"I have a meeting with Impulse? How did you know? I didn't even know!" MJ rubbed sand out of his hair as Iskall pulled him to his feet.

"He mentioned it in the group chat. Do you know how to use your phone?"

"Uh, this thing? Grian sent me a message once, but I couldn't respond.."

Iskall shook his head with a grin, taking MJ's phone. "Look, this is the group chat, where we all talk to each other. Everyone can see these messages. I can turn on your notifications so you know when people are texting so you know what's going on." Iskall returned the phone. "Let's go!"

The pair quickly flew along the shore until they reached Impulse's bay, where he waved at them from the dock.

"Hey Impulse, I found MJ!"

"Nice! Hey MJ!" Impulse greeted as they landed. Impulse had tidy brown hair, and wore a loose t-shirt over cargo shorts. He also wore sandal-like shoes with socks, which looked ridiculous in MJ's opinion, but in an endearing way.

"Sup dog!"

"You ready to learn some redstone?" Impulse rubbed his hands together.

"I'll sure try." MJ laughed.

"Good enough! Come downstairs, I've got a few things we can work on." Impulse led the way, diving straight into the waterfall flowing into the bay. MJ cautiously followed, shuddering as he fell into a cave on the other side.

"Sorry it's kinda cold, but it really suits the aesthetic of the place, do you agree?" Impulse led the way down the corridor, and promptly jumped down another column of water, disappearing from view.

MJ peeked down the shaft, noticing bubbles floating down instead of up. In the column next to it, the bubbles went up...

Impulse appeared in the second column, drenched and smiling. "Are you coming?"

"I just swim down?" MJ tested the water with his finger.

Impulse laughed. "No, the magma block at the bottom pulls you down! It saves a lot of energy and time!" He jumped out of the 'up' shaft directly into the 'down' shaft, disappearing again.

MJ dipped his feet in, already feeling the current tug at his ankles. He slipped in, nearly swallowing a gallon of water in surprise. The current pulled him swiftly down, and in an instant, he burst out at the bottom, gasping for air.

"Tried to breath water, huh?" Impulse joked. "I think we all did our first time. Cmon, let's get started!"

They started simple, learning how to make redstone lines, how to power it, and the difference between powered and unpowered. MJ picked it up easily, so they moved on.

Next was repeaters, pistons, sticky pistons, buttons and levers. MJ especially liked the levers. ("They're so satisfying to flick!")

Finally, they looked at comparators, droppers, hoppers, dispensers, and how to put them all together. They also reverse-engineered some of Impulse's creations, to see how things work in tandem.

"Well, that was the redstone crash course, congrats on passing!" Impulse laughed.

"Oh, six hours was a crash course?" MJ sighed.

"Nah, that's really about it! Now that you know how all the parts work, it's all about trial and error to make something that works!"

"Huh. So I could go home and make a... villager farm like yours? Or an iron golem farm?"

"Yeah, that's the idea! Pretty cool, right?"

"How do people live without machines? Z said he doesn't touch the stuff."

Impulse shrugged. "Probably like you did back home. They would just rather farm things manually I guess. Zed says he loves being out in nature, doing things with his hands."

"Huh. Yeah...."

"Uh, I hate to pry, but do you know when you're going home? I think Xisuma mentioned he had a way to send you back in the group chat."

MJ whipped out his phone, eyes widening. There it was, just like Impulse said.

3 hours ago
Xisuma: Might have found a way to get MJ home! I'll send an update as soon as possible :)

Tango: 👀👀

Ren: Wow, you're so fast! 💕

Iskall: That's what she said ;3

Stress: ISKALL

Stress: NO

1 hour ago
Xisuma: I did it!! Everyone meet in front of iTrade in an hour to say goodbyes!

Zedaph: Yay! But aww :(

Now
Wels: I'm running late, is everyone already there? 😬

Stress: omw!

Xisuma: I'm here, and we're just waiting on a few more hermits, including MJ

Iskall: Flying atm, and Grian's gonna be late

Impulse: I've got MJ, we're on our way right now!

