HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY, EVERYONE! *passes out sparklers*
This is Pastrinator64 with another chapter from Hourglass! I forgot to tell you all, but last week I traveled way up there in northern Wisconsin for the entire week, spending time with my family in our cottage. I did bring my notebook, so I was able to get the beginning down for this chapter, but my writing, as you may imagine, is much less fluent than if my typing.
Replies to Reviews
spark n' Jetz: Yeah, I apologize for that. Lots of stuff going on nowadays, what with relationships and going into high school.
Enderdude: Now I'm just formulating a plan to keep it all together.
Nwinds: 1. Ah, I get it. Can someone actually get your social security number just off of a simple Gmail?
2. Yes, yes he was!
3. Thank you! It's his mushrooms craze that's steering him down the wrong path.
4. Where did I put that?
5. So, you know the quote, right? I was referring to just the "burn all the witches" thing. (other half answered in QAA)
6. (Answered in QAA)
7. Er...no, honestly. XD I forgot to look it up when I saw it. It kind of looks familiar, though. I know I've heard it before.
8. Ha! NERRRRRRRRD! XD Just kidding. Anyway, that seems like a good idea. I might have to look up some info on speed classifications just to make sure I don't sound like a total idiot when I put it in writing.
Nwinds: Happy 4th of July to you, too! :D
Now then! Time to get back to the REAL story! I know you've all been waiting and I apologize for keeping you, but I appreciate your patience. :)
Now, let the story commence!
Chapter 8: Adrian and the Glitch
As soon as Astrid stepped into the Clock Chamber, she took a single look around and muttered,
"Whoa..."
The inside of the Clock Chamber was infinite with white walls stretching as far as the eye could see. The endless hallway was decked out in clocks of all shapes and sizes, colors and types.
"Impressive and intriguing, isn't it?"
Astrid turned around quickly and saw no one. Shockingly, even the door to the time room had disappeared without a trace.
"What the hell is going on?"
All of a sudden, the white light of the room turned black as night, encasing Astrid in darkness.
"I've watched you for a long time, Astrid. You've been in this chamber for a thousand years, though due to its masking properties, you did not notice in the least this entire time!"
Astrid, much more skeptical than afraid, raised an eyebrow and replied,
"I'm pretty sure I've been in here for, like, ten seconds."
"That is only what this room leads you to believe, my dear! Through my observations over time, I've recognized your deepest feelings and thoughts! Your weaknesses! YOUR DARKEST, MOST SHIVER-INDUCING FEARS!"
"Alright, Mastermind, would you give it a rest?"
Dead silence...then the lights turned back on inside the Clock Chamber. The Mastermind was now visible in front of her, sitting cross-legged atop a black and white tornado. He had the facial expression of a little boy who'd just found out he was too short to ride the coolest roller coaster at the funfair.
"You're no fun. I was just about to start the creepy strobe light effect and everything!" he said, pouting.
Astrid jerked a thumb to the reappeared door behind her and said,
"Dude, stop wasting my prep time and get out!"
The Mastermind breathed heavily through his nose, and hovered towards the door to leave. Before he opened the door, he looked back at her with that same ol' grin and pointing around the room.
"But seriously, the Spirits are all obsessed with hourglasses and stuff; they should replace these clocks and call this place Hourglass Hall or something...just saying!"
With that, the Mastermind finally left Astrid alone to prepare herself for her next adventure.
Liz entered the Clock Chamber right after Astrid and immediately had the same admiration for the room's peculiar structure. After taking in her surroundings, Liz shrugged off her Blockpack with a slight grunt.
Being a teenager again, her strength was so much less than usual, making her feel really crappy. From out of her pack she unearthed Shine, her old diamond sickle—the one she'd gotten from a boy in her days at Diamond University.
Needless to say, it was much heavier than she remembered.
"Jeez! I don't remember being so limber when I was a teen."
It took a few minutes for her to get used to swinging the thing around. It was like she was waking up age-old muscles that had been dormant in her body for far too long. It let her remember all those battles she once fought in with Norman by her side, not to mention all her other friends: Bailey, Quinn, Hilary, Joe, Calista, Narcissa, Jeff and, though she hated saying it, Danny.
