Chapter Text
It had been a normal day for Tommyinnit, as normal as it could get that is. In other words, why Tubbo needed 8 stacks of sand was not a question Tommy was going to ask, being revived once was more than enough. After mining over 500 sand, he had been dragged into a mineshaft to collect string.
Now, Tommy was finally heading back, luckily along an established trail so they didn’t have to deal with any mobs. With Tommy working on re-organizing his inventory, he didn’t notice that Tubbo stopped until the back of his shirt was tugged backwards. He looked up to snap at Tubbo only to pause.
What looked like a nether portal was situated in the middle of the road, but instead of the usual purple, it was a swirling blue and green. “Was that there before?” Tubbo whispered. Tommy shook his head.
It definitely wasn’t. Pointedly ignoring Tubbo’s mutterings that he was an idiot he walked up to it and stuck his hand through experimentally, the portal didn’t react. He could still see his hand from across the translucent energy. Except for the weird color, there was nothing different about it from a normal portal.
A loud groan caught his attention, and his head whipped towards the sound. Tubbo must have had the same thought because a diamond sword now sat comfortably in his friend’s hand. Tommy wasted no time in following his lead. Soon, the familiar weight of a sword rested firmly in his hands. A crossbow sat in his next hot bar slot if he needed it, and he never went without a few arrows in his inventory.
He kept his shield in his hot bar. If any skeletons or creepers came up while they were fighting the zombies, they wouldn’t be too much of an issue. Soon, the first zombie came out of the tree line. Then another came following behind, then another…. And another. “Oh bloody hell.” Tommy complained. There to be at least two dozen of the things.
Not bothering to wait for the zombies to reach them, Tommy shot forward. With a crit plus two more strikes, the first zombie of the hoard was down. An arrow lodged itself in the eye of another, but Tommy paid it no mind. Tubbo could handle himself, that had been proved time and time again. Tommy danced along the outside of the hoard, slowly whittling it down. Rotten flesh was slowly but surely filling his inventory, and he absently considered how he’d get rid of it all. Maybe he could find a village somewhere.
“Tommy watch-!” Tubbo’s shout came seconds too late. Tommy hadn’t equipped his shield so he could be faster in order to not get overwhelmed, but the hiss of a creeper Tubbo had tried to warn him about, he pulled it out and held it up as fast as he could.
He barely got it out in time. Tommy was flung off his feet and his ears were still ringing as he landed roughly on his back. Being that close to a creeper explosion was never pleasant, even after several wars filled with withers and TNT. He shoved himself up to a sitting position, only to see the world swirling in green around him.
He realized all too late that he was sitting in the lit portal frame. He didn’t have anytime to get out of it. All too soon to be normal his vision went dark. He squeezed his eyes shut as his stomach dropped. Instead of the quick teleportation that came with nether portals, which usually didn’t feel like much other than a sense of weightlessness, a tingle spread over his body. He squirmed uncomfortably at the sensation.
After a long few moments, the feeling abruptly stopped, and he stumbled out of the portal, landing face first. He didn’t recognize his surroundings. It was dark wherever he was, the only source of light being a full moon high above. He grumbled about sucky gods and how magic was even worse. He put his hands under himself and shoved himself up from the cool ground. After years of dealing with one war or another, working against his own body weight wasn’t an issue.
It wasn’t something physical that made him freeze, not really. He gaped at his hands in shock. They were, for once since he was… he didn’t even know, completely devoid of scars. The marks that told the world he had survived through war after war, were just gone. The only thing that didn’t leave had now disappeared like they’d never been there.
He didn’t know what to think as he finally shoved himself fully to where he was sitting. He looked behind himself to where the portal had been. Key word: had. The portal was now an unassuming pile of dust on the ground.
That set off more alarm bells in his mind, and he groaned in annoyance. He shoved himself to his feet, figuring if he was stuck he might as well explore. Night was a dangerous time, and he reached into his inventory. Only for it to not open. Luckily he was still in the clothes he had been in when he got thrown through the portal except for his armor which was mysteriously missing, meaning his small communicator was still hanging around his neck.
He peered at the screen, but the only message was ‘Tommyinnit has joined the server’ and nothing else. He no longer had any of his gear, he could only hope it had been returned to his inventory and not destroyed entirely. He couldn’t go through exile, not again. Giving up on accessing his inventory or switching hot bar slots, he carefully examined his surroundings.
He listened intently to the sounds of the forest around him. Night was dangerous, especially without any gear. Years ago, maybe he would’ve rushed off immediately. After years of first Wilbur’s harsh training and then war after war, impulsiveness had long since been left behind.
Unease curled in his stomach. He didn’t know where he was, he didn’t have any equipment, and the only thing he had was his communicator which was completely useless at the moment. He didn’t let that distract him more than necessary and with that plus him being on high alert, despite how quiet it was, he heard a twig snap.
His head snapped towards the sound, flying into a defensive position out of a habit he once again was thankful for, only for a blinding light to be flashed in his face. He turned his head away with a hiss of pain at the sudden light change. “What the- kid what are you doing here?” an oddly familiar voice asked. Whoever it was didn’t sound hostile, but he had been wrong before. Making that kind of mistake could cost everything.
He didn’t respond, and instead lunged for the mysterious woman. She let out an almost impressive string of curses as they tumbled to the ground. He always preferred fighting with weapons, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know how to kill/disable someone with his bare hands.
He was swiftly overpowering the woman. Alarm bells chimed loudly in his mind as she reached toward her hip. He didn’t recognize anything she had on her belt, meaning she had unknown weapons while he had none. He wasn’t going to take any chances if he could help it.
Instead of going after her face and neck like he had been, he switched direction, jerking towards the same thing she was, trying to get it away from her before she could use whatever it was.
With Puffy
Officer Puffy had been sent out into the forest immediately when they had discovered that all of their scanners had stopped working in a large area in the middle of it. All she wanted to do was go home and see her two sweet sons. They had both gotten two weeks off work in order to come visit and stay with her for a while.
Despite her being nowhere near being an old lady, they had insisted on staying and take care of her. Even with all her joking complaints, she did enjoy having them around. She smiled again while thinking how that surprise visit had turned out.
With a shake of her head, she waved her flashlight around once more. She didn’t know exactly what she was looking for. In her entire time as a police officer there had never been anything that could make their scanners do that.
She didn’t have any time to think in the next few moments. A twig snapped, and she turned her flash light towards the sound. She found that it was in fact her that had made the sound, but that wasn’t what she was worried about.
“What the- kid what are you doing here?” Both concern and suspicion laced her tone. There was nothing around the weird teen and he couldn’t have been older than 17, but he was smack dab in the middle of where the scanners had gone out.
He didn’t say anything, and she was about to speak again when he suddenly lunged at her, sending both of them sprawling to the ground. “Fuck-” she yelped in surprise. Her back hit the ground roughly, and she felt her radio break, the pieces digging painfully into her lower back. Backup was a long ways away, and even if they weren’t she now had no way to signal for them.
It only took a couple moments of trying to get the kid off her to figure out she was fighting a losing battle. He was stronger than a war veteran, and she would know. She knew drastic measures would be necessary. She didn’t hesitate as she came to realization.
She reached for her taser. He tried to grab it as soon as she did, but his hand landed on the opposite end of it, her hand on the trigger with his right where it would go into his hand. Not best case but she would take it.
Green eyes met a cold gray-blue, and she pulled the trigger.