"If you hurry," Radar mused, "you should still have time for that and your Founding Day duties..."

"Oh, nice!" Jesse said cheerfully, "we should get going, then!" The spider hybrid started towards Radar, Jace hopping to his feet and skipping over to where his sister was. Reuben dashed over himself, since he was so much smaller and had to take more steps to keep up with the bigger people (well, that's what he called them), while Cassie slowly stood up, stretched a bit, and followed them over to where Radar was standing.

"Yeah... uh... about that..." Lukas said hesitantly.

The three young adults and the teenager turned in almost perfect unison to see Axel and Olivia exchanging sheepish looks, while Lukas just looked outright apologetic. None of them seemed to want to be the first to initiate the conversation.

The Enderman hybrid finally looked over at Jesse as she stood up, towering over Axel a bit as she avoided Jesse's eyes. Jesse really hated that Olivia's right eye was an Enderman eye sometimes- it gave Olivia a reason not to look people in the eyes. "We've... actually got our own Founding Day stuff we need to prep for," she finally finished, weakly.

"Yeeaaaahhh..." Axel winced as he reached up and rubbed the back of his head. "I... need to get back to Boom Town. I'm judging a TNT Rally in the morning."

Olivia glanced away from Jesse, rubbing her own head a bit awkwardly, although she was careful not to upset her green beanie with the goggles. "And... I need to finish grading some redstone assignments."

Lukas coughed awkwardly, his ears and tail twitching anxiously. One of his ears flicked. "I was... really hoping to start in on these revisions..."

Internally, Jesse sighed. Over the past three or four years, the Hybrid Order of the Stone- the original Hybrid Order- was starting to drift apart a bit. They lived in different places, they didn't see each other as often, and it was a very rare occurrence that they could go on an adventure together anymore.

Honestly, Cassie and Jace were the only ones who seemed to always have time for Jesse or for anything. And even Jace lived near the old Bureau of Amalgamology, so she only really saw Cassie on a daily basis anymore. (She saw Jace weekly, but still.) And the only reason she saw Cassie on a daily basis was because Cassie babysat Reuben.

Actually, it was kind of funny seeing the former White Pumpkin babysitting children and pets. Jesse had been careful to make sure the others didn't tell anyone that Cassie Rose had been, well, a murderer- she figured Cassie wanted a fresh start, and she already got enough backlash from the on Halloween, she'd even toss on the White Pumpkin costume (without the mask with the voice changer), and did a 'Find the White Pumpkin' tour in the town. Jesse was all too happy to help out as the tour guide.

It was quite fun actually. But it was still sad to see her friends, and, heck, even her twin brother, slowly starting to drift apart.

Pushing down the sadness, she just smiled and shrugged a bit. It wasn't like she never saw them anymore, and besides, at least they kept up a steady correspondence. "Aw, well, that's okay. I get it. You have your life, and so do I."

Olivia's shoulders sagged in relief, the Enderman hybrid looking so incredibly relieved about Jesse's nonchalance towards the whole situation. "Ohhh. Thanks, Jesse."

Axel grinned, a sheepish grin coming over his own face as well. "Yeah, thanks."

"Petra will never let you hear the end of it, though," Jace teased, patting Jesse on the back and making his sister grin back at him.

Everyone started to trot out of the treasure hall, Axel giving Jesse the most awkward smile of all time. "Tell Petra I said next time for sure, okay?" After a moment of hesitation, he grinned, the eight of them continuing to walk out of the treasure hall with Radar falling into step next to and a little behind Jesse. She wished he'd walk next to her, at this point he'd been her intern for a year and a half and he was just still so freaking shy around her. "I can't wait to see how that sword of hers is coming along," Axel added, thoughfully.

"Yeah, I'll tell her!" Jesse said cheerily, the spider hybrid giving the creeper hybrid a friendly grin.

Radar clasped his hands together at his mouth, Lukas giving the slightly shorter boy a grin- seriously, the kid was younger than Jesse by eight years, nd he was still half a head taller than her. Typical- as Radar's eyes glowed with excitement. You could practically see anime sparkles surrounding him right now. "I can't believe I'm walking out of the Order Hall with the Order! Haha!"

Olivia grinned, her right eye glowing slightly. "Aahh, so freaking cute!" she exclaimed, making Cassie and Jace chuckle slightly.


Jesse grinned at the cow balloon floating near the Order Hall. It was a very majestic decoration.

Okay, yeah, Jesse thought cows were kind of majestic.

