Chapter 1 - Finding A Way Back

A few hours ago I woke up in the middle of the woods with empty pockets. Soon after, I began punching trees...

Now hold up! You might be wondering why is this lunatic punching a tree? Has he lost his mind after waking up in an unfamiliar forest? That quick?!

No no. You see, I realized this was Minecraft. One of the most popular video games on Earth. So let me fourth wall break for a bit. I already bet you know how this game works. That means I shouldn't have to explain everything to you. If not... um... good luck reading this. (It shouldn't be a problem if you don't know)

Anyways. Back to yesterday. I quickly gathered plenty of wood. Made wooden planks. A Crafting table. Wooden pickaxe. Gathered cobblestone. And finally crafted stone tools as usual.

This sounds like an easy task at first. But trust me. I had to put in real work to do all of that. Punching a tree? Hurts my blocky hands. Mining stone with a wooden pick? Exhausting. Plus no part of my body was as rigid as what the normal Minecraft game portrayed.

Well it wasn't too bad. I at least have free body movement. And while I feel some fatigue, it's not damaging my body in any way. Which is a good thing.

So after crafting the stone tools, what next? Well I would've ran to chop more trees with my new stone axe but the sun began to slowly set down. I panicked and killed nearby animals including sheep for food and wool to make a bed. I also chopped two trees. As soon as the sky darkened, I dug a hole in the small hill, covered it with dirt, and placed my white bed down.

I went straight to sleep as I tried to try to skip the night. Laying down, I started thinking about what just happened today. That's what I'm currently doing. Thinking about how I woke up in this blocky world that I never asked. My family and friends back home must be worried for me... As far as I know. There is no possible way to leave this world. Unless this is all a dream. But I can already tell, it's not a dream. Feels too real to be one.

I waited for the night to skip but nothing happened for what felt like ten minutes. If mining for blocks has a bit of realism, then sleeping on the bed is no exception to that rule.

I just woke up in this world a few hours ago, so right now, I'm thinking of skipping this night's sleep and doing something more productive. Like gathering iron resources then diamonds after.

Before I knew it. It was morning. I opened my inventory. It did not have any visual UI interface but if I think hard enough, know everything that's with me. Reaching out about thirty-seven diamonds and nine sticks, I placed them next to the crafting table.

"Man... It took hours to find everything that I needed. So tedious, yet so worth it. Anyways, let's begin crafting the diamond tools and armour. ...I still can't get over the fact that I sound like a woman... Why. Just why!? Where did I go wrong? I'm a guy. A man for goodness sake!"

I let out a big sigh. Probably because I was playing as my favorite character, Alpha: Crimson Weave (Black Rock Shooter coating/skin), in Minecraft. In fact, my ponytail was long enough to see that I had a white hair from that custom skin.

Not wanting to ponder over this stupid situation, I made every diamond tool except the hoe and made all the armour pieces except for the helmet. Why no head gear? Because of this hairstyle that I have right now. Also I'm not wearing the diamond armour for now because the clothes that I'm currently wearing look and feel much better. I'll save the armour in case of an emergency.

"Now that I'm fully prepared. Let's explore this world. Hopefully I can meet other players out there. Maybe even someone that I know. Though I don't know what to do with this whole gender swap situation if I do meet them."

I opened the wall and stepped out, closing the hole back with dirt. Looking at my surroundings I found a small pool of water. I walked in that direction while killing the poor animals along the way. When I reached there, I looked at my reflection in the clear blue liquid.

I stood there, analyzing my new face for a few moments. "Yep. I look like that skin I downloaded from that website. But it has even more 3D details on my clothes, hair, and face. I look so good with this hairstyle. Definitely not messing that up... The face though. I could be in Minecraft Story Mode right now..."

I shook my head. "Damn it! If only I hadn't chosen a woman as my personal skin! But at the same time..."

I looked at my arm and sighed, shaking my head once again. "Tsk whatever. What's done is done. I have to focus. Now that there is a possibility that this is Story Mode, anything could happen."

I stood up and looked up at the trees. "First let's find out if that treehouse is nearby." I pillared up with a stack of dirt that I collected during my mining trip.

Landing on the roof of the forest, I jumped over a few trees until I found the oversized tree I was looking for. "So it really is Story Mode huh. Then maybe I'm truly by myself... But that means I have a chance!"

