I Blow It Out Of The Park
I slammed into the ground with a thud, forcing the wind out of my chest.
The others all landed on their feet, except for Bandit, who landed on his knees and tried to execute a roll, but instead banged his head against the trunk of a tree.
"Ow," Bandit grunted. "I still haven't mastered that."
"That's because that's not how it works," Jax said as he opened a chest. "Rook, I've got arrows for you in this chest. Anyone got a bow?"
I got to my feet and realized that everyone was already looting the chests. I ran to one of the chests, but it was empty.
"Gotta be faster," Lago said as she tossed me a shimmering stone sword. I caught it, and swung it around. It wasn't a perfect fit, but it would probably be better than my fists.
"Got a Punch I bow for you, and a leather chest plate." Cacao tossed them both to Rook, who caught both of them.
The island, though small, was a flurry of activity. Bandit began bridging towards the island at a speed I hadn't known was possible, and Cacao threw a volley of snowballs at a neighboring island. All of them missed except for one, which knocked someone off the island.
Bandit jumped down to the next island, and everyone followed. Jax tossed me gold leggings, which I struggled to put on. How had everyone else slipped on the armor so naturally?
"Follow me," Jax shouted as he looted a chest. He tossed down the loot from the chest for us to take, and I managed to snatch a few apples and a chain mail chest plate before it was all gone.
"To the next island," Jax began to say before an arrow struck him in the back. He doubled over, and Cacao ran forwards and slammed down a bunch of cobblestone blocks.
"Rook, cover me!" Jax shouted as he began to bridge.
Rook peeked around the wall and began shooting. Cacao joined in, and I saw the people shooting at us scatter as arrows rained down on them.
"Bridge is finished!" Jax shouted. "Everyone except Cacao and Rook run over, and then you two run over at the same time! Me, Y, and Bandit will go off and fight the other squads! Cacao, Rook, Lago, and Toni, you do the same!"
We all ran across the bridge to a bigger island smack in the middle of the ring of islands. Rook and Cacao ran across, Rook nearly getting hit by an egg.
Once everyone was across, we split up. Cacao took a glance at me and turned away, muttering something about babysitting. That comment annoyed me slightly. The fact that I was someone that had to be babysitted annoyed me.
In the middle of the island was an enormous lighthouse. Chests lined the bottom of the lighthouse, which me and the others looted, getting a mish mash of various weapons, armor, and foodstuffs. I'm sure we made an awful fashion statement what with our mismatched armor, but at least we were protected.
so when we ran into a group of people fighting each other, I wanted to run in there like a creeper and blow everyone up with my lightning like earlier.
Instead, Rook held me back.
"Let them wear each other down, and then we'll run in and clean things up. Cacao, you make sure nobody's coming from behind." Rook instructed.
Grumbling, Cacao turned his back to us and pulled out a stone axe as Rook placed a discreet yet secure cobblestone wall so they wouldn't see us.
We were silent for a moment when Rook said, "Sorry. He's not very open to meeting new people."
"No, it's okay." I reassured her.
"Oh, okay." Rook looked a little relieved.
"I just think Caca may not be open to people in general." Lago added.
"That's because he just doesn't like you." Rook said, amused.
"I can't imagine why," Lago said, feigning surprise. "After all, I've got such a charming personality."
I snorted, and Rook shook her head. "Oh, and I told you to stop calling him Caca."
"Why? It's his name." Lago smirked.
"Lago." Rook said in a warning tone.
"Fine, Mom." Lago pouted as she crossed her arms.
"Lago likes to refer to me as the mom of the group," Rook explained to me.
"Cause you are," Lago exclaimed. "You're like Cacao, but more overprotective and vastly superior."
"Oh screw off, Lago." Cacao shot back. "And you know I can hear you guys, right? I'm not deaf."
"Okay, Caca." Lago said in a superior tone.
"If you call me that one more time I'm going to lose it." Cacao warned.
"Hey look, Squad 7 won the fight. Quick, let's run in before they see us." Rook cut in, and I got the feeling she wanted to break up the fight.
Cacao and Lago huffed like toddlers, glaring at each other.
"Whoever dies first buys the other desert." Lago challenged.
"Deal." Cacao accepted, and they both ran off. I followed, but Rook hung back, pulling out her bow.
I counted around five as we ran in. That meant we were outnumbered by only one person, which luckily wasn't a lot. They were sorting through the remains of the battle when Cacao fell on one of them, landing three blows with his axe before they even realized what was happening. That person fell, Cacao still landing blows as they collapsed.
At the same time, Lago slammed into another person, slashing them in the back and knocking them backwards. Everyone began shouting, and a girl started to swing at Lago only to get an arrow in the back.
I decided to engage with one of the fighters, and swung my sword at them, catching them unawares. I noticed that it was the boy that had been judged earlier, Cassian Parker.
