Universe: NX1w

"Hey Xisuma!" a cheerful Impulse greeted Evil X. He wasn't bothered by being called the wrong name, as he was wearing his brothers green armour. He would be nearly indistinguishable to even himself.

"Hello, Impulse!" Evil X replied, mustering up as happy a voice he could muster.

"Uh, I'm Grian?" Imp-no Grian questioned. Why was there so many Hermits on the server? It's so hard to keep track of them all.

"Oh yes, right. Grian. Well I'll be on my way!" Ex hurriedly said, just wanting to get back to his brothers base.

"Are you feeling OK? You seem a bit ill," Grian stopped Ex by standing in front of him. He seemed concerned. Where was that concern when- calm down Ex. You can't let Grian suspect anything.

"I'll be fine, don't worry!" Ex reassured Grian, doing a pretty good impression of his brother if he said so himself.

Grian raised one eyebrow at him, and left, snatching one last glance at Ex before he took off into the sky. Ex exhaled, that was close. If anyone found out what had happened to Xisuma, he would be banned indefinitely. Not that it was his fault, but it kinda was his fault.

He shifted the shulker box he was carrying his other arm, and took off with a single rocket. He began flying in what he hoped was the direction to the prismarine spikes which housed his brother.

-=+=-

There he was. Suspended in motion, elytra splayed behind him majestically. It almost looked like a full colour statue. He was perfectly still, not breathing, heart not beating. He was alive, of course. If he wasn't he would have respawned, albeit in a completely different form, and totally insane. All Ex could do was freeze him in time and space, stopping the glitching from progressing any further.

Boom

A firework was shot directly at the back of Ex's head. He dazily turned to see an angry looking Cub and Grian glaring at him.

"What did you do him!" Cub growled, another firework loaded into the crossbow he was pointing at him.

Ex staggered back, hands raised above his head. Grian must've found Cub and followed him back to his base.

"I froze him in time" Ex blurted out for some reason.

Cub seemed somewhat satisfied with that answer. He looked down towards the firework loaded crossbow and muttered something along the lines of 'I'm glad that worked'.

"Why?" asked Grian, eyes shifting between Ex and Xisuma suspiciously.

"Because he was glitching" Ex answered. He was going for 'none of your business' but his mouth seemed to have other things in mind.

"Tell us exactly what happened" Cub asked forcefully.

Ex didn't want to, but he started telling them the story of what happened. He had a sneaking suspicion there was some sort of truth serum involved.

{Flashback}

Being banned wasn't so bad when you get used to it. Sure, it wasn't the best, but it was almost, serene in a way. All Evil X could see was an inky blackness surrounding him, the only feeling the weight of two manacles on his wrists and feet holding him to somewhere. Occasionally he could hear a whisper of some other banned player, or a flash of colour breaking up the darkness.

The last thing Ex was expecting, was a tugging sensation, pulling his arms and legs backwards. He closed his eyes, and opened them to the unfamiliar sight of a prismarine covered base. One thing he did recognise, was the green armour of his brother. He was about to make a snarky comment, but he stopped as Xisuma's arm disappeared and reappeared in a glitchy fashion.

Ex realised with a jolt that the reason his brother brought him back was because he was glitched. Glitching meant that the player's code had been messed with in some way, causing the player to procedurally glitch out of existence until they 'die' and respawn an insane shadow of their former self. X needed his help.

-=+=-

A week of no improvement. Thing were getting dire, and there was no good ideas to try. X was nearly fully glitched, not making it any easier to think up solutions. Maybe a few more days, and Xisuma would be gone. There was a last option, but neither of them wanted to try it. Ex hated to admit it, but he was fond of his brother and didn't want him to be glitched out.

"I think we should try it" X ventured, referring to the last option.

"No. Absolutely not" Ex responded. They were not even trying that. Not once.

"Would you rather the alternative?"

"No... but... Fine... "

{End of Flashback}

"So that's what happened" Ex finished. That's some powerful truth serum.

"Unfreeze him" Cub ordered.

"What! No!" Ex objected, already opening the command panels to unfreeze him.

Okay. Maybe not just truth serum then.

"I don't think we should unfreeze him, Cub" Grian interjected, watching as Ex's fingers flew over the command panels in front of him.

Cub didn't react to Grian, he continued watching Ex intensely.

"Uh... Cub?"

It was too late. Ex pressed the last button on the panel, and looked up at his brother with alarm. There was a poof as X disappeared, the phones in their pockets vibrating as the death message was announced. There was no saving Xisuma now.

"Look what you did!" shouted Evil X, sword equipped and pointing at Cub.

Cub just looked at Ex and tilted his head. He said

"Ban yourself"

So Evil X did. The last thing he saw was Grian flying off somewhere, the last thing he heard was Cub's laughter. The manacles clasped around his wrists and ankles, and he was banned once more.