"Axel, you stay here with Lukas and get the place ready for when Petra shows up."

Bitterness seeps into my voice. "What? With that guy?"

"I'm right here..." I roll my eyes, as if I would care about that. Cats don't care about anything except themselves.

"Come on Axel, for Petra's sake." I sigh, Olivia got me.

"Fine." How can I stay mad staying when Petra's doing everything just to get here. "I'll do it for Petra."

Jesse smiles. "I'll take it."

Although why didn't he want Magnus? I know Jesse has always been more on the thinking side, but he's always willing to get rough and just wreck stuff with me. Perhaps he's bitter at me with what I said at the cat last night. Nah, Jesse's pretty forgiving and he was probably expecting it. I did say the truth, who cares if it came out rather harsh?

The sky grumbles, and of course the cat gets scared by it. "Uh... guys?"

The lights dim and scatter, it's not sunset is it? A deep growl shakes the dust, and my heart picks up its pace. The Wither Storm... it's mass of tentacles blocking out the sun. We really need Magnus, no machine can take down that thing. We need to get Magnus.

"Please hurry."

Okay, maybe the cat does have a good reason to be scared. But the little wimp isn't tough enough to hold it in. Jesse nods at him, being formal and polite and junk. Jesse's too nice for his own good, his gang treats us terribly for years and yet Jesse gives him respect. That cat better be really grateful for it.

"Axel." Jesse walks up to me, gesturing me to follow him down the stairs. "I know you really wanted to get Magnus-"

"Still do." We go down the steps, Olivia behind us. "You can reconsider..."

"Axel... Jesse made his choice. Respect it."

Jesse sighs, I get the sense he's been doing that a lot lately. "What I mean is, thank you. I know after last night the last thing you want to do is be with Lukas. And I know you could have fought it. So I really appreciate it buddy."

I smile, it really is impossible to stay made at him. "It's cool, but you better bring her fast. I've never had much of a tolerance for cats."

Olivia chuckles, but Jesse's smile doesn't seem right. It looks normal... just kinda off. Like something's missing, or something. I don't know, I perfer to be blunt and not hide my feelings away.

They wave goodbye and start to walk to the door, Rueben scampering up to Jesse's legs. I bet Jesse would be even happier if we had both Magnus and Ellegaard. I'm sure getting Magnus would be easier than putting up with this Ocelot. But I'm sure the cat will whine being left alone all defenseless.

"So, uhhh, Axel?"

I roll my eyes and glare at the kitty. "What?"

He rubs his head, skittish like all cats. "I don't have a weapon, and I'm assuming you don't, so I was thinking-"

"Well then stop." I walk to the door, already fed up with the cat. "I don't need weapon so just make one for yourself."

I mumble insults under my breath, but I get that sense it would be very bad to say it aloud. I mean, we might need him for bait later on. And he's the only one I'm fine with getting a little banged up.

"Whoa, it's getting dark Axel! Where-"

I snap around and growl at him. "I'm getting supplies, you scavenge for a weapon and stuff in here."

"Look," That stupid cats actually blocks my path! "I know you mad being here with me, but please just listen. Getting yourself killed isn't a good plan! If we don't find enough supplies before dawn, then you can go out."

"I don't need permission from an Ocelot!" He narrows his eyes, and I remember that one zombie almost got me last night. "But I will stay inside, don't want you ruining everything. Bet you don't even know how to scavenge correctly you pampered kitty."

His eyes narrow more, but I just turn and walk away from him. We need sturdy materials, stone would be nice, but I suppose I can make do with just about anything. The cat might have a harder time though.

I walk into some new room, furnaces lining the walls. As a griever, I can tell this place won't have any lootable chests, so I might as well check the furnaces. Perhaps a little soot might make me look tougher too.

The first furnace has clay, good but not enough. The next has more, and the one after that more, and even after that one has more clay, and more and more and more. Every single furnace in here has some amount of clay!

Smiling, I turn to go make some bricks. I bet that cat has only just finished making himself a weapon. I don't need a weapon, I got my fists. Anything that comes my way will be launched backwards!