He barely managed to block my swing, but he was deceptively strong, and I found myself being pushed back by his counter attack. I realized my back was to Rook, so I decided to dash to Cassian's side and swung at him, opening up a cut on his chest.
Suddenly a look of fear and confusion appeared on his face, and a feeling of guilt panted in my gut.
"Does it hurt?" I said without realizing that I'd said it out loud.
Cassian looked surprised, but he shook his head no.
"Good," Rook said from behind him. He turned, but suddenly flew backwards, arrows embedded in his chest. He dissolved before he even hit the ground.
At the look on my face, Rook gave me a quick pat on the back. "Don't worry, he'll respawn. So don't feel—bad!" Rook pulled me forwards, and I felt a sword slash across my back which undoubtedly would have killed me if not for my chest plate, which took most of the blow.
I turned and swung my sword randomly, not expecting to hit someone. Surprisingly, my blade made contact with my attacker's chest. He stumbled a little, so I swung again, stabbing him in the chest.
He had a look of surprise on his face, but then grinned. "Good one," he managed to say before dissolving.
Oddly, that made me feel a little better. I turned to see Cacao and Lago still fighting.
I let out a battle cry and ran forward. An arrow pierced the girl fighting Lago, and she went down.
Cacao seemed to be struggling, until I ran at the guy attacking him and stabbed him in the back. Once he doubled over, Cacao stabbed him in the chest. The guy staggered forwards before turning to dust.
"Thanks," Cacao said grudgingly.
I was about to respond when suddenly a shout rang out. Cacao turned, and there was a 'thwack' sound, like someone smacking a stack of paper.
Cacao stared in disbelief at the sword sticking out of his leather chestplate.
"Damn it," Cacao said. "Lago's going to—" and then he crumbled into dust.
"Toni, put this on!" I felt something hit my back. I turned to see an iron helmet.
"Nice catch," Lago began to snort before seeing the pile of items and dust that was once Cacao. "Uh oh."
"That's all you have to say? 'Uh oh'?" I said, my voice an octave higher than usual.
Lago shrugged. "Hey, at least I get free food from this."
Out of nowhere, an arrow pierced my arm, and I dropped my sword with a shout.
"Hello, Toni!" I heard a gleeful voice shout. I stumbled back just as Jared fell out of nowhere and swung down at me, his sword raking across my chainmail chestplate. I fell backwards, landing painfully on the iron helmet.
Out of the corner of my eyes I saw others drop down, including the brunette and the blonde I'd met earlier. They vastly outnumbered us, and they all charged at Lago and Rook, whooping war cries.
Lago grunted as a sword pierced her side, and Rook struggled to fire arrows at all five people.
Jared laughed as he raised his sword. "Looks like you're just not Squad 1 material, huh?"
Rook shouted, and an arrow opened up a cut in Jared's side. Jared grunted and his swing went wide, cutting a deep line into the dirt. As Jared cursed and tried to pull his sword out, I groped around for my sword, but instead found the iron helmet.
PI grabbed it and swung it at Jared's head, and it made a deep noise like someone banging a gong. Jared stumbled backwards, clutching his head. I took that chance to get to my feet, but Jared recovered quickly, kicking me in the chest and then landing a punch in my nose that made me sit down again, hard.
I felt something running down my nose, and brushed away at it.
It was blood.
The sight of my own blood made me dizzy, and I watched vaguely as Jared pulled his sword out of the ground and raised it to kill me again.
Welp. I had a good run.
"JARED!"
Jared turned and brought up his sword just in time to block Jax's slash.
Behind Jax, Y and Bandit ran to help Lago and Rook. Bandit drew two small daggers and jumped on one of the attacker's shoulders, stabbing them until they went down. Y picked up another and threw them off the island with a yell.
The tables were beginning to turn, and the brunette screamed as he was thrown at the lighthouse. He smashed into it with a crack, and then fell to the ground, motionless.
Jared snarled as he was slowly pushed back by Jax, who called to me, "Go! Help the others! I've got Jared!"
And then suddenly…
I turned to see a crowd of people, all of them whooping and charging straight at us.
"WOO! PARTY!" A barechested man cheered before decapitating one of Jared's friends.
The battle became utter chaos, and I could barely keep track of my own teammates. It was a wonder I didn't die in the first ten seconds.
I bumped into someone who tried to cut me in half, so I returned the favor by picking up an abandoned iron sword and giving them a haircut right across the neck.
I'd killed one guy, but as the battle raged around me, I suddenly felt sick. All these people. Dying at once. And enjoying it. It made me sick. I hadn't had a problem before, but now it hit me.
I had to escape. Running around swords and axes and arrows, I made it into the lighthouse and found a staircase leading all the way to the top.
