Minecraft Story Mode: Pain and Healing

Chapter 22: Prison

It was like the respawn zone all over again. I couldn't help but scream as I fell through the rainbow void, feeling my body being stretched and twisted to impossible lengths. After what felt like forever, I landed on hard ground, miraculously not sporting a scratch. I got up with a groan and looked around at my surroundings. Is this...the nether?, I thought in confusion. It definitely looked like I was in the nether, with the lava and intense heat surrounding me. But when did the nether have obsidian walls and bedrock floors?

"What th--?," I cried, looking down and realizing that my normal clothes were gone. Instead, I was wearing a white shirt and orange pants. I also noticed that my inventory was completely empty. And of course, the gauntlet was also missing. "Petra...," I murmured, fear and worry filling my mind. I rubbed my face with my hands in irritation. "God, what a mess..." "The guest will kindly follow the orange line in the floor to the check-in zone," blared a speaker right next to me. I slightly jumped at the sudden noise, then got my act together and glared at the speaker. "You can't tell me what to do, disembodied voice!," I snapped rather childishly. "The guest will kindly follow the orange line in the floor to the check-in zone," the speaker repeated. "Or else they get the lava." Wait, LAVA?!

I quickly looked up and saw a stone machine with pistons floating above me, waiting to pour lava on me. "Okay, geez!," I said, running towards the orange line. "Didn't know a disembodied voice could be so pushy." As I followed the orange line, I observed my surroundings, mentally noting the towering obsidian walls and the patches of bedrock embedded in the floor. Eventually, I came across a stone wall with iron bars lining the top. There was also a billboard with pictures of a sun and a rainbow, with the words "Sunshine Institute" printed on it. A loud thud suddenly sounded right behind me. I turned around and saw a black golem with glowing, purple markings on its body.

"Nope!," I cried, running away from the golem, which began chasing after me. As I got to the end of the orange line, a man suddenly stepped in my view, causing me to lose my footing and fall to the ground. The man looked like a military dictator, with a black uniform and a strange gizmo replacing one of his eyes. "Oh, don't mind Big Hank," said the man, "he's just here to make sure all guests...behave themselves." I got back up and started following the man, with Big Hank trailing behind us to make sure I don't run away.

"Let's see let's see let's see," the man muttered, flipping through a book. "Oh, yes: Alex." He placed his arm around me in both a welcoming and threatening manner. "Welcome to the Sunshine Institute." We walked through a pair of iron doors leading into the prison. "It's a reformatory for people the Admin has found...difficult." The inside of the prison was much larger than I expected, with hundreds, maybe thousands of inmates milling around. "I'll be your Warden," the man continued. We began walking through the prison, with Big Hank lightly smacking my back as if to say, "Hurry along." I glared at the golem and turned back to the warden. "Let me guess," I said. "The Admin made this place too, right?"

"Of course," said the warden proudly. "The Admin is an endless source of building brilliance." "It's a prison," I deadpanned. "Hey, no, no...," said the warden. "We don't use the 'P word' here. Let's not challenge authority. The Admin doesn't let us use that word so we DON'T use that word, understand?" "Yep," I said, smiling widely. "I completely understand..." "..." "Prison prison prison prison prison--" "Hey!," yelled the warden, glaring at me. "What did I just say?" "PRISONPRISONPRISONPRISONPRISON--!"

By now, some of the nearby inmates were staring at me in confusion, but I didn't care. "--PRISONPRISONPRISON mph!" Big Hank restrained me with one of its arms while the warden covered my mouth with his hand. "Do NOT use that word ever again, got it?!," he growled. "Besides..." He turned his head to stare at a nearby poster of the Admin. "...you never know when the Admin might be listening..." I licked his hand. "Ugh! Gross!," cried the warden, wiping my saliva onto his uniform. He glared at me even more intensely. "Looks like I'll be having my work cut out with you," he growled. "Aw, thanks!," I chirped, making my voice as cheerful and grating as possible. "Who knew you could be such a softie!" Most of the nearby inmates laughed, but a glare from the warden shut them up.