Quick note before I start the chapter. I had to put a pig in for the cover picture and I half died. This is now Rueben and Rueben is adorable!!!!!!! Okay, I'm done squealing over cute pigs. Buurn out.

Why did it have to be a feather? Just a single white feather left on the ground. Grian had just joined a new world, one where he had made real friends, then he couldn't stay. Grian had sacrificed himself so that Xisuma could come back. He gave his life for someone he didn't know well, and to save everyone else.

When Xisuma came back, he had told them of the darkness that was coming. He had brought news, but at what cost? Why was the cost always a life?

Mumbo lowered his head and stared at the base that he had built. This wasn't the first time he had lost someone close to him, and at this rate, it certainly wouldn't be the last. Rueben walked up to him and nuzzled his head against the pristine suit.

Laying a hand on the pet that Grian had just gotten, Mumbo sighed. He had created the pig by accident, and Grian had instantly taken a liking to the pig. Now that Grian wasn't around to take care of the pig, Mumbo had brought Rueben to his base.

A chicken soon followed Rueben's tracks, clucking at the scene before its eyes. Mumbo glanced at the chicken and was instantly filled with nostalgia. Poultry Man had thrown eggs all around Mumbo's base, the start of a great friendship. He later revealed that he was Grian, Mumbo's neighbor.

"It's a shame he had to go." 

Mumbo glanced over to find the floating spectator, Jumbo, waiting for a reply. Jumbo looked much like Mumbo, except Jumbo had brown hair, whilst Mumbo had black. He sighed and continued to stare at the base that took months to make. Jumbo floated over and sat next to him.

"You haven't done a huge project in ages, maybe doing one will help you feel better."

Mumbo found himself wanting to do something huge. The feeling of sweat trickling down your back as you placed or dug blocks. The feeling of accomplishment when you finish that project. His base didn't house the redstone machinery that he needed to get tons of resources.

Looking over at Jumbo, Mumbo nodded and pulled up his left sleeve. A watch lay beneath the coat, and with a press of the button, Mumbo and Jumbo were instantly teleported to a flat sandstone world. 

Mumbo grinned happily at all his creations, but he wasn't here to look at one. Mumbo turned and flew, without elytra, towards a corner that had no builds, Jumbo following quickly behind. 

Soon enough, Mumbo was grabbing all sorts of materials and building strange structures. Jumbo floated around as commanded, holding a camera, so that Mumbo could see the satisfactory timelapse.

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Sighing, Xisuma leaned back in his chair and let the phone slip into his lap. The notification that Mumbo had gone to his Redstone World was concerning, considering his condition. However, Jumbo had joined him, also in the notification, so Xisuma had better hopes. 

He would go talk to Mumbo, but since he was only awake because Grian had given his life, he didn't think Mumbo was in a talking mood. Instead, Xisuma texted Iskall, knowing that Iskall was Mumbo's other close friend.

Xisuma> "Iskall, can you go talk to Mumbo? He needs cheering up, and I would talk to him myself but......"

Iskall> "Of course, he's in his redstone world with Jumbo right? I'll bring Gall with me to keep him from getting lonely again. I haven't needed to record a big project in ages."

Xisuma closed his eyes and mulled over the turmoil of thoughts. None of them had done a huge project in a while, and he wouldn't be surprised if the camera men and women were feeling a bit left out.

"Xisuma, we need to talk."

X opened his eyes to see his twin brother, Cassius, standing in the frame of the doorway. Frowning, Xisuma got up from his chair. "What is it Cass?"

Cassius looked very worried, not a usual expression for him. "Remember that poison you said got unleashed?"

Xisuma nodded, hoping that Cassius wasn't talking about what he thought he was.

"Well, I was just talking to Void, when his eyes turned red and he vanished from sight."

Xisuma fell over backward in shock, only saved by his brother's quick reactions. He pulled up the tracker of everyone on the server, confirming his suspicion. When his twin gave him a questioning look, Xisuma filled him in.

