I Ruin Klith's Favorite Hoodie

Jax

"Jax, you're fourteen but you act like you're some grumpy forty year old. Toni deserves a break. Heck, you deserve a break. You and Toni have been working your butts off since Hiemx."

I stopped for a second, and considered those words.

"Yes, but…" I said reluctantly.

"But whatever." Sam handed Toni some emeralds. "Toni, eat your heart out."

Toni squealed in excitement and ran towards the bakery.

"Toni's still twelve, you know." Sam said. "Let her be a kid while she still can afford to act like one."

I felt a pang, but didn't know what that pang was. Guilt? Or regret?

"I can't remember the last time I acted like a kid," I admitted.

Suddenly Sam actually looked sorry for me. "You wanna talk about it?"

I snorted. "What are you, a therapist?"

Sam crossed her arms. "Well, that's what friends are for."

I blinked. "Friends…"

Sam punched me lightly on the shoulder. "Ah, come on. Those arguments don't mean anything. It's just funny to watch you get all mad."

"Oh," I said.

"Anyways, you can talk to me if you're feeling down." Sam winked at me.

"Thanks," I said, and for some reason I felt relieved.

"Did you two just have a civil conversation?" Trevor asked.

"Yup," Sam said, and she looked concerned now. "We should have an argument, just to get things back to normal."

I laughed, and then stopped. I wondered how long it had been since I'd really laughed.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a girl ran full speed into me, and I felt the wind get knocked out of my lungs as I fell backwards onto my butt. "Oof," I grunted.

"Toni?" Sam said, and I stared at the girl that had just run into me. She did look pretty similar to Toni, but it couldn't have been her. She was taller, for one. And her hair was shorter.

"Look, we were actually being civil with each other for once! We were having a bonding session!" Sam said cheerfully.

"Calliope, get back up!" A boy next to the girl barked. "We haven't got time for this!"

But the girl ignored the boy, asking Sam, "What did you say?"

Sam squinted at the girl. "Wait. False alarm. That's not Toni."

"What did you say?" the girl demanded as she stood.

"Woah," Sam said, raising her hands. "Calm down. We don't want any trouble."

"Who are you, anyways?" I demanded as I got to my feet.

"More like who are you?" a second teen with curly brown hair snapped. "Get out of the way, little boy."

Anger surged up inside me. "Little boy?"

"Leave Jax alone." Trevor snapped.

"Can we leave? Klith is right on our trail, you know!" The boy next to the girl cried in frustration.

Sam stared at the boy. "Did you say Klith?"

And then, Toni came back.

"Cal?"

Calliope

Present

"Well, well, well." Klith sneered. "I came looking for copper and found gold. Lucky me."

The black haired boy next to Toni ran up and raised his hands. I stared at him like he was nuts, but with an enormous rumble, an obsidian spike burst through the boardwalk and would have speared Klith if he hadn't jumped back. At the same time, my jaw dropped as Toni raised her sword and pointed it at Klith. Lightning exploded out of the sword and raced towards Klith.

The lightning bolt ricocheted off Klith's scythe and blasted a nearby bakery, sending sparks and shards of debris everywhere and blocking my view of Klith.

"Did—did you just—?" I said towards Toni, but before I could finish Dan pulled me out of the way as a glowing spear sailed past my head so close the shaft brushed my ear.

Someone yelled "RUN!" and I obliged, turning and running as hard as I could while bright red weapons smashed and impaled everything indiscriminately.

Suddenly Toni appeared next to me and grabbed my hand. I looked at her, and she looked at me. Already I knew something was different. Her eyes were scared, but they also looked determined, and much more stronger than the last time I'd seen them.

"You've changed," I said without realizing it.

At that, Toni grinned. "So've you. What's up with the scar?"

"Pigman slashed my face."

"Ah, so the usual."

Her words were light, but her eyes also had worry in them. "I'm fine," I told her. "Just a small scar."

Dan ran up to me. "Sorry to interrupt the family reunion, but Klith is catching up."

I risked turning my head back, and Dan was right. Klith was sprinting towards us more fast than humanly possible. His outline was a fuzzy red, making it so he looked like a red ghost.

"Who's that?" Toni asked me. "Your boyfriend?"

