Disclaimer: I do not own Minecraft. I do not own the YouTubers either. I do own the OCs (Lightning and Millie) though.

I kinda hated this chapter. It was very difficult to put together. Grr *tableflip* *crash* So, if you see anything that's confusing or "doesn't feel right", let me know. Hopefully, the next chapters would elaborate more.

"Honk!"

Mitch groaned. His thoughts and vision were fogged up. His palms and fingers felt grass and dirt underneath them. Mitch lifted his head, realizing that he was lying on the ground, his back against the sky.

He blinked his eyes several times and tried to push himself into a sitting position. He was too weak and ended up falling back on the ground. The small fall did not hurt his head. It was soft, actually. Mitch remembered the grass he felt with his hands.

"Honk!"

"Ah, Jeffery!" Mitch murmured. He swung his left arm around his surroundings. His hand touched nothing but air.

"Where are you?" Mitch asked. Finally, his vision fully refreshed. His eyes were greeted by sunlight and trees. A pig was a few blocks in front of Mitch, looking innocently at him.

"Oh, there you are." Mitch sighed. Jeffery just gave Mitch an adorable, blank expression. Mitch felt strength waking up with him. He lazily sat up and shook his head. He looked around. He was sitting in a grassy, plain biome. To the left was a small, young forest. No one but Jeffery was nearby. It was peaceful and calmed Mitch until his thoughts finally functioned.

"Where am I?" Mitch told himself. He did not recall sleeping in the middle of the wilderness.

"Honk." Jeffery snorted.

"That won't help." Mitch joked to the pig. Mitch scanned through his recent memories as he looked at the forest. His eyes widen. Seto. Mobs. Iron door. Time pearl.

BajanCanadian immediately jumped up to his feet. He frantically looked around. He did not spot Seto nor his house anywhere. Then again, if Mitch truly did went to the past, the house might not be built yet. However, the time pearl was never tested before. It could have teleported him to a distant place in the lieu of travelling back in time. The forest looked unfamiliar too. However, in the past or not, the forest could look different because of youth.

Did he travel back to the past or not? If so, what time period was it? Mitch needed to investigate again. He needed to find someone. A player or a villager. Mitch observed the area again and spotted no one but the pig. However, he caught sight of a mountain. It was opposing the forest side and not too far away. It was small, but it would do. Mitch checked himself, seeing that he had his supplies and sword.

"Later, Jeffery." Mitch said to the pig, who responded with a confused snort. The player walked towards the mountain. His first few steps were unstable and slow, probably as a result of the lag. Soon, Mitch had full balance of himself and journeyed with ease. When he arrived to the extreme hill, he started the climb up. He was glad that the mountain was already searched by another player, stairs mined and placed into its sides. He climbed without much obstacles and struggles.

Mitch soon found himself high on the mountain. He looked down and saw the ground was not fogged up yet. He then looked ahead. He was about to shape his hands into binoculars, but found that there was no need to deeply examine the landscape.

"Holy shhhh…" Mitch trailed off and let his eyes to the surprised talking. Ahead, the world was messed up. There were craters sloppily scribed into the ground and fires running loose. Trees and grass were burning, only a few plant life untouched. There were houses built in random places. However, they were destroyed and burning as well.

"What the hell happened here?" Mitch questioned. Well, whatever happened, it was not helping Mitch determine his location and time period. Heck, the time pearl could have even sent him to the future in a post-apocalyptic Minecraft world.

Not far from the mountain, he spotted a small village, its houses destroyed as well. At first, it was not a unique snowflake for Mitch. Then he noticed tiny, animated figures within the village. There was life there! It was the best place to head over to for answers for now. Mitch went down the mountain. When he reached the ground, he took a deep breath, and walked to the village.

The trek across the plains was exhausting. Mitch already ate four steaks from his food supply. He also had to wrestle with a handful of creepers. The surroundings were not pleasant sights. They actually looked more haunting up close. It was like BajanCanadian's walk to Seto's last night (or maybe pre-night, if this was the past). The only thing he had not encounter was an out-of-the-blue voice. However, a voice's absences made Mitch even more frightened and cautious.

He was elated when he arrived to the village. It was around early afternoon when he arrived.

