Both Midnight and I had gotten badly injured. Not particularly surprising, as we did take on the blondes on our own. Thanks for the help, Ivor.
While I was metaphorically fixing the cut: I simply stitched myself up and ate some food I had leftover, the Petra's started to ramble.
"Jesse… I-I-I'm sort of remembering something… from when I was 'chipped' that seemed very important to PAMA… Tall, glowing red lights… but I-I… I can't quite make out what they are…" Petra rambled. "It's like a fuzzy dream… kind of… kind of giving me a headache… but I can try to remember it more clearly if you need me to…"
The Jesses pressed on, to no avail. Incidentally, the Petras had forgotten the one bit of information the leaders needed. Trying any more would just give them migraines, so the Jesses let up on them.
"Okay- we may be down but we're not out; Harper told us to find her… headset thing. We just have to find whatever it is before PAMA chips Harper… and starts downloading her mind."
"What's so important about this 'Harper' person?" Asked Petra.
"Harper was the one who saved us from getting chipped back there. Rescuing her is the least we could do to say thanks," Replied Jesse. It made sense he didn't mention her relationship with PAMA: he never was the type of person to say something he knew would make someone look bad.
"That's a pretty good reason to rescue somebody."
"We're going to work with her to shut down PAMA, save her people… And that will hopefully free both Lukases too…"
The Jesses glanced around a bit, then gave a simple "whoa…" The other Jesse searched for "Harry," meanwhile my Jesse decided to continue ignoring his surroundings and simply follow his look-alike.
"Jesse, are you sure Harper hasn't, y'know, completely lost it?" Asked the other Petra.
"It does look like she's… lost her way a bit."
"And found it again… leading right to Crazy Town."
Me being me, I made a very audible gasp. I could feel someone insulting a person I thought very highly of, and it offended me so greatly. Nonetheless, it was unlikely that anyone even noticed I was even there in the first place because I haven't contributed at all in the past hour or so.
"Watch your tone- she is a genius and should be treated as such!" Piped up an Ivor. The other nodded in agreement.
"So, you could say-" Midnight began, getting cut off immediately by the glares of both Ivor's. It's safe to say that she decided to keep living, as she kept quiet afterward.
"She may have built this place a little weird, but I guess we shouldn't judge her too harshly."
"Especially when we need her help to save everyone who's chipped by PAMA."
"Good point."
Finally, we just took a seat and talked. It was the most peaceful thing to have happened since the beginning of the episode. But neither blondes were here to enjoy it. Jesse came over to talk to me, which was a rare occasion. It filled the silence, as Whisper wasn't here to bug.
"So, how're you holding up?" He asked, a small, tired smile on his face. I chuckled, crossing my legs and leaning back.
"I'm fine; maybe a bit tired. It's a bit lonely without him, though." He nodded in response, looking off in the distance. Putting my left hand on his shoulder, I smiled at him. "You made the right choice to save her. She would've hated being the final boss in this. It would've made her feel extra guilty. Besides, if he were here, he'd feel better knowing she's safe."
"You say that like he's gone."
"Isn't being gone and not being here the same thing?"
"Eh," he mumbled, "depends if they're coming back, I guess."
"Well, I'm one-hundred-percent-sure he's coming back. I'll make sure that he does, he still hasn't repaid me for not letting him get crushed when we met Midnight and the others!" We shared a quick laugh. Talk faded out not long after, so we said our goodbyes and he began walking away.
It didn't take long for him to run over and join the other leader in wandering around. Surprisingly, they just happened to find the headset right afterward. Poor Jesse let the other use it and simply watched him looking gloomy.
I'm not going to lie: it was super boring. At least he looked dumb doing it, I guess. Basically, he controlled one of PAMA's goons. He would quickly switch the one he was using whenever he was discovered until he finally found Harper. They held a conversation (of which we could only hear half of) then Harper got recaptured and Jesse got caught. PAMA tried to rip out the chip of the zombie Jesse was controlling, which caused the headset to start smoking. He quickly threw off the headset, which blew up immediately afterward.
"It sounded like you were talking to Harper. And PAMA…?"
"Yeah. PAMA caught up to me. Not good. We need to get back to that door I just saw, and get inside PAMA's core."
"What happened to Harper?" Asked Midnight, apparently deciding to sober up her personality for a bit. Unlike me, of course, as I just hummed a song stuck in my head while they talked.
