oh boy we're in the endgame now

(btw I don't know who is where kinda but long story short Xisuma took Jimmy back to HermitCraft, and Grian, Pearl, and Joel are staying to fight (with their new friends of course))

-

A large set of bronze doors infested by skulk was all that was left. It was the one thing standing between Naya and the battle on the other side. She knew this moment would come, but it was a lot scarier then she'd thought.

It was like a boss battle. Step past these doors, and you trigger the entire thing. Sure, in video games you would die many times, but you would always be given a second chance to respawn and come back to the same battle from the beginning. Not here.

Death by skulk was painful and permanent. She'd learned that much.

"Are you ready?" A hand on her shoulder. Cleo.

"Not at all," Naya chuckled, heart pounding in her chest. "But we have to do this."

Cleo frowned slightly, turning back to the doors in front of the two.

"...we might need backup, though." The zombie woman pulled out her communicator, sending out a quick message to everyone.

Naya nodded in agreement. She took a deep breath of the cold, crisp air. 

"They're going to meet up with us soon. We should start this before they get here."

Naya's stomach churned as she placed a hand on her katana.

"Yeah," she mumbled, "let's do this."

The two worked together to push open one of the doors, it was surprisingly heavy. When it was pushed open enough to be able to walk in, Naya immediately wanted to change her mind.

Skulk was everywhere. The walls, the ceiling, the floor. The only place where it wasn't growing was a ragged circle in the center of the room.

The two walked into the place, being careful about where they stepped and keeping an eye out for their friend.

"Frog might not be here." Cleo whispered. A snap from above them proved her wrong. Naya looked up, preparing to lash out with her katana. The skulk on the ceiling was breaking and twisting, dropping down and collecting on the floor.

"Heyyy, Naaya..." A somewhat familiar voice drawled from just behind the two. Naya whipped around and there was nothing.

"Did you come to die again?" The voice taunted, somehow ending up behind them again.

Naya twisted and turned, still unable to spot her skulk-controlled friend... Until she did.

Head lolling to the side, wings drooping, skulk hanging from them. They lifted their head, revealing skulk-coloured eyes with blinding white pupils and a wide grin.

Naya couldn't breathe. She found it hard to believe that person was once her best friend.

"We're going to stop you." Cleo said confidently, but Naya could see fear in the way her hands shook.

"Awww, that's cute. You can certainly try." Skulk raised behind them like multiple limbs, creeping forwards ever so slowly. "But I always win." They lashed out with their claws, barely missing Cleo and grazing their side.

Cleo stepped to the side and pulled their sword in front of them.

Frog's corrupted giggles filled the room as they pushed off the ground with a powerful beat of their wings and began the fight. Appearing here and there, summoning skulk to fight and shield with.

The clashes of metal against metal were all Naya could hear, swinging with her katana over and over. At some part during the chaos Naya ducked and rolled out of the way of a skulk spike that flew close to her head and began to draw the ritual circle. Cleo kept Frog busy and out of the way as Naya used her finger to draw a large circle, little stars and shapes around it like she'd memorized.

She was half finished with it when the skulk caught onto what she was doing and lunged for her. The ingredient scattered from Naya's hand as Frog tackled her to the ground.

"CLEO!" Naya shouted, "SET IT UP!" She pushed Frog away from her and launched the items to the zombie woman before being thrown against a wall.

The bronze doors opened wider and Stress burst inside with a crystal in her hands, Joe, Doc, Martyn, Gem, Grian, Joel, Pearl, Lizzie and two others Naya didn't recognize following her. The resistance flooded the room, fighting and strangling skulk while Cleo and Stress finished the ritual circle and placed a few of the ingredients.

Frog was being surrounded by mostly everyone and pushed everyone back with a large flap of their wings, summoning skulk and creating walls to block them out.

It was just Naya and Frog in the center of the room. The ritual circle needed one last ingredient, the crystal Stress was holding.

Frog snarled and leapt at her, forcing the two to fight. Katana against skulk, fist against fist, it took everything Naya had to stay alive. She kicked her corrupted friend in the stomach and they ended up cornered against a wall.

The resistance members began to break free, helping each other and rushing around to destroy skulk. Naya lifted her katana and pointed it to Frog's throat.

"Naya, wait, stop!" Everyone in the room froze up or fell silent, most of them still trapped. Frog gasped and heaved in air, eyes wide with fear as the shuffled away from the blade pointed at them. They were near the center of the ritual circle, Naya could push them in and free them of this mess-

"I- It's me!"

What?

"It's Frog! Don't hurt me!" Their evil grin was gone. They were still corrupted by skulk, Naya could see that, but... but...

As soon as the katana was out of the way the smile returned and Frog darted out of the way, aiming for Naya with the skulk sword in their hands-

...

-it never hit. Somebody else blocked the blow. A shuddering cough filled the silence and Doc fell to his knees. Naya was horrified as the skulky sword retracted from his chest and clattered to the ground.

Frog looked equally as scared, a hand going to their head as they stumbled backwards, muttering under their breath. They were in the perfect position.

"NAYA!" Stress called, the crystal in her hands glowing. She threw it towards the ex-watcher, who caught it and placed it in it's area.

The ritual began to glow and strings of light came up and grabbed Frog's wrists, torso and neck. They roared in a mixture of pain and fury, the light beaming and shining so bright Naya had to look away.

After a minute it faded, and her best friend lay in the center of the room.

-

ending that here

in my defense, i rolled the wheel of fate

Who will get stabbed today?

Yayyy, let's all give a round of applause to our winner and newly-dead hermit, Doc!

ok bye :)