Okay, here you go guys. From me to you. Despite being so tired from having a root canal and crown done.
Chapter Two: Ten Years Later
She opened her eyes to a pit black darkness all around her, it was cold and dreary place. Groaning and letting her eyes adjust to the darkness. It wasn't total darkness, but enough darkness to make it seem like you were walking in an abyss that went on forever and ever. Above her she could see small twinkling lights in different shades of purple to near black, though they seemed to be far away and out of reach. "Stars? Those don't look like any stars I've seen…"
It took her a moment to realize she was laying on the cold ground and she sat up. All around here there was a purple haze of fog, and the ground a strange form of black rock which looked a lot like obsidian, the same twinkling lights of purple was also scattered across the ground. She stood up and took a few steps forward dusting off her armor. "Armor? When did I get armor?" She said bewildered. Glancing around and seeing nothing. It was, quiet… too quiet for her liking.
"Axel?! Olivia?! Reuben!?" She called out her friend's names one by one, taking a few steps forward. Her words echoing around her as if she were in a cavern before they were swallowed whole by the darkness.
A metallic sound caused her to take a step back and look down at her feet. A blinding glow of white bluish light made her squint and bring up her hand to shield her eyes from the sudden glare. Squinting against the light she took a closer look as the light began to dim to a soft glow.
A sword in its scabbard laid at her feet, the faint light coming off it pulsating like a heartbeat. She could feel her own heartbeat beat. She stared fixated for a moment before she reached down and picked it up. As soon as she touched it the light faded leaving her in darkness once more.
Suddenly a loud squeal of terror sounded from the darkness. She gasped as if recognizing the sound. "Reuben?! Is that you buddy?!" The squealing continued and her pounded faster in her chest, not like the calm relaxing pulse that her heart mimic before she touched the pulsating sword. Throwing caution to the wind she started running through the darkness, still gripping the sword in her hand, bumping into things she couldn't quite make out. "Reuben! Reuben! Where are you?!"
The ground began to shake and she stumbled forward falling to the ground and dropping the sword. The air rushed out of her lungs upon impact with the ground. A roar like noise filled the darkness making her blood run cold and the hair on the back of her neck to rise with vise like grip of fear. The squealing grew louder before it was cut off abruptly. "Reuben?!" She gasped through her teeth before crawling forward and getting to her feet clumsily.
The ground continued to shake and another roar filled the air. Another noise follow. A noise she couldn't quite make out, let alone identify. Pulling the sword up protectively, her breathing labored she turned around abruptly, looking around frantically at each new noise. Something was coming toward her, apprehension and fear making her break out in a cold sweat.
A red light suddenly began to fill the darkness slowly. A figure within the middle of it, casting a long shadow on her. She couldn't quite make out the figure, but it almost seemed familiar to her. There was a snort like sound, making her step forward lowering the scabbard sword. She squinted her eyes desperately trying to make out the figure. "R…Reuben?"
The figure grew in shape before moving forward quickly, letting out a loud roar as it bore down on top of her. She didn't have time to react let alone protect herself. The last thing she saw was white sharp teeth before she was slammed into the chest…
"AHHHHHHH!" Jessica woke up with a start clutching her chest in pain. A loud squeal and thud filled her ears as she gasped for breath. Cold sweat running down from her forehead to her chin before it dripped down onto her blanket. She stared wide eyed at her patched work blanket, her vision coming in and out of focus. "It... it was just a dream." She said to herself as she slowly calmed down. Falling back down onto her soft fluffy pillows she brought her hand up to rest against her forehead. "More like a nightmare."
Her heart was beating erratically against her chest, the pain slowly fading. She felt the mattress sink near her feet, as he bed suddenly moved, the bedframe creaking slightly. Something cold and wet touched her hand causing her to take her hand away from her head and look at her other hand.
A small pink snout attached to a friendly face greeted her with a snort and grunt, before nudging her cheek. Jessica smiled as she lifted her hand and pet the micro pig behind the ears. "Good morning to you too, Reuben." Reuben let out a happy oink before backing up and jumping around her bed and jumping to the floor.
