Chapter Text
The day was nice. He had finished some construction work and was leading a mushroom cow outside his main building. The poor cow had gotten lost inside by accident. He loves them, but it's not good for them if they were inside. Afterall they are animals who need access to the outside, eat fresh grass and just be in the fresh air.
With wheat in the hand, he was leading the cow towards the entry of the building. Back turned to the door, making sure that the cow was following him. Suddenly he heard fall damage behind him. Not one, not two, but three. Turning around, he saw four people.
It looks like only one managed to land properly.
He didn't know these people, but he had heard about them. Boosfer, Krier and Dev. The fourth was invisible.
"Hello?"
The trio was known for causing trouble and the latest intel he heard about them confirmed it. Please don’t tell him they were here for trouble.
"Oh, my dear friend Branzy. How are you?"
Boosfer stepped forward. The other two just went to look around his building.
"I'm good. How are you?"
"It could be better."
"Okay."
...
...
"Ehm, do you need something?"
"What, can't I not just visit my dear friend?"
"This is the first time we are talking to each other...so I wouldn't say that we are friends."
"Don't worry. We will be friends after today."
Oh, he didn't like the sound of that. He wasn't stupid not to notice how they acted. They weren't up to no good and whatever they were doing was involving him.
"Yo, is this your cow?", Dev asked.
"Yeah, well everything on this island is mine. The cows just lived here before I came, and we live together now."
"Cool, cool."
Krier and Dev came back from looking around and were now surrounding him. A small little circle around him. That definitely didn't make him feel uncomfortable. Looking around, he noticed the fourth one was missing. Did he go deeper into the building? It felt like they were checking if anyone else was here.
"Soo, we wanted to talk to you about something. You have time, right?”
"Yeah...I wasn't doing anything really."
He looked back at Boosfer. All four of them were wearing netherite armor.
"You see, I heard that you were friends with Clownpierce."
"I wouldn't say friends, but I know him."
"Really? Because I heard what happened when Parrot took you. Seemed a bit of a strong reaction, if you two only knew each other. No?"
Oh no. This was about Clown. What did he do now. Was he about to be kidnapped again. Threatened or killed? The last time wasn't so nice.
"Ehm, yeah, we are bit closer than normal."
"We have a problem with ClownPierce."
Please someone save him. He's about to be in big trouble because of a certain Clown.
Branzy nodded as a sign for Boosfer to continue.
"We had some slight disagreements with each other. I needed something, an item, from him and he blew up our base. A bit unfair, wouldn't you say?"
"It's Clown. If it's his, then he doesn't need it to give it to you."
Boosfer’s smile faltered for a second, before it returned. The air was filled with tension and the mood shifted.
"Listen, we are the treasure hunters and we really, really need that item."
It was the first time he heard the name "treasure hunters" and honestly, that name sounded lame.
"Okay."
Dev stepped forward into his view.
"And you're going to help us get that item."
What?
"What?"
Krier joined in.
"You are friends with Clown and Clown is being difficult. You can talk to him about it."
"I don't think you understand. Clown doesn't listen to me."
That was true. Sure, Clown was nice to him, but there was a time, where he was threatened and almost killed by said Clown. Just because Clown checks up with him every now and then, didn't mean he would listen to him. He was just some guy living on a mushroom island. What's he going to do. Talk to the deadliest player into giving up his items for a group of overconfident people?
Absolutely not.
"I'm sorry, but I can't help you with that."
"Oh no Branzy, I think you don't understand. You can and will help us. Clown doesn't need to listen to you. He just needs to listen to our demands."
Oh!
...
Oh...
He's about to be abducted and held as leverage, isn't he?
Boosfer dropped his friendly demeanor, and Branzy could tell that the other two stopped pretending to be dumb.
"Clown wouldn't choose an item over his dear friend, would he?", Boosfer asked.
"I-I just don't think this is a good idea."
"No, no, I think this is an excellent idea."
All four of them pulled out their weapons. Well, looks like it was going to be another round of being kidnapped. Maybe, this time they will be nicer than Parrot.
"Wowow, how about we leave the weapons in our pockets. I'm sure we could just talk about it?"
