I'm sorry for not updating sooner, I got a bit busy.

Falling through rainbows of color, portal after portal. There were adventures left and right. What were those adventures? Listen, I'm not going to go on and describe everything. Unlike Lukas, I was not fascinated by these places, writing it all down and stuff. At least, I assumed that's what he did. I couldn't really remember what was in there, I never really paid attention to that in my past playthroughs. Usually I would be really excited to be going on these adventures, this time was different. I was feeling a little homesick (despite "home" not actually being my home) and I was less than happy about the predicament we were in, especially after the fire world. Apparently I wasn't the only one, the two redheads got severely annoyed.

"...what's up with you two?"

"What's up with me? What's up?! I'm tired of all this useless portal-hoping trying to find our way home!"

"That doesn't sound like the Petra I know; she loves fighting against impossible odds."

"When I have to, sure, but I don't want to fight just for the sake of fighting!"

There was a sudden waft of something burning. Quickly, everyone panically turned to the other Lukas.

"Lukas, you're on fire again!" He immediately began patting out the fire on the back of his pants. Luckily, he put it out fairly quickly. This somehow made the Petras even more angry despite it not proving their point in the slightest.

"See! Ugh, this is what I'm talking about. We're stuck in a rut: go through a portal, avoid dying long enough to get back to this stupid hallway…"

"Wash, rinse, repeat… Yes, it would be nice if whoever made these left some sort of signs. Guideposts," Ivor agreed.

"Now that you mention it, some of these do look more dangerous than others; like the one we just came through?"

'Hmm… I don't know, MAYBE it's because some are literally on fire?'

"I mean, the frame is on fire, so I'm not entirely sure what we were expecting there," Reasoned Midnight. Great minds think alike! Though, if we both knew that, why didn't we just say anything before we jumped into the portal?

The two Petras finally got fed up with us and waltzed away.

"Petra, where are you going?" Questioned Ivor.

"There may not be guideposts, but someone must be able to tell us how to navigate these stupid portals." Of course there is, but there's also the fact that absolutely none of these people were trustworthy, except for Midnight. Not even Lukas could be trusted with the information we have. Well, actually, maybe he could. And, technically, I suppose the other Lukas seemed pretty trustworthy as well. However, now isn't the time to care about that.

They stood before the redstone portal, turned, then pointed at the glowing frame. Looks like we've found "Okay, this one's redstone, redstone means smart people. Hopefully smart enough to help us find our way home." Or someone who'd make the Jesses save the world again, place your bet.

"But what if no one's smart enough? We have to think through everything, Petra," Reasoned Midnight.

"Yeah," Agreed the other Lukas. "We could find ourselves at another.. another Psycho Pumpkin Mansion."

"Well, I'm willing to take that shot," Grumbled Petra. Of course, she was lying. I could practically feel the uncertainty radiating from her.

"So what are you saying here, huh? That you've made up your mind? You're just going to go through this portal and that's it?"

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm just saying that I'm tired of the Jesses calling the shots. Every. Single. Time!" Technically, she was correct. The only problem is that when anyone else makes decisions, something goes wrong.

"I know what I'm doing, this is for everyone's good!"

"If you really knew what was for our own good, we'd be back home by now." Okay, that was a bit much. You're just adding fuel to the fire.

Lukas, sensing that this was getting a bit heated, decided to step in. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Everybody, calm down! I'm sure Jesse didn't really mean that, right Jesse?"

"No way, I meant exactly what I said."

Dang, okay then. There was a look of genuine surprise on half of the people there.

"Yeah, well, so did I."

"Forget this, I'm outta here!"

And so, both of the Petras stormed through the portal, the red engulfing them. No one moved, we just stood there, watching it happen.

Everyone was silent, so I decided to break said silence. "Needless to say, that could've gone a lot better."

"Okay, my bad, I may not have been my 'best self' back there…" Confessed the other Jesse.

"You were mean," Pointed out the other Lukas. "And insensitive, and wrong." Midnight tapped his shoulder.

"Lukas, I think they get it. You don't need to rub it in."

"But… We can't just let them walk away, right?" Asked the other Ivor.

"No.. no we can't. Come on, you guys. Let's go find them."

And so, we walked through the portal. The red swirls of magic engulfed us until we finally reached through the last layer and fell out into the other side.

