Chapter Text
The sky is pink.
That is the first thing Parrot observed in his return to the overworld.
It could be because he has spent an extended amount of time in the nether but he is sure that the sky shouldn't be the color of pepto bismal.
“What the fuck?!” Theo sputtered beside him, having to repeatedly remove his sunglasses just to check if he had suddenly gone colorblind.
“Yeah, not expecting this either bro.” Parrot looks around his surroundings as the other players arrive in the overworld with varying degrees of surprise.
They were in a small clearing inside an oak forest, picturesque scenery within a small valley and a river running through, if you ignore all the abnormalities that is. Aside from the sky being bright neon pink, the terrain itself is glitching in different ways. Some textures aren't loading, the water in the flowing river is leaking code and the trees themselves are too uniform. The area they are in is steeped in a dense fog, that is unusual for the time of day.
“This looks like an ARG” Zam says as she warily looks around the valley. “like it's got the vibes, except the sky I like the sky though”
“I think the skybox got messed up,” Spoke explained as he carefully observed the shifting textures above. And Parrot agrees with him, the neon pink sky is not totally a solid color, but instead looks like a series of error black and pink textures layered together to form a pink sky. As he observed the glitched sky above him, he suddenly felt a chill in the air.
The sky started to shift weirdly, forming random patterns and he swears he saw a face in the sky-
“Dude!” Theo grabbed his shoulders to snap him out of his trance. “You okay? You were glowing again”
Parrot took several deep breaths to calm himself down, it didn't ebb the feeling of being watched, but it did help clear his mind a bit. He took a slight peek at his wrist to see what's going on.
The codes on his skin shifted, as if it's delighted to revel in his attention.
He quickly covered it up, determined to ignore the feeling of something watching him and it being happy that it knows he knows.
“It should be fine, Theo” Parrot lies, he didn't exactly feel safe but they have bigger matters to attend to. He didn't want to worry Theo more than he already had. Theo, of course, isn't really buying it, but resolves to stick closer to his fellow avian as a silent reassurance.
“I don't like this place” Wemmbu muttered, high alert and holding Gambit tightly, ready to swing at any moment. “I feel like something is looking at me, like genuinely I feel like I'm getting chased again.”
“I don't really feel anything?” Mapicc tilted his head confusingly. “It just looks like Lettuce added a weird texture pack in the server to be honest.”
“No, he's right” Spoke agreed with Wemmbu, fidgeting with his fishing rod erratically. “There's a chance Lettuce knows we're here, or something.” Spoke says but even he's aware that he sounds unsure.
“We still have to wait for my spies.” Jumper reminded him, not really bothered by the weirdness. “They'll give us a safe way too the prison”
“We already know where it is!” Wemmbu protested, he is now dual-wielding his maces in what Parrot can assume is paranoia. “What's stopping us from going in and blowing up the place?”
“Do you trust that he won't find out and trap us on our way there?” Jumper challenges the purple demon. “And that he won't survive any explosions”
Wemmbu wanted to argue, but reluctantly conceded. Lettuce isn't the only person in his body, there is no guarantee that it can be killed simply by blowing him up.
Egg patted his back. “We're just taking the safe route, dude” the nephilim said as he placated the demon, who is still not entirely convinced, but he stashed one of his maces back in favor of a totem.
“Bro, I can't even blame you,” Flame grips his spear tightly, looking frantically around the clearing for something, either a fight, or something else. “Its-it's not even that, it doesn't feel like when I was getting caused by LAW bro, it really does feel like an ARG.”
“You guys need to chill.” Zam dismissed their concerns. She clearly doesn't seem affected by whatever it is as she observes Wemmbu and Flame facing back to back as if they're in battle with Spoke holding his trident up ready to strike . To be honest, Parrot kinda wants to join in the huddle, since he can actually feel something watching him. The group can only watch as the four players continue to be wary of their surroundings as they continue to wait for Jumper's spies, jumping at every noise made in the eerie silence.
“Are you guys actually gonna keep doing… that?” Jumper asks as Flame pillared up by a few blocks and is actively holding two totems as he scans his surroundings. “Because this just seemed too much at this point.”
“I think the better question is why aren't you worried?” Flame shot back. “Like bro, you really don't feel that?”
“Feel what?” Now Jumper looks a bit worried, “Are you guys actually sensing something?”
“Yeah! And I don't know what it is!” Flame crouched from his three-block pillar to look at the bunny-hybrid better. “It's literally like, I'm about to be jumped by an invisible player, it literally could be right…. Here!”
He shouted as he launched a wind charge in a random area, only for it to hit nothing. Jumper isn't amused, but she is still a bit concerned that several people are paranoid about something they can't see.
“When exactly are they coming?” Leo speaks up from his position, a bit farther from the group, but close enough to monitor for any troubles.
“They'll get here,” Jumper replied coldly, not looking at him in the slightest. “I'd appreciate it if you let them do their jobs”
“I'd love for them to be faster, Jumper”
“I'd tell them your glowing criticisms later, I'm sure they'll appreciate it”
“These two are worse than you and him, Spoke” Mapicc mumbled from where he was standing, having to deal with an overly-vigilant voidborn. “Also, are you going to be okay? It's not that bad, I hope.” the red demon asked his friend.
“Server's weird and I can feel it.” Spoke says in a straightforward manner, a testament to how stressed he actually is. “One of the few downsides of being void, unlucky”
“No but is it actually that bad?” Zam seemed worried now, either for her safety or concern from her friends, Parrot can only wonder. “I can always make a-”
“Nope,” Wemmbu vehemently shoots down the idea.
“I didn't even say it yet!”
“Doesn't matter, I know you, so I vote no!”
“How did this turn into a democracy?”
Parrot can only watch as the group descends into a flurry of chatter and paranoia as they continue to wait for the spies’ signal.
“This is a mess,” He can see Theo pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. “We haven't even started yet and I feel like I'm getting an aneurysm”
Eggchan, nice person that he is, produced a flask of tea from… somewhere. Parrot kinda just stopped questioning where and how Egg does things and how he has these items, it can only lead nowhere. Egg is just Egg, and that's that.
As Egg is giving Theo a cup to calm his nerves from the least stealthy group of prison breakers ever known to man, he sees a flicker of movement behind the nephilim. Parrot has had his fair share of hunters in his life, which only help strengthen his observational awareness. You can't survive getting hunted six times in your life without picking up some things. One of the skills he picked up is to identify an invis-player from a certain distance. The flicker of light distorting, the subtle weight left in the snow as they reveal who they are grassy surface underneath their feet, the faint outline of a body that just can't be hidden by mere potions alone.
So when Parrot saw that telltale sign of unnatural concealment near the bushes at the base of the tree behind Theo and Egg, Parrot was on high alert.
“Someone's here” he murmurs, bow drawn.
All at once, the chatters stop. Parrot's soft warning echoed in the strange valley. Everyone is on high alert as they ready their weapons in case of an attack. Swords and maces pointed at the direction of where Parrot pointed. The bush rustled and with slow deliberate movements.
