Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Now, as per our agreement, the Wood Scouts will take Camp Campbell's best camper."

Pikemen started eyeing some of the campers already.

"Now, who's it gonna be?"

All of the campers looked extremely nervous. Some almost looked as if they were going to cry. Neil's face went from anxious to neutral as he gained a brilliant idea that just might work.

"Nooo, not Jermy Fartz!"

Everyone's attention shifted to Neil. They looked at him with shocked and confused expressions. Jermy stared at Neil in dull confusion.

"Who me?"

Max decided to add his thought in as well.

"Yeah Neil, what are you talking about? Jermy's the wor-"

Neil quickly nudged Max's shoulder. For a quick second, Max didn't know why Neil did that until he caught onto what he was doing.

"Uhhh, Yeah! Anyone but Jermy Fartz!"

More campers started to join in, attempting to convince Pikemen to take the mess of a kid.

"Hmmm, you all seem to be lying."

Kids glanced to one another until they stared at Neil again, who was sweating profusely.

"No no! We're serious!"

Pikemen squinted his eyes towards the nerd.

"I don't believe you."

Everyone started to get nervous again. No one seemed to have a plan.

"I choose Max!"

"What!"

Max's turquoise eyes grew wide upon hearing his name. Multiple gasps rang out. Everyone was just as shocked. Nikki jumped in front of him, glaring daggers at Pikemen.

"You can't just take Max!"

"Well, since our bet was broken by David, it seems that I have every right to take the best camper here."

The councilor felt a wave of guilt wash over him, and the multiple glares he was given.

As Pikemen attempted to grab Max, Nikki bit his hand. Pikemen screamed, trying to shake the muddy girl off of him. Petrol ran over, grabbed her, and threw her off of him. As soon as he was done, he grabbed Max and held him under his arm.

"Hey! Let me go man!"

Max attempted to struggle out of his grip but couldn't. He looked around. He could hear Nikki attempting to attack Pikemen but Gwen was holding her back. Neil stared at him with disbelief. Preston, Harrison, Nurf, Dolph, everyone stared at him, wishing they could do something but didn't want to be met with injury's from Snake or Petrol. Before Max was lifted up into a helicopter with Petrol, he took one last glance at David. He looked guilty, mortified, and anxious. It looked like he was even about to cry but couldn't. The Camp Man looked so sorry. Max could only just stare with wide concerned eyes as he flew off to Wood Scout Territory.
~~~
Theatre camp was cut short due to the incident. Everyone went to bed early, except for David, who was wide awake clutching his teddy bear. He couldn't help but think about what happened. It almost went by so fast. He thought about things he could've said that would've maybe, just maybe, change Pikemen's mind into taking Jermy, as he intended.

David got up, setting his bear aside. He quickly put on a pair of fresh clothing, grabbed a flashlight and went out to check if anyone's awake. It was already one in the morning. He wove his flashlight around, checking some of the tents.

As he checked up on everyone, he looked around to see if Max had escaped some how and was roaming around. David walked up to the last tent. Max's tent. He opened it to see if maybe he was some how in there. He didn't mind shining the light around so hastily since Neil, his tent buddy, was sleeping with Nikki for the night, and maybe more nights.

Upon inspection, the Wood Scouts didn't bother taking any of his stuff. It was all left there like discarded knick knacks. David went inside to further inspect. His multiple blue hoodies, yellow t-shirts, and jeans were in a pile. His coffee machine was still there, with the coffee grounds were next to it. Some of Neil's belongings were in there. David presumed that Neil was moving to Nikki and Nerris's tent. He couldn't blame him.

Before David left, he noticed something on Max's bed. He shined the light over it, revealing it to be a not so well hidden teddy bear. He tried recalling the name. Mr. Honey nuts he thought. Without hesitation, he grabbed Mr. Honey nuts and left the tent.

Once David entered his cabin and walked into his room, he sat on his bed and stared at the bear. It stared back with its single black button eye. It stared at David, almost as if to ask 'Where's Max? Why isn't he here?' He let out a sigh, placing Mr. Honey Nuts on his nightstand. He grabbed his pajamas and changed into them, then slipped himself under his sheets, clutching his teddy bear once again. Tiredly, his eyes closed, letting him dream of nightmares and darkness.

Chapter Text

The density of the grey clouds thickened. Sirens blared alerts and useless warnings. Iron fences rattled. The hard tent floor didn't soothe Max at all as he thought about recent events. Being chosen by Pikemen, being forced to go, watching his friends and councilors do nothing as he was carried away, being talked poorly to by Pikemen, then shoved into his new tent. They didn't even take his belongings with them.

Max hugged himself, since he only had his jacket to protect him from the cold night. They said they ran out of blankets, yet one of the other wood scouts, Gergo, had three. He scowled to himself, shivering slightly. This camp was bullshit, all of it was bullshit. At least with Camp Campbell, he could stroll around and shit talk to anyone. Now he was forced to listen and obey.

Slowly, he stood up. Max walked around the tent, exploring and seeing what was there. He had to distract himself from the cold or find something that could warm him up. There was a wood scout uniform on the floor. Hell no was he ever going to wear one willingly. There was also a calendar, pencil sharpener, and pencil, to mark important stuff and what not. Next to it was a journal. Maybe there was some scout before Max that wrote in it. Max opened to the first page, then the second, and so on. It was completely blank.

An idea spun in Max's head before he grabbed the pencil and journal. He looked around to see if anyone was watching him then started writing.

Day 1,

The Wood Scouts suck ass. Hear me out. After David made that stupid bet with Pikemen, my life has been hell. A new kid, Jeremy (Jermy? Hell if I know) Fartz comes to our camp and fucks everything up! He's literally the worst human to ever exist. Even David wasn't as happy around him. At least he has some standards on people or whatever. Near the end of the day, David fucked it up for us! And it was over Jermy calling his 'costume' a pine tree instead of birch. FUCKING BIRCH. Neil actually was the only one who wasn't a dumbass and had the bright idea of having Pikemen take Jermy but that backfired and he took me. Out of all the campers, ME. Probably because we met after Billy (I'm never gonna call him Snake) stabbed me in the back with a candy cane. Coming here wasn't the best 'welcome back' I got. Pikemen told me what was gonna happen and what I was expected of. I didn't give a single shit, and I still don't. He also made shitty snide and rude remarks about me before pushing me in this tent with NO BLANKET! I'm freezing half my ass off and they're telling me that they don't have any blankets left yet Gergo has 3 fucking blankets. This shit sucks, they suck, I hate Pikemen, I hate Petrol, I hate Billy, I hate Jermy, I hate everyone here, and I especially hate David for all this shit! FUCK YOU!

Max panted slightly. He didn't know that his aggression could literally make him that pissed. Tiredness crept up on him, making him yawn and return the journal and pencil back where they belonged. He layed down again, feeling the warmth of his anger subside and be replaced with coldness. Max gripped his pillow and closed his eyes, eventually falling into a dreamless sleep.

~~~

"WAKE UP!"

The sudden noise jolted Max awake.

"Someone's a little late to practice."

Max was disoriented and confused. All he could get out was a 'huh.'

"Get dressed and go to the ropes."

Pikemen left, leaving Max to process what happened. He looked at the Wood scout uniform. He was never going to wear those. His hoodie should suffice for now.

It took him awhile but he eventually found where the ropes were located. A bunch of the troops were there, standing in a line. Pikemen seemed to notice Max coming.

"Where is your uniform."

"In the tent. Do you actually think that I'm going to wear them?"

"I expect you to wear them Maxwell, now go back and put them on."

Max widened his eyes for a second then lowered them in a glare. How the hell did he know his full name.

"What if I don't."

"Punishment will be in order."

Snarling, Max went back to his tent again and sat there. He didn't care about punishment, and he sure as hell didn't want to wear the uniform. So he just sat there, silently.

~~~

It had to be a good four hours that Max has stayed in his tent. His stomach growled but he refused to go to their Mess Hall, or what ever they called it. To be honest, he missed Nikki and Neil. Yeah they can be weird at times but they were people that he trusted more than anyone else. His tent entrance opened up to a slightly angry Pikemen.

"Okay, seriously, how long does it take for you to get dressed?"

He looked at Max, who was still not in the tacky clothing.

"Maxwell, you don't want to disobey now do you."

"Suck my dick."

Pikemen gasped.

"Very well then, I guess a punishment is in order."

~~~

"Now be amazed, as I pull Ered's skateboard out of my hat."

Harrison shoved his hand down the top hat, digging around for the skateboard. He suddenly grasped something. It was soggy and slimy, and didn't feel like a skateboard at all. His face was covered in panic when he pulled it out, revealing an oversized diaper with brown stains. Everyone screamed as Harrison accidentally threw it into the crowd. Jermy went over to it and just stared.

