Hello, this is Pastrinator64 with another chapter from Hourglass! Apologies for the wait, but I've been super distracted lately...oh wait, that's, like, all the time. But still, the end of my school year is coming and I've been pretty socially active, which is by far one of my best accomplishments. Yeah, that sounded kind of sad, but true. XD
Anyway, on with the replies!
Replies to Reviews
spark n' jetz: Broke your heart? Well! I wasn't expecting so much heartache for Doughbelly, because everybody's doing it.
Volcanic the hedgehog: PARADOX! XD
Nwinds: 1. I try. It's hard, but I try.
2. EVIL: Every Villain Is Lemons XD
3. Uh, Kelsey? Her block power is ice.
4. I love having the Fourth Wall Repairman! So many obvious paradoxes that I choose to create yet leave unexplained. :D
5. (Answered in QAA)
6. He's meant to be a jerk in the beginning, but now he's supposed to be all mushroom-crazy and generally unstable, but with a bit of his old Englishman personality.
7. Did I say Pikale died? I didn't! I mean, that's not to say he didn't die, but I'm not revealing anything. ;D You like it, huh? I think the whole dramatic aspect is building up, so that's nice. I will be combining it all at the end into several chapters for an easier read, by the way.
8. *radio static* Pastrinator64, over! XD
D4sssy: Well, I first noticed his interesting appearance. After that, I liked the idea of having an anger-issue guy not as bad as Danny, but easily ticked off. I dunno! I just like him, now! Thanks for the OC! :D
Nwinds: Hi! Glad you checked up on me, because, coincidentally, I was actually just finishing up the chapter when I noticed your review.
FINALLY! Now that I've killed you all with my procrastination, here's the sixth chapter to Hourglass.
Now, let the story commence!
Chapter 6: Slim Chances
JB leapt athletically down from a small ledge and landed oddly gracefully at the foot of the hill with Jeff on his back and everything. As he and Jeff were approaching the raised cabin above the pond, Jeff muttered,
"Couldn't we find some other witch to visit? I mean, I know that Mason was acting like, well, himself, but I don't want to end up disappearing like he did."
"Like I said, just don't make her angry. If you don't give her a reason to banish you then she won't." JB assured him.
"Banish?" he replied, apprehensive.
"Yeah, she'll send you off wherever she feels is necessary depending on how much she dislikes you. Wherever that Mason went must be pretty bad, I'm guessing."
"SKREE!"
Mason's eyes snapped open just in time to see a gigantic ball of flame plummeting down at him. He rolled out of the way with a grunt and was still blasted three blocks down a hot, rocky hill. Tumbling all the way down, Mason couldn't control his own body considering his body fat, and ended up crashing right into a wall at the bottom. Dizzily, he looked up and saw a giant, white, tentacled creature floating up over the peak of the red hill in front of him. He blinked a couple times and, as his vision cleared, opened his mouth in surprise as another fireball was shot his way.
"SKREE!" shrieked the Ghast, its tiny red eyes glowing with instinctive hatred.
Mason scrambled as fast as his stout legs could carry him, throwing himself out of the way as a hole was blasted right where he was a second ago. He ran around the corner of the uneven Netherrack wall and panted, not daring to look back at the beast.
"Good grief, I'm in the Nether!"
"Wait a minute! Didn't she say, "I'll blast you to Hell?"
"Oh, look at that, we're here!"
They had already arrived at the doorstep of the old witch lady's shack over the pond. JB lifted a hand and knocked ever so lightly.
"WHAT?!"
He recoiled, remembering that she was already mad.
"Matilda, it's me, Johnnykins!"
Jeff couldn't help suppress a snicker.
"Johnnykins?" he inquired, a grin on his face.
He rolled his eyes and explained,
"She favors me a lot. I'm just about the only person she's ever met who she actually liked. She appreciates me for my, well, gentlemanliness. She says," he said, and began to quietly quote her in a high-pitched tone. "that people nowadays ain't got no respect for one another! Or gumption!"
A few seconds past before the old witch Matilda's answer came.
"Oh! Johnnykins, is that really you? Your voice has gotten so deep since last time I saw you! Come in, I was just making chicken pot pies!"
