Melon Juice Saves The Day

You'd think that the universe would give me a break after having my entire village burnt to the ground, capturing a deadly criminal, barely escaping a crowd of bounty hunters twice, and finding out that my sister is apparently on the wanted list. But nooooo.

I was still sleepy and tired when Ben shook me awake.

"Calliope, get up!"

I groaned and opened my eyes.

"It's still night." I said blearily.

"Yes, yes. It's only been two hours, but—"

"Two hours?" I was outraged. "Come on! Don't we need more rest to—"

Ender clamped a hand over my mouth, silencing me.

"Shh!" Ender snapped. "Can't you hear that?"

I listened carefully. There was a loud rustling and crackling sound, like someone walking on dry leaves in the fall. Sure, it could have been a zombie, but we weren't taking any risks.

We quickly creeped onto Shell's back, who was very much awake and eyeing the foliage suspiciously.

We got on Shell's back and Shell quickly bounded away into the forest, leaving the sound behind.

Shell ran for what was probably a full thirty minutes before we came to a stop.

"What's happening?" Ben, who was sitting in the back asked. "Why'd we stop? What—oh."

We were standing on a beach, and what looked like a never ending sea stretched out in front of us. I shivered—it was pretty chilly.

It wasn't a sea, apparently according to Ben. "This is a lake that runs between Hiemx and Cratre, and it's only a thirty minute trip to go over, but...Shell can't exactly swim, can he? Or fly?" Ben informed us.

"I don't think so. The wounds are still kind of fresh. Those ropes must have dug in hard." Ender muttered, staring at the pale, slightly pink grid patterned scars on Shell's wings. "We can speed up the healing process by using a Healing Two or Regeneration pot, but we'd need glistening melon or ghast tears to make both of those. And we never actually got to get the supplies we needed from Hiemx."

Ben groaned. "So we're stuck."

"Well, no. I do have gold, but I'd also need a melon for a regeneration pot." Ender mused.

"I have melon seeds." Ben said, taking out a handful of seeds from his inventory. "No bone meal to grow it, though."

Ender frowned. "How long does it take the average melon to grow?"

"Um...I can't be sure, but...I estimate three, four days? Could be longer." Ben shrugged helplessly.

Ender sighed. "So...we need bone meal. Good thing it's night."

"It'll become daytime in three and a half hours, so we'll need to hurry." I said, glancing at my watch.

"Well, we'll need to hurry then." Ender said. "Ben, you go and look for skeletons to turn into bone meal. I'll set up the potions. And Calliope, you plant the melon seeds."

"Why do you get the easy job?" I complained.

Ender scowled. "Says the girl who's never had boiling blaze powder spill onto their hands."

I grunted, and me and Ben ran towards the forest.

Ben glanced at me and tossed the melon seeds towards me. I caught them, and he flashed a brief grin at me before dashing into the woods. I glanced around and spotted a rock. I picked up the rock and started bashing away at a tree until the only thing left was a roof of leaves floating in the air.

I started crafting, opening my inventory and making a crafting table.

I pulled the crafting table out of the crafting grid and placed it. You don't need to know the whole process, but the point is that I ended up with a few planks, sticks, a crafting table, and one hoe.

I punched up a block of dirt and ran over to the water to place it down and...hoe it? I don't know what it's called when you use a hoe on the ground, but I did it and planted the melon seeds.

I turned to Ender, who was muttering to herself and tinkering with the potion stand with a hard look on her face, and placing ingredients in the brewing stand.

"Well, now we wait for Ben." Ender said, straightening with a satisfied look on her face.

"How much bone meal do we need?" I asked.

Ender frowned. "Just three, I think. I mean...you can make three bone meal from one bone, so if he finds just one skeleton, we'll be good."

"Well, does he know that we only need one bone?" I asked Ender.

Ender blinked. "Oh...he'll know. Probably."

"Wait. What do you mean probably?"

We heard rustling from the woods, and Ben burst out of the woods with a panicked look on his face.

"That was fast." Ender said. Before Ben could say anything, Ender cut in. "Let me guess. Carlos?"