"The poison has taken minions of sorts. All the spectators are under its control."

Cassius nodded, the hardened look on his face all too familiar. "I guess we should prepare to fight then."

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A massive technical project lay completed in front of Mumbo. The sun beat down on the desert and maze of contraptions. Mumbo flew around the project, hovering here and there, glancing at bits and pieces and taking notes.

"Mumbo!" A familiar voice scared Mumbo, making him spawn in another pig. He turned around to see Jumbo looking at a tiny figure on the ground.

"Sir, I believe it is your friend Iskall and Gall." Jumbo informed him, putting away his camera. "I don't believe they have the ability to fly like you and me."

Mumbo nearly facepalmed and quickly typed something on his smartwatch. Soon enough, Iskall had flown up to Mumbo's height and gave him a friendly hug.

"I was worried about you Mumbo," Iskall glanced down at Mumbo's dirt stained outfit. "You've been gone for hours."

Mumbo glanced at Jumbo, who was currently talking to Gall. "Why didn't you tell me how long I was here?"

Jumbo halted his conversation to state the obvious. "You needed a break from reality, sir."

Mumbo looked down at his feet and sighed. "I'm not the best friend am I?"

Iskall looked shocked. "You're an amazing friend, and you're going through loss. We all are. You took it a bit differently than I did."

It was true. Every time Mumbo went through a hard time, he defaulted to the manual labor of building machines. As he glanced over at all his creations, he noticed something odd. Jumbo had stopped talking.

Both Iskall and Mumbo glanced at the motionless Gall and Jumbo. Suddenly, both their heads snapped towards Mumbo and Iskall, their eyes glowing red. Sly grins spread across the spectators faces as the disappeared slowly into thin air.

"Oh dear..." Mumbo backed away slowly, Iskall following closely behind.

"I suggest we get back very quickly."

"Agreed."

With a quick flick of his wrist, Mumbo and Iskall were teleported to Mumbo's massive base. Nothing had changed in the hours since Mumbo had been gone, except that it was now night time. Thankfully, the base was well lit up, preventing hostile creatures to spawn. Not that it mattered, since Mumbo could just make them go away with his Coded Stone.

"Oink!" Ruben walked over to Mumbo, seeming to notice his rugged appearance.

"He's right you know." Iskall scooped up the pink bundle and looked at Mumbo.

"Wait a second." Mumbo did a double take. "When did you learn to speak pig? And what did he say?"

Iskall snickered as he put Rueben down on the floor, letting the pig meander down the walkway. "I'm a linguist, I know many languages. I fact I know almost all of them, even the Nether tongue and the Aether language." Iskall pulled out a little notebook to jot something down as Mumbo stared with shock at his friend. "And Rueben said you looked horrible and probably need a shower."

Mumbo tried to brush off more dirt, but to no avail. "Is that why you know about the coded stones, but aren't a guardian?"

Reuben snorted making Iskall sigh. "Yes, I'm a protector. That means I'm supposed to train those who get the role of the guardian and keep the knowledge safe."

"Wait so you have been training me this entire time?"

"Yes, why do you think I'm seven years older than you?"

"Why haven't you helped me with my pig spawning glitch?"

Iskall laughed and enjoyed the little bit of happiness they had before things got bad. "Because it's funny."

Mumbo couldn't help but agree, it was funny. Plus it made Ruben, so he couldn't complain. Speaking of the pig, Rueben made a noise that sounded like a laugh. Narrowing his eyes at the offending pig, Mumbo lowered himself to the pig's eye level. "I swear he's laughing."

Iskall looked at the hunched Mumbo. "That's because he is. Congratulations, you speak pig."

Rueben oinked in agreement, making Iskall laugh. A distant firework could be heard in the direction of the main land. Mumbo turned his head to see Xisuma flying at full speed towards the white sphere.