About half a stack of bricks, that should be plenty to fortify the front with. After I'm done with that, I'm going to get Magnus. We need him, even if Olivia and Jesse think Ellegaard is more important.

I don't have a door though, but I'm sure Lukas will manage. I walk out into the front and begin placing bricks, keeping a eye out for zombies. Not going to let another one of those sneak up on me. 

"Axel! You... uh, already found stuff?"

Sighing, I give a 'no duh' face to the ocelot. He coughs and rubs the back of his neck. I just roll my eyes and continue working.

"Interesting design..." The cat pulls out some fences and begins placing them around the very front. "It really gives off a chaotic vibe, yet has the impression of a griever."

"Really? I had no idea even though I'm the one building it."

The cat sighs, shoulders drooping. Well he can sulk in sadness without me, I'm going to find Magnus. The cat can build the rest of it, he probably has some weapon now to protect himself while he does it.

I set down the bricks and walk away, heading back to the portal. And of course the cat can't figure it out on his own.

"Hey! Axel! Where are you going?"

Not bothering to stop or turn around I groan. "I'm going to get Magnus, we need him. You should have enough stuff to hide yourself away."

I realize he's probably fuming, but I don't care. I have bigger problems. Like getting to Boomtown, finding Magnus, totally convince him to join in on saving the world, and then head back. Piece of cake.

My stomach growls at the thought of cake, perhaps Magnus will have something for me to eat once we become pals. I mean, how could we not become pals? Two grievers united together to take down an epic storm, we're totally going to become friends.

Sighing, I wallow into the water, just as cold as last night. I step through the portal, at least the Nether will dry me off pretty quickly. I stand in the middle of the platform, looking around. Redstonia is that way, we came in from Gabriel's temple, and there is Boomtown.

Shouting a whoopee, I run that way. I kick a lever and hop in a minecart, throwing my hands up as the minecart zooms down the track.

The rush of air and heat, everything speeding past you as you blur by. I don't get how the others didn't like the Nether. This place is awesome! Petra should've invited me when she goes to here!

My heart sinks a bit when I think of her, alone with no one to talk to while running from that storm. If only that stupid cat helped her! Although... I suppose I could have gone back through the portal after a few moments of no one coming through.

I slump down into the minecart, not feeling it anymore. Ivor, that stupid coward who unleashed the Wither Storm. Man, watching Jesse punch that guy was so satisfying, wish I could've done it myself.

The Wither Storm... would it even be a problem if I didn't take that potion? No way, what kind of liquid is strong enough to take down something like that. It wouldn't have worked, only a explosion can take care of that.

Which is why Magnus is going to help us! He has to, the world is kinda on the line if he doesn't. I'm not exactly the best speaker, but surely I can convince him of this massive need to come with me.  

The minecart tosses me around a bit, I didn't see the sudden dip and turn. I have to get my game on though, or else I don't stand a chance in Boomtown. It's going to be so cool, but I won't be able to join in on all the fun. I have a mission.

There's the sign, no turning back now. I can't believe I'm finally going to meet Magnus the Rogue though! And be in the legendary Boomtown! Too bad the world's ending so I can't enjoy too much.

I jump out of the minecart, not stopping for a moment walking through the portal. Only for the ground to disappear and appear fifteen blocks below me! And the ground is sand! Sand! I'm in Boomtown!

I look up and see it in all its glory. Explosions firing off in the air, baby chickens running around everywhere, banter and crazy noises overflowing from this place. It's... it's perfect.

But alas, I can't embrace this small piece of paradise. I need to find Magnus and bring him back, and it would also be nice to do this before Jesse and Olivia gets back. But smarty smarty people like her probably don't have 'saving the world' on their calendar.

While the work of these grievers is pretty darn great if I do say so myself, it's clearly not Magnus's. There would be a whole lot more craziness going on around here if that was the case. So I gotta find him.

But apparently standing around in the middle of a clearing is NOT a good idea in Boomtown. A loud screech startles me, a bandit looking guy running straight at me with a lit TNT. And I run the other way, amazed at the chaos in this place.

I duck behind a building, hearing an explosion go off. I don't think that guy is chasing me anymore. Man this sucks! There's nothing I'd rather do than leap into all this fun, but I can't. I have to find Magnus instead.

