Author's note
The second part of the second part, that I decided to split because it was too long lol.

UGH I FEEL BAD FOR NOT UPLOADING IT WAY BEFORE NOW BUT SCHOOL AND NOT REALISING HOW LONG THIS IS AGAIN HAS DEFEATED MEH.

Also. Public announcement. I'm an dumb. I AM supposed to be part of the big HC Author Crossover thing (I'm Mumbo!) but I've severe communication problems. Lucy has been helping out with it and we've managed a nice chapter one (NOT a prologue, which is why you haven't seen mine yet)... But just in case I end up screwing everyone else up I'm SORRU!

Headcannons in this chapter
- Wels wears knightly iron armour like... 24/7. Yes, he does have diamond, but this is his version of 'casual clothing'. It's cool, and great for general defence, but not exactly practical when it comes to... Ahem, water. He does wear a casual white T-shirt and brown shorts underneath that though.
- Biffa abhors going into water. He's part robot, and because of this, it doesn't become warmer the longer he's in there. Or... Um.. Smoother? Ok, so being in water to him feels like... Being in cold, wet liquid metal to us, if you can... Imagine... That... He technically can go in water if he needed to though. SO THE SPRAY-WATER THING WORKS ON HIM.
- Heads up. Might wanna miss this one out until a tad later, in case it spoils stuff. Jev can breathe underwater, cus slime and all that.
- Stress always has a lead on her. Just in case.
- Python dislikes creepers as much as the average player, though (like Doc) their explosions don't exactly hurt him. Unless they're being chucked at others.
- Add on from the last thing, a hybrid's hybrid side won't hurt them. So, for example, Jevin can't be hurt by slimes, and Cleo can't be hurt by zombies, etc. Don't think this is too OP though- it comes with a handful of quirks and annoying difficulties you'd expect a hybrid to have (eg. Python has the distinct urge to fight and bite anything that annoys him. Now imagine him as a smaller danger noodle).
- My C.P.S.T respawns in a day if broken, though I can't say even the general location until next chapter. I'll put a spoiler warning just in case anyway.
- I feel as if this goes without saying... Every hermit has a strong sense of moral righteousness (though EX is debatable). It explains their immediate response to an issue that happens later on in this chapter.
————————————————————
Team Jevin + Biffa + Wels
Zedaph: Hey! Guess who's been forced to text for Impulse and Tango again! Lol, don't worry, we got the thing though, it's a salmon called... 'Water you thinking about~?'. The... Next hint is 'We all have it, though it's hidden beneath lots of scarlet. So I'm hiding it similarly.'

"Wh-" Jevin was cut off at once by a ball of paper being lobbed at his head. Since he was made of slime though, it kinda... Stuck. Biffa awkwardly pried it out of the sticky blue slime, as Jevin blushed in embarrassment.

"... Right, it says... 'I didn't realise you guys were gonna be this group. Because the first part of the hint only really applies to Wels and like... Half of you'- ok, how did they know that I would read it?!"

... Because I'm clairvoyant.

"I... I don't really know... Or want to know... Let's just get this on with... Right, what's different about Wels than me and... 'Half of Biffa'?... O-Oh... OH! R-Right... Um... I think..." Jevin face-palmed, unsure whether he ought to carry on or not. Wels' reassuring grin convinced him otherwise. "We're looking for a bone, of bone block."

"... Why- ohhh... T-That makes sense... Where is it hidden though?" The knight asked, tilting his head. The red feather on top of his knight helmet flopped over with this movement.

Neither of the two hybrids spoke for a minute, thinking the hunt over. It stated that the mystery prankster had hidden the bone 'under a lot of scarlet', so they were probably looking for a structure of some sort made of a lot of red blocks.

So what would that be?

Either the big Tango statue, or Jevin's giant fidget spinner. Why not check out both?

To save us all a little time (author's note: Cus this chapter is probs gon be very goSH-DARN LONG-), the big Tango statue was nothing underneath it, and more time was spend filling in the big hole they'd dug than the entire flight to there.

(Author's note: I guess you could say that it's now... Holey)

Therefore, off they went again, now to Jevin's red glass fidget spinner.

A rather impressive glass structure anyway, the whole thing looked even better from up high. The afternoon sun shone down upon the material and was reflected smoothly, as a glistening ruby-mauve shape amidst the clear ocean.