A knock sounded at her bedroom door and a muffled voice came through. "Jessica, are you okay? I thought I heard a yell." It was her dad checking up on her. He was such a worry wort. "Well, in any case, you should come downstairs." He said after hearing no response.
"Alright. Alright I'm getting up." She groaned as she sat up yet again, feeling much better than she did a few moments ago. She looked around her room. Her room wasn't entirely big nor was it entirely small. The walls were painted a teal gray, not her favorite color, but calming none the less. The teal gray went in contrast to the white molding that when around the wall of her room, and the sky blue, of her curtains on windows and her patch work quilt. Sky blue was her favorite color. She had four doorways in her room. One of them was to come and go from her room to the rest of the house. While the other two lead into a closet and out onto a balcony that over looked the town of Aureum and then finally her bathroom. She didn't have much furnishing in her room, a hope chest at the end of her bed, a mirror, a queen size bed, a dresser and a nightstand, all made from the same type of wood with a cherry finish. Posters of her favorite hero; Gabriel the Warrior covered the walls along with other posters such as past Endercon events.
Sunlight streamed in through her windows brightly as the rays came out from behind a cloud. "How long have I've been asleep?" She mumbled. She looked at her nightstand, which had a lamp and clock on top of it, peering at the time. "Oh. My. GOD! I'm going to be late!" She yelled kicking off the covers and running to her dresser. There was a loud squeal as she tripped over Reuben and slammed into the corner of her dresser. The edge digging painfully in her ribs, she doubled over in pain. "Ow. I'm sorry Reuben." There a snort as Reuben got up and shook himself before walking over to the door, using one of his hoofed feet to scratch at it.
"Okay, okay. Give me a minute, I'm running late! I need to get dressed I can't go to work like this!" She blindly grabbed her work uniform as she took off her pajamas throwing them to the side. Her work uniform was a gray buttoned blouse with a plaid black and gray skirt that went down to just above her knees. A black tie to go around the collar of her blouse. A wooden sword with leather gauntlets and black gloves were the accesories. It wasn't her idea of a uniform, but because of work she had to wear it.
She quickly got dressed, not having the time to shower she grabbed a fist full of her long reddish brown hair and a hair tie off her dresser to put her hair into a messy bun. She stepped in front of the long mirror in the corner adjusting the tie. Her clothes were wrinkled and the color of her gray shirt made her pale white skin look a sickly color and her green eyes sunken as if she had bags under her eyes. Overall she didn't look all that appealing despite that her work uniform was also baggy. Curtesy of her work not having her actual size and she had to go with a bigger size in clothes. The only thing that seemed fitting was the gloves, gauntlets and the sword. The wooden sword went behind her back. It had an iron leathered handle even though it was wooden when placed in the scabbard it was supposed to give the illusion of it being an actual iron sword. In other words it was a prop.
Jessica bit her lip at seeing her reflection, running her hand down her uniform to try to get some of the wrinkles out, but only causing more wrinkles. Sighing with frustration she patted her skirt more time before turning away from the mirror. "Whatever." She said, heading to her door quickly and opened it.
Reuben immediately squeezed between her legs as they both exited her room. He squealed joyfully down the hallway. Being in a hurry, Jessica went down the stairs as fast as she could jumping the last few steps. The air felt hot and smelled good as the stair way lead into the kitchen, her father had cooked breakfast and had set it on the table. Her stomach growled. Reuben was in the corner of the kitchen happily eating his breakfast out of a bowl.
Hearing a thump from her jump down the stairs her father turned around and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "In a hurry?" he asked as he sat down at the table. Her father hadn't changed much in the ten years that they lived in the house, he still was broad shoulder and leaned with muscles, though the only bit of difference was the speckle of gray in his hair and stubble beard. Gosh, has it been ten years already? She thought to herself.
"Yeah, Dad, I'm going to be late!" She replied as she quickly moved past the table ignoring the temptation to sit and eat.
"But don't you want breakfast? It really good." Her father said with a smile as he took a bite out of a sunny side up egg.