JB pushed the door open with his foot, bending over as he stepped through the doorway so that Jeff wouldn't smack his head like the last time he was carried by somebody. Literally, as they entered the room, Jeff felt a wave of heat hit his face. The inside of the shack was basically just one small room with only two windows. Furnaces stacked up on every wall, leaving only two holes for the miniscule windows. Every one of the furnaces burned bright with flame, which explained the heat.
Sitting in the center of the room was Matilda, an elderly woman wearing a black shawl, the hood over her head despite the humidity in the room. Her face wizened and worn, she maintained an unpleasant scowl as though she'd smelled something sour. Her eyes had been closed for a moment, but they opened almost instantly and gazed up into Johnny's with a sudden joy, glowing almost magically with their golden hue.
"Johnnykins, it really is you!" she declared, struggling to her knees and shuffling towards him with open arms.
She was about to hug him when she noticed Jeff still on his back. Her smile returned to its original grimace as he muttered,
"Where'd you pick up THAT sorry sack of potatoes?"
"Matilda," JB spoke calmly, "this is my friend Jeff Ironblock. I brought him here because we are looking at a very serious injury that I might want you to check out."
Matilda eyed Jeff suspiciously, her eyes nearly burning into his soul. Finally, she threw up her hands and started towards the center of the room again.
"Fine, fine! But he ain't any more polite than that other tub of lard that barged in here, I'll...I'll...I'll blast him to Hell!"
"She sure does like blasting people." Jeff mumbled under his breath.
"WHAT WAS THAT, SNACK SHACK?!"
Jeff's head straightened up and he caught sight of the pure fury in her gold-colored eyes, which were positively gleaming with anger. Before he could say anything, she snapped at him instead.
"I do not like branding knee holes! See now, carving is such a better tactic and its ethicality far surpasses the latter!" she suggested, and turned to Johnny. "Johnnykins, don't you agree?"
"Johnnykins" kept up the act and nodded, smiled, etc. Jeff momentarily admired him for his ability to not get overly frustrated with this woman. There was an awkward pause, but Matilda broke it by sitting back down in the center of the room and beckoning them both.
"Alright, alright! Just bring the boy here!"
JB walked a mere five steps before crouching down, letting Jeff come off his back and sit on the ground. It felt weird to even sit, Jeff realized, and decided it best to prop himself up with his elbows.
"Alright, let's have a look, see." murmured Matilda, bending over slightly, putting on a pair of skinny black glasses, accenting her golden irises.
She unwound the blood-encrusted bandages over his right hip, making Jeff grit his teeth a bit. He had a high pain tolerance, but when it comes to losing a whole limb, even he should be allowed to grimace. Matilda examined the wound in an efficient manner, not wanting to let the blood flow return with the bandages off. Her expression changed from curious to surprised, then back to curious.
"Unusual! I see halved codes! As it appears here, the code that your right leg was once comprised of has been "fried," so to speak. Your leg was completely deleted by something viral, no doubt, and where it stops here is at your hip, leaving half-mutated destroyed code. Literally, the letters and numbers of your code have been split and are therefore preventing any possible regeneration of its late code."
She looked up at Jeff over her glasses and added,
"What did you do to your leg, sleazeball? Nasty bar fight, I'll bet..."
Jeff and JB paused to glance at each other. Matilda saw them looking and raised an eyebrow, muttering,
"You want me to go on another monologue, or were you actually listening?"
They turned back to her at the same time and shook their heads. More babble from the lady was the last thing they needed. Instead, JB replied to her question with his own.
"Can you fix his leg, though?"
Matilda sighed and took off her glasses, folding them and setting them beside her.
"Theoretically, yes. There is a very slight chance it will be able to be restored normally." was all she said.
Jeff didn't like the sound of that; he asked her himself,
"What are the chances of me getting my leg back, then?"
Matilda glared at him and snapped,
"I'm getting to that, sonny! Impatience won't help you! Anyhow, as I said, there is a very slight chance I will be able to restore your leg. VERY slight chance."
"And that chance is...?" inquired JB, reluctant to hear her answer.
