The Tale | Dream SMP

I - Chapter Sixteen

Tommy fumbled around with the saw in his hands, nearly dropping it onto his feet. He gave a yelp as his finger grazed past the teeth, leaving a line of blood on the metal.

From beside him, Tubbo winced. "Ouch. You okay?"

"I'm fine," Tommy said, sticking the finger in his mouth. Tubbo wrinkled his nose at the movement but said nothing. "Come on. Don't tell me that you don't do this when you get injured."

"There wasn't a way to stick my arm in my mouth," Tubbo said, scratching his head thoughtfully. "Maybe I could've...."

Tommy sighed and shook his head, returning his attention to the project in front of him. It had taken them days to find enough obsidian to craft with, then a round of vigorous begging to get the tools sturdy enough to use.

Not only that, but they still didn't have all the materials they needed. They still had to get blaze rods from somewhere, as well as an Ender pearl.

The latter was easy. He had seen Purpled messing around with the things a couple time, appearing in and out of existence with those things in a blink of an eye. Honestly, Tommy wanted to try it so bad. It looked like a lot of fun. But he needed it for the project.

"I kind of want to go to the Nether sometime," Tubbo remarked as he watched Tommy set down the saw and pick up a pickaxe. "Sounds like a cool experience."

"Have you heard the stories about the ghasts?" Tommy asked. "They sound terrifying."

The boy shrugged. "Yeah, but still cool, right? And the Nether is where you can get blaze rods, too! Don't we need those?"

"We can get it from someone," Tommy said.

Tubbo folded his arms in front of him and frowned. "Come on, Tommy, don't you like danger? What's up with you?"

Nothing. Everything is fine.

"You never acted like this before. You're a lot more hardheaded than me!"

Tommy whirled around, a scowl on his face. "I don't want to see any more injuries, okay? The Nether is dangerous. Clearly, we're underprepared. We're not going in until we know that we can survive by ourselves. Okay?"

Tubbo bit his lip, but didn't argue. "Okay."

"Good. Now c'mon, we're gonna go see if Fundy can give us what we want."

***

It felt like a slap in the face when Tommy realized that he actually didn't know where Fundy lived.

He had been leading Tubbo around aimlessly for the past half an hour, just wandering through the lands with desperate hopes of accidentally stumbling across it.

"Should we ask someone?" Tubbo suggested.

Tommy scowled. "We are grown men and we do not need help."

He gazed around him at the open land. Tubbo raised an eyebrow at him. "A-are you sure?"

"No," Tommy said, his scowl deepening. "Fine, we're lost, and we are very much in need of help."

"Help?" a new voice chimed in.

Tubbo jumped up and immediately reached for Tommy, grabbing onto his arm with the grip of a vice and not letting go. "We don't need help!" he squeaked. "Leave us be!"

Tommy squinted at the bushes from which the voice had sounded, catching a glimpse of orange tufts of fur. "Fundy?"

The man stood up, brushing loose leaves off of himself and placing his hands on his hips. "Yes, obviously. What are you two doing here? I was sleeping."