Jesse glanced over at the others, who'd thankfully managed to swim away from this giant Admin, and Jack raised his arm out of the water to point at the flood of water pouring through the ceiling, rapidly filling the room with more and more water. "The waterfalls!" he shouted. Jesse twisted her head to look at it herself, brow furrowing- before it cleared.

If water could get in to the temple this way...

Then maybe they could get out.

"Go! Go! I'm right behind you!" Jesse shouted to them, looking over at them so fast that a mass of wet hair came flying around and slapped her in the face. Jace's ears perked up, and he gave his sister a firm nod before the entire group began to swim towards the massive thing of water crashing into the room, filling it with so much water that Jesse was starting to rise to the level of where the Structure Block had been previously.

"Are you?" The Admin boomed behind her, the spider hybrid hastily leaning forward and beginning to use her extra limbs to propel her through the water rapidly, "Really?"

"Yes, hopefully," Jesse mumbled, "otherwise I think I will be dead."

"What a dangerous world, Jesse," the Admin continued, either choosing to ignore Jesse or just not having heard her, in his voice that was making the temple itself rumble dangerously, the entire thing shaking down little bits of debris that made her passage forward just the tiniest bit more irksome. "You are so tiny, and there is so much distance to cover. Also... you know... me."

Jesse took exactly half a second to ponder the fact that the Admin, who was apparently older than the world or whatever, knew modern-day expressions like 'you know'.

The Admin let out a wicked laugh as he raised his hand again, and Jesse let out a little gasp as she glanced over her shoulder- and dove down beneath the water, his hand barely grazing her hair as she plunged deeper into the water. "Woah!" she yelled, before swooping up and into the waterfall, once again very thankful for her multitude of extra limbs.

She sensed rather than saw the Admin drawing back, and glanced down just in time to see his fist plunge straight into the waterfall right below her, narrowly missing her as she used her upper arms to yank out that helmet and pull it onto her head. What with the downward flow of water she was swimming against it wasn't hard, and that tight feeling that had started forming in her lungs disappeared quickly.

The Admin's hand lunged out again, very narrowly missing her leg as she swam up through the hole in the ceiling of the Sea Temple, catching up to where Petra was propelling herself through the water and where Reuben was piggy-paddling (she smiled despite herself at the name they'd given his way of swimming) upwards as fast as possible.

Jesse let out a relieved sigh at not being dead. Cassie glanced over her shoulder upon hearing the sigh. "Ha!" she shouted down to the Admin, automatically reaching up to adjust her glasses (and then blinking when her hand bumped into the leather covering instead), "how's it feel to be as bad at your job as those Guardians you set for us, ya dumb pile o' rocks?!"

"Why are you antagonizing it? Don't antagonize it! We don't want to antagonize it!" Jesse complained to Cassie in return.

"Aw, c'mon, Jesse, it's not like he can do anything about it."

And Cassie poked her tongue out at him one last time before rejoining the rest of the group in swimming towards the surface, the echoing vibrations of the Admin shouting through the water to the spider hybrid ringing in their ears. A single word that made Jesse redouble in her efforts to swim up, harder, and faster.

"JESSE...!"

Jesse experimentally tapped the ground.

It looked like the grass had had enough time to grow over it, but here looked like a pretty decent spot to dig. So, reaching down, she punched through the dirt block, making sure to take extra caution to use the hand with the gauntlet still on it to smash through the block altogether, breaking straight through to where the Heckmouth was, undoubtedly still spitting out creepers.

Leaping down, she was quickly followed by Jace, Cassie, Petra, Vos, and Jack. (Nurm and Reuben stayed back- Reuben still had some trouble fighting normal creepers, let alone charged ones.)

The Heckmouth was still raging full force, and it was still spitting out creepers. Jesse scanned the cavern, before hastily pointing. "There! That's where the Structure Block goes!" she called out, the indent in the floor seeming to have its own, faintly eerie glow.

