Chapter Text
“You’re not slick buddy,” an unfamiliar voice laughed from behind Wemmbu. “I can see your invis particles.”
Wemmbu froze as a blade pressed deep into his skin, effectively pinning him against the wall of the potion shop. He was able to tilt his head just the slightest bit to try and see who was behind him, but all he was able to make out was a white and yellow wing and a bit of blond hair.
It was the second winged person Wemmbu had met, his mind unhelpfully provided.
He opened his mouth to speak, to try and say anything that might diffuse the situation and not get him killed, but he realized that if he spoke it might actually be worse for him. What if this guy was part of Lettuce’s team and would try to capture him if he found out who he was? What if he just really hated Wemmbu?
So staying silent would be the best, but if he didn’t speak then how would he get out of this? Normally he could use his sword skills, but he didn’t have his sword out and if he moved at all he would probably just get killed by the blade at his neck.
“Look bro, my patience is limited, so either speak up or forever hold your peace,” the person said, reinforcing the last part of their sentence by pressing the blade down hard enough that Wemmbu felt a stream of blood begin flowing down his neck.
Okay, so not speaking definitely wasn’t going to work.
“Okay! Okay! I’m innocent bro, I swear I didn’t do anything!” Wemmbu pleaded, putting his arms up in surrender before realizing he was invisible. Well it couldn’t hurt to keep them up just in case. Maybe people in this world have something that allows them to see through invis? “I’m just standing here bro, nothing nefarious I swear.”
“Wha- Wemmbu?” the person’s startled voice sounded as they released the pressure of their blade a fraction. “What the hell are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be with Lettuce?”
“Um…” Wemmbu wracked his brain to try and think of what he could even say in response. He didn’t know what kind of relationship this universe’s Wemmbu had with whoever this guy was, so he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to act. “I… broke out of… the place Lettuce was keeping me,” Wemmbu tried, making it up as he went. “That’s why I’m invisible right now. So I don't get caught by anyone.”
The person was silent for a moment. “Uh huh… So why are you here then? At me and Parrot’s shop instead of, like, running away or something?”
And that was a good question. And Wemmbu honestly did not know how he was meant to reply, because if he was keeping up the act of being a runaway, then why would he come here? It would be kinda stupid to be out in public like this. Unless of course, this universe’s Parrot and Wemmbu were good friends, but given this guy’s reaction, that seemed unlikely.
So instead of giving a response, Wemmbu pulled out another invis potion to stall for time to think. Unfortunately…
“Nah, don’t re-invis bro,” the guy chuckled, snatching the potion from Wemmbu’s hand. “You’re just gonna try to run away before you have to answer me.”
Wemmbu pulled out another invis potion from his inventory. He had like seven more. “Uh, yeah, but the whole point of me being invis is so that I’m not spotted, buddy. Letting it run out would just be-”
“Okay, let’s go inside then,” the person interrupted, and Wemmbu could practically hear the smile on his face. “Since you wanted to creep around our potion shop, and not be spotted out in public, I’m sure you’d have no problem going inside, yeah?”
“Uh…” Wemmbu had a feeling he shouldn’t go in, but didn’t have much of a choice did he? This person literally had a weapon at his neck right now and he clearly wasn’t afraid to use it. He also didn’t seem to particularly be Wemmbu’s biggest fan either. It wasn’t like he was exactly inviting him in for tea right now was he?
The person didn’t seem to care for Wemmbu’s input though, as he began pushing him without warning, blade still very much at the back of his neck, into the shop.
“Okay, I guess we’re just doing this then,” Wemmbu muttered as the doors to the shop were pushed open. He could only hope that Flame wouldn’t be too upset that he got caught. Although it would be funny to see him crashing out actually.
“…run against Lettuce, so he’s distracted?” Parrot was asking as Wemmbu and the other guy walked in. “And then-“
“Hey Parrot, guess who the cat dragged in- woah, what are they doing here?”
Parrot, Flame, and Egg turned to the door simultaneously as Wemmbu and the winged guy stepped in. It was dead silent for a few long seconds as they all looked at each other.
Wemmbu took those seconds to get a good look at this universe’s Parrot for the first time, (and he was not overly excited that he was getting to actually meet and interact with a different version of someone he knew) and he was shocked to find out that this Parrot actually had decently large wings. The Parrot back home had comparatively tiny wings, and they didn’t even work, but this one looked like he could actually fly.
Which was totally not even cool. Although it was interesting that this was the third person he’d met up to this point that had wings. Maybe it was a thing in this place. A fashion trend even?
Speaking of wings actually, Wemmbu, since they were standing next to each other, now had a chance to get a better look at the guy who’d been threatening him for the past minute. And when he looked, he found a blond guy, definitely with wings, who was wearing sunglasses and a chain around his neck.
Wemmbu tried to hold himself back from making a face before he remembered he was invis. This guy had a terrible sense of fashion holy shit. Like it was actually bad.
“They’re not here for anything for anything bad, Theo,” Parrot’s voice broke the silence, “not this time at least,” he threw a glance at Flame and Wemmbu really wished he knew what that meant. “Why are you holding your sword up?”
