The four had hefted the supplies together and now lugged them back to camp, lying on the grass in exhaustion the second they could.

"Heavy?" Stress asked, looking down at Cleo and False.

"5 minutes feels way longer when you're holding a ton of supplies." False breathed out, putting her hand over her face to block out the sun. Stress noticed and grabbed a hat, dropping it on False's face.

"Thanks,"

Cleo just laid there and groaned with her arm over her forehead dramatically. Stress giggled.

"My arms turned to jelly." Jevin groaned, laying down a few feet away in the shade.

Stress chuckled, "Aren't they always?"

"Not the point."

Everyone else had finished their tents and the hermits that helped with the extra supplies had finally gotten up after exaggerating the pain they were in. X probably should've gotten more help lessen the load now that he thought about it, but with two people carrying each container it wasn't really that bad.

Xisuma stepped up near the center of the site and tried to get everyone's attention. "Guys we have some time before dinner so-"

Nobody seemed to hear him and continued on with their conversations.

Cleo smiled at him and stood near him. "Hold your hands over your ears," She whispered.

He was about to ask why, but decided to just listen to her advice instead.

"EVERYBODY LISTEN UP! X HAS SOMETHING TO SAY!" She yelled loudly at everyone, getting their attention quickly and making the closest hermits jump in surprise.

X took his hands off his ear and stood up straighter. "Uhm, thanks Cleo."

She nodded and stood to the side, closer to the group forming in front of him.

"We have some time before dinner, so we could leave our stuff here and take a small hike? If you guys would like to that is-"

"Ooh yes!" Bdubs said.

"Yeah that sounds nice!"

"What if we got a picture of the area during a sunset!" Gem fantasized.

"Oooh that would be gorgeous!" Stress smiled.

False took the hat off her face to ask a question, "We don't have to carry more than a water bottle, right?"

Xisuma chuckled and shook his head. She took the confirmation and stood up, helping Jevin up after her.

They all grabbed water bottles, flashlights, and cameras and followed X in groups of two or three to the trail.

"I'll just be gone for a little while, Jellie. Then I'll come back and feed you, ok?" Scar whispered to Jellie while he pretended to get stuff for the hike. She made a sound between a purr and a meow, just loud enough for Scar to hear, and stayed put when Scar left and zipped up the tent.

He grabbed his bag and ran to catch up with the others, because he was already behind and didn't want to get lost.

The hike had a fairly wide trail so up to three people could comfortably walk side by side, and the trees towered above the group like they made up their own sky. Scar tried to take it all in as he tried to speed up and close the distance between him and the group.

"You good Scar? You're already lagging behind." Grian chuckled a little as he slowed his walk to make it easier for Scar to catch up.

"Yeah yeah-" Scar took a deep inhale to catch his breath. "Just forgot my water bottle and had to find it buried in my bag."

Grian hummed in response.

"I wonder what Pearl and Maui are doing right now." Grain continued the conversation. At this point, groups had separated by at least a few feet to talk individually and the group in front of the two was Bdubs, Keralis, Etho, Doc, and Ren, separated into a group of 3 and then 2.

"U-uh yeah. I wonder what Jellie is doing too!" Scar gulped. He felt like Grian knew about Jellie already and was just taunting him, but didn't say anything just in case. It took a fair amount of willpower to avoid stealing a glance back at the camp, which might lead Grian onto the truth.

"My god would you three speed up!?" Doc asked loudly in front of them, annoyed that he was being held up by the people in front of him.

"Well sorry you want to rush through this scenery. I would rather slow down and enjoy it." Bdubs spat back.

"Well we need to get back to camp before midnight."

"Oh shut up you two. Just relax and enjoy the walk!" Etho looked at Bdubs and then turned his head to look at Doc too. They had nothing else to keep fighting about so they both shut up.

Team ZIT were walking side by side while the trail got smaller and smaller. None of them wanted to fall back and ruin the conversation between them, so they let their hands bush the nature next to them on either side. That is, until Tango started to brush his hand across some of the flora around him, including a few of the trees covered in moss and vines.

"So as I was saying, the Robotics-" Tango paused and scratched his hand.

"You ok buddy?" Impulse asked.

"Yeah yeah, just a little itchy is all." Tango said, scratching his hand even more.

"That doesn't look so little." Zed pointed to his hand, which was now redder than Tango's eyes.

Tango stopped walking to scratch his hand more and started to wince in pain.

"Dude stop scratching. You're only making it worse."

"I can't! It itches so much!"

"We should get X, I think he has a medical kit." Zed nodded to Impulse.

Zed quickly ran ahead, while Impulse stayed with Tango to try to stop him from scratching. He had to weave through a few groups of hermits to get to the front where X was.