She liked to think that they were all still alive, but she knew better. Hilary died way back after they'd finished fighting on the Blood Vessel against the Skeleton Clan and Jeff had died just before him, right in front of her eyes. When she and Norman were returning to Minecraft, she saw both Narcissa and Bailey, but what about everyone else?
She knew at least that even if all her companions were now dead, they soon will not have died in vain. This last journey of hers would end the Glitch's terror for good; the living as well as the dead would be at peace once they were finished.
Kelsey entered the room after Liz was done, but for her, the hour she had to use was spent thinking mostly of Mark. It hadn't been ten days since she was forced to watch the Glitch consume him. The memory only empowered her, preparing her for her sweet revenge on the Glitch that would come in the near future.
Unlike the others, Kelsey decided that she needed to prepare specifically for any future losses she might encounter. Paranoia had set in ever since her boyfriend's absence, so she knew that she needed to get herself into a mental state of endurance. Somehow, she knew that at least one of her friends was not going to make it during the entire journey. This is the fear she wanted to overcome.
She thought for a moment about using her block power to help her friends. It was kind of strange how none of them noticed she never used it. She was pretty sure they knew she had one and what it actually was, but they didn't question her on it. Not once.
The one time she'd ever used her block power, she'd embarrassed herself so badly that she swore never to use it again. She never actually figured out how to use it properly, so she sort of, well, accidently got into a lot of trouble with it.
"Why couldn't I just be Kelsey Dirt or something? Sure, it's gotta be the worst last name, but it'd still be better than Kelsey Ice."
Norman's idea of preparation was much different than everyone else's. He knew his fighting techniques, duties as a hero, the people and reasons he fought for, his own thoughts and emotions, and what kind of enemy he was up against. What he still had yet to accomplish was catching up on all the updates that had been added to the world of Minecraft.
The last time he played the game, the version was a measly 70.4, but by that time it'd gone up to 104.5. He must've missed a lot of information in the 34.1 gap. Before entering the chamber, he asked Farixz for his copy of the Complete Guide to Minecraft that Farixz took from Earth a little while back.
Opening it up, he decided to start with the mob section. The animal kingdom had gotten much more specific, not to mention all the dangerous-looking hostile mobs that were added. As he remembered, the majority of the updates from the very first to the one of his time had been blocks and such, especially after 2014, he thought. Now, though, he saw three hostile mobs he hadn't seen before.
"Diggoon: Diggoons are small hostile mobs that spawn in light levels of 0 only, so most commonly underground. They are well-known for being stealthy and are even nicknamed "digging Creepers. Diggoons are sources of iron ingot, which they often drop after death.
"Diggoons travel aimlessly and used their drill-like heads to break all stone-type blocks, digging through them, acting with the same effect of a pickaxe. They detect the player from a distance of six blocks or lower, but can see the player through any stone-type block, making them hard to block while underground.
"The Diggoon's main body is as big as that of a small slime or magma cube. The drill bit top is skinny but the same height as the body. Their color is brownish gray, with a black tip to the drill bit. Its health is only two hearts and its strength is one unless Diamond Coat occurs."
"Diamond Coat is an ability possessed by Diggoons that allows them to gain an extra protective coat of diamond over their bodies. This only occurs when one of these mobs drills through a block of diamond ore three times. The coat raises Diggoon to an armor of one and a half points while the attack power is increased to two.
"Diggoon's digging ability depends on two things: its current state, whether normal or Diamond Coat, and the type of block it is digging through.
