KreekCraft shoots out of his bed, heart still pumping, still breathing rapidly, body still recovering from the after effects of the fight. It hurts his chest, but slowly, he brings his breathing back to a regular place to breathe and register what just happened.
...BigB just killed him. He was the boogeyman, and he just killed him.
God dammit.
It takes most of Kreek's willpower to not punch the wall beside him in the rage that suddenly builds up, instead grabbing the pillow behind him and screaming into it until he's breathless again.
How dare he! They had been so nice as to let his team use their enchanting table, and as a thanks, he ends up getting killed! He was thinking about letting BigB and Pink use the enchanting table for free later to enchant their armour, maybe make an alliance between their teams, but now he's not so sure.
Worst of all, he's going to get mocked for this, and he doesn't like that fact. He can already hear their laughter and taunts. The inevitable teasing that comes with being killed by 'the nicest guy on the server'. Someone's gonna say it's his fault, that he pissed someone off when he shouldn't have, when he didn't even do anything! He was just in front of him!
It makes him feel weak, and right now, he really doesn't like that.
(Enough of it and he might start sobbing into this pillow.)
Kreek sighs, puts the pillow down beside him, and pulls out his communicator.
~~~
<KreekCraft was slain by BigBSt4tz2>
<Tanqr> common kreekcraft L
<iAmSanna> OMG
<DenisDaily> I cannot believe that just happened.
<AshleyTheUnicorn> F
<LeahAshe> F
<LeahAshe> Guess it's not just me who has to watch their back, eh Kreek?
<Sketch> hey!!!
<AlbertFlamingo> RUDE
<KreekCraft> Wow, Leah.
<KreekCraft> Also, shut up Tanqr.
<Tanqr> no
<KreekCraft> I'm going to kill you one day
<Tanqr> try me
<MeganPlays> Was BigB the boogeyman?
<PinkLeaf> yep
<MeganPlays> Oof.
<BigBSt4tz2> yeah i was the boogey
<BigBSt4tz2> sorry kreek :(
<KreekCraft> Apology not accepted, how dare you.
<BigBSt4tz2> :(( we have diamonds for you!! for real
<PinkLeaf> i told him it was a bad idea!!!
<AshleyTheUnicorn> Wait a minute you actually died in the next hour
<AshleyTheUnicorn> I am a prophet????
<LeahAshe> Queen behaviour
<KreekCraft> I wish you weren't.
<AshleyTheUnicorn> That's fair
<DenisDaily> Kreek I'm bringing back your stuff
<KreekCraft> Thanks man.
~~~
Hyper had heard the ping from his communicator, but had ignored it in favour of enchanting his boots. Instead, he nodded to Tanqr, who'd heard the ping and pulled out his communicator instead. So when Hyper focused on pulling out his pickaxe, it startled him to hear Tanqr start cackling. Again.
"Tanqr, what's up?" He asks, stepping back in mild fear.
It takes Tanqr a second to try to explain, before he settles on showing his communicator to Hyper- well more like shoving it in front of him while suppressing even more laughter.
"Dude! Kreek just died to BigB of all people! BigB killed him!" Tanqr gets out, before laughing madly again.
But as Tanqr laughs in the background, Hyper feels a familiar dread settle into his stomach, as he grips his pickaxe harder. Because unlike the inexperienced Tanqr, Hyper knows exactly what this means. He'd yell at Tanqr to get him to shut up, but he'd rather not yell right now. Instead, he just faces Tanqr until he finally catches his breath back and wheezes.
"Oh, I'll totally be using this as teasing material later." Tanqr looks down at Hyper with a smile until realising that Hyper's clearly panicked about something. "Why the long face?"
"...Tanqr, shut up." Hyper hisses through clenched teeth, trying to be quiet, but clearly, Tanqr doesn't get the memo.
"Why? I know you're a 'be kind to everyone' guy, but Kreek's too easy to tease."
"No, that's not what I mean! If Kreek just died, that means..." Hyper whispers, looking around to make sure no one's listening. He can see Kreek's nametag through the walls, but he hasn't heard them yet, somehow. "Kreek's respawned here. In his bed. He's back in the base, while we're still in here."
Tanqr's face drops.
"Oh shoot."
~~~
Meanwhile, back at BigB and Pink's base, as soon as he registers Kreek's items scattering across the floor and the ping of his communicator, BigB drops his sword and puts his arms up. Relief surged through his veins at first, but now it's instant fear of what the others might do to him.
(At least it's not grief this time.)
"Done! Done! Okay! It's over! I did it!" He reassures no one in particular, whether that's himself or those around him. Well, clearly those around him needed that reassurance, as Sketch was still attacking him before stepping away.
"...You actually killed him. Wow." Pink says, looking between the items on the floor and at BigB. "I can't believe you just did that."
"Well, you get used to it, unfortunately." BigB sighs. "And the worst part is, you feel better after you do it for a split second, and then the truth of what you've just done hits you, and it all comes crumbling down."