"I thought I threw that in the trash can."

Harrison made another panicked shriek and ran towards the nearest sink. Gwen came marching out of the Councilors Office.

"What the hell is- oh…"

She stared down at Jermy, who was holding the saggy, used diaper. It made her almost gag.

"Ms. Gwen, where do I put this?"

She almost gagged a second time.

"In the, trash can."

"Okay."

Jermy slowly waddled his way to the closest trash can and dumped it in there. Everyone was presumably in their tents, hiding from him. She saw Harrison frantically washing his glove and hands in the nearby stream. Gwen sighed.

"Go back to your tent for now Jermy, the nex-"

"Jermy FARTZ."

She groaned in annoyance.

"You should go back to your tent Jermy Fartz. The next activity is gonna start in a couple minutes."

"Okay, Ms. Gwen."

He waddled to his tent. Gwen sighed again, walking back to the Councilors Office to do paper work again. She was surprised to see David there, taking care of it already. His hair drooped slightly and he was hunched over the desk instead of sitting up straight.

"How's the paperwork?"

He turned to her. It looks like he got a bad night of sleep.

"Oh, sorry if you wanted to do them yourself. I thought I could help a bit."

"I'm alright with you doing it."

"Okay."

As she was walking away, David stopped her with a simple question.

"Gwen, do you think it's my fault that Max got taken away."

She stopped and thought about it.

"Mostly yes, but the fact that he chose Max out of Everyone wasn't your fault. I mean, who knew that they would choose him. I'd expect them to choose Nurf instead of him."

David sighed, looking back at the work. Gwen walked up to him again and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Look I know that you miss that little devil, but there's nothing we can do about him now. Plus, knowing him, he'll escape somehow. Give it two days or more."

Gwen walked back to her room to read trashy magazines. David continued to look at the paper work. His face lifted up and brightened a bit when an idea struck him.

"What if I can."

Chapter Text

Day 4,

Like always, this place is the worst. They finally snagged one of Gergo's blankets for me, which is good I guess. I'm not freezing anymore, that's all that matters. Now where do I start for today? I woke up to Pikemen yelling at me again. I refused to get into the uniform, he had to get Petrol to force me into it and that was like sandpaper against my soul. We did the rope course and discussed about popcorn sales again. It's so easy to figure it out but I'm not gonna tell them. It's actually entertaining to watch, really. The thing I hate about the Wood scout's is that I get belittled for anything I do or mess up on. Sometimes I can counter it with a snide remark but that'd lead to punishment. After the first time I got the punishment… It was bad and painful. I'll still rebel. I hate all of this. At least I got to snag some color pencils.

He didn't even see me. I'm going to bed now. See you… whenever.

~~~

"WAKE U-"

Before Pikemen could finish his sentence, a pillow was thrown at his face. He took a few steps back, trying to process what happened.

"Did you jus-"

"Yeah yeah, I'm awake."

Max came out of the tent with the same blunt expression he had. Pikemen finally got a hold of himself.

"First off, that was really rude to throw a pillow at me. Secondly, your uniform. Wear it. You are not going to walk around this camp like that."

He stared down at his blue hoodie.

"What's wrong with these clothes?"

Pikemen sighed. Obviously, he showed no respect.

"PETROL!"

Just like that, the muscular teen appeared by Pikemen's side.

"Get him in his uniform… again."

Immediately, Max was brought back to his tent. He was complaining and struggling as he was stripped down to his boxers and put into the shitty outfit. Five minutes later, he was shoved outside, giving a glare to Petrol as he walked past him. Pikemen still stood there, his frown replaced with a smirk of satisfaction.

"Now then, are you ready for training."

"In your dreams."

Max walked by him, all knowing that he still had that shit eating smirk on his face. He had to ignore it. He had to figure out an escape plan back to Camp Campbell. It would be worth it then.

~~~

Max was on the ground, huffing his lungs out. They had done the rope course fifteen times, weights for an hour, and now push ups.

"I want to see twenty curl ups now Maxwell!"

He groaned but followed orders. It was excruciating on his biceps and back. To even do one seemed like enough for him. Just as he was done with the fifth curl up, he collapse on his back and panted heavily. Snake looked at him for a second.

"What a wimp, can't even do ten curl ups."

"Shut the fuck up Billy. No one gives a shit about what you think!"

"It's Snake!"

Max earned a harsh kick to his side. He curled himself into a ball while clutching his ribs. Pikemen hovered above him.

"I don't think that's how you treat your fellow soldiers."

"Fuck you, you acne faced freak!"

He earned himself another kick. This time it was a lot harsher than before, making Max slightly gasp.

"That was impolite Maxwell."

He wanted to respond so badly, but his ribs felt like they were going to break at any moment. He kept quiet.

"Nothing to say now? Interesting."

'Oh I have many things to fucking say.' Max thought as he laid on the ground.

"Hmm. It's time for lunch everyone!"

Everyone started heading to the cafeteria. As Max was about to walk, or crawl there, he was picked up by the back of his uniform.

"What gives!"

"You're not going in there anytime soon."

"So you're going to starve me until I become a mindless machine?"

"Heavens no! I'm just going to give you something a little, extra."

'Fuck.' Was all Max could think.

~~~

Arts and Crafts Camp. Dolph's Camp. It was a very relaxing and fun camp that allowed your imagination to do what it desired. Everyone had fun chatting and talking amongst each other while drawing and crafting what they wanted. Everyone except Preston. Preston was sitting the closest to Jermy. Now, he wouldn't have mind it if it wasn't for the fact that he took pieces from his left over food and stuck it on a piece of paper while trying to show him. This kept happening for twenty minutes and now he was on a breaking point. Preston got up and walked towards Gwen.

"Excuse me Gwen."

He got her attention.

"Yes Preston?"

He took in a deep breathe.

"I would like to move my seat somewhere else."

"Why?"

He slowly pointed to Jermy, who was now putting boogers on the piece of paper. Gwen became highly disgusted and agreed to have Preston move his seat somewhere else. He smiled and said a thank you before going over to Harrison and start small talk.

"Ms. Gwen."

She jumped slightly upon hearing her name. She turned around and noticeably frowned when she saw that it was Jermy.

"Do you like my picture Ms. Gwen."

The drawing was, horrid to say the least. It has spit, gunk, boogers, gum, and so much more nasty things on there. Gwen swallowed a bit of bile down as it crawled up her throat.

"Looks great Jermy Fartz."

He smiled slightly and went back to his lonesome table. Gwen sped walked towards David, who was sitting with Ered and showing her a few tricks on how to draw feet. Gwen tapped on David's shoulder, gaining his attention.

"Yes Gwen?"

"I'll be in the Councilors Office for awhile. I'll come back before dinner."

Before David could respond, Gwen ran to the Councilors Office and shut the door. He didn't think much about it. It was probably lady sickness.

David finished up Ered's drawing lesson and left her to do her thing. He looked around. It was sorta peaceful for once. Everyone was happy, except for Nikki and Neil. Nikki was drawing something and had this nostalgic look on her face, while Neil looked to be out of. David decided to confront the two and figure out what was going on.

"Everything alright you guys?"

Nikki stared at David for a moment, then went back to drawing. Neil snapped his attention to the worried Councilor and nodded.

"We're fine."

Neil smiled yet David could sense the worry in him. He peeked over to see what Nikki was drawing.

David got a good look at it before Nikki covered it up.

"I'm not done coloring it!"

He nodded and sat down in between them. They noticeably were uncomfortable.

"You guys miss Max, don't you?"

They both paused for a minute, then nodded. Neil started to talk.

"Even though he can be a real asshole at times, he's our friend and without him, things aren't the same. Plus, I don't know if he'll survive out there. He's strong with words but sometimes he can be physically weak."

Nikki nodded.

"Plus, I want to do some fun adventures with him and eat bugs and stuff."

David smiled sadly, lowering his head.

"I miss him as well."

They both lowered their heads but shot them back up when David put his hands on their shoulder.

"But I promise that I'll get him back."

Chapter Text

Day 5,

Everything hurts. Everything fucking hurts. My chest hurts, my back hurts, my nose hurts, my hands can't stop twitching, I'm tired but I can't sleep, GOD EVERYTHING HURTS. Everything is tired and I feel like shit. Fuck fuck fuck FUCK FUCK FUCKING HELL! Whatever Pikemin gave me yesterday, it fucking sucks. He said it was sugar but who the fuck puts sugar up your nose. It has to be a drug cause fucking hell everything is being a bitch! He made me run 27 courses while I was hyped on this shit. I don't feel good. I want to die. I wish that I can find out a way to escape. I can maybe use one of their motor boats and say that I'm going to Spooky Island, but I'll need their trust and to get that, I'll have to obey. Fuck this shit! I'll just steal one. I'll find a way out. I promise. If not for me, then for Nikki and Neil. WHY AM GETTING EMOTIONAL FUCK!

I'll write more later.

