Almost done!

Midnight: You are really trying to get to the end of this episode, huh?

Of course.

The palace of iron and gold stood before us.

The city itself looked much the same as it did in the game, but somehow even bigger. Maybe it was because it felt more spacious, but anyway.

"Look at all this wonder! The Eversource is capable of miraculous things… And when I get my hands on it-"

"Hey, how about you take a massive chill pill, and we find it first?"

I didn't really hear the end of that conversation, becoming captivated by small grassland in the middle of the city.

As soon as everyone split up while Jesse went to go look for Milo at the inn, I paused for a moment for one single reason.

"Hello! It is nice to meet you!" Ivor sort of shouted at a random citizen, speaking slowly as though they couldn't understand English. Which was even more hilarious given that the nervous guy clearly did.

While Jesse was giving someone else a cake (To which the poor guy seemed more upset that there wasn't anymore cake to share), I mostly just wandered around and waited for the story to progress. There wasn't much else I could do. I didn't even get the message to go talk to Milo.

So basically you did absolutely nothing?

Hey, it's been a while since I've been able to, give me a break!

"Attention! Attention, everyone! Just a moment of your time, please! Emergency meeting in the Founder's Garden! Attendance is mandatory!" I heard the captain of the guard, Reginald, call. Since I wasn't doing anything else and I'd be forced to go anyway, I just waited for the rest of the group of Milo.

When Isa walked out of her palace, shortly followed by Aiden, I knew exactly what we were in for. The question was; who was Jesse going to follow?

"People of Sky City!" Isa addressed. "I'm sorry to pull you from your duties, but something urgent has come to my attention. A crime has been committed."

The front gate opened, revealing our bridge and Ivor's lava 'heart' behind it.

"Earlier today, outsiders built a bridge into our fair city from a distant island! Now, whether these outsiders know it or not, this is a violation of Sky City's most sacred law: no unauthorized building." Hushed whispers were heard among the crowd, and Milo looked at us suspiciously. I'm surprised he was the only one, we stood out compared to everyone else not in armor (Even the guards in uniform).

"Wait. Was that you? Are you the bridge builders?" Milo asked.

"Uh. No. What? Why would you even ask that?" Jesse lied. He was terrible at it, as anyone would clearly be able to see. It made what happened next even more ironic, as Aiden whispered something to Isa, and she spoke again.

"Jesse, wherever you are, step forward now. I have already been informed of your identity. I appreciate that you may be ignorant of our laws, but I will warn you: Sky City is small and I promise that if you try to hide I will find you."

I knew that no matter what, I would have to make a choice too.

"We need to get to that Eversource at whatever cost! This is clearly our fastest way into the castle!" Ivor whisper-yelled.

"By getting arrested?!" To be fair, Petra had a point. While being arrested would get us into the palace, I had no idea what Ivor's plan would be past that.

"Wait! Don't be fooled by the Founder's lies. I can help you come up with a plan to get you into the palace." Ivor completely ignored Milo's suggestion, jumping up into the air and waving his hand.

"Here I am! I built the bridge!" He yelled in a (successful) attempt at drawing attention to himself.

"Sorry Ivor, but I think that's a bad plan. I'm going with Milo." Jesse decided, running off before anyone could object.

"Me too." Petra whispered, running after Jesse and Milo.

"I guess I'm getting arrested too, then-" Even though I had already finished my sentence, it still felt as though I were cut off when I was suddenly apprehended. Lukas tried to get away too, but didn't make it very far.

Well, crap.

The palace prison wasn't quite as bad as I previously imagined. Yes, it was cramped, but they also, for some reason, decided to put me in the cell with Ivor and Lukas.

All of our stuff had been taken, and now we were just watching Reginald go through all of it, stopping occasionally to ask about what something was.

He pulled out a block of sand. "Oh, wow, what is this?"

"That's…mine?" Lukas noted, walking over to the bars of the cell. Now was the time to finally ask the question that had been on my mind since I first saw this scene.

"Why do you just have sand on you?"

He looked away, embarrassed.

"I just… never found the time to put it away."

"'Sand.' Wow. What's it do?" Now it just felt like talking to a small child. But Ivor interrupted before I could answer.

"Are you kidding me? We are not going to explain sand to the guy locking us behind bars! I refuse!" I sighed, back to square one.