I didn't know if there was anyone in the tree house so I jumped to the ground, boldly climbed the ladders, and entered the building from underneath.

Standing in the middle of the room, two people, plus Reuben the pig, looked at me in silence.

Thank God they're still here. That means I'll have a chance to use that command block! But I'll try to get acquainted with Jesse in case I can't access that block."

"Um. You're not Axel. Who are you?" Olivia asked.

Who am I? Oh boy. I didn't think this through. Hmm...

"I'm Alpha," I spoke in a calm voice.

Jesse titled his head. "Alpha? I never heard of you."

I crossed my arms. "Of course. It's our first time meeting each other, Jesse."

Both slightly stepped back. "Huh? How do you know my name?"

I stood silent for a moment, which worried the two a bit.

I'll just play along with how the story will normally go. For now...

I answered his question. "Just heard that you were going to enter the Endercon Building Competition. I was interested but I needed to form a team to join."

Olivia puts her hand on her waist. "So you want to join us? But wait. Why ask us when there are many other teams to choose from."

"I already did. Only to get rejected every time. They all said that they had enough people to build."

"Oh. I see. In that case, you can join our team." Olivia glanced at her wooden chest. "But... We already have an idea on what to build. I don't know what you can help us with. Maybe you can help us speed up the building progress..."

"Sssssssss..."

Jesse suddenly froze. "Wait. You guys hear that?"

"Sssss..."

While both looked frightened, I just leaned on the wall and slowly crossed my arms as I closed my eyes.

"BOOM!!"

"AAAAH!!!" Both people, including the pig, jumped in terror as the fat figure surprised them. A moment later, they realized that it was just a creeper prank that their big friend created.

"Oh man. You guys totally freaked out! That was awes-" The pig who charged at Axel angrily, hit him in the stomach. "Oof."

Olivia, who almost had a heart attack, suddenly burst out in anger. "Axel! What's the matter with you?!"

Axel was still holding his stomach. "Great, Now I'm going to smell like a pig in Endercon."

"Hello."

Axel flinched and looked in my direction. He furrowed as he looked at the stranger. "Who are you?"

"My name is Alpha. I'm your newest team member for the building competition."

Axel didn't seem to like that. "What? Is that true guys?"

Olivia scratched the back of her head. "Well. We did agree just a moment ago."

"Well I don't agree," he huffed. "I thought this was a team of only three of us friends here. Oh, and Reuben."

She looked at him in disappointment. "Axel. Alpha wants to join this year's building competition but couldn't join up with the other teams. I don't want to be the same person to say no to her. Plus with her on our side, we will have the same amount of people as the Ocelots. So I see no harm in that."

Axel stared at me. "Fine. Just don't expect me to be buddies with her."

I looked at him while still leaning on the wall. "Hmph..."

"Don't listen to him Alpha. He can be like this sometimes," Jesse said.

"Hey!"

I shrugged. "It doesn't bother me. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go prepare for the building competition. I'll see you guys at the entrance."

Jesse nodded. "Okay. We'll meet you there."

I found the building competition after walking in a straight line. It wasn't far from the treehouse and pretty easy to spot from a distance. Well, if you pillared up.

I gathered a few logs while waiting for the group to arrive near the entrance. As soon as the Ocelots were registering their entry, Jesse and his friends arrived.

I decided to not get involved with Jesse's and the Ocelots heated conversation once it started. After the other group finally left, I joined up with Jesse at registration.

"I'm back."

Jesse turned around. "Oh! Alpha, just in time. We decided on our team name."

I slightly smirked and looked at Reuben's dragon costume. "Let me guess. We're called the Order of the Pig."

He tilted his head. "How did you know?"

"I just overheard you talking about it when I got here."

"Ah ok."

The person behind the registration desk nodded. "Now that you're all here. Please make your way to Booth 5. We will begin shortly."

We entered and slowly walked our way to our Booth. I looked around. Many people were participating in this event. I'm assuming they all want to win and meet Gabriel the Warrior. I guess in the eyes of many, he is one of the best warriors in the world.

When we reached Booth 5, Olivia turned to me. "Can you help build a creeper statue while we work on building the firework machine?"

"Sure. I'm good at building one. You'll see it get done in no time."

She nodded.