"I think… I think she's already been chipped. But we can still end PAMA."
"Without Harper?"
"Remember who we are- The Order of the Stone! We defeated a witherstorm, saved Sky City, and survived Psycho Pumpkin Mansion."
But we did all of that with Lukas. Well, no, he's still here. Just on the other side, suffering.
Of course, I didn't say that outloud. In fact, everyone was oddly quiet; he kept talking. "Harper showed me the entrance to PAMA's core… And told me that we need something called 'The Redstone Heart'."
"Redstone Heart?"
There was a sudden 'I remember!' scene from both Petras. They rambled about needed to destroy the 'three towers' inside of PAMA (which I thought was a given, seeing as they had redstone dust all over them).
"But how are we supposed to destroy these spires, or whatever we're looking for?"
They're redstone. How do you think?
"I don't know if you've noticed, Ivor… But PAMA's stuff tends to not react well to water," Mentioned the leaders.
They dramatically scooped up water, then passed out a bucket to… someone. There were three buckets, two leaders, and six more people just… here. Who got the third bucket?
"Let's go wreck the heck out of PAMA!"
When we got there, the entrance was swarmed with puppets. We all emptied our pockets. Well, except me: I felt there was no good reason to. Funnily enough, I was right, as everyone gathered together their concoction for success.
Oddly enough, both leaders took a potion. Mine obviously took the leaping one, as it was simply amusing to use. They set up the TNT, then pressed the button, causing ear-splitting booms to erupt throughout the area. Not the most pleasant part of the plan, but I digress. Afterward, we all charged through to the core.
"How's that for clearing a path, huh?"
"Very nice, Jesse. Uh, 'low key'." Midnight's joyful expression dropped immediately, while I tried to subdue my laughter.
"Let's just collectively agree not to teach either of the Ivors any slang terms…" said Midnight (who everyone ignored). I, meanwhile, planned on teaching mine as many of them as possible during Episode Eight. Suffer, everyone, for I am a force to be reckoned with.
"Hey, Jesse, nice work."
"The townspeople are already building the Exit Portal, we've got to shut PAMA down before it can send it's chipped forces through it!"
Wait a minute… what?
"But… they can't activate the portal without the flint and steel, right?" I asked, confused.
"That's exactly what I was thinking!" Exclaimed Midnight.
Nonetheless, we were ignored. Seems like a recurring theme here.
I mean, as an Old Builder, Harper could just have one with her. But if that were that simple, they could just… I don't know, mention it!
Well, whoever got the third bucket must have given it back, as Other Jesse was dual-wielding water. Therefore, everyone else was fighting mobs. Everyone paired up, watching each other's backs. The Petras paired up, the Ivors united, while the Jesses threw around water while constantly getting trampled by Puppet Harper. Midnight and I ended up partnering up as well. We settled with simply fighting back to back, as it's preferred not to get snuck up on while injured. We had to try our hardest to protect each other and ourselves with only one arm each, so it's safe to say that it was very stressful.
As usual, they dunked Harper, watered the towers, then went for the Redstone Heart. I thought it would be easier than usual, but apparently they just chose not to have one fight while the other rips out the Heart. Nope, that would be too easy. Instead, they took half an hour talking to PAMA and the puppet-ified Lukases. Finally, after the dramatic, heart-wrenching scene of the blondes struggling to not kill their friends while the leaders simply stared at them, the Heart got ripped out. The leaders grabbed their respective Lukases, then limped them over to the rest of us, who had honestly just been standing here for a pretty long time. PAMA was so preoccupied with the Jesses, its puppeteering had depleted in skill. Most of the monsters were standing still long enough to deal with the rest and basically get to watch the fight happen as well.
As the leaders set the Lukases down, we all ran over to them, congratulating them. Midnight and I got there last. (I may or may not have pushed past my group to get a better sight.)
"You did it Jesse!"
"It's over!"
And then they finally noticed the Lukases, their faces shifting from happy to concerned.
"Oh no… Lukas… is he…?" Oh hush, they're fine.
Nonetheless, I shuffled slightly closer to mine.
"Lukas, you better not be giving up on me right now," muttered… (One? Maybe both?) of the Jesses, "because you are way too tough for some computer to take you down. Please."
The game must've been getting worse than I expected. The dialogue pattern was kind of getting creepy at this point.
