-Puppeteer's POV, 1st-

We had been walking for hours. Me, Joe, and Xiecu. It had been quite a long time since I'd seen them, 40 years, I believe. I also hadn't very well killed anyone in those 40 years, sadly, aside from small animals, and beasts in this world that were called mobs. Where I came from, mobs were nothing. I missed it, back in my world. At least there I could kill whoever, whenever I liked! Here, I can only kill if Joe wants to, or needs to, kill, which is almost never, by the way. Why did Ben have to hit the reset button? If not for him, I could still be having my fun. If anything, this has made me soft, which Slender wouldn't approve. Speaking of, I guess I never thought about it, but he's probably fused with somebody too. That has to be uncomfortable for him, imagine if he's stuck with some happy go lucky idiot. I hope that's not the case. Just then, a big boar ran in front of us. Not just one, but a whole hoard of them. This day could not get any worse.

-Keralis' POV, 1st-

EX was after us. We ran and ran and ran, but he was faster than both of us combined. He tackled me to the ground as I got ready to take off with my rockets. "Gotcha!" He yelled, holding down my arms. We struggled for a bit, and in my attempt to escape, I kicked him off of me, into the wall. I didn't know I had had that much strength in me, but it was too late to worry about it, because I had to grab Cholli, take a running leap off of Doc's magnificent goat mountain, and spam my rockets before EX could catch us again. "Are we safe yet?" Cholli asked, keeping her eyes shut tight as we flew. "In terms of EX? Yes. In terms of any flight precautions with elytra? Probably not." She nodded fearfully. "Hey, it's okay! Look into my eyes, nothing but my eyes," she obliged, peaking a look at my face. "There's nothing to worry about, hm?" She nodded again.

We landed on the Shopping District island, which I hadn't even planned to go to today, and stopped by Tango's Rocket Shop. I had used a lot of rockets getting here from Doc's base, because I couldn't risk using his nether portal in case EX followed us through, or closed it off; he seemed capable of otherworldly things. Xisuma and Scar were chatting in one of the shops, and Impulse and TFC were shopping by themselves. It looked peaceful. Could this have happened any worse of a day? I landed at L.L.A.M.B. after buying some rockets, scanning the skies for EX. If he came, I would just try to keep him away from Cholli. He was a bit unpredictable, so who knows what he'd do? If worst came to worst, Xisuma was right around the corner. He could help us. I looked around: no sight of him. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Cholli too seemed a bit more relaxed without EX around as well, which was quickly ruined as the he soared into the Shopping District, circling around, undoubtedly looking for us. "Cholli, you see that spot right there? I'll dig that up. You hide, I'll distract him." She looked at me with scared eyes. "But what about you? He'll hurt you if you don't tell him where I am!" I winked. "Believe me, he can't hurt me if he wants to, Shishwami is just around the corner," she looked at me questioningly, before jumping into the hole I had just dug, and I passed her an enchanted helmet from the spare supply box. "Put it on, it'll help with the air," I said, before closing the hole, and standing up to face EX when he inevitably arrived. Just then, he spotted me, and dived down. He looked severely angry, which scared me a fair bit. If he wasn't mad before, he sure as heck would be now. "H-Hey EX, love your face..." I said, cursing myself for stuttering. "Oh quit the bullshit. Where is she?" I decided to play innocent. "What girl?" He growled. "You know who I'm talking about!" I gave him a look of fake confusion, but I don't think it would've sold even a baby if I hadn't been playing the part.

He walked towards me, backing me into the wall of the shop. "P-Please don't hurt me!" I stuttered out in genuine fear as he raised his fist. "What's going on here?" Shishwami! "He took someone from my base who could potentially be dangerous, and won't tell me where she is!" EX said, glaring at me. "Is this true Keralis?" Xisuma asked, staring at me. I looked down at the ground, and then up at EX. Behind those angry eyes was a plea, a hope that I would admit to it, and that he wouldn't get in big trouble with Shishwami. I just couldn't ignore that. "Y-Yes... But, I was scared for her! I don't know him that well, he may have wanted to harm her, and I couldn't bear to know that I had led someone to that fate!" I said truthfully. Xisuma sighed. "Show me the girl..." I nodded, reopening the hole besides me. Cholli crawled out, looking ready to murder someone with a single glare. "Who the Hell are you?" She asked defensively towards Xisuma. "No need to be so feisty, I'm not here to harm you," Shishwami said, putting his hands up.

Cholli looked to me with scared eyes, and then back to Shishwami. I didn't get what she was indicating at first, but after a minute, it became clear: she was asking me if she could actually trust him, using her eyes to convey said question. I nodded. She stepped forward, her shoulders relaxing slightly. Xisuma lowered his arms. "So, do you wanna tell us where you're from?" Xisuma asked softly. She nodded, opening her mouth. "Sweden..." Xisuma made an o-shape with his mouth. "Pardon if I sound a bit rude, but, it doesn't seem like you have an accent?" She nodded. "I had to stop using it for immigration. I was trying to pass off as English." Xisuma stared in slight shock, though his expression didn't change much. "What year is it?" He asked, earning weird stares from me, Cholli, and EX. Why was he asking for the year? It was obviously 2020- "1784, why?"

Shishwami sighed. "Just as I thought... A time traveller." I couldn't believe my ears. "Come again?" She asked, obviously not believing him either. "You're a time traveller, you came from the past. It's currently July 1st, 2020." She looked just as shocked as I felt. "How are you so calm about this?!" EX yelled, trying to look nonchalant and failing. For someone so uptight and serious, this was an odd reaction. "I'm an admin, this is, quite honestly, fairly boring, compared to some things I have to deal with." I got what he meant now. If you were a hardworking individual who had to deal with life threatening situations every now and again, this would probably be nothing. The tense aura in the room didn't go away entirely, lingering a bit. I really wished that I didn't have such a bad feeling about this day.

-Grian's POV, 1st-

I stumbled, falling into the wall for the fourth time this afternoon. Cleo had been asked to help me accustom to walking again, without using my wings for balance, of course. It was tough, because when I fell, I was so used to being able to spread my wings and soar, instead of try to maintain my balance. It felt as if no improvement was being made, and I was tired of failing over and over again. It was as if I were crippled, in a way. Now, any normal person would be mad at the person(s) who put them in a situation like this, but I wasn't. Being mad would fix nothing, first off, and second, Iskall couldn't help it. It wasn't him who did it. I suspect that whatever is happening with me and Ben, is happening with him and someone else.

As I fell into the wall yet again, I could feel a burning sensation in my chest. It was like my lungs had ripped open this time. It hurt to breathe, and I dropped to my knees, clutching my throat. "Grian? Grian, are you okay? What's wrong? Is it your throat?" I wanted to say yes, but my mouth wasn't working, so instead, I nodded. She rushed out of the room, and I could hear her calling for somebody to help frantically. I felt goosebumps on my back, as if a million spiders were crawling across it. I also had a huge headache, and it hurt to even sit. "Somebody call Doc, this calls for two doctors!" A female voice yelled, as I felt myself being lifted up. At this point, I was coughing too hard to see clearly, or focus on anything aside from stopping it.

A cool metal substance was lodged into my skin, and I felt ready to collapse, my eyes starting to close. I could hear a lot of beeping noises, and people talking all around me, though most of what they were saying was indistinguishable. A single voice, clear as day right next to me was saying, "Get a couple ice packs, he's overheating." I wanted to open my eyes and see what was happening, but I couldn't. Instead, I felt a tingly sensation spreading all over me, as I fell into unconsciousness, and my mind eased.