//------------------------------//
// Diggy Diggy Hole 
// Story: The Multiverse in a Nutshell 
// by Pennington Inkwell 
//------------------------------//

"Sunseeeet... My feet hurt..." Missy whined. "My legs hurt... My back hurts... Can I ride piggyback again?"

"Missy... You are my friend and I love you," Sunset took a deep breath, trying to hold herself back from snapping about her own aches and pain. "But I think if you jump on my back one more time, you're going to break it."

Somehow, their entire night of walking and mad dash to escape the death trap had put them approximately ten blocks from their initial hiding spot. Neither of them had brought it up, just exchanging tired looks and knowing the other one was equally upset. Both of them had been grouchy, exhausted, and sore when they set out walking for the day to make up for lost time.

Walking miles and miles like this REALLY makes me miss Sylvia...

At last, they were standing at the foot of the mountains where the beacon had sprung up. The two of them stared up the steep incline, pondering what they both were hoping was the final stretch.

"Are you... sure you can't fly?"

"About as sure as I am that I shouldn't be wearing iron."

Sunset groaned, reaching into her pocket and finding their last few pieces of cobblestone. "Alright... let's get climbing..."

Climbing up felt like swimming through mud, each one of her limbs was filled with lead. Missy didn't seem to be faring much better, even her wings had drooped so far the tips of her feathers were dragging on the ground. Block by agonizing block, they trudged, jumped, and built their way up the side of the mountain. Sunset was ready to collapse when they reached a plateau, where the beam of light was springing up from a hole in the ground. In a nearby wall, they could see what looked like a rectangular cave opening lined with obsidian leading down into the bowels of the earth. Beside her, Sunset could hear Missy's palm collide with her forehead.

"Underground... No wonder we couldn't find him, he was building underground!"

"Provided it even IS Penn down there..." Sunset muttered. "Someone or something's been messing with us ever since we left our wooden-" A brief look from Missy managed to convince Sunset to step down from her stance on what to call their original base, "-cabin."

Missy dragged her feet as she started walking towards the entrance. "Only one way to find out... At least it's all downhill from here, right?"

Sunset really wanted to believe her, but.... there was still plenty of time for things to go wrong, and walking straight into  another obsidian tunnel was NOT her idea of a good idea.

Sunset was glad to be working WITH gravity rather than against it as she descended the stairs. "If Penn built this... why all the obsidian? This is looking a lot like that place where we almost died last night..."

"Well, if I had to guess, something probably scared him into making a bunker instead of a base. Maybe the same thing that's been after us..." Missy gave a halfhearted shrug. "You know Penn... his motto is 'the best offense is a good defense.'"

"When he's not dropping black holes on people, you mean?" Sunset muttered in return.

"Heh... still can't imagine him actually DOING that. So cool..." Missy muttered, wobbling slightly as one of her legs threatened to give out underneath her. "I wish I could have seen it..."

Sunset perked up slightly as she heard a new sound winding its way up the tunnel from below them, the sound of a familiar voice.

"Die, monster!" Penn's voice called, echoing up from below. "You don't belong in this world!"

A chill ran up Sunset's spine as a second, gravely voice responded. "It is not by MY hand that I was once again given flesh... I was called here by HUMANS who wish to give me tribute!"

Sunset and Missy both pressed themselves to the wall, exchanging worried glances. Sunset slowly reached to her belt, grabbing hold of her iron sword. Missy did the same, retrieving the stone one Sunset had made for her. "Bad guy..." she whispered. Sunset nodded.

"Tribute? You steal men's souls and make them your slaves!"

"Perhaps the same could be said of ALL religions!" the evil-sounding voice replied.

Sunset leaned down to whisper in Missy's ear. "You think it's the same guy who trapped us in that death tunnel?"

"Probably..." Missy nodded in the direction the stairs were leading, and Sunset reciprocated. The two of them slowly resumed their descent, now trying their best to mute the sound of their footsteps.

"Your words are as empty as your soul!" Penn's voice declared, growing louder and more clear the deeper they descended. "Mankind ill needs a savior such as YOU!"

"What is a MAN? A miserable pile of secrets! But enough talk... HAVE AT YOU!" the villain declared, accompanied immediately after by the sound of clashing metal. Sunset watched Missy's eyes widen before raising her sword over her head and charging down the stairs.

"HANG ON, PENN! WE'RE COMING!"

"Missy, WAIT!" Sunset reached out to try and stop the overenthusiastic duel spirit, but Missy was already halfway down the remaining stairs.

