The Surprise
"Nuka!"
Nuka jumped out of his sleep and almost fell out of bed at Herobrine's scream.
Yesterday he had spent 3 hours cleaning the kitchen without using his powers and then fell into bed dead tired.
Of course, he had not been very happy about Herobrine's punishment, but he knew that he deserved it for forgetting the training. Especially since he should have asked him before abusing his kitchen for his own purposes.
Still, he has no right to wake me up so early on my birthday! Nuka thought angrily, before raising his head and scowling at Herobrine with a sleepy look.
"What's wrong?" he grumbled still sleepy, "Can't I sleep in even on my birthday?!"
"No." replied Herobrine impassively. "After all, you forgot to train yesterday, so we have to do something today… You have five minutes." He said before closing the door and leaving Nuka alone, who then just sighed deeply before getting up and quickly changing his clothes, while silently cursing Herobrine more than once.
Why did this guy have to be so stubborn?!
Couldn't he skip the training at least once?!
It was no use to get upset, he thought dejected, before sighing deeply again. Even though I've gotten much better at using my skills, I'm still vastly inferior to him, so I'd better not get into an argument and risk a real fight.
Even though he was grateful for the training and it had shown quick results, Nuka had to say that Herobrine was a strict and often ruthless teacher who did not spare Nuka, which had often resulted in bruises and other painful injuries for Nuka, which would hurt him for days.
With this thought, he opened the door and saw Herobrine leaning against the wall opposite him with a mocking smile.
"What took you so long? I thought you would never get here," he replied at the sight of Nuka, before grinning and gesturing to Nuka to follow him, "Come on. We don't have much time."
Nuka looked at him with confusion. What did he mean by that?
He's probably just looking forward to defeating me again and doesn't want to waste any time, he thought resignedly before following him through the long corridors.
To his astonishment, however, Herobrine did not walk in the direction of the training hall, but suddenly turned into a completely different corridor, where Nuka had never been before.
A few minutes later they came to a door, which Herobrine pushed open and began to rummage in some chests that stood in the small, inconspicuous room while Nuka, more confused than ever, stopped in the doorway.
"Uh, weren't we going to train?" he asked, whereupon Herobrine stopped rummaging in the boxes and turned to him with a grin. "Who said anything about training?" He replied and continued to rummage around in the chests.
Now Nuka was curious!
"What are we going to do, then?" he asked, while Herobrine continued to rummage around in the chests.
"We," he finally answered, pulling a small pair of nondescript sunglasses out of one of the chests and pushing them into his hair, "are going to go to the Overworld."
Nuka's eyes widened in surprise when he heard this and an incomprehensible joy flamed up in him!
"Really?!" he asked excitedly, to which Herobrine nodded as he stood up and looked at Nuka, who could hardly stand still with excitement and joy.
"However, there are a few rules for you to follow," Herobrine warned, and his look became serious, "First, you do what I say and you do it without question! Second, you better not run away from me up there, or you will regret it, alright?! And third," he continued, looking at Nuka urgently, "on the Overworld, everyone is responsible for his own safety. So don't expect me to come and rescue you if you get caught, got it?!"
"Got it!" Nuka replied quickly, nodding eagerly.
"Good," Herobrine replied, nodding with satisfaction.
"You'll have to disguise yourself though," he continued, looking at Nuka again, "or you'll be captured before we move a block over there."
Nukas smile faded away when he heard that.
"But how? I don't have anything else I can wear..." He said before lowering his eyes and giving his clothes a sad look.
Actually, he needed new clothes a long time ago, but he couldn't exactly afford to go to a town somewhere and buy new ones. He also did not want to put his life on the line for something as trivial as new clothes.
In the past, he had thought of taking the clothes off the fallen soldiers, whom he had killed during his escape, but Nuka had not been able to bring himself to do that. Their clothes would not fit him, anyway. That's why the clothes he wore now remained, though now they were worn out and the frequent washing only stressed their durability even more.
"That's okay. I have enough here," Herobrine replied and reached into one of the chests, which to Nukas surprise were full of clothes. After a short rummage, Herobrine tossed to him a white vest and a blond wig.
Nuka looked at the gifted clothes in amazement. They seemed as good as new, as if they were fresh from a store.
"Where did you get all these?" he asked.
Herobrine turned to Nuka with a scowl. "This," he replied grimly, looking at the chest, "is from people who came too close to my castle."
Nuka swallowed and a queasy feeling spread through his stomach as he looked at all the things in the chest, but before he could say anything about it, Herobrine's gaze returned to normal and was now more like an expectant one.
"Come on. Try them," he urged him a moment later, whereupon Nuka winced and stared at the clothes in his arms with an uncertain look. He didn't feel quite comfortable putting them on now that he knew the backstory of the clothes, but eventually he tried them on.