The guy, Theo apparently, used the flat end of the blade he had to push Wemmbu forward a bit. “I found us a little invisible friend outside our shop. Figured he might wanna come in and say hello, y’know?” This time, Wemmbu could actually see the smile on Theo’s face as he spoke. “How much longer on your invis, buddy?”
Wemmbu checked. Ten seconds, great. Does that mean their plan is ruined or could they salvage it still?
“Bro if you wanna mess around with random players, go ahead, but we were kinda discussing something important so can you do it somewhere else?” Flame spoke up, annoyed and crossing his arms. And if Wemmbu didn’t know any better, he would have had no idea Flame was lying about not knowing who was invisible.
“Nah, this isn’t a random player bro,” Theo smirked, leaning against the closed door behind him. “I think you- actually, I think all of you would want to see this.” He looked around the room before he spoke again, “Honestly, this is a really odd lineup we got in here right now.”
Flame opened his mouth to reply, but it was in that moment that Wemmbu’s invis ran out, cutting him off.
Parrot was the first to speak, eyes widening as he caught sight of Wemmbu. “Wait what? Wemmbu? How are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be imprisoned by the Law?” He turned to Flame and Egg. “Were you guys not just telling me about your plan to free him?”
“Uh…” Egg glanced between Wemmbu, Parrot, and Theo before landing on Flame. “Yo, do we genuinely just have to leave him here and dip, bro?” he whispered, very audibly, to Flame before turning to the rest of them and putting his hands up, speaking slowly. “We know nothing,”
Flame slowly tilted his head until he was fully facing Egg. “Bro, are you-” He closed his eyes and took a short breath. “Just stop talking. Do not say another word. Let me talk bro.”
“My bad yo.”
“Leave him here? Did you guys know he was here?” Parrot asked, glancing between Flame and Egg before returning his gaze to Wemmbu. He was staring at him quite intensely, and Wemmbu had a feeling he might be trying to put things together.
“Bro, like, he’s not-” Flame ran a hand down his face before turning to Wemmbu. “Why did you have to get yourself caught bro? We just lost our one chance of this plan going well! Now we’re probably gonna be stuck with you forever.”
Wemmbu blinked in shock at the sudden attack. “Me? It’s not my fault this guy,” he pointed back toward Theo, who seemed to be enjoying the ensuing argument, “could see my individual invis particles bro. Like what was I even supposed to do about that? And it’s not like I want to be here either?”
“You were supposed to be behind a bush on the side of the shop,” Flame countered without missing a beat, moving closer to the front of the shop to emphasize his point. “Then you wouldn’t have gotten caught. If you had just listened instead of being a-”
“Wemmbu,” Parrot interrupted, and when Wemmbu turned he found that Parrot was still giving him that strange look. “Hasn’t your left horn been chipped for a while now? How did you manage to fix it?”
Theo looked over too, humming curiously. “Oh yeah, I think you're right. Do horns grow back like that?”
Flame suddenly stepped forward, expression shifting. “Bro If you guys aren’t gonna hear us out then we should probably just go,” he nodded to Wemmbu and Egg, ignoring their previous disagreement. “We have more important things to be doing.”
“Yeah good idea,” Wemmbu nodded back, already turning towards the door. While it was cool to see a different version of Parrot, he didn’t know what would happen if Parrot and Theo found out that he wasn’t the Wemmbu they knew, and staying around to find out probably wasn’t the best idea.
He didn’t get very far though.
“Well you guys just got here didn’t you?” Theo asked from his spot leaning against the door, a certain edge to his tone that implied he had no intention of moving. And, in retrospect, Wemmbu thought he was a little dumb for not noticing that Theo had been essentially guarding the door this entire time.
“Yeah I don’t think you guys are leaving yet,” Parrot laughed from behind Wemmbu. “Because I know for a fact that horns don’t just magically grow back perfectly overnight, and if I know anything about Wemmbu, it’s that he wouldn’t come to me after escaping prison, he would probably just disappear somewhere far away until he’s no longer being chased.” Wemmbu turned around to face him, giving up on figuring out how to get past Theo. “So something’s definitely up.”
“Yo guys, have we just been trapped in an inescapable prison?” Egg spoke up in the silence that followed Parrot’s speech. “Are we genuinely cooked?”
Nobody paid him any mind though as Flame took a step towards Parrot and looked down at him. Likely an intimidation tactic. “Really? We’re not gonna leave bro? You really think you can stop the two strongest players with just Theo?” he laughed as he pulled out his sword. Wemmbu had a feeling he was meant to be the other strongest in this situation, so he pulled out the mace he had as well. “Yeah bro, good luck with that. But hey, if you want your shop to get destroyed, go ahead.”
Parrot didn’t back down however, a casual smile breaking out on his face as he spoke again. “No, you’re right that we’d probably lose. I’ll give you that. But I don’t think you realize that there’re more ways to trap someone without it coming down to strength.”
“Yeah?” Wemmbu asked, stepping forward so he was standing next to Flame in front of Parrot. “And what might that be bro?”
Parrot looked between Wemmbu and Flame, and Wemmbu didn’t miss the way his eyes flicked to Gambit for a brief second. “Well you’re both the Law’s biggest targets right now aren’t you? So if you leave, or pull anything, I can just tell the Law that Wemmbu escaped and that you two are in Capitol City. How does that sound bro?”
Wemmbu’s eyes widened. “Dude what? Why would you be a snitch for those people, hello?”
