#drew iskall for the first time and he looks Like That. sorry

[celestialcarnival]

ep.15

[pixelfun20]

Flower Fields, Ch 1

Summary: Season 7 of Hermitcraft has begun, and their newest and youngest member, Tubbo, is more than ready to prove himself in the eyes of his friends. New memories are made and friendships are forged, but old ghosts from the past still linger, and Tubbo will soon discover that fate has a way of letting things come full circle.

Notes: This an fic idea I legitimately came up with yesterday, based off of @give-grian-rights ‘s Watcher!Tubbo and Watcher!Tommy AU (I hope you don’t mind! I just loved this idea). I wrote this a single evening, let it sit for the night, and decided to publish it today. I hope you guys like it! Just to note, I haven’t finalized a title (or plot, besides some major points) yet, so if y’all have any ideas, let me know!

Chapter 1:

I'm not yours, and you're not mine

But we can sit and pass the time

For a moment, he floated in darkness.

Then in the next, he was falling through the air.

He didn’t fall far, thankfully, and his impact was cushioned by another body right underneath him.

Tubbo groaned, blinking against the bright rays of the sun as he tried to adjust from the darkness that had just encompassed him. He shifted, feeling rough cloth underneath him, and realized he was lying on someone.

“Oh! Sorry!” He exclaimed, swiftly moving off the other. He looked down as he saw a man with dark brown hair, a beard, and a leather jacket sit up, rolling his shoulders with a wince. “I think I spawned right on top of you, xB.”

xBCrafted just chuckled, pulling himself up to his feet. Tubbo followed him, cracking his back as he went, and looked around, trying to discern where he was.

Ah, man. It seemed like they had spawned on a small, sandy island, that was, worst of all, completely devoid of trees. Already it was crowding with the arrival of the other Hermits, with a few more pairs repeating the same situation as he and xB, spawning one on top of the other in the enclosed space. In the distance, he could see a large mooshroom island looming above the waves, but besides that there was nothing in sight.

“Looks like we’ll be going for a swim today!” xB chirped as Iskall spawned a foot or so away from them, landing face-first in the sand. “X wasn’t lying when he said we’d have a tricky time starting the Season.”

“And here I was hoping to stay dry,” Tubbo sighed as Iskall shot up, spluttering sand in the air. The two of them laughed at his sorry state.

“Very funny, you two,” the elder man grumbled. Iskall85, or Iskall as he was commonly known, looked considerably older than the two friends, perhaps in his early thirties. He had semi-long, scraggly brown hair and a cybernetic eye, as well as a green sweatshirt and brown vest.

“Oho, is that Scar?” xB exclaimed. Tubbo followed his gaze, and sure enough, a man in a purple bathrobe and dyed-white hair had just spawned, half in the water. Ah, GoodTimesWithScar was an odd one, alright, he thought with a laugh.

“What did he do?” Tubbo giggled. Scar turned towards them, seeming to hear his comment, and put his hands on his hips.

“I’m sorry, Tubbo,” he announced semi-solemnly. “The wizard life has chosen me.”

Iskall nearly cackled at that, throwing his head back, and xB and Tubbo joined him. Trust Scar to find new and creative ways to start the season! Tubbo made a mental note to drop by in a few weeks and see where this new bit got him.

“Looking good, Scar!” Stress said, coming up behind him. The shortest of the Hermits, she wore a pink jacket and kept her straight brown hair short and to the chin. “How’re you doing, Tub?”

“Great!” Tubbo chirped back. “Excited to start the Season right.”

“Let me know if you need anything, love,” she added, clapping her hands together. “That goes for all of you! I’d chat for longer, but Mumbo and I have some plans we need to discuss. See you all in a bit!” And with that she was gone, hopping over to the other side of the island. Scar went right on her heels, jogging over to Cubfan135 (a balding man in a lab coat around Iskall’s age), who was standing next to Mumbo Jumbo.

Tubbo scanned over the rapidly growing group of people, grinning once he caught sight of a flash of black-striped yellow armor in the crowd. 

“Hey! X!” He called out, waving. A man fully covered in armor, painted to resemble a bee, looked over to them. Through his vizor, Tubbo could see the corners of his brown eyes crinkle in the tell-tale sign of a smile, and he approached the trio. “Love the outfit!”

“Thank you, Tubbo,” XisumaVoid replied, patting him on the shoulder. “I’m quite liking your new design, too.”

Tubbo fought back a blush, looking down at himself. Like the elder man, he’d changed up his usual outfit to celebrate the newest mob addition to Season 6, the bees. He’d changed into a yellow jacket with black stripes on the sleeves over a gray shirt, as well as black pants with a yellow stripe down the sides. 

“Alrighty, I’ll be leaving you two to your father-son bonding,” Iskall cut in, waving a hand as he walked off. “I’m going to go catch up with Keralis.”

“Oh, will you stop with that!” Xisuma said good-naturedly as Tubbo really did his best not to blush. xB laughed again. Iskall just whistled, walking over to where Keralis, a man in his late thirties in a blue shirt and jeans, had just spawned. The server’s admin turned back to Tubbo. “Sorry about that. You know how he can be.”

Tubbo just shook his head a bit, trying to suppress a smile. Ah, it’d been far too long since the Hermits had all been in one place like this. He’d missed the action of it all.

He, Xisuma, and xB chatted together for a few minutes as everyone spawned in and caught their bearings. It seemed everyone had big plans for the Season. While he and Xisuma had gone with a bee theme, xB was apparently planning to really Hermit out the season, far away from spawn. Scar was certainly embracing the wizard part of himself, and rumor had it BDubs and Doc were going to be neighbors, which was a recipe for disaster and, more importantly, funny stories. 

“Okay, everyone!” It was Keralis’ shout that drew the twenty-some players out of their respective conversations. Almost unconsciously, they’d formed an oval around the perimeter of their tiny spawn island. “Intro time! Let’s go, X!”

“What? Why me?” Xisuma protested, but Keralis just laughed and took his place back in the circle.

“C’mon, admin,” Tubbo teased him with an elbow to the side. Xisuma sighed, rolling his shoulders, then stepped out into the center of the island.

“Alright everyone. Welcome to Hermitcraft Season 7! Go!” He clapped his hands together and dashed back towards the shore, the circle immediately breaking up as the Hermits split into their groups and dove into the ocean. Tubbo laughed as he waved goodbye to xB, who took off in a different direction as he went to follow X.

The water was nice and lukewarm, and soon enough Tubbo was backstroking over the ocean. He looked up at the bright blue sky, and smiled.

~~~~~~~~~

They spent most of the first day collecting supplies. 

As it turned out, both FalseSymmetry, Hypnotizd, and ZombieCleo had decided to go in the same direction as he and Xisuma, so they ended up gathering their first bits of wood and stone together. Then there was some issue with the server that caused Xisuma to have to dive deep into the server code, in the open, at midnight, so their first night went without much sleep and with a lot of mob fighting instead.

“Well,” Cleo said the next morning, twirling her axe as Tubbo set to cooking some meat for breakfast. “That could have gone better.”

“I think the first night went just fine, thank you very much,” False shot back, sharpening her newly-minted stone sword. “I’m going to be honest, though, I’m not used to going out at night without an elytra. Or armor. Or a decent sword.”

“Hey, but did you see how many mobs I killed?” Tubbo put in, pulling out some pork chops and tossing one to Cleo. “I’m a god, I tell you.”

“Yes,” Xisuma replied. He was still sitting on one of the beds they’d made, and was double checking some of the code. “God of giving me heart attacks.”

“Not my fault you messed up part of the code! I saved your life!”

“I’d suggest you remember who bandaged that arrow wound, kid.”

Tubbo’s hand flew to his shoulder, where his jacket was torn slightly, and he blushed. “I’m not a kid!”

Everyone turned and gave him a flat look, and Tubbo blushed harder, looking down. It was no secret that he was, by far, the youngest person on the server. Most players were in their late twenties, like False and Impulse, to their late thirties, like Scar and Doc. Even the youngest before he’d arrived had been Mumbo and xB, at 24 and 19 respectively. At just barely 16, Tubbo was, well, a child compared to them.

Loathe as he was to admit it. It had been hard enough in the beginning, when he’d arrived unexpectedly at the beginning of Season 6. No one had been expecting any new players to join that Season, much less a mentally scarred 14-year-old, and he’d ended up being coddled for the first six months or so. Heck, he’d lived with Xisuma until he’d grown so tired of it he’d had to run off and make his own base without asking him, because the answer would have been no.

He was perfectly capable of living on his own! It was just… well, Tubbo knew he wasn’t as good as the others. He couldn’t make the huge, rolling complexes or over complicated redstone machines that did everything for you like the other hermits did. Of course, it made sense; he had a lot less experience and was still learning these things. But it didn’t help the fact that the others, well, they didn’t look down on him, per se, but they were always a little too willing to help, a little too protective. 

“Sure,” Cleo was drawling teasingly, drawing him out of his thoughts. Tubbo snorted and looked down at his breakfast with a shake of his head, starting to eat. 

“Oh, let him be,” Hypno put in, grabbing some food for himself. “I remember being that age. Young and ready to take on the world. At least he doesn't have any creaky old bones. I’m already feeling my back in the mornings.”

“Alrighty then!” Xisuma announced after a moment of silence, rising from his bed and closing the admin screens. “Looks like all the post-spawn bugs have been taken care of. I’m ready to head out for the day.”

“I guess this is where we all say goodbye, then,” False replied, twirling her sword. “I have the best idea for my base this season, but I gotta go north from here.”

“Tubbo and I are heading east.”

“West for me,” Cleo put in.

Hypno just shrugged. “I figured I’d wander for a bit before settling down.”

“No planning?” Tubbo asked, then grinned, glad for the change of subject. “I like your style, Hypno.”

The bandana-ed man inclined his head at him with a smile. He wasn’t a new player to the server, not at all, but from what Tubbo knew he hadn’t been around for a few years. Prior to the last few days as they’d prepared to jump Seasons, he’d hardly even heard of the man before, and thus didn’t know him too well.

Xisuma clapped Tubbo’s shoulder, eyes crinkling from that helmet-obscured smile of his. 

“Ready to go?” he asked.

Tubbo whooped. “Bees, here we come!”

~~~~~~~~~

Perfect.

That was the only way Tubbo could describe the place he’d come across. He sat in the branches of one of the tallest trees in the area, looking out to where the forest he’d been traversing ended and the plains biome, scattered with flowers in small patches around, with gentle hills rolling even further in the distance.

It was an idyllic location, and perfect for his plans for the Season.

Another day had passed, marking it Day 3 of Season 7. After that first somewhat disastrous night, he and Xisuma had separated from their initial group and travelled to find a base together. Xisuma had decided, for some reason, that he was going to build his base in the middle of the jungle, so they had set up camp there for the night. Come dawn, however, Tubbo was ready to go and scout for a place of his own, and with a promise to check in with Xisuma every day or so, he’d set off that morning.

It was early afternoon, now, and honestly, Tubbo was pleased with how quickly he’d found his spot. It was only a half-day’s journey, while walking, from Xisuma, so once he’d gotten elytra he’d be able to visit whenever he wanted. Besides that, news had it that Keralis and Beef were only a little ways out, which would be fun since Tubbo didn’t know them too well.

Humming quietly, Tubbo reached into his inventory and took out the only belonging he’d taken with him from Season 6－a medium-sized notebook, filled with sketches and notes on what he wanted to build and how to do it. Last Season he hadn’t been ambitious enough; Tubbo had started late thanks to living with Xisuma and then had focused on just having a base of his own that by the end of the season it had looked puny compared to the many buildings his friends/guardians had made.

He wasn’t making that mistake again. Tubbo had grand plans for this Season’s megabase, and he was going to make sure it blew everyone else out of the water.

Okay, maybe that was an over exaggeration. But Tommy had always said to aim high.

His heart twisted a bit, as it always did when he thought of his old friends. Back then, he’d known people his own age, and Wilbur and Techno had rarely held back against him when they’d interacted with him, whether through words or PvP.

