BanjoNote: Before the actual BanjoNote, time for the Broken Arc Stats.

Longest Chapter: Memories of Days Past, with 3,714 words!

Shortest Chapter: And So We Part Ways..., with 1,855 words!

Banjo's Pick: I would have to say And So We Part Ways..., because it was by far the funnest to write. I really tried to show everyone's personality in it - Kat's impatience, Alex's fluidity, Gimero's cowardice, so on.

Anyways, this is going to be my favourite Arc to write! I've already basically said what genres I'm going for in this Arc - Romance and Humor. Now, I'm certain if I changed the tags of this story to those, I would gain a whole lot of favourites and follows, but I'm not cheating.

I'll make a different story with those tags. That's the key.

Anyways, let's look at Gimero's first personality change.

[Gimero]

The City of Zhoria is an… interesting one, to say the least. A mountain city, in the center of the northern taiga biome of Boreas, it is considered the best defended city on all of Minecraftia. In the War of the Griefer, this was the last stand of the forces of Minecraftia against the Griefers.

Do I know all of this from my Guided knowledge? Mostly. However, as I let my horse follow the road, I had my head buried in The City of Snow, Volume 2.

What I just told you was an extremely simplified version of the first volume.

Josie impatiently started throwing snow around. I nudged my llama to lean to the opposite side of the road, huddling in my very dark blue parka. You know that blue that's so dark it looks black? Yeah. That's what I was wearing.

The mountain city of Zhoria rose in the horizon, with the setting sun right behind it. I slid my book into my inventory and breathed a sigh of relief.

It had been a bit over a month and a half since the events of Lafor. Me and Josie had promptly left the city the day after the meeting, me and Alex heading in opposite directions.

She had told me to be safe, which we both had a laugh at. I had already had five experiences with bandits, double that with mobs, and a run-in with the Traders Guild, which I am resigned to say that I am a part of.

In fact, I was traveling with the leader of the General Goods department, Veronica. She rode behind me on her pure white horse, fit with diamond armor. I looked down at Tina, then back at Simeron.

"Watch the road, Gimero." Veronica said, exasperated. I shot her an angry look.

"I don't take orders from you!" I snapped. "This entire trip, you've been acting like you own Minecraftia!"

"Well, I certainly have enough money." She noted, holding up the emerald she took from me as 'Dues', which I had responded rather… uncharacteristically. One could say it's the reason she's traveling with me.

"How'd you even gain this much emeralds?" She pondered. I looked forward to hide my sneer.

"Some of us can actually give reasonable prices, and sell reasonable items." I retorted, glad to practically hear her anger.

Josie, whether deliberately or not, tossed a pile of snow on top of Veronica. While she was distracted, I gave flicked her finger.

"Keep your golem in check, as well!" She complained. "This was my best coat!"

I decided to not tell her that she can just summon a new coat, or that getting covered in snow was, in fact, the point of a coat.

"Oh, look," I called out instead. "We've got visitors."

[???]

"The Guided." I whispered from my hiding spot, cleverly chosen as a tree. Watching the two Wandering traders go by, I realized the male fit the description my, ah, associate gave me.

The female… well, I had met her before. Veronica SeClair, one of the richest people in all of Minecraftia since her month and a half of life. I could tell that the Guided was not enjoying her company, and judging what the Iron Golem just did, it didn't like her much either.

Makes sense. She wasn't a pleasant person to meet.

I tightened the scarf around my face and moved closer as silently as I could. The city of Zhoria was visible even in this weather – a mighty fortress that hasn't fallen.

I closed my eyes and focused on my power. I felt a tug in my stomach, and suddenly I disappeared from the forest, and into an alleyway of the city.

A city of a fallen fortress, as our Guided would soon learn.

[Gimero]

"JOSIE THINKS SOMETHING IS WRONG!" Josie stated, making Veronica give an exasperated sigh.

"Everything's perfectly fine, you Neanderthal." She insulted. "Honestly, it couldn't tell the difference between a Skeleton and a Zombie if it tried for months."

"She, not it." I corrected. "Plus, something is wrong. Normally, guards don't come down to see us."

I decided not to tell her that I was getting bad vibes, the kind that urged me to get as far from that mountain as possible. However, I had a point to make. And, according to Alex, I had to enter the city in order to… well, we didn't know exactly.

Veronica huffed and stomped past me. She met up with the guard and in an authoritative voice, demanded "Why are you here? Me and my assistant have manners to attend to!"

Assistant?

"I'm sorry, Madam! But, on behalf of the Anaklos Collective, I must insist you turn back!" He pulled out a book. "In accordance to Herobrine-"

I pulled up my scarf and covered my mouth, but a tiny squeak escaped from me anyways. Herobrine? How unlucky can one get?

Veronica gave me a sharp look. "Calm yourself, Gimero. Herobrine has done nothing wrong to the guild, therefore he is an asset." Turning to the guard, she pulled out a stack of emerald blocks. "Will this be enough for a toll?"

The guard dropped the book in the snow, his eyes widening. Nodding furiously, he took the emeralds and started counting as we walked by.

"Are you INSANE!?" I half-yelled. "Herobrine. Herobrine. You want to support him?"

She raised her hand. "I've known of this for a while. Before you piss your pants, you're going to stay with-"

"Oh!" The guard called. "And have you seen the Guided? Herobrine wants to talk with him. I've heard that he's part of the Guild."

