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Tango was walking through the nether with Pearl and Etho, the three of them were exploring the nether in preparation of setting up the mail system. They were looking around for good places to build the whole system that was going to make this whole thing work.
Mainly they were just looking for an area that was already flat so that there was space. But also a place that didn't have too many mobs that could destroy their building. A place like that was hard to find in the nether, but Pearl, Etho and Tango were determined to try.
The three of them had been walking for a while now, chatting about everything and nothing as they worked. Tango could see the way the heat was affecting the two around him, the way that they were sweating and slowing down more. But the heat wasn't something that bothered him.
He was a blaze hybrid after all. The heat of the nether only made him feel more alive. He felt like nothing could stop him as he breathed in the burning smell that came from the pools of lava right beneath them. He loved the light coming from pure lava as if mixed with the darkness around them.
“Can we take a quick break? I really don’t like this heat” Etho suddenly said, breaking Tango out of his thoughts. He took a closer look at Etho, trying to figure out if the man was okay. Etho was an Arctic fox hybrid. He was made literally to survive in the cold, not in the heat.
Pearl and Tango immediately stopped, “Of course we can take a break. Just tell us if we need to go back to the over world” Tango said, placing a hand on Etho's shoulder. The man shook his head as he sat down, wiping his brow from the sweat that had gathered there.
“Yeah we get it, the heat here is really annoying. Especially since we're this close to the lave” Pearl said motioning to the lava all around them. It was obvious that she liked the heat soarce a lot less than Tango did, Tango couldn't blame her. “Thanks guys, but I’ll be fine for a little while longer,” Etho said with a small smile.
Pearl handed Etho some water from her bag and drank some water herself. She held out another bottle towards Tango “Want some Tango?” She asked, but Tango already started shaking his head. “Nah I’m fine” Tango said, he didn’t need any water it would be smarter to keep the water for Pearl and Etho since they actually needed it.
“Are you sure, I don’t think you’ve drank anything since we’ve entered the nether” Etho noted, it was true but he would be fine. “We have enough water if that’s what you’re worried about” Pearl said as if she was reading his mind.
“No, no I’m fine, really. I don’t need any water” Tango said, Pearl handed him a water bottle anyway. “Pearl I-“ Tango protested, but the woman interrupted him before he could finish his sentence. “Nope I don’t want to hear it. It’s up to you if you want to drink it but that water bottle is for you” Pearl decided, leaving no room for argument.
Etho chuckled, but Pearl wasn't done with her lectures. “And you mister" She said as she turned towards the wolf hybrid. "You better tell us if you need to turn back around” Etho stopped laughing at that, lowering his head. “I will, I promise” Etho responded “Good” Pearl said.
They sat there for a little while before Etho announced that he was ready to go again. It kind of felt like they were just having a nice picnic. If it hadn't been for the lava, Tango might have actually thought that it was. It was nice just sitting there, chatting about everything and nothing.
The three soon got back up, Tango and Pearl both keeping an eye on Etho. Tango looked away for a second to look at the water bottle that was still in his hand. The thing was completely full and unopened. He wasn’t planning on drinking it, he was made for the nether he would be fine.
They continued walking for a while, Pearl and Etho were talking about something. Tango wasn’t listening, he was walking behind them. It was weird, the energy that he had felt coursing through his veins was now draining quickly. Every step seemed to be a little harder than the last.
But that was fine, he was probably just getting a bit tired, nothing he should worry about. Every once in a while Tango would catch Pearl or Etho looking over their shoulder at him. He would simply sent them a smile, reassuring them that he was fine and they would go back to their conversation.
As time passed, walking got even harder, every step becoming a challenge. At one point it got too hard and Tango stopped walking all together. It wasn't that he didn't want to keep walking, he just couldn't. His body stopped responding to him, the black spots that had been appearing in the sides of his eyes creeping more and more into his main vision.
He dropped the water bottle without realizing it, Tango followed the thing with his eyes. Staring down at the bottle that had just fallen to the ground. He wanted to duck down to pick it up but his body simply wasn’t listening to him. “Tango?” Pearl asked, she had turned to look at him again and seen that he had stopped walking.