Slowly he can see the footsteps approach them, grass flattening underneath their invisible feet as they get closer. As soon as they are within arms reach, the player begins equipping their armor one piece at a time, revealing themselves without dropping their invisibility. Instead of the foreboding yellow trims of the LAW, this player wears netherite armor with a familiar amethyst eye trim.
“JeriChorus_bee!!” Jumper approached the invisible player with glee. Living up to her name as she and her spy jumps around each other.
“What kind of name is that?” Wemmbu lowered his mace, baffled at the spy chungie's chosen name and momentarily forgetting his earlier paranoia of his sheathed totem is anything to go by.
Jumper ignored his bewilderment, instead opting to focus on whatever Jericho-whateverhisname is relaying to her, giving her a few notes and some sort of morse code tapping signal clinking on her armor. Judging from Jumper's expression, it doesn't look too good.
“Thank you” Jumper expressed her gratitude, her face looking grim. “You and the others should fall back here. Guard our stasis here, some of Clown's men should be here to help you guys”
Parrot can see the player nod before jogging back to the tree where he first spotted them, before flashing some sort of signal. After a few moments, several other invis players pop-up from hiding. All of them equipped with the same violet trims as Jumper's. All of them fall in line behind the portal where Ace was setting up their stasis the entire time.
“We're all good to set out,” Jumper reported to the rest of the group, checking her boots for the journey ahead. “They did mention one thing though”
“What is it?” Parrot asked nervously, the bunny hybrid fiddled with the note given to her before looking back at Parrot
“Something happened to the players here, and we need to be careful.”
Jumper didn't elaborate further, there's no need to. They know who did it.
And with that ominous warning, they set their end stasis and began their trek to the prison. Not before looking at the sky one last time. Parrot glares at the neon textures before leaving, ignoring the sudden shift of the blackened pixels, akin to a pair of eyes blinking and observing their merry band on their way.
=/=/=/=
There are benefits to being favored, one of them is apparently having semi-permanent Dolphin’s grace as they traverse the winding rivers leading up to the prison, and having Speed three every time he goes faster than a brisk walk, something that Parrot isn't complaining about but would much rather not have on the account that he has almost left the group behind three times!
“Okay…” Theo panted as he had to fly just so he could catch up to his unnaturally gifted friend. “We need a leash on you bro.”
“Bro, I don't want this either!” Parrot complained as he was being held by the scruff of his neck to prevent himself from entering the nearest body of water and zipping past everyone again. Something Wemmbu and Flame heavily dislike due to the fact that it is actively costing them too much of a time lost just because they often lose him as he blitzes through the rest of them and had to spend several minutes just to find him.
“Okay, we're carrying this motherfucker.” Wemmbu decided for him, looking so done with everything. Something with Parrot is heavily against because he is a grown man what the fuck?
“Sure” Flame agrees with the purple demon, because of course he does. “You carry him then.” Flame nudged Wemmbu.
“What?!” Wemmbu stares at the fire hybrid incredulously. He looks like he was moments away from macing the fire hybrid at the thought of having to do physical labor.
“You suggested it?!”
“You agreed!”
“To the plan, like yeah. I never said I'd carry him.”
“Aren't you the strongest player?”
“Didn't you take that title from me bro?”
“Oh so now you admit it, real convenient huh?”
“Do I have a say in this?” Parrot interrupted the squabble before they kill each other, or worse, attract Lettuce's attention. The two ignored the avian in favor of arguing with each other.
“Y’know I could just carry you?” Theo suggested in jest, but shifted his posture as a silent tell that the offer was completely serious.
“No, bro.” Parrot declined, not.only because of his dignity but also because he doesn't really trust that his wings are fully recovered after Spoke slashed them. “Thanks for the offer anyway, but we should probably make them stop before the others catch up.”
Theo nodded and began to approach the two hot-heads who are currently… playing a game of rock-paper-scissors okay what the fuck just happened in the five seconds they looked away?
“Wemmbu has 2 wins, and with that Flame ties it off.” Parrot can see Eggchan commenting on the ‘game’ to see which one of them carries him. Parrot will bet on everything that Egg suggested this. The two players began their comical hand warm-ups like it'll make a difference in who wins fucking rock-paper-scissors, and waited on Egg's mark to throw down their hand.
“Three.” Egg raised their hand “Two… One go!!” He immediately dropped his starting hand and the two fighters threw down different hands.
Wemmbu threw down Paper
Flame threw down Scissors
“Fuck!” Wemmbu collapsed to the ground defeated, while Flame laughs, hand on his hips as he boasts his victory over the purple demon, while Egg raised Flame's hand in declaration that he is the winner.
“Egg! I trusted you!” Wemmbu wailed on the ground, dramatically lamenting his defeat.
“Nah! Don't tell me you cheated with Egg bro.” Flame accused the demon, albeit playfully.
“No I didn't”
“Bro I hope you did, I'll be funny if you did and you still lost”
“This doesn't mean you're the strongest you know that right?”
“Sounds like excuses to me”
Parrot can only facepalm at the two, he's dealing with children with god abilities and a nuke and they're cheating on rock-paper-scissors deities help him.
“What is… going on?” Ace caught up to them, perplexed at the scene in front of him.
“Thank God,” Theo approached Ace like he personally saved his husband from war. “Another person with a brainchild please help us.”
“What the heck could I do?” Ace pointed at the two still bickering players, “I'm just gonna get killed!”
Parrot decided to approach Flame and Wemmbu instead, because he's not entirely sure if adding Theo and Ace to the fight would improve anything. It'll probably just get worse.
“Knock it off you two.” Parrot stepped in between the two, which is usually a scary position to be in but he doubts that the two would try and hurt them as both players are big softies at heart, despite them having a huge kill count.
“We still have a bit to walk, so let's just go bro,” Parrot softly scolded the two, giving both players a stern look. The aforementioned players pouted - yes fucking pouted- like toddlers before agreeing.
“He still has to carry you bro.” Flame insisted as he lightly pushed him to be carried by the purple demon
“Why?!” Wemmbu complained
“You promised.” Flame placed a hand on his chest in mock salute. “Warrior's honor bro.”
“The fuck you mean Warrior’s honor?”
“You did lose Wemmbu.” Eggchan, ever the instigator, pointed out. "We must honor the result of a battle well fought”
“I didn't agree in the first place!”
“You accepted the deal, now you must lie on your bed with dignity and grace”
“You helped me cheat on rock paper scissors!”
“I resent that accusation”
“Y'know what fine!” Wemmbu grumbled, ignoring Flame and Egg's smug smiles and walking up to Parrot, who was slowly backing away.
“Uhh, no bro I'm good.” Parrot reasons with the purple demon as he approached him with the goading of Flame and Egg. But before he could escape he was stopped suddenly by colliding with a body.
“Just accept it Parrot,” Theo encouraged them as he pushed Parrot towards Wemmbu's back. Betrayed by his own best friend, his kin, he will remember this.
“This is so that you won't zip past us, remember?”
“Do I really have to do this?”