Jesse was the first to land, Petra landing a moment later. "Slam it down, Jesse!" she shouted to the spider hybrid, whipping out Miss Butter and smashing it into a creeper almost immediately. "We'll keep the creepers off your back!"

Jesse nodded, pulling out the block, before turning around and running forward, being careful not to trip and drop the block (that would've been really bad), hopping over one bit of land as a creeper charged towards her-

Jack sailed in from the side and slammed it straight into a pool of lava right next to it, the creeper dying as it hit the molten liquid. (Jesse was still really unsure if lava counted as a liquid, to be quite honest. It's not like you could drink it.) She watched him charge forward, giving her a quick glance, and she continued rushing forward, hopping over a small bit of lava-

Cassie's axe spun head over handle and embedded itself into a creeper that got too close to Jesse, the redhead landing next to it a moment later and yanking it out before it could topple into the lava along with the unfortunate creeper she'd just murdered. Giving Jesse a grin and a salute, she charged back at a different creeper that Jace was handling, the wolf hybrid glancing at her before actually grabbing ahold of the creeper he'd been facing off with and throwing it in Petra and Cassie's direction.

Jesse realized she'd actually stopped running to watch and scolded herself, rounding the corner hastily as Vos jumped down from a ledge and impaled a creeper, throwing it into a nearby lava pool to avoid being killed, before charging forward at another mess of creepers, following Jack. Jesse pulled a sharp turn and ran for the indent, a creeper beginning to cross her path-

Jace fixed that by stabbing it with his sword and throwing it to Petra, who twirled Miss Butter casually and killed the creature in a single blow, as per usual. Jesse gave her friend a grateful nod and ran straight to the indent in the ground, the pattern glowing slightly from where she'd stopped right in front of it, the Heckmouth mere yards away from where she was standing.

"Reaaaally hope this works," Jesse mumbled, before heaving the block into the air and slamming it into place.

Immediately, a high-pitched pinging sound rang out, a pillar of green light shooting into the air and a small shockwave of green energy spreading out from where she'd slammed it down. The spider hybrid backed away a few steps-

Suddenly, blocks of the prismarine shot out in the Heckmouth, the walls of the Builder flashing and glowing as they sprang into being in a series of thuds and little high-pitched ringing noises, the creepers exploding as they slammed into the walls, before the last bit of the Heckmouth, glowing that eerie green-blue color, was finally blocked from sight.

Jesse glanced over her shoulder, ready to yank out her sword to help- and was relieved to see Jack slam a couple of creepers straight into a pool of lava, Vos shoving some of his own creepers into the pool of lava. Jace kicked one creeper away, Cassie twirled her axe and slammed it sideways, and Petra completed the process by taking ahold of Miss Butter like a baseball bat and swinging it wildly, smacking into the creeper and sending it flying straight into the air-

Where it promptly exploded, the force of the explosion simply making Jesse's hair blow around for a moment, briefly.

After a moment of pure silence, Petra slowly slid Miss Butter back into the sheathe on her back, making Jack look around. "Is everyone okay?" he asked, sounding a little tired.

"Looks all clear," Vos volunteered a minute later, Jace shooting him a sideways glance.

Cassie looked around, then at Petra (who shrugged), and then said, tentatively, as if worried that she'd jinx it the minute she said so, "Yeah, I think so."

Jesse slowly let her shoulders relax when nothing happened... nothing happened... before abruptly letting out a loud sigh of relief. "Yeah, looks like," she sighed a bit, reaching up and rubbing her head before letting out a little chuckle... and then she suddenly whooped, throwing her hands into the air. "Yes we did it!" she cheered.

"Yeah, whaddaya know, Jesse," and Petra reached out, goodheartedly thumping Jesse on the back, "you really did it!"

"Good job, sis," and Jace butted his head into Jesse's hand. Rolling her eyes goodheartedly, she allowed herself to indulge in a small victory-petting. Surely that wouldn't jinx it, right?

