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Fundy fell back to the ground and just barely missed one of the spinning parts of the machine 5up, Sam, and Tubbo created. The blade got caught on the terrain again, giving him a moment to react, but the other wing could come at any moment. Yet he wasn't scared or panicked, he felt quite relaxed if he was honest. Lying on the warm ground, with danger literally flying above his head and missing him by inches, he found himself grinning and almost chuckling. This was hilarious, in fact! He was sure that the other team didn't mean for it to work like that, but they accidentally created something quite impressive, and something he really liked the look of.
He heard a blaze and shifted slightly to see the mob flying at him, charing a fire attack. He was proud of that part of his contraption, it was a great use of the spawners that lied in the chests collecting dust for so long. Before he could get hurt, one of the blades smacked the blaze and in an instant, just a blaze rode was left of it. Fundy couldn't help but giggle now, the mobs' intelligence was always questionable but this was probably one of the most ridiculous things he got to see yet. It didn't take him long to quiet down, but he continued to lie under the spinning contraption
He wasn't afraid. And he didn't have a reason to be, either. At any moment he could just sit up and respawn in his bed, it would be just a quick sting before he'd be safe, the only reason he didn't do that yet was because he knew how much of a struggle it'd be to get his items back. Well, that, and he really wanted to see how much chaos the two machines combined would cause. And again, he didn't have to worry about dying. It's not like he had a limited amount of lives. Not like dying was going to leave scars and pain. And at any moment, he could use his powers to teleport himself out of harm's way, or probably destroy the machines if they got too dangerous for others. It's not like he had to rely on a tyrant to have control over that. Not like someone cruel was dictating this world's rules. Not like he could lose his life or his friends at any moment. Not like this world was made to be full of suffering and hurting. This was his world, and he made sure it was peaceful... In the back of his mind, he could somehow recall a terrible place just like that. Was it just from the stories, or did he see it with his own eyes? Did he experience the pain first hand? Either way, he didn't care, his world was different, safe and peaceful.
"Fundy?!" 5up called out, snapping him out of his thoughts. The fox shifted to look at him, finding him kneeling just out of the spinning blades' reach. "Are you okay?" he asked. He didn't sound too worried, he knew that there was no actual danger there as much as fundy did, but still, seeing him on the ground was probably concerning.
"I'm stuck!" Fundy complained, but there was still a grin on his face. 5up sighed and shook his head before moving closer.
"Alright, I'll get you," he assured, getting worryingly close to the blades.
"Wait, no!" Fundy yelled, making him stop just as one of the weapons few inches away from the shorter hybrid's face. "Yeah, that," he added quietly as 5up stumbled back.
"Great," he sighed, looking around and wondering how to get Fundy out. "I don't have my pickaxe on me..." he muttered in thought before his face suddenly lit up as he got an idea. "Ranboo! Come over here!"
"What's up?" the half-enderman asked, quickly joining 5up's side.
"I might need your help with that," he explained, pointing to Fundy. Ranboo followed the direction with his gaze and his expression shifted to surprise.
"What? Fundy, why are you there?!" he asked. The fox simply shrugged as an answer.
"The better question is, how do I get out of here?" he answered.
"Crawl?" Ranboo suggested, but Fundy shook his head.
"The blades are too close, if I move up I'll be in pieces before I get out," he explained, and just as if to prove his point, one of them flew dangerously close to his face. Ranboo nodded in understanding.
"So what do we do?" he wondered.
"Well," 5up smiled, taking a look at the distance between Fundy and safety. "Do you think you could reach him if you lie down? Then I could pull you both out."
"No. That's a terrible idea! I hate that!" Ranboo refused immediately. "How would I even get there without crawling?!"
"I could push you," 5up suggested.
"No!" Ranboo yelled, but he didn't seem actually upset. "I just don't think that would work."
"Well, do you have any better ideas?" Fundy asked.
"Uh..." Ranboo looked around. "I'll only agree if Sam helps to pull us out," he decided. 5up frowned.
"What are you suggesting?" he crossed his arms.
"That you won't pull both of us out," Ranboo declared without hesitation.
"Ouch," 5up sighed before turning in a direction Fundy couldn't see in. "Sam! Can you help us here?!"
"What did you break?" the man asked with a sigh, appearing rather quickly by their side.
"Are you helping me, or getting everyone to see me like this?" Fundy asked from his spot on the ground, getting Sam's attention as well.
"We need you to push Ranboo under the blades and pull him back out with Fundy," 5up explained, paying no attention to the man's surprised expression.
"Exactly," Ranboo nodded, taking off his coat to make sure it doesn't get damaged.
"Uh- Alright?" Sam answered quietly, stretching slightly in preparation as Ranboo looked for the best place to start from.
When they'd finally get started on the plan, it should take them just a moment to reach Fundy and pull both him and Ranboo back out, away from the machines. To make things a little bit harder, a couple of blazes tried to get in their way, but luckily most of them flew straight into the machine, and the leftover ones were easily handled by 5up, who had nothing else to do to help. Still, before everyone was back to safety, Crumb and Tubbo were already with the group too, Tubbo fighting off the blazes and Crumb cheering Sam on as he pulled the two from under the blades. Ranboo was the first one to get back up, shake the dust off his clothes, and put his coat back on, chuckling quietly when he noticed Fundy still on the ground. Sam carefully leaned over the fox, waving a hand over him, and 5up finally joined them as well.
