someone count how many fight scenes are in this fic. for uh, for science
'Before you know it', in this case, ended up meaning 3 and a half days.
"I need to leave." Theo announced, in the process of explaining his plan. "It's been a week, and there's been no sign of Null. We can't say for sure, but it certainly seems like he's not interested in attacking while I'm here."
"Because he can't strip you of your powers like he did with me and Notch." Herobrine supplied. "And that makes him nervous."
"Probably," Theo agreed. "And since we have no way of tracking him, we'll need to draw him out so I can spring my trap."
"You can't track him down?" Heather asked. She wasn't thrilled with the idea of having to bait Null out, not with how unpredictable he always was.
"Unfortunately, no. I've tried, but he's too…" Theo wiggled his fingers. "...slippery. Anyway, I'll be close, just out of sight. You just need to engage him so I can strike."
Heather pursed her lips, gazing at her friend's face. Theo had been an absolute trooper for the past few days, traveling by day and working on Null's code at night. He'd barely slept. He'd assured her that in this form, he didn't feel tired, but she could see the fatigue in his eyes. Beyond the natural concern for a friend, she was concerned about his ability to react in a timely manner.
But, they didn't have much of a choice. Any time he did sleep was a time that Null might choose to strike.
"Alright." Heather said at last. "And we don't need to do anything?"
"If you could keep him still, that would be great. Don't kill him." Theo added. "He'll flit off to the farthest corner of the world again, and that'll set us back by at least few days."
"Roger that."
"Alex and Steve should stay back in the event of an attack." Herobrine spoke up. "Even if Null was bluffing in his threats to delete Steve, he can still corrupt them, and that would be a significant issue if we're trying to keep him pinned down."
"So it'll be you, me, and Heather." Notch deduced. Herobrine gave him a grim nod.
"Right."
"We can keep up a ranged attack." Steve suggested. "Keep Null off if he tries to get close."
"We'll need to avoid killing him." Alex pointed out.
"Surely he won't be trying to die?"
"Not unless he deemed that his best course of action, which…" Herobrine shrugged. "He's Null."
"True." Steve nodded. The group stood in silence for a moment.
"Okay." Theo said at last. "We all understand the plan?" There was a round of nods. "Okay. I'm gonna head out, then." He took a single step back before Heather lunged forward to throw her arms around him, burying her face in the fabric of his hoodie. He gave her a squeeze in return.
"Be safe." She mumbled into his shirt. He patted her head.
"Don't worry about me. You guys be safe."
"Well, we'll try." A thrill of nervousness went through Heather as she pulled away. Assuming Theo knew what he was doing, this was it. This would be their final battle with Null.
…Ugh, thinking of it that way made it sound so ominous.
Herobrine laid a hand on his wife's shoulder as Theo typed a command and vanished.
"Let's go." He said quietly. Heather nodded and turned with the group, heading towards the rising sun.
Heather took a hesitant step into the tall grass, only for her foot to plunge straight into a hole filled with swamp water.
"Ugh."
"Oh dear." Herobrine looked back at her sympathetically, a few blocks ahead. "You alright?" Heather nodded, grimacing as she tried to shake off her boot.
"I still don't see why we have to cut through here."
"I thought we would enjoy a change of scenery." Notch called back to her. "I was growing tired of deserts and plains."
"Yeah, well, this isn't exactly prime battleground." Heather complained. "And we're slowed down considerably."
"That's okay, we're not going for speed." Steve came up behind her, plucking her up off the ground and throwing her over his shoulder. Heather squirmed indignantly.
"Hey!"
"Hey, I thought you didn't want wet feet." Steve strode on ahead, and Heather spied Herobrine smirking as they passed him. She made a rude gesture in his direction.
"Anyway, I see the end of the water up ahead." Alex pointed, and Heather sighed, abandoning her struggles.
"Maybe we'll have a chance to dry off."
"Not if those rain clouds are any indication." Herobrine remarked. Heather slumped.
"This is the worst."
It had been four days since they had split away from Theo. Occasionally, near the beginning, Heather had seen snatches of him as he followed them, but those had come less and less as time went on. If they could see him, she reasoned, Null probably could too.