I started running up the stairs, and halfway up began to slow down. The adrenaline was beginning to fade, and the exhaustion was starting to set in. At the top of the lighthouse I sat down heavily on one of the chests, breathing hard. I could have just laid there and went to sleep, that's how tired I was.
Instead, I stood and opened the chest I'd been sitting on. Maybe there was some food to eat in there. Instead, I found something much more deadly.
Half a stack of TNT. And a piece of flint.
I stared at the items, and then glanced at the people below.
An idea began forming in my mind.
I started slamming the TNT down, right on the edge of the lighthouse. I had to do this quickly, before anyone noticed.
I meticulously placed the TNT down everywhere. I used every last block.
Someone down below shouted "HEY!" and I knew I didn't have much time.
I grabbed the flint and slid it against my sword.
Nothing.
A bead of sweat ran down my forehead.
I struck the flint and the iron sword together again.
Nothing.
I took a deep breath…and struck the flint against the iron sword for the last time.
A spark fizzled into life…and a single block of TNT lit up.
With that, the mini missile I'd created fell down onto the battle, which was beginning to fizzle out.
Not for long.
By the time people looked up and saw the massive amount of TNT headed their way, it was too late.
The explosion was absolutely magnificent. A fiery maelstrom tore through the island, knocking TNT every which way.
The explosion even knocked swords and arrows everywhere, making me dive for cover as steaming swords, axes, and arrows pelted the lighthouse.
And then…silence.
I stumbled to my feet and glanced down.
I'd blasted an enormous hole in the island. I stared into the endless blue abyss.
And then.
My battered chainmail chestplate finally gave way as a sword tore through it, piercing out of my chest.
I groaned and fell to my knees. I turned my head to see Jared, covered in soot but looking triumphant.
"I win," Jared gloated.
I closed my eyes and fell forward. Everything went black.
?-?-?
Technically? Jared's squad is the one that won the game.
But weirdly, the person getting more attention seems to be me.
People had been congratulating me for getting #1 amount of kills on my first Skywars game since I'd woken up, especially my squad. Rook gave me a motherly hug, which I thought was amusing, Lago pointed to me at dinner and exclaimed that I was in her squad, and Cacao even bought me a cake after dinner, which was a pleasant surprise.
Even Y, who never participated in our conversations or even talked, gave me a thumbs up after lunch, which according to Bandit was the equivalent of fanboy screaming for Y.
People I didn't know patted me on the back. Sometimes when I walked down the hallway, I would hear people talking about me, saying I had potential.
Naturally, Jared didn't react well to this.
"She just got lucky," Jared complained. "You know what she would have done if that TNT hadn't been there? She would have stayed up there and died. And besides, she can't even swing her sword properly."
However, even that wasn't enough to get me down. For once, I was happy. For once, I was accepted.
If only I'd known what would come next.
?-?-?
The next day when I went to dinner, Jax waved me over.
"Hey, killer." Bandit smirked when I came over to the table. "You tired of death jokes yet? Cuz I'm not."
"Cacao bought me an entire tray of cupcakes," Lago crowed. "Victory is literally sweet."
"Shut up," Cacao said. "I only did it because I lost the bet."
"Loser," Lago laughed.
Jax chuckled. "You're in high spirits today, huh."
"Yeah, because Toni raised our squad ranking to second place." Rook smiled.
"And guess who's in first?" Bandit added. "Jared's squad. It's stupid, isn't it? He killed like two people and won the game. Isn't that stupid or what?"
"Hey, Toni."
I turned to see Owen.
"Hey," I said, trying to keep my voice neutral. I stabbed something with my fork and put it in my mouth, only to realize that it was my napkin.
I coughed and unceremoniously spat it out onto the table, making everyone, including Owen, laugh.
"Hey." I repeated.
Owen chuckled. "Congrats, Toni. I didn't expect that from you." Owen paused. "Well, not that I didn't expect great things, but…seriously. Good job."
"Thank you," I said with a smile too wide for my face.
"You're welcome," Owen said.
There was an awkward silence, and suddenly Owen looked awkward as well.
"We can, you know, hang out later if you want." Owen mumbled, aware that he was being watched by the entire squad.
I felt my self esteem rising like a balloon. "I'd like that."
"Owen!" A boy grew his arm around Owen's shoulder. "Come back to the table, huh? Drinks on me! Non alcoholic, of course, but I got that strawberry milk you were asking for!"
Owen blushed a little as everyone at the table chuckled a little.
The boy glanced at me, back at the blushing Owen, and then back at me. He seemed to come to a conclusion.
"You know," the boy said loudly, "Owen is always available—"
"Let's go, Dexter." Owen said loudly as he grabbed his arm and practically pulled him away from the table.
The table was quiet for a moment when everybody went "Ooooooohhhhh" like a class of 2nd graders. Jax abstained, but shot me a grin, which I pointedly ignored.