“Well it’s not like I want to bro,” Parrot frowned at Wemmbu. “But you guys aren’t giving me much of a choice here. Like it’s obvious there’s something off about this whole situation, and I’m not gonna let you just leave when you definitely came here for a reason. So if you wanna leave so badly then I suggest you start explaining.”
“Are we actually deadass bro?” Flame scoffed. “There’s actually no way you think you can-“
“Hang on,” Wemmbu interrupted, suddenly realizing something. “Isn’t this what we wanted bro? If he hears us out, then he might agree to help us out and then we’re not cooked anymore.”
Flame looked at him as if he was stupid, and Wemmbu honestly didn’t know what he did to deserve such treatment. “Okay great, so when he decides he doesn’t wanna help us and then leaks our whole plan to Lettuce, then what? It’s not worth it bro.”
“Okay hold on bro,” Theo spoke up for the first time in a minute, “If you guys also don’t like Lettuce, and we don’t either, then why are we still having this conversation? If we have the same gigantic enemy, then we should probably work together right? Kinda like when the mafia was a thing.”
Flame pressed his lips together, silent for a moment before sighing. “Bro, whatever. You can tell them everything if you want,” he said, addressing Wemmbu. “But if something happens, just know I thought it was a bad idea.”
“Yeah, okay edgelord,” Wemmbu rolled his eyes before turning to Parrot and Theo, wanting to finally get on with things. “So basically, we wanted your help to distract-“
“Are you serious right now-“
“-Lettuce from the election so we can… free one of his prisoners.”
Parrot squinted at Wemmbu for a moment. “You mean Wemmbu right? You wanna break Wemmbu out?”
“Yo how does he know like that?” Egg joined in, deciding he was done sitting in the corner apparently.
“Yeah, wait Parrot, what are you talking about?” Theo asked, furrowing his brow. “Is Wemmbu not, like, right here?”
Parrot adjusted his wings behind him as he leaned back against the counter. “Well it’s kinda obvious that this isn’t really Wemmbu. Or at least something along those lines.” He turned to Wemmbu, studying him for a second. “Like, he obviously looks a little different than usual, and the horn was a big indicator too. Plus some of the things the three of them have said struck me as odd. And if we haven’t heard anything about Wemmbu escaping from Lettuce yet then…”
Wemmbu stared at him, a bit shocked for a moment. The Parrot back home was smart, definitely, but Wemmbu didn’t know if he was smart enough to jump to such an outlandish conclusion and actually be correct.
And it was only now, looking at him, that he noticed some of the smaller differences between this universe's Parrot and the Parrot from back home. Most notably, this Parrot lacked a lot of the vibrance that the Parrot Wemmbu knew had. For example, the color of his wings, while still being brightly colored, appeared more dull, and his eyes too, looked like something was missing.
It was strange, and Wemmbu really wondered why that might be the case between universes, especially since he’d been told, and had seen, that this universe’s Wemmbu also had hair that was a darker shade of purple than his own. But honestly, who could he even ask about that pattern? Nobody but him had seen both sides, so how would they be able to answer him? And Wemmbu knew damn well he was not… cognitively inclined enough to come up with a conclusion on his own. Egg might be able to, though. Maybe he could ask him when they have free time.
Theo tilted his head, skepticism clear on his face. “You really think there’s… what? Two Wemmbu’s or something? That he’s had some secret twin this whole time? I don’t know about this one bro.”
Parrot opened his mouth, likely to defend himself, but Wemmbu figured now would be a good time to actually explain things. “He’s actually right. Parrot I mean. There are currently two Wemmbu’s.” Flame let out an annoyed breath from behind the conversation as Wemmbu continued. “We still haven’t figured out exactly what happened, or how to fix it, but essentially, I’m from a different universe, I touched something, and then I got sent here. And that’s why we want to free the other Wemmbu, because he might be able to help us get me back home.”
“He’s not lying,” Egg added. “If he was, I would literally have no reason to be here right now.”
Parrot and Theo were silent for a moment, looking between each other. It was Parrot who spoke first. “I mean… that makes sense I guess? It would explain pretty much everything I said earlier to a degree. But I still don’t really get your plan.”
Egg visibly perked up at Parrot’s words, and Wemmbu elected to step back and let him explain all the weird alternate universe stuff.
“Okay, so we need Wemmbu because there’s a high chance he’s connected to how this guy got here,” Egg started explaining, gesturing to Wemmbu. “Because of the nature of what happened, and I’ll spare the details I guess. We like, almost one hundred percent need our Wemmbu back in order to get rid of him. Plus, like, he’s my best friend yo, obviously I want him back,” Egg’s wings twitched a bit as he said the last part, and Wemmbu couldn’t help but wonder if that meant anything. “But Lettuce obviously has him strictly guarded, and this is a goated team, but like, realistically we would struggle to get Wemmbu back on our own with how many people Lettuce actually has. But that’s where Parrot comes in and runs for king to keep Lettuce distracted.” He turned and addressed Parrot fully now. “Like, you’re like the charity monster right? So you’d probably be able to get enough votes to contest Lettuce just from your reputation. And then while he’s distracted with you, the rest of us go in and save Wemmbu, get rid of the other Wemmbu, and then we all live happily ever after y’know?”
