"I . . . hate . . . this . . . game," Ralph panted.
Vanellope rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. We've heard you say that like a billion times already," she said into his ear, riding on his shoulder. "Just hurry up and get us up there," she ordered.
Ralph grunted in reply and heaved them up a few more feet up the Cliffside.
Felix, who was perched on Ralph's other shoulder didn't dare look down or back at his wife, who was dangling dangerously off of Ralph's back.
After a few more pulls upward, Ralph placed his hand on the edge of the cliff and heaved the four of them on the ground. He let Felix and Vanellope hop off before climbing all the way up to his feet and letting Calhoun drop to her feet.
After Ralph and Vanellope climbed out of the hole, they decided that the best way to go was to climb back up and return to their journey. After discovering the useless state of Calhoun's cruiser, Ralph had no choice but to carry all of them up to the top of the cliff.
After a few moments of allowing him to catch his breath, Calhoun came up from behind and patted him on the back warmly. "Nicely done, Wreck-It."
"Yeah, brother," Felix added. "You've certainly outdone yourself. Just . . . don't go wandering off anymore. Okay?" He chuckled, causing Ralph to laugh as well.
"I'll try not to. Anyways, I think we've got a bigger problem on our hands right now," he said, gesturing to the open area right in front of them. The others turned to face where he was pointing and nearly lost their breaths at the sight.
Ralph remembered getting a quick glance of what was on the other side of the bridge when they were running away from the horde of Creepers, but he was secretly hoping that it wouldn't be as large as it looked.
It was a desert. Just a dry, barren expanse of yellow blocks with tiny green structures here and there that Ralph quickly assumed were just cacti.
The sun was high and bright in the sky, almost forcing them to shield their eyes.
"Do we really hafta walk through there? I'd almost rather go back underground and hope for the best."
"Believe me, kid. I've been underground long enough," Ralph quickly said. "Trust me when I say you don't wanna go down there."
Vanellope only shot him a quick shrug as a reply.
"Well gang," Felix said, "shouldn't we be more focused on finding out where to put these?" He reached into his pocket and took out the Eye of Ender he had assembled back at the bottom of the cliff after Vanellope had insisted he make it right then and there. He was all but too happy to make it, exclaiming how glad he was but also emphasizing his point about letting the grownups handle dangerous situations like that.
"Well, remember what Kat did?" Ralph asked. "She did something with that thing and it like . . . I dunno, created some sort of duplicate and it floated off somewhere. I think she said that we had to follow wherever it went."
"And how do we make that happen, Mister Einstein?" He shrugged and gestured to Felix.
"Felix? What do you think?"
"Your guess is as good as mine, brother."
"Maybe you've gotta flick it?" Calhoun suggested.
Felix shrugged and obliged by holding out the Eye and flicking his wrist. Then to their amazement and confusion, what appeared to be some sort of hologram-like duplicate that floated out of the Eye and flew forward into the desert, floating straight through Ralph as if he weren't even there. He shuddered at the strange sensation and looked behind him to see the Eye floating even farther away into the desert, gradually getting smaller and smaller until it disappeared after floating a good few hundred feet away.
Felix pointed forward. "Well, I guess that's the way to go."
"Through there?" Vanellope asked incredulously. "Yeah, thanks but no thanks. One mile through that wasteland and I'll melt faster than a scoop of Sherbert in August."
Felix placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry Vanellope, but by the looks of things, we don't have a choice. Besides, I'm sure it won't be that bad."
Later,
Felix couldn't help but feel that he had never been so wrong in his entire life. The sun was beating down on them so relentlessly and mercilessly that they could have easily mistaken this new environment for an oven.
"Felix?" Vanellope started weakly.
"Yes Vanellope," he replied, wiping his forehead with his gloved hand.
"You have no Idea how much I hate you right now."
"I'm sorry, but I've already said that we don't have a choice. If we want to get out, this is the way to go."
From the first step that they took into the desert, the heat was almost unbearable. Ralph felt as if he were back in that miserable underworld where he ran into the Ghast along with Munks.
The ground was surprisingly soft and grainy beneath their feet, just like real sand. Although, Ralph was the only one walking shoeless so he had to deal with the pinching heat beneath his feet. His hair was starting to fall limply over his forehead. He brushed his palm along his face and straightened out his hair. Vanellope was trailing not too far behind with her arms dangling at her sides like limp, useless noodles with a few stray strands of hair sticking out of her licorice scrunchie and standing on end. Her sweatshirt had multiple dark stains in it from her sweat. Felix was walking next to his wife, his blue work shirt tied atop his head like a turban, revealing his rather pale body. The only person who appeared to not mind the heat was Calhoun, who was walking at her husband's side with her chin held high and ignoring the uncomfortable sensation of her hair sticking to her face.