Normal
No Block (Air): 25 pixels per second
Snow: 24 pixels
Ice: 23 pixels per second
Monster Eggs: 22 pixels per second
Clay: 21 pixels per second
Hardened Clay: 19 pixels per second
Brick: 17 pixels per second
Moss Stone: 17 pixels per second
Cobblestone: 16 pixels per second
Stone Bricks: 14 pixels per second
Stone: 13 pixels per second
Sandstone: 13 pixels per second
Nether Quartz Ore: 12 pixels per second
Coal Ore: 10 pixels per second
Gold Ore: 8 pixels per second
Redstone Ore: 6 pixels per second
Lapis Lazuli Ore: 6 pixels per second
Iron Ore: 5 pixels per second
Emerald Ore: 3 pixels per second
Diamond Ore: 1 pixel per second
Obsidian: 0.1 pixel per second
Diamond Coat
No Block (Air): 17 pixels per second
Snow: 27 pixels
Ice: 26 pixels per second
Monster Eggs: 25 pixels per second
Clay: 24 pixels per second
Hardened Clay: 22 pixels per second
Brick: 20 pixels per second
Moss Stone: 20 pixels per second
Cobblestone: 19 pixels per second
Stone Bricks: 17 pixels per second
Stone: 16 pixels per second
Sandstone: 16 pixels per second
Nether Quartz Ore: 15 pixels per second
Coal Ore: 13 pixels per second
Gold Ore: 11 pixels per second
Redstone Ore: 9 pixels per second
Lapis Lazuli Ore: 9 pixels per second
Iron Ore: 8 pixels per second
Emerald Ore: 6 pixels per second
Diamond Ore: 2 pixels per second
Obsidian: 1 pixel per second
"Interestingly enough, Diggoons cannot dig through any other blocks besides these. This is including sand and gravel, plus Bedrock, as well as all solid ore blocks."
Norman rubbed his eyes and let out a sigh. He let his hands fall to his lap on top of the book and he took a look at the image. It showed a creature just as the description had stated, plus another one below it, only it was the color of diamond.
"You look like a fun little guy..." he murmured, almost grinning at the tiny creature on the page.
Norman still had yet to read about Imps and Jellyfish. Great. Another Nether AND water enemy.
Lastly, Adrian came into the Clock Chamber for his share of prep time. He opened up his Blockpack and got to work right away, not letting the interior distract him. He took out his iron frying pan, momentarily admiring its gleam.
"Hm...maybe ah should make this lil' beautie a diamond thing. And name it. Everyone else gits diamond weapons, after all."
While Adrian was taking a series of practice swings with it, he started thinking.
"Seems like all the others have gone through hard times. I mean, we all've shared our stories. Norman accidently killed his best friend, Liz had her eye popped like a mosquito with a full belly, Kelsey lost her boyfriend two, actually three times over, and even Astrid once admitted that her father'd been abusive towards her long ago. Nuthin's happened ter me, though. Ah don't like to think goin' on this 'ere trip means ah'm next!"
"Oh, you're next alright, Adrian Grass."
Adrian dropped her weapon with a clatter, startled by the ominous voice; it was echoing inside his head.
"The Mastermind is not playing tricks this time, Adrian Grass."
"Who in God's name are ya?" Adrian shouted, keeping his voice firm.
"You know who I am, Adrian Grass."
"Stop sayin' mah name, creep! Show yerself already!"
Suddenly, every bit of light in the Clock Chamber was replaced with the darkest of dark, even worse than when Astrid was subjected to the Mastermind's manners. Adrian's body went stone cold as two blood-red eyes opened up in front of him, glowing fiercely in the dark.
"The Glitch..." murmured Adrian, instinctively snatching up his weapon from the ground. "Well damn!"
"I appear to you, Adrian, because I know your spirit is weak. Your will hasn't been trained to handle stress like the others. This is why I have chosen you to do my bidding. Follow my directions exactly or you and your loved ones will suffer. I want you to—"
"Forget it! I ain't doin' squat fer the likes of ya! We're goin' on a mission ter defeat ya, not help!"
The Glitch paused for a moment, eyeing him evilly.
"Alright then, let me provide some motivation with a visual or two."
A video screen appeared in between the Glitch and him. It blinked to life, and what Adrian saw was horrifying. His father and mother hung by black chains inside of a dark cell somewhere unknown to him, the only light being the glowing torches on either side of the cell.
