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“We lost our advantage. It’s two v two- er- three v two, I guess,” says Impulse, running down the hill to team TIES tower. Scott and Martyn had escaped to Skynet, and were probably on their way to the TIES tower. The group—Etho, Martyn, and himself—was travelling on the ground and just trying to not die.
“Two v two?” questions Pearl, then she begins to laugh at her own remark.
Impulse pulls out his bow in preparation for the unavoidable encounter with the Mean Gills in TIES tower. He’s probably going to die again (How many times had Scott already killed him this session?), but he’ll at least try.
“Well, I’m not much of a fighter—” Impulse glances at Etho, “—and Etho’s washed up, so, y’know…” He walks down the bridge, stepping around the holes in the wood. The bridge creaks with each footstep, and the edges are charred from Scar constantly burning it.
“Yeah, it’s all up to you Pearl,” says Etho, his voice slightly muffled by his mask. The others are behind Impulse, so he can’t see them as he enters the tower.
Is this the last time he’ll get to be here? The last time he’ll get to brush his fingers against the stone walls? Team TIES, they’re called. How ironic that with a name that represents unity, they’ve all died alone.
“Oh, wow , okay, well-” stammers Pearl.
Once Impulse steps into the broken bubble elevator, the others' voices are muffled by the rushing water pulling him upwards. He can hear the sound of the water sloshing around a few metres below him—Pearl.
As he approaches the top of the elevator, under Skynet, he can see Martyn and Scott on Skynet. Sure, he expected them to be here, but he still instinctively ducked back into the water. Anticipating the inevitable fight, he pulls out a fireworks-loaded crossbow and aims it at Martyn.
“They’re there, they’re there, they’re there,” says Martyn, repeating himself to Scott.
Martyn spotted him. His heart jumps at the sound of Martyn’s voice, and he attempts to shoot the crossbow in Martyn’s direction. The fireworks rocket explodes in his face, erupting into little white sparks floating down to the ocean.
“Ow, ow, ow, oww,” cries Martyn, running towards TIES tower. Impulse pulls out his bow, and begins shooting at him—Martyn’s probably low on health, and this can be a quick kill. A quick way of getting time.
Martyn runs directly above him, and all the impossible shots Impulse takes land on the bottom of Skynet. Impulse begins to swim down the tower, using the water flooding from the roof. Scott—still up on Skynet—is an easier target, so Impulse aims at him instead.
“Oh no!” exclaims Pearl, her and Martyn falling like TNT minecarts from Skynet. Actually, they were dropping from Skynet.
Impulse shifts his focus to Martyn, and looking downward—still slowly swimming down the tower—he tries to fire at Martyn, but his arrows keep missing.
Impulse gets shot, and his health drops to five hearts. Startled, he slips, falling out of the water stream and plummeting to the balcony.
“Hello!” He lands in front of Pearl, only to be greeted by a punch to his face.
“Sorry- I didn’t see you. I thought you were Martyn, I thought you were Martyn! Sorry!” says Pearl.
He eats a loaf of bread, regenerating his health. “That’s why I announced myself!” Impulse chuckles, then begins to circle around the tower on the lookout for the Mean Gills.
“Oh no—” screams Etho, his voice getting cut off. Impulse snaps his head to the source of the sound, but can’t see where Etho is.
“I just heard his scream and he’s gone !” laughs Pearl.
Impulse notices Scott swimming up TIES tower, and silently shoots at him. “Yeah, he’s gone,” says Scott, smugly. Did Scott knock Etho off?
“He ain't dead though, he’s alive,” retorts Pearl.
He tries to continue shooting at Scott, but Scott swims too far up the tower for Impulse’s arrows to reach. Following Pearl, Impulse walks into the tower. She dashes straight for the exit, but Impulse stops to collect his thoughts.
An arrow pierces him in the chest, seemingly out of nowhere. In a fraction of a second, another hits him again, dropping Impulse to two hearts. He blindly runs out of the tower, and hears Scott’s stupid, smug laugh from the distance. Clutching an ender pearl, he hurls it as far as he can, not even caring where it lands.
-1 hours
All Impulse feels is a dull, buzzing pain in his bones. Opening his eyes, he can see the blurry figure of the Clocker’s tower, and the painstakingly bright sun shining back at him.
Respawn?
He gets up at spawn, probably a few dozen metres from where he died. He’s okay now, nothing hurts anymore. Everything is fine . Just a bit dizzy, Impulse gets back up, dusting himself off.
Three hours, twenty-four minutes, and eight seconds.
In a perfect world, that’s how long he has until he runs out of time. But he will get killed, he will lose time, and he will die today. With three hours, twenty-four minutes, and six seconds left, all he can do is just try.
Impulse begins to walk down the mountain, the canopy of dark oak much cooler than the heat of the sun. Taking slow steps, he tries to listen for others but all he hears is the static in his head. The lack of noise is terrifying . Nowhere is safe, there could be a TNT minecart above his head for all he knows. He could be seconds away from death. Impulse would rather know if he was about to die.