“Okay, hold on,” Theo spoke up a few seconds after Egg finished talking. “That’s cool and all, but why would Parrot do all of that for you guys? Like what would we get out of this?”
“You get to keep your life bro,” Flame laughed from when he was leaning against one of the walls, and honestly Wemmbu hadn’t known he’d still been listening.
Theo turned to Flame, a new look forming on his face. “And why are you even working with these guys bro? I get Egg, he’d obviously be involved with stuff related to Wemmbu.” And Wemmbu didn’t miss the small smile that formed on Egg’s face at that. “But you being here just doesn’t make sense. Are you still trying to get a rematch or something bro?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Parrot cut in before Flame could answer Theo. Though Wemmbu wondered what Flame’s response was going to be because he looked quite mad at Theo’s words. “Because we’re helping them.”
Theo snapped his head to look at Parrot. “Are you-” A sigh. “Of course we are bro.”
Wemmbu wondered how often this could possibly happen for him to just accept it like that.
A wide grin broke out on Egg’s face. “Yo am I just a w convincer guys?”
Wemmbu found himself almost smiling as well, because if this hadn’t worked, they really would have been screwed. “You might just be-”
“But,” Parrot interrupted sharply. “We’re tweaking the plan.”
-
“This should be good,” Parrot announced, tapping his claws against the bark of a particularly large tree.
Wemmbu raised an eyebrow, looking at the tree carefully. “Uh, isn’t this a bit… out in the open for a secret base? Like, anyone could walk by and just see it if we built it here right?”
“Yeah, also we’re like, barely three hundred out from spawn bro,” Flame added as he walked up to the tree too. “We’d be better off just staying at my base, it’s like the same distance away.”
Parrot gave them a dumbfounded look. “You guys are actual bricks bro, the base is gonna be underground? Obviously?”
Egg walked over to the base of the tree as well and began kicking at the dirt. “Yo that actually makes sense. You guys are dumb,” he laughed as he pulled out a shovel and began digging.
“You actually cannot be talking right now bro,” Flame complained as he followed Egg into the hole he was making. “You’re like, the biggest brick to walk the earth, Egg.”
Wemmbu watched as they both disappeared underground, going back and forth about who was more intelligent.
Parrot took a step back and turned in the direction they’d come in. “Try to make this place at least somewhat secure. If you guys get jumped by the Law right now our whole plan will be ruined.”
“Yeah, we can try, I guess,” Wemmbu laughed a little, knowing the people he was working with. They’d probably be fine though. Flame was always pretty careful and Egg’s able to lock in when things get serious. “So you’re going to campaign then?”
“Yup,” Parrot nodded, “I’m meeting back up with Theo and then we’re gonna go around Capitol City and some other major civilizations. You guys should focus on building the base and making preparations for now.” He spread his wings, and Wemmbu couldn’t help stare a bit. They might have been duller than the wings the Parrot back home had, but they were much larger which made them infinitely cooler. Though probably not as cool as Egg’s since he had like three sets of wings. “We’ll come get you when the last phase of the election begins. That’s when everything will happen.” And with a strong push of his wings, he was gone.
Wemmbu watched him fly away until he was too far to see anymore, before turning to the hole in the ground. He wondered if he could get Egg to fly. That would probably be really cool.
So, for the next two days, the three of them got to work preparing for the first part of the plan. Egg and Wemmbu mostly focused on building up the base, though it was a bit difficult at first since they couldn’t agree on what kind of wood to use, while Flame got them gear and potions for any future fight. And then on the third day…
“Guys I have an insane idea!” Wemmbu announced as he rushed into the main room of the base holding a stack of paper and various art supplies he’d crafted.
Egg lifted a few of his eyes up from one of the books about alternate universes he was reading before ignoring Wemmbu and looking back down.
Flame, who was brewing potions, decided to entertain him though. “What, bro?”
Wemmbu grinned and quickly walked over, setting the items in his arms on the ground between them. “What if… we spread propaganda…”
Flame just looked at him for a moment, almost dumbfounded. “Bro, what the hell are you talking about?”
Grabbing one of the green crayons, Wemmbu started an, admittedly terrible, sketch. “No bro just hear me out on this.” He finished the drawing quickly and held it out for Flame to see. “If we make Lettuce look bad by spreading propaganda about him, then it decreases the amount of people willing to vote for him, and increases the chances of Parrot winning, right?”
Out of the corner of his eye, Wemmbu saw Egg focus a few more of his eyes on them.
“Bro, you really think a bad drawing of Lettuce is gonna convince people not to vote for him?” Flame asked incredulously, looking the paper up and down. “I doubt people will even be able to tell who that is bro.”
Wemmbu turned the paper away, a little self-conscious now. “Okay, well it’s not about the artistic capability, it’s about the meaning bro. And you don’t have to be so rude about my drawing…”
“Your drawing sucks butt bro,” Egg chimed in, still half-focused on his book.
“That’s putting it lightly bro,” Flame scrunched his nose. “Like, even if we do spread bad stuff about Lettuce, it might just have to be from word of mouth, because if we put stuff like this,” he gestured to the paper with a grimace, “out into the server, nobody would take it seriously. Might even increase Lettuce's votes bro.”