"I am now turning your life into a movie, Adrian. You'll be the star, so every second of the day I'll know where you are. If I so happen to choose, when I decide I don't like how the movie is, I will corrupt the theoretical DVD. I will scratch it, twist it, damage it greatly out of frustration of "wasting my money" on the film. Or, when you do something without my command, I'll make one of your loved ones suffer instead."
Adrian watched in horrible shock as his mother screamed at the top of her lungs, the black chains oozing plasma over her body, eating away at her, slow and agonizing.
"Only I'll be able to rewind it for you so that you can watch it over and over and over..."
His mom would die before his very eyes, only to be revived again and be tortured to death a second time. And a third time. And a fourth. Again and again until he couldn't take it anymore.
"STOP IT ALREADY!" yelled Adrian, cracking the screen with his frying pan.
The screen finally disappeared, leaving the Glitch and Adrian to lock eyes in a death stare.
"I see we have an agreement!"
Adrian was breathing heavily from anger, but mostly out of fear. Fear for himself. Fear for his family.
"And just to make sure I don't have to constantly check up on you,"
Out of nowhere, a plasma figure came into Adrian's view. It looked exactly like him, only its skin was black as charcoal and its eyes were unforgiving.
"I've decided to give you a parting gift—an old enemy of mine who has gratefully been accepted into my clan as my right-hand virus. Meet my faithful helper. Ben, say hello to Adrian. Adrian, Ben."
Ben lunged forward and Adrian scream in pain. His evil plasma twin was absorbed right into his body. Adrian fell to his hands and knees, catching his breath as a sickening feeling swept over him.
"Whenever you happen to get cold feet, Ben here will remind you of what is at risk or even, how you say, compel you."
Adrian lifted his head to stare into the Glitch's cruel eyes. He felt infuriated, anxious, helpless and nauseated at the same time.
"This can't be happening!" he said, taking several more breaths.
"Oh, but it is! See that you choose what's best...for me, that is."
Everything around Adrian began to swirl. He closed his eyes for only a second, but when he opened them again, it was all back to normal. The room was white. The clocks all ticked in perfect time on the walls. All was as it should be.
Except for Adrian.
The moment his hour of preparation was over, Adrian bolted out the door like he was being chased by a pack of hungry wolves.
"Farixz!" he called out, startling everyone outside.
"Adrian!" gasped Kelsey, putting a hand to her chest. "Don't scare us all like that!"
Farixz turned where he stood, gazing at Adrian thoughtfully.
"Adrian, you seem deeply troubled."
But before Adrian could get a single word out, he heard the Glitch's nasty voice echo once again in his head.
"I forgot to mention one thing: if you tell anyone of my evil endeavors, you and your loved ones will ALL DIE. It's your choice, Adrian."
As the voice in his head ceased, so did his movements. There he was, in mid-run, with everyone staring at him. Farixz's expression changed dramatically once he'd read Adrian's mind.
"Would you follow me, please?"
With a horrible feeling in his stomach, Adrian followed Farixz away from his friends and into the unknown.
"What's up with those two?" Astrid muttered to Kelsey, shoving her hands in her pockets.
When Farixz had led them about twenty feet away, he knelt down to Adrian's eyelevel and put a wing around him.
"I understand your troubles. Please, though, do forgive me for reading your thoughts, but it was an act of instinct."
Adrian paused; the suspense was gripping him in its deadly hold. What was he supposed to do now?
"It's okay to have feelings such as yours. Know that."
Adrian knotted his eyebrows together. For a moment, he thought that Farixz was talking about something entirely different. Upon seeing Adrian's confused expression, Farixz said,
"I am just trying to tell you that you should feel no shame in being homosexual."
"MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! OH, THAT IS RICH!"
At that very moment, the Glitch was watching the entire scene unfold. To it, the whole thing was absolutely hilarious.
"Um, Lord Glitch? What is rich?"
"Quiet, new assistant! Do not ruin my moment of joy!"
Jacque, the Glitch's left-hand virus (coming after Ben), scratched his blob...head...thing with his wing. He was still confused.
"Lord Glitch, I don't understand."
The Glitch glared down at him again, irritated at the constant inquiry.
