Every morning, the two woke up to the sound of the waves crashing on the beach. Sometimes it could've been the sound of a mooshroom. This went on for weeks. It was pretty lonely on this island. Sure, that applied to the rest of Minecraftia, but mushroom island was different. Yaebi was just glad that Shelby was there with him. Once they were up, the two trained after breakfast. That's right, trained. After that fight with the queen Valkyrie, Yaebi could tell his friend was partially impressed. That was when she decided that he needed a hobby. Therefor, their days were dominated by endless training. It was not like they could do anything else. There wasn't enough building space and they already constructed their house. Besides, they were able to set up their own training course. All of the basics were met. The two tried to harness their skill. Lets just say not all of it was fun. During swordplay, Yaebi always got knocked on his ass. Archery, however, produced satisfying results, yet he didn't have much interest in it. Skelry was definitely the best at it. But then there was knife throwing. That was something he very much excelled in. He realized he loved knife throwing. It wasn't something people usual paid any attention to. Yaebi didn't mind. When it came to throwing a sharp metal object, Yaebi was a marksman. After a long day of this exercise, Shelby sat next to Yaebi and talked. It had been nine days since they fell from the sky.

"Hey Yaebi," she gestured.

"Oh hey."

"You're getting pretty good."

"Thanks you're pretty good too."

Shelby started to talk more seriously now.

"Man I really miss the Aether."

"Same."

"That was our home, until Zack screwed it up."

Shelby looked rather depressed. Concerned, Yaebi edged closer to her. He tried not to make it awkward. She turned to him with warm eyes.

"I never told you about Adam did I."

Adam?

"Who's Adam?"

Shelby's eyes lit up in an instant. He could tell that she was remembering something wonderful.

"Adam was- an amazing friend."

Yaebi listened with facination. Though she did seem very excited to talk about this guy which made him a little uncomfortable.

"He always knew how to bring out the best in everyone," she continued, "he was loyal as well."

Shelby continued to talk about Adam and all the adventures she had with him. Yaebi paid close attention. Not that any of it mattered. Shelby was his friend and he was happy to listen to her. Besides, it made Shelby happy. Adam sounded like a nice guy. However, once Yaebi asked a certain question Shelby turned all depressed.

"What happened to him," he asked.

It took some time for her to answer. She wasn't crying however. She looked up and looked at him directly for awhile but eventually turned away.

"I don't know man," she answered,"he went looking for the end and never came back."

She was obviously was trying to hold back her emotions. Yaebi just realized something about Shelby. She really did care for this boy.

"So that's why you went looking for the end portal," Yaebi said.

"What do you mean," Shelby asked.

"I mean the place where you found Neptar."

Shelby's eyes widened.

"Oh crap they're still up there."

Yaebi just smiled.

"Don't worry I told Kairi to take care of them and bring them down if she can."

Shelby became puzzled. Come to think of it Yaebi had never talked about any of his friends before.

"We'll Kairi's one of my humob friends."

"You know I still don't know what humobs are," she stated.

Yaebi went on about humobs and what they were. Further on was when he started to talk about his past life. He talked about each of his friends and how terrific they were. He talked about each and every one of them as Shelby gave him her full attention. It was pretty great to talk about his old friends. He missed them. Though he knew that one day day, he would see them again. And the reunion would be spectacular. Yaebi never really understood what being a humob was all about. He knew that even though you were still 93% human, you were still a mob. All humobs are born of two mob parents. Usually they were considered the mutant offspring. These "offspring" were outcast by their species and by their families. He told her all this.

"Did you ever know your parents," asked Shelby.

This time Yaebi looked away. This had been a thought that Yaebi tried to avoid. At no time had he ever met his parents. It was really tough to talk about. Then again his real family was with the girls he lived with. They looked out for each other. It took some time to look her in the eyes which took some confidence.

"No," he answered trying to hold back his own emotions.

"Oh," she uttered, "then how do you know you are humob?"

That was a good question. Yaebi explained this to her. This was probably the longest he'd ever talked. When a humob's born they have clothes on that represent the mob they are. These clothes are not produced in the womb and only appear three weeks after birth. It is not yet known if the parents make them or not. Anyways, these clothes grow with the humob so they don't need to be gotten rid of. But one special aspect of humobs is their blood. One tenth of it is mob blood mixed with human blood. He explained this all to her and he could tell that she was getting a little confused. That's how he felt when Cupa told him. Humobs were extremely rare in Minecraftia. As far as he knew, there was one for each mob. Perhaps he lived with most of them considering he knew five at least. It was great to see Shelby fascinated. She even asked questions about all of them. Of coarse it got awkward when he told her about how they thought he was a girl. This was never a comfortable subject and now he was talking about it.