Midnight landed on her feet, I fell directly on my face. Ouch. Needless to say, I now had a bruised face!

"Any of you guys see either Petra?"

"They didn't have that big of a head start, so they can't be too far."

"Hang on," Both Lukases pulled out their journals in sync. "I'm going to write down our entry point." Midnight tried to look at her Lukas' journal, but was unsuccessful.

Me being me, I had forgotten what the one dude at the spleef place (his name's Slab, as I'd later find out) had said about the journal. And though I'd usually be nosy, my eyes burned with sleep-deprivation. I'm not even sure I could read a sentence before having to quit. I mean, the last time I slept was at my tree-hut, and that was literally two episodes ago.

"Hey Lukas," Called Jesse. "I've been meaning to ask you, what's that?"

"Oh, ah, it's just a… y'know, a book I picked up back at the White Pumpkin's place. It's all about different biomes and stuff," Replied Lukas. He looked oddly nervous for someone who was supposedly not hiding anything, it was severely suspicious.

Talking about suspiciousness, I could feel eyes on me. Midnight's, to be exact. I felt oddly embarrassed for some reason… I wonder what she was thinking of.

"Great idea, Lukas!"

"So, what's next on the agenda anyway?" Nothing but silence came from the Jesses. Eventually, the other Ivor covered for them.

"Probably best if we just play it by ear for now, I suppose."

Or you could look at that obvious path right there.

"It looks like some sort of road." Yes, yes it does.

"A road, huh? Is that natural?"

"Nope."

"Well, if I were Petra, here on my own, and saw a road… I'd probably follow it."

"Lukas has a good point. I bet if we follow the road, we'll find them."

So then we started our long and boring adventure through the mesa. It was barren of any signs of life other than this road and the cacti. On the bright side, not only do I love cacti, but I still don't have any armor since I was dumb and didn't grab any. You may be asking 'But how is that a good thing?' and the answer to that would be the heat. It was scolding hot and every layer of clothes on us matters, especially the lack thereof. On the downside, everything here was super strong and fast, meaning there was an even higher chance of me dying.

Eventually, we found the two Petras. They were hiding behind a mound of clay, peeking at something in the far distance. Can you guess what that something was? It was an extremely powerful zombie with a blinking redstone device in its head. The two leaders ran forward, joining the Petras once a battle with the chipped zombie ensued. It took a bit, but they were able to slay it in record time nonetheless. Finally, the rest of us went over to join them and evaluate the situation.

"It was just one zombie, what was the problem?" Questioned Ivor.

"Nuh uh, that thing was, like, 'Super Zombie.' Stronger, tougher, faster," Explained the other Petra. "I hope there's not something wrong with me."

Midnight, apparently having a death wish, laughed at this. "I dunno Petra, maybe you've just lost a step?" She definitely didn't think that through well enough, because the other Petra looked pretty angry.

And so, the other Petra walked over to Midnight and hit her in the arm. It looked quite painful. "Do I seem any weaker to you?"

"Uh, no?"

What even was her goal there?

"I don't think there's anything wrong with you, Petra." Stated the other Jesse. "That was definitely the zombie."

"Super strong zombies? What in the world is up with that?" Questioned Lukas.

And thus, since we are apparently cursed with plot-convenience, more appeared. A bunch of them, actually. We must've been spotted by the curious death-bot. Everyone with a weapon grabbed it out and got ready to fight.

"Well, that seems about right."

"I don't know about you guys, but I'd really like to figure out a better way to handle these super zombies."

(Un)luckily for my pal Jesse, he tripped on absolutely nothing and plummeted to the burning hot unforgiving floor. He sprung back up as quickly as he possibly could, though. Unfortunately, we were as far away from the zombies as we could go. There was a wall right behind us, preventing our escape. Suddenly, they halted.

"Did we do that?" No, whatever gave you that idea?

"With what? The power of our imaginations?" Asked Midnight.

Cautiously, Lukas leaned forward and poked the zombie in front of him with the tip of his sword. Meanwhile, Jesse walked behind the zombies and studied the redstone chips that were lodged in their heads.

"What on earth is that thing?"

"Definitely seems like redstone… right?" Questioned Midnight.

"Fascinating."

