Fight or Flight (V1)

Chapter 36

By the time Iskall, Tango, and Stress arrived, Xisuma's base was covered with streams of water. And while the death message had worried him, he knew he had more pressing matters.

"Tango, you and I will go from the sides. Stress, you go through to top. The goal right now is to get rid of the fire and make sure Grian's okay. Bdubs, Scar, Keralis? You guys need to find Doc. Keralis, check spawn island. Scar go to area 77, and Bdubs, check his base. False, Wels, you two keep a lookout. The rest of you, go rendezvous with the others in the shopping district and tell them what you can." Iskall spoke evenly, landing on the edge of Xisuma's base.

Scar, Bdubs, and Keralis had taken off to look for Doc, and the other hermits began making their way to the SD. Stress began breaking through to top of Xisuma's base, as Tango flew around the other side to enter.

Iskall slipped into the base, keeping his head low as to not choke on the heavy smoke. While the water from above had put out a considerable amount of fire, the source was still inside, burning away.

He made his way through the base, placing down water as he went. He bumped into Stress and Tango in the center.

Instead of speaking, and risking getting smoke in his lungs, Tango pointed down. Iskall glanced at the floor beneath him, and could barely spot Grian's nametag through the haze. Tango then mimed digging before spreading his hands to simulate fire. He then mimed getting burned. Tango then mimed pouring a water bucket before miming choking.

Digging, fire, burn. Digging, water, choke. Iskall managed to understand what Tango was getting at. Dig down, risk falling into fire and getting badly burnt. Use a water bucket, risk causing more smoke to choke on.

Iskall glanced at Stress who had knelt down and broken a block, and was glancing down to the floor beneath it. The entire room was covered in fire, making the choice an easy one. She then poked her heath through and managed to choke out, "Cover your mouth!" before coughing violently herself. She then managed to shought, "We're coming!" Before nodding to Tango and Iskall to place the water.

He jumped down into the room, covering his own mouth. There was so much smoke, he couldn't see a thing. He reached and arm out and it hit another person. The person then took his hand and placed it on their shoulder. Iskall could feel the distinct material of Tango's jacket. He then took Tango's hand and placed it on his eye before reaching out again. This time, his hands met long hair. Stress. She grabbed onto his hand and he moved hers to his eye to let her know who he was.

Iskall took a step forward through the smoke, reaching out, Stress and Tango did the same, walking in different directions. Iskall took another step and his and his hand brushed something soft and thick. Iskall quickly recognized Grian sweater and quickly grabbed the Fae's wrist. Grian immediately clung onto him, and after Iskall guided the hermit's hand to his eye, pulled him into a brief hug. He then turned and called to the others,  "I got him! Out now!" before breaking into a fit of coughs as the smoke entered his system. 

He made sure he had a firm grip on Grian and then went into a random direction, until he found the wall. He used his free hand to pull out his pick and hacked away at the wall. He heard a couple footstep behind him, and felt a couple more pairs of hands clinging onto him, before also pulling out picks and hacking at the wall.

Water rushed into the room, and the four Hermits pushed out into the water and began surfacing quickly using the little air they did have.

As Iskall's head broke the surface, he gasped, taking in as much clean air as possible. He quickly did a head count before swimming to the nearest bit of land (Mumbo's base), where False and Wels pulled them out of the water.

Iskall pulled out his communicator and messaged everyone.

Iskall85: Grian's safe. We're at Mumbo's base. Has anyone located Doc yet?

Scar: He was at Area 77, we're heading to the SD now

Keralis: Good to know, omw to the SD

Bdubs: Same here.

Iskall85: We'll meet you guys in the hub.

Iskall shakily stood up. He glanced over to where Stress was fussing over Grian, who looked like he'd demised. "Alright guys." Iskall croaked, "No use staying in Mumbo's base. Let's head to the shopping district."

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Xisuma woke up on a bus. While that was strange all in itself, Xisuma didn't question. He quickly assessed his injuries. He felt a sharp pain on his head, and could see some blood in the inside of his visor, but if he was bleeding, the helmet was what was keeping him from bleeding out.

Xisuma then looked for his communicator. He pulled it out and tried to send a message.

Xisumavoid: Is anyone there?

Samgladiator: He's awake.

T̓͌͟Ᏼ̟᷁ᚨỤ̥̃̌r̩̄͢tަ͏᷉i̧̥̍s̩ͫ͡: Did you set his spawn?

Samgladiator: Yes

T̓͌͟Ᏼ̟᷁ᚨỤ̥̃̌r̩̄͢tަ͏᷉i̧̥̍s̩ͫ͡": After I knock him out, bring him to the End. Then meet me at the school. We'll monitor Hermitcraft from there.

Samgladiator: Gotcha

Xisumavoid was put into a deep sleep by T̓͌͟Ᏼ̟᷁ᚨỤ̥̃̌r̩̄͢tަ͏᷉i̧̥̍s̩ͫ͡

_____________________

A boy sits in a black place, speaking with a voidling.

"So they actually believed you?"

"Yeah, as you said, they don't know anything about alters. Especially the bonds between alter and host."

"So you're telling me you succeeded?"

"Yeah. That extra step? They think that code was the only thing that allowed them to get close."

"Clever. Now we wait and hope we played our cards right."

The voidling nods. "I have no way of knowing how anything will play out, but if NPG taught me anything, it's that unpredictability is a good thing. You did your part as well, yes?"

"I did what I could. I had a lot of trouble tapping into my old watcher magic, but I managed to scrape together my task." The boy holds out his hand and an orb flickers to life. "We can keep an eye on our friend through this."

"Well, we've done what we can." The voidling sighs. "I hope we can save this like my brother saved me."

The boy puts a hand on the voidling's shoulder. "I hope so too."