-Pumpkin Head base, mountain range (Rick POV)—-

I was roaming the halls of the mountain base, awaiting news on our comrades who should be at the village right now. Mainly though, I was thinking about Kat.

"I wonder if she'll ditch us." I thought. "If she does though, I have plans put together in order to find her."

"Rick!" I heard Jim from behind me, rushing up. "Where the hell have you been? I've been looking for you everywhere!"

"Oh, what's up?"

"The allies have just retreated from the village." Jim answered. "It went south. VERY south."

"What happened?"

"They were prepared for us." Jim answered. "They have fled into the forest, and I figure we need to head out and meet with them, because they are almost all injured in some way."

"And the leader?" I asked.

"The leader is in a low HP induced coma." Jim answered. "That Ass Hunter kid launched a sword into his torso."

"Shit." I said, suiting up in iron armor. "Let's head out."

As we rushed through the hallway, Jim knocked on the doors on the walls, and a few other players came out, following us.

"What's going on?"

"Huh?"

"Man, I was in the middle of jerking off!"

"Quiet." Jim said. "The allies need medical assistance immediately, so we're heading out now."

As we neared the entrance shaft, we walked down the long dark corridor and Jim pulled the lever, opening a massive redstone door to the dense forest below. Looking at the sky, it was riddled with dark clouds, and a downpour of rain reduced our visibility to almost zero. A strike of lightning in the distance lit up the sky.

"Where are they?" I asked, as Jim joined the rest of us.

"They fled into the forest." Jim answered. I pulled out my sword. "Well, what are we waiting for, let's go."

We began to run into the woods, but it was difficult to see where we were going. The trees were tall and thick, and there was a constant roar of water pouring over the canopy above. Jim caught up with me.

"Where's your girl at?" Jim asked.

"I don't know." I replied. "Hopefully, we'll find her here somewhere."

"What?" Jim said. "You actually did it?"

"Did what?" I replied. "Send her out?"

"Oh man…" Jim replied. "You're an asshole."

"What?" I replied. "That was the main idea of the plan, have her go in and earn the trust of the village."

"Yeah, and how do you think that played out?" Jim asked. "She could be lying on the battlefield dead by now, for all we know."

"This plan of yours is the worst plan yet." Jim replied. "You sent a random ass player in HOPE that they'll do what you want, and actually convinced the leader of the other base to go with this whole "going easy on them" plan, and look where it's got us! That leader could be dead."

"You said he was in a coma." I replied. "That doesn't mean he's dead."

"LOW HP COMA!" Jim yelled. "YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS?"

"Yeah. Don't gotta tell me twice."

"Dammit Rick, you're incompetence could just cost us another base. First we lost Brian and 90% of his comrades, and now Will? Do you have any idea what this is going to do to us?"

"Nothing." I replied. "We have too many members in this cult to worry about losing some clans."

"Losing clans shows weakness dumbass." Jim replied. "Weakness results in us losing respect and authority. Once we have that gone, it'll make it ten times easier for AssHunter and his goons to overthrow us!"

"Not going to happen." I replied. "Once we find Kat, we will be able to use her to our advantage and learn every little one of their dirty little secrets."

"IF… we find her." Jim said. "Now shut up and look for the others."

The pouring rain hammered against my helmet and chestplate as I attempted to seek out our allies in the dead of night.

"Watch out! Skeleton!" I heard someone call out behind us. Turning around, there was a skeleton in the distance wearing an enchanted diamond helmet and chainmail chestplate, with it's bow stretched and ready to fire.

"Shoot it!" I exclaimed.

"In this weather?" Jim replied. "We'd just be wasting arrows. Book it."

We ran a little faster through the dense trees and quickly lost sight of the skeleton. As we ran, I noticed a light source in the distance.

"That must be them." I said, pointing to the light, which was now moving across the forest.

as we rushed towards the light source, we came across a large cave entrance, with a bunch of players huddled inside. I looked across the cave and saw the majority of them were still catching their breath. In the very back, I could see 3 players carrying Will's unconscious body towards the back. I couldn't help but notice the giant wound in his chest.

"Holy shit…" I said, taking a closer look, noticing that there was also blood on Will's back. "It went all the way through…"

"Well, that's the risk of his fighting style." Jim replied, rushing to him with a healing potion. "No armor can increase your speed during attacks, but it also makes you extremely vulnerable to… well. This."

