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The quiet sound of rain pattering across the rooftops slowly pulls the hermits into sleep. Everything is quiet and peaceful. The rain drips off leaves deep in the jungle and pitter-patters against the concrete of the city. It slides down the Goat statue and creates mud on the ground near the horse stables.
Lightning splits the sky cleaving in two and thunder booms across the landscape. Some hermits wake with a start before falling back into the realms of sleep. Others move further inside to avoid the loud noises. Some rush outside to bring animals in so they don’t have to be in the rain.
Doc walks outside to start bringing his animals. His cat winds her way around his ankles as he pulls his torn up lab coat back on, “It’ll only take a minute, and then I’ll come right back in.”
She makes a little murp noise and jumps onto a cabinet watching him and twitching her tail.
As he walks out into the pouring rain Doc looks up at the dark sky. The cool rain feels good on his skin and he takes a moment to just stand as the rain falls all around him.
The air smells sweet and the sound of the waves crashing against the shore adds to the soft serene feeling.
The air seems to crackle with energy as another lightning bolt splits the sky. Doc doesn’t seem to notice, and slowly brings his foxes inside.
He lingers outside for a moment too long and the loud crack of thunder accompanied by a bolt of instantaneous lightning. The lighting strikes Doc flowing through his body and switching off his cybernetics. In a daze, Doc disconnects the fried arm and drops it to the ground.
Staring at his plant-like arm the creeper notices something, he appears to be glowing. Not quite knowing what it means he sits against his house and tries to think.
After a moment he hisses and shakes his head not knowing what to do. A quiet memory tugs in the back of his mind. A botched explosion. Kind hands carefully patching him up. Voices teaching him how to speak. His pack. His family.
They could help. Couldn’t they? The faint impression of a long tunnel spurs Doc into action. He carefully pads along, not going very fast as he’s down a leg and walking on two legs just isn’t an option right now. Eventually, he reaches the end of the long tunnel.
Through the heavy rain, it’s nearly impossible to see the village clustered at the base of the cliff. Shaking the excess rainwater out of his moss Doc pads his way up to the main house.
He looks at the door for a moment before attempting to push it open. Thankfully it’s unlocked and he’s able to nudge it open. Limping inside he flops down on the couch and falls asleep.
It’s still pouring rain as Bdubs wakes, he yawns and makes his way into the kitchen to get some breakfast. As he walks past the sitting room he stops and looks again. Spotting the glowing creeper he cautiously walks closer to get a better look. Doc is still asleep and still appears to be charged.
“Oh, no, Doc what happened?” Bdubs mutters as he takes in the damage to the creeper's eye and the missing arm. Showing no signs of waking Bdubs leaves the creeper on the couch for the time being. He sends a message to Beef and Etho asking them to come over as soon as possible.
Wandering into the kitchen he makes himself a quick breakfast and starts cutting open a few cocoa pods. He pulls the beans out from inside and starts roasting them. After a few minutes, the bitter smell drifts throughout the house.
The sound of claws on wood can be heard as Doc slowly crawls into the kitchen. He gently bumps Bdubs leg with his head as he curls up in front of the furnace.
“Doc?” Bdubs starts gently, “What happened?”
Hearing his name the creeper looks over and looks out a window as he attempts to process the question. After a few minutes, he shakes his head confused.
“Oh shoot. Etho needs to get here fast,” Bdubs mutters as he places a bowl of warm cocoa beans on the table for Doc.
After almost half an hour Etho and Beef rush in.
“Hey, Bdubs,” Etho says as he starts to enter the house, “What happened?
The rain is still pouring down, Beef pushes Etho inside, “Hello.”
“Hi guys,” He mutters nervously, “Uh, something bad happened.”
“You can't just stop there. What is it?” Beef asks as he starts to worry.
“It's complicated,” Bdubs mutters, “Uh, I think Doc got struck by lightning and now he's like this.”
The charged Creeper is stretched out in front of the warm furnace. He's awake and is purring loudly.
“Oh no, Doc, what did you do?” Etho whispers as he crouches beside him.