"Why are you being philosophical right now?" Albert asks, surprisingly calm now despite the fact that he was begging for his life a few seconds earlier.
"Dunno." BigB chuckles a little, and the others laugh a little in response, before Denis speaks up. "Just felt like it was a fitting time."
"Kreek is...not going to be happy with you about this." Denis knows full well how Kreek's probably reacting to this. Rage.
"Yeah, I know." BigB looks over to Pink. "Uh...do you have the thing?"
Pink's face shifts from one of fear to one of suppressed annoyance.
"...The cookies?"
"Yes, the cookies." BigB confirms, leading to Pink groaning and pulling out some cookies wrapped in a bag from a chest with a note attached, passing them to BigB. Sketch seems to perk up at the mention of cookies.
"Cookies?"
"They're not for you, Sketch, they're for Kreek, as an apology for murdering him." BigB gives the cookie bag to Denis alongside the diamonds they were owed. "And here's the diamonds. Can I trust you to take these to Kreek?"
"Yeah, sure, I can. Actually..." Denis shoves the gifts into his inventory and picks up the important stuff from the floor - Kreek's sword, his armour, his tools, and some food. The rest he can't fit. "I'm gonna take Kreek's stuff back to him, because he'll probably be wanting them."
"Good idea, as always, Denis!" Albert says, doing finger guns. Denis chuckles before running out the door, seemingly being careful about where he steps.
BigB laughs a little about that to himself before turning back to the stuff on the ground.
"We should put all of these into a chest so it's easier for Kreek to come back to. Didn't really have much stuff, so it shouldn't be too difficult."
"Kreek likes to keep his inventory clean." Sketch shrugs, before poking BigB in the side.
"Ow."
"And then you, mister, owe us an explanation!"
"Of what?" BigB asks, confused."
"Of..." Sketch gestures with his hands to the blocked up with cobblestone hole, Kreek's things, the door. "...Everything."
"Oh. Right." BigB chuckles. "Yeah, I do owe you an explanation, don't I?"
~~~
Kreek had intended to get right off the bed and march to BigB and Pink's base to yell at them, but knowing Denis is bringing his things caused him to decide to wait and cool off first.
That and something punching him in the gut before he could.
He should've fought back. He was stupid, he got himself cornered, and if he hadn't, he would've been able to overpower BigB easily. BigB's not a fighter, his skill comes from residing in Minecraftia most of the time, so he's pretty sure he's on an even playing field with BigB. Hell, he knew that he was the boogeyman before he attacked him, so surely he should've at least had his sword out or been ready to fight! Really, that death was on him.
He hates it. He can hear that mocking chatter again, knowing full well it's his own fault. And now he's lost a life, and people will think he's an easy target- he's one step closer to losing, and he can't have that happen. He can't let his losing streak continue. He can't keep failing like this, he just can't!
Kreek knows he's spiralling. He finds himself sitting, hearing yelling in the back of his head, and assumes it's just his thoughts again. The sun gets in his eyes, but he doesn't move at all, just sitting there and scolding himself. How could he be so stupid?
(Well, there's one easy answer to that, isn't there?)
Pull yourself together, man. Kreek tells himself.
Kreek winces and pushes himself off the bed, snapping himself out of it just in time to see Denis enter through the door, holding Kreek's chestplate in hand.
"There you are! Huh, you look pretty calm." I wish, Denis. "Why are you on the floor?"
"...I punched the ground." Kreek lies through his teeth, leading to a laugh from Denis.
"That sounds like the Kreek I know." Denis runs up to him and shoves Kreek's stuff into his hands, which Kreek starts sorting out as soon as he can with a nervous laugh. Still, he's frazzled, so he looks up at Denis to let him know to do the talking. Denis gets the hint.
"Oh, uh. BigB apologises profusely for the whole murder thing."
Kreek rolls his eyes.
"I am aware of that fact, and I don't exactly forgive him!" He jokingly chides.
"Yeah, yeah. I was honestly expecting you to yell at him in chat."
"Cmon, Denis, I'm not that childish." Denis makes an affectionate murmur of doubt, and Kreek sighs. "Okay, maybe I am, but I have restraint."
"Well, BigB also told me to give you this." Denis holds out a bag of cookies, with diamonds and paper. "His apology gift."
Kreek takes the bag, pockets the diamonds (he'll put them in a chest later) and reads over the paper.
Sorry about killing you! Here's some cookies, and this paper also serves as a reminder of the IOU. Hope it's not too rough as a yellow life! - BigB
Kreek can't help but smile.
"That's sweet. I'll save that for later." He comments, leading to a chuckle from Denis.
"Share the cookies with us, will you? I think Sketch really wanted some."
"Only if he promises to not fool around when we're doing things!" Kreek jokes, and he and Denis both start laughing. It's genuine, and even if doubt's still poking him in the shoulder, he can forget about it temporarily.
"Yeah, sure, I'll tell him."
