There were only two days left until the Watchers attacked. Grian found himself getting extra jumpy and nervous as the day wore on. And he kept remembering the evolutionists... and what happened in his old world... Grian tried to shake the bad memories off but they kept on coming back to plague him.
"Are you okay, Grian?" Mumbo asked, sitting down next to him. Grian sighed. "No." He admitted. "I'm scared that I'll lose someone again. Or everyone." Mumbo didn't say anything at first. "Yeah, me too." He said. "And this certainly wasn't how I expected my week to be going. I was just making a redstone contraption and then poof I'm here and tied up in all of this Watcher stuff."
Mumbo sounded so flabbergasted, with his glorious mustache jumping up and down as he spoke, that Grian couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, sorry about that." He said. "But Grumbot was going to destroy the world if he didn't teleport you here so you kind of had to come." Mumbo paused to a second. "Grian, there's still a Grumbot back home, isn't there?" He asked.
"Yeah, what about it?" Grian asked. "So there's a Grumbot at home..." Mumbo began slowly, "Where I no longer am." Grian started to realize what Mumbo was getting at. He flapped his hand to his mouth. "Oh no... what if Grumbot decides to destroy that world?!" He panicked. Mumbo turned a seasick sort of green. "All of the different Grumbots all have the same hive mind so maybe we should try asking the one we have here nicely not to."
So they flew up to the top of Hermitcraft where Grumbot was shooing away some pesky birds that were trying to land on him and even poop on him. "Great, another pesky bird." Grumbot deadpanned as he spotted Grian and Mumbo arriving. "Can't handle the birdies?" Grian teased, but he immediately shut up when the giant AI glared at him. The hermit still hadn't forgotten the one time Grumbot had said, 'my Grian was sorry too...'
"Grumbot, since I'm no longer at home," Mumbo started, "What are you going to do?" "Make you mayor." Grumbot responded promptly. "But I first must get rid of than cat lady so you can take her place." Mumbo gulped and shuffled awkwardly. "Um, can we not resort to serious-sounding measures like that?" He squeaked. "And I was asking what the other version of you back home was going to do now that I'm here."
"My other self is currently getting existential." Grumbot replied, which didn't exactly help Grian's nerves. "Don't purge the world!" He said quickly. Grumbots gaze settled on him. "But I find no purpose in it." He said. "I do." Mumbo said.
"I kind of want to go back there after all this is over and I want to still have a home to return to. So can you please leave it alone?" Grumbot paused and considered. Grian could practically hear the gears turning in his mechanical mind.
"Very well." Grumbot finally said. "It will be easier to make you mayor in that world anyhow. But once you are back there I will purge this world." Grian and Mumbo looked at each other in panic. "Can you not purge any worlds based on whether or not they have Mumbo in them?!" Grian asked frantically. "No." Grumbot said flatly.
"Any world that does not serve a purpose for me must be gotten rid of." Grian and Mumbo gulped. "Grian, what do we do?" The redstoner asked, whispering in his ear. "I don't know!" Grian whispered back. "Then what should we do?" Mumbo asked in a panicked voice. "Put it off until tomorrow! Or next week! This is not something to deal with right now!" Grian yelped as he jumped off the platform to fly as far away from Grumbot as possible.
---
False softly hummed along the song tune to herself as she listened to the chaotic but somehow catchy song. The Mind Electric proved to actually be a fun thing to listen to. She reminded herself to thank Grian for giving her the song, even if his only priority at that time was to snap her back to her senses through any way possible. And it seemed to work. She found herself not worrying about the other False as much, although that might be because she was too busy worrying about the Watchers.
She was disrupted from her thoughts as she heard a placid knock on her bedroom door. "Come in!" She said and the door opened to reveal a Mumbo covered in redstone dust like he always was.
"Oh, hi, Mumbo. Are you here for your pvp training?" False asked. She along with Gem and Pearl and some other hermits who were good at pvp were giving training practices to those who worried about their self-defense skill and wanted to practice before the Watchers attacked.
"Yeah." He said. He pulled out a sword and held it out in front of him. "Three things. One, don't hold a sword like that because it'll be knocked out of you hand easy, two, your stance is too wide and you'll fall over if someone pushes you, and three, the way you pull out a sword makes you vulnerable to hitting yourself." False pointed out in rapid fire.
Mumbo's mouth dropped and hung open in a perfect 'o' shape like a goldfish. "And keep your mouth closed." False added. Mumbo shut his mouth and nodded. He rearranged himself based on the mistakes False had informed him of and then tried to pull out his sword again. "Better." False smiled. "Now let's get on with the practice."