"Maybe those redstone things are what make the zombies so blank." Pondered the other Jesse.

"Makes sense to me," Agreed the other Lukas. "I'm starting to wonder if we should-"

They began to shriek or something. It was painfully loud, the noise didn't lessen in the slightest, not even when we covered our ears. It sounded like the white noise that would come from televisions or fans, but ten times louder.

"I don't know what they're doing exactly, but it is definitely time to get out of here."

"Great plan!" Shouted Midnight.

"Fine by me!" Yelled the other Lukas.

When we attempted to leave, the zombies suddenly turned away. As quickly as they came, the zombies left.

"They're leaving? Just like that?"

"They're going back the way we came from…"

"This might sound crazy, but I feel like they're trying to lead us somewhere."

"You're right, that does sound crazy."

"I think Lukas might be right. We should follow them, see where they go."

"So… let's get moving."

It took a while, but we made it. Crown Mesa, a population of one thousand sixty-two chipped people… and one unchipped, highly unlucky lady. Despite that, it looked completely abandoned, barren of any and all people.

"Well, guess this is the 'advanced civilization' we were looking for. Is it everything you hoped for, Petra?" Asked the other Jesse. She didn't seem amused.

A (chipped, but no one could see that) resident walked past us, drawing the attention of the Jesses. So, they walked away to talk to the resident.

Just like Midnight, I immediately sought the company of the blonde of the group. Mine was sitting on a block of clay. Saying nothing, I sat beside him.

"You okay, Zenna?"

"Yeah, I'm just really tired…"

The conversation died off quickly, we ended up both just sitting there in silence. He began writing in his book, looking over at me every now and again, but never saying anything. After all, we didn't need conversation in order to have meaningful moments. There was nothing but the sounds of writing and walking, it was so comforting I almost fell asleep. Unfortunately, I was not graced with slumber this time. The Jesses started panicking, so we rushed over to them.

"Conversation go any better up close? We couldn't really hear from back there." No answer.

"Did he tell you… anything?" Asked Lukas.

A blur known as Harper suddenly ducked into a house, drawing our attention.

"Come on. Whoever they are, maybe they've got some answers."

As Jesse went to see what was happening, we stayed back. Well, technically we only stood there for just a few moments, but still. Soon enough, we walked in to join them.

"Out with it! Who are you people? What's going on here?" Interrogated Harper.

"Easy, we just ended up here by mistake," Stated the other Jesse, his hands up in the air as if he's getting arrested.

"'Mistake?' Oh boy is this the biggest mistake of your life. Okay. Okay, okay, okay, okay uh… Been alone for a while, so this is a lot to take in right now… The people, the citizens of Crown Mesa. You've met them, right?"

"Uh, sort of? I talked to a man outside," Replied Jesse.

"Just the one?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"I know it's probably hard to understand right now, but… if you meet any more people, please don't hurt them. They're my friends. They're good people, I promise," Explained Harper. "Oh, oh, oh no no no! I've wasted too much time!"

"Uh, Jesse? Don't look now, but we've got company." There were chipped citizens outside.

"Is that what you were scared of? There are only ten of them and eleven of- hey, where'd she go?"

Excuse me, ten of them? Like, ten beings with tenfold the amount of strength we have?

"Well, they're definitely not ignoring us anymore…"

"Jesse…? What do we do here?"

"Just- act like they do, blend in!"

"Uh, how?" Asked Midnight.

"Try to… look vacant!"

"It's not working. Uh, make the sound they do!"

And so the other Lukas just… did… uh…

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee."

That. He did that. It didn't work, by the way.

"You are not from this place," Said the citizens, their voices in sync.

"Uh, I don't know what to tell you, but we're definitely from here," Bluffed Jesse.

"PAMA knows this to be untrue. PAMA sees all."

They began to grab at us, going for the other Petra first. She punched her captor in the face, but it seemed to lack any reaction whatsoever except for glaring even harder.

"You will come to PAMA."

"We're not going anywhere with you." Pretty sure we are.

"Alright, gang, let's try not to hurt anybody, too badly…" He got hit once, then passed out. The rest of us went with them, not really having any other option.

"You will be made useful."

