A/N: Remember when I promised a sequel to Portal Party? Well, that was before I knew about Hero in Residence coming up in a month. Since what I had planned to write was going to be like an unofficial Season 2, it might not work if there's going to be a real Season 2. While I try to figure out how to deal with this new plot development, here's my favorite episode of MCSM in novella form.
I'll try to stay faithful to the episode, but you know me, so any Lukesse moments will probably be emphasized.
Some dialogue might be paraphrased, deleted, or changed from the original. For instance, I've altered the dialogue where Petra talks about being "a scared bunch of noobs" in the Order Temple because she wasn't there at the time.
I am using Instagamrr's playthrough as a reference.
Order Up!
Jesse Used: Fem!Jesse, variant 1. Let's call her Jess.
Ah, the jungle; the perfect place for adventure. As night fell, so did the temperature, giving a welcome respite from the day's heat and humidity. Dew soaked the grasses and foliage. It glistened in the light of the full moon, giving the leaves and vines a silver shine in the dark. Some jungle creatures had gone to sleep; others were just beginning to wake up. Among those were a trio of ocelots. The small wild cats snuck through the tall grasses and over thickets, pressing their tiny noses to the ground. They were in search of something.
Suddenly, their sensitive cat ears picked up a noise. It was a thumping sound—someone's footsteps. A human was approaching! The ocelots stood up straight and growled a little, flicking their tails in anxiety. Then the shy cats bounded away, fleeing to pick up the hunt somewhere else.
Only a few paces away from where the ocelots had stood, a tangle of foliage rustled. A young woman, maybe eighteen, maybe more or less, pushed her way past the leaves and ferns. She was trying to be quiet, but had managed to scare the ocelots anyway. When she saw what lay ahead, the destination of her jungle journey, she smiled a cheesy little grin and continued stalking towards it. Ah, finally, her friends' trip through the rainforest had come to its goal. Hopefully the treasure they'd find would make up for hours of climbing over thickets in stifling heat, as hundred-foot-tall trees loomed overhead.
Speaking of friends, those friends would catch up with her in a second, so Jess continued on to approach the ancient temple. Excitement, danger, and of course treasure awaited. But it appears that danger would be the first one to meet them! A creeper scurried across her path, forcing Jess to take shelter behind the thick trunk of a jungle tree. The furry green creature, somehow armed with the power to self-detonate and destroy its enemy, reminded Jess of how unsafe the rainforest could be at night. There were hostile creatures lurking everywhere. She drew her sword so that she would have defense at the ready. The sparkling blue blade glowed with magic. It was enchanted to be extra sharp and deadly. Shimmiying around the tree, Jess scampered out into the open to deal with the monsters. Zombies, skeleton archers, spiders, and creepers presented a challenge. They'd have to be eliminated before Jess could even think of entering the temple in the first place.
Of course, that's not to say they were much of a challenge after all. When a handful of zombies started hobbling towards her, she sent them back to Davy Jones's locker with a swift swipe of her sword. Another group of zombies ganged up on her and were slayed with even less effort. To think that about a year ago, she was fearing for her life as she tried to bat one zombie away with a pitiful wooden sword! Hurrying forward, she cut down a third group of zombies, killing four of the beasties at once. She grinned wide, pleased with herself. Not bad at all, Jess.
Of course, it wasn't wise for Jess to feel too good about herself. There were still more monsters to fight. Two skeletons behind her drew their bows, and she didn't realize it until she heard the creaking bowstrings. Uh-oh! They'd be able to shoot before she could run forward and kill them. Jess had armor, purple armor called Dragonsbane, but it wouldn't block every bit of damage from the arrows.
"Look out!" cried a voice from above. Jess stole a quick glance up. Petra stood at the top of a jungle tree. When she saw her friend in danger, Petra leapt clean off with a wild war cry and rained down warrior fury on the skeletons. She smashed one to bonemeal with her golden sword and sent the other one flying with a strike from the mighty blade. The half-dead skeleton whizzed toward Jess, who wasn't quite sure how to react. Jess swatted the skeleton aside with her own sword, sending it crashing to the ground next to her. Both skeletons disappeared in puffs of chalky smoke, leaving behind bones and arrows.