~~~

For once, light shined in Max's tent, slowly waking him up. His head was pounding and his heart and chest hurt. His hands were no longer twitching. He still felt tired, but he kept himself awake in case Pikemen was going to wake him up.

An hour.

Two hours.

Three hours.

Four hours.

He never came.

~~~

Max came to the conclusion that either Pikemen forgot about him or gave him a day off. Both seemed unluckily. The day had passed and it was morning again. Pikemen opened the flap of Max's tent to see him laying down, facing away from him.

"What do you want dipshit?"

Pikemen widened his eyes, a tad bit startled. He proceeded to close the flap and sit down. Max stayed still, probably with an angered look.

"I was wondering if you were okay."

Well that was a surprise. Max didn't move.

"Fantastic…"

Pikemen sighed.

"I should've never given you that drug. It messed your entire system up. It's why I gave you a day off, but I never saw you come out of your tent. Aren't you starving?"

Max finally got up and looked at him. His neck had claw or scratch marks all over it, so did his arms. His hoodie was tied around his neck but it was loose. His eyes look sunken for a ten year old. His stomach rumbled. He looked pissed.

"Oh, so now you give a shit about my well being? I thought you hated me and what I was worth, you'd remind me that every fucking day."

Pikemen furrowed his eyebrows downward.

"Trust me, I still don't like you, but I'm not going to kill you."

"Why don't you just do it anyway!"

Both of them glared into each others eyes. Pikemen sat up and went to leave. Before he did, he looked back at Max.

"I expect you to be at lunch soon."

He left him back to his thoughts. Max wanted to kill him badly, but now the time to escape was in order. This was the perfect time to escape. He was going back to Camp Campbell.

~~~

"Go away!"

Nerris was trying to get Jermy to get away from her stuffed animals and get off of her tower. The tower was shaking and wobbling side to side as Jermy walked around. Nerris was trying to fend off her turf with a cardboard sword but it did nothing against the slob. Everything was now dangerous. The crappy cardboard tower was wobbling from side to side. All of the kids were screaming now or watching in anticipation and fear as the tower wobbled.

"Get back!"

With one good swipe from Nerris's sword, Jermy went flying off the tower. As he fell down, the tower began to fall over and everyone began to scream. The tower fell over and Nerris tumbled out from it. All the campers stood there for a second before Harrison ran over to her. He was checking her for any injuries and if she was breathing right. He sighed in relief.

"She's fine. Just some minor bruises and scratches is all."

Everyone sighed in relief, but then turned their attention to Jermy, who got up and was making his way to the bathroom. Nerris groaned and rubbed her head as she got up.

"What happened?"

The Councilors finally came running in.

"What happened? Is anyone hurt?"

Nerris looked as confused as they were, despite being in the wreck. Harrison spoke up.

"Jermy was in her tower and wouldn't leave when Nerris told him to leave, so she swung her sword at him and he fell down which made Nerris's tower fall down as well. She's doing fine, I think."

The Councilors both sighed in relief. All the kids left to do what they were doing before the incident broke out. David picked up Nerris, who was still a tad bit dazed.

"I'm going to put her back in her tent, prepare for the hike soon."

Gwen and Harrison nodded before walking away.

~~~

"Alrighty Campers! Is everyone excited for the hike!"

Everyone groaned.

"This one should be exciting! It's going to be a new trail this time!"

Everyone groaned again as David led the way.

The pathway was like any other pathway. Dirt, grass, logs, bugs, and so on. The only difference was that they constantly had an open view of the entire lake. They could see Spooky Island, the Flower Scouts camp, and the Wood Scouts Turf. One wrong step and you can start tumbling down the mountain. Everyone was focused on staying away from the edge. Neil on the other hand, not only focused on that, but looked to see if he could find a blue figure in the Wood Scout's Turf. There was no luck, but he did spot someone using a motor boat. The more he looked at it, the more he noticed that the person in the boat didn't have two other people, and that the boat was moving around frantically, like it was in a rush.

"Come on Neil, we don't want to leave you behind."

David looked at Neil as he studied the outside view. He seemed to be trained on something.

"Is it just me or does that boat seem a bit odd?"

David, Gwen, and the other kids started looking at the boat. He picked up on the details and saw what Neil was talking about.

"You're right. That is strange. It looks like a boat from the Wood Scouts."

Preston butted in.

"Do you think that whoever is in the boat, is Max?"

Gwen already had her binoculars out and was looking to see if she can confirm his question.

"I can't quite make it out but it kinda looks like him.

A loud scream soon caught their attention. They looked down at the motor boat slowly sinking. There was another boat not far from it and it was coming over to the sinking boat to grab the person out. The person in it had to be Max. They were screaming curses and death threats but eventually he was just screaming for help. He was screaming for anyone to help him as, they assumed, Petrol and Snake got him out with a fishing net. He was screaming for help until he stopped for some unknown reason.

The kids looked horrified. They all just stared until the boat was back to Wood Scout Territory. David had to step in.

"Alright Campers, why don't we finish up this hike and head back to camp."

Everyone agreed and became silent.

David was going to have a word with those troops.

Chapter Text

Max trembled as he wrote shaky words into the journal. Tears stained the page.

Day 7,

I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm so sorry. I won't do that again I swear! Oh god I'm sorry! I promise I won't go onto the motorboat again I swear! I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm so so so so so so so SO SORRY! I promise that I'll be good please just don't do that again please please please please please please please! I don't want to be hurt again God please I'm sorry for trying to escape! I'm sorry God I'm sorry!

IT HURTS!

Max closed the journal and put it to the side of him. He should've planned it out a bit more. Going into the motorboat like that and sailing or driving around recklessly was surely to get their attention. He hoped that someone saw him get taken away.

He touched his injuries and flinched back at every touch. Pikemen really gave him a beating. Hell, there was still blood on Max's hands. During the beating, he noticed that Petrol and Snake just stared at him and Pikemen in concern, like they never saw this attitude from him before. Max would scream for him to stop as heavy blows and loud whippings came down on him. Eventually, Petrol had to hold Pikemen back because Max looked almost dead on the ground, as if he accepted that, that was his death. Snake was kind enough to patch him up. Max would've been surprised at how good he was at medical stuff if it wasn't for the fact that he was dazed and tired. He eventually passed out and woken up in his tent an hour later with the memory's and pain. It reminded him all too much of home, and that's what hurt the most.

Tears steamed down his face as he felt the bandages on his head, body, arms, and feet. He felt like a mummy but what could he do about? He was just a pathetic child.

~~~

"Sir, there's a visitor who wants to see Troop Max."

Pikemen lifted his head to see one of his comrades enter his room. He narrowed his eyes.

"Who wants to see him?"

"Someone with a yellow bandana and red hair. I think his name is… David?"

That got his attention. He had to think quick, should he let him in or not? David seemed like an idiot who didn't know a plan to escape. Make Petrol guard the outside of the tent and that's that.

"Sure, bring him in, let him see Max. Make sure Petrol is outside of the tent."

