Eggchan had no idea where he was.
Scratch that.
Wemmbu stared past Flame, his grip on the mace going slack. "MANEPEAR??"
Manepear jolted and looked around, before facing the ragged, heavy breathing Wemmbu. He was a mess, hair longer but unkempt, clothes seriously ruffled and dirtied, and… his eyes. Manepear could feel the scalding heat of emotions behind Wemmbu's eyes.
Spoke rocked back and forth on his heels, a wide smile on his face, always a contrast to the people around him. Minute glanced at Spoke and pursed his lips, "You know something about this, don't you?"
Spoke shrugged, and the focus went back to Wemmbu. Eggchan had grabbed Wemmbu's shoulder, calming him down, but that didn't stop Wemmbu from staring Manepear down. "You. Are so fucking terrible."
Wemmbu gently shook off Egg's hand and clenched his mace. "We spent months looking for you. You were gone. I never knew if you- if-"
"Wemmbu." Eggchan cut in, concerned in his voice, "They don't know what you're talking about."
"Yeahhh, we really don't." Planetlord said, "Or how you guys have netherite. It's bannable to enter the Nether." As Planet spoke, Minute hung back with Spoke.
"Spill," Minute whispered to him.
Spoke's smile hadn't faded, "Keep in mind I only have guesses, buuuuuut if you really want to know..." He cleared his throat, "Try to ban one of them."
"What?" Minute said, forgetting to whisper. "Why?"
"Just trust me and try. You can always unban them anyway," Spoke twirled his hoodie string, eyes drifting back to the two outsiders.
Minutetech exhaled out his nose before pulling up the controls, and commanded for Wemmbu to be banned. Nothing happened. No message appeared in the chat either.
"What the?" Minutech voiced aloud, and Spoke's annoying smile grew annoyingly bigger. Meanwhile, Wemmbu had grown more agitated as more people he recognized surrounded him, while Eggchan stayed on guard, pulling out a pot cautiously.
Anyway Minutech is confused, PSoke laughs, and bacon approaches the two
Baconwaffles frowned, "So what now then? We can't just kick them off the world, so…?" He looked between Spoke and Minute. Minute had a conflicted look on his face, and Spoke spoke up first (ahaha).
"At most, we get them to calm down, and uh, hopefully get to know our new friends!" He made jazz hands. Minute exhaled for the ninth time and switched to his elytra, flying over to the group fighting.
"I'm ashamed of ever- EVER! Being worried about you!" Wemmbu was screaming, slashing his sword at anyone who came close. Eggchan in the background was blocking attacks from Flamefrags and JumperWho, but not handling the battle well.
Minutech flew to stop Egg from being dropped first, seeing how this Wemmbu was capable of holding his own. Eggchan noticed Minute, and turned his shield to block a potential attack, ignoring the other two. Minute swerved and landed before Egg, making a show of putting his sword away.
Flame ate a golden apple and started running towards Egg, but Minute held a hand out, and Flame reluctantly stopped. "Eggchan," Minutech started.
Wemmbu saw Egg cornered and instantly wind charged over, landing in front of Egg, brandishing his sword out in a wide arc "Don't you dare." He hissed at the growing crowd.
Minutech had his hands out, "Easy. Easy, we aren't trying to kill you."
Wemmbu scoffed and Flamefrags tossed a golden apple underhand, arcing toward the two, "Here. Peace offering."
Wemmbu's wind charged back, taking out his shield mid air. Eggchan instantly moved back, holding up his shield as the apple bounced harmlessly between them.
The LS group stared. "…It's an apple," JumperWho said.
Wemmbu didn't look down. His eyes stayed locked on Flame. His breathing grew less ragged as the seconds passed. He took advantage of the lull in combat to eat and pass Eggchan some gaps.
Flame frowned, took a step forward, hands raised. "Dude, overkill—"
Wemmbu swung in a warning cut, fast enough to hum through the air. Flame jerked back on reflex, drawing his sword without thinking.
Eggchan's heart slammed into his throat. He shoved Wemmbu back and rushed forward instead, shield-first, crashing into Flame's sword so the stun would apply. The impact rang like a bell.
The LS players exploded into motion.
"Whoa, whoa—HEY—"
"Stop!"
Bacon dove from the air, boots skidding across the grass as he tried to wedge himself between them. Wemmbu pivoted instantly, dragging Eggchan behind him like a tether.
Planetlord reached for Wemmbu's shoulder.
Wemmbu switched to a sword and swung; the hit connected with Planetlord's arm. Planetlord grabbed his arm and frowned, "Dude??"