He wondered how they were doing; it’d been almost two years since he’d last seen or heard from them. He wondered if they’d moved on.

He wondered if they knew he was still alive.

Tubbo shook his head, chasing the depressing thoughts out of his mind. He’d found himself thinking of his old friends less and less over the last year and half, as he’d settled into life in Hermitcraft and begun to heal from what had happened to him. Not to say he didn’t miss them, that he wasn’t missing something in his life, but, well. Even though he thought of them every once in a while, the numerous letters he’d written to Tommy, unable to be sent, had been left behind with Season 6, in a way of really starting anew.

Doc had explained it best. Life moved on, and sometimes it was best to just hold onto the old memories and work on making new ones.

He’d taken that advice to heart. Tubbo flipped open his notebook to one of the middle pages, holding it out and comparing his sketch to the open plains before him.

Yes. This biome would do quite nicely.

Season 7 was going to be something great.

[sweetest-honeybee]

To Hell and Back

Chapter 31

Summary: Introducing a new evil hermit in the story and Doc nearly chokes BadTimes to death.

Characters: Doc, Impulse, BadTimes (Oscar), Hex (my Evil Mumbo) (NPC Grian, Xisuma, Hels, Wels, and Evil X mention)

TW: Strangulation and (kind of) swearing I believe?

Notes: Yes, notes will become a consistent thing lol, but I love this chapter a lot because of Oscar’s characterization :D

——————

The Evil Hermits were interesting to say the least. BadTimes led them around the vast area which resembled their server in some way. The land seemed generated quite the same, and in the places where their bases were in the overworld, they were there in HelsCraft, as BadTimes called it. The castle for The Champion was actually the Hels version of Grian’s castle he built, just the land was changed here and there.

There was a ‘jungle’- large burnt trees- close to it, and within the jungle was a very tall withering tree, presumably the HelsCraft version of Iskall’s base, owned by who BadTimes called Iskill. However, they weren’t on their way there after getting a glimpse at the other bases. The moment they were through the lava and flying around, their eyes landed on Mumbo’s HelsCraft base. Unsurprisingly, it was built nearly identical to it but gears and hundred block tall machinery ticked with metallic groans outside of the temple. Smokestacks made their way from the ground and the place looked more like a factory than the preserved temple.

BadTimes decided that that was where they would be visiting first as far as actually talking to the Evil Hermits was concerned. He said he had an ally there named Hex. Hex was supposedly Mumbo’s evil doppelgänger and that all of the Evil Hermits, and a large portion of HelsCraft itself, tended to rely on him for materials. BadTimes said he was respected, nearly a Champion but lacked a will to fight all the time and didn’t care to please The Lord of Darkness.

Already had been flying around, BadTimes led them to land on the spire in the middle of the factory, wings folding behind them neatly. Doc and Impulse were absolutely stunned by the build itself, not that Mumbo’s general base in the overworld wasn’t already incredibly impressive. Just the intense amount of machinery and watching farms grow and be harvested in amounts at a time by the hundreds. It was incredible and that made Impulse particularly giddy to meet this redstone master.

BadTimes had them land on the highest layer of the spire and let Doc and Impulse take in the ginormous build and it’s details. Occasionally, they saw BadTimes glance around, presumably looking for his friend. Though, were friends a thing here? BadTimes said Hex was an ally, not a friend. Yet, Evil X said Hels considered the Evil Hermits to be his friends at one point.

That also brought a thought to Doc, from something Hels told him a while back. He decided to ask BadTimes anyways while Impulse was busy looking over the edge. The creeper stepped up to the evil terraformer with a grunt.

“Weren’t you the one who helped in dethroning Hels?” He asked, not sparing a glance at the other, simply watching Impulse gawk and ramble about the machinery as he stood next to the evil hermit.

On the other hand, BadTimes didn’t seem fazed by the question, simply keeping an unmoving gaze. “Yes. I helped NPC get the throne. Wasn’t the one who stabbed em’ though.” He side eyed Doc carefully. “Why.”

Doc nodded, taking in the information that Hels, in fact, didn’t lie if he was talking shit about his previous companions. “We need your help,” he muttered.

That brought a chuckle out of BadTimes. “What, with The Lord a’ Darkness?” He whistled, emphasizing the size of that kind of task. “Can’t help ya’ there. ‘S got all of us wrapped around his finger. You want help, you get NPC. Kid’s got tons of power.”

The creeper sighed, then faced BadTimes curiously. “Why did you help us? In the castle?”

“Aw, now don’t bring none a’ that here. I did y’all a favor, but I don’ do it out of the nonexistent kindness of my heart, Doc. You owe me.”

Doc hummed, a fair point. “Right, well, you didn’t say you wouldn’t help us with The Lord of Darkness because you didn’t want to. You said it because you’re not able to.”

BadTimes snorted at the observation, nodding his head fondly. “Who said I like workin’ for em’? I don’t care about none a’ y’all, but I like not having to murder people all the time for his satisfaction. I want out just as bad as you do, but that’d hurt that Scar fellow.”

That was true. Hels trying to get out only landed in whatever was going on with Wels. “Right, right. Why’d you overthrow Hels then?”

The other shrugged. “Needed NPC up there. He don’ hurt anyone, really. Soft kid, actually. But even without whatever The Lord gave em’ as a reward, he’s got enough power to wipe out a city with a snap.” BadTimes sighed, almost sadly. “Kid ain’t from here, Doc. He could change this but it would risk everything we got here.”

“Change what?”

The trio turned their heads towards the familiar British accent, though much deeper than they thought it’d be, more distorted. There stood, who Impulse and Doc assumed, was Hex. Unsurprisingly, the man was still sporting the curled handlebar mustache, and his outfit screamed the word Victorian. This man, they already could tell, was some kind of inventor. Maybe the googles were the deciding factor for that thought.

“Howdy, Hex! Showin’ these fellas around. Lord a’ Darkness took em’ from the overworld.” BadTimes pointed a thumb at the two behind him.

“Figured,” the Brit replied, though not hardly showing much interest to them. “Touch anything and I'll have you ground in the gears down there, understand?” Doc and Impulse nodded, Impulse still with a grin on his face.

“You are like- holy shit, how long have you been doing this?!” The redstoner asked excitedly. “This is amazing!”

Hex tilted his chin up proudly. “Years. This world kinda forces you to get better than most. Competition, I’d say, is probably why it happens to look like this anyways.”

“You’ve got to teach me,” Impulse replied, bouncing on his heels.

“Better hope you can keep up, I don’t wait.” Hex ended his sentence on a cold stare, but even behind the mustache, you could see his lips perk up just slightly.

BadTimes decided to interject their little conversation. “Ay Hex, gotta ask you somethin’. Think you can do anythin’ to help this whole Lord a’ Darkness thing?” he asked, putting a hand on the brit’s shoulder.

He’d shook his head. “I don’t believe so, no. NPC can’t do anything?”

“Ah, ‘s what we were thinkin’. Hels ain't havin’ a fun time though, Wels is gettin’ possessed by The Lord.”

“Serves him right....” Hex muttered. “Evil Xisuma dragged him over there, he can stay for all I care.”

“Hex, he was just tryin’ to please The Lord. You know what happens when you don’ please The Lord.”

“Well, The Lord can punish me,” he replied in a disgusted tone, plucking the other evil hermit’s hand off his shoulder. “I don’t care about Mumbo. I’m not being paid to sit around and do his handiwork. I invent for myself, Oscar.”

BadTimes huffed, quirking a brow at the inventor. “So you won’t help us with a little revolution?” he asked with a pout.

Hex merely rolled his eyes with a slight smile, then looking at Doc and Impulse. “What’s been going on in your world, anyways? We heard it’s getting bad. Your own admin is starting to turn on you.”

The pair’s eyes widened, jaws dropping at the phrase. Xisuma turning on them? Had he been possessed as well? Doc wondered about it, then realizing now how aggressive the admin had been since this whole thing started. Now, he and Keralis were off somewhere, probably finding Hels and Evil X to figure out what was going on. That could only lead to something bad.

“Uh….” Doc started, promptly shutting his mouth in confusion. “I….don’t know apparently. I didn’t know Xisuma was….” he trailed off, the Evil Hermits stared at him curiously.

“You’re an idiot,” Hex commented. Doc sent him a glare, but that was quickly returned by the inventor. “You seriously haven’t noticed this entire time? Whew boy, you’re in for a treat.”

“Yeah,” BadTimes agreed. “Can’t believe you didn’t know Evil X was bein’ punished too. I mean I don’ like the guy, but just somethin’ you should know.”

The pair dragged their hands down their faces, glancing at each other worriedly.

“We’ve gotta get back to the overworld,” said Impulse. He looked at the Evil Hermits with pleading eyes. “There’s gotta be a way for us to get back.”

“Look, I’m sorry boys, but-“

The Evil Hermits paused, pulling out phone-like objects from their pockets. Impulse and Doc realized quickly that the Evil Hermits had their own communicators. That quickly gave the both of them ideas.

“Xisuma experienced kinetic energy,” Hex read. “Hm, guess he’s not doing great either.”

“You have communicators?” Doc asked them.

Quickly, they pocketed their comms. “Yeah, they ain’t for you though, back off.”

“You don’t understand, we’ve gotta get back home, BadTimes,” the creeper growled.

“I think we’re done meetin’ people for today, Doc,” the other replied rather blankly.

“I thought you wanted to get out of this!”

Impulse turned to pull him away from BadTimes. “Doc, don’t-“

Doc pulled his shoulder away from Impulse harshly. “No, we’re getting out of here. You’ve gotta help us, because if you wanna leave this,” he gestured around them. “This is how.”

Without hesitation, both Evil Hermits drew their swords, the familiar netherite blades reflecting the luminance in the spire. Hex stepped forward with BadTimes and Impulse stepped away from the trio, far away. Doc stood his ground with a snarl. Yet, he spread his arms away from him with a smirk.

“Go on then. Kill me. I’ll get stuck on that island again, won’t I?”

“No, actually.” Hex looked at Impulse darkly. He walked back and pressed a button on the wall, one of many of them littering it. “But he can go.”

A couple seconds after the button was pressed, an arrow shot out of a hidden dispenser, striking Impulse in the chest. The redstoner, having been close to the edge, stumbled backwards, finding no more ground behind him. Despite this, his shock kept him from yelling on his way off the edge. Doc ran to catch his hands but at the last second, Impulse’s fingers slipped through his grip and he watched as his friend descended painfully into the machinery at the bottom of the build, watching blood splatter in the large gears.

ImpulseSV suffocated, they knew their communicators read. The server mechanics wouldn’t be able to name any other death.

The creeper took a step back, silent at what’d just happened to his friend.

“Don’ worry about it. He’ll spawn back up there. I’m gonna go grab em’-“ BadTimes was interrupted by a metallic grip around his neck pushing up against one of the stone pillars. He grabbed at Doc’s arm, clawing at it, but the hold didn’t budge. Quickly, he was lifted off the ground, left squirming in the air against the wall.

“You don’t respawn, Oscar. You can help me or I strangle you to death,” Doc snarled. “Just a damn pitiful creature. Nothing more than a skeleton, aren’t you.”

With that, Hex pulled a bow from his inventory, aiming it at the creeper. “Let him go or I call NPC. He won’t be merciful.”

The hand around BadTime’s throat tightened and he choked, swallowing thickly. “H- Hex don’t—“ he rasped. “Doc,” he swallowed again. “I’m sorry- Can’t help your world.” The Evil Hermit began to feel lightheaded. “But I can get you out- I can-“ At those words, he fell to the floor, the hand no longer around his neck. He hacked and coughed, bringing his hands up to his now sore throat.

“Tell me how.”

“Oscar, you’re not seriously going to help him!”

“We need the NPC,” BadTimes muttered. “But you,” he pointed up at Doc. “Don’t ever call me Oscar, ya’ hear?”