Vanellope rolled up her sleeves and let out a long breath. "I think I've seen that cactus a billion times already! Felix, are we almost there?"
"Let me check." Taking out the Eye, he flicked his wrist again and the ghostly duplicate floated out and flew ahead, leaving behind a strange trail of gray and purple sparkles.
Felix sighed. "Still a ways I'm afraid gang. Just hang in there."
The group let out a loud, dejected exhale in response, forcing Calhoun to let out a small chuckle. "Well I for one am thankful for this time alone in this barren wasteland. The longer we're here for, the more we don't have to deal with that supposed dragon."
Vanellope's ears perked up at the sudden mention of the boss. "I totally forgot about the dragon! What do you think it looks like? Is it black? Green? Red? Red would be so cool! Is this the kind that breathes fire? I hope it's not. Although, wouldn't it be cool if it did? He'd never have to eat anything that's undercooked!"
She finished her disturbing thought with a thoughtful sigh, causing Ralph to gulp. "Yeah, uh, Vanellope, I think fire and heat is the one thing we shouldn't be focused on at the moment. And I don't exactly want the thought of some big dragon picking me out of its teeth burned into my brain either."
Vanellope only chuckled and picked up her pace so she was now right at Ralph's side.
The next few minute of their trip was in a peaceful yet weighted silence, the crunching of the sand cubes beneath their feet the only thing that was currently making any noise, save for Ralph's grumbling about his hair getting in his eyes. The heat of the sand was now becoming more and more noticeable, biting into his skin almost as intensely as the charred ground did below. Only this time, with Felix's hammer on the fritz, he had no way of healing it.
They had to walk up small hills of sand which, in the heat, was comparable to running all the way to the top of the penthouse back in their game. The only slight relief they had was the sensation of running down the hill and allowing the breeze to cool them off for just a brief moment before being forced to continue on their journey.
Ten more minutes passed before Vanellope gasped in surprise.
"Look! Guys, look up ahead!"
Ralph's eyes nearly bugged out as he rapidly looked toward the direction that Vanellope was viciously pointing. At the sudden sight, Ralph nearly lost his breath.
Right there, for no geographical reason whatsoever, was a pond. How deep it is was impossible to tell from the distance they were standing at, but Vanellope made the quick assumption that each of them could fit inside it. On the side opposite of where they were facing it was a small river that stretched down and out of sight.
Vanellope was practically bouncing in and out of her own shoes and the sight. After a few involuntary glitches, she ran past Ralph and over to the pond. He held up his hand in protest. "Vanellope! Wait! It's probably just a-"
Before he could finish his thought, Vanellope was already at the edge and leapt in the air. She landed in the water face first, a small, pixelated splash rising up upon impact.
"-mirage?" Ralph finished.
Vanellope's head broke the surface, her gaze shifting back to the others. They were too far away, but Ralph was almost certain he saw the biggest smile on her face that she's ever made.
"What are you idiots waiting for? The water's perfect!"
After a few more dumbfounded moments of standing there with their jaws dropped at the extremely convenient placing of the adequately large body of water, Felix smiled and sprinted over to the water as well, ripping his shirt off from the top of his head along with his hat and throwing it to the ground before diving headfirst into the water next to Vanellope who squealed with delight as Felix too broke the surface right next to Vanellope, spitting out the mouthful of water he accidentally swallowed before flashing Vanellope a pleased smile.
He turned to his wife and yelled, "Well, what're you slowpokes waiting for? Come on in!"
Ralph and Calhoun exchanged a confused shrug before walking calmly over to the lip of the pond, watching amusedly as Vanellope and Felix laughed and splashed in each other's faces. Calhoun smiled and nudged Ralph on the arm. "Well, water you waiting for, Wreck-It?"
Before Ralph could ask her about her poor pun, she grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him in. He fell headlong into the waiter, sending up a large splash that covered Vanellope and Felix, sending them swirling underwater for a few moments before swimming back to the surface.
She blinked and looked around a few moments before Ralph came up to the surface, sputtering and spitting water out, wiping the water from his eyes and glaring at the Sergeant who only shrugged.