Wemmbu's breathing was back to being ragged. His voice came out hoarse. "Stay back."
Eggchan stood shoulder-to-shoulder with him, shield trembling. We're dead. We're dead if this keeps going. But he didn't step away.
Across from them, LS players slowly lowered their weapons. Flame stood there, still holding his sword, and anxiously rubbed the side of his neck. "Why are you so on edge, bro?" Minutech stepped forward again to stand by Bacon, in between the two parties.
Wemmbu and Eggchan didn't answer immediately, glancing at each other before Eggchan exhaled heavily, "You guys are literally surrounding us, even if we are in netherite, we're probably not gonna win. No matter how good Wemmbu is."
Someone scoffed, "Who even is that guy next to Wemmbu?"
Minutech pursed his lips, "You both. You know us, and we know at least Wemmbu, but.. It's come to my attention that you both come from a completely different world."
"And," Spoke finally spoke up (aha), "Anyways you uh, lucky ducky two. Welcome to Lifesteal!"
Wemmbu narrowed his eyes at Spoke, while Egg's face (eye?) scrunched a little, "Woah," Egg said, "Aren't you that one guy?"
"Uh, what?" Spoke blinks and smiles plainly, "That one devilishly handsome guy? That one charming guy, you mean?" Most of the people around snorted, or seemed unamused. It lifted a lot of the heavy tension. Wemmbu crossed his arms, squeezing one arm a little.
"Spoke," Wemmbu said to Eggchan, dryness and faint annoyance tinging his tone. "That's Spoke. He's been… more active ever since that day with the law and Parrot."
Egg nodded slowly, "Right. And before that he was like, the server's first big bad villain or something. He's still friends with the uh.. Glasses girl?"
"Squiddo," Spoke guessed and placed his hands on his hips, "Excuse you, I'm very charming, villain or not. I bet the other me was busy doing great stuff."
Minutech placed a hand on Spoke's shoulder, meeting Egg and Wemmbu's gaze. "I'm sorry the entrance was… super chaotic." Minutech started. "Welcome to Lifesteal, I'm Minutech," he placed his free hand on his chest, "In case you didn't know."
"I'm sure it's become obvious that you are not the people we know, and we are not the people you know. Until we find a way to bring you back to your original home, please everyone, try to make friends."
There was silence after he finished speaking. Spoke started clapping and Bacon elbowed him. Jumperwho took out an apple from her inventory and tossed it over to Wemmbu, "I'm sure we can get along. I'm Jumper WHO!!!!" She jumped a little at her introduction, a smile on her face. Wemmbu nodded.
"There's honestly no need for introductions from everyone," Wemmbu said, looking over the crowd, "Although I don't recognize a few of you." Egg next to him coughed and gestured to himself. "Ah," Wemmbu said. Riiiiight.
Wemmbu motioned toward Egg, "This is Eggchan. He's an interesting fellow." Despite only having an eye for a face, the indignant expression was all too apparent.
"Ok bruh," Eggchan said, "Boring introduction. I know most of you, although I don't think I've ever met uh… how do you say that name?" He gestured to his right, and everyone looked.
Pangi was standing a little behind Manepear, who moved so Pangi could be more visible. Pangi waved, pushing up his shades. "It's Pangi," he said. "Nice to meet you, Egg. Hope we can be friends."
Eggchan nodded. Minutech glanced around to see everyone was whispering to a neighbor, so he turned to look at Egg and Wemmbu. "Is it alright if we move to a different area? It'd be better to move to spawn. There's a solid amount of mobs that spawn at night, and honestly no one carries torches." Minutech said, already moving in the direction.
Wemmbu pursed his lips, "Does that really matter….? Well." He hummed, "We actually haven't seen mobs in so long."
Eggchan blinked, "Yo. I never thought about that."
Wemmbu just chuckled. Manepear watched this all and leaned over to whisper with Flamefraggs. "Yo," Mane whispered, "Do you think something's like. Super off with this copycat Wemmbu?"
Flame pursed his lips, his bandana shifting with the subtle movement of his eyes. "I think," Flame started, not really whispering, "That wherever they come from has a lot of fighting. His skills are no joke." Flame's hand twitched and Manepear let out a loud exhale.
"No way," disbelief entered Mane's voice, "You genuinely see something in Wemmbu? Him?"
"You don't?" Flame asked, and Mane just laughed softly, crossing his arms.
"Flame," Minutech called out, "Manepear, come on. We gotta set up beds to sleep."
They both start walking, falling in step behind Planetlord and Jumper, walking with Pangi. The whole walk back, there wasn't a long silence, whispers about as loud as their footsteps.