#squidie

[daddys-bb-bun-bun]

[lifeinthesquiddimension]

Mystery of the Missing Avatars, Intermission

"You did it! Hey! Hey! You did it! You killed SqueedLion!" Squidie suddenly cheers, making me jump in surprise and yelp while my commentators laugh in my ears. The little squid splashes around cheerfully, giggling, before stopping to blink up at me. "Um, but could ya quit doing that? Those clones weren't easy to make and you heard what Lord Squidlaron said. We're still trying to fix 'em!"

I return his indignant look with a glare of my own, tired but I hope it gets the point across. "Do you think I like getting into these fights?" I demand. "Cripes, I tried to reason with SquidMonkey! How is it my fault they all want to attack me as soon as they see me?!"

"Yeah, what's up with that? This is the first time you came to the Squid Dimension, right?" Squidie wonders aloud. I nod and he blows a few bubbles thoughtfully, "So why do they target you as the Priority One Enemy when you're the Writer?"

Good question. I'd love an answer to it but I'm about ready to pass out. It takes me a bit to drop the WeedLion Mimic and I sit down hard on the grass, holding my head as it throbs painfully.

----

/AvecPardon Core File Damage: 25%/

----

Ugh, why can't I seem to focus? It's like my thoughts are too fuzzy to understand, gaps in my understanding of things. Things I think I'm supposed to remember, but... wait. I don't.... Ugh, I just confused myself.

"Avec, what's wrong? You feeling alright? ...You want some chi~ken?" Tired Voice asks, half concern and half amusement in his tone. I huff in response; how amused would he be if he was the one dealing with all this to save Sky's friends? But... his voice still managed to make me smile a little. I can't help it, he sounded funny to me.

"I wonder if Savoy and LadyEnchantress finally figured out you switched the track," Squidie suddenly remarks and I twitch. Wha-?

Cripes! That must be what I forgot! How the hell did I forget that?! Cripes, there's still one more Avatar I have to free from this place and then I can figure out what to do next.

First, what did SqueedLion drop for me?

----

/AvecPardon Core File Damage: 22%/

----

A little rest seems to have helped me get a bit clear-headed. I get up and head over to investigate the patch of grass where SqueedLion vanished. It takes a moment of poking around but I find the object that had fallen. Another key.

What are these for?

I open my inventory and place the key where WeedLion's book used to be, and I notice something. Blue and dark green; SquidMonkey's key is a brilliant blue color, much like BlueMonkey's fur, while SqueedLion's key is the same rich green of WeedLion's fur. I wonder who the third prisoner is, and what color their key will be.

"Let's check on WeedLion. We need to see if he's okay," Dry Voice comments and I nod in agreement before setting off for the prison. Flicking to my stack of potatoes, I start eating to refill my hunger bar and heal my remaining wounds. This isn't good. I'm down to a half-stack of baked potatoes. At this rate, I'll run out of food before I can escape this place. Well, I still have my cooked fish and fresh apples, but how long will they last when my potatoes restore the most hunger?

While I'm worrying over the state of my supplies, I end up walking straight into the glass prison, tripping over WeedLion just as he's getting up.

"Oof!" "Cripes!"

Well, that's a heck of a first impression.

--------

"....So you were sent by Sky and Deadlox to rescue us while the two of them are in hiding?" WeedLion sums up things after I explain my whole adventure thus far, minus a few details, of course. Dry Voice had threatened to kick my 'stalkery fembutt ass' if I mentioned him, Tired Voice, the headset, or the Butter Blade. "But you goofed around on that island for a few months because you couldn't remember anything they told you?"

"Pretty much," I agree with a nod, one hand carefully petting Squidie so the little guy didn't try to start yelling at WeedLion for attention. I've got enough headaches, I don't need screaming added to it. WeedLion frowns thoughtfully, patting at his chin with one massive paw. -Norwegian.- I blink as the new bit of data is added to my internal collection on him.

"I don't understand why they would send a newly Awakened Recruit into forbidden territory, 'specially since you don't look like a front line fighter. Not Power Class, not Defense, not even Balance... Support, maybe?" WeedLion muses with a tilt of his head. "Well, you said you were able to move among the squids and Squidlings without being attacked-"

"Up until I got LadyEnchantress and Savoy mad," I remind him. Not looking forward to what they may do to me if they ever catch me.

"-which is an amazing skill that we don't often find in Recruits," he continues as if he hadn't heard me. Seriously? That's cold. "But again, there are others who have also had that ability. The Stealth Class. Pretty much all gone now; they eventually got discovered and then...." He shivered then, a grimace on his face.

Please don't do that. I'm freaked out enough as it is!

"So of all the Recruits we've got, of all the Classes that are left, what makes you special enough to be a one-Avatar rescue squad with barely any memories or combat skills?" WeedLion asks incredulously, leaning forward to peer at me with a look of suspicion on his face. Yes, I had also left out my mimicking. Didn't think he'd be too pleased that I had to fill in the blanks in my record of him with inferred data and activate a mostly incomplete Mimic Mode.

Actually, would anyone want to be pleased that I can mimic them like this? Wouldn't it just creep them out?

"I don't know," I finally admit with a shrug. It's not a complete lie; I really don't know why I was chosen beyond the fact that two babbling idiots in my head modded my ability to mimic others and warped it into this. "But I got this far, didn't I?"

"Chased by Squidlings," WeedLion reminds me (so he was listening!) and opens his screen to tap at the keyboard. "Let me contact BlueMonkey and we'll help you rescue the others."

Yes! I can feel hope surging through me at those words. Yes, that's what I want! These two can fight much better than I can! They can rescue the rest of the High Council and I can go-

"He's clean, but we can't have him or BlueMonkey come along," Dry Voice says suddenly, and my hope drops like a cobblestone block in the ocean. Feels like the strain of the smile on my face is about to crack my head open.

"What?!" I finally blurt out, fed up with getting yanked around like this. What the hell?! I rescued these two; the least they can do is be allowed to travel with me! WeedLion looks at me funny.

"You don't like that idea?" he asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Immunization is almost gone. You're the only one with full protection against both Viruses. We can't risk anyone getting infected while rescuing the rest of our friends," Tired Voice explains quietly.

"I'm the only immunized Recruit left?" I question aloud, stunned. Me? I'm the only one left? My hand rises unbidden, my fingertips touching the smooth gold circle that sits as the centerpiece of my mage armor. But... that can't be right! What about the Butter Records?! Those can immunize, right?

"Eh? Oh, that's... hm." WeedLion hums flatly, a scowl on his face as he stares at a different screen floating before him. "That feel when your immunity is at twenty percent...." He looks over at me ruefully. "Maybe you're right. But, if Sky and Deadlox aren't doing their immunization thing, that leaves me with two questions."

I quirk my head to one side in curiosity -and my skin tingles for a moment in reaction- and WeedLion raises a finger. "One, what's stopping them from doing their jobs?" He raises another. "And two, why are you the only one with full immunity if it's been months since the last immunization update?"

Ah!

He's right! In the time that's passed from an update, everyone's immunity levels has fallen at a steady rate, worn away by time and any confrontations with viral coding. But my levels have remained at max all this time, according to Tired Voice. Could it be because I'm wearing Deadlox's headset, the vessel of the Squid Antivirus?

