"Come on, I wanna show you guys something," the redhead said as she walked into a long cave without any seeming reservations. Evie hadn't said anything the whole time they'd been running to this area, though for once it wasn't just because she was shy. The main reason was that she'd gotten so out of breath earlier that it just sounded like she was panting like a dog.

Evie'd always wanted a dog.

"Not that this isn't a really... cool, dimly lit tunnel or anything," Jesse said, sounding slightly uneasy and like the tunnel wasn't actually that cool, "but how far away is this thing that you want to show us?"

Evie was feeling two things right now. One, relief that Jesse had voiced her own concerns so that Evie didn't have to in front of a person she didn't know and possibly make a gigantic fool out of herself. Two, slight amusement at Jesse's concerns. Sure, this was a dark, not-well-lit cave, but it was just a cave. Evie pretty much lived in a cave.

"Careful, Jesse," and the redhead looked over her shoulder, "you don't want to get a reputation as a wimp. Even she," and she nodded at Evie, "doesn't seem all that nervous."

Evie blinked. Before feeling red beginning to pump into her cheeks, and she automatically knew, even though the caves were dimly lit with warm torchlight, that her now bright-red face was extremely obvious. "I mean, I pretty much... live in a cave, so..."

"Hm, that so?" The redhead suddenly twisted to look over her shoulder again, looking more directly at Evie. (To Evie's slight dismay, since her blush had pretty much turned her into a tomato-head.) "By the way, I'm sorry, I don't think we've actually met before..."

"Oh. Hi." Evie paused for several seconds, before realizing (mainly from the bandana-wearing-girl's expectant look and Jesse's slightly blank one) that that probably wasn't adequate, and so she offered, "I'm Evie."

Bandana-Girl nodded a bit, as if mentally filing that information away. "Okay. Nice to meet you, Evie. I'm Petra." If she'd noticed Evie's blush, she didn't mention it. "Anyway, about that thing I wanted to show you..." Petra slowed to a stop, reaching into her pocket and turning towards them. "Have either of you ever seen..."

A blackened, almost burnt skull, jaw flopping open and hollow eye-sockets staring right at the other two. "A Wither Skull?"

"Whoa!" Jesse gasped in surprise, actually stepping back a little bit. Evie blinked in surprise, feeling her eyes growing round and (thankfully) the blush fading a little bit. At least, she was pretty sure it had faded a little bit. She felt a little less hot, at least.

"Fresh from the Nether," Petra continued, glancing up at the other two with a faint sort of smirk playing on their lips, "You two are the first people I've showed it to."

"You risked your life for that dusty old skull?" Jesse asked, glancing up at Petra and arching her eyebrow, as if trying to play it cool. Evie just continued staring at the skull- she had never, ever seen a Wither Skull before.

It looked more normal than she'd expected.

"No- I risked my life for the thing I'm gonna exchange for that dusty old skull," Petra said coolly, sliding the skull back into her pocket and continuing the walk, Evie hustling to keep up and being careful to not trip. "There's a guy I'm meeting up at Endercon. He's gonna trade me a diamond for it. Being the resident go-getter pays off once in a while."

Now that Evie thought about it a little more, she did see Petra talking to people and trading stuff with them every once in a while.

"The guy you got the skull for," Jesse said, slowly, now sounding a little curious, "what's his deal?"

Petra was silent for a moment, as if thinking of which words she was going to use, before carefully saying, "He's... kind of strange, I guess. But hey, everybody's got their thing."

Evie proceeded to completely surprise herself by piping up, "And you didn't ask him what was up with the skull? Like... like, like why he wanted you to get it? It's... it seems kinda sketchy."

"Plenty of my deals are sketchy," Petra shrugged it off dismissively. "As long as the guy is willing to pay. I earned that diamond."

Evie somehow didn't think so, but hey, what did she know? Petra actually made deals with people all the time, while Evie was just... well, Evie. Petra probably knew what she was doing.

"Wow."

Petra paused in her tracks, looking over her shoulder at Jesse, who'd just uttered that one word with amazement tinging her voice. "Wow... what?" the redhead asked, slowly, as she turned around to stare at them more evenly.