I followed Jim over to Will, as the other players laid him down gently on the stone floor of the cave. Another lightning strike in the distance.

Someone behind us groaned as Jim administered the potion to Will. looking back at the players, I noticed some of their armor was scorched and extremely damaged.

"T-those fuckers u-used explosives…." I overheard one of them say in a raspy voice. I turned to Jim.

"They're using our own tricks against us." I said.

"No shit." Jim responded. "We're going to need more command blocks. No. Everyone is going to need more command blocks, if this is how they perform on the battlefield."

As Jim dumped the rest of the potion into Will's mouth, the wound in his chest did not start to heal like it should have.

"Somebody get me another potion!" Jim yelled. "We're gonna lose him!"

I rushed over to the other players, scoping for anyone that had a healing potion on them. I saw someone's limp ragdoll, with a healing potion strapped to their waist.

"Sorry about this buddy." I said, ripping the potion from the strap. "Hey Jim! Catch!" I said, tossing the potion to him. As he popped the cork off, he dumped it down Will's mouth. The wound still remained.

"FUCK!" Jim screamed, desperately searching his inventory for something to administer to Will in order to heal him. I looked as his legs and arms began to get pixelated, with each individual pixel starting to spread apart. Those pixels glowed a bright white and disappeared.

"SOMEBODY GET ME ANOTHER FUCKING POTION!"

"It's t-too late…" One of the players said, taking their cracked iron helmet off. "He's gone."

We all watched in dismay as the rest of Will's body slowly turned into glowing pixels and disappeared. His inventory materialized as the last pixel disappeared, which consisted of just his enchanted diamond sword, a stack of diamonds, and one singular apple. Jim watched the floating items in disbelief, completely silent. Looking to the other players, who all took their busted and scorched helmets off in respect for their lost comrade.

"This…"

"This is…"

Jim stood up slowly, looking me dead in the eye, rage in his eyes.

"This is ALL YOUR FAULT!" He yelled, running up to me and punching me directly in the jaw. I stumbled back and tripped over one of the sleeping players, waking them up. Jim approached me for another hit, but another player grabbed him and held him back.

"I KNEW IT WAS A MISTAKE TO GO WITH YOUR DUMBASS PLAN!" Jim yelled. "THANKS TO YOU, WE JUST LOST ANOTHER ONE!"

"Hey hey." I said, holding my hands up. "Let's calm down."

"Calm DOWN?!" Jim yelled, as another lightning bolt struck directly in front of the cave.

"Look." I started. "Will's dead, we need to all accept that and move on. We can't just stay in this damn cave."

"You bastard." Jim said. "The master will know about this." He tried to pull free of the grip of the player behind him. "Let go of me."

"I hate to admit it…" someone behind me said. "But Rick's right. We need to get the hell out of here."

"Do you have a single ounce of sympathy left in you?" Jim asked me. I gave no response.

"You're so apathetic." Jim said. "It's sad." he broke free of the players grip, but did not approach me to punch me again. "This mess is all YOUR fault." He said, pointing at me. "I would tell you to let that sink in, but you don't give a shit either way."

As he went for the entrance, he turned back towards all the wounded players lining the tunnel. "You are all welcome to come with us back to base."

"Thank you." One of the players said, standing up.

As we all made our way out of the tunnel, I turned to Jim.

"I'm looking for Kat." I said, pulling a torch out. "Go back without me."

"Whatever." Jim said, turning and walking in the other direction.

"If these players keep fucking around with us, they're going to find out real quick." I heard one of the players say, as they faded into the distance.

I was now left completely alone, in the middle of the night, middle of the dense forest, and in the middle of a thunderstorm, armed with only my torch, my armor, sword, and wits.

"Alright Kat." I said to myself. "Time to find you."

Kat POV—

As I was walking into the forest, I was formulating a plan.

"This is my chance." I thought. "I can head back to my base, grab all my essentials and get the hell away from here, I'll never see Rick or any of those people again."

I was fully focused on rushing back to the base, as I figured Rick had probably sent out someone to look for me. I couldn't help but feel bad for Mike and the others, as they were definitely on the Pumpkin Head's list now. I couldn't help but wonder what would happen to them when they eventually get captured by them.

