A/N: I am aware H and Fruit practiced together for a few hours before MCC 9 (:D cherrybomb content :D) but I am not putting it in this fic lmao. Transcribing is really time consuming haha.
Also, I have no idea how bridging/ building works in Sky Battle/ TGTTOS for this fic. It just magically does. Just pretend it makes sense haha.
-
September 12th. The 9th Championship. Their time had finally come.
The Blue Bats stood in a row on the stairs leading to the Decision Dome, their backs facing the crowd. The bright blue "BATS" on their jackets signalled to everyone that they. Meant. Business.
(Granted, it had been a bit difficult to assemble them all. Fruit had something to do earlier, so they were "BTS" for a while, and H jokingly declared they were a Kpop boys band. But anyways, they were all together now.)
The hermits had outdone their cheering for the 9th Championship. They had built a gigantic glowing sign that flashed between "BLUE BATS'' and "PINK PARROTS", and each member of 3-H was decked out in blue and pink gear. Iskall even wore a cheerleader miniskirt, which was met with roaring approval from the hermits. To complete his look, he wore a wig with two pigtails fastened with blue and pink ribbons.
"Hermitcraft Represent!" Cub called from the sides. "We're all with you!"
"Go False! Go Ren!" Mumbo cheered from above, his face splattered with blue face paint. "And Grian, I guess," he added as an afterthought.
Grian couldn't hear Mumbo because he was preoccupied with talking to the cameras about raising money. The rest of the Parrots, who were Martyn, Jimmy, and Joel, chatted next to Grian. Loud British gasping and chuckling could be heard from their little corner.
"Awww, Grian looks cute in his little pink outfit," Ren mentioned. "He's adorable."
"It's kinda sad seeing him being the only hermit on the other team," False admitted. "That's why I always play with the hermits."
"Well, I feel he's more saddened by not playing with Fruity."
"Ooooh, look, it's our favourite team!!"
The Bats turned to see Cherry Twitt and Herman Blur hurry towards them with wide grins. Both were appropriately dressed for the occasion— Cherry had a blue shirt with a cherry and a bomb on it, while Herman had fake blue bat wings on their back. "Sup Cherry! Sup Herman!" H greeted them.
"Blue Bats Supremacy!!" Cherry Twitt whooped. "I don't care what everyone else think, you guys are the best team."
"You're totally winning," Herman assured them. "And it's so exciting to see our hermits with 3-A PvPers! Can't wait to see how this plays out!"
False patted Herman's back. "Thanks for the support! We need the hype and positivity to go on! Also, really appreciate the fanart you made of us."
Herman waved an arm. "No problem! You guys are just really wholesome."
With the clock ticking, the Bats started to sober up. Fortunately, they had all managed to catch some sleep last night ("I had to use a scented candle to sleep." "Thanks for the input, Ren."). H and Fruit even spent an hour or so practicing together before the Championship. They were in prime condition and to use Ren's words, ready to kick some butt!
"Which team is Reddit predicting as first?" Ren asked curiously.
"Uhhh, I think Lime's a popular choice," H replied. "Lime has Dream, and Fundy's really good. Tubbo's new, but they think he'll perform well. Sylvee has worked with them before, so chemistry isn't a problem."
"Chemistry doesn't mean synergy though," False mentioned, recalling how her Yellow Yaks did at the 8th Championship.
Fruit shrugged. "True. But I like to think we have both."
"Pete's team is also looking pretty good," H mentioned. "Not to mention Techno and Calvin on Aqua. And Green Guardians as well. I— you know, I kinda understand why they put us as 6th. The teams are really good this time."
"I checked and a couple of them actually put us at 3rd or 2nd," False offered. "They're saying this Championship is gonna be unpredictable because there are a lot of good teams."
"Let's go! We've got to exceed their expectations!" Ren cried out.
"I bet Stan wants Lime to win," False stated darkly. "Or maybe Green. But whatever. We've got Herman Blur and Cherry Twitt on our side. Stan Twitt, we're coming for ya!" She exclaimed.
"Sooo, you guys ready to kick some booty?" H asked.
False glanced at H, and gulped nervously. "Uhh, maybe? I think so—"
H snorted and wagged a finger in front of False's face. "No no no, not you think, you know."
False laughed. "Give me ten minutes and I'll be ready. That's all I need."
"Well, I mean you'll be ready in ten minutes, but you'll be ready ten minutes earlier than that."
False raised her hands in surrender. "Okay, fineee, I'm ready now then."
H patted her shoulder with a proud grin. "Attagirl."
"Well, hopefully we won't be there." False gestured at the leaderboard, which was currently displaying teams according to colour order, and Blue Bats was in eighth place. "Hopefully we'll be at least fourth, but that's a lot of pressure. Buuut... we'll see how it goes!"
"Just do the best that you can, and we'll do the best that we can," Fruit replied.
"Yeahh, that's how we roll," Ren chimed in.
"Can you believe in two and a half hours, we'll be competing in Dodgebolt?" H confidently said.
Fruit raised his eyebrows. "Wowwww."
"I can't either," H chuckled.