The first thing that caught his attention were the buildings. Like what he saw in the mountain, the village was destroyed. Each building presented their own unique history of creeper explosions and zombie break-ins. Mitch came to realize how quiet the village was. He scanned the area and saw only a handful of villagers. Some were hiding and shivering in their houses as if no one could see them through the blown holes. The ones who were out did not saw a word or give eye contact. Mitch already had a theory that hostile mobs traumatized the village. Well, at least this village did not look rude. It could be more helpful that the unwelcoming village where Mitch encountered Sky and Seto.

Mitch followed the village's only full gravel path. Some villagers stepped back from the presence of Mitch fearfully. Mitch did not know why they were scared of him. However, his concerns over the villagers were pushed aside when he noticed something else.

Besides the gravel path were two teenage girls. They both were identical by their long hair, blouses, short shorts, big eyes, and pale skin. The major different between them was that one had neon blue hair, eyes and clothes while the other girl was hot pink. Both were building a house out of wooden planks, not noticing BajanCanadian. Noticing them closer, he saw that the girls' movements were not as smooth and natural as Mitch's. It was like they were living in a classic, 8-bit style.

At an abrupt stop from building, the blue one announced, "Millie, we ran out of wood." Even her voice sounded rough and robot-like. There was also a hint of the nasal accent of a villager in her voice.

"Me too." The pink one sighed, her voice so high-pitched and soft that it belonged to a kitten. However, her voice was still unnaturally rough and villager-like. "The closest remaining forest is too far away though. We can't get enough wood before the sun sets."

The neon blue girl nodded in agreement. Then she looked up and spotted Mitch, who was still spectating.

Straightening her back up with hope, she called out, "Hey, you? Do you have any wooden planks we could borrow?"

Mitch realized that he did have wood in his supplies. He rummaged through his inventory and discovered he had two full stacks. He pulled out one stack and presented it to the two girls.

"Two full stacks." Mitch replied. Then he brought the stack he was holding closer to his chest. "But what's in it for me?" He did not what to benefit any strangers generously. The two girls looked at each other. They exchanged mumbles and shrugs. Then the pink one looked at Mitch.

"You can stay in our house for the night." She offered. "You know how aggressive life is these days. It'll be a nightmare for someone left out in the dark." Mitch looked around the village, recalling the destruction. Were mobs extremely hostile in the past, or was that just a unique aspect of a present day area? Either way, it was best if Mitch survived. He turned back to the girls.

"Deal." He replied. Mitch pulled out his two stacks of wooden planks, divided them into three groups, and he and the girls continued constructing the house.

"Name's Lightning." The neon blue girl said as they built.

"Millie." The pink one purred coarsely. "What's your name?"

"Umm…BC." Mitch hesitantly and tensely replied. Until he found out where and when he was, Mitch would assume he was in the past. He would not give too much information, or something could go wrong. BC, the initials of BajanCanadian, was an easy alias to memorize.

"Thanks for the wood, BC." Lightning replied, giving Mitch a tomboyish nudge on the arm. Mitch silently choked back a gasp. For some reason, when Lightning touched him, she felt like static and hard, rough fur. It sent a small shock in Mitch. He did not want to seem rude to the strange girls. However, Lightning took a step back, a confused, slightly suspicious look on her face. She must had experienced the same thing. However, she shrugged it off. Mitch decided to ignore that too.

She and Millie resumed building the house in silence. After placing a few blocks on the wall, Mitch decided to start a conversation. He had not had a proper one over since the time alter and needed his sanity refreshed. What could go wrong? He intended it to be a friendly talk, with some attempts to get clues for his situation.

"So, why are you two moving into this…village?" Mitch began. "Didn't you already have a home?" Lightning looked up from her work. With an eye roll and a sigh, she answered, "Our old home's gone. It's been crazy for the last few days for us. For all living things here." She gestured to the village and the ruined plains beyond.

"I'm surprised that isn't obvious for you." She added with a chuckle. "Anyways, about moving into the village. Millie and I decided we might as well retire as villagers and die on our last lives with no traces of our past."

"Last what?" Mitch looked up, pausing from his work. His mind was already preparing for another storm of confusion, but curiosity had another plan.

"Last lives." Millie said. "Don't you remember the big news? The fights? Anything?" She ended that with a chuckle of disbelief.

