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The first thing Mumbo registered as he loaded in was that it was cold.
The world loaded in right after him and the proper code kicked in, making the temperature go from biting cold to a mild chill.
He blinked, trying to settle in properly. They were greeted with what could only be described as a winter wonderland. Right in front of him ice spikes towered tall, casting long shadows on the pristine snow around them. He looked behind him where a thick spruce forest spread out, the ground underneath only lightly dusted in snow. In the horizon glimpses of the world border could be spotted just barely inside of his render distance.
“-And welcome to Nice Life everybody! This is a series where everything is just fine-..”
The voice snapped him back to reality, and he turned his head to where Grian was now standing. The rest of the people participating in this Life Series were also now gathered in the circle, all decked out in proper Christmas attire.
Most of the members had opted for a sweater and accessories for warmth, like Grian and Impulse, while Gem and Joel were wearing elf outfits. Mumbo frowned at Ren who was wearing his normal red, short-sleeved shirt and jeans. Wouldn’t he get chilly? The custom-made code (Thanks, Xisuma) could only ward off so much cold.
He smiled as his eyes went to Scar and his sunflower sweater. It had actually been a gift from him and Grian two christmases ago, to celebrate Scar’s Secret Life win. Paired with the flannel pants he truly looked like he’d come straight out of a.. Christmas ad? Did those exist? He’d have to ask someone later.
The others around him started sprinting towards the forest and Mumbo realized he’d just missed the intro. It’s fine, Grian had been pretty secretive about this season in particular. Come to think about it he hadn’t seen him a lot on Hermitcraft either-
“Mumbo! Come, look- isn’t this new highland cow so cute?”
His legs started walking in the direction of the voice before his central processing unit had even processed the words, giving Scar an awkward smile as he headed in his direction.
Scar, despite the fact that they were currently in a game of death, had already befriended the cow in question, easily hugging it closely.
“Isn’t she a magnificent creature?” the brunette asked him, facing the cow. Mumbo didn’t even get to respond before the cow was turned into white smoke, and the two of them were left gaping at Martyn.
“Martyn!” Scar cried out, “how could you!? She was so innocent and had a whole life ahead of her and-”
“Oh please, don’t act as if you weren’t planning on killing her for food in 2 minutes,” the blond man replied with an eyeroll, storing away his stone sword.
“Mumbo,” Martyn acknowledged him with a head nod. “It’s been a while since you’ve participated in one of these. The last time was.. Uhm…”
“Wild Life,” he filled in, wrapping his red scarf tighter around his neck as a wind swept through the forest. “And I died pretty quickly then as well.”
He tried not to think about it too often, how everything went white as the TNT minecart exploded. How the explosion ripped through him, his intricate wiring, burning his artificial flesh clean off along with the pain receptors underneath. How his audio processing system has registered Grian’s scream right before the CPU was blown to bits, the fast respawn after losing your final life making him wake up just seconds later in his floating house back on Hermitcraft. Mumbo had immediately emptied his stomach over the edge of his bed, a bucket already prepared weeks ago from past experiences.
He’d waited weeks for the others to come back, desperately trying to distract himself with whatever redstone circuits he needed to set up around his base. He had also met up with Skizz often as the man had come back just a week after Mumbo, the first few days spent in the dark of Mumbo’s house as he helped Skizz adjust. They spent many hours in each other’s company afterwards, even if it was just designing their bases or farming items. When the other members started returning (except for Tango, who had gone off-server for a few days to readjust with Jimmy) Mumbo had immediately gone looking for Scar, and then they both went to get Grian once he came back.
Mumbo had spent the week nursing the two men back to health, enjoying their company outside of a life-or-death situation. If he had gotten countless hugs in exchange, well, no one but him would know.
Martyn nodded, remembering the events. “Right, right. Really unfortunate that you had to go out that way. At least you got to come back as a zombie thought.”
Mumbo had been really lucky that he’d gotten to come back, except that he only had vague memories of it, remembering how he had never truly felt in control and how everything in him was screaming at him to just–
He and Skizz had taken even more time off from their usual activities after that.
“Yeah,” was all Mumbo managed to reply, voice weak. He cleared his throat as he spoke again; “But this is a new season, and I have no plans to die that quickly again. I want to experience this winter wonderland for as long as possible. Right, Scar?”
Scar, who had up until now just been staring at the spot where his cow had been, finally looked at the two men.
“Yeah, totally!”
“…”
“..What were you two talking about?” the brunette asked sheepishly.
Mumbo chuckled at the other man’s obliviousness, and Martyn simply gave him a reassuring grin.
“Nothing important, don’t worry. Just how Mumbo here hasn’t been in one of these in a long time.”
Martyn didn’t get to say much more to Scar before he was called away by Ren, and Scar said goodbye to Mumbo as he left to go caving.
-
As the sun was setting Mumbo finally left the mine he’d set up, squinting as his eyes adjusted the brightness around him. The sun was slowly setting to the right of him, and to the left he spotted… houses?