As I entered the forest, thunder struck behind me, and I began shivering from the cool rain pouring down on my skin.

"Shit… I should have brought armor with me…" I blurted.

I walked past a lit nether portal, it's purple flame serving as a weak light source.

"Okay… I remember that landmark… now if I just keep going straight, that should put me on the road for the desert."

As I continued walking, I kept getting increasingly more cold. Rubbing my shoulders for warmth, I looked above the dense tree leaves and into the sky. The rain showed no sign of clearing up soon.

"S-s-shit…" I muttered to myself. I searched my inventory for any sign of torches or flint and steel. Anything to cool me off with. Unfortunately, all I had was my weapons, and a ton of levers for the TNT stack.

I was almost back to my base when I heard a loud thud in the distance. I stopped, turned around, and headed back to investigate. As I got closer, I heard the sounds of fighting coming from the direction of the forest.

"What the fuck?" I asked, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. As I was making my way through the forest to find out, I heard the unmistakable sound of a skeleton drawing back it's bow string. I immediately rummaged through my inventory to pull my Sword out, but I heard the skeleton get slashed.

I wasn't alone in this forest.

"Who's there!?" I yelled. "Show yourself!"

Looking into the distance, I spotted the skeleton. The skeleton fired its arrow, and I ducked to avoid it. As I slowly raised my head up, the skeleton was now against a tree, with an enchanted diamond sword pinning it against its wood, it's scorching flame burning the skeleton alive.

"Wait…" I mumbled. "I remember that sword from somewhere."

I saw a fully suited player approach the skeleton and proceed to jam the diamond sword even further into the skeleton. Trying to make out his face, I couldn't believe my eyes. It was Rick.

"Shit…" I thought, as Rick looked to the side and spotted me.

"Kat?"

"H-hi…" I said, waving my hand. I only now realized how drenched my clothes were with rainwater. Rick approached me, and I was prepared to dig my sword into his chestplate. Rick approached me close, and began to take off his armor.

""W-what the…" I said, shivering more. Rick passed the armor to me.

"Here." He said. "It'll warm you up."

"W-what a-are you d-doing here?"

"Looking for you."

I let out a sigh. "Of c-course."

"What?" Rick asked. "Come on, we both know I can't actually trust you. I already assumed you'd be on your way back to your base to grab your shit and make a run for it."

I couldn't believe it. Rick saw through my entire plan. He put his hand on my shoulders, startling me. "You need rest."

"Y-you th-think?"

"Yeah, and you also need a fire. You're going to catch a cold."

"I-is that e-even possible i-in this g-game?"

"Don't know, but I don't want to find out." He said, pointing forward. "Now, let's head back to the base where I can warm you up."

As much as I didn't want to go back, I didn't really have much of a choice in my current situation. I was freezing cold, my best weapon was an iron sword, and going up against his flaming diamond blade, I would be dead in seconds. I stashed my sword into my inventory.

"O-okay." I said.

Rick began to lead me back to the base. As we made our way back, I noticed the bodies of several skeletons scattered around the area.

"What happened here?" I asked.

"I got a little too carried away." Rick answered. As we neared what I assumed to be the mountain base, we got close to the front piston door.

"Imma need that armor back now." Rick said, as we walked under the cliff, shading us from the rain. As I was taking off Rick's iron armor, lightning struck directly in front of me, scaring me. I lost my balance and fell directly onto Rick's chest.

"You good?" he asked.

My face glowed bright red.

"Y-yeah…" I said, pushing myself off of Rick. I passed the armor over to him, trying to avoid eye contact with him. As we approached the door, it opened almost immediately, with Rick walking in first, grabbing my hand and pulling me in behind him. We eventually reached Rick's room, and he opened the door, allowing me to walk in first.

"I'll light up the furnace." He said, as he pulled out his enchanted diamond sword and approached the two blocks of netherrack recessed into the wall. Grabbing the sword with both hands, the flame ignited, surrounding his blade, and he waved it near the blocks of netherrack. Shortly, both of the blocks set aflame.

"Alright, there you go." Rick said, putting his sword away. I walked slowly to the flame and sat down, waving my hands around it. The floor shook as I heard the rumble of thunder in the distance.

"Did you find Mike?" Rick asked, coming over to sit next to me.

"Yes." I answered.

"How did it play through?"

