Happy birthday to my friend, Luna! I hope you have a wonderful day!
~X~
I felt something poke my side, kicking me from my slumber. I grumbled and swatted at the perpetrator, earning a chuckle in response. The poking continues, and I reluctantly open my eyes, facing who else but Gladius.
"What?" I snapped. Gladius made a motion akin to rolling his eyes.
"Don't be all snippy at me", he scolded, "You slept for so long, two days in this world have passed. Steve came by earlier to see what was taking you so long, and he had a good laugh at how I told him you were still sleeping."
"Well I've had a stressful few days, okay?" I snapped again. Gladius floated back a bit, but didn't flinch. I let out a sigh. "Sorry, I just hate getting woken up by anything that isn't myself."
Gladius hummed. "Understandable." He pulled out a cooked chicken and a bucket. "This is your breakfast, so eat up." I grumbled in response, but took the food regardless. I brought the flat sprite food to my mouth and ate it reluctantly. It was fine, but not the best. I slowly rose to my feet, much to Gladius' joy, and followed the sword out the room. At the end of the hall, the two of us were greeted by Steve.
"Nice to finally see you up, Caleb", The man said with a wave. I looked at him flatly. "I was actually coming to get you because I got something planned for today."
I cocked an eyebrow in curiosity. "What do you have in mind?"
"You'll just have to follow and find out", he said smugly. I looked at Gladius in confusion, but the sword just shrugged back. I shook my head and followed Steve through his home till we walked outside to a large courtyard that was surrounded by a high wall. In the middle of the yard was Ralph, Vanellope and Jenny. The racer was running around with two dogs and a cat, while the wrecker and robot watched from a bench with a large smile on their faces. As Steve approached, they turned to us and waved.
"Finally decided to wake up, Caleb?" Jenny said with a smug smirk. I huffed in annoyance, but returned a smile regardless. Despite only being with everyone (minus Steve) for what could be a few days, it felt like we could make these playful jabs at each other. Ralph let out a hearty laugh.
"Seriously, kid", Ralph said with a smile, "No matter where we are, you seem to saw logs like crazy." I felt my face flight up in embarrassment, taking a seat between my two taller friends. Steve walked off to the side towards a bunch of chests, Gladius joined Vanellope, and I remained curled up in embarrassment. Jenny wrapped an arm over my shoulders and hugged me close, my embarrassment slowly leaving. I looked over at Steve and watched as he pulled out a bunch of random blocks, doors, fences, and other miscellaneous objects. I raised a brow at him, and that drew everyone else's attention to the block man.
"Hey, Steve?" I said, "What are you doing?"
Steve turned back to me, his eyes reflecting his pride. "I was thinking of showing you guys how to build! 'Cause I can tell you guys are fairly new here." The five of us all shared awkward looks, then looked back at Steve with sheepish smiles, nodding in agreement. "Exactly. So I'm going to let you guys use whatever you want to build whatever you want." He tossed some stacks of oak planks at me, and I caught them easily. "So, pick what you want. I'll mark each of you an area." He pulled out some sort of red block and began to divide the yard into quarters. Me and the others all shared looks, then shrugged.
"Well, this'll be one heck of a day", I said, sight giddiness in my voice. "Building whatever we want? Sounds fun."
"I don't know…", Ralph began with a hand rubbing the back of his neck, "I'm not the best when it comes to building things. Vanellope's kart barely survived our…last visit to the kart bakery."
"Don't sell yourself short, Ham-Hands", Vanellope interjected, "That kart was perfect." She paused, her smirk falling. "Although the mess we left was…yeeeeeaaaah…" Vaqnellope cringed at the memory of all the 'Decorating' jars smashing against each other and spilling everywhere. Jenny cocked an eyebrow.
"Well, whatever happened with you guys", she said, "I'm sure it'll be fine. Besides, I'm looking forward to this!"
"I am curious to see what you all plan to build", Gladius said, rubbing a wing under his jewel. "Seeing how Steve built this whole place on his own, I'd like to see what you come up with. I'll be over there and watching." Gladius hovered over to where the bench was and rested on it. I smiled back at him just as we came up to the chests, and I then turned and began to rummage through. The others did the same, and for the next few minutes we kept looking through chest after chest, gathering all the supplies each of us needed. I was the first to find everything I wanted, so I made my way to one of the marked areas. I waved at Steve, who was sitting on the bench with Gladius, and he waved back. I looked to my area, took a deep breath, and began to work.