Ruby-mauve because through glass, the water looked slightly purplish.

Jevin went under to search for the item, while Biffa and Wels stayed above water.

"Ugh. Water." Biffa furrowed his brow, sneering at the peaceful blue waves below him. His also-kind-of-stuck-on-land partner sniggered at his serious glare. "Oi. Don't look at me like that. You can't go in there either."

"... Fair point... Mmm... I don't like leaving Jevin alone down there thou- actually how long has he been underwater?!"

"Um... I'd say... Four, five minu-"

Que Wels freaking out and hurriedly taking off all of his armour, jumping straight into the open hole of the fidget spinner. Biffa resisted the urge to face-palm as Wels soon emerged from the water, holding Jevin to his chest protectively. (Author's note: Again, reminder that he wears clothes -a white top and brown shorts- underneath. Just in case you don't get the next part...)

"... Wels. Jevin's part slime. He can breathe underwater. You just got yourself... Wet for no reason." He drawled, bending down and holding his arms out to help them both up. The knight clambered out with a pout, though Jevin... Just kept staring at Wels' chest.

"How was I- oh, never mind... Jev, have you procured the item and hint?"

Jevin snapped back to reality, a deep blush staining his cheeks. "W- Wha- Oh right, um, yeah... Yeah... H-Here..." He said, carelessly chucking the item for Biffa to catch. His eyes drifted back to Wels' chest again.

The boy glared at the blue slime hybrid, peering at whatever he was so transfixed with...

And immediately also became transfi-

UM NO WAIT-

IMMEDiately looked away, definitely without any blushing and informed that chat.
————————————————————
Team False + Cleo + Stress
Biffa: Got a bone named as weirdly as the other ones. I... Don't understand it. It's called 'Nice white shirt, isn't it~?'. The next hint is 'The shared creation of England and California! Hidden under a larger version of itself!... If it doesn't run away...'

(Author's note: I SMELL LIIIIIIES, BIFFA... YOU SURE YOU DON'T UNDERST-)

Did X expect this? No, for some reason, he'd decided to put them in... Very interesting groups (that the girls were exceptionally happy with), and the once they'd realised what they were, went together at once. Xisuma didn't exactly want to argue with an angry False, Cleo and Stress, and they weren't budging...

So yeah, every group was happy, and would work great with each other!

... Though the last group was slightly questionable-

In other news, the girls were having a amazing time together! Well, why wouldn't they? They had an extra chance to poke fun at what they other groups were doing.

"I bet Ren's made a joke on how 'hot' he is." False snickered, leading the way.

The girls had already figured out what they needed to find -something rainbowy- and where to find it -under X's giant rainbow wool shop- so were travelling accordingly. They had a little help from a... Ahem... Well aimed balm of paper, but aside from that, it was a rather quick and independent deduction.

"I bet Mumbo's freaked out by Grian being stoopid." Stress added, nodding at False's statement.

"I bet either Impulse or Zed have been drooling over Tango." Cleo smirked, laughing at her friends' exaggerated gasps.

"OHHH... Ohhh... That's how we're gonna go, hm? Ok then... I bet X's brushed his hair just for the hope to have a chance to show it off to Doc..."

Stress and Cleo 'OHHH'ed in response. This had started out so nicely, how had it boiled into so much tea-

"Mmm... I bet Biffa's been forced to feel the emotion known as affection from something Jevin or Wels did..."

"I bet Scar's tried to and chickened out of flirting with Cub- oh hey, we're here."

Sure enough, the girls were now at X's giant rainbow wool shop. Wanting to waste no time (so... They could carry on exposing their friends), they all quickly dived in...

And fell a short distance down from a lot of the water being removed... Luckily, not far down enough to kill them, but regardless it gave the girls a bit of a shock... Especially when the entirety of the ground was being populated by many different coloured, named sheep.

Wait a second...

"... Which one are we supposed to-"

"THERE! That one's a _jeb sheep! It's literally a rainbow, it must be that one!" Stress yelped, dodging a yellow sheep called 'VIOLENT SUNSHINE'.

Cleo and False almost missed it... But riiight near the back... The colour-changing _jeb sheep resided.

