Hello, this is Pastrinator64 with another chapter for Hourglass!

Surprised to see me so soon? Yeah, I know! I've gotten a lot more inspiration to write at the moment, so I couldn't stop myself as I wrote this chapter nonstop yesterday. I wanted to wait until just before New Year's Eve to post it, though. I thought about posting it right before 2015, but decided against it. I figure a lot of you having other things going on, other New Year's Eve parties and such.

Another reason I've been able to work on it more freely is probably because I'm on Christmas break. I'm sure a lot of you guys are, too, and I hope you're enjoying it! It'll be a lot harder to work when school starts up again, but at least I know that I'm almost halfway done with it. :D

And once again, I have no reviews to reply to. I did get a QAA bit, though, so that'll be something to put at the bottom! If you have any QAA, don't hesitate to ask.

Now, let the story commence!

Chapter 18: Hi, My Name is Jackery!

Adrian sat in the darkness in silence, eyes finally dry and his frying pan twirling around on his finger. He was watching everything unfold through the big screen that Ben had left him; it still had the large crack from when Adrian tried to destroy it. He could see Norman up front, Kelsey walking next to him and Astrid on the other side. His hand was gripping Darcy's shoulder to make sure he wouldn't slip away, though it didn't really feel like his hand at all. He wasn't in control anymore.

"Dang it..." he muttered, glaring at the ground in frustration, head pounding, "...cursed virus. All ah can do now is sit n' watch it all happen. Ah'm stuck like this fer good, that's certain."

The mixture of darkness and silence of his prison was driving Adrian insane. He was used to a lot of noise, so nothing at all like this. It had been only two days, but he hadn't been given any food or water, resulting in his body constantly screaming at him for nourishment.

"Why can't I get out'a here? This mah own mind! ...oh, how I wish that Ben thing would give me some goddang provisions! I'm dying o' thirst an' hunger, I am!"

As if in response to his outcries, the air around Adrian got thirty degrees colder, rippling slightly. A little square hole suddenly appeared in front of him and out popped Ben, still looking like the demon version of Adrian with his pitch-black skin and cruel eyes. Adrian stood up quickly and brandished his iron frying pan at the doppelganger.

"Ben! You little black devil, I want mah life back! Otherwise, yer gettin' the business end of this kitchen tool!"

Ben started walking towards him. At the moment, he looked like he wasn't going to take crap from anybody, he was so annoyed.

"Oh, be quiet! It's surprising how quick it is to get sick of talking like a redneck. I thought it would be a lot easier, but it's only been two days and I feel like I'm losing more of my digital brains every day."

Adrian grumbled through a closed mouth, squinting at Ben angrily. He too wasn't willing to take crap from anybody at the moment.

"This mean yer gonna give me control again, or what?"

Ben kept walking, not at all intimidated by Adrian and his pancake flipping device.

"Yes, that's correct." he replied, rolling his icy blue eyes; Adrian's spirits lifted immensely at his answer and he was just about ready to let out a happy holler when Ben continued. "But don't get too excited, Adrian! In case you forgot, you're not permitted to tell anyone about our little secret...otherwise, THIS will happen."

The giant screen in front of them flickered like it was changing channels, almost immediately showing a dark cell similar to his, only much smaller. His father and mother hung from plasma chains just as before, both unconscious. Then, amidst the deathly silence, the plasma of the chains melted around their wrists, dripping down their bodies. Piercing screams of pain vibrated the screen as well as Adrian's ears. It only took a few seconds before Adrian had to turn his head away.

"Turn it off..." he murmured weakly, staring at the ground and waiting for it to stop.

The screams continued.

"I SAID TURN IT OFF, DAMN IT!" he exclaimed as their cries intensified.

The screams finally ceased and Adrian was able to jerk his head up to the screen. He caught only a glimpse of his limp parents before the screen disappeared. He stood there, breathing heavily and giving Ben the deadliest of stares.

"Send me back...now..."

Ben waved a black finger at him disapprovingly, saying,

"Not with that attitude, kid! I'll send you back, but you'd better make sure you follow Lord Glitch's directions this time! No procrastinating like before! If you mess up again, it'll be the exact same punishment for your parents again!"

Ben took the final two steps, making them stand just a foot apart, their eyes locked. After a few seconds, Ben outstretched his arms and legs, presenting himself like an open target.