Sunset's eyes widened in horror as the hallway in front of her exploded with motion and noise. Arrows and glass bottles flew in a hailstorm just in front of her face. She was forced to stumble back to narrowly avoid being caught in the crossfire, but Missy wasn't so lucky. Sunset watched as the younger girl was slammed on all sides by the automated onslaught, losing her footing in the barrage and barreling forward. Every impact as Missy plunged down was like a stab to Sunset's chest as Missy was brutally beaten by the combination of gravity and obsidian. Sunset's heart stopped when she fell down the remainder of the stairs, collapsing in a heap at the bottom and not moving. Arrows were poking out of her body at awkward angles, having easily pierced through her leather armor.

"MISSY!"

A figure rushed into view, clad in blackened armor. Instantly they dropped to their knees, gingerly inspecting Missy for a few seconds before reaching into their pocket.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Sunset screamed, watching helplessly from behind the wall of arrows. She kept trying to muster up the courage to charge through, but she knew her own leather armor would provide the same woefully inadequate protection.

The dark figure ignored her, carefully turning Missy over and lifting her off the ground with one hand on her small of her back. Missy gasped weakly, clearly in pain at even the small motion, but it was obvious they were trying to avoid driving the arrows in any deeper as they used their other hand to produce a glass bottle holding a deep crimson liquid, which they carefully trickled into her mouth. When the bottle was empty, they produced a shimmering golden orb, holding it up to her mouth. Sunset's eyes widened as Missy cooperated, biting down into the gold and weakly chewing. The stranger finally looked up the stairs at her, revealing a furious-looking Penn under the dark helmet.

"Why the HELL didn't you ring the DOORBELL?"

"Doorbell?" Sunset gestured to the flurry of arrows and dark potions flying past in front of her. "WHY IS YOUR FRONT DOOR A DEATHTRAP?"

Still keeping Missy balanced off the ground in one hand, Penn reached over and pulled at a lever out of sight. A second later, the array of automated attackers finally coming to a stop. Sunset didn't wait to rush down the stairs, immediately dropping to her knees and checking Missy closely.

Her eyes widened as she watched the arrows beginning to dissolve away into a glowing yellow powder, and the gaps they left behind in Missy's flesh instantly sealed themselves and mended together, as if there had never been an injury to begin with.

"It's a good thing I was keeping a Notch apple on me in case of emergency..." he muttered, breathing a sigh of relief. "What were you THINKING, rushing in like that?"

"Y-you were in trouble..." Missy whispered.

"I was sparring with an armor stand..." Penn shook his head.

"B-but we heard two voices!"

Penn's eyes widened before he pressed his palm against his forehead. After a second and several angrily mouthed words under his breath, he gave Missy a gentle stroke across her forehead and scooped her up into his arms.

"Well, don't worry... the bad guy's gone now, okay? Come on, I'll take you to bed so you can get some rest..." He nodded for Sunset to follow him as he stood up and walked away.

For the first time, Sunset was able to take a good look at their surroundings. For a cave, it was surprisingly lavish, with a floor of dark-colored hardwood and softly glowing lamps embedded in the ceiling. Every wall was smooth stone brick, punctuated by the occasional frame displaying some sort of item with a lever underneath it. In the center was a kind of pillar crafted from cobblestone with moss inching its way across the surface, and Sunset could see a bubbling pillar of water inside. Penn ignored it, turning toward a hallway leading out of the main room. Sunset followed close behind as the interior decor shifted. The hardwood gave way to red wool carpets punctuated by the occasional diamond-colored cyan outside other branching doors. Penn stuck to the main path, continuing on until the hallway opened up into another large room that took Sunset's breath away.

Books. SO many books. Bookcases lined the walls from floor to ceiling, higher than anyone could hope to reach unaided. Above and below them was warm-looking oak wood, and the entire room was lit by soft lamps below their feet and more of those glowing gold-colored blocks hanging from the ceiling, framed by fenceposts in a way that transformed them into homely chandeliers. The centerpiece of the room appeared to be a table made of black obsidian with a red cloth covering and embedded with diamonds in the four corners, surrounded by its own array of bookshelves. Glowing runes floated out from the shelves, passing through the air and into a book resting on top of the table, which floated in place and turned pages on its own.

He passed the table without a second glance, ducking behind the bookshelves surrounding it. After a few seconds, he emerged again, his arms now empty and dusting off his hands. Sunset peeked around the corner, seeing Missy resting peacefully in a bed tucked away behind the shelves.

