#weedlion

[just-a-youtuber-slut]

What happened?

Can someone please tell me what happened to Team Crafted? Honestly they where the only thing that ever made me smile and now seeing them separated is really sad I know sky and Jerome are making vids together again But what happened to Seto, Jason, WeedLion, BlueMonkey and all those ? Why did they all separate while some still play with others? What in the world happened to that amazing group of friends? What happened to my happiness?

[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....

[billiethkid]

Did I ever upload these? If so, here you go again

[jadespadegames]

XD WEEDLION'S REPLY THOUGH

[squirreltastic]

Minecart Modifications [Minecraft Animation]

[lifeinthesquiddimension]

Boss Battle: SqueedLion!, 1

No, I don't think I can, but I don't have a real say in the matter, do I? And I think it's useless to keep trying to contact Sky, like I'd been stupid to suggest. There's no point when Dry Voice said Sky was dying. He's hiding and dying and as much as it kills me to know that, how much more would it hurt his friends if they learn that and realize they can't help him or Deadlox? So I say nothing else, just nod and yawn tiredly. Whatever the Voices did that screwed with my mimicking enough that I now literaly become the Avatar I mimic has sapped my energy dry. Normally I could choose to stay awake through several nights but I'm completely wiped. BlueMonkey gives me an odd look before opening his inventory.

"I can't get into Creative. Something about this area is blocking that command. But I always keep a bed handy for naps. Here. Take it." BlueMonkey pulls the object from his screen and tosses it to me. "You look like you could use it more."

I mumble my thanks and place the bed. Of course, the texture pack is still active, so the bed takes on the same purple cover and dark frame as my old one back home. What it looks like to BlueMonkey is of no importance; I'm tired and need rest. I hang Squidie's bucket on a bedpost, give him a petting to calm him down as he's still giving the monkey dirty looks, and then snuggle in for the night.

----

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess that, uh, that wasn't supposed to happen.

What the fuck does this mod actually do?! I told Seto to make it so this guy could mimic us and stop us if we Raged, and predict what the Squid Army and the Cultists would do by thinking like them! I didn't say anything about giving him a personal disguise plugin!

It's a pretty good disguise if it lets him sound, talk, act, move, and fight just like the Avatar he's copying. What exactly did you have Seto use to make the mod? 'Cause that isn't third-gen shit there.

Soon as I have hands again and we rescue Setosorcerer, I'm beating the shit out of him for fucking up the Mimic Mod. One job, Seto! You had one fucking job!

Didn't it come with a manual? Or some instructions?

Now that I think about it... Seto had a book with the mod when he got attacked. I... could only get the mod... because he threw it at me so the squids couldn't get it. But they took him and the book anyway....

That's not good. ...Hey. If he was supposed to use that mod to counter our Rage and Fury powers, why hasn't he used copies of them to burn through everything?

Pfft, uh unno....

-----

AvecPardon Core File Damage: 8%.

-----

In the morning I eat a few baked potatoes to fully restore my hunger and break the bed back into its portable icon form to put away. BlueMonkey sits nearby, frowning to himself as he studies a screen before him. Had he been trying to contact Sky all night?

I put Squidie's bucket back into the holster and look in to check on him. The little guy is worryingly quiet, floating near the bottom of the bucket and refusing to look at me. I wonder what's wrong, why he looks so upset. Is it because I killed SquidMonkey?

"Hey, before you head off, bit of advice for you," BlueMonkey remarks just as start to walk away. I pause and look back at him in time to see him point at Squidie. "I'd dump that if I were you. You could be at risk of getting infected and you'll be perma-banned from the Sky Army Territories."

What? Why would he say that? "He's guiding me." I tell him. Did he forget I just explained that Squidie was helping me?

"It's still a squid. Squids are the sworn enemy of the Sky Army. To all non-infected Avatars really." BlueMonkey points out, -and is that a bit of condescension I hear?- "A true Recruit would protect Sky from all squids, so there won't be a chance for Herobrine to get to him through them."