The two stand in understanding silence as Kreek finishes off putting his stuff together by putting his armour on.
"Where's some of the cobblestone I had on me?"
"Oh, I only took the important stuff. Your tools, armour, and that kinda thing. You'll need to go back to get the rest of your things, if you want them."
Kreek groans.
"Ugh, I can't be bothered." Kreek dramatically falls back onto the bed, hand to head and all. "I'm still too weak, Denis!"
"Well, I guess we'll just leave the rest of your stuff over by BigB and Pink's then." Denis teases, acting like a parent.
"Yeah, yeah, they can have the cobblestone, whatever. I'll just bribe Sketch to get another stack for me with the promise of a cookie."
"I can see Sketch falling for that."
The two of them start laughing again, and Kreek remembers why he's friends with these guys, even if they can get on his nerves sometimes.
And then there's the awkward silence as the two stare at each other, letting out small chuckles, while trying to figure out what to bring up next. As much as he's laughing, Kreek doesn't like it. Noise is better to block out his thoughts.
But sometimes, it's better to be quiet.
Denis watches Kreek suddenly stand up, face falling.
"You good?-" Denis starts to check in, but Kreek puts his finger up to his lips and shuts Denis up. He looks at Kreek in confusion as Kreek seems to be trying to focus on something.
"Can you hear that?" Kreek whispers, and Denis puts his hand behind his ear in order to try to listen.
From their enchanting room, is the sound of something breaking.
And Kreek realises the sounds of mocking laughter in his head...weren't.
~~~
"Tanqr, why did you break the enchanting table?! Let's just go!" Hyper whispers in utter confusion.
"I told you, it's funny! Plus it gives us a huge advanta-"
Tanqr is cut off by the yell of a very angry sounding KreekCraft.
"WHO'S THERE?!"
Hyper and Tanqr make eye contact, and both stay completely still, save for Hyper's trembling.
Next up, a yell from DenisDaily.
"Hey! We heard you! You can't hide from us forever~!" Well, it's clear he's annoyed, but still trying to joke about it.
"I think they're in the enchanting room!" Kreek yells. "We've got to go in there!"
Tanqr and Hyper both look down at the hole they dug, and then back up at each other.
"Get in." Tanqr hisses. Hyper doesn't hesitate, and Tanqr jumps in after him, blocking up the entrance to their hole just as Kreek and Denis bust in.
Hyper can feel his heart beating fast again. It's not as overpowering as it was yesterday, nothing could be worse than that, but it still causes him to sharply inhale. He's got to rein his nerves in. He and Tanqr both start sneaking, Tanqr still gripping the shrunken enchanting table - as they listen to Kreek and Denis from above.
Kreek and Denis, meanwhile, are standing in their now empty enchanting room in shock and rage.
"Whoever was in here took our enchanting table." Kreek gets out, anger barely concealed, though the flush in his cheeks gives it away. He's almost more angry about that than he was about BigB killing him.
(Though to be fair, this wasn't his own fault.)
"Yes, Kreek, I can see that fact." Denis responds, earning an elbow to the side.
"They must be still around here somewhere." Kreek reasons, looking around for a culprit. "Look for name tags, Denis."
"They're probably crouching." Denis remembers something. "Hey, wait, let me check the chat real quick-"
"Denis, this isn't the time! Someone was in our base! We don't know if they could've stolen anything!"
Denis starts aggressively scrolling up, and showing Kreek a message.
<Tanqr> i'm just gonna steal from you
"Tanqr literally mentioned stealing the enchanting table. It has to be him."
Kreek lets out an agonised sigh.
"Of course."
Meanwhile, underground, right underneath the two, Hyper resists the urge to scream and facepalm when Tanqr makes the most guilty face imaginable.
Hyper pulls out his communicator and types something into the chat, before pointing at it to tell Tanqr to check.
~~~
<DylanHyper whispered to Tanqr> Safest way to communicate is by here
<Tanqr whispered to DylanHyper> fair enouff
<DylanHyper whispered to Tanqr> I told you they'd realise we were here
<Tanqr whispered to DylanHyper> look admittedly i thought they'd forget about the whole threatening to steal from them thing
<DylanHyper whispered to Tanqr> YOU THOUGHT THEY'D FORGET??
<Tanqr whispered to DylanHyper> shut up okay i didn't know kreek would go and GET HIMSELF KILLED
<DylanHyper whispered to Tanqr> Okay well can we start moving?? I don't want to be stuck under here!
<Tanqr whispered to DylanHyper> its not safe they'll hear our footsteps
<Tanqr whispered to DylanHyper> we need to wait until they move
<DylanHyper whispered to Tanqr> You're joking
~~~
Kreek and Denis are currently staring at the floor. They can still hear noises from under there, but no noises of footsteps, so no sounds of movement.
"Can you text Sketch and Albert to get over here? I think we might need backup." Denis wordlessly obliges, typing something into chat before looking at the ground again.