~X~
The sun was high in the sky, and the four of us were hard at work. I was already accustomed to Minecraft's building system, so I was placing blocks at a much faster speed than everyone else. I looked at the others, and giggled at their different building styles. Ralph, who was using mainly bricks, cobblestone and dark oak wood, was building very slowly and carefully, not wanting to accidentally trash most of his progress. Vanellope, who was using mainly blocks of varying shades of purple, turquoise and pink, was zipping around and placing blocks any chance she got, but because of her speed, she had to correct mistakes constantly. Jenny, who was using mainly metal blocks, was using her multiple appendages to place blocks without needing to move much, but she had a complete plan she was following, so she was taking things easy. I smiled at all of them.
"My, all of you are doing amazingly so far", Gladius called from his spot on the bench. Steve, who was still sitting next to him, nodded in agreement.
"I must say, you all got your stuff down", the block man said, "I guess I was wrong to assume you were completely new to this."
"It's fine, Steve", I called from my spot, "I totally get why you'd think that."
Ralph looked over and smiled, but slipped and nearly crushed his build. He was able to catch himself, luckily, but this didn't go unnoticed from Vanellope.
"You okay over there, Fumbles?" She said jokingly. Ralph grumbled at her and returned to his work, making Vanellope let out a loud laugh. Jenny giggled at the sight, and I smiled. We all returned to building, our spirits high. We all kept at it for a few hours, working tirelessly to finish what we were doing, only taking minor breaks to eat lunch. Eventually, I finished my building first, hopping down to the ground just as Steve and Gladius approached.
"Very nice, Caleb!" Steve praised. I smiled at him as he looked over the stylized log cabin I built. It wasn't too big, but it was just small and nice enough to live in. Gladius flew all around the structure, outside and inside, and came back to my side with an impressed nod.
"I'm amazed by the detail you got in", The sword complimented, "You definitely know what you're doing."
Steve nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's pretty good! Congrats, Caleb." Steve patted me on the back, and I gained an embarrassed blush.
"Guys, c'mon, it's not that good", I said sheepishly, "Besides, I don't what I did to overshadow the others."
"Yeah, I mean, look at this!" Vanellope called. We looked over at her build, and were left fairly impressed. She had gone out of her way to make a miniature version of her castle from Sugar Rush, complete with the ramp that led up to it. I looked at it with widened eyes and a bright smile.
"Vanellope, this is amazing!" I said. The racer just waved off my praise despite having the biggest smile on her face. Ralph scoffed in a kind-hearted way, and Jenny smirked and rolled her eyes. After I gave praise to Vanellope, I began to check out the other builds next. First was Ralph, who was able to make a surprisingly accurate mini replica of the Niceland.
"I just wanted to see how well I remember it", the wrecker said while rubbing the back of his head, "Just wanted a bit of home here, that's all." I smiled and nodded, only to jump when Vanellope began glitching all over the build, completely awestruck at Ralph's creation. After a bit, she shot the wrecker a smug smirk.
"And you said you suck at building things." Ralph huffed in annoyance,but smiled at the child regardless. I chuckled at the two friends bonding, then turned to Jenny, who was standing beside what looked like a model of the monitor that her mom uses to call her.
"What's this, Jenny?" I asked. Steve walked up next to me, sharing my curiosity.
"I was able to figure out this 'redstone' stuff", she explained, making air quotes when she said Redstone. "And I made this!" She flicked a lever that was on the side, and the monitor lit up with redstone lamps. The lamps formed a simplified version of her head, and it looped an animation of winking. Me and Steve clapped at the impressive sight. Jenny beamed at the praise, then hit the switch again to shut off her creation.
"Well", Steve said, clapping his non-existent hands together, getting us to group around him. "I'd say you all did amazingly! How about we head back inside and get a bite to eat." We all nodded and followed Steve inside, through his home and into his kitchen. Steve pulled out some random food items from chests and placed them in the multitude of Furnaces that covered a whole wall. After he finished, he joined us at the table we sat at.
"So, after all of that, care to explain where you guys are from?" He said sternly, "I know you ain't from here. I'm not going to press, I just want answers." We all shared apprehensive looks, then turned back to Steve.