"Wow. Never knew you cared so much."
"They're okay!"
Quickly, I walked over to Lukas. I threw my arm around him, patting his back lightly. "I missed you," I mumbled, making sure only he could hear. Well, maybe Midnight could hear too, but that didn't matter right then. "But I swear, this better not happen again ..."
"Well, I don't plan on getting mind-controlled by an overgrown computer again any time soon." We shared a quick laugh, then I finally pulled away. (I may or may not have been tearing up.)
Of course, he chose then to mention my arm, immediately apologizing for no reason like an idiot.
"It's not like you were the one who attacked me, so don't apologize for something you didn't do. Besides, we're friends. Friends always forgive each other for the stupid things they do, Y'know, like that time when I-" He quickly cut me off.
"You know what? Never mind. I'm just glad to be back," he grinned.
Finally, Jesse pulled the Redstone Heart out from his inventory.
"It's something else, isn't it?"
"What is that?"
"This… this is the Redstone Heart."
"Beautiful."
"And dangerous, too, right?" Asked Lukas.
"I feel like you should ask Harper that question." Replied Jesse.
"Actually, the Heart is just a power source. Nothing inherently evil about it. Now that the Redstone Heart isn't powering PAMA, it can't hurt anyone." Well, yes, but also no. Blondie is correct, it's dangerous, but it itself is not the danger.
"Wonder what we should do with it."
"It can help you find your way home." Gee, that information would have been useful… I don't know… two whole episodes ago?
"Why didn't you say so before?" I don't know, maybe because of all the sudden death that was following us everywhere we went from all directions at all times during this entire episode?
"Heh… if we actually made it through this alive, I thought you'd like a nice surprise."
"I'm ready to leave this core behind."
And so we set off toward the town to say goodbye to everyone that the Jesses and literally only the Jesses saved.
While Midnight was busy flirting, I force-fed my Lukas bread.
"Eat it."
"But I'm not hungry-"
"If you don't eat, you'll continue being sore, so stop being stubborn and eat the bread," I said, shoving it in his face.
"Alright, fine, I'll eat it!" Reluctantly, he took the bread and began munching on it.
"...Lukas?"
"Yeah?"
"You're my best friend. And… I hate to admit it, but you're kind of all I've got. The others are nice, but without you, it's just not the same. I care about you. A lot. Probably much more than I should. So, please, you need to be more careful. I can't risk losing you again, okay?" Feeling awkward, I patted him on the back. "We should probably go catch up with the others." I sprinted forward, him trailing behind me.
"We did it," murmured Jesse, shock evident on his face. We quickly moved beside him, smiling at our victory. The sun was beginning to rise, implying that we had been in there much longer than we thought we had.
The other group bickered about something. It was probably about Midnight and her Lukas. Meanwhile, my group was more silent, taking in our surroundings. Well, until I made a bet on how many pieces of bread I had in my pockets. Petra bet three, Ivor refused to participate, Jesse, knowing me, bet five, and Lukas bet seven. Lo and behold, I had seven pieces of bread stuffed in my pockets: more than enough to give each person a piece. And so, that is what I did. We feasted on bread and Lukas finally got his iron ingots back from Petra, plus two from Jesse. Betting is always better when you're the winner. I know it is, because Lukas and I split the winnings.
Of course, Jesse ended up overheard the other group's conversation and immediately butt-in with his opinion. He apparently took everyone else's side, causing Midnight to lose the majority vote of whatever they were talking about. "Not you, too!" She groaned.
"Just remember," cut in Harper, "You were only chipped for a little while. The rest of the Townspeople, though-"
Past the houses, the townspeople were running and dancing as they cheered. They looked so happy to be back, but Harper's face fell when she saw them. She was nervous and most definitely guilty.
"Yeah, it must be a strange feeling, to suddenly be awake and aware after such a long time under PAMA's thrall.
"It's you!" A townsperson cheered. "You're the one who saved us! Who are you?"
"Well, I'm Jesse, and we're the Order of the Stone. Boom!" Everyone struck a pose, me simply leaning back on a wall with my arms crossed.
"We walk the worlds, seeking adventures and doing good deeds."
"Wow! Well, thank you. We owe you everything."
"You're right! Jesse and the Order really are heroes. We couldn't have done any of this without them." Harper, no, let us do the talking. They're still mad at you, dearie.
