Chapter Text
Punz lived an average life, he was a salesman for a car dealership he hated. Few friends he stayed up with, until the rise of the blazing dawn, while playing video games. These people, who lived halfway across the country or farther, became the family he longed for. It was 12AM. Punz was scrolling through the endless social media cycle; Tiktok, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat. Tonight was one like every other. The discord notification appeared on his phone, he turned his pc on, launching the app on his computer.
“SAPNAP!” A man wheezed, his back hitting the cheap gaming chair. The weight of him hitting the chair threw it backward. The hollow click of the wheels hitting the floor made its way through his microphone.
“All I’m saying is that if I could drop out I would!” The boy, Sapnap, squeaked. He cleared his throat and gulped the water, sitting upon his desk, down.
“What's happening, George?” Punz asked, leaning back in his chair.
“Don’t ask me!” A British man replied, holding back laughter.
“Sapnap,” The wheezing man spoke again, “Sapnap said that your Juul..”
“Don't you dare, Dream!” Sapnap screamed, making the other two break into hysterical laughter.
“What the fuck did you say, you bitch!” Punz felt a grin rise to his cheeks. The pride in every dubious laugh made his cheeks turn a bright red.
“Your Juul looks like a fucking dick!” Sapnap said, “Yeah, I said it, it looks like a cock.” Sapnap sent the edited Snapchat photo to the chat. Hysteric laughing peaked the man's headsets, making loud squeaking noises through the tears.
“You all suck.”
“Yeah like you suck that dick.” Dream replied, tears forming from the lack of air. He choked on saliva making George gasp for air. Sapnap fell back into the office chair he stole from his college.
“I hate you guys!” He rolled his eyes, the smile anchored to his face. He launched ‘Minecraft’ on his pc. “Are we gonna play, or what?”
“No shit!” Sapnap yelled, muting his mic to apologize to his parents for the noise. A ‘bloop’ came through the men's headsets. Punz tabbed out of the Minecraft loading screen to see who joined the voice chat.
“Hello?” A man with a higher-pitched voice said, ‘Hi Bad’s from all four chimed back.
“Wait guys, I got an email.” Dream said abrupt clicking heard from the man's computer desk. “Dear (possible) Future contestant, We would like to invite you to a championship game. This will consist of forty people split into ten teams. You will be flown out to the island, lent to us by Mr.Beast [Though this will not be for one of his videos]..”
“Ew, It’s a scam.” Punz interrupted, hitting Sapnap off of a cliff ingame.
“Nono, I got it too,” George replied, typing occurred.
“As I was saying,” Dream rebutted, “Call this number and place your entry with no cost. [Disclaimer, there will be a cash prize, along with a memorial coin and crown.]”
“The numbers real,” George exclaimed, Sapnap came off of mute.
“I already called it,” Sapnap said, laughing. “Some girl answered and wrote down my legal name and birthday.”
“Yeah, okay.” Dream muted, Bad followed suit.
“Fuck you guys.” Punz dialed the number, in the email the five men received. The phone rang about four times, ‘click.’
“Hello?” A woman answered, humming to an unfamiliar tune.
“Hello, I got your email about the contest?” Punz put on his kindest voice, leaning against the wall next to his PC.
“Luke, right?”
“Correct.”
“Cool! Thank you for your participation! What is your birthday?”
“January 31st, 1997.” He replied, listening to the clicking from the woman.
“Thank you! You are now entered in the competition. Since we have your number, we will contact you through automated texts.” She hung up, leaving Punz vacantly staring at his phone.
“Punz!” Dream shouted, his voice ringing through the headphones laid upon the desk.
“Jesus Christ, you bitch.” Punz slipped the headphones back on, phone tossed next to his keyboard. “I could hear you with these off.”
“Good, get your ass back on Hypixel!” Sapnap muttered.
“Fine! I was calling that Championship thing.”
“Language! All of you!” Bad replied, a soft sigh leaving his lips.
“FUCK!” Sapnap shouted.
“Sapnap!” Punz sassed back.
2AM rolled around, “Hello?” A girl chimed into the mild fight between Dream and Sapnap.
“Hey, Sylvee! Wanna get in on our game?” Punz asked, inviting her to the open-world SMP, hours of bedwars made all the boys grumpy.