Blinking Doc rolls over to look at who is talking to him. A grin splits his face and he hisses happily at the sight of the others. He hops up to his feet and hisses playfully at Etho.
“Hey, buddy, can I take a look at your eye?” Etho asks as he kneels down next to the slightly glowing creeper. As he reaches towards the charred metal as his fingers brush the metal a shock jolts through him.
He instinctively jolts away from the shock. Beef looks over at him, “Are you ok?”
“I’m fine, but I don’t think we’ll be able to get him back online until he’s not charged.”
Bdubs sucks in a sharp breath, “How do we get him to not be charged?”
“I’ve never seen a creeper get uncharged?” Beef mutters as Doc hisses, as he can tell they're not happy about something.
Etho gives Doc a fish and hums softly, “Neither have I. I think we need to call Xisuma.”
Nodding Beef pulls his communicator out and calls Xisuma.
“Beef, is something the matter?” The admin asks.
“Yeah, it’s Doc. He was struck by lightning and it’s charged him. His cybernetics are broken and we can’t fix them when he’s all zappy.”
“That doesn’t sound good, did he have his communicator?”
“His com? Uh, no he didn’t,” Beef answers after looking over at Bdubs.
“Can you go find it? He’s told me he has some notes on it about what to do if his cybernetics break.”
“Uh, yeah I can do that,” Beef mutters.
As he walks down the tunnel leading to the Goat bay he starts worrying. What if they cant get Doc uncharged, would he stay as the odd cat-like creature forever? Pushing those thoughts aside Beef finds the communicator in the mud outside of the half manor laying next to his arm. Activating his elytra he braves flying in the raging storm.
He lands right outside of Bdubs house, slipping in the mud he enters the house. He is met with Doc, he's crouched on the ground hissing at a rather nervus looking Xisuma. Slowly Xisuma walks backward to the door. Doc growls as he gets close to Beef, his moss-like overgrowth bristling and crackling with energy.
“Doc, it's ok I'm leaving,” Xisuma says to the overprotective creeper.
He sits back and lets Xisuma slip out the door. He sits back and gives a toothy yawn looking very proud of himself.
“So, what happened here?” Beef asks, confused as Doc walks over to him.
“X showed up to see if he could uncharge Doc. He's in full pack mode and I think he's only recognizing us as his pack.” Etho explains as he draws the creeper closer with a few cocoa beans to give Beef room to shut the door.
Once in he takes his boots off; as not to track mud everywhere, “Ok, I have his communicator. X said something about him having put a log on what to do if his cybernetics break after we disappeared.”
As he reads the mood turns somber, they definitely can’t fix him without getting shocked.
“Let's wait a week if it hasn’t stopped raining and thundering we, world hop to try and find a way to fix him.”
Bdubs nods in agreement.
Beef is pacing near the window, “We should move him, he needs more room to move around in.”
“Yeah, but if he’s going to attack everyone he comes in contact with…” Etho trails off.
“Impulse maybe? Doc told me about the whole yellow creeper thing, so chances are he’s not going to try and attack anyone,” Bdubs mutters as Doc stairs out the window.
“That could work. I’ll call him and ask,” Etho says pulling his communicator out.
Surprisingly Impulse doesn’t really ask why they want to hijack his base, he lets them bring Doc over and is immediately dragged over to a pile of blankets. Doc has a lot more blankets than any reasonable person should have.
Doc grins at them happily as the rain paters against the Ocean, the stone floor is cool to the touch. Feeling the chill radiating off the floor Doc lays right next to the furnaces.
A few days pass with the rain coming down in sheets before it starts to let up. It starts to slow and the rain starts to lighten. Eventually, the clouds start to dissipate as the sun comes shining through.
As the last of the storm fades into memory and puddles on the ground the electricity starts to
fade. It takes almost a day but Doc returns to a non-electrified state.
As soon as he’s able Etho starts repairing all the wires and bits inside of Doc’s head.
He sits up and shudders, “I never want to do that again.”