Minecraft: A New Adventure

by Blackdrag-rose


The Last Soulstone

Following their departure from Pandora's hidden realm, which explained why Raijin was guarding it from trespassers, the group returned to their village with all the haste they could muster, as Alex needed some modifications to her armor and, at the same time, wanted it lighter than before, so it wouldn't weight her down.

"So what happened exactly?" Octavia asked, speaking once they returned to the village and had landed, Pinkie heading into her workshop with the armor that had been handed to her, as this gave her and Steve a chance to look at Alex's new tiger body, making her wonder if there was a race in Pandora's realm that they had missed.

"I was tackling my test, which required me to only have my weapon and basic clothing, when a dart hit me and injected some sort of liquid into my body," Alex replied, as she had been thinking about it and was positive that the projectile in question had been laced with some sort of transformation drug, given her rather serious and sudden transformation, though she just stood there for a moment as her new ears twitched and her tail moved, as everything about her had improved thanks to the dart and the test, "resulting in my transformed form... I've got to say, heading into that temple was a good idea, as I feel ready for whatever the future throws at us."

Steve and Octavia opened their mouths to say something, though before they could do so they closed them as Pinkie came out of her workshop, making several measurements of Alex's new body and where her new additions were located, so her armor could be modified easily, before returning to her work.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Steve asked, because he was worried for Alex, due to the fact that this was the first time either of them had seen something like this, not counting Pinkie's transformation into a dragon hybrid creature, even if she wasn't worried about her sudden change into her new form, "Maybe we should head back and get that dart, so Octavia can mix up a cure for you?"

"While I'm sure she could do that, I don't think it would be necessary... especially since I'm sure this was part of Pandora's plan for us." Alex said, where she shifted her stance and leapt up onto the top of Pinkie's workshop, before crossing over to the roofs of some of the other buildings that had been built nearby, ending with her landing near the pair as she stretched for a moment, as her new body was amazing, she felt like a real predator now, "You have to admit, my new speed with keep me out of danger and allow me to hit our enemies where they'll least expect it... I might be able to turn the tide of our fights with this body."

"If she's fine with it, we should accept it." Octavia remarked, as she was eager to see what Alex could do with her new body, in terms of skills and abilities, and knew that they would be able to test her out soon enough, because they had that symbol on the Desert Crypt's walls to check out, as it might give them the last Soulstone they needed, "However, once we're done with the powerful monsters that serve the Admins, we should return to the Jungle Temple and see what else that world has to offer us... we might find more than what we saw during our brief stay."

As Steve and Alex considered the idea, and the possible dangers that were associated with it, Pinkie emerged and walked up to where they were standing, presenting Alex with the new and improved armor pieces that she had asked for, which looked identical to what she had started with, but she trusted Pinkie to have made some changes. While Alex put the new armor on she immediately noticed that it felt much lighter than before, even though it was clearly made of the same materials that all of their armor was made out of, before spotting new holes for her tiger ears to fit through, a hole for her new tail, and even some plating to protect one side of her tail. Once everything was on, and she found that they still fit like a charm, she put all of it to the test by repeating the jumps she had done earlier, when she was showing Steve and Octavia a bit of her skills, only to find that the armor was definitely far lighter than she remembered it being, meaning she would be able to utilize her new form's gifts without having to sacrifice anything in return. As such she returned to where the others were standing and let a smile grace her face, because Pinkie's work was truly outstanding and her new body was a true blessing, as she felt ready for anything now as she readied her bow for a few seconds, even if it was returned to her back after that.

After that everyone simply rested for some time, as traveling and tackling Pandora's tests took a bit out of them, though as they did that Pinkie planned where to built the monument that they found in the crypt, as she was sure that it was tied to the last Soulstone they needed to obtain.

Once everyone was ready to go, after about half an hour of rest, the group departed from the village once more and they followed Pinkie, who headed towards the area the dragons had fallen in, as it would give Octavia a chance to check up on the Crimson Cultists before they summoned whatever creature held the last Soulstone. When they reached their target area Octavia headed into the cave and found that the Cultists were still inside their cavern Fortress, oddly enough, but if they were going to stay in this area, instead of heading out and doing damage to the rest of the world, she was fine with them staying there. With that done she turned around and headed outside once more, quickly returning to the area that Pinkie, Steve, and Alex were working in, two of them terraforming some of the area to give them a flat area for the statue to rest in, as Pinkie was carefully placing the obsidian and diamond block down. Octavia landed nearby and dismissed her Morock when she noticed that the others had done the same to their own, allowing her to observe them as they worked on the area, though once Steve and Alex were finished with their task they pulled back and got ready.

The moment Pinkie was done with her work she pulled out a Soulkey and used it on the diamond block before backing off, where they watched as the statue was consumed before their eyes as a dark blue Grue, one that was easily twice as large as an ordinary Grue, appeared in it's place. Octavia could tell that it was stronger than a normal Grue, given the materials required to summon it in to where they were standing, though for the most part it seemed like it was more like a normal one in terms of combat abilities, a disappointment for sure. What annoyed them were some of the abilities that it had, as it attacked faster, hit harder, and even inflicted blindness and slowness on whoever it hit, though there was one other skill it had that was even more annoying to deal with, which Alex discovered as she struck the monster with her fist, since it hit her in return. The Lunar Grue had the power to force one's armor to be removed, as Alex found that both of her gauntlets were knocked off at first, before the next few collisions reduced her to the unarmored state she had been in during her trial earlier, though instead of being annoyed she focused on backing off and loosed arrows into the monster, pushing the Lunar Grue into the attacks that the others had prepared for it.

Even though they were sure that the creature was stronger than a normal Grue, and could confirm it while they fought it, Pinkie, Steve, Octavia, and Alex were able to topple the monster in no time at all and found that it dropped several items that were common to the monsters of this world, along with a dark purple Soulstone with a skull icon.

"And there's the third Soulstone... we'll be able to make all three Soulcubes now." Octavia commented, though while she was disturbed by the ease of recovering the third and final Soulstone, which Pinkie juggled to make multiple of them, the progress they made put a smile on her face, while Alex slipped on her armor again, no doubt silently cursing the fact that she had been forced to take her armor off twice now, once with her own hand and the other by magic, "We should be able to start our assault soon, right?"

"Just got to make the Soulcubes... but first, let's rest and ready ourselves for the battles ahead." Pinkie replied, as she and the others knew that facing the might of Rahovart, Asmodeus, and Amalgalich were going to be three of the hardest fights that any of them would take part in, so getting some well deserved rest would prepare them for what they were about to do.

The others nodded as they summoned their Morocks and headed back towards the village, as they agreed with her and knew that tomorrow was going to be one of the toughest days of their lives, especially since none of them knew what sort of powers the beings had, one they were looking forward to tackling with all of their might.