"... Right, what we need to do is be very careful and-"

False had already charged ahead with a whoop of frenzied laughter, Cleo following behind with a equally fervent dash. Stress sighed, taking out a lead and slowly making her way around most of the naked sheep... And boy were there many...

'PURFECT PURPLE'
'A bug that was the colour green'
'Orange you glad it ain't banana?'
'I'm A bAnAnA'
'I'm blue dabudidabudaaa'
'VIOLENT SUNSHINE II'
'Pink means think'
'Baa baa black sheep'
'Boring'
'Dark white'

(Author's note: Let's see how many y'all understand lol. This entire part is a joke)

To make a few... Though before they knew it, False and Cleo had reached the _jeb sheep. Stress skipped up to them, fastening the lead around its shoulder and opening the chest it was standing on. It had the next hint!

The motherly hermit cheered to herself, immediately starting to type it up in chat as her friends carried on exposing the others.
————————————————————
Team Joe + Python
Stress: Us girls have discovered a pretty _jeb sheep! And it helped us find the hint! 'Descishuns, desirions. Flagged for preservation'. And yes, it's actually spelt like that...

Remember earlier, when it was stated that 'one group was slightly questionable'? Well...

"COME BACK HER AND FIGHT ME, YOU BLASTED CREEPER!"

Ten points to whoever could guess which group it was.

"Python, um... Stress just gave us the hint, don't you suppose we should-" Joe have up on his sentence as Python slashed and hissed at a random creeper. He almost felt... Bad for it, with the ferocity Python was known to bring to fights... But then again, it was a creeper, and they were annoying as HECC.

Never mind then. As Python carried on, Joe read over what Stress had typed up. Now, if he remembered correctly, Xisuma had sealed up the civil war area to 'preserve' it. That helped a little, though the war grounds were very large, and they stood no chance of finding the item with such a wide area to search in.

Maybe they could get a few more clues at... The team base? Naturally, as Joe was on G-team, he decided to start looking at their giant water-filter first... Python... Probably wouldn't care.

Speaking of which.

"Python, are you finished with the- ok, you are... Come on then... We'll be traversing to the civil war grounds..." Joe said, warily eyeing Python's now gunpowder-dusted sword.

"M'kay then."

(How do y'all do interesting time-skips what-
Um.
UMMM.
-transforms Siamese features into Calico features-
-looks at self-

... I... I d-didn't mean to do that b-but... Um... Ok... I guess...?!) 0000000000000000000

Ahhh... The G team base. Peaceful, and a lovely sight to see. It made the struggle to get over/ through the fence worth it. Joe smiled as took in the sight of the big water filter, still finding that he'd memorised each wall and window... And random left-over tra-

"PyTHON DON'T STEP ON THAT!" Joe yelled, pulling the hybrid away from a suspicious looking pressure plate. Python yelped in surprise, making a mental reminder to stick a tad closer to Joe.

"Ok... Be careful. There's still a few leftover traps that no one bothered removing. Just... Follow me... At least until we're at the roof."

"Oh, you want an aerial view of the war zone?"

Joe nodded thoughtfully. "This little prankster we're hunting down seems to be quite nifty, and sneaky. I wouldn't be surprised if they'd hidden it in plain sight..."

And so they travelled to the roof (with Joe having to pull Python away from one or two more death traps...). What a view it was- the war torn fields looking as majestical as they did when Joe left... Ah, he remembered this... Standing on top of G-team's base, staring at where he should go to infiltrate the enemy, wondering what team S.T.A.R were getting up to-

"Was there always a purple flag there?" Python asked, pointing down at where the white peace flag was supposed to be. Instead, a newer purple flag flapped in its place, with a big arrow pointing downwards on it.

"No, I'm not sure- oh! Ohhh... I understand what the hint meant by 'flagged' now... They meant it literally, not just figuratively... Clever... I think I see a hole at the bottom. Let us investigate it." Joe smiled, leaping off of the roof and gliding down with his elytra.

The hole was only four blocks wide, and not too deep. From where they were, they could only see a smooth stone floor; it looked pretty harmless, so they both jumped in at once...

To see...

"FLIPPING HECK! THAT IS A LOT OF DIAMONDS!"

"Goodness me... What a grand treasury..."