... don't judge, okay?

"Sooo, the other towns have Founding Day celebrations, huh?" Radar asked, looking over at the other members of the Hybrid Order of the Stone.

"Of course!" Olivia exclaimed, looking to Radar with her right eye still glowing. Really, the Enderman hybrid really seemed to like Radar for some reason. Like, the entire Hybrid Order liked Radar, but Olivia seemed to really like Radar. "We were all part of taking down the Witherstorm. Ellegaard and I actually engineered a music machine for the evening ball together the other day!"

"Yeah, it's mostly just TNT and fireworks in Boom Town," Axel spoke up, scratching his cheek. "Magnus and I designed the firework finale again this year!"

Lukas came to a stop in front of Jesse, Cassie, and Jace- who was staying in Beacontown for the night since they were all headed out on that adventure- as Axel grinned and Olivia gave an almost sentimental smile. "Well, I promise I will try and stop by," the ocelot hybrid promised, giving a pleasant grin, "it was awesome to catch up with you guys."

"Totally!" Axel agreed enthusiastically.

"Yeah, this has been great," Olivia added cheerfully.

Cassie nodded, tentatively smiling at them. "Yeah, definitely... it's good to see you guys are doing so well."

Jace grinned and nodded, dispersing the uncomfortable tension that formed when Olivia and Axel exchanged slightly anxious looks with one another, not quick enough to hide it from Cassie, whose tentatively hopeful smile fell a little bit. "Yeah, we missed you guys!" he said agreeably, either oblivious to or ignoring the tension that had formed.

"Won't be the same without you guys," Jesse said, slightly wistfully.

"Awww, buddy," and Axel leaned forward and engulfed the petite spider hybrid in a tight bear hug, "you're gonna make me sad."

Jesse smiled nostalgically as Olivia bent down for a hug as well, before the two of them both headed off in separate directions to head back to Redstonia or Boom Town- you know, based on the person.

Lukas's ears twitched happily as he turned back to Jesse, Jace, and Cassie. "Thanks again, guys," he said agreeably. "I'll let you know as soon as I'm done with the revisions."

Axel managed to sound significantly less-than-excited. "Oh, cool. Can't... wait."

"Axel," Olivia scolded.

The creeper hybrid shrugged, before waving to Jesse and turning around again, Lukas giving Jesse a friendly goodbye wave as well before heading off himself. Cassie rubbed Reuben's head, making the young teenager grin up at her. She, Radar, and Reuben actually all got along famously. Sometimes if Cassie was sick or busy, and Jesse was busy- which was almost every day- Radar would babysit Reuben for them.

"I tell ya," Radar said, giving his head a cheerful little shake as he grinned over at Jesse, "I am just the luckiest."

"Yeah?" Jesse replied, rubbing her head and giving him a slightly quizzical look. She stepped down the steps and started heading into town, still glancing over in Radar's expression. Reuben hastened to keep up, while Jace and Cassie glanced at each other, shrugged, and followed along as well.

"Oh yeah!" Radar exclaimed enthusiastically, "Getting to work with you, hanging out with the Order, babysitting Reuben-" Reuben grinned up at the much-taller teenager at that, "and, living in the coolest town in the whole world- Beacontown!"

Jesse grinned at Beacontown as well. The entire town was an explosion of color and cool builds, such as two trees that functioned as a tree bridge. The Aquatic District was where Radar lived (at least, Jesse was fairly certain), and there was a floating whale and a big, floating clownfish there as well. Near Ivor's lava house- or, really, now it was his and Harper's lab- was a giant statue of a purple octopus, and in Bad Luck Alley, near Cassie's mini version of the Twin Moon Manor, was a big building that was decorated with structures that looked like giant crayons. On the main street, the bookstore was next to a weird house that looked like a giant thing with a face and magnets. (There was not a better way for Jesse to describe it.) The hodgepodge of fascinating and sometimes quirky builds gave the whole town its own, unique feel, showing places where people came from and where that heritage came from, things in people's imaginations, and making the whole town feel like a hybrid (Jesse grinned at the joke) of different places and times cobbled together into one.

Jesse couldn't help but laugh as she spotted a few multicolored parrots flutter through the air, and about fifty more all over town. Some guy called Jon Stauder had brought several with him when he'd moved to Beacontown, and they'd fly everywhere. Like, everywhere. Once, Jesse had woken up to find a parrot in her room with a tiny parrot egg on her lap.

