The first thing Ant noticed when he awoke was the cold, hard surface of the floor that he was lying on. He supported himself against the wall, which was also made of the same material as the floor. It took some effort, but the pryomancer pulled himself up into a sitting position, and observed his surroundings. It appeared that he was trapped in some sort of cell, constructed of solid iron blocks. It took him a second to recall how exactly he had ended up in the cell, captured. Ant had been knocked out early in the attack, so the memory of his capture was barely anything. All that he could remember clearly was the sight of the soldiers bursting into his room before he blacked out. It didn't seem that important though, since Ant could already imagine what might've happened during his time unconcious. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of footsteps from the hallway. He weakly pulled himself over to the cell's window, and looked around for the source of the sound. A Minecraftian was walking towards him, directly in his line of sight. Ant recognized them immediately, from what he had been told by Anti.

The Minecraftian was none other than Aero, who was smirking in a smug manner, and his dark eyes were filled with anticipation. The commander had something planned for him, he could already tell. Aero stopped just a few feet from Ant's cell, with an expectant look on his face. The imprisoned Minecraftian only ignored the other's expression, and stared angrily at the commander. Aero couldn't help but smile. He knew that the prisoner was actually afraid of what would happen to them, even if they didn't express it. "It seems as if you can't escape. In that case, what will you do now?"

Ant narrowed his dark brown eyes at the commander, before looking away. He didn't even want to glance at Aero, the one who was responsible for the possible deaths of his friends. The thought of that worried him, for he had no idea if they were dead or alive. Ant slowly turned his head to face the commander, who was still standing in the same spot as before."What do you want from me?"

Aero grinned darkly, before turning away from the other Minecraftian and heading back down the hallway he had entered from. "Don't worry, you'll see soon enough..."

Ant tried to think of what could possibly happen, but before any thoughts came to mind, he was struck in the head. The pryomancer's limp body dropped to the ground, which his attacker, one of the guards, carried out of the room. At a steady pace, the guard began to head down the same hall the commander had several moments eariler, bringing the unmoving prisoner with him. It was time for the weakened Minecraftian to face the Tests, like many others before him. The guard's lone footsteps echoed in the empty hallways of the establishment. He stopped at a single door and opened it, careful not to drop the subject. Underneath his visor, the guard hinted at a smile. With one swift movement, he threw the body into the room, which made a loud thump as it hit the floor. Then, before the Minecraftian could even react, the guard slammed the door shut and locked it.

Meanwhile, in another section of the building, another being was coming back to reality. In the dark cell, the figure moaned as they attempted to get up. However, when they did, a sharp pain shot through them, causing them to slump back against the wall. Although it was hard to see in the near pitch-black, but the figure, apparently Sparklez, was covered in blood that ran from his chest. It was a wonder that he wasn't dead yet. Just then, he broke out into a huge coughing fit, before hacking up blood. A trickle of the red liquid trailed from the Captain's mouth as he groaned weakly in total exhaustion. The loss of blood he had suffered caused his vision to blur as the Minecraftian slowly looked around the prison cell. As he carefully studied his surroundings, Sparklez noticed something move in a corner of the room. He struggled at first, but slowly approached the small figure.

The Minecraftian in the corner slightly squealed in surprise, revealing themselves as a female. They seemed to be much younger than the Captain, about seven or eight years younger at least. The child cowered in fear at the older of the two, afraid of what would happen to her. "Who are you?"

He was silent for a second, noticing that the girl seemed familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on the reason why. Sparklez brushed away the thought, and responded to her question with one of his own. "Name's Sparklez. Now, who are you, and where are we?"

She glanced around the cell, so she could avoid making eye contact with him. Finally, she quietly mumbled a few sentences under her breath. Sparklez let out a huff of annoyance, which drew the girl's attention to him. She could obviously tell that he wanted an answer, for real this time. The girl's eyes only narrowed. "You're one of those soldiers, aren't you? I have to admit, they're getting better at disguises."

The Captain was in stunned silence as the younger Minecraftian continued, "Either you're here to kill me, or it's another one of those 'tests' again, isn't it?"

He quickly shook his head, ignoring the pain it gave him, his blue eyes wide with shock. The way the girl had said 'tests' worried him. What could she have gone through in these 'tests'? Sparklez's reaction to her words surprised the child, and she started to see his true colors. "So, you're not one of the guards."

With a slow nod, he confirmed the statement. "Okay, I'll trust you, but if you're lying to me..."

"I'm not, I promise."

She looked at him suspiciously, as if she was still skeptical. With a sigh, she began to explain. "My name is Rain, I'm ten years old, and I think we're in the main headquarters of Aero and his troops. Also," Rain added, "I think your friend might be the one in the test chamber right now..."

