Hermitcraft Randomness - S7 Oneshots

Evil Twin Rivalry

(WC: 1388
Category: Humor
Ship type: None
Warnings: None

This is super late I'm sorry AC-

So ausforyou and I were talking in DMs and she came up with these AMAZING concepts regarding Ex and Hels we ended up talking about for DAYS and I just HAD TO WRITE IT-

I'll definitely also do a third concept we've been talking about another time as well, because we spent a lot of time on it. We also started talking about some Grumbot/Jrumbot angst, so look out for that too. #RobotBoisNeedProtecting

Enjoy!)

The one and only time Ex stepped out of his mountain, and the entire world was on fire.

He didn't know what came over him. Maybe it was because he hadn't seen the actual sun in a long time, or he wanted to check out the flower bed X had planted for him, or maybe even--he shuddered to think about it--he actually wanted to go outside. 

Either way, he had stepped outside, sneezing from the pollen the golden flowers X planted for him gave off, and took in the beautiful view of the Hermitcraft world from his vantage point, with its green landscapes, blue skies, and mountainous builds...

...Which, of course, happened to be on fire, thus ruining his view.

"What the hell?"

He didn't know what caused it. A rogue lava pool that had gotten out of hand? A lightning strike? Or maybe someone had even gone and set fire to the whole thing. 

Ex got a small pang of jealously, considering the fact that someone had had the guts and skill to pull this off. He knew from experience you couldn't just hold a flint and steel and go running around, yelling bloody murder and setting fire to everything. 

Whoever had done this had managed to accomplish something that Ex had been plotting to do for years.

So, of course, he had to go down there and see what brave soul did this.

The mountain he lived on was intentionally steep so everyone would have trouble going up it, and it was at a high altitude as well. Normally, Ex was grateful for the steepness, but as he tried to stumble his way down the mountain, he fell more than once and got bruised in very awkward positions. 

When he finally made his way to the bottom, he was drenched in sweat, had scratches all over, and was wishing he was back up in his cave. Was he supposed to climb up this once he found out who was causing all this trouble? 

Anyway, once he was there, he could clearly see what was happening. Everything was on fire, and the flames were spreading fast. He could see a few people trying to desperate stamp the fire out, but it was no use. X was standing off to the side, typing furiously on his admin screens. 

And in the middle, a new figure stood. Ex didn't recognize him. He had dark gray armor and red eyes, similar to Ex's own. In his hand, he held the flint and steel that probably started all of this madness. He was watching the carnage with amusement, laughing as the Hermits tried to stop it.

Ex knew he should feel admiration for this new guy. But all he felt was a twinge of jealously. Who was this guy, thinking he could steal my spotlight and destroy Hermitcraft before I do? 

He wouldn't admit it, but he also had a soft spot for the Hermits after having to deal with them for so long. But he wouldn't say that out loud. In the end, when he had tried to take over Hermitcraft, he had let X win. He hadn't tried his best--he was sure that if he had been, he would have easily taken over the server.

Either way, Ex was instantly jealous of this person. He was already doing a better job, and from the looks of it, this was his first attempt.

"He thinks he can take over Hermitcraft better than I can?" he muttered under his breath. "You're in for a rude awakening." He started running towards the fires. 

"How dare some newbie take that chance away from me!"

And so Ex started the daunting task of sabotaging each and every one of Hels's attempts to destroy the server--everything from the Creeper bombs to the lava pools to the tripwires in the Shopping District. 

There was no denying the guy knew what he was doing--not that Ex was clueless or anything, just as a newbie he was pretty good...better than Ex was...

He shook his head, chastising himself for feeling jealous. He ripped out the final tripwire and tossed it over his shoulder, breathing a sigh of relief. That should be the last trap disabled.

He'd been at this for about an hour, just finding and disabling as many traps as he could find. This person had really gone all out with these traps--no wonder the server was on fire. With everything else that was going down, the fire had probably gone unnoticed. 

Ex looked around, realizing the commotion around him had faded. Where was everyone? He'd been so involved in taking out the traps that he hadn't even noticed that everything had fallen silent. Well, except for the fires. Those were still crackling.

He scanned the Shopping District and immediately spotted where everyone was. They were in front of X's concrete shop, which was on fire. The Hermits, including his brother, were in front of the new guy, and by the looks of it, he had them right where he needed them to be: vulnerable and merciless. 

Ex was shocked--even if he hadn't planned it, this new guy had distracted him from his main plan. He'd been so busy disabling the guy's past traps that he had missed this going down.

This just made him even more jealous. He frowned, beginning to plot how he could possibly stop this guy, then crept towards the scene. As he got closer, he could make out some of what they were saying. 

"What do you get out of this, Hels? What's the point of all of this?" 

The knight in shining armor spoke up. Now that Ex was seeing him and the newbie--apparently called Hels--he could see that they were duplicates of each other, much like himself and Xisuma. Hels's armor was darker, though, and he had red eyes. Another evil twin? Seriously?

Hels proceeded to lay out a classic "I win, now you suckers have to listen to my evil genius plan" speech. Ex could never pull those off properly. 

As Hels continued talking, Ex crept closer and closer until he was right behind a concrete pillar that led up to the shop. He waited for a few more seconds, then lunged out at Hels and tackled him to the ground. Several of the Hermits let out surprised shouts. 

Hels grunted and tried to shake Ex off, but he held firm. He tried to land a punch on the knight, but Hels was stronger than him (the downsides of spending all your time in a cave) and rolled away, trying to kick Ex. He barely dodged the first, but the second caught him on the leg and he nearly stumbled over.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see X pulling up his admin screens and typing rapidly. He just had to hold out long enough so X could ban Hels. Hels tried to land another punch, but Ex swatted it away. To the other Hermits, their fight must have looked like two little kids fighting over a toy.

Hels landed two more punches on Ex, then halted in midair. He tried to move, but he couldn't. X threw up his hands in relief, then punched in a final line of code. Hels's body began to dissolve as he was sent away, hopefully to a safer place where he couldn't harm any of the Hermits.

Ex leaned back against the concrete pillar, breathing heavily. Thank god that guy was gone. Hermitcraft was his to take over. 

Then he stopped as something occurred to him. In helping X ban Hels, hadn't he done something good? But that was the opposite of what he was supposed to do. His rivalry with Hels had led to Hermitcraft being spared, not destroyed. 

He looked around, and X seemed to have realized that too. A small smile played on his brother's face, and he started to open his mouth to say something, probably a tease directed towards Ex.

Before either of them could say anything, Ex pulled up his own admin screens and typed in a quick command, which teleported him back to his base. He plopped down onto his bed and let a small groan. X would tease him about this for months to come.

And that's exactly what he did.