"Toni's gettin busy," Bandit chirped. I elbowed him in the ribs, prompting more laugher.
And then, my balloon abruptly popped.
"Hey there, Toni." Jared smirked as he passed by our table.
"Make like a bee and buzz off." Jax snapped.
"I bet you feel reeeeeeal good, don't you?" Jared snorted.
"Yup, I do." I told him.
"That'll change soon." Jared said nastily. "You're like a thunderstorm. You'll cause a little bit of commotion, and then you'll disappear. In this equation, I'm the sun. Parting the thunderstorm."
"Wow, what a narcissist." Lago commented.
"You say you're the sun?" I snorted. "Good. Then stay ninety two million miles away from me so I don't have to look at your face."
"Ooh, snap!" Lago shouted.
With a look of disgust, Jared strutted away like he'd won the argument. Which in fact, he hadn't.
"What a baby," Bandit said. Everyone nodded, even Y.
The lights dimmed, and everyone turned to the whiteboard.
As per usual, the chalk flew up and wrote a smiley face on the whiteboard, which quickly enlarged.
"How are my favorite warriors?" the whiteboard said.
Instantly, I noticed that the voice was more…muted than usual. The voice had lost it's bubbly, gameshow like excitement.
"First of all, congratulations to Toni Deniara for getting the highest amount of kills on her first game of Skywars." Everyone clapped, and I heard someone scoff a few blocks away. It was probably Jared.
"Again, a reminder that the Bedwars game next Friday is cancelled. At 5:00 P.M. a game of death paintball will be held in the Arena, so if you'd like to participate, please ask Ralph and sign some paperwork or something. Also, the iron sword has still not been taken, so this is your last chance to take it before it is sent…somewhere. I don't know. And I think that covers it all. Dig in, folks." And with that, the smiley face disappeared. Everyone began to eat, whispering amongst themselves.
Jax frowned. "The whiteboard wasn't very talkative today."
"I agree," Rook said with a frown. "Usually the whiteboard's bubblier than a slime that's inhaled three potions of leaping, but today they felt kinda…withdrawn."
"Think the whiteboard has a hangover or something?" Lago said, observing one of her baked potatoes.
"Whiteboards can't get hangovers, moron." Cacao snapped.
"I've only been here for like two days, but I also agree. You think something's wrong with the whiteboard?" I murmured.
Before anyone could respond, a screeching sound like feedback echoed throughout the room, making people clap their hands over their ears.
Suddenly, the whiteboard spoke again.
"Oh, no. Oh, no no no. This is a problem. Well, it appears that we've met again sooner than expected. You see, I've gotten a message…a message from…ah…Notch."
Everyone started whispering.
I turned to look at Jax. "What's going on?"
Jax looked stunned. "A message…from Notch? That's rare. Extremely rare."
"To be frank, if I said I didn't expect this I would be lying." the whiteboard confessed. "And the message concerns one of our…rather bombtastic newcomers."
My blood went cold.
"Toni Deniara, would you please stand?"
The words slammed into me like a truck.
Slowly, I stood. All eyes were on me.
"I...ah…you know what? I'll let you all listen for yourselves." the whiteboard said, and went quiet.
Silence. Complete silence.
A booming voice echoed through the dining hall.
The words uttered changed my life forever.
"Toni Deniara. You are the reincarnation of Herobrine."
Everyone in the dining hall stared at me. Jax stared at me, slack jawed.
I fell to my knees.
What?
Suddenly everyone began whispering, and those whispers became mutters, and those mutters became shouts. Soon everyone was yelling questions.
"SILENCE!" the whiteboard screamed. "Listen to the creator!"
Quiet.
"Jax Endstone."
At that, Jax turned pale and spilled his drink on himself.
"I have foreseen your journey. You are to seek out Shaft and get help from her. After you find Shaft, you will venture to the center of the world to stop Klith."
"And Toni."
"Do not worry about your sister. I have sent her a guardian. Do not believe Klith."
The hall burst into shouts and screams once more, and Jax dragged me out of the hall as everyone continued to yell and ask questions.
I stared at the ground as Jax stared at me.
He opened and closed his mouth.
"What the hell?" Jax said, which just about summed up the situation. "Toni…"
I vaguely listened as he asked me question after question. Jax's urgent words wormed their way into my head, and I clapped my hand over my ears and ran, pushing past Jax.
I ran and ran, running into the elevator and punching one of the buttons.
The wait took barely a few seconds and I was running again.
I felt hot. Trapped.
I'm not the reincarnation of Herobrine. I'm not.
I'm no hero. Or a mischievous rule breaker like Cal. Or an experienced fighter like Jax.
I'm nobody.
So why did the whiteboard say otherwise?
Suddenly I was outside, and the cool air brushed against my skin.
I fell to my knees, and stared at the sky that wasn't really the sky.
And I asked the fake sky a question.
"Why me?"