"You're really not the same," I said. "The old Toni would have been bawling her eyes out at the sight of Klith, and you're making jokes."

"Can we please just run?" Dan howled, and I decided to stay quiet.

We turned and met a dead end. I turned towards Klith and drew my axe.

"Well, it was nice meeting you again, Toni." I said.

Without skipping a beat, Dan said, "Jump!"

"What?" I said, slightly taken aback.

"JUMP!" Dan bellowed, grabbing me and smashing through the railing separating us from the water below with his scimitar. He jumped and pulled me along with him, and I heard Toni shout as she jumped as well.

I was probably screaming, and by the looks of it, so was Toni. Just before we hit the water, I shut my mouth, and we pierced through the surface of the water.

I swam back to the surface and smashed through the water, taking in a large gulp of air.

I felt a hand take me by the ankle and drag me underwater just as a big pike flew at me, missing me by an inch.

Dan dragged me deeper under as weapons rained down on us, shooting through the water all around us, their red glow turned purple in the deep blue water.

Dan poked me and gestured to a building a little to our left, where I spotted the end of Ender's purple hair vanish into.

I looked around for Toni, but she was already swimming towards the building.

I felt a pang of affection. She's gotten so much stronger.

But that made me slightly worried. What had she gone through to become so strong? I hoped it had been nothing as traumatizing as the things I had been through.

I swam towards the building, making sure to carefully dodge the spears and swords piercing the water.

By the time we got to the building, my lungs were burning and begging for air. I couldn't take anymore and opened my mouth. I sucked in a large amount of water, and choked as bubbles streamed from my mouth.

I grabbed someone's hand and burst out of the water onto the wooden surface of the boardwalk, coughing and spitting out water. I looked up—it was Toni, who was shivering and gasping.

"Come on," Toni said shakily. "At the angle we're at, Klith can't see this building."

Dan burst out of the water and landed next to me, panting.

"Go," was the only thing he could stay.

We ran over to the building, and I didn't like how loud our footsteps were. We got to the door, and Ender pulled it open, peeking around before letting me and the others in. I groaned and collapsed onto my knees as soon as I got inside.

"Why are you all wet?" Nikai, who was perfectly dry, said.

"Cause we swam here, moron." I snapped.

Toni groaned and sat again the wall of the building. "Jax," she said.

"I'm here, I'm here." I hadn't seen him earlier, but the black haired boy walked over to Toni.

"I'm here too," a girl with a bow slung to her back said. "And so is Trevor."

"Are you okay?" Trevor said to the girl.

"I'm fine," the girl groaned. "I'm just tired of running. Can't we run into a problem where we get to sleep?"

We all just sat there in silence as we listened to people screaming and running away above us.

Toni got to her feet. "We can't stay."

"What do you mean?" Nikai said suspiciously. "I'm perfectly content staying here."

"I'm not talking about…you guys." Toni said, her eyes skipping over everyone in my group.

"Who are you, anyways?" Ben said warily.

"She's my sister," I said.

Everyone made the expected noises of shock and the incredulous looks, and I waited for them to finish before clearing my throat.

"Let's do introductions," I said. "Toni, these are my…" I searched for a word to describe them. 'Friends' felt like a little too much. 'Coworkers' seemed a little awkward.

"…acquaintances." I finished.

"Wow." Dan said. "Acquaintances? Come on, Cal."

"That's Dan." I said, pointing to him. "The big guy with the scar is Durham, the guy with the bandaged torso and the white patches of hair is Orca, and the girl with the scarf and purple hair is Ender.

"The guy with curly brown hair is Nikai, the girl with ginger hair is Seu, and the guy with blond hair and the bandaged foot is Ben." I finished.

"Lotta new friends, huh?" Toni said. "Well, the guy with the black hair and the big sword is Jax. The tall girl with the big bow and long brown hair is Sam. The short guy with messy brown hair is Trevor. Say hi, guys!"

None of them said hi.

"Psst," Sam whispered to Toni. "You forgot the most important part."

"What, that we're on a quest to save the world? Toni said, confused.

"What's my name?"

Toni rolled her eyes. "Sam here is also known is Shaft."

Nikai's expression changed from dubious to thunderstruck. "You…you're Shaft? You are?"

"Why, is it because I'm sixteen and a girl?" Sam deadpanned.