“We either do that or have us run out of rockets catching up to you, your choice.”
“...”
=/=/=/=
This is embarrassing.
As soon as the others caught up to them, they bore witness to an interesting sight that is Wemmbu piggyback carrying a furious Parrot with Theo, Flame and Egg laughing at them and Ace trying hard to placate Wemmbu from using one of his nukes.
“Don't ask.” Parrot addressed the rest of the group, with him glaring at Spoke directly as the voidborn's face brightened up with a shit-eating grin.
“Whatever do you mean, Parrot?” Spoke sing-songed, clearly enjoying the situation. “I don't see anything wrong with this, your majesty.”
“I am killing everyone in here,” Wemmbu muttered to himself, careful to not.let Parrot ruin his cape.
“Same.” Parrot agreed with his sentiment, letting out just a hint of bloodlust in his glare as Spoke and Mapicc continued to make fun of them.
“Let's just go.” Leo said blankly, expression in a near permanent state of seriousness. “We have a lot of ground to cover and we are wasting daylight.”
Leo went on ahead, Spoke and Jumper looking at him darkly as he passed by.
“killjoy…” Spoke muttered before walking ahead, Jumper and Mapicc following through.
“Well,” Flame gestured to the purple demon, faux-clearing a path. “After you, loser.”
“I will end you.” Wemmbu threatened before walking, Parrot on his back and glaring at Theo who was giving him two thumbs up.
“Good job, little bird!” Theo hollers, lazily following the two.
“Wemmbu bro, can I borrow one of your maces? I wanna hit someone
“I'll do you one better, you'll get two of my stab shots.”
“HEY! I'm still here, stop threatening my life!”
Parrot and Wemmbu ignored Theo's protests as they trudged through, Wemmbu carefully adjusting his hold occasionally so as to not ruin his cape or drop Parrot, not that Parrot minds if he fell, if anything, it'll be a blessing if he threw him off, even if he goes at Mach 5 speed as soon as he steps off.
“This is stupid.” Parrot mumbled as Wemmbu had to carefully parkour through some blocks Mapicc placed over a big ravine so that they wouldn't fall. Egg did try to be nice and bridge their way for them but Wemmbu declined because of pride and the fact that Wemmbu saw Flame trick-jumped over and he had to one up the fire hybrid.
“Not my…fault you're apparently Sonic.” Wemmbu grunts as he manages to jump over the three-plus-one, and Parrot can tell he was happy about it.
“Good jump man.” Parrot idly comments. Wemmbu just let out a little huff, looking done but Parrot can see the tips of his ears turn pink.
“Well,” he mumbled low enough so that only Parrot could hear. “Someone had to make sure you get over.”
“I can jump fine bro.”
“Not without blasting like a jet engine”
“Not my fault bro.” Parrot sulks, looking at the particle effects surrounding his body in annoyance. “I didn't want this permanent effect, blame the server.”
Wemmbu hums thoughtfully, looking at the glitched sky in caution.“It's still watching us, huh?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“We all felt that stare, well, some of us, but we know it's watching us right now,” pointing upwards to the neon pink sky.
Parrot knew what he's talking about, he just didn't want to acknowledge it. He can tell that the more he talks about the server the tighter its hold it has on him.
“It felt like I'm getting chased again,” Wemmbu admits, lightly looking at Parrot as they talk. “Like the server is after us, can't believe I miss being in hell.”
“Yeah.” Parrot agrees, “I'm sorry bro, probably gave you bad memories when LAW chased you.”
“No it doesn't,” Wemmbu denies, steps slowing down as he tries to formulate his words. “I mean yeah I feel chased, but it's not like it's the LAW, they're just annoying, this is like… when you were chasing me back when I was invisible.”
Parrot pursed his lips at that. That… wasn't his best moment, he still felt immense guilt at exposing Wemmbu and forcing him to get hunted down by LAW.
“I- I'm sorry about that, way back when.” Parrot apologizes, still remembering the purple demon's resentment after he cleared his invisibility.
“Well” Wemmbu hums “You already apologized back then, sure, I still feel salty about that, but…” he briefly looked at the avian behind him.”I... think we'll be fine, just don't do that again, please it felt like fighting batman.”
“Thanks.” Parrot let out a small smile. He didn't deserve that forgiveness, but he'd be dumb if he didn't cherish Wemmbu's olive branch.
“I appreciate being compared to batman”
“Yeah yeah, I at least have the cape to match.”
“Its purple”
“Its majestic is what it is”
Parrot observed how Wemmbu would carefully adjust his cape while carrying the avian. Wemmbu didn't let Parrot even touch the cape so the embroidered fabric is a bit lopsided on his frame.
“Why do you like this cape so much?” Parrot asked curiously. As soon as he asked the question he noticed the demon freeze for a bit. Parrot can tell if someone is reminiscing about a bad memory. It happens every night.
“Sorry I asked, I didn't want to-”
“It was a gift”
Parrot was surprised that Wemmbu replied to his question, even if he's clearly not comfortable sharing about it.
“You don't have to-”
“I know,” Wemmbu interrupted, voice low but not unsure. “I just think you'd like him”
“Really?”
“Yeah” Wemmbu let out a small sad smile. “He gave it to me way back then to replace my old PZE one, he's the one who did the sunflowers on the cape.”
Parrot looked closely and he can see that his cape does have little sunflower motifs near the lapels.
“You'd like him, he's also all nice and lawful and forgiving.” Wemmbu softly grins as he shares his memory. There's an air of melancholy as he talks about his friend. Parrot was almost too afraid to know what happened.
“Where is he now?”
Wemmbu briefly stopped in his tracks, and it confirmed Parrot's suspicions
“He died”
It was a brief answer, a small statement, but Parrot knows the weight of those two words and how often they haunt him. To think that it haunts one of the server's strongest too.
“I'm sorry”
“Don't be” Wemmbu continued to walk, mood slightly somber. “I shared it,”
“...why did you share it with me?” Parrot asked. Why did Wemmbu want to share this memory with him?
“I dunno,” Wemmbu admits, “Maybe because you guys are a bit similar, he's happier though you're mostly depressed.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“Also… I think I'd want to see the two of you meet.” Wemmbu grins sadly. “I can imagine what you two would get up to. Maybe he won't be so alone…”
The two walked in comfortable silence. Parrot can't help but think that Wemmbu is trying to connect with him somehow, in that weird roundabout way that betrays just how much he cares. His friend, whoever it is, shaped the demon into how he is. And something in his memories tells him that it's probably the reason why he's forgiven for what he did to Wemmbu.
He's a much better person than Parrot ever could.
Wemmbu's lucky to have him as a friend
Still, despite knowing this, he'd rather accept Wemmbu's steady friendship. Maybe one day he'd have the courage to tell his own stories about all the friends he lost. Even if he doesn't deserve it.
“Thanks for sharing that.” Parrot whispered under his breath, a bit muffled by his scarf.