"Are they still under there?" Denis asks, unaware that Hyper shakes his head aggressively in response as if trying to psychically manipulate his thoughts from about 5 blocks below him.
"Of course. They're so close that I honestly think I can see them."
"He says, with his terrible eyesight."
"Denis, look at my bespectacled face and tell me that again."
"Right. To be fair, I get the same feeling - wait.!" Denis puts his head to the ground and listens again. "I hear typing, and Tanqr's not typing in chat, which means there's two of them. Who the hell did Tanqr drag into his nonsense?"
(Cue Hyper gulping, knowing full well he's been heard.)
"Don't know, but I'll deal with whoever they are after." And Kreek really doesn't, right now he's not got the emotional capacity to separate involvement and intent. He stomps on the ground a bit, in order to get the duo's attention. "HEY! We know you're under there! What do you think you're doing?!"
Under the surface, Tanqr looks at Hyper like he's about to strangle someone, and Hyper has to stop himself from screaming. (Again.)
~~~
<Tanqr whispered to DylanHyper> you said that if we crouch they can't see our nametags.
<DylanHyper whispered to Tanqr> THEY SHHOULDN'T BE ABLE TO THEYY CAN JUST HEAR US BECAUSE THEY ARE 5. BLOCKS.. ABOVEUS.
<Tanqr whispered to DylanHyper> same difference
<Tanqr whispered to DylanHyper> also stop making typos
<DylanHyper whispered to Tanqr> EASY FOR YOU TO SAY YOU'RE NOT TREMBLING LIKE A
<DylanHyper whispered to Tanqr> I CAN'TT THINK OF A COMPARISON
~~~
Hyper and Tanqr look at each other awkwardly and deal with the sounds of yelling above them, as they wordlessly try to figure out a plan of what to do next.
This went extremely well, didn't it? Hyper thinks. I knew this was a bad idea...
~~~
Meanwhile, BigB has been chatting away with Sketch and Albert, explaining everything that he and Pink had once planned, but went down the drain.
He starts with how he knew he was the boogeyman, at Albert's request.
"You get chosen at midnight." BigB explains, pointing to his chest. "A heart shaped wound will appear about here, and it will be red and open for the whole day you're the boogeyman. It will eventually scar and fade, if you manage to kill someone in time. If you don't...I'm not sure."
"Wait, like the hearts on our sleeves?" Sketch asks.
"Pretty similar, yes."
"Wait, can you show us?"
"Why do you want to see him shirtless, Sketch?" Albert impulsively snarks, leading to Sketch slapping him lightly and Pink looking away, embarrassed.
"Nevermind...so, what about the trap then?" Sketch would like to move on.
"We'd always planned to give you guys the diamonds." BigB scratches the back of his neck, trying to still seem casual. "We just wanted to lure you guys over to where the trap was."
"Would that even have worked?" Sketch interrupts again. "I thought you needed to kill them directly."
"No, actually! Traps work just as well."
"How do you...know that?" Albert buts in as well.
"Uh...reasons!" BigB responds, to the angered sigh of Pink behind him.
"Just tell me how already- "
"Later. Anyway, once you guys were over here, the plan was to have Pink distract you guys with his excellent acting skills..." BigB looks over at Pink, who goes from being peeved to clearly showing he doesn't know how to take a compliment.
"Uuh- thanks?"
"You're very welcome! Well, he would make a whole show of looking in the chests, while I mined out the hole-"
"Wait, did you make that whole hole in the three minutes we were distracted?!" Sketch seems incredulous, but it just leads to another annoyed sigh from Pink, and a surprised laugh from BigB.
"What? No!" he clarifies. "I dug the hole long before you guys got here."
"Oh, okay."
"Sketch, you utter dummy." Albert teases, and Sketch puffs out his chest and huffs in response.
"I AM NOT A DUMMY!"
"Do you guys want an explanation or not?" Pink is quite frankly done with Sketch and Albert's shenanigans.
"Okay, okay, we're done, we're done! Continue." Sketch puts his hands by his sides, nods aggressively, the whole bit. Pink does not find it very amusing, but doesn't show that more than pursed lips.
"That was quite funny." BigB admits. "But yeah, we just covered up the top - so when you all were distracted, I'd open up the hole. Then I'd call for you, and the plan was for one of you to not notice and fall in!" BigB looks at where the hole was. "However, that did not happen, to put it lightly."
"Oh, because of me, right?" Sketch jumps for joy a little. "Because of me and my excellent observation skills!"
"Yep! You caught me." BigB chuckles, finding Sketch's excitement endearing. "How'd you figure it out?"
"Oh, uh, paranoia? It was weird. I was on look-out for you guys, when I saw two figures in the woods. But then you came from a different direction, so that set all warning signs off in my head and suddenly I was paying attention to every little detail, like a...a...uhm..." Sketch trails off, trying to find the right example to use. "Uh..."
Quickly, the others start throwing out suggestions.
"...A spy."
"An artist!"