Wemmbu looked between the two of them, baffled. “Guys it’s not that bad, damn.” And before the two of them could voice their extreme disagreement, he added, “And if we spread stuff by word of mouth then wouldn’t it have to just be Egg doing it? Since me and Flame are like, wanted criminals.”
Egg actually perked up a little at that. “Yo, I actually have some experience spreading genuine falsehoods.”
“I know bro,” Flame muttered, rolling his eyes behind the blindfold.
Deciding to stay curious about whatever history the two of them had, Wemmbu got them back on topic. “We could also, like, write things down too? Like posters that don’t feature any nice artwork.”
“Yo, they actually call me the writer bro, let me at it,” Egg started scooting over to them, genuine giddyness in his voice. “Some call me the greatest writer of our generation. Others, the greatest of all time-“
“I’m willing to bet Wemmbu’s mace that not a singular soul has called you that bro,” Flame interrupted. “And it wouldn’t even be-“
“Wait a minute, my mace?”
“-that kind of writing bro. Like it would be fake reports against Lettuce or something like that.”
Egg put his hands up. “Chillax yo, it’s not that serious. But I usually prefer to write analyses so… I can stick to spreading genuine lies to the people.”
Wemmbu glanced at Flame. “Actually, that’s not a bad idea. We could, like, pretend we’re people who Lettuce wronged or something, and then ‘accidentally’ leave those reports laying around in populated areas so people read them.”
Flame looked at the stack of papers in front of him. “Yeah, I mean, I don’t think that would be too hard. It would probably work a little too, especially if people thought they weren’t meant to be seen.”
“So you guys go invis and spread the papers while I go further my inescapable web of lies,” Egg nodded to himself. “We really only have to take one trip out of here then, so that’s probably good. Don’t wanna upset the big X2, y’know?”
Flame sighed. Loudly. “Let’s just get this done bro.”
—
“Yo, are you guys fans of the Law?”
Two players, both in half iron armor, looked at Egg curiously. “Like, Lettuce?” one of them asked.
“Who doesn’t like Lettuce?” the other added.
Egg smirked. “Well I have a story to tell you guys. Did you know that Lettuce like, actually eats people?” He had to hold back a laugh as the image of Lettuce gnawing on someone's head entered his mind.
The two chungys looked horrified, their wide eyes staring at Egg as if hoping he would turn around and tell them it was a joke. One of them even took a step back. “...W-What?”
“Why do you think he’s always hiring people to work for him?” Egg asked, deciding to really sell it. “He needs more people to feed on, y’know? You guys might be new to the server so I don’t blame you for not knowing, but as someone who’s been here for a while, just trust me. He used to be more open about it before he really had a public image.”
Thoroughly spooked, the two players could do nothing but nod as Egg internally celebrated his victory. “But if you guys don’t know about it though, then I wouldn’t be surprised if a bunch of your friends around here didn’t either…” Egg trailed off, pretending to think. “And I bet if Lettuce actually got elected, he might just pick people to feed on at random, especially from Captiol City since it’s so populated… it might be better if you-”
Before he could finish his sentence, the two players ran off in different directions, going to nearby people and informing them of what they’d just heard, and Egg could only watch as his masterpiece unfolded.
After claiming a few more victims to various, overly detailed, lies, Egg headed to the far wall of the city to meet up with Flame and the other Wemmbu.
He noticed though, as he was walking up to the wall, one of the guards that was stationed there was giving him a strange look. They didn’t seem to notice that Egg had seen them since he hadn’t turned his head, just fixed a few of his eyes on them. But the moment that Egg did turn his head, they looked away before eventually leaving entirely.
It was weird but Egg honestly forgot about it after like five seconds.
“Oh, you’re already here bro?”
Egg looked up at the sound of the other Wemmbu’s voice and found him approaching, notably without a Flamefrags at his side. “Yeah I just got here,” Egg replied after a moment. “Where’s Flame?”
The other Wemmbu just shrugged though. “I dunno bro. He said he wanted to stop by some other place, a farm maybe, to leave one of the reports.” He scratched his cheek a bit awkwardly. “I offered to come with him but he just told me to get you and go back to the base. He said he’d meet us there afterward.”
Egg hummed, trying to think of any farm Flame would be interested in going to. He wasn’t too caught up on all the farm lore though, so he really couldn’t think of anything. “Oh well I guess.”
The other Wemmbu hummed to and began leading them in the direction of their base.
And it was a silent and peaceful and nice walk until the other Wemmbu started running his mouth.
“Wouldn’t it be so much better if we didn’t have to make this entire trip on foot,” he complained out of the blue, nearly startling Egg with the sudden sound of his voice.
Egg just looked at him, not even with all his eyes. “Uh, I guess bro? Like, it’s not even that far though. I’ve had to travel like, millions of blocks with Wemmbu before.” And the mention of his and Wemmbu’s old adventures just made Egg want to walk faster. It was a good motivator for doing everything. “This is maybe four hundred blocks.”
The other Wemmbu just hummed again, looking out into the trees in front of them. “Well yeah, but I’m sure you used your wings or something to travel that far.”