But he said 'both Viruses'... the headset doesn't protect against the Herobrine Virus. And the Butter Blade isn't the vessel of the Herobrine Antivirus... that would be-

"He needs to go. Him and BlueMonkey. Like, now," Dry Voice suddenly remarks firmly. "We don't have time to stand around comparing dicks. We gotta go, dude."

"Ewwww...." Tired Voice whines, but I can hear the smile in that tone. It's faintly familiar and warm.

"I can't answer those. Not now at least," I tell WeedLion. "You and BlueMonkey should get out of here to escape infection. The coordinates in this area are too wonky to use to come here, but if you TP out to someone else, it should be fine, yes?"

"We can TP back to you, then, with more Recruits," WeedLion offers. Oh, that's a great idea! Only....

I shake my head. "I would have to be able to accept a TP request to do that, and for some reason I'm locked out of my command screen," I reply. The lion Avatar gapes at me and I reach up to tug at my fringe a bit, feeling rather awkward. "Warn the rest of the Sky Army, okay? That there might be clones of the High Council headed their way," I tell him, avoiding his gaze. "Y'know, just in case I don't make it...."

Out of the corner of my eye I can see him squinting at me, like he's trying to figure something out, then finally he sighs and rubs his head. "Well, if you really think you're up to the task of saving the others," he swipes his window to chat and quickly types out a message, "then I guess the best thing we can do to help is get out of the way." He sends it then looks up at me again, another strange expression on his face. Why does he keep doing that? I hunch my shoulders up, tugging a little more on my hair. WeedLion swipes his window again and reaches into the screen, pulling something out. "Here. I had this just in case I got into a serious battle, but I got knocked out by the Squidlings when they jumped us," he adds and tosses me a golden apple. I catch it and blink at the yellow skin shimmering enchanted pink light in my hands. "Notch apple; it's the only one I have but I think it'll come in handy."

"Ooh, butter apple!"

"No, no, down, boy. Not for you. It's not for you."

"Can I lick it? -Thip thip thip!-"

My eye twitches as the sound of a tongue slurping keeps going on in my ear. I really wish I'd put mute on before I started talking to WeedLion.

"Good luck, man," WeedLion tells me and taps something else into his command screen. Before my eyes, the green-furred lion transforms into digital light and launches into the sky, followed by a second beam from the forest mini-biome in the distance. I watch them both until I can't see the lights anymore, then bring up my own inventory and stash the Notch apple in a space.

"That's kinda pretty. Wonder if Savoy and LadyEnchantress will think so too," Squidie remarks out of the blue and I can only slap my hand to my face in response.

I really need to keep in mind that I'm still early in my escape from the Squid Army.

"So! That was scary beyond all reason," he goes on before breaking out into giggles. "Next one! Let's see the next one!"

"You want me to go activate another of these psycho copies?!" I yell back, gesturing towards the cave mini-biome. "After they nearly killed us so many times?! Are you crazy?!"

"But they didn't kill us! You did that copy thing-"

"I don't copy; I mimic!"

"-and I did my yelling thing and we did it! We make a pretty good team!"

"Can we please dump the squid at some point?" Tired Voice whines.

My eye twitches again as I turn and start walking towards the final mini-biome. Why is this my life? Why can't I just throw them all over the edge and go home to my little island? Cripes, this day just can't end soon enough, can it?

[lifeinthesquiddimension]

Boss Battle: SqueedLion!, 2

-How do we write, Avec?-

By mimicking the Avatars and Players we write about.

-How do we mimic?-

By observing them, gathering data on them, learning how they move and speak and act and think until we can predict them. Until we can think like them, act in the way they would with reasonable certainty.

-And if we have the barest amount of data?-

Then we can't mimic. There's no way to know how they will act and react.

...Make it up?

-Make an educated guess. Creative logic and artistic license. The closer the guess, the more accurate the mimic, and the more powerful it is to use.-

...Then I'll just have to read WeedLion a little more closely and get as much data as I can, and do my best to fill in the rest with what fits him best!

----

I open my eyes and hear my name being called over and over by various voices, the ones in my headset and Squidie nearby. The grass tickles my cheek, my side still burns, and SqueedLion is wandering nearby, twitching erratically every so often.

"He's worse than Herobrine with the twitching," Tired Voice mutters. "Avec... you okay? How bad is it?"

By some miracle my right arm had landed in just the right place that I could touch fingers to my wounded side. Unfortunately, that also meant I'd lost my grip on the Butter Blade. Not good.

Ow! I hiss instead of cry out to avoid SqueedLion getting the idea that I'm not dead. My fingertips are warm and sticky, the gashes in my side sting even more, and it's getting harder to breath steadily. Ungh, got through the protection of the gold armor; SqueedLion's more powerful than I thought....

"This isn't good. Hearts are low, hunger's low, regen isn't active. Dude, you need to eat. Like, right fucking now," Dry Voice says in that shade of bland tone that betrays worry and urgency. And he's right; I can feel the pangs of starvation beginning to set in, a sense of unease specific to a low hunger bar.

Huh, wonder how he knew my meters were low?

I look around as best I can to see if I can find the gold sword, then double check that SqueedLion is still distracted. While he keeps twitching up a storm, I clean my hand as best I can on my shirt, then flick through my hotbar until I have a warm baked potato in my grip. I start eating as quickly and quietly as I can.

"Om om nom nom nom," Tired Voice mutters absently. He sounds like he's done that so often, it's a subconscious habit.

My hunger rises after two potatoes... and suddenly drops to near starving again. What the-? My stomach clenches in protest. Why did that happen? Another side effect of whatever was force installed in me that messed up my mimicking?

"Keep eating," Dry Voice orders. "Just eat until you're full for sure." So I start munching again, focused on my potatoes as Tired Voice mumbles his sound effects.

"That's a lot of food you're eating," Squidie comments in a strangely subdued tone. I look aside and see that the bucket had been jostled out of the holster on my hip; it sat on the ground liked a placed block.

I don't answer. I can't. As fast as I eat to refill my hunger, the meter empties and my injuries haven't healed yet. Why?! Why is my hunger being drained but my regen not activating?!

Just as I start to panic, my hunger fills once more and this time it doesn't immediately disappear. My hearts slowly but surely start to recover, half by half, my wounds closing and blood replenishing. It's getting easier to breathe.

SqueedLion is still wandering about aimlessly, so I chance reaching out to grab Squidie's bucket while sitting up. No reaction. I holster the bucket, securing it to my hip once more. No reaction. Slowly, I get to my feet and stand up. My hearts are nearly full and all I feel now is just an overall soreness from hitting the ground. The hunger bar drops below the level for regenerating, so I eat another potato and finish healing so that even the soreness fades away. Still no reaction, and SqueedLion even turned to look straight at me!

I wonder why he's not attacking now. Well, gift horse, mouth, I'll shut up now.

I look around again to see where the Butter Blade had been thrown. Ah, there is it, lying on the ground not too far away. Keeping an eye on SqueedLion's movements, I carefully sneak over to it and grab the hilt of the sword. Picking it up, I examine the Butter Blade carefully, checking for damage to the shimmering sword. This weapon dealt the most damage to squid enemies and gold is a weak material; not the best combination of traits but the most appropriate, if one considers who the sword's owner is. The last thing I want is for this to break and-

Oh. No damage? Ah, that's right; Unbreaking Infinite. That's pretty OP for a gold sword.

