"This is only eight slimeballs," Jesse said, disappointment obvious in her voice, "we need one more to make a slime block."
"Okay, we need another way to get some more slime, and fast," Petra said, after doing a quick head- er, slime- count, looking back up at them.
They'd just gone to a booth to get a slime block, except... the booth only sold slime balls. And they had a shortage. Worst luck ever.
As everyone split up to go looking for slime, Jesse looked down at the two slime balls in her hands, before back up. As she did, she spotted a shiny glisten, and focused. Yup, weird shade of green. Slime ball.
The slime ball landed in Lukas's hand.
Jesse took a deep breath, psyching herself up, before walking over to the blonde. "Hey... Lukas? Could you... do me a favor?" she asked, awkwardly, and a little hopefully.
Lukas caught the slime ball again, before looking at her. "Anything's possible," he said, lightly, with a little smile at the end to show he meant no harm.
Jesse couldn't help but smile back. "I need slime balls... I swear, I have a REALLY good explanation..."
Lukas's gaze wasn't focused on her anymore. He was looking past her, before smiling at her and holding it out. "Whatever you guys are doing, count me in."
"Thanks Lukas," Petra said, before adding in an undertone to Jesse, "told you he was useful."
Jesse rolled her eyes at the redhead, but she was smiling, so the eye-roll went right over her head.
Axel frowned at Lukas as he stepped back a bit, Lukas having to crane his head back to get a good look at the much bigger male. "Aw man... this guy isn't actually COOL, is he?"
"Remains to be seen," Olivia answered, her right eye still brighter than usual.
Lukas fidgeted as Jesse took all the slime balls and went over to a nearby crafting table. As she placed the slime balls down, she could hear Lukas and Axel talking. "So, uh... you guys been working together long? You've got good chemistry."
"Ya jealous?" That was Axel.
"I'm just saying, I think it's cool that you have a team that works so well together."
"You're TOTALLY jealous."
Jesse couldn't help but smirk a little, before the nine slime balls shivered together into a solid block.
"Ta-daa! One slime block." Jesse grinned, before her face fell at the slimy block. "Gross."
"Let me have that-" Olivia reached out with both hands automatically and took ahold of the block, which seemed to jump into her arms. Both of them looked at the block, before Olivia turned away, eyes not meeting hers, and went over to a spot in between the machine and a nearby booth... uh, roof? "Riiiighhhht-" and the block jumped back out, "here."
Jesse turned to Axel. "Gimme a boost!"
Axel helped Jesse up, but she still wasn't tall enough- she had to stretch-
A small string of silk shot out and attached to the top.
Jesse hid it with the rest of her body, squirming onto the roof and scratching it off the best she could, the extra bumps on her sides curling in again. She was going to have to have a better method soon- it was starting to get noticeable even with the curling.
She looked at the slime block, backed away, and then ran forward, launching herself off the roof of the booth. Her hair fluttered in the wind as her feet hit the block solidly, and rebounded into the air. "Wheee!" she laughed, before drawing her fist back and smashing one thing of glass, allowing chickens to pour forth from the opening.
She landed on her feet, as the booth owner went sprinting past her. "My poultry! My precious poultry!" he wailed, as the usher charged forward. "Keep your eyes closed! They'll peck out your eyes!" he warned, just as a chicken bowled him over.
Jesse blinked. "These chickens are vicious," she joked a bit, before running for the keynote, followed by Petra, Olivia, Axel, Reuben, and Lukas. There was an indignant 'Hey!' from the usher that Jesse ignored as they ran into the keynote.
"Where'd he go?!" Petra demanded immediately.
Jesse looked around, before pointing at a door that was slightly ajar. "Well, that seems as likely a place as anywhere else... cliche though."
They all rushed for the door, but Lukas paused halfway in. "What do we do once we catch him?"
Everyone looked at one another, as Lukas clarified, "There are a MILLION ways to play this."
Finally, Jesse said, nicely, "We ask politely for what's ours."
"Short, sweet, and to the point. Not bad," and Lukas grinned at the raven-haired girl. She couldn't help but grin back, and opened the door.
Descending the staircase, she stuck her head around the corner, and felt both eyes widen. "Is... this what we were expecting?"
The others poked their heads around the corner as well, seeing the shelves and the potions and the cobwebs everywhere. "What IS this place?" Olivia wondered, stepping out from behind the wall.
"Looks like the basement," Jesse mumbled. "I guess he must've gone out a different way or something."
"I'll bet you ANYTHING my skull's down here," Petra said, seriously, looking around and crossing her arms.
"And if we find anything else to steal along the way," Axel said, already eyeing some of the potions, "so be it, right?"
Petra scowled at the large male. "Axel- that's not what we're here to do."
"I DID say we should ask POLITELY, Axel," Jesse pointed out.
Axel brushed both of them off. "Well, he's not here right now. We can't ask... so I say, we TAKE."
"I don't want to stoop to his level," Petra argued right back.
Jesse nodded. "Let's just get the skull and get out of here- this place is kinda creepy."
