The Balancers

Part 21: New Lab, New Ally

I landed in front of the hill on the plot owned by Nether. It had been two days since I had made Under Balance. I had been training him, and it had been going well. He was picking it up about as quickly as the others, other then Unbalance, who had picked it up very quickly. Under seemed to have an increased resistance against nearly all kinds of attacks. It made since, seeing that he was the Balancer of the Underworld. That mainly meant that he had the capability of connecting to Demon Steves, such as the one that had killed Ruby Steve and Elder Light. Being able to at least semi control Demon Steves would come in handy if another one showed up. Since fighting the first one, I hadn't come across any others, and I hadn't heard any one else talking about them. Anyways, earlier that day Nether had told me to come to his lab so he could show me something. He had also told me to bring Empty Steve, who had just landed behind me. I approached the hill, wondering why his lab was in a mound of dirt. I opened the door, and inside, their was nothing.

"Well this is anticlimactic." Empty observed. "You would have thought that the scientist of the Balancers would have at least a semi-impressive lab." That was true, especially since Nether had spent days building it apparently.

"I'm sure this can't be it." I started, but then I noticed a hole in the ground. It was dark in the mound, so it would have been hard to see if I was emitting light. I walked up to it and looked down. It seemed to be about twenty blocks deep, with a light source somewhere down there. "I assume we're supposed to go down here." I said. 'At least I hope so.' I thought. I took a deep breath, and jumped forward into the hole. I fell down the narrow pit, and landed on my feet. surprisingly, I didn't feel any pain from it. I stepped forward, and Empty landed behind me. He seemed to wince over so slightly when he landed. We were now in a room made of iron blocks. The room was empty accept for two tubes full of water. Each tube had bubbles in the blue liquid, one of which were rising up, and the other sinking down. 

"Bubble Elevators." Empty concluded. We went up to the one with the sinking bubbles, and I stuck my head in. I could see the magma down at the bottom, but I also saw an opening. I stepped fully into the water pillar and was quickly pulled down. My feet touched the the magma blocks, and I quickly jumped out of the water as I felt the stinging heat. Empty followed close behind me. We were in what seemed to be a hall way, which was also made of iron blocks. We carefully walked down it, making sure there weren't any sort of traps. We went around a corner, and came to the end of the hall. The end was not as big as the hall, and seemed to be made of different blocks. We walked to the end of the hall, and stood on the smooth stone flabs that made up the floor. I was wondering what to do, when Empty pointed something out.

"There's a button on the wall." He said, pointing at it. I looked to where he was pointing, and saw that there was a stone button. I stepped forward, and pushed the button. I heard a click sound, and suddenly the ground beneath us began to lower. Empty's hands began to glow a dark gray, but I put my hand up. 'If this is Nether's base, I'm sure this wont hurt us.' I hoped. The floor stopped its decent, and we were facing another hall way. We walked down it, which didn't take that long as it was only about a dozen blocks long. The end of the hall was a solid wall of iron blocks. There was another button on the wall, and I reached over and pressed it. Suddenly, the blocks in front of us shifted, and were pulled into the wall, celling, and floor. We entered a large room, which was mostly constructed of iron blocks. There were glass tubes with water flowing through the lab. End rods lit the room, as they lined the walls. Standing at the end of the room was a very complex looking lock-in machine. And standing in front of it was Nether Balance. As me and Empty Steve approached, Nether turned around to greet us. 

"Hey Balance! Hey Empty!" He said, walking down the few stairs that led up to the lock-in machine. We walked up to each other and shook hands, and then shook Empty's hand. "Both of you, welcome to my lab!" He continued. I looked around the large room. It was quite impressive. And I could tell by Nether's voice that he was proud of all this.