"Xisuma! X!"

"Woah what is it, Zed?" Gem asked. X hadn't seemed to notice him yet.

"Tango hit a plant or something and now his hand itches like crazy. X has a medical kit, right?"

"Oh shoot, what plant?" She asked quickly, concern growing over her face.

"Not sure."

"XISUMA!" Gem yelled much more loudly than he had.

Xisuma looked up from his conversation and the people in between Zed and Gem and X stopped theirs too.

"Hmm?" He asked.

"Tango needs the med kit if you have it." Zed explained, "His hand is itchy and red."

Xisuma quickly went through the hermits who had cleared the way and scrumbaged around in his bag for the kit. He quickly found and pulled it out, handing it to Zed.

The group back tracked a little with Zed and Gem in the lead.

They found Impulse holding Tango's wrists trying to keep him from scratching his hand and making it worse.

"You're back!" Impulse immediately looked relieved. His arms were straining, holding Tangos's arms as far apart as he could while Tango struggled against him.

"Took you long enough." He mumbled, glaring at Tango who was making this way more difficult for him.

"I'm sorry but it hurts so bad!"

"And scratching is only going to make it worse," Gem said.

Zed opened the kit and looked through the contents. "Uhm, what would help it?"

"Do you know what plant it was?" Gem asked Tango and Impulse.

"It was on a tree I think. He started to scratch after we passed one. A type of vine or moss maybe?" Impulse offered.

"Poison oak doesn't grow around here, and stinging nettle isn't on trees-" She mumbled to herself. She gasped and her eyes went wide.

"Stay here, and don't scratch it!" She bolted, backtracking their path on the trail.

"Uhm? What's going on?" Iskall asked the obvious.

"Not sure..." Mumbo mumbled.

"I'm dying!" Tango complained, finally giving up on struggling against Impulse.

X just shrugged, and so did the other hermits in the small group.

Gem was back in a few seconds with a plant in her hand.

"Ok, this should stop the burning maybe. Hopefully." She mumbled the second part. "Give me the arm that hurts."

She took the underside of the dark green fern in her hand and rubbed the spores on Tango's arm. He recoiled immediately when it touched his arm, but after a second or two, he relaxed.

Gen looked at the med kit in Zed's hand. "Shoot there's no cream in here."

"Maybe I can help?" iJevin raised his slime hand from the crowd. The other hermits let him step forwards.

He put some of his slime onto Tango's wrist, sending shivers up Tango's spine. Gem quickly wrapped his arm with the bandages in the kit to keep the slime and spores on, and let it go.

He twisted his wrist to examine it.

"It doesn't itch! You guys are magic. Thank you." He breathed out in relief, thanking Gem, Jevin, and Zed.

"You'll have to teach me how to do that for future hikes, Gem." Xismua smiled, taking the kit from Zed and putting it back in his back.

"Any day." She nodded.

Gem and Jevin got a few high fives for it as the group continued along the trail, speeding up a little to make up the time they lost. Tango stayed away from the sides and opted to go single file instead. No one talked much, just enjoying the nature around them.

The second half of the group was only about two minutes behind them and filed out of the forest while everyone was settling down on the flat land overlooking the view.

People were sitting down on the grass and the few benches there were, waiting for a sunset to paint the sky before them. They were drinking water and eating trail mix, chatting happily with one another.

Iskall pulled iJevin to the side and whispered something into his ear. He smiled and nodded mischievously, and the two shook on it.

Stress was picking the dandelions around them and weaving a flower crown from them. She also picked a few multicolored flowers and weaved them through Cleo's braid, who was sitting in the grass next to her. Keralis joined them and the three talked about color pallets and what would look good with the sunset colors they would soon see paint the sky.

False walked up to Iskall with her hand outstretched.

"Want to have a duel?"

"Oh you're on!" Iskall smiled, taking her hand to get up. Mumbo stood by the side to watch, along with Grian and Scar who were betting on who would win.

"It's gotta be Iskall, they're a pvp champ!" Grian started.

"Oh no, False is taking the crown on this one." Scar argued back.

"How are you so sure?" Grian accused.

"I once beat Iskall in a shooty- what's it called?." He mumbled. "- paintball game!" He exclaimed when he remembered.

Grian gasped and looked at Iskall who had now found a suitable stick to fight with.

"You, Scar, beat Iskall, in a pvp game?"

"Mhm!"

"It was one time!" Iskall defended themself, getting a stick from the ground to use as a sword.

False had grabbed a stick too, and the two were facing each other with competitive grins.

"Now I wish I had some popcorn," Mumbo chuckled.