"Do you use the same introduction for everybody?" Toni said to Sam, sounding annoyed. Sam shrugged. "I know we're friends, but—"

"You're friends with Shaft?" Nikai said in disbelief.

"Well, we call her Sam."

"You're on a first name basis with Shaft?"

"Who's Shaft, anyways?" I asked.

"Oh, only the best archer in the world." Sam smirked.

I leaned towards Toni and whispered, "She seems kinda pretentious."

"That's only at first," Toni replied. "It gets endearing after a while."

"I can hear you two!" Sam snapped, and we both cracked up.

Then we were silent for a little.

"I thought you were dead for so long," I said.

"Me too." Toni said. "So. What have you been up to?"

I let out a tired laugh. "What have I been up to? What have you been up to?"

"It would take too long to say," Toni said with a smile. "And you wouldn't believe me. You talk."

"My story's a long one, too. And I bet it's even more unbelievable." I told her.

Toni smirked. "Bet."

So I told her. About the prison, about Dan and Shell, about Fisherman, about Kiosk's temple, about the escape from the bounty hunter base, about getting separated from the others, and finally about finding her.

Toni's jaw was wide open at the end of the story, but she recovered and looked at me, impressed. "That's crazy. But I think I've still got the crazier story."

"How could your story be more insane than that?" I demanded.

"Yup. My story's way crazier." Toni said. "Just listen."

And it was. It was five times as crazy as my story. There was a city that laid under a dome of bedrock. A dragon much more larger and dangerous than Shell. And...Toni was the reborn soul of Herobrine.

"So," Ender said slowly once Toni was finished. "Let me get this straight. Notch sent you, who is the reborn soul of Herobrine, the guy, the reborn soul of Null, and the best archer in the world to defuse a bomb that can wipe out the world."

"Don't leave out Trevor," Sam said.

"And an archer's manager." Ender finished. "Is that right?"

"Pretty much." Toni said.

"How are we supposed to believe that?" Ender said.

"Frankly, that's the least unlikely part of her story." Orca said.

"So what do you think we are, children playing pretend?" Jax snapped.

"Please," Nikai snorted. "That story was on the same level as that of a madman's rambling."

Toni stood, and I flinched. She looked different now. More powerful. Electricity began to crackle across her skin, and she growled, "You don't need to believe that. But this danger is real." Toni gestured to me, Jax, herself--pretty much everything. "Why else would Klith have put a bounty on Cal's head? Dan, was it?" Toni said to Dan, who gave a start. "You know what Notch told me at Valaither? He said, and I quote, 'Do not worry about your sister. I have sent her a guardian.' You're that guardian, aren't you?"

I turned to stare at Dan. "Is that true?"

Dan paled slightly, but nodded. "Yes. It's true. He came to me in a dream, telling me to protect you with my life. He even told me where you were."

"Notch came to you in a dream?" Ben said in disbelief, but Dan ignored him, staring right at Toni.

"Do you believe me?" Toni asked him.

Dan swallowed, and then nodded. "Yes, I do. I knew there was a reason for Notch telling me to protect Cal."

"But how do you know it wasn't…just a dream?" Durham said skeptically.

"He gave me exact cords on where Cal would be, and even the specific time she would get there." Dan said. "There's no way it was just a product of my imagination."

"Okay, perhaps the story's true. But how are you going to look for this…bomb?" Ben said. "You can't exactly run around with a magnifying glass. Klith is up there, and he'll find you."

"The bomb's the size of a grain silo," Orca said dryly. "I don't think you'll need a magnifying glass to to find it."

"Yeah, but Klith wouldn't hide it somewhere obvious," Ender said.

"Maybe it's underground," Dan suggested.

Jax gaped at Dan. "That's genius! Why didn't we think of that?"

"But how are we going to find it?" Trevor said.

We were all silent for a moment when Jax suddenly snapped his fingers. "I can sense underground caverns and unique structures. That's how I summon obsidian."

Everyone stared at Jax, and Sam piped up angrily, "That might have been nice to know before!"

"I didn't think it was very noteworthy," Jax said sheepishly.

"Okay, so now that problem's been conveniently resolved, how are we going to buy Jax time to look for the bomb?" Dan asked.

We all jumped when we heard a large explosion.