“Yeah well.” Wemmbu lets out a huff, clearly trying to reclaim some of his earlier bravado. “anything to pass the time while I'm carrying your ass”
“... I could just walk you know”
“Until we find milk to stop your Wally West impersonation, you're getting carried little bro.”
“Ughhh”
Parrot groans as he is stuck getting literally carried by one of the server's strongest fighters. Luckily, he is an avian so he does have a lighter frame, but at this point he's not even worried about whether or not Wemmbu is tired or not he just doesn't wanna be treated like a liability. If only there were cows in this spawn glitched server!
“Dude I found a cow!” Theo cheerfully yelled ahead of them.
Theo is the best, he's still not the biggest bird, but by god is he a lifesaver.
“Oh, thank the deities,” Parrot sighed in relief as they approached a seemingly abandoned starter base with a small cow farm. If he remembered correctly, the prison is not that far from here at all, so this little base is quite a lucky find. He can finally get rid of these special effects and finally start walking again.
Little did they know, they'd be in for a bit of surprise.
As soon as they reached the base, the first thing Parrot noticed was that the settlement was empty. He surmised that it's probably either the owner fled when the server went to shit or that the old owner left the base in search of a new one. Judging from the growth rate of the crops, it still seemed to be in operation. The base itself is pretty standard for a starter base, oak log pillar and oak plank walls, a small infinite well with sugarcane, a small crop and animal farm, and a few scattered chests and furnaces. It seemed pretty standard. So then why did Parrot feel like something was about to happen?
“This should be enough for later,” Parrot can hear Theo absent-mindedly mumble as he fills a shulker full of milk, most likely as a counter for Mining fatigue. Egg meanwhile grabs a bucket and approaches the two of them, handing the bucket to Parrot.
“Let's get you out of there, man.” Egg smiles lopsidedly. Parrot let out a small thanks in reply, carefully holding the bucket of milk before taking a small sip. All at once, he can feel the effects start to fade away, the small particle effects leaving his body. He feels normal again, well as normal as he can feel, at least.
Wemmbu, sensing that the effects were wiped from Parrot's system, slowly lowered the avian down. Parrot was a bit disoriented as he didn't really use his legs the whole trip, but he regained his balance quickly.
“Thanks for the ride, bro,” Parrot says, lightly poking at Wemmbu as he readjusts his prized cape back to where it was before.
“It's d'alright man…” he mumbled out in embarrassment, it seemed like he actually did enjoy their little talk. Parrot decides to not press further. Besides, he's much more curious about the base itself. Something is telling him that there is something here, and he suspects that it is inside the base.
That same instinct is also telling him to run far away.
“Yo,” Flame jogged to the rest of them after scouting with the others ahead. “We can see the prison towers ahead bro. You good to walk?” He asked, walking towards Parrot and Wemmbu, who were lightly stretching their bodies after the carry-over.
“We're fine.” Wemmbu yawns as he rolls his shoulders a bit just to get it a bit loose again, before lightly glaring at the fire hybrid. “Next time you do it, asshole.”
“You lost fair and square.”
“It was RNG!!”
“Okay, you can stop now.” Parrot got in between the two again, something that is becoming a common occurrence as of late. “We're almost there, and I'd appreciate it if you guys fight each other later.”
Wemmbu and Flame stood down, still both a bit stir-crazy but Parrot could tell that they'd rather fight the LAW first than each other, after all, without them there will be no interruptions. Parrot dreads that day.
“Are y'all like, done now, bro?” Flame asks, scanning the small base they've situated themselves in to get rid of Parrot's predicament.
“Yeah.” Theo walks towards them, holding two shulkers of milk and handing one to Parrot. “We just gathered a few in case they added Elder Guardians.” Theo gestured to his own stash. Flame nodded in approval.
“Yeah, we should be good now-”
“Guys, there's someone inside!” Egg, who was exploring the base, decided to enter the wooden house to look inside and wander around a bit. However, what he thought was an empty house turned out to be occupied by a player wearing three-quarters iron and diamond boots. The rest of the group entered the wooden base to see the player whom Parrot assumes is the owner.
They aren't moving from their bed. The player is sitting on the foot of their white wool cot, facing away from them. The base itself is small with a few workbenches and storage, it was sparsely decorated with carpets and a few potted plants. It was small but cozy, yet the vibes were anything but. Nonetheless, this was the first player they'd encountered after Lettuce and his freeloader took control, and if they know anything, it'll be worth the information. Slowly, Parrot approached the player sitting in the dark corner, still facing away from them. He carefully approached so as not to ‘spook’ them.
“Hello?” Parrot called out to them. No response. He tries again.
“Umm… excuse me?” He says a bit louder to grab their attention. “We were just passing by, I hope you don't mind that we-”
Parrot didn't get to finish his sentence before the player suddenly lunged at him. He was taken aback by the sudden attack that he didn't get to react. The player managed to knock him over, leaving him a bit disoriented. After a few seconds to recover he looked up to his horror that the player in question is straddling him and is holding his sword aloft, ready to aim the blade right down Parrot's chest. But that's not why Parrot was terrified.
The player was wearing a white mask.
The same mask Lettuce wore when he made his deal.
Before he could react or even defend himself, he felt the sudden weight pinning him down on the floor disappeared as Theo kicked them so hard he collapsed back to the side of the bed.
“You okay?” Theo asked concerningly, eyes never leaving the masked player.
“Yeah,” Parrot replied, getting up quickly as the masked player prepared to charge him again. Theo stood in front of Parrot, ready to defend him, but the masked player keeled over as Flame blitzed through using his spear and proceeded to crit them out with his sword. He deftly slashed them down in the gaps of their iron armor as the masked player tried to defend himself with his unenchanted diamond sword. Flame noticed an opening as they swung upwards, before stabbing them in the left side of their ribs. Parrot heard a sickening crack echo in the wooden base before the player fell down on the ground, dead.
Arrowdude4 was slain by Flamefrags using [Fragger]
The death message pinged in their communicator, confirming that the player - Arrowdude4 - was dead. Their body lay on the oak floorboards, blood seeping through the gaps before dissolving to code and presumably sent back to the Hub.
Flame didn't even look like he exerted that much energy. Instead he wiped his sword off of any blood before turning to look at both avians.
“You all good?” Flame asked them, absent-mindedly cleaning his sword. Parrot only nodded, but Theo wasn't exactly happy for the assist.
“Dude!” He squawks, looking offended. “I had that fight in the bag you kill stealer!”
Flame only shrugged, “Sucks to suck, bird boy.”
“You-!”
“Knock it off,” Wemmbu grumbled, holding out one of his nukes. It seemed like he was about to use it before Flame barged in and killed the player. Which explains why he looked a bit disappointed. Wemmbu's expression schools down to a much more serious look as he approaches Parrot.
“He's wearing the same mask Letty has.” He stated, pointing at the place where the body used to be, before handing his communicator towards the avian.
“Also, I think there's something weird in the death message.”
Is there?