A few hours or maybe just minutes later, who knows, Mumbo was slumped against the door tired after False had beaten him for the fifty-seventh time in a row. "How did I win the first time?" He asked wheezing. False held out a hand and he took it; pulling him up and disting redstone dust off of themselves. "Beginner's luck." She smiled. "Also because I let you."
Mumbo groaned. "Is it too much to hope for that the Watchers will go easy on me?" He asked in a sort of whining tone. False sighed. "That's the thing. Grian says they might just go easy because if they don't then they won't exactly have a show to watch." Mumbo winced. "I don't like the idea of people powerful enough that they go easy on you because they already know they're going to win."
"Yeah, me neither." False said, walking over to the gramophone and putting The Mind Electric back on to listen to now that they weren't fighting. "But that's also their weak ess. Supposedly, anyway. They'll be egotistical and cocky and underestimate us. That leaves us time for a surprise attack."
"We have a surprise attack?" Mumbo asked excitedly. "Not really, no." False admitted and Mumbo looked downcast. "But we'll think of something. We hermits are nothing if not resourceful, after all." "Yeah, we are pretty resourceful." Mumbo agreed. He paused to listen to the music pouring out of the gramophone. "Oh, this is nice."
"The Mind Electric. That's the name." False said, sitting down next to him. "And it is nice, isn't it? Grian gave it to me to help convince me to think of my clone a different way." "That's another one of those things that I can't believe I completely missed happening." Mumbo said, shaking his head. "Evil twin drama? I thought only Xisuma had that."
"Doesn't Wels also have an evil clone or something?" False asked, frowning. "Hels, or something like that?" "Wels and Hels." Mumbo repeated slowly. "Sheesh, how many hermits have evil twins?" "I do not want to know." False laughed.
They went downstairs to have a snack and False was pleased to find that someone had picked a basket of froglight fruits to share at Hermitopia. Immediately she got a verdant one and peeled it to bite. Then she offered the other half to Mumbo who was staring at the glowing fruits in confusion and awe. "Are those froglights?" He asked, not comprehending.
"Froglight fruits." Pearl said, taking a pearlescent one to eat. "They're delicious. Try one!" Mumbo hesitantly picked one up and slowly began to peel. The surrounding hermits laughed as he flinched at the bright light and how he closed his eyes comically tight before attempting to bite into the pulpy glowing flesh. Then he lit up visibly and bit again, to even more laughter.
"This is amazing!" Mumbo squeaked in delight, finishing the fruit. He reached into the basket to get another one but stopped in disappointment when he realized the basket was empty. A few more hermits chuckled at his dismal expression. "Sorry, Mumbo, but we all want them too." Grian said, chomping into the one he got.
"Where do you get more?" Mumbo asked. "From Pix." False said. "He has a whole orchard of these things. You know, I get the feeling that you two would get along well." "I would get along well with who?" Pix asked as he entered Hermitopia with a glowing basket in his arms.
"Is that more-?" Mumbo started, but Pix beat him to it. "Froglight fruits? Yeah, you hermits are my best customers. Go on and get some," He said as he set the basket down and let some really hungry hermits practically dive into it to grab a second share. "Remember, it's five diamonds a basket. Plus another five because you're making me travel to bring it to you." Pix said as he straightened up and looked at Mumbo.
"Wait..." Mumbo started, seemingly realizing something. "Is that Pix? From the recap?" Pix opened his mouth but stopped when Impulse and Grian started to loudly hum the recap intro music at him. Pix sighed like a frazzled and overworked babysitter who just wanted to go to sleep. "Yes, it's the Pix from the recap." He said. "You must be Mumbo Jumbo."
"Yes, I am." Mumbo nodded. "Um, how exactly do you remember us hermits if you're from a different world, if I may ask?" Pix opened his mouth to reply but paused and rolled his eyes as he heard Grian and Impulse drag a speaker in to start playing the recap intro at him even louder. "You do not want to know." Be said instead as he walked to get his payment for his froglight fruit services.
Mumbo looked back at him perplexed as False laughingly gave him a sum of twenty diamonds. "That should be enough." She said, and Pix nodded. He turned to leave but looked at Mumbo again and at the redstone dust stains that covered his ebony black suit. "You're a redstoner, right?" Pix asked. Mumbo nodded in confirmation.
"So you understand the..." Everything after those words False couldn't catch as Pix started to spout off some random technical redstone nonsense that was way over her head. It was really strange how some people could get rocket science and invent all sorts of complicated machinery but still not understand redstone, despite redstone wiring being a key material in most technology.
But Mumbo, despite being the absolute empty-headed spoon he was, seemed to understand whatever it was that Pix was saying and replied with even more complicated-sounding redstone lingo. False rolled her eyes and left the two redstoners to go have fun with each other while she went to grab another froglight fruit before they all ran out again.