"She should be fine now, any side effects of the spectral arrows should wear off by the time she wakes up..." he whispered. Sunset felt a wave of relief wash over her as the last of her worry and adrenaline washed away. Her legs buckled as her strength left with them, and only quick reflexes on Penn's part stopped her from falling unceremoniously to the ground. He looped her arm around his shoulders and walked them back to the central room. She didn't question him as he pulled on a lever beneath a framed potion bottle. One of the blocks of stone brick slipped down into the floor, exposing a hidden chest behind the wall. He used his free hand to reach inside, producing a bottle matching the one in the frame, which he passed to her. Sunset nodded gratefully before uncorking the top and tilting the contents into her mouth.

The maroon-colored liquid was spicy and sent burning tingles across her tongue, occasionally sparking painfully like pop rocks. She nearly had a coughing fit when the heat hit the back of her throat, but she forced herself to choke it down. By the time the last of the liquid trickled into her mouth, she was already feeling fresh strength seep into her limbs, and she was able to step away from Penn under her own power.

"T-thanks..."

"Don't thank me, yet. That'll only last about eight minutes." Penn sighed and ran his hand down his face before reaching up and removing his blackened helmet. "Let me make a run to storage for some wool and I can make you another bed, but before I do... Did you SERIOUSLY not see the signs I put up? 'Friends ring doorbell, all others keep out!'"

Sunset shook her head. "Seriously, Penn, there were NO signs! Just an open tunnel leading down!"

Penn's brow furrowed for a moment, and Sunset caught a spark of rage in his eyes.

"He took down my signs... He WANTED you two to get caught in that..." After a few seconds, he shook his head, and the wrath was gone as quickly as it had come. He gave her a tired smile, tears brimming in his eyes before he rushed forward and wrapped his arms around her in one of his vice-like hugs. 	"Where have you two BEEN? I missed you so much!"

Sunset didn't hesitate to use her freshly recovered strength to return the embrace. "I know, I'm sorry! It took almost four days for us to see your beacon, and two more to make it all the way here! I never meant to leave you on your own for a whole week!" She looked over his shoulder at the bunker they were currently standing in. "Still, I never imagined you'd be able to build all of THIS so fast! Missy and I could barely make a wooden box and call it a cabin!"

Sunset felt Penn break off the hug and grip her shoulders, pushing her away and holding her at arm's length.

"Sunset... it's been almost a month for me!"

Sunset blinked, barely able to believe her ears. "W-what? No, that's not possible! Missy and I couldn't have waited more than thirty seconds before we ran in after you, and I KNOW my counting the days here can't be THAT off!"

The two of them sat in silence for a moment, each one dumbfounded by the other's response. Sunset was the first one to speak again as the solution came to her.

"Time dilation... The portal must have caused it. For me and Missy it was just a few seconds before we came in after you, but here..."

"Weeks passed..." Penn whispered, eyes wide.

"Guess that makes sense of the fact Isis hasn't tried to get in contact... It's probably been about ten seconds out there." Sunset shook her head."It's a good thing we didn't decide to wait five minutes and see if you came back on your own."

"You WHAT?"


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"Anyway, once you know how this world works and a few little tricks you can exploit, survival really is just an exercise in avoiding unnecessary risk!" Penn leaned back in his "chair," which was a set of stairs flanked by two wooden signs. "And we all know I'm good at that!"

Sunset and Missy exchanged skeptical looks, but said nothing to argue the point.

The two of them had slept comfortably through the night in Penn's library, and he'd been more than eager to give them the grand tour the next day. Suddenly, between knowing about the warped time and Penn's casual expertise about the game, the fancy bunker they had found themselves in made a lot more sense. He'd taken them around, showing them his many automated processes and different kinds of farms. Sunset had almost panicked when he said he'd found a "monster spawner," but the skeletons it produced were contained safely behind glass and funneled into a killing chamber. Just past the library was an underground lake that he claimed to use for fishing (while lamenting that he couldn't fit a swimming pool IN the library). The water column she'd noticed earlier led up through several layers of farms of all kinds. Penn seemed dismissive to the idea of stopping at any of them "unless you're interested in watching grass grow." The topmost floor (which was still fairly deep underground, by Sunset's calculations) was the home of the first living PEOPLE Sunset had ever seen.

They weren't exactly human, with tall, rectangular heads, no hair, and bulbous noses, and they only seemed to be able to communicate in grunts and hums, but they all seemed happy to be living in the safety of Penn's bunker. On the far end of the area, Sunset could see what looked like huge metal men flowing down a stream of water and dropping out of sight. Sunset almost couldn't bear the sight of Missy trying to learn to communicate with them, it was too cute.