“No, I only joined for cock.” Sylvee replied, leaning back in her office chair; pulling the last string of noodles into her mouth.
“Ew, you’re, like, actually disgusting,” Sapnap replied, whilst Sylvee rolled her eyes and joined the server.
“Jesus Christ..”
“Language, Sylvee”
“What did I do?” She scoffed, her pc huffing louder than before.
“Yeah yeah, Sylvee does no wrong!” Sapnap exasperatedly stated. The banter between the friends continued on. Jokes about Squid Games and the Championship shared among fear with the five of them. A loud ding set off from all five of their phones.
“Sylvee you got that?” Punz asked, reading through the text.
“Yeah, you guys got that competition thing?” Sylvee asked, humming along with the words of her music.
“We all did.” Punz scanned the itemized list. Instructions for the plane ride, and other nuances along the way.
“A PRIVATE JET? NO WAY!?” George exclaimed, giggling at the list of necessities.
“On the sixteenth?” Dream asked soft mewling heard from his year-old kitten Patches.
“Duh.” George rolled his eyes, head hitting his bed.
“Are you going to fall asleep weirdo?”
“That’s in two days, we’re gonna be sore,” He whined, “Might as well get this sleep in while I can.”
“Idiot.” Dream replied, starting to back his bags.
“The sixteenth is in two days!” Bad questioned, leaning back in his seat.
“Might as well pack, or sleep..” Punz edged, switching the discord call from his pc to his phone.
“Your mic sounds crunchy!” George said, eating the microphone on the cheap amazon headset.
“Ew George stop it.” Dream screamed.
“Alright fuck you guys.” Punz left the call, leaning his head against the bed frame. “Two days.” He checked the list of items, phone illuminating his face. “Two weeks' worth of pajamas?” He groaned, packing simple sweatpants and t-shirts; undergarments, and his singular pair of ‘nice’ shoes. “Non-perishable snacks?” He added, confused about why it's needed. He continued down the list, his two backpacks packed as though they were about to explode. 4AM rolled around, his head hit the cheap pillow and he fell asleep.
Punz awoke to his alarm at 7:30AM, his day continued like normal; until the next text. “A reminder that the Crowned Games will commence Tomorrow, please be at your local airport at 6:30AM.”
“Right, those. Hey boss.” Punz walked into his boss's office, a grim look upon the older man's face..
“Yes, Luke?”
“Can I take the next two weeks off? My mom's sick.”
“I suppose so. You’ll be working overtime with no extra pay.” He added, shooing the younger man out of his office.
Punz clocked out at 7:30PM, the drive home felt slow; though he seemed to end up home quicker than usual. His hand hit the ‘join voice chat’ button.
“PUNZ, DREAMS FUCKING MY ASS,” Sapnap screamed, groaning at the in-game pvp loss.
“Sapnap!” Dream choked, wheezing.
“Language.”
“Hey, Karl!” Punz hummed, changing the subject
“Hey!”
“How was recording with Mr.Beast?”
“He was super nice, he joked about stealing me from his brother to record with him instead!”
“Karl got that weird invite too by the way!” Sapnap shouted, munching on pretzel sticks.
“Sick,” Punz muttered, leaning back into his seat. “Can I go to sleep? I’ve been up since seven!”
[Go Ahead] sent via the discord. A boy named Callahan, whom they have all known since they were young.
“Sleep is overrated.”
“Sapnap, you're a Comp Sci student. Of course, it is.” Bad rebutted, pulling his hair.
“We do have to be up at 5am for you guys?” George added, muffled sounds of shirts pulled off hangers and thrown into a large suitcase.
“Right..” Sapnap sighed, "Everything's packed over here.”
“George is the only one not packed.” Dream laughed, George scoffed in response; zipping the overfilled suitcase of messily packaged items.
“He’s an idiot, that's why,” Sapnap replied, stuffing a muffin into his mouth.
“Dude give me credit, we made those muffins together!” Sylvee replied, leaning her head into her chair.
“Shut up!” Sapnap replied, crumbs falling from his face. He ducked beneath his camera to grab the fallen chunk of muffin.
“No! Either way, I found a cat sitter and I’m packed with an alarm set!” Sylvee bragged, turning her Nintendo Switch on to play Animal Crossing.