“Noted, now go get Impulse.” Doc smirked at how BadTimes scurried away, stumbling to stand, and fumbling with his liftoff. Man’s all bark and no bite, isn’t he. The creeper turned to Hex, who stood motionless. He was confused as to what to do now.

“You’re gonna help us, too,” Doc growled.

[thenightau]

Endangered

((TW: Generalized gore, vomit))

The deity sighed within its castle of destruction. The walls were rotting and covered with vines and moss and mold. In the distance was screams of those who hadn’t lived such peaceful lives. The wind picked up the scent of blood, rot, and desestation. It lounged in a chair made of human bones, legs thrown over the arm of the chair, and its blue hair falling behind them as they stared up at the ceiling. 

“Uuugggh. Im bored.” It muttered, turning onto its stomach and puffing its cheeks out in a pout. “I should check on that SMP. I wonder what they’re up t-”

“Your dastardly-ness!” Came a small, squeaky voice of a man. And it turned its head. The man was mortal, a spirt enslaved in this hellish place. “Words come in from Builder. He needs your help-”

“What?” It asked, sitting up with a wide grin. “You’re telling me. Alexios. Needs my help?” It leaned forward, and the mortal coward back at the gleam in its eyes. 

“Yes Endanger.” He said, “Builder wrote that he needed your help containing Night before-”

“Oh.” It deflated, relaxing back in its chair. “Bo-ring. Go get him to have Protector fight his battles.” It waved its had dismissively. 

“But your dastardly-ness. Protector… can’t.”

“...What?” It asked, eyes narrowing in on the mortal like a lion’s on its prey. 

“Protector… is dead. Night killed her.”

“HE WHAT?!” 

The mortal coward under the shaking roar that was Endanger’s voice. Endanger stood, extending it’s hand as a battle axe, caked red with blood, flew into its hand. It stormed towards the door as the human stammered to explain. But Endanger didn’t hear an ounce of it. It slammed the door shut, yelling behind it to make sure nothing got better in its absence. 

___

Builder paced within the night, pulling his hair as most of the hermits slept. Save for Xisuma, who was watching over Grian and Wels like a hawk. He stared uselessly at a large map plastered to the wall, his brain trying to come up with something, anything that might help him defeat his sibling. But no matter what thought crossed his mind, it was always met with;

‘Protector wouldn’t think thats a smart idea.’ 

‘Protector wouldn’t like that.’

The thoughts made him want to scream out of frustration. He kicked at the wall holding the map, watching as the item frames crumbled to the ground. He let out a slow sigh, leaning down to gather the papers and put them back up before anyone saw his stress induced anger. 

No. He had to stay calm. Collected. For the sake of his son. 

He heard a loud, shrill battle cry. One that came from the heavens and made the hermits jolt to attention. Builder looked up, seeing a blur of blue in the sky before it landed in a ball of smoke. 

Endanger as joined the server

“Endanger! You came! Oh thank void-” Builder smiled, but that smile faltered as the war god stood slowly, skin still steaming. 

“Oh-” muttered Cub

“My-” gulped Bdubs, sweating nervously. 

“Void.” Xisuma cured, eyes wide at the god in front of them. 

Endanger was tall, as was the rest of them. With longer blue hair parted heavily to the left with the right side shaven. In its hands held a battle axe, one still oozing with blood. Covering its chest was a pale dark purple colored chest plate, wearing skin tight clothing underneath it that was tan in nature. 

But that wasn’t what horrified the hermits, no. 

It was the multiple gashes on the deity. The burned, charred hands and feet. Its face was horridly mauled, and Xisuma briefly wondered how the hell that thing saw anything. It was glaring heavily, but not towards the hermits. 

Its anger was directed at Builder. 

“L-Listen, Endanger-” Builder stuttered, waving his hands around and taking a step back from the clearly angry god. 

“You mean to tell me. I had to find out. My sister was dead. From a servent?” The god, known to mortals as Endanger, or the god of brutal war, snarled, its axe pointed at Builder. 

“I’m sorry! I was just busy with trying to get the other hermits back and-”

“Wait wait wait. Hermits?” Endanger looked at the mortals, who all inched back at its gaze. Its eyes locked onto Iskall’s, who was still mostly in his own daze and not paying attention. “You.” It pointed to the other, “You’re Iskall, right?” It asked, and Iskall looked over, nodding a little. 

“Yes. Why?”

“You’re Doc’s friend. Right?”

“I mean we’re all friends-?” Iskall looked at Builder, confused by this gods questions. 

“Then where is he? I don’t see him in your ranks.” Endanger asked once more. Iskall paused, afraid to tell this deity the truth. “Answer me.” 

“Hes… with Night.” Iskall said, eyes glued to the axe in the others hand. Endanger went quiet at that. It seemed to ponder something, only for a few mere moments before it’s angered expression turned into a large grin. 

“Well then. Lets go get my disciple back.”

___

Xisuma was crouched beside the god, and had to breath through his mouth as to not smell the heavy scent of rotting flesh that came with it. Endanger was grinning, completely hidden by the brush of the jungle. Nearby was Iskall’s half burned Omega tree, the start of Grian’s mansion, and the start of Mumbo’s…. Mega base? 

He slowly looked at the god, whose eyes were narrowed in front of it, peering through the bushes and looking about ready to pounce. Its clawed and charred fingers were curled tight around its battle axe’s handle, the sharp blade shining in the dim light. Endanger glanced down at him, only flicking its eyes over at him. 

“Do you want to know how to scare a god shitless?” It asked. 

Endangers voice was… odd. To say the least. It sounded like at least two people talking at once, it sounded sharp and cold, hissing like a snake. And yet it sounded joyful and mischievous. 

“Uh… Sure?” Xisuma asked more than said, but Endanger nodded anyways. They only waited a few more minutes in the jungles humidity, before Endanger’s body tensed, clawed feet digging into the ground as it got ready to pounce. 

“Follow my lead.” 

Was all Endanger said before an ear splitting war cry left its lips, well. It seemed like a war cry. To anyone else it sounded like a banshee screech. It leaped out from the bushes, catching Night fully off guard as it slammed its battle axe into the ground, Night barely missing. 

“SHIT-!” Night hissed, Beside them was Doc and Stress. Well… Doc and Princess. 

Xisuma rushed forward, and used his sword to try and knock Doc down, but was simply met with a sword rivaling his own. 

Endanger laughed, pulling its axe from the ground as its milky white eyes bore into Night’s through the mask. “Did you really think I wouldn’t show?” It taunted, swinging its axe brutally fast. It heard a yelp as Princess ducked down to dodge the swing, creating wither roses to hopefully still the god. The blackened thorns tore into Endangers skin, infecting the god with the withering effect. 

But it did nothing. Endanger ripped the vines from it, lunging once more for Night. The other drew their sword, barely blocking the axe in time. 

“I was counting on it actually. Just wanted to get to you first.” Night grunted, sending a punch to the other god, even if just to make them back away. Their fist collided with Endanger’s nose, and a loud crack followed by blood flow indicated they broke its nose. 

Endanger stumbled back, before glancing over to Princess, who had instead focused on trying to subdue Xisuma. It grinned lowly. 

“You hurt my disciple. You killed my sister. And you think I’d join you?” Endanger asked, its axe hooking around Princess’s waist and drawing her close. 

“Fuck. No.” 

Princess drove its clawed hand through Princess’s chest, the mortal gagging on her own blood as she shakily looked up at Night, fear flashing through her face before Endanger ripped out the mortals heart. Princess’s body collapsed onto the floor, before it vanished. 

Stressmonster101 was mauled by Endanger 

Endanger grinned at the look of horror Night was inevitably giving it. Endanger tilted its head back, mouth opening at it raising the still beating heart above its mouth. Its long tongue wrapped around the organ. Before swallowing it whole. 

“Thanks for the snack, Night. Now. HOW ABOUT THE MAIN COURSE?!” Endanger’s axe drove into Night’s arm, nearly cutting the limb in two. Night just straight up fled with their wound, vanishing into the dark of the jungle. Endanger laughed, blood dripping from its hand as it turned to face Xisuma and Experiment. 

Xisuma had ran into the jungle a small ways, vomiting onto the ground. Experiment stood in horror as the deity came closer. It rested its bloodied hands on his shoulders, falling to its knees. 

“Doc? Can you hear me?” It asked, and Experiment dared to growl at it. 

“I am not Doc.” It said, and Endanger laughed. 

“Always so feisty.” It sighed, before lifting Doc onto its shoulder. “Well. I have what I want. Hey wimp! Come on! Lets go back to the other wimps! Wait till they hear bout this!”

Xisuma groaned, slowly standing on shaking legs as he wiped his lips with the back of his hand. 

“How about we don’t horrify the others to the point of throwing up?”

