Scar must have fallen asleep to the surprisingly hypnotic pounding of rain from the outside, for he awoke to dead silence and a bright room. He glanced around, confused for a moment as to where he was, but quickly remembered where and why he was in his snail's shell. He stood up, stretching. Having slept in such an awkward position, he was slightly sore. Who knew that falling asleep on a chest for what Scar estimated to be about ten hours would have a toll on your back?

Nonetheless, the Hermit felt relatively well-rested, and that was good enough for him. As he climbed up the ladder to leave his snail, he looked around for Jellie, who was, slightly unsurprisingly, absent. Scar sighed. He guessed Larry wasn't to where Jellie would always come when she ran off. But, then, where did she go? Scar chased the thought from his mind. He'd figure that out later, once he finished with the investigation that was already going on. Making a mental note to himself to tell Grian to add Jellie's mysterious issues to the list of mysteries, Scar climbed out of Larry's shell. The ground was mushy and muddy, and made a squish noise as he landed. While the rain had stopped, it hadn't completely dried yet, and the land was still slippery and damp.

The snail gave another trill to the Hermit as he prepared to take off. Scar, not having had much to prepare, had decided it'd be best for him to continue the work on his drill. In his inventorial pouch, he had everything he needed: his crystal, some shulker boxes full of various useful items, some rockets, and his spellbook-- just in case he could use anything from in there to help the investigation. Scar was taking this seriously; he and Sherlock Grian were going to solve this case no matter what.

He was about to pull out a few fireworks out when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Whipping around, he expected it to be a zombie that had managed to find a helmet to slip on and avoid the sun, and punched it in the face reflexively. However, while the figure did have a helmet, this wasn't a zombie looking for its next meal.

Xisuma stepped back quickly as Scar's fist met his bee helmet. Luckily, the protection prevented him from getting hurt, but it seemed to have surprised the Hermit as he yelped uncharacteristically. "Oh, sorry, X! I didn't realize that was you," Scar apologized, grinning sheepishly and rubbing his neck. Woops. He hadn't meant to punch his friend in the face, even if X hadn't actually gotten hurt. The Hermit was curious as to why the admin was here. What did he want with Scar? "I was actually just about to get going. What did you need?"

Xisuma shook his head, readjusting his helmet as Scar apologized. "No need, I probably shouldn't have snuck up on you like that." He listened to the rest of what the wizard had to say and responded, "Oh, I was just flying over and saw you here. I thought I'd pop by; you haven't been here in awhile, eh?"

Scar laughed. "No, I haven't." He was about to explain why when X seemed to notice his crystal, which was still glowing brightly-- even if less noticeable-- in the sunlight. The little bee antennae on his helmet bobbled as he bent his head and looked down at it.

"I see you've made yourself another crystal," X noted thoughtfully. His eyes narrowed, inspecting it thoroughly.

"It's actually a crystal to aid eyesight," Scar explained helpfully. X opened his mouth in an 'ah' and looked back up at Scar.

"You've never made one of those. What do you meed it for?"

X's tone was curious, and held none of the familiar sarcasm and mocking that all the other Hermits laced their words with when Scar spoke about his crystals. This was because Xisuma was the only other Hermit, besides Scar, who believed in his magic. In fact, X was the one who gave the wizard his spellbook in the first place, at the beginning of the season. Under the bee-suited Hermit's guidance, Scar learned the basics of wizardry and the two met up frequently to discuss new spells and improvements.

A noise from behind Scar brought him back to the present as he turned to see X stroking Larry's shell. "Hey, Lare! Good to see you," he said happily. The snail looked down at the admin, letting out a chirrup of greeting, then nuzzled the top of the Hermit's helmet lovingly. Scar grinned at the two. Of course, Larry liked Scar, but he obviously had a bias to X; and it was no surprise, as the more experienced magic-wielder was the one who brought him to life in the first place.

When X turned back to Scar, the wizard explained what he was using his new crystal for. "It's actually for an investigation. If you didn't know, Sherlock Grian is back," he started. Scar wondered what X would make out of his and the other detective's plan. Surely he wouldn't think it stupid; the fellow Hermit had to also be wondering what Mumbo was hiding.

"Yes, I heard," X began. "An investigation? What for?" The Hermit folded his arms and raised an eyebrow. Scar could've sworn his eyes, partially hidden by his helmet's visor, grew a bit wider as well.

"You know how Mumbo has that 'project'?" He waited for X to nod slowly before continuing. "Well, Grian and I are going to meet up at..." Scar trailed off, thinking. The two had decided they'd meet up again in a few days, but never decided where. Scar pushed that out of his head, reasoning that he'd just pop over to the sherlock's house, and if he wasn't there, Scar would simply message him on the communicator.

Handy things, those were.

"...we're going to meet up in a few days to do a little... Snooping." A cocky grin spread over his face as he continued. "We're going to figure out what Mumbo is hiding."

At this the admin's smile seemed to falter. His eyes widened. "You- what?" 

Scar tilted his head in confusion. Had X misheard? Or was going to Mumbo's base illegal or something? He was somewhat taken aback by the bee-suited Hermit's sudden change in attitude. "We're going to snoop around Mumbo's base... Is that bad?"

Xisuma shook his head, making a 'no' motion with his hands.  "No, no, it's not that. It's just- I didn't hear you right the first time, that's all."

Everyone knew that was a lie.

Larry broke a few long moments' worth of awkward silence with a chirp that brought the two back to reality. Looking up at the sky, Scar realized how long he really was out for the previous night. The bright sunlight he had awoken to was the nearly mid-day sunshine, and the sun was already starting to begin its crawl back down. He wouldn't have much time that day to work.

But, he decided he'd get in whatever he could. So, he pulled out the rockets and nodded to X. "Well, see you later. Are we still on for the meeting on Friday? I've got a few little things I'm working on."

