"Ladies and gentlemen," the woman from the booth called, drawing everyone's attention to her, "Welcome to the Endercon Building Competition!" She was received with a round of cheering. "The winners of this year's competition will have their build featured at Endercon. The winners will also meet, in person, Gabriel the Warrior!"

Olivia threw her arms into the air with a grin. Axel pumped his fist, and Jesse hopped up and down and clapped.

"Ocelots!" The group turned to see the Ocelots doing some sort of elaborate handshake.

"Whoa... handshake?" Olivia turned to Jesse and Axel, "we don't have a handshake."

Jesse hummed and shrugged. "Well, I always considered our 'hands in the middle' thing being a sort of handshake," she responded mildly. The other two nodded and conceded the point, all of them extending their hands so they were all in the middle.

"Let's do it," Axel said, eyes shining with determination.

"Building-" Olivia braced herself. "-starts-" Axel reached for the blocks in his pocket. "Now!" Jesse patted Reuben on the head with a grin, before all of them rushed to the center of the booth.

The screen sped up as they built so that the fireworks machine was done in a matter of seconds.

"Oh no! A fireworks dispenser!" Aiden mocked onscreen, Lukas sending him an annoyed glance upon seeing the brunette. "I'm so scared!"

Jesse gasped and clapped her hands to her cheeks in shock, making Axel and Olivia glance around at her. "Oh no! Aiden, quick, check your face, I just found your nose in our business!"

Jesse let out an explosive laugh at this. "Ha! Best comeback ever!" she joked through her giggles. Axel, Olivia, and Jace were trying to smother irrepressible grins, Reuben was grinning, Petra was chuckling, Milo was chuckling, Isa and Reginald could barely hide their grins, Harper was smiling mulishly, the Order members were giggling, Ivor was cracking a grin, the YouTubers were making these odd faces in an attempt to not laugh, Hadrian, Mevia and Otto were all grinning, and even Cassie was having a hard time not smiling. Even Lukas seemed faintly amused by this. In fact, the only person not amused by that scene was Aiden.

Onscreen, Axel and Olivia snickered before dropping back to the ground. The screen sped up again as they built the Enderman, before Jesse walked to the edge of it and looked around at the various builds. The most impressive one by far seemed to be the Ocelots', which was made up of lots of various colored blocks and redstone repeaters.

"Would anyone be angry at me if I said I have no idea what some of those builds are?" Jace asked, watching with his elbow resting on the coffee table.

There was a moment's pause where everyone considered this, before most shrugged or shook their heads at him.

"Then I have no clue what some of those builds are."

Axel and Jesse turned to Olivia onscreen, the dark skinned girl approaching a lever on her right. Jesse took a deep breath and clapped her hands together. "And now... the moment of truth."

"Here goes nothing," Olivia said, none too optimistically, before toggling the lever. Immediately, fireworks soared into the sky above and detonated, showering multicolored sparkles everywhere.

"All right! That looks awesome!" Jace cheered, throwing his arms into the air and nearly smacking Jesse in the face by accident.

"We're totally gonna win!" Axel high-fived Olivia over Jace's head, before extending his hand to Jesse. Jesse looked at it for a moment, before back up at him. He gestured a bit, grinning. "You helped build it," he explained, indicating the screen.

Jesse blinked, before a slow smile came over her face and she reached out to slap his hand back.

"Man... this looks so cool!" Olivia exclaimed, looking around. "We'll win this for sure."

Axel nodded, grinning slightly. "I gotta admit it, this Enderman is sweet." He patted the black-haired girl on the back. "Good call, Jesse."

Below them, people were starting to approach the build, talking and pointing with excitement. Jesse leaned over to look at them, before turning to look at her friends, green eyes sparkling with excitement. "Guys... people are looking at us~" She trailed off in a sing-songy tone that made the two of them grin at her.

"Good build, man!" The guy who'd called them losers before called up.

Jesse, Jace, Olivia, and Axel grinned at each other in excitement. Aiden's eyebrows knit together in a scowl.

"What? No way..." Aiden said in disbelief, looking up at the Enderman, before stomping his feet. "It's just a bunch of dyed wool!"

Soren rubbed the back of his head with an awkward cough. "Comparing it to a lot of the other builds there...? It's pretty good."

Looking around, Aiden spotted a block that held back some lava and smashed right through it with a single hit. "Whoops!"

"Aiden!" Lukas exclaimed, eyes widening as he twisted to glare at his friend.

"What the hell, man?!" Petra shouted, bolting upright.

Stacy winced. "That- that was not cool."

"You could seriously hurt someone!" Isa exclaimed, straightening up and squeezing Benedict hard enough to make the chicken let out a complaining squawk.

The lava spilled forward, straight towards Reuben, who was sitting and watching. It hit his tail, and Reuben immediately sprang up with a frightened squeal and ran off in the direction of the woods. Onscreen, Jesse's head snapped around instantly. "Reuben!" she yelled.