Jack took a slightly shaky breath in, looking down at the spot where the Heckmouth had been, which was now completely blocked off. None of that weird green light or whatnot. "Think that's really the end of it?"

"Oh... certainly looks that way to me," Vos said, staring down at it as well, with a rather thoughtful look on his face.

Cassie nodded absentmindedly, brushing her fingers through her slightly-shorter new haircut. "Hopefully that IS the end of it."

"Then c'mon!" Turning around from the spot, Jesse leaned down and carefully picked the Structure Block back out of the floor, which made a little popping sound as it sprang back into her hands, "let's go home, you guys."

From there, it was a bit of a blur and, well, honestly surprisingly easy. They just climbed back up (Cassie opting to ride on Jesse's back, while Vos and Jace rode back up with Petra (who, it must be noted, had gotten much better at carrying people and flying at the same time) and Jack carefully settled himself onto Jesse's back as well), joined back up with Reuben and Nurm (both of whom looked very pleased to see them all in one piece) and trotted back towards Beacontown, the doors sliding open upon their re-arrival.

Vos made a startled sound, looking around. "Oh! Heh heh... this is more people than I've seen in a long time!" he exclaimed, looking about himself so vigorously Jesse secretly worried he was going to crack his neck or something, at the people who turned to grin and wave at Jesse as she walked through the gates.

"Hey everyone!" Jesse said cheerfully, giving a little wave with her gauntlet-clad hand, "Happy Founding Day!"

Stacy and Stampy moved away from where they'd been chatting in front of their house to join back up with Jesse, Dan quickly jogging over upon spotting them, and- Jesse's grin grew a little at this- Lizzie was approaching as well, looking more than a little happy to see them.

"Hey guys! Hey Lizzie!" Jesse waved at Lizzie cheerfully.

"Hey Jesse! You guys are back!" Lizzie said, grinning at them openly (although the smile dimmed noticeably when she spotted Cassie in the background).

"And you're here, too," Jesse noted, raising her eyebrow and giving Lizzie a friendly grin. "Definitely an addition to Beacontown, you weren't here before I left."

The pink-haired girl shrugged, keeping her eyes fixed on Jesse and determinedly not looking anywhere in Cassie's direction. "Yeah, I was off visiting Joey at the Cat Cafe. He says the cats have been doing fantastic," Lizzie agreed, cheerfully. "This town of yours is really quite nice, Jesse! I like it so far. Might even decide to stay here permanently, like Dan's been thinking about."

"Well, technically Dan's been staying with Stampy," Stacy cleared her throat, giving Stampy a grin.

Both Dan and Stampy turned a little pink at that. Dan's hair turned a nice mix of brown and fuchsia.

"In the Parrot Party Room," Stampy scolded her, "don't think naughty, Stacy." A moment passed before he turned back to Jesse, grinning cheerfully. "Haha! Welcome back!"

Stacy nodded, clapping her hands together rather eagerly. "We were worried you'd miss it!"

A blur of green darted between Stacy, Stampy, Dan, and Lizzie (who all staggered a bit, caught off-guard) and tackled Jesse in a tight hug, making Jesse glad that her armor was so durable. "You're back!" Radar cheered, arms around Jesse tightly, "thank goodness." He backed away a few steps. "This has... whoooo, this has been a lot of work." And indeed, the 16-year-old looked a good deal more frazzled than when Jesse had left. "People all needs things approved, or- or help with building... Or wrangling animals..."

Jesse shook her head approvingly, clapping her hand onto his shoulder in what she hoped was a reassuring way. "Well, it might've been a lot of work... but it was totally worth it. The place looks great!" she told him, cheerfully.

Radar perked up at that (Reuben beamed cheerfully at the sight of that). "Yeah?"

"Yeah," Jesse nodded approvingly, reaching out and patting him on the shoulder. "You did a great job, Radar!"

The boy clapped his hands together, practically glowing at the praise. "Wow...! Thanks!"