"Well, when you're able to get in touch with a 'true' Recruit, you can have them come and rescue you." I bite out. It's strange how annoyed I am by how he said that. It isn't the insinuation of whether or not I'm a 'true' Recruit that got to me; it was him calling Squidie an enemy to be destroyed when he hasn't done anything!

Maybe in the past, when I wasn't Awakened and had all my memories, that would make perfect sense, but now? After having lived with squids all around me? It all seems pretty gray. Or maybe I've been around them too long. "Until then, I'm your best chance to get out of here alive." I finish.

"I don't even know where 'here' is!" BlueMonkey protests, waving a hand at his window, letters and numbers flipping in crazy, chaotic patterns. "The level data doesn't make sense!"

"And isn't it just my luck I have my little squid friend to guide me?" I call back sweetly, waving at him as I walk on with a smile.

"Pretty sassy for a bookworm." Dry Voice comments with his familiar breathy chuckle.

"Wa-how! Ow! Where did that come from?" Tired Voice breathes out. I can hear genuine surprise in his tone and a flicker of a memory comes to mind, of eyebrow raised and a wide smile. But it's gone too fast for me to catch onto anything more defining.

"There are three fast ways to make me mad; hurt my arms, damage my books, and threaten my friends." I growl under my breath, just loud enough for the microphone to pick up. "I don't care who you are, you don't say stuff like that about an innocent little squid! Especially if they helped rescue you!"

Maybe I spoke louder than I thought, since Squidie popped up from his bucket with a splash. "You were on my side?" he exclaims with eyes so wide they seem to swallow his face.

"You're calling a squid your friend? Are you betraying the Sky Army?!" Tired Voice yells and I wince at the sound. Odd, I can hear his anger in the words, but I can also pick up a little fear, fear and... hurt?

"I never said I was turning against the Sky Army. I'm still rescuing your friends, aren't I? Don't just jump to conclusions like that; you sound like a jerk when you do." I tell him and then hit mute to let him simmer on his own. Looking down at Squidie, I catch him with that thoughtful look on his face again, like he's trying to puzzle something out. "Squidie? Something the matter?" I ask.

"I don't get you. You killed SquidMonkey, of the Squid Army's awesome new soldiers, but you stood up for me against BlueMonkey, one of the Sky Army's High Council Avatars." Squidie blows a stream of bubbles, confusion and annoyance in his voice. "I don't get it! It's so weird!"

The trees and lush green grass have long been left behind, and I'm walking over the dry brown of plains grass towards another of the glass chambers. Who would I find there?

"You have the Butter Blade," Squidie says suddenly, a strange tone in his voice, like he was still working through that puzzle of his.

"Yeah." Why deny that? He saw me use it, he obviously recognized it, so lying at this point is useless.

"How did you get that?"

"It was in one of the rooms back in the Stronghold. I took it along as a backup weapon but it seems to be doing pretty good damage on its own so far." Not a full truth, but not a lie either. I just didn't mention how it appeared after my code went haywire and knocked me out.

Squidie starts splashing about, his voice now panicky. "SkyDoesMinecraft was in our Stronghold?!" he squeaks, "Aaah! We gotta tell the Squid Lord!"

"Nooo~." I reply, drawing out the word as I give a little shudder. "Going back to warn that guy means running into Savoy and LadyEnchantress. I'd like to avoid them for the rest of my life, thank you."

"But-!"

"Squidie, remember what BlueMonkey said? Sky can't be found anywhere." I remind him, reaching down to rub my fingertips gently on his head. He bubbles and giggles in response. "If the server can't find him, then I'm pretty sure Sky wasn't in the Stronghold."

As I draw closer to the glass chamber, my heart sinks at the sight of another of those totems made of strange blocks, surrounded by a machine and redstone circuits that linked it to the chamber. No, not again....