"Umm, no." Mitch mused of an excuse for his lack of knowledge quickly. "I…just got out from a cave. I've been searching for diamonds in the dark for days. I haven't talked to anyone for a while. When I came back out to the open, the land surprised me."

"Oh, so you don't know anything?" Millie asked.

"Yeah. I guess." Mitch added a small laugh.

"All right, we'll tell you everything then. Story time." Lightning chuckled. She slowly placed a few wooden planks on an unfinished wall as she thought.

"OK," she began with her rather disturbing, scratchy voice. "Well, Minecraft's changed and still is. For the last few days, some people got corrupted and are threatening this world. Yeah, there are grievers and trolls, but these corrupted ones were really bad. No one knows when the corruption started, maybe a bug or virus, but it comes to people unexpectedly."

"For instance, what might seem good may actually lead someone to do bad things." Millie added. Mitch nodded, showing that he understood, sort of. However, he felt some disappointment form in his heart. The corrupted Minecraft thing sounded like a conflict the future would have. Not the past nor the present.

Lightning looked at Millie. It looked like she wanted her friend to tell the next part of the story. The hot pink girl nodded.

"For the miners and builders who weren't corrupted yet," Mille continued. "They had enough of the actions of the corruption. Some fought back. Some rage quitted. Overall, there was war. No one knew which side would win, but there was alot of damage put into this world." Like Lightning, she gestured to the destroyed village and landscape.

"That's when Notch came in." She said. "He knew the only way to stop the corruption and war was to kill us all, even the non-corrupted. He took away our ability to respawn a few days ago. He's replacing us with a new, stronger generation of people called players. He's updating Minecraft.

"But…it just made the conflict worse. The current, remaining people are more divided. Some, like us, are settling down on our last lives. The others are rebelling like crazy."

"Oh." Mitch said in awe. "So, about the respawn thing: the next time we die, it's all over?" Lightning and Millie gave slow nods. So Game Over. GG…or maybe not.

"You know." Lightning began with a chuckle. "Millie and I used to be rebels against Notch. But after an…incidence…most of the rebels changed their minds. Right, Millie?"

"Yeah…" The hot pink girl answered, placing another wooden plank down slowly.

"What made you change your minds?" Mitch asked, resuming placing blocks on an incomplete wall. There was a moment of silence as Mitch expected an answer. Finally, Lightning answered.

"…Herobrine." She said hesitantly. Mitch jerked up, dropping a wooden plank.

"Wait, Herobrine? As in, the Herobrine." Mitch gasped. "What did he do?"

"Herobrine was a strong rebel." Lightning began. "He loathed Notch's decision to abandon the ones who tested Minecraft for him. Since he was the best miner in Minecraft, he had many adherents for the rebellion." She was talking about Herobrine the living miner, not Herobrine the monster. But it was still interesting.

"Herobrine died in the Nether two days ago, BC." Lightning continued with a hint of sadness. "He wanted to prove Notch his strength and died trying. Or, as the second variation of the story goes, he died from corruption. Very bad corruption."

"With the biggest inspiration of rebels gone, it sent a sense of fear and doubt across Minecraft. Thus, the rebellion decreased." Millie concluded with a sadness that matched Lightning's. "Herobrine was a good person and idol. But now he's gone."

Herobrine recently dead? A new generation of players? Mitch felt hope spark. Maybe he was in the past after all! Lightning and Millie continued building the house in silence.

"OK, one more question." Mitch said, trying to contain his enthusiasm. "Do you know where the new generation of players are?" Lightning looked back at BajanCandian. Then her blue eyes looked the sky as she mused.

"Well, I don't think Notch will make them start in this messed up world." Lightning began, some humor returning. "I've heard that Notch's making a whole new world for the next update and players. He's cut off most of this world's transportation, so we can't go to others servers and worlds like the new one. I've also heard that he's almost done creating the new generation. The universe would be updated in five days. The new players would be left on their own and Notch would leave the world be after that.

"But that's all we know, really. We don't really understand much." Millie said. Lightning nodded an agreement.

"Oh, ok." Mitch replied. He had nothing else to say. It was not because he was confused again. It seemed that his brain finally constructed an impenetrable structure for his focus to thrive in. Mitch felt satisfied. He felt like the time alter was already stopped.