"Roughly 0.001%, Johnnykins. You could imagine why I'm disinclined to doing this procedure."
"WHAAAAAAAAT?!" screamed Jeff, going all anime-like with widened eyes and a dropped jaw.
Matilda slapped his cheek and retorted,
"Don't yell at me, young man! You should be lucky I even agreed to let you in the house!"
Jeff stuttered as he spoke his next few words, rubbing the spot where she'd slapped him at the same time.
"W-what's the other 99.999% chance, then?"
"All of your code is restarted and you go back to whatever you were when you first came to be in the world."
"WHAAAAA—"
She slapped him a second time, spitting her words out at him.
"DON'T EVEN START! ...Now then, if you'll excuse me, I've got some chicken pot pies in the oven that need cooling."
"Stupid boots," muttered Auconi as he ran down a sloped tunnel, annoyed for not being able to find his leather boots.
Why did he drop them in the first place?! He was quite annoyed with himself for doing so. They had been his grandpa's pair and he insisted on wearing them rather than the typically-desired diamond ones. It was a long story, one that he tried to keep out of his mind as he trekked on down the warren.
He turned ninety degrees as the tunnel changed directions; within his sights came a square of four torches, just barely ten blocks away in front of him. His marker! He ran as fast as his legs could carry him towards the torches, then jumped down the ledge that appeared so suddenly, landing much more smoothly than the last time. He looked down to his right and, to his relief, saw the boots, both split in two, but still sitting there at the bottom of a drop-off he hadn't seen earlier.
He jumped down carefully, landing on different parts of the wall beneath his feet to keep himself from totally flattening himself into the ground far below. About fifteen seconds later, he sat down on the last rocky platform and slid right off, landing on his feet on the flat, stone floor. Whistling to himself, he strolled on over to his boots and plucked them up, then carefully stowed them in the Blockpack on his back. He was not about to lose them a second time.
Before he even thought of heading back up, a strange sight caught his eye. In the small room he'd come down into, the floor a few paces in front of him wasn't made of stone, but rather something like Netherrack. Curious, he walked over to it and kneeled down in front of it, and experimentally touched it with his finger. A massively painful burning sensation seared through his finger and he wrenched his hand back, screaming out loud.
"WHAT THE HECK?!" he shouted, staring at his now-blackened finger.
It hurt like hell, but Auconi was still more interested in the Netherrack-like floor in front of him. He was wary to not step on it and burn his shoes to a crisp, so he merely stared, wondering what the heck this stuff was. Eventually, he decided he would take Darcy down to come and look at it because, though he hated to say it, he needed another opinion, even if it was that kid's.
What also sucked was that he'd burned his right forefinger and he was right-handed. Now he had to mine to the surface with his non-dominant hand using his cruddy wooden pickaxe—another item of his grandfather's that he insisted on using.
It took him fifteen minutes longer than usual, but he eventually made it back up to the surface. Jumping up into the long grass growing up from the jungle floor, he wiped sweat off his brow and neck, then continued on forward for a mere thirty blocks. He exited the jungle onto their beach and instantly recognized his and Darcy's luxury home hovering over the water within his vision.
Auconi started towards the house, breathing heavily; he felt a little sick all of a sudden. As he was walking, he stared at his pointer finger, which had now crusted with blackened skin. Grimacing, he wondered,
"Seriously! What the crap was that floor made of?"
As Matilda was humming Mellohi in a quiet tone, she carefully removed the two mini chicken pot pies from the oven and turned to walk over to her spot in the center of the room, but was stopped abruptly by JB, who stood in her way.
"Matilda, I know you don't like this guy and I know I'm being a little rude, but we need you to do something about his leg. He has to get home to his family or they'll starve to death! He's told me this many times on the way here and said that you must be his last chance."
Jeff felt inwardly guilty about lying to JB just so he could build up a story, but it was something he felt he needed to do to get him to convince the woman to heal him. He hoped that his fake sob-story would help in some way. Matilda, who didn't even take a glance at Jeff, stared JB deep in the eyes, her pupils large and black from the darkness of the room. Finally, she grumbled something and set the pies down on the floor, throwing up her hands immediately after.
