The Turf War Twisted

In the Beginning

*just about four months ago*

Scar sat on the throne, his head leaning onto his fist. Not too many people were going into the Town Hall at the time, so he knew it'd be a decent place to hide from all the Hermits. He loved the Hermits, really, but it was getting exhausting having everyone swarm him. A lot of times it was just to congratulate him for becoming the Mayor of the Shopping District, and other times it was people wanting to know what his plans were for his mayorship.

Truthfully, Scar didn't have very many plans. At the very least, he wanted to make sure every Hermit was happy; that was his top priority. He wanted to make sure that there were rules and structure put in place that would keep the Shopping District in tip-top condition, even down to the ecosystem of the island.

After the first week of him being elected mayor, the island was starting to return to its previous mycelium state. It had confused a good handful of the Hermits that knew, and especially Scar. Scar knew he'd taken care of everything, down to making sure that nasty fungus wouldn't return naturally. That was when he realised... it hadn't returned naturally. It was the work of none other than the Mycelium Resistance. Only his second week of mayorship, and the people were resisting. That thought haunted Scar, and never stopped.

He continued to stare off into space, his head sinking into his hand further. Jellie was curled up in his lap, warming up his body. Scar petted her absentmindedly and she accepted the affection with loud purring. Having her around certainly kept him more sane. He looked down at Jellie, seeing her smile about as much as a cat can smile.

"Jellie?" he asked, obviously just talking to himself. "Did I do something wrong?" His words almost echoed, not in the room, but in his mind. He'd been mentally asking himself that for days, but never saying it out loud until then.

Jellie looked up at him and he couldn't help but smile at her adorable face. Even just a slight smile was enough to lighten his mood a bit. "I wonder if I can be a good enough mayor to get through this," he continued, lifting his head and overlooking the shopping district from the large entrance of the Town Hall. "But maybe..." he paused for a moment, his thoughts seeming to dawn on him. His eyes were getting wet on the brink of tears. "Maybe they're rebelling because I've already failed."

---

A few days after that day of contemplating his mayorship, Scar decided he needed to pull himself together. He tried to keep himself from being distracted from his mayoral duties and spent a lot of time working things out in his office. He recruited workers for HEP, or the Hermit Environmental Protection agency, to extract the mycelium before it could spread too far. Not even they could keep it under control very well, and Scar was running out of funds for them.

He sent out a request for an enforcer. When Cub sent in his resume full of qualifications and good attributes, Scar went with his gut to choose Cub as enforcer. He knew having someone else in office besides him and Bdubs would be a big benefit.

━━━━━━━

Dear Sir Mayor Scar of the GoodTimes.

I am Cubfan, all powerful pharaoh of the sands and sea.

At your request, I am hereby submitting my application for the role of the enforcer.

╍╍╍

Experience:

- Only person to ever try to punch Xisuma because I thought he was a real strider

- Once told a Bee to "Buzz off" and it worked

- 'Cub's Rule' named after me

- All my shops have road passes paid

╍╍╍

Other Qualifications:

✓ Pharaoh Powers

✓ Certified Petty Prankster™

✓ Qualified in use of Flint and Steel

✓ Co-Owner of Hermiton Herald

╍╍╍

It's time for a shopping district where every shop has an Ender chest, every road looks great, and every hermit buys a road pass.

I'm the man who can make it happen.

━━━━━━━

The day he'd given Cub his role of enforcer, he was starting to become more confident in his role as mayor. Scar knew he had to take charge and set rules. He quickly lost sight of keeping every Hermit happy, and only wanted to do what his allies rooted for. None of his actions were taken with the happiness of the Resistance members in mind, and it was starting to show.

---

Scar stood to the side of the podium, anxious as he straightened out his purple blazer. He exhaled deeply, bouncing a bit on his feet in an attempt to shake out his nerves. Bdubs, who was standing behind him, gave Scar a firm pat on the back. Scar looked down at Bdubs, who was giving him a reassuring smile.

Bdubs knew that Scar was great at public speaking, but ever since becoming mayor, he'd become more and more nervous to speak in front of all the Hermits. He smiled at Scar and whispered, "You'll do great." Right after his words, Scar was right on cue to get up on the stage. Cub had been getting the crowd ready for Scar's speech, and was introducing the mayor onto the platform.

The crowd cheered and whistled when Scar came onto the stage, adjusting his monocle slightly before looking down at the crowd and grinning brightly. His picture perfect smile was a trademark that showed up constantly on his campaign posters and advertisements. When Scar began to speak, the audience's voices faded slowly to a quiet.

"My lovely Hermits! I hope you are all having a fantastic day! I'm sure you're wondering what the huge announcement is, so I'll be sure to keep it short and sweet. I don't want to be keeping you for too long, after all." Scar cleared his throat, his smile disappearing quickly. His face became more serious, and his booming voice sounded through the microphone mounted on the podium. "Effective immediately, all Resistance fighters will be hunted down and brought to justice. All mycelium will be banned on the island; you can't sell it or harbour it. We're through with it. We're not bringing it back. This mycelium may have scarred me, but my resolve is never stronger to defeat the mycelium menace."

At the last sentence of his announcement, his expression brightened again and his voice sounded heroic. He wanted to sell this to them, and wanted them to believe in stopping the Resistance. As he saw it, that was the only way to keep the island in good condition. Scar wanted the district he was mayor of to not only survive, but thrive, and the Resistance was getting in the way of his plans.

The audience cheered and screamed, clearly enthusiastic for his announcement. As he walked off the podium, he broke out his pearly white smile again, waving to the crowd as he met back up with Bdubs.

Perched on the top of the Barge, Grian looked down at the stage with a dark, dull expression. His Resistance companions sat beside him, the same look on their faces as they glanced side to side at each other. Jevin whispered in Impulse's ear, but the others couldn't hear what they were talking about. They could all tell it was something bad considering the wide-eyed look Impulse gave to Jevin. Jevin shifted his eyes warily.

Ren lifted his sunglasses further up his nose, staring daggers into Scar from where he sat. "Who does this guy think he is?" Ren said in a loud whisper, turning to face the rest of the members. "They think hunting us down is gonna make us less hostile? Pssh, in their dreams."

xB nodded slightly, turning his head to look down at the roaring crowd. He frowned before turning back to Ren with a neutral face.

"Man," Etho said in an exasperated voice, leaning backwards with his arms as support. "I wish I could just stick it to 'em. I don't really wanna hurt any of the HEP, but this is too much."

"I agree," Grian chimed in. "But we're just here to watch." He brushed his hair out of his face as he spoke. "I can't imagine what chaos would break out if we went down there or even attacked from afar with that big crowd. For now, we're just gonna hear our dear mayor out and plan accordingly."

Impulse nodded in response. "Good call, G. Let's just hope they don't spot us up here."

(word count: 1396 words)