Ben nodded.

Ender made an annoyed noise. "God. He's like a stupid tree. You see one everywhere you go."

"That's certainly a metaphor." I said, but Ben and Ender ignored me.

"You at least got the bone meal, right?" Ender asked. "Wait. Did Carlos see you at all?"

"I think he caught a glimpse of me," Ben sad nervously. "but then again, he might have not."

We heard a faint shout: "Beeen! ENDEEER!"

"He saw me." Ben affirmed.

"Thanks for the information, Sherlock." Ender scowled. "Hand me the bone meal now."

Ben handed her the bone meal, and she rushed over to the melon plant and dumped all of the bone meal on it.

Green sparks flew up, and suddenly there was a fully grown melon in front of us, the vine sprouting into a melon that fell onto the sandy beach.

Ender quickly harvested the melon, then placed the melon slices on the crafting table, surrounding it with golden nuggets.

And ta-da, Ender'd just created a glistening melon slice.

Ender inserted it into the brewing stand, just as Carlos emerged from the woods, carrying two axes and a whole lot of greed.

"Found you," he sneered before hurling one of the axes at me.

I guarantee that I would have been killed if Ben hadn't pulled me out of the way, the axe sailing past me and landing in the sand.

Ender pulled out a grey potion and tossed it at Carlos. It shattered on him, and instantly his movement slew down as if he were walking on soul sand. Carlos took a step back, and Ben charged.

Even under the effects of a slowness potion, Carlos was a force to be reckoned with. Ben swung his sword at Carlos's chest and then feinted towards his legs, slashing one of them.

Instead of cutting through his leg, the sword bounced off—like he'd swung at a stone wall instead of a person.

That's when I noticed the crimson colored swirls coming off of his body.

"Look out! He's under the effect of a Strength Potion!" Ender shouted, but too late. Carlos dashed forwards, surprisingly fast considering he was inflicted with Slowness, and kicked Ben's legs out from underneath him.

"What are you doing? Aren't you going to help?" Ender yelled at me, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"But—"

"But what?" Ender snapped. "Do something at least! That was my last offensive potion!"

I turned to Carlos, who was lifting Ben into the air by his neck. He started squeezing, making Ben choke.

"Hey!" I threw my wooden hoe at him. By some stroke of luck, the sharp end hit him in the face, and sliced his cheek. It wasn't exactly life threatening, but it made him drop Ben, at least.

"Hold him while I heal Shell!" Ender shouted, and I ran forward, pulling out my axe.

Carlos raised his axe and swung at me. Right before the axe would have slashed my neck I placed two wooden planks in front of me.

Considering the axe was made of titanium, it easily chopped through the planks in two strikes, but I dashed forwards, rolling under his third swing and swinging my axe into his leg, bringing him to one knee.

And at that moment, an empty glass bottle hit the back of his head, shattering on impact. Carlos turned, and Shell's tail slammed into his chest, smashing him into the ground and sending up a cloud of sand. As Carlos began to stand again, I raised my axe and smashed him in the face, knocking him back down,

"Get on!" Ender shouted, and while Carlos was still disoriented, I pulled up Ben and we both ran towards Shell. Ender hoisted me onto Shell, and I helped on Ben.

I barely had time to wrap my hands around Ender's waist before Shell burst into the air, and as just Carlos got up, we were flying over the enormous lake.

"You two can swim, right?" Ender asked.

"Yeah," me and Ben both said.

"Well, that's good. I can't, so if I fall, you two will save me, right?" Ender asked.

"Obviously," Ben said. "Cal?"

"…"

"Cal?" Ben pressed.

"Yeah, sure." I said.

?-V-?

Dan paced back and forth on the ground as everyone got out of the boat.

Nikai noticed and said sarcastically, "Jeez, Dan. Why don't you swim back if you're so worried?"

"Yeah...maybe.." Dan mumbled to himself.

"That was a joke." Nikai said. "Don't actually. You'll probably drown before you—OW!"

Seu appeared out of nowhere and smacked Nikai over the head with a fish.