"Priority One Enemy! Destroy!" SqueedLion suddenly roars out. I jump, startld, and look up in time to see the copy run towards me with its arms flailing around wildly, as though they had minds of their own. Cripes!

I bolt, screaming in a panic. Why is everything out to get me?! What the hell is wrong with this place?! Flippin' leave me alone! Aaaaah! What did I ever do to deserve this?! Aaaaaah!

I don't dare look back, I just run. The sound of SqueedLion roaring isn't quite so loud behind me; was I outrunning him? My speed is much higher now that my hunger meter is maxed but if I keep this up it'll run out again very soon.

Cripes, cripes, what do I do?! Squidie is hiding in the bucket again, squeaking out curses and yelps of fear. My commentators are arguing with each other, one wanting me to fight back using my higher speed, the other wanting me to mimic that thing.

I do them both one better; I run straight for WeedLion.

----

"Waaaaaaaaah~!"

I'm probably alerting every squid and Squidling in a thousand block radius to where I am by all my screaming, but how am I supposed to stay calm when there's a crazed clone lion thing chasing me with claws of doom?!

"WeedLion! WeedLion, talk to me! Say something!" I yell, running up to the glass chamber with my pathetic record in hand. I need something more to work with than 'really good with renders'. If he would just get up, give me some words, talk just long enough for me to read him....

SqueedLion roars behind me and I don't have a chance to stay with WeedLion and study him more. I race away and around the chamber, trying to build distance so I can try again to spend time with WeedLion. I just need a little more information!

---

Install Level 1 Writer File: AveedecLion Install incomplete. Awaiting update....

---

"This is like one of those old Saturday morning cartoons my Player remembers!" Tired Voice declares with a faintly hysteric laugh. "Like, there should be that stupid music that plays when the bad guy is chasing the good guy in circles! Ha ha!"

"Still not helping!" I yell.

"Hey, I tried! It's not my fault these copies are stupid!" Squidie shouts back, clinging to the buck for dear life as he faces behind me again. "Hey! Heeeyyyy! I'm a squid~! This is the Writer! Quit it!"

"Priority One Enemy! Destroy!" SqueedLion roars out.

Cripes! He's getting close! I turn sharply and run back to WeedLion. Oh, I hope he's awake enough now to give me something to work with!

He's still slumped against the glass when I reach him. That dazed look on his face doesn't give me much hope on his aid. Okay then. Guess I'll have to do my best with what little I can read from him.

I focus on WeedLion and raise the book before me so that I can see the words and the subject at the same time. I can only hope that SqueedLion doesn't come after me right away while I try and piece together what WeedLion is like.

---

Updating Level 1 Writer File: AveedecLion.... Complete. Upgrading Mimic Mod.... Complete. Install Mimic Mode: WeedLion.... Install incomplete. Awaiting update....

---

Data trickles through bit by bit, from the book, from the soul link to my Player, from my own observation of WeedLion and the fragmented bits of memory in my head.

"Hurry! He's coming right at us!" Squidie cries in alarm.

The gaps in my database are slowly filled in with inferred data. Based on his ability, his talents, his hobbies, what is WeedLion like? What kind of Player does he have and what kind of Avatar does that make him?

Kind. Shy. Bit bashful, but friendly.

"I read you, WeedLion. What little is there, I read and I infer and I write the best I can onto myself."

My skin is tingling, the pages of my book ripping themselves out and whirling around me, disappearing into data that wraps around my body.

"Priority One Enemy!" SqueedLion roars again. "Destroy!"

---

Install complete. Activate.

---

"Mimic Mode: WeedLion!" I yell back, turning on my heel to lash out with the Butter Blade. My arm... right before my eyes, my arm glows bright, the light shatters, and I'm left with an arm that's bigger, bulkier, covered in green fur.

WeedLion's arm.

"Fuck! He did it again!" Tired Voice exclaims in shock. "What the hell is going on?!"

SqueedLion grunts, the sword cuts across his chest and forces him back. The Damage Indicator locks on as I note the amount of hearts that were knocked off by the hit. 25; he's more heavily defended than BlueMonkey was. Power Class Avatars are like that, I suppose.

He roars again, in outrage I imagine, and comes charging for me once more. Okay, what's the next most likely thing WeedLion would do?

(Cautious, yet reckless.)

Dodge, then strike. Like BlueMonkey, WeedLion's Player is an animator/renderer. The Avatar would know weak points in a model as well; he would stay out of range, then focus on those weak points.

And as that mottled grass-green/squid-blue paw swipes in my direction, I duck and move forward under it, slashing across one such weak point with the Butter Blade.

Oh! A Critical hit! 30 hearts vanish in that single blow and SqueedLion leaps back from me with snarl that transforms into a new roar. The sound blasts over the field and hurts my ears, even through the dampening effect provided by the headset. My first thought is of how loud that was; what if it alerted Savoy and Lady Enchantress?

My second is, 'Hey, I know this kind of roar!'

WeedLion is a bit shy (Player avoids cameras) and seems to be the type to avoid leaving himself exposed to uncertain situations if he can help it (doesn't travel much, if at all).

Data runs through my thoughts, calculating, theorizing. A lion has a variety of roars and growls. Could one be used by a shy lion trying to keep threats at bay?

Render Stun Roar.

Cripes! That's what this is! A status effect! I can't move at full speed now!

SqueedLion comes rushing back at me and I can only tense up and hope the hit isn't very bad for my heart meter.

Augh!

The breath is knocked out of me, pain spreads over my chest from the impact, and then it happens again when I hit the ground.

Cripes, WeedLion's a lot stronger than I thought he'd be. Why are all the artist Avatars so flippin' powerful?!

"Avec! He's coming for us! Get up!" Squidie yelps, "Make him go away! Aaah! I'm a squid~!"

I roll aside in a hurry, only just managing to avoid being pounced on by SqueedLion. Scrambling to my feet, I snatch up the dropped Butter Blade and slash at the air. SqueedLion has already hopped back with an annoyed growl. Now he just prowls around me while I circle in place to keep him in sight. The Damage Indicator keys on, and I can see that SqueedLion is regenerating hearts at a faster rate than normal. Not good. If I don't finish him off soon, he'll just outlast me to win.

Well, on the plus side, since I'm technically WeedLion now too, I should also have that same rapid regeneration.

....

Hey! That means I have the Render Stun Roar too!

SqueedLion seems to have caught onto my thoughts while I flick over to my bow. He inhales to get his roar ready and I draw back the string, an arrow coding into place. Just as he starts to roar, I let the arrow fly, hitting him in the shoulder where his arm was attached to his body.

He really is a shoddy piece of work. That one hit was enough to pop his arm right out of its socket! Aaugh! That's just so wrong!

Squidie gives a little scream of fright, SqueedLion rages in pain, and I flick back to the Butter Blade before unleashing my own Render Stun Roar.

In my own body, the force of that sound would probably rattle me to pieces. But like this I'm able to hold my ground as SqueedLion glitches out, unable to move.