"Jump into me as I did to you before and you'll be transported back."

Adrian sighed, paused, then stepped back a bit, getting into a ready position. When he was ready, he took a deep breath and bolted forward, throwing himself forward at Ben. As soon as he made contact with his evil clone, black plasma swirled around him and he felt a sickening feeling, his body being lifted by a mysterious force before...before...oh. Before he fell straight through Ben and landed face-first on the ground, hitting his eye real good. While Ben stood there and laughed at him, Adrian gasped for breath after getting it knocked out of him just a moment ago. He stood up seconds later and whirled on Ben, shouting,

"What was that?! You said ah'd be transported back ter Minecraftia!"

Ben grinned at the purple in Adrian's face for a bit before answering.

"I just wanted to see you fall on your face like an idiot! Heheheheheh! Ohh, perfect." he said gleefully, and then laughed a bit more, making Adrian's rage increase to a dangerous point. "Seriously, though..."

Before Adrian could try and beat the plasma out of Ben, he reached out with a hand and spread his blackened fingers over the southerner's chest. Adrian took another big breath as it was almost ripped from him and he felt himself floating again, this time for real...he was going back.

"So, uh...this is the place?" muttered Jeff, staring upward at the building.

Jeff and the zombie archer Evan stood at the edge of the forest that surrounded this unknown Mistress's fortress. When Evan had told him it was a fortress, he pictured a formidable, expansive castle. This was more like a haunted manor with ten tall stories. The big rectangular creation was made of an assortment of ores and other stone types, almost like it was just dug up out of the ground and placed on the surface. Even so, the tilted figure of the mansion cast a long shadow, looming over them ominously.

Evan pointed a grubby zombie finger at the tower, whispering,

"This is it, alright."

Jeff's gaze traveled down the length of the jagged stone, stopping to get a good look at the front doors. Four more zombie archers stood guard, pacing back and forth in front of it. While watching them, Jeff leaned over and whispered,

"Are they the only ones guarding the door?"

Evan stared carefully into the distance, searching the perimeter with his keen eye. He was trained to use a bow well, after all. It was usually his unsteady hands that screwed up his aim, actually.

"Well, right now there are a total of twenty zombies guarding the place. That's including the four at the front doors, of course. Four are hiding in each of the side hedges there, two to both. The other ten walk a tenth of the rest of the property, four on the each side of the manor with two on the other side." he explained.

"So, we're going to have to take out the ones guarding the door, the four in the bushes and probably the other two that are closest to the front that just wander their sections. Think you can snipe them from the forest's edge?" asked Jeff, turning to look at him.

Evan looked down at his clumsy hands for a moment, fingering the string of his bow.

"Errrr...heck yes! I'm your zombie, Jeffykins!"

Jeff put a hand on the loudmouth's face to quiet him.

"Don't ever call me that..." he grumbled, also trying not to have an outburst. "Look, you get me in there and back out with my friends and I'll be out of your hair, okay?"

Evan reached up with a clammy hand and stroked what few hairs he had left on his head.

"Yeah, I don't really have hair, but what the Nether. Let's do it!" he said in a rather loud whisper.

He and Evan silently began making their way around the perimeter. While Evan was getting ready to start taking out guards, Jeff stayed by his side, watching his back to make sure another zombie from the forest didn't see them. Together, they held the perfect combination of dexterity and stealth, allowing them to get in the right position to shoot their first target.

The zombie guard stood fifteen blocks away from them and fifteen blocks away from the stone tower, walking around in a small 3x3 square perpetually to make sure nothing could get past it. Evan stood his bow in hand, trying his best not to start shaking again. He held it at the ready and set his arrow, aiming carefully, waiting for an opportune time to strike.

Five seconds later, the zombie paused for a moment to scratch an itch on his leg, ceasing its movement.

"Bingo..." murmured Evan.

But before he could let the arrow fly, something big and black fell from above and landed right on top of him. What followed next was both painful and extremely embarassing. Evan screamed as loud as he could, similar to a Japanese schoolgirl, then proceeded to wet his pants. For some reason, the spider had jumped down to attack them despite it being daytime, and it was even more vicious than usual.

