(Author's Note-Hey guys! This was a story that I wrote awhile ago, but never quite finished. After awhile I went back to it, but I was somewhat dispirited by the quality of my writing. I started to fix chapters one by one, but I quickly lost motivation, and I figured nobody wanted to start a story that was half-fixed and nearly finished (This is a monster of a story as well, so if you're interested, better buckle up.) I know that half the fun of fanfiction is being there as the updates come, and communicating with the author. Sooooo I'm rewriting. Or rather extensively editing. I'm deleting the original story, and going with this. Writing should be faster this way, since I already have most of the work done, and updates should be daily at best, and weekly at worst. I'm totally open to feedback and your input could definitely change the course of the story. I'm really excited to work with you guys on this. Please forgive the first few chapters being a bit cliche and whatnot. There's only so much editing I can do and still retain some of the feel of the original story. Please let me know what you think of this new project, and have a wonderful day!~ Mage)

Chapter one:

Lalna held the beaker carefully. This first step was the most crucial stage of this experiment. The beaker held the contents of the last two years. Two years of frustration, research, and finally a glimmer of hope.

Lab Entry One Lalna

Today I started the initial stages of Project Beta. I spliced the DNA taken from my blood with that of a an Enderman. I am hoping to create an intelligent, docile Enderman that does not kill at a glance. It would yield unique insight into the mind of endermen and how they differ from humans. Anyway, it took several hours of careful modifying. In the end the operation was a success. The cells started to divide on their own. I started a hundred cultures, but only half made it to this stage. They mature at an exaggerated pace, so the specimen are already developing their physical forms. After verifying that everything was operating at maximum efficiency, I transported the specimens into prepared embryo capsules. At the current rate, the specimen will be full-grown within approximately a month. They will physically be adults when they come out of the embryo tank. I am confident that Beta will have a much higher rate of success then experiment Alpha did. I have logged in many research hours in the past two years.

In unrelated news- Some sort of flying object fell out of the sky this afternoon. I did not see it,, but the radars picked it up. It fell about five miles north of the Lab. I will investigate tomorrow, it is far too late now, and I must sleep.

Signing off…..

Upon waking the next morning, Lalna got up and had breakfast, and then was quickly off to work. He made a courtesy check-up on all of his on-going projects, but there wasn't much going on, because he dedicated most of his time to the Beta project. It had consumed most of his efforts for the past few years.

Finally it was time to check that final project. He walked down the hallway, and came to a reinforced iron door. A sign on the door simply read 'Project Beta'. An electric lock requested verification before the door could be opened. Project Alpha hadn't ended optimally, hence the security precautions.

Rows of human-sized capsules filled the room. A thumb sized mass floated in the middle of each, suspended in nutrient rich blue liquid. Each tank had dedicated machinery that measured various signs of life and kept the tanks at their optimal settings. Lalna began the long process of noting the status of each one, recording all the readings that the machines offered.

After this was done, he noted with disappointment that more than half of the embryos had stopped developing and had lost all life signs. It was to be expected, since genetically endermen and humans were quite different. Only two Alpha embryos had fully developed before, and one had died at 'birth'.

He left the room, locking it well behind him, and listened to the lab tape from the day before. The 'unrelated' part caught his ear. The lab didn't require any attention for the time being, and he should really see what the object had been for security purposes. The radars had given him the coordinates, about five miles north.

He grabbed a prototype jetpack he had been developing and set out. Fifteen minutes later, he was there.

The object had actually been some form of airship. It lay on the ground, crushed and smoking. Lalna landed a short distance away from the ship, carefully. He took a few cautious steps closer to the wreckage, worried about the clouds billowing out.

"Who're you?" A voice boomed out from behind him.

He turned, startled, but his voice held steady. "I'm Lalna. And you?"

The other man was dressed in some strange skin-tight bodysuit "My name is Xephos. Where am I?"

"About a three-month journey from any major town"

Xephos shook his head "No, no. I meant what planet am I on?"

Lalna's eyes widened slightly. "Uh…this is the planet Minecraftia."

He knew that space travel was possible, but had never been able to get even a satellite achieve orbit. It wasn't a very pressing concern considering the size of the planet. There were many corners of Minecraftia still unexplored.

Xephos frowned and began to mumble to himself. He walked distractedly past Lalna to his ship. He looked at a few melted wires, and a piece of charred metal that had been torn off. He sighed.

"It's hopeless! Just so much scrap metal now!" He angrily punched the smoking carcass. "OW!"

Lalna stood there, watching Xephos fume for a few moments. Though slightly fearful of the spaceman's erratic behaviour, he couldn't help asking, "How did you come to be here?"

Xephos sighed, "I live- well, lived- on a spaceship. All was well, but out of the blue a large fleet of enemies attacked us. We were losing badly, and the captain ordered us to evacuate. I was alone in the last pod. It malfunctioned somehow, and instead of going to the pre-destined coordinates, it took a random course. As I approached the planet, I lost control, and it crashed." His face fell.

"And now I'm stranded. I've met one other person here, and I'm lucky I did. His name is Honeydew, and he saved my life."

"Honeydew must be a local, but I don't know anyone around here by that name."

"Well, he's short.. Rather hairy. Drinks a lot of ale. Calls himself a dwarf."

Lalna nodded. "There is a small tribe around here.I don't see them much though. It's really rare to catch one above ground."

As though summoned, a stout figure appeared on the crest of a nearby hill and called out to them. Xephos waved back and the dwarf soon joined them.

He squinted up at Lalna "I've seen you before Goggles. How's the science stuff?" He smirked. "Or the mining?"

"Uh, it's fine." Lalna nodded at the dwarf politely.

He couldn't really say he recognized the fiery haired dwarf, considering he hardly ever saw the dwarves. Just as he had told Xephos, they all lived far below ground in vast, self-contained cities. He'd only been made aware of their presence when one of his mining tunnels hit theirs. That had been a near disaster. It was likely what Honeydew's snark had been referring to before.

Xephos filled the silence. "So I've met Honeydew, and now you. I understand that Honeydew lives with a tribe of dwarves, but besides them, are there other people around here?"

Lalna nodded "There are a few living in the woods. They worship the trees or something. They seem nice enough. But I can't claim to have any close contact with them. There is an island quite a ways away and a friend of mine Lomadia, lives there with her best friend Nilesy. I've seen a few others, around but I don't really know them. A week or so ago I met an entrepreneur of sorts, but he seemed a little nonsensical. He was just passing through. People come by every now and then on the trail that passes through the woods here. It's one of the more major trails across the continent, and it connects up to a lot of roads. Not many people quite this far west from civilization though. I tend to stay within my lab. There are small villages and towns scattered about, but nothing really noteworthy until you get to Mistral City, far east from here."

Xephos nodded. "Thank you. I need to see about traveling until I can gather the means to rejoin my people in space."

Honeydew spoke up. "Traveling is well and fine, but you need to make some plans. You're going to need a place to stay for the night." He turned to Lalna. "A Creeper nearly killed him last night. He didn't even know what it was! Unfortunately, my tribe does not allow outsiders, especially humans, into our cities." His beetle-black eyes glittered with amusement. "You saw how they reacted to you."

Lalna thought about this. Xephos needed a safe place to stay before nightfall, and he obviously didn't know anything about surviving on this planet. He could invite Xephos to the lab. It seemed crazy to extend such an offer, yet he found himself doing so regardless.

"You two can come with me to my lab, I could use the company."

Gratefully, they both accepted..