"P-P-P-Priority One Enem-m-m-my! Destroy-y-y-y!" the clone stammers out as I run up to slash at him again. Another 25 hearts of damage dealt, but it's not enough to finish SqueedLion. The Damage Indicator updates the information again. He's still got 10 hearts left. The blow knocks the stun effect off and he leaps back from me with a snarl.

How much of SqueedLion's strength is coming from WeedLion? How much is just OP coding from making up data?

My stomach twists, I'll need to eat soon, and I put more attention on what SqueedLion is going to do next. Since he's filling in the gaps in his code with that made up information, I can't read him as well as with SquidMonkey. My Writer File is as complete as it can be, but still very much a mystery, full of speculation based on what little actual data is there.

"Avec~! He's really freaking me out!" Squidie wails from his bucket. "What the heck is the Squid Army gonna do with soldiers that freak us out?!"

I don't know, Squidie. My interest right now is in wondering how and why these jerks knew about my records and stole them. Guess I'll learn the answer if I get out of this insane place. But first, I need to finish this battle and free WeedLion.

Renderers use rigs to build and manipulate their artwork models. That means having an eye for breaking an object down into smaller, manageable components, right? To see the joints and points that can be moved, oriented, broken....

Ahh!

My vision flickers as SqeedLion starts his charge right in my direction, single arm flailing wildly. Wha-? What's-? ...Wait.

I relax, let my gaze unfocus as the flicker grows stronger. Gonna trust in WeedLion for this. Time seems to slow down as the world melts into a web of colored lines and points and angles. I can see it all. I can see where models are put together, where SqueedLion is formed from a skeleton of code and lines and texture.

I see through WeedLion's eyes where everything connects and where it can all come apart.

Just as SqueedLion reaches me, massive paw raised to bring down on my head, I plunge the Butter Blade into that mass of lines, twist it in place to lock the webs forming SqueedLion and the sword together, then throw myself aside to dodge the overhead blow. In doing this, I drag the sword with me, ripping the network of rig lines apart.

My vision snaps back to normal just as SqueedLion roars out in shock and falls apart in a cloud of code and broken pixels. Something drops to the ground as a familiar click sounds not far away. The prison is open.

"Well," Tired Voice finally says after he and Dry Voice have been near silent the entire battle since I Mimicked WeedLion, "slap my ass and call me impressed."

"Ehhhaaah I dunno, could've used some work on the whole 'not getting thrown around' part," Dry Voice quips.

Back-seat PVPers....

[lifeinthesquiddimension]

Boss Battle: SquidMonkey!, 3

"I don't think that's going to work, Squidie. He's pretty pissed off," I tell him between huffs for air.the glass chamber isn't far from me now. Just a few more meters!

"This isn't going to work. We should have thought of something else," Dry Voice mutters, and I can hear the undercurrent of panic in that otherwise flat tone. "We should have thought of something else!"

"Stop repeating yourself!" I yell in the same breath and inflection as Tired Voice, and a flash of heat stops me in my tracks. Wha-?! My head... for a second, it felt like I wasn't myself, or something. So strange.

"Avec, I didn't repeat anything," Squidie says in a puzzled voice as I shake my head to clear that strangeness. "Who are you talking to? Yourself?"

SquidMonkey's getting closer. I don't have much time left. I run up to the glass chamber, this time jumping over the tripwire. Even if there aren't any blocks to summon another boss mob, I don't want to tempt fate. Bad enough there's one crazed copy chasing me for no reason; don't need a second one terrorizing me.

BlueMonkey is still huddled in a ball on the floor. He shivers every now and then, the two screens hovering over him still linked. I kneel down and reach out to touch the glass, spreading my hand open to fully contact it. It feels cool against my bare fingers. With my free hand, I flick back to my book on him, open it up, and begin reading to myself.

BlueMonkey, this is who you are. This is all I've learned, all my Player has learned. These are your skills, your abilities. This is your heart, your mind, all that can be gleaned from the data you shared with the world.

The words on these pages, the feelings you project; let me read them, BlueMonkey, so I can put myself in your place and mimic you.

Everything feels fuzzy... faint... there's a tingling, like the other times... not normal....

Almost there....

Crashing noises... sound close....

SquidMonkey screams in rage, an animalistic howl....

Ah. Got it.

------------

Core File Mimic Mod Initialized. Install Level 1 Writer File: BluePardonYT. Install Complete. Activate.

------------

I bolt from the glass chamber, flicking from the book back to the Butter Blade, ignoring a sudden squeak of shock coming from my side. SquidMonkey barrels towards me, shrieking, banana still in his grip like he was aiming to bash me in the head with it.

Animation's a bit wonky, like the key frame timing is off by a half-second. (I'm still scared!) My eyes narrow as I study the copy, running to stay to one side, circling the meadow while the Damage Indicator updates itself. New data scrolls into place and I glance over it.

SquidMonkey. Hostile boss mob. Ability: Tree-climbing. Attributes: Strength. Boss Animation.

(I'm really scared. What's going on?)

Boss animation? Oh, please. That rig looks like it was ripped from a first year university student's hobby reference collection. It could fall apart if I were to hit it... right about... here!

-BlueMonkey's strength focuses through his right arm; he punches towards his left to direct it. Dodge.-

He's going to punch left; I strike out with the Butter Blade in the gap of time between his movements, when his motion is that tiny bit off. It strikes beautifully, and I smile as SquidMonkey bellows in pain and surprise. His health bar in the corner of my vision drops, green turning red. 30 hearts gone right there. (Oh, thank Notch, the sword's bonuses work.)

Good sword.

"Wait, wait, what the fuck is this?! He wasn't moving like this earlier!" Someone's voice sounds pretty startled. "Dude, what the hell? What's this? What's this? What is dis?!"

"I don't know! He was just supposed to know how that mob would think! I thought that's what his copying did!" Another voice sounded even more panicked and confused.

(I don't copy; I MIMIC!)

SquidMonkey pounds his chest as I take a few jumps back from him to gain distance and contemplate my next attack. He doesn't give me that chance, rushing right at me with his shoulder braced for impact.

-BlueMonkey has considerable power for being a Balance Type, when his strength is focused into a single small area for greater effect. His Blue Tackle, for instance...-

I raise the Butter Blade to block and disperse the attack, bracing my own legs apart to hold fast against the oncoming blow. (That isn't going to-!)

Aaaagh!

My back hits a tree trunk and a jolt of pain stuns me, a few hearts gone as my armor takes the brunt of the attack. Wha-?! Why didn't it-?

-...is part of a multi-hit combo that utilizes the smoothness of animation to follow up with the Blue Rush speed attack.-

(He's going to follow it up!)

I throw myself aside just in time to avoid a ball of squid blue fur rolling forward at full speed to smash into the tree I'd been standing under just moments ago. "Okay, okay! Animation's a mite smoother, but still not boss!" I yelled at him, even as I tucked myself into a roll to flip up onto my feet more easily.

"Eep! Hey! Watch it! Avec, what are you doing?!" A tiny voice yelps in a panic. I stumble, nearly falling (Keep him safe!), then start running for another tree, flicking to a stone axe as I cast a glance back over my shoulder.