“Right, Sylvee, who's your cat sitter?” Dream asked, holding the darling kitten to his face. Alas nobody could see, for his facecam was always turned off.
“And have Nico and Tesla exposed to Patches!? No way!” Sylvee stated, “How are we even sure Patches is real! It’s probably just you meowing behind the screen.”
“You wanna hear me meow Sylvee, I’ll meow!” Dream laughed.
“Do it!” The small argument turned into a meowing competition. Karl would chime in occasionally whilst Geroge, Punz, Sapnap, and Bad tried to have a coherent conversation. Muttering and mumbling of friendly aggression shared until a loud ‘Hello’ pierced their headphones.
“Jesus, hi Tommy!” Dream said, Patches mewling as he pets her.
“Hello! I’m in the car!”
“You got invited right?”
“Yep! I’m so excited dude, I get to meet all you guys!” Tommy squealed.
“Oh shit, I have to get to the airport, bye guys!” Geroge logged off.
“Yeah, we’re already here! Byeeee!” Tommy yelled, logging off as well.
“Goodnight muffinheads!” o early?” Punz asked, taking a large bite from his gas station burger. The food comprised of oil, surprisingly good beef, and cheese slices.
“Eight-hour flight, Sapnap, go to bed or you’re not gonna wake up in the morning.” Bad stated, yawning.
“Fine! Goodnight guys!” Sapnap switched off his computer.
“I’m heading off too!” Dream said, stretching before he made his leave.
“I'm gonna head out as well Bad, goodnight!”
“Goodnight muffinhead!” Bad cheered, both of the men hit the ‘end call' button. Punz laid his head upon his pillow, his phone plugged into the wall, alarm set for 4:30AM.
4:30AM loud, continuous, ringing made him jolt awake, hitting his head on the bedframe. He muttered swears whilst regaining his vision, unplugging his phone and charger tucking it safely into his bag. He took his keys and headed for Floridas airport. There was no traffic, it made the hour-long drive painless. He parked the car in the ‘Long Term Stay’ lot, running into Sapnap and Dream along the way.
‘Punz!” Sapnap ran up to him, the two hugged. Sapnap leaned against the man.
“Sapnap! Dream!” Punz laughed, high-fiving the two in-person. It felt much better than the poorly timed discord high fives.
“It’s so nice to actually meet you guys!” Dream said, hair ruffling Sapnaps. The three waltzed into the airport, taken to an array of private jets.
“Nick, it looks like we’re on the same flight.” Punz nudged him, comparing the colored tickets.
“Then this is where we part ways, I’ll miss you, Clay!” Sapnap leaned against the blond, his hand above his brow, pretending to faint.
“Yeah yeah, I’ll see you there loser.” Dream shoved him, a pout and whine from the younger. They parted ways, arriving upon the shared jet.
“Sylvee!” Punz ran up to the smaller girl, squeezing her tight. Sapnap stuck his tongue out at her, leaving her to step on Punz’s shoe and blow a raspberry. The three clicked instantly, laughter sprouted whilst the pilot walked into the main lounge.
“You lot have one more person on your team. We’re headed for LA next. Help yourself to anything you need.” He tilted his hat, walking back to the pilot's quarters.
The three continued to talk before their pit stop in LA, where they welcomed aboard their friend Antfrost. The four made jokes, most of which were penis or sex-related, throughout the night. It was such a niche concept to Punz. Three of his closest friends are going to compete for money, most likely against each other.
Six hours flutter by, and the jet takes a soft landing. The four slip down from the seats. Punz takes a final shot of whatever concoction he was drinking before taking the steps down from the jet. All 10 jets landed in uniquely colored squares. Punz looked to his left, he saw the bright green team had three people. He searched through the crowd to see Tommy and Tubbo hyping each other up, while a familiar-looking older man with blue hair and Captainsparklez sigh at the two making conversation. He saw Skeppy and Bad conversing with Fundy and 5up making kissy faces at Eret while he pushed both of them off of him. Hbomb said something to make the three howl in laughter. Punz looked to his right, Dream and George were shoving each other like little kids at an amusement park. Techno and Phil laughed along, making off-hand comments about the two. Karl and Sapnap made conversation from their squares, Punz snapped out of the gaze when Ranboo tapped his shoulder.
