The screen faded in to show a biome that was similar to a desert biome, but with a few variations. The vegetation appeared to be made up of quite a lot of dead bushes and cacti, and the ground levels ranged anywhere from flat, to canyons, to tall spires of terracotta. Most of it appeared to be quite barren, though. Also, there was much more clay than in the normal desert biomes.

"Oh, hey, it's a Mesa Biome," Soren pointed out, pointing at the screen.

"Oh, cool!" Lukas exclaimed, leaning forward a bit with his eyes sparkling in interest. "I've never seen one before. It's pretty cool."

"I was just gonna say it's pretty," Jesse said, grinning slightly.

"Yeah, all that clay in that lighting right now? Very nice aesthetic," Lukas nodded in agreement.

There was suddenly a loud yell, and the spider hybrid appeared out of nowhere and slammed onto her back with a grunt, a mushroom cloud of sand exploding up around her.

The audience winced a bit at that.

Lukas crashed down a few feet away, Cassie being unfortunate to land facedown, Ivor bouncing slightly as he hit the ground with an 'oof' and Petra just hovering down neatly. Winslow made an odd grumbling sound as he got up, shaking a dust cloud of sand out of his fur.

The audience winced again. That was definitely gonna leave a mark.

"This is... quite pretty, actually," Jesse said as she got back up, putting her hands on her hips and looking around with a curious expression on her face, "though I honestly have to wonder, how does anyone live here?"

Petra sheepishly rubbed her head, looking around. Cassie spit a mouthful of sand out in the background. "Maybe there's... I dunno, like a redstone city over that hill? Behind that mountain...?" she trailed off weakly.

Lukas shrugged, pulling out his journal again. "Hey, it's a rare biome. That's pretty cool, at least." And he started scribbling away in the journal again, the group looking at him curiously again.

"Hey, Lukas, I've been meaning to ask you- what's that?" And Jesse pointed at the small brown book in his hands curiously.

"A journal," Em deadpanned.

Jesse might've taken offense (well, actually, no she wouldn't have), except she was a little too busy giggling at the sarcastic comment now.

Em's deadpan expression softened slightly.

Slightly.

Lukas looked up from where he was writing in the journal, blue-green eyes gleaming a little bit as he did so. "Oh! It's, ah, just a journal... that I picked up back at Cassie's place." He chuckled a bit nervously, glancing back at Cassie.

Cassie adjusted her glasses, having a slightly closer look at it. "... ah, one of those journals I planned to start writing in and then never got around to. Never mind- at least it's being put to good use now."

Lukas blinked, looking rather startled about the red-haired girl taking this view. "Oh! Right. Okay." And he slipped it back into his pocket as Ivor looked around a bit, strolling around and looking around him with a mildly interested expression. "Uh, how... how you doing, Petra?"

The Blaze hybrid let out a low sigh. "So much for my hunch with that redstone portal, huh?" she asked, tiredly.

"Well, I dunno about that..." Harper said slowly, making them all glance over at her.

"What do you mean...? Do you know something about this place?" Petra asked, slowly.

Harper just frowned at the screen, eyes narrowing intently.

"Hey, don't beat yourself up, Petra," Jesse said bracingly, looking around at the barren Mesa biome as Winslow made to crawl onto Cassie's shoulder with a content meow, "we've definitely seen worse."

"Hey, yeah!" Lukas perked up immediately, his ears flicking slightly. "At least there's no fire, no squids..."

"No squids on fire," Ivor added from where he was standing about five feet away.

"That, uh, yeah," and Aiden winced a little bit at the screen, "I can't imagine that would be a lot of fun."

Mevia grinned a bit for some reason. "I dunno, I'd find that pretty fascinating myself."

Onscreen-Jesse seemed unsure whether to laugh or look stern at that, and apparently decided to compromise by choking. Lukas reached over and thumped her on the back good-heartedly.

Several members of the audience couldn't help but just start giggling at that, Real-Jesse included.

"Maybe you're right," Petra said, quietly. But she couldn't help but look cheered up at that.