After a moment's pause, he tilted his head at her. "So, did you find what you were searching for?" he asked, curiously.

At that, Jesse just grinned a little bit.

Since everyone was currently already out and about, it wasn't hard to get everyone into a little crowd (although she yanked everyone who had come with her onto the stage, because there was no way she was just going to be standing by herself there; although she did notice that Vos had disappeared off to somewhere) and show them all the Structure Block, lifting it above her head and allowing the entire crowd to see it. The minute she pulled it out, the crowd went wild.

(And her cheeks went a lovely shade of red, proving that yes, Jesse did look quite good in red.)

"It's just like I'm always telling people," she called, raising her voice so that the entire crowd could hear her, before glancing over her shoulder at her friends, who all grinned at her in return, "teamwork makes the dream work!"

Jace literally wolf-whistled loudly, Reuben jumping around like a little Mexican jumping bean. Cassie flailed her arms around in celebration with Winslow back on her shoulder. Jack pumped his fists, Petra throwing her arms into the air victoriously. Jack was sporting a new eyepatch that he'd kept stored in his shop- apparently a souvenir from the One-Eyed Warriors of Op' Ti Cal or somewhere. "Thanks to all my friends," Jesse continued, lowering the Structure Block again, "we brought this amazing new treasure back. There's nothing we can't do together! Happy Founding Day, everyone!"

The cheers continued. Jesse grinned, still a little pink in the face, before raising the Structure Block above her head, in a sort of warning. Everyone quickly backed away (and Jesse made sure to glance around and check) before slamming the block down, the Wall of the Builder springing to life not five feet from where she'd placed the block down.

A moment of awed, almost respectful silence from her little audience.

And then they all started cheering again, Jesse giving a little grin again and rubbing her head sheepishly. You'd think a person would get used to this after seven years but for some reason Jesse didn't. Maybe it was just because of her tendencies as a spider, which were more something along the lines of "I want quiet places and no people".

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Jack and Petra giving each other grins behind her, before Jack carefully moved through the crowd and Petra followed. Nurm also went after the two and followed them through the crowd. Jace spotted them a moment later and hastily followed himself, and Cassie glanced at Jesse, their eyes meeting, before the entire remaining group hopped down from the stage and jogged after them.

"Not bad... I think they really liked it!" Jesse said cheerfully, the four of them- Nurm, Jack, Jace, and Petra- turning to see Jesse, Cassie (and Winslow), and Reuben all following a little ways behind them.

Nurm grinned with a nod, and Petra nodded a bit herself. "Yeah, they did!" she said, letting out a soft laugh, "guess you've still really got it."

There was a tone in Petra's voice that was almost wistful, but before Jesse could pinpoint it, Jack came into the conversation himself. "Yeah! Other than having half the number of eyes I had when we left... I'd call that a rousing success."

If there was anything about the adventure that you could just state and make Jesse's spirits plummet, it was that.

"Jack, I'm so sorry," Jesse apologized, a note of sincere apology creeping into her voice as she shook her head at the older man. "I was really sure you had it back there. If I'd been able to save both you and Petra in time I definitely would have done so."

"Oh- nah, kid, I don't blame ya," Jack said hastily, waving his hands and shaking his head a little bit, his not-bad eye widening a bit. "I thought so too. Just as frustrated with myself." And he let out a soft, frustrated huff.

"Oh Jack!" Vos sing-songed as he walked over, Jesse and Cassie immediately scooting aside to allow him access (Reuben just turned away from the older man with a huff, once again). "I- uh- oh. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt! I was just coming to get Jack," he apologized, meekly.

"No, no, you're fine, friend," Jack said reassuringly, before glancing over to Jesse and giving her a smile that... honestly... kind of made Jesse's heart melt a little bit. It was nice to see him so happy. "Vos and I are heading to the shop to start planning our next expedition."

Jesse grinned widely at that. "That's great, Jack!" she said, cheerfully, "I definitely hope you guys have fun."