Watching her dad take a bite her stomach growled again. She shuffled on her feet anxiously before walking over to the table and grabbing some toast and put it in her mouth. "Phats hust een." She said with her mouthful before turning and rushing down out the door.
"Hey, wait…" Her father called out.
The front door closed cutting off her father's sentence as she broke out into a run toward Aureum's main street. Horse drawn carts went up and down the cobbled stone streets, carrying passengers or supplies to many store fronts. Crowds of people walked along the sidewalks. Running and weaving through the crowds she made her way to the bustling center of town.
The town center was extravagant with tall buildings that lined each side of the road. Hotels, high end shops, cafés, the courthouse and the library; the usual places where most people gathered when they would want to go around the town. Looking both ways and making a quick judgement she ran across the busy street to one of the cafés. A café called: Café Legends. It was a café dedicated to the heroes who defeated the Ender Dragon; Gabriel the Warrior, Magnus the Rogue, Soren the Architect, and Ellegaard the Redstone Engineer.
It had opened some few years back when Jessica had just turned fifteen, becoming instantly a popular hangout for the younger generation of her age group. That was just three years ago. It had gradually expanded from a small café to a larger one as popularity increased its prestige. It had an outdoor seating area that she passed on her way into the café.
The door jingled as she entered, it was quickly drowned out by the beat of music coming from the surround speakers all throughout the café.
…"It could be wood or mossy cobblestone! What was the recipe, I just don't know! I'm all alone…Asking! How do I craft this again?" …
Jessica smiled as she heard one of her favorite songs being played. She hummed along to the music as she made her way to the back of the café where the food would be picked up and sent to the different tables. She grabbed her punch card and punched in her time to start her shift with a minute to spare. She sighed with relief.
"Cutting it a bit close there, eh Jessica?" A familiar voice said behind her. She grinned reluctantly as she turned around to see one of her best friends, Olivia.
"Yeah… I kind of overslept this morning. But I made it here on time!"
"Barely." Olivia stated, as she grabbed a plate that had piece of cake on it. "You better not let Mrs. Porter see you walking in almost late, you're already on her bad list." Olivia wore the same work uniform as Jessica did, but it was more fitting for her as the clothes actually fit her friend and wasn't as baggy.
"I know. I know, let's just keep this between us!" Jessica whispered between her teeth.
"You got it. But tables four and eight need cleared and wiped down. And I think thirteen as well." Olivia stated with a smile before turning to take the plate of cake to a table.
Jessica grabbed a black tubbed and headed to the tables, putting the dishes into it carefully. She wiped down each table, making sure everything was spotless before returning the dirty dishes to the kitchen. An hour and a half passed by as she waited tables, cleared them off, sat new customers down, and worked the register. She hummed to the music playing in the background whenever one of her favorite songs came out.
"Oh, man. That kid at table seven is just made a huge mess, I swear I hate it when people bring birthday parties here." Olivia came up beside Jessica, causing Jessica to quit humming to acknowledge her friend.
"It could be worse. It could be a zombie birthday party." She jokingly said to her friend, as she watched her friend set a black tub of dirty dishes down on the counter.
"Oh, God. Don't even say that, I don't even want to think about the mess. Let alone the terror I would be in, I'd be more worried being their dinner than their waitress." Olivia looked at Jessica with her brown eyes. They both broke out in a smile at their weirdness.
"Here, I'll help you clean it up." Jessica said as she grabbed a spray bottle and a clean towel. She and Olivia both walked together toward table number seven.
"Speaking of zombies," There was a thoughtful and all too knowing look on Olivia's face. "Would you rather fight a hundred chicken-size zombies, or ten zombie-size chickens?"
"Oh…. That's a tough one." Jessica said as she bent over the table spraying it down with a cleaner before wiping it.
"Just to be perfectly clear, though. You wouldn't have any weapons or armor." Olivia said seriously.
Jessica was about to reply to her friend when she heard a very angry and stern voice come from behind her.
"Jessica!"
"Uh, oh." Olivia whispered somewhat horror stricken.