When Ant came to, he found himself in yet another room built out of iron blocks, but it was much larger than the cell he had previously occupied. A large glass window on the wall farthest away from him caught his attention. He could easily recognize the commander in his dark gray armor. Suddenly, the block he was standing on increased in height, creating a small pillar. Ant glared back at Aero, demanding for an explanation. There was no need for one, just as pistons in the walls and under the floor began to form into multiple platforms and pillars. Aero switched on a mic in the control room, and spoke into it. "So, just how good are you at parkour?"

The Minecraftian quickly studied the course, which was honestly quite simple, and ideal for beginners. Then again, there was still the possibility that Aero could make it much harder with the flick of a switch. He had almost unlimited power as long as he was in that one room, and Ant was in the testing chamber. The pryomancer turned his attention to the very first jump, carefully backed up, aware of what would happen if he stepped too far back, and easily launched over the gap, immediately proceeding to jump to the next block. Unseen by him, Aero quickly pulled a lever, just as Ant reached the platform, which suddenly increased in height. In mere seconds, the parkouring Minecraftian would've been falling to his demise several meters below him if he had not grabbed on to the edge of the extended platform. However, he wasn't completely out of danger yet, as he was currently hanging on the edge of the block. Ant pulled himself fully onto the four-block platform, still shaking from the near-death experience.

He glanced at Aero with a furious glare, who only grinned smugly. He quickly looked back at the course, and regained his focus on it. Deftfully, Ant cleared a few more of the obstacles that were standing before him. Despite the commander's attempts, the parkourist was successful in completing the course. Aero's expression darkened at the sight of it, but in reality, he only thought of the other's accomplishment as an opportunity to push the pryomancer's skills to the test even further. Before the mentioned Minecraftian could even react, the floor gave way from underneath him, and Ant found himself freefalling in pitch-black darkness. As he was falling down the seemingly endless pit, his breath suddenly hitched, and he shut down completely, rendering him practically lifeless in less than an instant.

It seemed that, yet again, Ant had entered the dream world, mainly known as the Dreamscape. He was in the ruins of a small town, one that this time, even with its current condition, he recognized. It was Exedin, the very place he had grown up in for most of his life. To see it destroyed left him in purely shocked silence. Ant could easily tell where many of the buildings had once stood. He slowly approached a nearby house, which was now mostly just a large pile of rubble. This used to be where he had lived once, but now it was nothing. Absolutely nothing. He had left the town with several of his friends to travel to the grand city of Falidorn, the largest in all of Minecraftia, but they were unable to return, due to a rockslide that had blocked the route to his hometown. Ant never would've imagined something like this to happen. He was suddenly hit with a vision, causing his eyes to widen.

A series of images shot through his mind, and memories flooded back to him. Soldiers had burst through the front door, pointing guns directly at his parents. They were both shot before his very eyes, but just before one the soldiers pulled the trigger, he remembered his father yelling for both he and his brother to run... Wait. My brother... He thought back to the first time he entered the Dreamscape, when he encountered the red-eyed seven-year-old. There was no other current match to the Minecraftian from his dream other than Anti. Which would mean that Anti is my brother... Suddenly, everything seemed to blur and fade into blackness.

Then, as soon as he had left the Dreamscape, Ant felt himself return to the real world. His eyes shot open, and quickly rose to his feet, although he oddly felt quite sore. The pryomancer looked around frantically, worried of what Aero might've done while he was unconcious. His gaze moved to above his location, confirming that he was, in fact, at the bottom of the pit. That instant, the lights flickered on, drawing his attention to the hallway extending from the room he was standing in. Ant cautiously took a step in the direction of the hallway extension, and slowly continued down the hall, each light turning on as he passed one. Whatever Aero threw at him, he would be prepared.

(A/N: Whazzup, gais! Back with another chapter! Tomorrow's the last day of school, which is SO AWESOME! What's kind of funny is that no one in my grade is really making a big deal about it, but that'll probably change. ANYWAYS, I NEED MOAR QUESTIUNS PLZ! I'll just make do with what I have, I guess... ^^;

To spottedstar1123: Hai, friend! :D I told you about this at school, and I didn't expect you to actually look at it this quickly! Fank you! But next time, honestly give me a real review. I wanna know how well I'm actually writing this fic!

To Phoenix-164: Nope! Read the last two chappies, it says that Anti's not Ant's dad! Plus, you find out what family ties the two have in this chapter, so yeah!

To mc player: Sorry to tell you this, but Kermit's not in this story. Sky is not that important of a character in this book of the series, (Yes, Fire Within is actually the first in a series!) but he will be later on, so that's when Kermit gets a chance to join the adventure!