“Awwww-”

~~~~~

AAAAnnnd!!! I’m back and able to post one shots on this account again!! :DD 

Happy New years everyone! Take this as my present to you all! ~Ollie

[skybiome]

Net Outcome

a fic for @mine-sara-sp‘s shadow au! I’m not quite sure if everything lines up with the pre-established fics, so if something doesn’t quite match im sorry

Wels and Biffa were fighting along one of the beaches near the shopping district. They were simply going through the motions of crossing blades, not really talking. All of their focus was on the spar at hand.

With the shadow update and everything that happened as a result, the knight and cyborg hadn't had much time to catch up.

As the sunset over the horizon, Biffa unceremoniously decided that practice would be over at the foot of the statue of hermity, and tripped Wels. He held the point of his sword at the knight’s throat. After a moment, Biffa pointed the sword elseward and offered his friend a hand instead. Wels took it confidently and Biffa pulled him to his feet. 

The two struck up a conversation as they walked down to the edge of the water. Wels pulled a checkered blanket out of his inventory and spread it out on the sand. Biffa set a cake on the blanket and Wels handed him a bowl of rabbit stew. Golden carrots may be the most efficient food, but sometimes it was nice to eat a variety of different foods. 

Wels set his empty bowl on the blanket and glanced at Biffa before turning to look towards the ocean. He took a deep breath. “Biffa, do you like the shadow update? Like genuinely, do you think it's good?” 

Biffa tried to choke down the stew in the mouth to say something, but Wels purposely spoke when his friend had a mouth full of food. 

He chuckled at his friend. “And I don’t mean that in a smart-alecky “What is good?” kind of way. I mean do you think that this update will have a net positive in the outcome? For the server?”

Biffa managed to swallow the remains of his food and pounded his chest and took a deep breath. He opened his mouth to speak, but then thought for a second and closed it again. After a minute, he spoke. 

“Did you bring me out here for an intervention, Wels?”

“I’m not really sure. I think I just kind of want to talk. We haven’t had the opportunity to lately.”

“Then let’s talk about you. What’s your shadow been up to? Paladin, right?” Biffa cut a slice from the cake, put it on a plate with silverware, and held it out to Wels. 

The knight took and cake but just set it in his lap. “Yeah, he goes by Paladin. The Vex shadows took an early liking to him, and just kind of kidnapped him, I think. He’s died a few times.” Wels laughed at something quietly. “And every time he has, the Vex shadows have found me and had me re-summon him.”

Biffa looked alarmed at that news. “Do they just, kidnap you?”

“Sort of?” Wels shrugged and turned towards Biffa. “They don’t keep me or anything. Scar’s shadow normally just flies me to the shadow temple and has me summon him. Then he picks up Paladin and leaves me in the temple. The first couple of times Paladin tried to fight Scar’s shadow, but lately, he seems more begrudging about it. He doesn’t actively fight Scar’s shadow anymore.”

While Wels was talking, Biffa cut his own piece from a cake. “Have the Vex shadows died much?”

“I don’t think so. They can’t talk very well and also act kind of, animalistic isn’ really the right word.” Wels made a motion with his hands as he tried to think. “They act very instinctually. Base urges and all that. Dragons would probably be a pretty apt comparison.”

Biffa gave Wels a questioning look through another mouthful of cake. 

The knight took his fork and poked at the cake while he continued to talk. “They have a literal hoard, inside Scar’s volcano. They’ve basically kicked him out of it at this point. I think Scar has snuck in there a few times and he says that there are literally piles of diamond and gold and emerald blocks.”

“How did Scar, of all people, get in there, get out, and proceed to tell the story?” Biffa’s voice clearly conveyed his disbelief.

Wels snorted at his friend’s incredulous tone. “I don’t think he got out alive. Still, I’m scared to think of what could happen if Scar’s and Cub’s shadows got stronger, smarter. I know what Scar’s shadow has died a couple of times. And every time, Cub’s shadow made Scar resummon his shadow.”

Biffa smirked. “I doubt threats would work on Cub.”

“And you’d be right.” Wels looked away from Biffa and towards the moon that was climbing into the night sky. 

“Cub’s shadow has only died twice once. The second time it did, Scar’s shadow dragged Cub off to the shadow temple and tried to get him to resummon his friend. Paladin was there too, but Cub refused to summon his shadow and Scar’s shadow killed him in a rage. A few weeks later, Cub finally resummoned his shadow because Scar’s shadow was, I guess lost, is the best way to put it.”

That drew Biffa’s attention. Wels continued to talk towards the ocean.

“For the first few days, he was livid. He attacked everyone but Paladin on sight. He broke a few buildings as well. After that, he apparently refused to leave the hoard and buried himself in his riches. Paladin eventually went to talk to Cub and managed to convince him to resummon his shadow for half a stack of diamonds blocks because Paladin couldn’t stand Scar’s shadow sulking for any longer. Cub agreed and went with Paladin to summon his shadow with an empty inventory. His shadow killed him on sight. A couple of days later, a chest with half a stack of diamond blocks showed up on the ConCorp front lawn along with a note that said: “From Shiny”.”

After Wel finished talking, he took a bite of his cake, waiting for Biffa to say something. When his friend doesn’t speak, Wels sighs. 

“We have two shadows that are codependent hoarders, one that enjoys torturing people, several that just enjoy causing chaos, and one whose only goal seems to be gaining as much power as quickly as possible.”

Biffa could tell that that comment was aimed at him. At Apex.

“There are three, maybe four shadows that could be considered beneficial, and I don’t think I would 1 out of 5 a success.”

A moment later, Biffa asked, “Who are the beneficial shadows?”

“What?” Wels looked back at his friend, genuinely caught off guard by the question.

Biffa repeated his question. “Who are the beneficial shadows?”

As Wels stared at him, Biffa took another bite of cake. He had asked a question, and now he wanted an answer.

“Um, the main one is Murmur, Mumbo’s shadow. He’s probably the only one who could actually be described as helpful. The other ones would be Doc’s shadow, Killjoy, and Chill.” 

Biffa raised an eyebrow at the name “Killjoy” and smiled when Wels snorted at his expression. 

“Doc’s shadow is more scared than beneficial and Killjoy doesn’t like it when shadows mess with someone except their summoner, so he spends most of his time with Joe. And the Joe Hills Difference seems to be mildly contagious.” Wels laughed quietly at his own joke and Biffa smiled through another bite of cake. 

“Chill is more than happy to just, well Chill, most of the time. As long as she’s with Iskall’s shadow, she’s happy.”

The knight’s expression fell again, and he took another bite of cake and spoke through it.

“I don’t know, Biffa. The shadows are meant to be a way to duplicate items, but I don’t know if the damage they cause is worth it.”

The two were quiet for a moment, eating cake with the moon still rising in the sky.

Biffa swallowed his bite a cake past the lump in his throat and began to speak.

“I think-”

But he was quickly cut off as a neon blue shape grabbed Wels off the blanket and took off over the ocean. Biffa immediately stood up and put on his elytra. Even at the current distance, Biffa could see that the flying figure was holding Wels by what looked like the wrist. As he lit firework after firework to take off, he watched the figure let go of Wels, still over the water.

---

Wels gasped for air as he got the wind knocked out of him. Scar’s shadow had dropped the knight and grabbed him again to get a better grip. Now, he was being held under the armpits instead of by the arm. As a result, his head was right near the Vex’s. And Scar’s shadow was visibly distraught.

Neon blue tears were leaking from its eyes and ambiently around it, it sounded like someone had set a radio from static. Wels could see several bright blue gashes on the shadow’s arms.

“They’re gone.” 

The shadow spoke and caught Wels off guard. “What?” 

The shadow’s grip tightened around the knight’s chest. But it didn’t seem aggressive or even intentional.

“The hoard was… They’re…” The shadow seemed frustrated with its inability to speak. Normally it wasn’t an issue, as Cub’s shadow would finish the sentences. But Cub’s shadow wasn’t there to finish the sentences. 

“Were you attacked?” 

This wasn’t the first trans-oceanic flight, but on none of the others did the shadow strike up a conversation. Before it was almost professional, like Wels was just a step necessary to retrieving Paladin. 

“Yes. Shiny is gone. Avarice is gone. Everything…”

“Who is Shiny? Who is Avarice?” When Wels had asked Cub about his experiences with his own shadow, he had mentioned a note from someone named Shiny. But Wels had never heard of someone named Avarice.

The shadow was quiet for a moment. When it spoke there were long pauses as it tried to find the words it wanted. “You… are Shiny. But not… you. Avarice is… is… Avarice is…”

The shadow was even more distraught now. Wels rested his hand over one of the shadow’s in a show that he hoped was placating.

It must have worked, as the shadow finished its sentence. 

“Avarice is… my brother.”

Wels finally connected that dots that Shiny must be Paladin. And that meant that Avarice was…

“Is Avarice Cub’s shadow?”

Scar’s shadow didn’t speak but did nod its head. 

“Do you have a name?”

“Keloid.” 

If the shadow hadn’t been crying, Wels almost would have said that it sounded proud to have a name.

“That’s a nice name. Who gave it to you?”

It was a long pause before Keloid spoke, and Wels guessed that the pause was to think of what to say.

“Hills gave to Shiny. While ago. Shiny gave to me and us.”

Joe had given Paladin the ideas for the Vex names and Paladin had given those names to the Vex.

Wels watched the ocean below pass for a moment. The shadow was flying faster than Wels bet anyone had ever gone on elytra. Even with the small conversation, Keloid seemed to have calmed down and the buzzing noise had gotten quieter.

“Keloid, are you going to be alright?”

When Keloid spoke, he sounded very small.

“I can’t be alone. Not again.”

[votederpycausemufins]

no, you know what, next chapter now! remember this is chapter 3 of this war arc thing so if you didn’t read chapter 2 since i posted it like 5ish hours ago, go read that first. look! here’s some links!

Chap 1   Chap 2

Hey, can you tell I like grian? cause today i’m using Avian!Grian, Watcher!Grian and Triplet!Grian all together. 

Next chapter is gonna be a flashback based loosely on the fic @strawberrylemonz wrote of the triplets in the Antarctic empire.

but for now, have a sprinkling of angst. or maybe more than just a sprinkling.

When Tommy opened his eyes again, he found himself with all the Hermits in the town hall. A few Hermits that were already there like Zedaph brought out potions and food and other items for everyone to recover. Nearby Grian was shaking out the water that got on his wings from the emergency button being used.

“How’re ya doing Big G?” Tommy asked as he walked over, grabbing another mask of his own face from the table.

“Fine, what about you Tommy?”

“Dream kinda saw me right before the button got pressed. But he didn’t get a chance to hit me.” Immediately Grian was acting like a mother hen towards him and Tommy had to push the avian away. “Grian! I’m fine!”

“Are you sure? Because Techno and d- Philza were also there.”

“Yeah, I heard you confronted them.” Tommy softened his voice, noticing the look of pain on Grian’s face.

“Neither of them recognized me. I mean, it makes sense since it’s been so long for me and I look so… different.”

Tommy hugged Grian. He didn’t believe it when he learned that this was his missing older brother, but when Grian used his real name, something he shouldn’t have known, Tommy changed his mind. “Hey, c’mon, once this is all over you can brag about being the oldest now.”

Grian laughed and ruffled Tommy’s hair. “Yeah, and you look as old as Techno did out there.”

“No I don’t, he’s an old fart!” Tommy complained. “I’m still a teen!”

“You’re twenty-one!”

“I’m a child!”

Grian laughed. When Tommy had first shown up, he did everything to seem older than he was, now he refused to admit he’d grown up. “C’mon, let’s just-” He was cut off by a buzzing from their communicators. The two of them looked around and noticed the other hermits were doing the same. Everyone was here, so it couldn’t be a death message.

Xisuma tapped his helmet and everyone saw the glow of him looking at the communications chat. “Iskall, someone named Fundy is saying they’re at your tree.”

The redstoner immediately messed with his robotic eye to look at his own chat. His other eye widened and he equipped his elytra. “I’m going to go after him. I doubt it would be an ambush, there’s no way they could have gotten a whole group there while we were fighting.”

Rendog also put his elytra on. He said he would go with Iskall as some extra muscle just to be safe. The two of them flew off, careful to stay out of range of anyone in Dream’s army before heading toward the Omega Tree.

“Hey, now that they know I’m here, should we use me more as bait?” Tommy spoke up, causing Grian to pull him closer.

“Absolutely not. Any mistake and you could be captured!”

Before Tommy could complain, False spoke up. “Actually, it’s a good plan. You helped him learn to fly so he’s great at it. He’ll have no trouble escaping into the air. And he can also set up another pearl if they do capture him. Someone can watch in the sky and send word if he needs rescue.”

“But what if he-” Grian tried to speak up, but Tommy stopped him.

“Grian, I know these people. It would work. And I know how to get out of tough situations. And I’m not going to be the only one down there. Doesn’t make sense to send me there alone.

Reluctantly, Grian let Tommy go. The blond smiled and then gave his brother one last hug before pulling his mask on and leaving with a group of Hermits. All of them placed ender pearls in the emergency button and then left the town hall through bubble columns. Grian watched them go before following behind to be their eyes in the sky. Cub came with him, his vex wings still there from his earlier confrontation with Dream.

