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Grian thought the new piglins were cool, until they weren't.
At first, it had been fine. After the piglins began to attack him on sight, he desperately threw his items at them in hopes that they would take them instead of attacking him. He threw a handful of golden carrots on the ground, and immediately the piglins all dove down on them, grabbing them and eating them like wild beasts. That was when he figured out that he could distract them!
Wanting to finish a bit of mining, Grian kept dropping golden carrots on the floor as he walked and mined. This worked quite well, the piglins didn't bother him as long as he kept offering them food. He could get by with that.
However, he began to have a problem when he reached into his pocket and felt no more golden carrots in there. Shoot, did he run out and not notice? He began to sweat, anxiously rifling through his pockets and bag desperately in hopes that he would find even one carrot. Pulling his hands out of his bag, he was empty handed.
The piglins stared him down, grunting, waiting for him to throw them more carrots.
"I'm sorry guys, I'm all out, guess I'll be going now-" he stammered, backing away from the piglins.
They glared at him upon hearing the news, and pounced immediately. Grian felt his bag ripped from his hands by one of the piglins, his items spilling all over the floor as they ripped into it. The blonde let out a sharp yell in surprise, scrambling backwards as the piglins quickly advanced on him, some readying their crossbows, others ready to fight with their claws. He spun around, and spread his wings as he tried to take off into the air- key word, tried. Claws dug into his ankle, and Grian let out a shriek of pain as he was dragged back down to the nether floor.
His head hit the floor, shielded by his helmet, thankfully. He felt the piglins jump on him, clawing at his armor and weapons on his body. Grian was completely defenseless against them. Now, he could only wait for his eventual death and painful respawn from basically being mauled to death by a horde of piglins.
Only, that death didn't come. Shortly after the piglins had stripped him of his armor and all tools, they paused. Grian was curled in a ball, attempting to shield himself with his arms when he felt the piglins stop attacking him. He could hear that they were still there, though. So why did they stop?
He cautiously opened one of his eyes, squinting up and seeing the piglins surrounding him staring at his head, transfixed. Oh... this was weird.
One piglin reached out to him, Grian flinching as it did so. Although, the piglin didn't hurt him. No, it patted the top of his head, running a clawed hand through his hair, appearing to be admiring it. That was when it clicked - they thought his hair was gold. While the piglins not attacking him over this was reassuring, he silently hoped that their fascination didn't involve ripping the hair from his head.
Slowly, Grian uncurled his limbs, cautiously moving to sit up. The piglins didn't do anything, a few more of them reaching out to pet his hair. Man, Scar and Mumbo would lose it if they saw him like this. He pulled out his communicator, snapping a selfie of himself with all the piglins surrounding him, touching his hair. He giggled at the image, and sent it in his chat with the other hermits.
Grian: Help, they think I'm gold
Not long after, more messages from his friends came through, teasing him and poking fun.
GoodTimesWithScar: Awww they're petting you!
MumboJumbo: We have hands to pat the Grian
Xisumavoid: Watch out, they can get pretty protective over what they think is 'gold'
As funny as this situation was, Xisuma was right. Piglins weren't a mob to mess around with, so he should get going- or rather, try to.
"Alright, guys, I think I need to head home now." Grian cautiously spoke, grinning at the piglins in what he hoped came across as friendliness. He began to stand up from his position on the ground, and tried to leave by pushing through the swarm.
This didn't work out well, because the moment Grian attempted to leave, he felt himself be grabbed around the waist, one of the piglins pulling him against their body. He struggled against their hold, squirming and kicking as he attempted to free himself. It didn't work - to no surprise, the piglins were a lot stronger than he was. Grian didn't have a lot of strength like Mumbo or Scar did.
As he felt the piglin's arms pick him up and begin to carry him off to who knows where, Grian felt only dread. He quickly gave up struggling against the piglin, seeing as it was no use. For now, there was nothing he could do to stop this kidnapping- could you even be kidnapped by a mob? It was probably a situation that only Grian would ever land himself in. He didn't pull his communicator out yet, not wanting the piglins to see it and destroy his only way of getting help from his friends if he couldn't get himself out of this mess.