"A homing flamingo!"
"I'm pretty sure it's a homing pigeon."
"Can't we flamingoes be homing? :(("
"Stop doing that."
"Whatever!" Sketch brings the conversation back to where it started before it devolves again. "Either way, all systems were running and I had my eyes on everything. I noticed you two were acting a little shifty from the start. I don't know what it was that set it off, but it felt strange. So I've been on edge, and you guys saying you 'forgot' your diamonds made it even worse." The way Sketch says 'forgot' is laced with a little bit of spite. "So I was keeping an eye from behind this censor bar out, noticing all the weird stuff you were doing, until eventually Pink did distract me for a bit - I thought it was Pink who was the super-suspicious one! But then when we turned around, you were being all...weird, saying you always had your diamonds on you, and then I noticed the hole and held Kreek back from falling right in."
"In a really compromising position. That looked uncomfortable." BigB jokes.
"Yeah, instinct got me there. I should've used my other arm..." Sketch wrings out his arm again at the thought. "But yeah. You looked pretty sheepish, and that's when I connected the dots. And I saw a glint of red in your eyes. That was creepy."
"Oh, that kinda just...happens." BigB sighs.
"Really creepy! Like, please don't do that again!"
"I'm afraid I don't have control over that Sketch-"
The two start laughing again, and Pink even laughs a bit too.
Albert doesn't though, not because he doesn't find it funny, but for once it's not Sketch distracted by the communicator.
He elbows Sketch, and points to his communicator screen.
"Sketch? I think something's wrong."
And so back to the present we return.
~~~
<DenisDaily> Sketch, Albert, emergency
<AlbertFlamingo> OMG? What's going on denisy-poo
<iAmSanna> EXCUSE ME
<DenisDaily> Not right now, Albert
<DenisDaily> Get over to the base, rn
<DenisDaily> And bring Kreek's stuff
<Sketch> you good? kreek ok?
<DenisDaily> Just get over
~~~
And so, back to the thieves in hiding, and the ones who just caught them. Kreek is continuing to stomp on the ground and yell at the duo beneath the floor.
"That's not going to work, Kreek." Denis states, leading to a sigh from Kreek.
"I can sure as hell try. Open up! We know you're in there!" Tanqr can't help but think that Kreek sounds like an indignant mother.
Yet he gives no response, because that would be stupid.
Kreek is tired of these games, though. He's tired of having to yell at Tanqr to get out of there. So, instead, he'll play it the hard way.
"I'm not in the mood for this. Denis?"
"Kreek, what are you planning?" Denis can't help but be a little unnerved by the determined look on Kreek's face.
"Get to the entrance and meet with Albert and Sketch. I'm going in."
Kreek pulls out his axe and slams it into the ground as Denis backs up and gets moving. As soon as he breaks through the first layer however, there's a hole, and a yell from a certain blue haired thief.
"RUN!"
~~~
Sketch and Albert exchange glances of worry after they look up from chat. What on earth is going on? What could be so bad that Denis had to summon them? They've already witnessed one murder.
Sketch thinks of and crosses out theories as they come. Guess it's not time to turn off the paranoia switch yet.
"I have no clue what's happening, but considering Denis of all people is anxious, it seems bad." Sketch says, looking up at BigB and Pink. "I think we gotta go."
Albert murmurs something that vaguely sounds like a yes, before grabbing a bunch of Kreek's stuff, as much as he can carry. Sketch joins in, taking some of the weird things Kreek keeps on him - all a bunch of trash like wood, sticks, coal and a whole lot of cobblestone.
"Oh, yeah, go! Hopefully everything's okay." BigB sounds genuinely concerned - it seems he really does feel bad about the murder that happened just five minutes before. "I can't imagine anything too crazy's happened yet, though."
"You'd be surprised about what chaos we can get into in the span of a minute." Sketch nervously jokes, as he stands up. Albert seems to have kept his inventory fairly organised, so he took most of Kreek's stuff. Sketch can't really say the same, his own inventory's pretty clogged, and what's his stuff and what's Kreek's is now debatable.
"Oh, alright." BigB laughs. "Guess we'll be seeing you around, then?"
"Guess so. We should really get going."
Sketch and Albert turn to leave, though at a surprisingly leisurely pace (is it the nerves?). BigB waves to see them off, but Pink steps forward.
"Byee-"
"Do you guys need any help?" Pink offers.
"I think we got it, thanks for the offer!" Sketch responds, a little suspicious still. "Don't make us use our IOU so early!"
Pink stutters awkwardly, and takes a second to rearrange his sentence. "Count it as a favour that needs no payback." he clarifies, and Sketch nods, knowing what he means now.
"I'll call on you if we need! Bye!"
BigB actually gets to finish his goodbye this time, and Pink waves as well as Sketch and Albert leave.
~~~
<DenisDaily> You two coming??
<Sketch> we're coming!! bigb and Pink have offered back up if needed, so summon them at any time!