"I never did tell you this," Shelby implied,"but you do oddly look like a girl."

Yaebi frowned. That's what he was afraid of. But Shelby wasn't done.

"Then again you aren't exactly feminine."

This was good news.

"You know what I like you either way," she added.

His mind was blown. He couldn't believe what he just heard. She said she liked him. To any guy those words could be considered a blessing. Sure she didn't mean that she liked him the way he hoped but dammit it was something.

"Thanks I like you too."

Shelby gave him a warm smile. That might have been encouragement. Before they knew it the sun was setting. The two, as always, went inside. The dinner was mushroom stew. This was not going to be a habit though. Just because you're on mushroom island doesn't mean that's the only thing you ate. What neither of them got was that it was fresh and full of all the nutrients. What kind of cow produces soup from its utters. It was just better to ignor. There was a knock on the door. Yaebi got up to answer it.

"Now who could that be?" Shelby asked.

Yaebi had a hunch. He opened the door to be met with a death hug. It was none other than Kairi the Cockatrice. It was a pleasure to see her again.

"Hey Kairi," Yaebi announced.

"Nice seeing you again," Kairi answered.

"What are you doing here?"

"Your friends missed you."

After being released from the hug, Yaebi noticed Boga come out from behind the girl. However before he could find out where Neptar was, the playful silverfish leapt at Yaebi's face and started to tickle the boys cheeks. After this greeting the smaller of the companions switched to Shelby's right shoulder. The three started talk yet again. There were pleasant greetings between Shelby and Kairi. The two got along great.

"I also needed to check up on you," Kairi explained,"word is, Zack is now leading a group of Valkyries alongside Zambi."

This was a shock.

"Now the aether's under their command."

"Why would Zack team up with Zambi," asked Yaebi, "remember seeing him bleeding?"

Shelby knew what he was talking about. She watched it happen.

"I mean wouldn't he betray them after they considered him an abomination?"

"That's just the thing," Kairi continued, "without the queen influencing the others Zack was able to take control."

It didn't make much sense. The first time he saw Zack he helped them defeat a bunch of skeletons. Those were a group of conquerers sent to find him. Zambi would have to be pissed.

"On top of that," Kairi announced, "at least twelve biomes have been conquered by Zambi's men."

Yaebi gave a concerned look. This was getting worse. Pretty soon he might reach them.

"And worse both of them vowed to kill both of you."

He was affraid to ask how close they were to their location. But pretty soon Kairi left before he could ask. The room went completely silent. Did she leave out of fear? He worried for both of them. He was without a doubt willing to fight for his friends. But something was coming. He didn't know what. That night was one Yaebi would never forget. Not because they were in trouble though. He had known this for a while now. This time Shelby looked fearful.

"Yaebi what's happening?" Shelby asked.

The next day they trained as usual. Both tried to not talk about last night. Shelby hardly had any room for improvement. She already kicked ass. Yaebi seemed to be getting better at sword fighting yet he couldn't stay focused. Every time he looked at the ocean he imagined an entire army coming over the horizon. What would he do then. He would fight that's what. Maybe that's what all this training was about.

"Hey Yaebi!" Shelby announced.

"What is it."

"Care to join me on a little exercise?"

"Sure."

Whatever this was it was no little exercise. Some people would've called this parcour. This exercise was about jumping from mushroom to mushroom. It was extremely exhausting. These mushrooms ringed most of the island so the two ended up going in circles. Most of the time Shelby kept ahead of jumped from red mushroom to brown mushroom in barely a second. Yaebi tried to follow her example and eventually he could do it with ease. It was actually pretty fun. If this was done on stone however, it would have been much more painful. Luckily, the mushrooms were soft especially the brown ones. Another good aspect of the mushrooms was that they remained sturdy. After about five laps around the island they finally tired out. Well, actually, Yaebi had already gotten tired after the fourth one. He just kept going for Shelby's sake. After Shelby leapt off the red mound Yaebi nearly collapsed.

"Great workout eh, Yaebi?" Shelby gestured.

*pant* *pant* "sure."

"You know," she continued, "you're pretty fast for a zombie.

I guess, he thought, it'll help. He wondered how Shelby could be such strong spirit with everything around them being controlled. Maybe she had confidence in them. Maybe she thought someone else was going to start a war against Zambi's forces. She certainly wasn't ignorant. She was possibly the smartest person he knew. In fact, she technically was preparing them for what was to come. And he knew something was coming tonight.

Thanks for reading.