"Where have you been, soldier?!" The sprite shouted, making Fate winced as he remembered why he was scared of the weird sprite thing. There was just something odd about being yelled at by a younger version of yourself.

Fate had walked back home when he had gotten the bad news about Lala and Alma, and after he spent some time yelling at Phil. Once he got blocked by the Texan he walked back home to ask his sprite for some advice, and now the thing was mad at him for going awol or whatever. It's not really awol if he's not in the army. "I was trying to kill some beetles, I guess."

"You have better things to worry about than some small, icky beetles!" Oh, lovely. The sergeant still had little kid vocabulary. "You have quests to finish, bad guys to beat, and weapons to make!"

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Fate muttered with a shake of his head. Honestly, he was getting a bit annoyed. He didn't come here to be yelled at. "Look, how can I get to other people's planets?"

"I am not finished yelling at you, soldier!"

"Yes, you are," Fate said as he made a fist and showed it to the sprite. He wasn't sure if he could actually hurt the thing, but he was pretty sure the younger side would take over and be scared at the idea of getting punched.

Sure enough, he was right. The sprite floated backwards a bit and shook his head before muttering some probably vulgar language. "Fine. What you have to do, soldier, is build your house up to get to the gates above your house."

"Oh, so that's what those things do," he muttered before bringing down the screen that was built into his hat. He was already beginning to contact Echo. This planet can wait for a while. There was a few more plants that could be eaten. He wanted to get to Echo.

exaggerateEfficiently (EE) has begun pestering troubleTimes (TT)

EE: echo

EE: i need you for something

TT: What is it?

EE: i need you to build up my house

EE: you know to the gates and all that?

EE: you knew this stuff right?

TT: I believe my sprite mentioned something like that

TT: but it was followed by many jokes, so I tuned him out.

TT: Perhaps I shouldn't have done that.

EE: i dont know maybe

EE: anyways can you build up my house?

TT: Well, it would require a lot of Grist, but if you think you can supply me with a decent amount, then I think I could do it.

EE: oh right you need that stuff

EE: okay fine ill go kill a few imps

EE: hope to see you later then

TT: Wait, Fate, before you go, I need to ask you something.

EE: sure what is it?

TT: Why are you suddenly focused on getting to the gates?

TT: Also, which gate do you wish to get to? I believe they go to different places.

EE: uh...second one i think?

EE: i dont know

EE: lets assume that does something?

EE: my sprite wont tell me

TT: Going out of order may be dangerous, you know?

TT: Are you sure?

EE: yes im sure

EE: anyways the reason why im doing this is because alma and lala are dead and i need to spend time with a friend

TT: ...oh my.

TT: They're dead? Are you certain?

EE: yes im pretty damn sure

TT: That is...a very unfortunate outcome.

EE: you dont sound so concerned

TT: Fate, that is completely uncalled for.

TT: You know I have problems reflecting my emotions.

TT: It's even harder in the form of text over the internet.

TT: I would almost be offended if there weren't more pressing matters.

EE: right right whatever

EE: sorry

EE: im going to kill imps you build up the house.

EE: bye

exaggerateEfficiently (EE) has ceased pestering troubleTimes (TT)

Ooooh boy, that girl is a piece of work. Honestly, it was a surprise that Alma was able to put up with her and call her a friend. Echo was mostly neutral towards everyone else in the group. According to her she never had opportunities for friends, or a lot of social interaction. Something about how it's hard to find those kind of opportunities when you live on an island with only your sister and one other girl.

Fate shook his head and then walked outside. Well, more like limp, honestly. His ankle still hurt when he put pressure on it, and he probably shouldn't even be walking on it, but he didn't care right now. He needed to get some grist and build his way up to the second gate. ...the building was actually Echo's job. But whatever.

The next...how long did it even last? Was it an hour, maybe two? Fate wasn't sure, but most of the passe time was spent hunting down imps, which didn't really hang around his house much. He had to leave the safety of his house multiple times to find a few imps, and by the end of it he was getting really tired. It gets really tiring, running around and stabbing people with a pen.

With some of the spare grist that Fate had, he decided to craft a few new weapons. They weren't anything special, considering they were still pens, but they were better than nothing.

He made another one of those ink bombs he had before, and then combined the ink bomb with another pen. The result wasn't as grand as what he thought it'd be. It was just a pen and when he pressed down on the button, it would spray out ink, like a squid. He...wasn't really sure what he was expecting from this, to be perfectly honest.

Ther other combination was a baseball bat and a pen. This just made a bat shaped pen. It was pretty heavy, and he could actually still click it to bring out the point, so he had a club and a spear. That's actually kind of useful, so he was happy with it.

After...maybe another hour of hunting ogres, which were a lot harder to kill kill than the imps, Fate had to contact Echo and inform her that he was taking a power nap. He needed to sleep, other wise he'd just pass out. He decided to sleep on the couch that was now in his room, thanks to Echo. As soon as his head made contact with the couch cushion, he fell asleep.

Nothing notable really happened. He didn't even get to visit that weird dream planet this time. Instead he just had weird dreams about giant bugs and flowers. How fitting.

A while later, Fate woke up to the sound of his phone notifying him about...a lot of notifications. Alright then. Echo must want to say something.

troubleTimes (TT) has begun pestering exaggerateEfficiently (EE)

TT: Alright, I think you'll be happy to know that I have finished the construction.