"Harper? Is that… you?"
"Um… yes. Hi Harry." Oh no, I forgot about Harry. Harper, you really messed up.
"You didn't do this to us, did you?" She went silent, eyes searching the ground like it was the most interesting thing in the world.
"You did…" Well, technically she didn't expect PAMA to backfire like this, so not exactly.
"You don't understand, Harper helped defeat PAMA too. We couldn't have done it without her."
"So, what? We're just supposed to forgive her now?"
"No, I don't think so."
"Harper stripped this place bare! How are we supposed to rebuild?"
"Well, whatever you decide to do, Harper will make things right and help you clean it all up."
"I… I will?" Yes, Harper, you will.
"Yeah, she will?"
"Yeah. Right Harper?"
"Yes. Yes I will. After I help these travelers find their way home, I'll come back, help you all find new resources, and We'll make this world great again."
"Well, I think that's our cue to set out for home. Again." Or… not? You didn't think it'd be that easy, did you?
"Thank you for being so understanding, Jesse. I just hope these people can do the same when I come back again."
"You helped free them. I'm sure they'll come around."
"I hope so."
Luckily, we didn't need to search for the portal this time, as it was right there beside us. All that the leaders had to do was light it, which Other Jesse did as soon as the conversation ended. We stepped through, back into the Portal Hallway.
"Is it weird that I'm happy to see this place again?" I mean, yeah, kind of. This place gives me the creeps; it's super ominous feeling.
"This hallway is still pretty creepy, but I'm just glad we're going home."
"I know, right? I've been loving adventuring and learning things… but it would be nice to do it in our own worlds for a while." I mean, I'll miss Midnight, but it'll be nice to not have to break the game every time we walk in a room. I mean, I'll end up doing it either way, but there are way too many people here.
"Now when we built this place, we also made something that sorta acts like a compass/map/navigator… We called it 'The Atlas'. It helps chart routes between the worlds."
"And… you have this Atlas, right?" Hah, you wish. No, we need to spend hours getting attacked repeatedly and racking up some good ol' character development.
"Uhh… no. No I don't. But! But I know who does!"
"You're not keeping secrets from us again, are you Harper?" Huffed Jesse.
"No, no, no, I promise. I just didn't think to mention it before." Just like how you aren't going to mention the sudden death awaiting us. "Don't you worry! We'll just go right in, ask for the Atlas, and then you'll be home. No muss, no fuss… easy." Don't worry, you'll only die a couple times. No problems at all!
"Funny. Whenever someone says that, my instincts start screaming 'danger'." Mine too, Petra, mine too.
"In order to find the Atlas… we need to track down the rest of the 'Old Builders'." After a moment, in a smaller voice, she muttered, "Still don't like that name."
"How do we find them? Which portal do we go through?" We stopped in front of a wall between two portals.
"Oh, you don't have to go through another portal. What you're looking for has been right here the whole time."
Harper punched the wall, breaking a block of it. Through the wall, some redstone dust could be seen. After using their tired brains for far too long, they must have forgotten how to think; it took them a concerning amount of time to realize it needed to be activated by the Redstone Heart. Finally, Jesse popped the Heart into the gap.
Loud creaks could be heard as the portal beside us lowered into the ground. Behind it was a staircase stretching far above us. The mere sight of it made my exhaustion return.
"The answers you're seeking… the Old Builder's Atlas… your way home… They're all right up those stairs."
It was silent for a moment as everyone took in her words. We stared at the steps, knowing they led to a place that I could only describe as 'unforgettable'.
"...Adventure?"
Merry (late) Christmas, happy (late) Hanukkah, and happy "I Finally Updated" Day!
Took you long enough.
Look, everyone, I am so, so sorry for not updating sooner. I have been getting over a cold lately and I finally decided to sit down and just... write for a while. It was honestly quite pleasant. It's been a while since I've had the time to. Nonetheless, that is no excuse. I could have gotten this done much sooner, yet I chose not to.
Whatever. Just please, please don't do that again.
...No promises.
Oh, come on!
On a completely unrelated topic, I've been trying to make the characters feel more organic using description, but it and the non-scripted dialogue feel sort of... awkward. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, it just doesn't flow the way I wish it would.
Can't help you there, sorry.
Anyway, I should probably wrap this up. Thanks for reading everybody, goodbye!
Bye!