Empires SMP oneshots

The wizard of the empires

           "Oh," Shrub said. She hesitated. "Do you like being a living scarecrow?" "Yeah, it's not bad," Pearl said. "I just want two things. One, getting down from this pole." Shrub and Moon carefully untied the ropes that held Pearl to the pole and helped her down. Pearl started to stretch a little and walked around, then ran around. She looked really happy. 

           "Thanks, Shrub and Moon!" Pearl grinned. "What's the second thing you want? You said you wanted two things," Shrub asked. "A brain," Pearl said. "The king didn't have much of a brain himself and he forgot to give me one. I'm not that smart." Shrub thought for a second, then explained the quest the wizard had given her. "Maybe if you help me, the wizard will reward you by giving you a brain," Shrub said. "Not a bad idea," Pearl mused. 

           So the three of them continued on their merry way down the red road of corruption. "Why do you want to head home if it's this corrupted?" Pearl asked one day. "It's worse than this," Shrub sighed. "Then why do you want to go back?" Pearl asked again. "It's not the place; it's my family," Shrub explained. "See, I'm worried I'm the only one who escaped and that they might be in trouble." "Oh," Pearl said softly, and she never brought up the subject again. 

           Eventually they found themselves in a sparsely wooded forest, with the ground strewn with ponds full of salmon and weird half-finished machinery. Then the three of them saw what looked like a rusted metal statue depicting a man feeding the salmon in a pond. They thought it mildly interesting and were about to go on their way, but Moon sniffed it madly. Then she barked. "Moon, what is it?" Shrub asked. Then she took a careful look at the statue. It blinked. "It's alive!" Shrub screamed. 

           Pearl tapped the statue awkwardly. The statue made to say something and point to something, but the rusted joints made it impossible to move. But Pearl soon found what the statue wanted: a can of oil. She carefully oiled its joints and soon the statue could move again. "Thanks for that," He said. "Oh, I'm fWhip. What's your name?" "That's Pearl, I'm Shrub, and this is Moon," Shrub said, pointing. 

           fWhip smiled. "Well, this is an interesting menagerie," He said. "You're interesting too," Pearl said. "You're a metal statue." "Yeah, I decided to study salmon and machinery and this happened," fWhip said. "It's not bad, I just want a heart again." "You don't have one?" Shrub asked. fWhip shook his head sadly. "I think I lost it." Then Shrub told him about the wizard and that maybe she could give him a heart if he helped defeat the demon. "Well, count me in!" fWhip said. 

           So the trio became a quartet, and they continued following the red road of corruption, which got bigger and thicker and more corrupted the further west they went. "Probably because the demon lives there and his power is stronger," Pearl said. "Good point," fWhip said. "You're smart." Pearl seemed to blush. "No, I'm not," She said. "I need a brain to be smart." 

           Sooner or later Shrub found herself in the jungle again, although now that she was on the red road, she didn't get lost this time. Then a lion jumped out of the thick foliage and roared at them, preparing to strike. Shrub screamed, fWhip jumped back in surprise, Pearl just stared, and Moon pounced on the lion. The lion yelped in fear and scrambled away. 

           "Call off your wolf!" He shouted fearfully. "Moon!" Shrub said, and Moon trotted back to her. The lion got up and they realized it wasn't a lion at all, just a man in a lion skin. "Why'd you attack us?" Pearl asked semi-angrily. "To prove I wasn't a coward," The 'lion' said, backing away a bit. "Well, you are if you're scared of a dog," fWhip said. "Wolf," The rest of them corrected. 

           The 'lion' started to cry a little when fWhip called him a coward. "Sorry," He sniffed, wiping his tears away, "It's just that I'm supposed to be the king of the jungle even though I'm human and my subjects aren't and they think I'm cowardly. And I'm a terrible leader if I'm cowardly. I wish I had bravery." Shrub found herself comforting him. "Hey, it's okay," She said soothingly.