"Yep," the other Hermit replied. His face lost its somewhat concerned-seeming look and was replaced by a calm, cheerful smile instead. "See you then." As Scar ejected himself into the sky, X said his goodbyes to Larry and flew off in a different direction.

---

In a few minutes, Scar was arriving back at his drill. Still airborne, the wizard flew over the gaping hole and swooped down, aiming for the top of the drill.

He missed.

He crashed into the ground on the other side of the machine, his shoulder taking most of the blow. "Ow..." Standing up, he rubbed his arm. The Hermit was slightly surprised that he survived that, especially since he hadn't been wearing the health crystal. Oh! His crystal! Scar quickly felt the magic crystal around his neck, ensuring that is was undamaged. Luckily for him, the only visible harm it had endured was a few small dents, most of which barely scratched the surface. It was still in perfect working order. Scar chuckled a bit in relief; these crystals he enchanted seemed to be sturdier than other things. Like Scar's shoulder, for example, which was beginning to bruise.   

Whatever, he had work to do. Looking at his drill, it was very outdated. It was small, and seemed easily breakable. Scar would need to upgrade it. All he needed was a bit of iron, of metal, to make it tougher. Which, he had, right in the chest he set up nex-

Or... he didn't. And in this case, the latter was true. The wizard must've used it all up the last time he improved his drill. This called for a trip to the shopping district; if he remembered correctly, Tango had a shop specifically for iron. A quick trip there and he'd be golden. Well, iron, but close enough. Scar dug through his pockets to find a few extra rockets. Uh-oh, he was running out of those as well. He'd pick up some while he was there.

However, it seemed he wouldn't be needing the rockets, as the sky soon opened up again and rain began to pour down. Scar flinched as he was suddenly drenched, quickly removing his crystal and putting it in his pouch to shield it from the water. Instantly, his magically-enhanced vision returned to normal. Was the world always this blurry and unfocused? Scar decided it'd be best to not rely solely on this; should someyhing happen to it, or should he need to take it off again, he didn't want to be disoriented like this again. Pulling out his trident, the Hermit was once again immensely grateful for the riptide enchantment. 

He propelled himself swiftly through the blinding rain. He stared down toward the ground as he went, looking over the shopping district. As he did this, though, he didn't notice the figure of Mumbo right in front of him. The two crashed into each other, causing them to fall down through the air, their flight paths completely obstructed. Luckily, Mumbo was used to magicless sight, and reflexively threw down some water from a bucket as the Hermits neared the ground, saving them from an unfortunate death. 

Scar stood up from the second fall in ten minutes, laughing sheepishly, while Mumbo recollected his water before putting the bucket back in his bag. "Thanks, Mumbo," Scar began. "I totally wasn't looking where I was going and-" He was cut off by the brit, who had crossed his arms. 

"Yeah, you weren't looking where you were going! If I hadn't gotten that water, we'd both be dead!" He stopped talking abruptly, seemingly noticing how harsh he was being. He sighed. It was a long, raspy sigh. "Sorry for snapping at you, Scar. I was just a tad shaken, that's all." The way Mumbo said it, however, was different. His tone had lost its bark, but the bite was still there, concealed under the-- obviously forced-- apology. He sounded almost annoyed. What was up with him? He didn't seem... Scar shook his head. He was tired, probably close to death, and cold-- rain will do that. He wasn't exactly thinking very clearly at the moment. There was also the possibility that Mumbo had his own things that weren't going extremely well, and he was stressed.

Before he could say anything to dig them both deeper into a hole, a familiar bee-suited Hermit rushed up, probably having witnessed the whole thing. "Hey... Are you two okay?" Xisuma's voice was urgent as he splashed through the puddles up to the two. His antennae waved wildly in the wind, and his eyes were wide behind the visor. They darted between the wizard and the redstoner, seemingly sensing the tension.

Mumbo broke the silence. "Yeah, we're fine." His voice was still stiff however, and he kept a stesdy and hard gaze on Scar, his arms remaining crossed.

X nodded distractedly as he glanced in Scar's direction. The wizard shrugged, a slightly concerned-- but mostly confused-- expression painting his face. X's face immediately brightened in realization as to what had happened and he quickly walked up to Mumbo, grabbing his arm. "Mumbo, come here, I need to talk to you," he said hurriedly. Pulling him away, he turned back to Scar. "Sorry I can't chat more, see you Friday, bye!" He then pulled the brit off, saying something in a low, hushed voice that Scar couldn't make out.

What in the world was happening? Scar relayed the past few moments in his head. He was flying in the heavy rain, didn't see Mumbo, and crashed into him. They fell to the floor, but Mumbo saved them. The moustached Hermit then proceeded to yell at Scar accusingly, but then was stopped and dragged away by X.

Mumbo was definitely acting odd. He had been acting odd for awhile. Ever since that day he came back from a three-month absence-- no communication, no 'hey I'm alive don't worry about me', nothing-- Scar noticed something... off about the Brit. He couldn't quite place it, though. The Hermit just seemed to be acting strangely-- unlike himself. Could it have been all that time alone? No, it couldn't be. His personality couldn't just change, just like that. But Scar just couldn't shake the fact that the way his friend was acting was strange, foreign for the man. He was weird, he was concerning. He was almost...

Unrecognizable.

-(Author's Rambling)-

Hi! You may have noticed that I am once again a tad late. School prep, family and sheer procrastination prevented me from getting this out sooner. I did warn y'all, though. I tried to make this one a bit longer though, put some more stuff in it.

Unfortunately, though, with the near arrival of school, updates will be less frequent. But don't worry, I won't forget about you guys.

And, as always, thanks for coming and see you next time, my little readers!