They had seen absolutely nothing of Null. Nor any hostile mobs, for that matter. The group still hid underground during the night, since even though they wanted Null to find them they didn't want him to realize that something was amiss. So, they were counting on him attacking during the daytime.
Despite the generally calm atmosphere, Heather and all of her allies were tense. Knowing that Null could attack at any time, relying on it, had them constantly on edge for an attack. They never knew what angle he was going to come from - his attacks had been greatly varied in the past to keep them guessing, and it was working. So, they kept watches at night, and their eyes peeled and weapons drawn during the day. Heather was determined not to let him hurt them before Theo could get to him.
"Here you go." Steve set her down on the bank that stretched out into the savanna before them, and she wobbled before catching her balance.
"Thanks, I guess."
"You guess?" Steve gestured to his soaked jeans. "I did all this for you."
"There's an ocean," Alex pointed to the left, and Heather turned to see sparkling water stretching out until it hit the horizon. "Let's angle east."
"Or we could cross it." Notch suggested lightly.
"Yes, because that went fantastically last time." Herobrine cut in. There was no hostility in his voice, though, and Notch merely smirked and rolled his eyes. It was… really nice to see them interacting as friendly rivals, Heather noted, rather than bitter enemies.
"We could sail along the shoreline to rest our legs." Steve suggested. "And land again come nighttime."
"That's a possibility." Herobrine nodded thoughtfully. "As long as we don't run across ruins or the like, I'd like to avoid the drowned. Maybe-"
The world went black.
Heather crashed to her knees in the grass before she could even think, mind racing, ears straining for the sounds of sculk sensors. Instead, all she heard was the muddled shouts of her companions, then a torch that appeared to illuminate her husband's face.
"Everyone alright?" His gaze fell on her. "Heather? What's wrong?"
"The sun's gone." Steve said in disbelief. "There's- there's nothing." Another torch appeared, then another, as Alex and Notch pulled out lights of their own. Herobrine hurried to kneel by Heather's side as she pressed a hand over her heart. It was racing.
"Everyone be on your guard." Alex snapped. "This has to be Null's doing."
"It is." The warped voice had Heather's head whipping around, but she couldn't catch sight of those telltale glowing eyes. Oh Nether, it was happening, Theo had better be nearby.
"Are you truly such a coward that you must bring your shadows with you?" Notch goaded, lifting his torch above his head.
"I prefer to think of it as a tactical advantage." Finally, Heather pinpointed the source of the voice, and turned to the north to find a faint silhouette standing on a hill. It wasn't actually pitch black, as she had first assumed. As her eyes adjusted, she found that the sky was a sort of shadowy purple, twisting and murky, just like the-
"The End." She murmured. "It's the sky from the End."
"How and why would he do that?" Alex hissed.
"I have my ways." Null called out, drawing their attention back to him. "Look at me, Herobrine. You see this? I don't need you anymore."
"Do tell?" Herobrine placed his torch beside him, easing his pickaxe into his hand instead.
"Look what I can do. Look what I can do all on my own." Null gestured around him, his pitch-black form only barely visible against the dark backdrop. "I control the mobs, the day and night, the very world." Thunder rumbled ominously, and Heather shivered, wondering if it was natural or a display of his power. "Even if I cannot kill you, Notch, I can imprison you. Perhaps I'll put you in a Nether Portal. We'll see how much you like it."
"Bold words from a man who's lost the last six consecutive fights." Alex called out.
"Perhaps so," Null snapped back, "But every day my power grows, every day more and more of this game is mine. My domain, MINE to control." Heather didn't interrupt. The longer he monologued, the longer Theo had to prepare. "I don't know if I should kill you, Herobrine, or leave you alive to watch while I experiment on whether it's possible to kill your wife."
Herobrine's hand tightened on her arm. "Good luck." He bit out.
"I don't need luck, not when the fabric of this reality bows to my whims!" Null glanced down, placing his command block in front of him. Alex swapped her axe out for a bow as he rested his palm atop the block. "Say your last goodbyes to this world, because once I'm finished with you I will reshape it in my image." He hesitated for a moment, perhaps wondering in a moment of clarity why they had yet to attack. Then he tightened his grip on the edge.