Parrot looked at Wemmbu's communicator, examining Arrowdude4's death message. It doesn't seem like there's anything wrong, it just looks like a player just got banned off the server-
Wait
Parrot scrolled down to the latest death message, double checking to make sure that he didn't miss anything and cross referencing it with his own communicator. That confirms it, something is wrong with the death message.
“The log-out message never showed up.” Parrot pursed his lips, Theo looked at his friend in concern.
“Is… that bad?”
Parrot didn't answer, if they didn't see the log-out message then it usually means that respawns are turned on, but because Arrowdude4 didn't spawn back in his base… Well, he didn't want to think of the implications of where they are right now.
“This player is most likely an innocent bystander,” Parrot concluded, “He didn't know what happened a few days ago, and Lettuce got to him.” Parrot face was grim, while they were safe in the confines of the nether, other players were actively getting affected by whoever was chasing him, and if his hunch is correct, then even death itself isn't an option.
“What happens now?” Wemmbu asked as he twirls his mace around.
“... We keep the banning of players to a minimum.” Parrot turned to look at Flame and Theo. “I know both of you want to fight, but if you can, don't kill anyone or use any lethal attacks.”
“No promises.” Flame sheathed his sword, not exactly happy that he can't slime out players. “If they get close to me bro, I deserve to defend myself.”
“Just, try not to kill too many players.”
“I can only try bro.”
“Does that mean I can't cart?” Theo looks at Parrot and just hits him with the most mournful, puppy-eyes an avian can muster. Parrot fights the urge to pat his head to comfort the other avian for not using bombs to kill other players.
He folded after three seconds.
“...fine.” He pats his head, much to Theo's delight and to Flame's chagrin. “You can cart as a last resort, okay?”
“Yay!” Theo let out a small cheer.
“Why does he get to cart?” Flame protests, letting out a small whine. Parrot sighs, he almost forgot that he's surrounded by PvP addicts.
“It also applies to you, don't worry.” Parrot reached out and patted the fire hybrid as well. He swears he can feel him melt. “We just need to limit the casualties, the server's glitched right now, and I don't know what will happen if we ban off too many players on a broken server.”
“...Alright.” Flame conceded, he looks at the empty spot where Arrowdude was, he looked concerned, thinking deeply behind his blindfold.
“Do you think he's the only one affected?” He asked, voice a bit small, scared. Like he's thinking of a scenario he'd rather not manifest.
Parrot doesn't know, staying silent. That's all the answer Flame needed to hear as he took a deep breath. Parrot can see how he stills his heartbeat, mentally preparing himself for the prison a few hundred blocks away.
“We should go, now.” Parrot stares for a few moments in the empty spot where Arrowdude met his end. He silently let out a prayer before leaving. The rest of the group followed. Flame lingered for a bit before joining the rest of them. Theo closed the door - likely for the final time - to Arrowdude's base, before leaving the once lively home. Farms forever to be left untiled and a wooden house forever abandoned.
His death will not be in vain.
They continued to traverse the plains biome, watching it slowly shift from the green, vibrant grass to the slightly dead flora of the savanah as they approached the Mesa biome, where the prison is located.
The group can just barely see the prison up ahead. before Zam and Mapicc joined them, who were ahead of the group scouting the prison. It seemed that they had some news. Judging from their expressions, it wasn't good.
“Parrot! Parrot! Parrot!” Zam ran over to him and shook his shoulders. She looked panicked. Mapicc didn't look any better as he zoomed towards them with his trident.
“What?!” Parrot yelps as he tries to pry the monarch off him. He was somewhat successful as she stopped shaking him but she's still gripping his shoulders tightly. She looked panicked, like she'd seen something horrible.
“Players!...masks, they're wearing masks.” Parrot held her back to try to calm her breathing, guiding her to calm her breathing. Her heart rate slowed down a bit, enough for her to continue speaking.
“They're players in the prison with these masks, the same one as Lettuce!” She exclaimed, arms letting go of the avian in favor of flailing.
“We know,” Wemmbu grabbed Zam from the back, pushing her slightly away but not enough to shove her. “We saw a player way back, they looked possessed.”
“So it's not just inside.” Mapicc placed a hand on his hips, expression worried, like that news just confirmed something. “Spoke speculated that it's not just the LAW men who are masked right now.”
Wait
“What do you mean LAW men?” Parrot had a sneaking suspicion he knows what's going on, and it's not good.
“See for yourself,” Mapicc said as he turned around and grabbed Parrot's wrist and ran towards where they're overlooking the prison. The others followed suit, crouching near the dense acacia grove, hidden by their thick canopy. Their other friends are also situated nearby but their expressions are not that of excitement.
“There has been a situation.” Leo relayed to the rest of the group as they arrived.
“We know.” Wemmbu replied, “Mapicc and Zam briefed us about the masked LAW men.”
“I'm afraid it's not just the LAW men.” Leo said, looking at Parrot as he directed his gaze over to the prison. Parrot got the memo and grabbed his spyglass to peak at the situation in the prison itself.
The prison looked more like a compound, with a central building in the middle that serves as the main holding area. According to the blueprints Ace gave them, the solitary cells are located below, with a clear area behind each cell that'll serve as their escape route. The prison itself is teeming with guards and LAW men, but what's more concerning isn't just the number of guards.
There's not a single player inside the prison who isn't wearing a mask.
Parrot can only watch as several guards walk like drones patrolling the area within and around the prison proper. Each LAW men carrying their emblemed shields like a robotic soldier. It's like all sense of self has been socked out, replaced by the entity behind the masks.
“It's like they're Zombies bro…” Parrot can't help but say out loud his disbelief, not hiding the horror behind his voice. These soldiers are probably stuck within their bodies, unable to move unless commanded by Lettuce and his freeloading entity. He thought back to the first player they'd encountered, he could only imagine how scared he must have been until Flame killed him.
“There's estimated to be at least 400-500 players in total.” Leo relayed to Parrot and the rest of the group. “Not counting the prisoners.”
“That's not our worst problem,” Spoke said from behind him, carefully walking to Parrot's side and angled his spyglass a bit above the central building where a small veranda is located. Parrot peered through, and what he saw made his heart drop to his stomach.
Lettuce was there, and he's not alone.
The possessed caracal is accompanied by two of his remaining commanders, GodofWar and SargeLAW. Ace was with them and Ourobouros died after Theo and him fought. Still, he knows both of them are not to be underestimated, and what's worse is that they're both wearing the same mask Lettuce is wearing, although now he can see the difference between them, with Lettuce's mask being more glitched with code leaking through the missing crack on his left eye, almost like its being hindered by some force from breaching through.
Lettuce and his commanders were talking to one of the few guards who are currently maskless, seemingly reporting something to the possessed player. If only he can hear what they're saying-
“- more ground, they'll be nearby”
“Yes sir.”
“Good, don't disappoint me.”
“Oh, goddammit,” Parrot swore. Spoke looked at the avian in concern, but he was not really paying attention to that because Parrot just heard a conversation from a hundred blocks away. Not exactly normal for a player, enhanced hearing or not.
He was about to call Theo to give him a milk bucket before he heard Lettuce talk.
“-nearby, we'll find him.”
