Chapter 20 – The Walls

Disclaimer: If you have not read Fred: Admin in Exile yet. I suggest you read that story first before reading this one.

(Minecraft: Story Mode and its characters belong to Telltale Games, not me.)

(JESSE'S POV)

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is my privilege, nay, my honor, to be here today, kicking off another wonderful day of THE GAMES!" Hadrian announced.

"That's right, Hadrian." Otto agreed. "And not just any day, but the 'final' day of The Games! Are our competitors ready for the final challenge; 'The Walls!'"

"It's the Walls!" Mevia said at the same time as Otto.

Jesse and Fred arrived at the end of the tunnel that Facemeat was leading them through.

"So, scared?" Facemeat inquired. "Because, it's okay if you are. No one will judge you for it."

"The guy who managed to defeat a gladiator, scared?" Fred asked in disbelief. "Yeah, and Romeo is just as likely to come bursting into the stadium here wearing a tutu."

"Would you both shut up?" Jesse snapped. "They're talking about the rules or something and I'm trying to listen."

"Ugh, I should've guessed you're one of those people that listens to the rules." Facemeat retorted. "Don't worry, huh. They're just about to get to the important part."

"Mevia, for those unfamiliar with 'The Walls', you wanna walk us through how it's played?" Hadrian suggested.

"Sure thing, Hadrian." Mevia said. "Teams start out separated in their own sections divided by the high inner walls. Each team has a short amount of time to gather materials, build defenses and craft in their section, before 'The Walls' come down."

Facemeat knocked Fred and Jesse into their section. Looking around, there was only dirt and gravel.

"Wait! I only see dirt and gravel in my section!" Jesse pointed out.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Is that gonna be a problem?" Facemeat questioned sarcastically.

"The sections are drawn at random." Hadrian said.

"Yeah. 'Random', my arse." Fred retorted.

"Whatever, I'll make it work. I'm THAT awesome." Jesse spat.

"Can't wait." Facemeat responded.

"Once the Walls are down, it's every team for themselves." Mevia said.

"But is surviving 'The Wall' the end, Mevia?" Hadrian questioned.

"No it is not, Hadrian. Whichever team survives the free-for-all needs to step onto the winner's platform in the center of the arena." Mevia explained.

"Winner, takes all!" Otto added.

"But let's not get ahead of ourselves, because that's only if the would-be winners can defeat—"

"-OUR GLADIATORS!" Hadrian finished. "That's right. So all competitors better get to gathering materials, because that clock, is, ticking!"

"Tick tock!" Facemeat taunted.

"Ugh! This better not just all be dirt and gravel." Fred groaned. He approached a patch of the ground and dug.

If Fred's annoyed groan was anything to go buy, Jesse assumed that there was nothing but dirt and gravel. Jesse approached a gravel patch and dug. Yep, it was still gravel.

"Gravel?! GRAVEL? That's worse than dirt!" Jesse yelled in frustration.

While Fred was tearing his hair out in frustration, Jesse approached Facemeat.

"Heh, seems like they're happy you didn't get anything." Facemeat said. "I think they're making fun of you. But just me, you know, professional opinion.

"Oh, ya think?" Jesse inquired.

"Well, yeah. I do actually." Facemeat responded.

"Rhetorical Question!" Jesse pointed out before joining Fred.

"I don't think he knows what that is, Jesse." Fred said. "Anyway, if people weren't convinced with that speech of yours, we're gonna need something to work with."

Before Jesse could respond, Hadrian's voice interrupted.

"Oh, do you know what time it is? Ask me what time it is, Mevia."

"What time is it, Hadrian?" Mevia asked.

"It's time for the walls to come down!" Hadrian announced as the walls of sand lowered. Jesse noticed that the other people didn't seem to have been that much better off. At best, they held wooden swords and tools.

"The competitors are like wild ocelots, sizing each other up, unmoving, before they go in for the kill!" Hadrian commentated.

Jesse heard something being crafted by Em at a crafting table. It was a stone sword. She began to move towards Jesse.

"Hang on now, we've got movement." Otto relayed.

"Em, what are you doing?" Fred questioned.

"Looks like the Gladiator-Formerly-Known-As-Emily is preparing her attack!" Hadrian observed.

