DK's POV: I gasp, struggling against Icy's grip. I'm full of shock, and I can't think straight. Why would she attack me, and how did she do it so swiftly? Her grip gets tighter and tighter, and I try to bat her hand away but I can't. I've been strangled before, but those times were from zombies and other mobs, so this is a lot worse. I focus my attention on a space behind me, which is still quite painful, and I teleport to that location. I pant for a little while and rub my throat, but that gives Icy enough time to stand up from her chair and get into a defensive position.
She does not have a grimace on her face. In fact, she doesn't show any emotion, all features glazed and lifeless. Like the face you would wear when taking your passport photo. Maybe. What gets my attention, however, is the shade of her eyes. Instead of their normal crimson tone, they are yellowish, like a daffodil or dandelion. No, something more hostile and aggressive. Like a blaze.
She looks me in the eyes, and I feel a bit dazed. No, I can't be raging, right? I gave up doing that ages ago and it's never happened since. Even if I did look at someone. But I can't be provoked now.
I shake my head and take some deep breaths, still keeping an eye on Icy. Right after I finish breathing, Icy advances and attempts to punch me in the jaw. I manage to move a little to the right, so she makes my shoulder scream instead of my face. I wince, and I quickly drink a healing potion.
'I can't hurt her, even if she's hitting me. She's still Icy, but she must be under some sort of spell. So it's not really her hurting me, obviously,' I think to myself as I dodge her roundhouse kick and throw the empty glass bottle at her. She catches it with ease and tosses it aside. 'The one who's hurting me is the one who's controlling her. Who is it, though?'.
Despite thinking that, I land a good punch on her stomach, on the very bit where Hack burned her. She doesn't even flinch. Guilt flows through me, even though she doesn't seem hurt. I don't remember my brain sending signals to my hand. I didn't agree to forming a fist, but I did. I didn't think about punching her. But adrenaline replaces my guilt as someone tackles me from behind.
I brace myself before hitting the ground, so it only gives me a small bruise, and take a look at my new attacker. Apparently, Edwin is also mind-controlled. He raises his fist to smash my nose, but I move my head so he makes the prismarine tile crack. I gulp, and teleport behind him. I quickly kick Edwin in the back before he can attack me again. No offence to him, but he's easier to hurt than Icy. Edwin grabs his wand. Finally he remembers to use it. I commando roll to avoid a beam of orange energy, and stand quickly to prevent Icy from using me as a footblock (football). I stand in front of a pillar as Possesed Icy and Edwin advance.
An arrow nearly gives me a unicorn horn, but I duck right on time. I split another arrow in half with my own arrows. A wall of flaming arrows come flying towards me, so I leap to the side. I look in the direction where the arrows are coming from. Piper, with an enchanted bow. And Allen, pointing his Tech-wand at me. They to have yellow eyes.
There is a hissing behind me, and I realise it's creeper hissing. I turn and go swipe at the creeper. It's not a creeper. It's a grenade. My eyes widen, but I throw it into the water before it blows up. That must have come from Miner, who must also have those yellow looks. I ricochet another bomb away. This one makes the temple shake, but not blow up.
To my relief, Crash appears behind me.
"Thank Notch you're here, Crash!" I sigh with relief.
"No problem" Crash replies, and deflects an arrow from pinning me. "I've got a command block activated to prevent Aqua from using any illusions, but I can't stop her from doing hypnotism. So be aware of her, and don't follow her commands. The other three are coming".
I look at Piper as she launches a flurry of arrows, and at Edwin who shoots webs through his wand.
"So these guys are under her hypnotic control?" I ask.
"Exactly, how could you not know that from your own eyes?" Crash replies, irritated.
I roll my eyes. "Just making sure".
There's a thump to my left. I turn my head to that direction. Alex has tackled Miner to the ground. She then sits on his body as he wriggles around underneath her. Alex catches my eye and waves, ignoring the squirming of Miner. I salute back and grin. Miner manages to crawl an inch away, but Alex slaps him on the face.
"Nuh-huh-huh!" Alex wags her finger at him. "Bad creeper!"
Crash shoves Icy away from Creep, who has just arrived at the scene.
Cheese appears with an army of small yellow things, aka cheeslings, right behind him. They go to tackle down Piper, who's arrows nearly strike Alex. Creep is struggling against Icy's skills. Piper has resorted to melee weapons and is swinging at the cheeslings. I go back to back with Alex and fend off any attacks.
I sense movement next to Alex. I knock her out of the way. It's Steve, also hypnotised, wielding a diamond sword.
"Think you can handle him?" I stare at Alex, and she nods. "Suit yourself. Just don't die!".
Alex tackles Steve to the ground and removes his sword from reach. They begin to tussle on the damp prismarine. I run to side with Crash.
"What the Nether's the plan? We're here, we're fighting our friends, but now what?" I yell at Crash.
"Actually, I don't really have one! Do you?" Crash shouts, seeming surprised.
My steps falter a little bit, and I nearly walk straight into the beam of energy that could have ended my life.
"What?! So you're saying we came here without a plan?!" Alex overhears.