"It's just- in one day," Jesse said, admiringly, "you went to the Nether. You killed a Wither Skeleton- I mean, I did build a super cool statue," she added, "but, still. It's pretty sweet being you, huh?"

Petra paused, as if she was thinking about this a little more, before saying slowly, "You know... you guys could come... with me."

With that, she turned and resumed walking through the cave.

Jesse gaped silently at Petra in astonishment, then at Evie, who was still standing patiently next to Jesse. "Did she just-?"

"Offer to let us come along with her on her deal? Yeah." Evie didn't sure why Petra had invited her- she just happened to be in the room, maybe. Yeah, that was definitely. Why would Petra want a clumsy dork to come along with her on the deal? Evie was more likely to screw it up than to actually be helpful.

"I mean, if you guys are too nervous, I totally get it," Petra added, now several meters away, "but I wouldn't mind some backup."

Jesse now took off after Petra in a job, Evie speedwalking to catch up. "You want us," Jesse blurted to Petra, green eyes wide, "to come with you."

"Consider it my charitable act for the day," Petra replied coolly.

"I'll consider it whatever you want me to consider it," Jesse almost gushed as Evie managed to catch back up, "so long as I get to come."

Petra gave her a little nod, before glancing over at Evie. "Well, what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Do you want to tag along?" The way Petra used 'tag along' definitely made it sound like she was doing Evie a favor.

Evie sheepishly shook her head. "Sorry, I'm... I'm awkward. I'd probably ruin your deal. I think it's better if I don't come along."

"Aw, c'mon, Evie," Jesse coaxed, giving her a grin, "the more the merrier! Besides, if there's more of us, this guy might be intimidated."

"... Jesse, I am literally as far from intimidating as I can get..."

Petra managed to turn her snort into a light cough.

"Well... yeah, okay, you have a point." Evie couldn't help but grin at Jesse's conceding expression, "but still! It could be fun!"

"Jesse, I really don't think I should come, I don't want to ruin Petra's deal..."

"As long as you stay quiet," Petra suddenly spoke up, Evie blinking over at the redhead, "I don't think there's much of a chance that you can mess it up. And you... seem like a pretty quiet person."

Well, she wasn't WRONG...

"Oh." Evie paused, considering this. "You're sure?"

"Sure I'm sure."

"Oh." Another rather awkward pause as Evie considered this again. "Okay, then."

Well, if it just involved standing there and staying quiet, she could do that. It wasn't like Evie was the most talkative person on the planet.

"Great, that's decided, then!" Jesse said cheerfully, as the entire group came to a larger area of the cave. A crafting table sat next to a chest, right near a larger assortment of torches. The black-haired girl blinked at it (the one with long hair, not the wavy-haired one). "You just... keep a crafting table down here?"

"Comes in handy." Petra paused, before glancing over at Jesse, "since that wooden sword of yours got busted..."

"You're giving me a new one?" Jesse picked up immediately, eyes brightening.

Petra gave Jesse a lopsided, but friendly grin. "Even better. You can make your own. One stick, plus two stones, equals one sword." She glanced over at Evie, her grin widening a little bit, almost encouragingly. "Do you need one?"

"No, my lucky hoe will do," and Evie held it up, pulling it out of her pocket again.

Petra stared blankly at it, Jesse carefully making her way over towards the chest, before her eyes flickered back to Evie's face. "You're sure you don't want..." Petra trailed off, but Evie knew what Petra wanted to say- an actual weapon.

"Petra, with how clumsy I am, I would be more likely to kill myself rather than any mob I'm attacking, or attempting to kill anyways. Trust me. You do not want to trust me with a weapon." Evie made a cutting motion with her arms to emphasize what she was saying, shaking her head emphatically.

"Well, if you're sure..." Petra glanced over at Jesse, who had paused in front of the chest and was looking at Petra questioningly, as if asking permission. "Just grab what you need."

"Oh! Okay. Thanks." Jesse opened the chest and began rummaging around inside, keeping her eyes fixed on the chest. "Hey, is all this stuff yours?"