"Fine then! I'll let you in on the fun, I suppose. You see, I've become powerful enough to override Farixz himself! While Adrian Grass's thoughts dwell on me, Farixz sees something entirely different! Now Farixz thinks that Adrian walked into that time chamber realizing he was attracted to other men! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Jacque frowned and gave the Glitch a scornful look. He didn't like to go against the Glitch's thoughts, mainly out of fear for his life, but in some cases he decided he had to inject his own words.
"Lord Glitch, that's really jerky of you, you know."
The Glitch's eyes widened at his words. It looked back down upon him, its gaze growing nastier, and said,
"Come again?"
Jacque paced the floor—slithered, technically. He definitely had to be careful how he worded things now. His first interjection sounded way too insulting.
"Well, didn't anyone ever tell you that sexual orientation isn't something to laugh at?"
Surprisingly, the Glitch snickered lightly at the question. Then, it went into a full-out laugh attack, sprawling out in its gigantic throne, fists pounding the black armrests. Finally it finished and wiped black plasma tears from its eyes.
"Ohoho! You amuse me, Jacque! Since when did I ever have a conscience, I mean, honestly?"
"Never?" suggested Jacque, hoping the answer was different.
"Exactly!" declared the Glitch; suddenly, its tone regained all seriousness. "Now, if you don't like what I am doing, you are free to become just another mindless drone in the army."
"No thank you, I'm fine. L-Lord Glitch..."
He hated to cower in fear of his master, but there was no preventing it. The Glitch's previous form was just a blob, a ridiculous-looking mass of mutated viruses and bugs. That was all it really was, so it was easy to stand up to the abomination.
But now, after the Glitch swallowed up the three rulers of Minecraftia as well as the Balance Core, it finally had enough extra power to make some modifications to its form. The Glitch had gotten tired of looking like interdimensional pudding, so it transformed into something that looked like Kronos with pitch-black skin and wings. Now it had gigantic hands and feet, able limbs, a torso and neck, unbelievably massive wings on its back, plus the horrifically ugly face. The only things that didn't change during the transformation were the eyes. Those piercing, blood-red, unforgiving eyes.
Needless to say, it was enough to make Chuck Norris wet his pants.
"Good then! So, will you kindly let me laugh in peace? ...MMHMMHMMHMMHMMWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA!"
Three and a quarter painful minutes of Farixz's counseling later, Adrian rejoined his friends mildly shaken. Liz put a hand on his shoulder as an act to comfort; she may not have known him all that well, but she hated seeing anyone in distress.
"You alright, Adrian?"
Adrian blinked hard, staring at Farixz as he was coming towards them.
"It's Farixz...he thinks ah'm gay."
Liz's and everyone else's expressions changed upon the word. Most of them thought it was funny as well as extremely unusual. Farixz? Say that? Why?
"Why would he think that?" Adrian wondered aloud.
"Well, are you?" Kelsey asked awkwardly.
Adrian's face burned and he shook his head quickly.
"Hell naw!" he shouted, louder than he expected.
"Is there a problem here, heroes?"
They all said an assortment of "no's" in reply. Farixz decided he wouldn't read everyone's minds this time. He thought he knew the problem already.
"Alright then, now for my parting words." began Farixz; he didn't even realize that everyone was now looking at him differently. "You all know the task at hand: to rescue the other three Spirits In Between: Froace the Fourth, Firzon the Fifth and Sycallion the Sixth. To achieve this, you must travel to Blocks Vegas, then New Pork City, and finally Glowstone National Park—in that order. As written in the Divination of Dimensions, you will be traveling without my assistance. I may only send you back into the world as far as you were when you left. Also, I must warn you, Satan is already bringing up the Unforgiveable Spawn. I sense he has even sent three of them to guard the other Spirits; you will have to fight them one way or another."
Norman's face fell at the sound of that.
"How're we supposed to kill things like those? The rules of Minecraft don't apply., I'm guessing."
"Regrettably, I only have so much power left to use that cannot be overruled by Satan or the Glitch, but I am using this power to alter the physical states of the three creatures so that you may damage them with Minecraftian weapons. All that will happen when you kill one of them is their wretched, corrupted souls will be locked back up in Hell. Hopefully, we will not have to deal with them again in the future."