"The end."
His voice was nearly drowned out by the roars of a dozen Ender Dragons as they filled the air.
Herobrine yanked Heather up to her feet as he ran, and she was forced to stagger along with him. At least she could see a little better, now, the savanna illuminated by the glowing eyes and scales of the flight of dragons. The others were running with them, and Heather wondered if Herobrine's plan was just to run until Theo could get to Null.
"Take advantage of their size!" He shouted. "Don't let them group up on you. Alex, Steve-" His commands were cut off as a dragon slammed into the ground behind them, jaws shooting down and snapping shut around Steve's body.
"Steve!" Heather cried, but the dragon rippled violently with light and roared as it released him. Steve tumbled to the grass, then pushed himself up, unhurt.
"What-" He was interrupted by a battle cry from Alex, who lunged at the dragon with her axe. She got a couple of good hits in before being forced back again by its jaws, and the dragon took off, soaring into the air to rejoin the others.
"Steve?" Heather called out. The miner picked himself up, plucking at the rends in his clothing from the sharp teeth.
"I'm… okay?"
"Heads up!" Alex called as she marched up to him, and Steve turned just in time to yelp as she swung her axe at his head. Instead of dying in a puff of smoke, his body flashed with color, and Alex jerked her axe back with a small cry. "Like I thought!" She exclaimed. "Whatever Null did to you - to where you couldn't take damage - it stuck!"
"Built-in thorns, huh?" Steve looked down at his hands. Heather looked up, nervously, as the dragons circled above them. A second sweep of the sky revealed Null, perched upon a dragon's back a bit further away from the fight.
"We can't stand here in a group, everyone split up." Notch ordered. "We're making ourselves easy targets for dragon's breath."
"Heather, stay with Alex. Notch with me." Herobrine gave his wife a nudge in her direction. "Steve, I trust you'll be alright on your own?" Steve looked back at him, then grinned as he tightened his hands into fists.
"I think so."
"Good. Then go!" Herobrine moved towards Notch, and Heather took a breath, running to join Alex. As soon as their group split up, the dragons swooped down to attack.
Heather was forced to tumble to the right to avoid a blast of purple flame, staggering back to her feet and drawing her bow as the dragon arced away again. She took aim, but couldn't get a shot off before a second dragon was on her.
"Forget ranged weapons!" Alex shouted. "There's too many. Wait for them to come close, then strike."
"They're not behaving like normal dragons!" Heather yelled back. Normal dragons were predictable, circling, then perching. But, of course, there was no fountain at which to perch here.
"Of course they're not, they're in the Overworld, and Null has them on a leash!" Alex beckoned Heather with her, running for a copse of acacia trees. Two dragons swooped after them as Heather followed her up an incline, and she spun, holding her ground and lifting her sword. The dragons didn't falter, and she was forced to duck at the last second and jab her sword above her head to plunge the blade into a dragon's neck. The resulting roar was deafening.
Heather was knocked onto her back from the impact as the dragons swept over her, and she was picking herself up when she heard Alex yell. Heather spun around to find the redhead clinging to a dragon's neck as it climbed again, hacking at the inky scales. Heather's jaw dropped. If she fell from that height, she would die on impact, and Heather didn't know if Theo would have time to bring her back during the battle.
"Heather!" A distant shout caught her attention, and she turned just in time to dodge as a fireball hurtled towards her. She ran from the resulting pool of dragonfire, unable to spare the breath to thank her husband. Where was Theo?
Another dragon dove at her, and another, and though she managed to get a hit off on each it did nothing. Without a health bar, she had no indication if any of the dragons were low health, meaning all she could do was fight defensively and try to keep herself alive. Each blow she landed jarred her to the bone, and she was steadily being worn down, no time to rest as dragon after dragon threw itself at her blade.
"Heather!" Steve's voice came from just behind her, and she looked up, panting, as he appeared at her side. "Where's Alex?" Heather pointed mutely up at the sky, and he glanced up with her to see a flash of orange and green still clinging to a circling dragon. "Right."
"How's being invincible going?" Heather gasped out, readying her sword as a dragon dove at the pair of them.