As we walked with them, they kept repeating "You will follow us to PAMA," which got old quickly. They led us onto a large pedestal thing they had in front of PAMA, making sure to stand guard of the stairs so we couldn't flee. There was a large group of chipped citizens in front of the pedestal, as well as a couple chipped zombies. A machine was behind us, the thing that PAMA used to chip people. Why it needed a fancy pedestal in order to brutally force a chip into someone's head and take control of their body was beyond me. Eventually, after being dumped onto the floor, Jesse awoke his slumber.

"What- what happened?" Questioned Jesse.

"You went down. Hard," Explained Ivor. "One punch and you were out."

PAMA began to boot up, startling everyone but me and Midnight.

"What is- what is that?"

"I have no idea…"

"You don't suppose it's friendly, do you?" Asked the other Ivor. Don't worry, I'm sure it's just peachy, what with its tendency to take control of any living being.

"Yeah, I'm guessing 'no' on the friendly thing. Whatever it is, I think it's behind all this."

"Apologies for the violent nature of this visit," Said PAMA, its voice shrill and robotic. "I am PAMA. Greetings."

Jesse, being the person who never seems to get to the point, asked what PAMA is.

"Some might call me 'a computer,' a thinking-machine, though there has never been a computer quite like me. My job is to be useful." Well that was totally a good use of our limited time. "Using redstone chips, I have connected to the people of this town and helped them be useful. Coordinated. I have made their world perfect."

"Woah, hold on. I've seen what you did to this town and it is not perfect."

"Processing information…" Its screen-face turned into a loading icon.

"'Processing information?'" Questioned the other Lukas.

"It said it's a 'thinking machine'... Thinking must take time?"

"I have consulted my databases, my list of everyone and everything in this world, and my conclusion is that you are not from here." Oh, it just simply chose to ignore what Jesse said. "Despite what you told those nice, nice townspeople. I would like to ask you some questions, to expand my database." Its screen became a question mark. "How did you get here?"

Jesse, for some reason, replied with "We walked here." Now's not the time to be technical, Jesse, this is 'life or death' right now.

"...Walked? Elaborate, please."

"It's, um, when you use your feet to take you someplace?" It knows what walking is, Jesse…

"You are attempting to be "cute." Attempt: Failed." Welp, that went as expected. "So far, your performance in question- answering has been inadequate. This makes me sad. Now I must use alternative methods to retrieve my new information." And that's when he knew, he messed up. One of the townspeople grabbed Petra by the arm and began pulling her away from us.

"Jesse!"

They immediately restrained everyone as one yanked her towards the machine. Jesse just now seemed to notice it, staring at her with fear in his eyes as he began to struggle against the grip of his captor. "No no no, wait! PAMA! I'll tell you whatever you want to know, just please don't hurt her!" He screeched. The person restraining her stopped immediately, turning her back to face everyone else.

"I am looking forward to hearing this new information. Please do not lie. This world reached peak efficiency quite some time ago. Unfortunately, this meant that I had no more job to do. No more things or people to help. Until you arrived, that is. Tell me: What is your world like?"

Seeing no alternative (and being ever so slightly soothed by how simple the question ended up being) he gave in. "Well… it's a heck of a lot greener. Just imagine grass and trees instead of sand and clay." With how barren this place is, I'm not even sure if it's possible for PAMA to imagine that, let alone the mere logistics of a robot being able to imagine in general.

"That sounds lovely. It really does. I think I would like to see this world for myself. If I could send me townspeople, my friends, through to other worlds, we could continue to grow and expand. It would be lovely." Its 'face' suddenly turned hostile. "However you entered this world, there must also be an exit. Where is it?"

"PAMA, we can't tell you because we don't know! Honest! After all, if we knew where it was, do you really think we'd still be here?"

"Your logic is sound, and your tone is genuine, but the information is… Not useful. My job is to be useful. I have completed my job here and must be allowed to expand and continue to be useful. Unfortunately, our conversation has not been helpful."

The townspeople began dragging both Petras and both Lukases towards the machine, my Petra being first in line. Four pillars of redstone blocks and quartz rose up from the ground, one in each corner of the pedestal. The piston slammed down, the dispenser hiding her face from us.

"Welcome, Petra. Yay." Next was Lukas. "You may not have any information about how to exit this world, but your brain may prove to contain other useful items." Then the other Petra.

