one of my favourite things about the uu protags is the circular nature of their character arcs
parrot was hounded by the director and now is turning into him, with the same self-righteous intention but actually being the villain of someone else’s story. i think parrot’s arc is the most explicit of them all in that the parallels are definitely intentional.
wemmbu had her home destroyed over and over again until she becomes the destroyer over and over again and will always fall into that cycle of taking revenge on each other. the one time she’s actually succeeded in giving someone their civilisation back it was as invisbu but she’s dragged kicking and screaming back by flame and parrot.
spoke’s current arc is kind going nowhere right now but there was a moment where he could have fully turned into ash but we let him cook for too long and now it’s burnt.
flame’s cooking something up, though i think his arc is more inward-facing, his character grows with every episode learning a new lesson. other than jaden he doesn’t have a major antagonist yet like the other protags, but i’m excited for the future
holy the new UU ep is so good (even tho it was lowk js the same as wemmbu's pov but whtv).
im glad we got flame's perspective bcs in flame's pov, wemmbu is basically SILENT the whole 1v1 until the end where he asks flame if he got it all out of his system (bcs lets be honest bro was just straight yapping and basically venting that whole fight).
wemmbu understands flame to an extent.
flame lost his standing as the strongest, the one thing that gave him i guess reason, meaning, and purpose. in his previous fight with wemmbu, he had lost his chestplate that symbolised that power. he lost his meaning much like wemmbu did constantly (with zam's betrayal, 'lost cause', gaining power, losing his invis identity).
wemmbu went on the same journey that flame is going through, finding his meaning/regaining his status and using revenge as a way to get a grasp of that. i don't think wemmbu is gonna chase after flame after/during the lettuce arc becaue of that, because he knows holding onto meaning and purpose will eventually just have him lose it in the end. there's no point.
i really wanna see wemmbu like just fully sort of give up after all that he's lost and just be miserable idk if feels fitting after he just fully admitted to flame and gave up.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
This fic encapsulates the vibe of Flame & Wemmbu's friendship from Wemmbu's Perspective specifically, how he always trys to forgive Flame then Flame turns around after he thought they were good, to just stab him in the back. I feel like the fic really emphasizes the current state of Imperial Fire, and how it's almost always one sided on either Flame or Wemmbu's side.
honestly not upset we didnt get to see the finale of wemmbu vs flame..
SEEING THEM TEAM UP IS WAY COOLER im telling u guys i love seeing the unstable protags team up.. BUT ITS EVEN BETTER CUZ ITS THEM
flamefrags hunting down wemmbu to the end of the earth and he FINALLY catches him just to get swarmed and attacked by their common enemy so theyre forced to temporarily team up... IDK ABT U GUYS BUT THATS SO COOL
also obviously theyre gonna win the fight against the law.... duh...... BUT IM EXCITED TO SEE IT ALL HAPPEN especially since its gonna be at that big castle thing???? oh my god i cant WAAAAAIT
He’d been flying for, well…he wasn’t actually sure. But he was getting real sick of seeing literally every biome except the one he actually needed!
Every once in a while he’d look behind him. Checking for any signs of pursuers.
Meanwhile his finger had evolved past all human limitations to become the world's greatest auto rocket clicker.
…Restocking later was going to be an absolute nightmare.
Still, even as he flew, that weird feeling of being followed refused to go away.
So his finger would just have to tough it out.
It was only as Theo passed over an ocean, that he finally felt like he’d scored a minor victory.
Snow.
And a bunch of ice blocks stretching up out of an ocean biome's depths.
Theo drifted easily between the pillars, weaving over the water and through the frozen spikes, riding the first decent lead he’d had in a while.
Ice was good.
After all, there could only be so many snow covered biomes close-ish to spawn, right?
This meant he had to be on the right track to the Northern Council!
…
…Yeah, there was no way he’d actually managed to miss the coordinates and had flown straight into the middle of nowhere...
That would be ridiculous.
Everything was fine.
Tiny, soft white specks drifted down around him as he flew. Masking his surroundings in a layered blur of particles, thick enough to hide the extra set of particles above him.
“See? Easy.” Theo muttered into the wind, like saying it out loud might actually make it come true.
It didn’t.
And suddenly a rocket tore through the air above him.
Instinct took the wheel as Theo snapped his elytra sideways. Just in time to avoid some invisible player dropping down on top of him.
Rude.
The player whizzed past him in a flash of particles, careening through the exact spot where his hit box had been only a fraction of a second before.
Theo twisted, adjusting mid flight, and watching the streak of diamond trimmed netherite as the player rocketed by.
Round two, he guessed.
Cutting a one eighty turn, the Diamond trim blasted directly at him. Obviously looking to slam straight into his hit box.