In an instant, the zombie guard turned its head an unhealthy 300° to look at them through the trees. All of a sudden, blaring alarms went off all over the place and Jeff groaned angrily, stabbing the spider all the way through with his sword and then lifting it off the zombie nerd. Evan was breathing heavily on the ground, gripping the grass like it was his only hope of survival.

"C'mon, Evan! We're getting out of here!"

He jerked Evan to his feet and started pulling him through the forest at top speed. In a moment, a zombie came in from the right, seeing them and immediately pursuing its new target. The sound of their hungry grumbling got closer and closer somehow, though Jeff didn't understand how this zombie could've gotten so fast in the first place.

Jeff launched them in the other direction off a tree to get them as far away as possible. After a costly twenty seconds of running, Jeff caught a glimpse of the other end of the forest, hope budding up inside him. Just his luck, within seconds they found that they were being flanked by another zombie, the other one still very close behind.

"What're we going to do now?!" cried Evan, glancing back at their hunter. "The Mistress bred all of us to be in top physical condition, so do you honestly think you can outrun these guys?!"

Jeff ignored his question and just kept his eyes on the prize. If he could just make it out of the trees, he'd be home free! The pond from before was coming into view as he was thinking, it was so close!

And then, WHAM! The zombie guard that had noticed them a minute ago tackled Evan from behind, wrenching him from Jeff's grip. Jeff looked back to see Evan struggling on the ground beneath the massive body of the undead soldier, clawing at the ground to get away.

"JEFF! HELP ME!"

Jeff only glanced for a few seconds, but as soon as he turned around he found another beefed-up zombie standing in his way, just five blocks from the forest's borders. It lunged at him with outstretched arms, ready to bite his head off, but he jumped to the side and avoided the attack; he kicked off the nearby tree and stabbed the creature in the back with his iron sword, all the way to the hilt.

With a grunt, he ripped the sword back out and watched the zombie fall to the ground, quickly having to duck to avoid a swipe from the other zombie that was trailing them. On his second duck, he kicked the zombie hard in the knee, making it crouch painfully on the ground; he decapitated it seconds later.

When he looked up from his kill, he saw Evan being carried like a sack of potatoes over the guard's soldier, trying to stab the guy's shoulder with his bow and screaming like a girl again. Jeff kicked up a bit of grass when he took off after them, sword at the ready.

"Stop! In the name of the Mistress!"

Another dorky-looking zombie much like Evan came into view to his right, bow at the ready. He tried zigzagging to avoid the shot, but this zombie wasn't actually fooling around; the arrow hit its target in a fraction of a second, knocking Jeff sideways and into a tree. Blood seeped from underneath the arrow, wetting his shoulder and the bark of the tree, turning Jeff dizzy.

He didn't have time to gather his strength again before the zombie ran forward with a cloth, immediately slapping it over his nose and mouth. A sweet-smelling aroma, similar to that of freshly-made cookies, filled Jeff's nose. Moments later, his senses dulled and he fell fast asleep.

Jeff's senses returned to him in what felt like a split second. One moment, he was pinned up against a tree and the next he found himself lying down on a stone-cold floor. He sat up, blinking hard, trying to get his eyes to focus through his massive headache.

"Ugh..." he thought to himself. "I haven't had a migraine like this since Esmeralda got Screaming Fever. Now that was a long night."

His vision cleared up after another minute and he could make everything out. He sat in the middle of a stone cellar with several other prisoners. There were mostly guys in the room, but a couple girls and even one kid who looked like he was four years old. All of them looked like they were waiting for their inevitable demise, which, by the way Jeff had been treated so far, was probably the real deal.

He got to his feet and rushed over to the first person he saw—a girl, tiny in stature, with a kid-like face, freckles on her nose, red pigtails and eyes the color of marmalade.

"You there!" he said, pointing her out as he approached. "Hey, can you tell me what's going on here? I basically just arrived, so I'm a bit uninformed."

The girl looked up at him quickly and raised a hand, grabbing his and shaking it enthusiastically.

"Before I tell you anything, my name is Amya! Okay, now I'll tell you stuff!" she said, not pausing to breath as she continued. "So, the zombies capture us, keep us down here for a while, and then they turn us into zombies to join their army! It's gonna suck!"

Jeff took a glance around at the other people in the room, scouting out for Evan. He must've gotten in trouble, too, but would he be down here with the rest of them?