The smaller troop nodded and went back to inform David. Pikemen stared at his desk intently. He wasn't sure if he made a mistake or a wise choice. He'll just have to wait and see.

~~~

David followed Petrol to a decent sized tent. Petrol allowed him to go inside as he waited outside the tent. David kneeled down and went inside. He noticed that it had a few things here and there. The smell of copper wafted into the air. He looked around to find the source until his eyes hit the lump in the sleeping bag. Slowly, he pulled the zipper downward and opened it. What he saw made him wonder if this was a dream. It was Max who only had his pants on. His body was bandaged from head to toe. He has a pink bandaid on his nose. His right eye had an eyepatch around it. His lip was stitched up. The thing that scared David the most was the dried blood on his hands. He couldn't believe that this was real.

He reached out to Max, touching his cheek gently with the back of his hand. That motion cause Max to slowly open up his eye and look at a shocked, concerned, and very sad David. He widened his eye in disbelief.

"David?"

He was too in shock to notice that Max was awake until he said his name. David looked at him, keeping his hand on his cheek. He finally had the guts to speak.

"Who did this Max?"

At the thought of what happened, he teared up. His eye was already bloodshot enough to make you think he was high. Carefully, Max sat up, whimpering as tears streamed down his face. David leaned in to hug him. Max didn't bother getting him off of him. That moment seemed to last for a good few minutes until Max cried himself out. David retracted and looked at Max.

"I'm so sorry Max. I should've kept my mouth shut back then. You wouldn't be going through any of this."

Max didn't respond, just looked down at the ground.

"We heard you screaming yesterday."

His gaze shot up. Max didn't expect anyone to hear him at all. It was relieving that it was David but he probably made Nikki and Neil worried. Oh no… oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no…

"Are you okay Max?"

His mind trance broke and he nodded his head. He was lying. He felt horrible.

"Okay."

David knew he was lying. He didn't want to push him about it.

"You know, I was worried about you. Most of everyone is worried about you. Camp hasn't been the same since you left. I'm making sure that none of your stuff is being taken but I think Mr. HoneyNuts and Jasper are getting along."

David smiled as Max tilted his head in confusion. He only remembered the kid Jasper on Spooky Island and that's it. Was that kid taking his stuff? David seemed to notice the confusion on his face.

"Oh! Jasper is my own stuffed animal. He was named after someone who I cared about… Good times."

That sappy grin slowly lowered into a sad, nostalgic one. Max swore he has tears starting to form in his eyes but they quickly faded away. His look went from sad to concerned.

"Max, you need to tell me who hurt you. Despite how well your injuries are patched up, it still doesn't cover up the amount of pain you are in."

Max contemplated about his options. He could tell David, and police and stuff will show up or not but David would flip out or not tell him and live with the fact that David will never know and he might died by it. His first option is his best option.

Slowly, Max reached for his journal and opened it to a drawing he did sometime ago.

The Councilor looked at the page with great concern.

"Is this true?"

"… Y-yeah."

Max looked downward, noticing that David's hands turned into shaking fists. It wasn't long until Petrol peaked his head into the tent and reminded David that he has one minute left. David sighed, relaxing himself. He put a hand on Max's shoulder, gripping it firmly. Max was all ears now.

"I just want to let you know that I'm going to get you out of this, no matter how long it takes."

Suddenly, David started taking his yellow bandana-shirt off. At first, Max was confused why he was doing that. It was practically his prized possession. Then, he held out Max's hands carefully and put it into them, lightly shoving it towards Max. For a second, Max stared at it in confusion and shock until he looked up at David, who was smiling sadly.

"I want you to keep it for a sense of hope. I'll try my best to get you out of this place, just remember that."

Silence fell upon them. Max looked up at him and gave him a small smile.

"Alright."

Petrol peaked in again. David didn't need to be told that he ran out of time. He stood up, and walked towards the exit. Before he left, he looked back at Max.

"Stay strong, okay?"

Max nodded, and David left. He was alone again.

Chapter Text

Day 7,

I believe that one day I will leave this hell. I will leave and things will be fine. No more punishments, no more torture, just peace and loudness. David visited me today, which

I thought it was impossible. He helped me calm down. He told me that he was going to get me out of here. I hope so. Dear god I hope so. He also gave me his bandana shirt thing, which I tied into some sort of bear thing. I used the scrunchies I stole from Gwen to help it stay stable-ish. I also used some paper and made it a face. Here.

It's shitty for sure but it'll do. I decided to name it HOPE (yes it has to be capitalized) because damn it's the only thing I can really have at this point… except pain. Pain is everywhere.

To be honest. For once, and I know that this will sound stupid DONT JUDGE……… I miss David. Yeah, I miss Neil and Nikki and maybe the other campers and Gwen but David actually took the time to visit me, to help me. Despite all the shit I've done to him, all the hell he had to manage that was caused by me, he was going out of his way to see me again and help me get out of here. God wtf am I saying! I sound stupid!

~~~

Campers stared at David oddly as he continued to ramble about the functions of flint. He looked different somehow. He was still David but something was out of place. Was it the glint in his eyes? No. Was it the fact that he smiled a bit more? Nope. Was it the fact that he was literally enthusiastic about flint? Na. After a good hour or so, Neil noticed that David's yellow bandana went missing, and he acted as if nothing happened.

Extreme sports camp. Ered's camp. The beaten up ramp was crappy, and that was an understatement. It had patches of metal and wood, some of the nails stuck out like a sore thumb. Whenever you'd walk on it, it would shake slightly. Nobody wanted to skate or even be near it except for Ered.

Neil walked towards David.

"Hey David?"

David spun around and stared at the nerd with a less obnoxious grin.

"Yes Neil?"

"Where's your bandana? You usually have it around your neck."

David rubbed his neck sheepishly. He did miss 'his' old camp shirt, but he did know that it was the right thing to give it to Max. Even if in the end it'd get torn or ripped up, it'd be worth it. What wasn't worth it was telling Neil that he accentually lied to Gwen about going into Town but really went to check up on Max and see him hurt and give him the bandana shirt. Not worth it at all.

"It's still in the laundry, so my neck is exposed for a little while."

Neil seemed satisfied with that answer and went along to the one camp he always injures himself in. David sighed.

"Alright campers. Line up on the top and get ready."

Gwen spoke up. Everyone groaned as they slowly made their way up the ramp. Before someone could even ride down it, the ramp started to collapse. Most of the kids got out with a few splinters and scraps. Preston, on the other hand, got out with a twisted ankle, splinters, and a small, bloody wound on his shoulder. He was immediately treated, being put in his tent. His foot was elevated with a bag of ice on it. Preston was sleeping at this point. He needed it.

The kids tried to figure out why the ramp collapsed until Dolph remembered that Jermy jumped awkwardly on the ramp, causing it to collapse. Of course, all the blame went on him. The campers now have a three hour break until dinner.

~~~

Max struggled as his patched up wounds burned with pain. He's been doing burpee's, push up's, and all sorts of exercises. The other troops were a lot more careful with Max due to his injuries, especially Snake and Petrol. Pikemen, for some reason, has been acting like a Tyrant to the kid, and sometimes to the other troops.

"I'd like to see ten more squats Maxwell."

At this point, Max didn't question him, he just did it until he couldn't. It would have to make Pikemen never hurt Max like that, right? Max tried squatting down his third squat, then fell over and curled up in a ball, muffling his pained screams and gripping his legs. Petrol got up and inspected Max for a bit to check if anything was wrong. He sighed when he realized that Max was only in pain by the current injuries and work outs. One day was not enough for Max to recover. He needed a good week or so. Petrol waved his hands around at Snake before he nodded and stared at Pikemen.

"Petrol says that Max needs a longer break."

Pikemen furrowed his eyebrows and stared at Petrol disapprovingly.

"Why?"

Petrol began to sign again, giving the message to Snake.

"The kid is writhing in pain. The exercises are not helping him heal at all. He needs a longer break time before he can get back on his feet."

The zit-faced teen stared down at the ten year old. He kind of looked dead, still clutching onto his bandaged legs. Plus he did accidentally take out one of Max's eyes.

"Very well then. Petrol, take him into his tent. He's going to at least walk around the territory as his form of exercise. Also, I expect him to be at breakfast, lunch, and dinner."

Petrol nodded as he carried a very dazed Max away. Pikemen looked back to the remaining troops.

"Did I tell you to stop? Give me thirty jumping jacks!"

~~~

Max slowly focused on what was happening. He realized that he was in his tent, being put down on his shitty bed by Petrol, who didn't smile but softened his expression.

"What'd happen?"

For moment, everything was silent until Petrol waved his hands and fingers around. Max understood. Not what he said, but what he implied.

"Oh."

That was all he could get out.

Time seemed to slow down and fade. It wasn't as gray and there wasn't any thunder outside. Just the sounds of soft rain pellets and the light gray light. It attempted to lull Max into another deep sleep. Finally, before Petrol left, he handed the make-shift teddy bear to him and wrote a simple sentence on a scrap piece of paper Max threw on the ground.

'Go to sleep please.'

Max nodded his head and closed his eyes, hugging HOPE close to him. Petrol left the tent and made his way back to the others. Max was left alone again. The sounds of rain pellets and soft winds finally lulled the boy into a deep slumber.

^^^

Hallways of gray painted everything. It was all Max could see. He walked and walked and walked until he fell into a hole. He kept falling, feeling like he was about to die until a, rather interesting big bird catches him and flies away over the fiery pits below them. The bird seemed to be a combination of a Bluebird and a Rooster. It seemed normal. The Bluebird-Rooster landed on nice ground and put Max in a kitten pen with other kitty's. The Bluebird-Rooster stared proudly at Max, and the other squirming kittens but mainly Max. All of a sudden, Max became a kitten. A small black cat with a little bit of white fur around his eyes, ears, and the tip of his tail. Before he could react to the disturbing yet immediate change, another bird flew down. It was a Blue Jay but also a Peacock. It looked annoyed, yet somewhat happy. The birds huddled around the kittens, protecting them. They were silent.