He twirled around and landed without a hitch, his skin pale from lack of oxygen.

"Xisuma!" Iskall bent over as the admin collapsed onto his knees. One helping hand later, Xisuma was back on his feet with the correct amount of oxygen in his blood. 

"The spectators are under the control of the virus now." Xisuma gasped through his breathing mask, making Mumbo and Iskall very concerned for him. "Cassius is fetching some help. We need to prepare for the unexpected."

"Oink!" 

Xisuma looked down at Rueben with confusion. "I don't speak pig."

Iskall translated for Xisuma and Mumbo's sake. "He says that we will need all the help we can get." Scratching his head, Iskall frowned at the pig. "Rueben is surprisingly wise for just being born today."

True to his word, Cassius flew in with two other people close in tow. Mumbo rubbed his eyes, trying to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Poultry Man was here! But how? Grian was dead...

As Mumbo took a closer look at the vigilatny, he noticed some different things. Poultry Man was more muscular and taller than Grian was. When he took of the chicken mask, it revealed an un-shaven square jaw. Poultry Man still had the honey blond hair and jade green eyes, but he wasn't Grian.

The Jangler and Salmon Ghost stood behind Cassius and PM (Poultry Man). 

"Just to make this clear," PM spoke in a deep voice, yet another sign that he wasn't Grian. "We don't want to be called by the nicknames you gave us. You call Cassius by his real name, so we would like you to do the same."

Mumbo nodded, not completely there. Had Grian lied to him about being Poultry Man?

"Call me Xequla, and the Salmon Ghost is named Sebastian. Jangler's name is Jabbar."

The name Xequla hit Mumbo like a rock. He hadn't heard that name since he was five. He tried to gather his thoughts once again.

"So, how are we going to fight this poison?"

Cassius glanced at Mumbo with a look of, 'Isn't it obvious?'. When Mumbo continued to look oblivious, Xisuma's twin filled him in. "We need to unite the stones, only then can we fight the darkness."

Mumbo glanced down at the glowing crystal in his hand and then to where Grian had put the void stone in Xisuma's hand. Xisuma gave a slight nod when he saw Mumbo's drifting gaze.

Iskall drew a small circle in the air, white light trailing behind his finger. "We need to find Tango, Zedaph, and TFC. Finally we need to find Wels so that we can get a hold of the Master Coder."

Xequla frowned at the circle, eyes taking in everything. "Aren't all those people in this world?"

Xisuma nodded, but with regret. "Yes they were. Tango has moved back to the Nether, and Zedaph has taken a vacation to the Aether. TFC is hidden somewhere underground."

The Salmon Ghost spoke for the first time, his voice very hard to understand. "This sounds like the attack was planned. If the stones are separated that means that the poison will be able to pick you off one by one."

Mumbo gulped, and grabbed tighter to the stone that he was the guardian to. Two guardians, two stones, one protector, and three vigilantes against a poison that had taken control of eighteen people, according to Xisuma. Even the Grifter had been taken, Grian's camera man.

"Looks like we'll need to make some trips to different dimensions." Xisuma let the void stone flash out of his hand for a second, before making it sink back in.

"I want to come too." 

Mumbo blinked, realizing that he had just understood what Rueben had said. Iskall was holding the overworld stone, but it was still in Mumbo's hand. Iskall's look confirmed that he hadn't expected that either. Cassius looked at the scene with shock.

"I guess we have a lot to learn."

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Okay, I finally got it out! It's a longer chapter, so that's why it took longer. No, I haven't forgotten about Wels, he is in transport right now. He will come into play soon. I feel like I'm throwing salt into the wound when I brought PM back into the scene, and adding even more salt when I called him Xequla. What am I doing?!?! 

If you guys didn't catch it, Cassius is Evil Xisuma, the non-evil version. A bit of redemption for his character. See you in the next chapter of Hidden Powers!

Love you all!

-Buurn