Jace twisted around and glared at Aiden. "You hurt my pig!"

Aiden simply shrugged, grinning. "I said whoops."

Jace launched himself to his feet, accidentally dumping Reuben into Jesse's lap, and grabbed the nearest thing he could find- a book- and hurled it at Aiden, making the brunette boy's eyes widen as he ducked out of the way and everyone else's eyes widen at this sudden display of violence from the previously mild-tempered Jace. "You- you-" The boy was so enraged he stuttered for a moment before spitting out, "you piece of crap!"

"Jace, stop!" The mocha-haired boy stopped upon a hand closing around his wrist, and he looked down to see Jesse patting a very affronted-looking Reuben and holding his wrist. "He's not worth it."

"Oh no- Reuben's on fire!" Jesse cried onscreen, before flailing her hands in a wave at the pig. "Reuben, NO! Come back!"

Axel's eyes darkened. "It was Aiden- that punk!" he practically spat in rage, gesturing at the brown-haired boy backing away from the lava.

"The lava's getting closer!" Olivia cried out.

"It's gonna destroy the build!"

"Reuben's gonna get lost!"

Jesse glanced back at Olivia, who dropped her gaze automatically. "You guys stay and save the build!" she ordered, before leaping down and landing in a perfect parkour roll, plowing right into Aiden and knocking him over, sprinting off into the forest.

"We'll meet up with you at Endercon!" Olivia yelled back, jumping to the ground and starting to put up blocks to block the lava from getting any closer. The screen faded to black.

Petra immediately got to her feet and stalked towards the Ocelot's couch, stepping so precisely that it was very clear to see, even to the people who'd never met her before, that she was pissed off beyond belief. "Okay, that was not cool. You didn't like that their build was getting more attention than yours and decided to sabotage it, hurting Reuben in the process."

Aiden shrugged. "Oh, come on, Petra! It's just a dumb pig."

"What might be a 'dumb pig' to you might be something downright precious to someone else," Jesse snapped at him, green eyes practically burning into him and making him blink- up until then she'd seemed pretty mild.

Jace picked up the next part. "Even if Reuben was dumb, that doesn't give you an excuse to hurt him because you were jealous of our build."

"I wasn't jealous!" Aiden argued, jumping to his feet.

Petra shoved him back down as Mevia snarked back, "It was pretty obvious you didn't like that they were getting positive attention and you weren't. That's called 'jealousy' most of the time, if you didn't know that."

Aiden crossed his arms and glared at the three girls, remaining silent. Petra looked over at the blonde Ocelot, eyes narrowing. "I don't get why you hang out with them, Lukas- you might be kind of arrogant sometimes, but you're not a bully."

Lukas didn't say anything in response to that. Petra finally returned to her seat as the screen faded back in, Jesse holding a carrot and waving it around as she looked around, the forest already looking rather dark.

Lizzie glared at Aiden. "And look, you made her stay out after dark! I don't think she has a weapon to defend herself with, either!"

"Reuben?" Jesse called out onscreen before Aiden could possibly defend himself, waggling the carrot around. "I've got a carrot for ya!"

Some tall grass rustled, making Jesse start back, before she slowly approached it. Reuben was visible through the long strands of grass, shivering. Jace let out a long sigh of relief.

Jesse's eyes lit up. "Reuben! There you are!"

The pig trotted out, whimpering softly. Jesse stooped down, holding the carrot out to the pig with a warm smile on her face. "Hey, buddy. Ya want a carrot?" she asked, the pink pig letting out a happy squeal and munching down on it.

Jesse let out a long sigh of relief and rubbed her face. "Oh, I am SO happy to see you!"

Reuben grinned at her. "C'mon, we've got a long way to-"

A chorus of groans interrupted her. The screen switched to show zombies blocking the way she'd come from and slowly lurching forwards. Olivia let out a gasp and covered her eyes in alarm.

"Well... nice knowing you, sport," Hadrian stated slowly.

"Reuben, run!" And the two of them took off in the opposite direction, running away from the zombies at top speed before coming to a spot where there was nothing dangerous. Reuben let out an alarmed squeal, and Jesse slowed to a stop as she looked down, before letting out her own gasp.

The bumps that had been on her sides were starting to poke out and stretch her clothing. Jesse bit her lip, and slowly the bumps seemed to curl back in.

She let out a soft, relieved sigh, before a soft hissing hit her ears, and she jerked her head back up to come face-to-face with a creeper. "GAH!" she shrieked, as lots of members of the audience jumped.

Jesse and Reuben tore off again, before coming to a stop near this cavern mouth. "I think... I think we're okay..."

"Annnnd she jinxed it," Petra called out.

An arrow impaled the wall next to her, making the raven-haired girl shriek in fright as she twisted to see a skeleton aiming at her again.

"Called it."

