"That's everything," Olivia was saying as I climbed down the ladder, Reuben held under my arm. I placed him down on the ground and straightened the straps of my blue denim overalls. Golden beams of sunshine shone through the thick green leaves, and even though the dark bark of the oak trees was...especially sad, I couldn't help but love the look of the dandelion dapples of light splotching on top of the wood, making it a lighter, more chocolate color.
"Let's roll!" Axel exclaimed excitedly, pumping his fist in the air. A grin spread across his face.
Olivia rolled her cocoa-colored eyes, putting her hands on her hips. "Yeah, dude. Roll."
"Let's go," I rephrased before they could start fighting again. And with that, we started walking through the forest.
I let my fingers fly through the air, the wind blowing through my sleek black hair and sending it soaring.
Axel smiled mischievously. "I heard a pretty juicy rumor about the building competition, but you guys have to promise not to say anything," he started.
Olivia raised an eyebrow, and I tilted my head. "Okay. What is it?"
"Also it's in two parts, each part more exciting than the last."
"Spit it out, Axel," I snapped playfully, anticipation biting at my chest.
Axel laughed. "Okay, okay! Part one: the special guest at this year's Endercon is none other than Gabriel the Warrior him-freaking-self!"
I gasped. Reuben danced around my legs, squealing in elation. Olivia's eyes widened. "Whoa! What's part two?"
"Part two," he continued. "According to my sources, the winner of the building competition's gonna get to meet him!"
A scream of excitement wrenched itself out of my throat.
"It doesn't mean anything if we lose," Axel muttered. "But if we win...oh man...this would make up for all the losing."
I looked ahead, smiling like a crazy person. "Meeting Gabriel would be a dream and an honor," I whispered.
"He's awesome," Olivia agreed. "It'd be amazing to meet him."
I looked back at Reuben. He'd better be careful in that costume. The last time Gabriel saw a dragon, it didn't end well.
Olivia glanced around us, and I saw the smile drip from her face.
"Soooo," she said, looking back at Axel accusingly, "does this 'source' of yours make posters for a living?"
I looked where she was looking. Sure enough, there were posters all over about Endercon and Gabriel, not to mention the information Axel had just told us.
"Yeah," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "My source, uhhh, doesn't...uh...exist." His face grew kind of sad. "You guys are my only friends."
There was a split second of silence between all of us as I tried to think of something clever to say. Something to cheer everyone up, something to give us hope.
"We're going to win," I finally spoke up. "Because-"
"What are you talking about?" Olivia sighed.
"Because," I continued, through clenched teeth, ignoring her, "up to now, we've hated losing. But today, today my friends, we're going to start learning how to love winning." There was a beat of silence. I winced. "That...didn't sound as good as it did in my head."
"No, no, I'm with that," Axel chimed in.
We all grinned at each other like dorks.
Then an idea sprang into my head and flipped my brain upside down.
"Wait a minute...wait a minute..." I said, eyes widening. "We're thinking about this all wrong."
Axel raised his eyebrows, and Olivia looked at me in curiosity.
"The point of the building competition isn't just to build something," I explained. "You have to do something to get noticed by the judges."
Olivia nodded. "Okay, then. So how do we do this?"
"We don't just build something functional. We build something fun!" I smiled. This looked like it could all turn around. With a couple of tweaks to the fireworks dispenser idea, that incorporated cool stuff, then we could win this! "After we finish the fireworks machine like we planned, then we build something cool on top of it."
"You might be onto something," Olivia agreed. I could see the wheels in her head beginning to turn.
"If you want to get a reaction out of the judges, you build something scary," Axel thought aloud. "So I say we build a creeper."
"Wouldn't an enderman be better?" Olivia asked. "I'm more scared of endermen than creepers."
"They both have their moments...both pretty scary..."
"Then again, you scared the crap out of us with a creeper today."
I thought for a couple of seconds. "All right, let's build the creeper," I decided.
"You're going with Axel's idea?" Olivia exclaimed.
"What's wrong with my idea?" Axel retorted, glaring at her.
"Nothing. It could be totally cool."
"It is cool," Axel shot back as he crossed his arms.
"Yeah." Olivia smiled a little. "I think this is the first time we've decided on something before getting to the competition." Her face grew slightly worried. "Think we've got everything we need?"
I rest my head in the palm of my hand. "Hm...it wouldn't hurt to grab a little more."
"Let's get with the grabbin', then," Axel commanded, smirking.
"We're so prepared. We cannot lose. Cannot," I repeated. Emphasis was literally dripping from the words. "Bring it in."
As all of our hands pile on top of each other's (Reuben's hoof included), I start thinking about what we should say.
"'Dare to Prepare' on three," I suggest. "No. 'Preparing is daring' nope that's the same thing. Forget it. 'Team' on three. One, two, three."
"Team!"
YOU ARE READING
I Almost Get Blown Up By A Creepy Demon Thing || A Minecraft Story Mode Story
Hayran Kurgu*working on*