“Uh, no?” Egg honestly forgot he had wings sometimes, and Wemmbu didn’t, so Egg obviously didn’t use his while they were traveling together. “I mean, we use elytras sometimes, though we couldn’t really use them in the farlands. But I don’t think I ever really use my wings to fly.” Except for when he escaped the end. He kinda had to if he wanted to be fast enough to not get caught by the og players. “Actually, most of the time,” he pulled out his black jacket from his inventory and began folding his wings against his back. “I don’t even keep my wings out. I usually wrap them around my stomach and hide them under my jacket.” He demonstrated by doing exactly that like he’d done probably a million times before. “Wemmbu says they’re a weak spot that our enemies can use to their advantage or something, I don’t really know. It’s the same reason he usually hides his tail.”
Egg hoped that would be enough to get the other Wemmbu to stop talking and leave him alone. Now that Flame wasn’t with them, Egg was starting to get annoyed with the other Wemmbu again. Not that he wasn’t before, but he’d just been more distracted when Flame had been there.
However, instead of looking satisfied with Egg’s answer, the other Wemmbu just looked appalled. “Are you serious bro? Why would you listen to him and hide your wings?” He gestured to the sky as they left the patch of forest they were in and entered a plains biome. “If I had wings, I would literally be showing them off all the time. The diamond swords would be so annoyed-”
But it was in that moment, hand pointed to the sky, that an arrow pierced straight through the other Wemmbu’s palm, cutting off his ramble.
“What the-“ The other Wemmbu quickly drew back and pulled out his sword while Egg did a full scan of the area to look for the potential attacker.
It didn’t take long to find them though.
In the blink of an eye, an army of maybe fifty players, all in diamond armor and Law shields, were behind them with Lettuce front and center. His usual smile looked forced this time.
“I see you two have finally decided to show yourselves in public,” Lettuce called out to them, gesturing to his army to stay put as he walked closer. “I saw you made quite a large scene out there, didn’t you Egg? I’m shocked Flame didn’t join you this time.”
And it was only then that Egg really registered that Flame wasn’t with them. It was just him and the other Wemmbu against fifty people if they didn’t want to get captured. Which meant… Egg glanced at the other Wemmbu, the sight invoking that same dissatisfaction from before. …They were probably getting captured tonight.
“You looking for Flame or something?” The other Wemmbu asked as Lettuce stopped five blocks away from them. “Because you won’t find him with us, buddy,” he laughed, and Egg didn’t know what could possibly be funny about the situation they were in.
Lettuce shrugged and widened his smile. It looked a little more genuine now. “Well I was looking for all three of you, but taking two wouldn’t disappoint me. I would certainly prefer Flame but…” Lettuce trailed off, rolling his shoulders back before gesturing to his army behind him. “Taking two thirds of the team would certainly weaken it, no?” The army began walking closer, not yet attacking as Lettuce took a step back and equipped his elytra.
Beside him, Egg could see the other Wemmbu checking his inventory disappointedly before turning to Lettuce again. “You think we can’t hold our own against a couple of your goons just because Flame isn’t here?” he laughed and stepped forward, looking down at Lettuce. And Egg had to wonder if he was really that confident in himself or just really stupid. “You didn’t even bring your favorite little pet this time to fight us,” he spat, saying the word ‘pet’ with enough disgust to almost make Egg proud.
Lettuce kept his face blank, though Egg didn’t miss the way his eye slightly twitched. “He has more important things to be doing right now, and I do too.” He stepped to the side and held out a stack of rockets before addressing his army. “I expect you’ll bring them back to me within the next hour. Alive.”
In the next moment, Lettuce flew away and his whole army sprang into action, charging at Egg and the other Wemmbu at full speed.
And yeah, Egg was not gonna fight an army. The other Wemmbu was the one who practically begged to fight these people, so Egg wouldn’t feel too bad leaving him to do just that.
Unfortunately, Egg realized as he tried to fly away, his wings were currently stuck under his jacket, so he didn’t have any time to make his great escape before there were swords coming at him from every angle.
Ducking, Egg narrowly avoided getting stabbed sixteen times as he jumped back a few steps, trying to buy himself enough time to undo the buttons of his jacket and free his wings. He couldn’t make any progress though, as every time he got away from someone, two more people were already on him somehow.
The other Wemmbu seemed to notice Egg’s lack of fighting back and called out, “Bro, are you good? Are there too many people on you?”
Egg finally had the mind to pull out a shield from his inventory and used it to block like six simultaneous attacks before replying. “No, I’m not good bro? You think I know how to fight?”
At his words, the other Wemmbu paused, standing still and staring wide-eyed at Egg for a good two seconds before he was forced to block an attack and get back to fighting. “Yes? I thought you were like, the number one greatest bow user or something! What do you mean you don’t know how to fight?”
“W glaze I guess?” Egg breathed as he was forced to tank an attack in order to block a few others. Briefly, he entertained the idea of not blocking the attacks to his abdomen so the swords would rip up his jacket and free his wings, but he quickly shook the thought away. That would be putting his wings in danger of getting damaged which would suck. “I can barely even lift a sword bro. I’m shocked I haven’t dropped yet.”
A look of panic crossed the other Wemmbu’s face as he gazed at the crowd of lawmen in front of them. Only two people had died and Egg hadn’t so much as grazed either of them. It wasn’t enough to win in the long run.
Egg was just about ready to raise the white flag and surrender to the Law before he saw the other Wemmbu’s expression change again out of the corner of his eye.