She lunged sideways, dodging the arrow just in time. The two of them bolted again, only to run straight into a dead end. Jesse looked around, turning around to face the opening of the clearing she'd just run into. "Oh no... oh no no no..." she mumbled, yanking out her wooden sword.

"She's... gonna die, isn't she?" Em asked flatly.

"Stay behind me, buddy," Jesse said shakily. Reuben let out an affirmative whine and shrank down behind her. The girl turned to smile encouragingly at him, before her expression darkened, and she whirled around and let out a loud yell, lashing out with her wooden sword. She knocked right into a zombie, before swiping it twice more and knocking it over, driving the wooden blade into its skull and making it explode into smoke.

Slicing off the head of another zombie, and swinging out to knock another one back, she managed to keep the zombie at bay, before she took ahold of the blade with both hands. With a loud yell, she brought the sword right down, making the zombie puff right into smoke.

The moment the sword made impact with the zombie's head, it cracked, making the wooden blade do a slow, lazy 360 in the air before clattering to the ground, disappearing into smoke a moment later. The hilt followed suit a couple of seconds later.

Olivia, who'd started to peek back up, let out a yelp and buried her head back into her hands.

"Stupid- wooden swords!" Jesse groaned, backing away a few steps. She looked down at Reuben as they continued backing away. "I know it's bad..."

"Incredibly bad," CaptainSparklez contributed.

"I'll- I'll think of something."

"I'd better," Jesse mumbled, fondling Reuben's ears absentmindedly. Reuben was so absorbed in the screen that he didn't even nuzzle into her hand.

Jesse paused, before leaning down to look at Reuben. "You're gonna have to make a run for it, okay Reuben?" she asked the pig softly. "I'll meet you back at Endercon, okay? I promise."

Reuben shook his head at her, whining. Jesse said, in a more serious voice, "Now, Reuben- RUN!"

Galvanized by the shout, Reuben let out a terrified squeal and took off, galloping through the crowd of monsters, who neared Jesse.

"Don't die," Axel said, his eyes glued to the screen, "I just met you...! Besides, I think Olivia and I might kill each other without you around."

A spider landed on the ground in front of Jesse, but then, to both onscreen Jesse's and the audience's surprise, it seemed to hesitate. It tilted its head as it looked at her curiously. Jesse blinked back, but then she let out an alarmed scream as a zombie's rotting hands grabbed ahold of her shoulders.

Olivia let out a moan, hands clamped firmly over her eyes, sounding as though she were about to throw up.

Jesse screamed and thrashed, trying to get the zombie's grip off of her, but it was too strong. "Get OFF ME!" she yelled, trying to shove it off to the best of her ability, the scream echoing.

The screen suddenly switched to Petra, whose head snapped up at the echoing shout.

"Petra?" Axel's tense muscles relaxed all out of the blue. "Olivia, you can look now! Petra's there!"

Olivia peeked up from her hands.

"Wasn't that...?" Petra broke into a run, hand tightening on her pickaxe handle as she swung it back off. She burst into the clearing to see Jesse doing her best to fend off a zombie, its rotting mouth getting far too close to her head for anybody's taste.

"Oh no," Harper said, eyes widening.

Olivia gagged and hid her face again.

Petra's gold eyes widened, and she ran even faster, but she was still way too far away.

Jesse sighed a bit, rubbing her forehead. "Great... I guess I do die, then."

"NO!" Both Petra and Jesse yelled at the same time, Petra shoving her hand out and reaching for Jesse instinctively, and Jesse shoving her hand at the zombie with all of her strength.

A white string fired from Jesse's palm, slamming into the zombie's chest and knocking it away from her, the whole thing moving in slow-motion.

The audience's eyes widened. Jesse in particular looked incredibly surprised.

Petra's left arm, the one she'd just shoved out, was starting to glow. No, really, it was beginning to glow red-hot, sparks fizzling and flying off of it, a marble-sized ball of fire expanding from the center of her palm and then launching at the zombie. It speared the zombie in the head, setting the rotting being on fire with a grunt of surprise.

Everyone stared at the screen, before slowly swiveling their heads to stare at real-Petra, who looked just as shocked at this turn of events.

Jesse scrambled backwards, back hitting the dirt wall behind her as she gaped from the zombie to the redhead, who looked just as stunned as Jesse did. "Petra?" she gasped, sounding shocked.

Petra stared at the black-haired girl in stunned surprise, before replying in a surprisingly even voice, "C'mon- let's get out of the open."

She extended her right hand, Jesse grabbing ahold of it and letting the redhead heave her to her feet, before the two of them rushed out of the clearing, Petra's left arm still glowing, though the glow was fading. The screen faded out to black.

Jesse breathed in slowly, before letting it out. She turned to look at Petra. "Petra, right? That's your name? Thank you," she said, sincerely.

"No problem, Jesse," Petra said, her hands tight on the armchair's arms. "I'll always help a friend in need."

Jesse blinked at her in surprise at this. Petra slowly managed a faint but warm smile at her.

Jesse slowly returned it.