Time passed by, and soon a large, black structure loomed up in front of him, the piglins carrying him inside of it. Around him, he was surrounded by tons of piglins, even some piglin brutes which he had seen mentioned. Of course, they just had to take him to their bastion remnant. Couldn't they just catch him, bring him home, show their parents or something and let him go? Like what you normally do when you are a kid who acquires a wild animal.
Grian was brought to their treasure room, and he held on tight to the piglin as they hopped over the blackstone bricks leading to the center of the room. This must be their treasure room, he assumed, noticing the stack of gold blocks in the middle of the moat of lava.
The piglin holding him barked orders out at other piglins, none of which he understood. He watched in curiousity as the piglins produced gold bars and obsidian, and began constructing- oh no. Grian paled, noticing that they appeared to be making a cage. A tiny, two by two block cage.
Shortly after it was finished, the piglin approached the cage, and he began wildly struggling, hissing at the piglin and attempting to scratch him. He held onto the outside of the cage as he felt the piglin attempt to shove him inside. He resisted for as long as possible, yelling at the piglin and putting up a fair fight. However, he was caught off guard as the piglin growled in his face, snapping their jaws inches from his head, which made him flinch and pause his actions. He soon felt a harsh smack across his face, and yelped as the piglin's claws cut into his cheek. With a final kick to his chest, the piglin threw him into the cage, locked him up, and left.
Grian didn't get up from the floor of the cage for a few minutes, heaving as he listened to the sound of the nether ambiance, the lava, and the other piglins mulling around in the treasure room. He noticed that there appeared to be a piglin standing guard outside his cage who held a sword, and there were other armed piglins in the room along with a couple piglin brutes.
He curled up in the corner of his cage, and curled his wings around himself, hiding his body from view. With trembling hands, he reluctantly pulled out his communicator. This situation was embarrassing, however, there was no way he could escape on his own. He was bleeding from several places on his body, he was completely unarmed. The situation was not good. He hesitantly sent a photo of the cage bars with the piglins guarding it outside, trying to keep the situation humorous for the other hermits.
Grian: Hey guys anyone wanna raid a bastion remnant? The prize is me :(
MumboJumbo: Oh my void.
GoodTimesWithScar: How did you do this to yourself
Xisumavoid: Haha warned ya!
Grian: Idk they just sort of kidnapped me and put me in a cage in their treasure room. Pls help
The "I'm scared" that Grian wanted so desperately to say, went unsaid.
GoodTimesWithScar: You're not hurt, are you?
Grian: …No.
GoodTimesWithScar: Grian.
Grian: Okay, okay, uh, they scratched me up pretty good. My ankle is bleeding because they grabbed me when I tried to fly away and pulled me down. I think my face is bleeding, one of them hit me.
Confessing all of it to his friends, in the public chat where everyone could see it, Grian felt humiliated. His eyes burned with tears as he curled his wings tighter around himself, attempting to stop himself from shaking, trying to tune out the piglins surrounding him. He never really liked the nether very much, it was scary. Being injured and actually stuck here for real, surrounded by hostile mobs who were keeping him hostage, it made the nether so much scarier. After a couple moments, he took a deep breath, looking back at his communicator.
MumboJumbo: Scar and I are on our way to get you, hang on buddy
GoodTimesWithScar: We are going to kick some piggie butt :)
Exhaling a shaky sigh of relief, Grian laid his head down on his knees. His friends were coming to get him, because no- they wouldn't leave him stuck here, unlike what his brain wanted to believe.
Now, all he needed to do was wait for them.
Scar and Mumbo flew around the nether, searching for any sign of where Grian might be. Not too far from the portal, Mumbo discovered Grian's backpack, which was torn apart, along with his items scattered across the ground, some things broken from being trampled. With a wince, he desperately tried to ignore the few drops of blood on the netherrack floor, which very likely belonged to Grian.
