Since everyone begged me to keep the pigs, I will continue to put Ruebens into the starter picture. :-D

Tango flew around the lava environment, relishing the hot air that pushed on his wings. He was a scout, keeping intruders out of the Wither Castle. Walls of Netherack and Netherite surrounded him, with the occasional Firefly flickering into sight.

It was nice to be back home, even though he missed his friends, especially Impulse. The two had bonded and worked on redstone projects for years, but Tango longed to be back in the fiery environment.

Someone wouldn't be hard pressed to describe what he looked like, as he was very unique. Red eyes replaced normal blue or green, made for laser sharp vision. The blond hair occasionally fell into his face, but he just pushed it back, occasionally getting caught on the small pearl horns cresting his head. His wings were like no other, even for his kind. They were phoenix wings, magnificent red, orange, and yellow painting the feathers. 

As his eyes scanned every available space, even seeing through lava, Tango noticed something odd. A human was in the Nether, standing on a pillar of the sharp Nether Brick. 

He flew over, the loud flaps letting the intruder know he was coming. The newcomer looked familiar, but it was hard to tell. He had a rugged edge to his appearance, like someone who had gone through a lot.

"State your name and your business." Tango commanded as he landed making the man turn his head. A sharp bitter laugh erupted from the short bloke.

"I'm surprised you don't remember me, Tango." 

"You look slightly familiar, but I know a lot of faces."

"Very well then." The man stroked his face, stubble popping out of his chin. "I'm here to save the galaxy."

Tango raised his eyebrows at that, thinking the man was delusional from the heat. "And name?"

"Grian."

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The first thing Mumbo felt was the suffocating heat of the Nether. It wasn't usually this bad, but he guessed that the deeper you go, the hotter it got. Mumbo was grateful that Rueben hadn't come, in this temperature, he would be bacon.

"Any chance you could cool it down, anyone?" Iskall looked pasty, used to below freezing temperatures.

"If I'm correct," Wels thought out loud methodically. "The overworld stone should be able to create a shield of cool air around us.

As everyone turned expectantly at Mumbo, he sheepishly scratched the back of his head and glanced away. "I can usually only spawn in pigs.... but I might as well give it a shot."

No pressure huh? I don't suppose that I'll actually be able to do something useful with this thing with everyone waiting on me. Mumbo felt Iskall's hand on his shoulder, followed by a small nod. I can do this.

Closing his eyes, Mumbo envisioned what he wanted to create. An invisible bubble of cool air, with no poisonous fumes. A slight tug pulled at his brain as he envisioned the creation. Just like his redstone contraptions, all the pieces clicked together in his brain. He took one deep breath after another as he created the bubble with the stone.

"Nice work."

Mumbo shook his head in an effort to get back into reality. Xisuma looked quite content, and so did everyone else. If he looked really closely, Mumbo could make out thin wavers in the air. He had successfully created the bubbles. Now all they had to do was find Tango and have him bring the Nether Stone.

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Tango had brought Grian into his room, away from the poisonous fumes of the lava. Grian was sat on the bed holding a healing drink. Still not getting over how horrible Grian looked, Tango fiddled with one of his daggers.

"What happened to you? You look horrible." Tango couldn't help but ask. The last time he had seen him, Grian was perky and full of life. Now, he looked like a war hardened man, even seeming to grow a beard on his clean shaven face. His sweater had taken a turn for the worse, the bright red dimmed and the fabric torn in some places. Somehow Grian had shaved his head, cutting off the fluffy hair and leaving short pieces.

"I died." Grian sipped the drink, sighing as it trickled down his throat. "And yet I didn't."

Tango shook his head, well beyond confused. He had learned not to question things. "How did you get here?"

"I was meant to be here."

Tango narrowed his eyes, thinking this was not the Grian he used to know. "How about you answer a question without being cryptic?"

Grian made the cup float in the air for a second before letting it come to rest. "I slipped through a wormhole in time and space. It was to make up for the loss of the stone."

"Stone, what stone?"

Jade green eyes turned to stare right into his red ones. The color of eyes only Grian had. "The Void Stone."

Tango nearly fell out of the chair he was sitting, having to flap his wings to keep his balance. "I though Xisuma owned that stone?"

"He guarded it," Grian corrected. "Something glitched, making me the guardian at the same time as him. When I summoned the stone, it put him in a coma. I had to give it back, but the only way I could think of getting unbinded to it was slipping through time and space." He paused to sigh. "I wonder if it looked like I died to them."

Tango mulled over what he was just told, staring at the hard brick floor. Wood would burn here, otherwise he would have made it out of the pretty building supplies. "Well, it sounds like you would have vanished.... And if they didn't know about this," Tango waved his hand around. "Which I certainly didn't, then yes. It probably did look like you died."