Jess sighed in relief. "Thanks."
Petra bounded forward a few steps and struck a grin, satisfied with her skillful moves.
Just then, a rough male voice called out to them. "Hey, Jess! Check this out!"
They glanced over at the source of the voice, their friend Axel. Axel was a mountain of a young man, with a barrel chest and thick arms. He also tended to have a thick skull at times, but, uh, Jess kept that opinion to herself. Anyway, Axel had two zombies caught in headlocks under his arms. They were like limp ragdolls in his thrall.
"And 3, 2, 1…" His voice was slightly muffled under his glass helmet. "POP!"
He squeezed the zombie's necks as hard as he could, killing the monsters. They poofed into dust right in his arms. He chuckled, feeling like a million bucks for his unorthodox move.
"Pretty cool, right?" He lifted his hefty arms and flexed, not noticing the zombie sneaking up behind him. "You can try it too if you want—"
Jess, however, noticed the zombie and decided to take action. "Duck!"
She ran forward and somersaulted right over Axel's broad back, whacking the zombie into a stone wall and killing it. It left behind a pile of rotten meat. Jess wisely left the zombieflesh untouched.
Axel was a little stunned a first, and then he said, "Dude, you're getting pretty good at this."
He raised his hand for a high-five. Jess answered it. Yeah, teamwork!
Meanwhile, another friend had seen that whole scene take place. Now it was her turn to shine! Olivia leaned against a cluster of dispensers supported on fence posts, wearing redstone-themed armor and a confident smirk. She crossed her arms over her chest.
"You guys are working way too hard!" she said, feeling sure of herself for once. Then she bashed her machine on its side with her elbow and let it do its thing. A blinding volley of arrows flew out of the dispensers. The mobs standing in front of it didn't stand a chance. Creepers, zombies, skeletons, and spiders flopped to the ground with arrows stuck in their heads and torsos. A cloud of smoke went up from the aftermath. The mob drops of bones, rotten flesh, gunpowder, and string littered the ground.
Jess laughed, impressed with Olivia's skills. "You're always trying to one-up us, aren't you?"
One last zombie staggered towards her from behind. Man, those things just do not give up. It would have seemed that Jess didn't notice it coming, like how Axel hadn't, but she knew it was sneaking up behind her. She could smell its stinking rotten flesh. Without even bothering to glance back at the monster, Jess twirled her sword around and stabbed the zombie through the chest. The beast crumpled to the ground and disappeared into dust. Jess nonchalantly sheathed her sword.
Now that the annoying mobs had been slain, the friends could focus on why they'd come here in the first place. The ancient temple stood nestled under the trees. It was dome-shaped and built out of stone bricks and mossy cobblestones. Tiki torches provided light, but not a lot of light. A small tree stump stood outside the building.
"Wow. That is one seriously cool temple," Jess said. She and her friends had explored plenty of temples in the past, but this was the largest and most elaborate they'd seen yet.
The other three wandered up and voiced their assent.
"Yeah, points for Ivor, I guess," said Petra. "This was a good tip."
It was? Ivor had been chattering too excitedly about it for Jess to figure out much of what he had been saying. Something about "be careful about the traps," "worthwhile treasure," and "ancient secrets." Since she had gotten to know the man better, he'd revealed a goofy, erratic side he'd been hiding for who knows how long.
Looking up to Jess as the de facto leader of the team, Olivia asked, "Well, Jess?"
Of course they'd go ahead and raid the temple! They didn't come all this way to stare at it, now did they?
Jess leaned on one hip, thinking of something clever to say. "Order of the Stone? Let's get dangerous."
She was expecting them to tease her for her rather corny line, but instead they cheered "Danger!"
Without a second thought they ran across the stones, up the stairs, and straight into the temple. Axel waved his arms in the air in excitement.
The first room in the temple was a square-shaped central room. On the three other walls, thin flows of lava poured out from the ceiling into channels in the floor. A couple levers were on the wall next to them, presumably to operate the lava channels. There was a square-shaped depression, covered in polished andesite blocks, in the middle of the floor. It looked like a puzzle.
Great.