“...”
“We saw the death message; he can't be too far.”
“...”
“He'll be here, we'll get him before those two.”
“...”
“I know, I'll get you in here-”
Parrot stopped listening after that part, he didn't need to know more. It seemed as though Lettuce is talking to whatever being is possessing him, judging from the fact that he still has autonomy over his actions, he can deduce that he's not entirely under its control. He also mentioned something about getting in here? He's filling that part for later, right now, they have a more pressing issue.
He knows they're here.
“Lettuce knows we're coming.”, he relayed the information. Lettuce saw the death message when they killed Arrowdude earlier. He's most likely anticipating them going into the prison since it's the nearest structure available.
Spoke and Leo looked at the avian in surprise, the latter approaching, ready to interrogate him.
“How'd you know?”
Parrot decided to tell the truth, “Server made me hear it.”
At this, he can see both players shift away from the avian. Not that he can't blame them.
Theo approached his friend in concern, quickly opening his chest to grab the shulker of milk to neutralize the additional effects that the server gave him. He gratefully accepted, not really keen on hearing other conversations from far away, regardless of their usefulness.
“... Is he okay?” Parrot heard Ace ask, not looking at the avian but rather staring directly at his former allies, turned mindless slaves. He was hesitant to answer his question. How can he tell him that his possessed friend might not be entirely possessed at all?
“He's… still in there.” Parrot carefully replied, making sure not to give any indication that he's deceiving Ace. The former commander lit up at the answer, regaining a bit of hope that he might be able to get through to his friend.
He's a coward
Wemmbu, using Egg's spyglass, looked in the direction of where Lettuce is and straight-up just growled. “Fucking bastard, now what?”
Parrot can see the demon gripping one of his rods, primed and ready to unleash a flurry of explosives towards the prison and Lettuce. He held out his hand in a silent command to stand down. Nuking the prison might only endanger the prisoners more, and it isn't a guarantee that Lettuce will die. Reluctantly, the purple demon stashed his nukes back in his inventory.
Parrot gave an apologetic smile. “I'm sorry, bro, we need to be careful not to give our position away.”
Wemmbu grumbled but nodded in agreement despite wanting otherwise. “So, now what?”. He asked again at Parrot.
Parrot turned back to look at the prison wall proper, scanning the area for any entrance away from Lettuce’s prying eyes. He looks closely and sees a relatively unguarded area at the west side of the prison. The terrain next to the prison is a steep mesa plateau and is a bit difficult to traverse, making it the ideal entryway.
“There,” Parrot pointed in the direction of where he saw the potential entry. Wemmbu squinted at the mountainous region of the prison. How he’s seeing the area without the use of a spyglass is beyond Parrot, weird gifts and all, but he seemed to approve of the idea.
“Okay, I’ll go tell the others.” Spoke said as he hurriedly jogged back to the small camp they set out in the clearing, approaching Mapicc and animatedly telling him the infiltration point.
Parrot turned to look at his group. Wemmbu was back next to Egg and Flame, telling them where to enter. Egg is furiously taking notes and occasionally glances at Flame, who hasn't said a word since the Arrowdude incident. He is only responding with small nods and an occasional one-word answer. It left Parrot a bit worried about the fire hybrid, and as the group began their trek, Parrot approached Theo about Flame’s behavior, as the two are noticeably closer than Parrot and Flame.
“Ah,” Theo nodded his head in understanding. “It’s a PvP thing,” he answered. When Parrot looked at him confusedly, Theo decided to clarify his explanation. “It's kinda like a type of hyperfocus.”
“...okay.” Parrot was still a bit doubtful, wanting to help the fire hybrid somehow, but all he could really do was help him save his friend and brother. It’s not lost on him that he’s the only one in their group without a companion. His previous outburst only gave Parrot more proof of Flame’s loneliness.
“He’d be fine,” Theo assured his friend. Parrot can only hope so as well. He felt Theo pat his shoulders, then pulled out a familiar bluish-gray splash potion, and promptly dropped it on the floor. All at once the potion erupted into a small plume of particles, gently covering them and lightly bouncing off light, giving them a transparent look before turning fully invisible. He looked around and saw the rest do the same. Without letting go of his shoulder, Theo and Parrot traversed closer to the walls.
The group gathered at the west side of the prison, carefully navigating the uneven terrain. With their big group, some stragglers were to be expected, luckily Wemmbu managed to spot them early and kept them on track. Parrot is glad to have him as an ally, he himself isn't confident with terrain navigation, and while he did develop a sixth sense for invisible players, the demon was better at multi-tasking.
“We're here,” Leo announced as they got to the west side wall. Jumper was a bit behind to scout the area above in case any guards came around.
“All clear,” she'd call out to them, voice just barely above a whisper.
Leo grabbed his pick from his inventory. With the invis potion, the pick looked as if it was floating in the air. Leo quickly broke the stone and andesite walls, giving them a way in the compound. The wall itself is hollow, allowing them to navigate the perimeter of the prison without fear of discovery.
“This is where we split off,” Spoke says as he re-equipped his armor. Parrot can't see his face, but he can imagine his grin all the same.
“Alright, then.” Parrot walked over the invisible voidborn. His body refused to voice out his worry, they're about to go inside somewhere dangerous and it dawned on him that this could be the last time he'd see Spoke. And despite their current relationship he can't help but see the voidborn from back then. So he didn't speak, instead gave him a brief hug. He can feel the voidborn stiffen a bit, before returning the gesture. It was awkward, uncomfortable and stuffy from the stale air within the walls. But for a brief moment, he felt Spoke let his guard down.
“... I'll be fine, Parrot.” Spoke says softly before extracting himself from the avian. The invis voidborn stood still for a few seconds before walking ahead toward the direction of the guard room. It's located a few blocks away, accessible and hidden enough that they can access it near the walls.
Mapicc tapped him on the shoulder. “We'll see you later, dude.” He assured him, following Spoke along, not before briefly stopping to look at Leo in what he can only imagine as a glare. Jumper and Zam both wished them luck, with Zam poking at Wemmbu in jest since he can't really kill players before leaving. Wemmbu wasn't impressed.
Ace stayed behind a bit, looking at Parrot and Theo. “If we get caught…he won't come for us.” He said cautiously. Parrot may not see his face but he didn't need to, he knows his worry.
“He can try,” Parrot glanced at the direction of where Lettuce is, as if daring the caracal to find them.
“Good luck,” Ace said good-naturedly, and began to follow Spoke and his team. Before turning the corner, he stopped for a moment.
“... find a way, Parrot. Please.” Ace asked of the avian. His voice was desperate. Sad. Alone.
Parrot knew what he was asking for.
Parrot can only nod in reply, before the deputy left. He didn't know if he could fulfill his request. If it's possible, then he hopes he's smart enough to find a way to snap Lettuce back.
“Let's go.” Leo was holding a copy of the prison layout. The rest of the group are just finishing their final preparations. Flame, Wemmbu and Theo all readying their weapons and shields.
