Chapter 3

Third person POV

"Ow, it burns it burns!" Jesse said as he belly-flopped onto the water.

"Don't you know? You dive into the water, not land on top of it!" Petra says playfully, then her look turns to worry.

"Jesse… where's Katherine?"

He looked around. "I don't see anything!"

Petra dived under the water to look for her. She saw Katherine being dragged down by a zombie. Katherine was going back and forth between punching it and beating it with a stick, though the attacks didn't do much damage since she was underwater.

Petra swam up and broke the surface. "She's being dragged down!" She told Jesse.

Katherine's POV

I beat the zombie with everything I had, but physics wouldn't have it. Darn water!

The zombie's eyes turned purple.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no…

"Joining me is MANDATORY."

For a moment I forgot I was underwater, and a moment was all it took to do the most amazing thing I have ever done.

"Leave me alone!" I screamed. My necklace glowed. I lifted my hand calmly towards the zombie as if this kind of thing happened every day. A beam of white light shot out of my hand and hit the zombie square in the chest, causing it to tear itself apart and turn to ash with a tearing sound.

What did I just do? I wondered. That's when I realized that I had no air left. To make matters worse, whatever it was I had just done sucked the energy out of my body.

I started to sink, there was no more air left in my body left to keep me afloat, and I didn't have enough energy to swim to the surface.

No! I don't want to die yet! My body hit the floor. I looked at the surface above. It was so far away…

I saw a silhouette coming closer. It was Jesse and Petra! They grabbed my arms and hauled me out of the water. When my head boke the surface, I coughed and spluttered.

"Thanks guys," I said once I caught my breath. "I owe you one."

Petra asked if I was okay.

"I… think… so…" I said between coughs.

They drag me to the shore where I lay there, gasping. Jesse, Ruben and Petra hovered over me, looking worried.

"Katherine… what was that?" Jesse asked.

"We saw a bright light and…" Petra trailed off. "Kath, what did you do to that zombie?"

"I…I-I don't… know… I was just hitting it when… I just… blew it up? I-I don't really know what happened."

Reuben oinked in concern.

"Guys, I'm fine." I told them, though they didn't look sure. "We can head back to Endercon now." I said, getting up.

Jesse, Petra, and Reuben looked at each other, but said nothing. The walk back to Endercon was a long one, but we still made it in one piece. Eventually, I could walk without limping too badly, and soon we came across Olivia and Axel standing next to our winning Enderman build.

"Jesse! Katherine! And… Petra!?" Olivia asked in bewilderment.

"Hey, guys! You all know Petra, my new super-close friend. We're super-close now." Jesse says.

I face palm and Petra just stands there, looking like she wanted to die.

I feel your pain. I thought inwardly.

Olivia and Axel raised their eyebrows and looked at him suspiciously.

"We ran into each other as I was looking for Ruben." Jesse informed them.

"Speaking of," Olivia began, "1. What happened to Ruben's eye? And 2. What happened to YOU?" Olivia asks Jesse and then me.

I then give a little cough, still a little water-logged from earlier, and gestured for Jesse to take the stage.

"Ruben and I had a run-in with some zombies, they whacked him good, but Ruben held his own." Jesse told her.

Ruben smiled and gave a little oink.

"I may have run into a spider and a bunch of other mobs, gotten shot by a skeleton, almost drowned jumping of a bridge with zombies and creeper coming at us from both sides, and had an under-water death-match with a sentient zombie." I informed them in one breath, then coughed a bit more.

Axel and Olivia looked at me with wide eyes.

"Woah, Kathy… you sure you don't need to lie down?" Axel asks.

"Yeah. I mean, an underwater death match? That sounds a little extreme." Olivia agrees.

"I'm fine, seriously!" I say, then go into another fit of coughing. "That proves nothing."

"Mhmhm…" Axel and Olivia say at the same time, unimpressed.

"Well, Jesse I think it's time to go do that… 'Thing'" Petra reminded Jesse.

"Oh, right, the 'thing'" Jesse replied.

Did I miss something? I thought, giving the two of them a look.

"Subtle," Olivia said.

"Yeah?"