When the Hermits suddenly reappeared, Dream was ready for them. Instead of an axe, he held a sword. Whenever a Hermit got close, he would injure them and then use the long blade to pull off or break their mask. Tommy was going to be there, under one of those masks. And when Dream saw his sorry face next, he would drag the teen back home.

Dream heard a grunt from behind him and glanced back to see Philza with his weapon clashing with a hermit’s sword. Even with the mask, Dream could see the silver hair of said hermit. Dream may not have been familiar with their enemy as much as he wished, but there was one well known name he recognized. Etho. While Philza was a man who had lived years on hardcore, Etho had been living on a single world for longer. Both were very experienced men. 

In his distraction, a hermit attacked Dream. He deflected their attack but in the process managed to hinder his teammate and suddenly Philza was killed. Dream attacked back, and while the Hermit who attacked him got away, Etho did not, having been left on a single heart when Phil died, only being alive from Dream’s mistake.

But he didn’t have time to dwell as more attacks came from the hermits. Once they had defeated these people, he could take over as admin and bring them back.

Philza gasped as he woke up on the bed, energy flowing through him from respawning. It wasn’t something he was used to, and before he almost didn’t link with the bed. When he started to get up, he heard rustling and immediately turned to fight. But no one was there, which was fine as his death had left him with no gear. Phil could hear fighting from outside the building and he quickly looked in the various chests for anything.

Philza ended up breaking part of the building for sticks and made himself a sword with the diamonds they found earlier, even finding more of the gem in chests they hadn’t bothered to check before. It wasn’t enough for a full set of gear, but it was enough. The only problem was trying to put on his chestplate, Phil finally noticed what happened. 

It was impossible. They had been too damaged and the last time he had to respawn, nothing had happened. But there, right on his back were his wings, undamaged. Not a single feather was harmed or scorched or missing. 

A shout from outside drew Philza’s attention back to the battle. He nearly put his wings away to put on his chest plate when he remembered how their enemy had elytra. He was the only one on their side who could fly. Phil stored the chest plate in a nearby barrel for later and left the building through the open roof. None of the hermits seemed to notice him until it was too late and his weapon cut into them. There were one or two of those from the smp who attacked him before realizing who exactly they were seeing, but otherwise, the reappearance of his wings was appreciated.

When Tommy saw his dad in the air, he couldn’t help but stare for a moment. He had told Xisuma about the situation of his dad. At first he thought that Philza had completely lost his wings, which would make sense why a respawn couldn’t help. But since he still had them, the admin was able to set a trigger for the avian’s wings to heal when he respawned. It was a risk that could help Dream, but Tommy hoped that the return of Phil’s wings would help him switch sides.

The sight invigorated Tommy and he was slashing at his old friends left and right. He managed to catch sight of False nearby and Techno fighting so he moved over to assist her. It was perfect timing as False managed to be cornered and Techno proclaimed the kill for the blood god just before Tommy could manage to remove the weapon from his brother’s hand.

“Leave her alone.” Tommy said as Techno glared up at him. He had hit a growth spurt while in hermitcraft and his voice deepened, so Tommy wasn’t surprised that his brother didn’t recognise him. Behind him False got up and ate a gold apple as well as splashing a potion over her own head, a bit of the liquid managing to splash onto Tommy, giving him a few seconds of healing.

But as Tommy stood to cover his head, Dream joined next to Techo and sliced the mask off Tommy’s face. When it fell, Tommy could clearly see the slight surprise on Techno’s face. While the warrior wasn’t that expressive, growing up with him made it easier for Tommy to read his face. Dream on the other hand grinned so large his smile could be seen out the sides of his mask.

Before Tommy could react, his arm was grabbed in a crushing grip from Dream. False in a panic simply yelled Tommy’s name, which ended up bringing the attention of the rest of the SMP members.

False swung her sword at Dream, giving Tommy just enough of a gap to use a firework and launch himself into the air. Dream called for the smp members to focus on Tommy and suddenly arrows were flying at him. With another rocket he flew further into the air. Looking down, Tommy saw an arrow coming towards him. He attempted to dodge, but it clipped his elytra, leaving a small tear in one wing. 

A few more arrows also managed to reach him. When he wasn’t sure he could dodge them, the blond tried to make sure they directly hit him. Tommy had plenty of healing items and had nice armor, but if his elytra were too damaged, no amount of armor would help a fall like that.

Then, the thing he feared most happened. As he flew, rain started to fall. A few moments later there was the sound of a riptide trident being used. He turned to see Punz, having used his trident to get just close enough then he pulled out a crossbow and shot it. There was no time for Tommy to react and it went through one wing of his elytra. As Punz descended, Tommy tried to use fireworks to push him towards the ocean, but in his panic, all he did was push himself further up into the air. And then the elytra gave up on him and Tommy started to fall. 

Philza heard the noise of a trident as the rain started to fall. He looked around in the air just in time to see Punz’s arrow destroy Tommy’s elytra followed by what sounded like Tommy calling for help. While he had trouble getting used to flying again after months of being grounded, Phil immediately flapped his wings as hard and as fast as he could. He refused to lose another child. So he pushed himself to get to Tommy before the worst could happen.

Grian wasn’t sure how he missed Tommy flying into the air, but he didn’t miss his brother screaming his name. He looked down to see Tommy falling, his elytra in shreds. He saw another avian flying towards his fallen brother. Grian knew that he was the only avian of the hermits so this other person had to be working with Dream. 

As Grian pulled his wings in to dive towards Tommy, he realized he wouldn’t be able to make it. Sure there was enough time to reach Tommy before he hit the ground, but not enough before Tommy was grabbed by the other avian. As he continued to fall, Grian closed his eyes. He searched for something he buried deep inside himself. The red, yellow and blue feathers on his wings changed to purple, black and salt & pepper. When he next opened his eyes, there were 6 of them, all glowing a purple color. He opened his wings once more and gave a mighty flap, sending magical energy out through them and creating what sounded like thunder as the expelled energy propelled him faster towards Tommy. 

Just before the other avian could reach his brother, Grian’s arms wrapped around Tommy and the wings wrapped around both of them. He didn’t have enough time to use more energy and teleport them away or slow them down, so he just braced himself. Then they hit the ground, all the force going into Grian’s wings. It was painful, but right now he didn’t care. The adrenalin from nearly losing Tommy was kicking in and the pain made his mind hazy. 

The powers he had gained from being a watcher were dangerous and something he usually kept blocked off so he wouldn’t lose himself in it, but right now, with his current state, he wasn’t thinking of that, and slowly the previously locked away powers grew more dangerous and tempting.

Dream held his breath as Tommy fell. He didn’t want them to have come all this way for Tommy to lose his last life here. Luckily Phil was in the air, racing towards his son. He was sure that the Avian would reach Tommy until there was the sound of thunder and the sky lit up with a purple light. The figure that was lit up made his blood run cold. No. It wasn’t possible. A watcher. And not just any watcher. The Dreamslayer himself was a watcher. In a way it made sense how this would be the one person who seemed to be able to kill him, but knowing the full power he held was not a happy thought.

Dream managed to get his army to retreat just far enough in time that no one ended up in the destruction of Grian crash landing. Everyone stared, no one moved. Even the Hermits looked terrified of their own ally. Phil landed safely and tried to move to the crater, but Dream grabbed him. Techno was the next to move as The wings parted revealing Tommy hidden beneath them. Again, Dream tried to stop him, but Techno was further than Phil had been. While Techno had recently been staying out of things, Dream didn’t want to lose someone who was so good at making his stories perfect.

Techno held out his axe, ready to strike Grian, but the avian watcher just grabbed the blade of the axe. His head looked up and all six eyes focused on the weapon, each of them blinking out of sync. He only stopped looking when Tommy groaned, while he was physically uninjured, the rush of falling and the rapid pressure changes as well as the energy from Grian had caused him to pass out.

Techno pulled his weapon back, unsure if he should strike again. Half of the voices were telling him to attack and kill this person who took his brother, but the other half seemed to actually want him to stop. But the first half was louder and he swung the axe down again. Time seemed to slow down as he saw the supposed avian look back up and smile hauntingly. He resolved himself and cried out, “Blood for the Blood God!” as he put more force into the swing.

The moment the axe blade hit Grian’s skull, it shattered. Around them people started moving. A quick glance let Techno see the Hermits moving the smp army away, trying to protect their enemies. Looking back at his own enemy, Techno was met with Grian standing up. He spoke, but instead of his own voice, Grian spoke in Techno’s voice. He parroted the line the pvper had just spoken, only saying it louder and louder.

“Blood for the Blood God! Blood for the Blood God!!! Blood for the Blood God!!!” And then, in his normal voice, he shouted once more. “BLOOD FOR ME!!!”

[votederpycausemufins]

Alright, chapter 2 for the Summoning Family sequel ‘Surprisingly Familiar’. As you could see, I added a character that some of you may not know about, but was the first MCYTer I ever watched as he started uploading in mid 2010.

And now I finally decided to add him in since he knows a number of the hermits from other things he’s done. If you’re looking for stuff to watch, you could watch his old series to get some lore or just for fun.

anyway, onto the story.

“Alright Paul, what was that back there?!” Jrum heard through the door. “You’re the older one, where’s that older sibling wisdom of yours?”

“It’s trying to get rid of the spy and knowing to be careful around Xelqua. He was involved in the Tokyo High School Murders a number of years ago. That’s how I even knew about him to tell you about it.”

“You sent me a letter! That was important enough for you to call or something!”

“I couldn’t at the time. Besides, when he went missing, I thought it was because you found him and took him away, but it turns out he was off on his own doing who knows what.” Paul sighed. “Look, I know some of the hermits from Minecrack, and usually they help with things, but this is different. At the very least from what I’ve heard, the one guy named Iskall has been on the up and up, but Xelqua’s started a war!”

“Apparently actually two.”

“Phil, you know that’s worse. Some of the things the papers said… he should be in prison, not here.”

“Right, and how many times did you go to prison again?” Phil asked, raising an eyebrow.

“That’s different. I was framed once, it was minor another time, and the rest was just from breaking out of prison so they put me back into a better one. They finally gave up when they didn’t have anything left I couldn’t escape.”

“Well I should show you Pandora’s Vault then.” Phil said, before shaking his head to clear his thoughts. “Back on topic. You can’t treat Grian that way. You got all your information from newspapers but I’ve got some myself. It’s not like he’s the only one on my side of the family to cause wars. And whatever happened in Tokyo wasn’t something he wanted to do, I’ve seen the signs of it. So you’re going to go back in there, apologize, and leave unless they actually somehow want you to stay.”

“Wait, there’s one more thing you need to hear.”

“Oh really?” Phil asked sarcastically. “What the fuck could possibly be so important compared to everything else you did back there and needing to apologize for it?”

“Give me a second. Someone’s at the door. Might be the chicken.”

“I don’t think that spy is-” And then it was completely silent. Jrum was taken aback by that, testing the door, but it was locked. He tried enhancing his hearing, but that didn’t work either. Then, he tried to remember if there was anything he could get into the redstone of and hack, and he was pretty sure there was. So the bot made his way to the side of the room and found a line in, doing what he could to listen in.

“-because it makes sense. Punch is dangerous enough without his spies.” Jrum smiled as he heard Paul’s voice again. “If those guys keep showing up he might as well. I tried visiting you, but the place was abandoned and chickens were swarming the place.”

“Then you should have called!” Phil shouted, obviously sounding frustrated.

“Letters are the only guarantee I have. If you would just write back-”

“I’m not using magic paper unless I know who enchanted it.”

“Hoodie always enchants it!” Jrum mentally took note of the name, hoping someone else would know more about whoever that was

“How can I be sure?”

“How could I be sure you weren’t all dead when the caste was abandoned?”