Axel scowled, crossing his arms. "No one ever lets me have any fun," he complained, though kind of jokingly.
Jesse grinned back at him. "We let you hang out with us, don't we?" She straightened up and stepped down the stairs. "The faster we find what we're looking for, the faster we can get out of here."
Everyone split up, looking among the shelves. Jesse barely skimmed over the shelves, but just as she was about to turn a corner, she stopped and looked back at the book that had caught her eye- an old, red, leatherbound book with a faint symbol and words etched in the binding.
She leaned closer. B.O.A., the binding read. And the symbol looked like a strange mix between a wolf and a human head.
Jesse felt a cold shiver run down her spine as she looked at the book. Automatically, she reached out, and pulled the book off the shelf. It wasn't that thick of a book, really- it was only about fifty pages or so. She flipped through the book, absentmindedly noticing the different writings in the book, and finally pocketed it. It might prove to be important.
Turning the corner, she spotted Petra rummaging through a chest. Petra took out something that Jesse couldn't quite see. "Oh, what do we have here...?" And she lashed out, making Jesse jump back as the golden sword tip barely grazed her nose. "Jeez, decapitate me, would ya?" Jesse joked.
Petra chuckled a bit sheepishly. "Ahaha- sorry. It's too heavy. And too soft."
"But super flashy," Jesse teased, and Petra looked down at the sword. "Yeah. Hey, you still have that one stone sword I gave you, right?"
"Nope, I had to give it to some butcher to save Reuben's life," Jesse said, looking down at the ground.
Petra winced. "Jeez... well, guess it was for a good cause. Here-" And she pushed the golden sword into Jesse's hand.
"Thanks," Jesse said with a small smile, sheathing it and being careful not to spear the book. Petra grinned at the dark-haired female. "Don't lose that one."
Jesse kept wandering through, until she came across a glowing violet potion with luminous glass. "Oh, hey!" she breathed, impressed, "check this out."
"You're not going to believe me," Axel said, making Jesse start a bit and her bumps curl in more violently, "but I SWEAR I had a dream about this. Okay, potion... I know this is a big step, but I'd be honored if you'd come home with me."
"Axel, no. Make yourself useful and go find that skull," she whispered to him.
"I am..." and then he took the potion anyway. Jesse's face went deadpan. "Uhh, nope, you're LITERALLY doing the exact opposite of what I just asked you to do. Besides, there's no way he's not going to notice that his fancy potion's missing."
"A good thief covers his tracks," and Axel snagged a bottle of violet potion that didn't glow. Actually, if you only glanced at it, you probably wouldn't be able to tell that something was wrong. He popped it where the glowing bottle had been a moment before, whispered loudly, "Fixed it!" and went back off. Jesse rolled her eyes with a faint smile. "Oh yeah, the perfect crime."
She glanced at where Axel had just snagged the violet potion, before walking over and toggling a lever. The bookshelf Olivia was looking at slid down, revealing a T made of some sort of... sand, I think, and a machine-like block in the center.
Jesse frowned. Why did this setup seem familiar?
"What is this stuff?" Olivia wondered.
"Soul Sand," Petra responded immediately, "it's everywhere in the Nether."
"I wonder what that block in the middle is," Olivia wondered, stepping forward, "it's almost... pulsing. Maybe if I could just..."
Jesse grabbed her arm to stop her friend, Olivia's fingers only centimeters from grazing the block. "Are you crazy? Don't just touch it!" she whisper-shouted. "It could be dangerous!"
Olivia nodded, suitably chastened. Jesse dropped her arm, and said, a bit more evenly, "remember what we're all here for- find that skull."
Olivia nodded again, and Jesse looked at the chest in front of the T, before leaning down and opening it.
She froze in place as she saw the contents of the chest. "Um, good news, weird news, and bad news. Good news is, I found the skull. Weird news is..."
Petra scowled as she leaned in over Jesse's shoulder. "What the hell? Why'd I risk my neck for that skull if he's already got two of them?"
"That's... part of the bad news," and Jesse felt every muscle in her body standing out. She was so rigid that you could compare her to a wall and find almost no difference. "I think this guy's trying to build a Wither."
A/N: Jesse's not an idiot; she's seen a Wither spawn before (remember? First chapter flashback?). She's probably going to remember some of the ingredients.
Another cliffhanger! Don't worry, Chapter 11 will be out before you even know it. And this is the newest longest chapter in this story so far xD
NinjaCat: Hehehe xD Aiden's scared right now, eh? And yeah, the gif is easy to find if you look Reuben up on the MCSM Wiki. It's really funny, too. The reason I'm updating so furiously is because I love this story idea. I think Toni42 dumped a bottle of the magic potion she used to update Movie Mode on me by accident xD
TheRealRedGaming: That is actually probably my favorite xD Reuben beating up the poor butcher. Though I think I like it when I was looking at the pink wool and then I ran out of time, so I used pink wool for my tower in Assembly Required xD
Toni42: Yasssss (dances around) Yeah, poor Ivor xD
x.X. A.L. X.x