Pearl shared a look with Etho as they hurried back to Tango. “Are you okay?” Etho asked, placing a hand on Tango's shoulder. Tango didn’t answer, he couldn't answer. The black spots were making it hard to see and sounds were pushed to the background.
He was starting to feel really bad and his body wasn’t listening to his brain.
“Okay, I think that it’s time for us to leave now” Pearl said, worry clear in her voice now. She kept her eyes on Tango, scanning the area around them for the nearest nether portal. Tango tried to move, to protest but nothing happened. They couldn’t leave yet, they hadn’t found the right spot yet.
If Etho could stay in the nether than Tango should be fine too. He was made to be in the nether, why was he feeling this bad now? Tango was about to take a step, his body finally listening to him. But the second he lifted his foot the rest of his body went down.
The ground was now slowly coming towards him, Tango felt like he was falling in slow motion. Right before he hit the ground he felt hands grabbing him, catching him right before he could hit the ground. “Okay so he’s definitely not okay,” Etho said, pointing out the obvious.
Etho and Pearl lifted Tango and started carrying him to their nether portal. Tango hung between the two, barely able to see anything. They talked in hushed voices, sharing concerned looks every once in a while. “Is he warmer than he usually is?” Pearl asked “I think so, wait can we stop for a little bit” Etho said, Etho and Pearl placed Tango down.
They put his head on Etho’s lab, using it as a pillow. Tango felt a hand on his forehead “He’s definitely warmer than he usually is” Pearl said, she took another water bottle out of her bag and helped the barely conscious Tango drink it.
“Do you have any fire resistance potions? Those might help get his fever down” Etho said, Pearl handed the water bottle that she was giving Tango to Etho. He started helping Tango drink the water instead so that Pearl had her hands free to go through her bag.
Tango felt useless laying there, but his body didn't allow him to do anything. The water streaming down his throat was relieving, it felt like he hadn't gotten anything to drink in weeks. He hungrily swallowed all of it, but Etho made sure that a consistent amount came out the whole time.
It took a few seconds before Pearl found something in her bag “Yes, but I only have one” She said. “That will have to do” Etho said, he pulled the water bottle away from Tango’s lips. Tango let out a whine, he wanted the cold water back. Another bottle was pressed to his lips, but this time it was a potion.
Tango recognized the potion, it was fire resistance. Blaze hybrids couldn’t have fire resistance potions, it was bad for them. Tango tried to move away from the bottle, he tried to tell his friends that he couldn’t have fire resistance.
Unspoken words burned in the back of his throat, words that never made their way out. His friends didn't seem to understand. “Come on Tango, this will help” Etho said, Tango tried to tell him that it wouldn't. He opened his mouth but that did nothing but allow Etho to push the potion in.
Tango felt the liquid go down his throat, he couldn’t stop it now. The liquid burnt, it immediately made Tango feel worse again. All the energy that he had left slowly disappeared and Tango was left just closing his eyes and allowing his body to drift into unconsciousness.
“Okay that should help, we should still get him out of the nether though” Pearl said, she stood back up and helped Etho with getting Tango up. The two of them walked back to the nether portal, moving faster than they had done before despite both being exhausted. The walk back was quiet, the only sound that could be heard was the lava in the background.
Pearl and Etho kept checking up on Tango every few steps. Until finally they reached the overworld. The two walked through the nether portal, feeling the change in temperature immediately. Relief washed over Pearl and Tango as they took in the fresh air, new energy immediately found them.
“Where should we take him?” Pearl asked, glancing over at the unconscious man between her and Etho. “I think that just taking him back to his base would be best. His base isn’t that far away anyway” Etho said, Pearl nodded and the two of them started walking again, this time to Tango's base.
When they got there they spotted Impulse.“Hey Impulse, what are you doing here?” Pearl asked, Impulse froze, it looked like they had caught him doing something that he wasn’t supposed to do. “Oh you know just looking ar- Wow, is he okay?” Impulse asked when he turned to look at them.