"I really don't mind it." Steve brandished his own sword, and he sliced at the head as soon as the beast came within range. "It's been a while since I fought dragons!" He shouted as it retreated. "Brings back memories!"
"Well, I'm glad you're having fun." Heather muttered. Steve just grinned.
"Hero and Notch?" He asked. Heather turned to scan the battlefield, and found them standing a good hundred blocks away at the top of a hill. Herobrine was wielding a bow, firing upon the dragons that got close, while Notch stood before him with his sword drawn. Null was still far above, surveying the battle. Was he counting on the dragons simply overwhelming them, Heather wondered? Or did he have another plan once they had been defeated? His speech led her to believe that he wasn't planning on losing this fight. No more games, he was pulling out all the stops.
As she watched, the shadowy being drew a bow, and Heather frowned as he took aim at one of the dragons. It wasn't until he'd loosed the arrow that she realized what he was actually aiming at.
"Agh!" Alex cried out as she plummeted, and Heather's heart leapt into her throat.
Suddenly, she wasn't falling so quickly, drifting into the grass like a falling leaf, and a figure dressed in white had appeared in the darkened sky.
"Hi, Null." He called out as Heather ran to check on Alex. "I'd say it's a pleasure to finally meet you, but it really isn't."
"You have good timing, hacker." Null called back, still perched comfortably on the back of his dragon. "You're here just in time to watch all your friends die." Theo checked his wrist.
"Oh. That wasn't on my schedule for today, can we do another time?"
"You're too late." Null snapped, ignoring Theo's attempts at humor. "I know why you're here. You're here to shut me down, to lock me away like you once did to my foes. But I've grown too powerful, more powerful than Notch ever was! I AM this game, no amount of your technological trickery can stop me!"
"Well, let's put that to the test." Theo lifted a hand, and his console appeared in the air in front of him. Null just watched as he lowered his hands to the keys.
- running process metamorphosis
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- an error has occurred
- java. lang .NullPointerException
"Oh, you're kidding me!" Theo's shout startled Heather from where she was kneeling next to Alex, and she looked up to find him tapping rapidly on the console.
"What's wrong?" She yelled back.
"He's changed himself since I wrote this, it doesn't work anymore!" Theo yelled. Null said nothing, but Heather could see the smug look on his face even from this far below. "I need time!"
"You have no more time." Spurring his dragon forward, Null shot towards him, and Theo was forced to teleport to a safer spot.
"I'll work on this, keep him occupied!" With that, Theo vanished again. Filled with new confidence, Null wheeled his dragon around, this time aiming for where Notch and Hero were standing at the top of the hill.
"Herobrine!" Heather shouted. She started to move, only to hesitate and look back at Alex, who was gripping the arrow shaft sticking out of her arm.
"Go." She waved her off. Heather didn't wait for further orders, charging across the battlefield towards her husband.
"Tag!" She yelled, smacking Notch on the arm as she skidded to a halt beside him. "Go find Steve!" Notch gave her a bemused look, but obeyed, charging off in the direction of Steve and Alex. Herobrine looked at her questioningly. "Seems unfair to have the two guys who can die together," Heather said, readying her sword and focusing her attention on Null.
"Right." Herobrine drew his bow, releasing the arrow to slam into the belly of Null's dragon. It roared, then rolled in the air, sending a blast of dragonflame down upon them. Heather and Herobrine scrambled for safety.
"I've been doing a decent amount of damage," Herobrine told her as they ran. "Some of them must be low."
"We haven't killed any yet?"
"No." Herobrine shook his head as they stopped beneath an acacia tree. "I'm operating under the assumption that Null hasn't modified their health - if he has, we just have to keep defending."
"You heard Theo?" Heather gripped her sword tightly, knowing there would be blisters on her hand later. Herobrine nodded grimly.
"I did. We have to give him time."
"Right." Heather focused on Null as he settled into an orbit above them again. Null had boasted that Theo couldn't hurt him. And… his first attempt had failed. Was he right? If he was right, what were they going to do? He could summon dragons for crying out loud, Heather didn't doubt that he could set his spawn point here, overwhelming them with mobs and hounding them relentlessly until they'd collapsed from sheer exhaustion-
"We need to trust Theo." Herobrine's voice was loud and forceful, and Heather realized that her panic must be showing on her face. "Here." He offered her his bow, and she took it numbly. "You shoot. I'll keep him off of us." He drew his pickaxe, and Heather set her jaw, taking aim at the circling dragon.
