It's occurred to me that I haven't responded to the one review that I got over my break. Well, one's better than none.

ara celene: Thanks for the lengthy review! In return I'll give you a lengthy response.

Yeah, I thought it'd be fun to make Null a girl because, you know, subverting expectations and all that. But I had that idea a few months in advance, so it wasn't impulsive.

Also, the one thing I focus on with this fic (besides the story) is balancing out the seriousness with humor. Usually a funny story is more fun to read than a story that takes itself too seriously.

And yeah, I'm totally going to be going into the deep backstory of a character or two in Part 2. By the way, 'the Bedrock Key' will be a tiny bit darker than 'Blast Radius', just so you know.

And also another review from ara celene! Pop off, queen! Or king. I won't assume.

There's definitely going to be more Herobrine and Toni interactions in this part, don't worry.

Also yeah, I'm thinking of making an arc where Toni's not very emotionally stable and starts snapping at everyone. Not quite sure where I'll fit it in, but I'll find a way.

Sheesh, that was a long author's note. Did you skip all of that? I don't blame you.

Also…there's going to be a special guest next chapter. Can you guess who it is? Can ya? Eh, it'll be mentioned at the end of this chapter, so you won't have to wonder for much longer.

Have a very happy Friday!

Krios

I Play Bedwars With Withers

I yelped and ran forwards, ducking. The bright blue skull shot over my head and slammed into the side of the sandcastle, which blasted apart with devastating force.

What? It shouldn't be possible to destroy the islands themselves!

That's when a panicked voice echoed. "Everybody, the respawn station has been bombed and the beds are no longer working! There are withers with enhanced powers that are roaming around the map, looking for people to kill! Stay down at all costs, and it's recommended you do not engage the Withers!"

I felt a pang deep in my gut. The respawn station had been bombed, and the beds weren't working. Then, Owen's friend…and Clyde…and Cacao…

No, they couldn't be dead. It wasn't possible.

I saw a fireball fly past me and smash into the wither behind me, blasting it back. Rook, who had thrown the fireball, ran over to me. "What's going on?" she yelled.

"You think I know?" I said.

Owen's friend ran out of the sand castle. "What's happening? Why's the sand castle collapsed?"

"Whatshisface! You're alive!" I cried in relief.

"Seriously? Whatshisface?"

A loud screech echoed across the island, and we looked up to see a large Wither hover above us. It launched skulls at all of us, and we scattered.

The skulls exploded, and I was pelted with shards of sandstone and stone. There was another explosion that blasted me backwards to the edge of the island.

Only a few skulls, and the island was already half destroyed. The shopkeepers in the sandcastle flickered and vanished like holograms.

"To the diamond island!" Rook cried. "It's our only hope!"

There were craters all over the island, making it near impossible to navigate. There was another screech, and I dodged a bright blue skull that sailed past my head and blasted another hole into the island. I staggered, and saw into the void below the island. If I fell I'd be vaporized instantly and wouldn't respawn.

Rook and Owen's friend managed to get to the bridge first, and I wasn't far behind. But before I could follow them, a bright blue skull shot towards the bridge and blasted it to shreds. Rook and Owen's friend got away, but I was left behind.

"Damn it," I grunted as I dodged a second skull.

The wither was slowly destroying the island. If I couldn't get away, I'd either fall into the void or be hit by a wither skull and die.

How am I going to get out of here? I thought frantically. The bridge to the other diamond island is too far!

Suddenly Herobrine's voice popped into my head, sounding exasperated. Just teleport.

Oh. Right. I've got superpowers. That is a thing I can do.

Hey, in my defense, using magic wasn't allowed in games like Skywars and Bedwars, so it wasn't exactly my first thought.

There was another explosion as a Wither skull blasted apart the remains of the sandcastle, only the roof barely clinging to a bit of support. I raised my palm and blasted lightning at the Wither, sending a bolt of lightning shooting towards it.

The bolt struck one of the Wither's heads, and while it screamed in fury, I turned and focused on the island Rook and Owen's friend were on. It would barely even take a second to get there. Electricity crackled through my body, and then—

"AHHH! HELP!"

