Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except for the OC's I've created. All OC's belong to their respective creators.
A/N: Hey everyone! Well, the fifth chapter is finally out…sorry it took so long. I had some stuff to deal with. Plus, a new game came out and I was having lots of fun with it! Anyway, I'll try to keep this from happening again, because I really do enjoy writing this! So please, enjoy the chapter!
-Jeff's Point of View-
"Why don't we just charge in? It worked the last time." DJ pointed out, leaning back on the couch. Currently, Josh, DJ and I were all seated in the living room, discussing how exactly we planned to assault the Nether later today. While we could have waited until later, we decided that we were as ready as we'd ever be and waiting around would get us nowhere.
Josh narrowed his eyes at DJ. "No need to be so careless. Now that we have time, we should move carefully and avoid combat as much as possible. That way, our supplies will still be plentiful by the time we get to the boss. We're not in a rush this time." Josh pointed out, reminding us of our rescuing of our friend yesterday.
Where was he, anyway?
I decided to voice my concern, "Hey, guys? Didn't Glenn say he was going to join us for planning before breakfast? Where is he?" At my question, both DJ and Josh swept their gazes around the room, confirming that no, Glenn was not here.
"Maybe he fell back asleep or something…" DJ suggested. It was plausible. After all, out of the three of us, I was the only one who had no trouble getting up early. My three compatriots, however, found it rather disagreeable.
I shrugged. "It's possible. I'll go get him." I announced, standing up.
"I'll join you." DJ offered, standing as well. Josh simply gave us a glance before going back to typing on his laptop. It seemed he opted to simply await our return. With that, both DJ and I set off for Glenn's room. Nearing the door, we didn't bother knocking, favoring the tried and true strategy of barging into a room unannounced.
"Hey Glenn, what…well." Both DJ and I stopped in our tracks, taking in the scene before us with a palpable amount of both confusion and surprise. Before us, Glenn was lying on his bed, as we had guessed. However, what we did not expect was the situation we found our friend in. Each of his limbs was tied to one of the four bed posts, disabling him from any sort of notable movement. What was more surprising was the fact Hanabi was sitting on top of him, a rather large and sharp knife gripped in one of her hands.
"Kinky." DJ stated, as I suppressed a laugh. That comment was all it took to send Glenn off the handle.
His face changed from fearful to pissed off in less than a second, glaring at DJ intensely as he spoke. "KINKY!? How can you say that in this situation!? I had just woken up, ready to go to the meeting before this PSYCHOPATH," Glenn angled his head toward the Girl resting atop his chest, "hit me with a full on tackle, tying me to the bed before I had even woken up fully! Then she pulled out a friggin' KNIFE!" A look of fear flashed across the prisoner's face before turning back into a mask of rage. "Help. Me." Glenn emphasized the words, directing a venomous glare in our direction. As hilarious as it was to see Glenn tied to his own bed with the white-haired girl straddling him, the knife did make me feel uneasy.
"Hanabi?" I got the Ghast girl's attention, as she shifted her gaze from Glenn to us for the first time since we entered the room. "Why do you have the knife?" That, to me, was really the only pertinent question. The fact she tied Glenn to the bed so she could be close to him didn't surprise me considering how taken she seemed to be with our friend, and I highly doubted she wanted to kill him.
Hanabi tilted her head to the side innocently, as if what she was doing was no more surprising than walking a dog. "Well, I overhead you all talking together, mentioning that some humans gained pleasure from pain." Hanabi began. "So I thought I would hit him with this," Hanabi gestured to the knife, "and find out whether or not it would please Glenn."
Silence reined for about a minute.
"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" Glenn broke the silence with a shout, thrashing about, attempting to break free from the bonds which held him in place. Hanabi didn't react in the slightest, simply staring at the distraught boy with a smile.
DJ and I traded glances, before I spoke to Hanabi once more. "Hanabi…none of us are masochists. So please, release Glenn so he can join us for planning." I requested. Hanabi pouted, but nonetheless cut Glenn's bonds. Without hesitation Glenn burst from the bed, running out of the room in record time. Shrugging, DJ and I filed out as well, Hanabi following but turning to go to the kitchen as we headed back to the living room.
