mindcracklove | Sem Equites--Chapter two (Formerly Etho's Dream)

Back to link hub: http://mindcracklove.dreamwidth.org/783519.html

So, y'all wanted this. I have no clue where to take it. Feel free to leave ideas.

Sorry about the change of story name. But the original name was too cheesy. And this fits better.

Note: yes, my name really is Shawn. You can call me that or zombi or some form of my tag up there ^.

Etho looked over at the zombie. "So, what do I call you, then?"

He looked over at Etho. They were walking through a tunnel in the Nether. Another place that Etho had thought was a dream. "You can call me Shawn."

Etho nodded. "Where are we going? Obviously it's that way," he pointed down the tunnel. "but what's over there?"

"A Salad. Sort of." Shawn smiled. "You'll see."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

As they neared the end of the tunnel, Etho saw something he knew not to be normal, even here. Here that he thought was a dream. There was a portal. Not a normal Nether portal though. It was made of bedrock, and the rift inside was a greenish gold color. Like Mountain Dew. He wondered what Mountain Dew was, where he'd heard if it from. It certainly didn't exist anywhere he'd been, dream or real.

Shawn walked straight up to the portal. "Come on in."

Etho stepped in. This one felt different than the Nether portal. It was more like walking through a door. As he stepped out, he found himself in a large open room. He realized belatedly that he was in some kind of hotel lobby thing.

Shawn stepped into the room behind him. "Welcome to Salad. We're actually below the bedrock of the Overworld right now. When you and the other Mindcrackers began breaking the bedrock in the Nether to get on the roof, we realized we could do the same thing for below the Overworld. Then, we found a way to harvest the bedrock to build that portal. Want a tour?"

Etho was looking around, looking everywhere. He was amazed. The decor was beautiful, there were hard wood floors, plants, banners. He felt like he wouldn't need to leave ever again. "Sure. If this place is important, I should know my way around."

~~~~~~~~

The easy rundown if the building was this:
Top floor: lobby and food court.
Second floor: library.
Third floor: swimming pool.
Fourth through seventh floors: apartments.
Eighth and ninth: other recreational facilities.
Tenth: offices, medical center, etc.
Eleventh: anything else, but mostly empty.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Having reached the last floor, Shawn reached down to his tablet on his arm and pushed a button. Well, tapped the screen since it was a touch screen.

A panel on the wall slid open, revealing a hidden chamber. No, a hidden COMPLEX. It had everything a military setup would require. Absolutely everything.

Shawn looked over to Etho. He smiled. Etho was shocked at the hidden base in a hotel, and it was obvious despite the face mask.

"And these are the Sem Equites." said Shawn. He stepped through the now open doorway and gestured for Etho to do the same. The ninja walked in, very quietly--like always.

"And, what do you do, exactly?" Asked Etho. He'd never seen such a large well organized group before.

"After you disappeared," started Shawn. "I formed this group to find you. I went all around the building, asking people I knew for a fact I could trust with a secret if they would help me. Once I had a decent group, I started building this facility. But after we finished the tracking center, we realized there were... other interested parties. So, instead of just looking for you we began to trying and protect Mindcrack's sovereignty. There was a large army coming to overrun Mindcrack a few months ago, and we drove 'em back before they got there. But a couple days ago, everyone disappeared. No sign of them. Every building abandoned. We shifted our man power over to finding you, because you'll be able to help us find them."

"Alright." Replied Etho. "Where do I start?"

"Let me flag someone down real quick." He looked around the command center, trying to find someone in particular. "Um... they aren't here... Hold on. Hey, Yuna!"

A woman with red hair that came down to around the base of her skull looked up from the computer she was looking at. Etho noticed that she also had red eyes, which he thought made her look like an anime character. She wore a black tank top that ended a few inches above her waist, a pair of black shorts, red converse and a headset. Etho guessed she was about five and a half feet tall.

"Yes, sir?" She asked.

"What's goin' on out there?" Shawn asked. "And what's our status in here? Aaaand... where did Salt and Ratsy go?"

"There's some unusual movement in the forest. Looting parties maybe. Salt and Ratsy took AJ and Elektron to check it out. Down here, all is fairly quiet. A few people have been in and out, but nothing serious." She looked over at Etho. "I see your mission was successful." She stepped around the console and extended her hand towards him. "I'm Yuna Kurosachi." Etho took her hand and shook it.

"Yes, yes it was. Could you see that Etho here gets an apartment? Try to keep it on the down low that we have a Mindcracker here? The Saladers upstairs wouldn't let him get any rest if they found out. I'm going to go help Salt and the others."

"Yes sir. Is operation Save the Whales a go?"

Shawn thought for a minute. Etho wondered what he'd gotten himself into here. "Yeah, I suppose it is. Send out a general notification that there's a meeting at--what time is it?--let's say 06:00."

So, thoughts? Comments? Screams of outrage?

If you have an idea let me know. Especially if you're a character and I'm doing something wrong, or you have a request for your character. I never even considered asking if anyone had a shipping request, so if you do please let me know.