Axel was staring at Booth 4 with his mouth wide open. The Ocelots took out a rare item from their chest. "Is that a freakin' beacon. They have a freakin' beacon?! Freakin' beacon!?"

Olivia walked up to check out their rivals as well. "That's stained glass. They aren't just building a beacon. They're building a rainbow beacon."

Jesse glanced at her. "What're you worried about? We've got this."

"Who are we kidding? We've got nothing."

"We've got..." He patted Reuben's head, "a mascot!"

Olivia was a bit nervous. "Yeah... We should probably stop staring at them."

Gill, one of the Ocelots members, finally noticed us and began walking here. "Hahaha. Look, it's the Order of the Losers. Again."

I rolled my eyes as they began to bicker again. Not wanting to get involved again I went back inside the Booth and sat on the fence. Fortunately it didn't last long as Lukas, the leader of the Ocelots, called his team to focus on their build. Petra came by with a stone pickaxe on her shoulder.

They chatted some more. But I didn't pay attention. After what felt like forever, the judge finally announced that they were about to begin the competition.

"Welcome to the Endercon Building Competition. The winners of this year's competition will have their build featured at Endercon. The winners will also meet, in person, Gabriel the Warrior!"

Everyone cheered and the Ocelots were doing their... special way of cheering?

"Whoa. Handshake?" Olivia pointed at them, "We don't have a handshake."

"We'll just make one up. We'll call it the uuhhhhhh..." Jesse was in deep thought for a moment. "The Warrior Whip."

They began awkwardly waving their hands around as they attempted to do some form of handshake.

Olivia looked slightly down. "Aaaand just like that, I'm nervous again."

Jesse stepped forward. "Don't talk like that! We can do this! Just stick to the plan and everything will be fine. This year, the Order of the Pig can't lose!"

I approached the group as they began to put their hands together. "Don't forget about me."

"Right," Axel said as he quickly glanced at me then back to his friends, "Let's do it."

The judge raised her hand. "Building... Starts... Now!" As she dropped her hand, everyone began placing their blocks. The three started making the towering firework machine while I was making a creeper pixel art made out of wool.

Finishing my masterpiece, I jumped down to look at the results. "Not bad." I glanced at the other people's creations. One had a bunch of fences with logs and planks randomly scattered around. I'd rate it one out of ten. In fact, every other build was like this except for the one with a lava contraption and the rainbow beacon next to us.

With a flick of a lever, the machine dispensed the fireworks into the air. This caused many to gather around and praise us for the good work. And of course Aiden, the one who kept harassing Jesse and his friends with his Ocelot gang, was growing frustrated.

"What? No way... It's just a bunch of dyed wool!" Aiden turned around and destroyed the stone in anger, releasing the flowing lava. "Whoops.."

The lava set Reuben's dragon costume on fire. This alarmed the pig making him run in panic in the forest. The same direction where Petra went. "Oh, no! Reuben's on fire!! Reuben, no! Come back!" Jesse cried. But the pig was already gone.

Axel was furious. "It was Aiden! That punk!"

Olivia was more worried about our build. "The lava's getting closer!"

Everyone was panicking. Without hesitation, I sprinted and jumped over the hot flowing magma. I landed near the source, placed a block to completely remove the lava, and placed more blocks to put out the remaining hazards.

"We've got to get Reuben!" Jesse jumped off their creeper statue, rolled his landing, and sprinted off to the direction the pig left. I and the other two followed him.

We searched for Reuben for a few hours. The sun was starting to set in. "The sun is going down. We gotta find him fast," says Olivia.

Axel turned his head to her. "He could've gone anywhere... and this part of the woods is huge."

"We stand a better chance of finding him if we split up," Jesse suggested.

She nodded. "If either of you get lost, just use the lights from EnderCon to make your way back to town, got it?"

Everyone agreed. "Got it."

As everyone split up, I followed Jesse's direction. He noticed my presence. "Why are you following me? Didn't you agree to split up for Reuben?"

I pulled up my blue sword. "It's getting pretty late. Do you know how to fight?"

"Whoa. You have a diamond sword?"

I glared at him. "Now's not the time for that. Reuben is still out there and the monster will start spawning in. What weapons do you have?"

"It's not any better than yours but I do have this sword." He pulled out his wooden sword. "Yeeaahhhh... It's just for training."

I facepalmed at this. "I'll lend you my backup sword." I pulled out my iron sword and tossed it at him. "Catch."