"Something bothering you, Glenn?" Josh questioned the teen sitting across from him whom held a perturbed look on his face as we entered the room.
"…I don't want to talk about it." Glenn mumbled as both DJ and I took our seats around the table once more. Glenn shook his head, expression morphing from disturbed to serious. "So, what are we planning? Have you guys decided yet?"
Upon Glenn's question I shrugged, offering an answer myself. "To be honest, we were hoping you might have some ideas. We couldn't think of much, considering it all seems rather straightforward." I nodded to Josh, who then placed his laptop on the table and turning it so that we could all see the screen. "Josh uploaded the pictures I took on my phone to his laptop. We've highlighted different points of entry, but it doesn't look any different from a regular run-of-the-mill fortress. Aside from the sheer size and the dome structure obviously. With all the lava surrounding the fortress and the Ghasts and blazes, it seems like we may as well just charge in and carve our way through the enemies to the boss zone. Building cove or another bridge out of cobble would just make us prone to unnecessary risk, really." I finished my explanation, fixing Glenn with an expectant gaze.
Glenn merely shrugged after a few moments of scrutinizing the pictures. "I'm not the idea guy, that's your job. As far as a plan of attack goes, that seems to be our best and possibly only option. I'm in." Glenn confirmed his participation, leaning back in his seat.
"Then we're all in agreement." I concluded, taking a moment to glance at Josh and DJ, whom gave me nods in affirmation. "If you want, just kick back for now…it's a very real possibility that this will be the last time we're all around this table." I finished.
DJ smirked, "Come on! Don't underestimate us. We'll take this place down no problem! Just like how we beat Halo on legendary together."
Josh raised a single eyebrow. "This is a little different than Halo."
"Shut up!" DJ countered.
"This is the first boss." Glenn stated, "It would be insulting if any of us lost to that."
I smiled. "Yeah, I guess you guys are right." With that, all of us stood up from our various seats and split off to do our various tasks before we were thrust into Minecraft's virtual hell.
-Third Person Point of View-
It was a dark room.
There were no true lights, only odd inscriptions on the walls that cast an eerie, unsettling purple glow about the room. The room did have a window…it never took in the light of the sun, however. Instead, it received a similar light, the only difference being it came from an eternally still, blood encased moon that instead of a purple glow gave off a red one. It was brighter than that of the room's 'lights' but not by much. The blood seemed to then drop from the moon in long, thick streams, assumedly pooling somewhere far beyond the horizon. This nightmarish moon was the perfect backdrop for the man seated in a throne inside the dark room.
"They will go soon. The question remains of what we will do about it." Kel observed from his perch as his subordinates gathered in front of him. These individuals were far more important than that of the captives, the name given to the mindless, regular soldier currently at his disposal. No, these humans were similar to him. They had willingly joined Herobrine's side, thusly earning the privilege to keep their free will.
'Well, most of them…' Kel'Goroth thought to himself as he glanced at Garvin, whom was a unique case. He had his sane mind, yet was unwillingly serving Herobrine. This hardly mattered to Kel, so long as he was kept under control.
One of his subordinates, Ariana, spoke up. "Why? Someone is already moving to impede them. We don't have to do anything yet. The element of surprise is an important tool, you know." This was all said with her characteristic quiet, monotone voice. It was always hard to gauge how she felt about something.
Kel'Goroth paused at that. Other than their organization, he couldn't think of anyone who would act against other humans. It simply did not make sense. Of course, Ariana was a top-notch assassin, and with that skill came the perk of knowing quite a bit more information than one would expect. So if she said it was so, he had no reason to disbelieve her.
"Perhaps you would like to explain further, Ariana?" The leader of the group coerced, staring expectantly at the cloaked girl.
"There is another who wants to fight them. I don't know why…but regardless, he is building a portal after seeing the group. We can assume he wishes to confront them, as he decided not to make peaceful contact with them first." Ariana explained, still speaking with that monotone voice.