I faltered, and a skull struck the ground next to me, blasting me sideways off the island. I sailed into the void, and my reflexes kicked in. Electricity burst from my back, and I was launched out of the void and head first into the side of a sandstone wall. For a moment, it felt like I'd been hit by a sledgehammer. My vision was cluttered and blurry, everything looking like it was blending into each other.

Was…was that Jared? I thought blearily, too stunned for words. I turned my head slightly.

Jared was on the other diamond island, screaming as a Wither chased him around, firing skulls at him. The sight would have been funny if Jared could've respawned, but he couldn't.

You can't either, my brain reminded me.

…

I looked back to the island Roof and Owen's friend were on.

…

I looked back to the other diamond island, where Jared had almost been hit by a Wither skull.

…

"I can't believe I'm doing this," I grumbled as I stood. My head still pounded, but my vision was back to normal. Mostly.

Sure, Jared was a pretentious thorn in my side that thought he was better than everyone. Sure, I hated his guts. But just because he was a big jerk didn't mean he deserved to die.

I couldn't get to Jared. At least, not right away. The Wither was blocking my way.

Luckily, Herobrine had taught me a few tricks since my last quest.

I opened my bag and gripped an iron ingot in my hand.

Guess what I call this move? Herobrine had said. I call it…discharge. Cool, right?

I felt the energy seeping from my body into the iron ingot.

It's when you store energy in an object, preferably a conductive object…

I stood and aimed at the Wither, which hadn't spotted me yet.

...and you use that object like a bomb.

I hurled the iron ingot at the Wither.

Also, try yelling 'discharge' as the object explodes. It makes you feel really cool.

"DISCHARGE!" I yelled, and the electricity stored inside the iron ingot surged out all at once. The Wither was caught in the explosion, and it screeched as electricity danced across its body.

Without wasting a single second, electricity burst from my feet, blasting me onto the crumbling roof of the sandcastle and then blasting me over the void and onto the bridge connecting to Jared's island.

"That did sound really cool," I muttered to myself.

Doesn't it?

Jared was cowering behind a palm tree as the Wither slowly moved towards him, almost mockingly. The Wither had it's back turned to me. If I could just get in a quick sneak attack—

Jared spotted me and his eyes widened. "Y-you!" he spluttered.

The Wither turned to me.

…Jared, you prick.

I managed to dodge the first few skulls it sent at me and tried to pull out another iron ingot, only for my arm to start throbbing.

My arm was aching—it felt like my bones were deteriorating as I ran. I looked down at my arm.

Instead of the typical blue, my veins were now an unhealthy looking dark grey.

I had a flashback to the Wither skull that had exploded directly next to me earlier.

The wither effect.

It was a miracle that it had only got my arm, but soon it would spread. Not just through my arm, but through my entire body until I couldn't move.

Great. A poisoned arm, two angry Withers, and a defenseless teen who's supposed to be my enemy cowering behind a palm tree. The odds weren't looking good for me or Jared.

"I can't believe I'm ruining my arm for this jerk," I muttered as I lifted my stone sword. I held it with both hands, but my left arm was starting to go stiff, and my fingers were locking up.

I dodged another skull and shouted, "Herobrine, is there any way to neutralize the effects? Maybe some secret healing ability?"

You can numb the pain with soft bursts of electricity, but then that runs the risk of you making your arm worse without knowing.

I cursed, and Jared moaned behind me, "Some rescue."

"YOU GET UP AND KILL THIS WITHER, THEN!" I exploded.

Another skull sailed past me and into the void. A bead of sweat ran down my forehead. This wither wasn't as strong as the other one, and it was definitely smaller, but it was still a challenge. The island was slowly falling apart, and it was getting harder to run around.

I heard another screech, and saw the first wither from my island flying towards us.

Damn it. The other one's coming over. I can barely handle one wither…two withers are going to kill me.

I was getting ready to make my last stand when a block of obsidian struck the wither in the face. The obsidian shattered, and shards of obsidian dug into the wither, making it scream.

Arrows began to rain down on the wither, and I looked up.

Jax, Bandit, and Suzy stood on a yellow wool bridge above us. Bandit and Suzy rapidly fired arrows at the wither, while Jax hurled another block of obsidian that burst and pelted the wither with shards of obsidian. One of the wither's ribs broke off, and it screeched in fury.