Grian's eyes dropped to the floor, not saying a word. So much had changed with Grian, even his personality was different.

"Did going through the wormhole cause you to change?"

"What?"

"I don't know if you noticed Grian, but you're different." Tango tried to remember how Grian used to be. "You were always playful and full of happiness, taking the joy in life. Now...."

"Now I've come to realize the seriousness of things." Grian sighed and made the empty cup float over to a table. "The poison has escaped its prison and it has taken control of the spectators."

"What poison?"

"It's hard to explain..." Grian furrowed his eyebrows, searching for an explanation. "Basically the evils of evil."

"Oh." Tango thought back to the previous Wither King. That king ruled with an iron fist, and a lot of Netheries died in the process. The Netheries were his kind. Tango had left the Nether dimension to escape the king. If he thought that king was evil, he wasn't sure if he could take this poison. "What do you need from me?"

Grian answered the way Tango knew he would. "We need you. We need the Nether Stone."

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"How much farther?" Mumbo asked, after they had traveled a few miles on the Nether Brick Road. (Yes, that is a reference to the Yellow Brick Road.)

Xisuma plodded ahead of the others, scanning the vast expanse for a sign of life. All they could see was endless lava lakes, red haze, and the road. Mumbo was kind of tired of endless expanses.

"I honestly don't know, Mumbo." Xisuma turned his head to see everyone walking slower, particularity, Mumbo. The bubble had taken more energy out of him than he would have thought.

Xequla snapped his head around towards the right of them. "I see company."

One of Nether Guards was flying towards them, carried by a form of bat wings. When he got close enough, they all recognized that it wasn't Tango. No shock of blond hair, and horns were huge.

"State your name and your business." The guard boomed, hand on a sheathed sword. 

Xisuma stepped forward and gave a slight bow. "I am Xisuma, here to see a fellow friend, Tango."

The guard gave them a suspicious once over before nodding. "Only one of you may come. He is in his quarters."

All of them looked at each other before Iskall nudged Mumbo forward. The others seemed pleased with that, so Mumbo found himself on the edge of the road.

"Take this." The guard handed Mumbo a frothing potion.

"What is it?" Mumbo eyed the contents.

"Fire resistance, so your sorry hide doesn't get scorched."

Mumbo reluctantly gulped down the potion, wincing as fiery tingling spread across his body. Without warning, the guard pulled him off of the ledge and dove after him. Closing his eyes, Mumbo waited for the pain of the lava to hit him. It never came.

Opening his eyes, Mumbo gasped as he saw where he was. A hall lined with doors continued on for a while before turning a corner. Not a single flammable material was in sight, only bricks and Nether supplies.

"Tango is the second door on the right."

Mumbo jumped, forgetting that the guard was there. Taking one tentative step after another, he found himself at the door. Mumbo rested one hand on the door before summoning the nerves to ball his fist and knock.

"Come in." Tango's voice was muffled through the stone door, but Mumbo still heard it. He took a deep breath before slowly cracking it open. He gasped at what he saw, refusing to believe it was true.

"Grian!"

Grian turned his head towards Mumbo, eyes wide with shock. "Mumbo?"

"What happened to you?" Mumbo gave Grian a bro hug before giving him a look over.

"It's a long story." Tango replied to Mumbo's question. "So I suggest you sit down."

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"So you never died?" Mumbo asked after Grian explained everything. Grian shook his head making Mumbo ask the question that was bugging him. "Did you lie about being Xequla?"

Grian frowned at the name. "Xequla? You mean, Poultry Man?"

"So you do know him." Mumbo wished that Grian had never lied to him. "Why did you need to lie? What did it gain you?"

Grian looked shocked and a little hurt. "I never lied! I know him, because he is me! What happened?"

"When you left, Xequla arrived shortly after."

Grian gasped and muttered something under his breath. "Did he look like me?"

Mumbo considered it for a moment. "Yeah, he kind of did. A taller, muscular, harder version of you."

"Oh sweet netherack," Tango whimpered. "You've created a double."

Grian wanted to fall into the bed and never come out again. "I've created a mess haven't I?" He whispered at the room.

Tango winced as the weight of everything hit him. "It gets worse."

Grian and Mumbo looked at him with apprehension, not sure if they wanted to hear what Tango was going to say.

"The Nether stone you guys need? I'm still the guardian, but the King has it. In his vault."

Mumbo realized that this was going to be more of a challenge than he first thought. There was one thing that was certain, though. If they didn't unite the stones in time, the darkness would take over the galaxy.

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You have no idea how much I wanted to tell you guys that Grian wasn't dead. I want to highlight something though. Grian is very different, both physically and internally. So now they just need to find the stones before the galaxy is destroyed! No pressure, right?

See you all in the next chapter of Hidden Powers!

Love you all!

-Buurn