"Meanwhile, Jesse and Fred are just standing there. Painfully unarmed and unprotected." Mevia added.

"Jesse." Em snarled. Jesse took a step back.

"This could get ugly." Hadrian said.

"Em. Don't do this." Fred warned.

"Already made up my mind." Em responded, unsheathing a stone sword.

"Here, take this." Fred whispered, offering Clutch's enchanted axe to Jesse, who took it.

"It seems Fred has just given Jesse something to defend himself with." Otto commentated.

"Em, if you want to hurt Jesse, you'll have to get through me first." Fred stated, standing in-front of Jesse. Em stopped, did something completely unexpected. She offered out her sword. Mevia gasped.

"Thought I'd try giving that 'friends' thing a shot." Em suggested.

"Good. You made a good decision there." Fred responded, handing the sword to Jesse.

"What is Em doing? Why is she doing that?" Jesse heard Hadrian whisper angrily.

"I have no idea!" Mevia snapped.

"Come on, over here!" Em invited, prompting the other competitors to join her.

Slab and the other gladiators approached the group. Clutch, Jesse noted, had been given armor replacements.

"Yeah, why aren't you all killing each other?" Slab questioned.

"Yeah, see. Usually all the little teams kill each other." Clutch agreed.

"Yeah, and then we kill whoever is left." Facemeat finished.

"Aren't you tired of letting the Old Builders use you like this?" Jesse asked.

"Like, awesome people?" Slab guessed.

"No, like little pieces in their games! Doing whatever they say!" Jesse corrected. "Don't you see? None of us are the enemy, it's them."

Jesse pointed to Hadrian and Mevia.

"They're the enemies. They're behind everything."

"Augh, my head hurts." Clutch groaned.

"Too, many, perspectives!" Facemeat struggled.

"And it appears that the Gladiators are being idiots right now, IDIOTS! When what they should be doing, is ELIMINATING JESSE!" Hadrian yelled.

"Oh, quit your whining!" Fred snapped.

"Impeciles!" Mevia growled.

Clutch grabbed Slab.

"Slab? Slab! What should we do?"

"Uh, uhhhh." Slab responded in confusion.

"I'm sure that the slaughter will commence, soon, right?" Hadrian inquired.

"With Slab leading the charge, it should be NO problem at all." Mevia agreed.

"You should be on our side! Join us!" Jesse suggested.

"I dunno." Clutch said.

"Facemeat finds that idea, weird." Facemeat stated.

All of the gladiators except for Slab turned around and left.

"Not, going with them, Slab?" Jesse questioned.

"In my life, I've done some things I'm not proud of. But I won't work for bosses who use people or manipulate them. That's inconsiderate." Slab admitted.

"Exactly. You should join us." Fred offered.

"Lemme finish, you made me late when I was just tryin' to do my job, and that was real inconsiderate too." Slab continued. He pointed to Fred. "And then this guy rubbed it in my face, killing one of my fellow Gladiators and then reminding me that I couldn't kill him for that. Even though I really wanted to at the time. I think I need some time to be my own boss."

Slab walked away.

"Jeez, Slab. Don't need to take it so personally." Fred remarked. "Anyway, why don't we finish this. Together."

Fred, Jesse, Em and the rest of the competitors moved towards the victory platform.

"It appears all the competitors are headed towards the victory platform." Otto commentated. "As stated in our rules, anyone who is not eliminated may step on the victory platform and win the games. It looks like they are going to do this together!"

"Right behind you, fearless leader!" Em said.

"That won't happen! It can't happen!" Hadrian panicked. "No! NO!"

The competitors climbed onto the platform.

"And they've done it! The competitors have all stepped onto the platform together which, by the Builder Game bylaws, means they! Are! ALL THE! WINNERS!"

Everyone cheered, while Hadrian stammered in rage.

"Which, I'm sure my colleague means to say, we are going to find some way to disqualify them?" Mevia suggested.

"No, we are not! They all win!" Otto declared.

"NO!" Mevia screamed.

"Mevia! Otto! With me!" Hadrian ordered. "We're ending this!"

Jesse and the others stepped down from the platform, to face a furious Hadrian.

"So help me, NONE of you will leave this place until you ELIMINATE EACH OTHER!" He growled.