"They thanked me for showing up to "help" them. They wanted me to assist with the injured, but I left." I answered.

"Good." Rick replied. "That means phase one of the plan is working."

"Why…"

"What?"

"Why are you being nice to me?" I asked. "I thought you just wanted to use me for this whole killing Mike bullshit."

"I want us to get along." Rick answered. "Can't achieve that if I'm not granting you basic necessities like this."

"I think the death threats are good enough." I said, rubbing my hands together.

"I'm serious about the whole getting along thing." Rick said, peeking at my drenched clothes.

"Why do you want to get along with me so bad?" I asked.

"You seem like a nice girl." Rick replied. "I'd hate to get on your bad side."

"You kind of already are." I replied.

Rick went silent for a second, looking into the flame blankly.

"So, what was your life like before getting stuck in this game?" He asked.

"I'm not telling you." I replied.

"Why not?"

"Why should I have to tell you anything?"

"Hey, I ain't trying to be invasive. I just want to get to know you better." Rick said.

"You want to get to know me better, but all I know about YOU is that you're with the pumpkin heads." I said. "Fucking hypocrite."

"Well…" Rick started. "My IRL life isn't all that interesting. I work at a GameStop, but the customers that come in are fun."

"Really…" I said. "Gamestop?"

"When I wasn't workin, I was usually at parties n shit." Rick explained.

"Sounds like your IRL life is fun." I said. "What are those parties like?"

Rick scooted closer to me.

"Ooh boy, do I have the stories to tell you about the parties I've gone to." Rick started. "In fact… damn, where do I even start?"

I looked him in the eyes. "Start with anything."

Another thunder clap shook the ground.

"Well, since it's raining outside…" Rick explained. "There was this one time, we were at a party and it was raining cats and dogs outside, as well as a big lightning storm. We were REALLY drunk, so we thought it would be a great idea to go outside in it, and lightning struck a tree next to us and scared the living hell out of us."

I chuckled a little bit. "Hah. I've heard when you're drunk, you think everything's a good idea."

"You've never had a drink before?" Rick asked.

"I haven't" I answered. "Neither do I want to. Anyways, any other stories?"

"I'm assuming you don't want another drunk one?"

I sighed, nodding.

"Well…" Rick started, pausing to think. "Oh yeah… the time I was dancing with this girl at a friend's house party."

"Tell me more, I guess."

"There isn't much to it." Rick said. "She kind of just approached me and asked me if I wanted to dance, and we had a pretty damn good time. Few days later, I saw her come into the GameStop I worked at buying a game, and we recognized each other."

"I'm assuming you two are… dating?" I asked.

"Oh, not anymore." Rick answered.

"May I ask why?"

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Rick sighed, getting up to answer it.

"What…" I heard him say in a sarcastic voice.

"New shipment came in." I heard the other guy say. "You're the one that knows the commands, we need you to set the blocks up."

"Wait…" I interrupted. "Commands?"

"This isn't your business." Rick said.
"Are you talking about command blocks?" I asked. "I can help."

Rick and the other guy looked at each other, then Rick looked back towards me.

"Help with what?"

I got up and approached Rick. "How do you want the command blocks set up?"

"We need to spawn in a custom sword with it." Rick explained.

"Why did you tell her?" The other player said, giving Rick a dirty look.

"What kind of "custom sword?" I asked. "I've used command blocks to spawn in a few before."

"You know how to?" The other player asked. "Great! We can have you help us."

"Wait.. What?" I asked.

"You've done it before, right?" Rick asked, turning to me.

"Um…"

I couldn't help but think what kind of "custom sword" they were trying to spawn in, let alone what they were going to do with it.

"Come on Kat…" Rick said. "It'll only be like a minute or two."

"What's the sword for?" I asked.

The two stood in silence.

"We need to spawn in a specialized sword for killing mass withers, in order to collect their end crystals." Rick explained.

"Why not just use the command block to give you a whole entire stack then?" I asked.

"We need the XP points as well." The other player jumped in.

"We also need the withers to destroy a chunk of obsidian we have been building up in a mineshaft below this base." Rick explained.

"Well… in that case… I guess." I replied, against my better judgment.

"Great!" Rick answered. "Well, let's head out then." He said, grabbing my hand. I still didn't feel quite comfortable with Rick touching me, but I knew what he said was right.

I didn't have much of a choice.