When he was done, Herobrine eyed him again and then finally nodded. "Yeah, that should be enough," he murmured contentedly and pointed with one hand towards a mirror on the opposite wall so that Nuka could look at himself.
Curious, but also a little apprehensive and unsure of what he would see, Nuka stepped in front of the mirror and gasped in surprise when his eyes fell on his reflection!
He looked so different!
With the blond wig on his head, he was almost unrecognizable and the white vest only reinforced this image!
If Nuka had not known that he was standing in front of the mirror, he would have asked who had his eyes on his face.
"Incredible," he muttered as he stepped a little closer to the mirror and ran his fingers through his fake hair.
He had not expected that so little change in his appearance would bring so much, but still he was afraid that someone could recognize him on a closer look.
"Are you sure that this is enough?" Nuka asked, uncertainly. Herobrine once again leaned against the wall and eyed him with an amused smile. "What... what if people still recognize me?"
"Oh, I doubt it," Herobrine replied calmly, before detaching himself from the wall and walking towards him, "The guards don't expect you to be stupid enough to sneak into a city voluntarily, let alone have enough strange clothing to disguise yourself, so they won't be looking for you either."
Nuka looked at Herobrine, still not quite convinced, but left it at that, since he calmed himself with the thought that Herobrine didn't want to be discovered with him, since he himself would be in great danger, so he would make sure that no one would recognize Nuka.
"Don't you want to disguise yourself as well?" he continued with a questioning look at Herobrine, who just pushed his sunglasses into his face, covering his white shining eyes.
"Believe me, that's enough," he continued a moment later, when Nuka, still looked at him doubtfully, "There are so many people that run up there around in this outfit that I won't be noticed."
With these words, he pushed the sunglasses back up onto his hair and grabbed Nuka by the arm.
"Ready?" he asked with a grin, and before Nuka could say anything, teleported them away.
A moment later, the warmth of the Nether had disappeared and a cool, fresh wind took its place, blowing through Nuka's face and clothes, causing him to squint and shiver.
Seems that I will have to get used to the cooler temperature here again, he thought while turning away from Herobrine and looking around curiously.
They appeared on the edge of a small forest and, although it was still dark, Nuka could already see how one side of the sky slowly became brighter and announced the morning sun.
Nuka smiled happily. Closing his eyes, he breathed in deeply the cool air of the Overworld once more and felt joy welling up within him.
Oh, how he had missed being here!
He couldn't wait to see the green meadows, the blue sky and the sun again, but at the same time, he felt the familiar fear trying to worm its way inside. Here, he was once again a hunted man.
And Herobrine had made it all too clear that he would not help him up here if he got into trouble.
With this thought, he turned to Herobrine, who stood a few steps away from him, watching the moon with his white eyes as it slowly disappeared behind the horizon, his mind seemingly elsewhere.
"Herobrine?" asked Nuka cautiously, whereupon the god flinched, as if Nuka had shouted at him, before averting his eyes from the moon and looked angrily at the shining sun, which was now slowly cresting over the horizon, burning most of the monsters around them.
At first, Nuka didn't understand why Herobrine should be so angry, but then he remembered that Notch was the god of the sun and that Herobrine hated him very much.
Before Nuka could speak to him again, Herobrine pushed his sunglasses over his eyes and gestured to Nuka to follow him.
"Come on," he growled sullenly, "let's get out of here!"
Herobrine's sudden bad mood worried Nuka, but he didn't dare ask about it, instead following him through the forest until they came to a path that led them around a hill. Behind it, Nuka could see a city in the distance.
Curious, he surveyed it.
The first thing that he noticed was the immense size the city had. It was so big that he couldn't even see the end of it. It was bigger than any city he had ever seen!
Taking up the whole grassland biome ahead, it seemed well protected from the monsters at night and from any other kind of attacks by its thick quarry stone walls and made overall a very impressive sight.
Even so, Nuka had no idea which city this was.
Herobrine hadn't said a word during this entire time and Nuka didn't want to upset him even more. Still, his curiosity prevailed and he asked, "Where are we going?"
"Can't you guess?" came the curt answer from the front, but Nuka was not satisfied with that.
"Well, you could at least give me a hint," he replied, whereupon Herobrine paused to give Nuka an annoyed look.
"Nuka," he replied, visibly upset, "how many cities have I talked to you about?"
"Well," Nuka replied thoughtfully, "Actually, only about..." He faltered and froze in fear as he realized where Herobrine was taking them.
"No… You… You can't be serious..." he whispered, hoarse with fright, to which Herobrine just nodded.
"Oh yes, I am," he replied, before turning and continuing, "Come on now. We're going to Skylor."