She hadn't thought so at the time, but it had been incredibly funny.

"I realize that some days, Jesse'd rather be out adventuring with you guys," Radar said to Jace and Cassie, before turning his attention to Jesse with a pleased grin, "but... I'm really glad you're our leader. You just... make this place awesome, along with Cassie and Reuben."

Cassie smiled sheepishly at Radar. Honestly, they hadn't told him about her past, either- it was too complicated to explain, and honestly, Cassie was trying to leave that stuff behind as much as possible. He did notice the tension between her and Lukas and Axel and Olivia and- whenever Petra came to town- Petra as well, but he put that down as them having gotten into a fight or something. Jesse and Jace hadn't seen a good reason to tell him otherwise.

"Well, I really do love this place," Jesse agreed in a friendly way, "and it just keeps getting cooler."

"Right?" Radar almost squealed, making Cassie grin at the teenager and pat him on the shoulder. "I love it too. It's exactly the kind of home I'd always dreamt of having." He paused, before rubbing his head. "I, uh... I know that Petra's waiting for you in the mines-"

Jesse, Cassie, and Jace automatically glanced over in the direction of the mines, decorated by two giant pickaxes crossed over one another. Jesse had come up with the idea to make it look a little nicer, and everyone had thought it was a good idea. "- but I get people would really appreciate you helping set up for the celebration."

Jace grinned at the idea of scoring some points in their flirting competition. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" and the wolf hybrid dashed off deeper into Beacontown before the others could react.

Cassie chuckled, reaching out and ruffling Reuben's hair with a warm grin. "Well, I guess I should go make sure he doesn't run down without us. Can you handle Reuben for a while?"

Jesse jokingly scowled at Cassie. "Cassie, Reuben's my kid," she pointed out, unable to help the amused smile that twitched over her lips.

"Aww, I was hoping you wouldn't notice," Cassie replied easily to Jesse, and the two girls giggled a bit at the joke before Cassie headed after Jace to make sure he didn't just bolt off without them.

Jesse grinned after Cassie. She might not trust Cassie ENTIRELY still, but Cassie at least seemed to be more at ease now, so that was good. Glancing down at Reuben, she set her lowest set of hands on her hips. "You wanna come with us on our little adventure today with Petra?" she asked, cheerfully.

Reuben's eyes lit up. Jesse rarely let him go off on too many adventures with them- she wanted to make sure he was well-trained enough for most everything before launching him into this sort of thing- so for her to let him come along on any of them was a real treat for him. "Yeeeees!" he cheered, dancing around in a little circle (and making Jesse hide a grin at how absolutely adorable he was).

Radar's eyes grew round and wide at this. "Wow... can Reuben handle himself?"

Jesse chuckled, gently ruffling the pig hybrid's hair. "Oh yeah. He might not look it, but he can be a pretty tough little guy," she said cheerily, making Reuben grin and swat her off gently.

The three of them- Jesse, Reuben, and Radar- quickly continued into town, admiring how people were setting things up for Founding Day (one person had recreated the Enderman statue that Jesse had built back at the Endercon Building Competition years ago), before spotting Cassie and Jace. Jace was turning around in little circles, looking around with a bewildered expression on his face, as if he'd smelled something. Cassie was staring at him in bemusement.

Jesse wandered over to where Jace was turning around and around in little circles, giving her brother a cheerful but quizzical smile. "Uh, hey, Jace, whatcha doin'?" she asked, quirking one brow at him. The habit that she'd picked up from Ivor back in the lab had developed so that she'd completely mastered the expression.

A nearby door opened, and a very, very familiar voice called out, "Jesse dude!" The blonde girl from the Old Builder's world, wearing her old competitor's outfit (but changed up so that it looked much more comfortable, with jeans and sandals and the sleeves off), strolled out of the door with a wide grin on her face.

"Nell!" Jace shouted in delight and beating Jesse to it, dropping to all fours and bolting up the small flight of stairs leading up to the door of what looked like a surf shop, tackling Nell in a tight hug with his tail wagging up a storm.

Nell staggered backwards, lost her balance, and tripped backwards with a resounding thud, but she didn't appear at all annoyed about it- actually, she looked quite excited about seeing him as well. "Jace, dude! 'Sup!" she cheered, clapping him on the back and returning his tight hug. "So totally radical to see you!"

"Nell!" Jesse echoed Jace's shout of delight from a moment earlier and walked forward, putting her lowest set of hands on her hips, middle arms crossing, and her upper hands reaching up and lacing behind her head almost casually. "I thought you were out seeing the worlds?"

