Yes, you can!
But it's quite awkward and requires use of the script backgrounding technique. This in turn requires the room to have no kind of animations (enemies, platforms, conveyors) and the script can only run in that specific room, unless you use some complex tricks which makes everything even more awkward.
Well? What's the code?
Well, I said it was awkward, but you asked for it.
Background scripts executes one per tick. 30 tick is approximately 1s. Say you want it to execute for 10 seconds. I would do it like this:
Set away 5 flags to use as a binary counter before executing a full second, say flag 1-5 for the second ticker. I have 2 choices - a more complex script to make it truly 1s, or to make it 2 ticks slower. Depending on the use case, I probably do the latter.
For the actual seconds, I set away 4 flags as the second counter, say flag 6-9. I also set away a flag for noting that the counter has started, say flag 10. I also use a flag to stop the counter, say 11.
I then do scripts that execute gotoroom(X,Y) where X,Y is the room the script is in. This will make the same script trigger again immediately once it's done executing -- but it wont halt your movement. The actual script looks something like this:
(# TEXT for comments, those aren't included in the script, but it's for explaining what I'm doing)
The actual code is below. Keep in mind I haven't tested it, so there might be typos and I might have thought wrong at some points.
counter_load:
ifflag(11,stop)
iftrinkets(0,counter) # load internal script
counter:
say(5) # this is one of the few needed internal scripts
gotoroom(0,0) # allow "script backgrounding"
customifflag(5,counter5) # increase counter of flag 5
customifflag(10,counter_started) # check if it has started at all
flag(10,on) # it hasn't
text(1,0,0,4)
say(5) # text
text(gray,-1,30,1)
Counter
backgroundtext
speak
text(1,0,0,4)
say(5)
text(red,-1,90,1)
10
backgroundtext
speak
text(1,0,0,4)
say(5) # set the flags to their current time, making it output 9 once a full second pass
flag(6,on)
flag(7,off)
flag(8,off)
flag(9,on)
loadscript(stop)
text(1,0,0,4)
counter_started:
flag(5,on)
delay(0)
counter5:
flag(5,off) # Do the splitsecond counter
ifflag(4,counter4)
flag(4,on)
delay(0) # those are needed to prevent a bug in VVVVVV
counter4:
flag(4,off)
ifflag(3,counter3)
flag(3,on)
delay(0)
counter3:
flag(3,off)
ifflag(2,counter2)
flag(2,on)
delay(0)
counter2:
flag(2,off)
ifflag(2,counter1)
flag(1,on)
delay(0)
counter1:
flag(1,off)
ifflag(1,counter_full0000) # trigger a second, check at the very bottom
delay(0)
# The full counters, sorted by when they occur (in practice). The first part which doesn't exist for odd numbers are continuing branching to other seconds, simulating integers. The second part sets the flags applied for the incoming second. The third part is actual output. While I could merge part 1 and 2 under the same text(1,0,0,4) part in some cirumstances, I didn't, to make it more understandable.
counter_full1001:
say(2)
flag(9,off)
text(1,0,0,4)
say(5)
text(red,-1,90,1)
09
backgroundtext
speak
loadscript(stop)
text(1,0,0,4)
counter_full1000:
say(2)
customifflag(9,counter_full1001)
text(1,0,0,4)
say(5)
flag(6,off)
flag(7,on)
flag(8,on)
flag(9,on)
text(1,0,0,4)
say(5)
text(red,-1,90,1)
08
backgroundtext
speak
loadscript(stop)
text(1,0,0,4)
counter_full0111:
say(2)
flag(9,off)
text(1,0,0,4)
say(5)
text(red,-1,90,1)
07
backgroundtext
speak
loadscript(stop)
text(1,0,0,4)
counter_full0110:
say(3)
customifflag(9,counter_full0111)
text(1,0,0,4)
say(3)
flag(8,off)
flag(9,on)
text(1,0,0,4)
say(5)
text(red,-1,90,1)
06
backgroundtext
speak
loadscript(stop)
text(1,0,0,4)
counter_full0101:
say(2)
flag(9,off)
text(1,0,0,4)
say(5)
text(red,-1,90,1)
05
backgroundtext
speak
loadscript(stop)
text(1,0,0,4)
counter_full0100:
say(3)
customifflag(8,counter_full0110)
customifflag(9,counter_full0101)
text(1,0,0,4)
say(4)
flag(7,off)
flag(8,on)
flag(9,on)
text(1,0,0,4)
say(5)
text(red,-1,90,1)
04
backgroundtext
speak
loadscript(stop)
text(1,0,0,4)
counter_full0011:
say(2)
flag(9,off)
text(1,0,0,4)
say(5)
text(red,-1,90,1)
03
backgroundtext
speak
loadscript(stop)
text(1,0,0,4)
counter_full0010:
say(2)
customifflag(9,counter_full0011)
text(1,0,0,4)
say(3)
flag(8,off)
flag(9,on)
text(1,0,0,4)
say(5)
text(red,-1,90,1)
02
backgroundtext
speak
loadscript(stop)
text(1,0,0,4)
counter_full0001:
say(2)
flag(9,off)
text(1,0,0,4)
say(5)
text(red,-1,90,1)
01
backgroundtext
speak
loadscript(stop)
text(1,0,0,4)
counter_full0000:
say(5)
customifflag(6,counter_full1000) # those are different states of flags
customifflag(7,counter_full0100)
customifflag(8,counter_full0010)
customifflag(9,counter_full0001)
text(1,0,0,4)
say(5)
text(red,-1,90,1)
00
backgroundtext
speak
text(1,0,0,4)
say(2)
flag(11,on) # stop the script
loadscript(stop)
text(1,0,0,4)