“Okay, just run bro. I’ll deal with them,” he spoke determinedly, his words carrying a sense of finality to them.
“Uh, how are you gonna-” Egg started before cutting himself off to dodge a particularly close attack near his neck. Actually, maybe it would be best not to question his way out. If the other Wemmbu wanted to sacrifice himself for whatever reason, that was fine with Egg.
Running wouldn’t be that simple though. There were still almost fifty people whose entire goal was to capture both of them. Obviously they would notice if Egg got away.
Or at least, that was what Egg had assumed. But it seemed he’d failed to take into account that the lawmen might target the other Wemmbu harder since they likely thought he was the real Wemmbu, thus making him an escaped prisoner, and also just, an actual villain sometimes.
So only one person actually ended up following Egg. Which was perfect, he could probably out run a singular person. Or at the very least, unbutton his jacket in time to fly away from them.
That was looking to be the case, until the Law goon pearled in front of Egg and blocked him from running any farther.
And that… was certainly not ideal. Especially not once the Law freak started attacking him and winning. Not like Egg didn’t put up a fight, he did try! But this person was good. Not Flamefrags or Wemmbu level, but certainly leagues above Egg, who was quickly being beaten down.
It was also brought to Egg’s attention that this person might genuinely be out for blood. Each of their attacks were clearly aimed to kill, despite what Lettuce had told them before the fight started. Which… was concerning. Especially if Egg didn’t have any sort of plan on how to escape from them. And! He definitely did not!
So after maybe ten seconds, Egg’s attacker had effectively drained him, disabled his shield, and backed him into a corner. If their next attack landed, Egg would become nothing more than a pile of loot on the ground. And it wouldn’t be any particularly great loot either.
Egg held his breath as the Law person’s sword got closer. He didn’t really know what to feel about dying, but he did know he definitely didn’t want to. Spending the last few weeks of his life locked in the end only to get out and have to work with Flamefrags and a weird alternate version of his best friend was probably not the most fulfilling end.
But for some reason, instead of Egg’s life prompt coming to a close in the next second, the sound of a mace attack reached Egg’s ears, and suddenly, the person in front of him was reduced to xp. Standing in their place was the other Wemmbu.
“You good bro? There’s only about half of them left, so if you just stay over here I can stop them from coming over while I finish them off.”
Egg could do nothing but stand there and blink slowly as the other Wemmbu wind charged into the air and continued fighting the army.
He’d already killed half of them? It had barely been a minute?
That wasn’t even the most confusing thing though. What was really making Egg freeze up was the fact that the other Wemmbu had saved him. Which on its own wasn’t that crazy, Egg had saved him once too. But the difference was that Egg had hesitated. So much so that he’d almost let the other Wemmbu die.
But for some reason, the other Wemmbu had saved Egg like it was nothing. Like it was just expected? But why would he save someone who blatantly disliked him? Hated him, almost.
And he thought about the reason why he’d even entertained the thought of letting the other Wemmbu die in the first place. And he remembered that it had been because he’d been using Gambit. It had bothered Egg deeply to see someone who looked just like Wemmbu using Wemmbu’s weapons. He felt a bit threatened by it, if he was being honest. Like the other Wemmbu was trying to take the real Wemmbu’s place.
Had he really been thinking though? At the time, they were fighting Wemmbu, an insanely powerful player with a mace. Was it really that insane for the other Wemmbu to try surviving by countering that power with the mace he’d been given? Just like he was doing right now? That wasn’t replacing anybody, it was trying to survive.
A pit began forming in Egg’s stomach, and he had the overwhelming feeling that he’d almost killed an innocent person over literally nothing. That he’d hated this guy for nothing more than a slight misunderstanding that came from Egg not thinking clearly.
And he could do nothing but watch as the other Wemmbu maneuvered around in the air and maced the rest of the army for them. He was nowhere near as graceful as the real Wemmbu given that he’d only used a mace twice up until that point. But seeing the difference in the way the other Wemmbu used Gambit versus how the real Wemmbu used Gambit actually calmed Egg quite a lot. It was a more solid reminder that the other Wemmbu wasn’t trying to replace the real Wemmbu. They were different.
As the last of the lawmen fell, the other Wemmbu ran over, a wide grin on his face. “Yo, Egg! Did you see that bro? Oh my god, I actually just killed all of them, isn’t that insane?” He laughed in shock, twirling around Gambit in his hands. “Dude this thing is crazy, no wonder your Wemmbu uses it as his main weapon bro. I would too if we had these back home.”
Egg tried smiling back, and it wasn’t much more than a half-smile, barely visible, but it felt almost relieving. He’d pretty much despised this guy since the moment he’d met him, but now that he didn’t, now that he realized how stupid he’d been, it felt nice to just be normal towards him. To not have to constantly think about the negatives in their situation. “Yeah bro, baby’s first aura moment. Welcome to the club.”
The other Wemmbu gave him a look. “You actually cannot be talking about aura when I just had to single-handedly save you from that entire army.” He let out a breath, still likely coming down from the high of all those kills. “I still can’t believe you don’t know how to fight bro. I genuinely thought you were some bow pvp god or something.”
“W glaze?”
The other Wemmbu hit Egg’s arm with the side of Gambit “Alright bro so we’re just saying anything now.”