"As a punch to the face," She continued, raising an eyebrow. "Axel and I are gonna look around."

Axel turns to me. "Wanna come with us, Kathy? I heard there's free cake by the map booth."

I watched Jesse and Petra walk into a dark spooky alley. "No thanks. I'm just gonna wander around by myself for a bit." I told them.

"You sure?" Olivia asks me.

"Yeah."

"Okay then, well you know where to find us!" Axel said as Olivia spotted a Redstone booth and started dragging him towards it.

I smiled and shook my head. Those two will never change. I thought happily, and started walking.

As I walked, my mind switched to the Ocelots. Why are they so mean to us? I mean, I know that we're competition, but seriously! I then realized that Lukas hadn't really been mean to us, all he did was stand around and watch every time Aiden decided to pick a fight. I guess Petra was right, Lukas isn't that bad, in fact, he's kinda sweet.

I then thought about what Petra had said on the bridge. Maybe she's right… I thought. I began to think of his characteristics to decide if he would be a worthy friend. He's a good builder, he can handle himself in a fight, he wasn't mean to us when we were little, that was all Aiden, Gill, and Maya, he's brave, he's nice to us, he's cute- WAIT WHAT!? My train of thought comes to an abrupt stop. What am I thinking!? Am I!?

She hoped she wasn't. Nope. Nope, nope, nope, nope, NOPE! Never! Nuh- uh! NEVER! I shook my head to clear my thoughts. But they just kept coming back. I started having a mental war with myself.

But what if-

Nope.

Maybe-

Nope.

If I could just-

Nope.

It would be nice if-

STOP IT SELF!

As I was lost in thought, I ran into Jesse, who was running full-sprint in the opposite direction. I yelped as my injured leg got tweaked the wrong way.

"Kathy! Man, I'm so sorry!" Jesse said, helping me up.

"That's okay…" I told him. "Why were you running so fast? The Gabriel Keynote has been sold out for ages!"

"Well, remember that 'thing' I had to go do with Petra?" he asked.

I nodded.

"Well, long-story-short we met up with this guy and he cheated Petra and me out of a diamond. We're trying to track him down, you in?"

"Yep!" I replied excitedly. Jesse told me the guy's description and we split up.

I soon saw Lukas standing next to a potion stand and decided to ask him to help us. "Hey, Lukas." I said, walking over to him.

"Hey, Katherine … are you okay? You look… wet."

I look down at my clothes and notice that they are still soaked from nearly drowning earlier. Oh, so that's why I'm so cold.

"I… uh… might've gotten attacked by a spider and other mobs, shot by a skeleton, cornered on a bridge, jumped about a hundred feet into a river, got attacked underwater by a sentient zombie, and then nearly drowned…" I say awkwardly.

He widened his eyes.

"Uh… are you sure you're okay? Getting attacked by a spider, getting shot by a skeleton and falling off a bridge and nearly drowning because of a zombie in fifteen minutes can be pretty intense." He said.

"I'm sure." I said, but then started coughing again.

"I'm not all that sure I believe you." He said once I stopped coughing.

"Anyway, I had a question." I told him, trying to change the subject.

"Sure, what do you need?" He asked.

"Well, I'm helping Jesse and Petra look for this creepy guy that cheated him and Petra out of a diamond, care to help us track him down?" I asked.

"Woah! Everyone knows you NEVER mess with Petra, not if you know what's good for you," he added quietly, "I'll help you look. What does he look like?"

I told Lukas the guy's description, Black hair, shaggy beard, faded green clothing, and a very strange golden belt with a blue stone in the middle. We split up and I eventually found the others. Olivia was standing next to a chicken machine with Jesse, Petra, Axel and Ruben.

"Hey, Kathy." Jesse said, motioning me over.

"Any sign of him yet?" Petra asked us.

"I thought I saw him… but it was a false alarm- wait! There he is!" Jesse said triumphantly. He pointed to where a creepy guy that fit his description was walking toward the dome where the Gabriel keynote was being held.

"But first we need to get past that usher!" Olivia said, pointing to the usher blocking the gate that lead to the keynote. We ran up to him and the usher gave us a quizzical look.

