MindCrack Adventures

Prank Wars - The Forest and the Axe

 “I'm gonna prank the pigderp. I'm gonna prank the pigderp,” Vechs sang happily as he skipped down the tunnel. The plan was perfect: Go out to Zisteau's Arcology and 'remind' him of some of their good times together.

~~~

 “It's going to be perfect. A real walk down memory lane,” Zisteau muttered as he pulled supplies from a chest. Stacks of saplings and bonemeal, seven or eight pieces of flint, the same number of iron ingots. Filling the remainder of the sack with torch supplies, Zisteau chuckled to himself.

 “Oh yes. A truly legendary prank"

~~~

Vechs stepped through the portal and his breath caught in his throat. Looking at Zisteau's builds always seemed to do that to him. He shook his head to clear his thoughts.

 “Not right now, Vetches,” he told himself. “Focus right now. We've got a job to do." A grin spread over the man's face as he contemplated his plan. Then he started up to the main level of the Arcology.

~~~

 It was no short trip from Zisteau's base in the New Lands to Vechs' base on The Continent, but neither was it anywhere near as bad as travel on the Third MindCrack. And Vechs' base was worth the trip.

 The super hostile inventor had claimed a large portion to the south of Spawn Town and called it Dalania. A huge castle was in progress on the top of a snow-covered mountain, but Zisteau wasn't interested in the castle. Not this time. This time, it was the nearby plains that were his target.

 With a grin, he fingered an oak sapling. Oh yes, the plains would be perfect.

~~~

 Vechs stepped back to inspect the giant axe he had built on top of the Arcology, a reminder of the damage he had taken in the first day of the most recent UHC. Zisteau and Vechs had been partners and it hadn't taken long for the pair to derp up. Vechs hadn't seen Zisteau and Zisteau hadn't seen Vechs, but the axe had taken half of Vechs' 10 hearts.

 Red wool 'blood' dripped from the stone axe head, pooling on the white glass. Cackling, Vechs gripped a sign, considering where to put it.

 "I have to sign the prank," he said. "What to write? What to write?"

 "Woah! Careful!" Zisteau's voice echoed in Vechs' head and his grin widened.

 "Of course!" He placed the sign, muttering to himself as he spelled out the words. "'Whoah careful!' monument for Team Super Hostile by Vetchuseses."

 He looked at the remainder of his red wool. "Now," he said, "What to do with this?"

 Another echo of his pigderp's voice rang through his head. "Block up whole thing, block up whole thing."

 The evil grin returned. "Okay, Zisteau. Block up whole thing."

~~~

 Zisteau grinned at the redstone snaking out from the trapped chest as he made the last flint and steel. He put it into the dispenser over his head and backed out of the tunnel he had dug. Once out, he stared up at the trees he had planted earlier in the day. Although the sun was sinking westward, the torch grid he had laid down earlier meant that the forest wouldn't spawn too many problems for Vechs.

 "Hope you're a good sport about this one, buddy," Zisteau said as he placed a sign on the trapped chest. "A present to Vetches from Zisteau," he said slowly. "Just open the chest when you find it."

 The grin resurfaced as he thought about that day in the East Commons when Zisteau had burned down a similar forest. Probably not what Vechs had intended, but good times for all.

 With another glance at the sky, now completely dark, Zisteau returned to Vechs' portal room and stepped through into the nether. It was time to go home. Hopefully, Vechs would find his new present shortly and they could have a good laugh over it. Even if it took a little while, that would be fine.

~~~

 Vechs slipped out of the portal into his base, still grinning like an idiot. The smile vanished as he saw what had become of his portal room. The walls were the same blank stone and the three prongs of red carpet still left the portal and joined, tracing their way out of the room into the rest of Vechs' underground lair.

 The torches were definitely new, though. Every single block that wasn't already covered by carpet had a torch.

 "What?" Vechs asked. "What? Zisteau, did you do this?" He ran through the base, all of it the same as his portal room. If a block didn't have a carpet and wasn't a half slab, someone had run through and put a torch on it. his storage room, the farms, the portal room, the intersections, and all the hallways.

~~~

 Zisteau stepped out of his portal and started laughing. He tossed an enderpearl to the top of the Arcology and moved over to inspect the giant, bloody axe. Reading the sign, he found himself laughing harder.

 "It wasn't my fault, Vechs," he gasped. Then he turned to his ender-accender and peered down. The whole thing was blocked with red wool. "Nice. Well, that's going to have to go," he said, turning back to the axe, "But I like this. I'm going to keep this for a while."

~~~

 "Ah, Pigderp, I love it!" Vechs cried, running through the trees in his once-plains territory. The chest caught his attention and he hurried over.

 "Is this a trapped chest?" he asked, peering over the top of the sign. "It is! It is a trapped chest. Zisteau! Now what is this going to do?" He dug down and followed the lines of redstone to the flint and steeled dispensers.

 "Ah ha. So if I open the chest, the forest gets set on fire. I bet that's a stick in the chest, too," Vechs muttered to himself as he removed the last dispenser. He returned to the chest and opened it. Inside was a stick.

 "Yes! Called it! I'm gonna keep the forest for a while, though. I really like it."