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It wasn’t like the hermits meant to be exclusive, or that they had been the ones to make them seem like you weren’t supposed to approach them. In fact they were probably extremely friendly, considering the bright smiles they always wore, and the way they, unlike some others, would always greet you if they passed you in the hallway.
But being some of the most well known people in the competition they did have their own little table at the cafeteria where the competitors would eat all of their meals and often hang out in between games, a table where they invited their friends to sit of course. Those were the kind of people the hermits were, they invited their friends over to make sure they had somewhere to sit.
However that had also created the idea that the hermit table was invite only. It was only for their friends, yet so desired to be sitting at, it was special, and not something to scoff at.
An infamous story among some of the competitors, was on the fourth day of MCC 9, which happened to be Tubbos first MCC, right after survival games where the young brunette had tried to go over to the table, and congratulate them on doing so well, as well as ask them about their redstone and builds. However he had quickly been stopped by Dream, one of his teammates. Who had told the other of the unspoken rule in regards to the hermit table.
And it wasn’t like the hermits were fully oblivious people, no, as soon as they had heard about it, Tubbo was invited to their next lunch where they answered any and all questions he may have had. Although their knowledge on redstone was limited considering the majority of them were builders.
Not only that, Tubbo wasn’t the only Dream SMP member to have gotten an invite, both Techno and Wilbur had sat with them at least once, and even left their regular group which had been shocking.
Illumina had just gotten his food and stood just a bit away from the line, a red plastic tray in his hand, with both a burger and a taco plated on it. He stopped and surveyed the area for an empty spot to sit. And saw one over near Punz. The PVPer was always welcoming, and it would be nice to catch up with the person he had won with.
Just before Illumina passed by the hermits table, Fruit waved at him. It wasn’t an invitation to go over. Just a greeting between two close friends. And Illumina waved right back at him.
And just like that, Fruit was back to talking about something else with the group he was sitting with, whatever he said, it must have been funny because the majority of the people present laughed, or at the very least giggled.
And a part of Illumina wanted to join in that friendship, he wanted to be present at the table. It wasn’t jealousy driving that motivation. It was respect. It was the want to make a difference. Illumina was seen as a respected contestant, someone worth fearing. Someone who was seen as one of the best players.
And he wanted that for the hermits. Illumina wasn’t blind. He saw the way fans talked about the hermits, as if they were just there to put on a good show. They were just a way for the better players to gain points. They weren’t good.
Illumina knew better though. He saw the way Fruit made the others laugh. And Illumina wanted to join them, because he wanted to make an impact. He wanted to make a difference.
Fruit may have impacted the hermits, but Illumina hadn’t missed the way that the hermits had changed him for the better in return.
The competitor had made up his mind, so as an impulse decision he walked towards Scotts table.
- - -
Illumina had never been as excited for the next MCC as when he saw the teams. Ren, False and Martyn. He had never spoken to them before beyond the casual greetings, but also that was one of the things about Illumina, like HBomb and Fruit he had asked to be teamed with random people, because he wanted to meet new people.
But what had happened to the other two, was that the hermits had grown fond of them, and they felt proud of the hermits. A bond had formed, and so from then on after they had been teamed the first time, it became rare for them not to be teamed with at least one hermit. Rare, but not impossible.
However, there came a doubt, should he reach out to them asking if they wanted to train? They were probably busy people, and they could reach out if they wanted. Plus speedrunning did take a lot of time, so he could always do that instead of training for the event. Yeah, everything would sort itself out.
However all of that worry disappeared when it came to the actual event. Everyone came at different times to the front of the dome. And while Illumina normally tried to arrive decently before they started, but also not hours before, today felt different, he had time to kill and so as soon as the first boat which would take them to the island arrived he boarded it.
There were a couple of other people aboard. Scott, who probably needed to make sure everything was in order, was talking to a brunette in an orange hoodie, as well as someone with long purple hair. There were also a couple of other people in that group. Noxcrew members, Illumina noted.
Pete seemed to be looking out at the horizon, as if just enjoying the view, and the silence. Illumina didn’t want to bother him, and so instead he headed inside to where he knew Seapeekay would be. At least he had seen the fox hybrid board, and he wasn’t to be seen anywhere outside. So the only logical solution was to head inside.
And just like he suspected, there in all his glory stood Seapeekay over by a snack table, currently a drink in hand which made sense considering the heat. The two started chatting for a while about the event, and who they predicted would do well.