So if I were Magnus, and needed to sleep or something by myself, where would I be? Not in any building easily destroyable, which eliminates almost everything. However, those obsidian tower things can't be blown up by TNT.

Now which one... Well, I'm thinking that Magnus is lazy, 'cause grievers tend to be like that. Don't want to think too hard. So I'm going to head to the one that has a bridge connecting it.

I suppose there is a really stealthy and fast way to get there, but that probably requires thought. And I don't wanna do that. So instead I just start running there as fast as possible, hoping that nothing interrupts me.

A couple eggs get thrown at me, a TNT tossed my way, and a few totally awesome war cries. But no one bothered me, I guess they figured it would be more fun to toss TNT at someone who would toss some back.

OK, finally got to the bridge... man that was more of a workout than I was expecting. And now there are dispensers firing arrows. If only Liv was here, she would be able to stop them or something. Or Jesse would have found a way around them.

Oh well, I just run straight through and hope I get lucky. Although BOO! No more running! Can't I at least get a cake or something before I do this?

I sigh, saddened without my cake, and sprint through the dispensers. I get hit once, which is pretty good. The arrowhead broke when it hit me so the worse I'm going to get is a bruise or something.

Well, that's an important looking door. Magnus definitely has to be behind it. Although it's lock right? I've found that people generally lock doors when they don't want company.

I go up and knock... waiting... waiting... getting bored... waiting... wait- Oh hey, the doors opened. I didn't know they would actually open, they usually don't. I walk in, if things keep going like this then I'll convince Magnus, no pro-

The floor buckles beneath me, and I scream when I fall. Then yelp as I hit the really hard ground, I guess this might be a little harder than I orginally thought.

"Ha! Looks like I caught another one!" I look up see Magnus the freaking Rogue in the flesh! "Although not my best catch."

"Oh my gosh! Magnus!" I leap up to my feet, I can't believe I'm actually seeing him! "I-"

"Hold it right there griever!" Magnus totally thinks I'm a griever! This is so awesome! "You're completely surrounded by hidden death traps, take one more step and your guts will paint my walls!"

Magnus flips a lever and TNT springs up. Okay, as totally freakin' awesome as this is... I think I might die here.

"Whoa dude! Please don't kill me! I'm like your biggest fan and the Order needs to get back together before the world gets eaten."

Wow Axel, way to make a fool of yourself in front of your idol. I bet I just went from 'griever' to 'idiot' in his mind. I don't think the I made any sense at all to Magnus.

"Whoa hotshot! Don't strain your tongue now! How about you tell me why some ordinary chap like you thought he could sneak up on me? Magnus the Rogue!"

"Uhh... do you want me to repeat myself? The world's being eaten and we need the Order of the Stone to stop it."

Magnus growls at me, I'm certainly dead. But then he calms down and crosses his arms, as if studying me. There might be a slight chance I don't die after all.

"'We'? I'm sorry for whatever mental disorder you have, but I only see you."

"Well, they're not with me... But I'm pretty sure I speak for the world when I say that we need a hero."

"Lies! You're just a griever trying to catch me unaware. There is no reason, none at all, that I should take your word for this!"

I gotta say something before he flicks that lever! Think Axel think! What could I say that could catch his attention and not make him kill him even faster?

"IVOR!" Gabriel reacted strange to him, Magnus might as well. "Ivor's unleashed this storm that's eating the world! Gabriel-"

"Stop it right there!" Magnus has moved away from the lever, but it's not good how mad he looks. "Ivor? Gabriel? What exactly is your story trapped griever?"

"Well, this Ivor guy got really mad at Gabriel... saying stuff like built stuff can't last. Then with some weird machine looking block, he created this super terrifying Wither. He lost control, Gabriel couldn't stop it, and told us to get the Order back together. And now this thing is on the loose just gobbling up everything." 

"Ivor..." Magnus looks away, and I really hope he's not thinking about if he should kill me or not. "What do you know about Ivor?"

"Well... he's a jerk. Somehow was part of the Order, and now he's just bitter and angry like 24/7."