"I see. If that's the case, I will trust your judgment, for now." Kel glared at her, "But, I expect you to follow and observe them. Without being detected, of course. As you said, why reveal ourselves to this new group early? I take it the resistance has not gathered wind of this new group either?" Kel asked.
"They are unaware." Ariana confirmed.
"Good. Then go." Kel dismissed the assassin, watching as she disappeared from the dark room.
"They will not lose to you…"
Kel'Goroth turned to his unwilling cohort, Garvin, whom was glaring at him as always. "Garvin…of course they will. You say the same thing with every group, yet every time…they fail." His expression transformed to that of a sadistic smirk, one that caused Garvin to flinch back slightly.
"This time will be no different."
-Cupa's Point of View-
"Hey Josh! Whatcha doin'?" I asked as I stepped into the newly-constructed room the Josh had only recently created. "Wow! What's all this stuff?" I questioned as I ventured further into the room to find the person I was looking for hunched over a desk with an assortment of complicated tools surrounding him. His laptop was placed there as well, which appeared to have an assortment of applications running.
"Greetings, Cupa." Josh responded, turning to give me a nod of acknowledgement before returning to his work. "This is my personal, for lack of a more illustrative word, lab. To make it simple."
"What's a lab?" I had never heard a word like that before…
Josh paused for a moment. "Right…I forget you aren't familiar with such terms." He thought for a moment, "Alright, think about it like this. This is essentially a room to be used as an advanced workbench. You see, when we built modified weapons such as Glenn's sword, it got me thinking. If that's possible, then it seems we can build, theoretically, anything so long as we have the fundamental materials. If this works, I should be able to make things that would normally be impossible in the game." Josh explained, finally stopping what he was doing to turn and face me. "Get it?"
"Yeah, I see what you're saying. But if it's not in the game, how would you build it? Isn't that against the rules?" I asked.
"Normally. But I'm a hacker. Whether or not some flimsy rules get in the way is hardly a concern." Josh replied with a smirk, pushing his glasses up.
"So…whatcha' building now?" I asked while trying to look behind him.
He moved to the side slightly to allow me to see the vials of liquids he had created. "Nothing too complicated yet. I'm just experimenting with the brewery stand and making potions. Fortunately those blazes dropped some blaze rods I could use to do so. I figured we might need some useful potions for the battle we have to attend later today." He finished, frowning slightly at the mention of the coming Nether boss fight.
I noticed his contemplative look, "How do you feel about that?"
"About what?"
I rolled my eyes at his attempt at fake ignorance, "The Nether fight we're going to do." I specified.
Josh seemed to think about the question a moment before answering. "I'd say we have approximately an eighty-seven point six chance of winning judging by average difficulty of 'first' bosses and with our numbers should be fine to-" He probably would have continued had I not interrupted.
"I didn't ask for the statistics," I clarified while fixing Josh with a concerned look, "I asked how you felt about it."
Josh seemed to think deeply for a few moments. "Such things aren't exactly in my field of expertise…but if you want to hear how I feel that badly, I guess I would say I'm worried." He turned back to work as he talked, a nervous habit, I guessed. "It's a lot to think about. Only days previous I was safe and sound in my home with my hidden security cameras."
"Security cameras?" I noted. He kept hidden security cameras in his home…?
"Not important. Now I'm thrust into a game that to me was simply fiction, and suddenly my death is a very pertinent issue. Not only that, but I have to fight an extremely dangerous enemy that I can't even see." He paused for a moment, "Information is power, Cupa. And we don't have any."
I was surprised. I thought that Josh was fearless…he always seemed in control, calm even in the most serious of situations. But even though he was talking in the same, unchanging calm voice he always did, I could tell he was scared. I don't know how I could tell, I just knew.
I smiled. "Josh! I never knew you were the type to be scared of something!"
He started at that, spinning to face me, his face turning slightly red from embarrassment, "What? I will have you know, I am perfectly fine! As if I could be frightened…"
My smile grew wider. "Sure Josh. I'm sure you have everything under control!"
