I STOPPED PROCRASTINATING ITS DONE as always scratch gets access before ao3 cuz ya'll r tuff ok stuff starts happenin now yay chapter 1 here also https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1378976425/ CHAPTER SAN oo practicing my #MANDARIN OOO or like japanese but thats not what i was going for there but i suppose art is up for interpretation by the viewer heh wowh Fish bucket. Golden chestplate. After hours of flying, we finally reach the Mafia City to turn in the elytra. The Gold player that put us on this mission makes a motion that looks vaguely disappointed at the lack of elytra, but takes the one we brought from my hands. They inspect it for a second, before reaching into their pocket and pulling out an upgrade token. I eagerly take it and take a sign from my inventory to thank them. I messily scribble, [THANK YOU BRO] in huge letters, to which the invis player gives a thumbs up before flying off. Once the player is gone and the coast is clear, me and Mapicc start talking. “So.. what now?” I say in a hushed voice, still paranoid, worried we’ll be heard by some mafia member we’ve failed to spot. “Do I become a gold player without you? How do we work this out” Mapicc stills, his eyes turned to the ground as he tosses ideas through his head. He swivels his head back up to face me. “I guess we kinda have to. I mean you can just visit me on the lower level, I’ll just tell you where I am through vc n’ stuff.” “But don’t gold members not talk to iron members?” I point out anxiously, “Like, wouldn’t that be a bit suspicious?” “Uh, I guess… well, we could just find a place where each of us can’t heard and just use vc to communicate?” “Yeah that makes sense.” We both stood in awkward silence for a few seconds, before Mapicc broke the silence. “Dude, what are you waiting for, go to ash!!” “Alright alright,” I giggled “Eeee!! See you later Mapicc,” and with that I equipped my Elytra and flew off. I turned back to wave farewell to him, before carrying on with flying to ash.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If my elytra were really my wings, they would feel like they’re ON FIRE RIGHT NOW!! It took so long to fly, ash has NO reason to be this high up. I finally land on the soft ground that I've missed so much for around 15 minutes. Okay so maybe I wasn’t flying for too long afterall but whatever bro. I walk through the arch into the garden section. As a pace I stop to look at all the flowers. It’s so pretty all the way up here compared to the mess that Spawn is because of the mafia. I wonder which flowers Mapicc would like? And Planet? Even Squiddo? Mapicc, something red for sure, but there's too many red flowers to choose. Squiddo? Well.. whatever she’d pick would probably be gone once me and Mapicc accidentally burn down her house again…… erm- AND PLANET!! Heh moving on… Uhm planet.. I guess, probably this one right here- “Fish bucket?” I jolt back to reality and quickly spin around to face the familiar voice. I step back after a rushed nod and motion that I’m listening. “Heh, the flowers are nice aren’t they?” Oh my god this yapper. “These flowers, one from each civilization I’ve destroyed… heh… isn’t it wonderful here” Whatever bro,,, Ash turns to me, expecting a response. I quickly nod once again. “Well, what brings you here?” He questions, moving a step closer to me. I scramble to pull out the token, and push it forward towards his hands. He swiftly grabs it and faces away to inspect it. He whirls back to me with a smile on his face. “Good. Very good. I’ll go fetch the gold trim armor.” And with that he exits the garden area to go to the castle. I drop my voice to a whisper, as quiet as I can go while still having the words picked up by the earpiece. “Mapicc, he’s getting the gold chestplate. I’m about to be a gold player bro!!” I murmur, my hushed tone rising slightly in excitement. “Yes dude!!” Mapicc says cheerfully. “Alright tell me what happens after k?” “K!” I respond, and face my attention towards the door to wait for Ash. To my dismay, Ash has already appeared behind me, his eyes narrowed. The gold trim chestplate in his hand can’t distract me from the look of suspicion on his face. “Who were you talking to fish bucket?” Shoot. He heard me. “I barely heard but, I heard you say something. There’s nobody here. Are you using some kind of voice chat? You know that’s not allowed.” My breath quickens. I see him retracting his hand holding the chestplate back towards his body. He seems like he’s changed his mind about giving it to me. I need to do something fast. I hastily scrawl large letters spelling out [[WAIT]] onto a sign. I can’t think of what to do. I sigh and do the only thing I hope can work to regain Ash’s trust. I take the earpiece and drop it on the floor. “Hm. Good,” Ash muttered before crushing the small fragile device under his shoe. I wince. “That was close fish bucket. If I catch you doing something like that again, you’re out of the mafia. Maybe out of the server.” He continues, “but for now.. I suppose you’ve been too valuable to just, throw away no? You’re lucky.” He extends his hand back towards me, handing me the chestplate, and motions for me to take of my iron trim one and give it to him. I hastily unequip it and hand it to him before grabbing the chestplate. “Excited?” Ash teases. I nod sheepishly, aware of how I may look foolish being so excited about all this, especially after being caught breaking the rules just a few minutes ago. But whatever I begin to examine the chestplate. The gold trims are much more reflective than the iron ones. I can see the glare of the sun in them. “Y’know, fish bucket.. I will say, you climbed the ranks pretty fast.” The chestplate feels the same, I mean it’s the same material, but it doesn’t feel… the same y’know? “You have potential fish bucket. I can see it.” I mean, the gold players looked down on me before. Now I’m their equal. Now I’m one step away from diamond level. “Fish bucket, honestly, you’re just like me” I take one final look at the shining gold and dark netherite. I equipped it. It feels good. Heavy, but in a good way y’know? “... Ok, go get settled at the gold trim level.” I nod, equip my elytra and run towards the edge of the floating land that houses Ash’s castle. “Oh and fish bucket. Don’t mess up again.”