"Hmm... No one knows about that so I'm gonna assume you're legit." Magnus flips a lever, but the TNT explode away from me. "But I will not hesitate to kill you if for one moment I don't believe you."

"Oh thank goodness!" I run off the bridge, I don't want to be that close to lava anymore. "I can't tell you how happy I am to hear a hero like you is going to save the world. Like, huge relief."

"Yeah hero... But we have a little problem if you want me to leave with you."

Shoot, I'm not really good at solving problems, that's Jesse's thing. "Uhh... like a tough one? You're Magnus, can't you just walk outta here?"

"No, it's not that simple." Magnus rolls his eyes. "As King of Boomtown, all the grievers outside want to challenge me for the title. And in case you haven't noticed, there's alot of them."

"Well yeah, but as King can't you just command them to go away?"

"No! As King I have to stay in this tower! And I ain't just giving it up!"

This is confusing... This doesn't seem a hard thing to solve, just give up the crown. Why is it a big deal? Is there something I'm not getting here?

"So you're trapped in here and can't leave because you can't give up your crown?"

Magnus scowls at me. "None of those fools out there deserve the title, none of them are worthy! I can't tell you how many times I've beaten them senseless."

I open my mouth, but he holds up a finger to shush me. "You however, are a different story. No one knows about you, the mysterious and powerful griever that has suddenly challenge me for the throne. Yes, that'll do nicely."

"Uh... You lost me, what am I doing?"

"Oh my." Magnus smacks his forehead. "You truly are something else."

"Oh!" Did Magnus the Rogue just compliment me? That's so cool! "Thank you!"

"Annnyway, we're going to have a grieving match. And to keeps things simple, right from the get-go, fire TNT at the base of my tower. That's all you got to do and I'm free to leave."

"Really? Well why didn't you just say so? Let's do this thing!"

"Huh," Magnus turns to walk up the stairs. "This will probably be the strangest match the Death Bowl has ever seen."

"Death Bowl?" I jog up to him. "That sounds really cool."

"Oh it is, I can't tell you how many times I've destroyed hopeful grievers like yourself in that place. Good times, good times."

He suspiciously glances at me. "And while we have a moment, you might as well tell me about how you got here."

"Gabriel gave us an amulet thing, it tracked you down here. Although we still don't know where Soren is."

Magnus doesn't seem to hear me, mumbling, "I suppose we should've see this coming. Ivor's gone insane, it was only a matter of time." Magnus grumbles something else like 'didn't deserve' too, and he sounds pretty bitter about it.

I decide that it's best just to not say anything and just soak up the awesomeness of standing next to Magnus the Rouge. He's even allowing me to beat him at this Death Bowl place! So incredibly cool!

However it is a pretty boring walk to the Death Bowl. I mean, it's awesome to see all the grievers following us and walking beside Magnus. But I was expecting total chaos to emit from Magnus, never knew such a powerful griever could be so quiet.

We get there, and grievers swarm all over us. Oh man this is going to be so cool, even if Magnus is being kinda weird and distant. The crazy screams from the other grievers totally makes up for it.

"Wellllllllllcome ladies and gentlegrievers, to the  DEATH BOWL!!" Everyone goes nuts, and I excitedly bounce in place. "In one corner, we have Magnus, your King of Boomtown, prepared to defend his title and crown."

Magnus walks past me to his corner, whispering. "Remember, hit the base of my tower, just keep aiming at that until you win."

I nod although he acts as if he didn't say anything. Man, the members of the Order of the Stone are soo awesome! It was definitely the right thing to do to come here.

The announcer guy walks up to me. "And you! What name do you go by?"

Yes! I have always dreamed of this moment and it's finally happening!! Yeah, the world's ending, but I can't not enjoy this.

I flex my muscles. "I am Axel! THE MIGHTY!"

"You heard the name folks! Give a big Death Bowl welcome to Axel the MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHTY!" The crowds scream, man I have never felt happier. "Then let's begin!"

Magnus and I walk up to each other, looking all cool and totally tough. "Opponents will craft their own grieving towers, which they will then use to grief each other."

"The only rule is-"

"THERE ARE NO RULES!" Man I love these people! No rules! This just keeps on getting better and better.