The two weren’t in agreement, but that was expected considering the fox had put the purple team in 8th, and Illumina had faith that they could perform better than that, and that Seapeekay was underestimating the hermits and their abilities.
Only time would tell though, because the boat ride to the island didn’t take that long. And soon they all went their separate directions. There were still a few hours until the actual event, so most other people wouldn’t arrive until a bit later. And so Illumina took in the sights of the island that he never actually had time to just admire.
He stood in the center of the hall of fame, the top 10 people from the last event were still there. Illumina hadn't been in the last event, however the competitive side of him liked to imagine that he would probably stand among those top 10 if he had taken part.
Although he could try hard at this event, that wasn’t why he was here. He wanted to make friends, and he wanted the hermits to have fun. That was what was most important, not some coin or individual standing. Honestly he felt like more of the competitive people needed to learn that it wasn’t all about winning.
It wasn’t that the competitiveness was bad, Illumina himself was a speedrunner, and someone who got competitive at that. However when it’s all you focus on rather than having fun, well it does suck all the fun out of the event.
Illumina sighed, as he left. He got nothing from thinking like that, it was just negative thoughts for the sake of negativity. Sure it distracted him from the worry of the hermits, and what expectations they might have held for him. A part of him wondered if they would be comparing him to Fruit, it honestly was very plausible. But Illumina didn’t know if they were that type of people.
Honestly he didn’t know a lot about his teammates, they had talked over text briefly, discussing matching outfits, and that was the end of that. So Illumina really didn’t know what to expect.
But the day carried on as Illumina simply walked around the island, did the mini parkour a few times, practiced the rocket jump, and so on. It really could have been mistaken for a relaxing day if not for the fact that slowly more and more people were arriving. Ready to compete.
Soon enough in the far distance he could see another boat arriving, it was more filled than any of the previous ones, and there were a bunch of colorful, but also matching outfits. They were far away, mostly just looking like colorful blobs to Illumina. But soon it was docked and people started leaving the boat, and going onto the island, disappearing into smaller groups and setting up their earpiece so they would be able to hear their team easier.
Among the groups leaving, Illumina spotted his 3 teammates, as Martyn seemed to be helping Ren get his earpiece in. And Illumina let out a small breath, as he put his own in. It got uncomfortable after a while, that’s why he hadn’t done it earlier. But now the rest were there, and so he had to stop procrastinating.
Soon enough he could hear his teammates' voices loud and clear. Yet as he approached them, he muted his ear piece so he wouldn’t have to hear them double.
“Hi.”
He sounded really awkward as he approached them with a small wave, but they seemed to light up, realizing all 4 of them were here as they greeted him. “Illumina, my dude! It’s great to meet you.” Ren said, and Illumina mentally kicked himself. The hermits and their friends were some of the nicest, and most welcoming people out there. Of course they wouldn’t judge him, or expect anything of him. They just wanted to have a great time.
“It’s nice to meet you guys too!” He said, trying to match the enthusiasm of the hermit, and he managed to get close, but wasn’t quite there yet.
And so they fell into a conversation waiting for the event to begin.
- - -
He panted as he ran down the corridor, sweat running down the side of his face, and a sword in hand. He could hear Ren's voice in his ear saying how long they had left. It felt like forever had passed while exploring. However the reality was that it was probably in a couple of hours. His stomach rumbled. The energy spent running was definitely making him more hungry.
A growl of a zombie could be heard echoing through the hall, however it was most likely behind him which was fortunate, he really did not want to be wasting his precious minutes fighting them right now.
Even through the walls he could see the outline of his teammates, all in, or at the very least close to the center. He was the only one missing, and so he pushed himself to run faster. His heartbeat was fast and as was his breath, and he could hear it in his ears. Turning a corner, in front of him a small spiral staircase stood, going upwards.
That signaled his return to the center.
As soon as he had ascended, the small hallway opened up to a giant circular room, where in the center stood a giant hourglass.
Ren ran towards him and Illumina stood there for a moment, catching his breath as he had made it. However before the wolf hybrid reached him, he also unhooked a leather pouch from a belt, he double checked it. Yeah, there was plenty of sand in there.
Ren as the sand keeper would get good use out of that.
“Save some of it for the sand sacrifices.” Illumina said, as Ren and him traded bags, one full of sand, and one empty. Ren nodded, as he headed towards the hourglass to fill a little bit more in.
The exit wasn’t too far away, however since they were running out of sand, and had gotten a good amount of coins, it would soon be time to leave.