"T-That's right!" Josh said, turning to stare at some appliance across the room, trying to calm down. I noticed the stutter, though. He had given himself away from his reaction alone.
"…It'll be okay, Josh. As long as we all stick together." I spoke.
Josh looked back at me, seeming slightly surprised by my words. His expression quickly changed back to a calm and controlled one as he responded. "I suppose you must be right." He went back to fiddling with the potions we would later be using.
"Need any help?" I figured I could spend more time with him before we had to go if I helped him with…whatever he was doing. Maybe I could even learn more about his world that way.
"Well, I could certainly use a helping hand." Josh replied without looking away from his work, "Get me that tool over there, would you?" He asked, pointing to some odd, larger tool on a table on the other side of the room.
"You got it!" I happily responded as I made my way to the aforementioned equipment.
-Hanabi's Point of View-
"So do you like him?" The spider girl Sabri asked as she ate some of that odd frozen food. What was it called…? Oh right. Ice cream. I glared at the stuff. It was always unpleasantly cold…
"L-Like who?" The Enderwoman, I think Andr was her name, seemed to tremble under the purple haired girl's scrutinizing gaze. I didn't understand what she was so nervous about…if someone asked who I liked; I would just say it was Glenn.
Sabri rolled her eyes, "Honestly Andr! It's pretty obvious…I mean, the way you act around him, and how you like to hang out with him so much. It's kinda obvious."
I finally decided to speak up, "Who is the 'him' you are referring to?" I had to make sure it wasn't Glenn, because he was mine, and so if the Enderwoman liked the spiky haired teen I would have no choice but to…get rid of her.
Sabri answered for me. "Jeff. Don't worry, it's not porcupine head." I nodded, pleased with the answer. "So Andr…?" Sabri coaxed, trying to get the red haired girl to answer.
Andr blushed heavily, finally offering a more clear answer. "I…I'm not sure if I like him like that! He's just really nice, and wants to help everyone, I really admire him for that, and he looks really cool when he's leading everyone to-"
Sabri interrupted the girl. "I think I get it. You really do like him."
"W-What!? No! Well, not no, but…what I mean to say is…!" Andr trailed off, blushing madly while standing there, hiding her face with the extra long sleeves of her sweater.
Sabri seemed to decide the Enderwoman had had enough teasing for now, turning to look at me. "So Hanabi, I've been wondering…why did you kidnap Glenn like that back at the Nether?"
I thought the answer was rather simple. "I wanted to be with him." I answered.
"Well you could have done that with us-"
"I wanted to be alone with him." I clarified. It was obvious, really.
The spider girl seemed confused. I wonder why. "Okay…" Sabri replied uncertainly, moving to continue eating that ice cream stuff.
"Do you like anyone?" I asked Sabri. I was rather curious, I liked someone, Andr liked someone; it was almost like it was a trend.
Sabri smirked, "Meh, maybe. Can't really be too sure just yet. I'll tell you more as this case develops!" She declared, speaking like some sort of announcer.
"I see." I acknowledged her answer.
"…remember that? It was hilarious!" We heard DJ's voice just before the teen walked into the room, flanked by Glenn. "Hey everyone!" DJ greeted upon noticing us.
"How's it going?" Glenn followed up on DJ's greeting. He looked to me, frowning. "Oh…it's you…"
"Geez, so cold Glenn!" Sabri shouted dramatically, grinning at the boy.
Andr smiled softly, "Couldn't you at least give Hanabi a chance, Glenn?"
"She kidnapped me! NO one gives a kidnapper a chance!" Glenn retaliated, "That's like saying, hey, a bank robber just busted in, maybe they want to sell us Girl Scout cookies!"
Sabri and Andr considered that for a moment. Sabri spoke. "Fair enough."
'It seems Glenn is rather hesitant to be around me…perhaps my forced approach is best after all…' I thought to myself as he glared at me and took a seat in a chair, completely unaware of my plots to gain his affection.
"Hey Sabri, don't hog all the ice cream!" DJ said upon noticing the frozen treat, reaching for the container, causing her to raise it out of reach.
"Get your own, pipsqueak!" Sabri retorted.