Jess hated puzzles. But in order to get anywhere after this, she had to figure out how it worked. She decided to investigate it closer to figure out how it worked.
She had only taken a few steps inside when Axel approached and complained about the empty room. "After we all yelled 'danger,' I got a little nervous, but this place is empty. There isn't even any treasure!"
"Come on. You know how these places work. The treasure's never just out in the open." Then Jess suggested what she had been about to do. "Let's fan out and search the place."
The others dispersed to do their own thing. Jess set about to figure out what the deal with the puzzle was. The mechanism for the levers seemed to be the same for each lava channel. Was she supposed flick the levers in a certain way so that all three lava channels ran into the depression in the floor? She was afraid that flicking the wrong lever would trigger a trap. Temples in jungles were notorious for that.
She explained what she had made of the puzzle to her friends, in case they could help. "These channels lead to the center of the room."
Olivia was likewise sensing a puzzle to be solved here. "They look like they're designed to let lava flow from those channels in the wall."
Okay, sure. That probably was the case. But how would she know which levers were the right ones?
"Why would you want to do that?" Axel muttered. No-one paid him any mind.
Jess noticed quartz glimmering on the walls. Each lava channel had a quartz design next to it on the wall, but not all of them were the same. Curious. One wall had one dot of quartz, another had two, still another had three, and the final one had four.
Wait a minute.
Eureka!
Jess flipped the switches in order. One, two, three, four. Then she stood back and hoped it would work.
The mechanisms disengaged and released lava into the channels on the floor. Once complete, she heard the grinding of ancient contraptions within the structure of the temple. The andesite blocks on the floor cranked back, revealed a deep chasm below. One wooden staircase spiraled down to whatever lay at the base of the temple, snaking around the lavafall now pouring down the center of the chasm.
The others murmured in wonder. Petra nodded at Jess, impressed. Then Jess hesitantly led the way down the staircase.
"I think I actually would have been disappointed if it hadn't opened up into a dark, creepy passageway, Axel commented before joining them.
Down the stairs they went, surrounded by the red glow of lava. Even from the safe distance, they could feel its heat pressing against them. Jess pulled her hair back and slung it over her right shoulder so it wouldn't get singed.
"This reminds me of when we first went to the Order's temple," Olivia said as they marched down the stairs.
"Yeah," Petra interjected. "We were such a scared bunch of noobs back then."
"I wasn't scared," Axel boasted.
"Oh really? Then who was the one crying 'Help me! Help me! The dispensers are trying to kill me'? Olivia told me all about it."
"Olivia! We talked about that!" Axel whined to Olivia.
"Must've slipped my mind," Olivia chuckled.
Man, how long ago had that been? It must at least have been eight months since the Witherstorm disaster.
"Gosh, that feels like it was a million years ago," Jess said. "We've packed in a lot since then. All those temples we've explored, monsters we've fought...look at how far we've come."
"Not noobs anymore!" Axel shouted. "We're freaking pros!"
"Would you say we're pros, Olivia?" Jess inquired.
Olivia shrugged, making her pigtails bounce. "Maaaaybe…I'd say we're pretty good. I don't want to get cocky, though."
"What's the matter with a little confidence?" Petra twirled her sword in her hand.
"They say that 'pride goeth before a fall.'"
"A fall down the stairs? 'Cause these things are so rickety," Axel complained. The boards creaked under his girth.
"I think you're worrying too much, Liv. We're doing fine." Jess stepped off of the staircase, onto the floor of the basement. "See, we're where we need to be, and all in one piece!"
The basement of the temple was a large, shadow-shrouded chamber. The floor was quartz and wood, and pillars held up the ceiling. Not much else was visible. The most important thing Jess saw, however, was the oft-sought treasure. Four wooden chests sat on the floor.
"Treasure!" she proclaimed. Behind her, her friends cheered.
"Okeedokee, let's see what's inside." She chose a chest at random and knelt next to it. The latch was locked, but so rusty that she had no problem forcing the chest open anyway. While she leaned in to examine the contents, she heard creaky latches and shuffling items around her. Petra, Axel, and Olivia were attacking the other chests.
Her first reward was a cake. She announced her find to the others.
"Hey, it's a cake!"