They followed the trail of piglins who were marching to and from their home like ants. They flew overhead, avoiding being spotted by the mobs so they could save their resources for when they had to fight to get Grian back.
"Leave it to Grian to convince the piglins that he's a piece of gold," Mumbo had commented to Scar as they flew, trying to push down his worry for his friend.
"Haha, yeah. They quite literally put him in a bird cage." Scar chortled, giving a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"Pesky bird." Mumbo hummed.
It wasn't long after that when they discovered the bastion remnant. Scar and Mumbo gave each other a determined look, both pulling out their weapons. "Let's go get our bird back." Scar announced, which Mumbo instantly voiced his agreement with.
They flew down into the bastion, and Scar began busying himself with taking out the few piglins he began to see here and there. Meanwhile, Mumbo disappeared into one of the rooms. After a few moments of shouting, Mumbo reappeared in the hallway, riding on the back of a hoglin, who charged in whatever direction Mumbo directed him towards. Scar laughed as he jumped out of the way of the hoglin, leaping on its back as they passed. He held onto Mumbo's shoulders as they charged through the bastion hallways, the hoglin barreling into as many piglins as Mumbo could possibly make it hit.
Not too long after, they finally reached the treasure room floor. Scar hopped off the hoglin as Mumbo continued charging it around the room, barreling into whatever piglins were in their path. Meanwhile, Scar pulled out his sword, jumping into battle and attacking the piglins closest to him. He took out a few piglins before he finally spotted Grian in the center of the room. Seeing the smaller male with his wings curled around himself to hide, stuck inside the cramped cage, sent Scar into a fit of rage. He turned on the piglins advancing on him, and made quick work of them. With each stab into their guts, they vanished in a poof of smoke.
Soon, they had taken down all the piglins in the room. Once the last piglin was dead, Mumbo and Scar didn't hesitate to run towards the cage, hopping across the lava and landing in front of the cage. Scar grabbed the bars of the cage, slipping his arms inside to touch Grian while Mumbo worked on breaking the blonde out.
"Grian," Scar whispered, cautiously drifting his fingers down one of Grian's wings. The male flinched initially, poking his head out of his wings, seeing Scar and Mumbo finally. Scar's heart broke even more seeing the dried tears running down the builder's cheeks, along with the deep gash across the right half of his face.
"You're here!" Grian gasped, as if he truly thought they wouldn't come to rescue him. As Mumbo broke the last gold bar to free him, Scar stepped into the opening of the cage, and extended his arms. Without hesitating, Grian allowed himself to fall into the warm embrace of his friend.
"We're here." Scar reassured, rubbing the blonde's back. "We got you, little bird."
Grian melted into Scar's embrace even more, hiding his face in the man's neck. "Can we go home?" he asked quietly.
"Of course," Scar agreed, and without warning, scooped Grian up in his arms, causing the smaller to let out a startled squeak.
"Scar!" Grian groaned, glaring at him.
"What? You probably shouldn't walk on that ankle. Nevermind the netherrack floor since the piglins took your boots, you'll burn your feet. So we're doing it this way." Scar grinned down cheekily at him.
Grian sighed dramatically, knowing there was no way out of this for him. He glanced down at his injured ankle, wincing as he noticed the deep gashes from the piglins grabbing him. Those will need stitches for sure.
He settled down into Scar's arms, relaxing as exhaustion took its toll on him. Scar began to carry him out of the bastion with Mumbo in tow, taking off into the sky shortly after. "Will you stay with me? Mumbo too?" he asked, letting out a yawn.
"We'll stay as long as you need us to, mate." Mumbo grinned over at him.
"Yes, we'll stay to make sure you don't go getting into more trouble, pesky bird." Scar chuckled, smiling down at him.
Grian huffed, smiling, brushing the comment off nevertheless. It wasn't long later that the exhaustion finally took over, and he fell asleep while being carried home.
MumboJumbo: Pesky bird acquired!