Not wanting to risk straying far, Illumina walked around the center, pulling levers, and pressing whatever he found. Soon a voice sounded through his ear piece. “Are we ready to leave?”
Martyn and False already seemed ready at the exit, and soon the two remaining teammates were heading up the stairs.
They had plenty of time left, still a couple of minutes remaining, and still it felt as if they were in a hurry. Ren was at the top of the stairs, and Illumina at the bottom when False and Martyn left, Ren wasted no time leaving either.
However Illumina hesitated for a second by the way out. He felt they had done well, but they would find out soon. And so he left, feeling the world change around him, and suddenly he was next to his team. As the speaker turned on “The Purple Pandas has left the tomb with 3294 coins.”
Looking around, most other people were running around and mingling, some standing over by the prison and talking to the people who had been locked in, others collecting tomatoes to throw at people, this of course started a debate on how to pronounce tomato.
“We were the last out.” Illumina pointed out, once he could see everyone else standing around, which included 3 of the orange ocelots inside the prison. And Pete was nowhere to be seen, which was rather worrying.
The scoreboard lit up a little after, showing how many coins each team had gotten, and there at the very top stood the purple pandas, making all 4 of them cheer. “We won!” And so they left the game celebrating their communication and teamwork. Illumina made sure to tell Ren how great of a sand keeper he was, because if Illumina was honest, the wolf hybrid was probably the best one in the event, and that's saying a lot considering the amount of people in the event.
And so after a long day of playing games, they returned to the hotel for dinner feeling content.
- - -
Another game played in the 15th Minecraft Championships was Hole In The Wall. Illumina was nervous, he had always been good at movement due to being a speedrunner, however that also set an expectation to perform well. To be good at movement based games. And while that did ring true for TGTTOS, he was always more nervous about HITW.
And so as he, along with the other competitors, walked onto the platform he spoke into the earpiece. “I might just mute up- but I don’t know how well I’ll do.”
There wasn’t even a moment of silence before Ren responded. “Whatever you think is best. Even if you mute we don’t have to, so it’s fine. Plus you can always unmute.”
Illumina took a deep breath. “Alright, but if I don’t do well this will be embarrassing,” and it was true, muting your team was only what the best of the best did, and so muting up would put Illumina on that level, even in one of his worst games. But still he did it, he wanted to do well, even if they wouldn’t win, that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try.
And it ended up going pretty well the first round Illumina was one of the last three remaining upon the platform, he could see Sapnap and Oli also running around, however with the speed of the walls increasing and not knowing what direction the walls were coming from, Illuminas foot got caught on the wall as he tried to make a jump and so he ended up getting knocked down securing a solid 3rd place.
He couldn’t hear the hermits, and yet a part of him could still feel their support.
Because the hermits were always supportive, even to people they barely knew. They had been playing games together for only a couple of days, and yet the hermits had been nothing but understanding and nice.
And so despite not talking to the hermits for the entire game, he still felt happy.
- - -
He pulled the trident back before shooting forward, he flew through the air, and the wind practically dried the water his clothes had soaked up before cold water surrounded him once more, soaking him, almost dragging him down before he swam up to the surface of the clear liquid, and then pulled the trident back once more.
This time instead of landing in water, his feet connected to the ground, on a jump pad specifically before he got launched forward, into a small tunnel, and then he was off, sprinting as quickly as he could.
While currently in first place, he could practically feel Punz breathing down his neck. As tired as he was, his feet hurt, and his legs felt ready to buckle, he pushed himself just a little more. Go a little faster, just a little more, he was almost at the end.
He easily navigated the narrow tunnel. As he turned the last corner, he could see an orange jump pad.
The mega jump pad.
He felt weightless as it threw him forward, however the ground also came in fast. He stumbled a little when he landed, however he was quick to regain his balance before running off once more. He expertly launched from each of the jump pads. A single fall here would cost him the first place.
He couldn’t fail.
It felt like no time passed before he reached the end of the jumps, and was once again running, sweat ran down the side of his head when he jumped into the air, only for an elytra to appear on his back, wings folded out as he glided.
The start room came into view, he glided downwards.
The details of the staircase became more clear as he pulled up and landed on some of the top steps. He ran once more, and practically threw himself across the finish line, and a moment later Punz ran past the finish line aswell earning a well deserved second place.
They, as well as others finishing were quick to leave the course so as to not get in the way, or distract people. Punz slung an arm around Illumina with a large grin. “I gave you a run for your money there.”