Petra let out a small sigh. "No. We're just stealing from whoever was dumb enough to leave this here. Of course it's mine."

Evie couldn't help but giggle at the sarcastic comment, which made Petra look over at Evie with an appraising sort of look. Not of approval, exactly... but it wasn't a particularly displeased expression, either.

"Just... making sure." Moments later, Jesse straightened back up, the stick and two stones perched in her hands as she stood up. "Oh! There we go. Jackpot." Moving over to the crafting table, she placed down the stick and the two stones on top of them. The clang of the sword being created rang out, and Jesse picked up the sword, holding it up. Evie couldn't see Jesse's expression too well, but what she could see of it was pleased.

"See? Isn't it better when you make it yourself?" Petra asked, grinning at the petite girl. Jesse nodded as she turned around, sheathing the sword, Evie timidly approaching.

A moment passed.

"Evie are you sure you don't want a-"

"Yes I'm sure, thank you Petra."


"Check it out!" Petra pointed, the moment they exited the cave, "Endercon's all lit up."

Evie turned to see fireworks going off above Endercon, sending out bright flowerbursts of color over the town. Jesse's expression lit up brighter than the fireworks. "No way- we won!" she exclaimed, grinning widely. "The Enderman was the right way to go!"

"It was cool," Evie agreed, giving Jesse a thumbs up.

"Good for you, Jesse," and Petra patted Jesse on the back.

"It's about time we beat Lukas and his gang of jerks. What kinda name is the Ocelots, anyway?" Jesse continued, putting her hands on her hips.

Evie stared blankly, not recognizing the name.

"You know? Lukas?" Jesse offered, when she noticed Evie's lack of recognition. Still nothing. "Leader of the Ocelots?" Still nothing. "The blonde guy who's the leader of that group that was teasing you earlier today?"

Now Evie's expression cleared up. Lukas. Nice name. "Oh. Him." She paused. "He seemed nice, though. At least he wasn't joining his team."

"You know," Petra interrupted the conversation, sounding like she was picking her words carefully again, "Lukas might be kinda arrogant sometimes, but he has come through for me in tricky situations. You might want to get to know him... just in case."

Jesse said nothing to that, just looking at Petra.

"He's good at building, that's for sure. It's always useful to have a guy like that around, no matter what you might think of him personally," Petra urged, slowly.

"He doesn't seem like he's mean or anything, either," Evie added.

Jesse glanced from Evie to Petra, before giving a noncommittal shrug. "Yeah, you guys... might be right." She sounded reluctant to commit to anything, but at least she was admitting that they had a point.

"I'm just saying," Petra continued, "if you run into him at Endercon, try talking to him."

Jesse's expression had closed up a bit now. "I don't need a lecture on the power of collaboration, Petra," she replied, a bit coldly.

"How about a lecture on the power of my fists?" Petra asked innocently. "It's short. But deadly."

Evie sensed that she should probably try to change the subject before somebody got punched in the face, somebody namely being Jesse. "We should head towards Endercon now, right?"

The entire group started walking along the bridge. "Remember what Endercon was like before it was cool?" Petra asked, almost a little wistfully.

Evie remembered, alright. It had only been a little affair at first, maybe a group of seven people playing around and goofing off, and then it had grown, and grown, and grown, and grown... she participated once or twice when it was a little affair.

"Remember what we were like before we were cool?" Jesse asked, giving Petra a grin.

Petra glanced sidelong at Jesse for a moment, remaining quiet for a good minute. "Some of us will never be cool."

Evie couldn't help but grin a little at that. That was certainly true of herself.

"Ha ha." Jesse's sarcastic reply made an already amused Evie start giggling, looking away from the other two to the other side of the bridge to avoid laughing.

Abruptly, her giggles died, and she screeched to a halt, making Petra and Jesse look over at her suddenly-slightly-stricken expression, before over at the other side of the bridge.

Several zombies and a few creepers were making their way onto the bridge.

"We've got creepers!" Evie squeaked a bit, backing up a step, and then turning to head back into the cave- only to spot more creepers emerging from the cave as well.