"... hm. Would you look at that," Ivor said, pointing at the ground. Jesse looked down to see a rough, pale, sandy path that travelled in a generally straight line for quite a distance in both directions. "It looks like some sort of road."

"Shoddy work if it is a road," Hadrian muttered, making the people who were able to hear him shoot him a subtle glare.

Onscreen, the spider hybrid narrowed her eyes at it and crossed her arms. "Hm. Well, it does look like a path... which means someone had to have built it, which means civilization." She glanced up and gave Petra a grin. "I don't think you were that off with your hunch, Petra."

The Blaze hybrid looked even more cheered up by that.

"I think you're right," Lukas said rather agreeably.

Gill leaned forward to whisper to Maya, who glanced back at the bearded boy. He was grinning like the Chesire Cat. "Well, of course Lukas would be agreeing with Jesse-"

This time the pillow that Lukas threw in his direction got a square hit right in his face, especially because Maya ducked out of the way.

"Well," Cassie said, drawing all eyes to her, and making her smirk slightly as she put her hands on her hips, "we're not going to find out where it goes by standing around on it."

"True," Ellegaard remarked.

"Yeah, Rose is right," Jesse said absentmindedly.

Cassie blinked rapidly, before looking over at Jesse. "'Rose'?" she asked, hesitantly.

Jesse looked up from the path at Cassie, blinking a bit herself. "What?" she asked, blankly.

"You just called me Rose."

"Oh. Did I?"

"Yes," Soren said, sounding slightly amused, "yes you did, Jesse."

The black-haired girl just made a little face at him, to the amusement of several of the other audience members.

"Hm. It might've been because of your hair," Jesse said, squinting at Cassie a bit and touching her bottom lip thoughtfully, "I think the color just looks kinda... rose-like."

Both Real and Onscreen-Cassie blinked at that, their hands going to their hair automatically.

"Yeah, it's pretty nice hair," Aiden said to the girl, giving her a small smile.

Real-Cassie blinked at him again, looking slightly bewildered by that assertion.

"Let's go, shall we?" Ivor asked teasingly, gently giving the three teenagers a little shove. Jesse stumbled a bit, sending him a mock-glare before chuckling and turning around, beginning to trot along the makeshift road. Cassie was still blinking in slight confusion at the new nickname Jesse had just given her, and Winslow was looking very pleased about something.

"What's Winslow looking so smug about?" Sparklez wondered.

Winslow let out a meow, Lukas glancing over at the cat before back at the others. "Winslow's pleased that Cassie is socializing," he reported.

"Oh- is he really?" Jesse glanced back at the cat with a small smile, before turning around and scanning their surroundings thoughtfully. "Hmmm... sand. Clay. Annnnd more sand."

"You forgot that cactus," Axel joked, pointing up at the screen.

Olivia hid a smile at that.

Suddenly, the sound of a rock clattering slightly sounded, and the spider hybrid abruptly tensed a little bit. "What was that?" she asked, warily.

Petra crossed her arms, tilting her head to one side. "Well... guess I was right. There are people here."

"Yes, quite a few, actually," Harper mumbled. "Though the... population may have changed, somewhat..."

Ivor glanced at Harper, then at the screen, putting something together suddenly. "Do you live in this world?" he asked, keeping his voice relatively low yet still perfectly audible for the rest of the audience to hear.

"... yes. Yes, I do."

Onscreen, Petra looked over at Jesse and Lukas. "You two are the stealth people, wanna check it out?"

Jesse rolled her eyes and gently punched Petra on the shoulder. "Lazy," she joked, making the Blaze hybrid stick her tongue out at her playfully. Jesse gave her a grin, before dropping to all eights and scuttling across the ground at high speed, pausing behind a large stone outcropping and peeking over it to have a look around.

"What do you see?" Lukas asked, padding over behind her nearly silently.

The screen switched to show Jesse's eyes scanning the landscape- before her eyes widened. "What th-!?"

"What? What is it?" Lukas pressed down gently on Jesse's shoulders, trying to get a good look at whatever it was that she was looking at. The screen switched again to show a single zombie.

A zombie that had a big, red, flashing metal object on the back of its head.