Theo veered off, avoiding the worst of it.
But not all.
The player had come back at him in a heartbeat, this time aiming for a sword crit in mid-air. He’d dodged the full crit, but had practically gotten body-checked out of the sky.
Theo’s health dipped enough to be annoying.
Goodbye gap supply.
Theo readied his hotbar, as he chugged down the apple. Behind him the Diamond trim had launched off another rocket. This time zipping past him in a streak of black and blue.
Wait. Was this guy actually trying to knock him out of the sky with a sword?
…They were diamond trim.
Where was the mace?
However, Theo didn’t have much time to ponder on that before two more rockets abruptly shot off behind him.
Theo F5’ed.
“Seriously?”
Two gold trims were coming up fast. One on his left, and one higher above, both angling in like they’d done this before.
Right. So he just couldn’t catch a break.
Well, okay. Group funeral, then.
Theo snap clicked a rocket and surged forward, the terrain whipping past his face.
Behind him the golds followed. Their wings cutting the angles of the ice pillars. It felt like they were forcing him into narrower and narrower flight paths over the ice spikes. If he had to guess, they were probably trying to cut him off, or force him to crash.
Yeah, not a chance.
Theo dropped, cutting his glide and diving in between two ice pillars. The world turned into tight turns and near misses, ice rushing past within single block radius.
Above him, more rockets blasted. And suddenly the Diamond trim dive bombed him for another crit.
Theo barely managed to swoop out of the way in time.
He skimmed lower now, weaving through the spikes. But above him the Diamond kept pace, adjusting mid-air like gravity was optional to them.
All at once Theo abruptly pulled up, twisting up and over one of the taller spikes, attempting to make one of them crash.
One of the golds smacked straight into a pillar, but unfortunately the Diamond followed above him perfectly.
Theo realized he was probably going to need to pot up soon.
The ice spike biome stretched around him, jagged towers rising from frozen water. But not exactly ideal for TNT detonations.
He needed some better terrain.
Theo adjusted his render distance. Scanning the area ahead and finding long stretches of flat ice connecting the base of the pillars.
It would have to do.
Behind him, the gold trims clearly struggled to adjust to his rapid weaving maneuvers.
One of them even clipped another ice spike, losing a bit of speed and taking some damage. Unfortunately, no matter what Theo did, they never fell behind for long.
So all he could do was keep rocketing forward, and keep using the ice spikes as shields.
Then, at last, they reached flat ice. And a small grin tugged at Theo’s face.
He cut his speed.
Just slightly.
Enough to look like a mistake.
Behind him, the gold trims committed immediately, blasting more rockets and diving harder at him, trying to capitalize on his ‘mess up’.
Theo dropped over the ice.
Fast.
He unequipped his elytra, boots slamming into the ice, and skidding across the flat land.
It didn’t matter for the moment that his health took a dip.
High risk, high reward.
And Theo was already moving.
He shot the arrow before even putting the rail down.
Then slammed the rest of it down a near second later.
The first gold trim collided with the ground way too hard. Mistakenly going straight into the minecart's explosion radius.
Later, buddy, Theo thought, just as his arrow struck its mark.
The poor gold trim went up before they even knew what hit them. Careening high in the sky in a flurry of blast particles.
Theo congratulated them on their impromptu space launch, and pearled after them.
By the time they came back down, Theo already had another minecart waiting for them.
A ban message went out before they even hit the ground.
But Theo wasn’t finished yet.
The second gold trim landed nearly a split second later, and from their erratic movements, Theo could tell they had attempted to abort the landing.
Too bad their momentum was already set.
In a fraction of a second they’d smashed straight into hard ice. Only for Theo to enderpearl right into their face, and hit them with an instant drop.
Theo grinned as the gold trim blew up in a pile of dropped gear, decorating their impact.
“And thanks for the restock!” He yelled, picking up their rockets.
Above him a shadow passed overhead, circling the hole he’d ripped straight through the ice.
Theo had hoped he was going to get a three for three. But unfortunately, the Diamond trim simply hovered above an ice spike, circling the crater that Theo had caused. Completely untouchable on their elytra.
Theo exhaled, rolling his shoulders as he potted up on the ice, and adjusted his hotbar.
It was go time.
Above him, the Diamond dipped their head at him, as if considering something.
“Yo, you up for a ground fight?” Theo taunted them. “Or are you here for the show?”
The Diamond cut their glide instantly, and dropped down on top of him.
Theo waited for the tell tale sound of a mace hit, reading up his shield just in case.
But again, there was none.
Instead Theo’s attacker landed in front of him, with an enchanted netherite sword flashing way too close to his face.
Theo didn’t wait.