"And did you see a scrawny zombie teenager named Evan get thrown in here?"

Amya shook her head, making her pigtails slap her in the face.

"Nope! Just Minecraft people, that's it! ...hey, is your name Jeff, by the way?"

Jeff raised an eyebrow at her, slightly suspicious. She may look innocent, but he wasn't about to go trusting just anybody now. He'd been tricked into giving away personal info too many times already. So, he crossed his arms firmly and replied,

"No, my name's...Jack. Jackery Ironblock."

In his mind, he was thinking,

"JACKERY?! What the Nether just came out of my mouth?!"

Amya even cracked up at his name, clutching her tiny stomach.

"Jackery, huh?" she finally said, still giggling. "Well, that's no good! There's this dude down here who calls himself JB and he said he's looking for someone named Jeff. I've been asking every new prisoner that comes down here, but no luck so far."

Jeff's head perked up and he quickly scanned the room again, looking out for JB. He was hoping this would happen! Well, not exactly like this, but it was close enough. He left the peppy like ball of sunshine and made his way across the room towards newly-spotted JB, who was lying down on one of his beds, staring blankly at the ceiling.

"Hey! JB!" called Jeff, waving a hand.

JB's gaze stayed locked with the stone ceiling. Jeff pushed through the rest of the crowd until he made it, crouching down beside the bed and giving JB a curious look.

"JB! Hello, Overworld to JB!" he said, waving a hand over his face.

JB blinked a couple times like he'd fallen asleep with his eyes closed and was just waking up.

"Whoa!" he shouted, shaking his head to get himself cleared up again; he then sat up on the bed and looked over at Jeff, face turning a bit red. "Sorry, I was just thinking about something..."

They both paused for a second. The situation had turned a bit awkward already. Then, something clicked in JB's brain and his eyes narrowed at Jeff suddenly.

"Wait a moment...didn't you just leave us back in that jungle? We waited just as you told us, but you never came. Morgan eventually got bored and walked off on her own, and...well, I couldn't just leave her..." he muttered, face turning a deeper shade of crimson at the mention of Morgan. "So, I accompanied her until we reached the forest full of zombies. I don't know exactly why this happened, but as we were getting attacked, the zombies let her go right on through and captured only me. They even bowed in front of her!"

Jeff's eyes widened at the sound of that. Was Morgan secretly working with the Mistress? She did say that she had some unfinished business, but he didn't think that the two of them were part of it. The air around them went from uncomfortable to rather grave. A feeling of dread and betrayal hung over them, ready to drop from its single thread...

"Yo, Jackery!"

Jeff jumped and whirled around to see Amya running up to them. She skidded to a halt like she was almost about to lose control, dust flying behind her when she stopped in front of them. JB looked over at Jeff with pure confusion and muttered,

"Jackery?"

Jeff rubbed his eyes and replied,

"Nothing, just ignore her."

Amya looked a bit confused herself for a second, analyzing the annoyance in his face.

"Jackery, that's your name, isn't it?"

Jeff left go of his eyes and glanced up at her, giving her a strange stare.

"No, it's Jeff. Mildly long story that I don't want to tell..."

Amya paused for a second, biting her lip. It appeared that she had forgotten what she was going to say to him. After a few seconds of intense lip-gnawing, her big eyes grew twice their size as she remembered.

"Oh yeah! There's a guard over there who wants two guys named JB and Jeff to come with him. I was going to ask you if you knew a Jeff in here, but never mind."

Jeff stood up hurriedly, looking over the heads of all the other prisoners to see the doorway. Sure enough, a zombie guard with one weird eye was standing there, waiting impatiently for its demands to be met. Amya got behind the two of them and tried pushing them forward.

"Come on, you troublemakers!" she said, almost like it was all a big joke. "Move your butts!"

Jeff and JB exchanged nervous glances before willingly taking their first steps toward their keeper. Their sudden movement caused Amya to fall forward after trying to push them, but she bounced right back up and followed close behind like a tiny duckling. The two of them approached the guard carefully, who always eyed them nastily. Jeff felt like an unwanted stack of cobblestone the way he looked at him.

"Are you two Jeff and JB?" he said, pointing to JB and then to Jeff.

JB raised a hand and cleared his throat at the same time, saying,

"Actually, sir, I am JB. HE is Jeff."

