It took longer than X wanted- and Geminitay too for that matter since she was also awfully excited -for everyone to get up and ready for the hike. But eventually, after who knows how long it was of waiting, all of the hermits were up and awake and excited!

Breakfast had been pretty quick, because the hermits that had woken up early prepared it for the rest of the group going to the bathrooms, so everything was ready when they got back. They all ate quickly, mostly being rushed by the hermits impatient for the hike about to come.

"Alright gang! Today we're going on the big hike near the waterfall!" X exclaimed after everyone had finished eating.

"WOOO!"

"YESSS!"

"THIS IS GONNA BE AWESOME!"

The hermits whooped and cheered as a crowd and he waved his hands to get them to settle down.

"Now, everyone's going to get prepared first. Get water bottles and lunch bags in a small backpack, but other than that, trail mix, first aid, camera's and other things are good to bring too. Don't bring too much though, this is the long trail so carrying a lot is going to be a pain."

They all separated to get their things.

After a few minutes of running around, grabbing small bags or backpacks, running into each other, and finally stumbling back to the meeting area (the campfire), everyone was ready. Colorful lunch boxes, water bottles all definitely only filled with water, cameras, walking sticks and other random items for long hikes were sorted between the hermits as they waited for X to finally lead them to the trail.

"Joe, do you have the first aid kit?" Xisuma asked with his own bag in his hand. He slung the backpack over his shoulder as Joe pulled out the first aid kit and nodded to confirm.

"Great then, we can start the hike! If you didn't already know, it's a looped trail so we won't be going on the same path twice, so if you drop something, say something so we can get it back." X said. The hermits nodded, and he hoped they were actually listening. "The waterfall is towards the end, but there's a lovely view on top of a hill a little less than halfway through where we can eat and take a break, and I think there are some benches too if my memory of the website serves me correctly."

"Come on, let's go already dude!" Ren exclaimed, throwing in his hands in the air to emphasize it.

"Yeah!"

"I wanna start to take pictures!"

"And I'm gonna put my head into the waterfall!"

"You can't be serious, Grian."

More conversation erupted, and no one could really hear anyone at this point.

Xisuma tried to calm everything down, but his attempts were futile as people talked excitedly and moved around, making sure they had everything they needed.

"You're such a pushover X." Cleo sidled up next to him and teased.

"Hey I'm not-" X tried to protest, but Cleo interrupted him.

"Since I'm so nice, I'll help ya buddy."

He was about to say he had it under control, but she didn't wait for an explanation before she used her own methods of getting the hermits to quiet.

"EVERYONE SHUT UP SO WE CAN GET THIS FREAK SHOW ON THE ROAD!" That had shut everyone up, but she continued to yell over the silence. "LISTEN TO X WITH THE RULES AND STUFF AND THEN WE CAN GO!"

X swore she was louder than the mega phone he had earlier, but she shook it off, realized she was letting him talk now.

"Oh uhm- yeah so-" He cleared his throat, and Cleo gave him a very sarcastic thumbs up. (He wasn't even sure how she could make thumbs up sarcastic, but he guessed he had to hand the skill to the bi queen.) "-right- learning the lesson from the last hike, don't go touching things you don't know of. Also if you see trash pick it up or let me know; I'm bringing a trash bag so we can keep our forests clean. Don't litter. I think that's it, but please group up and take care of yourselves. I can't keep track of everyone and I don't want people getting lost. If someone is missing, alert me immediately." His voice got cold and stern towards the end, making a few hermits' blood run cold. When X was worried or mad, he wasn't someone you wanted to mess with.

"And with that out of the way let's get to the hike!" X cheered.

The hermits cheered, a few awkward chuckles mixed in, and walked over to the spot the trail started.

The trail began on the edge of their campsite, not too far from the tents or the fire pit. And while groups of hermits chatted happily as they found the entrance to the trail, a good number of them found comfort in keeping quiet and enjoying the beauty of the nature around them.

Birds chirped in the trees and peered at the group walking on the trail. People split off into sections and chatted with the five or so hermits around them that could hear them. It wasn't long before they found a small creek with a cute wooden bridge over it.

"Aww there's little fish in it!" Stress cooed, pointing at the water below.

"Where?" Iskall asked, bending over the railing to get a better look.

"Look for the moving shadows and then you can find them. The babies are black so they blend in the water better." Etho helped. His arms were folded over the bridge as he looked down into the water, the reflection of his heterochromatic staring back at him.

The bridge was in good condition, but moss still lined the edges of the wood and a few boards still creeked when you put weight on them. It was fairly wide, so some hermits kept going on ahead while others stayed back to enjoy the scenery.

Stress and Iskall caught up to Cleo on the other side of the bridge, making a comment about flower crowns and moss, and how Stress could make a zombie themed flower crown as a challenge.

Bdubs sidled up to Etho and snapped a photo of him leaning on the bridge. Etho didn't even notice it until the sound snapped, and whipped his head towards the culprit. Bdubs had a wide grin and analyzed the photo, content with what he got before Etho moved. He put the camera down when it was clear he wasn't getting another good shot with Etho's now prominent scowl.

"Hey Etho! How ya doing?"

"I was doing great."

"Aww don't be so camera shy, you look great in it!" Bdubs encouraged.

"Yeah yeah- just don't go posting that anywhere." Etho waved him off.

"After every single hermit sees it, ok."

"Bdubs-" Etho warned.

"Yeah yeah you'll kill me or leave me in the woods or something I get it. I'll take my chances." Bdubs smirked.

Etho scoffed and went to staring back at the water. The little fish twirled around and chased each other around the creek, and watching them was relaxing.