“Wemmbu, Leo, lead the way.” The two players nodded, both taking the front position as they both broke the walls leading into the prison proper.
They're officially in.
The entire prison was teeming with guards the first time they looked, so it's a bit of a surprise to see the area they mined into being sparsely populated. Wemmbu scanned the area for any guards, being the first player to venture in to scout.
He raised his hand, and the rest of the group followed suit, hiding behind chests and barrels filled with rocks and terracotta. It seemed that the area they mined into is a small quarry. Not many guards nor workers patrol the area. It seemed they got lucky, since most of the guards are inside the mines, probably guarding the mineshaft in case they get invaded from the quarry.
They can't exactly get complacent, though, as the rest of the prison is far more populated and densely guarded.
Parrot stashed his armor back in his inventory, hiding some other equipment and potions in his echest for safekeeping. Without the armor, it's hard to make out the figures of his friends. Luckily, he can spot invisible players well enough that he can just grab someone's hand and follow Leo and Wemmbu ahead.
Leo was speeding up the compound proper, being ahead of the group most of the time. Wemmbu stayed behind to wait for them and to rescue any stragglers (Eggchan) from straying too far away from the group. Parrot is still impressed that his eyesight can rival his own when it comes to invisible players.
With Leo and Wemmbu ahead, the group was able to carefully navigate a safe path from the quarry to the prison proper. Occasionally needing to duck under fences and barrels to avoid the eyeline of masked guards walking too close. Parrot was up with Theo on a tree next to the prison, using their wings to their advantage to further hide themselves and scan their surroundings as Wemmbu breaks the wall.
“It's open.” Wemmbu softly calls to the rest of the group. Parrot can see two of his friends enter the opening already. Parrot checks around again, making sure the coast is clear, before tapping Theo's shoulder and jumping down the tree.
He hears a small thud next to him as Theo landed. Parrot grabbed his friend's wrist and entered the prison proper along with Wemmbu. With that, they're in the prison.
“They did some redecorating.” Wemmbu commented. Parrot's never been in the prison before, so he didn't know what it looked like when Wemmbu got captured. Whatever it was, it's certainly better than the decor now. The room is sterile, almost clinical, using a mix of andesite, stone and quartz with white concrete as its accent. It looks less like a prison and more like a hospital.
“They got rid of the axolotl tank!” Wemmbu cried as he flew on top of one of the light fixtures, only to lament at the white ceiling.
“Bro get down!” Flame chided the purple demon, hurriedly placing a small pool below where he is. “You'll get us caught!”
Wemmbu jumped down, although based on how he's standing he looked disappointed at the changes. He's also standing close to Egg, or at least he assumes it's Egg. It's hard to tell given that Leo and Eggchan aren't wearing trims while invisible.
“Where do we go?” Parrot asks Leo. The bounty hunter fumbles with the map for a while, before pointing in the direction of a corridor.
“It should be this way,” Leo says, while walking towards the corridor. Wemmbu stops him, grabbing his shield away from their next destination.
Leo is pissed, of course. “Why did you-”
“Something's wrong.” Wemmbu shushes the bounty hunter. Parrot can't see Wemmbu's expression but from the way he grips his mace, he can tell that he is on high-alert. Flame must have clocked the demon's odd behavior and readied his sword as well.
“What happened?” Parrot whispered as he crouched right next to Wemmbu.
“It's trapped.” Wemmbu clipped, not letting his eyes off the corridor, waiting for something to happen.
Parrot carefully approached the corridor to investigate. He checked the sterile hallway. Nothing of note sticks out to the avian. As soon as he got one step closer, a burning sensation shot up from his wrist. Parrot resisted the urge to yelp as his coded arm burns with the pain of a thousand needles. The avian carefully stumbled back, trying hard not to alert Wemmbu or Theo on his arm.
The server has a weird way of helping.
“...yeah, it's suspicious.” Parrot winced, hoping that his voice won't give away the pain he's feeling. He's lucky they're all invisible right now, else he would definitely be caught.
How Wemmbu clocked that there's a trap, he has no idea. It seemed a bit too much even for how sharp his senses are. He concludes that he must have seen a shift in the corridor big enough that it gave away the trap. Regardless, they need to find another way down.
“Where's the entrance downstairs?” Parrot asked Leo, who is holding the map and scanning for any potential entrances. Parrot leaned over and studied the blueprints before setting his eyes on the axolotl aquarium Wemmbu was so distraught about. It was big, big enough that it covered the entire ceiling.
Parrot's got an idea.
“Egg,” Parrot turns to look at the nephilim. “By any chance, do you have Water Breathing pots?” he asks.
“Uhh, I can check?” Eggchan answered. Parrot tapped Theo on his shoulders, and his friend wordlessly placed an echest down. Egg quietly said thanks and began to scour his things for Water Breathing potions, after a few seconds of searching, he pulled up with a splash bottle filled with seafood mist.
“It doesn't last too long,” Egg pointed out to the group. The potion's duration was three minutes long, but it'll be enough.
“Everyone go up to where Wemmbu was,” Parrot instructed, much to Wemmbu's dismay, as he just come from up there. Parrot and Theo got it easy, as they got wings and built up the platform. Wemmbu used his Elytra to carry Eggchan up, while Flame and Leo used the tried and true method of epearling up.
They gathered on the small platform, still unsure of what Parrot's plan is.
“Uhh, what are we doing?” Flame asked. He's well-versed in the Parrot-spontaneous-plan phenomena, but he's usually on the receiving end. So he's not entirely sure what's going to happen.
The others are all in, though, too used to whatever Parrot is planning and trusting that it'll work.
Parrot asked everyone to gather in a small tight circle.
“After I splash this, we got like, three minutes at most to get to the entrance.” Parrot warns. “Leo and Wemmbu, you lead us to the entrance okay?”
“Okay?”
“Got it.”
“Good.” And without any warning, he splashed the water breathing potion down and mined the block above. All at once, a column of water erupted from the opening and Parrot used the column to swim up the water and into the sealed aquarium. The rest followed suit as they finally clocked in on what Parrot was planning.
The entire floor was trapped, but the ceiling wasn't. If they traverse the first floor using the sealed-off aquarium, they can safely navigate their way to the prison entrance without setting off traps or alerting the guards. However they only have a limited time to navigate the area, with the aquarium sealed they'd have a hard time seeing which direction to go. Luckily Wemmbu and Leo are there to guide them, so when Parrot sealed their aquarium entry, Wemmbu and Leo quickly led the charge towards the lower entrance.
The group swam their way down the length of the ceiling aquarium. Parrot carefully count down the seconds before their water breathing runs out. Wemmbu navigates the dark watery chamber expertly, leading the rest of the group towards where the entrance was located. After a while, they reached the area in the blueprints where the downstairs entrance was.
Leo began to mine the block below them. The ceiling in the area is a bit thicker than the first room they entered but it wasn't that much of a problem. At least it wasn't, until the tell-tale done of an Elder Guardian giving them Mining Fatigue rang out for everyone to hear. Now this wouldn't be much of an issue, except that when he looked at Theo for the milk, apparently Theo left his echest back in the first room, and they can't grab the milk they collected to get rid of the Mining Fatigue.