"Oh, would you cut it out with the cheating and bending the rules already?" Jesse complained. "I heard Mevia, the game ends when someone steps on the Winners Platform. Boom."

"Jesse's got a point." Otto agreed.

Mevia pushed past Hadrian.

"THIS ISN'T UP TO YOU! WE CONTROL THE GAMES! WE DECIDE THEIR OUTCOME!"

"Mevia-" warned Otto.

"SHUT UP! OTTO! THESE TWO NEED TO PAY FOR RUINING OUR FUN!"

"So, you admit the games are rigged, then?" Jesse asked.

"S-S-S-Sure, Okay. Sure. Fine! Whatever!" Mevia stammered.

"Mevia, Jesse won these games fair and square." Otto said. "He's earned the Atlas."

"Otto, I would think very carefully about what you're doing." Hadrian said in a stern tone.

"I have." Otto responded. He pulled out a cyan glowing book. "Jesse, with the power invested in me as an officiator of the Builder Games, I am proud to present-"

Before Jesse could grab the Atlas, Hadrian and Mevia covered Otto in obsidian.

"Hadrian! Mevia! What are you doing?" Otto's voice growled.

"Now it's been fun, really. But I think it's about time we end this." Mevia suggested.

"Surrender the Redstone Heart, now." Hadrian ordered. "Because, ha. I 'will' trap you here, forever."

"You want the Redstone Heart?" Jesse questioned, playing decoy. "You're going to have to pick it out of my inventory."

"Fine by me. The hard way's more fun anyway." Hadrian said.

Jesse winked at Fred, who winked back. Before anyone could so much as breathe, however. Hadrian and Mevia covered all of the competitors, including Fred in obsidian. Leaving Jesse and Em alone with the Old Builders.

"Augh! This is useless!" Em stated before running off.

"Well, well." Hadrian said.

"Just when you thought Em and Freddy had your back." Mevia taunted.

"Em! Come back!" Jesse yelled.

"Now that you've lost both of your oversized friends. You really don't stand a chance." Hadrian stated.

"Run away little Emily." Mevia encouraged.

Hadrian pulled out a sword and ran towards Jesse.

"You're gonna need all the help you can get, Jesse!" He warned, before building his way above Jesse. "Time to take what is mine!"

Hadrian lunged at Jesse, who managed to dodge out of the way. Jesse moved to attack Hadrian with Clutch's axe, when Hadrian's sword suddenly changed into a shield. It changed into an axe next.

"I'll admit you're quick, sport. But not quick enough for my axe." Hadrian pointed out. Jesse bumped into a wall.

"Don't forget my axe, Hadrian." Mevia said as she appeared out of the corner and missed Jesse's head by an inch with her axe. She laughed.

Hadrian kicked Jesse into a pair of slime blocks, which knocked Jesse back, right next to some flashing TNT. Jesse quickly scrambled and managed to get away from the blast radius of the TNT just in time. He saw Hadrian on top of the obsidian that covered the competitors. Jesse quickly pursued him.

"Gotta admit, Kid. You've shown you got skills." Hadrian admitted. "But you're still no match for me!"

Mevia jumped between them.

"We'll see about that." Jesse responded.

"I got this, Hadrian!" Mevia said as she aimed a blow with her sword. Jesse slid underneath her and pushed Hadrian straight into a pit that had been dug up earlier.

"Had enough, Hadrian?" Jesse asked.

"Wait, wait! You're right. This has gone too far." Hadrian pleaded. "It was just supposed to be a game!"

Jesse wasn't buying it.

"You expect me to believe that?" Jesse questioned in disbelief.

"Come on, sport. Haven't you ever had anything get away from you before? Can't you… forgive me?" Hadrian asked.

Mevia snuck up behind Jesse, knocked his axe away and knocked him down. She changed her sword into axes.

"This game-" Mevia began.

"NO!" Jesse cried.

"-IS OVER!" Mevia finished.

Before Mevia could bring her axes down, a blue colored blur engulfed her.

"Wait, what? What's going on?" Hadrian questioned.

Jesse saw Mevia being held down by a furious looking Fred, in his Admin Form.

"Did you forget about me?" Fred taunted. "Well, let me show you just who you are dealing with, shall we?"

Fred waved his left hand. All of the obsidian covering Otto and the Competitors vanished. At the same time, Em arrived with the rest of Jesse's friends.