“You could have fucking called!” And there was a slam which made Jrum jump, losing his connection to the room. He scrambled to reconnect, surprised to find he was having more trouble this time, but eventually, he did connect again.

“-ause Grian was taking care of it. I know you want to hate him, but maybe don’t freak out at just seeing him.”

“I’ll think about it Phil, but as long as Koka’s around, I’m going to be careful.”

“Wait, how do you know it’s name?” Phil asked, confused.

“You heard it hissing, didn’t you?” Paul asked. “That’s the only one he’s got that does that. That’s why I’m trying to be cautious.”

“Okay, I can sort of see why now. But can you please still try with Grian? He’s had a rough enough life as it is and you don’t need to make it worse.”

There was a sigh from Paul. “Alright, but you’ve also got to promise me something yourself.”

“And what’s that?”

“Maybe the person listening in can tell us, but if not, I’m going to see if-”

Jrum pulled away, cutting off what he was hearing. He scrambled to fix everything then run back to the party, trying to calm his breathing when he was finally back with everyone else.

.

.

.

Mumbo stood by as Grian kept setting up a comfort nest in Barge HQ. He was doing his best to keep the bots’ pet chicken from getting in Grian’s way, but that ended up with plenty of pecking targeting his arms and legs. If he hadn’t recognized the red on the bird’s beak as redstone dust left on his suit, he would have panicked thinking it was blood. Or maybe it was, so he quickly checked.

The redstoner didn’t seem to have wounds that drew blood, which was good, but he did take his eyes off of Kokatori, who was nearly at Grian’s nest of blankets. Mumbo quickly ran over and picked the bird up, looking around to see if he could get some sort of cage for it. There wasn’t really, but there were glass windows. So he simply used a few blocks to keep the chicken in place, glad it wasn’t left completely in the dark.

Sighing about taking care of the problem, Mumbo looked back over to Grian, who was still fiddling with blankets even though the nest looked complete. “Grian?” Mumbo tried to ask softly, but the avian still jumped at the speech. “Sorry for startling you. How are you feeling?”

“Honestly? Like crap. There’s not a lot of good stuff from growing up after I went missing. Sure, there’s stuff here and there, but a lot of it after everything that’s happened is just tainted. And now it’s getting worse, like finding out d- Phil started acting worse to Tommy, and now apparently one tv show that is partially responsible for me being alive was made by my uncle who knew about me and hates my guts.”

Mumbo put a hand on Grian’s back, the currently puffed up wings ruffling a bit before calming back down a little bit. “Well, he seems to know a good number of the other hermits. I’m sure they can change his mind about you.” Then Mumbo stepped over the wall of blankets to sit next to Grian. “And they may know him and be his friends, but last I checked, he hasn’t been around for a bit any you definitely have. Even Xisuma has called you the missing puzzle piece of the hermits. Without you, it just doesn’t feel right.”

Grian smiled a little and leaned on Mumbo’s shoulder. “Thanks, I needed to hear that.”

Mumbo nodded, then paused for a moment to ask a question. “You said he’s part of the reason you’re alive?”

Grian nodded. “He had a survival show. He used stuff from knives to swords to guns. The one I had to use wasn’t really legally obtained and so there wasn’t an instruction manual.”

“Grian, are you telling me you watched a tv show to learn how to use a… a firearm?”

Grian smiled. “Yep! And some other stuff as well. You’ll never know how many ways I know how to dispose of a body.”

Mumbo stared wide eyed at the builder, who was giving a mischievous little smile. “Grian. Grian you’re joking, right?” He didn’t stop smiling or even answer. “Grian, please tell me that’s a joke! Grian!”

As they continued to talk, Kokatori finished pecking at the glass, having cut a rough circle into it. The bird held a foot up and pushed the area, the cut portion breaking away cleanly and falling to the ground far below.

The chicken waited, trying to see if anyone had heard the sound and would react, but that didn’t seem to be the case. With that taken care of, it jumped out of the window, gliding down to the ground. It landed right near the entrance to Jrum’s party building, landing on the ledge of a window. Kokatori looked inside and saw the various party members. The first robot seemed to be fine, the second one more nervous. Odd, what did it have to be nervous about? But then the chicken saw Paul and that ‘brother’ of his were back in the room. Well, maybe the second robot was more of an asset.

The chicken carefully walked over to Jrum, carefully pecking his leg to get his attention. It didn’t want to scare him since it had seen that Jrum wasn’t the most fond of it, but it was surprised to see Jrum gladly pick it up. “Oh, you’re not supposed to be in here! That new person doesn’t like chickens like you, so let’s go outside.”

Kokatori held in a hiss. Great, it was just going to be put back outside. But at the very least the robot was picking it up without looking sick or something. When they were back outside, Kokatori expected to be set down or even dropped, but instead it was spun around so it was looking right at Jrum.

“Alright then. You’re not a normal chicken. So what are you?” Jrum asked, interrogating the chicken. “I mean, it’s obvious they’re right about you being some sort of spy, but there’s something else, isn’t there?”

Kokatori didn’t know if chickens could sweat, but it sure felt like it was right then. But it tried not to show how anxious it was and just clucked.

“I’m taking that as a yes because it doesn’t sound as bad as a no. The new guy knows your name. Nobody told him your name but he knew it. And said you were ‘his’ chicken.” Jrum said, remembering what he had listened to. “He said that was because of your hissing and that you’re the only one that does that. And as far as I know, he’s right and chickens don’t hiss.”

If Kokatori wasn’t sweating before, it was now. Normally that would be filtered out by the mind. Of course that king and his brother knew enough to resist it, but no one else seemed to notice until now this thing. So, it used the foolproof plan of clucking again.

“Right, they don’t, so why are you?” Jrum asked. Alright, clucking had not worked. It hadn’t worked at all. This was bad. But it could be fixed, right? The robot didn’t like chickens because of… because of… right! Because of eggs! So Kokatori quickly had an egg pop out, which was enough to spook the robot and make them run off. Which was good. He didn’t need to take a closer look.

With no one around, Kokatori stomped on the egg, breaking the dark green and cream spotted shell. No one needed to see that. There were already two people around here that knew what was going on, and that was already too many.

It looked back up at the building it had fallen from. It would be easy enough to get back to the top. It just hoped its short escape wouldn’t be noticed. It grabbed the piece of glass it had let fall to the ground, thankfully unbroken, and started climbing up the outside of the building.

Kokatori reached its pitiful excuse for a prison and put the piece of glass back. It clucked a little to remind the two people it was still there, but they mostly ignored it. That was fine. It had work to do anyway.

.

.

.

Tommy watched Paul as he walked over to Xisuma. Sure, he had heard of his uncle from Phil here and there. Mostly complaining about lack of contact and too many letters, which were complete opposites, but it was back when Tommy wasn’t really the loud teen he was today, still affected by how his family looked down on him for unknowingly being too much like his missing brother.

If Grian had been there and told him to suck it up, Tommy’s sure he would. It would be very reluctant, but it was Grian, who was like the one family member he still had a good standing with. Well, obviously also the bots. And Mumbo sort of counted. And all the hermits were honorary family. But he meant in the official sense.

But Grian wasn’t here, specifically because of Paul. And since Tommy was only really okay with Grian, it made him more wary of this being another family member that was going to put him down. If that was going to be the case, he at least had support this time, so Tommy walked over to Paul, trying to look tough.

The teen heard the tail end of Paul’s conversation with Xisuma, trying to get any information he could. “-believe I can think of one or two things he could help with. I’ve tried with Scar and Cub, but they’re more free spirits.”

Paul nodded, then looked over as he noticed Tommy coming over. “Oh hey Tommy. Just talking with the admin here.”

“Yeah, just fucking call him Xisuma. None of that formal title shit.” Tommy said with venom in his voice.

Paul was a bit taken aback, but Xisuma had some clue on what was going on. “Tommy spent some time in a world with a… not so great admin. It affected his first meeting with me, and while we’ve helped out, recent events have brought up old wounds.”

Paul nodded like he understood completely and didn’t even try to argue. “Yeah, not every world has great people in charge. I’m not sure how long I spent making sure the worlds my kids were going to were safe. A few bad ones slipped through the cracks and have left me feeling horrible, so I can’t imagine how Phil must feel about missing one.”

Tommy scoffed. “He probably didn’t care about me getting in trouble. And Techno was fine on his own. Wilbur’s probably the only one he cared about.”

Paul frowned at that. “I’m sure that’s not true.”

Before he could say more, Tommy stopped him. “Oh really? He doesn’t really even care about you. Wil wrote him letters all the time and he read those. That’s why he even showed up to our world finally. But he didn’t read any of your fucking letters obviously.”

“I see. Well, I’m sure it was just-”

“It wasn’t just anything. Phil’s just a crap parent and looks like you’re pretty bad too.”

Xisuma slowly stepped away. He knew it wasn’t the best idea to get in Tommy’s way when he was yelling. Because normally that’s all it was, just yelling. If either person drew a weapon, then it was time to step in, but they had learned that Tommy was loud in general and yelled to get his frustration out.

“What would make you think that?”

“I mean, the way you acted to Grian. Did you have to be such a bitch about it?”

Paul sighed. “I’m not sure how much he’s told you about that world. It was-”

“Hardcore world, no respawns, ghosts existed, Grian got kept hostage by a friend and was abused a lot. If my admin was bad to me, this guy was somehow worse to Grian. Plus, I’m so fucking glad you wrote a letter to Phil and assumed Grian was fine when he disappeared. You could have fucking gone over and checked on him yourself bitch!”

“I was sort of on the other side of the world. And I also didn’t really have the time.”

“Then you could have made some fucking time! It was a family emergency and there was a murder involved. Anyone would let you off for that! I bet you just had a cushy life and couldn’t bother to lift a finger.”

Paul didn’t respond. He didn’t have a good answer. And even if he did, Tommy didn’t want to hear it. The teen stomped away, saying goodbye to everyone, though he specifically left Phil and Paul out of his goodbyes. Then he flew back to his ‘still just borrowing this’ base that was Grian’s old starter base and curled up in bed, pulling Tubbee into his arms.

He pressed his face into their fluff, muttering a few curses, the bee not having a care in the world about what was going on. It was just there to help give Tommy some comfort. Sure, he could always call Tubbo over and have him visit, but he didn’t have the energy and this was good enough.

Soon enough, Tommy was asleep, having worn himself out from both the party and shouting at Paul. He slept so much, he didn’t even wake up when he was poked a few times. Or when his face was drawn on. Or even when some TNT went off. It definitely had Tubbee awake, but it was still in his arms and couldn’t fly off.

“Aww, don’t worry. I’m not gonna kill him. That would tell people I’m here silly! My little pumpkin roll already made sure no one knows I came in, but he can’t do much with me actually here.” Tubbee buzzed a bit, earning a giggle from the visitor. “You know, maybe I can get my boys a pet. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if I took Rusty, now would he?”

The bee wasn’t able to respond, and despite Tommy being asleep, he rolled onto his other side, pulling Tubbee with him. “Oh, maybe I’ll see you later. But I’ve got to go find something now. Bye!”

[votederpycausemufins]

I... don’t know what comment to make about this chapter. Oh, uh? i got like maaaaybe an hour of sleep last night? not even? I read fanfics.  @petrichormeraki

Grian ignored the other smp members as he tried to get through the portal. Stupid watcher form and stupid small portals! He just needed Tommy. Tommy needed to be safe. Mumbo wasn’t leaving so he would be safe, but Tommy was through this portal. That wasn’t safe.

He went through the portal himself, just leave him. No, obviously Philza pulled him in there. We are going a little crazy though, maybe it’s safer? No way!; We were protecting him, not Dadza. Should we even be calling him dadza? Watcher.; Release them from the portal. Is there any way to get smaller. I take back what I said about the 6 wings being cool, they’re just in the way now. Make one of the bots go there for him? If Jrumbot goes, he won’t be coming back. Lol yeah, he wouldn’t.

There were a lot of good suggestions, though two similar ones stood out. He could send someone through to get Tommy. Grian started to make another watcher portal to pull someone out, but then shook his head. No, why grab one of them? That wouldn’t be safe for Tommy. He closed the portal again, then looked around and grabbed Mumbo. The redstoner didn’t expect it and had no time to resist and now could only rest helplessly in Grian’s talons.

Grian plopped down on the ground to get better movement of his legs. For a moment things got even fuzzier. What did he have? Was it food? He moved it closer. Oh no, that’s Mumbo! That is not food. Why did he have Mumbo?

You idiot we need Grumbot. Is Grian okay? Guys, what if this is our fault? Mumbo can probably get us to Grumbot. DO NOT EAT THE MUMBO! Guys, it’s obvious why he thought Mumbo was food. Dude, say it and you might get banned. Watcher.; Release them from the portal. Lol I’m only joking. What if he just uses Mumbo instead of the bots? He can rebuild Grumbot if he dies. Dude, not cool. Noooo what if grumbot diesssss!