The zombie guard jabbed his sword at JB threateningly and snapped right back at him, spit flying from his decaying gums.

"Don't try to mess with me, mortal! If you think you can switch up your names just because my zombie head is stupider than...wait..." it scratched its head, pondering how to say its comeback correctly.

Both Jeff and JB lowered their heads, groaning at his stupidity. Amya just laughed. The zombie's rambling went on for another few minutes with no progress.

"If stupid my zombie head is your names...switched...uh...WELL, IT DOESN'T MATTER!" he suddenly belted, startling the three of them. "You're coming with me whether you're JB or you're Jeff!"

Jeff was still recovering from the zombie's cringeworthy display, but it was at this time that he noticed that his Blockpack was hanging from the zombie guard's free arm, JB's as well. If he could get it back, he might be able to beat this guy up and free them all!

Doing some quick thinking, Jeff put on a sudden look of extreme interest and pointed up at the guard's forehead.

"Dude, nice tattoo! I didn't know you were into ponies!"

The little black eyes of the guard grew out of pure shock.

"WHAT? Seriously?!"

To Jeff's luck, the idiot bent back his head and rolled his eyes up as far as they would go, trying to get a look at his own forehead. Without a second to waste, Jeff literally jumped at his opportunity and nailed the guy in the face with heel. The abomination fell with a loud crash to the ground, but not before having his head turned around backwards with a sickening crack.

Jeff leapt up onto the thing's chest and used it as a launch pad, landing hard down on its head again, crushing its rotting skull and rendering it useless. With the zombie guard down, he lifted up the thing's monstrous arm and snatched up his Blockpack, tossing the other to JB. He caught it with glee and whipped out his own iron sword, now ready for action.

"Well done, Jeff!" he said, clapping his hands together.

Jeff smiled, letting his adrenaline fade again while he pickpocketed the creature. From the grubby uniform he found several loafs of bread, some zombie flesh, a unique sword that appeared to be MADE from zombie flesh, and a square key ring. As he turned around to face all the other prisoners, they all started to cheer with joy, though he quickly shushed them.

"You can all thank me later." he said, still smiling. "But right now I'm going to help you all get out of here. I have five different keys here, so we should be able to use one of them to get back everyone's Blockpacks. There are probably more guards out there, so we're going to have to get everyone out in small groups. How many of you are in here, exactly?"

Amya made a little "ooh!" sound and zipped over to the right wall, clearing away some vines that grown there to reveal a block full of scratches and markings.

"Hey, I've been in here for a while, so I've been keepin' track! Looks like there's thirteen of us not including you and JB! Hold on one second and I'll make sure that's right..." she explained, her words almost too fast to distinguish.

While Amya checked the prisoner count, JB and Jeff handed out the loaves of bread; everyone here looked like they were being starved to death. The bread was a bit stale, but otherwise perfectly okay. Amya finished counting and then recounting in around twenty seconds. When she was finished, she put her hands on her hips and nodded in satisfaction.

"Yep! Thirteen including me! So, how's this gonna work, huh?"

Jeff explained while everyone was munching on dry bread.

"JB and I will escort everyone in groups of three, so that will make it four trips back and forth. Amya, since you're not exactly the, uh, most reserved, you get to stay here and make sure that everyone here is kept safe. I'll even give you a couple TNT blocks and redstone torches in case you get into trouble. Just be really careful, okay?"

Amya nodded twice, looking at least a little bit serious this time. She wanted to get out as much as the rest of them, after all. She'd been so annoying to the prison guards that they always ended up taking her only a quarter of the way to her death before chucking her back in, so she really had been in there a long, LONG time.

"I've been stuck in this gross little cell for six months; I'm ready leave anytime!"

Jeff nodded back, then turned to look at JB.

"You think you're ready?"

JB stood up straight and gave him a look of confidence.

"Of course! I may not have had to do anything like this before, but if it means helping all these innocents, then I'm willing to do it!"

This little shine of bravery made Jeff feel a bit proud of JB. Even after doing nothing but running an inn for his short life, JB was still ready to do what needed to be done. He liked to see that in a young man.

But putting his own feelings aside, Jeff cleared his throat and hopped up on top of the limp zombie guard, using him as a pedestal.

"Alright! Here's the plan..."