<bigbst4tz2> mhm! hope everything's ok
<PinkLeaf> yeah, call on us if you need anything
<AshleyTheUnicorn> I love how you're so hospitable to the team you just killed
<bigbst4tz2> the kill was only out of necessity!
<iAmSanna> Drama!!!
<iAmSanna> @DylanHyper resident drama king you gotta see this >:]
<MeganPlays> I have a slight feeling he's involved in the drama.
<iAmSanna> Oh. Unfortunate. Sucks to suck
~~~
Kreek hears the confirmation his worst enemy is underneath his base and stole his enchanting table. That's all he needs to know. Rage fills him and he jumps into the hole - yelling at Denis to give chase.
"They're going that way! Meet them on the other side!" He points in the direction the two are moving. Denis doesn't hesitate. As soon as Denis turns on his heel, Kreek pulls out his sword and gives chase to the thieves below.
Tanqr's grabbed Hyper's wrist so tightly he's not sure if the blood's getting to it. When Hyper looks behind him, he spots Kreek, yellow streak in his hair seemingly glowing brighter in the tunnel. Yellow and darkness were never a good combo.
"GET BACK HERE!" Kreek shouts, seething.
Hyper keeps running. With someone hot on his heels, the run feels much longer than it is.
(He knows exactly what Megan felt like, and it's horrible.)
"THIS COULD NOT HAVE GONE ANY WORSE!" he yells, but Tanqr just grips his wrist tighter.
"THEN TAKE IT IN STRIDE!" Tanqr yells back, much to Hyper's confusion.
The duo make it to the end of the tunnel they made - but Kreek's fast. He's already catching up, despite their initial head start.
"Alright, dig up!"
Tanqr destroys the block above them, nearly hitting Hyper with the end of his pickaxe -
Only to see Denis standing above the hole.
"Hey." He's calmer than Kreek, but he's got his axe out. "Got you cornered, ya little thieves."
Hyper can't help but glare at Denis after that smug statement. Tanqr just tuts, before starting to build out of the hole anyway. Hyper jumps on, of course, and eventually, amidst Kreek yelling and breaking the blocks below them, they make it out - only to have to deal with Denis.
(Well, they hear Kreek's sigh of annoyance, before he starts to run the other way to get out of the tunnel.)
Tanqr quite forcibly pulls Hyper up. He tries to start moving again, but Denis steps in front of him.
"Nuh uh uh. You're not going anywhere without giving back what you stole."
~~~
Sketch and Albert are 'speed-walking' back to the base, not paying attention to what's in front of them - they're not ones to care too much about concerning things. Sketch looks in chat, but doesn't see anything useful, so he puts his communicator away.
"You got any theories as to what's happening, Sketchy boy?" Albert asks, a hint of amusement in his voice. "Can't be anything too serious, can it?"
"No clue. Hm, let me think..."
Sketch runs through the theories he has in his head one by one again, trying to find any discrepancies. Eventually, he settles on the word 'intruders.'
A vivid image of the two figures he saw before BigB and Pink arrived flashes into his mind, and suddenly, Sketch stops, and gives Albert a worried look (not like Albert can tell.)
"Sketch? You good?" Albert asks.
"Actually...I think I know." Sketch responds, and Albert raises an eyebrow. "No time to explain! Move it!"
It's difficult to tell when Sketch is being serious. But for once, Albert knows Sketch means it.
Sketch and Albert speed up their speed-walking to a run.
~~~
Tanqr's not dumb. He knows he's not escaping this. He could try if he was on his own, but with the load on his arm, he can't just run.
Meanwhile, Hyper is trying to save his hide.
"Thieves? Us?!"
"Yo, we're not stupid." Denis rolls his eyes. "We know you took our stuff. So hand it over."
"Well-"
"Don't try to deny it!" comes Kreek's yell from behind, sword brandished. "Look, I'm not in the mood for this."
Tanqr lets out a snort.
"Yeah, 'cause you just died."
"Tanqr!" Hyper tries to stop Tanqr from blowing their cover, but their cover was thrown away ages ago.
"Yes, I'm well aware of that. Now, give back the enchanting table ." Kreek looks like he's about to blow over, but Tanqr just loves to push people to their limits.
"No-can-do." Tanqr winks. "Maybe you should've died earlier, then maybe you could've caught us!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Your taunts don't mean anything to me." Kreek says, looking away.
(But they do mean something. They hurt.)
"That's unfortunate. Maybe I should be meaner?" Tanqr adds, smiling. "I can and will craft an insult that will cut you to your bones."
"Do it, and I'll kill you." Kreek's voice drops a whole octave as he threatens Tanqr, narrowing his eyes. He holds his sword up, pointed at Tanqr's throat.
Tanqr only smiles wider, as Hyper's stomach drops.
"Oh yeah? Then do it. Fight me. We'll see who wins."
Kreek's got his sword out, as Tanqr stands there, completely weaponless. He holds his arms up and invites Kreek to attack him.