Jesse caught the sword. "Oh. Thank you Alpha." He shook his head and looked ahead. "Let's go find Reuben."

We continue to search for the pig through the woods. We found a few trees burning as clues to where he ran off to. Eventually we found his burnt costume.

He rushed with worry. "Reuben?! Reuben! Oh, no! You in there, buddy? Oh, geez. Please don't be toasted, Reuben." He picked up the costume. Fortunately there were no cooked pork chops laying around.

After putting out the smoke I pointed in the cave. "I think I saw Reuben run in that direction just now."

"Then let's hurry!" We sprinted in the tunnel lit by a few torches and reached the other side of the hill. "He's hiding in that tall grass." Jesse walked up to it and found his pet pig. "Reuben! There you are! Let's get out of here Reuben. Hope you're ready for some more walking. We've gotta hurry back to town if we don't want to run into..."

"Grrgh. Graaah."

Zombies began to approach us from the back. I didn't look behind me. "Jesse, take your pig and don't look back. I'll fight the dangerous mobs that'll get in the way. We will make our way to safety."

He nodded and we ran to wherever safety was. I spotted a creeper nearby as we ran and sprinted towards it. With my sword I slashed through its skin and kicked the bomb away from me with a boom. Next was the skeleton that was aiming Jesse's head. I ran and grabbed the skeleton's skull with my left hand, smashing it into the ground, yet I didn't crush the skull. The monster struggled to shoot me as I was sitting on him. I sunk my sharp blade through his hard bones multiple times.

Vanishing to smoke, I took his bones, arrows and his slightly broken bow with me. Sprinting to Jesse who was fighting his own battle, there was a group of zombies blocking my path. Not wasting time, I weaved through the slow mobs.

Jesse swung his new sword at the spider, ending the creature's life. But as soon as he did, another one jumped from the hill, landing in his face. "Aah!" He pushed it off and stood up straight. "These spiders keep coming! Reuben, stay behind me."

Suddenly Petra, who came out of nowhere, bashed her iron pickaxe on the black spider, turning it into smoke. I catch up with them while eating cooked meat to restore my health.

Petra pointed towards the fenced-off cave. "Come on, let's get out of the open." She began to run and we followed her while killing the remaining mobs that stood in our way.

We came across a hole in the ground. Climbing down the ladders, we entered a big cave tunnel with a few minecart rails placed here and there.

Jesse wiped his sweat. "Phew. We made it!"

"Jesse, who is this new friend of yours?" Petra asked.

"Well I just met her today. Her name's Alpha. Apparently she wanted to help us in the building competition and has a fancy sword in her possession. She gave me this new iron sword too."

"Nice. Hey Jesse. I want to show you something." She pulled out a wither skull from her in inventory. "It's a wither skull. Fresh from the Nether. You guys are the first people I showed this to."

Jesse furrowed. "That's insane Petra. You could've gotten yourself killed!"

She shrugged as she put the skull away and continued to walk forward. "Don't worry so much. I can handle myself... There's this guy I'm meeting up with at EnderCon. He's gonna trade me a diamond for it.

I crossed my arms. "Is the skull worth that much? What are you going to do with that diamond? Craft a jukebox?"

"Well getting diamonds naturally requires lots of patience. And I'm not really the miner type nor do I have patience for such. I enjoy fighting mobs more than I enjoy mining. So I'll gladly accept any trade that involves diamonds." She turned to us. "Will you guys join me as backup? In case anything goes wrong."

"Sure," Jesse nodded. "What about you Alpha?"

"Let me think about it... Petra, about your reasoning for the trade. It's true that fighting is more fun than mining. But look at me. I crafted myself a diamond sword from doing hard labor that I've done in just one night."

Jesse's eyes widened. "You found two diamonds in one night? Did you even sleep?"

I walked in front of them and turned around. "I didn't. If I want to become stronger, I'll take action immediately." I turned towards the exit. "Let's hurry. You don't want to be late. Ivor will get impatient."

Petra glanced at me suspiciously. "Alpha, you know the guy I'm selling to?"

I paused for a moment. "I... have no connection with him. I only heard that he likes to trade diamonds for wither skulls in town."

"...Sure. Alright let's go before it gets too late."

