Chapter Text
Mumbo's new garden was proving to be a nightmare to maintain and a very needed addition to the small town. After the chaos of that one day calmed down a bit, Mumbo was playfully bullied into building a larger, more sturdy house.
The whole group helped out after seeing Mumbo's distaste for building. Now, he had a house with what he referred to as a gigantic bedroom, (which had enough space for a bed, a wardrobe, a desk, and a chest) an equally large living space/kitchen, and a bathroom with a mirror he could actually see clearly with.
Whilst his friends were helping out with building, Mumbo decided to make the town a small farm right next to his house, which was plopped closer to the rest of the houses. Mumbo figured it could help them not have to go into the nearby villages as much.
Which led to where he was now, tending to his crops every day for a few months now. The group was now relying almost solely off of Mumbo's home-grown food, as well as his (mostly) home-grown elixirs for medicinal purposes.
Now, they only had to go into town for new clothes, and some more pesky supplies, that Mumbo didn't know how to produce from the farm, or that they couldn't get anywhere else, like nether-specific herbs.
Keralis and False were both grateful for the lessened treks into towns, especially since the group decided that a village further away was far safer to go to. Xisuma claimed that it made the chances of being followed, but probably he just wanted to not frequent one town too much.
Mumbo was glad that he was able to lessen the chances of his friends being caught , but goodness , gardening was definitely not his forte especially not in his current outfit, which hadn't changed from the suits that he keeps on finding in abundance for some reason.
The sun shone down on him harshly, and Mumbo wiped at the sweat in his brow again and stood up to admire his new haul. There were tons of carrots and potatoes, as well as wheat, and mushrooms. There was enough in his few baskets to last a few months, but they'd run out before winter was over .
Mumbo grabbed the first two baskets of the four, filled with mostly carrots, and turned towards the community storage building. He was halfway through lugging the heavy baskets when he saw something in the treeline.
Mumbo turned to look at the trees, to see whatever was moving around out there. The camp had clear borders between the actual camp, and the forest, but the barriers they put up were never more than temporary, because of how it made some of the residents feel like they did before they came to camp... Trapped...
He saw the animal, a strange-looking creeper. It looked far too human to be a natural hybrid and didn't act like one either . Mumbo carefully set down the two baskets, before taking a step towards the maybe-creeper.
Instead of responding with a warning hiss, the maybe-creeper shuffled back, hitting their back on a tree. They turned around, panicked, hissing like crazy. One arm flew up and scratched at the tree, leaving a large gash in the bark . Retractable claws, and bad eyesight . Mumbo's mind provided him.
Mumbo took another step towards the creature, trying to get a better look at them. He watched as they tripped over their own two feet, clearly not used to being bipedal. Maybe they have severe mutations?
The creeper-mutt turned back towards Mumbo, letting out a low warning hiss. Mumbo took half a step backward, studying their expression, which appeared to be not one of aggression, but of fear, and maybe pain? Mumbo never claimed to be an expert in reading others' faces, though.
Maybe if I get close enough, I can learn more about their biology? This does not look anything like a traditional creeper, so maybe a subspecies? Can it even explode? Does it have an internal fuse? Mumbo thought to himself, studying the creeper-like creature.
He took another step forward, almost able to reach out and touch the creature if he wanted to. This is really stupid, this is really stupid, thisisreallystupidthisisreallystupid . He thought to himself, as he watched for the creeper's reaction.
The creeper, of course, launched themselves at Mumbo, he's not quite sure what else he expected. Creepers are mostly instinct-driven, territorial, and aggressive creatures. Mumbo's read in numerous books that if you get too close to an aggravated creeper, it will most likely explode.
Which is why Mumbo wasn't surprised when the telltale hiss of the creeper's internal fuse lit. He wasn't surprised when he was pushed to the ground by the creature, or when heat from the explosion covered his torso and arms, like a heated blanket on a sunburnt child.
He was expecting the blast, had shut his eyes before the implosion occurred, and was not surprised when the sound of the detonation made his ears ring.
Mumbo wasn't surprised by any of these things, but he didn't want any of them to happen. He was, however, surprised at the fact that he was still alive, still conscious, at that.
He was even more surprised when he realized that he was still under the creeper-creature. Usually, they don't survive their own blasts, and turn anyone near them into ashes and dust! So... why didn't this one?
Mumbo tried to shake off some of the dizziness as he carefully maneuvered the other off of him, careful not to jostle the now badly injured creeper. He looked around himself, saw a brand new crater, and frowned.
I'm such a spoon! I've made the others worry for no reason, AND ruined the center of camp ! Mumbo mentally facepalmed, and started to do a mental checklist of his own body.
He still had all four limbs, though his left arm and torso hurt a ton. Nothing felt broken, and would all probably be back to normal with a mix of regen and healing potions. The only real casualty for himself was that of his glorious mustache, which he could feel had gotten mostly burnt off.
Turning his attention back to his new patient, Mumbo took in the full extent of the creeper's injuries.