Jack grinned back, and began to move off into Bad Lucky Alley- before pausing, glancing back at Petra, the three of them all pausing to glance back at the redhead. "You comin', Petra?" Jack asked the redhead.

Petra paused, glancing back at Jesse, who gave her a friendly go-ahead nod...

Before turning back to Jack, giving him a light shrug. "In a little bit," she said lightly, slinging an arm around Jace (who perked up instantly), "I'm still hanging with Jesse for now."

Jesse could just feel her eyes light up at that.

It was nice to just... hang out with her old friend for once. No adventures. No running around looking for Structure Blocks or llamas. Just the whole group... hanging out.

Fireworks started going off behind the Order Hall, making Jesse turn around and put her hands on her hips, smiling widely as she stood next to her friends, one of her lower arms wrapped loosely around Reuben's shoulders.

She maintained that almost nostalgic smile for a few seconds... before it fell into a more thoughtful look, and she lifted the gauntlet and twisted it around to get a better look at it. "Still don't know what I'm going to do about you, though," she mumbled, thoughtfully.

And then it started glowing again, making her eyes widen.

"Jesseeee..."

An earth-shaking thud that made Jesse turn around in its direction, eyebrows contracting a bit in worry. "What's that?"

The phone in her pocket buzzed again, and Jesse reached into her pocket without looking down, fumbling the phone a moment. She noticed Petra was reaching into her pocket as well, as well as Jace and Cassie.

The only notification she'd gotten was a single message, from Ariza as per usual.

Ariza: Be careful.

"Whoa! You dudes heard that too, right?" Nell asked before Jesse could wonder what the heck that meant, looking around nervously. She hadn't even finished her statement when another earth-shaking thud made, well, the earth shake, making Reuben tighten his grip around Jesse's leg.

"Yes, terrifying!" Stampy squeaked, Dan stepping back nervously and gripping Stampy's shoulder as the earth shook again, nearly knocking the orange-hoodie-wearing boy over.

"Yeah... what was it?" Stacy asked, voice rising an octave in worry.

Jesse didn't waste a second- she scooped Reuben up (the pig hybrid yelping in surprise) and unceremoniously plopped him on the ground next to him, racing towards the direction of the sound. Jace was right behind her, and Petra was right behind him, the now-rhythmic shaking and thudding of the earth becoming almost incessant.

Jesse didn't even need to see him to know who it was.

"Oh no..."

"JESSE!" the Admin boomed, footfalls heavy and VERY loud as he approached the corner of the wall nearest to where the mine was, his head already starting to show over the wall.

Jace let out a loud gasping sound, and Jesse muttered a soft swear as the Admin continued, in that big booming voice, "YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD JUST RUN AWAY FROM THE ADMIN?"

Jesse shot Cassie a pointed glare.

Cassie proceeded to mutter a fifty-word-long string of swears under her breath, and none of them even bothered to reprimand her for it.

The Admin let out a dark chuckle, leaning forward and using the wall to brace his hands as he let out a dark chuckle, staring down at Jesse with those unblinking great green eyes, making the knot in Jesse's stomach twist into an even more painful type of knot.

"YOU'VE REALLY GOT MY ATTENTION NOW."

Jesse glanced over at Lukas, aware that dozens of people in white lab-coats were staring at the five of them as she arched her eyebrow. "Would you care to explain, Lukas?" she asked, pleasantly, although he could still hear the sound of sheer irritation dancing in her voice.

"Oh, my pleasure," he replied, just as pleasantly, before turning to glare at the scientists all staring at the five with the look of a child who has been caught with their hand in a cookie jar.

"We're shutting down this lab permanently. Unless you want to be arrested, I suggest you all leave now."

One scientist had the nerve to step forward. "We made you five! We know how to stop you!" he shouted, glaring at the five.

He'd barely finished the statement when Olivia was standing right in front of him, having teleported fifty feet in less than a second, her hand tight on his shoulder as she glared into his eyes. "I think you'll find we've changed since our days in the Bureau of Amalgamology, thanks."