"Welcome, people. You've just made it in time for the good part." Fred announced.

They watched on in amazement. Fred clapped his hands, and Mevia floated 10 feet into the air. Everyone watching on, most of them, including Jesse in amusement while Hadrian in horror.

Fred dug up the ground, to reveal the ground where Petra, Cassie and Lukas first 'died' in spleef. Jesse was willing to bet that the crusher was still there. Fred dropped Mevia, and sure enough, she was crushed upon hitting the floor. She spilled out a gigantic inventory.

"Wow, her inventory was huge." Jesse commented. Fred turned towards Hadrian, who seemed to pale in fear.

"Wait, wait, wait!" He pleaded.

Fred clapped and spawned four blue lined prison golems.

"Golems, give this little dweeb a piece of my mind." Fred ordered. All four of the golems nodded before approaching Hadrian and beginning to maul him to death.

(HADRIAN'S POV)

It was the most painful thing that Hadrian had ever experienced. Just seeing those four terrifying golems closing in on him, mercilessly ripping him apart, and then respawning, which was worse.

"I KNEW IT! YOU AND YOUR STUPID DEALS!" Mevia shouted once Hadrian had respawned.

"There's no time for that now, Mevia. We have to get out of here. C'mon!" Hadrian responded. He pulled her towards the door, but it was already being blocked by a ton of furious looking gladiators.

"Ohhh, whoa, heh. Hey guys." Hadrian stammered.

"How's it going?" Mevia asked, fearfully.

"It's going 'not the best'." Clutch answered. "And you're not going anywhere."

"Yeah, Facemeat wants to discuss his benefits plan." Facemeat agreed. They began to approach them.

"Now, hang on! HANG ON!" Hadrian pleaded, to no avail.

(FRED'S POV)

"Fred! Jesse! You guys did it! Again!" Lukas appraised. "Feels like I say that a lot."

"Thanks. It was my pleasure to have you guys witness the Old Builders suffering their demise." Fred responded.

Otto approached Fred.

"Well done, Fred. An excellent job." He complimented.

"Thanks." Fred said.

"You have truly shown my friends and I, the error of our ways." Otto said. "I am glad to put this whole messy business behind us."

"You know, Otto. You really need to learn how to pick better friends." Fred stated.

"Yes, I have come to that same conclusion and I am, working on it." Otto responded. "I also know that the Atlas is not mine to keep."

Hadrian's voice screamed out. Fred saw that the gladiators were beating them up quite brutally.

"Oooh. Wouldn't want to be them right now." Fred commented.

"You have fairly defeated them, seems only fair that you get to decide their fate." Otto suggested. "And with the Atlas, you can send them anywhere you want."

Jesse stepped up.

"You know, there was this game that Olivia and I used to play back in our treehouse." Jesse said.

"What is it?" Fred asked.

"We called it, 'Which would you rather fight?'" Jesse responded.

"Oh, yeah. I remember that question. Olivia asked it not long after I had met you guys. And after years of thinking, I think I may finally have my answer to that." Fred deduced. "My answer would be zombie-sized chickens."

"Why's that?" Olivia asked.

"Because, they're chickens. They aren't hostile mobs, and they're big, so you wouldn't have much difficulty taking them down." Fred reasoned. "Not that I'd ever attack one in my life. I used to own a pet chicken, you know. His name was Waffles."

"-and that is when I ripped PAMA's redstone heart right out of its socket. And the whole system just crashed." Fred finished recalling.

"Man, you guys have had some crazy adventures." Axel remarked. "So many people trying to kill you."

"Goodbye Fred! Goodbye! Thank you!" A yellow competitor called out.

Fred waved as she went through a purple colored portal.

"That all of them?" Harper asked.

"Everyone that wants to go home, anyhow." Otto responded. "Except you folks, that is. Can't believe how many competitors actually want to stay and keep playing the games."

Otto turned to Fred.

"Thanks to you, my intrepid new friend, I can actually work on making them FUN again." Otto finished. "Very exciting. It'll be more challenging just by myself, but a good challenge."

"Now, you promise that they'll stay fun this time, right?" Fred questioned sternly.

"Oh yes. I don't intend to let the games get corrupted like they did before." Otto assured.