"Where's Keralis by the way? You two have been joined at the hip since we got here." Etho asked.

"Oh he's Hanging with Xisuma and xB near the front of the line. I wanted to hang back to get pictures of everyone."

"Guess you get nice views from the back, huh my dude?" A voice came up behind the two and leaned on the side of the bridge with one arm.

"Pfff-"

"Ren!" Bdubs exclaimed.

"What?" Ren snickered, "I was just talking about their hair. Cleo's looks awesome from the back in the right light. I don't know what you were thinking about Bdubs." Ren said smugly.

"I was thinking the same thing-" Bdubs smiled through gritted teeth with a glare directed at Ren. It was all in good fun, but the glare had enough of a temper in it for Ren to chuckle and back down.

Etho went back to looking at the water while he could. Sure the waterfall would be a sight to see, but he could see the beauty in the humble creek as well and wanted to enjoy it before he had to catch up with the others. As far as he knew, there weren't any forks or extra path's on the trail to separate the two groups, and they could all group up again at the break spot coming up.

Ren caught up with Impulse, Grian, and Mumbo on the other side of the bridge and disappeared behind the bushes the trail curved behind.

"Hey Bdubs! You have a camera right?" Scar called out with his eyes glued to the ground. He wasn't across the small bridge yet, but he didn't look like he cared much either.

"Uh yeah?"

"Look at this wonderful little caterpillar! Can you get a photo of it?" Scar beamed and pointed to a fuzzy little wooly bear.

Bdubs chuckled and walked back to the start of the bridge, bending down to reach the log Scar was pointing at. The moss and bark of the log contrasted the caterpillar, so it stood out and shone in the light on it.

The camera focused on the body of the little critter, since Bdubs didn't really know where the face was with no antenna or markings to make it clear. It had a single thick band of orange looped around it's torso, and looked both fuzzy and spiky at the same time.

Bdubs snapped a few photos before it started to crawl around like a wave of water. Scar out his finger in its path, and without stopping, it crawled onto his finger. Scar's eyes went wide in awe as he lifted it up on the ground and it stopped moving, lifting its head up to feel for a place to move.

"Scar don't move." Bdubs said slowly as he lifted his camera up. Scar had a grin and stared at the wooly bear as Bdubs snapped photos from different angles.

"Bdubs, it's so soft!" Scar cooed. He lifted his other palm so the caterpillar could walk onto it, before it realised this was a hand and curled onto itself into a little wheel in defense.

"Aww!"

Bdubs got a few more photos of Scar and the caterpillar before they heard a voice across the bridge.

"Guys hurry up! We're really falling behind!" Iskall said, waving their arm over before turning and getting back onto the trail themself. Stress and Cleo were on the trail waiting for them and started to make their way back on the trail once they had caught up.

Etho tore his gaze away from the water with a sign hidden by his mask, and picked up the pace to catch up.

Bdubs and Scar made their way across the bridge carefully not to slip, after Scar put the fuzzy wooly caterpillar back on the log they found him on.

The stragglers of the group fell to a comfortable silence as they walked, enjoying the scenery and trying to take it all in as their pace quickened. Stress, Cleo, and Iskall had gained a bit of ground on them ahead, but the last 3 could still hear bots and pieces of their conversation and Iskall's iconic laugher through the flora.

Birds chirped around them more and vines reached up trees, clinging to bark and branches against gravity. Everytime Bdubs wanted to stop and take millions of pictures of a single leaf, Etho hurried him along while Scar chuckled.

Once they got close enough to hear more of the group ahead, they relaxed a bit and slowed down a little. Scar thought aloud about all of the ideas for the environmental club he was getting and Bdubs added ideas about new projects he could do with plants and stuff.

Etho was the quietest out of the three, but he didn't mind just listening to the other two ramble while he focused on the crunch of dirt under his boots and the calm atmosphere of the wilderness around him. Music pumping through headphones would make the walk even better, but sometimes the scampering of fauna through the trees, and whistle of the breeze was enough for him.

"Hey guys we made it!" Bdubs exclaimed and pointed to the light in front of them, revealing a clearing.

Etho looked up and saw the place they had chosen as a breakpoint, and with how his muscles were starting to ache from the uphill climb and he could finally feel the sweat beading off his forehead, it couldn't have been timed better.

Hermits were scattered around, talking, yelling, running around, and eating trail mix that was probably more chocolate than anything. I mean, that was the best part of trail mix anyway.

"Ahh, I see you three finally caught up!" Xismua said as he walked towards them. He had a clipboard in his hand and checked off three dashes, smiling at knowing everyone was present.

"Yup! Just got caught up with some beautiful scenery." Scar said.

"Well get some water and relax a bit, because the next half is a bit longer and uneven than this one." X said.

Etho shot a thumbs up while Scar and Bdubs nodded. If the next part was going to be worse, they wanted to stay with the group better this time, that meant taking advantage of this break.

Bdubs ran up to Keralis and showed him the photos he got, Scar went to one of the tables to collapse onto and get water, and Etho found a nice place in the grass and laid down on it, gazing at the tree branches and clouds above him.

Nature was pretty. 

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Wasn't quiet sure how to end this one as you can probably tell and sorry it took so long to get out! But, in maybe 2-4 chapters, the real action begins! There may or may not be some foreshadowing in this, but it's subtle. 

Also, readers choice! Who do you guys want to first half of the net chapter to focus on? I have the second half figured out, but it would be really helpful for some input! 

Thank you so much for reading this fluffy story, and have an amazing day or night!