"Mew."

It broke the silence.

"May."

That was strange.

"Hey!"

Okay, now that was really strange. All of a sudden, Max was being picked up. The bird hybrids didn't respond. Max began attempting to struggle out of the human's hands but failed.

"Hello there. You must be Max."

The boy looked like the kid from Spooky Island. Jasper. Max frowned grumpily at him. His smile softened.

"You're scared."

…

"You're so so scared. It's okay to be scared."

Max lowered his ears and relaxed himself. Jasper held him close, and they stayed like that as the two birds protected them and the kittens.

Comfort, peace, the sound of rain pelts, and slight pain.

"CAAAAAAAAAWWWW"

Max and Jasper looked up to the Blue Bird-Rooster. It looked at Jasper and squawked, not defensively, but almost confused, and defeated. The bird squawked and cried at the boy with the little kitten. They both stared at it in amusement yet some sort of confusion. Max saw Jasper go up to it and touch it. It still wept. It's tears made a pond. The kittens are floating and the Blue Jay-Peacock doesn't do anything except stare. Awkwardly stare.

The pond became a stream, and whisked the kittens away, including Jasper and Max. The Blue Bird-Rooster tried flying after them, and was later joined by the other big bird, but they weren't fast enough, and lost the two in the stream.

Jasper still held onto Max's little kitten form, keeping him extremely close to his chest. The stream led into a small waterfall. They both fell, and everything stopped. They were on the Blue Bird-Rooster somehow. Jasper started to fade away.

"Oh umm, see you later Max!"

And just like that, he was gone. Max was falling but was caught in the big bird's beak. The bird dropped him into his wing, and sat, almost humanly, just staring at Max. Kitten Max. Strange Max.

vvv

The sound of rain pellets were still present. Max woke up from the odd, yet somewhat comforting dream. He still held onto HOPE, now rather tightly. He couldn't help but notice the purple dye marks on the sleeves of the bear. Maybe it was from the Kool-Aid a few days ago. Who knew.

Max grabbed his journal, earning him a nauseous twist and a small headache from the sudden movement. He grabbed his pencil and stolen colored pencils, and began drawing.

Night 7,

First off, I had the strangest dream. Like wtf. Was it supposed to mean some shit?

Bonus

Chapter Text

The dream kept appearing again and again, changing ever so slightly. There were always two big predators that protected some weak baby prey from some unknown danger. Not only that, but Jasper would appear in every dream. He would always randomly walk in, pick up and hold Max, talk to him, then fade away. It was strange. What's even stranger is that one of the 'Protectors' would always start crying once they noticed Jasper. The 'Protector' would wail while Jasper just solemnly stared. It was rather depressing. The other thing that always occurred was that no matter where Max was or doing after Jasper faded away, the once-was crying 'Protector' would always catch or 'save' Max from some impending doom.

One of the most notable dreams was at Day five of Max's recovery, and Max's thirteenth day at the Wood Scouts.

Max was running from gun shots. He kept running, and running, and running until he couldn't. He collapsed on the ground, quivering and whimpering for it to stop. Suddenly, a loud roar boomed throughout the forest. Max looked up to see an armored lion with a big, fluffy mane. It looked to be a hybrid of an Armadillo and an African Lion. It stared aggressively at the scenery, waiting for a response.

When nothing returned or fired back, the Armalion looked at Max with some sort of worry. They picked Max up by the hood and took him to a vibrant, but small, forest haven, where multiple fawns played. Max became a fawn, somewhat to his surprise.

When Max was placed on the ground, another 'Protector' came out. It was a cheetah with a huge, yet hollow shell on it's back. It also had a smallish beak-like mouth. It had to be a turtle-cheetah hybrid. A Turtah.

Both of the Protectors kept watch on the youthful fawns. Just like always, Jasper appears out of no where. He sluggishly walked towards Max. He sat down and picked him up, cradling him like a baby. The thing that Max now noticed about Jasper was that he looked dead. His vibrant skin dulled into gray. His blue eyes fogged up, making them look glassy and colorless. His bruises and cuts were more apparent. His clothes became tattered and bloody. Jasper stared down at fawn Max. Strange Max.

"Heyo… are you recovering well?"

Max stared at Jasper in straight up confusion and irritation. This kid was rotting before Max's eyes yet he was concerned over him. Why did he care?

"The Wood Scouts, or more specifically Pikemen, needs to take a chill pill. The things he did to you is… unreasonable and cruel. It's wack."

His irritation grew, but they weren't displayed. Jasper furrowed his eyebrows in disappointment. He had a point but Max couldn't process it. It was silent between the two of them. Jasper started to smile.

"I'm happy that Davey gave my shirt to you."

Wait, that wasn't David's camper shirt? His OWN shirt?

"I see that you made it into a rather cute bear and you didn't even need to cut it! That's pretty radical!"

Jasper chuckled for a good bit until he calmed down again. He looked more serious, but not intimidating.

"Davey took care of that shirt for a long time. Seriously. Two months ago, he finally got all the blood stains out of it and he had that shirt for what! Fourteen years? He's crazy!... but that's what I like about that prick."

… Did he just insult David? What was even going on?

A familiar roar rang out. Jasper and Max turned their heads to what made it and there it was. The sobbing Armalion. The difference was that they weren't staring at them or nudging their head at Jasper. They were just, awkwardly crying. Jasper went to nudge them but stopped and grunted in pain.

"Not again…"

He looked like he was about to fall off, rot, deteriorate, die… He was dead. He was a dead man walking.

Gunshots rang out again. Both of the Protectors snarled and prepared themselves to fight. The fawns looked confused or continued what they were doing. Max. Fawn Max. Strange Max, became scared.

The gunshots got closer and closer, louder and louder. The fawns ran away, leaving the Protectors to defend themselves. Themselves and Fawn Max. Max tried escaping Jaspers grip but failed.

Boom…

BOOM…

BOOM

Then Max woke up. Confused and worried. It was different. The ending was different.

~~~

David loudly scribbled on a piece of paper. To Gwen, it looked like a to-do list or shopping list, but it was something entirely different and extremely important. He stuck his tongue out in pure concentration, not even noticing that Gwen has been calling his name. A sudden hand grabbed the back of his neck, making him yelp.

"DAVID!"

He looked up to see Gwen, then took a step back and smiled awkwardly at her.

"Yes Gwen?"

"I've called your name six times and you didn't respond!"

She glared at the sweaty red head before sighing and rubbing her temples.

"Anyway, I'll lead the camp across that log to set up for the night. Do me a favor and find Nikki and Neil. I think we lost them."

Before David could even respond, Gwen ran back to the other campers to stop Nurf from throwing Dolph off a cliff. David started searching for the two rascals.

It's been about five minutes until he could hear two people arguing.

"This isn't gonna work Nikki! We don't know how the hell we're even gonna get there and get him!"

"Well, we have to try at least!"

That was definitely Nikki and Neil. David was about to make his presence known until he heard them both scream. He stepped out of the bushes and looked around.

There, hanging by two hands, is Neil with Nikki holding onto his leg. Neil was whimpering and desperately tried to pull himself up whilst Nikki gripped his leg tightly, causing her nails to dig into his jeans and even dig into his skin. David could feel himself develop a panic attack, but now is not the time.

"Hold on you two! I'm coming!"

David got down on his knees. He grabbed Neil's hand and pulled him up effortlessly. He then quickly grabbed Nikki, while keeping Neil down, and brought them both away from the edge of the cliff. They were all breathing heavily. Neil scratched at his skin while Nikki rapidly tore grass from the ground. David couldn't breathe. Memories came back. They came back all at once. He felt tears threatening to slip out of his eyes but he had to stay strong. He couldn't let Nikki and Neil see him distraught. He just couldn't.

"David?"

He looked up at the two. They were staring at him with concern. Slowly, he rose a shaky hand and touched his face. Wetness everywhere. Tears and sweat. He stared back at them.

"Let's go back."

The two nodded in agreement.

~~~

By the time they got back, still scarred from the whole ordeal, Gwen was holding Nerris and Harrison away from each other. Nerris kept throwing shitty insults at Harrison while he replied with come backs and shittier insults. The moment David and the two were near the bonfire, everyone noticed them. They noticed the multiple scratch marks on Neil's neck and arms, and how pale Nikki is. They noticed the puffy redness around David's eyes. They all know that something happened.

"Jesus, what happened to you guys?"

Gwen looked to be in shock. Although it wasn't as bad as other situations from the past, this one was… off putting. David nudged Nikki and Neil's back slightly.

"Go to your tents guys, it's been a long day. You should get some rest."