Jessica inwardly groaned at the voice and turned toward it, plastering a smile on her face. "Yes Mrs. Porter?" Mrs. Porter was a middle-age woman who seemed to be in her early fifties. She wore tight expensive clothing and wore a lot of makeup and jewelry. As she walked toward Jessica angrily with a look of deep disgust on her face as she lifted her hand which was holding…Reuben?!
Mrs. Porter stopped right in front of Jessica and dangled Reuben in front of her face by the scruff. Reuben gave a pitiful squeal and tried to jiggle around to get out of the firm grip that was holding him captive. "Care to explain why this, thing, is doing within my establishment?"
Jessica was astonished to see Reuben. "I… didn't…"
"I thought I told you the first time that if he came in my establishment again, there would be repercussions." Mrs. Porter continued angrily, shoving Reuben into Jessica's arm making her drop the towel she was holding.
Holding Reuben somewhat protectively, Jessica stood up straight fighting with her composure she looked straight at Mrs. Porter. "I'm sooo, sorry, Mrs. Porter. I didn't realize that he followed me here. I'll make sure it never happens again."
"Make sure that it doesn't." Mrs. Porter was turning away before stopping to look back at Jessica, her eyes flashing as she just realized and remember something important. "Also there a group, coming in soon. They called in for a reservation. You can provide the afternoon entertainment before you end your shift. But first off take care of that thing." She said before leaving.
"Oh man, I can't believe Reuben came here not after last time." Olivia stated as soon as Mrs. Porter went out hearing range.
Jessica sighed and looked down at Reuben, who was looking up at her with big round brown eyes. She couldn't be mad at him even if she wanted to, after all last time he was here it involved much more of a mess, an angry boss and a broom being beaten down at Reuben as if he were a rat as he ran through the café.
"I would choose the zombie-size chickens." She turned as she replied to Olivia's previous question before they were interrupted. "Not because I want to or because I think it would be easy, but because they would be an abomination." She thought of Mrs. Porter in a chicken suit when she said an abomination.
Olivia giggled to herself before grabbing everything and moving away from the table. "Imagine their giant feet."
"Like I said… an abomination. It's about lunch break now, let's take Reuben out back before I get into even more trouble."
It only took a few minutes to finish up what they were doing, Olivia mostly finishing up as Jessica held Reuben tightly to her so he wouldn't go off and get into trouble again. They pushed open the door that lead into the kitchens, dodging the people in there as they made their way to the back door. The backdoor of the kitchen lead to a spacious back alley where they both sat down on a crate.
"Reuben… what were you thinking coming here, you know you're not supposed to." Jessica said as she places Reuben down beside her, petting between his ears. For a micro pig Reuben seemed to cause trouble a lot, but that didn't stop her from loving her pet pig, which was more like a best friend to her than anything else. Reuben let out a snort and an oink as his reply, pinning his ears back; as if he were saying he was sorry.
Olivia looked between Jessica and Reuben and sighed. "So, back at the tree house I put a daylight sensor at the top of the tree, the other day, connecting redstone wires to it and leading them down to the lamps inside. If I did it right, the lamps should automatically turn on whenever it gets dark."
The tree house. Jessica smiled to herself and thought back. The tree house was the first thing Olivia, Axel and herself had built as a team when they were younger, along with the help of Reuben of course. They had decided it on a whim, when they were inspired by the Endercon one year. With much trial and error they manage to make a pretty good sturdy treehouse within the confines of a dark oak tree. The oak tree was tall and sturdy so they weren't worried about it collapsing any time soon. The dark oak tree was also surrounded by other oak trees giving it an ideal places for extensions if they wanted. Which they were doing slowly, little by little at a time. It was their plan to extend it to make it a good living area that way all three of them, including Reuben, could live together as roommates not having to rely on their parents anymore for room and board. And everything was environment friendly so they wouldn't have to worry about paying bills on utilities. One of the perks when you had a friends such as Olivia and Axel who liked to invent things, well mostly Olivia when it came to useful everyday objects.