"DAMNIT! I'M NOT SHORT! You didn't make the ice cream! Share it!" DJ shouted.
"You didn't make it either! It's mine!" Sabri declared as the two fought, DJ trying to get at the container while Sabri struggled to keep it out of his reach.
"Calm down you two…" I heard Glenn say. While they had created such a convenient distraction, I took advantage of the opportunity to sneak up on Glenn. I quickly tackled the teen out of the chair he had just been occupying. His eyes widened in panic.
"What!? HANABI!? NOOOO!"
-Jeff's Point of View-
I smiled as I walked through the forest, music blaring loudly in my ears. It might have been a bad habit to listen to music quite this loudly, but it hardly mattered to me. It was a tough habit to break. After me and the guys had finished our meeting, I had opted to go outside and take a look around…get some fresh air.
"Nice." I commented as I grabbed some roses. 'These will make a cool decorative item.' I thought to myself as the flowers disappeared into my inventory. I always did like the color red.
I had not come out here just to walk around, though. It made it easier to think. About all that had happened…all that would happen. We were about as prepared as could be to fight the Nether boss, though I supposed there were a couple of other things we could do. But no, it would best to take it down now. It would be a sort of morale boost to show we really had a chance. I could tell everyone needed it.
I needed it.
I had been rather calm about the situation outwardly. Inside, though…I was terrified. I could die. Everything would be over…I would never see again. Never feel again. An eternity of nothingness…but that wasn't what really frightened me. Rather, I thought the possibility of an afterlife was perfectly believable. What really got to me was dying with so many loose ends. I had always wanted to do something that would help many people. As cheesy as it sounded, I guess I wanted to be a hero. To die before that would be such a horrible waste.
I snapped myself out of my thoughts. Thinking like that wouldn't help anything. Brooding never did suit me. I preferred confidence. An unsettling feeling suddenly came over me.
"What is…?" I wondered aloud. I had found my gut feeling was usually pretty accurate. I assumed no different this time. 'Feels like I'm being watched.' I thought to myself, 'I shouldn't take chances…not when I'm alone like this. I need to go back.' I drew my pickaxes as I began heading back at a swift pace. I couldn't shake the feeling of being watched the entire way back, yet I never saw anyone, no matter where it was I looked. It finally left when I stepped into the clearing that surrounded our house. I took one last look at the tree line before shaking my head, retreating back into the house.
'It was probably nothing anyway…'
-Unknown Point of View-
I smirked. "Haha…so, you plan to go in, eh?" I turned away from the house those fools occupied before closing my eyes and picturing the Nether portal I had created in my head.
When I opened my eyes, I was there.
The darkness of the cave surrounded me…comforting, in its own way. It hardly mattered…it was but a temporary shelter. I was a nomad, just as she had been…
"NO! This isn't the time….forget about it." I shook my head as I directed my thoughts away from her. I needed to stay focused, to teach these idiots what they would face. How reckless they were. Only a few days and they planned to destroy the Nether boss? Foolish did not begin to describe their actions.
Not only that, they had made nice with some mobs. They were dragging innocents into their battle, and I would not allow them to continue to do so. They were a dangerous element, and so needed to be subdued accordingly. It was the only way.
'That one…he was their leader, wasn't he?' I thought to myself as I remembered the teen in the red jacket I had been following. So I had my target. If he fell the rest would panic from him being…dispatched. After all, I was certain that they were only working together out of necessity. Just like every other idiot in this world. All everyone every thought about was their own damn survival! No one cared about each other…no one.
'But not me…' I thought as I activated the portal, as thoughts of her surfaced once more. But now was not the time. I stepped through the portal, getting my first glimpse of the Nether and the massive Nether fortress it held. With it brought painful memories…yet I would endure.
"Don't keep me waiting…" I mumbled to myself. They would beat the Nether boss. I don't know what compelled me to believe that. But when they did, I would be ready. And when I defeated this group, Herobrine would have no choice but to face me….
…Right…?
-Jeff's Point of View-
"Jeff! Where were you? I looked everywhere!" Andr scolded me as I sheepishly rubbed the back of my head.