Despite being in a chest, the cake was not rotten or moldy or anything like that. Minecraftian food does not spoil or go stale. It was a bit hard and crumbly on the outside, but beside that, it was as good as a freshly-baked cake. Jessie swiped a bit of frosting off on her finger and licked it. Yep. Still good.
Axel heard the word "cake" and was immediately interested. His head snapped up to see Jess sampling the treat.
"Oh! That's like the cake you swiped from the witch's hut!" he said. "I was so jealous of you."
Jess held the cake and looked at Axel, wondering if she should give it to him or not. On one hand, it was her cake because she found it, "finders keepers" and all that, but on the other hand, Axel was her good friend. Maybe he'd be okay with just taking a slice or a quarter of the cake or maybe…
"It's just...I really love cake," he said. "It looks so good."
Jess's resolve melted. "It's all yours, Axe-man."
She tossed the cake to Axel, who deftly caught it and smelled the frosting. While he stammered his thanks, Jess went back to searching the chest. She pulled out a pumpkin. Its spooky little face leered back at her.
"Huh, a pumpkin," she mused. "That might come in handy if we run into Endermen."
Truth be told, she preferred goopy pumpkins to Soren's stinky Enderman suit. She put the pumpkin in her pocket.
"Let's see, there's one more thing in here." She dug out the final goody. "It's…"
She trailed off. In her hands, she held a flint and steel, but it was like no flint and steel she'd ever seen. It felt as smooth as glass and gleamed with a mighty blue glow. Jess had handled flint and steel sets with Unbreaking enchantments before, and they seemed to have a coat, a crust almost, of magic around them. This one, however, seemed to be fully and innately magical.
The other three gathered around Jess to see the flintensteel for themselves.
"That's so cool," Axel gushed. Then again, Axel found most things in life to be super cool.
"What is that?" Olivia squinted at it. "I've never seen a flint and steel glow blue before."
"Maybe it's an enchantment?" Petra suggested.
"No, I've seen ones with enchantments before. They never look like that."
"Then I haven't a clue what this is," Jess said. "Or what it does. Do you think it even sets fires?"
Petra shrugged. "Magic fires, probably."
"There's only one way to find out," Olivia said. "Give it a strike."
"Alrighty, flint and steel. Dazzle me." Jess struck the pieces together.
A powerful blue spark leapt from the flintensteel and shimmered in the air. It was like a star had flashed in the room.
"Ooo," everyone mused in amazement.
"Whoa!" Jess gasped. "They usually don't do that!"
Everyone was so enamored with the magic flintensteel that they didn't notice zombies approaching. Again with the zombies. They were coming in on all sides. When the zombies were close enough for their moans to be audible, the friends snapped to attention. Jess stowed away her prize and got out her sword instead. She wasn't scared, though. If they could handle the googlies outside the temple, it wouldn't be so hard to get rid of them inside it, too.
"Guys? Looks like some monsters have a death wish."
The New Order grouped up, back to back to back to back. Petra had her gold sword out in a second, Axel flexed his biceps and curled his hands up into meaty fists, and Olivia whipped out her enchanted bow with an arrow at the ready.
"What's the plan, Jess?" Axel asked. "Ya ask me, now seems like a good time for a secret handshake."
"Secret handshake" being the code word for "awesome battle move."
"So let's use the Redstone Rap," Olivia said, wanting her idea to be used. "Obviously."
"That's a funny way to pronounce Warrior Whip," Petra retorted.
Jess had a couple of options. They had the Redstone Rap and the Warrior Whip, but the Griefer Grab (Axel's move of choice) and the Builder Bump (Jess's own invention) were also plausible. The Griefer Grab was too risky for Jess's tastes, as it involved her flying through the air while holding a primed TNT charge, and the Redstone Rap took too much time to set up. She liked the Builder Bump, but not as much as…
"Warrior Whip! Go!" Jess declared.
"All right!" Petra sprang into action. "Make it good, just like we practiced."
Petra held her sword out to Jess. Jess grabbed the sword and spun Petra around, winding up for the throw.
"Whoa-ah-ah-oh!" Petra cried as she was spun.