"I know you don't like the water. It wasn't like you were going to jump in on your own. You needed that. Thank me later." She swan dived into the water. Ralph glowered at Felix and Vanellope who were laughing breathlessly at Ralph's reaction to being involuntarily pushed in, Vanellope snorting and laughing much harder than Felix at the sight of the same event happening right before her eyes.
Felix wiped a tear from his eye before yelping in surprise and was suddenly lifted from the water. His wife having swam right below him and positioning her shoulders directly under him. She swam up and forced him to sit on her shoulders as she resurfaced, spitting out her own mouthful of water while grinning from ear to ear. Felix laughed and wobbled uneasily with his arms held out at his sides.
"Whoo, golly guys. We really needed this, didn't we?"
Before any of them could reply . . .
"Ahem."
Their hearts sank.
The short, abrupt sound coming from behind each of them broke each of them out of their moment and made their blood run cold.
It was a voice.
Ralph, Vanellope, Felix (still sitting on top of his wife's shoulders) and Calhoun turned to face . . . the strangest looking creature they've seen in this game.
It stood about a foot taller than Felix and was wearing a green cloak with brown pants. It had a cubed, bald head and a rather large nose that went down past its chin. Its arms appeared to be tucked in its sleeves.
The four of them just stayed there a few moments longer, silently gaping at the new . . . thing. Felix yelped as he felt Calhoun let her grip go on his ankles, sending him falling back into the water rather ungracefully. He resurfaced and continued staring at it.
"Is that . . . another player?" Vanellope asked hopefully.
Felix shook his head skeptically. "I don't know, Vanellope. It doesn't have that ID take above its head . . . and I don't think that that's what Kat looked even remotely like," he said.
"Besides," Ralph started, "it's not like this could even help us. Not without a microphone thing anyways."
Then, to each of their amazement, something incredible happened.
"Um . . . I hope you guys know I can indeed hear you . . ?"
Each of their hearts nearly jumped straight out of their chests and performed a professional synchronized swimming performance right in front of them.
"And," it continued, "May I please ask you to not swim in our drinking water?" Its arm came out of its sleeve and pointed to the river that lead nowhere. "We don't really want anything tainting our water supply. I'm sure you understand. Now, if could please-"
"HE HEARS US!" Vanellope interrupted.
The creature in the cloak jumped back in fright at the sudden sound of her shrill, unapologetic tone. Immediately, Vanellope rocketed out of the water, climbed onto the earth and ran to it, wrapping her tiny arms around its covered leg as far as her arm sockets allowed.
Its eyes widened in alarm, looking down at the girl in stunned silence. "Um, yes I can hear you. Just like I can hear everyone else who passes by our home."
"Um, e-excuse me, sir?" Felix dryly spoke up. "I, ah, apologize for her bluntness, but, you see, it's just that we have been stuck here for a good long while now, and we-"
"You can talk to us!" Ralph rudely interjected.
"Yes . . . I can. Listen, if you could please step out of our watering hole, that'd be very much appreciated."
"Hm? Oh! Right, sorry!" Felix said nervously, swimming over to the edge and pulling himself out of the water and onto the ground, Ralph and Calhoun following suit.
The man backed away from Vanellope, who was up to that moment still clinging to his leg, and looked at them one by one before speaking again. "Yes . . . now, I must be getting on my way. It was very, ah, nice meeting you, but I-"
"No!"
Vanellope and Felix shouted at the same time, silencing the man.
"Sir, you don't understand," Felix said while slipping his shirt back on. "We've been trapped in this game with no way of telling left from right."
"I see," he started. "But, what I'm not seeing is how that's my problem."
In response, Calhoun took out her rifle and aimed it at the cloaked man who yelped in surprise and backed away. "I can make it your problem, Pint Size."
"Tammy!" Felix shouted, running up to her side and placing his hand on the barrel, lowering it to the ground calmly. "You're not exactly making our case all that appealing," he said with a nervous chuckle before turning back to the man.
"Listen sir," he started. "We're not really from here, as you can probably tell. But we really, really need your help to get back home. Could you please just help us?"
The man said nothing at first. He just looked at each of the strange new people one by one while considering his options.
Well, first I find them bathing in our water, then she aims a fully loaded automatic weapon at my face . . .
Right before he was about to decline, he took one last look at each of them, particularly the one dressed in blue. His eyes were watering and clearly on the verge of a breakdown. But beyond that, there was something present in his pitiful gaze.