False giggled nervously. "No pressure."
"There's zero pressure, let's go! We win these!"
False nudged H. "I love how you think that saying no pressure means that there's no pressure. I love that, it's great."
"Yeah, you just gotta talk things into existence!"
The Bats continued to flex on top of the stairs, with False thinking if other participants also had letters on their backs, they could spell out different words. Pearl, with the OF Optifine cape on her back, came forward and started to play around with the Bats.
"We're BOFTS," False said, amused. "Dunno what that means."
"Pearl, get outta here!" H boomed.
Ren sighed melodramatically. "That PearlescentMoon, gotta tell you, what a troublemaker."
"We practiced together on the parkour course!" Pearl insisted. "Don't be so mean!"
They also attracted the attention of Martyn, who stood in False's spot, once again trying to disrupt the BATS. Martyn and Ren eagerly chatted— apparently they had a conversation going on when they met each other during practice. Soon Martyn returned to his team, but not without screaming "DON'T BE A DOG, BE A GOD!" to Ren.
"We're like the Blue Angels!" H excitedly cried out, referring to the blue wings on the backs of their jackets.
"Why can't we be called the Aqua Angels?" Fruit laughed, turning to get a look at his jacket.
"Can we put in a request for a rename? It sounds like a team name for some sort of Christmas championship though," Ren replied.
"If we don't get Aqua Angels I'm not joining that Championship," H declared. "Imagine something like Teal Tinsel. Or Brown Black Cats for Halloween. Those are horrid names."
"Well," Ren knowingly chuckled. "Brown Black Cats does abbreviate to BBC—"
False caught sight of a familiar figure. Wilbur was once again standing behind her. "Ohh, it's Wilbutt again," False sighed. "Why is it always me? It was me last time!"
"I'm doing the thing I do, which is to specifically block a letter in your jerseys," Wilbur informed False in a serious tone while he was dressed in his L'Manberg outfit. He towered over False, and she sighed in exasperation.
Philza, Wilbur's teammate, exhaled and massaged his forehead. "I was thinking you would do that."
"Aww look, he's specifically trolling you," H chuckled.
The rest of Wilbur's team, the Red Rabbits, crowded around the Bats, cheering. "You're Team BAS!" "Ah yes, Team BAS, my favourite team."
"Go to someone else!" False cried out. She turned to her teammates. "We call him Wilbutt over here, because he's a butt."
"I may be a butt, but you're gonna be Team BS," Wilbur snarked. He gestured for Tommy. "Cover them up! Make them BS!"
So Tommy and Wilbur stood in front of False and Fruit, covering up their letters and making them Team BS.
"TEAM BS!" Tommy roared in delight, while H and Ren could just stare at the chaotic main campus students standing between them.
"That is so rude!" False gasped, turning around, but Wilbur was already distracted by the Yellow Yaks who were standing in a row in front of them.
"Look at them trying to steal our thunder over here," Ren snarked at the Yellow Yaks. He peered at the letters on the Yaks' backs. "What is that? QMMM?"
The Bats puzzled over the QMMM letters, and wondered why they didn't spell out Yaks like the hermit team had done last time.
"It's because of our names, dude!" Quig told the Bats a little crossly.
"Well I mean, it's cute, but it's wrong!" Ren burst out.
"RUDE!"
"It is wrong!" H agreed. "Why aren't they Yaks?"
Fruit laughed. "They're just, qmmmmmmm."
Amidst the bantering and laughter, the countdown started, and all the participants roared in excitement. All heads were turned towards the giant countdown timer. Music started blasting from the speakers. "It's showtime!" Ren hollered.
"Also False," H called out to her, "A heads up: I'll be saying 'boys' a lot. I've been on three straight teams with boys."
False shrugged. "Not a problem." Considering her class was 85% male, she was used to it.
H just laughed. "I'll do my best not to, but—"
"LET'S GO BOYS!" False suddenly whooped, surprisingly H. She turned to him. "Maybe I have to say it, since it only makes sense if I say it."
"TRUE!" H looked very pleased. "You can call us the bois!"
"I just call everyone the boys," Fruit laughed.
"I do too!"
"Like even if I'm on a team of girls, I'll still say let's go boys!"
"Let's go girls!" H called out, testing the phrase. "Let's do it!"
"It doesn't roll off the tongue," Fruit pointed out. "Boys are easier to say than girls."
But with the countdown clock reminding them of the Championship, their conversation quickly shifted to more serious matters.
"Where are you guys finishing today?" H asked. "Fruit's number one, I'm calling... number seven? False and Ren..."
"Number two!" Fruit replied optimistically.
False frowned at the leaderboards. "I have no idea where I've ever been, so... I can't even hazard a guess. By the way, where's Ren?"
The Bats suddenly realized Ren had been absent from their conversation for some time, and they spun to see him running towards them.
"Hey dudes!" Ren exclaimed. "I've been mentally preparing, I've been physically preparing, I've been doing push-ups—"
"Push-ups! Let's go! You're jacked!" H exclaimed.
"Push-ups?!" False said incredulously. "Dude!"