Grian briefly thought about opening the portal again. Grumbot wouldn’t like it if he got broken and Grian didn’t want to send Mambo there. Mambo. Mambo is a fun type of music. Is there any music around? That would be nice to listen to.

Aaand we’re losing him again. Is Zloy going to come fix this or what? Pixlriffs might instead. Guys, Caterpillar rave! Oh no what have you done! Boo chee boo chee boo chee bu.

Grian started dancing. The voices were making nice music. Oh and what was that? Mamb- Mumbo was saying something. “Grian? Are you okay? What’s going on?” That’s right, he wanted someone looking for Tommy! And Mumbo could do that, couldn’t he. So Grian put Mumbo through the portal. No the infinity portal. Why did he almost put Mumbo in the watcher portal. In fact, why was that there? He was supposed to get something from there right? Why did his head hurt so much?

Grian stopped thinking about that when Mumbo came back through the portal, but he didn’t have Tommy, so the Watcher pushed him back. But again he returned. And again and again and again! He couldn’t get Tommy back if Mumbo didn’t get Tommy. Wait, he was talking.

Grian focused on Mumbo as he spoke. “Grian, that portal that keeps appearing, did you put Xisuma and Tubbo in there? Yes or no.” Oh he was always so nice. He knew just what to do. “Yes. And. No.” Mumbo’s own voice came back.

“What do you mean yes and no?” Oh wait, how do I put it so you can answer. Hmm… Oh, maybe one at a time? Is Xisuma in there?” “Yes.” “Is Tubbo in there?” “No.” Mumbo rubbed his chin. “Okay, well, we still need Xisuma back.” Why did he need Xisuma back, he would just keep letting these enemies in. “Your form is a bit dangerous right now, and if you somehow killed one of us, there’s the chance we couldn’t come back.”

Grian scoffed at the idea. He wouldn’t hurt his friends. They were his friends! How could Mumbo suggest such a thing! But… Tommy probably had that fear. Maybe he had gone willingly because he was scared of that. Oh no what had he done! Grian opened the portal again and then flew into it.

Crumb had curled up on Iskall’s back and started to sleep. None of them had any idea how long they had been falling, just that slowly they had gone from one to two to four and now to seven. Iskall was projecting a game of checkers with his eye which two smp members were playing with to pass the time.

There was a noise, and everyone paused to look up, expecting to see someone new falling in to join them, but they were surprised to see Grian. The lack of gravity proved a problem as some smp members drew their swords and axes with enough force to actually start them spinning around. The Watcher stared down at everyone before speaking. “What is going on? I thought, well last I saw there were only four of you!”

“Grian?” Xisuma spoke up, hopeful about his lucid state. 

“Right, this is a watcher plane!” He ignored Xisuma for the time being. I wish I could remember what I was doing before I came in here.

“Maybe you were here to get us out?” Xisuma spoke up again, getting Grian’s attention.

“Oh X, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking. I mean I literally don’t know since I can’t remember what I was doing just a minute ago. But yeah, getting you all out of here does seem reasonable and… oddly familiar. Probably just me trying to remember.

“Are you doing okay?” Xisuma asked, really taking in Grian’s form.

“Yes and no? I don’t know what’s happening. The other Watchers pulled me away to help me sort of figure out what’s going on, but it’s not the perfect method to let me know what’s going on. For all I know the moment I leave, I’ll try to throw you all back in here.”

“Woah, dat’s a giant bird man!” Crumb exclaimed, waking up from her nap. Grian looked down at her, cocking his head to the side.

“Hello there. I don’t think I’ve met you.”

“Oh! I’m Crumb! My dad is Sprinklez!”

“Sprinkles?”

“Jordan Sparklez. One of my friends from the vault days.”

“Right. Vault gods.” Grian frowned. “Never were a fan of them. Freaked me out when no one could see where you three went.” He then chuckled. “You know, if all of you were here, I would have thought it was their fault.”

“Yeah, well Antonio didn’t make it, though H did.” Iskall pointed to Hbomb, who waved.

“Well, that might do it. I can’t be sure but… once you’re out, before I can do anything more, you’ll need to shout out about it possibly being Vault gods. Zloy should see.”

“Zloy?” One of the smp members asked, making Xisuma look over at them.

“Grian Is a Watcher who just resides in Hermitcraft. There are Watchers, normally multiple, that watch every world. Grian’s told me that one named Zloy is a Watcher of Hermitcraft.”

Grian nodded. “Yeah, you guys have a number of them, but the one in charge is Gxrgeous.” Grian shook his head. “We’re getting off topic. I’ll grab onto some of you and the rest hold onto me.”

After everyone was situated, Grian flew them up and out through the portal he came in through in the first place. The sudden change of energy affecting him made him crash, sending most of the rescued people flying. Immediately, Xisuma was shouting into the air the message Grian wanted sent and just as he finished, he was grabbed again by Grian.

This was good. He got Xisuma out. Mumbo would be very happy. But wait, there are more people out. Why are they out too? They are supposed to go in the portal. They must have escaped when he was grabbing Xisuma. That wouldn’t do. 

Grian tried to grab the others that were rescued from the portal, but a few of them followed Mumbo’s guidance to the infinity portal and escaped that way. Grian was upset, but ultimately it was fine. They were still gone. There were just two left to get rid of. This cat thing and one other person. 

Isn’t that thing a shapeshifter? Oh, what if she turns into a giant cat? Small brain: Godzilla vs King Kong, Big brain: Grian vs shapeshifting cat. Cat vs bird will not go well. If grian is tweety and the cat is sylvester, he’ll be fiiiiiine. Hey, if it’s really Tommy’s friend, maybe it’ll also leave.

Grian stopped listening to try and grab Crumb before she could do anything more. Just before his talons could wrap around her, a form moved in front of her, holding a sword of some purple material. “Stay away from my kid.” They spoke. For a moment Grian was upset at the new opponent before realizing it would be much easier to get rid of these people with them now in the same place.

A portal formed behind Crumb and Sparklez. Grian could see as the cat noticed it and panicked, though her dad refused to talk his guard down. When the watcher attempted to push them in, he was stopped by Xisuma. “Grian, you need to stop.”

“You need to stop.” Grian replied, wanting the admin to get out of the way.

We kinda did just try to save X, so we don’t want to get rid of him again. Maybe these two are fine and we can just leave them. Why does that guy look familiar? Watcher; Tubbo. What kinda sword is that? Ah yes, I too call my cat my child. Again, isn’t she a shapeshifter?

Grian was trying to figure out why the voices thought this person was familiar. And why had someone mentioned Tubbo. Suddenly one idea popped in his head. “෦႑፩㍘¹١₁𝟘 ꘠❶᱑⓿౸۰༳๑ ႐Ⅰ㍘〇¹႞٠१ ౦Ⅰឱ꣠༠৴០߁” He asked, but no one seemed to respond well, most of them covering their ears. A few people cried in pain, but one stood out. Grian looked at Mumbo and immediately regretted saying anything. The mustached man looked like he was in agony.

Right now everything else could wait. Grian moved and grabbed Mumbo. Grian heard someone try to stop him, but this was important. He took to the air and let magic swirl around him until he was suddenly back at his mansion. The watcher ignored whatever Tubbo was saying to focus on the redstoner, hoping nothing too horrible would happen to him. “M-Mumbo…” Grian mumbled, worried about what might happen.

Tubbo moved closer and immediately Grian was ready to attack them. How dare he try to get closer to Mumbo! But then Grian saw how terrified he looked. Tubbo was Tommy’s friend. He cared for Tommy as much as Grian cared for Mumbo. Or almost as much. Grian… Grian should bring them back together. He needed to. Why did he need to? He didn’t question it and just grabbed Tubbo. The teen seemed to yell in fear, but the Watcher didn’t listen, just took the two of them back to the infinity portal.

Grian put Tubbo through the portal before sitting down in front of it. If anyone could bring Tommy back, it would be them. Their world wasn’t safe and Tommy would want to come back. So he would. It was just a matter of time.

Zloy mumbled as he looked at the documents Pixlriffs had brought. Vault gods weren’t common to deal with, but it would help explain why none of the Watchers could figure out what was going on. Zloy sent for someone to find Pritt since they had the most experience with Vault gods in recent times. The biggest event had been when three of Zloy’s hermits were taken by the Vault gods, but smaller events had occurred after that. 

In an accident, they had tried to make claim to Grian, not recognizing his Watcher status. Immediately after that, they tried for Mumbo, but that was also shut down. He doubted they were attempting to go after Grian again, but at the same time, he knew there was some truth to their claim on him. Vault gods were powered by the voices that were channeled through a person. Everyone had the potential for that, some more than others. The three hermits had taken days to recover from the sudden silence that met them on their return. And Grian had always been hearing them. He had learned to block them out, but maybe that wasn’t enough anymore. And if it wasn’t a Vault god, what could do all this?

Dream got the notification of Tubbo’s return. Everyone was back. He could close the portal. But an idea crept up from the back of his mind. What if they tried it again? What if one of them built a new portal and it led to somewhere else. Using a Watcher was helpful, and Dream didn’t want to give that up.

The former admin turned to look at the still unconscious form of Tommy. He could try and use the connection to convince the Watcher to come here. Then he could close the portal. It would be perfect.

[votederpycausemufins]

Rustic House Club chapter 2

Jrum had a crayon in one hand as he laid on the ground, drawing on a blank map. “Okay, then which way?”

Jrum’s friend had been helping him make a fun treasure map to play with today. It had been something they had suggested before and now it seemed like the perfect time.

“Well, from the sign platform, you’ll go down to the big doors on the mansion in front of you.”

The robot nodded as he drew a line going to a sketch which he made look like his dad’s mansion. “Then what?”

“That’s the end! You’ll find something really cool there! Even better than a rustic house!”

“What could be so good that you think it’s better than a rustic house?” Jrum asked his friends with a giggle.

“It’s a surprise!”

“Well, okay then! I’m gonna go tell my dads what I’m doing and then I’ll start!”

Jrums friend agreed and Jrum headed back to the mansion, glad to find his dad there and not out at the shopping district or somewhere else. “Daaaad!”

“Hi Jrum. Are you done playing already?”

Jrum shook his head. “No, my friend and I made a treasure map and I’m gonna go looking for the treasure at the end!”

“Is that so?” Grian asked. “Can I see your treasure map?” Jrum handed him the paper and he looked over it. It wasn’t really that legible to him, but he saw the start and end points being the magic village and the mansion, so it seemed fine. He handed the map back and patted Jrum on the head. “Alright. Remember to stay safe and call me or your daddy if you need help, okay?”

Jrum nodded before running off again, returning to the village and then following the path. The hardest part of the journey was through the nether. His dads haven’t figured out how to make special elytra that would work for him and his brother since their bodies were much heavier than what the wings could deal with at their size. He was careful as he built up to the path on the map. After that, it was just a really long walk with a surprising amount of bees. This was the nether, why were there so many bees in this tunnel?

Finally, Jrum reached the end of the tunnel. He checked his battery level which was rather low, so he ate one of his snacks - some charged redstone dust - before continuing. It took a bit of scaffolding, but eventually Jrum got down to a platform hanging over the lava lake of the cavern. It was hung up by chains that looked sturdy, but it still made Jrumbot a little wary. 

But it wasn’t like he needed to stay there too long, as right in front of it, just a chunk or two away, was a mansion. It looked just like his dad’s, except it was red instead of blue. Also it was built completely upside down. 

Jrum nervously looked around, making sure there were no ghasts around, before he started to bridge out towards the building. The minute he heard even the distant cry of a ghast, he booked it back to the little hanging platform and make sure everything was safe again before continuing. 

After many minutes and one close call with a ghast later, Jrum reached the door of the mansion. He struggled a little pushing it open, but eventually managed. Jrum was expecting some kind of prize or treasure at the end. Maybe a stack of diamond blocks piled up. Or maybe even some netherite. It could have been something fun to explore. Or anything really. Instead the place looked mostly empty and somewhat abandoned. There were the remains of an incomplete farm in one area of the building, but otherwise, there wasn’t much.

Jrum closed the door behind him and made a safe area for himself before letting himself fall to the ground. He laid on his back, staring up at the roof - floor? - for around a minute before he started crying in frustration. He had come all this way and for nothing! He thought maybe for a second, it might have been the building itself that was the prize, but that would just rub in how bad of a builder he was. But his friend had said to go inside the building, so it should have been some other prize.

Once Jrum had exhausted himself enough, he sat back up and started to send a message to his dad. He was so frustrated, he didn’t notice two important things. The first was the person coming up behind him. The second was his battery which was giving him a warning with it in the low single digits. But Jrum was too focused on getting home.