-BlueMonkey's special attack requires gaining height, more than a single jump will increase the damage potential of the Blue Banana Blade Drop.-

"I'm trying to keep us from getting killed!" I shout back, pulling up to the tree and quickly chopping away enough blocks that I can jump into its place and pillar jump to the top of the tree. (Beat him to his own special!)

While SquidMonkey prowls around, beating at the ground at random in his search for me, I look down at my side to see what's been talking to me this whole time. A tiny squid in a bucket blinks up at me. (Squidie.)

...Squidie!

And with that it feels like my view of the world has clicked back into place. What just happened? It felt like I wasn't myself for a bit there. Had I been running on a different processing pattern? I only do that when mimicking to write, so....

If I shift my focus just a bit, let my awareness recede just a little, I can pick up on the other pattern.

That's... why is this pattern filenamed BluePardonYT?

What the hell is this?! This is streaming my writing pattern in real-time alongside my own thoughts, and can even override me! How did that even-?!

(He's caught on that we're in the trees. Probability of Blue Banana Blade Drop failure increasing to 30% every three seconds!)

"Aah! Imma squid; I don't like jumps~!" Squidie wails as I pinpoint SquidMonkey's location, run to the edge of the tree, and leap off, flicking back to the Butter Blade as I go. At the peak of my jump, I spin it around and point downward, bring my weight and the force of my landing behind it.

SquidMonkey shrieks again on impact and I hurl myself away, sparing him a glance to update the Damage Indicator. Cripes, he had healed back 5 hearts; the numbers dropping from him say I dealt 40 damage, but he's only down to 15 hearts. (He's going to be angry. Low health creates desperation; damage output now doubled.)

It's too bizarre to have BlueMonkey's thoughts -or a really good replica of them- running alongside my own. Like I'm able to think normally as well as think like him. That doesn't really happen when I mimic to write; usually the other pattern just kind of guides my writing so I'm more accurate. I think? I guess I can explain it better when I'm not running for my life!

I check my hearts quickly as I flee from SquidMonkey's fury, and notice that my movements feel different. ...Wait, they are different.

Is this how it feels to move like BlueMonkey? This feels like a higher grade of mimicking than I usually do.

The Voices are babbling at each other, not sure what they seem to be going on about, and Squidie keeps giggling in a little panicky voice. As great as it is to have the BluePardon file give me an edge in keeping away from SquidMonkey, I need to disconnect him from the real BlueMonkey. Am I going to have to actually defeat SquidMonkey to do that? BluePardon isn't going to be enough.

I turn on my heel and raise the Butter Blade to point it at SquidMonkey as the copy rages. BluePardon can help me analyze him, but not fully combat him. The tingling that's been crawling over my skin is just going crazy now. Why is it doing that? What's happening?

While I panic, glancing around to look for something to help me in this situation, I happen to see BlueMonkey in his glass prison. Poor guy. If only he were actually out here to fight this thing- (Initialize BluePardon Full Mimic.)

Ah.

"I read you, BlueMonkey," I murmur, watching SquidMonkey carefully for any sudden movements. The record of BlueMonkey drops out of my hotbar and opens, pages tearing free and flowing over to wrap over my body, paper pressing against my limbs and clothes. "I read you and write you onto myself." The pages dissolve into code that fits into my own code, into places that I didn't even know had gaps.

-----

Mimic Mod Upgrading. Installing Mimic Mode: BlueMonkeyYT.

-----

The book on BlueMonkey is completely gone now, all its data integrated into me. Ah. Now I really have it.

"Beyond AvecPardon, beyond BluePardonYT, to the very depths of who you are, that is who I will be!"

-----

Install complete. Activate.

-----

"Mimic Mode: BlueMonkey!" I yell as loudly as I can, and the whole world shifts dramatically....

[lifeinthesquiddimension]

Boss Battle: SquidMonkey!, 2

"What's that? What is it?" Squidie asks in a frightened tone, peeking over the lip of the bucket. "Is that a mob spawner? Did it spawn a mob?"

"I, uh, I think we're gonna see what your books helped the squids make," Dry Voice says in a faintly grim tone, Tired Voice giving off an odd little whimper.

My grip on my pick tightens while I watch the machine light up. The piston fires, placing the strange blue-black block on top of the two wood ones, and I'm pinged by the server just at that moment.

/Commencing duplication process./

"Squidie! What did the Squid Army do with my books?!" I cry in horror as the stacked blocks light up, energy and code swirling around them.

"They tried to use them to recode the Sky Army!" Squidie yelps, ducking back down into the bucket again. "When that didn't work, they created Squidling clones, but they have to be connected to the Sky Army to work!"

Ah! The two screens I saw in the glass chamber; that must have been the duplicate copying BlueMonkey's data to stay stable!

The glow of the blocks is dying down, reshaping itself, and behind me BlueMonkey gives a small, shaky gasp. I don't look back to check, don't dare take my eyes off what's in front of me. The light fades and, where there used to be three blocks in a totem, there now stands a copy of BlueMonkeyYT, fur faded to squid blue, tie dark blue in color, and empty eyes the color of murky water. Squid blue. He's holding a banana in one hand.

The Damage Indicator goes off with a warning, blinking a red icon in the upper left corner of my field of vision to grab my attention. I shift focus to it quickly, speed reading the data I'm given.

SquidMonkey. Hostile mob.

Okay. How is any of that going to help me?

Health: 80 Hearts.

I can feel mine sinking into the ground out of dread and SquidMonkey just stands there, blinking at me with the banana now stuck in his mouth. Well, that's lovely.

Maybe he's not really hostile? The Damage Indicator marks him as a hostile boss-type mod, but he's not behaving that way. It could be wrong. Maybe. I could use the standard signal of peace in Minecraftia to show him I don't mean him harm; the fan.

Fanning can only be done with a sword, so I flick to the first one that pops up in my hotbar and give it a wave. "Hiyo, SquidMonkey!" I call out while making the motion. The shimmering gold catches the sunlight as I fan the Butter Blade. SquidMonkey blinks again. "Yes, pardon me, but might it be possible for you to disconnect from BlueMonkey and let him out of this prison thing?" I ask as politely as I can. Then, as an afterthought, I add, "Please?"

"Oh, Notch, this kid is gonna fucking kill us all. We're dead, we're so dead, why did I agree to this...?" Dry Voice groans softly. I ignore him and continue hoping I can just talk my way through this. Just to be on the safe side, I fan the Butter Blade a couple more times.

SquidMonkey blinks again, but this time his eyes glow bright with that squid blue color and I can 'feel' a definite shift in the air. Like the field of emotions has gone from neutral to hostile. Oh, cripes....

"Priority One Enemy located! Destroy!" SquidMonkey declares in a strangely accented voice. UK, British, the soul-link offers, but the words hold no meaning, give no definition, just a label that's as empty as the tone in the Squidling's voice. He drops his banana and beats his chest a few times, shrieking in sudden aggression.

"What?!" I cry in alarm. What the hell is this?! I fanned peace; how does that make me an enemy?!

"Huh?!" Squidie echoes my confusion, then panics and ducks into the bucket again, "Run, Avec!"

Don't have to tell me twice! I bolt for the forest as SquidMonkey scoops the banana back up and charges after me in a rage. I can hear him crashing through the underbrush behind me, screeching almost constantly.

