Foreword
So. Here we are, after such a long time, finally continuing what I set out to finish years ago.
What can I say? Welcome back. ^^
First, if you happen to be one of the few people who actually kept up with me all that time, then I want to thank you, sincerely, for sticking with me all this time. It means more than you know, and without people like you, well, I would still be returning to this, but it may well have been with a heavy heart. I love writing, but returning to an old project you've been away from for so long you've started to forget what you loved about it, is a lot harder than you might think. It's not all nostalgia and euphoria with a dash of love and a touch of fluffy memories. As many times as I have said it, I am still dedicated to this project, as I devoted a huge portion of my teen years training and developing my skills as a writer through it. Although I only managed to polish and publish four chapters of it, Minecraft: Story Mode was all I could think about for several years. However, finding the motivation to work on it in spite of newer interests can be rough, and actually sitting down to work on it can be intimidating. All of that is to say that without people like you, I couldn't keep this up, so thank you, from the bottom of my heart:
- Midnight Star Hunter, for sticking with me and being a friend since she first started reading.
- My wonderful brother, and sister (Night N. Gail) who have been a tremendous help through the whole process.
- Anyone who's a returning reader who's still curious enough to stick with me now.
- And finally, Northern Goshawk, for a kind word in a single review to give me motivation in a time when I really needed it. Your "Nudge" was more encouraging than you realize. XD
Thank you all, so so much. I couldn't do this without you. :)
And with that being said, know that this next chapter wouldn't have happened without you, so take it as token of my thanks, and for you and all of my new dear readers, please enjoy. ^-^
Chapter V – Down in Flames
The horn sounded.
The building started.
The game was on.
While Aiden jumped into action, the other Ocelots on his tail, Lukas took a step back and a deep breath. They had made their plans, drawn their diagrams, and triple checked their inventories. They were readier than ever.
It's just another build, Lukas told himself, his focus set on drowning out the ruckus around him. Another day, another year. They had won every EnderCon Building Competition in the past nine years, and this year would be no different.
Lukas joined his friends on the framework they had already come close to completing, then assessed his first task.
Main structure, then décor, he reminded himself, lest they run out of time with a non-functioning build.
The hardest part of competing was always the time limits. Lukas was used to it, but it seemed no matter how much he liked the plan before the competition, he always second-guessed it when the timer was ticking. However, when it felt like it was all down to the wire before he'd even placed his first block, he could only rely on his memory and start building.
Just start building, he thought. So, he did.
It was a nerve-wracking feeling turned invigorating one, as slowly, his self-doubting mind gained a competitive spirit. He became sure of himself. Nine straight victories over nine years would do that to a person. Some people—not to throw anyone on the minecart tracks—called him arrogant, but he was proud of his confidence. Just like his finest architectural works, and the skill behind them, it took years for him to build. However…
Lukas wasn't sure why he was even a little tense. Aiden had been worried about the competition, and excited at the prospect of meeting a member of the Order, but Lukas had just been enthralled at the idea of finally getting to face off against some real competition this year. Not that Jesse and his crew weren't fun to beat with how hard they tried, but it would be nice to beat someone else for a change too. Or, so he thought. Lukas wasn't in the habit of stressing himself out as Aiden so often did during these contests. He enjoyed the challenge.
Still, the competition this year was stiffer than even he expected, as there weren't just a lot more competitors, but a lot more cheaters too. He'd already caught two people trying to read off their plans. One had even tried to steal them. Maybe that's what was getting to him. Not what he could control, but what he couldn't.
Take it easy, Lukas told himself. Do it right the first time, and you won't have to do anything over. Just stay focused. Take your time. Relax.
« … »
Go go go! Jesse ordered himself. Don't stop! Don't think! Just go!
They were going to do it. They were finally going to do it! They were going to win, and Jesse would finally show Axel and Olivia, Lukas and the Ocelots, everyone who had ever called them losers, that he could be a hero too!
…Or, at least that they could build something cool. Not that he—really cared, or… whatever.
Jesse felt like he hadn't stopped to breathe the entire time they had been building, which didn't feel like long, but for not breathing? He knew he had lost track of the time when he felt like it had only been half a minute and a half of an eternity when the first five-minute alert went out.
"Five minutes in!" called a staff member.
Jesse looked for Olivia who was still intensely focused on the redstone, then he spotted Axel who was just finishing up the frame. Jesse redoubled his own efforts to finish his part.
He had started with the creeper décor in front, and after finishing that, he looked the whole thing over.
It was far from done, but Jesse already felt like he could relax a bit just looking at it, and for the first time in years, he felt truly confident in their ability to win.
He smiled.
Looking pretty good—
"Oh nooo!" came an overly emphatic moan from the Ocelots' building area. Jesse looked to see Aiden feigning an intimidated look. "A fireworks dispenser?! I'm soooo scared!"
Aiden snickered smugly.
Oh, figure that out all by yourself, did you?
Jesse frowned, and couldn't help but notice Lukas helpfully not doing a dang thing about it. Jesse was so beyond caring at this point. Still, he had to remind himself not to retort.