"That's not the bomb, is it?" Nikai said nervously.

"If that was the bomb we'd have been vaporized faster than you could shout." Jax said. "We don't have a lot of time."

"What if we fought him?" I suggested. "You know. Buy Jax time to do his thing."

"Fighting Klith? That's suicide." Dan said.

"Yeah, you're right." I said.

"Buy time…buy time, buy time…" Orca muttered under his breath. His head snapped up, and his eyes lit up. "I've got an idea. There's just a bit of a problem. It might be a little…life threatening."

Toni and I exchanged looks.

"What's new?" Sam said. "Let's hear it."

Toni

I peeked my head out the door, glancing around before whispering to the others, "Let's go."

And we bolted out of that shack, leaving behind a trail of light blue swirls, courtesy of the speed potions we'd all taken. In the front ran me, Jax, and Cal. Behind us ran everyone else, excluding Orca and Ender.

All of us running down the boardwalk made a loud thumping sound on the wood, which would have been disadvantageous if not for Orca's insane plan. Was insane the right adjective? The right adjective might have actually been 'genius'. What is it when something is both stupid and smart at the same time?

But there wasn't any time to rethink the plan, because Klith had spotted us.

"FOUND YOU!" I heard Klith shout with glee. The rest of the group stopped and turned, but me, Jax, and Cal kept running. I didn't look back. That could mean death.

Already the sounds of combat rang through the air. Metal on metal, loud explosions, the determined yelling of the group, and a scream that rose above all the others—"HOLD THE LINE!"

I risked a look back. Already, Ben and Nikai laid on the ground, unmoving. Klith hovered in the air, weapons spinning around his body. Sam fired an arrow that Klith deftly caught and tossed back at Durham, which exploded and blasted him backwards into the water.

At the same time, Trevor jumped onto Klith's back, sword raised. A glowing pike slammed into the side of Trevor's head, and he slipped off of Klith's back, hitting the ground with a dull thud.

I forced myself to look forwards again, forced myself to ignore Sam's scream of fury.

It's all part of the plan, it's all part of the plan, it's all part of the plan, I silently told myself.

I then ran into Cal, nearly knocking her forwards into the water.

"What? What?" I said frantically, looking ahead. It was a dead end—the bridge abruptly ended in front of us, leading forwards into nothing but water.

I looked behind us again just in time to see Klith pelt Seu with a thousand daggers and blast Sam's bow to pieces with a fireball. The explosion blew Sam backwards into a wooden post, and she slid to the ground, unconscious.

And then Dan was there, howling with fury. Klith snapped his fingers, and nearly an entire armory's worth of weapons appeared in the air, and all of them flew through the air, headed directly for Dan.

Dan sliced and deflected away every weapon that came his way as he ran towards Klith. Some got through, but they merely glanced off Dan's newfound armor made of black scales. Klith's eyes narrowed, and he raised a hand, fire streaming from his palm like water from a hose.

The flames engulfed Dan, and for a second he was lost in a fiery storm for a split second before bursting from the flames unscathed, his obsidian scimitars raised. He brought them down with deliberate force, and Klith's scythe materialized in his hands as he swung it up.

The resulting crashing noise literally shook me, like someone had banged an enormous bell next to me. Dan's strike was so powerful that Klith's feet sank through the wood floor until he was up to his ankles. Klith cursed, but Dan didn't give him a chance to recover, raining down blows that Klith struggled to block. He spotted me gaping at him, and bellowed, "WHAT ARE YOU JUST STANDING THERE FOR?"

Jax, who had also just been staring at the scene, gave a start and turned forwards again, raising his hands.

"What are you going to do?" Cal asked. "It's a dead end."

Almost in response, an enormous obsidian spike erupted from the ground and impaled a nearby building.

"Climb up it to the building," Jax ordered.

Cal looked at Jax in awe. "You are amazing."

Jax flushed a slight red but said, "We haven't got much time. Go."

Cal went up first, then me, and then Jax. The obsidian spike was very slippery, and there weren't many handholds. The experience was similar to that of climbing up a slide in kindergarten, except this time if I fell off I'd either drown or be impaled by Klith. Out of the two, I wasn't sure which was worse.