And yet, Kreek doesn't. Kreek stands there, but he doesn't make a move. He still looks pissed, but there's an inexplicable glint of fear in his eyes.
Part of Hyper's happy to see it.
"What are you waiting for? Go on then. Stab me. Get your enchanting table back by force. I know you want it, so-"
With a heavy sigh and a yell, Denis interrupts Tanqr's spiel.
"Oh my god stop stalling for time and hand over the enchanting table you're not funny." he gets out at full speed, almost too fast to decipher. Guess he's been holding onto that for some time.
Tanqr slowly looks at Denis before putting his hand to his head in an L shape.
Hyper can't help but laugh at that, and at Denis and Kreek's offended reactions. Admittedly, it's kind of funny seeing both Denis and Kreek so annoyed, yet...so powerless to stop them.
"HEY-"
"Don't you L me!"
Tanqr starts laughing, and he's glad to see Hyper chuckling alongside him too.
In the middle of this conflict though, the remaining two members of the Bromance Bros find their way up the mountain, and they bear witness to their teammates being mocked.
"Hey, what's going on here??" Sketch yells, causing everyone to whip their heads around to see the other two.
"Oh. We stole your enchanting table."
"They stole our enchanting table!"
Kreek and Tanqr glare at each other for daring to speak, though Tanqr adds in a smirk.
"Youuuu WHAT?!" Albert yells, so high pitched it hurts Hyper's ears.
"How do you yell that high-" he asks, mainly out of fear, but he's cut off.
"Yes we did. And you're not getting it back." Tanqr turns to Albert and Sketch, but not enough to turn his back to Kreek. He's still holding that sword after all.
"Uh- yeah we are. Hand it over!" Sketch tries, but of course, that doesn't work.
"We tried to get it from him the nice way, but that didn't work." Kreek explains, annoyance unmistakable in his voice.
"Probably 'cause he doesn't have it?" Albert suggests, before looking directly at Hyper. "He probably has it."
Kreek straightens his arm and moves the direction of his sword to Hyper.
"I don't have it! I swear I don't!" Hyper puts his hands up in terror, trying to shuffle away from the blade. "I really don't!"
"That sounds like the truth to me." Denis comments, before jokingly asking a question. "Tanqr, why did you drag Hyper into your schemes? He just seems much too scared for that." Kreek murmurs his agreements, and Albert sighs in defeat. Denis looks over at Hyper. "No offence."
"None taken." Lots of offence was in fact taken.
Much too scared for that.
The very thing Hyper wants to prove that he's not.
Tanqr scoffs.
"Yeah, well, he's got courage when he wants to show it. You should've seen him yesterday." He playfully nudges Hyper, and in doing so, drops something into his hand. Hyper knows what he has to do, and shoves the object in his pocket immediately. No one notices. "But yeah, I've got the enchanting table, not him. But you won't be getting it."
"What even was the deal yesterday-" Kreek starts, but Sketch cuts him off with a taunt.
"Oh yeah? We absolutely will! Hand it over, punk!" He walks right up to Tanqr with a smug spring in his step. "Or you're gonna get it!"
"I'm not scared of you."
"Do you want to be?" Sketch pulls out his sword at that. "Do you want to be?"
"Don't even try that, Sketch. You'll be dead before you even have a chance to swing your itsy bitsy sword."
"Try me! I just watched a man die! Try me!"
"Sketch, stop, you're just making him more likely to attack you." Denis interrupts.
"I can beat him in a fight!"
"No you can't~" Tanqr taunts, leading to Sketch sputtering while trying to find a response that's not "Yes I can!".
Kreek loudly coughs to get everyone's attention.
"Look, Tanqr. It's 4v2. Even if you could beat one of us, there's no way you're beating all of us."
"Yeah, Tanqr! You're going down, pretty boy! You can't beat the Bromance Bros!" Albert boasts, in possibly the weirdest way possible.
"Don't stroke his ego any further." Kreek reminds Albert, but Albert just laughs.
"You're forgetting that I'm an expert at this. Go ahead! Fight me! I want to see you try."
Tanqr grins. He's been itching for a fight.
"Hyper, get going. I can deal with these guys on my own."
"...Are you sure?" Internally, Hyper thinks 'We just got caught stealing when we relied on your 'expertise'.'
"Yes, yes, I'll be fine."
"Wait wait wait, you're making this a 4v1? Oh shoot-" Denis has a realisation in the background, but it's ignored. "Guys maybe this is a bad idea-"
Tanqr pulls out his newly sharpened sword, and Hyper gets the hint and starts to run.
The fight for the enchanting table begins.
Hyper slowly backs away at first, mildly scared for Tanqr's safety - but Albert's clearly dead set on him actually having the enchanter. Albert decides to jump down and attack him instead. It takes Hyper by surprise and leaves him with a nasty gash in his arm. Screeching involuntarily, he pulls out his sword.
Swing rapidly, with a loose grip.