Aw yeah! I've got to hand it to Jeff. He's done so many awesome things during his time in these stories—even after his death! (That will be explained later, I promise. ;D) This here is just a reminder how great of a guy he is. He's definitely one of my all-time favorite characters to write for.

Now then! Here's the one QAA I got! Aaaaaaaaaand...it's a "To Everyone/All" one. This is from some guy named "DA RABIDZ."

To All: BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!11!1!11!1!

Norman: I'm...not following.

Liz: Yeah, also not following.

Kelsey: I'm confused! Are you trying to communicate with us?

Adrian: Bwaaaaaa? Partner, that ain't anything like Spanglish, is it?"

Astrid: YELLING CONTEEEEEEEST! BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! I WIN!

Bailey: Ohh...ow...could you quiet it down? You're giving me a headache!

Darcy: Cockatoo got your tongue, mate? You're sick as an infested mud hole.

Auconi: THAT. IS. SO. FRICKIN. ANNOYING!

Alexander: I agree with Auconi! You better stop that or I'll put a hole in you with my deadly stick!

Vanessa: Ohhhhh no! I would love to comment on your ridiculous shouting, but I feel like I'm going to cry if I don't correct Alexander! "Hole in you" is incorrect on so many grammatical levels!

Jeff: Be quiet, already! I'm one to agree with Bailey since I'm getting a headache, too! Is it just us adults who're getting it, or what?

Morgan: Yeah, I think I'm with Alexander on this one. Hey! Pass me an extra stick, will you?

JB: Could you please stop? I'm trying to be nice, here...

Amya: Heeheeheehee! I can do that, too! BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Evan: That's okay, I've had to listen to plenty annoying things in my life. Imagine having to hear scratching nails on a chalkboard every night! THAT'S how the Mistress likes to wake us up!

Matilda: AH, MY POOR, ACHING HEAD! And yes, I think it may be just us adults who're getting it! My migraine's a'coming back!

The Glitch: ASTRID, YOU INFURIATE ME! Do you possibly think you can challenge anyone in a yelling contest and not invite me?! I'LL SHOW YOU! BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—

Ben: *slaps face with wing* I'm surrounded by idiots...

Right you are, Ben! Right you are!

And since I didn't give you guys a Sugar Lords snippet last time (which I'm actually not sure if any of you read XD ...but seriously), I have a brand new one right here for you!

Pastrinator64 had decided to take along his most, er, patient friends. If they were going to persuade the Squid Army to join their side, they would have to have the tolerance of Jesus Christ. These aquatic creatures had the shortest attention span of all the mobs in the mob kingdom.

After a few weeks of travel, Pastrinator64 finally found himself standing before the greatest underwater temple known to Minecraftian kind, way off in the Far Lands. Pastrinator64 stood on the edge of a jagged beach facing the ocean, which had several holes in the water. Nwinds and Kyle McShade stood on either side of him.

Kyle looked over at him a few seconds later and then smiled mischievously.

"Hey, Pasty! How come you didn't bring your girlfriend along instead of one of us?"

Pastrinator64's face went extremely red and he snapped,

"Luvr is NOT my girlfriend, Kyle. She was my first huge fan, that's it. I was younger at the time, more easily excited—course, we both were—and we just swapped a lot of PM's on Fanfiction. That doesn't mean she and I had something going."

Pastrinator64 flew up into the air and started off towards the water temple, which just barely poked out from underneath the shiny surface not thirty blocks away. Kyle just rolled his eyes and followed him, Nwinds right behind.

The water temple itself was even oddly shaped. Underneath the water was a temple with jutting edges, weird formations on the roof and random open doorways here and there. Pastrinator64 just imagined that Notch sneezed it into the world while he was making the other regular ones.

They settled down on the tip of the water temple, which stood a few blocks from the rest of the structure. Looking down into single-square opening, they could see that the inside of the temple was messed up as well, though hundreds of squids flopped around the place, talking to each other in some derpy language.

"Ugh...I hate squids." muttered Nwinds, breathing heavily through his nose. "Alright, let's just get this over with!"

Anyway, I'm glad I got a chance to post this before 2015. Before I sign off, I'd love to wish you all a happy New Year! I'll be back in a little while with the next installment of...Hourglass!

Well, that's all for now! I hope you enjoyed chapter numbah eighteen, and I'll see you all NEXT YEAR!

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 [~]