I heard Jax yell, "TONI, CATCH!" I looked up to see a diamond sword spiraling towards me.

I tossed aside my stone sword and caught the diamond sword in my right hand. Then, I noticed an orange sword spiraling through the air towards me.

How'd he get his hands on…?

There was no time to think about it. I tossed my diamond sword to my other hand and grabbed the copper sword out of the air. Now my diamond sword was in my withered hand, and the copper sword in my healthy hand.

"Keep it distracted!" I yelled to the three, who nodded.

You see, I'd been testing out a theory of mine that had had something to do with the 'discharge' ability Herobrine had taught me.

If I could store energy in conductors and release it like a bomb…could I do the same with a sword?

Diamond wasn't a conductor, so I'd have to make a new sword made out of some conductive metal. And copper was a real good conductor, even more than iron.

I got close to the wither, which was still distracted. I felt a tingling sensation in my hand as energy seeped from my hand into the sword. The copper glowed slightly.

If you combine that knowledge with the ability to store energy in objects, and you've got a brand new weapon.

I jumped into the air and drove the copper sword into the wither's spine as deep as it would go. It screeched and flew around, trying to throw me off. Several skulls missed me by bare inches. I drove the sword further, and the wither screamed.

Now.

"DISCHARGE!"

The sword ignited inside the wither, and I leaped off the wither as the copper sword exploded with energy, sending electricity crackling throughout the wither's body.

Jax jumped from the wool bridge, drawing his large iron sword. With a single strike, he chopped off the head in the middle.

The wither flashed blue once, twice, and then exploded into a cloud of ash. A bright white star dropped from the cloud of ash, landing on the ground with a 'clink'. It kind of looked like one of those ornaments you'd see in gardens, expect it was glowing like it was enchanted.

The copper sword fell to the ground, the blade completely melted and the hilt charred black.

I still had had yet to make a copper sword that could survive a single blast. It was expected though, because copper was a lot weaker than iron and you usually didn't make tools from it.

But I didn't even have time to take a breather before a wither skull sailed past my head and into the void.

The large wither from my island was back. Jax stepped in front of me, glancing at me briefly.

"Get out of here," Jax said. "Your arm is withered. You won't be of much help like that."

"I literally just killed a wither."

"Do you think you'll be able to kill another one?"

I noted the growing ache in my arm, slowly spreading towards my shoulder.

"Nope." I said, running towards Jared. "Get up," I snapped at him.

Suzy and Bandit jumped down from the bridge and landed next to us. "You okay?" Bandit asked me.

I held up my arm, which looked like someone had scribbled on it with a sharpie. "Not really."

"Wither," Suzy murmured. "If you don't get milk now you run the risk of permanently damaging your arm. Bandit, start building a staircase up to the bridge."

"Way ahead of you," Bandit said.

"I'm fine," Jared said sarcastically. "Thanks for asking."

Another explosion, and Jax yelled, "TAKE YOUR CONVERSATION SOMEWHERE ELSE!"

"Alright, Jared, can you walk?" Suzy said quickly.

"…no."

"Okay, then I'll help you up this staircase Bandit's making."

Suzy took Jared's hand and tried to pull him up. Jared gasped and fell back down. I glanced at his leg, and saw lines of black twisting up it.

Suzy frowned. "That's not good."

"You think?" Jared snarled.

"Screw this." I lifted Jared into my arms. "Let's just go already."

"Hey! You put me down!" Jared snapped. "I don't need help from the likes of you!"

"Okay then. I'll put you down."

A wither skull narrowly missed us and blasted apart the ground next to us.

"Wait, no! Don't put me down!"

"I hate to rush you, but—" Suzy began.

"We're coming, we're coming!" I ran up the stairs, Jared in my arms. "God Jared, I knew you were a pig, but how much do you eat?"

Bandit, who was still building, snorted. Jared made a scandalized noise but didn't say anything. Probably because he knew I'd drop him if he got too annoying.

We made it to the high bridge and ran across, leaving Jax to fight the wither by himself.

"Are you sure Jax can handle that thing?" I asked.

"He'll be fine. We already took one out together, and he did most of the work." Bandit said. "Apparently he's got wither immunity."

"Lucky," I grumbled.

