Love - Nihachu

9

January 14th. The dust settles on a ruined L'manburg. It had been barely a week since TNT rained from the skies above. And today, the fate of the egg would be decided. The five logged on, and one by one, they arrived at the table for the meeting.

"I think we all know why we're here, don't we?" asked Bad, starting the reunion, "As I'm sure you guys are aware of, the egg is becoming a problem. So I have a proposal for you three." he declared, looking at Punz, Puffy and Adelaide in turn. "Why don't you join the Badland?"

"Wh- What does it offer us?" asked Puffy.

"Everything." he answered simply, as though it was obvious. "The Badlands currently is made up of myself, Antfrost, Skeppy and Awesam Dude. The reason why we created the Badlands faction was to protect ourselves from the chaos that was plaguing the Dream SMP. Look at where that's gotten us today. I don't think it's gonna work with just us four. I think we need stronger people."

As he said this, he glanced at Punz and gave him a slight nod.

"But," he continued, "I don't think we should stop there. I think I have a long term play. I think if we release the egg, let it wipe out all of this side of the Dream SMP, let it spread, let it wreak havoc across it while we discover a counter to it, right, we can secure our hold on our territory, then come in, and once we've figured out a solution, clear the egg, clear the vines, get rid of it, and we can take over the entire Dream SMP. We can go from being just one territory to becoming an entire empire."

"I think you've turned into a tyrant Bad." said Puffy, looking at her friend.

Adelaide turned to her and nodded, agreeing with what her best friend said. He seemed to be going down a path of hunger for power.

"I don't want to take over the whole server." he justified, "I want all of us to take over the whole server."

Puffy and Adelaide looked at each other again, hesitation and concern in their eyes.

"If we do this, Puffy, Adelaide," he told them, "If we do this just right we can come together, for a, uh, unified government where all of us have an equal say. A round table, as it will, where we all have equal say over how we go about things. None of this president nonsense."

"You know what," declared Punz, "I don't know if this is the egg talking, or myself, but I'm craving some chaos. This idea you have, it's speaking to me. I don't know, I don't know if it's you or the egg or what's happening but I kinda wanna do it. I think I want to help you guys out."

"Puffy?" asked Bad.

"I'll help you with the egg cause I feel as if there's no other way but I don't want to choose a faction as I feel like factions have got us to this point..." she answered hesitantly

"I'll stay. But I'm not joining either." said Adelaide.

"This is what I'm thinking: we combine your territory," he proposed, looking at Punz, "With the Badlands territory. Puffy, Addy, temp alliance with your territories?"

"Sure." They answered in unison.

"And we can create the formation of our empire." he continued.

"What will we call our empire?" asked Punz

"I think our unifying principle is the egg right now." he said, thinking.

"Eggpire." proposed Punz.

"Eggpire!" he exclaimed "I like this! Then I hereby declare the formation of the temporary but hopefully permanent Eggpire. Are you guys ready to go release the egg?"

The group made their way to the egg. No longer would they contain the chaos, the server would once again feel the wrath of the egg in the wake of its destruction, the Eggpire would rule everything. The decontamination chamber was destroyed, setting free the vines that engulfed the rest of the room. Bad, Ant and Punz smiled as the plan began to move forward. They imagined the chaos that would unfold and were eager for the spreading to begin. Throughout the rest of the day, the member of the Eggpire planted seeds all across the server to help encourage even more growth. Slowly, they all began heading home for the night, but Bad remained. His plan had been received much better than he initially thought, and his disguise had worked even better. As Bad made his way back to the round table, he realized there was no point in hiding it anymore. His red accents turned to white, and he stood there, watching over the calmness of the server. A peace that would not last.

Every night, Adelaide returned to her house with exhaustion, stress and fear piled on her. Her girlfriend, Niki, wasn't blind of this. She saw her girlfriend collapse onto the bed every night, almost instantly falling asleep. She was never home anymore, always out, running around with Puffy, following Bad all day. Niki just hoped this would cease soon. She hoped that the egg would be stopped once and for all.

~~~

{847}