Egg snickered as the two of them began walking back to the base, side by side. And it was silent for a little while until the other Wemmbu started speaking again. “Have you ever tried learning pvp bro?”
“Uh…” Egg thought back to he and Wemmbu’s time with Manepear. Mane had tried to teach him a total of one time and it had definitely not been a success. “I may or may not be classified as untrainable… just maybe though.”
“Dude how do you even manage that oh my god?” The other Wemmbu started laughing. “You have to have at least some potential bro. I bet I could turn you into the bow pvp legend god with my incredible skill.”
Egg gave him a sideways glance. “Oh sure bro. I’ll have to try a pvp lesson from the almighty sword diamond pvper or whatever you are.”
“Dude it would be so cool. You can, like, incorporate your wings into your fighting style.”
“Whatever you say bro,” Egg rolled his eyes, though the thought of a training session with someone who came from a completely different world kinda intrigued him.
He… might consider taking the other Wemmbu up on that offer after everything was over.
—
It was four days later when Parrot finally came back.
He informed them that he’d made it to the final round of the election, not without giving them a look that implied he knew what they’d done around Capitol City, and explained that he and Lettuce would each give a final speech before the last round of voting took place. During which, they would enact their part of the plan to secure Parrot’s win.
So now, Wemmbu was crouched on the same statue Flame had been on when they’d first infiltrated the Northern Council, invisible and waiting for his signal as Parrot finished up his speech.
“... larger influence falling into the wrong hands would certainly spell the end for all of us. You may not see it a few days after electing Lettuce, or maybe not even a few months after. But one day in the future that Lettuce plans to create, you’re going to wake up, all of you, and find that you’ve trapped yourselves in his world. And by the time it becomes that obvious, it’ll be too late to undo that damage that has been done. So if you want to help me in making sure that we can all continue to live our lives freely, and to make sure that our future remains up to us, please vote for Parrot. Vote for our futures.”
With that, Parrot stepped down from the podium and went to stand farther back on the stage, opposite of Lettuce. And honestly, Wemmbu felt pretty swayed by Parrot’s speech. He might have been biased though.
In the next few minutes, the votes began pouring in, and Wemmbu watched as the numbers increased on each side. Every time that Parrot overcame Lettuce, Lettuce would gain ten more votes, and every time Lettuce overcame Parrot, Parrot would gain ten more too.
Wemmbu felt like he was on the edge of his seat (or statue to be more specific) as he watched the two of them running mostly even. Anything could happen, and depending on who came out on top, Wemmbu’s role for the next hour or so would shift drastically.
As more time passed though, Lettuce began pulling out on top overall, and Wemmbu had a feeling they would have to resort to their plan b.
His fears were confirmed when there was only five minutes left to vote and Lettuce was still ahead. From the shadows down on the stage, Flame gave him the signal that they were switching plans, and Wemmbu made quick work of fixing his appearance before Flame pearled onto the main part of the stage and began addressing the crowd.
“Hey guys,” Flame smirked as the crowd realized who he was and began freaking out. “I’m guessing Lettuce told you all that he’d capture me and put me in prison or something right? Kinda funny that he wasn’t able to do that,” he laughed, just as Lettuce came running up.
“Flame? How are you here? There are guards everywhere!” Lettuce glanced out at the crowd nervously before holding out his sword. “If you’re planning on attacking the people here, I’m not going to let you.”
Flame just laughed again. “Nah, I’m not here for that, but it’s funny you think you can do anything without your little followers bro.” He made a gesture to the side of the stage, and Wemmbu held his breath, checking his invis so he didn’t mess anything up in the next few seconds.
The crowd stilled slightly as a new person walked onto the stage. They were armorless and completely defenseless aside from one thing: a Law shield. They also looked absolutely terrified.
Lettuce turned to the new person. “What are you doing here? You should be guarding the walls. What happened to everyone else?” he asked, keeping his voice steady. The only thing betraying his true emotions was the slight twitch of his ear.
Flame grabbed the person by their shoulders, making sure they didn’t reply, and positioned them in a specific spot in the middle of the stage. In perfect view of the whole crowd. “Just stay right there bro, if you move a singular muscle I’m just gonna kill you.”
“What are you…?” Lettuce asked before turning back to Parrot, who looked equally as confused. Technically this was part of his plan, but Wemmbu and Flame had decided to tweak it a little to really secure the victory.
“What’s going on? Who is that?” Parrot asked, also stepping forward though mostly keeping out of it. He couldn’t show that he was involved after all.
“You’ll see bro,” was all Flame said in reply before turning to the crowd. “You guys want Lettuce to win right? Because he has Wemmbu and all that?”
The crowd looked among themselves, murmurs arising. Lettuce too, was looking around for his guards, though the faint sound of tnt minecarts exploding in the distance spelled out exactly what was happening to them, as well as stopped any of the people in the crowd from leaving.
Wemmbu tensed his muscles as Flame took a step to the side, clearing room around the defenseless Law guard. That was his cue.
And after counting to five, he jumped from the statue.
Wemmbu’s invis potion ran out the moment he swung Gambit and slammed it down on the body of the Law guard, instantly reducing them to loot, and leaving Wemmbu in their place in front of the crowd of thousands, completely visible.
“Well Lettuce might not be as in control as you guys assumed.”