Walking closer to the mansion, he swears he can hear something- no, someone. The faint sound of screaming, of fighting. Impulse glances up at Skynet, but nothing.
Etho ran out of time!
He flinches, a bolt of lightning striking Bread Bridge. The all too familiar roar of thunder rings in the forest, and Impulse wants to open his eyes but he doesn’t want to see Etho dead. He doesn’t want to accept that he’s the last member of TIES.
They’re all gone. Skizz, Tango, and now Etho. What did Skizz say when he died? TIES gets to the final three. Here Impulse is, in the final three. He’s in the final three. He’s died and he’s killed more times than he can remember, and he’s in the final three.
He guesses everyone must be on Bread Bridge, where Etho died. Impulse jumps into the mansion, and swims to the surface. As his head breaks the water, he rubs his eyes, seeing the fuzzy yet unmistakable cyan outline of Scott.
Fumbling for his bow, Impulse quickly dives back into the water. He brings his shield up and slowly swims closer to the one-block-wide line on the remains of Bread Bridge. Grasping onto the cobblestone, Impulse pulls himself onto the bridge, water weighing his clothes down.
He pulls the bowstring, aiming for Scott’s chest. Scott holds a shield up, and Impulse lets go, the arrow spinning and flying in the air. It lands in Scott’s shield, silently vibrating.
Impulse shoots again, then grabs a fireworks-loaded crossbow. Launching it, he hears a bang , and the rocket burst into a show of tiny stars. As the sparks dissipated, Scott had his shield still up, smiling. The crossbow did nothing.
Scott moves towards Impulse, backing him up closer to the mansion. Impulse keeps shooting, most of his attempts missing entirely or hitting his shield.
It’s quiet, too quiet. All Impulse hears is the sound of arrows being shot, hitting wood and cobble. The silence is deafening, so he breaks it.
“Hi Scott,” says Impulse, using a voice too normal for a fight.
“Hi Impulse,” replies Scott, imitating Impulse’s uncannily cheerful voice.
“I dunno where Pearl went,” Impulse says in between shots. It’s funny, isn’t it? Making small talk with the person after his life—no, after his time.
“Me neither,” says Scott, an amused laugh blending with the near-nonsense sounds he spouts out.
Impulse continually shoots at Scott, and Scott’s shield looks like a porcupine. Or a mediaeval torture method. “I don’t need her right now,” he says, slowly getting pushed back by Scott. They maintain a good five or six metres from each other, space being limited on the thin bridge.
Scott’s shield breaks. The one thing protecting Scott from death breaks . Scott’s defenceless. Metal and wood fall apart, disturbing the still water below. Impulse shoots, hitting Scott twice. One in the arm, one in the stomach.
Scott ran. What else could Scott have done? Impulse begins to shoot at Scott, but as Scott gets farther away all of his shots miss. He chases after Scott, arrow after arrow missing.
As Impulse takes a step forward, he can’t move his other foot and stumbles onto the ground. Pushing himself back up to the ground, he sees the laces of his shoes untied. Stupid him. Kneeling down, he ties his shoes into a hasty knot and jumps back into a run.
Scott’s nowhere to be seen. Impulse looks down into the dark oak forest, and can see Scott running away from Bread Bridge. He jumps down, the realisation that he forgot to look for water hitting him just a bit too late.
Luckily, he lands in a pool of water flowing off the edge of the mansion, and continues to run into the forest. He can hear Pearl, Scott, and Martyn. Sure, Pearl’s on his side, but he feels utterly alone. TIES is dead. This is the final three.
Impulse takes cover behind a dark oak tree, stopping to catch his breath. Scott says his name—he’s been found—so he runs into the heat of the fight, shooting at Scott (still shieldless.) He manages to get a shot in, but it starts to feel a whole lot warmer.
Scott holds an empty bucket, and in a heartbeat, a sword is being slashed at his face. Impulse blocks the swing with his shield, manoeuvring around a dark oak tree to buy a few seconds. He tries to swing at Scott, but the lava-wielding man is just so fidgety.
“I’m so jumpy,” laughs Scott. Again with the small talk.
Impulse frantically dodges the lava that Scott keeps picking up and placing. Scott’s just too damn fast, too quick. Always a step ahead of him.
“You ever get like that?” Scott continues. “Where you’re all jittery?”
A misstep- and Impulse is lit on fire. The flames lick at him and blister his skin, and it hurts. It hurts. How could he let Scott win again?
Impulse’s sword clashes with Scott, the two of them jumping and spinning around, their swords against each other. He strikes Scott in the leg, and Scott stabs him back in the arm. A clumsy, awkward dance.
He stumbles down, landing in more water. The fire burning him alive is put out, but Scott’s right at his face before he has the chance to even comprehend what’s going on.
-1 hours
Impulse dies. Sitting in a pool of water, he watches the world blur. Of course Scott kills him again! He has eight minutes and twenty seconds left. Impulse doesn’t even feel pain—just frustration.
Respawn?