Chapter 30: Traveling is Boring and Painful

Steven groaned as they continued speeding along the tracks, which seemingly went on forever. Petra patted his head in sympathy, her own sickness catching up with her.

"How much farther is this?" Axel whined, oblivious to the tracks slowing down.

"Not much farther at all," Gabriel said. A screeching filled the air as they stopped. They climbed out silently, keeping an eye out for any dangers. Steven fell out more than climbed out, Petra and Magnus moving to support him.

"Where are we?" the boom king asked.

"Who knows man," Axel asked. He started walking away. "Hey I found some stairs!" Everyone else followed him up the steps and onto a platform.

"Whoa, who's portal?" Magus asked as they stood in front of the portal. It looked like your standard Nether portal, except covered in Netherrack, like someone tried to hide it.

"I have no idea," Gabriel said.

"Well let's go!" Axel said as he charged ahead, the others quick to follow.

"Whoa, this is the weirdest thing I've ever seen!"

-XxXxX-

"So this could be our last chance to find food?" Sorean asked. Ivor shrugged as they joined the others against, leaving Jesse to find food. The young hero walked away without his friends' protest, staying silent.

After a minute of walking he found a potato plant. "Potato, you're coming with me," he said as he picked it up. "It's not much but it'll help," he sighed as he walked away.

"Hey Jesse, have you found any food?" Olivia yelled across the swamp.

"I should take what I have back to the group," he mumbled to himself as he continued walking. "But two potatoes are better than one, as they say," as he pocketed another potato. "At least, I think they say that." Jesse continued wandering around, before deeming that there were no more potatoes, and went back the way he came.

"Hey guys, guess what I found," Jesse said as he rejoined his friends. He handed a potato to Olivia.

"A potato. Incredible," she responded sarcastically.

"Hey, at least it's food." Olivia handed it to Herman, quickly ate it. "Potato number two, coming your way," Jesse said as he handed them a second one.

"Can I have this one?" Herman asked.

"No you had the last one," Soren responded sharply.

"Oh, yeah. You take it Ivor!"

"I'm Soren, not Ivor."

"Yeah, sure."

Jesse decided to leave the conversation, opting to head towards the water. He jumped in, and waded towards where some crops lay.

"Gotcha potato," he said as she put it in her pocket. He waded towards another potato plant, this time opting to eat it himself. "Mm, potato." He paused as he spotted something out of place with the surrounding forest.

-XxXxX-

"Have you guys ever seen anything like this?" Magnus said as the group transversed the treacherous tall terrain.

"I will admit that this looks cool, but we need to find a way out of here! That storm's gonna catch up to us if we don't move!" Perta said sharply, glaring at the others.

"Well, it's not like we can climb up to the top of these things!" Magus said, heat lacing his voice.

"Let's just calm down everyone," Gabriel replied calmly.

"Yeah, while we're trapped in the middle of nowhere," Axel said. "The only place we know where to go are back to the tracks back in the Nether."

"Yeah, it's not like there's gonna be anything significant in the middle of these things," Steven said as they turned a corner. They were greeted by the sight of trees, all brimming with apples.

"I'd say that's significant," Axel said as he raced towards the trees.

-XxXxX-

Jesse hopped out of the water and walked towards the hut, narrowing his eyes as he scanned it.

"A witch's hut."

"Aah!" Jesse screamed as Ivor appeared from nowhere beside him, his voice startling him in the quiet atmosphere. "We should stay clear of it - nothing good ever happens when witches are involved."

"Look, a cake! That's enough to feed everyone!" Jesse said joyously.

"It isn't worth it Jesse - witches hate trespassers. Besides - there are plenty of potatoes around," the potionologist advised, his voice rising towards the end.

Jesse's attention was drawn to some movement in the trees. "Is that a witch?"

"Jesse, we shouldn't be here. Witches are very strong."

"Let's get out of here," Jesse agreed.

"Good idea." Ivor's eyes widened as the two hightailed it out of there.

The other's turned to them as they arrived.

"Guys!"

"Jesse, did you find any more food?" Olivia asked hopefully, standing.

"Actually yeah, I have more potatoes, but - it'll have to wait! There's a witch nearby! We saw her creeping through the swamp, and-" Jesse was cut off by a splash potion of harming landing in the middle of the group. Everyone jumped.