Kelsey raised a hand. Farixz nodded politely to her and said,
"Kelsey?"
Kelsey's face was absolutely serious—not a trace of emotion whatsoever, no sign of leg-pulling here.
"Why is Satan, possibly the second-most powerful being in existence next to God, trying to keep us from saving the other three Spirits? What does he want with them?"
Farixz suddenly thought upon Serisdo's flashforward. His fellow Spirit had come up to him in the middle of his celestial bath; bursting right into the bathroom without even knocking, he'd rambled on about his vision, desperately hoping it could be changed. Farixz didn't want to tell the heroes the full details on the matter, for it would encourage them to try and change fate, which was extremely dangerous.
"I may tell you my theory, but that is all I can provide. I believe that he is trying to keep us from succeeding in our quest so that the Glitch will prevail instead. If this happens, then the Glitch will use the Arabaloca to overthrow all six of us Spirits at once and steal our powers. It will then proceed to swallow every dimension, beginning with here in the 0th and continuing on from there. Although, even the Glitch does not know that Satan's only boundaries are the walls of his own dimension. If you are Christian or not, it does not matter either way as of this moment. Whether you believe it or not, God and Satan are very, very real. God banished Satan to Hell for eternity when Satan's loyalty to God faltered. Since Satan does not possess the ability to travel into other dimensions directly, he is trapped, being forced to use other living creatures and things to carry out his evil work. Trapped, that is, unless he gains aid from an outsider."
"You mean to tell us that Satan himself is going to try and join forces with the Glitch if it succeeds?"
Farixz nodded solemnly and replied,
"Yes, that is what I think. A theory may it be, it is supported by evidence beyond reality. This is precisely why you must succeed—to keep the Glitch from ever making it to the 666th Dimension. Our ultimate victory begins in the world of Minecraft. Then again, remember that this is just a theory—a game theory, you could say."
The Glitch's mood went from good to bad in a matter of minutes. Farixz was already defying him with incredulous thoughts. Didn't he know that nothing could stand in opposition of the almighty and vicious Lord Glitch's plans?!
"Now THIS, Jacque, is not nearly as amusing. How dare such an inferior rival like Farixz think that this Satan is more powerful than I? Perhaps he may not have said it directly, but I can smell this lie; he positively reeks of it!"
Jacque slithered up to the Glitch hurriedly as soon as he heard that sinful entity's name.
"Satan, my lord?! You aren't considering taking over the 666th Dimension, are you?"
The Glitch's eyes flared and it snapped,
"Of course I will! It is on the path of destruction, is it not?"
Its tone was almost threatening; Jacque, once again, would have to be careful how he worded his thoughts.
"Your lordship, Satan is not bound by the same rules as you and I. He defies logic, you see, so there is no way to battle him without him changing the world's natural laws to his advantage. Even when you DO obtain the four sacred items to reach your final form...I fear it will only be as powerful as Satan is in his normal state. I think he will be able to overpower you if you are not careful, Lord Glitch..."
"Ah, but that is where you are fatally wrong!" declared the Glitch, lifting a pointy finger. "I am an unnatural force, so natural laws do not affect me either, illogical or not! You gravely underestimate me, it seems."
"But just in case, wouldn't it be wise to find the Logic Sword as Plan B? I believe Phil Drake still has it in his own dimension, but—"
"A powerful being like me only needs one plan, fool!" screamed the Glitch, this time pounding its fist on the throne's arm. "One perfect plan! Do you truly question my plan's flawlessness?!"
Again, with the Glitch's figure looming over him, Jacque replied in the safest way possible,
"...no, Lord Glitch."
The Glitch eyed his second-hand virus nastily.
"We'll see where your loyalties lie soon enough."
The Glitch stood up from its towering throne and strolled to the open window like it didn't have a care in the world.
"On a side note, I do enjoy the view from up here, watching everything from above to make myself even higher over all these insignificant Minecraftians. This new Plasma Palace only needs one more thing: a reanimated core!"