"Crap!" Petra muttered, stepping back, the three of them looking around. It seemed like they were cornered...

Evie's eyes strayed to the water below them. But it was a pretty darn long drop...

Then again, staying on this bridge was almost definitely a recipe for certain death. The long drop was a recipe for... fairly certain death. At least it was a bigger chance of survival.

"Should we jump?" she asked Jesse, who happened to be nearer to her.

Jesse, who'd been edging closer and closer to the other two for almost protection, (strength in numbers, I guess) blinked at the question, before looking over the edge and down at the water, far, far below. "... Petra, what do you think?"

Petra swallowed, looking slightly nervous herself. "Well, I think there's only one way off this bridge. Whatever it is, we do it together." She glanced at Evie and Jesse, dark eyes flickering uncertainly for a moment- with what seemed like a flash of controlled fear- before she returned her gaze to the mobs approaching.

"... then let's jump," Jesse decided, glancing over at Evie anxiously. "Evie, you're fine with that?"

Evie looked down again. Good thing I'm not afraid of heights. "Sure," she said aloud, looking up and back around at the other black-haired girl.

"Here we go!" and Jesse moved forward and leaped off of the bridge, Evie hastily hopping off a moment later. She didn't know, but she assumed Petra was following.

Okay, how were you supposed to fall into water? You were supposed to dive in, right? Evie had never done a dive before. Your head was supposed to face down, right? Or was it supposed to be feet-first?

The fall seemed to be taking a long time, wind tearing at her hair and making it fly straight up in the air as the rushing air around her snatched at her clothing, defying gravity for a few moments. Maybe you were supposed to be facing down.

Evie glanced over at Petra, who was spread-eagle and flying towards the water with narrowed eyes- presumably since the rushing wind was pretty painful to keep your eyes open against. She attempted to follow Petra's lead, but the wind was too strong.

At the last second, Evie decided to flip over in mid-air. At least if she hit the water on her back it might hurt less.

A loud crashing sort of splash as her back slammed into the water, which was oddly cold (well... maybe not oddly. It was just colder than Evie was expecting), knocking all of the breath out of Evie and momentarily shocking her numb. Her lungs insisted that they didn't want to work for a second, water closing over her head...

And then she managed to regain control of her body, floating back to the surface on her back as her mouth opened and closed, dragging air back into her lungs. "Whew. Okay. Whew," she gasped softly, flipping over and allowing her feet to dip back into the water and keep her treading water.

Not too far away, Jesse floundered back to the surface as well, groaning loudly. "Ohhhh, it burns, it burns!" she moaned, as Petra also resurfaced. Her bandana was now soaking wet.

"Don't you know? You dive into the water. You don't land on top of it!" Petra snapped, almost like a teacher scolding a student. There was a moment of silence, broken only by Jesse letting out a nearly inaudible sort of groan.

"Well, that was... breathtaking," Evie replied breathlessly, shaking the fact that she felt like a giant had just clapped her on the back with the force of a speeding truck off.

Petra glanced over at her, not saying anything, before giving her a little nod and a half-smile. "Yeah. It was kinda fun."

Fun was debatable. But a long moment of thought Evie had to agree with the statement. If not for the fact that they'd had to jump off a bridge to escape mobs, it was almost as if Evie had been riding one of those rollercoasters that goes up and drops straight down- breathtaking, knowing you'd be safe but a half moment of terror that you weren't going to be, and the sudden landing.

So it was with a small smile that Evie, after a long moment of thought, gave a small nod of agreement. "It really was."


A/N: Yay, they're not dead xD And Evie's a... bit of a thrill seeker. Jumping off cliffs doesn't seem to be too hard for her. (then again it's hard to be clumsy when you're just hurtling towards the ground xD)

Next chapter, we meet Ivor, try to avoid Evie's not-very-nice teammates, and get scammed out of a diamond.

Or maybe not. I don't know how long the next chapter will be.

Once we reach Chapter 5, I will start replying to reviews! In chapter, not just... in general. xD

x.X. A.L. X.x