Just don't even acknowledge him, he thought. That's what he wants.
« … »
Aiden, what are you doing? Lukas thought, trying not to get distracted.
Aiden laughed and hopped back down to the redstone he'd been working on while Lukas wondered how his friend planned on winning by taking every opportunity to waste time.
Whatever, he thought. Aiden is Aiden. If he really wants this so badly, he won't stall for long.
Lukas was good enough that Aiden could usually chill out a bit, but with how things were going, they would already be cutting it close.
Curious, Lukas took a quick look at Jesse's build.
It was, in actuality, a fireworks dispenser, but this fireworks dispenser, well, it had a flare. Flare in the form of a giant, green, woolen creeper about a chunk tall. It was towering, eye catching, and all-too-fitting to the theme of colorful explosions. Granted, Lukas would have used colored concrete if it were his build, but still.
Wow, Jesse, he thought. Props to you.
Something of a proud smile crept onto his face. They must have really wanted this. Although it wouldn't even be necessary at this point, he would almost feel tempted to go easy on him for once, if he wasn't in it to win it for Aiden.
Wait… Aiden.
Oh… That's why Aiden is acting so weird. He must be reallyscared.
« … »
"Hey, you know creepers are afraid of ocelots, right?" Aiden shouted to them.
Don't pay any attention to him, Jesse told himself. Again.
"Hey, you know, scaredy cat," Axel shouted in his monotone back at Aiden, "last I checked, you weren't actually an ocelot."
This seemed to frustrate Aiden, as he looked like he didn't really know how to respond to that.
"Pft. Dude's probably just scared that we're actually gonna beat 'im this year," Axel mumbled to Jesse as he joined him up top.
Jesse smiled and reserved a laugh, then got back to loading up the dispenser.
The build was almost complete. Now all that was left to be done was the redstone, and their creeper friend might as well be made of diamond blocks.
« … »
That should do it, Olivia thought, then called up to them, "Okay, throw the switch!"
Jesse nodded, but Axel excitedly beat him to it.
It didn't work.
Axel looked like a sad puppy and flipped it a couple more times for good measure.
Okay. No problem. I probably just have a repeater facing the wrong way.
She tried messing with the repeaters and called for them to try again. Still nothing. She bit her lip.
Okay… maybe it's being soft powered?
She checked that everything was hard powered. Nothing. She checked that none of her redstone torches were burned out. Still nothing.
Her heart pounded.
She tried reverting it back to the way it was before. Now she wasn't even getting a signal.
She racked her brain for any other possible problems it could be, or mistakes she could have made, and prayed to the Creator that it wasn't some 'quasi connectivity' thing, or she'd be done for.
"Having some trouble?" Aiden taunted from his booth. "Aw, that's a shame. At least you'll know you didn't lose because no one liked it!"
"Don't listen to him, Olivia!" Jesse called down to her.
"Yeah! You got this!" Axel cheered.
Their encouragement fell on deaf ears. Her mind was a total blank. She couldn't remember anything. She could feel hopelessness settling in. She wanted to give up.
"I…" she began, looking up to them. "I don't know what's wrong with it."
Jesse and Axel gave each other a look. Jesse started to climb down, and with only a few jumps, he made his way to her. He put his hand on her shoulder, and as though he hadn't a worry in the world, asked quietly with a smile, "Hey, Olivia, you all right?"
"I can't remember any of the plans!" Olivia whisper-blasted, favoring a frustrated tone over what would naturally be a terrified one. "I messed this whole thing up."
"Hey, it's all right," Jesse attempted to reassure her.
If we lose… it'll be all my fault, she thought.
"Your build is as broken as it is ugly!" Aiden shouted.
Olivia tried to ignore him, but her own subconscious made her feel worse than Aiden ever could.
We're gonna lose, and it's going to be all my fault.
"We all have our off days, Olivia," Jesse said, moving to stand between her and the Ocelot's build. "But you can still do this!"
Then, she heard the same smug voice of Aiden shouting again, "Huh, that's weird. Aren't fireworks supposed to fly into the air and explode?"
"I wish you'd fly into the air and explode," said Axel.
"Oink oink oink!" Reuben contributed.
Aiden ignored him. "That would be the only chance you'd have of winning, wouldn't it?"
Finally Jesse snapped and yelled, "Aiden, shut up!"
"What's that?" said Aiden. "Couldn't hear you over the sound of total failure!"
Then Olivia snapped. "Jesse said 'shut up!' Do you need to hear it again?"
"I dunno." Aiden said snidely. "Maybe."
Then, the most beautiful sound in the entire world graced her ears. More angelic than quartz and more satisfying than slime, a sound she never thought she'd get the pleasure of hearing. Lukas, the leader of the Ocelots and their number one archrival blasting over the noise, "Aiden, shut up!"
That shut him up.
Aiden looked utterly defeated and sulked back to work on his build, while at the top of their build, Axel burst into laughter, shouting, "Get rekt noob!"
Olivia couldn't help but smile, and before her dismay could return, she noticed something, and her eyebrow quirked. There was a block blocking the circuit.
"Oh."