"What was that for?" Nikai complained. "Wait, did you just whack me with a fish? What the heck!?"

"Don't tease him." Seu snapped. "Can't you see he's out of his mind with worry?"

"Yeesh. Seriously. And you wonder why we call you the Fairy Godmother." Nikai muttered. "Honestly, who are you, my grandmother?"

Seu raised the fish threateningly. "Nik..."

"Seriously?" Nikai complained. "You too? What is with the name Nik? I'm not even a gir—OW!"

Nikai yelped again as Seu smacked him with the fish again. "Fine, fine!" Nikai grumbled as he walked away.

Dan chuckled wearily. "Whacking people with fish? What do you want me to call you now—Fisherwoman?"

Seu rolled her eyes. "That's about as funny as a dead rat."

"Awe, it's not that bad!"

"The point is, I know you're worried about Cal, but I'm sure she'll be fine. She can hold her own." Seu assured Dan. "And I'm sure Ender and Ben will keep her in check."

"More like Ben will keep Ender and Cal in check." Dan muttered. "God...if it weren't for that coward steering the boat...they had time to get on and safely get away."

Seu sighed. "Well, what's happens, happened. There's not much we can do."

Dan smirked. "That's a very Nikai-ish statement."

"Don't insult me like that." Seu glared at Dan.

"Point taken."

?-V-?

The thirty minutes we'd spent flying felt more like thirty hours.

Every so often, me or Ender would suddenly jolt, like we'd ran over a speed bump, and every time it happened I nearly had a heart attack. Oh, and the fog that drifted over the lake that made it so I couldn't see didn't help.

Eventually we got to the other side, and when we did, I slid off onto the ground, my knees shaking like a branch on a windy day.

"God. That felt like riding a rollercoaster with no safety restraints." Ben groaned.

"Agreed." I moaned. "Dan needs to at least add seatbelts to his dragon or something."

Ender frowned. "Oh, come on. It wasn't that bad."

I found it ironic that the only person in our group who couldn't swim was the most calm out of us three.

"Well, I certainly feel sick." I groaned. "Wait. If you're flying over a lake, does it make you air sick or sea sick? Or both?"

"If you're flying, it's air sick." Ender frowned. "But that's not the important part. The important part is getting to Cratre."

"What? We're already there, though...right?" I asked.

"Nope. Not even close. We still have around nine more hours of walking."

...

Welp, there goes my hopes and dreams. Touché, fate.

At the look on my face, Ben attempted to reassure me. "But, I mean, we do have a dragon. You know dragons are pretty fast, right?"

"True." Ender agreed. "So..."

I sighed. "More dragon riding?"

Ender nodded. "Yup."

"Toni's books never said how uncomfortable really riding a dragon was." I muttered. "Can't we contact Dan in any way?"

Ben nodded. "That's a good idea. Ender, do you have a phone?"

Ender opened her mouth.

Closed it.

And stared at her feet.

"Ender. You did not lose the phone."

Ender sheepishly pulled out a completely snapped in half flip phone.

"It snapped when Shell pulled us out of the bounty hunter base," she said sheepishly.

Ben made an annoyed grunt. "So...no way to contact Dan in any way, shape, or form. That's great."

"Well…let's just go then." I sighed miserably. "No offense, Shell, but after this I'm not riding you anywhere again."

Shell snorted, like get over yourself.

We got back onto Shell's back. Shell flew back into the air, and we were off.

This time, though, Shell seemed to know that I was uncomfortable, and tried to fly a bit more steadier. Notch knows I was thankful for that.

"Want a melon?" Ben held a melon slice out to me. "They're nice and sweet. We had some leftover."

"Sure." I took the melon slice, only for it to slip and burst on my chest.

"Awwe," I complained. "I was hungry."

"And now you smell like melons." Ender muttered.

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Depends whether you like melons or not."

We were silent for around...twenty, thirty minutes, with me holding onto Shell's back like my life depended on it. (Which it did.) As we flew through the air, Ender turned to me, which is a dangerous thing to do on a flying dragon. "So. Mind telling us why Klith, the deadliest man alive, is after you?"