Bandit seemed to think about something before asking, "By the way, did you yell 'discharge' back there?"

I flushed. "Yeah, um."

Jared snickered. "She sounded like an overzealous comic book hero."

"Shut it or I'll drop you into the void."

Jared's smirk turned solemn so quickly I almost laughed.

We finally got to the other island, which luckily wasn't too damaged. The sandcastle on this island was still intact, at least.

"Finally," I groaned and dropped Jared onto the ground.

"Ow!" Jared yelled. "Give me a warning next time, you brat!"

"Oh no," I said dryly. "Did I hurt your little, fragile feelings?"

"I've got a withered leg, you—"

"I've got a withered arm and I had to carry you across a wool bridge. Go cry somewhere else."

Jared glowered but said nothing.

"Well, me and Suzy are going to get more stuff." Bandit jerked his thumb towards the sandcastle. "Just…chill for a few moments."

I began, "Is there—"

"No. Just chill."

"I can help, tho—"

"Just. Chill." Bandit repeated.

"But—"

"Chill. Get some rest. Don't make your arm worse than it is."

I hesitated before sitting down. The two walked into the sandcastle, and left me and

Jared outside.

Jared managed to prop himself up against a sandstone wall, and we sat in silence.

Awkward.

Where have you been!?

Reading.

Of course. Here I was fighting for my life, and Herobrine was just reading his stupid book.

What do you want me to do, manifest into real life? Anyways, Jared looks like he has something to say.

I looked up, and Jared seemed to be having an aneurysm.

His eye was twitching, and his hands clenched and unclenched. Every so often he would opened his mouth, and then close it, looking away.

"Spit it out," I said irritably. I felt annoyed for some reason, and the wither wasn't helping matters.

Jared seemed to be struggling with something before asking me, "Why?"

"Why what?" I snapped.

"Why'd you risk your life for me? I don't get it." Jared rubbed his forehead.

"Believe me, I wish I knew." I sighed.

Jared's eyes widened in realization. "Oh, I've got it. You felt guilt that such a young and pure life would be snuffed out so early, and—"

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Jared." I rolled my eyes. "It was basic human empathy and nothing more."

Jared blinked. "Basic…?"

I snorted, about to insult him for not having a grasp on basic emotions when I felt something poke me in the back. I quickly stood, grabbing my sword. I turned around and saw a wither skull, devoid of the strange evil light that had possessed it. I looked up and saw Jax holding two bright Nether stars in one hand.

"Easy," he said. "Next?"

?-?-?

Unfortunately, the shopkeeper didn't have milk.

Fortunately, Owen did.

Me and the gang were talking (excluding Jared, who was sulking in the corner) when suddenly Owen ran out of the sandcastle, holding several bottles of milk.

Owen's appearance was so sudden it took me a solid minute to realize that the wither wasn't just making me hallucinate.

"Owen," Jax acknowledged.

"Wait." I pointed to Owen. "Are we really just going to ignore how Owen just…came out of nowhere?"

"He teleported in," Jax said. "You know. That's how you usually begin a Bedwars game."

"Huh," I said. "How convenient. And why didn't you come in earlier?" I asked Owen.

He flushed. "Sorry. I was a little too late to the party, right? Anyways, here." He handed me a bottle of milk.

"That's how I got your sword, and my sword, and that copper sword earlier." Jax said. "Lago and Y teleported in and gave the stuff to me before running off. I think they're helping handling the other wither."

"Okay, so how many withers are there?"

"Exactly five rose from the void. Me, Bandit, and Suzy killed one. I killed another. And you helped me kill another." Jax frowned. "Now that I think about it, I feel like I've done all of the work so far."

"Yeah, well, you don't need to worry about getting infected by wither," I frowned.

"True."

"So all in all, that means there are two more." Owen said. "I saw that Lago, Y, and several others were busy fighting the second wither. That one's not too strong."

"So there's only one left." I said.

"Yup." Owen frowned. "But there's just one problem."

Of course there is.

"This wither…isn't exactly weak." Owen said. "It's three times the size of a regular wither, and its explosions are devastating."

"So it's like every wither we just fought," I said sarcastically.

"Yeah, but this one is a lot powerful than the other ones." Owen said. "We can't take it on by ourselves. Not just us. We need to gather the others."

