Different feathers fly away together
"I think we got everything." Jessica leaped down from the tree, Jesse was more modest of descending down the ladder instead.
"Let's roll," Axel signaled to the group.
"Yeah, dude, roll." Olivia commented.
"Let's go," Jesse brushed through the group to lead in the middle as all of them began to walk through the forest together.
"Anyways, I heard a pretty juicy rumor about the building competition, but you guys have to promise not to say anything," Axel began, not even after a few seconds as everyone started walking.
Olivia was casual about anything that comes out of Axel's mouth, by how frequent he's done it throughout their time being friends. "Okay,"
"Also, it's in two parts, each part more exciting than the last." Axel continued, but Jessica grew impatient and leaped onto Jesse's shoulders to perch on him.
Jesse didn't seem to struggle, Jessica wasn't as heavy as he had assumed during her previous flying practice. Jessica knew better than to think her brother sees her as dead weight, deep down they still seemed to be content with each other's close presence.
"Come on, spit it out, Axel!" Jessica leaned forward over Jesse's head, luckily none of them fell over as they continued walking.
Olivia held a cautious look when glancing at the twins, then back at Axel as he explained his so called "rumors" he picked up, "Part one, the special guest at this year's Endercon is none other than Gabriel the Warrior him-freaking self."
Jesse's wings visibly puffed with anxiousness, he was always told about the warrior with broad wings similar to his own. But somehow, Jesse would always instinctively look at his own wings to compare if he could possibly be just as an experienced fighter like Gabriel someday. Perhaps have the strength to protect his sister and possibly have his own tale spun as an experienced warrior similarly to the special guest at Endercon. This could be the day where he gets to meet his hero...if his sister doesn't mess him over. As sweet as she can be, she's also loose with her words about embarrassing stories to new peers. It's a miracle that Axel and Olivia stuck around the most.
Jesse had to shake off the mind dumping as he straightened his posture, leading Jessica to nearly fall back off his shoulders. Jesse turned his head to Axel, sounding almost eager, "...And, what's part two?"
Axel responded, "Part two, according to my sources, the winner of the building competition's going to get to meet him! It doesn't mean anything if we lose. But if we win, oh man, this would make up for all the losing."
Jesse called it in his mind, if they win, he'll reach his goal. Perhaps he'll know exactly the wingspan and estimate how long it would take for his own feathers to be just as great to swoop over enemies and take to the sky just as quick with strong broad feathers as sharp as any diamond sword as it slices through the wind. He could just imagine it...
Jessica noticed the look on her brother's face, "Wouldn't that be a dream and an honor, J?"
"Totally, he's awesome! It would be amazing to meet him!" Olivia added to the excitement.
Axel looked over to Reuben, not to far behind, "Reuben better be careful in that costume. The last time Gabriel saw a dragon, it didn't end well."
Olivia looked around the forest for a moment, then back at Axel with skepticism, "So...does this 'source' of yours make posters for a living?"
There were a lot of posters, some the team already had back at the treehouse. But nailed all over the forest trees was a whole other mess. Jessica felt disturbed by the environment being overrun by posters of Gabriel's face on it, an Amulet, and the Endercon Poster for the current year. There was also a nearby sign labeled "Gabriel Keynotes: Sold Out" near one of the trees covered in two block posters.
"...I'm going to say the source doesn't exist." Jessica looked over to Axel.
"Yeah, you guys are my only friends." Axel admitted dispassionately.
Jesse snapped his fingers to draw the attention back on the journey, "Come on, guys, let's stay focused. We've got a competition to win."
"You always say that before you leave, then you come back and say you lost. You got me and Reuben this year, it could work but don't jinx it too much or we might just be doomed to fail." Jessica trotted over to walk beside her brother.
"Didn't take you for someone who believed in that stuff." Jesse glanced over to his sister.
"You kept telling her about stuff like that when we were younger." Olivia lifted a brow, "But she may be right, saying all that might cause the opposite to happen. Remember the time you said it wasn't going to rain when we were walking back to the treehouse, rain immediately began to pour and we had to run through the forest in wet clothes."