"No eye-pocking. Other than that, GOOOO CRAZZZZZY! Seriously." This must be paradise, no doubt about it.

"The Mighty! Pick your building material! And Magnus, you-"

"Nah, I'm good." Magnus waves the announcer off. "Brought my own supply."

"Okay then." The dude throws his arms up. "LET THE GRIEVING BEGIN!!!"

We walk away from each other, and I couldn't be more excited or happier or pumped or anything! I glance at the chests, and immediately pick stone. Sorry Rueben, but pink wool just won't cut it.

I get to work, making a pretty generic design. I could do better, but unfortunately this has to be quick and simple. I do still want to get Magnus back before Jesse and Olivia show up with Ellegaard.

His design is quite strange, there's some fort thing behind his platform. But who cares? As long as I blow up the base everything will be good.

Magnus nods at me and I build my TNT cannon right in the middle. He goes on to shout some stuff and the crowds scream in response. I flick the lever and the TNT shoots out, hitting part of the base.

Nothing happens, and I see Magnus scowl from here. "Thought you could hit me when my back was turned huh? Now lets watch the mighty fall!"

Magnus fires off his TNT, hitting the front edge of my platform. It throws me back, but did little damage. It's my turn then.

I flick the lever again, and this time the TNT hits where Magnus wanted it to. His whole towers starts to go boom, totally pushing him off of the platform. It's pretty dang epic! Explosions going off and grievers shouting berserk.

Although, that fort thingy in that back doesn't explode. It was made out of obsidian.  That doesn't matter though right? I won, and that's just some weird thing Magnus decided to make.

"We have a winner! Axel THE MIIIIIIIGHTY!"

I jump down, celebrating all the way. The crowds cheering for me! ME! Suck on this Aiden! I bet you won't ever do anything half as cool as this! I'm the King of Boomtown! I won't have to put up anything from anyone now! Doesn't matter that Magnus threw the match, I still have the title.

"OH YEAH!" I can't help it, the words just seem to fly out of my mouth. "HOW'S THAT FOR THE NEW KING! BADA BING BADA BOOM!"

Magnus runs up to me. "So big boy, I forgot to mention that everyone's gunnin' for your throat now. Luckily, I'm gonna create a massive explosion that will distract everyone long enough so we can slip out. Just run through the portal when it happens."

I open my mouth but he runs off to his obsidian box before I get the chance to do anything about it. Although he was right. The cheering has died down and there are a lot of grievers flipping eggs and holding TNT. I really didn't plan this well did I?

And then a shadow passes down on everything. My first thought is that it's the Wither Storm, but oh no, it's not. A volcano of erupting TNT is raining down on everything, and probably a good time to run to the portal.

But stinkin' finally! Now this is the sort of chaos I was expecting from Magnus, he is truly awesome in every way, shape, and form.

Magnus runs up beside me laughing. "Did you see their faces? That was priceless!!"

I grin with him and he leads me in a house and up the stairs. I'm confused, don't we have to get to the portal then build up to it? We don't need to go into any house.

Without stopping he jumps out a window, and trusting him, I jump right after him. Thankfully, I spot some slime blocks that we're gonna land on. And then we'll fly right through the portal! And who says Magnus isn't smart?

The Nether's heat slams into me, but I still couldn't be happier. I'm the King of Boomtown, I got to grief off with Magnus, watch chaos only his handiwork can do, and now I'm gonna be around when Wither Storm gets killed by him!

"Oh man Magnus." We get into minecarts and zoom away. "The others are gonna be so happy to see you."

****

I- just... ugh. That was by far the hardest oneshot, heck the slowest 4,214 words I have ever written since getting into this fandom.

I got this idea, knew it was going to be long but still felt good about it, and then 1000 words in I have never wanted to not write something so badly. I couldn't stop thinking about other stuff I wanted to write.

Which reflects, like, Axel doesn't seem quite right and neither does Magnus. Plus I started to rush the end when I saw the words blur together. But I sincerely don't care, I've lost the ability to.

And I'm never thinking about it again. I suppose this would've happened sooner or later and I know now not to do topics like this unless I switch it up a bit. So at least something good came out of it.

Well anyway, next oneshot is Space, hope to see you then!