He pearled and triggered his first TNT minecart. The explosion sending snow and ice scattering in all directions.
The Diamond trim pearled after him, sliding on the ice while Theo tried to reangle and get better access to their hit box.
But no dice.
The Diamond would always pearl forward the moment Theo laid down a rail.
Whoever this was, the way they moved was both skilled, and intense.
Theo sprinted, dropping a quick tnt cart underfoot, and then blocked over it, hoping to snipe them. Meanwhile, he kept strafing to the left as the Diamond swung, and raised his shield to get the block off in time.
Every move he made, the Diamond matched. So Theo pivoted midair, landing on a narrow ice ridge, and firing an arrow directly into the Diamond’s path, hoping to hear the cart explode before sliding back into cover.
But by the time he skidded to a stop, the Diamond was already back on him, netherite sword drawn, ready for the next strike.
Theo had to hand it to them, they were leagues ahead of the two Daimond's he’d fought before.
For a second Theo gauged them.
The way this dude maneuvered was without a doubt only something someone who had practiced relentlessly could pull off.
So whoever they were, it was someone with a natural skill in sword pvp…
...Who picked up techniques very fast...
…And had beef with maces…
..
.
Yeah, that wasn’t good…
And Theo’s heart started to race.
Because, if he was right about this, then this fight was about to be a very interesting.
…And also an incredibly dangerous.
Theo let his next minecart explode harmlessly nearby. Enough to bait the Diamond player into going in for another hit.
Almost immediately, the player reacted by slipping past the blast, and executing a perfect sword combo.
One Theo knew all too well.
His shaky grin widened into a full smile.
“Hey, Flame,” he called out casually, like he wasn’t in a fight for his life here. Almost immediately, the player's head snapped towards him. “So how’s the whole immortal demon thing going?”
His only reply was the Diamond diving back at him with an aggressive combo maneuver. Sword baring down in a flurry of strikes with constant, suffocating pressure.
Yeah, that was Flame alright.
…
He should probably stop messing around then.
Theo let that thought hang for only a moment, before he snap triggered a minecart and let his moves do the talking.
If Flame wanted to try to bring him down, then they were going to have to earn every swing they took.
More ice erupted around them into smoking particles. But Theo didn’t even bother to look. There was no room for hesitation here. If this really was Flame, he had to adapt.
And fast.
He sprinted forward, jumping over jagged spikes and massive craters, closing the gap while rails and TNT detonated in his wake.
He threw his shield up in an instant, relying on instinct to block an attack he already knew was coming.
In response, the diamond trim S tapped backwards, before snapping back in for another brutal combo.
Dangerous.
Theo didn’t even pretend to dodge the crit this time. Instead he tanked the hit, laying down the groundwork for a surprise of his very own.
Every nerve locked on the move he’d been waiting for.
Then he struck.
And suddenly the world cracked open between them in a burst of white.
The world tore apart in a deafening blast. Snow and ice shards shot skyward like shrapnel, rails and TNT exploding in every direction, scattering in smoke particles across the frozen battlefield. The icy ground beneath them shattered into water blocks, cracking and splintering under the sheer force.
But Theo didn’t even flinch.
He’d already swapped a totem into his offhand before the blast went off.
Twin sets of green and gold particles shot out from between the two of them. Effects spiraling outwards, like they were both fireworks gone wild. For a split second, he could see the mirrored particles on the Diamond trims player model. And Theo realized that they must have swapped to a totem, same as him.
Dude had quick reflexes, he’d give him that.
The silence hit just as fast as the explosion had. And Theo pearled backwards across the ice, skidding to the edge of the crater, and stabilizing himself as the smoke and totem particles cleared.
For a second, neither of them moved.
Across from him, a nametag burned clear now:
FlameFrags.
No more guessing.
Theo rolled his shoulders, adjusting his grip on his mouse, eyes held forward.
The two of them stood at opposite ends of a crater that looked less like a TNT minecart had exploded, and more like a meteor impact.
Theo had, after all, just insta-carted them both. With stacked minecarts no less…And at point blank range.
Theo smiled, admiring his work. Both of them probably had completely wrecked netherite armor at this point.
But he knew this little bit of silence wouldn’t last for long.
Ice crunched under his boots as he shifted his positioning.
He kept his eyes firmly locked on the man who would one day claim infamy on the Unstable Smp.
back on uu!flame’s immense trust in people it’s not just trusting in their word he trusts that jaden is his friend and won’t betray him no matter how suspicious he gets he trusts that wemmbu is too strong to just die quietly to anyone other than him he trusts that parrot is smart enough to find wemmbu this is a guy who is supposedly a solo player someone who feels dragged down by teammates but the few who have gained his respect will have to try very hard to lose it
