If Impulse knew he would be running into two unfamiliar people, one being an angel, after he got lost in the Nether, he definitely would have taken the Nether roof.

And the angel could scream, too.

Impulse had originally come to the Nether for some quartz for his various Redstone needs, but he had decided to hunt for some Ghast tears, too. He was working on an auto brewer, so he went scavenging for some potion ingredients. 

It had taken him quite a while (and way too many close calls with lava pools) to find a Nether fortress that hadn't been explored yet. He regretted not taking the Nether ceiling.

The Nether fortress he had finally found was pretty decent in size. Impulse had landed on top, barely avoiding a Blaze's fireball, and immediately descended down a staircase inside.

On the way, he had found a loot chest with some diamonds, obsidian, saddles, and gold. He had taken the diamonds and obsidian and left the other items.

After that, he had wandered around the halls aimlessly, trying to find some Nether wart. The hallways branched off from each other and it was proving to be quite difficult to navigate. After running into a couple of dead ends, Impulse had found a supply of Nether wart and took it all.

Impulse decided to backtrack down the hall, seeing if he could find any wither skeletons or more loot chests. He must have gone in a circle, because he was back at the Nether wart staircase.

Only this time, he wasn't alone.

When he was nearing the staircase, Impulse thought he'd heard voices. Shaking his head and telling himself he was the only person here, he rounded the hallway corner and ran straight into more people.

»»————-　★　————-««

The thing that terrified Zed more than the Ghast and wither skeleton had turned out to be a harmless human.

That didn't stop him from letting out his loudest scream yet.

Tango jumped back, letting out an involuntary hiss. The person stepped back as well, looking at Tango with suspicion.

Zed kept screaming. Tango kicked him in the shin and gave him an annoyed look.

"Well, I'm sorry!" Zed snapped. "I didn't know we would be randomly running into a person we've never seen before."

A smile pricked at the edge of Tango's mouth. "You sound like a little girl."

The newcomer still looked a little apprehensive. He was probably as surprised as Tango and Zed.

"I'm sorry," Tango said, shooting Zed another look. "I'm Tango. The screaming angel is Zedaph. We weren't really expecting to run into anyone..."

"I can tell," the man muttered. "Impulse. How...how did you get here, exactly?"

"We went through our Nether portal."

"But I went through my Nether portal to get here."

"So we don't know whose Nether we're in."

"Maybe we're in the same Nether."

"Then how come we didn't see any other sign of life when we first got to the Nether?"

"I had to fly out a bit to get here."

Zed looked between the two, barely following the conversation.

"Also, why is an angel and...I'm assuming you're a demon...in the Nether, anyway?"

Tango frowned slightly. "Okay, first of all, I'm not a demon. I'm just a regular human...who happens to have red eyes and lived in the Nether collecting obsidian for a new portal for two years. Secondly, you should have started with that question first."

Impulse looked confused by the first bit, then shook his head and continued. "Well, I was kind of worried about why there were people in a world where I've never seen another person, so..."

"Trust me, after some time, you get used to it."

"Hey, wait a minute," Zed said, holding his hands in a time-out gesture. He pointed at Impulse. "You said that you used your Nether portal to get here."

"Yeah?"

Zed turned to Tango. "And we used our portal to get here."

"Yes."

"And Impulse here had to travel pretty far out to get to this Nether fortress, while we only had to make one scary bridge."

"What does any of this have to do with me?" Impulse asked.

"Stick with me here. What if Impulse isn't from another world, like Grian or Mumbo? What if the portal took him to a different part of the world he was already in?"

Tango thought about it. "I mean, yeah, that could be a possibility. Not a lot of people have gone exploring, and we've pretty much stayed in the clearing."

"I did have to travel about five hundred blocks out to get here," Impulse said, trying to contribute to the conversation. "Eight blocks in the Overworld is equal to one block in the Nether."

"I don't know math, but I'm gonna assume that's a lot of blocks you'd have to travel in the Overworld," Tango said.

"Impulse, you didn't happen to feel some sort of tremor in the ground, say, two weeks ago?" asked Zed.

"Uh, actually yeah," Impulse said. "It was really weird, there was this slight shaking in the ground. I thought one of my farms was producing some glitches."

"What if it isn't just Impulse?" Tango said. "What if others are from this world, too? Like, False fell from the sky. So did Bdubs. Stress and Wels came from an ice biome, and we haven't seen one of those yet."

"Woah, woah, wait." Impulse stared at the other two. "Two people that you know fell from the sky?"

Zed burst out into giggles. "Yeah. As I said, you get used to it."

"You get used to people falling out of the sky." Impulse blinked.

"Another person we know glitched the world so much he created a rip between two worlds," Tango said, grinning at Impulse's confused expression.

"And another is a failed science experiment!"

"This guy, he's from the End dimension. He has a pet pig named Reuben."

"I'm concerned about this group of people..." Impulse said.

"You should be," Zed and Tango said simultaneously.

Impulse laughed. "Oh, man, if I knew I would be running into two people who would tell me about their literally otherworldly group, I would have run away screaming from the portal."

"Ah, we'll change your life for the better!" Zed said brightly.

"I'm stuck with you guys now?" Impulse pretended to look horrified.

"Yep! Brave Tango the Nether survivor, comical Zed the angel, and our bumbling sidekick who's probably only here for comic relief, Impulse!"

"Brave Tango? Where?" Zed looked around. Tango punched his shoulder.

"Hey, since our portals are supposedly in the same Nether, I think you could link the two parts together," Impulse said. "I have a bunch of resources, and judging by Zed's unenchanted iron armor, you guys seem to need it..."

"Actually, that would be useful." Tango ignored the jest. "Plus, it would expand the area more. I'm just worried about the distance."

"Well, that's what the Nether ceiling is for. We can make an ice road between them. I have the supplies."

"Ice road? Nether ceiling?" Zed asked. "This isn't fair. The Aether doesn't have a ceiling. It's just blue sky for forever. And when I was alive--for the first time--we didn't have our portals linked up."

"Do you want to come back with us so you and Cub--another one of our friends--could link up the portals? You can probably tell that Zed and I aren't really the best at this stuff." Tango said, heading down the hallway and back to the staircase.

"Yeah, sure!"

"Oh, and uh, fair warning, there's a huge ravine Mumbo created close to the portal, so watch your step."

Impulse shook his head. "I'm scared and excited to meet this group..."

Tango draped an arm over Impulse as they walked. "We need a nickname for this guy. We've got Tangy, Zeddie, and...whatever Impulse's name would be."

Zed grinned, following close behind. "Well, it's obvious, isn't it?"

"No..."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Impy," Zed chorused.

"Zeddie, Tangy, and Impy." Tango pulled Zed closer, putting his other arm around him. "Aether, Nether, and Overworld. I like it."

"Above, below, and the middle ground," Zed added. "It's like our own little group."

"And to think it started in a Nether fortress with Zed screaming like a girl," Impulse said. Zed shoved him playfully.

"I'm never gonna live that down, am I?"

"Nope!" Tango said brightly. "C'mon, Zeddie. Let's head back before we get you killed again."

(WC: 1403)