"So, ready to go home?"

"I don't know, this is so surreal." MJ followed Impulse in a daze. He was really going home. Right now. No more crazy hermits. No more confusing redstone. No more colorful blocks. No more beautiful builds.

"Hey MJ, you excited?" Tango slapped him on the back. He didn't even remember walking into the crowd of hermits, but they were all hugging him, wishing him safe travels.

"I-"

"I'm gonna miss you, pal. Keep the book, to remember me by." Zed hugged him tightly, and MJ could feel his shuddering breaths as he cried into MJ's chest.

"I'll never forget you, Z. Never." He felt tears welling up in his eyes.

"Hey, Grian says he's sorry he couldn't make it. He wanted to apologize for how he acted, and he hopes you're happy back home." Iskall gave MJ a smile, but it was full of pain.

Finally, MJ made it through the crowd, finding Xisuma practically glowing. "Hey MJ! I wasn't sure I could get you home at first, but finding that Metrolite a few days ago really helped! Are you excited?"

"Uh... I'm not sure what to feel." He answered honestly.

"That's okay, I understand." X got a wistful look, but shook it off. "Anything you want to say before you go?"

MJ turned to the crowd, and nearly burst into tears. Despite the fact that he didn't recognize a lot of the faces, he felt such a strong connection to the group. In the week that he had been in this strange world, they had all welcomed him with open arms. Zedaph let him share a base with him. Tfc had shown him how to manage stress healthily. Iskall had talked him through a nightmare. Impulse had taught him redstone. Ren and Grian made him a new outfit. Grian...

"GRIAN?" MJ pulled out a rocket and took to the sky in a fraction of a second, darting directly for the small red figure soaring above him.

"MJ, look out!" Grian cried.

"Grian, I-!" MJ flew directly into Grian, and the pair tumbled out of the sky, screaming.

Iskall thought fast, throwing slime blocks across the ground for the pair to crash into. At their speed, they bounced for nearly a minute before landing with a laugh.

"I'm so sorry, Grian!"

"No, I'm sorry MJ! I should've just talked to you about it. I didn't even know what you called me!" Grian laughed breathlessly.

"Can you ever forgive me?"

Grian frowned. "I have to, you're leaving forever..."

"I'm... I'm not leaving." MJ laughed. "I'm not leaving! I'M NOT LEAVING! NOT NOW, NOT EVER!" He laughed, feeling lighter than an elytra.

"Yes! I knew it! Welcome to Hermitcraft MJ!" Zed leapt onto the slime blocks, hugging MJ tightly.

The hermits took that as an invitation, and soon everyone was in a pile on the slime blocks, hugging MJ, or hugging each other, or yelling at everyone to get off of me, I'm trapped on the bottom!

After many tears, it was decided that today would be a holiday, and so a picnic was planned immediately. A full afternoon of celebration later, they decided to break up the party before anyone got too wasted. ("It's fine, I'm German!")

"So, as much as I love having a bunk mate, are you gonna make your own base now?" Zed asked as he and MJ strolled toward that side of the island.

MJ laughed. "Yeah, yeah, kick me to the pavement why don't ya?"

"Pavement, huh? I thought you used American terms in a British accent?" Zed grinned.

"Eh, I've been hangin out with a lot of Europeans, I guess it's rubbing off!" MJ shrugged.

"Well I think it's nice. Didn't Grian say you could use the island next to his? Let's go check it out!"

They flew over the bay, spotting the island right where Grian said. As they flew in closer, MJ recognized the sandy shore, and could almost make out where he had slept the night he had a nightmare. Even 24 hours later, it felt like forever ago that he was worried about whether he would go home or not.

"Aw, it's cute! There's just one tree right in the middle!" Zed hugged the tree with a giggle.

"It's perfect!"

"Well, I'll let you get settled then. See you around MJ?" Zed reached out for a handshake.

MJ took his hand with a smile. "It's Mumbo, and I'll see you around."

Love you, my little stars!
-RaeTheStar