The cow he was once leading had walked themselves over to the door. It was almost out, but before it crossed the door, Boosfer turned around and killed it.
"Noo! She didn't do anything!"
"Oh? Was that cow your companion? My bad."
That… was such a bad performance. Boosfer didn't mean a thing he said.
"So, let's go. We have things to do."
Krier hit him and that was his signal to walk with them out.
"I-I uhm don't want to go with you. I kinda have somethings to do and-"
He wasn't able to finish his sentence, before Boosfer turned around and started to crit him out.
"Wait! Wait! Stop! I'm sorry!"
Boosfer didn't immediately stop, but after three more hits and shooting an arrow at a cow, he stopped. Said cow sadly died.
Quickly he ate a golden apple to regen faster. He was down to five hearts.
"Can we continue our journey?", Boosfer asked, smiling as if he won.
"I-uh- yes we can. I'm not that busy."
Soon they equipped their elytras and flew away from the island.
The flight was long, but eventually they arrived at a tall, office looking building, in the middle of an ocean. It gave slight flashbacks to last time he was "kidnapped". Not a great experience.
Boosfer walked through the entrance followed by Krier and Dev, the invisible one stayed behind with Branzy.
"Come, come. We don't want to be outside."
With not much of a choice, he walked inside. It was enormous. There were many rooms and even an elevator up. One thing was for sure, to build this, someone had to have many resources.
Instead of taking the elevator upstairs, Krier pressed a hidden button and a stair case leading down appeared.
Following the stairs down, they ended up in a basement. Branzy looked around nervously. Why does he always end up underground, when he was abducted. Could they not choose another place to held him captive?
"Give us all you armor, pearls, weapons that you have.", Boosfer demanded," and everything else."
"I...is that necessary?"
His question was answered, when Krier hit him with his sword. Reluctantly he gave them everything he had, excluding his totems and golden carrots.
Once his items were stored away by Dev, Krier opened another secret passage. It was blocked by an obsidian block in the middle of the room.
When he didn't move immediately, the invisible player attacked him, making him pop a totem.
"Okay, okay, I'm going."
The setting was all too familiar to him. A small, semi-round room with a cell in the middle. Already guessing that he would have to go in there, he walked towards it.
"Just before I go talk with Clown, are you sure you don't want to try talking to Clown about giving us the item?"
"Boosfer, I could try, but Clown wouldn't give you the item."
"Ahh, why make this so difficult."
Without a warning, Dev popped another totem of his. Before he could say anything, Krier did the same thing.
"Stop, please stop. You don't have to do this."
They did stop, but didn't reply. He hated this so much.
Thanks to Clown, he had a lot of totems, but having already popped three out of seven, didn't reassure him. When Parrot and his group took him, they almost popped all of his totems and back then, he had carried more of them on him. The way Boosfer and his buddy’s acted, he wasn't sure if the last four totems would be enough...
"Since you are unwilling to help us, we will go talk with Clown and see if he's willing to save his lovely friend. In the meantime, you will stay back with them."
Boosfer nodded at the invisible player.
"Don't message anyone. If we get a hint of you doing that, we will kill you. Got that?"
"Yep, no messaging anyone. Got it."
"Just to be sure, how many totems do you have?", Dev asked.
He hesitated, but when he saw Dev pulling out his sword, he immediately told them. The three of them looked at each other, before Dev jumped him and making him pop a totem.
"What!"
Krier did the same thing.
"Okay, hold on!"
The invisible popped his totem as well.
"Wait, wait! What are you do-"
His last totem was popped by Boosfer.
"Ow ow ow! Stop that!"
A fifth attack never came. Branzy's back was touching the wall. Somehow, he backed up into a corner.
Did they just do that, so he wouldn't have any totems? Whats wrong with them.
The invisible player stepped forward and ushered him into the cage. As he was being locked up, Boosfer and his two lackeys left the room.
"Soo...are those three now going to talk with Clown?"
He didn't get a response.
"Do you come here often?"
...
...
...
"Okay, guess you don't want to talk."
...
"Nor do you want me to talk?"
A quick nod.
