry Twitt approach, all of them smiling.
"Hi guys," Fruit greeted them. "I know no one pays attention to Stan Twitt, but he just said sign ups for the 9th Championship are open, and—"
H nudged Fruit playfully. "No need to be that long winded." H faced the hermits, a confidently grin on his face. He stretched out a hand. "Wanna team with us?" he asked bluntly.
False and Ren shared identical flabbergasted looks. False was quick to reply. "Urm, sure! We'll be delighted!" she blurted out before she could regret it.
"What?" was all Ren got out. "I— I mean, you're from 3-A, and we're hermits, and—"
H scoffed. "Yeah, like we care. And I think it'll be fun if all four of us team together!"
Ren and False looked at each other again, eyes wide. The telepathy between hermits was usually a little fuzzy, but there was no mistaking it this time. Ren and False were both internally screaming "what the heck?!" and "but we're going to let them down!".
"Well. Uh." False quickly composed herself. "We're gonna practice a lot to make up for our skill level. Since. Uh. You guys are great."
"Well, we can practice together!" Fruit said. "Like what we did last time." Next to him, H nodded.
"It's a good combination, honestly," Herman Blur piped up. "I've wanted the hermits to have new teammates for a while. And what better teammates than your patron saints?"
H gaped. "We're your what—"
"And it'll work out for Fruit and H too!" Cherry said cheerfully. "H and Fruit want to escape from the spotlight and high pressure for a while, and they want to interact with people they usually don't get the chance to. So what do you say?"
Ren was still busy freaking out, so False took H's outstretched hand. And with a handshake, the deal was sealed.
H looked pleased. "Great! I'm already looking forward to the 9th Championship!"
"Same!" False, although having agreed to the team up, was still dazed (in a good way, of course). Just a few days ago, Cub had suggested her to team up with H, and she had refused because she thought H wouldn't like it. Now, H had just asked for her and Ren. She wondered how Cub would react. Probably a smug "I told you so".
"Well, I guess we won't be getting ninth next time," Ren joked, and H instantly huffed.
"You guess? We're totally not getting ninth! We'll definitely get top half. And I'm sure we have the potential to get into Dodgebolt— that's our target."
At the mention of Dodgebolt, both hermits laughed. As nice as it sounded, jumping from ninth to second or first seemed ludicrous.
"Dodgebolt is our dream, but we'll honestly be super happy if we get fourth."
H looked indignant. "Excuse you? Aim higher!"
Fruit quickly interrupted him with a laugh. "Calm down, H! Don't scare them! Let's just focus on training for now."
"I've been rewatching some of your footage, and I think I can help you guys improve," H offered. "But training isn't exactly a walk in the park."
The hermits responded immediately. "Ohh, we don't mind!" "We're willing to put in more effort." "We're honored to team with you two!"
"Great! We'll decide on the practice sessions later," Fruit declared. "Although I'm rather busy now. Techno and Dream are publicly dueling in a few weeks and I've agreed to train them."
False blinked. "A duel between the two best PvPers? Blimey!"
"Yeah, and Mr. Beast is sponsoring them! A fight for $100000!"
Mr. Beast was somewhat of a legend in the community, known for donating ludicrous sums of money. Ren couldn't help but grin. "That sounds amazing! Y'know, Mr. Beast actually donated some money to me and Falsie randomly!"
"Yeah, I kind of lost it back then," False laughed. "But I can't wait to see these two fight, especially after they teamed up in the 8th Championship."
Fruit laughed. "I suppose Techno and Dream are back to being rivals again. Well, we won't keep you for long, and I actually have stuff to do, soo... see you soon?"
"Yup, yup." "See you guys later!" "Thanks for agreeing to team up with us!"
The four waved their goodbyes and split, with Fruit, H and Cherry going back to the main campus, and False, Ren, and Herman returning to 3-H. Nothing could stop the wide beams on their faces. As they walked away, hope blossoming in their chests, they were all thinking of the same thing.
The hermits thought they had to do well as not to disappoint H and Fruit.
H and Fruit thought they had to do well as not to disappoint the hermits.
And so the four of them would try their hardest for each other.
-
"Alright guys, we're nearing the end of August," Xisuma said during the hermits' monthly class meeting. "What are everyone's plans for September?"
Tango raised his hand, a proud look on his face. "I'm going to release Decked Out!"
Everybody clapped and cheered since they all knew how much hard work Tango had put in. Everybody was dying to play Decked Out, and even though it wasn't completed, everybody was sure it was going to be a highlight of their year.
"Amazing! Can't wait for it!" Xisuma beamed. "Anyone else?"
Ren and False exchanged grins. Ren raised his hand. "Well, guys, we have something important to announce—" Ren stopped when he realized who else had raised their hand.
Grian.
Grian had been busy with personal stuff for the past month and even took a few days off. But he had returned with full vigor. His face was glowing, and he evidently had something very exciting to tell everyone.
"You go first, bro," Ren said generously. It wasn't like anything could be more shocking than him and False teaming up with two 3-A PvPers.
Grian grabbed Mumbo's hand, grinning from ear to ear. "Mumbo and I are going on a road trip sponsored by Mojang!"
Everyone's jaw dropped. "WHAT?"
... Okay, that was probably bigger news than the Championship. The Mojang sponsoring not one, but two hermits to go on a road trip? What the heck was going on?
"It's for promotion purposes," Mumbo clarified. "That being said, it's very generous that they're covering all our costs. Also we'll be going in my van. Yay."
The hermits erupted, all of them excited. They started asking Grian and Mumbo about which places they would go to, but Grian raised a hand to stop their questions. "Thanks for being excited, but I don't want to steal all the spotlight. Ren, what did you want to say?"
"Oh, nothing," False said casually, leaning back on her chair, a smirk on her face. "We're just teaming with HBomb and Fruitberries for the 9th Championship. Nuuuthing special."
It was time for Grian's jaw to drop. No doubt he was shocked that two other hermits would team up with Fruity B, Grian's favourite person ever, before Grian did. Grian turned to Ren and False, eyes comically wide.
"WHAT?!"
-
A/N: I messed up lol, False and Cub played Open Sesame before MCC8 so it could technically be counted as a MCC8 practice session sdhjskldsdjs
Anyways I always thought they played Targét after MCC8, my bad. But I guess it sorta... works out in this fic? Since Cub isn't in the 9th Championship but he's still helping False to practice?
(The Open Sesame part vaguely reminded me of Assassination Classroom's sniper duo— Chiba and Hayami... in fact, Hayami reminds me of False haha. Is intimidating, but actually really nice, responsible, dedicated to their work, scary accuracy rate, has a soft spot for animals. Chiba and Hayami are my bias in AssClass, by the way.)
Apparently the Techno vs Dream duel was in late August, and Grian and Mumbo's road trip took place in early September :D around the same time as the MCC9 practice streams :DD