Unrecognizable

~Chapter Twelve~

Hm.....

Or perhaps he didn't.

Because Mumbo knew of one Hermit whom, if he ever needed anything, he just had to call. 

About fifteen minutes later, Mumbo was explaining his dilemma to XisumaVoid, whom had come right as soon as Mumbo had whispered, just as he had expected-- and hoped. The admin crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "So you want me to activate the machine... with you in it. Have I got that right?"

Mumbo nodded eagerly. "Yup! I've got it all set up. I'll even talk you through it. I just need someone on the outside of the machine to actually work the code." The redstoner was very excited for this; this might be one of his biggest projects yet, or the one he was most proud of, anyway.

Of course, he loved Grumbot as well, but that redstoning had only taken a few days, and was, quite honestly, rather rudimentary. This, on the other hand, was made over the timespan of an entire month, with each little detail excruciatingly precise, the redstoner having made sure to not mess up a single line of code. Creating one robot was one thing; creating a machine that could do the same an infinite amount of times over was another entirely. Mumbo couldn't screw this up, not even a little. Not when his and the other Hermits' countless lives were on the-- admittedly quite scribbly-- line.

Xisuma was silent for a moment, before suggesting, "Why don't you just teach me how to do it instead? Just show me how to do it a few times just so I can get the hang of it. And of course we can make sure this really is working." Mumbo couldn't help but be just the slightest bit hurt that X worried that Mumbo's machine didn't work, bit it was quickly dispelled as he thought about X's proposal. Now that he thought about it, it was a good idea to have X know exactly what he was doing first, before he did it on his own. 

The brit nodded. "Yeah, let's do that." 

For the next hour, the two went through the process, cloning apple after apple after apple until X could do it on his own. At long last, the two were ready. Mumbo was practically bouncing out of his skin in a mix of excitement and nervous energy. Anticipation, he decided it was. Suddenly, the little cell he had intended to stroll calmly into was seeming very small and very trappable. Mumbo had been working towards this for a full month, but now that the time had finally come he was a bit nervous to actually do it. That seemed to happen a lot, didn't it?

As Mumbo stood, staring into the cell, X piped up from beside him. "Well, Mumbo, I think I could do this in my sleep. Are you ready?" The brit hastily nodded, not saying anything for slight concern of betraying his nervousness. He was about to step in the cell when X suddenly grabbed his arm. "Oh, Mumbo, wait. Give me your communicator; I don't know how it'd react to this machine."

Mumbo was confused. It was just a little thing-- surely it'd be fine in it? But X was probably right-- he usually was about these types of things. So Mumbo unfastened his band and handed it to the admin. And with that, he stepped into the cell. X, smiling, closed the door as Mumbo turned back around to face him. Was the cell always this small? The tall Hermit's hair brushed the top of the cell, and he began to feel mildly claustrophobic. Was this such a good idea? Now that he thought about it, maybe it wasn't...

How long had it been since he got in here? Peeking out, Xisuma was typing furiously. Had he messed up? Was something wrong? Why was this taking so long? "Hey, X," he called out, unsure if his friend could hear him through the clear glass-like material that made up the cell door. "Are you good? Do you need help?"

Apparently the door did not restrict sound as much as Mumbo had thought, as the bee-suited admin poked his head over. "Oh, I'm fine, just taking a bit longer than usual. Almost ready!" Mumbo could hear X surprisingly well for being separated by a solid wall. It was hardly muffled at all. Almost ready. He couldn't help but let out a nervous chuckle; all of his reservations about this came flooding back tenfold.