Squidie whimpers at the sight as well, huddling in the bucket. "I know I said the new Squid Army soldiers were awesome and cool and stuff, but do they have to scare me like this?" he mumbles, then leaps up, "I'm a squiiiid~!" He ducks back down into the water bucket again, out of sight.

I envy his ability to hide from this.

Before I go to the glass chamber, I decide to take a look at the blocks in the piston machine. Maybe their appearance will give me an idea of who I'll be facing. While I truly hope I won't be fighting, it seems like there's no avoiding meeting squid duplicates who get hostile for no reason, if that first encounter was any indicator. Still, maybe I'll get lucky and this one will be more inclined to talk to me.

The blocks look like they're made of densely woven green grasses. No symbol or graphic overlaid them. Huh. Well, that doesn't tell me anything, not with my memories pretty much gone. Maybe my commentators would know? The mute is still on, so I touch the button on the headset to lift it.

"...was all over the floor, the bed, the walls, even the ceiling, and...."

"I'm gonna fucking rip your head off and shove it up your ass if you don't quit reading your damned Skylox fanfiction every time we get put on mute!"

I don't want to know. My ears are ringing from the yells and my face feels like it's burning up. "Are you done?" I manage to ask through my teeth.

"Oh, hey. Mute is off." Dry Voice comments idly.

"I hate you both so much!" Tired Voice yells back and it's like a sharp blow, hearing that voice say that, having that directed in part to me.

World tilts. I'm on one knee, don't know when that happened.

Feels like a heavy weight's crushing me. Can't breathe.

World dimming.

------

AvecPardon Core File Damage: 10%

------

"Dude. Dudedudedude, look look! His code's failing; what the fuck did you do?!" Dry Voice sounds distant and panicky.

Don't think about it. Get up. Keep moving forward. You're dead if you stay down.

"Are you okay? What happened? Hey, Avec? Aveeeeec~? Hey, hey? I'm a squid~!" Squidie's chirping is a persistent sound that keeps me focused. Up, get up.

I bite my lip to hold in a sob, pushing myself up to standing again.

-----

AvecPardon Core File Damage: 9.5%

-----

The world still seems dull and faded but at least it isn't trying to twist itself into the air. Move forward, move forward. Tired Voice will see; I am not going to give up. I will hurt but I will keep going.

"I didn't do anything!" Tired Voice protests, "Hey, check his coding; is he okay?"

"Looking... okay, it looks like it's rolling back but that's just- it's just- I don't like this. We're depending on him and you're breaking him and this is such not a good idea...."

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" I snap, fed up with these voices constantly chatting over my head. There's a little yelp of surprise and fright, followed by a splash, and I flinch. Oh, that's right. "I didn't mean you, Squidie," I tell my little friend, reaching into the bucket to pet him again in apology. He trembles a little under my touch but eventually calms down, purring until he's blowing tiny bubbles in a slow, even pace.

He's asleep. Poor guy must have been exhausted by all the panicking he's been doing since I scooped him up and took him along. Oh, now I feel more guilt for this.

My body still feels a bit like I'm winded from a beatdown -and I strongly suspect my commentators had a hand in that- but I press on. Following the redstone dust, I make my way back to the glass chamber and peer into it from a short distance away from the obsidian platform.

Green fur and a long slender tail, a full and bushy mane; there is yet another Creature-type Avatar curled up in there, sleeping uneasily. Like with BlueMonkeyYT, there are two screens floating above the figure; one belongs to the Avatar, the other is a copy, linked to the original by force.

"WeedLion! Is he okay?!" Tired Voice blurts out.

WeedLion? That's a name I remember hearing or seeing. I run through what few memories I have -much of them seems hazy now, strange- until the word pops up again. The vial! I remember now! The vial of liquid in the Squid Stronghold! It had a label that said the experiment was a success!

What was the experiment?