Jesse turned towards Em.

"Well, Em. How about you? You said you wanted to go home, right?" Jesse asked.

"Yes, I just can't decide if it's what I want. You get to leave and go on more adventures." Em responded. "Do I really want to go back to farming? I mean, it has been ages since I've seen it, and I miss my friends. But what if I'm bored?"

"Well, I would suggest that you come back with us." Fred said, putting an arm on her shoulder. "But, our world's a little bit dangerous right now. There's someone there, an Admin just like me who uses his powers not for good, but for his own selfish reasons."

Fred stepped in-front of her.

"But, I was thinking of dropping by in the future to help Otto out with fixing the games, maybe you'd like to help?" Fred suggested.

Em's face brightened at that suggestion.

"Fred, that's an awesome idea! We can actually make them fun! Maybe I can be head gladiator." Em suggested.

"Yeah!" Fred nodded.

"Thanks Fred. I needed that."

Fred saw Jesse approach Ivor. Curious, he listened in.

"Hey Ivor." Jesse greeted.

"Oh! Hello!"

"Whatcha doin'?" Jesse asked.

"I was just observing Harper, all by herself over there." Ivor explained. "She seems… lonely."

"Come on." Jesse gestured, walking towards Harper. "Hey, Harper!"

Harper turned around.

"Oh, hey Jesse, Ivor. I was just watching folks head on home." Harper said. "Things really worked out, huh? Well, I guess this is goodbye. I'm gonna head on back to Crown Mesa, see how the post-PAMA construction is going. Just hope they'll take me back. It's not my REAL home, but it's the closest thing I've had for, well. A long time. We'll just go with that."

"Don't worry, I'm sure they'll come around." Jesse reassured.

"I sure hope you're right." Harper said.

"You'll be fine. You'll be fine." Ivor assured. "Getting over the 'I was a bad guy' hump can be awkward, but hopefully soon they'll invite you right back into their lives. Right Jesse?"

"You are a strange, strange man Ivor." Harper commented. "But you know something? You're okay."

Fred thought he could see Ivor blushing there. Oh, he can't wait to tease him about this.

"Take care of each other, alright? And I'll see you around." Harper finished as she walked away.

"Bye Harper!" Jesse called out.

"Yes, goodbye!" Ivor added, on the verge of tears. He pulled out the rose that he still had. "You're amazing."

"So, how do we get home now?" Lukas asked.

"Well, the Atlas belongs to Fred now. Deal's a deal and all that." Otto responded, pulling out the Atlas. Fred grabbed it.

"Nice. How do we use it?" Fred asked.

"You just say where you want to go, and the Atlas will show you the way." Otto instructed.

"Sweet. Atlas, take us back to our world." Fred said, before opening the book. A huge swirl of particles come out of the book and landed on an orange portal. Jesse, Axel, Olivia, Petra, Lukas, Ivor, Fred, Cassie and Winslow ran towards the portal that was highlighted.

Fred was going to come back and help Otto out, but he knew that going through Sky City each time would be tedious, so he spawned an empty journal, and jotted down the frame of the portal.

"Figure it's about time we get heading on home, huh?" Jesse suggested.

"That sounds awesome." Lukas responded. He ran into the portal.

"Yeah!" Olivia agreed, before running into the portal herself. The rest of the group, except for Fred ran into the portal. Fred quickly spawned a sign and placed it next to the portal. He wrote the following warning onto the sign.

DO NOT MENTION FRED'S HEROICS INSIDE THIS WORLD!

Satisfied, Fred put on his human form on. No more powers inside this world, for he did not want to leave any residue that can cause Romeo to come snooping. He followed the others through the portal.

(JESSE'S POV)

A swirl of colors later, Jesse and the group found themselves inside a very convenient location. It was the Order Hall. Fred followed in his human form a few seconds later.

"JESSE! LOOK! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? WE MADE IT! WE'RE HOME!" Petra exclaimed.

"After all that time, all those portals. We're home!" Lukas celebrated.

"Yeah, and I couldn't have done it without you guys. You're the best team anyone could ever ask for." Jesse said.

"Aw." Lukas responded.

"That's… lovely." Ivor deadpanned.

"Ah, you big sap." Petra added.

"I'm just so glad we're all back together." Axel said.