They have one minute before they drown.
Parrot quickly grabbed his pickaxe and mined as fast as he could. In theory having more people mine a block is faster than just one person, but with them having mining fatigue, it can only do so much.
30 seconds left
He can tell that he can't mine the block fast enough for everyone to survive, shit. He can't think, he needs a plan, how can he make everyone survive.
20 seconds left
No, he can't think clearly. Shit, everyone is gonna die because of him. Think Parrot, Think!
10 seconds left
He looks at his wrist. Invisible but he can tell that the server is still watching him. Listening. Waiting.
It knows he can't ignore it
It knows he must use it
It wants to be seen
5 seconds left
‘If you don't want us to die
‘Do something’
Parrot taunted it in his mind
Inside his head, he hears it shriek
A piercing cry echo within his skull, giving him a headache.
He would double over if wasn't floating.
But it listened
All at once, he can feel his mining fatigue disappear. Parrot ignored the coiling code engulfing his arm and began mining as fast as he could. Their water breathing began to fade, and he's still mining -
3 seconds left
The ceiling was too thick to mine through fast enough
2 seconds left
Shit he’s not gonna make it!
1 second left
The effect wore off
Parrot held his breath as the seafoam green effect faded away. He has only a few seconds of oxygen left in his body, and the ceiling is way too thick. He can feel his lungs begin to burn slightly, his vision darkening. He has to get everyone out he has to-
Parrot saw a netherite trimmed player mine next to him. And with one final block destroyed, the room opened below them.
They all scrambled out of the ceiling aquarium and landed in the empty stairwell leading to the prison holding.
Parrot was gasping for air, feathers and hair plastered in his forehead. The avian looked around their surroundings and his friends as their invisibility slowly dissipated. They landed in a resting area, probably meant for guards to restock and regear.
Parrot let out a sigh of relief.
They survived.
They haven't even been in the prison cells yet.
“Bro,” Theo leaned next to him, panting heavily. “Great plan, terrible execution.”
“We nearly died bro,” Flame wheezed, dealing the worst of the damage as he was part fire. “I don't think terrible even described it.” He says as he chugged an instant health potion, restoring some of his embers.
“This is a very Parrot X2 plan dude,” Wemmbu breathes, the only member of their group who is standing up. He's helping Egg stand as he talks to him.
Right
It was his plan
And it very nearly killed them
“Nope,” Theo flicked his forehead, “You didn't kill us, dude. We were unprepared for an underwater mission, you did what you could.”
“But I-”
“No buts!” Theo stood up, carefully wringing the water out of his wings. “I forgot to bring more echests, that's my fault.”
“Theo, you didn't do anything wrong, bro.” Parrot said as he stood up, “I didn't think that we'd get fatigued this early, it was my miscalculation.”
“Dont.” Theo looked at Parrot dead on. He was distraught. “I made your server thing worse because I did something stupid, you tried to help.”
“But I made you all go, you trusted me”
“Then,” Theo paced around a bit before he grabbed his shoulders. “Its both out fault, we were both the chungies in the situation, okay?”
“...fine” Parrot sighed, it's really hard to stay negative with Theo staring at him with sad puppy eyes. Makes you want to do better.
“Also I didn't tell you shit though,” Wemmbu added as he looked at Parrot and patted his shoulder, “It's our collective fault, we weren't ready enough.”
“‘Sides.” Flame pointed at the trapped corridor behind them, “I think we dodged a bullet bro.”
Parrot peaked at the corridor in question, and almost dropped down again at the sight.
That… is a lot of Wardens.
How they haven't gotten blasted by them, Parrot can only wonder, but there is at least 10 Wardens guarding the corridor. Luckily they're separated by a iron fence so they should be fine so long as they stayed quiet.
“... We should go,” Wemmbu muttered, without the invisibility to hide behind Parrot can clearly see his expression.
He is furious.
He looked as if they'd personally killed his friend or something, whatever it is, it tightened his grip on his mace. He can see Egg grabbing his shoulder to snap him out of his stupor.
Parrot didn't try to listen in on their conversation, it wasn't his problem to know.
What is his problem to know is how Wemmbu managed to help him mine down. Out of all of them, he's the only player prideful enough to wear netherite on netherite trims, so identifying him was easy.
“Door's open.” Leo called out to them, the bounty hunter has taken it upon himself to open the lower prison entrance. Ace was kind enough to leave passes to Leo so they'd have an easier time bypassing the doors.
“Good,” Flame stood up immediately, ready to charge in.
Parrot looks at Theo, who spotted a spare ender chest near a corner and decided to mine it for later.
“So we don't have problems again,” he says, but Parrot can tell he felt bad that he wasted his supply of ender chests. He shouldn’t really, it's not his fault. He appreciates the gesture regardless.
The group began to enter the prison, but he decided to let everyone in first. He wants to talk with someone.
“Wemmbu, can we talk a bit?”
Wemmbu was a bit surprised but he agreed, letting the others go in first and catching up later.
“I had a quick question I wanted to ask you”
“Alright then,” Wemmbu leaned on the wall next to the prison entrance. “Shoot.”
Parrot pursed his lips, “how… did you mine that block earlier.”
Wemmbu seems startled at the question, like he's expecting another thing that Parrot was going to ask. He physically lowered his guard at that.
“I don't really know bro,” he admitted, scratching his head. “I kinda assumed that you shared it? With me?”
Share it?
“Yeah? Like when you mined faster I noticed I don't have it as well”
Parrot thought about it, and yeah it is technically possible, he's heard of instances of ability sharing before in ego glitched servers, but it usually happens when there's -
Nope, don't think about it, don't will it into existence.
“I guess that's a new thing to worry about” Parrot replied to Wemmbu. The purple demon only patted his shoulder.
“Don't sweat it, we'll get rid of that wrist tattoo bro,” Wemmbu assured the avian. “Besides, purple is more of my thing.”
“Yeah,” Parrot dismissed his earlier thoughts. Instead, he'd focus on the mission, saving Flame's friends and whoever Clown's close to.
“Good,” Wemmbu then grabbed his shoulder and pushed him towards the entrance. “You go first, bird boy.”
“Okay, okay,” Parrot stumbled as he passed the prison threshold where the rest of their friends were waiting. Theo beamed at Parrot, happy that he was no longer anxious about the earlier problem.
“You ready?” Theo asked as he pointed at the stairwell going down with his sword.
“We got this far.” Parrot walked next to his friend and readied his bow.
“Lets go.”
At Parrot's command, the group descends the stairwell toward the rest of the jail cells.
=/=/=/=
From within one of the most secure holdings, a man dressed in blue nautical clothing quietly dispatched a few masked guards.
He carefully navigates his way inside the guard's rest area, looking for something. After a few moments, he found what he was looking for. An ender chest
And from within his chest, he grabbed another weapon to help him on his way out.
Mace in hand, he walked out of the room in search of an exit.