"She's here! Soren yelled.

The group turned to find the witch laughing, only a few blocks away.

"Oh no you don't!" Olivia said.

"Watch out for her potions!" Jesse warned before stepping in front and drawing his bow and nocking an arrow. He ducked as the witch threw another potion at him, his friends scattering behind him. He fired his arrow, hitting her in the face. Her repeated this process twice more before the witch fell and poofed.

"See ya later, ya nasty old thing." He said, just as an arrow missed his feet. The group turned to see -

"Oh no ... skeletons..." Olivia said as a group of five skeletons advance over the hill, all getting ready to fire arrows. Jesse ducked as more arrows rained down on him. A panicked whinney caught his attention, the horses quickly running away.

The group didn't have time to catch them, as they were quickly pinned behind another hill. Jesse gasped as another witch joined the boney monsters.

"Witches and skeletons? That's a really bad combination," Lukas stated.

"You're right," Soren responded. "Her potions combined with their arrows.."

"The Far Lands are right past this swamp!" Jesse said as a plan was forming in his head.

"But they've seen us! They'll just follow us!" Olivia countered.

"The rest of you, go! I'll hold them off!" Ivor said as he took out a potion.

"What?! Ivor, no!" Soren said.

"There's no time to argue. Just head for the corner of the glitch wall!" He pointed to his left.

"The WHAT wall?" Jesse asked.

Ivor didn't respond. "Hey you, witch!" he said jumping out from behind the tree. "You're not the only one who can throw a potion!" The potionologist threw a potion of harming at the group, taking out a skeleton. He repeated the process before taking off away from the group, the skeletons and witch giving chase.

"Come on!" Jesse said, leading the group the other way.

"Hold onto your potatoes!" Herman said.

-XxXxX-

"So anyone know where we even are?" Axel asked as they moved through the cannons, trees growing from the sides and gravel, sand, and dirt walling them in.

"Nope. Otherwise we wouldn't be looking for a way out," Steven said, Petra still by his side.

"We must hurry," Gabriel said. "That storm will catch up to us otherwise."

"You still have the amulet, right Axel?" Petra asked.

"Yep, right here," the muscular boy said, pulling out said amulet. The light blue and green were glowing brightly, casting eerie shadows around them.

"Why can't we just leave the amulet somewhere and be done?" Magnus asked. "Then that storm will stay put, right?"

"No, we'll cause the destruction of the entire world that way," Steven said.

"He's right. Once the storm thinks that Gabriel is gone, it'll probably just go on destroying where it wants when it wants," Petra said. "Leading it to the middle of nowhere and abandoned areas are better ideas."

"Okay okay I get the picture," Magnus sighed. "Still, isn't there anyway that we can blow it up?"

"Not unless you have something stronger than the command block and it's living armor," Steven said. "Let's just get out of here before the storm catches us."

"Axel, stop throwing around the amulet," Petra said, as Axel threw the amulet up into the air and caught it casually.

"What? It's not like anything's gonna hit it or-" Axel was cut off by an arrow hitting the amulet out of his hand. It landed on a ledge a few blocks away.

"Skeletons!" Gabriel exclaimed.

"Run!" The group sprinted towards the amulet, Magnus scooping it up as they passed it, with the skeletons in pursuit. The group stopped as the ledge ended in a cliff, with obsidian at the bottom.

"Why are there random Nether portals everywhere?" Petra asked as she looked over the edge, the glowing portal laying horizontally on the ground.

"I have no idea!" Magnus said as he jumped out of the way of an arrow.

"Let's risk it," Steven said. "JUMP!" The group jumped over the edge and into to the portal.

...

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...

Okay I'm so sorry for not updating and sorry that this is shorter than normal. I now have online school, so that takes up a bit of time, sometimes more than a normal school day. Things have just been crazy here, as I'm sure they have also been for all of you. So here's a chapter to help with that craziness. Hope that this gives you all a little mental break from all the crap we keep hearing.

I just realized that I haven't updated since December.

I am sorry.

But hey, we're in the 30s now! *party streamer noises*

Hope y'all have a good weekend! Stay healthy!

Go get 'em fey!

-ThinMintE