"Hrm..."

"Hrm!"

"Hrrrrm."

"Hrrn."

Eventually, they'd all settled together in a plush-looking room at the bottom of the base, where the majority of the floor consisted of dark grey stone with flecks of white, and she and Penn had explained their realization about the time difference to Missy.

"So... it's like in Bleach? When Ichigo goes and trains in that world where hundreds of years can go by in five minutes?"

Penn chuckled. "Something like that, yeah."

"So..." Missy stroked her chin thoughtfully, "If we just waited, you would have come back with superpowers after years of intense training?"

"No, I would have come back as an old man who wouldn't be driving the two of you anywhere." Penn folded his arms with an unamused frown. "Or not at all."

Missy rolled her eyes. "Right. You'd totally come back with superpowers..."

Sunset decided to change the subject before this turned into an argument. "Okay, but that still doesn't explain the fact your front door nearly killed us!" She gestured to the room they were sitting in. "OR why you built an underground bunker reinforced with obsidian!"

"Yeah, how'd you do that, anyway?" Missy scratched at her head. "I mean, obsidian's not exactly easy to come by!"

This seemed to have the desired effect of pulling Penn's thoughts away from the idea of being left on his own here, returning him to his smug demeanor. "How? Well, let's just say there's one less lava lake in the Nether because of me. As for why..." His eyes flickered from side to side, as if worried that he was being watched.

"There's an old legend about Minecraft... that the creator has a long-lost brother who died tragically... And his vengeful spirit came here, occupying the world of the game." He leaned forward, and Sunset and Missy did the same. "They say he manifests as a player with the default skin, but with glowing. white. eyes. He stalks players, following them from a distance until he's ready to strike! Sometimes he'll just make small changes, stripping the leaves off of trees or building sand pyramids in the middle of the ocean-" Sunset felt a chill run down her spine as she recognized one of their own encounters, "-and sometimes, he lures people into deadly traps or mobs of monsters! One minute you're playing along, happy as can be, and the next you're getting suffocated until a mountain of sand or falling into a huge pit that appeared out of nowhere! And his name... is Herobrine."

"So... you've seen him?" Sunset whispered. "THAT'S what you were trying to stop from getting in?"

Penn paused, giving both of them a wary glance before grinning and leaning back in his seat.

"Of course not! The whole thing was a hoax! The creator of the game never HAD a brother! Everyone who ever had 'proof' either admitted it was a scam or were exposed for faking it! Even the game itself got in on the joke, they started putting 'Removed Herobrine' at the end of every update's change log, even though he was never there!" He chuckled to himself. "You two have no neeed to be worried about Herobrine! The looks on your faces were priceless, though!"

"I'm just messing with you! Minecraft players love destroying as much as they love creating, if not more, including other people's bases! If you want to survive a week on a multiplayer server, you know how to player-proof your house!" He was still grinning from ear to ear as he shook his head dismissively. "I really had you girls going there, didn't I? Sorry, but between the atmosphere and how long it's been for me, I couldn't resist a little ghost story!"

"Penn... I think we DID run into Herobrine." Sunset whispered.

Penn's chuckling came to a sudden stop.

"Yeah... I mean, we even got trapped in a tunnel that almost dropped us into lava!" Missy added.

Penn's eyes narrowed and his smile began to fall away. It was clear that they had 100 percent of his attention as he rested his elbows on his knees and leaned forward to stare them in the eyes.

"Tell me everything. Start at the beginning, and when you get to the end, stop."

Penn had listened to their story with rapt attention, never stopping them for more than a few seconds to ask for clarification or double-check something one of them had said with the other (specifically some of Missy's more fantastical details).

"And that's when we heard you arguing with-" Missy blinked. "Who WERE you arguing with?"

Penn rolled his eyes. "For the LAST time, it was just my armor stand! I got bored, I was quoting Castlevania while I was sparring with my practice dummy!"

"Then... who was the second voice?" Sunset asked. Penn grinned and leaned back in his seat, a potion bottle appearing in his hand. The next time he opened his mouth, it was the same voice they had heard the day before, growling and full of malice and condescension.

"What is a man? A miserable little pile of SECRETS!" His expression hardly matched his menacing voice, grinning gleefully as he threw the potion bottle to the ground and created a cloud of sweet-smelling vapors. "But enough talk! HAVE AT YOU!"

Sunset and Missy both sat in stunned silence for a moment.

"You are scarily good at that."