"Well, whatever it does, it's going in the chest with everything else."

"Nothing sadder than an unimportant man on the world's tiniest power trip."

"Hey. I don't have to take this, I'm in charge here." Reginald walked over to the bars. "You're criminals. Aiden told everyone all about how horrible you are." Did you ever stop to think that maybe, just maybe, he was lying? "He said that you burn down trees, just for fun. That you steal all the world's treasures and hoard them for yourself."

I cut him off before he could say anything else. "Seriously? You can't really believe that, right?"

"If he really wanted you to not like us, he would've told you about the Wither St-" I gave Ivor a glare that got my message across really effectively.

Shut up.

It also helped that Lukas interrupted.

"WOAH, ha ha, shut up, Ivor, ha ha ha."

It did not help that I internally cringed and simultaneously laughed at that.

"It was a lot to take in. I suppose you don't seem that way now that I meet you…" Reginald looked around, conflicted. "I'm sorry, but this is the way it has to be. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go help the Blaze Rods beef up security." And it was there I saw the perfect opportunity. "Can't believe I'm taking orders from that sniveling little- Ahem. Stay here and don't cause any trouble."

Now he was alternating between whispering and his normal captain-like voice. "I'm sure you'll be very comfortable."

"Reginald, if you're the Captain of the Guard, then you should be able to trust yourself. If you don't think you can trust the Blaze Rods, maybe you should listen to that part of you."

"They're personal guests of the Founder. And, sure, maybe I don't like them, but I'm probably just being… paranoid."

"You have to listen to me. You've seen how they act. They're up to no good, and you know it."

He sighed. "Okay, let's say you make a good point. And I'm not saying you do. But hypothetically… Why would I, the Captain of the Guard, let you, a criminal, out of that cell?"

"How about because it's the right thing to do?"

A pause. I gave Reggie a small smile just to seal the deal.

"You do make a compelling argument…"

We walked away, back to where our stuff was, and he continued to talk.

"Okay. Let's say I'm going to the pantry to get you prisoners some bread." Catching on, I played along.

"And maybe you'll just so happen to forget to lock the door?"

The door to the cell was unlocked.

"Now, please. Just get out of here. Get to the throne room, and stop the Blaze Rods."

"Will do."

Lukas, Ivor, and I grabbed our things and left for the throne room.

We were able to sneak back into the throne room pretty easily. There weren't too many guards and no one was inside anyway. Well, no one trying to stop us anyway.

"Looks deserted to me." Lukas said this just as I saw Milo sneaking up behind him.

"Lukas, behind you!" I shouted, too late. Lukas was punched in the back and fell to the floor anyway.

"Hey!" Milo didn't run after me next, because Petra had already come around the corner to stop him.

"Wait, stop! Milo! Easy! That's Midnight and Lukas!" I helped Lukas up just as Petra said something.

"I can't believe we found you!"

"I can't believe you punched me!" Lukas groaned. Jesse had showed up as well.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked.

"Well, we were going to break you three out of jail, but I guess we don't need to now." Jesse answered.

After a bit more talking, we split up to find the secret entrance to the minecart track. Luckily, since I already knew what to do, I went ahead.

Outside, where Isa had taken me before, I found an old dead bush and grabbed the stick from it. And then somehow, without a pickaxe, grabbed some cobblestone from the generator near it. With all the materials needed, I went right ahead and made a lever, placing it around where it was before, and pulled it.

Shockingly enough, there weren't enough minecarts for all of us to ride for once. After a bit of an awkward moment where no one was really sure what to do, I just shared one with Lukas. And neither of us were blushing at all so shut up.

Yeah, sure.

The ride was short enough, but poor Milo was left sick by the end of it.

In the chest room, everyone else noted that they were all labeled with names of monsters and livestock. Inside the chests were all different types of eggs representing each. Jesse threw one of them, a sheep, at a wall.

And what do you know. A sheep popped out.

"So the eggs all have creatures inside them…" Petra realized.

Lukas was holding two more in each hand. "And they're all different colors. They must be, you know, color-coded to what's in them."

"So this is where all the resources come from." Was the final conclusion reached by Jesse.

On the other side of the chest room, who should we find but Benedict herself?

"You guys… meet the Eversource." I said, almost way too cheerful for how underwhelming the reveal was.

"What." That was not a question. That was a statement.

"No way."