Just as I helped Jax onto the roof of the building, there was a roar of triumph, and I glimpsed Dan fly backwards through the air and land on the ground in a heap, a large slash in his armor. Klith turned to us, pointing at me with his scythe.

"Run." Jax said, but I didn't need him to tell me that—I was already running.

We jumped from rooftop to rooftop with Klith trailing close behind, hurling weapons at us every so often. I nearly slipped to my death three or four times, but I didn't slow down.

But even so, Klith was getting closer. I had more close calls, and there more weapons hurled at me, which resulted in me panicking a bit more. And that panic made me make more hasty and risky moves, which are not recommended when jumping across rooftops several meters above water.

And then, I made my final slip-up.

I jumped to a slanted rooftop but landed wrong, my foot sliding out from under me. I tipped backwards, only to be caught by—

"Got you," Klith hissed as he grabbed a fistful of my jacket and raised his scythe for the killing blow.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Cal running towards me, her Netherite axe in hand, and suddenly one thought pounded in my head: NO.

I screamed, and there was a flash of light as lightning exploded from my body, propelling me forwards while also blasting Klith with an entire lightning storm's worth of power. Klith stumbled back a little, his white hoodie now burned a smoking black.

Good news? I'd slipped out of Klith's grasp.

The more imminent, fast approaching bag news? There was a brick wall in front of me.

I smashed through the wall at light speed, tripping and executing a perfect triple roll before coming to a painful stop underneath a pile of rubble.

"YOU BRAT!" Klith screamed. "THAT WAS MY FAVORITE HOODIE!"

"I think my ribs are broken," I coughed. "No. Strike that. I think everything's broken."

"I will kill you painfully," Klith promised as he raised his scythe.

Suddenly Cal leaped in front of me, wielding her axe. "Been there, done that."

"Move out of the way, girl." Klith sneered. "I have no need for you. You do not need to die. That girl, on the other hand…"

"I think we should reschedule this event to a later date," Cal said. "Example: when the Nether freezes over."

"On the contrary, I see no problem with the current schedule." Klith snarled.

"Oh yeah?" Cal smirked. "Good thing I've got a second opinion."

That's when a purple fireball fell from the sky, blasting apart the building Klith was standing on and sending him plummeting to the water below.

I stared at Cal, my jaw agape. "Did you take one liner school while I was gone?"

Cal winked at me. "Well, I am the superior in the family."

"I've got lightning powers." I retorted.

"And I've got the witty one liners. Every hero needs a witty one liner."

"In case you haven't noticed, I've gotten pretty good at witty banter as well."

Before we could waste any more time arguing, an enormous dragon suddenly came out of the sky and landed with a crash on the rooftop, making me jump half a meter into the air.

Jax, who was sitting on the dragon's back, shouted, "Get on!"

"Is…is that Shell?" I asked, my voice higher than normal.

"Yup," Cal said. "Don't worry, he doesn't bite. Well, he does, but don't let that intimidate you."

Shell yawned, revealing a maw full of teeth.

"I'm not intimidated," I said. "Why would I be intimidated?"

"What are you waiting for?" Jax demanded. "Get on!"

Cal jumped onto Shell's back, and then turned and extended a hand towards me. "Get on," she urged.

I hesitated for a moment. "I, uh…"

Suddenly there was a loud splash and a roar of fury.

"Good idea," I said as I took Cal's hand and pulled myself on.

Shell didn't give me much time to make myself comfortable, turning and running towards the edge of the roof, going faster and faster until I was sure we'd run into the building ahead of us and die.

Just before we were about to smash into the building, Shell leaped into the air and spread his wings. He flapped them once, twice, and then we shot into the air like a bullet.

We soared high above Cratre as my hair whipped around my face, making it impossible to see. I didn't even try to brush the hair out of my face for fear of falling off and dying. As someone who had never ridden a dragon before, I was both exhilarated and terrified.

"Don't go too fast, Shell. Klith has to follow us." Cal told him. Shell grunted, and Cal responded, "yeah, I know it sounds nuts. Don't worry, we've got it all figured out."

"You're talking to the dragon." I gasped, short of breath. "You speak dragon."

"I don't speak dragon," Cal said, and then laughed a little. "We understand each other. Like, we've got a link."

"You're nuts," I said. "Well, can you tell Shell to slow down?"