Finally Jess released her grip, and Petra soared. She started to spin in midair, turning into a whirling blur of danger for the incoming zombies. The monsters got sliced to ribbons. Petra landed effortlessly on her feet and stabbed her sword into the last zombie's head, putting on a fierce warrior pose.
"Incredible!" Olivia applauded. "I like the Redstone Rap better, but that one's not bad at all."
"Meh, it's okay," Axel said, not wanting to admit how cool it was.
The next thing to do was to get the heck out of that temple! No waiting around for more monsters to harass them. Jess and her friends shot up the stairs, some of them skipping steps in their haste.
Abruptly a compartment in a quartz arch in the wall snapped open, and still more zombies staggered out of it. Jess almost groaned in annoyance.
"Zombies, zombies, zombies," Olivia complained, nocking an arrow on her bow. "It's always zombies."
Jess swatted two zombies off the stairs as they approached her. They fell down the chasm and hit the ground with sickening thumps. She was doing okay until an arrow whizzed in front of her and stuck in the ground at her feet. It had been shot by the skeleton archers standing on the stairs above them. They didn't have to worry about those for long, though, because a lavafall washed over them and burned them up.
"Ha! Lava took 'em out!" Axel cheered.
Unfortunately, the lava also took out the stairs. And since they were wooden stairs, they caught on fire. The blaze chewed up the wood, crawling up the staircase towards Jess and her friends.
Olivia pointed that out. "Aaaaaaand there go the stairs."
"We need to get out of here, now!" Jess shouted. She let her friends hurry on ahead of her and brought up the back. She coughed as smoke from the burning stairs assaulted her senses. The heat, both from the lava and the fire, was like a furnace.
"Look out!"
As Jess ran across a platform, another lavafall seeped through the stone. She slid across the wood to avoid it. She narrowly jumped from a part of the stairs just as they burned to nothing, then continued climbing for her life.
To her horror, yet another spurt of lava set the stairs in front of her on fire. They crumbled to ash, leaving a long gap between Jess and safety. Behind her, the staircase groaned as it withered under the heat and flames.
"We're trapped!" Axel yelled over the bubbling lava and hissing flames. "Now what?"
Jess bit her lip, panicking a little. It was not a good day to die! But if there was one thing she knew from having so many adventures, it was that there was always a plan B. She glanced up. Vines had grown over the stone bricks leading up to the mouth of the chasm. They were strong enough to support the weight of a human. If they could climb them, they could escape.
"The vines. Quick!" She motioned for her friends to start climbing. Everyone started shimmying up as quickly as they could. The vines were their way of escape, but vines aren't fireproof. Jess didn't dare look down. Up she went, furiously grabbing at vines to hoist herself up, as well as twirling them around her ankles for a foothold.
As if the weird puzzles, the zombies, the lava, and the fire weren't enough, yet another assault was incoming. There was a hole in the wall they were climbing up, and little blue spiders started climbing out it. Jess recognized the blue spiders with their bloody red eyes all too well.
"Cave spiders. Why did it have to be cave spiders?" Petra groaned. Cave spiders were one of very few monsters that gave her trouble.
"There's only one way out: through them," Jess said as she drew her sword. She had to climb vines and fight venomous spiders at the same time. She tried not to swing the sword too much, lest she lose her balance and fall to her death, so she resorted to stabbing at the spiders and batting them away as they approached. It was a risky gambit, but it was also her only option. Between hers and Petra's efforts, they repelled the spiders. They were almost able to escape.
One last trick tried to prevent them from doing so. The hidden ancient machinery ground and clanked again, and the andesite blocks started to push together.
"The tunnel's closing!" Jess cried.
Not yet! They wouldn't be able to climb up the vines all the way before the tunnel completely shut. Jess would have to buy them a little more time. Carefully she aimed, praying that the trick would work.
She tossed up her sword, and miraculously, it wedged itself between the andesite rocks. There was now an opening wide enough to allow an escape.
Honestly, Jess hadn't expected that to work, so that was a pleasant surprise.
Axel, in his usual reaction to cool stuff, started babbling about how amazing that was. Petra calmed him down. They ascended up the rest of the vines and crawled out of the tunnel into safety. Jess sighed for relief when they were back in the lobby of the temple. The mechanism for the tunnel continued to make noise, groaning as it struggled against the sword wedging it open. Jess bent down to retrieve her weapon.