"That Atlas is so cool. I'm glad Otto let Fred over here keep it." Olivia remarked.

"Fabulous, yes? And that's not all we got." Ivor said.

"Seriously? What else did you get?" Axel questioned.

"Yeah, show 'em. Jesse." Petra encouraged.

Jesse went to a podium and placed the flint and steel down.

"The enchanted flint and steel." Jesse announced.

"The one that started the whole thing." Olivia commented.

"Yeah. Those other adventures wouldn't have happened if we weren't chasing Aiden around with that thing." Fred agreed.

Jesse pulled out the Eversource crown and put it on another podium.

"The Crown of the Eversource." Jesse declared. "The magical source of all of Sky City's precious materials."

"Whoa, wicked." Axel commented.

"I need to try that thing out on another chicken some time." Fred said.

Jesse then placed down the White Pumpkin.

"The mask of Cassie Rose, aka 'the White Pumpkin.'" Jesse described.

"Oh man, that's even creepier-looking than I imagined." Axel commented. He turned towards Cassie. "What exactly happened in that adventure anyway?"

"I really don't want to talk about it right now." Cassie responded.

Fred stepped up and pulled out the Redstone Heart.

"This, my friends. Is the Redstone Heart." Fred announced. "This was actually made by my old friend Xara, before everything happened."

"I know that PAMA was evil and everything, but I still kind of wish I could've seen it." Olivia said.

"And finally, the Atlas." Fred announced, pulling out the cyan book and laying it on another podium.

"Augh, I could've lost all the rest so long as we got to keep that." Ivor said. "Ha, I wonder what Soren would have thought of it. So much power contained within such a tiny object."

"Whoa! Easy there, Ivor." Petra said.

"Ahem. Sorry."

"I can't believe you got to do all those incredible things." Olivia said.

"Makes sense though, you were gone a long time." Axel pointed out.

"Wait till we show you all the improvements we've been making to town." Olivia continued.

Lukas approached Jesse.

"Um, Jesse?" Lukas asked.

"What's up, Lukas?"

"So, I've been writing stuff in here, you know? And well, it's kind of become like a legitimate 'book'." Lukas pointed out. "There's just one problem, I still need to put what happened to you and Fred."

Fred cut in.

"Actually, putting my proper name in there wouldn't be such a good idea. Because of Romeo and everything. Can't believe I am suggesting this, but maybe cut out anything regarding my powers, call me 'Freddy' inside the book, and have it that you met me inside the Old Builder's world?" Fred suggested. "I may not like that nickname, but I think it'll conceal my true identity quite a bit, without making me appear as someone else. And, you can also end it by saying 'they couldn't have done it with their friends.'"

"You know something? I really like that." Lukas admitted. "There. Done. 'Til the next one, anyway. I was thinking that maybe we could put it in here with the other treasures? I know it's not as cool as like, a Portal Atlas."

"That's a great idea, Lukas. It's perfect." Jesse said. He grabbed the book and placed it on a podium. Looking over his treasures, Jesse noticed that something was off.

"Hang on."

"What is it?" Axel inquired.

"Wasn't that where the Portal Atlas was a minute ago?" Jesse asked.

"Yeah, that was definitely where you put it." Olivia agreed.

"Guys, flint and steel are missing too." Lukas said.

"And where's Ivor?" Petra asked.

"AHAHAHAHA! ADVENTURE!" Ivor's voice echoed out.

"He must be headed for the portal network!"

"Probably off to visit Harper." Fred deduced. "Don't worry about him, he'll be back."

"Come on guys, let's go home." Jesse finished

(HADRIAN'S POV)

"Well, in a very unfortunate and unexpected twist. It appears we are in the land of chickens that are indeed the size of zombies." Hadrian announced. He had to duck as a giant chicken flew past him.

"That's right Hadrian." Mevia responded. "And it looks like we're just gonna have to wing it."

Hadrian stared at her, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"Wings, chicken wings. You know?" Mevia stammered.

"You're fired Mevia. You're fired." Hadrian said.

And that is done!

Oh, boy. Can't wait for Season Two! Lot of surprises in store for that.

Keep on the lookout for 'Fred: The Final Conflict' which should be up fairly soon. Already finished the first two chapters of it.

Like it? Review. Don't like it, look up another story.