TT: It's very high up, and doesn't look very structurally sound, so watch your step.

TT: Also, if you happen to go onto my planet through this get, you may very well end at my home.

TT: I won't be there. I'm a very long ways ahead from my home, actually.

TT: About a days away, and I don't know in which direction.

TT: I'm being led on a goose chase, it seems.

TT: We may not be able to run into each other for a while.

TT: But I'm sure we will meet each other eventually.

TT: I wish you good luck, Fate.

TT: And if you happen to fall after visiting my planet...

TT: Try to land on something soft.

TT: Alright, excuse me. I am being bothered.

TT: Good bye.

troubleTimes (TT) has ceased pestering ExaggerateEfficiently (EE)

At first, Fate had just chuckled about the comment about falling, before he realized that seemed like a real possibility. How high up was he going to be? He doubted he'd just be gently put on the ground...oh boy. This was going to be tricky.

Fate shrugged and walked out of his house before looking up, looking at all the work Echo had gotten done. His house...got tall. Really, really tall. Honestly, it was basically just a giant staircase with a house at the bottom. Nothing special, but Fate wasn't looking for anything extravagant.

Fate took a deep breath and began his ascension, trying to avoid looking down whenever he could. He did look down every once and awhile, though, and on the higher levels this just made him dizzy. It would have been nice for Echo to put in hand rails…

Fate got onto one of the platforms that Echo had thankfully put down and took a breather. He was just feeling dizzy. He never liked heights, and being so high up with nothing to keep him from falling...that was just awful. The only reason why he wasn't like this in the flower was because he wasn't in the open in the flower. On this giant staircase he could just fall...and keep falling for who knows how long before splatting against the ground.

Fate shivered slightly and then decided to keep going. Can't stay here for too long. He has to keep going. Only one way to get to Echo's land, after all.

The staircase had taken a sudden turn when it reached the first gate. Echo was told to avoid it, and she did a good job doing it, though she was right about the staircase looking dangerous. It just suddenly jutted out to the right of the house, not providing any balance at all. It was a wonder how the house didn't fall over.

Fate walked past the gate, staring at it as he continued up the stairs. He was supposed to jump into that? Oh boy...okay, well, hopefully the fall would be a safe one. Fate shook his head and continued walking, looking forward instead of down. Just keep going…

Fate finally made it to the second gate after who knows how long. By the time he got there he was out of breath, similar to the flower. How come he has to find all the giant staircases? Anyways, Fate focused on the gate now, which was just at the edge of the platform. He was just supposed to...jump in? Sounds pretty dangerous...here goes nothing.

Closing his eyes, Fate took one step off the platform and just let himself fall. When he opened his eyes...it wasn't hard to notice the change of scenery. No giant flowers or bugs...that's a nice change. What didn't change, though, was the fact he was still falling.

Fate let out a scream as he came plummeting towards the ground. When he expected to make contact with the ground, he closed his eyes. Instead of solid ground, though, he fell on...something really cold. He opened his eyes and noticed he was surrounded by...was this snow? It wasn't white like normal snow, but...light blue. Okay, thats weird.

Fate quickly climbed out of the snow pile, shivering as he did. He never experienced snow, having lived in Florida his whole life. When he made it out of the pile, he noticed that something was laughing. Following the noise to his source, he noticed what must have been Echo's sprite. Wow, okay, Echo really made some sort of monstrosity.

"You know, it was pretty cool of you to just drop in," the sprite joked, causing Fate to chuckle a small bit. At least it had a sense of humor. That's something every skull...snowman thing needs to have.

"Yeah, pretty funny. Thanks for saving me, by the way." Fate glanced back at the snow pile, stared at the imprint he made in the pile for a few moments, then looked back to the sprite. "I'm guessing you had to use a pile of snow?"

"Well, that and it was a pretty good setup for a joke," the sprite said with a chuckle. "I was already going to say something about dropping in. This is just icing on the cake."

"Are you sure it's not ice-ing?"

The sprite stared at the child for a moment before breaking out into loud laughter. Wow, okay, that's loud. It wasn't even that good of a joke...

"That's a good one!" Skullmansprite yelled out, that smile still on its face. Actually...most skulls just have smiles on their face. Okay, that was normal. Ignore the smile, it's not odd.

"Right, well, anyways, do you know where Echo is?" Fate asked as he looked around. This really wasn't much different from his own place, except there's not as many flowers or vegetation. Around here it was just grass. That's...a bit boring. Not necessarily pleasing to the eyes., but it was Echo's planet, so it was bound to be a bit boring. Nothing against Echo, but she could be a bit dull.

"Oh, your server player left a looong time ago." As it said this, the sprite's hat threatened to fall off his head, but somehow it stayed on, obviously defying gravity. There was no other explanation. "I haven't seen her in...a day."

"Well, where did she go? Which direction?"

The sprite took one of its stick arms and pointed over to some small city that Fate could barely make out. Man, his eyesight was...actually pretty bad. Maybe he should find a way to make glasses…

"Right, well, I think I'll be going, then. Stay frosty, my friend." The sprite howled in what was probably over exaggerated laughter as Fate gave him the double pistols before walking away, towards the city. That was...actually a pretty nice interaction. It was enough to put him in a better mood, or at least for now. Now all he had to do was find Echo…

== Fate: be Gale