It was desperation.
The man closed his eyes and sighed. "Follow me to my village. I'll see what I can do."
Later,
"So, um what is it we're supposed to call you then, Mister . . ?" Felix trailed off.
The man looked back to them. "Manny. Call me Manny."
"Alright then," Felix said, "Manny, where exactly is it you're taking us?"
"I told you, I'm taking you to my village. It's not too far, now."
Felix smiled and nodded before he felt a pat on his arm from his wife. "Honey, how can we be sure that this guy isn't just leading us to some trap? We don't know anything about this guy!"
"I don't know you either," Manny said without turning to look at her, "yet I'm bringing you to my village simply by the goodness of my heart. You could just as easily shoot me in the back with that there fancy mod and be on your merry way elsewhere, yet I chose to help."
Calhoun looked down at her rifle then back to Manny. "Mod? Sonny this here is a seven fifty three Marksmith grade artillery weapon that could pack a bigger punch on your face than that wall of Creepers we ran into back there!" She defended.
Manny simply shrugged. "What can I say, to us NPC's, we're impressed by pretty much anything that moves. We're . . . strange like that."
Felix widened his eyes. "Wait, you're an NPC?"
"Yes. Why?"
Felix almost lost his breath before turning his attention to his friends. "That's why he can hear us and we can hear him! He's not meant to speak to any of the players in the first place," he explained.
Vanellope nodded in understanding. "So, say Kat came walking up to this guy? She wouldn't be able to talk to him either?" In response, Felix shook his head.
"Nope. That's my guess."
"He's right," Manny confirmed. "Those strange people who shout and yell always come by and steal our stuff and we can't do a thing about it. It's sickening. Plus that portal under our feet isn't exactly the best housewarming-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Back it up buddy," Ralph cut him off. "You said something about a portal? Under your village? Where does it go to, exactly?"
Manny suddenly shuddered, stopping in his tracks and facing Ralph. "It goes to the Ender World. That's where He-Who-Flies-Beneath-Us lives."
"He-Who-Flies-Beneath-Us? You mean that dragon?" Vanellope questioned, causing Manny to turn to her and wave his rectangular arms frantically in her face.
"SH-SH-SHHHH! Shush yourself, child! Don't say it!"
Vanellope stopped talking and shut her mouth, looking at Manny with wide eyes.
"Why do you think we call it He-Who-Flies-Beneath-Us? Because we don't like calling it a dragon in the first place!" After he finished, he gasped in alarm and covered his mouth. "Now I said it! Look what you made me do!"
To her and the rest of the group's bewilderment, Manny walked around three times, got onto his knees and banged his head on the ground three more times before digging a hole only ankle deep and stood on his square head, closed his eyes and murmured silently to himself. "Please may you who flies beneath, do not kill me with your teeth. Keep at peace below our feet, and with that my prayer is complete."
With that, he dropped onto his back and rose to his feet, covering up the hole by pushing in the sand with his feet before turning to face Vanellope. "Now then, if you could please not do that again, let's be on our way."
He turned his back to the four and continued walking, unable to see the confusion written on all of their faces. They stood in silence a few moments longer before Calhoun took the first step forward. "Every sane molecule in my body is screaming at me, 'run you fool! Run now!'"
Later,
After almost fifteen minutes of walking through the desert, following Manny as if he were a cross between the Pied Piper and the Sirens that lure unsuspecting lost sea-folk to their imminent doom.
To Ralph's immeasurable gratitude, that wasn't the case.
After a few minutes of more dune climbing and sand burning his feet, something came into view just under the horizon. He couldn't exactly tell what it was, but it casted just an audible silhouette for Ralph to see. There were blocky structures standing at various heights.
He quickly assumed that this was the village that Manny was talking about. He looked to the left and saw a river running alongside them, stretching far in front of them and flowing into the village.
A few minutes later, Ralph set foot on the cool stone road. He breathed a long sigh of instant relief and looked from left to right, doing his best to let the new, more inviting surroundings sink in.
Straight in front of them was a road with a stretch of small brown buildings on either side. It reminded Ralph and Felix of the neighborhood they had specifically built for Q*bert and his monster friends when they adopted them almost a year ago. At the end of the street was a tall, eight story building made out of black and brown cubes, a living area located at the top concealed by glass. None of them noticed as Manny walked in front of them with his hands cupped over his mouth.
"Tiff! Bradley! Seamus! Everyone get out here! We've got visitors!"