She tried pulling it free. "Boy, I hope our treasure was worth all that excitem—uh oh!"
More spiders were crawling out of the hole, en route to harass Jess and her friends. Panicking, Jess tried more frantically to remove the sword. Finally she did, right before the spiders reached them. The andesite slabs snapped shut with enough force to make the floor shake.
"You okay, Jess?" Axel offered his hand to her and helped her to her feet. The New Order promptly exited the temple after that. Their hearts were still pounding and their breaths were still sharp. Talk about an exciting night! They stood at the edge of the clearing, away from the heat in the temple. Crickets chirped in the distance.
"Aw man, that was great," Axel said, reaching down and putting his hands on his knees. "Never gets old."
"Uh-huh," Olivia and Petra agreed.
Now that the adrenaline rush was over, Jess had more time to study her new enchanted flint and steel. What made this set so special? She pulled it out and turned it over in her hands.
"Oh! I almost forgot about your new flint and steel," Olivia said, noticing it.
"Try it out on something!" Axel begged.
"He's right," Olivia said (wow, Olivia agreed with Axel on something for once? Incredible!) "I'm dying to know how it works. If we can find out how it works, that is."
"Won't know until we try it," said Axel. "What do you want to burn first?"
"Way ahead of you, Axel." Jess walked over to the small tree stump outside the temple. She positioned her flintensteel over the log and struck it, spraying brilliant blue sparks. The second the sparks touched the wood, it went up in a tower of bright blue flames. The wood was incinerated in an instant.
"Wow," everyone gasped, stunned by the ferocity of the fire.
"Now that's impressive," Petra chuckled. "I bet that would make an awesome weapon."
They didn't get to ooh and ah over the flintensteel for long, though, because someone interrupted them.
"Well, well," said an unfortunately familiar voice. "Where'd you get the new toy?"
Jess and her friends wheeled around to see a brown-haired boy, no older than them, leaning lazily against the temple stairs and twirling a diamond sword in his hand.
Aiden.
He hopped down from his arrogant little perch and approached the New Order. "Looks a bit sophisticated for you, Jess."
Aiden's two friends, Maya and Gill, came slinking out of the shadows to assist Aiden in harassing the New Order.
"Order of the Losers," Maya sneered.
"Yeah, losers," Gill agreed.
Aiden stood in front of Jess, with his hands on his hips and his cronies flanking him. He wore a new leather jacket and a pretentious smirk.
Olivia groaned. "Who let you jokers out of your cave?"
"Joke's on you. We don't live in a cave," Maya retorted, rolling her pale blue eyes.
Jess decided to deal with the situation by mirroring Aiden's arrogance. "Well, well, well. If it isn't Aiden and the Pussycats."
Aiden scowled.
"That's not our name!" Gill protested, shaking his fist.
Olivia humored them. "So what are you Ocelots doing here, then?"
"The Ocelots? Psh!" Aiden scoffed. "The Ocelots were Lukas's gang. We ditched that name just like we ditched that little blond loser."
Now it was Jess's turn to scowl. She liked Lukas. No way was she going to let this arrogant punk talk smack about Lukas like that.
"Yeah, we rebranded." Maya turned around to show them the blaze rods painted on the back of her jacket. "We're the Blaze Rods now."
"Blaze Rods!" Gill boasted, waving his hands in the air.
Aiden glared at him. "Shut up, Gill."
Gill wilted. "Sorry, boss."
Jess shrugged. "Too bad. Honestly, I liked Ocelots better. Blaze Rods just doesn't have the same ring."
Gill blurted, "That's what I said." However, Aiden shut him down with an even more poisonous stare before Gill could say anything else.
Aiden walked in a half-circle around Jess. "Where's Lukas then, if you like him so much? Funny how the minute the Old Order decided you were cool, he wouldn't stop sniffing around you like a dog. He calls himself an Ocelot, but that's what he is: a dumb dog!"
"You take that back," Jess snarled.
"Can't. Wouldn't." Aiden shrugged as if he hadn't just insulted his former friend.