I don't want to fight! I can't! He's got so many hearts and I have unenchanted armor and so few hearts by comparison. I won't stand a chance! That copy's going to kill me!

"Hey! What are you doing?! You can't just ditch BlueMonkey like that!" Tired Voice yells in my ears, and I'm very much tempted to mute him again.

"In case it escaped your notice, there's a boss mob chasing me! And I'm fairly certain it wants to kill me!" I snap back instead. The crashing sounds are still going on so I take a chance to hide by crouching behind a tree. Ugh, I'm starting to get near starving levels again. Good thing I have food in my hot bar.

It's while I'm eating -and ignoring how Tired Voice keeps muttering 'Om om nom nom num' as a sound effect- that I realize the crashing sounds have stopped. This is cause for alarm. SquidMonkey could be hiding, waiting to ambush me. My eyes seek out the trees around me in sheer distrust, but I can't see anything.

"I don't want to die here," I mumble, curling up to hug myself, no longer hungry. There's a gut-wrenching feeling in me and my eyes feel hot, my vision blurs, and I can feel it. My tears, they drop to the ground, carrying with them all my hopes for escaping this place.

"You're not going to die!" Tired Voice sounds so determined and confident despite the soft and weak volume. I guess he's used up his strength yelling. "Look, all that stuff that's been messing with you when you copy... that's kinda my fault. I had Seto make a file that would, um-"

"Enhance." Dry Voice supplied flatly.

"-your talent for that. So just do to SquidMonkey what you usually do and you should be good, yeah?" Tired Voice finishes, not even missing a beat from Dry Voice plugging in the missing word. I roll my eyes at his words.

"Like I'm really going to be able to kill that thing with this," I growl back, flicking to the book on BlueMonkey and holding it up like the two idiots could see it.

"Are you arguing with yourself?" Squidie asks, blink up at me. "Y'know, 'cause it's cool if you are... just sayin'. I mean, I argue with myself all the time, too. ...No, I don't. Yes I do! See?" He giggles nervously.

I sit back and hug the book tightly in my arms, laughing softly at Squidie's attempt to comfort me. He really is a funny little mob. I'm glad to have him with me. But... my smile fades some. What will happen to this tiny squid if that mob kills me? Will he be spared and taken back by virtue of being a squid?

"What? No, just... agh! Listen!" Tired Voice exclaims in exasperation, "I don't really get this shit, ok? I'm stupid with this. How you do what you do, this thing where you can think like us, talk like us; I don't really get any of it. Frankly, it scares the shit out of me."

"You're some comfort," I tell him. Mute looks like a better idea every moment. "And I don't 'copy'. I mimic. There's a difference." I give my surroundings another look around, and this time the Damage Indicator picks up SquidMonkey, displaying him in the tiny window in the corner of my field of vision. Guess he was out of range earlier. "And my talent is writing. How do you enhance writing to combat a boss mob?" The image displays SquidMonkey in a crouch, moving carefully forward. His ability is tree climbing, so he must be aiming for surprise attack from above.

"I wasn't done," Tired Voice growls, and chest feels briefly hot, like something burning sitting there doesn't belong get it off- "Avec!" I jump in place, uttering a squeak. My hand, which had been raising to rub at that burning spot, jerked away. But the burning was gone. Was that just in my head? "I was trying to say that whatever it is you do that lets you think like us... do that to the squid mob."

I blink, confused by his words. SquidMonkey is getting closer, so I get up to make another mad dash to safety. "The thing I do to-? So you are talking about my mimicking. You want me to mimic SquidMonkey?" I ask incredulously. Really? He wants me to mimic that brainless lump?

Okay, SquidMonkey. That's close enough.

"Why the fuck are you running?!" Tired Voice yells as I run back to the clearing, "Just copy that thing, figure out its weakness, and kill it! Why does this asshole keep running away? Somebody explain that shit to me...." Oh, I can hear crashing again. SquidMonkey?

"Priority One Enemy! Destroy!"

Yep, that's him.

"Wow. He's really stupid," Squidie comments and giggles. "There's only one Priority One enemy, and it's definitely not you!"

"Yeah? Tell him that!" I declare, catching sight of the glass chamber up ahead. Okay, I've got an idea what to do. Tired Voice says I can learn to beat that thing if I copy it until I see a pattern in it. But that's not how my mimicking works at all. I don't copy data from a mindless source, especially an unstable one like SquidMonkey; what if it corrupts me? Hah! From SquidMonkey, that's asking to be corrupted on the spot. No, a copy of a copy is useless. To beat a copy, you need the original.

I need to mimic BlueMonkeyYT himself.

[lifeinthesquiddimension]

The Squid Dimension, Intermission

It's dark and cold.

I kick to reach the surface, but it looks so far away. The moon is bright, shimmering high above me. Feels heavy... cold. I can barely move. Squidie's not here.

Too far. Not gonna...

I'm sorry. I failed....

A familiar intrusion into my code. I shudder, flinching as I sink, the feel of little tentacles wrapping around the collar of my top. The struggle to hold my breath fades and I lift my hands to cup the giggly little squid and press it to my cheek in a gesture of thanks. Squidie giggles again.

"There's a land bridge on the surface that goes to where the Squid Army's got the new soldiers," he says as I start swimming again. As I draw closer to the surface I'm able to see a long line that cuts over the water. The land bridge?

"I really don't like how close that squid is," Tired Voice mutters, apprehension in his tone.

Well, he's keeping me alive, so deal with it.

It feels like hours have passed when I finally break the surface and take a gulp of fresh air. My clothes feel extra heavy with the weight of the water, my hair clings to my face and cheeks; Squidie provides a little relief by letting go and dropping back into the water. He bobs alongside me while I make my way to the platform attached to the land bridge.

It's night, still late as the moon is high overhead. Torches on the platform prevent mob spawns, and I can see stairs with handrails descending from it into the water a short distance, possibly to make it easier to climb onto the bridge. Bone tired, I drag myself up the steps and let myself collapse on the platform.

"Hey, hey. You still alive?" the little squid asks, his voice oddly distorted in the haze of sleep deprivation.

"I've been up all night. I need some sleep," I mumble, curling up to conserve what little warmth I had left.

"Sleep? Out here?"

"Not a good idea." Dry Voice agrees and I just groan in answer.

The night air is cold, sapping at my body heat with vampiric gusts. The stone beneath me doesn't help. Much as I want to drift off and ignore all the voices around me, I need to build something to lie on before I freeze to death. My hearts keep ticking down along with my hunger bar.

I get to my feet somehow and flick to my stack of baked potatoes, eating one to not only refill the bar but also to try warming myself. I can't feel my fingers until the warmth of the potato brings back the circulation. I open my inventory once I've eaten, grabbing the emergency wood planks. With Squidie watching and my commentators silent, I construct a box structure around myself with space to put down some wood planks for a bed. It's dark inside the box, so I place a torch, crawl onto the planks, and sink into blissful sleep.

----

He fidgets in place, curiosity and boredom warring in him as he watches the sorcerer gesture smoothly, translucent code screens hovering in the air now moving back into place around the brilliantly glowing orb of data that hovered over a table.

The sorcerer turns his head, an enigmatic smile on his face as he speaks. Words he didn't completely understand, words that were meant to explain what this file would do when completed.