I reach back and tap at my backpack, opening the inventory. I run my fingertip lightly over the books until I find the one I'm looking for. Okay, here we go. 'A Rough Outline and Theory of WeedLion by AvecPardon Illuminaris'.

Oh, that's just flippin' beautiful.

I open the book and grimace at the scant few paragraphs written there in my handwriting. There isn't much data to work with. How will I mimic an Avatar who is very much a mystery to me? On top of that, how was the experiment to duplicate WeedLion a 'success' if this was the book used to carry it out?

I put the book in my hotbar, where BlueMonkey's book had been. It's a bit troubling that the data contained in that book is now part of me, hidden away somewhere in my code. I can feel it there and I can access it at will now, if I felt like it. Any moment I want, I can become BlueMonkey....

Shaking my head clear of that thought, I take a step towards the chamber. The two screens of code seem to be a little different compared to what I had seen with BlueMonkey. With him, the clone would copy over several lines of code when it lost them to corrosion.

This clone not only copied over several lines of code, it also generated random chunks of coding to plug into the gaps when it couldn't access the rest from WeedLion.

....

Ah!

"You're making it up as you go?!" I yell at the cloning machine. Oh, the very idea is enough to make me want to vomit! The inaccuracy in blindly making stuff up to fill in the blanks, not caring about the heart and soul of the very Avatar one is attempting to replicate...!

THIS! This is what separates the copies like you from the mimics like me!

I stomp my foot on the tripwire, baring my teeth and flicking to the Butter Blade. There's a click and the redstone dust blazes on, rushing light in a trail to the machine. It powers on in a flash, almost blinding me as it drops another of those strange blue-black and gold blocks on top of the grass-woven ones.

/Commencing duplication process./

"What?!" Squidie blurts out, popping up from the bucket, "Did you try to break out another Sky Army Avatar?!"

The glow of the blocks dies down, reshaping itself into the form of WeedLion, a soft and pained grunt sounding behind me. Much of what should be vibrant green fur is nothing more than sickly squid blue, the royal blue shorts a darker squid-blue color. The copy blinks derpy eyes at me, swaying unsteadily on its feet.

My lip curls at the sight. A cheap knockoff; even SquidMonkey was better than this.

Then the Damage Indicator flips on and I'm not nearly so superior feeling.

SqueedLion. 80 Hearts.

Who the heck created these things?!

"Hey! Hey, you! I'm a squid~!" Squidie yells, treading water in the bucket.

"Priority One Enemy located!" SqueedLion suddenly roars, a strange accent in its voice that I can't place -but my soul-tether seems to be racing to get me information on it-, and it runs right at me in a stilted gait, like a flipbook of ASCII art missing a lot of vital pages. It's fast, and it should have been laughable to look at, but to me it's terrifying as hell.

So I scream and run. Okay, so I can be an utter wuss, but that's because I know I'll get my butt handed to me!

"Zig zag! Run in zig zags!" I yell at myself as I haul butt across the grass. The plains are a wide, empty biome type. There's nothing to hide or block behind!

"Hey! Hey, stupid!" Squidie yells again, waving his tentacles at the crime against Nature behind me. "This is the Writer! It's the Writer, stupid!"

"Priority One Enemy! Destroy!"

"Yeah, you're gonna die." Squidie remarks, plopping back into the water. "What a stupid asshat."

"Squidie!" I snap at him, terrified and frustrated and growing hungrier every moment, "Not helping!"

"What about copying him?! Like you did with BlueMonkey?!" Tired Voice points out in a panic, "However the hell you pulled that off, it worked awesome! Do it again and kill that thing!"

"I can't!" I cry out, looking over my shoulder to check on the distance between me and SqueedLion.

His goofy eyes mere inches from my face tells me there isn't-

Aaaaaaagh!

Why do lions have claws?!

My side is burning in pain, earth and sky flipping places, gravity is gone, screams sound in my ears.

I hit something hard, and the world is black.

[manzini]

noochlion? weedooch?