"Do you mean—"
"—the Balance Core, Jacque! We begin immediately!"
DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUN! The Balance Core, that's right! Now that we're back to the main focus of the story, we can really delve deep in the Glitch's diabolic plot. Or, even worse, the plans of Satan himself. *shiver*
And now for some QAA!
To the Glitch: You're Derpy, ya know that? Deal with it. *epic shades fall on face*
To Norman: I'm familiar with the movie, but I still don't understand how you ended up with the conclusion of Monty Python.
Norman: What the author said. *fourth wall breaks again*
To Phil: Suck it up.
Phil: *pulls shard of fourth wall from the previous QAA out of hip and throws it at you* You know what? You try working this kind of job for eternity and we'll see how you like it.
To the Blaze: Can I have a blaze rod to make a brewing stand to make potions of strength for Norman?
The Blaze: *mutters something in Blazinian language*
To Liz: Only use this when you are in a dire situation. *gives Pinkie Pie spawn egg* Warning: will cause intense happiness for all allies and instill fear in all enemies. *sneaks pinkamina spawn egg in to Norman's Blockpack without anyone noticing* *leaves note that says, "will kill all enemies"*
Liz: *stares at spawn egg in her hand and the one poking out of Norman's Blockpack* Um, you sure we should be carrying these? They're like loaded explosives.
To everyone: hbvdufyghdvufdlnjnfdsjfnhjherererererenjicphinfugnr0bugh54wmjv g0bt9n0jbfngirjbgljhrbghjdblvjhbsjlfbjlhgbjhdbgjhbfgbhbgfhbgfbgjgbrbgrrhejbgljbfjhbfhjbfjhbghjfbgjdhbvhjerbgjhebghkvtnugt iyinv iyij49 tre ijgn jgbpubigoghjprbymoihmtoh jy j i gj ignithi;ruhgiushi;fghixduhgiluhsgpeihgiurthirhsiuhgiphpifuhfijgtrpgg
Everyone: *initial reaction* Uhhhhhh...what?
Hey, how about another Sugar Lords scene, huh?
The Knights of the Blocky table floated there in the sky, drenched from the downpour of body fluids from that massive red monster. Already, they'd looked all over the area for Pastrinator64 and Pixelized Pikale and Company. Three of their members were missing.
They'd searched for a half hour, but their efforts were fruitless. Covering ground as quickly as possible, they'd worked together to give every square foot of air a good stare until they were satisfied that there was no one to be seen there. The only answer was this: the three of them had not survived the blast.
Just a few hours later, the Knights of the Blocky Table gathered around the three graves of their companions in the courtyard, mourning over the loss of—
"Hold up, other me!"
I...what? ...Never mind... It appeared that Pastrinator64 had sacrificed his own life to destroy the alien, but his efforts had not only affected himself, but his two friends as well. He'd been blind to the facts of the explosion—
"Hey! You're making me sound like a big loser! Change the story, already!"
Um...Pastrinator64 was speaking directly to me, the author, the other Pastrinator64, even through the boundaries of the fourth wall. It seemed he was alive after all, and he appeared in front of the group while at his own funeral, Pixelized and Pikale at his side.
"THANK you!"
"Uh, Pasty? Who are you talking to?" piped up ILTRTGS, tapping him on the shoulder to snap him out of it.
He turned to her and replied,
"Oh, just the author. He said I did a kamikaze, so I told him to change it. He was turning this whole thing into a sob story or something."
"Ugh! Glad you said something." muttered Luvr.
"So now what?" inquired Nwinds.
Pastrinator64 looked at them all, studying their expressions. He didn't know why he did, though.
"Well, that alien wasn't the thing I sensed from before. Not even close. Looking back, I realized it had a different kind of signature than the 2,000,000-power-level thing I sensed from earlier. We're going to have to go back there and find the real one, otherwise we might be missing something huge. It could be Axel coming to strike revenge, for all we know."
*le gasp* Not Axel!
Well, that's all for now! I hope you enjoyed chapter number eight, 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 [~]