The more hidden part of the cave to be consisted entirely of diamond blocks and item frames, all also with diamonds in them. As both wandered around in awe, upon closer inspection the diamonds in item frames all seemed to be named...

In increasing bad spellings of 'dessishuns'.

"... And this must be where the first part of the hint comes into play. We must find the diamond that has the correct spelling of 'decisions'."

Joe didn't tell Python off for groaning.

"HOW CAN SOMEONE SPELL 'DECISIONS' WRONG SO MANY- I've got a 'desliteshins' here. And a 'deshushunsh'."

"I've found a 'descitions', which was pretty close to be fair."

"Um... 'Desozons', beat that."

"Mmm... 'Desllisions'."

"Ha. I have 'divisions'."

"Ok, you won that one, this one's 'decushion'."

"Um. Erm. ER... 'Decisions'- WAIT I GOT IT!" Python yelled, cheering and breaking the entire item frame. Behind was another item frame, holding the supposed next hint. Joe laughed, fist pumping the shouty hermit.

(Author's note: Can you tell I had fun with badly screwing up the spelling of decisions? Yes, I had to search the spelling up)

"Great job! Let us inform our last group of it, and deliver thus to the chest!"
————————————————————
Team Cub + Scar
Ah... Drones. Gotta love them.

Especially now that one had been applied a coating of special, colour-adaptation potion. Now it could turn any colour under the sun, which helped very much with what Cub and Scar wanted to see...

Right now, Cub's C.P.S.T screen showed a clueless Joe and Python travelling back to the cloud, item in hand. Joe was texting something. It would be just a few moments and...

Joe: From a guise of cleverly worded implications, me and Python have found the second-to-last item: a diamond named 'Decisions'. To our last team, I wish you luck, and give you your hint: 'Upon the lands of royalty, modern numbers lie within old means'.

There. The message appeared on both vexes' C.P.S.Ts, as Joe visibly finished texting it. The piece of paper it referred to lay carefully in front of them, a set of coordinates (shining with fresh ink) on one side, while the other read 'I got bored, just come here'.

A sudden thumbs up appeared briefly on screen, before the camera closed: AC was on her way to the given coords, meaning Cub and Scar should hurry along to the cloud and give their last item in. She would switch the camera back on when she arrived anyway, so they needn't worry.

"You ready?" Cub asked, getting up and throwing Scar his hat. The younger fumbled with it, laughing awkwardly, before putting it on.

"Let's go!"

(OKIE. TOIME SKOOP, PERSON POINT OF VIEW SWAP!) 0000000000000000000

Well. The hermits had completed the scavenger hunt, to say the least... From her place near them, AC could hear the delighted shouts at finding out who she was. It was... Almost quite scary, actually...

Would they really react as well as she'd dreamed? Would she be accepted? Would they... Like her?

(Author's notes: I'm having flashbacks to my first introduction to the HC community oh my life...)

There was no turning back now: they'd all started flying there. With a nervous giggle, AC modified her speed and started travelling there as well, one step becoming over a hundred. It really was handy to have her author's C.P.S.T- being able to do things like this was fun, and doable with a few written words.

The girl soon reached her promised coords, skidding to a shakey stop. Though... Oh dear. Wait what was she doing- pretend you don't know, quick, just take that out, write... Just a little... Now blow to dry- that's going to have to do... Right, now, if she held her device up just a few more centimetres she'd be able to-

"EEP!"
SNAP!

They leapt on top of her. She fell backwards in surprise.

"... Is this a joke? A mere child? And what was that sound-?"

AC and her attacker looked down at her C.P.S.T, broken cleanly in half. Before they could say anything else, she quickly interrupted them.

"Ok, if you're interested in my powers, just know that I'm useless without it!"

"Then give me one reason I shouldn't kill you right now..." They growled, taking out a sword and holding the tip to her neck.

"... M-My C.P.S.T is special... It respawns in a day... In my pocket, I-I always keep a map to the general respawn area, because sometimes it change-changes... Use that and you'll find iiiiTTT-!" AC stuttered, as the person hastily tied her hands together, before taking out and stashing away the said map.

In a single throw, he tossed her over his shoulder; AC landed onto their metal shoulder guard painfully.