Creep facepalms and Cheese yelps. "What horrible coordinating!"
"I thought you guys would have actually come up with one yourselves! The only thing I need to do here is confront Aqua!" Crash snaps in reply.
I quickly make a list of insults in my head, and I'm about to launch my first one at Crash when someone kicks her down on the ground. It's a female. To be honest she looks younger than me. I'm taller than her. Or maybe it's because I'm half Ender. Anyway, I have not seen her ever before.
Crash winces as the girl elbows her on the stomach. Crash stands quickly, holding on to a pillar. I am about to run towards her, help her out, but she looks me in the eye and shakes her head. Then she turns back to the girl.
"What the Derp happened to you, CC?" The girl smirks and crosses her arms, completely ignoring the battle around her.
"What the Nether happened to YOU, Aqua?" Crash snarls. "You've become a mad witch doctor".
So THAT'S her. The one who put the gang under her control.
Crash gets into a better defensive position, once the pain is gone, but Aqua simply smiles. If I didn't know she was the one who did all this, I would have thought that smile was pure.
"Just let them go, Aqua. If you don't stop this, I will be the least of your problems" Crash warns. "Bad things are going to happen".
"But you aren't even a problem. A worse problem would be a village burning down. The only thing that actually takes my attention is the reason you betrayed us.
"How ironic. 'Cause in the next few days that's exactly what's going to happen to you" Crash growls, and tries to launch a punch at Aqua, but she manages to use her force against Crash, who then collapses.
"Nice try. Seriously, it was you who helped this all start, you know? I should be thanking you or bowing down at your feet or something, but I think it would be more better to use you. Just because it was you and your brother who helped me out, it doesn't mean you're immune to me," Aqua snaps her fingers, and the battle stops around us. Then everyone is knocked unconcious, except for Creep, Alex, Cheese, Crash, Aqua and I. "There, they'll wake up later on. See, I'm being a rebel, to. I'm also being a traitor to our brothers. But now my main priority is you, Crash".
Aqua crouches in front of Crash, and grins. Crash tries to shuffle away, but now Aqua is directly in front of her, and now she can't pull away from the tendrils of sleep. But she's fighting, so I know there's still hope.
"I...may not be...your problem..." Crash manages to say. "But she...is"
And Crash points. But before long Crash is completely in a trance. Aqua shakes her head, and then looks to where she was pointing. And her body stiffens when she sees who Crash was pointing to.
Crash was pointing at me. Me. Why the nether would she point at me? A wave of thoughts invade my mind, but I shove them aside and focus on the task ahead.
Aqua takes a step back. She is trying her best not to look at me. I scratch my head, but then one thing connects with another and I understand. Aqua can only hypnotise people when she makes direct contact with someone's eyes. Most Ender beings will rage when any eye contact is made. Including some hybrids. Most Ender hybrids only rage a couple of times in their lifetime, and I've never raged before. Obviously, she must not know that. Maybe she has a bad memory with one. Crash told me that she and Game were attacked. Was one of them a hybrid? I smile. I can use this to my advantage.
Aqua gulps as I take a step forward. She looks so much like a coward now, compared to a few seconds ago, where she literally had control over Crash.
"Hi, I'm DK, nice to meet ya" I wave, taking the chance to tease her. "Do you need milk? You look like you've got nausea".
Aqua backs up into a pillar and is still. I keep walking until we are face to face. She looks away as I tower above her. I seem to dwarf her in size. I'm about to mock her some more, but then I realise something. I'm letting my darker side loose. The side that a normal enderman would have. As I hesitate, the dark force keeps tugging in my mind like a child pulling a mother's dress to beg for candy, the monster instinct trying to take over my human one. But I push that force away and let my kinder side take control again. Maybe I can convince Aqua to join us. Like when Luke made Darth Vader turn back to the light.
"Hey, it's fine. I'm not gonna hurt you. It's not human to kill for no reason" I lift a finger.
"G-Get away from me, hybrid".
"Look, there are two creeper hybrids here. You aren't afraid of them. Are Ender hybrids the ones you're worrying about?" I put my hands on my hips. "Trust me, don't believe in what Crash said. She may not be your problem. And that might be true. But to be honest, I'm not your worst problem. Things are happening, and happening quickly".
Aqua seems to consider. She stops turning her head from me, but she still covers her eye. I continue.
"You and your brother were great guys back then. What happened?" I ask in a smooth calming tone, as if I were hypnotising her instead. "Revenge got to you. After those guys came and bullied you, it came and infected your brains. It's a power that's incredibly hard to resist. I know that from my own experiences. But instead of embracing it, I fight that power until I move on to the next thing. Even now, those experiences still come back to haunt me. And I'm a derpin' Ender hybrid, and endermen are supposed to feel that power every day. So if I can resist it, that means you can".
"Crash told you about the incident, didn't she" Aqua says, a bit firmly at first, but she sighs. "They hurt us. Our lives were taken away, and you're telling me to not defend myself?"