Below it, two books lay open, the bulk of their pages torn out and gone, data streaming up from them into the glowing orb being protected by all the screens.

The sorcerer's smile fades, he's saying something else, a worried look on his face, but he doesn't understand, not really. He only knows the file is almost done and it excites him. He'll have his contingency plan, an Avatar who can predict when the Anti-Virals are about to turn and copy them enough to bring them back under control. Before anyone else is hurt. Before any serious damage is done.

And then the world flashes, and there is fire, and smoke. The sorcerer is running towards him, holding the orb in his hands, close to his chest, fear on his face. He runs towards him, arms held out, wanting to grab him, protect his friend and the precious file.

An attack from nowhere. A hard hit. The orb flies out of the sorcerer's hands, a book drops from his inventory, and the sorcerer's eyes go dark, his body collapsing in a limp heap into the clutches of a squid. He scoops up the orb, screaming in rage, running to get him back, but it's too late. The squid sinks into the river, dragging the purple-clad sorcerer and the book with it, and vanishes.

All he can do is run, try to find the others, assemble a rescue party to get their friends back.

He runs into a female Avatar with flowing purple hair and pursed green lips, instead....

-----

"Avec! Wake up! You're being followed!"

I snap awake at the sound of Dry Voice yelling in my ears. That voice isn't suited for yelling, it seems wrong and I don't know why it seems that way to me. There are lingering feelings of anger and fear from a dream I had, but I can't remember the details now and after a second it doesn't matter.

What? Followed? Cripes, did the Squid Army catch on that I wasn't in the Stronghold anymore?

I switch to my stone axe and break down my temporary shelter, letting my auto pickup gather the drops. Squidie is splashing around nearby, giggling crazily.

"What's going on?!" I cry, alarmed by the state of the tiny squid.

"You've got Squidlings on the way, infected ones." Dry Voice continues, his voice now normal and once again sounding unimpressed. Familiar. "I can... I can hear them coming."

"A lot of Squidlings are coming!" Squidie cries, slapping the water with his little tentacles, "They look kinda pissed off. Yeah, pretty sure they're pissed off." He pauses, blinks. "Savoy and LadyEnchantress are with 'em. They look even more pissed off," he adds.

Oh, yeah, I'm dead if they catch me.

"I suppose we'd better get moving then," I sigh. Really hoping I've got time to spare, I turn to get my first good look at the land bridge. The platform I'm on is actually the platform for an end station. The long line I had seen last night is a rail track extending over the surface of the ocean towards something incredibly tall and massive in the distance. My gaze is drawn along the track up to its destination.

A tall tower, possibly hundreds of blocks wide, rises from the ocean like a hazy blue-gray monolith. Something about the base of the structure seems a bit off, but not even my zoom command can let me see clearly what it is. I point at it and look down at Squidie.

"What is that?" I ask him. Squidie blinks again, looks over in that direction, then back at me.

"That's where the Sky Army High Council and the new Squid Army soldiers are being held. At least from what I hear," he replies. "The experiments to turn the Sky Army into Squid Army soldiers are being done there."

"WHAT?!" Tired Voice doesn't sound so tired now, roaring in a fury that nearly ruptures my eardrums and has me wanting so badly to just rip the headset off and throw it into the water. I reel from the force of that scream. A hot burst of energy runs through my body, burning my chest, spreading out, hurting....

"Stop it! You'll mess everything up!" Dry Voice snaps and the burning stops abruptly. I drop to my knees, gasping for air. My chest... feels heavy... something's there... pushing against my top....

"Hey! Hey, I peeked. Down there. In the water. Yeah." Squidie suddenly blurts out with a splash and I look over at him. He's bobbing around on the surface, a worried look to him. "Those Squidlings that are coming? With Savoy and LadyEnchantress? Sha_Sha50 is with 'em. He looks pretty pissed off too."

Okay, so that's how they found out about me. That squid guard must have met up with the real Squidling I had mimicked, described me while confused or something, and it somehow got to Savoy who figured out it was me running away. Cripes.

"You might wanna go now. Like, while you've got a head start." Squidie adds, swimming around in a fairly erratic pattern. Huh?

"You're not coming with me?" I ask him in surprise. That's a bit disheartening; I actually was starting to like having the little guy with me. He giggles at just about everything and he's technically the enemy, but he's been rather helpful so far.

"I dunno what's in there, how it is. It's not in the ocean; no water." Squidie replies distractedly, "No one told me anything else. I just hear what other squids say about that place. That's as far as I got."

I look back at the giant tower, feeling the seconds tick by. "Come with me?" I offer hesitantly. I don't want to go into that distant place alone, and I'd feel more at ease with someone familiar joining me in the rescue.

"Why are you inviting a squid?!" Tired Voice growls in my ears, "They're the enemy! They did all this to my friends, my server, and me!"

His server...?

"Squidie didn't do anything, so just be quiet," I mutter just loud enough for the micophone to pick up my voice. Squidie splashes about in the meantime, looking a bit more stressed.

"Can't. No water. Gotta be in water," he insists. "Running out of time, Writer!"

I should get going but I don't want to abandon this tiny squid who's helped me so much already. If he needs to stay in water, how can I take him with me? I'd need some kind of container....

Oh, how dumb am I?

I swipe open my inventory and separate out my crafting screen, quickly making another crafting table that I set down nearby. With Squidie watching, I pull three iron ingots from my limited supply and arrange them on the table to craft a new bucket. Now that I have this bucket along with the water bucket already in my inventory, I can move to the next step.

Turning towards the ocean, I scoop the bucket at the block of water where Squidie floats. His eyes go incredibly wide as I sweep him up into the bucket along with the water.

"Okay! Now we can go!" I tell him, holding the bucket in one arm while I reach back to tap at my backpack and open the double inventory. There! The mine cart I stole gets placed on the track and I jump in. The water sloshes and Squidie ducks into the bucket, babbling in shock. I mutter an apology, hit the button by me to start the ride, and hug the bucket tight as the cart rockets down a line of boost rails. What the hell are so many of them doing there?!

I'm screaming at the top of my lungs, my commentators yelling for mute, the wind howling past me. The tower grows less hazy as I shoot closer to it, and now I see the oddness of it is from blocks of glowstone set into the walls, spelling out words.

The cart slows down just long enough to hit a curve and then another set of boost rails that launches us up a ramp on floating blocks. I don't like this! What insanity is this?! Who in their right minds would build something like this?!

The track continues to spural around the tower and I am able to catch quick glimpses of the writing on the tower. "Squids FTW?" I mutter to myself. What the-?

No more time to think on it. The mine cart finally reaches its end track and I stare as a large floating island above the tower appears to be my destination. Moments after I see it, the cart stops at the end station, allowing me the chance to get a better look at this new place. Wonder what's so special about it?

[lifeinthesquiddimension]

Squidie and the Secret of Avec, 3

I push myself up, trying not to feel so woozy as I press a hand to my head. Did I pass out again? Notch, why does that keep happening? All I did was come in this room, the idiot voices said something and then-

Wait. What was that gold thing?