"Alright! I will try my best to increase chances of restoring his code, but it will require some time. In fact, as I estimate currently, this may take...seven days of solitary reinstallation. This means that you, butthead," she said, looking disapprovingly at Jeff, catching his avoiding eye, "and I are going to have to spend a week together inside my subconscious so that I will be able to heal your leg without any possible chance of you being, well, restarted."
Jeff groaned on the inside at the very idea of having to spend a whole week with a woman like this. He was barely able to handle keeping his mouth shut during the seven minutes they'd been inside her stuffy little shack. Matilda was quite displeased with the look on his face and so she added,
"Or perhaps you want to just be a miserable cripple for the rest of your life? Listen, Mr. Ironblock, I might be a miracle worker, but sometimes you just need to suck it up and give me some credit. I'm not used to dealing with viral injuries, just the occasional Creeper accident or naughty wolf bites. I want to hear an answer: yes or no?"
Jeff paused for a second, weighing the pros and the cons. If he agreed, he'd be able to get his leg back, but he'd have to spend a week in agonizing silence inside a cranky old lady's mind. But, if he didn't agree to it, he'd have to hobble around for the rest of his life; this factor itself convinced him that it had to be done.
"Okay, I'll do it." spoke a halfhearted Jeff.
Auconi opened the door to the house with his left hand, cringing at the 3rd degree burn on his right forefinger. He entered and looked around—no sign of Darcy anywhere. The house was absolutely silent. That was strange...Darcy usually made a lot of noise. All the time. He couldn't go a minute without bursting open with his Australian gibberish.
His second guess was Darcy was up in the room where they'd put Morgan. He was probably gazing at her dreamily, waiting for her to wake up so he could get his Australian on. Auconi sighed on the inside and headed up the right staircase, walked out into the hall and then turned left to face Morgan's new bedroom.
He peeked in through the doorway and, sure enough, Darcy was there, sitting on the bedpost with one leg crossed over the other, most likely waiting for her awakening. Auconi opened the door quietly and just stood there in the doorway with a single raised eyebrow.
"Darcy, what the fudge are you doing up here still?"
Darcy, whose smirk remained eminent as it was, hardly even glanced at Auconi.
"Is grinning like a shot fox a crime?"
Auconi cringed and muttered,
"Don't...say...shot frickin fox. Nobody knows what you're talking about."
In response, Darcy merely shrugged and returned his attention to the sleeping Morgan. Auconi was partially having a hard time blaming Darcy for staring; Morgan could not have looked any more adorable than she did, her face stuffed in the pillow, her lips formed into a smile. There was a silent pause.
"Just don't make me have to watch you. Can I legitimately trust you alone with a girl? When she's asleep?" asked Auconi, seriousness in his voice.
Darcy waved a hand with a look of cocky assurance.
"Mate, you just gotta trust me."
If there were any way to convince him of his trustworthiness, Darcy should have been able to figure one out by now. Obviously, he hadn't, because Auconi trusted him less than anyone. Of course, he didn't know too many people in the first place, but even so.
In fact, the only reason he did leave the room was because he didn't want to talk to Darcy at all.
God, Darcy irked him.
GAAAAHHHH! FINALLY! This chapter was KILLING me! You have no idea how much time I spent trying to figure out how to end it.
Now then, for the interesting stuff! QAA!
To Doughbelly: *clones master*
Doughbelly: *leaps happily towards clone Quinn*
To Norman: Witchcraft may sound evil, but magic is neutral, neither good nor bad. Vanessa has a strong spirit angle to the lighter side of the sphere. Give your support and her spirit will strengthen to the side of the Light. And historically, the people killed for being witches most likely weren't. It's just their practices for medicines were viewed as, well, witchcraft.
Norman: *pretends to be old man* "Back in my day, we burned ALL the witches!" *laughs* "Yes, I know that movie reference. Just because I live farther into the future than you all, that doesn't mean I don't know old movies. Anyway, I know this is all according to Farixz's plans, but does that mean it's the best thing to let her go and do magic wherever?"
To Everyone: What do you do in your free time besides destroying the universe(Glitch).