?-?-?

The milk definitely helped, but the wither effect must have been enhanced or something, because my arm definitely still hurt. And in a life or death situation like this, that could make this a lot more harder.

I gasped for breath as a skull sailed past me, blasting apart a small sandstone hill. I coughed as dust and sand blew into my face, blocking my vision and making my eyes tear up. I blindly placed obsidian everywhere as I ran, not even looking at where I was placing the obsidian. A skull landed in front of me, and I barely managed to block the blast with my sword before being blown backwards into a sandstone wall. I rolled out of the way as another wither skull blasted the wall to pieces.

"JAX!" I coughed, glancing around for just a brief moment. The wither was three times bigger than a regular wither, and it had a bright blue glow around it.

People appeared from behind pillars and out of bushes and fired dozens of arrows at the wither. All of them merely bounced off the glow, and I realized that it wasn't just some glow—it was a force field around the wither.

Jax took a running dive off of a nearby cliff and struck the wither with his sword with the force of a rhino, pushing it back. As Jax landed on the ground, he snapped his fingers.

Obsidian erupted from the blocks I'd placed on the ground, slamming into the wither with deadly accuracy. The bright blue force field shivered, but didn't give. I pulled an iron ingot out of my bag and hurled it at the wither. The ingot exploded violently, blasting the wither back again.

I placed the last of my obsidian as I ran towards the wither, sending a bolt of lightning towards it with my sword and blasting it back further. More spikes of obsidian struck the wither. The people with bows switched to fishing rods, hurling their reels towards the wither. Several missed, but most managed to snag the wither, holding it in place. The wither strained against the strings, and several more fishing rods snapped.

We needed to take care of the wither as fast as possible, or it'd blow up more of the island and send people into the void. Me and Jax began to take turns striking the wither with our swords, dancing and weaving around it as it fired skulls wildly with no real target. The additional arrows shot from the people beside us was finally enough to destroy the force field, which flickered out like a hologram.

I put away my diamond sword and pulled out a second copper dagger that hummed with energy as the wither pulled free of the fishing rods.

Jax snapped his fingers, and spikes of obsidian erupted from the last blocks of obsidian. But they suddenly stopped halfway, not even making it to the wither and clattering to the ground. In all the chaos of the battle, I almost missed it. I looked his way and saw Jax hunched over, gagging on something. He coughed loudly, and a shadow poured from his mouth like black gas and instantly faded away. Jax's eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed, pale as snow.

"JAX!" I yelled.

"I'll take care of him," someone shouted. "You finish it off!"

I turned back to the wither, which had it's gaze fixed on me even as it was pelted with arrows. It fired a bright blue skull towards me, and I raised my hand towards it.

There was a blast of energy from my hand. Not like a bolt of lightning, but a short burst of energy that sent the skull flying back towards the wither. The skull exploded against the wither's ribs, making it screech.

I screamed as electricity burst from my feet, launching me into the air. I felt the wither's bones crack as I landed on it, raised my dagger, and drove it into the top of the wither's middle skull.

Through the wither's eye sockets, I could see the ghostly glow in them be replaced by a much brighter and powerful glow. I jumped off the wither as it exploded violently, sending out a shockwave that blasted everyone onto their backs.

The remains of the wither clattered to the ground—a few black bones and a single skull. The bones and skull faded into ashes, and the only thing that was left was a bright star half covered in ash.

I looked towards Jax. Cacao and Suzy seemed to be inspecting him, looking for any wounds or injuries. I wondered if they'd seen the shadow Jax had spat from his mouth.

"How will we get out of the arena now?" Owen's friend asked, limping over to me. "Normally the winners of the game are teleported out, but Owen told me the teleporting system's broken."

"I think we're getting lifted out," Bandit volunteered. "Good question, Owen's friend."

"Wh—why is everyone calling me that!? My name is—"

"Anyways, what do you think happened?" I asked Bandit. "Where'd these withers come from? How'd the respawn station get bombed? What went so wrong?"

"I'm not sure," Bandit sighed. "Normally there are safety measures to make sure things like this don't happen. And I don't even know where to start with the withers."

"Maybe it was some sort of stupid prank?" I offered halfheartedly.