"Whoa, wait, what?" Em blinked at the screen. "That's weird."

"Yeah, no kidding, brah," Nell agreed, tilting her head and trying to get a better look at the zombie from where she was perched on the couch. "What's that thing on the back of its head?"

Magnus narrowed his eyes at it. "It's red... is it redstone?"

Gabriel glanced at the Rogue sitting on the couch next to him. "TNT's red, that's not redstone."

"Yeah, well, that's not TNT."

"Good point."

"Isn't it- like- the middle of the day? Why isn't this thing on fire?" Petra frowned at the screen a bit, narrowing her eyes.

"Why isn't it on fire?" Jesse wondered, frowning at the zombie thoughtfully.

"Hey, I just asked that."

Onscreen, Lukas frowned and was silent for a moment as he thought about that. "Well... maybe that's this world's thing?" he suggested, glancing at the zombie cautiously, "Zombies and monsters come out in the daytime?"

"Not quite." Harper shook her head a little bit, drawing quite a lot of attention to her. "The world's... 'thing'... is worse than that." She made a shaky sound. "Much worse."

"What do you mean?" Real-Jesse asked, a note of anxiety entering her voice.

Harper just made a soft sound in the back of her throat. Now that the audience was watching her more closely, the white-haired woman looked supremely uncomfortable about something- almost like she might throw up.

Ivor frowned and shifted so that he was looking at her more, placing one hand on her knee. "Are you alright?" he asked, in a soft voice that made the Order exchange slightly surprised looks.

Harper just nodded, lips tightening. "I'm fine. Let's just keep watching," she said, but her voice had dropped to an almost strangled-sounding whisper.

The audience exchanged concerned looks.

She was definitely not 'fine' right now.

"Not that much crazier than anything else we've seen..." Lukas mumbled, thoughtfully.

Jesse watched the zombie for a minute longer, weighing her options, before looking back over at Lukas. "We should try to get closer," she whispered to him, "see what else we can find out."

Lukas nodded and gave the girl a thumbs-up and a small grin. "Cool."

With that, he stood up, flicking his hands downwards. His claws shot out, making a sharp metallic sound. Jesse looked to the zombie quickly to see it already beginning to turn in the direction of the sound Lukas had just made, quiet though it was. Lukas dropped to all fours, eyes narrowing, muscles tensed and coiling...

And then he pounced, leaping down the hill/cliff-thing and landing right in front of the zombie, swiping one arm furiously and hitting the zombie square in the face with his claws, before spinning around and using his other arm to swing straight down on the zombie for good measure.

The zombie simply turned to face him, eyes glowing red. It showed no sign of going down.

"Wait- but- that should've-?" Cassie frowned at the screen, leaning forward. "That should've killed it, right? Lukas definitely isn't a pushover- and it's not like zombies are super strong."

"Yeah, that's a little weird," Dan said, frowning at the screen himself.

Lukas staggered back a step in surprise, eyes widening. "Uh- J-Jess-!" he shouted, voice rising a bit in pitch.

Jesse quickly leaped down the hill/cliff as well at Lukas's shout and landed right in front of the zombie, sword coming out of the sheathe rapidly, before one arm swung straight up and slammed the sharp end of the blade into the zombie's head, making a dull thudding sound. The zombie kept approaching Jesse, who kept swinging her sword, smacking into it repeatedly.

The zombie should've been long dead before this point- hell, it should've been dead five times over at least- but it just kept walking forward, lurching towards Jesse persistently.

"Oh Notch," Lukas gasped. "What the hell is this zombie?!"

"Like- I dunno- Super-Zombie or something!" Petra exclaimed, tightening her grip on Jace anxiously.

Jace glanced at Jesse, who was staring intently at the screen.

"Oh- oh- okay, then, we've- there's something wrong with this zombie!" Jesse shouted, dodging back as it swiped at her, before looking down at the sword in her hands and then taking ahold of it like it was a baseball bat. She drew it back, before swinging it hard at the zombie's neck and managing (finally!) to cut halfway through- just as Lukas drove his claws straight forward from where he was standing right behind the zombie.