She moved it.
"Try now!" Olivia called.
Axel flipped the lever one last time… and immediately behind him followed a whistle and a colorful explosion overhead.
Instantly, Olivia felt her whole body relax, not even realizing how tense she had been a moment ago. She let out a deep sigh and smiled.
Jesse grabbed her hands in his and bounced excitedly up and down like a little kid.
"You did it, Olivia!" he bubbled. "You did it!"
She had done it, hadn't she? It shouldn't have been surprising, having done it several times before, but somehow, having 'did it' had never felt better.
Together, she and Jesse climbed up to the top with Axel, and gazed up to get a good look.
"It looks AWESOME," said Axel. "And it'll look even cooler tonight at EnderCon."
Olivia resisted the urge to remind both of her friends that they hadn't won yet, and decided instead to spend this moment basking in her success. Their success.
It was, after all, their best build to date.
« … »
"Good build, man!" Jesse heard, and for the first time, he looked away from the fireworks and down at the most amazing sight. A small crowd of spectators was starting to form, one of whom Jesse thought he recognized as the same guy who had called them losers earlier.
Jesse felt his smile getting bigger.
They had actually finished their build, and nothing had gone wrong. Not really. They hadn't been missing anything, or running out of time, and that all by itself was groundbreaking for them. Add to that this, and Jesse could safely say that this was their best year yet.
Holy crap, this is actually happening! We could actually win this thing!
Just at the apex of his excitement, he heard a terrified squeal at the base of the build.
Jesse stiffened as his eyes darted down where he saw Reuben running around in panicked circles, his ender dragon costume on fire.
"Reuben!" he shouted. "Reuben's on fire!"
Jesse's heart was racing, and instantly nothing else mattered.
Reuben screeched and jetted off into the forest.
"Reuben!"
« … »
"Reuben, no! Come back!" Lukas heard Jesse shout.
Lukas ran out into the open after finishing his own build and was immediately absorbed in the commotion.
What's going on? What happened?!
"It was Aiden!" Jesse's friend Axel shouted. "That punk!"
He looked down to the base of the build where lava was quickly spreading, pooling closer and closer to it. At the lava's source, Aiden stood faltering.
Oh no. He didn't…
Lukas spotted Jesse's pig running off into the forest while Jesse and his friends were already chasing after him. Lukas was startled stiff for a good ten seconds before he snapped himself out of it.
He ran over to Aiden and shouted, "Aiden, what did you do?!"
"I didn't mean to—" Aiden stammered. "I just kicked the block and it was—there was lava and—"
"Never mind!" Lukas blasted. "Help me put this out!"
The rest of the Ocelots were too stupefied to help much, as even after Lukas told them to go grab some water, they stalled for a long moment, looking around frantically.
The fire was spreading fast.
Wood and wool. Of all things, wool!
Come on, Jesse! You're better than this! He wanted to say, but it wouldn't have helped.
Lukas tried to salvage it by harvesting the lower blocks, but… it was no good. It had already spread too high, and there was no way they could get up in time to put out the rest. The build was done for.
"Oh whatever!" said Aiden, who seemed to have already come to the same conclusion with half the time and effort. "It was going to lose anyway. Seriously, what noobs build with wool?"
Lukas wanted to agree, but… hesitated. Something he was not used to doing.
"Jesse and his team were lame as always and the Obsidiots over there never stood a chance. We're totally gonna win."
He knew how badly Aiden wanted this, but…
His moral compass wasn't pointing north on that one.
« … »
It is to one's honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel.
—Proverbs 20:3
Author's Notes
Well, there you have it. It actually came out better than I expected, to be honest. :]
The angle I took with this chapter was meant to contrast the way Jesse and Lukas think, showing their differences, but also their similarities. Their loyalties to their friends and how that reflects on their relationships, and their future friendship, has always been in my mind's eye part of what makes this story so great, and I wanted to highlight that.
Side note: In case you don't check my profile, I'm also posting this to a Tumblr blog now, so check it out if can! :) Find it here: lucindacottontale tumblr com (just replace the spaces with dots. C: )
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed! ^^ God bless y'all!
- Obsidiots — I can't take credit for this hilarious name. :P I got it from the Bad Lip Reading for Hunger Games. I don't know if they were the first to come up with it, but it was too perfect for Minecraft, and it seemed like the kinda thing Aiden would come up with. XP
Choice Notes
- Going After Reuben— As one of the first game altering choices, how could I not mention the 'Stay with the build' or 'Go after Reuben' choice? Well, I thought the results of going after Reuben were a lot more poignant to the story and character growth arcs, as the other option is just 'right' but doesn't have any actual longstanding effects. (You know what I mean if you played this, and if not, I don't want to spoil it. ;O) And as I know Jesse, he wouldn't be thinking about the contest if one of his best friends lives were in danger.
Glossary
- Wood and Wool— Once again, seems obvious enough, but I thought I should just point out that building with wood and wool in Minecraft (although widely accepted) is a no no if you want it to be very sturdy, or at least fireproof.
-Quasi Connectivity — The bane of every redstone engineer. ):[