"Big mistake, PAMA. I'm not going down without a fight!" Finally, the other Lukas.

"Welcome, Lukas. Yay. Your turn, Jesse." They began dragging the Jesses towards the machine, mine first because he apparently couldn't keep his mouth shut. Both Jesses protested very loudly, struggling as their own friends were about to, in a sense, kill them.

"What adventures you've had. A killer mansion…" It began processing the new information as it took it in, getting distracted almost immediately.

"Every time PAMA gets new information it seems to get distracted while it 'processes,'" Said the other Jesse. Okay, but we're literally about to die right now.

"Yes, like a computer version of thinking. Do you think there's a way to distract PAMA long enough for us to escape?" Why are you chatting like this is normal or something?

"Let's ask PAMA something that doesn't make sense- like an unsolvable problem. Yeah, we just ask PAMA something really confusing, get it all busy busy, and run out of here!" Stop stalling, you're wasting time we don't have!

"Jesse! That's fantastic! What you're describing is a 'paradox'- a self-contradictory statement!"

"Guys, now's not really the time for this!" I hissed. "Just say something confusing and get us out of here."

"...I really think it would work on PAMA," Finished the other Ivor.

"What do you think would work on me?" See? This is exactly what I was talking about.

"PAMA, trust me when I tell you: trust no one."

"...So if I trust you, I should not trust anyone. But if I do not trust anyone, I should not trust you." Why does this work so well? "So I should not follow your advice and therefore not trust anyone. Meaning I should trust you when you say trust no one-" It began glitching and smoking. "Error. This data is contradictory. Does not not not not compute. Error. Diverting power." We were finally let go.

"Yes! Ha Ha! It worked!"

"Nice work, new guys," Said Harper, randomly appearing on the roof of a nearby building. "But I'd get out of there fast if I were you, PAMA's a quicker learner than you'd think!" Just as she said that, PAMA decided to abandon the paradox.

"Paradox status: on hold. Gasp! My creator! Have you finally agreed to merge with me?"

"Oh don't you start with that again! Come on, you guys! This way!"

"Wait, did PAMA just say that she created it?"

"It does sound unbelievable, but I'm certainly interested in learning more!" Is now really the time?

"It is time to join."

"I'm sorry, but they're beyond your help right now! Come on, you gotta run!"

With just a moment's hesitation, everyone began running. I was excruciatingly slow due to me simply being terrible at running, so I was at the end right behind the Ivors. We swerved around chipped citizens and monsters, running into a house and stepping out onto a roof. Of course, we were entirely surrounded. Well, other than this cliff that the Jesses seemed pretty adamant on jumping into. We jumped off the roof (ouch) and at least half of us did not land on our feet. I'm not saying who, but… I need to train more. Once everyone got their footing, we began running wherever we could. No matter where we went, there were PAMA's little puppets to block us. Seeing no other choice, we went to the cliff.

"Nowhere left to run." Oh wow, really? I didn't notice.

"We'd never survive jumping down!"

"We would with these!" Exclaimed the other Jesse, pulling out some ender pearls.

We all hastily took the pearls from his hands.

"Excellent, Jesse! Now we just need to throw them in the right spot!"

I quickly tossed, hoping I didn't somehow cause myself to die upon impact… oh wait, I'm still not wearing armor. That's alright. I may lose about half of my health, but at least I'll survive!

Turning back around, there were our chipped friends walking toward us. Never once did I think I could ever possibly be afraid of Lukas, but apparently it is possible.

"Your running makes me sad," Said the puppets, PAMA frowning behind them. Slowly, our friends crept closer, just about to grab us. Then, finally, the pearls finally kicked in. A few sighs of relief were heard, one coming from me.

"Ugh, why is that always so disorienting?" Grumbled Jesse.

"Ha!" Said Harper, somehow appearing out of nowhere. "Maybe you've got a shot after all, new guys! Better stick with me though!" She promptly sped off, leaving us to scramble after her.

"Wow. She is amazing-- oh no." There was rotten flesh in the air. When I say "in the air" I mean literally four blocks away from us.

"Run!"

Not one of my better chapters, but it was written randomly throughout two months-

'Maybe you should write more, huh?'

Yes, I probably should... Well, bye.

'Bye!'