"Uhh... You alright?" Sam asked when Fundy seemingly didn't react.
"Yeah, I'm good. Just, uh... My back needs a second," he chuckled, stretching slightly. 5up crouched down next to him and offered him help.
"Come on, let's get you off the ground," he said, and Fundy gladly took the chance to hold his hand. In just a moment, he was back to his feet.
"Thanks," he grinned, swaying slightly but keeping his balance.
"Are you okay?" Crumb asked with worry when she noticed how 5up had to basically hold him up at first.
"Yeah, yeah, I got hit just once," he assured her before glancing at 5up. "He just always can sweep me off my feet," he added with a grin.
"Just drop him," Ranboo groaned, rubbing his face.
"I just might," 5up answered with a chuckle, but he continued to help Fundy with keeping balance.
"How'd you even get under there?" Tubbo asked, looking back at the spot Fundy was in.
"I was placing rails!" Fundy answered, proudly holding up the few he had left. "...And, well, it hit me and knocked me over," he added a bit less confidently.
"You should be more careful around a machine as good as ours," Sam crossed his arms and Fundy chuckled. Of course they'd use it to promote their own weapon.
"Are you implying those spinny cardboards are better than blazes?" Ranboo asked, looking between the cake and the spinning contraption.
"Yeah! We win!" Crumb cheered, proud of the cake.
"No way, our machine is ten times better!" Tubbo argued.
"How about we settle this after lunch?" 5up suggested, trying not to laugh at the small argument between them.
"There's lunch?!" Fundy gasped, and suddenly didn't need any more help with standing. This time 5up couldn't stifle his laugh.
"I mean, there's bread, I'm sure we can make something with that," he answered, looking in the direction of the bread factory.
"There's cake!" Crumb added with excitement.
"Oh yeah, we have a couple of cakes left!" Ranboo confirmed happily.
"That's awesome!" Tubbo cheered, letting himself put off the competition.
"We should get going, then," Sam sighed, very aware of how far from the farm they were.
"Don't worry about that," Fundy smiled, stretching again before starting to move his hands in a weird manner. What the others couldn't see was the half-transparent screen he was using. "Aand done!" he hummed and snapped his fingers. It wasn't necessary, but it made teleporting everyone to the exact location of the bread factory far more impressive.
"Ow, who's pulling my hair?"
"Excuse me, that's my leg!"
"Air! I need air!"
"Hey, take it easy," Fundy sighed, trying to get through the noise. In hindsight, putting everyone in the exact same place and on top of each other wasn't the smartest move. Luckily, it didn't take long for them to settle everything and set themselves free.
"That was fun!" Crumb hummed with a grin before wandering off to find somewhere where she could put the cakes she had.
"How did this happen?" Sam asked, scratching his head in confusion.
"Magic," Fundy shrugged with a smile.
"Yeah, he does that sometimes," 5up nodded, stretching before walking over to the factory. "I'll go get started with lunch."
"Yeah, that's just his thing," Ranboo confirmed as one of the few who got to witness this trick almost daily.
"Why didn't he get out from under the blades like this, then?" Tubbo asked with confusion painted on his face.
"I didn't have enough space," Fundy explained with a shrug.
"Oh, right," Tubbo nodded. "I'll go check if Crumb needs help," he decided after a moment of silence.
"Yeah, you should do that. And Sam, can you help 5up for me? I need to catch a breath after all that," the fox sighed, sitting down on the grass and taking a couple of breaths.
"Sure thing," Sam nodded, turning to go and check if the plant hybrid needed any help. That left just Ranboo by Fundy's side.
"Are you alright?" the half-enderman asked quietly, Fundy usually didn't get exhausted from doing things like that.
"Yeah, just need a moment. Moving 5 people and myself is harder than you'd think," he answered, closing his eyes and relaxing.
"Alright then. Uhh, I still have some cake, so I'll go help Crumb and Tubbo. Call me if you need anything," he offered and after receiving a nod of confirmation stepped back and left Fundy to rest.
There was a familiar sting in Fundy's side, one not caused by physical damage but rather a... Feeling. And it wasn't connected to the teleportation either. He waited for Ranboo to get far enough before moving his hands and motioning for the screen to re-appear. Just as he suspected, the anomaly he was dealing with since he could remember was back - someone was trying to break in. With force. With a sigh, he got to patching up the new damage. It wasn't enough to worry him, and from what he knew it wasn't an unusual situation in places like this, but he didn't want it piling up. There was no telling when they'd attempt this again, after all. Nor what kind of crazy rules they'd try to implement if they took over, what kind of fear they'd strike into his friends... He had a feeling that if he'd let them in, they'd make that place as ruthless as the one he could faintly recall, the one where death was something to always look out for and suffering was a daily thing.
"Fundy," 5up called out as he approached just seconds after the fox hybrid managed to fix everything.
"Y-yeah?" he asked, pushing the issue to the back of his mind and calling the screen off.
"The lunch is ready, and everyone's waiting for us," he explained, offering him his hand and once again pulling him to his feet.
"Can't wait to try it," Fundy grinned, letting himself be pulled towards the rest of his small group.
He loved this place, he loved the land of Cogchamp. He loved it for moments like this, for the lighthearted shenanigans, and for the soft times he got to spend with his friends. His family, he'd even say. He loved his home, and he couldn't wait to see what they'd get up to after lunch.