"Soooo… yeah, hi." Jesse said to the usher.

"What will it take to get inside?" Petra asked him.

"Uh… tickets?!" the usher said as if it was obvious, then laughed at them.

"Look, I know this sounds crazy, but we're actually on an important mission." Jesse told the usher.

"Well, I hope your mission came with tickets to the show, 'cuz, like otherwise..." The usher told them. A chicken leaped, or rather flapped, in front of him. "CHIIIIIIKEN!" He yelped frightfully. "CHICKEN! CHICKEN!"

I bit my hand to keep from laughing. Is he seriously afraid of chickens? What the heck?

"It's fine… you're a totally cool dude…" He assured himself.

They backed away to form a plan. "It seems that the usher is afraid of chickens!" Olivia realized as the usher tried to shoo one away.

(A/N: sorry but I just can't help but point out the usher is afraid of chickens! Of all things a CHICKEN!? Okay, back to the story!)

"Ha. No kidding." I added, glancing back at the usher. "That's just sad."

"We need a distraction." Olivia informed us.

"A lot of chickens running around might be a distraction!" Petra said, looking at a chicken machine that just so happened to be on display nearby.

"What would you say if I said that I want to break this guy's chicken machine to create the mother of all distractions?" Jesse asked excitedly.

"But how are we going to get that high?" I asked them.

"Quick! Find something we can use to break that pane of glass!" Petra said, pointing to a glass pane on the chicken machine. We scattered to find something to use. Jesse was at a slime booth so I decided to head that way.

The lady running the slime booth wouldn't give Jesse some slime balls because he had accidently mistaken her for the guy they were looking for. She gave him a mean glare.

"A round of slime balls for everyone please!" Axel said, walking up to them. They walked away, a ball of slime in each hand. Jesse didn't get any because of the 'incident'.

"Wait, this is only eight slime balls! We need one more to make a block." Jesse pointed out.

"Okay, we need one more slime ball, and fast!" Petra told us. Jesse went back over to the slime stand to beg the lady for more slime.

Good luck with that, Jesse! I thought. I saw Lukas leaning on a pole, tossing a slime ball from hand to hand. He looked quite bored. "Hey, Lukas." I greeted him, walking over to where he stood.

"Hey Katherine." He replied.

"Can you do me a favor?" I asked.

Lukas looked skyward in consideration. "Anything's possible."

"I need slime balls, fast! I swear I have a really good reason."

He considered this for a moment. "Whatever you're doing, count me in!" he said, handing me the slime ball as Axel, Jesse, Petra, Olivia, and Reuben walk up to us.

"Thanks, Lukas." I said, and handed the slime ball to Jesse.

"This guy isn't actually cool, is he?" Axel complained.

"Remains to be seen." Olivia adds.

Lukas glared at them.

Jesse walked over to a crafting table and started crafting a slime block.

"Soo… have you guys been building together long? You have good chemistry." Lukas said, trying to start a conversation to break the tension.

"Are you jealous?" Axel asks him.

"No! I'm just saying that it's nice you have a team that works so well together."

Axel isn't convinced. "Ha! You're totally jealous!"

Lukas just glared at him again.

"Hey, Jesse how's it going?" Axel asked, "you know the drill, 'a slime in every slot and a slot for every slime'."

Jesse finally finishes the slime block. "Ew. Gross." He complained.

Olivia took it off the crafting table and set it on the ground a little way from the chicken machine. Axel gave Jesse a boost to the top of the crafting booth. Jesse ran off the stand, onto the slime block, bounced off, and punched the glass block on the chicken machine, setting free all the chickens.

"My poultry! My precious poultry!" the chicken machine guy cried.

The usher tried to intervene. "Keep your eyes closed, they will peck out your eyes!" the usher said before being knocked over and trampled on by all the chickens. "Ahhhh!" he screamed.

"Quick! Now's our chance!" Petra said, taking my hand and rushing me to the gate.

The usher managed to stand up and noticed us running towards the Gabriel keynote. "Hey! Get back here!" he said before getting knocked over by all the chickens again.

Creepy guy, here we come!