[ Minecraft: Story Mode ]

[ Chapter Four: Runaway dragon- I mean pig! ]

[ Presented to you by Rapid Savvy ]

Jesse made his way through the forest nervously and as quickly as possible while calling for Reuben, his fear growing the darker it got around him. After they had built their fireworks dispenser and creeper, he noticed his little friend running away and squealing in panic while he was on fire. Axel had told him that it'd been Aiden to break a block holding back lava, and while he wanted to believe the Ocelot was better than that, he did threaten Reuben...

He glanced around as pigs shuffled about nearby, either ignoring his presence altogether or quickly trotting away when he called for Reuben while passing through. He noticed a carrot floating nearby and speed-walked over it, apologizing upon almost tripping over a pig. He took the carrot and put it in his inventory to give to Reuben later, and continued onward.

He spotted some bushes and walked over, hesitantly reaching out to part the bushes so he could see what lied within, if anything. He yelped and sprang back when a chicken came flying out with a loud squawk, then settled a couple of feet away. He shuddered, hand over his heart. "You jerk... You scared me!"

Jesse continued his search, walking for what felt like maybe an hour before he finally came across the smoking ender dragon costume. And upon closer inspection, much to his relief, there was no pork chop floating nearby, though there was also no sign of Reuben, either... He sighed and stomped out what he could of the smoking costume and carried on, far mire warily now.

The sun should be completely set in the next few minutes, if he's calculating correctly.

He paused as he came across a cave opening with a river sitting beside it innocently. From the other side of the small river, he could swear he saw another patch of bushes quivering a little. He's not crazy, he saw it move! And quite frankly, I can confirm the grass was moving.

With some careful assessment of both pathways- and common sense, because, yanno, going in a cave at night time? That's basically freaking suicide!- he decided on going across the river, just because it was far safer, far quicker, and likely the overall brighter choice.

He squints in the growing darkness, vlue eyes narrowing in on the quivering bushes. Something was most definitely in those bushes. Hostile or docile, he didn't know yet, but he would sure as hell figure it out.

The brunette drew in a breath and held it for a few seconds before releasing slowly, his whole body tense as a set spring as he shuffled forward slowly and warily. He gasped when a small pink figure jumped out and began to nuzzle at his legs. It took him a moment to register what- or who, rather- the pink figure was before his face lit up.

"Reuben!" Jesse cheers and crouches down, enveloping the pig in a gentle hug. "You do NOT know how happy I am to see you!"

Reuben oinks in response when he is released after what could've been a minute or two. The two grinned at one other in almost drunken relief, because frick you, nature! They had found one another! They were safe!

Groans erupted from behind them, and Jesse makes quick work of looking over his shoulder- Hhhhahaa! Nope, they weren't safe after all!

"Oh, okay. Run, little buddy, run!" He shouts and darts off, Reuben hot on his heels with terrified squeals among the zombies groaning and his human pal's panting.

This was going to go well!

Oh for the love of—! THEY'RE GOING TO FREAKING DIE!

Jesse ducked behind a tree and glanced down at Reuben. "I think we- oh no!" He shrieked when a creeper sneaked up on them and exploded, sending the two flying quite high. They landed roughly on the ground behind a sizable mound of dirt, and the brunette groaned out: "Maybe now we're safe now-" An arrow to the shoulder told him otherwise.

This little predicament of theirs would have been absolutely freaking hilarious if it wasn't so damn dangerous. You know, you'd think he'd learn that saying "I think we're safe now" is practically a challenge for the universe to torment them as much as possible. Life is just sweet, isn't it?

...Nah. Unless you count being cornered and humiliated by a merciless mercenary who had broken the six feet mark and towered over you by a full foot "sweet". That's not his version of a good time, but that's what he has to deal with.

They ran as fast as they could manage, but- oh sweet deities above! Why must they always turn out unlucky like this?!

So yeah, it turns out going that way wasn't the smartest decision; there was a huge cliff- wall of dirt, more like- blocking their way. Well, it looks like the saying "stuck between a rock and a hard place" is coming into place, isn't it? Ha.. ha.. ha..

This isn't funny.

Jesse whipped around to face the horde of mobs, the hair on the back of his neck standing straight up, one shaky hand reaching into his inventory for his sword. He needed to protect Reuben at all costs. He would not lose another! He... just couldn't stand losing another friend.

His vlue eyes had glazed over in a fit of fear and desperation when he began to land an onslaught of erratic attacks on any monster that came too close to either of them, but he somehow missed a zombie that decided to attack Reuben.