"... I imagine doing push-ups," Ren admitted sheepishly. "Does that count?"
False hummed. "Yeah. Sure. Of course."
"NO!" H burst out, half-mad. He furiously gestured at Ren. "What are you guys saying?! Get on the floor, Ren!"
"Get on the floor!" Ren cheered. "Gimme twenty!" To prove his point, he actually started doing push-ups on the floor and Fruit began to count. Surrounding participants clapped and cheered even though they were confused. The Championship craziness was just starting, and everyone was enjoying themselves.
After Ren's push-ups, H helped him up and said, "The number one rule here is look good, feel good, play good. Do you feel good?"
Ren dramatically tossed his hair. "I feel good, and I look amazing," he said with the confidence of a thousand suns.
"Then we're gonna play amazing, let's gooo!"
"HMAMA TAKE THE WHEEL!" Ren screamed.
"Hmom94 reporting for duty!" H whooped.
"I do love the Purple Pandas' outfits," Ren gushed. "Look, they're in panda onesies. It's adorable!"
False turned to see. "They are! They're showing us up this time."
"That's cool," Ren said at the same time False said "that's plain rude."
Thirty seconds left. Nervousness started to evaporate and was replaced by excitement. After all, no matter what happened, the Championships were awesome to be in. Fireworks erupted from the Decision Dome, and laser beams shot through the sky. The Bats stared at the clock, fascinated and hyped.
"Here we go!" Ren whooped. "This is like one of my favourite parts of the whole thing. It's just so epic."
Rainbow fireworks loudly went off, and everybody felt the vibrations through their bodies. "BOOM!" Ren cheered, echoing the boom of the fireworks a few seconds earlier.
"Fifteen seconds!" H screamed. "This is when we get in there! IT'S CHAMPIONSHIP TIME!"
"LET'S GOOOO DUDES!"
"The best time of the month!"
"It is the best time of the month!" Ren passionately agreed. "The only time of the month!"
"There's no other time than this. And right now?" H linked his arms with his Bats, their faces painted colourful by the firework lights. "This is our time."
The horn sounded, and they gleefully ran inside the Decision Dome, laughing and screaming all the way.
-
"Alright, here we go!" Ren cheered once they were inside the Decision Dome.
"I'M SO READY FOR THIS, LET'S GO!" H screamed.
"I'm so hyped, dudes! This is going to be so much fun." Ren warmly smiled at the other three. "And guys, can I just say it's been an absolute honour to go to battle with you three?"
"Going to battle?" Fruit laughed. "That sounds kinda serious, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, but well, it does sorta feel like a battle to us," False confessed, her eyes scanning across the other teams made out of main campus students. "We've suffered so much. This is our battle against Stan Twitt."
"And I've had such an amazing time meeting you and getting ready for this," Ren swiftly added. "You're all awesome."
"HELL YEAH, REN!" H boomed. "Let's get it!"
"Let's do it!"
They stared at the selection of games coming in, with HBomb jokingly declaring he hated the Championship when Bingo wasn't the last choice. When Sands of Time rolled in, H stated that if that was the last game chosen, they would get to Dodgebolt.
H turned to the group. "Which one do we want?"
"Well Hmamma, you got the wheel," Ren said decisively. "You choose. I'm just gonna follow your lead."
H took a deep breath. His Bats were relying on him, and as the leader H wasn't going to let them down. "We're going to wait till everyone throws and we'll decide then."
"Alright." "Sounds good."
Sky Battle was a popular choice due to it being new. Everyone wanted to get rid of it first. So the Bats also gave Sky Battle their votes, and predictably it was chosen.
This was their first game. It was a PvP game that no one had played before. Many other players were feeling a little nervous due to not being familiar with this game. But H turned to his teammates, and smirked.
"Fruit, you ready to bridge superfast?"
-
The Championship participants stared at the Sky Battle arena. It was supposedly an improved version of Skyblockle, but there were some fundamental differences. Chests and brewing stands laid scattered on the outer islands, with the central island being the shape of a donut. Red lasers marked out the border for this game. Each person had ropes to help them cross to the islands without falling off and landing on the trampoline known as "the Void". If they did, they would be eliminated. There would be three rounds of Sky Battle, so it wasn't like one round could determine your fate (unlike the Bat's most feared Survival Games).
"What do you wanna do in Round One?" Fruit asked H.
"I want you to go immediately for the donut," H confidently told him. "We wanna get those two chests there and see what's inside them before the other teams do. Fruit, I want you to go there immediately for the first round, then we'll adapt. We'll figure out what's going on after that." The rest of the Bats nodded, understanding.
H quickly assigned roles to his team. "Uhh, I'll follow Fruit. False, you go to wherever the other chests are, and Ren, you loot the middle of our starting island."
"Okay." Ren looked eager to follow H's orders.
"They're gonna provide us with as many ropes as we want so... Fruit can do whatever the heck he wants," H laughed.
Ren clapped his hands. "Let's goooo Fruityloops! You're gonna pop off in this arena."
