Chapter Text
When Etho woke up this morning, this is not the day they had in mind. While drinking tea on their porch, their communicator pinged. A text from Zadaph. That could mean a multitude of things, Etho sighed and set down their cup, feeling a swift breeze of the early autumn morning. They spare a quick glance at the device sitting next to their mug,, knowing Zed he probably wanted Ethos help to test a new experiment or do a brief check of his redstone. While Ethos had planned to work on a new shulker sorter, or get more blueprints finalized for ravager rush, they decided they could use a break at least once in a while. Plus their curious nature couldn't be helped. A clawed hand pickles up the communicator, looking at Zed's contact.
Zedaph- Hey Shady E, u doin smth?
Etho chuckled at the nickname and improper use of grammar Zed always seemed to use, even on important messages.
Ethoslab- What whacky experiment am i helping you with this time?
Zedaph- Soo is that a yess-?
Ethoslab- Be over in 10
Closing their communicator with a click, Etho stood from the porch swing, stretching as they did so; and walked back inside with their mug. As they collected their stuff, they to themself not knowing what they had signed up for. The mad scientist was known for crazy and kooky machines and potions as well as redstone which shouldn't have any chance of working, but Zed himself defies all odds. After grabbing a few extra rockets Etho launches into the sky heading towards Zed's base.
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Zed stared at his communicator, hopping up and down with excitement, hooves clacking on the stone floor. He wouldn't say Etho was hard to get ahold of-, but the fox hybrid rarely sets down their work for an undisclosed amount of time out of the blue, so it was nice that he got to see them. Zed decides as he waits to go ready they machine as it takes about 30 minutes to fully heat up.
Zed walked out to the clearing left of this base numbing to himself, bopping his head to the tune, he wasn't entirely sure what the tune was, just something he heard flying past Joel's base the day prior. As he busted himself with the controls a tap on his shoulder broke him out of his brief trance. “You singing the song from Joel's honey shop?” Zed let out a sharp yelp ‘GAH- Dont DO THAT-!” Zed exclaimed as he spun on one hoof to see a very sheepish looking Etho. Etho cocked their head to one side, letting a tall fox ear flop to one side innocently “Should i have said ‘Hi’ First?” Zed could practically SEE Ethos grin through the mask.
At Zed's lack of response Etho continued “ So what monstrosity have you cooked up this time.” It was said as a statement more than a question; gesturing with their head up the machine in front of the two. The front of the thing had dials and cranks that Zed was messing with when Etho dropped in, with thick wires and wire tubing all leading to a center point which was a glass capsule with a door, big enough for even the tallest species on the server, which was Doc; the area surrounding the door was a trail of looping lights that were definitely more for the aesthetic than practicality.
Zedaph beamed with pride looking at his machine, he tilted his nose up as he began to explain. “While the idea sorta came from Grian- I improved upon it and made the design 100% Zedaph baby!” Zed had a dopy scanning Etho for a reaction. They simply nodded along, “So what's it do?” Zed paused, “ What, can't you tell?” Etho shook their head, ears shifting slightly. Zed palmed his face “That's right you didn't go on the Empires trip!” He glanced at Etho to see if they were still following along, and they were, so he continued. “ In Empires Grian made a device to shrink some of the hermits by about a foot.” He made a shrinking gesture with his hooved hands. “And I decided to expand upon it” He triumphantly looked upwards. “Why a foot in height when you could BE a foot in height!”
He looked straight to Etho, Etho was relatively tall, only really beaten by Skiz, Doc, and X; Plus their ears add about 203.2 millimeters, or 8 inches , but no one really counts that. Except for Zed, Zed counts it and they are too tall for his liking, also he would really like to see a little Etho. Zed continues to stare at Etho trying to gauge their reaction, but alas, you can never rely on their ears to see their emotion or their eyes for that matter, Etho tends to be a wall of obscure emotion, you never truly know what they're thinking.
Etho eyed the machine, sometimes glancing back at Zed. “Is it safe-” Zed swatted the question away. “Oh Etho, who do you think I am, of course it's not. Well maybe, we'll just have to see won't we.” Etho simply shrugged and took a few steps forward before glancing back at Zed. “ Is it ready?” Nodding Zed returned to the control panel typing something in. Chuckling, he added. “All you've said to be today have been questions. I'm starting to think you question my genius.” he whipped his head to the side dramatically in mock offence. Etho rolled their mismatched eyes, already in the tube. “You're right, your experiments have never gone wrong before.” Sarcasm evident in their voice.
Zed pressed the button with enthusiasm and the machine sparked to life. It made all sorts of beeping sounds and random clunks that Zed assumed were normal. The sound of build up could be heard in the machine, a sort of wiring noise that let Zed know the change was happening. He was about to call out to Etho when smoke started coming from the connector cables and actual sparks started to shoot out, Zed looked around in panic. Something was very wrong with the machine, something was wrong with the machine and Etho was inside. Zed started spamming buttons and pulling levers trying to shut it down but to no avail, he ran to the door of the glass tube as fast as his goat legs would take him. The glass was all fogged over by a yellow mist, he couldn't see inside, he couldn't see his friend, Zed doesn't know what went wrong, it worked fine in testing. He himself went into the machine and it worked! He was small for a few hours, but the mist in the chamber was blue then, and it definitely isn't blue now.
Grabbing the small divot of a handle he tried to pry the door open, he heaved feeling the door fight against him, pain shot threw his hands as he continued to pull but it wouldn't budge. With a clenched fist Zed started to bang on the glass in hope Etho would hear something was wrong. “Etho!, Etho can you hear me!” Zed shouted seconds felt like an eternity waiting for a response that never came. He needed to do something, and do it fast, Etho had been in there for what felt like too long and with the fail of the machine Zed feared for the safety of them. With fleeting hope Zed pulled out his com to contact the rest of the server, after rushing a few quick sentences he threw his communicator as he then ran to the power force the machine was plugged into. He put one hoof against the wall above the thick cable plugged into the wall to secure his grip and pulled, he didnt feel the distant shake of this other leg or the pain in his palms, he couldn't care right now. Finally, the cord gave out, Zed was launched back from the force of his pulling, his face slamming into the ground as he fell, one of his horns also scraped the ground making an agonizing sound. He sat there for the briefest moment the felt too long but long enough for sweat to start to drip off his face and onto the stone ground.
Fshhhhhhoomp
phhsssst
The sound alerted Zed to the problem still at hand, his head rocked up fast enough to get whiplash, without waiting a second to recover Zed was on his feet and before he knew it he was at the door of the machine, the fog like mist was pooling out of the open door as Zed started anxiously to see his friend, sweat still dripping from his face. Distantly he could hear the sound of his com pinging repeatedly in the background but he paid it no mind. As the fog cleared, his heart sank, there was in fact a small Etho, but not the kind they were going for. Zed looked in horror of the toddler in front of him looking no less than 3, he didn't know what caused this. He didn't think he could've even gotten this result from this machine, the sound of his com stopped only to be replaced by the sound of rockets.