Veronica gave me a confused look. I faked one right back at her, and turned to the guard.

"As far as I know," I bluffed carefully. "The Guided is not part of the Guild. Last I heard, he was in Lafor?" I pretended to give Veronica a quizzical look. Thankfully, I had not told her that I was the Guided, so I was pretty much in the clear. She sighed angrily and ignored the guard, continuing down the path. I gave the guard a half-hearted shrug, then rushed to Veronica.

"You followed me to Boreas, knowing that the craziest human in Minecraftia is inside there? For how long?"

She raised her hand in a silence motion. "Gimero, you need to learn to hold your tongue. I have come here for matters that do not concern. Now, what's this about a Guided?"

Sensing a chance to make her mad, I held my tongue. But, despite my outwardly cocky appearance, my insides were withering away quicker then what they would have with the Withering Effect.

[Meta]

"Looks like the Guided is arriving right about… now." Quan noted, peering over the ramparts from our hiding spot. I leaned against the wall, hands behind my head, humming to a song I heard years ago. Tapping my foot on the stone ground, I asked "Is he with anyone?"

"Um… yes. A woman in a blue fur coat, and that Iron Golem. Uh…" He flipped through the pages of a report. "Josie. That's her name."

I nodded, taking out a splash potion of slow falling. Tossing it up and catching it, I leaned over the edge of the ramparts.

"Well," I rolled my shoulders. "We've just got to wait until he enters the city now. After that, things are going to get Meta."

"That's… not how you use that word." Quan muttered, putting his book away. "But that's what I get, being stuck with you."

"Shut your mouth, bro." I muttered, slamming the potion into the ground under us and giving us pale blue particles rising from us. Together, we jumped off our hiding place on the ramparts and slowly onto the rooftops below.

[Gimero]

I thought my day couldn't get any worse.

It did.

The walls of Zhoria stood in front of us, made of obsidian and stone. The walls were decorated with pixel art, depicting the Battle for Boreas during the Griefer war. While they were impressive, they certainly didn't make me feel fuzzy inside. The truly horrifying part was the guards.

"Are those-" I nearly choked on my own tongue. "Mobs?"

Surely enough, an army of skeletons manned the walls, covered from the daylight by a roof made of slabs. They looked down at us and rattled angrily.

The massive stone gates opened up with a complicated contraption of Redstone. Veronica cleared her throat impatiently as I nearly vomited onto her coat.

The most dreaded thing alive walked out of the gates, flanked by Drowned. He wore a light blue t-shirt, even in this weather. It was tucked into his jeans, but there was a corner untucked. He wore a black Cape, complete with a hood, and in his hand was a golden scythe. His eyes glowed a bright white, which seemed to penetrate through me when he regarded me.

"Herobrine." I muttered. Josie stomped up to him and pointed an arm at him.

"GIMERO NO LIKEY YOU!" She roared. "WHICH MEANS I NO LIKEY YOU EITHER!"

Herobrine waved a hand, and Josie froze in place. Turning to the Drowned, he ordered coldly "Take the Golem away. The male can have it back when he leaves."

And just like that, I helplessly watched as Josie was taken away, dragged behind two Drowned that should be burning in plain daylight. I swallowed shakily.

Veronica and Herobrine regarded each other, until Veronica stuck her hand out for a handshake.

"Veronica SeClair. Head of the General Goods department of the Traders Guild." She introduced. "And this is-"

"Fryr." I interrupted her, getting a confused look from her. Herobrine nodded slowly.

"Well, Veronica, I was told you were coming." He stated, shaking her hand. "I believe it was your message?"

"Ah, so you got it! I wasn't sure if Oran perished on the journey here. Where is he?"

Herobrine gestured for her to follow. Turning to me, he said "Fryr. I need to talk to Miss Veronica in private. Feel free to… take the rest of the day off."

"I was told very little about this journey," I sighed. Veronica smirked in a somewhat evil manner and replied with "Well, Fryr, ignorance is bliss, is it not?"

And they left, leaving me to wander a massive city by myself.

Now, this day couldn't get any worse.

I wandered down the main road, a spiraling path all around the mountain. Eventually, I stepped into the main plaza, a massive stone circle packed with people from all around the world. Market stalls lined the edges, with tons of different things on sale.

I pushed past a crowd of people and came out of the other side of the plaza. I felt a sense that someone was watching me, but looking around, there was no one in sight. Almost certainly a sign that I was being watched. I took out my frying pan and held it up, glancing in all directions.

Then I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head, and crumpled to the floor.

[Meta]

"Silent, and effective!" I whistled, putting away my shovel. "The Guided is ours!".

Quan sighed, picking up the body and having the Guided lean on his shoulders. "We really didn't need to knock him out, but... I guess it worked?"

"Hell yeah, baby, you bet it worked!" I flexed my muscles. "No one can stand against Meta! Minigame extraordinaire!"

Quan grabbed the dude's arm. "He's thinner then a pencil. A strong breeze would shatter his ribcage."

"Whatever." I stuck my tongue out. "Let's bring him to the headquarters."

BanjoNote: Gimero be having a great time.

Kudos to Marcelipola for the OC, Meta! If you want an OC to appear in this story, use the format explained in my profile.

Next Chapter: At First Sight! Until Then, Read, Review, Favourite and Follow! And, as always, Banjo-on!

Thanks to A5-2874213225 grineer for favorite-ing!

Thanks to AllsparkCarrier04 for favorite-ing and following!