"This game is his playground," H agreed. Now, they were finally allowed to climb up their starting island and observe which teams were next to them. The so-called donut, the middle part of the arena loomed imposingly in front of them, suddenly seeming more terrifying than it really was.
H looked to either side of his team's island. "We got Orange to the left and Pink to the right," he told everyone.
"... I mean, I'll rather go for Pink," Fruit said after a second of deliberation. (H appreciated him using that phrase instead of saying "Pink has bad players". It didn't feel right to say that.)
"Yup, let's go for Grian! Let's go for a fellow hermit!" Ren replied almost cheerfully.
"Oh no," False chuckled. "Bye Grian. I bet he's gonna be super sad if Fruit kills him."
The countdown started, and H quickly amended his strategy. "I'll still follow Fruit. Ren, False, you guys can bridge to the right island and go for your fellow hermit."
"Alright!"
When the game started, Fruit leapt into action— literally. Blue rope in hand, he jumped towards the right island and connected the two islands. He then made his way towards the middle as he was told to, with H following him.
Pink had also apparently decided to go for Blue (due to having hermits, because the hermits loved going after each other). Pink was tentatively trying to bridge, but False started slashing their ropes.
"You can break the ropes?" Joel, a member of Pink Parrots, asked incredulously. "Stop it, False!"
False and Joel then engaged in a rather polite battle of trying to bridge/ destroying the bridge. Neither of them dared to jump and attack the other. (Probably because they knew they were from 3-GH and not very strong, PvP-wise.)
"I'm keeping Pink away!" False called out to the other Bats.
Joel eventually gave up, and started bridging in the other direction. Grian stared at the slashed pink ropes between his island and the Bats, and False's back was coincidentally turned. Heart in his throat, Grian tried to sneak up and go for False, but she turned around and caught him.
"Aha!" False triumphantly declared, her sword glinting. "It's not that easy, Grian!"
"Aww!" Grian groaned. He was still figuring out a way to get False when a piercing scream interrupted his train of thought. "AAAAA! I'm in trouble!" Martyn screeched.
Grian instantly bounced away from False, eager to save his friend. "OKAY, I'M COMING!" he yelled back.
With Pink all going in one direction, False didn't need to defend herself from Pink. She hurried towards her Bats. Her hands grabbed onto the blue ropes Fruit had placed, and she swung herself up to the next island. H was calling out names he'd landed shots on, while Fruit started to list out the loot he'd gotten. Ren was setting up makeshift rope walls to protect themselves.
"Alright, this is our area," H declared as he surveyed the little island they were on. "Don't let anyone else up here."
A pellet smacked into H's chestplate, and he winced. "Ouch, I just took a lot of health there."
"Purple Pandas have all been eliminated!" The Championship Commentator's voice boomed into their earpieces, stunning everyone.
"Purple is all dead already?" Fruit said incredulously.
"Let's go!" H enthusiastically replied. Saying that phrase was almost automatic by now.
"Ahh, I got hit!" False cried out, stumbling backwards onto H. H grabbed her shoulder and stabilized her. H glanced up. "I think Orange's above us." He was right, but eliminations were coming in quickly and there was so much to focus on.
"I have a gun but no pellets," False told them, her eyes darting across the arena.
"My bad, I used them all," H panted. "I should've saved them."
False started preparing to bridge to the middle, but Orange was staring down at them like vultures. H shivered. "Get prepared for them to drop down any second," he ordered.
But when they didn't, the Bats deduced Orange was also going to the middle, so the Bats tentatively started bridging again. H kept an eye out for Orange and didn't move much, until his health abruptly started lowering. He leapt, surprised.
"Watch out for the border, H!" False cried out. She yanked on H's arm and dragged him to safety.
"Ah, thanks." With one last anxious look at Orange, the Bats made their way to the middle of the arena.
"I'm watching above. I'll call out if they're gonna jump down." H protectively stood in front of his Bats.
They successfully infiltrated the middle, with Fruit leading the way. They bumped into Cyan and the Bats started to throw their "TNT" (which were just water balloons). In a confusing mess of water and screams, Ren got Jordan, and Fruit got Puffy.
"Cyan Creepers have all been eliminated!" The Championship Commentator exclaimed joyously, and H couldn't stop his proud smiles. "Let's go—"
H turned, but his Bats weren't there. The red border was getting dangerously close and H had no choice but to jump down, thus separating himself from the Bats.
"Are you guys okay?" H demanded through the intercoms. "I'm not with you guys."
"All three of us are together," Fruit replied. "Uhhh... think we're doing fine?"
Fruit, Ren, and False were almost directly above H, with Fruit expertly creating rope bridges. From below, H was doing his best to survive. The border was coming from all sides and it was threatening them more and more.
People were yelling and H could barely hear his teammates, but he did see Fruit knock Dream and Sylvee off. Two more kills for the Bats. H looked up, Fruit looked down, and the two separate blue rope bridges connected. H exhaled in relief and he grabbed onto Ren. The Bats were together again.
"The border's coming down!" False shrieked, calling out to Fruit who was still above them. Out of everyone, False seemed to be most conscious of the border, which was a good thing. The border was easily overlooked but rather important. "Get down, Fruit!"