"It's a bit…complicated", I admitted. Steve's eyes softened., then hummed.
"Well, we have all the time in the world. So go ahead." There wasn't any malice, just curiosity. I let out a sigh.
"Alright, here you go…" And so I explained the whole situation to Steve, with the others jumping in periodically to add their thoughts and stuff. The mood began to relax as Steve began to share his thoughts on our situation.
"To be honest, I find it kind of cool there are other worlds out there", Steve said wistfully, "But that's probably the adventurer side of me talking."
"There's nothing wrong with that", Gladius said, "You can learn so much from going on adventures, much like we are' He gestured to the rest of us , and we smiled back. My smile, however, was weaker than the other's. No one seemed to notice.
"Well, I'm cool with this", Steve continued, "If you guys are cool with it, how would you feel if I joined you?"
Vanellope instantly brightened and glitched to Steve's side. "You bet, Blocky! The more, the merrier!" She turned to us and gave us large, innocent eyes. "Right guys?"
Ralph groaned, Jenny rolled her eyes with a smirk, and Gladius huffed and shook his body. But I paled at Vanellope's action, a certain memory flashing in my head.
"Can we please go to the movies, Freddy?"
A sigh came from 'Freddy' "Sure, bro. Let's go."
"Kid?" Ralph's voice echoed in my head. I snapped out of my trance and looked at the others. They all looked at me in concern, with Vanellope looking up at me terrified. I shook my head and gave a weak smile.
"Yeah, I'm good", I said, trying to do my best to mask my discomfort. It sort of worked, as the others didn't press, but Vanellope did glitch to my side and hugged me. I looked at Steve with a better smile which reassured him. "You can join us, Steve. You'll probably help out in a lot of areas."
The block man nodded. "Well, when you're going to head out, let me know." He paused for a moment. "Let me actually get a Chest set up with everything I need. I'll be back." Steve quickly ran off, leaving the rest of us in silence. I stood up and walked over to the furnaces and checked how the food was doing. I could tell the others were staring at me intensely, concerned about what my short mental shutdown was about.
"Before any of you ask", I said, my nerves relaxing, "I'm fine. Just don't worry about it." I turned to them with a smile, holding one of the chickens. I saw the others give me small smiles, making me smile brighter. "Who's hungry?"
~X~
Later that day, Steve had joined back up with us after we ate. He led us to a large storage room, chests lining the walls to the left and right. At the end of the room was just an empty wall, but around it was a large square of some black block.
"I want you guys to suit up! If I'm going to be joining you guys, I need to see how prepared you all are if we get caught in a pinch", Steve explained. Jenny raised an eyebrow.
"Do you even know who you're talking to?" She gestured to herself. Steve gave her a flat look.
"Yes, the robot girl that let one of her jet boosters get damaged, grounding her", he pointed at the damaged pigtail, which made Jenny blush in embarrassment. The other four of us chuckled, but shut up when the robot shot us a sharp glare.
"Just get suited up guys", Steve said, "We're heading somewhere that's fairly dangerous, do be prepared." I shared looks with the others, then made my way over to a chest that was filled with Iron Armour. Gladius hovered close to my side.
"Where do you think we're going?" He asked me.
"No clue", I said with a shrug and shake of my head, 'But Minecraft can be scary, so we should just do what Steve says." I put on a helmet, and then turned to the others. Ralph had put on a single chestpiece, pants and boots while Vanellope wore the helmet. Jenny was fully decked out, and steve was wearing a full set of Diamond armour with a sword in one hand and flint and steel in the other. He turned to us.
"Are you guys all ready and armoured up?" He asked. The rest of us shared apprehensive looks, then looked back to him and nodded. " 's get going." He walked over to the large black square.
'Where exactly are we going?" Ralph asked, Vanellope sharing his confusion. Steve didn't answer, rather striking his Flint and Steel against one of the black blocks. Instantly, the space was filled with a weird purple effect, and I stared bug eyed. It was a portal. To where?
"Ready to tackle the Nether?" Steve asked as he turned back to us. The rest of us gulped in fear.
"Oh boy…" Was all I could get out.
~X~
Oh boy, The Nether. Not the best place to be, with all the fire, lava, and fireball shooting ghost squids. But Steve seems adamant to head on in, and I mean, there is good loot in there, right?
…
Right?
~Caleb~