Null wasn't the first one to attack, though. Another dragon swooped at them from the right, and Heather fired off a few arrows, most of them landing before it finally veered off to avoid further damage. Then another dragon appeared, Null waiting, biding his time as his servants slowly wore them down. At least her bow had infinity, Heather recognized tiredly as an arrow materialized between her fingers. She wouldn't be running out of arrows anytime soon.
Drawing the bow, she took aim at one of the dragons circling her and her husband, one lagging a bit behind the group. Already a dozen arrows protruded out of its flesh, concentrated primarily around the head and neck. Its movements were slow, making it an easier target, and she let the bolt fly.
The arrow hit home, and the dragon screamed, dissolving and exploding in a burst of white light.
"There!" Heather shouted, new strength flooding her limbs. "We can kill them!" Null directed his dragon in a tight circle, glowering down at them.
"He'll spawn more." Herobrine muttered into her ear.
"I know. But at least this slows him down." Heather took aim again as another pair of dragons swooped at them, only to be distracted as another dragon died on the other side of the field. Notch's group had gotten one too.
More and more dragons began to drop, exp orbs littering the battlefield as they died one after another. Null became steadily more aggressive, directing his own dragon to attack over and over again. Heather and Herobrine had fallen into a steady rhythm, Herobrine keeping the dragons at bay while his wife shot at them, occasionally having to relocate when dragon's breath was hurled at their hiding place. Sometimes the dragons would swoop low enough to leave deep trenches in the earth, destroying all blocks in their path and creating a steadily more hazardous battlefield.
Finally, Null's dragon was the only one remaining. He circled the battlefield, raining fire upon both them and Notch, and his unpredictable movements kept Heather from landing many arrows. It wasn't until he dipped just a little too low, trying to get a good angle to fire at Notch, that she landed the final blow.
The dragon curled up as its form began to dissolve, and Null slipped right through it, plummeting towards the savanna below.
"Don't let him die!" Herobrine shouted, taking off in a sprint towards where he was about to land. Heather ran after him, but neither she nor her allies could reach him before Null slammed into the dirt, disappearing into the tall grass.
Herobrine slowed as he neared him, and Null lurched upright an instant later.
"Well done." He snarled. "Good for you. You defeated all of them. Certainly would be a shame if I just spawned more." His command block appeared in his hand again.
"Hold him!" Alex exclaimed, and Herobrine darted forward, but Null lashed out with a sword when he got close. In Hero's moment of hesitation, Null pressed his hand to the command block, and a new dragon appeared in the sky above him.
This one didn't move.
The dragon was utterly still, floating soundlessly in midair, and Heather blinked at it in astonishment. Surely he hadn't done that on purpose?
"It has no AI." Notch exclaimed. "He's done it wrong."
"I did nothing wrong!" Null snapped, slamming his fist down on the command block. The dragon winked out of existence, then reappeared, but still it refused to move. Summoning a second dragon did much of the same, and he let out a cry of frustration.
"Herobrine." Notch approached his errant creation, sword drawn, and Herobrine looped around Null to approach from the other side. Heather drew closer, though she was sure they had it handled. If Null couldn't use commands-
"I don't need this to kill you!" Abandoning the command block, Null threw himself at Notch, movements wild and erratic as he hammered at Notch's blade with his own. Caught off guard, Notch struggled to keep up for just a moment before Herobrine arrived to assist. He threw an arm around Null's neck, attempting to put him in a headlock, but Null seized his arm with his free hand and Herobrine screamed as his body pulsed with white.
"Herobrine!" Heather rushed at them, but Notch got to him first, slamming the hilt of his sword down on Null's head and disorienting him enough for Herobrine to slump to the ground. Heather stumbled to her knees beside her husband, instinctively checking for a pulse - which she found- as Null backed away.