"Lukas is ten times the guy you are," Petra snapped.
"Or ever will be," Olivia added.
Jess put her hand on her hip. "Unlike you, Lukas is a hero."
"So now you're going to throw around that 'hero' crap?" Aiden's lip curled up. "You probably think that stupid trinket makes you so special. Typical Jess."
Jess tiled her head to the side slightly, keeping the flintensteel close in case Aiden tried to make a grab for it.
"You take all the best stuff for yourself and never give anyone else a chance!" He almost stomped his foot on the ground in frustration.
So that's what his hostility was all about. Aiden already had sickly green eyes, but now his jealousy seemed to be making them even greener.
He pointed at the flint and steel. "That should have been ours."
"Oh, yeah?" Axel challenged.
"Yeah!" Maya shot back.
Not wanting to be left out, Gill said, "Blaze Rods!"
If looks could kill, Gill would have been dead from the stare Aiden gave him. "I said shut up, Gill!"
"Look, Aiden, I don't know what to tell you except that we earned it," Jess said. "Fair and square. We got here first, beat the monsters, and cracked the puzzles. This is our reward."
"She's right. We fought monsters, lava, uh, levers…" Axel counted off obstacles on his fingers. "We fought lots of stuff, and we're sure as heck not gonna give up what we earned."
"Fair and square?" Aiden asked scornfully. "Nothing you've ever done was fair and square."
There was a tense pause, and then Aiden suddenly whipped out his sword. To Jess's dismay, so did Maya and Gill. Three diamond swords were pointed at her and her friends. Not ideal.
"Hand over the flint and steel, Jess," he demanded. "I won't ask again."
"Aiden, back off," Jess warned. "Don't do dumb stuff like this."
"Jess, why are we listening to this loser?" Axel said. "Talk crap, get slap!"
Axel yelled and charged at Aiden to attack. But Aiden gave Axel a kick in the gut, knocking him to the ground.
"Not a chance, chunky!" Aiden sneered.
That did it. Jess, Petra, and Olivia had their weapons out in a second. Maya and Gill gasped, realizing that the New Order weren't the pushovers Aiden had made them seem. The cronies were a lot less cocky now that two swords and a bow were aimed at them. Axel stumbled to his feet and put up his hammy fists, ready to do some battery.
"Some hero you are, Jess. You're going to attack us because I said something mean to your friend?"
Jess tried to ignore his guilt trip. "You know, guys? Let's just go home. These 'Blaze Rods' aren't worth it."
Aiden glanced around at Jess and her friends. Four New Order members versus three Blaze Rods. It wouldn't work out.
At least he knew when to fold 'em. "Fine."
He and the Blaze Rods sheathed their swords. In turn, the New Order put away their weapons.
"What hope do we have when 'heroes' like you are always throwing your weight around?" he asked Jess, then ended on a dark note: "It's not always gonna be this way, though."
He and Maya turned and snootily walked away. Gill stuck around for one last shout of his catchphrase.
"Blaze Rods!"
Aiden shoved him. "Shut. Up."
Jess and her friends watched him leave, shaking their heads in confusion. What had gotten into him?
"What a bunch of stinking bullies," Axel muttered.
"Are you okay?" Petra asked him. "He shoved you down. That looked like it hurt."
"I'm fine. A little sore, but I'm fine," he responded.
"Geez, was Aiden always that angry?" Olivia gazed off into the dark jungle. "He was salty enough to warrant a high blood pressure warning."
"No, and that's what is bothering me," Jess said, leaning on one hip. "I've got a bad feeling about him. I mean, he shoved Axel to the ground and threatened us with swords. I hope he doesn't hurt anyone."
"We should keep an eye on him, watch to make sure he doesn't get in trouble." Petra blew some stray hair out of her face.
"And he was acting that way just because he wanted the flint and steel," Axel said, stretching his arms a little. "What's up with that?"
"Maybe Ivor knows more about it," Petra suggested. "He's the one who gave us the tip in the first place. I bet he has a book about it. Ivor has books about almost everything."
"That's a good idea," Jess said, nodding. "Come on. If we leave now, we should get back home by sunrise."
They turned and headed off in the direction of home, leaving the misty jungle behind.