“Hey, kiddo!” Punz said, teasing the younger boy. While Ranboo bested him in height, Punz could legally drink.
“Hey Punz, are you good over there?” Ranboo laughed, Jack pushing the boy. Punz took into account that he had never seen Ranboos face, he still had a mask over his nose but his eyes were free. He stared at him, with a hint of confusion.
“You are, Ranboo, Right?” Punz asked, for a small hint of reassurance.
“Yes?” Ranboo question, laughing at the ridiculous question.
“I’m alright, just shocked. I mean we can see everyone, it’s... strange. I’m also tipsy.” Punz rolled his eyes, while Sapnap tackled him from behind. “Fuck me from behind won’t you!” Punz shouted, shoving the boy off the gravel.
“Is that an offer?” Sapnap fell backward laughing while Punz stood up. Loud ringing brought the ensemble to a halt. They stared up at the purple-headed woman who taped the microphone.
“Hello? Hi! Hello everyone. I am Tiffany!” She waved at her, her smile grew and her hands flipped through speaker cards while she read aloud. “You will be split into teams! Let's call everyone name by name. You can insert a username or your real name and it’ll show up upon this board!” The crew looked up, a bright LED board. The type you see while driving home from the beach that tells you how fast you’re going or how long it is until you get to the next exit. Within an hour, everyone was sitting on the floor watching the lights flicker while inputting a name. The experience was like bowling, watching Deez nuts and your mom jokes wiz across while subtle laughter comes from your friends. It seemed to be that everyone paired with who they came with, the people who had already input a name gathered in their own RVs. There was one per person, but each team was set up in a small circle with a fire in the middle. Alas after an hour of his own thoughts “Luke?”
Punz bolted to the stages, typed in ‘Punz’, and his name appears under ‘Cyan Coyotes’. He did a small victory fist bump with himself. He took his room key, thanked the woman, named Tiffany. He made his way to the RV, he found his luggage was waiting outside. Punz unlocked his door, hauling the bag inside. The RV was much larger than he expected, he had a TV, a place to store his backpack, and there was food in the fridge. He made his way around the living room and kitchen to find his bedroom, a nice full-sized bed. He had never felt so tired in his life. He closed his eyes, awoken less than two hours later to rapping at his door.
“Rise and shine!” Tiffany called out, he made his way to the door smiling blankly at her. “I hope your nap went well, wanted to come to collect everyone personally. The second half of our intro is about to start, we’ll have dinner in the main hall if you want to come along afterward.” She smiled, rushing around to check off her list and awaken the rest of the contestants before showtime. Without a word he headed back to the place, they were prior. He noticed the screen still had all their names lined up, a new bar had appeared. ‘Coins’. Instead of the jets (which were no longer there), there were tables, Sapnap waved his hand and Punz walked over. A cyan paper mache coyote lay upon the table. The same ringing brought the group to focus on Tiffany, the ‘Green Guardians’ were still missing a member.
“Jesus dude, my ass hurts.” Punz complained, flicking his friend in the head.
“Then get a better ass Punz!” Sapnap argued, Sylvee giggling in response.
“Yeah Punz, do some squats. Not everyone can have an amazing ass like me!” She joked, nudging Antfrost. Punz hummed while pointing it out to Sapnap.
“Now that I have everyone’s attention!” Tiffany started, “I’d like to thank you all for coming! This must’ve been difficult for many of you but thank you! I hope it will be well worth the wait. Now to explain these games.” She took a breath and introduced a man with bright blue hair and a Scottish accent. His name was Scott.
“Hello! Welcome to the Crown and Coin Championship! You guys will fight in a series of games ranging from Hole in The Way to a Battle Royal.” The idea seemed off-putting to people, which Scott swiftly added “All in good fun. Nobody will be dying.” A wave of relief swept the audience. “To continue, we are playing on a coin system. each game has a different weight for coins, every two rounds we will put a multiplier onto the coins!” Tiffany started walking around handing everyone a tablet. This tablet had the information they needed to start the games. “The first and second-placed teams will move on to dodgebolt! an intense round of dodgeball. Whoever wins takes the crown! and a customized coin. Oh, and money!” Scott smiled leaning forward “Any questions?” The crowd stood silent. “Alright, I’ll be joining my team then.” Everyone stared as he walked to the table labeled ‘Green Guardians’. Punz sighed, shaking off the nerves. He watched Dream excitedly explain strategy with the rest of his team. He listened to Sapnap go on and on about the money, he stared off into the distance. Tiffany dismissed them for dinner, which was a festival of food from different cultures. Punz grabbed himself a hamburger and fries. Sapnap teased the elder for not getting lamb.