Claws punched right through the zombie's chest, and the zombie froze there for a moment- an interlocked mess of claws and sword- before exploding into a cloud of dust.

"Okay, so at least the zombies can be killed," Gill said, shakily.

"Yes, that's a good thing," Stampy agreed meekly.

"But why are they even so hard to kill in the first place?" Maya wondered, shifting backwards a little bit. "It's a little bizarre."

"Maybe it's the red flashy thing on the zombie's head, dude," Nell suggested.

When everyone looked at her, she shrugged. "What? Normal zombies are, like, total pushovers compared to these guys... or, uhh, in general. The only difference is the red flashy thing-"

"Chips," Harper spoke up, almost automatically. "Redstone chips."

Nell shrugged nonchalantly at the correction. "Alright, then, brah, chips on the back of the zombie's head."

There was a short silence as everyone processed that, before Olivia made a little hum. "You know, that's not a bad theory."

"Yes, I didn't know you'd be able to come up with a theory like that," Mevia said lightly, making half of the audience glare at her a little bit and the other half just blink a bit.

Nell shrugged, not looking at all offended or anything. "It just makes sense, man."

Slowly, Jesse lowered her sword, dropping her arms tiredly and giving Lukas a fierce, but slightly tired grin. "Not quite what we were expecting, huh?"


A/N: First deadly zombie. Uhh... yay?

Have a chapter! (tosses chapter to you) Enjoy~ :3

Finished the character designs for Hybrid: Season 2... but I'm not releasing 'em until Season 2's release date.

Which won't take too long because that's in TWO DAYS.

TWO DAYS, PEOPLE!

Squeeee!

RQTC: None.

Instead, I will be giving hints for the references, in order of appearance :3

Reference 1: The squid's name is Limo (as stated in the chapter), and the person who chased me's nickname is Mill.

Reference 2: There was a LEGO Movie made for this rather recently, and it was directed by Chris McKay.

Reference 3: Hint coins are very helpful for gameplay in this 6-part game with a spinoff game and a new one coming out later this month.

Reference 4: Pink Sheep with a mustache is not Markiplier.

Reference 5: This animation studio has been making this Minecraft animated series since 2013 or so.

Reference 6: A damned, glowing, one-eyed Dorito demon who can control dreams.

Reference 7: Lukas's voice actor voiced the guy that this reference is referring to.

Responses to reviewers!

LunarStarsMoons: (grins) / Ahhhh xD / x3 / Lunar, if you see this before Twitter, I need to talk to you. Right now.

Guest: OMG same here xD

the indecisive bird: Hehehehe xD / alright.

AquaK13: Oh, did you really? / (chuckles) / Heheheh xD / Yes, yes she is. / x3 / Bai!

RapidSammi: (laughs) I just had to put it in.

Dr . MKNoble: (laughs) Ah, did you really? xD / Ahhh. / (laughs) I've done that before, so I feel her there. / Thank you!

Emily The Avenger: xD

LittleAngelbun: Hahahaha xD / Okay (points up)

BeliTheGhoti0304: x3 / Yeah, same here. / Aw, thanks :3 / It's fine~

J.M.M.: Oh xD Nah it's fine, don't worry about it.

S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: Yep~ / I'm glad you're excited :3

sailor . mikuchan: Well, you got those right. :3 / Same here haha xD

Guest: (chuckles)

InsaneAcrobat: Ahh, sorry xD / Yes, yes, no, yes, and yes. There's no Mario in there. xD

Jack: (laughs) / Yay :3 / Hehehehehe xD / (chuckles) / Ahhh.

giriri: Thanks! / x3 / (shrugs) That depends on the Jesse, tbh.

Darkbeast Dend: Ahhh, I see.

I'm sorry if I sound a little subdued right now, it's just that at the time I'm writing this chapter, a LOT of shit just went down... and I feel really, really bad.

To TheRealRedGaming, if you even see this right now... I'm so bloody sorry. I am so sorry. Things got really out of hand last night, and god- I should've stepped in right then and there but I didn't, and I'm sorry.

That's all for this chapter... bai!

x.X. A.L. X.x