"I know, right? You should hear me do Khan's speeches from Star Trek 2!" He chuckled for a moment before settling back down into his seat. "Still, my voice acting aside... I REALLY don't like what you were telling me. It sounds like you girls might have had a REAL run-in with Herobrine." His brow furrowed in frustration. "If I'm honest, I'd seen a couple signs here, but... I thought I was just starting to go nuts after being isolated so long. I just built the front door defenses to make myself feel better."

"So... how do we STOP him?" Sunset asked. This crazy base was all the proof she needed to know that Penn was an expert on this world, and she was eager to put that knowledge to work.

"We don't. CLEARLY all attempts to get rid of him have failed. We just have to get out of here as fast as we can... And I think I have a theory about where to find the portal home." He rose up out of his seat, walking over and grimacing as he gave a tug on the shoulder of Sunset's leather chestplate. "But first, this is woefully inadequate! You girls need to be kitted out, so let's go break open my diamond stash!"

"That's big talk coming from a guy in dirty iron..." Missy muttered, giving his own outfit a wary look.

Penn raised an eyebrow while pressing a hand to his chest in mock insult. "Dirty IRON? Sweetheart, this is Netherite! A lava-proof combination of diamond, gold, and netherite scraps! I scraped this suit together from the depths of Hell, itself!" He dusted his knuckles on his chestplate before blowing off his hand. "I'd offer you the same, but the scraps of ore are even rarer than diamonds, this is my only set!"

"I think that diamond armor will be more than enough." Sunset smiled. "I'm sorry we're making you use up so many resources..."

From the way Penn waved her off, Sunset was almost certain he was channeling Rarity for a moment. "Pfft, don't worry about it! You can only have so many blue rocks before you get sick of the color! Now come on, we've got lots of crafting and enchanting to do if we want to survive to test my theory about where the portal home is!"

"And where is that, exactly?"

"Well, it's just a theory, but... I think it might be at The End."

Sunset felt another shiver run down her spine, leaving her deeply unsettled again. For a moment, she thought of the nightmare she'd had when she first arrived.

"There wouldn't happen to be a dragon there, would there?"

Penn nodded as he walked towards the door. "Yeah... which is why we're all going to NEED maxed-out armor... To be honest, I never actually BEAT the ender dragon in survival mode." He rubbed awkwardly at the back of his head. "I always got bored and started a new world before that... So we're going to need every advantage we can get."

Sunset thought back to the sheer, overwhelming presence she had felt before.

"Y-yeah, let's get to work."


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Penn took a deep breath as he walked down the hall from his library. Once they'd finished their tour for the day and crafted up two fresh sets of diamond armor, he'd ushered Missy and Sunset to bed while he set himself to work on the enchanting side of things.

It had taken several hours of hard work on the enchanting table, his collection of enchanted books, and an anvil, occasionally broken up by trips to his skeleton spawner, but he'd finally put together two full sets of armor.

Weapons will have to wait until tomorrow... I'll need to hit the XP farm again before I can do any more...

Just as he was about to step into the bubble elevator leading up to his village, he stopped. He could feel a presence behind him, boring into him with a hateful stare. He knew who it was and where it was coming from by instinct. Slowly, he turned to the opening of his base, spying the intruder clearly for the first time.

He was a man with sun-browned skin and a stubbly beard, dressed in tattered blue jeans and a ripped cyan shirt. His head spasmed wildly every few seconds, but Penn could feel that the eye contact was somehow unbroken. He seemed to be leaving hazy afterimages of himself without moving, creating a time-bending fog around himself.

We were so worried about Missy, we forgot to turn the security system back on...

"It's HIS FAULT Missy got hurt! MAKE HIM PAY!"

Penn reached down, taking a firm hold of his crossbow and leveling it towards the intruder. There was already a spectral arrow loaded and ready to fly.

"Now that I FINALLY know you're real, you show your face..."

The entity didn't respond, continuing to jerk and twitch violently as it stared daggers into his soul.

"And I'm only going to tell you this once: I don't want to see it." His grip tightened, teasing the trigger. "Because of you and me, Missy almost died, and I don't know what that would mean for her here. she clearly doesn't go poof like other duel spirits do. That means I'm gonna treat any attempt to destroy her like an attempt on her life."

He didn't flinch when he pulled the trigger, but Herobrine was already gone. The arrow embedded itself in the stairs for a second before dissolving into the same glowstone dust that granted its "spectral" properties. He made his way over and flicked on the lever to activate the security system. Above, he heard the sound of tripwires being tensioned, and he knew that the gap in his defenses was once again sealed. The base was secure, with Missy and Sunset locked safely inside.

"That's your ONLY warning."