The Turf War Twisted

Tag 2: Electric Boogaloo

*back to the present*

"So, what kind of tag are you conjuring up this time?" Etho asked, leaning back casually in his chair and fiddling with his pickaxe.

"Oh yeah, I do recall last season's game of Tag," Impulse added, smirking with his words. "Your game got real popular, G."

Grian put his elbows on the table, propping his head up on his hands in thought. "I know, but I want it to be different this time. I gotta put a new twist on it somehow." He bobbed his head side to side, staring down at the table like he was mesmerised.

Grian thought and thought for ten minutes. In which time Impulse and Etho "pew-pew"'ed each other with finger guns. Grian's random ideas seemed to pop in and out of his head. He shook his head at all the ideas he thought were a bust, and it was a bit entertaining for Etho and Impulse to watch his thought process while fake battling each other. After that ten minutes, Grian lifted up his head quickly, the sudden movement spooking his fellow Resistance members. Grian's eyes widened and he gasped quietly. He smirked, looking side to side at Impulse and Etho.

Etho smiled. "Ah, looks like our little cod boy has an idea."

Grian squinted his eyes slightly, glancing over at Etho. "Don't disrespect Timmy like that," he said in a tone that was somehow serious and sarcastic at the same time. The group all chuckled at the remark.

"Well, what have you got?" Impulse asked, clearly excited for Grian's new iteration of Tag.

With a smile, Grian seemed to dash across the Resistance headquarters. He rolled in a whiteboard that was already filled with writing, arrows, and weird drawings of Mumbo on it. He quickly erased the board, almost so fast that the others didn't see him do it.

Etho raised an eyebrow at him. "Where did you even get that whiteboard from? I've never seen one in these headquarters before."

Grian shrugged as he uncapped a marker. "Don't worry about it." Grian started writing out his plans. His writing seemed like small, spontaneous bursts of energy. It seemed like he was just writing it as he remembered it. The two watching could obviously tell he was excited because he was writing in all capital letters.

When he finished the board was covered. The top read: TAG 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO (PLS USE FULL NAME) and took up a good portion of the board. In the top left corner, under the title was a quickly drawn picture of a lopsided cube with an equal sign leading to the words "PRIZE $$" Right under that was "NAME TO ENTER!" Under that was weirdly diagonal writing of "50 pts = WINNER!" with 'winner' in bigger writing than the rest. To the right of all that, under the title as well, was a rough sketch of a nametag with "TAG 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO" on it. To the side of the tag was "1hr = 1pt" and under that was "GET BY ANY MEANS NESESSARY!"

After finishing, Grian stood to the side of the board, quickly putting the cap back on the marker and smiling at Impulse and Etho. "Soooo," Grian said in a cheery tone. "Whaddya think?"

There was a brief moment of silence before Etho and Impulse started bursting into laughter. Impulse was leaning over the table, pounding his fist on it as he wheezed. Etho put his hand on his mask, snickering into it while holding his stomach. Grian's jaw dropped, still smiling as he did it. "How dare?!" he exclaimed sarcastically, putting his hands on his hips like a disapproving mother.

Etho caught his breath, looking up at Grian almost on the brink of tears from laughing. "What is that even supposed to be?!" He pointed at the lopsided cube, trying to hold himself together.

"It's a diamond block! That's what you use to enter the game and the prize at the end is everyone's diamonds!" Grian was almost laughing with them. It was pretty funny to see them react like this.

Impulse sputtered before leaning back into his chair. He gestured to the board. "Tha-" He could barely get his words out with how breathless he was. "That's not even how you spell necessary. It's n-e-c-e-s-s-a-r-y." He spelled it out pretty well with only the occasional chuckle before going back into a laughing fit.

"Ah! You're right." Grian scurried over to the right side of the board, smudging out the 'S' he'd written and replacing it with a 'C'. He put the cap back on the marker again before standing up confidently again, putting his fists back on his hips. "Okay, enough with the giggling," he said in a less-than-serious tone. "I need feedback on this."

"Okay, okay." Impulse flopped down, resting his head on the table and looking up at the whiteboard. "Give us your presentation, G."

Etho stopped his laughing as well, leaning back into his chair and putting his hands behind his head as a makeshift pillow.

"Yeah, okay," Grian started, lifting up the marker to point at different aspects of the board. He pointed towards the middle right of the board. "The aim of the game is to hold the Tag for as many hours as possible. One hour equals one point." He pointed the marker towards the bottom left of the board, then to the top left. "The first to 50 points wins all  the diamonds." He moved his point back to the right, more towards the bottom. "You can get the Tag by any means necessary-"

He was cut off by Impulse, who chuckled and said, "Spelled the right way this time."

Grian rolled his eyes with a smile. "Yeah, yeah," he responded before continuing his explanation. "So, you can get the Tag by PVP, trickery, bribing, traps, selling, etcetera." Then he pointed back at his diamond block drawing and tapped the board loudly. "And you rename a diamond block to enter."

Throughout his whole explanation, he could see Impulse and Etho raise their eyebrows and widening their eyes in interest. Grian raised his eyebrows back right at the end, a way of asking "Thoughts?" with his face.

Etho slapped his hand down on the table. "Grian, you madman," he said in an enthusiastic voice. "You've done it again."

"No kidding," Impulse chimed in, lifting his head up off the table and resting it in his hand. "We did laugh at it earlier because of the setup and weird drawings, but all-round, Tag 2: Electric Boogaloo it is a good concept."

Grian looked over at Impulse and raised an eyebrow. "You sound surprised? Did you doubt my Tag 2: Electric Boogaloo abilities?" he asked, not sounding like he was offended but as more of a playful question. 

Impulse chuckled briefly, smiling. "Eh, I guess I was just a bit sceptical when I saw the drawings and that you don't even know how to spell 'necessary'."

Grian crossed his arms sassily. "I know how to spell just fine, than you very much."

Impulse sat up, raising his arms in mock defeat, smiling even wider than before. "I believe you, G, I believe you."

"What are you gonna do about the HEP?" Etho asked, running a hand through his hair and fluffing it up more. "I hate to make our time off about the Turf War again, but you know they'll take this opportunity to get us."

Grian pulled out his chair, spinning it around so he could rest his arms on the backrest. He put his head down on his arms, tilting his head to his right. "Don't worry about it. That's one of the things I didn't write down on the plan, but it will be implemented. Anyone participating in Tag 2: Electric Boogaloo is at a war truce. They'll lose the chance at the prize money if they break the rules, and I doubt they'd take those chances.

"It's still risky," Impulse stated uncertainly. "But I think it'll be fun."

"I'll be sending the announcement out soon." Grian grinned as he spoke and it only grew larger with every word. "For now, I'd prepare yourselves." The three of them all shared shifty glances, all with smiles on their faces. Grian stood up, stepping onto the table. He tipped an imaginary hat at his friends before deploying his elytra and flying back up out of the hatch.

"His exits are always so dramatic." Impulse chuckled.

"Yeah, I expect nothing less from Grian."

(word count: 1385 words)