Nell shrugged and gave a vigorous nod of agreement. "Did that! Righteous times!" she gently disengaged herself from the hug with Jace, the wolf hybrid looking ecstatic at seeing his old teammate, "thought I'd try settling down for a while." She crossed her arms and gave another casual shrug, "Like, I love danger and derring-do as much as the next person, but sometimes, you just wanna have a place to store your junk, okay?"

"Well, I'm sure Em will be excited to see you, too! She lives somewhere between Beacontown and Boom Town," Jace said, scrunching up his face as he tried to remember. "It's a nice farm with a ton of chickens. I think she's calling it Doonesbury Estates?"

Jesse grinned. She remembered visiting Em a couple months back. Despite not having been the best of friends when they'd parted, Em had been quite happy to see them again, and had cracked Jesse's ribs slightly by giving the spider hybrid a tight hug. (She'd also cracked Jace's, so that was at least fair.) "Yeah, I'll bet she'll be pretty stoked to see you again."

Nell nodded, storing that information away, before Jesse spread her arms out wide, grinning up at the blonde. "Well, I'm so glad you're here!" she exclaimed, her grin growing quite wide.

"Yeah, I never expected to see you again, or something dramatic like that," and Jace's tail wagged away happily. "It's so good to see you."

"Ditto," Cassie added.

Nell beamed at them. "Man, that is just the sort of warm welcome I'd hoped from you guys. You guys rock, dudes." She paused for a moment, before plopping down on the steps and tilting her head slightly. "Between you dudes and me, though, I'm worried that I won't, like, fit in here... so many rad builds, awesome people... I really wanna make, like, a good first impression, you know?"

Reuben's face was rather blank. To a little pig hybrid who mostly only spoke Pig, some Chicken, English (clearly), and some Spider (he'd picked it up from staying with Jesse all the time), this surfer talk was like a completely different language to him. He looked at Radar.

Radar shrugged at him a bit.

"Which, I thought might be helped if my front yard had a statue by the one and only Jesse?" Nell asked, gesturing at the sort of pedestal that was next to Nell's house.

Jesse hummed thoughtfully, reaching up and touching her lip. "Not sure if I have time... but, I'll see what I can do!"

Nell grinned, clambering back to her feet. "Hey, hey, hey! This is gonna be so cool. Scoop up that clay over there-" Jesse glanced over and spotted a huge pile of clay. "And let's get to business!"

Jesse went ahead and grabbed several blocks of clay from the pile (actually, she just took the whole pile to be safe), before heading over to the pedestal.

... and then realizing she didn't actually know what to build.

Good job realizing it this late.


A/N: It's up to you guys to decide what you want me to build for the statue! You can decide on most anything (within reason), with the materials available. It can't be a very big statue, but feel free to decide on whatever you want!

AAAAHHHHHH, the Season Finale of Season 2 was SO good! Though it... did leave some room open for another season with the open ending and a couple remarks. I'm not going to say anything since people might not have played it yet... except that it was fREAKING AMAZING

Replies to reviews!

TheRealRedGaming: Hi Red, how are you? Long time no talk/see!

TheAmberShadow: Something tells me that you are probably right xD / Yeah, hybrids have pretty good stamina. xD / Hehe, I thought it was a good compromise between the actual shipping and being friendly. Plus, it gives me an excuse to use dozens of terrible puns xD / Hehehe, isn't he?! He's so cute. x3

Lunar: Yeaahh, I didn't really know how I wanted it to go, especially with the season finale holy crap. x3 / Yeah, it was bad originally xD

Emily The Avenger: I know no Spanish, so xD / NICE!

J.M.M.: Probably xD

Toni42: I like it better too, it's much better than the original! And awwww, that's such a cute thought. Now I'm never going to be able to get it out of my head, lol xD

Princess of Muffins: Oh really? I couldn't tell! xD / Yeah, I'm hoping people enjoy this version better than the original draft version. / I loved the trailer, and I loved the actual episode. Both were perfect x3

CamronXTheXGamer: x3

Artificial Cloudz: (squints) I think I've seen you on YouTube / I'm excited to write it myself! / Yeah, she is an ex-murderer. Honestly, even a murderer regretted things here and apologized, and they let them go, I'd probably be really wary to trust them again myself, no matter what they said.

S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: (laughs) I see.

x.X. A.L. X.X