Chapter Twenty-One

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-Etho's POV, 1st-

I ran out of Xisuma's base, feeling something I hadn't been prepared for when I flew in: hurt. I had expected him to be all into it, because we always had fun together when we did pranks, or so I thought, but I guess something just didn't connect. Either way, I still had the task to do, and if I had to do it alone, so be it. I prepared my elytra, ready to go, when I saw something out of the corner of my vision. It was a humanoid figure, hiding in the trees. They weren't way to make out, and what looked to be a hood was pulled up over their face, but I couldn't see it clearly. As soon as I looked at it, it was gone. My first instinct was to fly away, but I decided that I may as well take a look. What's the worst that could happen?

Veering towards the area, which was a while away from Xisuma, or really anyone's base, I could feel the cold air whip past me, the almost crunchy ground squishing beneath my boots. It was creepy, the forest, and even in the noon light, it still didn't look all that welcoming. There seemed to be shadows looming everywhere I looked, and the figure was nowhere to be seen, no matter where I turned. I sighed. Probably just a fluke of the mind. Turning to go back and head home, I saw that I was lost in the woods. 'I must have been too caught up in finding it', I thought, taking out my comm to look at my coords.

Before I could, though, I felt the hard texture of a material I knew well, pelting towards me, and hitting me on the head. I fell forwards, confused, as my gaze began to turn hazy. What was going on? Was this a prank? If it was, it wasn't funny. I somehow wobbily stood against the pain, leaning against a nearby tree unsteadily. I felt sick, and I couldn't see well at all. Why could only one hit make me feel so weary? I felt something rush towards me, and narrowly dodged what I assumed was a knife. This probably wasn't a joke anymore, if it even had been to begin with. A blue mask was visible very close to my vision, and it had two big, black holes for where the eyes should go, a black liquid secreting from each.

I heard the sound of the blade being removed from the tree, and tried to run, senses null. One of my legs felt strangely numb, and I suspected it was broken. I couldn't see my pursuer anymore, either, so I just had to hope they would leave me alone, or that I would stumble upon someone's base before they could finish me off. I heard the thump of my heart in my chest louder than anything as I ran; it was beating rapidly, and my breathing only ceased a small amount to match it. I felt a stitch in my chest, but I didn't care, continuing to run. I had to get out of here. Just as I reached what seemed to be the edge of the forest, I felt a slippery texture drive itself into my abdomen painfully, and I fell to my hands and knees, blood dripping from the corners of my mouth. I wasn't gonna make it, but I could still try. Crawling forwards very slowly, in pain all the while, I felt my vision start to cloud more. I could see bright light, and a blurry person running towards me, before it all went black.

-Beef's POV, 1st-

I was just heading to deforest another jungle on the server- it sounds worse than it is- when I spotted two figures fighting it out in the woods. I didn't need the type of wood that was there, but I couldn't just leave two people to kill each other in the forest, either. I dropped all my stuff, running towards the commotion with curiosity. Upon closer inspection, it looked like my pal Etho, and some other guy who I didn't know, were trying to kill each other, and Etho was surprisingly losing. "Hey, what's going on here?" I asked sternly, hoping the person would explain. They didn't however, stabbing Etho once more with what looked to be a scalpel, making a rude gesture, and then disappearing. The nerve of that guy... No, I had to focus on- "Etho!" I hadn't even noticed at first, but Etho was very badly injured, and he looked like crap. His hair was dirty and bloody, he had about a million stab wounds littering his chest, and his leg was bent at an odd angle.

I tried to pick him up, but he was surprisingly heavy, and I couldn't lift him up enough. I whipped out my communicator, sending a quick message in chat. It was pretty much the most non-specific, illiterate message ever, but I was in a rush to type.

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-Chat-
Beef: Etho bleeding in woods help
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I didn't bother checking the responses, and tried my best to wrap some of his wounds. I was able to do starters first aid, and a little bit else, but that was basically it. He coughed, a red liquid leaking from his mouth, but didn't wake up. Whoever that figure was, they had really roughed him up, and he needed some serious help if he didn't want to die. Dying would heal him, sure, but with all the perma-death that had been going on lately, and the fact that dying made you lose your gear, levels, etc., I didn't want to risk it, and I'm sure he wouldn't either. I just hope he doesn't die.

-Doc's POV, 1st-

I had at least five messages in my DM's, and I had yet to even check them out because I was busy Bdubs-proofing my house in case the retaliation prank I had hired Etho for somehow backfired. I wasn't scared, though, more so paranoid, which was probably worse, honestly. I was nearly finished, however, and I was very glad for it, because it meant I could move on to other things- projects, pranks, messages, mini-games, stuff like that. As I placed some of the last materials down, feeling satisfied, my communicator started blowing up with messages, most of them in the main server chat. Tapping on the chat, and scrolling back quite a bit, I could see that Beef had sent a message. It said something about Etho bleeding in the woods- which woods had not been specified- and then the simple word, help. I sighed, figuring that I should probably check it out, and flew off in the direction of Beef's base, thinking that he would surely be talking about the woods near there.

When I arrived, hurriedly checking the base, I found that there was nobody in sight. No people, no name tags, nothing that indicated life even remotely. It was slightly worrying, seeing as Beef never really got into so much trouble that he was unable to be located, but, then again, there was a first time for everything. I shrugged it off, continuing my search for the brunette man, with dismal hopes of finding him. Hopefully, I would, but there was no guarantee.

-Time skip: two hours-

It had been a while since I had started searching for the pair, and I was losing hope. If they were low on health points, bad things could, and probably would happen. Just as I was about to completely give up, however, I saw a strange shape on the ground, which was kind of far away. It looked like a person, but as it was fairly late, I couldn't really tell. I dived down to get a better look, and could just make out the redneck, muscular build of my friend, Beef. He was in rough shape from the looks of it, but nothing close to what took me a couple minutes to recognize as- "Etho?!" I landed clumsily, running up to them, and panting. I should have flown closer to land, but whatever- Beef grinned at me halfheartedly in greeting, heaving Etho up a little bit in an attempt to keep them both standing.

"What the hell happened?" I asked worriedly, and Beef's smile faded as he began to explain. "Well, I was out to deforest the nearby area for materials again, and I saw Etho and another figure roughing it out. The other figure, whoever they were, was beating Etho to a pulp, and when I came over and asked what was going on, they flipped me off, and disappeared. Very rude." My jaw was hanging open a bit, and I quickly corrected myself, staring at him in suppressed shock. "Well, that's, uhhh- that's a lot to take in." He nodded understandingly, and sighed. I realized that he wasn't probably doing all that hot himself, and took Etho from him, putting my arm around Etho's shoulder, prepared to walk a long distance. "Come on, let's at least get back to someone's base before nightfall." He looked a little surprised at first, but smiled, and nodded again, sticking by my side as we made our way back.

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