<Jrumbot> Dad. I finished my treasure hunt, but there wasn’t anything at the end. I’m really far away and tired. Can you please come g

Jrum wasn’t able to finish writing the message out before he heard a noise close behind him. He whirled around to see someone. It was his dad! “Dad! I wanna go home! There wasn’t anything here!”

Then the person moved forward and Jrum froze. At a glance it looked like his dad, but looking again, it wasn’t. His eyes weren’t the right color and he seemed to have metallic plating on his face. Along with that he didn’t seem to move quite right, all his movements having a jittered and halting form of movement.

“Y-You’re not dad…” Jrum pushed himself back a little in fear and then also noticed his battery level. 1%. Jrum didn’t have time to make a new message, so he quickly added what he could before sending it with the last bit of energy he had. And then, he powered off, collapsing to the ground.

Grian had completely lost track of time while working in Aqua Town. He had just finished up renovating his new buildings when his comm buzzed. It pulled him out from hyper-focusing on building and caused him to look around. He looked out the window to see it was well past midnight. 

He was so sure the message was likely Mumbo asking him where he was and that the kids were worried, so Grian packed up his stuff and flew back home. Once he arrived at the mansion, he put all his shulkers down before going upstairs. The avian looked in the bedrooms to find them all empty. That was fine. Mumbo had likely put them to sleep at his base.

Grian grabbed something quick to eat before flying to the ancient monument, easily finding Mumbo who was just in his storage area. Grian carefully snuck up on the redstoner, trying to be as quiet as possible, though he also couldn’t help humming as he approached.

Mumbo finally noticed the humming and froze with what he was doing to pay more attention. “Why do I hear boss music?” His question was quickly answered by Grian tackling him from behind and pinning him to the ground. “Grian!”

“Sorry! You just looked so lost in thought and I couldn’t help it!” The avian laughed before helping Mumbo back to his feet. “Thanks for getting the boys to sleep. I completely lost track of time. I hope Jrum wasn’t too bad tonight.”

The smile on Mumbo’s face turned to a look of confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Huh?”

“I thought Jrum was with you. I only put Grum to bed.”

“But Jrum wasn’t at the mansion. M-Maybe he snuck into bed here?”

Mumbo didn’t answer. He just ran with Grian to the bots’ bedroom. There they found only one of the beds occupied. Grian’s wings puffed up immediately when they saw the sight, which nearly knocked over Mumbo, but he wasn’t complaining about that.

“Mumbo, you look around here and I’ll check the mansion again. If you find anything, message me. If not we check Scar’s village and Jrum’s houses, got that?”

The redstoner nodded and then Grian was in the air, flapping his wings as fast as he could to get back to the mansion. He scoured the place from top to bottom. The boys’ bedroom? Empty. His room? No one there. The basement bed? Nothing but cows. The nest? Barely there since it had mostly been disassembled.

Grian took a second look around just in case before pulling out his comm to tell Mumbo which place he was headed to next. But before he could, he noticed a message from Jrum. Grian breathed a sigh of relief. If only he had checked sooner. Jrum was likely saying where he was. Probably one of his houses or even with another hermit.

But then Grian’s brow furrowed with confusion that quickly turned to worry. He didn’t just have a message from Jrum. He also had a status message. Shortly after the incident with Grum and Iskall, Mumbo had added one last thing to the bots. It would send messages on the boys if something happened that was a cause for concern.

Grian opened up the message for Jrum first. Maybe that would explain it. Maybe what happened was he lost track of time too and shut himself down to conserve power. That would be the best case scenario. As Grian started to read the message, he was sure that’s what was going on. But his heart dropped when he got to the end.

<Jrumbot> Dad. I finished my treasure hunt, but there wasn’t anything at the end. I’m really far away and tired. Can you please come gHELP! There’s someone scary and I’m out of power!

Grian then looked at the other message. If Jrum had powered down. It would have his coordinates. He read it, and then his heart managed to drop even more.

[Bot Status] Jrum lost power at X Y Z in the nether dimension.

The nether. The Nether! Why was Jrum in the nether?! His hands trembled as he tried to message Mumbo, but instead he just selected the world chat. That was probably okay. He might wake a few people, but this was an emergency that could need help.

<Grian> Mumbo, have you looked at your status messages?

<MumboJumbo> No let me do that

<MumboJumbo> The nether?!

<Renthedog> What about the nether?

<Xisuma> Do you mean status as in the messages you get for the bots?

<Grian> YES

<Iskall85> Oh no. What about the nether?

<MumboJumbo> It says that Jrum completely lost power while in the nether

<Xisuma> What were the coordinates?

<Grian> He also sent a message before he powered off that’s really concerning

<MumboJumbo> X Y Z

<StressMonster> What was the message?

<Grian> It was the start of one he almost sent before which was a normal one

<Xisuma> Let me check where that is

<Iskall85> What was the message

<StressMonster> Grian?

<MumboJumbo> Give him a second, he’s probably trying to copy it down.

<Grian> Dad. I finished my treasure hunt, but there wasn’t anything at the end. I’m really far away and tired. Can you please come gHELP! There’s someone scary and I’m out of power!

<Renthedog> Oh that is not good

<MumboJumbo> Is that the only message?

<Grian> Yeah.

<Xisuma> Those coordinates are within the upside down.

<Grian> How’d he manage to get all the way out there?!

<Xisuma> Because this is an emergency, I can teleport the two of you there.

<MumboJumbo> Please!

<Grian> PLEASE

Grian put his comm away and watched as the purple energy from Xisuma’s admit powers surrounded him for a moment. The next moment, he, Mumbo and X were standing in the interior of the red mansion.

Immediately Grian was looking around, Mumbo doing the same. They didn’t get far though until X stopped them. “He would have been right in front of us when we teleported in. In fact…” Xisuma pointed, and while there wasn’t Jrum’s powered down body or a scattering of items that would signify someone dying, there were a few stray items left on the ground.

Mumbo was closer and picked them up. “Some of the charged dust I gave him for snacks. He didn’t even have enough time to eat that to get some more power. There’s also this map drawn in crayon.”

“Jrum showed it to me this morning. He said he was going on a treasure hunt or adventure or something. It started in the village and ended at the mansion. But I didn’t think it meant this mansion. How did he even know about this place?!”

“I don’t know. Did you ever tell him about it?” Mumbo asked.

“No. It never came up! And I don’t think any of the other hermits brought it up!” Grian then remembered that morning. “Unless…”

“Unless what?”

“Jrum said he made the map with his ‘friend’ in the village. I thought it might have been imaginary, or maybe a Jellie… but now…” Grian looked over to X, who immediately pulled his admin panels out.

“I should have realized something was up. There had been some errors popping up here and there. They seemed consistent, but for the life of me I could not figure out the source. I couldn’t find anything dangerous or threatening connected to them, so I didn't worry too much. I thought it might have just been a bug. But…” Xisuma moved his hands and Grian watched as the panels shifted. “A similar message, but this time, instead of the usual area it showed up in, it instead appeared in the world joining messages.”

Grian paled. “So whoever or whatever this is was communicating with my son for weeks and now has shown up and kidnapped him?!” Mumbo pulled Grian closer as the avian started hyperventilating. “W-We… it could be anyone. B-But who? W-Why Jrum? I- Was i-it the Watchers? N-No I would know. But wh-” Grian cut himself off as someone came to mind. “No. No no no no nonononono! Not him, not him!”

“C-Calm down Grian. I’m sure it wasn’t. X, please tell me you can try and find an origin for whatever this was?”

X nodded and messed with his panels while Mumbo tried to help keep Grian from getting completely hysterical. “Here we go. Whatever it was seems to be some sort of player entity, but also not at the same time.”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“I mean, it’s similar to the code for Grum and Jrum or Biffa. Someone who wasn’t so much born as they were created.”

“Alright. Is that all?” Mumbo asked, earning a shake of the head from Xisuma.

“No, there’s some data here that’s very interesting. They have five worlds listed as ones they’ve been to before. Two of them being ones Grian had been in. Technically there’s six if you include this world since they just entered, but-”

“Wh-what worlds?” Grian managed to ask.

“Not the one you were in when you went to highschool.” Xisuma started with his answer, making Grian give a small sigh of relief and calm slightly. “That being said, The first two worlds are Grian’s solo world as well as the Evolution world. There’s also one connected to Evo called… The Down Side Up?”

Grian’s eyes widened. He had talked about his solo world plenty of times. He had talked about Evo a lot as well. But the last one he had only heard about. Heard about from the one person who had been there. Someone who had been in Grian’s solo world and Evo. And that someone… had… also been in… the highschool. 

The builder only half recognized Mumbo talking, but it did bring him back into paying attention to what was going on. “And what are the other two?”

Xisuma hesitated, which made Grian worry. And by the way Mumbo shifted, he was worried too. “The two other worlds… are the fourth and fifth worlds of Helscraft.”

“-W about two rustic houses?”

“No.”

“Okay, you’re really driving a hard bargain. I can build you three rustic houses.”

Jrumbot half registered the people talking nearby. He was really out of it. Even though he was a robot, he still felt sore from walking all the way to that weird mansion.

“I don’t want any of your bloody fucking rustic houses!”

“Well then what do you want?”

“What I want, is for you to go back to season 4 and find Grifter to bring him back here!”

“Hmmm… Sorry Sense, I can’t do that. True might get upset and Xannes would get really mad.”

“You think I give a fuck? You and EX are the only ones who can get in and out of here. So What I want is-”

Jrum had sat up and in his bleary eyed like state, he saw his daddy and ran over to them with a hug. “Daddy, I’m sorry for going too far out. I didn’t know it was gonna be that far away.”

But Jrum didn’t get a hug back, instead his daddy stiffened up and then spoke in a dark tone. “If you don’t pull this thing off me right now, I will tear it limb from limb and harvest its redstone for my experiments.”

Jrum was pulled away by someone behind him, and this time the robot got a better look at the person he hugged. It looked like his dad, except his suit was messy with burn holes and redstone dust everywhere. His tie was a blue color instead of the normal red, also with similar burn markings. His mustache seemed like it was hardly cared for, it was frizzy and lopsided, singed to the point where small embers seemed to be resting in the hairs. And finally, the look in his eyes was familiar and yet not. It looked like when he had spent days on a redstone project and still hadn’t figured it out, but turned up a thousand percent.

“So, how about two rustic houses and a rustic mansion?”

“I already told you what I want!”

“Fine, just one rustic house. I know about that project you’re working on and wouldn’t it look nice if instead of that concrete base-”

“Fine! Fine! I don’t want anything. Just don’t fuck up my redstone!”

“Okay!”

Jrum watched as the daddy clone stomped off before looking to see who had helped him. When he turned to look, he saw a familiar face. “Dad?” Then his memory from just before powering off came back. “N-no… y-you’re not my dad! Wh-who are you?!”

The person smiled. “Don’t worry! I’m your friend! It’s nice to meet you!”

“What do you mean?” Jrum asked warily.

“You kept coming to visit me in the village, didn’t you?”

Jrum paused. Though this person looked like his dad, their voice wasn’t quite the same. But it did match the voice of his friend. “Why do you look like my dad?”

“Oh! Because we’re not just friends. We’re also family!”

Jrum tilted his head. “Is that why you look like my dad?”

“Yeah! Because he’s my dad too! In fact, he named me NPC Grian, but I normally get called NPG.”

“Wait… so does that mean you’re also my brother?”

“Yep! In fact, I’m the oldest! From what you’ve said, you’re the youngest?”

Jrum nodded. “Yeah, I guess you got built first and then Grum got built and then me!”

NPG smiled and then hugged his younger brother. “Well, now that we can see each other face to face, how about we explore the world? We’ll have to stay together because not everyone is nice, but I’m sure you’ll be fine!

“Okay! That sounds fun! But um… can you carry me? Walking so far before wasn’t fun…”

NPG tilted his head in confusion. “Why didn’t you use elytra?”

“Grum and I can’t use them. Daddy says it’s ‘cause of our proportions or something.”

“Well then! We’ll have to see if Prof can do anything about that! He’s pretty nice, I think you’ll like him!”

“Do we have to go far?”

“Nope! We can use the aether to get there! Since it’s faster!”

“What’s that?”

“Well it seems to be whatever is here instead of the nether. Everything is really backwards here. But it’s not too hard to wrap your head around, like with rustic houses!”

Jrum frowned at that. Like rustic houses. He couldn’t wrap his head around those. So he was probably going to just get more confused here.

“Alright! Let’s go!” NPG picked up Jrum and walked off, going to a portal with glowing blocks and blue magic in the middle. Jrum rested his head on his brother’s shoulder as the magic swirled around them before moving them to another dimension.