Illumina matched the platinum blonde's grin. “You sure did. We were trading places the entire time, thanks for a good game.”
As people were finishing their rounds, Illumina and Punz eventually stopped their friendly bantering in order to chat with their teammates, and how their rounds had gone.
Martyn was beaming, and it seemed to infect his teammates. “I placed 5th!” He exclaimed loudly, getting cheers from all three of his teammates.
Illumina didn’t mention his placement until asked, he didn’t want to overshadow Martyn, or downplay it. But when he did mention the first place he had gotten. Ren immediately gave him a hug, and congratulated him. Martyn didn’t seem upset either when he gave Illumina a smile. “Good job dude!”
As they returned to the island, Illumina couldn’t help but feel content.
- - -
In the end they didn’t win. They didn’t even make it to dodgebolt. And yet they blew away all expectations the audience had set for the team, placing 5th compared to the predicted 10th place.
Illumina wasn’t disappointed, in fact he was so proud of how well he had done. Not only that, the event had been so much fun, and the hermits had been nothing but nice and welcoming. Even if they hadn’t known each other by the start of the event, this was probably the event where Illumina had the most fun, and that was saying a lot.
A part of him hoped that he would get to be teamed with them again.
- - -
Illumina hadn’t gotten into the next event, and when he did return for MCC 17 it wasn’t with any hermits. Instead it was with Fruit, Sasha and Zeus.
They spent a lot of time training, especially for dodgebolt.
But eventually time for training ran out, and the event rolled around.
The first game had been hole in the wall, which had gone so well for the pink team, in the first round both Fruit and Illumina had been the two last standing on top of the platform. It had certainly gotten the adrenaline going.
It was a little fun to look back, just a few events prior he would have called Hole In The Wall his worst game, and now he could take his teammates, his best friends hand and lift it into the sky, a sign of their victory. Even if it was just the first game.
Yet as exciting as the first game had been, it had also been stressful. Yet the teams all filled in for lunch. Illumina always hated the first rush, too many people talking, too much noise. It quickly got overwhelming. And so he waited off to the side until most people were sitting down, quiet conversations passing around.
He could hear his own name being thrown around, as well as Fruits. Probably talking about the win they had gotten less than 3 hours earlier.
But Illumina blocked it out, as he got his food, he was back to debating where he could sit. While the most obvious was his team, it was actually rather uncommon to sit with your team unless you were close friends, the time in between games was often used to spend time with those you couldn’t talk to during the games, and to make sure the competition remained friendly.
That’s why they had made the cafeteria instead of just having the contestants eat in their room, of course it was an option for those who experienced sensory overload, or those who needed a break from being around people. But it was encouraged to spend time with other people.
Sasha and Zeus were sitting with Scott and a couple others. Fruit was with the hermits, something which had become rather common.
However before he could decide which group he could sit at, someone yelled out his name. “Illumina!” He looked in the direction of the voice, only to see Ren waving at him. The table was pressed against the wall, and Ren was currently sitting the furthest from said wall.
A couple of nearby people even perked up that, while conversation was normal, most people tried to conserve their voices for the event, and so yelling was actually rather uncommon, which was surprising considering some of the people in the competition. However after Tommy had lost his voice for over a day due to yelling, he had learnt the lesson the hard way.
However this also meant that any yelling did draw attention.
Despite that, Illumina walked towards Ren, not wanting to ignore him. “Hey Ren.” He greeted once he had gotten close enough. He tried not to giggle at Ren's tail wagging.
The brunette scooted over a little bit, and patted the now empty spot next to him. “Hi dude! If you don’t have anywhere else planned to sit, you could join us.”
Maybe if he had gotten the invitation months ago, he would have frozen up, stopped a moment to consider if it was a good idea. Yet now he sat down without hesitation and joined whatever conversation had been ongoing. As well as making sure to congratulate the orange team members present, which happens to be over half, on the second placement in the first game.
He remembered a while ago, this would have been a big thing. A chance to prove himself to the hermits, but now it felt natural. Like it was just friends hanging out. Illumina didn’t need to prove himself to the hermits, because they didn’t care about skill level. They just wanted someone friendly, who would build onto their jokes.
Illumina a couple of months ago had wanted nothing more than to be the one making the hermits laugh, and now the exact opposite was happening, and Illumina really didn’t mind, in fact, the hermits were some of the kindest people out there.
And without knowing it, the hermits had officially adopted him into their group.