Image Credit: GoldenScientist on Canva

Ugh. P20d. I didn't want it to come to this, but here we are. stupid formatting issues >:(



  Piglin and Piglin Brute exit Skyzone Loft holding large hot drinks.
Piglin seems energized. She runs out of the building excitedly, almost seeming as if she forgot about the task at hand. "Alright! That was fun!"
"Absolutely. Those games are better than that 'Ultra Punchout Bros' garbage that the Elimination Dorm used to have. I think Golden sees what happened to the Elimination Dorm as an accident, but in my eyes, it's the result of a successful revolt. While you guys were doing those fire and water-themed contests, all of us eliminated contestants were dealing with some fire and water 'issues' of our own. It took a fair amount of coordination, but we were able to flood the bathrooms and set some stuff on fire. Granted, we did make sure everything we wanted to keep was in a safe place," Piglin Brute sips his fully-caffeinated coffee, completely ignoring the undead beasts surrounding him.
The siblings happily walk down the sidewalk until they reach a restaurant. There, they are faced with a group of zombies, which they easily take down.
"Nothing here either," Piglin Brute mutters. He swings his axe at a small but speedy zombie and takes it out in a few powerful strikes.
"Where do we go then? We shouldn't stray too far from the bus, but uh..." Piglin is confused, so she finishes up her drink. Behind her, a skeleton prepares to fire its bow, but it isn't too slick about it. Piglin turns around. "HEY! You aren't going to be shooting me!"
She angrily throws her empty cup at the skeleton, which causes it to fall backward.
She pulls out her sword and attacks once more. "Perfect. Just as it should be."

  At this point, it has been established that there is nothing of interest at the restaurant, so the two set off once again, continuing their mission to find the precious items.
This time, the siblings find themselves in front of the main entryway of one of the campus Metro stations. It's empty, but still open.
"Should we?" Piglin looks up at her brother.
"What's the harm? If we don't go down there, we're missing out. Every place that we don't check is more likely to have what we're looking for."
They run down the escalator and into the station. There, they promptly spot the unmistakable shimmer of gold. In the clutches of a zombie dressed in a tattered train conductor's outfit is the pure gold seal.
"That's it!" Piglin exclaims. "It's the seal! Let's go get that thing!"
Her brother nods, and the two collectively rush toward the large hoard of zombies, slashing their way through the crowd. Their weapons occasionally clank against each other, but they generally stay out of each other's way.
Slowly, reinforcement hoards begin to inch closer to Piglin and Piglin Brute, and they are able to keep them at bay. Mostly. As Piglin Brute lunges outwards to attack the leader zombie, a smaller monster bumps into him, pushing him just far enough to step in front of his sister. Unbenounced of the current situation, she sweeps her sword low to the ground, slightly cutting her brother's leg. He flinches, causing his axe to slip and fall past his sister's arm in return. The two look at each other before they continue to attack the zombies. Although the reinforcements have halted, the injuries make the rest of the battle far harder.

  The conductor zombie drops the seal, which is quickly claimed by Piglin Brute.
"Good. We got it, but damnit - that was pretty hard. The zombies had a much easier time hitting me near the end there." he sighs and puts his axe down.
"We should head back. I hate to admit this, but both of us are easy - or at least easier targets right now. You really did step into my sword there, didn't you?" Piglin asks.
"Not intentionally! If that's the case, then why did you stick your arm under my axe?"
Piglin grips her arm. The wound isn't that severe, or at least not as bad as her brother's leg. Both of them seem to be at risk of zombification, as the zombies were likely able to infect their cuts. "Do you think... that we're 100% immune to zombification?" Her tone is worrisome.
"That better be the case. I'm not going to suffer the same fate as our parents did when we were young. Can't say from first-hand experience, but that isn't the nicest way to go out. It's the reason I had so much anxiety about signing that waiver for the whole 'gene editing' thing. What if it didn't work? There was a risk involved, and the failure rate was really low, but what if either - or both of us fell into that small percentage of trials that weren't successful?"
"Aiden, can we not talk about our parents? I really don't want to think about our past right now. All that is behind us now, and I'd prefer to keep it that way. Let's just think about right now and not about back then, ok?" Piglin brushes her injured arm, which she had wrapped up with a scarf.
"I understand. Sometimes, it's best to let go of the past and just look ahead to the future. It wasn't easy, but we got by just fine. Those were the days... we lived alone in that warped forest, living as hunter-gathers. Those were the days that I don't miss. I'm glad that all that is behind us. We're at a point now where we don't need to think about it. Not about our parents, not about how we'd sometimes need to go weeks without food, not about any of that."

Piglin looks down and sighs. "Then why do you continue to bring it all up again!?" Her tone seems a bit resentful. "You say it's not something we need to talk about, but you are going on and on about our past. It wasn't easy at all, and this is just making it all harder for me to forget! I- I want to go back to the Nether while also leaving behind all the struggles of my childhood... the memories that will ultimately come back to me as soon as I even see our old home!"
"I'm sorry. I don't have any control over what happened, but I do know that the best thing for us to do is just let go and forget. I'm sure if we're really set on forgetting, there's some laser-guided amnesia stuff that could force us to forget." Piglin Brute explains. "Let's go now."

  Vindicator has made his way to a small courtyard, where he located the Unity Emerald Amulet. Surrounding his objective is a large zombie hoard.
"Aghhh! Whenever I kill one of them, two more show up! Where are all these zombies coming from? I've lost count of how many zombies I've killed or how long I've been in this courtyard at this point!"
He swings his axe at a zombie, which immediately falls to the ground upon impact.
"Hmph. Still, a few more guarding the statue... I could really use some backup...!"
He turns around, struggling to hold back the monsters which have begun to surround him. Suddenly, she's caught off guard.
The zombies which were pursuing him are struck down from afar.
"Don't worry - I've got your back!"