I was taken aback by the sudden question. "Me? No, I have no idea why."

"Well, what about your sister?" Ender asked. "She's wanted too. And for a much higher price, I might add."

I didn't say anything.

'Fisherman came here. Fisherman. And him and some little girl started fighting, demolishing so many things and causing hundreds of dollars worth damage. And on top of that, arson!'

"No idea." I lied.

Ender frowned doubtfully. I looked away so she couldn't see the panicked look in my eyes.

It can't be, right? There's no way. My sister, who used to cry when she accidentally crush bugs couldn't...it's just a coincidence. She couldn't have been…oh god, had she become a criminal?

I guess getting in trouble all the time hadn't necessarily been a bad thing, because now I was a master at lying. I kept my voice steady and looked her right in the eyes, all trace of dishonesty gone. I had on a puzzled expression, like I couldn't possibly know anything.

Ender kept up the questioning, though. "You sure? Not even a hint as to what she could be doing?"

Ben frowned at Ender. "Ender, she's clearly uncomfortable. Can you just—"

"Hey, I just need to know if we're working with some high profile criminal's sister right now." Ender told Ben. "I'm just curious."

"Well, I am too." I suddenly got annoyed. "But of course. I understand completely. I understand that you're suspicious of a twelve year old that likes to read more than go outside."

Ender was not happy. "I'm trying to be nice here."

"I'd hate to see you being mean, then." I snapped.

"Well, I'd love to see you actually be competent for once and not run away all the time!" Ender shouted.

"You've just crossed a line." I don't know what I was going to do, considering we were in a dragon speeding fifty miles per hour, but Ben yelled, "Shut up!"

Ender glowered at Ben. "Ben, I am trying to—"

"No, not that!" Ben softly growled. "Look!"

He pointed at the ground, and we looked down.

There was the purple glow of a nether portal, hidden by some trees.

"A nether portal?" Ender asked. "Here?"

"What else could it be?" Ben muttered. "Shell, get down there. And quietly."

"Ben, it might be dangerous!" I whispered.

Ender scowled. "Yeah, we're never in danger."

"You two, cut it out!" Ben hissed. "Let's go!"

Shell silently hit the ground, and we slid off. Ben turned to me and made a series of gestures that I couldn't understand.

I blinked, and Ben repeated the gestures.

Ender rolled her eyes and unnecessarily snapped her fingers to get my attention.

She pulled out a book and a pencil, wrote in it, and showed me her writing.

Move in quietly and hide behind those bushes.

"Oh," I whispered. "Why didn't you just write that in the first place?"

Ender rolled her eyes.

We quietly crept towards the nether portal, Ben gesturing to Shell to stay still. Shell somehow understood, and I was momentarily depressed that a dragon could understand sign language and I couldn't.

As we crept up to the bushes, we quickly hid behind the bushes, making sure the bushes were opaque enough that nobody could see us through the bushes. Ben hid behind a smaller bush, and me and Ender crouched behind the shelter of a rather large bush.

Luckily, the night (or technically the really, really, early day) was on our side, because it was still so dark that nobody could see us even if the only thing we'd been hiding behind had been a dead bush. The dim portal light could have given us away, but not unless someone actually looked for us.

We heard footsteps, but no voices.

"What's going on?" I whispered as quietly as I could.

"Let me check to see through the bush with my super vision I have." Ender whispered back. "Oh, wait."

"No need to be a jerk about it!"

Suddenly we heard a deep, raspy voice talking.

"Sir...are you sure you can go alone? If you are to be spotted in public..."

"Let them spot me for all I care. Soon it won't matter. The end is nigh, and soon all will be gone. The Aether will be wiped off the map, and so will those insufferable children." the man spat out the words like they tasted bad in his mouth.

I gave a small gasp, and Ender clapped a hand over my mouth. Luckily, the whooshing sound of the nether portal masked my gasp.

Is this man talking about...no. He can't be.

This man is talking with a pigman, I assume. They all have deep, raspy voices. I know from my time in the Nether Prison. But this pigman referred to this man is 'sir'.