"Ehehe…sorry about that. I guess it kinda slipped my mind to tell you all I was ducking out for a bit." I apologized.
Andr pouted. "You have to tell me! I was worried about you, you know…?"
I laughed lightly. "You got it, Andr. Next time we'll go together, how about that?" I offered. She always seemed to become happy when I offered to spend time with the Enderwoman.
She glared at me. "Hm…promise?"
"I promise." I confirmed, nodding my head to punctuate the statement.
"Alright…I can't really stay mad at you…" Andr mumbled, blushing slightly. I wonder why she always did that around me.
"Well aren't you two just adorable!" I turned my head to see both Josh and Cupa standing at the doorway to the room Andr and I were occupying, Andr's face now completely red from Cupa's outburst.
"Hey. Something you need?" I asked. I don't know why, but I was slightly annoyed at their interruption…well, business first, I guess.
Josh nodded, unfolding his laptop. "I think it's about time we entered the Nether. All the supplies are prepared and ready to go, and I've even taken the liberty of making a number of potions to aid us in the coming fight in addition to extra tools, should our current weapons break." He closed the laptop, looking back to me. "Everyone else is ready. All we need is you."
My expression was now hardened and serious, a contrast to my normal demeanor. I nodded. "Andr. I'm ready. Are you?"
Andr's expression was determined. "I'm ready if you are. I guess there's no point in delaying this, huh?"
"We're ready, Josh. Let's go." I stated.
Josh nodded, the four of us all walking to the room with our resident Nether portal. It wasn't long before I stood before the Nether portal, my friends all behind me waiting for me to step through, in which case they would follow soon after.
This is where someone would usually make a speech, right?
That would be so cliché…
…
…
…Eh, why not?
"Well, here we are everyone." I began, turning to face the seven standing before me. "About to enter the Nether to fight enemy we know nothing about. Some supposedly super-powerful king beast. And standing here, seeing all of you…" I swept my eyes over everyone, stopping to look at Andr for a moment before continuing to address everyone. I grinned. "I think this so-called Nether boss won't even know what hit him. Because with all of us together, I'm sure we can take down anything that stands in our way. And since you've all stuck with me this long, I assume I'm not the only one who thinks that."
My announcement was met with several shouts of confirmation.
"Well then, let's bring the fire extinguisher to this bastard." I announced as I jumped through the portal. Everyone followed shortly after, all of us beginning to run toward the imposing structure where we would fight our first boss, weapons in hand.
DJ ran up beside me. "That was really cliché, y'know?"
I simply smiled. "Shut up."
-Unknown Point of View-
"Done!" I announced to myself as the portal activated. I cringed as I looked at the portal…it didn't hold…the best memories for me. But what choice did I have? That guy followed them through, and he was practically the definition of 'suspicious'. I couldn't just stand by and watch. Besides, those guys seemed to be good guys…what was their names? I could ask them later. Right now, bigger problems.
"Whelp…as much as I hate that place…duty calls." I commented as I drew my red diamond blade. I hopped into the portal, silently hoping I didn't spawn stranded on a few blocks in the middle of the lava sea.
That would suck.
A/N: And that is that! Fifth chapter.
Here's a list of all the OC's I've accepted, along with their respective creators. (Some haven't actually appeared yet.)
Jeff - Created by: Kirbboy
DJ - Created by: Kirbboy
Josh - Created by: Kirbboy
Glenn - Created by: Kirbboy
Kel'Goroth - Created by: muredin
Garvin - Created by: muredin
Jaden "Blade Fury" Silvic - Created by: TheFlamingBlade
Ariana – Created by: ShadowyReviewer
That's all I've decided on so far. Rest assured that quite a few of the OCs you guys have submitted are still being considered. I just need to sort out the storyline and then plug them in where I want them. More OCs will begin to show up soon.
Still accepting OCs! Feel free to shoot me a PM or review with your OC submission.
Please review! It makes me happy to know what you think! No flames please, those are annoying.
Going under. Won't be gone too long, this has been Kirbboy.