The two nodded and headed off to a spare tent, so did the rest of the campers. Gwen took David inside of the noticeably larger tent and sat him down. She stared at him.

"What happened back there? You guys looked like you saw a dead body or you guys were attacked or something."

David's hands trembled as he looked back on the memory. It was similar, so so similar. If he didn't find them in time, they could've, they could've…

"David?"

He looked up at her only to be met with concerned eyes. Concerned and worried eyes. Within that moment, he quickly enveloped her in a hug. His lanky arms and shoulders shook as he sobbed into her shoulder, muttering things like 'It was so close,' and 'They're safe they're safe.'

It was no surprise to see David crying over something, whether it be being stabbed in the hand or thinking about snakes not having hands. But this seemed to be more than just that.

~~~

Max walked around on the cold dirt path. It finally stopped raining and being cloudy, surprisingly. He can stretch his legs and move a little. Plus if he didn't, Pikemen would force him outside or something. He shivered at the thought of seeing him again. He didn't want to see that zit faced freak.

He could tell it was getting harder to breathe or be normal around Pikemen. He didn't know why he would obey and speak nicely about him when he wanted to kick him in the balls. Max didn't know why. God, was he going insane in this hell of a camp? Who knows. Who really knows. At least the troops were being nicer to him. They used to be assholes like Pikemen but after seeing what he's done to the boy, they got a dose of realization. Max also got a dose of realization as well. They came to the Wood Scouts for reasons that weren't close to what Max thought. They went to either train for the Military or help defend their family or something that would fly completely over Max's head. Some even joined for fun. They weren't terrible people, just misunderstood.

The feeling of peace and confusion, and even fear sifted through Max. The sound of soft crickets chirping and the breeze blowing helped him calm down. Even the few occasionally 'muacks' from the platypus were soothing… wait, platypus?

Max turned his head to see non-other than Camp Campbell's mascot following him. She looked to be on a peaceful stroll as well. Who knew that the stubborn platypus would walk with Max.

Finding a good spot on the ground, he sat down. The platypus walked towards him, and laid down on his lap. Max smiled slightly. He liked having this comfort, especially from a wild animal. The problem that he faced with was that he wanted to draw. He awkwardly started to draw and write.

Day 8 (or night 8, I'm not sure),

I don't know what's wrong with me. Pikemin is… I hate him. I hate him so much. At least this platypus is keeping me company.

I never noticed that it has blue eyes.

Chapter Text

Every scout stood in a line waiting for Pikemen's arrival. Everyone including Max. The young boy finally had his eyepatch taken off. Too everyone's surprise, he only had a swollen black eye.

Pikemen walked out of his tent and stared at his comrades with shifty eyes. The troops straightened their backs and looked ahead. Pikemen smiled slightly and started walking around.

"Alrighty Woodscouts! Tomorrow is an important day!"

Pikemen lightly jabbed at a young scouts back, causing him to straighten up.

"Camp Campbell has requested a rematch from us. The rematch will be similar to the Camporee! The only difference is that the Flower Scouts, Troop 7.89, will not participate."

One of the scouts, Nolan, raised his hand. Pikemen took notice.

"Yes Nolan."

"Do you know what the prize is?"

"I tried asking but they haven't told me. They said they'll tell me once I get there."

Nolan nodded his head and resumed to look ahead of himself.

"Now, this also brings me to another point. The point of which of you scouts I'll bring."

Pikemen stopped in front of the line. The scouts looked at him with dull interest.

"The troops I'll bring with me are Petrol, Snake, and Maxwell."

Max widened his eyes at the sound of his name. Petrol and Snake looked at him for a moment, then stared at another scout.

"Yes Nolan?"

Nolan shuffled a tad and began fidgeting with his thumbs.

"No offense sir, but why Maxwell? He's still recovering from his injuries and he's pretty wimpy."

Some of the troops giggled in agreement, whilst Max glared at Nolan. Nolan glared back.

"The reason why I chose young Maxwell is because of his knowledge of Camp Campbell."

Pikemen walked up to the fragile child and put a hand on his head, patting him. Max quivered under Pikemen's touch. He wanted to run.

"That knowledge could be useful in defeating Camp Campbell."

Nolan spoke up again.

"What if he decides to escape or trick you guys?"

Pikemen stopped patting Max's head and looked down at him with a stern look.

"If he decides to ruin our chances at winning this rematch, I will make sure that he'll get a, special punishment."

Max quivered even more and stared fearfully at Pikemen. All the teen did was smirk at him. He looked up from the fearful boy and looked at the other scouts.

"I want you all to go over to the pickle course!"

All yelled 'yes sir!' in unison and ran over there. Pikemen looked back down at Max again.

"You can go on your walk now. Come to the cafeteria at 12."

Pikemen moved his hand away from Max's head. Max nodded and walked off to his tent to grab his journal, pencil, and colored pencils. Once he got those things, he walked off to the pathway and walked around for a bit. The clouds were lighter and mellow. Everything seemed to be in check yet Max felt the whole world build up on him. He sat down on a patch of grass underneath a tree and started writing.

Day 10,

Let's see where I should start off. One. One of the scouts, I think his name was Valentin, gets super weird around me. I know that this albino kid is supposed to be cool and whatever but whenever I'm around, he's all tense and shit. I had to find out why he was like this so I found his diary, looked in it, and now I know that he has a low key crush on me… or at least he thinks I look good. He wrote that I'm not his type in there. He's an alright person but I'd never fucking date him. Two. We're going to have a rematch with Camp Campbell and Pikemin is bringing me, Petrol, and Billy Snake. He said he was bringing me because I could be useful to them. Useful for info and what not. Also, he doesn't know what the prize is if we win or the prize is if Campbell wins. Whatever it is, I'm scared. If I fuck up or if we lose or something, Pikemin is going to give me that 'special' punishment and no way in hell do I want that.

Also I find it strange that Camp Campbell wants a rematch. Usually they don't give a shit unless… unless…

David said he was going to find a way for me to get out. Was this David's idea? Oh god I hope they win, I hope they win! Please please please! Get me out of this hell and let me live the rest of this summer at that Camp!

-Max

~~~

Gwen stared at David in confusion. He's the happiest he's been all day yet oddly busy. Busy to a point where Gwen had to take over some of the activities for awhile. The red head stared at his 'notes' and then at the computer, presumably typing something down. Gwen lifted her gaze from David to the computer screen. He was writing an email.

Hello Wood Scouts of Troop 8.1.8,

Camp Campbell has now challenge you to a rematch. This rematch will be similar to the Camporee, just without the Flower Scouts. You may be wondering what you get when you win or what I get if I win. That will all be discussed when you arrive. The rematch is tomorrow. Get ready.

- One of Camp Campbell's Councilors

"David, what the fuck is this?"

David nearly jumped out of his seat. He didn't realize that she was looking at what he was writing. He was about to say something but was quickly interrupted by Gwen.

"Is this about Max?"

He closed his mouth, and nodded slowly. She sighed but smiled slightly, then started to giggle.

"Thought you would do something like this earlier."

"Wait wha-"

"Also, how is he? I know that you lied in order to see him."

"How did you kn-"

"Hide your diary somewhere else."

David blushed in embarrassment, but his embarrassment subsided once he realized the condition Max was in.

"Max is hurt… LIKE, really hurt. He was bandaged from head to toe and he had an eyepatch on."

David pulled his knees to his chest and clutched them close.

"Max had dried blood on his hands. He said Pikemen did it to him."

Gwen frowned at the description. She knew that the Wood Scouts were shit but she didn't expect them to beat the living hell out of the kids on there. She put a hand on David's shoulder and smiled.

"So what's the plan?"

~~~

"Hey Ered, I heard that there's going to be another Camporee."

"Really."

Dolph looked up at the blonde with childish eyes.

"Ja! But the Flower Scouts aren't going to be in it. I believe that it's a rematch against the Wood Scouts!"

Nurf decided to chide into their conservation.

"What makes you think we'd have a rematch?"

Dolph stared at him dully.

"Because I heard Gwen say something about it to David."

They all stay in silence for a second, pondering about the idea of the rematch, but more importantly, why are they having a rematch?

Space kid walked over to the group.

"A rematch huh? Do you think it's because of Max?"

The kids contemplated that thought. That had to be the reason. They knew that David would do anything for his campers… or almost everything. Still. It was likely. Or was he a sucker for revenge?

~~~

Night 10,

I confronted Valentin about that 'crush' thing and we're chill. He said that he likes my appearance but he's not into me. He's an alright dude. Anyway, not the point. Point is I'm scared. Of course that platypus, Muack, or a different platypus… or a possessed one… not the point. They basically calmed me down. I don't want us to lose and get a beating cause damn am I going to at least try and make Camp Campbell win. For the sake of my sanity. You know what, yeah. I have to stick with the shit I've been doing. I'll be all obedient right now but once I get to Camp Campbell, I'll fuck up Pikemin's chances on winning. Even if the beating kills me, it'll be worth the shot.

