The Turf War Twisted

I'll Be There Waiting for You

"So, Grian's declaring a new game of Tag?" Bdubs asked, swinging his feet off the side of the bed. He swung his legs back and forth, turning the upper part of his body to face Scar.

"Yeah." Scar took a moment to think. "I'm not sure if this is some tactical war strategy or what."

Bdubs shrugged. "Maybe, but the announcement sounded interesting. If it's just some game Grian made for fun, then we'll have nothing to worry about."

"That's the problem." Scar put his hand on his chin, resting his elbows on his legs. He sat cross-legged at the end of the bed, right next to Bdubs. "I'm not sure if it's actually a 'for fun' thing or if Grian's trying to mess with us. I wouldn't doubt this is just a game disguised as a sneak attack or something, especially since anyone in the server can join." Scar moved forward, hanging his legs halfway off the bed as well.

"True," Bdubs said, nodding and resting his face between his palms.

"Eh, either way, I think we should join anyways. If it is just a casual server game, it would be fun."

Bdubs stood up. "You're right. Wouldn't want to miss out on a good time because of some paranoia."

Scar snickered. "'Good time'?" He stood up as well, bouncing a little as his feet landed on the floor.

"That's you." Bdubs smiled widely, raising his eyebrows.

---

Cub, Doc, Etho, False, Scar, Grian, Hypno, Jevin, Impulse, Keralis, Ren, Stress, Beef, Xisuma, and Cleo. The line up for Tag 2: Electric Boogaloo had been set almost as fast as Grian had come up with the idea. Bdubs had ultimately decided to focus on his base and didn't want to take part in Tag 2: Electric Boogaloo after all, but that didn't stop him from rooting for his fellow HEP members.

With six Mycelium Resistance members and six HEP members out of the 15 entries, tensions were high, but everyone did agree to the truce. As far as the server was concerned, the war had seemed to be put on hold as soon as Tag 2: Electric Boogaloo had been declared.

---

"Okay, everyone!" Grian announced, yelling to get everyone's attention. "Are we ready for Tag 2: Electric Boogaloo?!"

The 14 others gathered around him all cheered and whistled. Cub stood up confidently, Doc lurking next to him. Etho sat casually on the ground, looking up at Grian intently. False tapped her fingers together in anticipation. Scar kept a stern, wide eye on Grian, almost glaring. Hypno and Jevin high-fived each other as a show of good sportsmanship. Impulse rocked on his feet, hands stuffed in his pockets. Keralis clapped his hands with an eager, pearly white smile. Ren and Stress grinned, fist bumping each other and nodding affirmatively. Xisuma looked side to side, seeing Beef and Cleo beside him with wide eyes.

"I can't hear you!" Grian exclaimed, figuring the cliche couldn't hurt. The group cheered louder this time, hollering like fangirls at a concert. Grian put his hands on his hips, lifting his chin with confidence. "Well then..." He raised the Tag over his head, presenting it so everyone could see. "Let's kick this off-" Right at his last syllable, he broke through the crowd, dashing off through the Shopping District with the Tag still in hand.

For just a brief moment, everyone was confused at Grian's sudden take off. After that short-lived confusion, they all knew that was their cue. They started chasing after Grian. Several elytras deployed, Grian's included. The flying pursuit was quickly in motion. In that moment, Grian wasn't sure if it was an advantage or disadvantage for him to start with the Tag. The whole thing felt so overwhelming so fast and he knew he'd have to speedily conjure up a plan for himself.

He started to notice Xisuma catching up. Grian figured that it would be him to catch up the quickest with his peak flying skills. Grian kept flying at max speed, but Xisuma was right on his tail. Grian suddenly flanked to the right, quickly catching them off guard.

Grian kept flying, mockingly turning backwards and shouting, "Gotta have faster reflexes than that if you wanna catch me X-i-sOOma!" He laughed loudly, turning back to his forward flying.

"OH you are gonna regret that BREAD BOY!" Xisuma tried to push himself forward more and more to put as much momentum into his flight as possible.

"Oh no! I'm soooo scared!" Grian taunted, turning his head back slightly to see how much of a lead he'd gained from his fake-out. He squinted, trying to spot if any land was coming up ahead soon since they'd already flown out to sea. An almost evil grin spread across Grian's face when he realised his suspicions were right. With his quick right turn, he'd managed to line himself up with his own base.

To keep the game fair, he hadn't prepared anything beforehand; no secret bunkers or traps. Despite that, he knew his base better than anyone else, so he knew what to do to get away and hide. He wasn't going to hide in his mansion like some of the group had suspected once they neared land. No, he had a different plan.

First, he did go to his mansion, taking a secret side door out of it to get the others lost inside. That did manage to work with a handful of them, but not the ones that were close on his trail. They'd seen the door and were following fast, fueled with determination and competitive spirit. Luckily, Grian's second idea worked out well to lose the rest.

He backtracked over to his starter base, zipping into the base and quickly locking the doors. That held them back for enough time. He ran to the rail system to the far right of his starter base, his and Mumbo's messaging system. Grian hopped into the minecart and clicked the button to get himself down the tunnel. The ones trailing behind him burst through the doors right in time to see him wave them off with a smile.

The railway tunnel was tall enough for Grian to ride smoothly through, but not tall enough for the others to pursue him with their elytras (at least not safely). Grian smiled for the whole minecart ride. His split second planning had worked in his favour and very few Hermits knew what that tunnel was for.

Back at Grian's starter base, the ones that had followed him there were frustrated with his perfect scheme. They tried to come up with alternate solutions for catching up with him since they had no minecarts to follow him. "Where does that railway lead to??" False questioned aloud, not saying it to anyone in particular.

Scar jogged out of Grian's starter base discreetly. He was the only one that knew it lead to Mumbo's starter base. It was only because he'd visited Mumbo in regards of the K.G.O.O.M.R. he wanted installed. He'd noticed the secret tunnel behind the distorted swirls of the portal, and Mumbo had even brought up that him and Grian were sending messages to each other. Scar had put the pieces together and knew the tunnels had to link up.

Scar took off quickly, deploying his elytra and flying as fast as he could towards Mumbo's starter base. "You better have a backup plan, Grian," Scar said to himself as he soared through the jungle trees. "Because I'll be there waiting for you."

(word count: 1228 words)