"A miscalculation in the weather," Jesse looked away, but then he thought of something, "...Throughout our time in the building competition, it was never just to build...something...You have to do something to get noticed by the judges."
Olivia stopped in front of the group, "Okay, so how do we do this?"
Jesse relaxed his wings as he looked over to the group, "We don't just build something functional, we build something fun. After we finish the fireworks machine, like we planned-"
"You could build something cool on top of it." Jessica tilted her head.
"Exactly!" Jesse nodded.
"You might be onto something," Olivia shrugged.
Axel glanced over to Olivia before speaking his suggestion, "If you want to get a reaction out of the judges, you build something scary, so I say we build a creeper."
"Well...fireworks explode, so does creepers, it does fit." Jessica shrugged.
Axel nodded, "Yeah, that's what I was thinking."
"You were quick to Axel's idea..." Olivia shook her head and muttered, Axel picked up on the Arachnid's words and looked back over to Olivia.
"What's wrong with my idea," He argued.
"Nothing, it could be totally cool." Olivia avoided eye contact with the Shulk beside her, deep down she was a little peeved.
Jesse nodded in agreement, "We just have to make sure we got everything we need, but it wouldn't hurt to grab a little more. Jess, you-"
"I got green dye, a few ink sacs...and I kind of worn down the shears a bit after seeing a herd of sheep the other day. I do have stone, a few oak logs...sand?" Jess pulled out a load of items from her inventory.
Jesse had to double take on how much there was, "Where did you get all of that?"
"...I've just, collected bit by bit and kept it in my inventory for a while. I didn't put anything I had in the chest just in case anyone needed to store something." Jessica shrugged.
"Jess, why do you do this?" Jesse sighed, lightly shrouding his face in his wings.
"I knew this year would be the day you'd give me a chance so I got as much as I can." Jessica's tail was swaying at a moderate pace, she was excited and perhaps proud of herself with being an extra set of hands to help out.
"I suppose we're ready to step back into the challenge-"
Jessica trilled with excitement and zoomed through the forest, Jesse sprinted after her, "Hey! I told you to stay close!"
"We're here!" Jessica beamed.
The twins were the only ones that weren't out of breath, both Axel and Olivia staggered behind for a moment.
"Well, looks like the entry stand hasn't closed yet..." Jesse glanced up ahead, then back at Jessica, who seemed to be narrowing her eyes at the sight.
Turns out another group was already registering for partaking in the building competition, consisting of a Ocelot team...mostly one ocelot as the leader while the others wore matching leather jackets with an ocelot decal on their backs.
"Oh, great, there's Lukas and the Ocelots. The rivalry continues..." Axel muttered as the group drew closer to the line.
"Man, they got matching leather jackets and everything..." Olivia commented.
Jesse glanced over to Jessica who was hesitating a few seconds before following beside her brother, "I'm starting to regret coming along, out of all people I had to see, it was Aiden..."
One of the ocelot members was a blazeborn, looking over to the new team behind them, "Well, well, well, if it isn't the order of the Losers."
The enderian glanced over to the members before turning her head away and chuckling almost as if they aren't worth gazing at for an extended few seconds, "Great, the fail squad's here."
The Merling nudged the Ocelot leader, causing one of his soft ears to flick.
"Hey, Lukas, get a load of these losers." The Merling mused.
Lukas, the main ocelot of the group, didn't waste time looking over before signaling his team with a flick of his tail, "Let's go guys."
Jessica was the first to proceed after watching the group leave the desk as she went over to the staff maintaining the registry, "Name please?"
"Axel, and how do you do?" Axel introduced himself.
"No, your team name," The staff corrected.
A team name made up on the spot, that was something Jesse wasn't prepared for, no one else thought of that until now. The ocelots behind the fences were laughing with each other, possibly at the group who couldn't figure out a name before stumbling upon the desk.
Jessica was the first to speak, "We are the Dead Enders."
"Woah, sounds like a name for pirates." Axel seemed to be impressed by the name.