-Max

Here's a picture for confidence

Chapter Text

Day 11,

This is it. Today is the day that determines whether I leave this shit place or come back to camp and breathe again. I'm sick of Pikemin, I'm sick of the daily walks, and I'm sick of writing my events and feelings in here. At least if we lose, I'll leave this journal at Camp Campbell so that Nikki can find it. Trust me, she'll find it. I'm also bringing HOPE with me cause if they do win, I don't have to go back and get my shit. Yeah, my hoodie and jeans are there but my… 'parents' or possibly David, gifted me a blue hoodie weeks ago. Plus I got other clothes in my tent so yeah. I'm going to try and make us fail. I don't care how many glares Pikemin will give me, I don't care how many slaps across the face I'll get for failing, I need to leave! And this is my only escape.

-Max

~~~

Max walked, or limped next to Snake and Petrol down the dirt road. Snake kept Max steady. Pikemen walked in front of them. Max clutched onto HOPE tightly. HOPE was tied tightly around Max's sash. The young boy shook in anticipation and fear. He didn't want to fuck this up. He had to make his team fail. He was already hurt enough, and even though Pikemen said that he didn't want to kill him, he would sure as hell accidentally beat him to death.

They arrived in front of the Mess Hall and stood there, waiting for the other campers and Counselors. It took so much willpower in Max to not just run in there and scream. Patiently, they stood out there. Snake put a hand on Max's shoulder in case he was about to fall over. Pikemen was about to announce his arrival until David ran towards them. Pikemen stared at the lanky counselor with a dull expression. David took a deep breath and looked at Pikemen.

"Welcome to the rematch!"

Pikemen looked around with a confused expression. David seemed to pick up on what he was trying to look for.

"The campers are still in the Mess Hall eating breakfast. I assume that you are wondering what the prize is."

The zit-faced teen smiled slightly and stared at David.

"You assumed correctly. So, what is the prize?"

David took one quick glance at Max and then back at Pikemen. His demeanor thickened, becoming tense. His smile vanished and was replaced with a bland seriousness. It didn't seem to fit David, and it was intimidating.

"If Camp Campbell wins, we take Max back,"

He points at the young boy. Max stares at him with hopeful eyes.

"and your troops will not bother him again, and you guys will not raid us."

David started smirking.

"But we will give you guys a camper of our choice."

Pikemen cocked his eyebrows.

"What do we get if we win?"

David put his hand back to his side.

"If you win, you can keep Max and choose another camper of your choice to join the Wood Scouts. We'll also tell you how to beat the Flower Scouts and their cookie sales."

Pikemen smiled at the thought. If he won, he would get another camper and the answer to their biggest problem. It sounded like a deal. He offered his hand out.

"Deal."

David took his hand in his and shook it.

Gwen finally came out of the Mess Hall with the campers. She practically gasped when she saw Max. David had described his condition to her but shit was it bad when she looked at it. Max must've healed up because David's description sounded more gruesome. Before she let her thoughts get taken over, she grabbed onto Nikki's overall strap as she was about to run over to Max. All the campers seemed to be at a loss when they did see the former camper. Gwen sighed and took the four selected campers to the front. Nikki, Dolph, Space Kid, and Neil walked up with Gwen. The other campers sat back and watched. Max looked at his two friends.

"Nikki! Neil!"

He was about to run to them until Snake pulled him back, gripping his shoulder slightly harder. Max looked at his two friends hopelessly, and they hopelessly looked back at him. Gwen still held onto Nikki's overall strap.

"So are we going to start this?"

The two redheads looked at her. David smiled.

"Why yes! Who's up first?"

Gwen looked at Dolph, who was fixing his hair up. She sighed.

"I guess Dolph is first."

Dolph looked up and smiled slightly.

~~~

Paper was laid out in front of the contestants. The judges, who happen to be the pretty waitress, Fred, and Dirty Kevin, sat there patiently. Dolph stood up on a stool and straightened his back.

"For my challenge, you will be drawing two animals mashed together. The most creative and realistic looking mash up, wins!"

Pikemen looked at Dolph in uncertainty. He can beat the challenge for sure, but the fact that he looks like Hitler and he's talking about mashing animals together is not helping. The other contestants seemed uneasy as well.

"Now begin!"

Everyone grabbed their pencils and started drawing. Max was pretty confident in his drawing abilities. He knew that his drawings sucked ass, so he scribbled all over the place. Max decided to draw the Armalion from his dream. Guess that dream became a tad bit helpful.

The Wood Scouts were carefully drawing their artworks. Petrol seemed to draw aggressively whilst Snake and Pikemen took their time. Neil looked at his drawing with comfort. Space kid drew rapidly. Nikki colored the picture quickly. Dolph painted his masterpiece elegantly. After three minutes, everyone was done. The judges looked at the drawings and scored them.

The Wood Scouts

Camp Campbell

The score board flipped to show the total.

Campbell - 12 Wood Scouts - 10

Gwen stared at the score board in contentment. Two points above the enemy is better than none or two points below. The campers cheered at the little victory. Pikemen glared at it. Max stared at the score board with a sense of nervousness and yet, relief. But this wasn't the end of it.

~~~

Space kid handed out flash cards of the constellation's names to the judges. For his round, everyone would have to guess the constellations by looking at them. The teams would have to nominate one person to represent the group and the Judges would score on how close the persons answer was. Max was nominated by the Wood Scouts and Neil was nominated by Camp Campbell. Neil knew what some of the constellations were since David would always talk about them during a bonfire or when they had Space Camp. Max didn't care to pay attention.

Space kid pointed at one of the pictures.

"What are these three constellations called?"

Neil wrote vigorously on a card whilst Max wrote slowly. He could feel Pikemen's glare pierce his back. The two boys handed the cards in. Space kid and the judges talked amongst each other and then flipped the score boards.

Campbell - 23 Wood Scouts - 23

The two Counselors stared at the board. Gwen felt unsure now. David started to sweat.

"At least it's only a tie and they're not ahead of us."

Max couldn't believe it. He didn't know shit about constellations yet he guessed some of them right. The tension was building up.

~~~

Nikki stood boldly in front of them. Pikemen looked at her nervously, same with Snake and Petrol. Last time she was up, she tamed a wolf and had it almost kill them. The other campers looked at her nervously as well. Nikki smiled.

"Next up, showing animals that you're the leader."

Pikemen looked at her with confused eyes.

"Like last time?"

Nikki smiled even more.

"Yep!"

The Quartermaster released a bear this time and it came running towards Nikki. The others were stunned in fear. As the bear approached Nikki, she turned around and gave it the biggest roar that seemed impossible for a ten year old to muster. The bear stepped back and pouted at her. When Nikki finished up her threatening roars, she stared at the bear and pointed to Pikemen.

"Kill!"

The bear looked at Pikemen and started to growl. It walked closer to the Wood Scouts. Everyone was sent running. They screamed, especially Neil who screamed, "THIS DOESN'T MAKE SENSE!" Understanding fully that bears aren't pack animals and shouldn't act like wolves. Everyone ran at full speed whilst Max was desperately limping away from the ferocious animal. Max tripped and fell on his face. He turned around and saw the bear looming over him. Nikki tried to get the bear's attention but couldn't. Before the bear was able to bite Max, Max held HOPE in front of the bear's face. The bear stared at it in confusion. The curly haired boy began shaking and whimpering, hoping that the bear wouldn't kill him.

Before the bear even did anything, it was shot down by the Quartermaster. It bellowed in pain. The contestants stopped running and stared at the scene. Everyone looked in shock as the Quartermaster dragged the bear's corpse away from the sight of others. Max was still shaking. He is now curled up in a ball, clutching onto HOPE. David turned his attention from the Quartermaster to Max. He was about to walk up and comfort the boy until Petrol walked up to him and carefully lifted him up, checking if he was okay. David frowned, and walked towards Gwen.

The scores changed.

Camp Campbell - 29 Wood Scouts - 31

The two Counselors stared at the scores and shared the same thought.