They were missing the lower half of what could be their right arm, and part of their face was a mangled mess. Great. They also were also bleeding a lot. Mumbo would have to do a lot of healing for them, and probably eventually need some prosthetics for the missing arm and eye.
Mumbo struggled to his feet, vision swimming as he did so. He stumbled once he got fully upright, but got his balance back quickly. He blinked away the dark dots that danced around his vision.
"MUMBO! ARE YOU OKAY?" Mumbo whipped his head around to see Tango and Cleo running towards him, both with very concerned looks on their faces .
"Y-yeah. Ehm, could you guys help me move them to the infirmary?" Mumbo motioned to the creeper-like-thing, and watched as the two's faces shifted from concern to fear.
"What happened?" Tango asked, going over to the feet of the bipedal creature as Cleo went near the head.
"I got too close. I'm going to try to save them. They... didn't seem like a full creeper..." Mumbo replied, looking away from the three and into the forest. Gosh, it was getting really tricky to stop himself from swaying.
"Well- oof, heavy-" Cleo said, letting out a huff of air as them and Tango lifted the motionless creeper as carefully as they could, "-If anyone can help, I'm sure its you!"
With that, the group started the short walk over to the infirmary, which had Mumbo gasping for air by the end of the journey . His arms shook as the other two laid the creeper out onto one of the beds. How could I possibly help? I don't have any experience in this, and I can barely keep myself upright?
Mumbo walked closer to the bed, setting a hand on the edge to steady himself. His anxiety increased with every breath he took, and so did his own pain. Cleo and Tango were awkwardly standing near the door, and Mumbo turned to them, putting on the bravest face he could muster.
"Can you go get Xisuma? Please?" Mumbo almost wheezed out. The two nodded, rushing out of the room. Right, when he gets here, I'll heal myself. For now, I have to stabilize them.
Mumbo turned his attention back to the bleeding-out creeper, frowning. He remembered basic creeper potion recipes, but this creeper was definitely mutated. Mumbo let out a painful breath, hopping over to the newly-stocked elixir storage/making section of the building that the group added recently.
He had barely grabbed a bowl when Xisuma practically kicked down the door, gasping for breath from behind his mask. This caused Mumbo to draw in a panicked and painful breath, stumble, and nearly fall.
"What happened? Oh Void- Mumbo you- What can I do to help?" Xisuma word-vomited, rushing over to Mumbo to help steady the man.
"Can- can you make me a potion for myself? Remember a month ago when you had me teach you a basic healing potion? Just one of those would be perfect !" Mumbo struggled out, he definitely had a broken rib from the explosion.
He was really glad that Xisuma had insisted on learning at least the basics, even though Mumbo was a pants teacher, at least he had another set of hands. Even though the extra set of hands can only make weak mixtures, it's still better than nothing.
Xisuma looked hesitant but went to grab another bowl, getting ingredients set up for the 'heal-all holy-grail hail-mary' tonic that Mumbo taught him how to make. It would not heal more than half of his wounds, but it would definitely help Mumbo go from pain to functional.
Mumbo himself was focused on remembering the potion ingredients for the creeper-specific mix. Sure, a regular potion might work, but specialized potions were way more effective. He knew they required some gunpowder, sugar, water, and mushrooms, but he couldn't remember if there was anything else.
He steadied his shaking hands, deciding to just make the potion to the best of his abilities. He'd just test it before administering it. Great idea! Mumbo clumsily grabbed some sugar and two mushrooms, mashing and mixing them with a spoon he had whittled a while ago.
Mumbo was just about to pour in some water when Xisuma slid another bowl over to him. It smelled of wayyyy too much sugar, but that was how it was meant to smell. This was usually made when you don't have time or resources, so the lack of complex ingredients was perfect for beginners to potion brewing.
Mumbo grabbed the bowl, and downed it in one go, frowning at the overpowering taste of sugar, with a hint of mushrooms. yuck. The taste was kind of worth it though, because Mumbo felt the knots in his chest loosen, letting out a sigh of relief.
"Thank you, that's exactly what I needed. Can you maybe run and grab some gunpowder from either community storage, or just like a handful from the crater?" Xisuma nodded, and his shoulders sagged a little with relief, running out of the building.
Mumbo turned his attention back to his potion, adding some water to his concoction. He combined it all, and by the time it was fully a slimy liquid, Xisuma busted through the doors again, gunpowder in hand. He rushed over to Mumbo, who motioned to just drop it in the bowl .
By the time Mumbo was done with his creation, the creeper-thing was waking up. Mumbo could tell this, because the thing was letting out sharp, shallow breaths, and whimpering. Mumbo looked over at Xisuma, who was cleaning up the supplies that he messed up. Good.
Mumbo dipped his spoon into his mixture, and brought it to his mouth, testing it out. When he didn't suffer any immediate symptoms, he hurried over to the bedside of the creature, ready to basically waterboard the thing with healing.
"...stoppen..." (stop)