This was tempting fate, right here. I glanced down from the build height, finishing up the last possible part of my first tower. If I tried to build any higher, I found the blocks I was using literally crumbling in my hands to nothing. The air was so thin, I could barely think.

With one final block placed, I took a step back to make sure I missed nothing. However, at that moment a strong gust of wind hit, knocking me back and off the top of the tower.

Reacting faster than I thought was possible, I flipped myself around and spread the wings of my elytra. The jerk of them opening yanked at my shoulders, but held strong. I slowed my descent just enough to roll on the ground of my base to a stop without dying.

I panted, trying to slow my heart rate. I had tried to avoid dying, as Mumbo had calling respawning a real 'pain in the ass'. So far I hadn't died yet, and I planned to keep it that way.

I had landed on my back, the elytra pulling uncomfortably at my sore shoulders. I reached up, tugging on one of the straps to release the wings from my back. Even that small movement was too much, but at least I could kind of move.

I looked up at the greying sky, finally noticing the storm that was approaching. The thick cloud cover was filling the sky, the moisture in the air growing. And my base was still without a roof. Great.

With a groan, I forced myself to sit up. I stretched, slowly but surely, and positive I had pulled some kind of muscle on the way down. I managed to stand, dragging my bruised self to my bed to curl up in until the injuries faded.

"Well shit."

The rain began to fall, slowly but surely. It began with small drops of water, barely a mist, before growing as all ocean storms did into a beast. Whipping wind, downpour, waves crashing up above. If I could trust my shoulders to not give out I probably would have gone up a level, but as it was I was too sore to do much but curl up into a smaller ball and try to sleep through the mess.

I gave up when my bed began to float. Water had poured into the lower level, flooding it more than I'd thought possible. So with a groan, I reached for my floating elytra and flew up painfully to a higher floor.

Something broke through the glass, flinging itself across the floor of this level. I flinched back from the broken glass as the wind and rain began roaring in. I slid some concrete out of my inventory for now, rushing over to plug up the hole. While I was moving, I covered up the top hole to slow the water from pouring in.

The person that busted my window groaned, sitting up. Their red suit was waterlogged, blonde hair scattered across their face. I could see they had red eyes and lighter skin, but otherwise they looked almost identical to X.

"Fuck..." Not-X pressed a hand to his face, then panicked. He looked all around the floor before noticing a black helmet with a red visor nearby. He raced over, pulling the helmet back over his head.

"Uh... hi?" He jumped, only now seeming to notice I was standing there. His eyes glared from under the helmet, studying me.

"You must be Grian," He stood, wringing water out of his suit, "Xisuma was asking me about you."

"Yeah, that's me." I waved a small bit, the pain returning from the adrenaline rush of fix-broken-window. "What's your name?"

"My name?" He tilted his head a bit. "Everyone here calls me Evil X, or Evil Xisuma."

"Well that's just a bit rude," I walked over to a shulker that was up here, sliding out some wool from a shulker to dry off with. I tossed some extra towards Not-X, refusing to think of him as Evil. "Why do they do that?"

"Because I'm the evil twin of X?" He spoke like I was a toddler that understood nothing. Normally it might have made me mad, but I refused to get mad at this guy right now.

"Are you now?" I walked back to Not-X, sliding off my damp hoodie. I tossed it aside, wrapping the white wool around my shoulders.

"Yep. I make everything suck for the people here." He shrugged, playing it off as nonchalant. "Mostly through pranks."

"Pranks, you say?" I grinned, slowly rolling my shoulders to prevent them from stiffening up. "I quite enjoy pranks myself."

"Throwing eggs all over someone's base is not a prank."

"That one wasn't me! It was the man in the chicken costume!"

Not-X laughed at my protest, bunching the wool in his hands. "If you want to try a real prank, I could show you the ropes."

"Really?" I found myself... actually looking forward to pranks of some kind. Despite this guy being called evil, the way he talked to me made me think he really just wanted to belong.

"Hell yeah dude!" A bolt of lightning made him jump, his eyes flashing to outside my base. "But... maybe once this storm dies down a bit."

"Agreed."