Etho and Bdubs were sitting nearest to the edge waiting for the sunset. It was really peaceful this late in the forest, and the muffled voices behind them allowed for a calm sense of security out in the wilderness. They took deep breaths at the same time and laughed quietly.

"I can't wait to see it!" Bdubs smiled and looked expectantly at the sky.

"Yeah me too." Etho put his hands behind his head and laid down on the grass. "Hopefully the pictures turn out good too."

He turned to Bdubs, who was still sitting up.

"Hey, I'm eye level with you now! It's such a weird change." Etho said as he was laying down.

"OH HAHA!" Bdubs said sarcastically. "The height jokes were bound to happen sometime weren't they?!"

Etho laughed and looked back up at the sky. "You can't escape them."

"Yeah yeah I know," Bdubs waved it off with his hand. "Least Keralis doesn't add to them, but Scar is getting worse. Last week he accused me of dandruff too!"

"Is it just me or has Scar been acting awful sus lately?" Etho mentioned, not bothering to look back.

"What'd you mean?" Bdubs asked. He turned around and spotted him in a group pretty quickly, laughing and talking with a few people sitting on the grass. Nothing looked out of the ordinary.

"I dunno, on the bus he was awfully protective of his bag, and then he lagged way behind on the trail even though the front group stopped and we were able to catch up."

"How did you even see him on the bus, wasn't he way up front?"

"During the song from the lion king he wanted, he stood up to sing and still held his bag in his arms."

"Hmm, weird."

"Also, why did they stop on the walk?"

"I think Tango touched poison ivy."

"Ha!" Bdubs cackled.

"How long till those two start dating?" Etho pointed to Ren and Doc, sitting on one of the old tables and talking.

"They're both so dense it might take years."

There was a loud 'THWACK' behind the two and Etho quickly sat up. They whipped around to see what was going on. A few hermits clapped and cheered, and they saw False standing proudly with a stick in her hand held up proudly.

"I win!" She held up her stick in triumph.

"No fair, you clearly had the better stick in the first place." Iskall frowned, tossing their broken stick to the side and crossing their arms.

"Or I'm just better at this." False said smugly, she poked their stomach again to prove a point, and they stepped backwards.

"You sound like a sore loser, Iskall." Mumbo chuckled from the side.

"Alright then, do you want to duel moustache man?" Iskall said, looking towards the bushes to see if they could find another stick.

"Oh no, I am very comfortable sitting here watching."

"Sitting on a rock is comfortable?" Iskall asked.

"To a point."

Stress stood up with the flower crow and placed it on False's head.

"Aww thank you Stress!"

"Can I have one?" Iskall pleaded.

"If you can beat Scar in paintball I'll be happy to make you one too." She giggled, and the other hermits erupted into laughter.

"Hey guys the sunset is appearing!" Bdubs shouted as he turned back to the sky.

It only took about a minute for the sunset to bloom into full beauty, and they knew it would only last a few minutes after that.

The other hermits stopped what they were doing to find a comfortable spot to sit or lay down watch the sky. Keralis broke away from his conversation with Stress and Cleo, who were now looking for a good spot to take a photo.

"Hey Etho, Bubbles!" He waved to them as he sat down on Bdubs's side.

"Hey sweet face!" Bdubs smiled brightly and his eyes seemed to light up while Keralis shifted over pretty closely to him.

Etho waved as a hi, before giving the oblivious two an odd glance. He shrugged it off and laid back down on the grass with a slight knowing smirk no one could see.

The sunset was gorgeous in front of them, a beautiful scene of swirling colors that only lasted a few short minutes. They got hundreds of pictures between them, some with their silhouettes and some of just the view with the darkened trees.

Once the sunset started to fade, people started to stand up and look back at the trail.

"Alright guys, let's head back before it gets too dark." Joe spoke loudly.

"If you need a flashlight just ask!" Xisuma added.

The hermits hastily made their way back to the entrance of the trail, trying to make good use of the light they still had left.

It was peaceful in the slowly darkening trail, but a fair amount of hermits clung to the clothing of others to make sure they wouldn't get separated. No one complained about it.

It was a fairly warm night, luckily for the few that forgot jackets, and the trail was filled with only crickets and owls. Despite it being a really easy walk back to camp, most of them let out a relief breathe the second the tents came into view.

---------

I love 'em to pieces but you should all still blame StarFox for the delay on this one, since i had mine finished a long time ago. anyway thanks or reading and have a good day or night! 

(If you want some more Hermitcraft content then I suggest you read my Stress Cookies book! Since it's almost finished and I'm working to finish it now. It takes place during the holiday season of season 7)