No One gets Left Behind (Adopted from ZecoriTheWeirdOne)

Chapter 2 (37) - someday ill fix the chapter numbers

"Oh thank god, you're back," Netty muttered, relief evident on her face. Taurtis glanced at Grian with slight confusion, while Grian just stared at Netty in an attempt to ascertain what was happening.

"How long have we got?" He eventually asked, squeezing Taurtis's hand comfortingly. Netty shrugged, handing over Stress's communicator. It had about 10 minutes left on, which was admittedly a lot closer than Grian had assumed. "Right." He grimaced slightly. "Any new news on Impulse?" Grian asked, trying to ignore the blatant procrastination on actually making the portal.

"Unfortunately, not much." She sighed. "We're still trying to see if we can get a hold of where he's being kept, but not much luck."

"We don't even know if he's still..." Netty trailed off, not willing to finish the thought. "Look, it sounds really apathetic saying this, but we should really find out if he's alive or not before we spend all our effort on finding him. We know they're not beyond murder."

"Okay okay- let's not think about that." Grian stammered. "Seriously. Let's not even go there."

"Though Netty's right, it might be worth checking if Impulse is still- you get the point."

"Oh, hey X-" Grian stumbled slightly on his words, caught off-guard by Xisuma's sudden appearance.

Taurtis turned to the admin. "We can do that?" X seemed hesitant through his mask, before shrugging.

"Theoretically."

"Really? How?"

"I mean, communicators are linked to player codes, and player codes are linked to life signs, so if there was a way we could fix it so they work-" X trailed off. "They also could've destroyed the communicator, though. That would be a problem."

"But can you do it?" A hint of desperation crept into Grian's voice unwillingly. "Just- at least try it?"

X paused, reaching for his communicator. After a bit, he nodded. "I can try." He pushed out his communicator screens in front of him, lines of green code flickering with a sense of uncertainty.

He pushed most of it to the side, scrolling down a list of players before reaching Impulse. Upon clicking, it turned black for a second, before showing a long string of code. The other three watched silently in suspense as X went through the database. Grian shifted his gaze away, feeling a bit uneasy at the sight.

A few moments later, X paused. "I've located his comms."

Everyone perked up. "Really-? Where is he?"

"I can't guarantee that he's in the same location as where his comms are placed, but currently it's, um," X frowned, squinting at the numbers on screen. "190.284.2937?"

"We don't have time to go there now," Netty pointed out reluctantly. "Besides, it might be a trap."

"So? Still our best option." Grian countered.

"True, but we still need to at least prepare if we're going to try getting him back."

"Uh, guys-" Netty interrupted. "Can we plan once we've got into another server?"

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Taurtis sighed. "We don't really have much time left to be here."

"But still- we need to go as soon as possible-"

"He's alive."

The three's attention snapped back to Xisuma.

"What?" Grian asked first, barely letting his mind process the possibility.

"Impulse." The admin mumbled, barely audible. He pushed the communicator away. "Impulse is alive."

Grian clutched onto the nearest object he could find - which turned out to be Taurtis - for support. "You're sure?"

Xisuma nodded. "Mhm. Positive. Don't see how they could've forged it." Grian's grip around Taurtis's shoulder tightened, exhaling sharply while trying to focus his vision on Xisuma.

"Do we tell the others?" Grian's gaze snapped to Netty, deciphering her voice after a couple of seconds.

"Not until the next jump, certainly. After that, we set up a rescue team?" Netty glanced at the other three, gathering up a few materials and bundling them into a bag.

"That would be smart," Taurtis agreed, smiling while gently pulling Grian's hand off his shoulder.

"I mean, I'm sure there'd be people willing," Grian added. "Like, I'm sure Mumbo-"

His smile fell. The silence immediately after echoed in Grian's ears, allowing his own words to seep into his brain. Each breath broke the silence, but sounded wrong, out of place. His heartbeat was thumping, hard, and ever-increasing in speed. Even his own thoughts sounded wrong, only able to dwell on the repeated name, Mumbo-

"You get the point," Taurtis filled in, dragging Grian out of his spiralling line of thoughts. "But first, wouldn't it be smart to get out of this world?" He glanced behind his shoulder nervously. "I don't like the idea of meeting the Watchers again anytime soon."

If Grian were in a better mindset, he'd probably have been able to process the implications in Taurtis's words, but as it was, he only took it at place value.

"Right," he mumbled, grabbing an ender chest from their supply. He proceeded to place it down and mine it, grabbing the 8 pieces of obsidian that dropped, and 4 from the leftovers of the last one. He placed the framework of the portal down, using dirt for the corners - all expense spared, as Zedaph once told him.

Taurtis laid a hand on his shoulder.

"I'd offer help, but my ordinary ass has no way to actually help, so just pretend I can," he joked, grinning reassuringly. Grian smiled gratefully, bordering on a laugh.

"I appreciate the sentiment," he remarked, shaking his hands nervously. Purple sparks flew around them, but not enough to form anything solid. He raised them carefully, scrunching his eyes shut and struggling to focus.

His hands began to tingle familiarly, more and more sparks surrounding him, until suddenly-

It just stopped. Grian tenderly opened his eyes, relief searing through him when he saw that it was working. Exhaustion hit him next, leading to him collapsing against the obsidian.

"Whoa! Easy there!" Taurtis mumbled, supporting him up slightly. "Netty? Can you let the others know we're ready to switch? Think Grian's too worn out to do it-"

"I can speak for myself," Grian mumbled, pushing himself off Taurtis, before promptly falling back onto the obsidian and being supported by him. Taurtis grimaced.

"I'll do it," Xisuma volunteered, reminding the group of his presence. After no objection, Xisuma raced off towards where the majority of the hermitlutionists had gathered.

It was a few minutes later that they were all by the portal. Grian couldn't help but notice how the hermits were all in one sort of, group, mush, thing? Whereas the evolutionists were in pairs. Xeno was just hanging around awkwardly, vibing.

Then barely another minute later, Grian and Taurtis stumbled through the portal.

I'M BACK

that's a lie, but hey! If I say it enough, the emerald fairy will make it come true! 

Ignore that I promised to get this out 2 days ago. In the efforts of having a (somewhat) consistent upload schedule, I'll update once a month? 

Maybe