Shit…

~~~

Neil, with a beaker in hand, stood proudly amongst his table.

"Now, it's time to make Elephant Toothpaste!"

For a good five minutes, Neil explained what elephant toothpaste was since so many people were confused. The challenge begun. The contestants were given Hydrogen peroxide, dish soap, sodium iodide, a large bottle, and food coloring dye. Neil was already at it. The other Campbell Campers sloppily tried to make things work, and some how did. The Wood Scouts were about to add the sodium iodide in the mix to make it explode. Max stared fearfully at the bottle. He had to do something before they poured it in. Quickly, Max lunged outward and hit the bottle off the table, making it spill all its contents on the grassy ground and crack the bottle as well. Pikemen stood there befuddled, leaving Snake and Petrol to look at Max with some worry. Pikemen's eye twitched.

"Maxwell!"

The teen quickly walked over to the boy. Max backed away a tad before his arm was grabbed tightly, keeping him in place. His body shook with fear as Pikemen lifted his hand up and brought it down to Max's face.

SMACK!

Everyone's attention was turned to them. Pikemen let go of Max's arm, leaving him to only stare at the boy in disappointment. Max lifted a hand to his cheek and rubbed it. He felt tears prick from the corners of his eyes. He had to stay strong. He had to stay strong. He wouldn't cry. He shouldn't cry. Even though he promised himself these things, his body allowed them to happen anyway. It started as a whimper, then another, then a sob, and then he was on his knees, bawling his eyes out and screaming out memories. Memories of when Pikemen beat him to a pulp. Memories of when he'd get picked on in school. Memories of when his parents were whipping him into shape. He screamed monologue out loud, word for word, sentence to sentence. He screamed out the desperate pleads he'd make and the attackers harsh words. It was like water escaping from a dam. He couldn't bare with the build up pain and broke down.

Eventually his screaming turned into sobs, and then whimpers and apologies. Everything was silent, even the birds weren't singing. David stared at the scene with anger and disgust. He knew that Pikemen hurt Max before this, but this wasn't right. Hurting a child to the point where they shut down and cry isn't right. His smile quickly turned into a snarl.

"Excuse me?"

Pikemen turned his head to the counselor. For once, he actually felt pricks of fear because of David. David, the happy and naive man that would do anything even if it was for nothing. The man stared through Pikemen, his eyes filled with pure anger. He bore his clenched teeth and tightened his fists to a point where his knuckles were already white. Pikemen took a step back as David took a big step forward.

"How dare you hurt a child! I know that you hurt him before, but to a point where he's like this!"

David plunged his hand forward, pointing it in the direction towards a sniffling Max. Max was being helped by Snake, who attempted to whisper comforting words to him. Everyone looked at the scene in another form of shock, surprise, and discomfort. Gwen carefully walked up to David and put a hand on his shoulder, keeping him from doing anything irrational. David was still fuming.

"This is not right! Last time I saw him, he had big cuts and bandages covering his entire body! None-the-less, he still had dried blood on his hands! Is this how you treat your scouts?!"

Petrol and Snake glanced at each other for a quick moment before looking at Pikemen. Pikemen stared at the red head in shock and weariness. David glared daggers at the teen.

"Do you!"

Pikemen shook his head frantically.

"Then why would you treat him differently!?"

Before Pikemen could reply, Gwen grabbed David by both of his shoulders and urged him towards the Counselors Cabin.

"Come on David. You need to calm down."

She felt ashamed for taking him away from the situation, but if it continued, she knew that it would escalate into violence. She would've loved seeing Pikemen get his shit beaten out of him, but if David was going to beat him up, he wouldn't be able to stop.

Once she made sure David was in the Cabin with Bob Ross playing in the background or some other calming video, she went back to see everything the way it almost was. People were still in shock yet moved around, trying to process what just happened. The score boards changed.

Campbell - 37 Wood Scouts - 11

There's a note next to the Wood Scouts score.

'Points taken off for hitting a child. (Like seriously wtf dude).'

Gwen, then and there, knew that they were going to win.

~~~

The past two hours were a hassle. The Wood Scouts were up and had their usual courses. Nikki was able to get through them easily, with the exception of the boat course. Others struggled but caught up and pushed through the pain. The Wood Scouts did earn some points but couldn't manage to catch up with Camp Campbell. At this point, David calmed down and was allowed to view the rematch again. He still looked irritated when Pikemen was around him, but it wasn't too bad.

The final course was finished. Everyone stared at the scoreboards with an anticipation.

Camp Campbell - 67 Wood Scouts - 40

The campers cheered at their victory. The counselors even cheered as well. Pikemen stared at the ground.

"Curses! And we almost won too."

Petrol nodded his head. Snake only looked at the multiple kids cheering, then at Max. Max looked at the campers with wide eyes. His mind was racing with questions.

'Am I free now?'

'Can I go back now?'

'Is this real?'

Before he could even answer those many questions, Petrol gave him a light push forward. Max looked behind him to see the bald teen give him a small smile and a curt nod. The boy's face lit up as he ran towards his two friends.

"NIKKI! NEIL!"

The two looked over their shoulders to see Max running towards them. Nikki ran towards him as well, grabbing him into a bear hug. Neil soon followed after. The three friends hugged each other tightly. Max didn't want to let go but Nikki did.

"I thought I'd never see you again!"

Neil butted in.

"Yeah, you were gone for two weeks and we were worried sick. Nikki even made me come with her in hopes of finding you."

Nikki laughed awkwardly at the memory.

"We almost died, but David saved us!"

"Yeah, we would've been goners."

Neil spazzed out for a second and nervously laughed as well.

They all grew silent for a moment, letting the chatter of others take over. Max looked around and eventually found the person he was looking for. He walked over to the happy go lucky counselor.

David seemed to see Max walking towards him. He got on one knee and looked at him with a smile. Max stopped in his tracks. He looked at the red head. This was the guy who he hated with all his heart. This was the guy he attempted killing a month ago. This was the guy Max caused chaos for. Yet, he still helped Max in any way he could. He still went and visited him. He still tried to comfort him in the worst of times. He still got him out of that hell despite being the one that got him there in the first place.

Max ran towards David and hugged him. David was paralyzed. This was unexpected. He expected Max to say some snide remark or just walk up to him, but never this. It took David a good second to process it, and return the hug back. He knew campers were watching but that didn't matter. Max spoke ever so silently, yet loud enough for David to hear it.

"Thanks David…"

David was about to respond when suddenly he heard commotion to the side of him. Max broke their hug to see what was going. They both turned toward the noise. It was Pikemen and Gwen.

"But my dear Gwendolyn, there must've been a mistake."

"Hell no there wasn't."

Gwen was pushing a desperate looking Pikemen away from her. Petrol and Snake looked at the ordeal with boredom. From time to time, they would sign to each other. Max already knew that Petrol was mute, but it still was a tad bit surprising.

Pikemen backed away and sighed.

"Very well then. I'll be taking my leave."

Gwen lit up as an idea was formed.

"Wait, before you go."

Pikemen looked back at her with hopeful eyes. That hope was soon destroyed when Gwen punched him in the jaw. The teen yelped in surprise and rubbed his jaw.

"That is what you get for hurting a kid."

Pikemen grumbled and walked away with Petrol, Snake, and the new addition, Jermy following behind him. Max looked back at David, who had a satisfied grin on his face. Max untied HOPE from his sash and poked David's arm, gaining his attention. He looked at the bear in confusion.

"Here's your shirt thing. I know it looks stupid but HOPE really helped me out back there."

David took the makeshift bear in his hand and smiled at it. It was crappy but well made.

"Thanks Max."

~~~

Night 11,

Camp Campbell won! We fucking won! I can't believe that I'm actually happy to be back at this piece of shit place but fuck is it better than the Wood scouts. If it wasn't for David's dumbass, yeah I wouldn't have gone there, but I wouldn't have gotten out of it. I guess I don't hate the camp man entirely. It's good to see Nikki and Neil again. They're awesome, I guess. The other campers are alright as well. Apparently it was a lot different here without me. I'm surprised. I thought that maybe they'd be happier without me. Guess you learn something new everyday. Speaking of learning something new, I know that I keep shitting on the Wood Scouts and yes it's a shitty place with sometimes shitty people, but most of those people aren't bad. Pikemin is the biggest asshole in the world. He can go fuck off. Besides him, everyone there is alright. Petrol, Snake, Gergo, Valentin, even Nolan is alright. People see the Wood Scouts as intimidating teens wanting to make a fool of themselves or beat the shit out of you when really they're regular people being controlled by this asshole. They're misunderstood. It also explains why when I was the one handing out popcorn, people were surprised and even delighted, or relieved to see me. It's sad to think about but what can you do? I'm just happy to be back, plus I got Mr. HoneyNuts back! David was holding onto him. Thankfully he didn't do anything to him. I'm also happy to not be wearing that fucking uniform. It's good to wear my regular clothes again. Welp, I'm going to sleep now. I may/may not write in this again.

-Max

P.s

To those who wanted to see my Oc, here's Valentin.