"Okay. We are just going to be silent, until Boosfer tells you to kill me or to let me go. Got it. That's great. I-uh just going to shut up now and hope you don't kill me. Yep."
Hours passed. He had long lost track of time, but it felt like an eternity. With no windows to tell him how much time passed and the deafening silence in the room, he had gotten pretty angsty. Afterall, his life was depending on Clown’s decision.
In the small cage was not much he could do. No walking around, no lying down, nothing. The longer he was inside, the more nervous he got. The cage also seemed to get smaller and smaller the more time passes.
Oh, how much he just wants to go back to his island.
Suddenly the invisible player turned around, facing him for the first time since he was put into the cage.
Two iron bars were broken. They pulled out their netherite sword. Branzy held his breath. He stared at the invisible player, mentally preparing himself for the inventible.
Seconds passed, but nothing happened, yet he was too afraid to ask anything. No one moved, until the person in front of him stepped out of the way. Branzy could walk out of the cage.
"Ehm...does that mean I can go?"
A nod.
Okay. Cool.
Without wasting a second, Branzy left the cage and walked towards the exit, invisible player following. He was escorted up to the office. Once there, the invinsible person equipped their elytra and flew away, leaving Branzy all alone.
Not sure what to do, Branzy looked around the building. He had no elytra nor an ender chest on him, so he couldn't leave. The way he knows Clown, he had already sent someone to check up on him. All he could do was wait. Eventually someone would show up for him.
Night began and Branzy took shelter inside. Luckly the place was lit up nicely, so he would have to worry about any monsters attacking him.
Not long after he went exploring, a person in netherite armor appeared. He didn't know his name but had seen the person before at Clown's place. On of his guards finally arrived.
"Branzy, are you alright?"
"Yeah, I am. I just don't have any items..."
"I have a spare elytra in my ender chest. I can give it to you."
"That would be great."
The guard placed down his ender chest and gave him an elytra and some fireworks as well as some food. As Branzy was about to say goodbye, he was stopped by the guard. He explained that Clown ordered him to take him back to his castle.
That's how he found himself in the nether. He couldn't really say no to the guard and after all, Clown was the reason why he was out of that cage in the first place. Also, it had been a while since they last talked to each other in person.
Arriving at the castle, he was led to the main room. Sitting on the throne was Clown and next to him, standing guard, was Ferre.
Ferre gave a nod to the guard next to him and the guard left the room. Now it was just him, Ferre and Clown.
"Hello Branzycraft."
"Hello ClownPierce."
"How have you been?"
"Good, if we ignore the whole getting kidnapped thing. I build a new building on my island and construction had been going well."
Clown nodded.
"You really like getting kidnapped."
And who's fault was that.
"It's not voluntary. I don't really have a say in that and most of the times it's your fault."
"What did I do?"
"You keep getting in fights with people, that use me as way to get to you."
"You wound me. Is this how you say thank you to the person, that saved you?"
Clown had a point. Sure, the whole reason he got kidnapped had to do with Clown, but it's not like Clown was in control of these people. And every time he does get kidnapped, Clown always makes sure, that he was safe and gives him new equipment. Like, all those totems he had, were given to him by Clown.
"Thank you for not letting me die, Clown."
A small smile appeared on Clowns face. At least he found the entire situation amusing.
"Soo, did you give Boosfer the item?"
"And why would I do that?"
"Then how did you get me out if you didn't- never mind I don't even want to know. The less I know the better."
Clown chuckled. He really was enjoying this, wasn't he.
"Did they hurt you?"
Friendliness left his voice and was replaced with his usual serious tone. Even Ferre tensed, the relaxing posture immediately disappeared.
"Well..ehm, they killed some of my cows?"
No response besides a soul-piercing stare.
"And maybe popped all of my seven totems...?"
"Did they now."
Oh, they were screwed. He could already see how Clow was planning their demise.
"How about you tell exactly what they did, while I restock you with items."
With that, they left the main room and headed over to the storage unit. On the way Branzy was "kindly" asked to tell Clown everything. He didn't mind, actually he really missed talking to Clown. Maybe, just maybe once he gave Clown the complete run down, he could talk with him about other things, for example his cows or his current projects. Afterall they were close.