Jessica couldn't wait to get out on her own, but then a small frown came to her face. What would dad say though… It was a painful thought, she had yet to tell her father that she had plans of moving out, in fact every time she was going to bring it up him. She couldn't do it, she felt guilty. She would be leaving him alone, with nothing but an empty house to himself, and Achilles their old horse. Her heart felt heavy.
"…. Leave Reuben there with nothing while we are at Endercon's building competition." Olivia's words drew her out of depressing thoughts.
"Wait, what?" She said blankly.
"You weren't listening were you?" Olivia sighed. "I said I didn't want to leave Reuben at the tree house with nothing while…"
"Um… he coming with us." She interrupted Olivia.
"Are you serious?" Olivia asked with somewhat disbelieve etched on her face.
Jessica scowled somewhat defensively for Reuben she crossed her arms. "What kind of question is that? Of course he is, he does so every year. It not going to change, unless they banned animals from the convention."
"Okay, I'm not saying that he shouldn't come." Olivia began. Jessica raised her eyebrow as if urging Olivia to continue. "Really, Jessica, I'm not! It's just… don't you think it's weird that you take him with you everywhere you go? I mean look at him..."
They both looked down at Reuben who was snorting and playfully jumping around, following what looked to be a cricket. "He kind of makes us look like amateurs." Olivia finished off. Reuben looked up a squealed as he came back toward them walking up to Jessica and butting his head against her leg.
"He's my wingman. People always want to talk to the girl with the pig." Jessica said jokingly.
Olivia shook her head not buying into the humor. "You mean talk about the girl with the pig," She put strain on the sentence as if getting a point across. "Like. 'Hey it's that girl with the trouble making pig. I wonder...'" Olivia stopped herself as she saw the look on Jessica's face. It was a look of somewhat sadness mixed with loneliness. Olivia knew her best friend well as if reading the pages of a book. She knew perfectly well that since Jessica came to Aureum that she didn't make any friends besides Axel, Reuben and herself. She began to feel bad for what she had said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it. I'm glad he's coming."
Jessica looked up at her longtime friend. "What the matter Olivia. Something eating at you. I can see it."
Olivia got up from her crate seat and threw arms up in the air and began to pace around in the alleyway. Reuben decided to take her seat and lay down. "I just down want to give people one more reason to call us 'losers'! I'm getting tired of it! I'm tired of being a laughingstock! I know Reuben is not to blame but a lot of the time he cause trouble for us and it the talk of the whole town."
Jessica got up and walked over to Olivia, placing a hand on her should reassuringly to calm her friend down. "Who cares what other people think or say? The only thing you should notice is those people who know you, and know that you're a better person than what the town's people think."
Olivia stared at Jessica's determined face and couldn't help but give a weak smile. "Okay, I know you right. It… It just wear you down sometimes. Does it ever wear you down?"
"Sometimes, but then I remember what my mother would of said. 'Always smile no matter what you're going through'. My dad quotes her from time to time as well, just so he doesn't see me down."
"Okay, thanks Jessica. I'm starting to feel a bit better."
"No problem, what are friends for?"
They both smiled at each other. Their smiles quickly faded when they heard a strange hissing sound. Jessica heart skipped a beat as the blood in her veins felt as if it ran cold. The hissing sound continued as both she and Olivia looked around the alley. Reuben squealed softly and moved off the crate and moved behind Jessica.
"Do you hear that?" Jessica breathed softly through her teeth, reaching up with her hand to grab the hilt of the wooden sword that the café used as a prop for all their employees.
"Oh, no. Is it a creeper?" Olivia said in a small voice.
Aureum wasn't known for having monsters within its city. On occasion there was a rare spider or two, but other than that the monsters usually stayed outside the town's walls making the town a safe haven for the people who lived within. The wall defense's and watch guards usually took care of the monster that got to close. Jessica would know since her father worked as a town watch guard. A creeper would be a big problem with in the town, especially if it got out into the open into a crowd of people. It would be disastrous.