Lying on the floor beside me is a golden sword. I stay sitting to keep my head from spinning so much, rubbing at it while I study this thing. There's a second shimmer rippling over the metal, gold on gold. What kind of enchantment is that? I pick it up -and again the texture pack changes the appearance of any item I pick up- and tap it to bring up its description.

Power III, Bane of Cephlapods, Anti-Herobrine, Anti-Squid, Fire Aspect, Unbreaking Infinite... the heck kind of weapon is this?!

"You sure it's a good idea to give him the Butter Blade?" Dry Voice asks suddenly.

"Stone and enchanted iron are okay against regular mobs, but squids need some extra oomph to get rid of 'em," Tired Voice counters softly.

"The Butter Blade?" The words are strange, but familiar. I've seen this sword before. My hand rests on the grip and I study it more closely, reading the wear and tear of the weapon and, by proxy, the mentality of the Avatar who wielded it.

I read you. The emotions left lingering on this sword; I feel them and read them, swirls of hidden currents that wash over me. -Skin is tingling.- I can feel the fear and the anger in the grip, -hot and cold, tingling more- a hurt that is deep, matched only by a warm love for friends and allies. This reading is familiar, too. I've gotten this before. If I can mimic the emotions, rebuild the mental state... I can match who it is that owns this sword. -Skin crawling, tingling, shifting-

"Avec! Enough!" Tired Voice snaps, breaking my focus. I shudder, gasping and holding the sword close. Wh-why is my body trembling?

"Dude, his code is going insane. What the fuck did that file do to him?!" Dry Voice growls.

"I don't know! I just... shit, what did Seto program that thing to do?!"

I get to my feet unsteadily, hugging myself with my free arm, still clutching the sword in the other hand. What...? What are they-?

A sick feeling of dread passes over me and I dry heave next to a massive wall of glass holding back water. They know; these two bastards know what's wrong with me, and they never told me anything. Sky Army or not, that's not cool!

I'm still shaking. My body... why is it... what did they do to me...?

"Avec?" Tired Voice asks suddenly, and I'm just so angry and frustrated and terrified and tired and in pain that I just can't stand it!

"Shut. Up." I manage to hiss out. I want to scream, cry, to throw up and curl up in a ball and weep but I can't. I'm not in a safe place and I bet it's all these idiots' fault!

"Dude? Avec, right? You okay?" Dry Voice asks and I huff out a laugh much like he does and that makes my skin tingle again and why why does it do that when I mimic?! "Whoa. Dude, that sounded just like me... and the code went off... what the hell?"

"I am not okay. Have you not seen the hell I've been through for the past couple of months?" I growl, leaning against the wall as my vision blurs, "And what's happening to me?! You sound like you know what's wrong with my body; what did you do to me?!"

"Look, we can fix this. Well, Seto can fix it. But he's not here; the squids took him." Tired Voice pleads hoarsely, "I'm sorry, okay? It's not acting like I thought it would, but we'll fix it. We'll set it right. Just please; help us save our friends!"

Why?! Why should I?! Why not Sky or Deadlox?! They're the most powerful Avatars to walk Minecraftia; why not ask them to save the Sky Army High Council? I'm just a writer; what can I do that they can't?!

"I just... please... help me?" Tired Voice trails off brokenly and I don't know why, but that seems so familiar. I've felt that before, felt that hopelessness, that desperation, before.

Cripes, I must really be going insane if I'm actually thinking of going along with this....

"Fine," I grumble and assign the Butter Blade to the empty slot of my hot bar. "I'll try to save your friends, but then you get Seto to undo the crap you two did to me and leave me the hell alone from now on." Tired Voice makes a little whimpering sound, but I ignore it -hard as that is, for some reason- and look around the room while I'm still trying to recover from that aborted mimicking.

There's a pile of gold blocks stacked haphazardly against the wall not far from the portal. I walk over and run my fingers over the surface of the gold, wondering if I should take it and craft it into backup armor. ...It feels cool and smooth, but something about it seems off. What is-?

Tired Voice hisses in my ear and I jerk my hand from the block. He doesn't sound angry; that hiss sounded like it was out of pain. Something about this gold hurt him? How'd he get hurt from something I touched?

"Hey, hey! Avec! I'm a squid~! Over here!" the familiar cheerful voice of Squidie fills the room. I flick the Butter Blade away to hide it before going to the glass wall, seeing the tiny squid bobbing about in the water beyond the glass.

"Hello again, Squidie. We're here, so what next?" I ask him.

"You go in the portal over there and I'll go in the one on this side. We'll meet up in the Squid Dimension in time for me to give you infinite air again!" Squidie giggles cheerfully, eyes closed as he wiggles in place. Then he opens them and they're still facing forward. Cute. "You sure you wanna see the new Squid Army soldiers? You're not a Squidling, so they'll probably try to kill you on sight."

Not cute.

"Well, maybe they won't, if they know you're the Writer," he amends. Not helping.

I force out a smile but it feels more like a grimace. "It'll be all right. Let's go!" I tell him, trying to sound more enthused than I actually am.

Squidie swims off out of sight and I turn to face the gray portal energy in the golden construct. Beyond that lies the true Squid Dimension, where something unspeakable was found that drove me to desperately seek out the Sky Army and tell them what I'd found, only now... now I can't remember any of it. What did I find? What will I face? Why does it have to be me?

"Hey, do you really need me to do this?" I murmur into the microphone, "What if I just cross over and broadcast my location? Would Sky and Deadlox pick it up and TP to me? They're still out there, they can rescue the others on their own, right?" The fake smile on my face feels more strained.

"...No... not really. They... they can't." Tired Voice replies quietly, strangely. Almost like... he's ashamed to say it.

"But-"

"Sky is dying," Dry Voice interrupts, cold and clipped and I can feel an undercurrent of worry and guilt in the tone, "He's dying and I... Deadlox linked his heart meter to Sky's to try to regen for him but it's not going to last."

The world tilts, skews, dims, and I'm back to leaning against the wall, trembling and gasping softly. I reach up, touch fingers to my face, and come away with tears staining my gloves. W-why? How?

"Don't worry about it now. You can rescue the High Council on your own, okay? You can do it." Dry Voice adds on, like that's going to keep me from breaking down right here, right now.

"You have the ability to save them, to fight if you have to," Tired Voice urges, and I can hear he's gotten softer, weaker. Would Sky sound like that, if he was dying out there in the world somewhere? Soft and quiet and so not himself? "You didn't at first, but I saw an ability you had that could do it... if it was weaponized first."

What?

All else is swept away as I focus on just those words. Weaponized? My ability?

What did that mean?

I open my mouth to demand answers-

Waaaah! Cripes!

A sudden alarm blaring scares the holy heebie jeebies out of me! What the flip was that?! Region-wide messages ping me rapidly and I flick open the chat screen to speed read through them. What's going on?!

/An Avatar is running loose in the Stronghold, attempting to desert his mission. Also the Sky Army records have been stolen from LadyEnchantress's lab. We're gonna blame him for that, too. So yeah. Find the guy with the books!/

Oh, that can't be good. Now the Squidlings are gonna be after me for deserting and stealing back my records. How did they even know I'd gone AWOL on them?! Well, more incentive to run for it, I suppose.

I take a deep breath and then leap into the portal to the Squid Dimension. Oh, Squidie, please be there!

[magmastone]