Players were dropping like flies, and the Commentator had to rush their words to announce the eliminations in time. Beads of sweat dripped from H's forehead. This round was coming to an end, and right now anything could happen.
"Techno's coming over!" False announced. Techno pounced on False, and normally she would've backed away, but her training had led to her being braver. She dueled with Techno for a while before H and Fruit came over to support her. Fruit's sword hit Techno, Techno was knocked into the Void, and then—
"Round over! Blue Bats win!" The Commentator gleefully announced.
"WHAT?!" H bellowed, clutching his sweaty teammates. Everyone had confused yet ecstatic looks on their faces.
"We WON?!"
"WOOHOO!"
"BOOM, BABEY!"
"And we didn't even lose a player!" Fruit screeched, jumping up and down. "We didn't even lose a player!"
"LET'S GOOOO!" H screamed for everyone to hear. "I did nothing and I'm proud of that! Let's go, guys!"
"Hoooly goodness," Ren exhaled, shaking. "I didn't even know what we did, but we did great!"
"I think I touched one person during the whole round, and it was Fruit. I did nothing!" H proudly declared. "You're carrying me! I like this!"
And indeed he was! H had been trying so long to convince his Bats that they were amazing, and now proof was shoved into their faces. H barely had to do anything. His Bats were so capable.
Unfortunately for the second round, they didn't do as well. H was killed early in the game, and the other three followed H's advice to target Pink. Hilariously, Fruit managed to kill Grian, who just gasped at Fruit. Tommy swiftly killed Fruit, then Ren and False duelled Dang, who was on Tommy's team, but they were both eliminated.
"Aww, man." The Bats were naturally dejected, but H stubbornly cheered them up. "We still won one round," he insisted.
They tinkered on their strategy, and they eagerly waited for the third round to begin. However, Ren was quickly eliminated when he split from the group to fetch something.
"Sorry! Jerome got me!" Ren yelped as he fell into the Void.
"Ren, stick with us," H reminded him. As obvious as it sounded, it was important to play as a team during team games.
"It's okay, we can win this," Fruit told everyone while the remaining three Bats geared up.
They decided to charge towards Purple and fight, with Fruit laughing, "I don't take damage!" False gleefully shot SB, and Fruit and H took care of Jerome and Gizzy. And as quickly as that, the Bats got three more kills.
Ren gave them updates on their enemies' positions as the rest of the Bats hurried to the middle. A commotion to their left caught their attention, and the Bats turned to see Aqua and Lime furiously fighting. "Oh my goodness, there's a massive battle!" Ren gasped.
Bloodlust roared in H's veins. He and his team could clean. This was such a good opportunity. "Go go GO GO!" he yelled as he charged towards the fight, sword raised. Fruit and False followed in his footsteps.
Fruit killed Dream (again!), and was trying to go for Fundy (who was stuck). H leapt and came face to face with Technoblade. Techno raised his sword and knocked H down. H lost his balance, and the familiar feeling of vertigo consumed him—
Then he tossed out his blue rope and managed to swing himself up to the island again. "Ohh, nice save, H!" Ren screamed as H brought himself to safety and breathed to calm himself down.
"Techno's dead!" Fruit cheered from above, having killed him again. "Everyone, meet up!"
H's health was dangerously low as he climbed up the ladder to reunite with False and Fruit.
"Orange's going to the middle," Ren announced. Orange Ocelots, which consisted of Pearl, SeaPeeKay, Shubble and Tapl, were working their way towards the middle. Their full team was alive, unlike the Blue Bats who were only at ¾ of their strength.
False was suddenly shot by Orange mid-sentence, a reminder that the other team had bullets. H and Fruit exchanged determined glances. It was up to them now.
"Fruit, waddya wanna do?" H hissed urgently.
"Uhh, maybe bridge—"
H glanced to the right, where the only surviving member of Green was. "Uhh, we can get Sapnap? It's just him on Green."
But they quickly ditched the idea when Orange started shooting Sapnap. "He's out," Ren called. The Bats had no choice but to go to the middle and meet up with Orange, who was still at their full strength. "Now we just gotta survive, and we're doing good," H declared.
It was a 4v2, and the odds were not in the Bats' favour. Ren told them Pearl had a crossbow, Fruit started thinking of a plan, and False frantically reminded everyone of the border. Everyone had something to say and something to contribute to the group. H's heart pounded.
"It's us versus them. Do whatever you want," H told Fruit, giving him full freedom. Fruit nodded and smiled grimly.
"Alright, I'm gonna jump over and TNT them," Fruit muttered. "Let's do it," was H's reply. H was leaping left and right as he tried to avoid border damage. He watched as Fruit jumped—
And missed and fell down.
Crap.
"Oh no!" Fruit cried out as he was eliminated.
"Fruitberries was knocked into the Void by PearlescentMoon!" came the Commentator's voice.
"Ahh, I'm dead," H said grimly as he continued to hop around. There was no avoiding the border, and his health bar was rapidly decreasing. "Yup, you're dead," False laughed. H's health went to zero, and the game ended.