"The map you speak of looks... Fairly real. You'll be coming with me until tomorrow, where I'll tie you up even more. I haven't yet because you're unbearably heavy and I'd rather not add to that load with more rope. Oh, and if I find out that you've tried to deceive me..." EX jabbed his sword into a tree before pulling it out. A very deep, smooth cut remained. "... I'll clean my sword with your map."

AC was frozen at what he had said. Not exactly at the 'death' thing, but... Was she really...?

(Author's notes: ... You'll find out in the next chapter. In case any of y'all miss it, I'll write a tiiiiny sentence (so I don't bore you all lol) about what he said that I didn't... Like... I'm the ending author's notes)

...

For the moment, she could only nod silently, as EX hauled her away.

(WHAT IS ANATOMY LOL)
————————————————————
This... Wasn't what was supposed to happen...

Neither Cub or Scar had received any indication that AC had reached the coords, but she may have just been a little late... Maybe...

But when all of the hermits had arrived with no one on scene, that was when they'd started to worry... The others had no idea of this though, and were currently all scouting round, thinking their mystery prankster was just hiding.

"Hey... Um... Did... Someone drop this? It doesn't look, or smell, familiar so I'm not sure..." Ren said, prodding at something on the ground. Everyone halted from searching for a second to check it out. The two vexes' worry immediately increased at the sight.

"A broken C.P.S.T?... It... Doesn't look like one of ours... And... A... Map- wait, there's writing on the back-"

"Read it out the- hey!"

Cub snatched the map-note off of the ground, reading it hurriedly. With a worried puff, he handed it to Scar, who had a similar reaction.

"... Would you two care to explain what is going on?" Xisuma asked, crossing his arms. Convex shared a look, nodding at each other, before responding.

"We... Know who your prankster is-"

"I KNEW IT! SO YOU-"

"NO! She-She's just a young girl!" Scar yelped, eyes widening.

"... Wait... 'Young girl'?" The soft voice of Stress piped up, bring met with nods. A collective, confused chatter started to form, until Cub started to speak.

"She's... Certainly... Interesting. Not really human- no, I should just say... Powerful. Yes, powerful... But good."

"If she's so 'powerful'... How do we know she's really trustworthy?" Cleo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"... I'm just going to throw this out there but... She did return all of the items she replaced from my infinity room... And none of her pranks have really been harmful... I still respect them, even after finding this out. I'd say she sounds cool." Grian said. Most of the consequential mumbles were mumbles of agreement.

"Exactly! And she wanted nothing more but to have a bit of fun, and really wanted to ask if she could be part of her family today... We, all three of us, understood that you'd all have questions, and she'll be happy to answer them ...But... Now she's needs our help..."

Scar handed the note to X, who promptly read it out to everyone else.

"... It's... Um... A bit smudged, but just about legible... 'EX has me. Tomorrow, he —> + me 2 find respawned CPST- follow map'."

"What's that-"

"Part of why she's so powerful is because she has a special sort of C.P.S.T that allows her do whatever she wants. You can ask her more questions about it later, but she's told us before that if broken, it respawns in a day."

"And this map shows where it'll respawn, presumably... That's why Evil X wants to travel to it, and why he's kidnapped her... He wants to bring her with him tomorrow..." Biffa realised, cautiously glancing up at Convex.

"... We don't know what Evil X has planned, but we've got to stop it and save... Save our daughter. So... Can we please have some of your help?" Cub asked, ignoring the raised eyebrows at 'our daughter'. Xisuma looked blankly at the two.

"Hm. Not sure, let's take a vote. All in favour of stopping EX and saving...?"

"Oh! Her name's AC!"

"Saving AC?"

And everyone put their hands up, without any hesitation.
————————————————————
Author's notes
Yes, I carried around two maps.

Yes, I wrote the message on the back of one and dropped it behind my back, while EX stole the other one.

Yes, everything is not as it seems.

Maybe I'll include a summary of the family arc after it's finished... Though it's not something I planned on doing... I will if it's too confusing, what do y'all think?

Any who, this chapter is 4000+ words long. How exactly it ended up being longer than part 1.5, I've no idea, but hey, it was a good call to split it: this means that the second part of my Family arc is about 7500+ words long.

No one is going to read it-

And now, to take a short break and get started on writing a certain Pi senpai's tag-song-story-EX-kinda-backstory-thing.