"That's what I said," Cal snickered. "You know? I think I've gotten used to your erratic flying, Shell."

Jax, who was taking it better than I thought he would, responded, "Toni's going to have to get used to it too. And fast."

"Why?" I said fearfully.

"Look behind you."

I looked, and immediately regretted doing so.

Klith was flying through the air, a red aura almost like a cloud around him. He had his arms extended out, like he was some bizarre Superman. And he was gaining on us.

"Shell," I said, horribly pale. "I know I just told you to slow down, but could you pick up the pace?"

Sam

I groaned as I sat up. "I need a drink."

"Aren't you, like, sixteen?" Ben muttered, holding his chest where he was cut by Klith's scythe.

"Fifteen," I corrected. "And I meant drink as in my throat's dry, you doofus."

"How's the cut?" Seu, who was covered in cuts, asked Ben worriedly.

"I would have been worse off if it hadn't been for that dragon's blood." Ben said. "In fact, we'd all be worse off if it hadn't been for that dragon's blood. How did you have some of that stuff just lying around, anyways? Isn't that stuff expensive?"

"Yes, and I'm disappointed I didn't get any money out of it." I grumbled.

"It's from when they killed the dragon," Durham, who was very wet, said.

"Ah, right." Ben nodded. "I guess we should even thank that Rafi guy. We might have died if he hadn't sent you guys to the wrong place."

My already bad mood became even more unpleasant. "Yeah, let's thank the guy for betraying one of his closet friends. Woohoo! Yippee for Rafi, am I right? Ben, you're a real great guy."

Ben said guiltily, "Aw, Sam, I didn't mean it like that."

"Forget it," I snapped. Suddenly a thought occurred to me, and I felt a pang of dread deep in my chest. "Where…where's Trevor?"

"Oh," Seu said, and I was terrified at the tone of her voice. "Well…"

I pushed Ben out of the way and ran over to Seu, where I found Trevor.

Bleeding heavily from the head.

"No. No. No, no, no, NO!" I slammed my fist against the boardwalk. My hand throbbed, but I couldn't care less. "Can anyone help him? Is there anything we can do?"

"Hold this to his head," Seu urged as she handed me a cloth. "Try and slow the bleeding. Lift him, but slowly. We need Ender's potions for this."

I noticed her choice of words. 'Slow', not 'stop'.

"Okay. Okay." I pressed the cloth against Trevor's head, and already the blood was seeping through. How much of a severe wound was this? I carefully lifted him onto my back, making sure to keep the cloth to his head.

"Durham, carry Dan! Guys, let's head back!" Seu yelled, and then pulled out her phone. "Ender, we're coming back with a severely wounded person. Get the potions ready."

"Who? Who is it?" Ender said frantically.

"It's Trevor," Seu said.

"Oh," Ender said. "Okay. I'll get my potions ready."

I could tell from her change in tone that she was a little relieved it wasn't anyone she knew. That infuriated me.

"By the way, how are the pearl stasis chambers coming along?" Seu asked.

"All prepped," Ender said. "Now all we need is for Cal's signal."

"What if they fail?" Durham asked, sounding concerned.

"They won't," I said fiercely. I glared around, daring anyone to challenge me.

"How do you know?" Nikai said, and it was the first time he'd felt even a little aggressive towards me.

"If they were that easy to kill, they would have died long ago." I said. "I should know. I've fought with them on several occasions."

"But it's Klith," Nikai said.

"Klith's just some psycho who everyone was too afraid to stand up to," I snapped. "Everyone thought he was unstoppable, which made him unstoppable. Null, Herobrine, and Notch didn't think so."

"You trust a group of…children to fight for us?" Nikai said skeptically.

"Yes." I growled. "Yes, I do."

It was funny. Everyone there was older than me, but I think in that moment, all of them were a little respectful of me at that moment.

"Now, let's not waste any more time." I said. "Once I get Trevor healed up we're finding that damn bomb."

Abrupt ending? Yeah, but this chapter turned out to be a lot longer than I was expecting, so I had to cut it in order to upload in time.

Also, happy new year! Also also, today is actually my birthday! Crazy, right? Feel free to wish me a happy birthday in the reviews if you want—it's definitely make my day.

Anyways, cheers to a new (and hopefully better) year! Krios out!