"Some sick prank," Cacao grumbled. "People nearly died."

"Yeah, you're right." I looked again at Jax. "I don't think this was a prank."

?-?-?

Valaither was in a sort of chaos after that, people asking the people in the Bedwars game what had happened. I half expected Jared to make up some exaggerated stories about how cool he was and that he took down a wither, but surprisingly he didn't. He actually stayed quiet throughout the whole thing, which I found surprising. Every time we ran into each other, he wouldn't even make a comment--just kind of give me the side eye as he'd walk past.

Jax was in the infirmary for the rest of the day, but he still wasn't looking very healthy when he reappeared at supper time.

Like Bandit said: "Who invited a vampire to our table?"

The comparison wasn't really inaccurate. Jax was as pale as snow, and his messy black hair and black clothes didn't do him any favors. All he needed were some vampire fangs and a black cape.

"Nice to see you too, Bandit." Jax sighed as he heavily sat down next to me.

"Are you okay?" I asked him, concerned. "You were in there for a while."

"Yeah, I was passed out for most of it." Jax ran a hand through his hair. "I was put on a couch in the infirmary—which was understandable, because there were people that needed those hospital beds more than I did."

"What happened for you to just pass out like that?" Rook asked, just as worried as I was. "I thought you were immune to wither."

"It's nothing," Jax said, doing a terrible job of sounding upbeat. "Just uh…bumped my head is all."

We all stared at Jax as he put meat onto his plate and took a very forced looking bite.

"Mmm," Jax said enthusiastically. "Is this mutton?"

"Steak," Cacao sighed. "Jax, anyone ever tell you you're a terrible liar?"

Jax straightened. "What would I have to be lying about?"

"Come on, Jax, if you fainted you can just tell us." Bandit said jokingly. "That wither was pretty scary."

"Yeah! Yeah," Jax said quickly. "I…fainted. Because I was scared."

"Really." Rook narrowed her eyes.

Jax was saved from having to make up another lie when a girl plopped down on the bench next to me with a loud sigh.

"Weather's nice, ain't it?" Sam asked as she grabbed a plate. "Ooh, is that rabbit stew?"

I jumped. "Sam? When'd you get here?"

Ahhh, I like this guy. Herobrine said in approval.

Sam's a girl.

I meant guy in a gender neutral way.

How does that even—

"I just got here." Sam yawned as she stretched. "Trevor's in his room, he's really tired."

"Sam," Jax said in greeting. "You're here."

"Hey, Jax." Sam glanced at Jax. "Gee, what happened to you? You look like Edward Cullen's less attractive younger sibling."

My head snapped towards Sam. "Sam, you did not just reference freaking Twilight."

Sam shrugged. "So?" Her eyes suddenly widened and she stood. "Oh, I almost forgot! Come with me, you two!"

She grabbed me and Jax's hands, dragging us away from the table.

"Can we follow?" Bandit called.

"No!" Sam called back as she dragged us out of the dining hall.

We were dragged around Valaither for several minutes before Sam dragged us into a small room with desks and a chalkboard on the wall.

"Alright Sam, what's this about?" Jax said, irritated. "I was trying to enjoy my mutton."

"Liar." I muttered.

"Alright, the mutton tasted like toilet paper to me. Happy?"

"There's something wrong with your taste buds."

Jax blinked. "Where'd you get this sass from?"

I shrugged. "Maybe it comes with turning thirteen."

Sam suddenly looked guilty. "Oh, right. Sorry about missing the birthday party, Toni."

"It's fine," I said. "We mostly just played Knife Monopoly and Knife Jenga."

"What? No fair, those are my favorite games!" Sam whined.

Jax gritted his teeth. "Sam. I'm losing my patience. What is it?"

"Gee, everyone's so moody today." Sam sighed, and then her eyes brightened. "But you're going to like this!"

"That depends," Jax said skeptically. "What's the news?"

Sam lowered her voice and leaned in. "Guess who I found? Alright, I'll tell you. I found Notch's reincarnation!"

Don't know why I included a Twilight reference. I haven't even watched the movie.

Also yeah I got really lazy at the end, but I wanted to get this chapter out quickly. I might fix it later.

Maybe.

Krios