Author's Note: Well, here you go! The official fanfic version of the Tekkit Genderbent Universes Dilemma story ark, from my apparently-popular Random Bag of Yogscast One-shots. Enjoy!
The sun of Tekkitopia blazed down on the Jaffa Factory, sunbeams glancing off of its marble walls. The towering factory was really a spectacle to behold, its looming presence before the Jaffa Cafe, Brewery and currently empty Hot Dog Stand casting a glorious kind of aura across the little town-like cluster of buildings before it. However, the beauty outside was going quite unnoticed by its inhabitants: Xephos the spaceman, Honeydew the dwarf, LividCoffee or Lalna the scientist, and Sips and Sjin of Sips Co.
"XEPHOS!"
"WHAT?!"
"DO WE HAVE ANY GLOWSTONE?!"
"NO, I DON'T THINK SO!"
"WAIT, I HAVE SOME!"
"WHERE ARE YOU?!"
"OUT BY THE COW SLUG!"
"OKAY, JUST STAY THERE!"
The blonde, blue-eyed scientist flew out of the bright, technicoloured chute and almost literally burst through the door. He pushed his goggles up out of his eyes and screeched to a halt mid-air, where he saw a ginger-bearded dwarf petting a cow happily while a contraption nearby sucked out bucket after bucket of milk.
"Awww!" cooed Honeydew happily. "Who's a good cow? You're a good cow!"
"Honeydew?" said Lalna, slowly descending. "Um, you said you had some glowstone."
The CEO of Honeydew Inc. looked up at his factory, confused. "Wha... you were INSIDE the Factory?"
"Yeah...?"
"Why could I hear you as if you were just over there?" asked Honeydew, pointing to the giant egg where they bred their chickens.
Livid looked over at said egg, frowning, before shrugging. "I'm sure there's a scientific explanation. Now what about that glowstone?"
"There's a scientific explanation for effin' everything," muttered Honeydew, before answering out loud to Lalna, "Um, here."
The dwarf threw a handful of glowstone dust at the scientist that almost rendered said scientist's field of sight to be nothing more than golden sparkly powder. LividCoffee scooped up the glowstone dust happily and flew off without so much as a "thank you".
"How DARE he fly off happily without so much as a thank you!" exclaimed Honeydew indignantly. He turned back to the cow next to him only to find it gone. "Hey! Bessie? Where are you? Come to papa!"
"Let's see here," murmured Livid, glancing at the printed-out screenshot before back to the condensed glowstone blocks in his hands. "So a square with a two-by-two space... then that... okay, so like an arrow..."
As he murmured, the scientist snapped his goggles over his head and set to work. The bright day turned to darkest night, and although he was aided by the glowstone's natural light, he messed up quite a lot, eventually having to bring out a crafting table and extra glowstone dust just in case. When he was done, Lalna stepped back to admire his handiwork.
"Perfect!" exclaimed Livid, looking at the glowstone creation. "Looks like the file's picture exactly."
The creation was strange and complicated, although drawn on paper by hand it wouldn't be. It was the boy symbol - a circle with a kind of arrow - connected to the girl symbol - a circle with a cross connected. The tip of the arrow merged into the bottom of the cross, to make a suspended, lopsided kind of glowstone-y portal of sorts.
Suddenly, Xephos, Honeydew, Sips and Sjin came out of the Factory. Each one looked exhausted, and it was even more so illuminated by the near-invisible glow of the glowstone.
The spaceman's jaw nearly hit the ground. He closed it, then opened it again, before trying to say a few words and ending up stammering like all hell. Finally, he managed to splutter, "What the hell is this?!"
Lalna held up the printed-out version of his sculpture for the others to see. "I was going through my old files last week, deleting the stuff I didn't need and so on. And THEN I found... this! A supposedly magical portal that had been scientifically proven to work! There wasn't much on it, though, so I decided - "
"To build a giant glowstone portal thing in the middle of the egg rollercoaster?!" exclaimed Honeydew angrily.
"It is a pretty well-built portal," commented Sjin.
"Yeah, using glowstone really lessens the need for torches," added Sips.
Livid gave in to a glorious facepalm. "Just... just LISTEN!"
The scientist turned to face the portal happily. "This portal is said to open up a gateway to another dimension, maybe even parallel to ours! It's pret-ty cool. Now does anyone have any flint and steel?"
"I would NORMALLY, but for some reason I can't pick one up," muttered Honeydew.
"Thank God," smirked Sips.
Sjin, however, decided to be useful, and rummaged around in his pocket before withdrawing a flint and steel. He held out the fire-birthing tool to the scientist. "Here you go! But don't break it, I need it."
"Thanks," said Livid, striking a flame from the tool and shoving it in his pocket without so much as giving it back to Sjin. The flame landed on the glowstone of the boy sign, then suddenly flickered and spanned into a sheet of rippling, contorting Nether portal purple. Then, he withdrew a Destruction Catalyst from his lab coat and activated it on the Nether portal stuff.
There was an almost deafening shimmering sound, making all five snap their hands around their ears and yell in shock and slight pain. When they looked up, the glowstone had turned into an impenetrable black, blacker and denser than obsidian. Sjin blinked, bemused. Xephos was evidently too pissed to speak.
"That's black," remarked Sjin.
"That's racist," snapped Sips.
"Ooooooooh," cooed Honeydew curiously. Lalna smirked self-satisfiedly. Not only had the stone changed, but also the portal substance, from purple to a pure, almost blinding white.
"It's a very interesting procedure," continued Lalna, walking up to the portal and peering inquiringly into the white. "You see, the glowstone is needed thanks to the slight magic it gives out, and the flint and steel - "
The scientist went off into a rambling speech about something or other related to the portal. The two Sips Co-ians walked up to the portal as well, Sips trying to peer over Livid's shoulder. Xephos walked up to them as well, but cautiously as opposed to excitedly.
"Um, do you know WHERE this thing goes?" asked the spaceman tentatively.
"No idea," replied Livid. "I have many theories on that, however - "
He was cut short as Honeydew pushed them all in before leaping in after.