Mitch, Lightning, and Millie continued to build their house. Millie started up a new, more gregarious conversation as they built. All three players exchanged jokes and comments. Mitch was happy for the first time ever since the time alter. The fun reminded him of his own friends' company. However, the thought of his friends did not sadden him this time. In fact, it just made Mitch secretly more determined to finish his quest.

"Done." Lightning exclaimed as she placed a door on the complete house. The house was a decent size, able to fit about ten players. The house was completed just in time. The sun had just set.

Millie crafted three beds. Two were placed on one side of the house while the last one on the other side. After exchanging goodnights, she and Lightning retreated to the two beds on one side. They immediately feel fast asleep. They must had been worn about like Seto when Mitch last saw him.

Mitch, however, did not sleep. Well, there was a hint of the rare tiredness sinking down his energy. However, his excitement fought back. Mitch decided not to sleep no matter what, now that he discovered he was in the past. Beds would reset his spawn point. He did not know what would happen if he dies and respawns in an abnormal time era and location. Until he stopped the time alter, Mitch would not sleep. The nights were going to be really long.

Looking through a window besides his bed, seeing the moon rise, Mitch thought about the positives of his task. Lightning and Millie confirmed that Mitch was in the past. The time pearl worked! It worked! Oh, Seto! You. Are. A. Genius!

According to the girls, the new generation of players would be fully introduce to the game five days from now. Mitch knew that he was among those new players, remembering his own past. They were foggy memories, but Mitch knew that he was in the new generation.

Mitch had a feeling that he came earlier before the trigger of the time alter happened. He had no idea how the time pearl sent him to his wanted time period. Maybe it was some kind of follow you destiny, believe in your heart, or something like that.

He had at least five days to investigate and identify the time alter. After the fifth day, Minecraft would update, and the time alter might come with the update. Mitch wondered if he would also find out who caused the time alter. However, the important matter was that he stopped the time alter, fix the past, and return to his preferred present.

On that note, Mitch jerked up, realizing something terrible. The second time pearl! He did not bring it with him! He did not grab it because of the unusual break-in at Seto's house. Mitch silently growled in frustration, hitting himself in the forehead. Damn it! How was he supposed to return home without the second time pearl?! If he did fix time, the effort would be worthless if he could not enjoy the outcome at the end.

He stomped his foot. I'm so stupid! As stupid as Jerome. Maybe even stupider, he thought to himself. Mitch should have never went back to the past! Adapting to his new present life could have been much easier, safer, and smarter!

He looked down, a hand covering his eyes. He sat down on his bed. He closed his eyes hard and mentally tried to fight off the negative thoughts. Mitch took a deep breath and thought. He remembered this was not his first time doubting himself and his quest. He thought about turning back at Seto's house, but talked himself out of it. The BajanCanadian got himself into this mess; he was going to get himself out. Mitch experienced that situation many times in the Hunger Games. That was who he was: Benja who fights in the Hunger Games. He was not a grieved n00b. Mitch would not give in so soon. Maybe he could find out how to craft a time pearl on his own. Who knew? Maybe if the time alter was stopped, that would stop future Mitch from travelling to the past. Mitch could probably find himself suddenly back in the present after stopping the time alter.

Stop the time alter. Stop the time alter. That was Mitch's main goal. He would begin investigating when morning comes. No matter what obstacles and doubts he would face, Mitch had to stop the time alter. He also made a mental note that next time he was on a serious mission, he would always think twice.

Mitch heard a loud growl outside. He perked up, his sleepiness and negativity scared out of his system. Outside, he saw several dark figures at the borders of the village. The growls evolved into audible chants and yells. Mitch realized that the figures were armed humans, their movements similar to Lightning and Millie's. They were not aiming for the village, for now maybe. They were fighting each other! Even though Mitch could not see them well, he imagined their fight to be more horrid than the Hunger Games. Lightning did said that people were divided at had war between each other.

Watching the angry fight, Mitch recalled the incident at Seto's house. For some reason, the fight reminded Mitch of the crazy diamond sword that sawed down the iron door. Who did that anyways? How? Why? Another thought formed in Mitch's mind. Maybe the mysterious person with the diamond sword was trying to stop Mitch from going to the past. Maybe the same guy who caused the time alter. Maybe even the guy who whispered "don't do this".

Wow, so many questions now. They were not like the confusing aspects Mitch experienced in the present from his friends. However, he could not help wonder about who was against him and wanted to change his life…