Fury was like a violent shock through his veins, and he shoved his wooden blade as far into the zombie as possible before ripping it out. It soon vanished into a puff of smoke, leaving rotten flesh in its place.

A silent growl resonated within his chest, just slightly audible with each ragged breath he took, his hand clutching the handle of his weapon much too tightly. It was almost enough to destroy the damaged sword. He swung at another zombie, and while his attack did land, the wooden blade broke off its other half and did a completely three-sixty before it fell into some tall grass a fair bit away, then both the blade and the handle vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Run, Reuben!" He shouted over the groans and hissing and rattling of bones. Reuben gave Jesse a wide-eyed stare, but Jesse was determined. "Hurry, Reuben! I'm not losing you!"

With a defeated oink when noticing Jesse wasn't going to change his mind, the pig galloped back the way they'd came, just barely managing to dodge the halfhearted swing of a zombie near the edges of the mob horde.

Jesse watched over him carefully until he was swallowed up by the darkness, then he refocused his attention to the mobs. And he immediately got a personal, close up view of a spider lunging at him. How fun.

The force of the heavy body quickly unbalanced him and pushed him onto his back, and he found himself struggling to hold back the hissing monster with dripping fangs and multiple bright red eyes glaring down at him. Somehow he knew he was not going to get out of this with full health.

That really sucks. After this is all said and done, his friends are definitely going to "ground" him, which basically just means he will be banished inside the tree house with one of Olivia's cameras watching his every move.

The fangs slick with poison finally found purchase on the boy it had pinned beneath it, and Jesse gasped, successfully managing to kick the spider off him now. He scrambled back to put some distance between himself and the mobs, but the spider lunged again and he was struggling to save himself another dose of spider poison.

A flash of acidic gray caught his eye, and he recognized the shape as a pickax. The weight of the fairly big monster- big to him, at least- was finally removed from his chest, and he relaxed his tense muscles with a quiet, shaky sigh of relief. Someone was here to save him, he didn't have to defend anymore. He had made it.

He closed his eyes as a wave of nausea and pain washed over him, and consciousness began to seep away from him like water through his fingers.

"Shit! Shit! Fuck!" A voice was swearing rapidly somewhere to his right, though he couldn't find the energy to scold the person for their foul language. Despite the roughness of the familiar person's voice, he found he held not even the slightest bit of fear. He actually felt quite safe, much like he did with his friends. Their presence was weirdly comforting.

Another wave of agony hit him, and he tried- and failed, at that- to hold back the soft resulting whine. "Stay awake, Jesse! I'll kill you if you die on me!" Do you really expect that to make sense? That's kind of contradictory now, isn't it?

"Smart ass." They muttered, semi-bemused. Oh, had he had said that aloud? Oh well, he couldn't exactly give any craps right now. "Okay Jesse," They addressed him, and he opened his eyes instinctively. It was all just a blur, but the first thing he saw were their golden eyes.

Maybe he was hallucinating... "Hey... I need to pick you up and bring you somewhere safer, is that okay?" They asked.

He managed a nod to them, and he found there was a sudden and disturbing lack of solid ground beneath him as he was picked up. The nausea spiked up, of course, and he very lightly clung onto whoever this person was with a whimper. He was held just a little closer to them after that, and he relaxed fairly quickly.

Jesse soon came to the conclusion when the overwhelming queasy feeling faded a little that they were walking now. Slowly, but they were walking, nonetheless.

And with that, he slumped into unconsciousness in the arms of this unknown person.

...Golden eyes. Who the hell had golden eyes?

Meanwhile, Axel was watching in undisguised concern as his pig-tailed friend paced to and fro in front of the bench he was seated on with a tried slouch. "Olivia, you're going to wear a hole in the ground if you pace any harder." He told her gently, wincing when his comment was a heated glare.

"But what if he's hurt?!" Olivia shot back, her hands balling into fists, the skin on her knuckles lightening at the sheer amount of strength put behind this action.

He eyed her fists when he spoke. "Jesse isn't a child, Livie. He can protect himself. I'm more worried that you're going to go into Episode Five again."

Those dark onyx eyes softened a little, and she fell back onto the bench beside him with a long sigh. "You're right... You're right."

"'Course I am." The big guy responded, shaking his head fondly as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She always went through this 'Episode Five' when shit like this happened. It's best to make her sit down and actually use her big-ass brain.

Olivia leaned into him, eager to accept the comforting hold and warmth that it usually brought her, though she would never admit it out loud how much she appreciated this familiar gesture. She really didn't need to though, he always just knew.