A long while after dinner, 9:45pm, Punz turned in for the night. He awoke to a loud ringing from the tablet. His head ached as he walked to the main lobby. He placed his head on the table and listened to the sound of early morning complaints.
“Hello, Contestants! It seems as though everyone is here, and half asleep. You will be fitted for your costumes!” Tiffany exclaimed. Eight young designers walk onto the stage. All them had small name tags with 1-2 colors on them. They had sewing pins and sketchbooks in their hands. Slowly they introduced themselves. Sarah with Red Rabbits, Blossom with Orange Ocelots and Yellow Yakks, Sols with Lime Llamas and Green Guardians, Honeybell with Cyan Coyotes, Sprouts to Aqua Axolotl’s, Luke to Blue Bats, Sym for Purple Pandas, and Masky in charge of Pink Parrots. Tiffany explained that today was about costumes and comfort. Teams met their respective costume designers. Honeybell was a sweet girl, she complimented their pajamas, sketching out a couple of ideas for the costumes.
“Hey, Sols! Can you toss me an eraser?” Honeybell asked, Sols nodded, tossing the eraser to the girl. “Punz what if we gave you some tech gear? Black pants that are still functional to run in, a cyan sleeveless sweater with black fingerless gloves?” Punz nodded at the idea, barely listening to the girl.
“Hi, guys! How is everything going?” Sprouts asked, Honeybell looked over with a thumbs up. “That’s good, your team looks tired..” She added, waving her hand in front of the contestants.
“To be fair, they must be jet-lagged,” Honeybell said. “Oh, Sylvee! I want to give you a cute floral embroidery going up your sleeve!” Sylvee squealed at the thought and started spewing ideas for Sapnaps outfit. The young girl led them into a room filled with the thirty-six contestants and seven other designers.
Minutes turned into hours. Designers scrambling and bumping into each other, laughing with each other. A designer named Masky kept running over to Honeybell to borrow the embroidery equipment. Luke tussled with Tiffany to let him use a different hue of blue. Sprout quickly finished her costumes. The Aqua Axolotls shared a similar hat that complimented the graphite-colored accessories. Soon Sprout was rushing around to help everybody out, aqua took their costumes to the team RV’s. One by one the teams finished up with costumes. Sapnap had embroidered flames crawling up his black pants. The pants were the same as Punz’s except Punz had a cyan seam running down the hood of the sleeveless jacket to the bottom of his pants. Sylvee wore a black skirt, tights, and a black cropped shirt with long sleeves; along with that Sylvee had cyan flowers embroidered into her shirt, a cyan bucket hat with a small coyote embroidery pieced together the outfit. Antfrost had the same black pants, topped off with a black and cyan sweater; the sweater was thinner than a normal one. It was flexible and you couldn’t get too hot in it, he had the same cyan bucket hat Sylvee did.
“Honeybell, Thank you so much, dude!” Punz exclaimed, his hands trailing over the thin embroidery.
“Yeah, these are sick!” Sylvee and Sapnap said in unison, Sylvee started an ‘I thought it first’ argument.
“You’re insane!” Antfrost reassured Honeybell smiled at the compliments, placing a sewing pin into its respective pin cushion.
“It was no trouble! Hey, we weren't the last ones done!” She added, running over to Sols, whose desk seemed to be sliding over slowly. The two laughs and the Cyan group take it as their cue to leave. Punz waved goodbye to Honeybell, though she paid no attention whilst helping her friend.
Punz unlocked the door to his RV, grabbing a bag of chips and crashing on his sofa. If these were just the first two days, how would he manage the competition? Were they lying about not killing? Had he signed a waiver? What was going to happen to the people he loved so dearly? Would they turn on him, or would they ally in other games to get the money they all so desperately needed?