He hurried over to the unfinished houses, noticing how most of the participants were over there (except for Martyn and Ren, for some reason). “Mumbo!” a voice yelled ahead of him and he stopped in front of a giant snow cube. He studied the structure, which was steadily growing taller due to the snowfall, before meeting Skizz’s eyes.
“Skizz, hey buddy. Is this your… House?”
“Yeah! Doesn't it look awesome? It’s not done yet but soon enough- Grian, get down from there!”
Mumbo didn’t even get the chance to look up before the shorter man landed in front of them with crossed arms and a fake-upset expression. “I was just giving you a roof! It looks as if it’s about to start snowing soon and I didn’t want your interior to get ruined. Well, your future interior.”
“Mumbo,” Grian greeted him with a smile. “Glad to see you back. May the odds ever be in your favor this time.”
“Thanks mate.”
…
“Wait, did you just quote the Hunger Games?”
Grian shrugged. “Been listening to the audio book when I’m grinding back on Hermitcraft.”
“Right. That oddly makes a lot of sense.”
“I’ve really been enjoying it so far- Oh,” Grian looked off somewhere behind Mumbo, eyes narrowing, “Jim.”
“Huh?” Mumbo barely got to look behind him before Grian turned it back towards himself, smiling ominously.
“Nothing, I’m just gonna go greet our dear friend Jimmy. See you around!”
“Oh- okay, alright then,” Mumbo said as the avian disappeared, left to look at Skizz in confusion.
-
“GO TO SLEEP!”
Mumbo hissed as his audio system crackled when Bdubs yelled loud enough for the entire server to hear, raising a hand to feel for any exterior damage. The system was very, very delicate and regularly required maintenance. He could do most of it, but once a year he got Doc to check it out more in-depth. He would be fine for now, he deduced from the short check. As long as nothing felt broken close to the skin he’d be fine for the rest of the game.
“I suppose I should go find a spot to sleep,” he sighed, setting the last snow block down on Skizz’s roof.
“What? I thought you were staying here with me!” “No offense Skizz, but you live in a square igloo. I’ll freeze to death.”
“We can share a bed, body heat and all that stuff.”
“...Skizz, I’m made of metal. I barely heat up in normal weather, let alone in the middle of winter. How could I possibly heat you up?” “Forget it then! I just wanted to share a bed with my buddy so we could keep each other safe for the night but I guess not. Sorry for suggesting it…”
Mumbo knew that sulking tone and he ran a hand down his face, contemplating whatever life choices he made before ending up here.
“Fine, but separate beds. I want some space between us in case this is all an elaborate scheme to kill me in my sleep.”
“Fine!” Skizz responded, grumbling as he crafted another bed. “Here you go, on the other side of the base if you’re that paranoid.
“Thank you,” Mumbo said, choosing to ignore the sarcastic tone. “Better go to bed quickly before Bdubs bursts a blood vessel.”
Silence followed as the two men laid down, adjusting to the new beds.
“Goodnight Mumbo.”
“Goodnight Skizz.”
Mumbo heard some rustling from the other side of the snow cube as Skizz settled down for the night and he closed his eyes, ready to finally end the first day.
His eyes snapped open immediately as an ominous bell tolled from somewhere above. What mechanic had Grian implemented into the game this time?
“Skizz?” he whispered into the darkness, afraid to move an inch. There was no way to guess what was about to happen, and Mumbo would rather not risk setting off anything motion-sensored.
“Mumbo? Did Grian mention anything about-”
Skizz quieted down as jolly music started playing around them, almost sounding like a remix of…
“Oh no,” was all Mumbo managed to whisper as the ceiling was destroyed, snow falling down on them both as the form descending in front of him was lit up by the moonlight.
‘Trivia bot? No, that’s not quite right.’
“Guess who’s back!” the robot exclaimed cheerfully, filling Mumbo with more dread than he normally felt. His eyes widened as the robot approached, stopping right at the foot of the bed.
All he heard was “question!” before a menu was shoved in his face, a question on the display with three choices right below.
Question
What does the Trivia Bot want to do?
Answers
Create interesting content
Teach Minecraft trivia
Get on the Nice List!
The display was blinding in the darkness of Skizz’s base, and on the other side he could spot his sleepover buddy’s display as well as his own Trivia Bot. How many Trivia Bots are there out there? Do they reproduce, and if not who makes them?
I can worry about that later, he thought as the timer in the middle of the display slowly counted down from a minute. A single minute.
Think, Mumbo, think! It’s not the last option, obviously, but between A and B… He never asks about any fun facts, so surely it’s “Teach Minecraft Trivia”?
The display disappeared as he pressed option B, and the bot in front of him thought for a moment before shining red, taking out a sack from… somewhere and reached into it, picking up a black lump of-
“Bloody hell-” he exclaimed as the enraged Trivia Bot threw a lump of coal at his face. He fully expected the bot to go back from wherever it came from, but no, it wasn’t done with him apparently as yet another display loaded up in front of him.
Choose a Player
Once again a one minute timer was blinking right below it along with a list of every single person on the server. Bdubs, Gem, Scar, Grian… Right, so it was in order at least. Mumbo scrolled through the entire list, frowning. What could this possibly be for? Maybe a chance at redemption?