Norman: "I still enjoy playing Minecraft to this day, but back in the normal world I don't have that much free time due to my job's demands. Being the head of a computer software company does take a toll on your recreational time."
Liz: "I love being out in nature, enjoying the sights of the world, just being OUT there! I'm definitely an outdoorsy kind of person."
Kelsey: "I've already died on Earth, so I'm stuck here in Minecraft. I just like being with friends, I guess. ...I wish Mark were here so bad, though." *pouts*
Adrian: "Same as Kelsey; ah'm stuck in Minecraft. Ah've got ter git another quest besides this one 'ere. Ah'm sick o' that damn virus."
Astrid: "Pranking, hands down! Whenever I'm not doing something productive, which, up until recently, I never was, I would pull pranks on people. BIG pranks. You saw what kind of genius I had in VOiD when we pranked Lucas SO GOOD! I mean, he was actually the Glitch, but that just makes it cooler. I pranked the Glitch! Ha!"
Vanessa: "You honestly do not know the answer to that question?" *buries nose in Moby Dick and reads*
Jeff: "I used to spend most of my free time either working in my little armory, training for my next fight in the arena, or if I could help it, spend time with my family. Of course, that's a luxury I won't be able to have any more, so..."
Mason: "Mushrooms. Mushrooms is the answer. Always."
JB: "I like to take long walks through the jungle. In my area, we never really had trouble with hostile mobs, so the jungle was pretty serene all the time."
Auconi: "I like mining a lot, but even I need some fresh air sometimes."
Darcy: "If I can help it, I'm flirting with the Aussie girls! Otherwise, I like to eat, so I'll grab myself a quick bikkie and a butcher. ...What? Just cuz' I look like an ankle biter doesn't mean I can't have some turps every once in a while."
The Glitch: "WHAT IS THIS?! ARE YOU TRYING TO TELL ME THAT I, LORD GLITCH, MAY NOT REPLY TO THIS INQUIRY?! YOU ARE GREATLY MISTAKEN, IMPUDENT WORM! I ALWAYS HAVE A SAY! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
To Doughbelly: I will play with you, now I have dragon-sized fun toys. :D
Doughbelly: *grabs toys from you, carries them over to clone Quinn; he'd rather play with his "master"*
That's that! Now for another snippet leading off of the last cliff-hanger in Sugar Lords!
Pixelized could fly pretty fast, but he wasn't the fastest flier of the group; he suddenly wished he was Luvr, because she was the absolute fastest—even more so than Pastrinator64. This THING was coming up behind him, gaining on him quicker than he'd like.
He could no longer contact Pikale, either. The gigantic red monster behind him was confusing him, for it somehow possessed the ability to separate him and Pikale even at the spiritual level they had. How could it do that? It would have to share souls with them, or something.
"Damn it, this isn't Soul Eater!" thought Pixelized.
Without warning, Pixelized felt a massive gust of hot wind flow around him and he barely even had time to look back before the alien's mouth opened up before him, oozing with disgusting saliva.
No time to react, the gaping maw was so huge that when it closed down, Pixelized was already trapped inside the cavern-like chops. Instantly, a sickly smell enveloped him, making it harder and harder to breathe.
He got slammed around a ton, falling through one big passageway, ramming into a handful of slimy, sticky and/or spiny surfaces before plunging into a cold, syrupy pond, deep in the dark. At least it didn't smell inside of here. Still, he wished he'd payed more attention in Expensivecorn9's lessons on the Hikari Bīmu technique. At any rate, he'd be able to see where he was.
"Pixelized?"
Pixelized jumped so hard that he accidently splashed a bit of the thick liquid pond in his eyes. He expected it to burn, but strangely enough, it did not feel even the slightest bit painful.
"Pikale?"
They're in the belly of the beast! Literally. XD
Again, though, I apologize for the huge delay...again...again, again. Man, I've got to keep better track of my time!
Well, that's all for now! I hope you enjoyed chapter number six, and I'll see you all LATER!
This is Pastrinator64, your fellow writer and reader, signing out!
*throws sugar bomb and disappears behind its cloud of fine white sugar*
...Goodbye for now...
~Pastrinator64 [~]