So...does that mean it's...!?

Ender came to the same conclusion as me, and frantically shook her head at me. I didn't know what she meant by that, but I assumed it meant 'don't move a single inch'.

It was Klith that was standing besides the nether portal, and considering he put a five hundred thousand emerald bounty on my head, I was pretty sure he would be pretty joyed to hear I was barely a minimum of five meters away from him.

Klith suddenly sniffed the air. "Is it just me, or do I smell...melon?"

I suddenly had a flashback to thirty minutes ago, when I dropped a melon slice on my chest.

Ender looked at me like I was shooting party poppers into the air and waving around big flags that said, 'Here I am! Please torture me to death!', but there was nothing I could do! What could I do!?

"Yes, come to think of it, there is a faint smell of melon in the air." the pigman said, sniffing the air.

"I'm probably going insane." Klith said. "Either that or the melon soda I drank the other day is still on my breath."

I silently thanked the creator of carbonated melon drinks.

"Anyways...there will be no need to accompany me. I will be perfectly fine on my own. Cratre is only a few hours away if I use my powers. The coordinates of the pit?"

"Twenty four thousand and seven hundred fifty six, and negative forty six thousand and nine hundred thirty eight."

"Good, good. I was just making sure. Oh, and deactivate the portal when you go through, eh? Even though this is the middle of nowhere, we can't have any rats sneak into Hell's Tree, can we? No. Anyways, I will be off. Goodbye. Have fun torturing my enemies."

We heard footsteps slowly fade away, and we saw a dark silhouette walk away. Klith raised his arms, and crimson red flames rose up, engulfing him. The fire that contained Klith suddenly shot away with a loud boom, kicking up a cloud of dust and leaving embers floating in his wake.

The pigman stood there for a painfully long moment before walking into the portal. A few minutes after, the purple light disappeared, and the portal was deactivated.

I hadn't realized that I'd been holding my breath, and I hadn't realized until I nearly passed out. I took a deep, shaky breath, and breathed out.

"Dear god." Ender let out a huge breath. "I haven't been that nervous since the incident back in Janlyn."

"Let's not talk about that." Ben stood. "Let's go. I don't feel safe here."

We turned to leave, except Ender didn't move.

"Ender?" Ben asked. "You coming?" Ender had a look of dread on her face. "Guys, he's going to Cratre." Ender recalled.

"And?" Ben asked, puzzled.

I realized something. "And you know who else is going to Cratre?"

Ben paled. "Dan. And the others."

"But how?" Ender asked in shock. "We only just left for Cratre! How did he know?"

Unless he's not looking for Dan and he's looking for someone else.

"We need to get to Cratre." I urged. "Right now."

?-V-?

"Can we rest or not?" Nikai whined. "We've been going for an hour now."

"An hour?" Seu said sarcastically. "Oh, no! How tiring!"

"You never used to be this sarcastic." Nikai said to Seu.

Orca elbowed Nikai in the ribs, making him yelp in pain.

"Ow! What, Orca?" Nikai complained.

"Ben," was all Orca said.

"Oh. Right."

"Would everyone just—shut it?" Dan put his hands to his ears. "Honestly. Would it kill you, Nikai, to stop talking for one minute?"

"Everyone's so touchy today." Nikai muttered to himself.

Seu turned to see Durham looking back. "Durham?" Seu asked. "What are you doing?"

Durham turned around and looked at her. "Guys? We might have a problem."

Everyone turned around.

No one saw anything at first. But then they saw it in the distance, and were instantly on the defense.

It looked like a raging, crimson red inferno, and it left trails of smoke and embers in it's wake. And even worse, it was coming towards them.

Honestly, this is just a filler chapter, but I promise that from here on out, things finally change and become different. After this chapter, things will become crazy. I say that because I'm already halfway through the next chapter.

Oh, and from now on, I will be responding to reviews. So if you have any questions or criticism, feel free to leave a review. Anything helps!

Except for advertising other people's fanfics in my reviews. If you're reading this, you know who you are.

Anyways, have a wonderful day! Kriosout!