"Round over! Orange Ocelots win!" The Commentator announced, and H wiped sweat off his face. Orange cheered and high-fived each other. H peered at the team rankings. "GG! We did well! We came third!"
"Yeah, that's good," False agreed. "GG!"
"First game and we're third!" H whooped. "And PvP's not our expertise either." The individual leaderboards popped up, and everyone oohed. "LOOK AT FRUITBERRIES!" H screamed, shaking Fruit's shoulders. "You're number three!"
"Let's goooo, Fruityloops!"
H inspected the leaderboard more closely, and grinned broadly. False had placed higher than him! "False with the carry as well! I did nothing!"
False just laughed. "Yeah, I got SB, so I'm happy."
"I killed Captain Sparklez, so I'm very happy," Ren chimed in.
The hermits did look very pleased they managed to kill some main campus students, and H's heart was filled with pride.
"You know for a new game, that was rather balanced!" Ren said as the Bats walked back to the Decision Dome. "Every team had a good chance there?"
"Yup." "True, true." The other Bats were quick to agree.
"Y'know In the previous version, only teams who knew what they're doing got any points, and the rest just got zero? So, Noxcrew did a good job on this one."
"Yup." H took a sip from his water bottle. "And to think we did pretty good at a new PvP game! I have a seriously good feeling about this Championship."
False chuckled. "Yeah, let's just hope Survival Games isn't chosen."
-
Fruit stared at the selection of games rolling in. Killing Techno and Dream was definitely awesome, but it was sort of expected because he was their "sensei". Fruit hoped he could keep his performance up.
"Alright!" Ren rubbed his palms together. "What now, Hmamma?"
"I just see what the other people vote for, and I'm like, okay I don't want that or I want that. So let them vote first."
"You know what's good, Falsie?" Ren piped up with a smile. "For the first time I think we feel confident in these games! Except for maybe Hole in the Wall."
"Oh yeah, for sure," False swiftly agreed, sharing Ren's smile. "We're getting better, dudes!"
H stared intensely at the selection of games. "I want to save Sands of Time for later. We'll win if we get that late-game."
People started voting, and currently the two most popular choices were Battle Box and To Get To The Other Side. "Which one do you wanna do?" H asked.
"Uhhh, let's do To Get To The Other Side," Fruit suggested, knowing that was one of his specialties. In accordance, the Bats voted for TGTTOS.
"Alright! What we're all gonna do is all go to one side, and then everyone go on the same bridge." Fruit, as the movements expert in the group, gave everyone advice.
TGTTOS won over the detested Parkour Warrior by one vote, and the Bats shivered. "That was really close," Ren admitted. "But anyways, back to the game. So Fruity, we're all following you, right?"
"When it comes to the rope bridges," Fruit said. "But uh, obviously not this round."
The Blue Bats followed the other participants to the ice boat course. False's eyes widened, vaguely recognizing the course.
"Ren, you built one of these!" False exclaimed, referencing Ren's Speedy Pines. "You should be good at this, right?"
Ren laughed. "I did build an ice race, but that was ages ago."
"Last time I think I jumped into Dream's boat and he took me there," False laughed.
Ren glanced at her. "Wasn't that Technoblade?"
False shrugged. "Oh, yeah, it was Techno. Can't remember Dream very well, sorry. But we're not allowed to do that now, since we'll be disqualified."
The first round of TGTTOS started, and naturally so did chaos. A flurry of players tried to get on their boats, and did their best to zoom past each other. "Fundy, get outta my way!" False cried out while Fruit complained about how slow people were.
"Grian, get outta my way!" False crossly nudged Grian, who happened to also be hopping across the ice.
"Excuse me?!" Grian looked scandalised, but a sunny grin quickly came on his face when Fruit went past. "Hi Fruity B! Was an honour to be killed by you earlier!"
But Fruit then unexpectedly fell off the ice road, and had to make his way back to the beginning. As he mumbled about his misfortune, a sudden tap on his shoulder surprised him. It was False.
"Dude, I literally followed you the way down," False laughed, who made the same mistake Fruit did. False and Fruit went on the ice road together, and started again.
"I got 10th!" H announced through the intercoms while everyone else was still struggling.
"Aww, I'm gonna get last, I'm sure of it," came False's voice from behind Fruit.
"Don't worry, there's still people way behind you," H told her.
"Okay, good!"
The Bats got seventh for that round, but they weren't discouraged. "Alright, that was a little warm up on the ice," Ren said, fully aware of the irony in his sentence.
"True, let's go, we got that one out of the way," H immediately replied.
"Well," Fruit laughed to conceal his pain of failing. He was supposed to be good at this! "That was not... pleasant for me."
The participants were led to the next round, which was nicknamed the "trident" course for whatever reason. Players would be propelled into the air and shot through holes. The tricky part was that the players had to control which direction and angle they would be propelled. It was a classic TGTTOS game, but it was difficult.
"I don't like this one," H bluntly stated.
"Ohh no, this one's my worst," False chuckled nervously.
"Take your time for the last jump," H advised.
Fruit added, "Go from section to section."