~

The cave was dark as Mumbo travelled. Deeper and deeper, his hand holding a redstone torch that glowed brightly. He dug just a few more blocks at the end before his eyes closed.

Specks along his entire body glowed red, and the ground shook slightly. From all around, redstone dust was pulled to the stone around his body for easy mining. He knew it could be considered cheating, but the only ore he did this trick with was redstone, and he never went more than a chunk out.

He opened his eyes, mining the dust all around.

~

Stress laughed, running across the waves. The water below her turned to ice, imitating a very similar-yet-different ice queen.

"Stress!" Cleo erupted from the water directly in front of Stress, disrupting the ice. Stress squealed, falling into the depths below. Before she could get too deep, however, the currents around her swirled and pulled her back to the surface.

"Gotcha." Cleo's grin was cheeky, her bright red hair and green skin contrasting the water. Stress laughed more, landing on her own feet on a new block of ice.

"How about three out of five?"

~

Cub flew over pirate island, admiring the master craftsmanship his business partner had produced. Speaking of which, he noticed the man in question forming the side of a cliff to jut out a bit more.

"Scar!" Cub closed his elytra, landing in the sand easily. The ground below hardened understep, helping the bearded man walk towards his dear friend.

"Hey Cub," Scar turned, pulling a hand back. Another piece of dirt shifted upwards, replaced by some andesite.

"Wanna go play some golf? I've nearly got the first three holes completed, and I need a test subject."

Scar shrugged, turning back to his cliff. "Let me do just a biiiiit more-"

The cliffside broke, sending stone and dirt toppling off-balance.

"...actually, let's go play some golf."

~

Iskall flew over the deepest ocean as the storm was at full strength. He felt the energy from the lightning coursing through his veins, the wind gusts boosting his flight with no need for rockets.

He laughed, looping once more with ease before glancing at the tower in the distance. He could see water flooding the lowest level of Grian's base, and moved to go help him... before Biffa's private warning echoed in his brain.

'I think for now, any moderator powers should be hidden,' Biffa had explained to the group of six, shifting from foot to foot. 'We need him to trust us, not to fear us.'

So, Iskall turned away, gliding to his home in the ice.

~

"Adding a moustache to the orb in the middle of Mumbo's base is not really that big of a prank, Red."

I frowned, standing on the glass bridge as Not-X finished his project. He glared down at me, gliding down on his elytra.

"No, that's not the whole prank. The real prank is blaming it on Iskall." Not-X pulled out a sign, placing it on the bridge and filling it out.

Bumbo Orboni
~Iskall85

"Really?"

"Yep! It's ingenious!" He turned to me, grinning madly. I sighed, grabbing his wrist.

"Let me show you a real prank."

I took off towards the shopping district, dragging Not-X behind me until he got the message.

I landed in front of my pickle shop, gesturing to the pit below.

"Go on. Check it out."

He took a look into the depths of the jar, considering. Without too much thought into the logistics of the shop, he jumped into the small pool of water.

"It's... a shop." Not-X looked up at me, crossing his arms in annoyance.

"Yep."

He looked around. "I don't see a prank."

I smacked my forehead. "Riiiight, the real prank is over at iTrade. Sorry, wrong shop."

Not-X groaned, walking to a bubble elevator that took him up... directly into the actual shop. I watched him come down the other bubble elevator, confused.

"Wait..." It dawned on him. "You sly bastard!"

I laughed, gesturing to nicks and dents in the wall. "I've got Doc and Python so far with this baby. And now you!"

"That's actually pretty great. But... how do you get out?"

I shrugged, grinning wildly. "That's for you to figure out. Seeya!" I took off, ignoring the shouts from behind me.

I was probably gonna regret that one.

~

Wow Parks, two chapters in two days? You must be on top of school-

Imma cut that off with a nope. I have a lot of school work that I should really be working on, but I find writing to be much more alluring.

Anyways, I hope you guys like this chapter. Please let me know if you wanna see Grian bond with any of the other Hermits!

Also, what are theories you have on this story? I can confirm or deny some of them, but if I don't reply to your comment you're probably on the right track. 

~Parker