Hyper opens his eyes to Albert backing off with a few new wounds. He clutches them as he moves away to attack the more important target.
There's a strange sense of power that came from managing to strike a few hits on Albert. It feels oddly fulfilling. Hyper feels that rush of bloodthirst in his veins again, a sense of power, the memories of wrath come flooding back to him.
It's too much for him now, but he did like the feeling. He runs away, not wanting to get too comfortable. But he runs away with a smile he barely registers.
He sticks around to watch the rest of the battle, though, comfortable on the other side of the river behind the trees. The cold water snaps him out of any murderous thoughts and he stares at the fight on the mountain above, shivering.
Whether that's from the cold or from the fear he doesn't know.
Up actually on the mountain, the fight progresses. Tanqr, as expected, is doing well - but not perfect. Attacks are coming in at all sides, he's bound to take some damage, but he manages to hit Sketch enough times to make him have to rest at the side.
Tanqr, when he is fighting, becomes a machine with only one purpose. Destroy. He doesn't make any snarky comments, he doesn't even crack a smile, he moves with fluidity and purpose, but with a sense of style, fast enough that his opponents can barely register what he's doing before they've taken the brunt of his attack. Deliberate strikes leave gaping wounds and those gaping wounds can be expanded to mean something fatal. The swing of the sword, the dance of the footsteps. A trained and rehearsed art that shows results in the pain of his victims.
The yells of the quartet as they realise they probably can't fight Tanqr when he's in his prime start increasing in number. Nearing the end, both Denis and Albert have ducked out. They're just trying to regenerate health on the sides. Sketch only returns to the fight to make sure Kreek doesn't get utterly trashed.
Kreek knows he can be better than this, he knows he's a better fighter than this, everyone does, but he's still weak from just dying 10 minutes beforehand. He keeps fighting anyway.
Tanqr actually takes some damage due to his efforts though - even having to spend a second changing his stance. Kreek knows his attack patterns, what he does normally won't work. Kreek's able to dodge, though with a bit of a slower reaction time than normal. From his position he's able to get some side strikes in.
So, Tanqr takes the critical hit approach - trying to do as much damage as possible.
Perfect. When Kreek takes one hit, he staggers back in pain, and Sketch (who's been nothing but a distraction this whole time) backs away. Denis runs up to Kreek and hands him some pork, before saying his resignation.
"Okay, okay, that's enough. The enchanter isn't worth another death. Just let him take it."
"No, wait, I can kill him, I'm close!" Kreek tries to pull himself away from Denis. It doesn't work. Denis grabs his wrist hard enough to be unable to move.
It's not about the enchanting table anymore. Kreek's heart and mind are racing. He knows he's close to winning. He's seen the change in attack pattern. He knows Tanqr's getting weaker. Kreek can't lose now. He can't. He's not going to lose. Not again.
"I know he's low on health, he changed his tactic! Just let me finish this!"
"Even if you're close, it's not going to be worth the possible consequences. So be the bigger person, step back. You're only gonna make Tanqr more smug about beating you."
Consequences. Like there can be many bad consequences to winning a fight, Denis. Tanqr thinks.
"Denis makes a point, Kreek." Sketch adds, in a matter of fact tone. "You're 'boutta get yourself killed."
Kreek knows they're right. He would get himself killed, even if he was close. He's never gonna beat him, not in the state he's currently in. He can't hide how ashamed he is of that fact, but...
"Fine. Fine." Kreek takes the pork Denis gave him and eats it to start regenerating his health. His wounds start healing quickly, and it's an odd sensation, as it always is. He gives Tanqr a glare. "You get away with it this time."
Tanqr chuckles. Kreek didn't need to know he really was low on health.
"So I'm keeping the enchanting table, then?"
"Guess you are." Sketch shrugs, a little annoyed, but able to cope with it.
"Sweet. Thanks, guys." Of course, he can't just leave without rubbing salt in the wound. "Congrats on failing again, Kreek! Keep it up."
Tanqr cheerfully waves and walks away, trying to hide the fact he's staggering, casually eating an apple as he goes into the river and onto the other side.
Kreek stares at him in the silence after he leaves, watching Tanqr disappear into the trees, as his words repeat over and over in his head.
Congrats on failing again, Kreek!
They wedge directly in his mind and refuse to leave as Kreek resists the urge to scream.
~~~
A/N
This chapter's...a doozy. Sketch and Albert are unending sources of comedy. Oh, don't mind KreekCraft having a breakdown over there, he'll be fine. Did you enjoy reading the Bromance Bros getting their butts kicked? I don't write fight scenes too often, but they are very fun to write. Tanqr was super fun to write this chapter, he's such a butthole I love him
Also, with this chapter, we've officially bridged the 50k word mark! What the hell, that's about the length of my previous full length fic and this fic's only like a quarter of the way through. How did this happen I don't like this.
Adieu, and as always, thanks for reading! I'll see you next chapter, when the aftershocks of all this are felt.
- YanDan