"Alex, thanks. Let's continue to fight the remaining enemies in unity. The amulet is up there around the statue's neck. I will continue to fight the remaining zombies down here to keep them at bay. You can climb up and grab the amulet."
Pillager nods approvingly. "Can do!"
Placing his crossbow on his back, he hoists himself onto the statue's base and carefully removes the precious necklace.
"Got it! Let's head back to the bus and let the others know that we're done."
With their weapons put away, Vindicator and Pillager make their way toward Skyzone Arcade, where the bus is parked.

  There, Piglin, Piglin Brute, and Iron Golem are already waiting for them.
"Well, look who finally decided to join us! We have the seal. Did you guys find anything?" Piglin asks.
Vindicator nods. "Yep. We have the amulet."
Aided by his sister, Piglin Brute steps onto the bus with a slight limp.
"Brother! Your leg is in pretty bad condition. Let me help you," she declares.
"Really, I'm fine..."
"You say that, but you got hit pretty hard out there. I really don't think that you should drive in your current condition,"
"Sister, I said that I'm fine-"

"No, I insist. You need to rest. Please, let someone else drive back to Framtida Market," Piglin explains.
Her brother sighs. "Ugh, I guess you're right. Any volunteers to drive us back?"
Vindicator steps forward.
"...I can do it. "
He slowly sits down and makes the proper adjustments to the bus's mirrors before starting up the engine. As he backs out of the parking space, the radio turns on to a podcast about some sort of scientific advancements.
Scientists have successfully edited out sickle cell anemia using CRISPR.
The radio stops.
"Yeah, that's cool and all," Vindicator says. "But I'd rather not listen to that right now. Anyways, Framtida Market, here we come!"
Under his operation, the bus moves slower and more carefully.
  
  As the team passes the science museum, where they had searched first, Piglin Brute briefly mentions the zombies as his sister treats his leg, and after that, the party is mostly silent.

  Moobloom, who is still at Framtida Market, was somehow able to convince me to directly respawn her zombified teammates. Once again, there is a golden glow as they are teleported back to the roof of Framtida Market.
Mooshroom approaches a guard.

"Hey... Can I ask something?" she asks.
The guard folds her arms. "Uh, sure...?"
"Can you escort my team to the Main Building so we don't get eaten by zombies again?"

"I have better things to be doing right now. Go ask someone else,"

Within a few minutes, Mooshroom and her friends can convince three guards to escort them to the bus stop. Somehow, they are also able to recruit Phantom, who had previously denied Moobloom's requests to search on her behalf.
Together, the party heads towards the bus stop.

  Vindicator passes through the shopping district with caution, making sure to stop at the traffic lights and stay around the speed limit. Unlike earlier in the night when he was driving recklessly, Piglin Brute shows no opposition to his safe driving.
"So, you guys doing alright ?" Vindicator asks.
"Eh, I'm just tired..." Piglin responds. "It's been a long night, and we all worked hard for it."

She pulls out the golden seal.

"And this is what we have to show for it. Too bad we can't just keep this. It's so shiny and nice..."

Her brother sits up. "Just ask Golden. She's like a sucker for spending money. Ask her to let you have it, and if she says no, just ask her about the Elimination Dorm, and that will guarantee that she gives it to you; if it means that you won't ask her anymore."
"Haha... that's a good idea! I might try that later!"
The team suddenly becomes more lively as they drive around downtown, talking about how they can keep the golden seal for themselves, and what they are going to do with the Unity Emerald Amulet
"I say we see if Alleviation has found the tiara, and if not, we can let them have the amulet," Vindicator suggests.
"I'm fine with that. Should we go see if we can find any of them?" Pillager asks.
"Yes. We are at no risk of losing to Serendipity, so there is no harm in going out of our way to assist Alleviation."
The bus stops at a downtown crosswalk.

  Evoker finally decides that she is going to leave the bookstore and make an effort to regroup with her team. She walks out of the store while talking to a friend on her phone. Her voice seems calm.
"Look, I don't know if I said this earlier, but it's a game day again. She's pretty inconsistent these days, but I got separated from my team, so I just went to the bookstore. I figured that I might as well work on some stuff for school, so I just summoned my laptop and started going over my class notes. Then you called and we talked for a bit, and then I totally lost track of time!"
A female's voice, while faint, can be heard from the phone.
"Yeah, I should really let you go now. It's really been nice talking to each other again. It's been a while, hasn't it? And... are you really leaving the city after the contest tonight?"

"I was planning on it. I love living on campus and all, but... I... Ayeee! Where'd that bus come from??!"
Vindicator stops the bus a few feet behind the crosswalk and opens the window.
"Ay! Evelyn! Want a ride back to the market!?"
She looks up and quickly speaks back to her friend on the phone. "Sorry Crystal! Gotta go! I enjoyed talking to you again, but Peter's offering to pick me up. I hope we can see each other in person soon! Perhaps we can... you know... See you soon!"
The bus remains stopped, and Evoker quickly boards it.
"Thanks for picking me up. I got separated from my teammates, and I got distracted studying my history notes in the bookstore, then I started going over some other things. Then, Crystal called me and we just talked for a bit, but I still need to find my team."

"No problem. By the way..." Vindicator says, "My team found the golden seal and the Unity Emerald Amulet. Therefore, I'd like for your team to have the amulet. It's hanging on the rearview mirror. Feel free to take it and sit down. We'll go look for the rest of your team, and then we'll go back to Framtida Market. Sounds good?"

Poll ended 03/06/2023 7:53 pm.