Jessica took out her sword instinctively placing out her arm and pulling Olivia behind her, pushing her toward the doorway to the café's kitchen. The sword was light in her hand and felt like it was an extension of her arm. Her father had trained her to fight not long after they moved to Aureum, Jessica was pretty sure her father made sure she knew how to defend herself so nothing like what happened to her mother would happen to her. In which she was grateful for, if something were to happen to her and her friends, well she would defend them with her life, or die trying.
They slowly backed away toward the door. Her eyes moving left and right as the hissing noise began to get louder, they were almost at the door when a blur of green shot forward and all a sudden a creeper's face was within inches of her face.
"BOOM!"
Both Olivia and Jessica screamed, closing their eyes in fright and almost toppled over each other. Reuben let out a high pitch squeal.
Male laughter filled the air and Jessica open her eyes to see, Axel taking off a creeper mask. He was doubling over with laughter over his prank. "Oh, man!" He chuckled clutching his side as he continued to laugh. "You guys totally freaked out! That was awe-". Axel didn't get to finish what he was going say when Reuben squeal angrily and rushed and jumped at Axel butting his head into his crotch.
Axel doubled over as his face contorted with pain as he moved his hand to clutch his crotch. Olivia glared at Axel furiously. "Axel! What the fuck is wrong with you?!"
Axel looked at Reuben as he slowly looked up. "Great, now I'm going to smell like a pig. I thought we were buddies." He said pouting.
"God dammit, Axel! That wasn't funny, I have half a mind to hit you with my sword!" Jessica said furiously now that the fear ebbed away. She put her wooden sword into the leather scabbard on her back.
Axel brushed himself off and crossed his arms to look intimidatingly down at the two small females, who were his friends. Axel was no longer big and round as when Jessica had first met him. Over the years he grew taller than she could ever think a person could grow, he was even taller than her dad. His broad shoulders and muscles were the results of working out on his family's farm. Though his tall bulky build made him clumsy more than anything. He was currently wearing the same type of work uniform she and Olivia was wearing. He also had a pack on his back. "I brought you good times, and now I'm being punished for it?" He said incredulously.
"You scared us have to death!" Jessica glared and turned away bending down to Reuben and giving him a reassuring pet behind his soft piggy ears.
'I'm sorry, but hey thank for not hitting me with your sword." Axel said with a smile.
There was a moment of an awkward silence before Olivia turned to Axel. "Have you been making your fireworks for Endercon, or have you been fooling around?" She asked pointing toward the creeper mask in his hand.
"Hey, I was just in town buying supplies while I was on break. Give me some credit Olivia." Axel said defensively.
"I don't know if I can, we are building a fireworks dispenser after all. It was your idea, I've already smelted the redstone dust I bought the other day and made them into redstone wires; I had plenty to spare that I took the time to set up the daylight sensor we bought a few weeks ago." Olivia said crossing her arms. "Endercon is just three days away, are you sure you going to have the fireworks ready?"
"Yes, Olivia. My shift ends in an hour I'll be going straight home to start working on it. Don't be so nagging." Axel stated as he took his pack of his back and rummaged through it.
Jessica rolled her eyes, it was just like her friends to start an argument. But it was always a friendly rivalry argument, nothing too serious. She'd gotten used to this over the years.
Axel smiled broadly as he took out a purple and black fabric out of his pack. "Come here Reuben." He motioned to the pig. Reuben came over somewhat reluctantly before Axel picked him up and put the fabric on Reuben. It turned out be a costume. An Ender Dragon costume. Reuben looked around, his small eyes peeking out of the mouth of the Ender Dragon mask, he squealed happily and began to run around playfully jumping making the wings flap and look like he was flying.
Olivia scoffed. "You brought Reuben a disguise?"
"Hey, were going to a convention in few days. Somebody has to wear a costume. It took me a few hour to make it."
Jessica laughed at seeing Reuben. "As long as Reuben is happy, I'm happy. And besides nothing more dangerous than taking something off a pig after you put it on him."
Olivia turned to Jessica and pointed at Reuben who was still playing around. "See… Now he's your wingman." She said with a smile bringing up the joke Jessica said earlier.
Jessica rolled her eyes. "Shut up." She said jokingly punching Olivia's upperarm.