"Everyone's gonna fail at this, so even if you're a little behind, it's not a big deal," H reassured his teammates.
Fruit was doing fairly well until he got to the last bit and didn't realize there was a jump. "Nooooo!" he cried out as he fell down and missed the final platform. "I could've gotten second... now I'm gonna get last."
False ended up getting 6th, and she threw her hands in the air. "Dude! I did it for the first time ever!" she cheered. "That was so smooth!"
"Let's gooo, Falsie!" H screamed, having adopted Ren's nickname for her.
"YESSSS!" False was ecstatic. "I usually don't finish— oh hey, Fruit!"
Fruit was approaching the final jump again, and he landed on the edge without an inch to spare. Panting, he stumbled towards the nearest fan (an electronic fan, not an actual person) and smacked it. "I got 18th. That was good."
H sighed as he missed another jump and had to go to the beginning. "Ugh, I'm so bad at this."
"Yess! I'm through!" Ren gasped, who'd just came in 26th.
H stood in one of the holes. This time, he'd managed to get one that would allow him to jump to the final platforms. "You can jump from there, H—"
Spifey crashed-landed into H and sent both of them flying. Fruit yanked on his hair, anxious for H. "Ohhhhh noooo!" Fruit whined.
Thankfully, H clutched and managed to come 29th with literally five seconds to spare. "Okay, okay, a lot of people aren't finishing that," he panted.
"That was terrifying," Fruit gasped, clutching his heart. He threw his arms around H, hugging him. "Spifey just crashed into you!"
The second round of TGTTOS concluded, and the Blue Bats reckoned they did pretty good. They even moved up from seventh to sixth.
"One of the top teams didn't finish," Fruit noted, pointing out Tubbo and Sylvee who didn't manage to complete the course.
"Yup, that's huge," H echoed.
Once Fruit saw the third course, he instantly knew what to do. It was bridging, his speciality. "Okay, so this one, we either go to the left or to the right— let's go to the right," Fruit decided. "Everyone to the right, I'm gonna make a bridge. Just follow me."
The rest of the Bats obediently trailed after Fruit, preparing to literally follow in his footsteps once the round started.
"Hopefully I don't choke," Fruit laughed. "If I fall, someone continue the bridge."
The round started, and Fruit zoomed off like he was built to do this (maybe he was). Fruit got knocked off in the last section, but he managed to swing his rope around a hook and was slowly making his way up. "Everyone, follow the path I made!"
"I got 2nd!" H cried in delight.
"I'm choking," Fruit sighed. But still, he and the Bats managed to finish quickly. That round was concluded swiftly due to it being easier than the previous two ones. The Bats passed around water bottles as they watched other teams finish the course.
"Okay, that wasn't that bad," Fruit offered. "Let's go!"
The fourth one was about falling from a height and bouncing off platforms to get to the other side. Once again, participants were allowed to bridge. So Fruit speedily set off, using his rope to swing him to the platforms.
"1st place, boys!" Fruit whooped in joy as he went all the way to the end with no mishaps. He was finally doing as well as he expected himself to.
H came soon after him. "Let's go, 4th place!"
Many players were bustling around False, and she struggled as not to fall. Her hands clutched her blue rope desperately. "You can jump now, False!" H said helpfully. "You have enough height!"
"I know, I was just trying to get safe first!"
... False always liked to play safe. Fruit had noticed that some time ago. And while it paid off in team games (she was the one who kept the closest eye on the border in Sky Battle), a split second hesitation could cost her in individual games.
False ended up in 24th, and Fruit turned his attention to Ren, who was cautiously making his own bridges. Like False, he clung onto his rope and nervously stared at the platforms below him. Maybe it was a hermit thing?
"You can just jump! Take a leap of faith!" Fruit advised him, echoing H's encouragement to False from earlier. "Follow existing paths!"
Ren was a little hesitant, but he did as he was told and got 32nd. He didn't confidently leap from platform to platform like Fruit did; instead he spent a few seconds to prepare himself for each jump. Each move was calculated as Ren didn't want to risk it. This was different from Fruit, who tended to breeze his way through courses by ad-libbing.
"Nice, nice," H patted Ren's shoulder. "Four courses done. Two courses left."
"By the way, guys? I think you can be a little braver," Fruit suggested almost timidly. False and Ren turned to look at him. "Like, sometimes you can just jump. You won't fall, I promise you."
But before the hermits could reply, the next course came into view. "Ohhh, what is this?" Fruit asked. He squinted at the platform and wracked his brains for an answer.
False recognised it almost immediately. "Ohh, it's the zipline one."
There was a little confusion with the tactics, but in the end, H got 13th, Fruit 19th, and False came in quickly at 21st.
"Nice!" Fruit cried out. "I came in 19th, and you came in 21st, soo..."
"You did better than half of these people, let's go!" H whooped.
Fruit swiftly turned his attention to Ren, who was in the middle part of the course. "So Ren, go up as high as you can," Fruit instructed through the intercoms. "Grab onto the nearest zip line and you'll make it to the end."
"Okay. Okay." Ren scrambled up a leader, and leapt. He sailed smoothly across three-quarters of the course, landed, and smacked a fan.