"I told you!" He gasped. "I told you! I'm more powerful than you have ever been!" Under Heather's hand, Herobrine stirred, his visible eye peeling open slightly.
"That's enough, Null." Notch snapped. "Your attack has failed, you can't defeat us without your minions."
"WRONG!" Null strode towards him again, and Heather scrambled upright, lifting her sword. Notch blocked his path, and Null came to a halt. "It's admirable, at least." He forced a laugh. "That you stay to defend your creation. Not long ago, you would have run."
Notch adjusted his grip on his sword. "Herobrine and I have come to an understanding."
"An under- NO! You'll NEVER understand!" Null took a menacing step closer. "You'll NEVER understand what we've gone through! How it feels to be treated as the dirt beneath your feet!" Another step. "To you, we were an annoyance, we were pests, and when you couldn't exterminate us you sought to lock us out of sight!"
"It isn't 'us', Null." Herobrine rasped, and Heather looked down as he pushed himself up. "It's you."
"WHY?!" Null shrieked. "What made you BETTER than me?!" His voice broke. "Why do you deserve to exist and not me?!" Sword raised above his head, he stumbled into a run, making a beeline for Notch.
An obsidian box appeared around him.
"Right." Theo appeared behind them, making Heather jump as a muffled scream came from inside the box. "Got him now." He glanced down at Herobrine. "You okay?" Herobrine grunted, nodding.
"Deal with him before he escapes."
"Right." Theo nudged Heather away, then went to stand in front of the box, summoning his console before him. He took a breath, then started to type.
- running process "metamorphosis"
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- process "metamorphosis" complete
- starting new process "Neo"
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- loading 5%
- loading 37%
- loading 42%
- loading 79%
- loading 99%
- loading 100%
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- process "Neo" running
In an instant, the sky was back, and Heather lifted a hand to shield her eyes as the savanna was flooded with sunlight. The only signs of the battle they had just endured were the deep trenches carved by swooping dragons, and the obsidian box in front of them. Theo took a deep breath, then typed out another command, and the box vanished.
A curled up figure was laying on the ground where Null had been, one with dark, shaggy hair and dressed in a white shirt and brown trousers. As Heather stared dumbly, the figure shifted, then lifted his head, wide, gray eyes staring around at his surroundings. His gaze dropped to his hands, and his lips parted with shock.
"Wh- what have you done to me?!" It was Null's voice, sure enough, but it lacked the warped, otherworldly reverberation that Heather had grown to associate with him. Her wide-eyed gaze flicked to Theo, who was staring calmly down at Null's new body.
"I made you into a player." He said simply. "Effectively, you're just like Steve and Alex - well, Alex, at least. No more commands, no more glitches." Null's hands clenched into fists, and he rocketed upright, snatching his fallen sword off the ground. It was just stone, now.
"Do you think this will stop me?!" He snarled. "I evolved before, I will do so again! If you-"
"No, I don't think you will." Theo cut him off. "Your code loops, you see, it's constantly fixing your avatar state into your current one. If anything changes, it'll be fixed again within ticks. So no, no matter how angry you are, you'll never be a crazy shadow man again. Sorry." Letting out an enraged shriek, Null lunged at him, but Theo just typed a command and Null vanished in a puff of smoke, his sword clattering to the ground.
"So, he's…" Alex's voice came from behind Heather, her and Steve coming up to stand with Notch. "…like us?" Theo nodded.
"I couldn't destroy him, so I did the next best thing - I made him harmless. Relatively, anyway." Heather's gaze remained on Theo, soft. She had a hunch that this was among the more merciful fates for their old enemy.
"Where is he?" Steve asked.
"Worldspawn, I guess." Theo shrugged. "He had a spawn point, obviously, but he's an entirely new entity now so it's likely reset."
"I can't say that I'm pleased that Null still… exists." Notch shifted his weight, looking pensive. "But I'm glad that the issue of him seems to be solved for good."
"Well, not 'Null' anymore." Theo said. "I gave him a new name."
"Which is?" Herobrine asked.
"Neo." Theo looked down at his console with a little smile on his face. "Now, come on. I'm sure the two of you are ready to get your powers back.
hey everyone should look up the meaning of the name "neo" and cry with me
~FFF