We reached the exit of the cave and found ourselves in a tall stone bridge that was about forty blocks long. Jesse found himself staring at the fireworks exploding near a huge glass dome building. "I can't believe it. We finally won!"

Petra stops to see the fireworks. "Good for you Jesse."

He turned to her. "It's about time we beat Lukas and his gang of jerks! What kind of a stupid name is the Ocelots, anyway?"

"You know, Lukas may be kind of arrogant, but he has come through for me in tricky situations. You might wanna get to know him... just in case."

Jesse slowly nodded. "Yeah, you might be right."

"I'm just saying, if you run into him at EnderCon try talking to him."

He crossed his arms. "I don't need a lecture on the power of collaboration, Petra."

"How 'bout a lecture on the power of my fists? It's short. But deadly."

While they were talking, I was already scouting ahead for monsters. Sure enough, I spotted three creepers on the other side of the bridge and drew out my blade. "Hey! Get your weapons out! I'll take the creepers in front of me. You guys focus on your side."

The two behind me took their iron swords out. "Hey! We should jump off the bridge," Petra said.

"Is it faster to go on land or water to Endercon?" I asked her.

"It will be faster on land. Why ask? Let's just go the safer way."

"Hmph. I can't waste time. Prepare to fight now!"

The creepers were getting closer. Jesse glanced behind me with a worried expression. "Are you kidding me? How can you handle three creepers at once?!"

Not answering his question, I ran up to my targets without a second thought. Swinging as hard as I can, I hit the far right creeper with the flat surface of my blue sword. This caused the monster to collide with the other two creepers and make them trip over the edge, exploding a small part of the bridge as they fell. The one I hit was about to explode in response. Fortunately I placed two blocks of cobblestone between us before I was sent flying a bit from the blast.

"Is everything ok there!?" Petra yelled as she slashed the zombie's body.

I stood up and jumped over the gap. I flicked my sword. "It was nothing."

"We can use some help here!" Jesse cried.

"I cleared a path! Stop fighting and get over here!" I yelled. Noticing what I meant, Jesse and Petra quickly stopped fighting and hopped over to the other side of the broken bridge.

Jesse was catching up with his breath as he looked back at the monsters who were unable to jump over the big gap. "Alpha. You're insane."

Petra agreed with him. "Not even I would've risked my life like that. Just who the heck are you?"

I continued to scout ahead for any other potential threat. "I'm just an expert when it comes down to surviving this simple world. I am also well aware of what's to come in the future."

They looked at me in confusion and were waiting for some more explanation. I simply smirked at their dumb but understandable reaction. "Why the strange look? I won't be saying anything else. After all, there needs to be uncertainty in the world for it to be interesting, isn't that so?"

Jesse slowly nodded. "Sure. I guess."

"Then stop gawking at me. Let's get going."

From a distance, EnderCon seemed to be a crowded event filled with a variety of colors. Even though it was midnight, many people visited all kinds of shops and shows, each in its own way.

Arriving here, we found out that Axel and Olivia came out from the forest in one piece. They were mostly boasting about finally winning the building competition while looking at a statue that was recreated to look and function as our original build.

But I didn't stay to listen to them. I told them I needed to go somewhere and left immediately to one of the back alleys.

I climbed up the rooftops and hopped my way to the giant dome structure that was supposed to hold Gabriel's show tonight. There was one big guy guarding the bridge to the dome. But he wasn't in my way since the bridge wasn't needed to get there. All I had to do was dive in the water and start swimming.

When I reached there, I pillared up, entered the building, and found the ominous looking door that leads to the basement. I rushed inside and looked for the potion that was hiding the lever. Finding the potion, I moved it away and flicked the switch down, which pulled down the nearby bookshelf to the floor. This revealed what I was looking for this whole time.

"Finally. The Command Block. Hopefully I can return back to the real world."

I walked up and tried to access it with my bare hands. Nothing happened. I tried again. Nothing worked.

"No way... Then..." I palmed my head as I thought for another solution. "Maybe the portal hallway? No that will only take me to other different Minecraft worlds... Then that leaves me with the Admin. If only I knew where he was. Well maybe it would be better if I met with him after I beat that clock challenge... Tsk. I would have to wait for quite a while..."

Closing my eyes for a moment, I finally made up my mind. "Then I'll wait patiently for that day. Even if I have to resort to using some dirty tricks, I will survive and escape this world."