"THAT'S HUGE, REN!" H called out in excitement. "That was nice! That was really nice!"
Ren snorted. "I guess using ziplines on 3-H really pays off!"
"Wait." Fruit scanned the area. He recognized some familiar faces, then gasped. "Pete didn't finish? Am I reading this correctly?"
"What's going on with Cyan?" H cried out, dismayed, as the clock counted down. "Are they okay?"
"Pete just took a nosedive at the end," Fruit said, pitying his fellow Green God. "Aww, man."
The round ended, H scanned the leaderboard once again. "Tubbo didn't finish, and his team's in second. That's huge."
"All of us have managed to complete every round so far," Fruit pointed out. "So I'll say we're doing pretty good."
The final course was the one known as "Walls", which had mud and other stuff to slow you down. H remarked people usually did good on this one, so he didn't know what to do this time. Fruit originally wanted to follow his usual strategy of going to one side, but decided to yolo and make a bridge in the middle. Fruit swiftly moved, his movements never faltering, and got 3rd. H got 17th, then False and Ren finished in 24th and 25th.
"Let's go! We did good!" H told everyone. Ren and False leaned on each other to catch their breaths, and H passed them their water bottles.
"Not bad, not bad," False panted.
"That was the second event, right?" Ren piped up. "So it's not too bad on the multiplier, yeah?"
"Yeah, we're doing great..." H trailed off as the results for TGTTOS were displayed. "I didn't expect to see Wilbur in fifth place individual for this game. Let's go!"
Ren nodded. "Red's popping off!"
"We're in fifth, boys!" H cheered. "And False!" He hastily added. "Sorry, I'm gonna keep saying boys, my bad!"
False playfully nudged H. "It's fine. Let's go, boys!"
Ren glanced at the team leaderboard once again. "And coin-wise, we're not far behind. We're like, 400 coins behind 1st place?"
H nodded vigorously. "Yeah! These are basically warm up rounds. Points don't matter too much during this."
They discussed their individual placements so far (Fruit in 3rd, and newcomer Tubbo was in 6th, which was great). But soon, it was time to choose the third game.
"I'm down to do Rocket Spleef," Fruit mentioned, but unfortunately the other teams didn't think so. A lot of votes were going towards parkour. Ren and False shared nervous looks. Of course it was parkour.
"Let's do parkour! Let's get it!" Fruit cried out.
Ren shrugged, and cast his vote. He would do whatever his team wanted to do. "Alright!"
"PRACTICE PAYS OFF, BOYS AND GIRLS!! LET'S DO THIS!" H boomed, his loud voice shocking even other teams. "Let's go in full concentration mode!"
"We got this, we got this," Fruit repeated. "We practiced this a ton."
Parkour Warrior was indeed chosen, and Ren rubbed his sweaty palms together. He looked uncharacteristically serious due to his weakest game being played. But they had practiced parkour the most, and their practice surely had to pay off. "Alright, here we go."
H flung his arms around False and Ren. "Guys, it's okay. Don't be scared! Both of you popped off in previous games. Trust yourselves a little more!"
Ren inhaled, then exhaled. He clenched his fists. "We can do this. We will do this. I ain't scared of some stupid parkour!"
False started to stretch her arms. "We've done our best to prepare. And y'know?" She turned and smiled. "I don't think I'll have any regrets."
... The Blue Bats stared at the beautiful rainbow parkour course in front of them. The course was modified slightly each Championship, and H and Fruit had already noticed some differences. But if the Bats struggled at the new stages, it meant that everyone else would too. And so they found comfort in that.
This was the third game of the 9th Championship. The hermits' Achilles' heel— Parkour Warrior.
But instead of fear and disappointment, the hermits faced Parkour Warrior with confidence and determination. And when the horn sounded, they placed their trust in themselves—
And fearlessly jumped.
-
A/N: ... I thought I could get every game prior to SG done in this one. Of course it didn't happen. So just have the first two games lmao (and it's 7k words already, haha).
MCC 14 is coming in like two days, and I'm so excited!! Can't wait to see Lime Llamas in Survival Games, amirite :DDD Also F to H for being replaced again.
Really wanna hear your thoughts on this (despite 80% of this being a literal transcript of MCC 9 Blue Bats) :D I'm probably overanalyzing because I watched these VODs with serious attention, but it's actually really easy to weave the Blue Bats into a cohesive, sports anime esque story. I feel them winning the first round of Sky Battle as a FULL TEAM lowkey foreshadows Survival Games (more thoughts here: https://riacte.tumblr.com/post/652324786149654528/mcc-9-blue-bats-sky-battle-and-survival-games)? Also Ren literally says "it's been an absolute honour to go to battle with you three" *nervously chuckles in naming this fic BATtle Scars*
Thanks for reading! It's been 100k words and we're only at the first part of MCC 9 haha. (Fun fact: this is also my longest multichapter fic yet for any fandom! :D Power of the Bats!) Hope you enjoyed :D
(PS: Yes, they did say "let's go" twenty-seven times this chapter according to my counter :3)