Axel looked up and down the alleyway looking to see if there was anybody else before he leaned forward to his friends "I heard a pretty juicy rumor about the building competition. But you guys have to promise not to say anything."
Olivia raised her eyebrow tilting her to the side and crossing her arms. She tapped her foot still somewhat annoyed with Axel, but intrigued with what he had to say. "Okay."
Jessica was intrigued as well and she strained to hear what Axel had to say. Axel leaned backed and rubbed his jaw in thought for a moment, as if he was trying to remember something. He was dragging out making them feel impatient.
"The Endercon is in two parts, each part more exciting than the last." He said with a snap of his fingers as if he just remembered.
"JUST SPIT IT OUT!" Both Jessica and Olivia yelled with some impatience. Reuben snorted and bumped his head against Axel's shin.
Axel laughed. "Okay. Okay… Part one. The special at this year's Endercon is none other than Gabriel the Warrior him-freaking self!" He said excitedly.
Jessica stared wide eyes at Axel her heart began to beat fast. "Woah! NO WAY! What is part two?!"
"Part two." Axel began as if bragging. "According to my sources. The winner of this year's Endercon building competition is going to meet him!"
If her heart was beating excitedly before it wouldn't compared to how fast her heart was beating at Axel's words. I have the possibility of meeting Gabriel?! Well that is if we win. "Meeting Gabriel…" Jessica began somewhat shocked. "Meeting him would be a dream come true and an honor."
Olivia gestured with her arms excitedly. "Totally! He's awesome. It'd be amazing to see him!"
Reuben gave out deep squeal as he jumped around; he was pretending to roar like a dragon. Axel chuckled at Reuben's playful mood. "Reuben better be careful in that costume. The last time Gabriel saw a dragon, it didn't End well. Get it End well?"
Olivia and Jessica sighed and shook their heads at Axel's bad pun. "So…" Olivia smiled mischievously as she pointed beyond Axel to the building across the Alley, posters were all up and down the wall of the building. "Does this sources of your make posters for a living?" She teased.
Axel blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "Uh… my source doesn't exist. You guys are my only friends."
Jessica shook her head again. "Come on guys, let's focus here. The competition is three days away. We should focus on winning it. This chance to meet Gabriel we can't let this go without a fight!" She said with determination.
Olivia sat back down on the crate she was sitting on before looking somewhat down. The humor and smile fading from her face. "But. We never win. And this year we've got Reuben with us, again." She pointed toward Reuben. "Remember the last time he was with us? And the time before that? We have no chance at winning."
"Have some faith Olivia, anything can happen!" Jessica put in.
"Then why have we lost nine of these in a row?!"
Jessica thought back to the following years of Endercon, for the last nine years all four of them had entered the Endercon building competition. Each year turning out to be a disaster, when one thing or another ended up not working correctly. Most of them was Reuben's doing as he got into something, making their plans fall into total ruin. Last year they had tried to build a TNT canon when Reuben decided to move forward and brushed up against a button that prematurely set off their build. Olivia, Axel and herself has manage to dodge out of the way of the explosion. But Reuben ended up flying into the air and landing into the next building group's area spooking their horses and causing a stampede. Jessica shuddered at the memory. She refused to even think about the other past years.
"Olivia…You can't." She began to say shaking her head. "You can't just look at the past years as a whole. The odds of winning are refreshed each year. We have the same chance to win as we did last year."
"Yeah… which is a zero." Olivia stated optimistically.
Jessica hated it when Olivia decided to be all depressed and self-pity herself. It was kind of depressing for everyone. She refused to give up though. She looked around and stared at the posters along the wall. Her eyes caught on to a poster of a statue, then and idea struck in her mind. "Wait a minute!" She turned to Olivia and Axel excitedly. "We're thinking about this all wrong!"
Axel and Olivia looked at her with confusion on their faces. Jessica ignored their questionable faces as she continued. "The point of the building competition isn't just to build something, like we thought and have done in the past. You have to do something a get noticed by the judges."
"Okay… how do we do that though?" Olivia asked.