"Well, not really the whole thing" I shrug. "Listen, they may have ruined everything, but don't take a grudge. There are very evil people in this world, and you need to accept that, not become one of them. Be grateful for everything. Anyway, Crash and Hack saved your lives, the noobs are dead now. No need to start tryin' to avenge yourself when you've already been avenged".
I put my hand on Aqua's shoulder. She doesn't react. Slowly, she removes her arms from her face, and looks at me. She doesn't try to hypnotise me. I smile.
"Power is not having control over everyone. Power is being able to resist power" I say, as I shake hands with Aqua.
Aqua actually smiles back. Not the evil smile she makes when being overconfident, but one that a friend would give to another friend.
"Do you always give pep-talks like that? Because if you do, you could make one of those tapes that help you think positive and succeed in life. I'd definitely recommend you" Aqua asks.
"Uh, no. That was the first lecture I ever gave someone in a long while. And my other ones were pretty 'uninspiring'" I shake my head.
Aqua surveys the area around her. I was so engrossed in Crash and Aqua's conversation that I didn't notice a bit of blood was spilled before everyone was calm again. Alex is pouring an awkward potion on her arm in attempt to heal it. Creep is trying to help Cheese, who is on the ground, grasping his leg. Cheeslings struggle to find a bandage. Some of our unconcious team have a few injuries. I only realise now that I've been inflicted with a slowness potion. I drink milk to counter the slowness.
"I've been a big stack of rotten flesh for too many years, haven't I? This really sucks. And I just remembered I have a small fear of corpses" Aqua pulls out a handball (or handcube) and starts bouncing it around for a while, then she looks at me. "You and Crash told me things were gonna happen. What kinds of things?"
"Well, you were given really strange orders, weren't you? Something about killing most of you, and leaving some behind. I don't know, many speculations have been going around on who lives and who dies" I glare at the author of the story, who gives me a sheepish grin (yeah, I'm taking most credit for being so unclear with the deal of the mysterious leader. Sorry about that). "Apparently, Crash was stalking the guy who made the deal. This person could actually absorb the powers, strengths and abilities of other people. And then they said that once you guys finished the deal, doing all the hard work for them, he or she would take out your skills. All of them. So then they could be able to create things and not take damage from swords and mind control people. That's why Crash turned on you, and why we're here now".
Aqua sighs, then claps her hands once. There's a small high-pitched sound, and then silence.
And everyone wakes up.
Crash is the first one. She stands and walks towards me. I tell her about the truce we made, and she nods. In fact, they high-five each other and do some sort of handshake. Then the other stir, at first slowly but eventually everyone is up, arguing and chatting. That's when everyone notices us.
Icy is the first to move. Well, try to move. But either the bruises on her legs are fatal or maybe coming out of hypnosis makes you numb, because she's moving slowly. Steve is holding his head. I pull out a regeneration potion and throw it at the entire crowd. All injuries begin to heal. Thank Notch.
But then I hear wands, bowstrings and swords being taken out. Of course. They still think Aqua's rogue. I pull up my hands to stop everyone. Everyone stops. Crash and I explain everything, but it's mainly me doing the talking. I almost end up saying my lecture twice. I should save it for later. Eventually, Piper goes up to Aqua.
"Hypnosis, huh? Cool, making people act like chickens in a party or something similar".
Everyone exchanges a few words with each other, and then Alex and I introduce the others to Cheese and Creep. After that, we all just stand in silence.
"So, what do we do now?" Edwin asks. "Go to the Nether and have a snack with a bunch of pigmen?"
"That's exactly what you have to do".
We turn our heads to the new voice. But I already know who it is before we can even look.
"Hello, Misty! What the Derp are you doing here and how did you even know about us?" I ask, surprised.
Also an Ender, part of the royal family tree in the End, Misty is pretty OP. I learned that the hard way.
"No time to explain. I'll do it later, but the important thing is to get your butts out of here!" Misty shouts. "I think I saw some guys coming this way right now. I have no idea who the Nether they are, but all I know is that-"
"We're in danger again, I know, we are always in danger everyday" Edwin rolls his eyes. "But let's get out of here, I'm getting waterlogged".
Without any more hesitation or complaining, we swim to open sea, and surface. Misty was right. I can see a speedboat coming this way, just in the distance. Two familiar figures are riding it.
"Let's go" I say.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
Brooke's POV: They did not know. They didn't know at all that I was watching them in that underwater temple. Every move they made was noticed by me. I could hear every single voice, sound, and wail of pain. Things had gotten interesting, like the climax in a movie. I watch as they all board the back of the Ender mistress' dragon and fly away. I hear the splashing of a boat, getting nearer and nearer. The two bounty hunters. Coming to find something no longer there. I think about the battle. The others, both good or bad, were nothing. Worthless and weak. But nevertheless, I must pick out the important ones. And I have already done that. All I need to do now is wait to make the next move.
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
YAAAAAY A NEW CHAPTER!
So, there you go! So we've got another bad guy gone good, and another OC has entered the fanfic! Fast Fact: The one who gave me the OC isn't from FanFiction, she's from Wattpad. Anyway! Happy Holidays guys! Have a happy holiday!
Keep Calm and Mine On!