Her concern for Jesse was not because of his small stature, but rather because be might decide to give up. Jesse was someone who hid his problems behind a lock and key. He masked his inner turmoil with an overly cheerful personality, false grins, and forced laughter. This was not the case all the time of course- they've had to have found out about it somehow, right?

"I hope you're right Axel." Olivia muttered, pulling up her legs and hugging them close to her chest. She set her chin atop her knees and closed her eyes. "If Jesse chooses not to fight for himself, then..."

Axel's expression took on a sharp edge at the mere thought, and his arm tightened around the lanky girl in wouldn't just give up like that, would he? Their small companion always seemed so determined, but what if all that "training" as Jesse called it was just a lie to try and keep them unaware? I really hope he doesn't do anything stupid out there... Olivia brooded, sinking closer yet to Axel.

Both dark-haired people were startled when they heard someone clearing their throat, and they looked up. Standing in front of them, and looking like he didn't know what to do with his hands, was Lukas.

Now they weren't going to be jerks to him just because he was the leader of the Ocelots. He hadn't ever stopped the rude interactions between the two teams, but he also never joined in.

"Sorry to, ah, intrude-" They both flushed a bright red and immediately parted with protests at the wording. Lukas merely appeared amused by their antics before he decided to continue. "-but I overheard you two talking about Jesse?"

When the brunette's name was mentioned, their faces fell into more solemn and worried ones. This made the blonde very concerned for the boy's well-being, and it seems he had reason to when they explained the situation to him.

Lukas's expression soured as he remembered that his own friend was the cause of all this trouble. "I'm sorry about Aiden's behavior. If he hadn't done that..." He trailed off with a sigh and kneaded his forehead. "Is there anything I can do to make up for it?" He asks hopefully.

That was something neither of them had really expected. They were both shocked into silence, which Axel was the first one to break. "Well, there's nothing any of us can really do right now."

Olivia broke out of her stupor when he said that, and bobbed her head in agreement with him. "There's the chance that Petra may find him." She spoke up, hopefully.

The Ocelot looked up, cyan eyes staring at the two of them. "If you say so. Just..." Another sigh."Call in a favor if you ever need anything, alright?" They mumbled agreements, then he began to walk away with more than a few glances back in concern. He hoped both Jesse and Reuben would turn up unharmed.

A finger was in the process of repeatedly poking his cheek despite how many times he had already hissed and swatted it away, and he's about had it with this person. He was still having trouble finding an identity for them though the poison had mostly worn off. Opening his eyes would probably help, but he really doesn't wanna.

"Wake up."

Well, I'm already awake, I just don't wanna get up.

"Lazy little shit."

Well, it has kind of been a really long day...

"Do you want to have a rude awakening?"

That was most definitely a threat. Jesse finally obliged and blinked open his eyes, squeaking in shock when he saw a smirking face situated a mere inch above his own.

The person blinked in mild surprise before they suddenly jerked and fell onto their back, their body quite literally vibrating with glaringly obvious mirth. He felt his face burning as he sat up and scooted away from them. "Petra, what the fu- ah- f-fluff?!" He hissed out, recognizing her now that she wasn't right up in his face.

Petra was still quietly snickering away as she finally sat up. "Jesse. You are too damn adorable." She randomly commented as she stood up and leaned against the wall, forcing her laughter to cease, instead showing her amusement in her smirk.

Why, out of everyone it could've been, did it have to be the one and only person he finds truly annoying? With an eyeroll that he hoped she caught, the brunette used the wall to help himself stand up as well.

No way was he going to stay. He had to get out of here before she started harassing him or something. He doesn't look back at her as he started to head for the cave's exit, knowing exactly where it was since he's, unfortunately, been here before. "Great, I'm glad. Thanks, but I'm going to take my leave-"

Jesse doesn't know how the hell she got from one place to the other within the blink of an eye. One moment she was leaning against the wall and the another she was blocking his way with a glint in her golden eyes that made him quite wary. That never meant any good for him.

She picked him up and held him bridal-style in her arms, snickering as his pale face began to grow quite a bit redder. "Aw, do you like to be carried by me, little Cottontail?"

No. Freaking. Way. This had to be an hallucination- the poison was still kind of in affect, maybe it was that! Or maybe it's just some deranged nightmare or something! He pinches himself to check.

...Ow, okay. Nope, he's still being held bridal-style by the most annoying person he knows and he's not seeing pink elephants and struggling against a urge to puke, so he's not asleep and it's not the poison. Lovely, this was one hundred percent real.

Jesse just accepted his fate with a resigned growl, relaxing in her arms a bit despite how much he internally kicked himself for it. "I hate you."

"No you don't~"