"We don't just build something functional. We build something fun." Jessica said enthusiastically. "After we build the fireworks machine like we planned—the we can build something around and on top of it to make it look cool."
Axel looked at the posters that Jessica was looking at and caught on to her idea. "If we want a reaction out of the judges, you build something scary. So I say we should build a creeper."
Olivia who was listening intently looked up at Axel. "A creeper? Why not an enderman? Wouldn't that be better? I'm more scared of endermen than creepers."
Axel tilted his head to the side in thought. "They both have their moments. And both are pretty scary."
Olivia nodded in agreement. For once they were agreeing on something even though it was small. "Then again…" She said reluctantly. "You did scare the crap out of us with that creeper mask."
A creeper built around the fireworks machine did sound like a good idea to Jessica. "Alright let's go with building a creeper. The fireworks will make it look like its exploding."
Olivia who was perking up slowly and getting out her temporary depression was actually finally becoming enthusiastic about the competition. "I think this is the first time we decided on building something before we get to the competition. What are we going to make the creeper out of?"
"Well Axel parents own a farm. I wondering if we could shear the sheep and use their wool as a base. We only got three days so, there won't be enough time to make anything else. We can use dye I have at home to color the wool, and we can make support beams with poles and sticks. And stone. That is if it's alright with Axel's parents." Jessica said in thought.
"I'm pretty sure they won't mind." Axel said bluntly.
They smiled at each other their plan coming into focus as things fell into place. Three days until the Endercon. Three days to get everything ready. In three days they had the possibility to win and meet Gabriel. Things finally started to look up for the three of them.
"Come on guys, it time to get back to work." Olivia stated breaking the moment and causing Jessica to groan.
*takes a deep breath* Time for a long author's note. This chapter took longer due to my pain medicine…
Hey guys. I would like to thank you in advance for reading my story and making it through chapter two. Have any questions feel free to ask. Or better yet leave a review! Oh and if you haven't guessed, I reserve the right to make any changes to fit my story. SO just to clarify on things:
Jesse in the game is name Jessica in my story.
Jessica is now eighteen years old. Making Olivia and Axel around the same age. Axel at least nineteen. Olivia eighteen.
Reuben is a micro pig, so he the size of a small terroir dog. He's a milk pink color with a black patch on his back and his right ear is also black in color while his other ear is the same milk pink color. He a micro pig because in Minecraft Story Mode it looked like he was a smaller pig than normal. Plus I wanted to make him unique.
You will also notice that, since I'm trying to make the story realistic as possible, there will be a few changes in the Minecraft universe. For example redstone wires instead of using redstone dust, there is redstone dust but I figured it would be easier and less messy to melt the dust and make wires out of the liquid. Like imagine all that dust around like sand that could be blown around by the wind or tread on and then all of a sudden it all over the place, thus again the wire idea and anything else explained in the story.
Hopefully this clarifies a few things and questions.
Oh and the song in this chapter was how do I craft this again. It a Minecraft parody song that can be found on youtube, I thought it was funny...
TwdgFangirl34 – I would like to thank you for the nice review on chapter one. I was worried that people wouldn't like the ideas I had for it. Yeah I was surprised myself that it was 5,000 words long. I think I've made a longer chapter before, but chapter one of this story felt like it took forever! Though it would have been longer if my sleepy brain didn't like say; "Hey Akkiarn, it's time for bed… sleep... SLEEEEEEEEEP!" So it was rushed in the end. I might go back at a later date to tweak it. And I hope that I can make the rest of the chapters throughout my intake of Minecraft Story Mode just as long, but I hope that won't make it boring.
HighTEC (Guest) Thank you for the review I'm glad you like the chapter. And I do plan on writing more.
Tootsie-Loo! Haha. Indeed very much like Annie finding Sandy. I love that movie it one of my favorites. But moving on, I've updated so don't worry. And I plan on keeping it updated.
Kingdom Hearts Slayer Thank you for the review!
Chapter Three: Coming soon. …
But in the meantime… time for some pain killers and sleep. Getting a root canal and crown wasn't fun. Just be glad to know I made this chapter through pain and tears.
