Hermit One Shots

The Nether Is A dangerous Place And You'd Best Avoid It.

Zedaph grins as he spots the basalt delta. He turns back to Tango and Impulse, "Hurry up."

"Zed, what are we doing out here?" Tango asks, looking like he had just been dragged out of bed. Which technically he had been.

"Ghast tears," Zedaph says as he drops down off a ledge and glides down.

"And why did you bring us?" Tango asks as Impulse grins.

"Simple, I want your help," He answers as he kicks at the soil.

Tango deflates, "Fair enough."

Impulse grins, "So, let's get started."

And with that, the three split up and start Ghast hunting. Now people should know just how Ghasts are created. We all know that if someone dies on soul sand or soil part of that person's soul remains trapped. If the soil gets disturbed it releases part of that soul. The soul gains a physical form that tends to take the appearance of a jellyfish. They are always crying because they seek the rest of their soul.

The first hour of hunting goes well. They've amassed quite a few tears and are on the way to regroup. Tango and Impulse get there first, after a few minutes of waiting they hear him scream in pain. They look at each other before breaking out in a dead sprint towards the source of the sound.

After what feels like ages; but was really a few seconds, they find him. He's laying flat on his back clutching his sides. He's been hit. The ghast had shot a fireball into his stomach. The ghast is hovering above him and readys another fireball.

It's right above where Zedaph is laying, Impulse swiftly draws his bow and fires. His aim is true and the ghast disappears in a puff of white smoke. It drops a single tear. That falls and splashes down on him. It splashes down in the gaping hole in his stomach.

Tango runs up to him and pulls out two healing potions. He pours one directly onto his stomach and helps him drink the other. Impulse runs over and inspects the now rapidly healing wound.

As he looks at it he makes a confused sound, "What the?"

"What is it?" Tango asks, panicking a bit.

"His skin is... getting paler?"

Tango sucks in a breath, "That doesn't look good."

Impulse shakes his head, "We should call X."

Nodding Tango pulls his communicator out and sends a message to the admin.

Xisuma's response comes within seconds, "Grab on to him. I'm going to teleport you guys to me."

Tango and Impulse huddle close to Zedaph as Xisuma moves them to his location. There in Zedaph's base, near his bed. Xisuma quickly scoops him up and gently lays him down on the bed, "Tango, can you clean his stomach off? Impulse can you start trying to wake him? I'm going to take a look at his code."

As the other two Carry out the tasks that they were given, Xisuma takes a scan of Zedaph. When it renders he gasps, "You said the ghast tear got into the wound?" At Impulse's nod he continues, "I think it's infected him somehow. The discoloration is part of it," Xisuma finishes off as Tango finishes clearing the remaining blood off Zedaph's now only slightly singed skin.

It takes a few more minutes but Impulse is able to wake him, he explains what had happened. Xisuma kneels next to him and shows him how the ghast tear mixed with the healing potions had altered him when they had an unfortunate reaction to each other.

Zedaph takes this surprisingly well, and life continues as normal for a few days, and, sure he likes hanging out in the warm nether hub a bit more and tries to avoid soul sand. He's fine until one day, Tango says something, "Hurry up slowpokes," He calls back as he leads them under the shopping district to his game.

An odd feeling swells in Zedaph's chest, he tries to shake it off at first but the feeling remains. As Tango suddenly stops walking and turns to face them, "Welcome to Decked Out," Zedaph's eyes fill with tears.

Impulse notices first, "Zed? Buddy are you ok?"

He rubs at his eyes trying to blink the tears away, "I'm fine I honestly have no clue what's happening."

Tango leans over, as he gives Zedaph a hug, "Is it the ghast thing?"

Zedaph's face brightens considerably, "You're probably right about that."

"Sorry if it was something I said," Tango whispers.

"It's fine."

"So it was something I said?" Tango asks causing Impulse's eyebrows to raise slightly.

"I think so... after you called me a slowpoke I felt kinda bad."

Tango stands awkwardly for a moment, "So do you want to continue or... what?"

Impulse looks over at Zedaph and nods, "Let's keep going."

The rest of the tour goes fairly smoothly. They don't realize something's happening until they get back outside and Zedaph starts coughing on something.

Impulse helps him up and over to a bench near the polling stations, "Do you want some water?"

"No," He manages to say, "I think that would make it worse.

Looking concerned at him Tango and Impulse make a decision, "Let's get you home."

It's a good thing they've decided to do this as the moment they step through the portal Zedaph shoots out a fireball.

"Woah," Tango whispers, "Good thing you're going home."

Zedaph nods and looks over at Impulse, "Can I have that water now?"

As the trio walk towards the cave of contraptions nether portal, they call Xisuma to tell him what has happened. He tells them he'll meet them back at Zedaph's base.

When they arrive Xisuma frowns and walks around and inspects Zedaph. As the admin circles him Zedaph grows anxious and suddenly starts hovering a few feet off the ground.

He flails wildly as he scrambles trying to get his feet back onto a solid surface. Impulse jumps up and grabs his ankles.

After hours of trying Zedaph figures out how to control his flight. At some point, he ends up stuck near the ceiling and learns why ghasts have tentacles. He accidentally smacked dust everywhere and sneezed. This probably would have made him flip over if not for a few tentacles materializing to stabilize him.

The days pass and Zedaph gets used to being part ghast. He's nearly given Tango a heart attack by pretending to fall in lava, and just sitting on the molten rock completely fine.