Chapter Text
Sharpness ran through the trees, carefully watching from any sign of the strange purple fur he had caught in the corner of his eye earlier. Hybrids were rare on the server, especially one as eccentric as a rabbit. Sharpness had never seen one with such vibrant bunny ears, or such stunningly hot pink eyes as the one he’d just spotted, hours ago while flying around the server.
It had just been a normal elytra flight, shockingly boring and uninteresting. Even the sky seemed to agree, for the gray clouds started rumbling ominously just moments after Sharpness had taken off into the air. Nevertheless, he enjoyed the feeling of the wind blowing through his hair, the freedom that flying high above the ground offered him.
As he was scanning the rolling hills and grand landscapes beneath him, Sharpness suddenly spotted something unusual. A bright purple clump of fur, belonging to none other than the server’s newest player addition. A special spark of color amidst the gloomy, cloudy morning. The rabbit-hybrid was intently staring at what seemed to be a blueprint, holding strange red dust that Sharpness had only ever read of in textbooks.
Redstone, was it called?
It didn’t matter. What mattered to Sharpness was the possibility of a new challenger. One that will inevitably become boring after the first week, because Sharpness would beat him over and over again, just like every other player that had come before him—but a new opponent nonetheless. Circling the field that the strange rabbit was in, Sharpness prepared to dive down on his elytra and catch the newcomer off guard. It would be a one-and-done fight, one he would easily come out on top of.
Just as Sharpness was about to dive, the hybrid below him suddenly sprang up from where he was crouched. The curious rabbit ears Sharpness was studying not minutes before perked up, twitching on high alert. Sharpness had always prided himself on his stealth and ability to blend in with his surroundings, but he found himself holding his breath as the rabbit-hybrid jerked its head around, looking for something.
At last, the rabbit, seemingly having given up, scrambled to collect its materials and ran towards the forest in a rush. Sharpness cursed. Now, he’d have to follow the rabbit into unfamiliar territory.
It could always be worse, he reminded himself. The rabbit hybrid was new, so if Sharpness wasn’t familiar with this particular forest, the rabbit hybrid definitely couldn’t have been either. Carefully stashing his elytra away, Sharpness splashed his invisibility potions on himself in an additional effort to keep his element-of-surprise advantage.
And that was how he ended up running through the seemingly endless forest, looking for the specific purple clumps of fur that belonged to a certain hybrid. It was stupid, really. Just another player for Sharpness to hunt.
But something in his mind screamed otherwise.
In the peripheral of his vision, he spotted the exact thing he was looking for.
Bingo.
Breaking into a full on sprint, Sharpness zeroed in on his target. Once he had a goal, it was nearly impossible for any player to stop him. Sharpness was ruthlessly persistent, never stopping in his pursuit of becoming the strongest.
He was hot on the tail of the purple rabbit, just about ten blocks away from certain victory. The rabbit hybrid shot a panicked look Sharpness recognized all too well from previous chases, running into a small clearing in the forest. The dewy morning grass was still wet from the previous thunderstorm, providing minimal purchase for Sharpness as he scrambled to keep up with the rabbit.
“Stop running and fight me like a real man!” Sharpness called, frustrated from having chased the new player throughout the entire forest. He was so close to victory, so close to another kill under his belt when-
The rabbit spun around, quicker than Sharpness thought was humanly possible, an energetic burst of purple. Its scared and vulnerable facade crumbled in less than a second as it placed down a pressure plate, something Sharpness had never seen in a fight—ever. The ground beneath him opened up, seemingly swallowing him whole.
Sharpness fell in, getting roughly pushed by pistons of all sizes and shapes around him. He landed in a claustrophobic hole, filled to the brim with armor stands. In the back of his mind, he heard himself screaming in terror—something he’d never done before. Just above him, he could hear maniacal laughing as the rabbit peeked its head down the hole.
“Who are you?” Sharpness demanded. He craned his head up to get a better look at the rabbit who had just trapped him.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” The rabbit shot back, glaring down. “You tried to jump me—unprovoked!”
“It was your fault you were so unprepared,” Sharpness rolled his eyes. He’d had this whole conversation before. Countless players, complaining fruitlessly about being jumped innocently and getting caught off guard. It never made sense to Sharpness, why they were unhappy. As someone who carefully plans for the worst, he was always ready for any situation he might land himself in.
It never made sense, up until now. As he was staring up at the once fairly unassuming rabbit that he now knew as a master deceiver—someone he should never have underestimated, it suddenly became clear to him why players were so upset about being jumped. Never in Sharpness’s wildest imagination could he have prepared for the possibility of being trapped, of being outsmarted on his own turf, by none other than the newest player who joined.
Gritting his teeth, Sharpness assessed his situation. He was currently stuck in what seemed to be an inescapable trap, with armor stands restricting his movement and preventing his escape.
But no trap was inescapable.
No matter how skilled the creator.
Sharpness squeezed himself between the armor stands and the obsidian surrounding him, trying to mine out. He quickly discovered that the armor stands were preventing him from moving far enough to reach the wall, so he got to work painstakingly disassembling each and every one. Above him, the rabbit was still examining him wordlessly, as if he were a mere science experiment.
It was infuriating.
It was…more action than he’d had in a while.
Finally, he broke out of the trap, digging himself back up to the surface. By then, his resources were all drained and he was sweaty and tired. His limbs felt like mesh from the repetitive movements disassembling the armor stands, over and over. He had never been so furious and deadset on revenge in his career as a swords master on Strength SMP.
Reaching the surface, he lunged towards the rabbit immediately, trying to drag him down into its own trap. Unfortunately, the rabbit had already side stepped his movements, calmly backing up a few blocks, just out of his range.
Sharpness briefly considered trying to tackle the rabbit again, but ultimately decided against it. He had no more fighting materials, and who knew how many more godforsaken traps the rabbit had up its sleeves.
Sharpness sagged in frustration, before heaving himself up off the grass. He turned around, ready to head back to his base and lick his wounds, to come back stronger and defeat the rabbit once and for all. The rabbit still had said nothing, staring at him with its head slightly cocked, the same amused expression on its face.
Right as he was about to step away, he heard a voice.
“Jude.”
“What?” He turned back around, confused.
“You asked me what my name was. It’s Jude. Judelow.”
Before he could respond, the rabbit—Judelow—equipped an elytra and flew off into the afternoon sky.
Looking at the rabbit’s fading figure, a strange emotion bubbled up in Sharpness. Anger, yes, at being trapped. But, a sort of…determination? Excitement?
Because for the first time ever, he’d lost a fight.
For the first time ever, he had a rival.
For the first time ever, he couldn’t overpower this enemy. He had to outsmart him.
For the first time ever, Sharpness felt alive.