"Way." Was the only way I could respond.

"Yes… the spawn eggs. It's so simple."

"So… the chicken lays the eggs… and the eggs… make monsters… and the loot from the monsters…"

"Made all of this." I finished, looking around at more iron and gold, likely from killing zombies.

"Well, throw it in the minecart and let's get out of here. We're still taking it, right?" Ivor was getting a bit treasure hungry.

"The chicken that the entire city depends on? Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"What are you talking about? We need to bring it to the people. With it, we'll finally be free of the Founder!"

I could still see that Jesse needed a bit of a push in the right direction, so I made the choice for him. "Ivor, come on. Lukas is right… We can't just steal, or kidnap-"

"Chicken-nap?" Petra offered.

"Sure. We can't just chicken-nap her, that'd be wrong. It's the only way these people can survive."

"What! But I thought that was the whole point of this adventure!"

It wasn't like the choice mattered anyway, as everyone but Jesse and Lukas (Yes, including me) was suddenly thrown against the wall by Isa. She was shortly followed by the Blaze Rods, who kept us pinned there.

"I knew it! I knew you were here to steal from me!"

"No, no, no. No one's stealing anything. The chicken… the Eversource is staying right where it belongs, don't worry!" Jesse assured her.

"It's just like I told you, Founder. They're here to steal the Eversource!' Aiden claimed.

"Aiden, shut up!" I yelled, not like it did anything. Jesse shared the same thought, clearly, I saw him open his mouth, then close it when I spoke.

"You just expect me to believe a bunch of criminals?" Aiden had disappeared from beside her, grabbing a creeper spawn egg from a chest.

"Aiden warned me that you were a pack of thieves, and here you are, prepared to make off with the one thing our City depends on to survive!"

"Boy. When you put it like that, I almost feel bad." There he was, tossing the egg and catching it again. "Yep. 'Fraid I'm going to be taking the chicken. It's mine now."

"What? This is outrageous!" Oh no, who could've seen this coming? It's not like we warned you about five times.

"Aiden. Don't do this." But Aiden wasn't easily persuaded.

"Somebody order eggs?" And with that, he threw the creeper egg at Jesse.

Which hit him right in the face.

Surprisingly enough, though, it actually went right for Isa instead. She did her best, but because she only had stone weapons, it exploded before she was able to do much. The resulting blast left her clinging to the edge of what was left for dear life.

The surprise gave me enough time to get back up, as Lukas punched Aiden in the face.

"I've got Aiden! Save the Founder!" He yelled to Jesse.

"Oh, do you 'got' me, Lukas?"

While Jesse went to save the Founder, I slammed into Aiden, knocking him into the wall.

Again, the fight was 2 on 1, in our favor.

And again, we lost.

Aiden decided to get rid of me first, since I made the mistake of turning my back on the now open edge of the island. With a harsh kick to the stomach, I was sent to the floor. Lukas was shoved away when he got close. When I got up, Aiden kicked me again, in the same spot.

But this time, I was sent flying over the edge.

"Midnight!"

Lukas was next. I didn't see what exactly happened, but Aiden shoved him off after me.

And I never saw Jesse and Isa get sent off, but I knew they still did.

And that's it for now! Again, updates are probably going to slow down a little this month, but I'll see what I can do.

Midnight: Plus, this chapter was pretty long anyway.

True.

Midnight: So...

Crossover info, already on it.

So I'm not very good at crossovers, either. But what I learned from my last attempt was: Communication is key. So much of the last attempt this story had at a crossover made no sense even if you read both parts, especially since I was straight up copying most of it and barely had any original ideas.

Midnight: Basically, what you're trying to say is, follow some form of continuity with both the game itself and the other story, but don't be afraid to come up with original ideas?

Pretty much summed it up perfectly, Midnight.

Midnight: I think that's pretty good advice, seeing what happened when you didn't do that.

Yeah, it was a bit of a trainwreck. On my part, at least. What I would remind myself when doing a crossover is: If it makes sense in either story and the game, then it works!

Midnight: It's also made a lot easier by the fact that our stories follow a similar narrative, anyway.

Very true. I think I got everything I wanted to say? Another thing I'm not very good at is giving advice, so sorry if that makes less sense than before.

Midnight: We should be good. Plus, the A/N is getting long anyway.

Right. With that out of the way, see you next time!

-LegendEmpress