At first, nothing happened. Then, a dull thundering noise was heard along with many muttering noises. The next moment, all the doors opened and out came more villagers with exactly the same design but a different variety of colored clothing. In a moment, twelve of them flooded out of their homes and were standing in front of Manny, mumbling and shouting at random.
"Manny! You're back!"
"Who the heck are these guys? They look funky."
"Whit? Why did ye hae tae bring ootsiders? Who's tae say they will nae steal our materials like e'ry other player?"
"Well gosh golly ya'll, if ya give Manny a chance to explain these here outsiders, he'd be happy tah tell us. Go on ahead, pah-tnah."
In what looked like a nod from Manny, he gestured toward Ralph and the others. "I found these four in the desert alone. If I had left them there, they'd surely die," he started off. Before he could continue, he was interrupted by one of the other villagers.
"So? If they die they'll just regenerate like everything does."
"Well sir," Felix spoke up, "that's just the thing. We won't regenerate. You see, we're not from here."
"Well then where are you from?" Asked a woman voice that was nearly impossible to tell where it came from in the middle of their small swarm.
"Well, it's like you said," Ralph said. "We're outsiders. We're not even from this game." At that statement, they went berserk. Shouts and cries were exchanged causing Ralph and the others to step back in slight alarm as they listened.
"You're not from Minecraft?! Well where are you from then?"
"They're here to infect us! They've got a virus with them and they're going to kill us all, I tells ya!"
Ralph held up his hands defensively, trying to show that he was not about to do anything to harm them. "No, no, no! We're not here to do any of that stuff! We're only trying to get out!"
"And just hae do ye intend on daeing that, then?"
"That's easy," Vanellope exclaimed. "We're here to fight the dr-" before she could finish her sentence, Felix came up from behind and covered her mouth, her eyes widening for a moment of sudden alarm.
"He-Who-Flies-Beneath-Us!" He finished hastily with a nervous chuckle. He quickly recomposed himself and cleared his throat. "You see, we were given the impression that if we were to defeat this dragon-"
He was cut off by the loud, perfectly synchronized scream of each of the villagers, their eyes shut and hands over their heads. Felix internally cursed himself for his slipup and could only watch as they all, including Manny, went through the exact same strange ritual they had just witnessed minutes ago. They stood on their heads and recited their mantra before rising back to their feet.
"They have spoken the beast's name!" One of them cried. "They wish to be cursed!"
"What? Cursed? No!" Felix cried. "No, no sir-e, we're not looking for any curse. We're just trying to go home."
"Well then, we would advise you to not speak its name anymore," Manny informed. "Unless you want He-Who-Flies-Beneath-Us to send an army of Those-That-Float-Above-Us to destroy our home!"
Ralph scratched his chin thoughtfully for a moment. "Wait, Those-That-Float-Above-Us?" He questioned. "Are they big?"
One of them nodded. "Yes!"
"Are they white?"
"They are, yes." Another said.
"And do they have creepy tentacles?"
"They do indeed"
Ralph sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Ralph? What is it?" Vanellope asked.
"They're talking about the Ghasts. I've-"
On cue, a chorus of screams erupted, giving way to more worried cries.
"You spoketh the beast's servent! You wish to plague this village!"
After that, each of them froze in place for a few moments, then two of each of them turned to face each other, slapped the other in the face, followed by another slap from the other. After that, they all fell flat on their faces and shook violently for a few seconds before turning to lie on their backs and lifted their legs up. Then they spoke another short prayer.
"Oh please thou that we give our love, not come down from way above. Let us be and do our part, and do not slay our beating heart." They set their legs down and stood back up, glaring at the group.
"They are trying to kill us! If not by a virus then by an invasion! I say let them face He-Who-Flies-Beneath-Us and die trying!"
Upon that, an uproar of approval went through the tiny crowd. A moment later, they each began to approach the four, except for Manny. He stood dormant, allowing the others to swarm past him and gain up on the four.
Ralph stood stock still, raising his hands again in an attempt to show them that he was harmless, but they kept coming. Vanellope gasped and scrambled behind Ralph, peeking worriedly behind his leg, Felix doing the exact same thing, hiding behind his wife as she slowly reached for her repeater rifle.
Then they all heard something.
Ralph almost recognized it instantly.
It sounded like someone was uncontrollably sobbing.
Manny slowly turned to the mountainous hills behind the village where the noise was coming from.
He spoke. His voice was hollow and grave.
"It begins."