Lukas paused, frowning as his brow furrowed a little bit, trying to remember exactly what had happened after that. He remembered the basic events, but there were some details that he'd sort of forgotten. His tail flicked around thoughtfully. His ears twitched.

Next to him, Dewey- the ocelot he'd sort of 'tamed' by talking to and leaving fish out for every day until it had started hanging around- let out a low purr as he stared off into the sunset, Lukas's horse peeking at the book as if trying to read it. (Of course, that wasn't the case, seeing as horses couldn't read. Smart as Reuben was, Lukas honestly doubted that the kid had been able to read when he was still a pig, and that applied to this horse.)

Suddenly, a loud thud rang out, Dewey jumping in alarm and the horse letting out an alarmed whinny as Lukas's arm jerked, dropping the quill. Hastily clapping the book shut, he quickly rang to the side railing and squinted into the distance- before his eyes widened.

Not even a hundred feet away was a giant... statue... esque... thing marching in the direction of...

"Beacontown," Lukas muttered in worry, looking down.

Immediately, his brain went straight to his... well, okay, he wasn't sure if Jesse was his girlfriend, but that was honestly the closest name for her that he could think of. No doubt she somehow was wrapped up in this.

He turned around instantly and flipped open a chest that he kept on the porch, adjusting his jacket before yanking on a pair of gold gloves with the fingertips exposed and jumping back into his old boots with a small thud, which almost creaked a bit with pleasure, as if it had missed him. A flash of gold as an old enchanted sword he hadn't used in months came out of the chest and went into the sheathe on his back.

Pulling one last thing out- which was a pair of goggles with a greenish tint to the lenses- he popped that onto his head. Not nearly as well equipped as he'd been in the past, but he didn't have time to go scouring and searching for his armor right now.

"Looks like it's time..." he muttered softly, turning around again and scanning the landscape, catching the last glimpse of the statue as it continued its march towards Beacontown. "To write the next chapter."

The horse whinnied the moment he turned around, Lukas nodding and rushing towards it with his tail flapping in the wind slightly, ears rotating so they were facing forward as he fluidly leaped onto the horse's back.

The horse reared back for a moment, and he was off.

A/N: And with that, Episode 1 of Season 2 has been COMPLETED!

Y'know, I'm actually really happy about that. I'm definitely not going to finish Episode 2 by the time Episode 3 actually releases, but it'll definitely be in the works!

Fun fact: Petra 'smoking' was more of her poking an unlit cigarette that someone in Bad Luck Alley had given her thinking that it was a small roll of paper due to it being dark out while she tried to find something, and accidentally lighting it while exhaling. Go figure.

Any guesses on the code at all? Any?

Responses to reviews!

TheAmberShadow: Hm... I might have a look then. / (chuckles) Yeah, I like that aspect too. / (laughs) Well, who says it isn't? xD / (chuckles) / Hahaha, would you have really?

RavenBlaze4850: (laughs) Well, it's nice to see ya again! / Does it really? xD / (laughs) Of course Jesse would say 'hi' to the enemy. She's a polite person. For the most part. xD / Trust me, I don't know. Most people don't really bleed in Minecraft, and of course you don't see a lot of blood in any Pixar movies. Mostly just implied blood. / Actually, it wasn't, but good point. :) / (laughs) She knows. She wasn't doing it on purpose.

homeworkoverload: (chuckles) / Oh yes I have. A multitude of times. / She didn't try. She needed to hold it for a moment and just stuck it in her mouth while she tried to find it. xD

LunartheMooncake: I know how you feel fam, I know how you feel. / Oh wow. You must REALLY hate math right now, then.

CamronXTheXGamer: Yeah, she panicked when she found out.

Boggie445: Well, since it was a one-time thing and an accident, not really.

Rabbits rule: Technically she didn't try lol / Oh, wow. Do you really?

Emily The Avenger: (laughs)

x.X. A.L. X.x