Ch. 2

Off in a grassland, there was a small farming village that was a part of Sky's kingdom. As the sun rose on a new day, people slowly began to awake for their daily duties.

"Back to the ol' grind." Ryan sighed, taking his iron pickaxe and helmet and heading outside. Like many others in his town, he worked in the mines, harvesting precious ores and minerals for use in the market and trade. As he walked down the gravel path, he met up with his two good friends, Tyler and Steven. Tyler was an experienced miner, and a loyal friend who was well known in the community. And Steven, well, not much was known about him; he didn't talk much. Steven was Tyler's roommate, and along with his typical blue striped shirt, a zombie and an enderman usually followed him around, which he had named Dave and Burt, respectively. The mobs never meant any harm though (usually), so people generally ignored them.

Why do I feel so weird today? Ryan thought as he hit the stone wall with his pickaxe. "Hey Tyler."

"Yep?" Tyler and Steven were in the middle of mining some coal. Steven dropped down chunks of the material to Tyler, who then placed coal into a minecart.

"Do you think...do you think that there's more to life than this? Mining all the time?" Ryan sighed, looking at his pick.

"Yeah, definitely. It gives a good paycheck though." Tyler replied, not looking up.

"I feel like I need to do something, you know? Get out there and make a difference in the world. But how can I do that?"

Tyler got out of his hole and pointed to a cobblestone block someone had tossed aside. "Okay, you see that block?"

"Yeah, we throw those out all the time." Ryan shrugged.

"You're missing the point here. Say that this block represents how you normally think."

"Like a rock?"

"Focus. This rock is normal, ordinary, dull, whatever you wanna call it. But, you need to think outside the block." He gestured his hands around it for emphasis.

"Think outside the block, huh? Catchy. But what does that have to do with me?" Ryan tapped his foot.

"Oh geez..." Tyler sighed, losing his patience. "Okay, so you said you want to make a difference, right?" He went to grab a paper from the news stand. "Go help some people. Do stuff for the greater good, change the-"

"Hey, check this out!" Ryan pointed to the front page article. "Heroes disappear...never seen since Sunday...WHAT? Team Crafted is gone?!" At this, the other miners froze and turned.

Tyler snatched the paper and continued reading. "'The famous team of adventurers all mysteriously vanished last Sunday. Many suspect that the disappearances of the team had all been conducted by one or more groups, seeing that no prior arrangements had been made, and the only event scheduled for that day was a livestream from Ssundee, which was canceled after the camera was turned off.' Oh yeah! I was there for that!" Tyler remembered. "The screen went fuzzy after Ian turned on his cloning machine."

"You don't think the squids could be behind this, could they?" Ryan suggested.

"The members of Team Crafted spread out to pretty diverse places after the war, so the squids might have recruited help to travel the different terrain and carry out the attacks. Skeletons, endermen, zombies...they could have any number of mobs at their disposal." Tyler shrugged. Steven gave a protesting frown. "But probably not yours." He assured.

"Well whoever it is, we need to do something!" Ryan insisted.

Later that evening, Ryan was at home sifting through his supplies, packing them into a backpack.

"Are you sure you're wanting to do this?" Tyler questioned through the telephone.

"C'mon Tyler, are you with me or against me?"

"Yeah, I am...but I think we should think this through first. I mean, we don't even know who we're dealing with. What if it's something we can't handle?"

"Okay, how about this. You know that guy the kids talk about? The one who lives out in the woods and supposedly does voodoo and stuff? He might be able to tell us. Meet me at the gates in about ten minutes."

"Wait, we're going now?"

"Yes now! We don't have any more time to waste! And take Steven with you; he could use the social interaction." As he finished packing, his eyes fell on an old Batman costume laying in his closet. "Hmm…"

Minutes later, Tyler and Steven snuck through the gates and, true to his word, Ryan was waiting, stone sword in hand.

"What's with the suit?" Tyler asked, seeing Ryan in his Batman costume. When he was little, Ryan would pretend he was Batman and 'fight crime' in his village. Wearing that suit, he felt like he was invincible.

"Uh, so I can blend in with the shadows. Yeah."

The three then made their way through the forest, trying to stay on the path near the torches, where mobs would not be near. Ryan didn't tell them, but this was his first time out in the forest at night, and his weak stone sword didn't assure him very much.

"There it is. That's the cabin." Tyler motioned. It looked run-down and abandoned, with vines and crumbling stone all around. "Maybe he's not home. Let's go guys."

Ryan held him back, and went to knock on the door. It creaked open, but no one was inside. "Okay, that was a little creepy." He commented, but motioned for the others to come. The inside was a little better, with bookshelves lining the walls, but the absence of light made it hard to see where they were going. They found a room with a black caldron in the center and glass bottles strewn around. Behind the pot was a man in a purple cloak, turned away from them.

"State your name, informal and formal." The man said, his tone ominous.

"Um..." Ryan stuttered. "I am Ryan, or xrpmx13."

Tyler stepped up next. "I-I'm Tyler, or Logdotzip." Pulling his friend over, he gestured, "and this is Steven, or Slamacow."

"Yes...I've seen you three before." He acknowledged, and turned to face them, revealing him to be young and about their age. "What can I do for you?" He said in a more cheerful tone.

"No way..." Tyler gasped.

"What?" Ryan asked.

"He's Setosorcerer, the famous wizard! They say that he knows everything about Minecraft!" Tyler exclaimed in wonder. "Is it true that you were once in Team Crafted?"

Seto nodded, frowning slightly. "That is true. I was in their group for a while."

"What made you quit?" Tyler asked.

"I'd...rather not talk about it. I know why you are here though. You wish to rescue Team Crafted, am I correct?"

"Yes, can you help us?" Ryan asked.

Seto sighed, looking down. I could never show my face in front of them, not after how we last parted. "No, I'm afraid not. But..." He walked over to his supplies, searching for a suitable object, but all he could find was a watermelon. "Well, I guess it will do..." He set it on the ground, and after muttering a couple spell words, casted a charm on the melon. It started to grow arms and legs and a square-like head. Then it grew a tropical shirt and shorts, and when Seto put on it some spare 3D glasses for eyes, the watermelon sprang to life, Frosty the Snowman style.

"Hiya! The name's Bashur!" He greeted enthusiastically, laughing in an unnaturally high voice.

"Oh boy..." Seto sighed, realizing what he had just created. "I apologize in advance. Bashur will guide you to the castle in the north. There you must seek out the Hero of the Lance."

"Sounds like a pretty important dude. So he'll be able to take us to where the team is captured?" Ryan asked, scooting uncomfortably away from the watermelon.

"That's right! Now listen here folks," Bashur addressed, putting on a cowboy hat and taking on a southern accent, "we're goin to that castle out yonder, and I don't want to hear no bellyachin! Hey, cosplay boy!" He looked at Ryan, who was still talking with Seto. "Let's get this cattle train movin!"

Seto shook his head with a trace of amusement. "Again, I'm sorry."

"No no, he'll be great. We've always needed a talking watermelon with MPD in our group anyway." Ryan replied with sarcasm. Seto waved as the group left, and wished them the best of luck in their travels.

Author's Note: Who knew that so many characters could appear in one chapter? Yeah, I know, not a lot of action here, but in the next chapter we'll get to see what really happened to the TC, so stay tuned!