He quickly scrolled back to his own name and pressed it.
Submit Vote
Finally, the robot backed away from the foot of his bed to the same spot where it had landed. With a quiet “Santa, away..!” it booted up his rockets, looked up and flew away.
He yawned as a sudden wave of exhaustion washed over him and his eyelids grew heavy. Soon enough, he was out like a light, his CPU turning on sleep mode.
<Trivia Santa Bot> The players have voted and 3 contestants are on the NAUGHTY LIST!
Mumbo awoke with a start, a sudden rush of adrenaline filling his body for some unknown reason.
The chat appeared in his peripheral, and he read it quickly.
“They will have a purple na-” Mumbo skimmed through the rest of the chat before immediately opening up the player list, horror dawning on him as, right at the top of his list, it said:
MumboJumbo
…
He had to run.
“What’s going on?” Skizz asked from the other side as Mumbo took out his shover, digging a hole straight through his wall. “Hey, that's my base you’re destroying! I- We worked very hard on it yesterday.”
“No time to talk Skizz. See you later! Please don’t come after me,” Mumbo shouted , sprinting out of the base. He ran towards the forest, hoping that the trees would hide him at least for a few minutes so he could form a plan.
Just as he paused to breathe, already out of breath, a scream could be heard behind him that sounded an awful lot like Jimmy. He didn’t have any time to feel scared as footsteps approached behind him. Mumbo could only groan quietly as he was forced to run further into the forest, settling behind a tree for a moment of reprieve.
He only got to close his eyes for a moment before he heard breathing right in front of him, snapping them open to see Grian centimeters away from face.
The shorter man let out a squawk as he was pushed away, boots skidding against the snow.
Mumbo was quick to pull out his iron sword, pointing it at Grian. Good thing this was what he crafted with his first few pieces of iron. “Unless you’re here to help me, this might not end well for you.”
“No, I am. I was- It’s whatever now. Most, if not everyone, are after you. If someone else had found you first you would’ve been reduced to a white cloud already.”
Mumbo lowered his sword (not fully, he wasn’t an idiot) and looked at him suspiciously. “Do the others know where I’m at right now?”
“Yes, obviously. Joel saw you run for the forest immediately. They’re just coming up with a plan right now so you don’t get away.”
“...And why haven’t you killed me?”
“I was going to! Then you pointed that sword in my face and if you hadn’t noticed I’m already yellow. I can’t risk getting killed by you.”
“Fair enough. I’m guessing you won’t help me then?”
“No. I have one less life than you, I believe I should prioritize myself.”
“Again, fair enough. Just- Don’t tell them where I’m at, and I won’t kill you.”
“Deal.”
Mumbo took Grian’s hand, shaking it just as an arrow flew past his head. He let go of Grian's hand and looked in the direction the arrow had come from, ducking as Scott fired another arrow.
“Teaming with dead meat are you, Grian?” Mumbo could hear Ren shout, Martyn’s laugh following.
Mumbo turned around immediately, leaving Grian as he sprinted in the opposite direction. He hissed as yet another arrow was fired, cutting through his sweater and leaving a small wound on his upper arm.
He let out a yelp as he turned, running straight into another person. Mumbo didn’t have a second to dwell on it as he turned, attempting to crawl away as fast as possible. A hand grabbed his ankle, and he turned to watch Gem raise her sword.
“So sorry Mumbo, but it’s the rules,” she said cheerfully, right before Mumbo managed to land a kick to her knee, breaking free and getting up swiftly.
He broke through the treeline, the sound of his heart pounding almost drowning out the mocking voices behind him demanding his death. Hell, a quick look behind him revealed even Scar was after him. He thought they had an alliance after grieving that cow together!
Suddenly he felt his foot slip on something, the removed snow revealing ice underneath. He fell to the ground, foot twisting in the process and firing up his pain receptors.
“Shit-” was all he got out before Cleo caught up with him, standing above him. Their grin sent terror through his body.
“Mumbo, hey! Let’s not struggle and make it swift. You don’t want it to hurt do you? Let me just line up my sword…”
He could only whimper, looking at his twisted ankle before meeting Cleo’s eyes as they managed to find the perfect position.
“See you at Skizz’s base. That’s where you slept, right? Let’s just hope he didn’t break your bed,” she chuckled, before plunging the sword straight through his motherboard and impaling it with a crack.
Mumbo choked, hearing sparks as the motherboard failed, his system shutting down. Luckily his pain receptors were shut off-
A scream ripped out of his throat as the artificial nerves decided to instead go haywire, firing off all over his body. It felt as if he had been set on fire, every single artificial nerve lighting up at the same time. Mumbo's vision began glitching, his peripheral growing red as the broken CPU worked overtime to shut him off. It attempted to send out a final error message, but the words just looked jumbled up as the nerves finally got shut off.
His body shut off shortly after that, the fail-safe kicking in and turning off every other function. The last thing he saw was Cleo’s face changing from proud to horrified before the world went black.