"It's cool." Olivia simply said.
"Okay, Dead Enders, you guys are in Booth 5." The staff responded.
Axel had trouble fitting through the gates at first, Olivia followed as Jesse walked beside Jessica and whispered, "...You got that from a book, didn't you?"
"It's my favorite story...It just popped into my mind at the second." Jessica hissed back.
The group made it to the sign labeled "Booth 5" with an open space to start their build, Axel was occupied looking over to the booth next to them which was coincidentally where The Ocelots have been stationed to.
"Is that a freaking beacon? They have a freaking beacon!? Freaking beacon!?" Axel was freaking over a freaking beacon.
Olivia observed further, "That's stained glass, they aren't just building a beacon...they're building a rainbow beacon."
Jessica was quick to dismiss it all, perhaps it was from a clear distaste for someone on that team, she scoffed, "Our design is way cooler, that fancy light has nothing against us."
Olivia looked over to Jessica blinked, "Their difficulty score is going to be higher than our total score."
"Since when did they count difficulty?!" Jessica raised her wings.
"...Last year, they added a few more rules." Jesse shrugged.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me..." Jessica turned and hid her face in one of Jesse's wings, but he didn't seem to be phased. He already noticed, the ocelots were coming over, so Jesse held her close behind him.
"Hahaha! Look, it's the order of the Losers, again." The Merling sneered.
The Enderian laughed along to the joke, "Good one, Gill."
Olivia shook her head and set her hands onto her hips with mild annoyance, "We're just looking."
"There will be plenty of time for you all to look at it after it wins and gets shown at Endercon." The blazeborn huffed with pride.
Axel glared, "You're being unpleasant."
Yet, the blazeborn didn't pay him any mind, "Maybe not all of you, Endercon doesn't allow outside food or drink."
Jessica knew what exactly that meant, pointing out Reuben in the ender dragon costume. Once again pushing Jessica's buttons either intentionally or unintentionally but her brother beat her to it.
"Shut up," Jesse took a step forward, shielding Reuben from the blazeborn.
"What's that?" The blazeborn sensed a challenge and started to push further.
"Jesse said "shut up", do you need to hear it again?" Olivia stood beside Jesse and narrowed her eyes.
"I dunno, maybe." Before the blazeborn could say another word, the ocelot called out to him, "Stop wasting your time, Aiden. We've got work to do."
The rest of the group ceased their taunts and leers, Aiden looked back over to the Dead Enders group with a huff, "You're lucky I'm busy."
A voice called beside the booth of the Dead Enders, a redhead with a iron pickaxe resting on her shoulder, a normal human but overall causal with other sentient mobs talking.
"Hey, Jess. Guys." She greeted to the group.
Jessica was quick to smile upon recognition of who it was, "Hey, Petra."
"How's the build going?" Petra asked.
Axel shrugged, "Only time will tell, but we're optimistic."
Lukas noticed who appeared and walked over through his group, "Hey, Petra, I forgot to thank you for that nether star."
Petra shrugged, "Hey, Lukas, not a problem."
"You helped these tools?" Axel seemed almost appalled that an ally was helping an enemy.
"For the right price, I'll help anyone. If you need anything, you know where to find me." With such mysterious introduction, Petra was just as quick to leave.
Olivia stared for a moment, "But none of us know where to find you."
"Exactly,"
Jessica looked to Jesse, both of them agreed she was strange. Did she needed to cross the booths just to mine somewhere, or was she just dropping by? No one will know.
"No hard feelings guys. If you're cool with Petra, you're cool with us." Lukas redirected the conversation back to the competition, "So why don't we just forget all of this, and, y'know...make this about how cool our builds are."
"May the best team win," Jesse simply responded.
"Careful what you wish for," Lukas smiled.
"We'll see about that." Jesse lifted a brow.
Maybe he wasn't so bad, but the rest of the ocelot team needed a readjustment to their behavior towards other teams trying their best.
Jessica noticed the way the two boys looked at each other, something was starting.