His eyes went wide when he saw the state that Tango was in. He took a few steps closer to the trio, his brow furrowed. “He’s fine, we were in the nether for a while. We think that he got a bit overheated" Explained, Impulse walked towards them and picked Tango up like he weighed nothing.
Tango curled closer to Impulse but kept his eyes closed.
“Where were you taking him?” Impulse asked, concern in his voice as he looked at the man in his arms. “His house” Etho replied, Impulse started walking to Tango’s house with Tango in his arms. Pearl and Etho just followed him, they walked inside and watched as Impulse placed the blaze hybrid onto his bed.
Impulse looked down at Tango, he looked like he was in actual pain. His eyes were squeezed shut, soft whimpers left him every few seconds and his brow was slightly lowered. “How long were you three in the nether?” Impulse asked, he'd never seen Tango like this before.
The two had gone into the nether plenty of times, never had Tango reacted like this. And the heat, the heat had never affected him. “About two hours, but Tango refused to drink anything during that time,” Pearl explained, Impulse nodded.
“Yeah that sounds like him, whenever we go to the nether he says that he can handle everything in the nether. He’s right about being able to handle the heat but he forgets that he still needs to drink and eat” Impulse said, by now he knew that whenever he went into the nether with Tango that he needed to keep an eye on him.
“Wait, the heat doesn’t affect him?” Pearl asked.
“Nope, he could swim through lava and be totally fine,” Impulse said, remembering a time when Tango had actually fallen into lava. He was fine, his clothes were a bit less fine. A small smile came to Impulse his lips at the memory but it was wiped away when another whimper came from Tango.
“But then why is he warmer than usual?” Etho asked. “Because he was in the nether for two hours, he still gets warm, it just doesn’t affect him. He actually thinks the heat is nice” Impulse explained. He had done a lot of research about blaze hybrids when he met Tango.
“So he doesn’t have a fever?” Pearl asked
“Nope” Impulse simply answered.
Impulse could see that Pearl was about to say something else but out of nowhere Tango shot up from bed. He put legs to the side of the bed like he was about to stand up “Woah Tango, come on lay back down. You’re gonna need more rest” Impulse said, standing next to him.
He brought his hands to Tango's shoulder to stir him back to the bed. But then he saw the man's expression, he looked panicked.
Tango started to shake his head, his hand came up to cover his mouth. “What’s wrong?” Impulse asked, Etho seemed to get the message though. The wolf hybrid stood up and ran to the other side of the room, grabbing the trash can from there and shoving it into Tango's lap.
Tango didn’t waste a second, he hugged the trash can to his chest and started throwing up. Barely anything came out and it didn’t take long before Tango was just dry heaving. Impulse rubbed slow circles on Tango’s back “Let it out, it’s okay”
After a few minutes Tango was done, he let himself fall onto his bed. Etho took the trash can away again “I’ll get you some water” Etho said before he left the room. “Was he sick when you left?” Impulse asked confused.
He'd never heard of dehydration making someone throw up before. Sure, they'd sometimes get dizzy but never dizzy enough to start throwing up. Maybe Tango had already been sick before he entered the nether, that seemed to make more sense than that this was just from dehydration.
Being in the nether wouldn’t have made the sickness any better.
“No, not that I know of at least. He was acting perfectly fine until like twenty minutes before we left the nether” Pearl said, that wasn't explaining any of this. “How was he acting?” Impulse asked, the whole situation was weird. “Well he just went really quiet and started walking slower” Pearl started explaining.
Etho returned with the water, Impulse helped Tango sit up and held the glass to Tango’s lips. Tango opened his eyes for a second before drinking the water. “I kept glancing back at him to see if he was okay, but he looked fine” Pearl said, she looked over at Etho “Right? I didn’t miss anything, right?”
“Yeah, he looked fine. But then we heard him drop the water bottle that he was holding and he stopped walking. We went up to him and he wasn’t responding and then he just fell. We gave him some water and then brought him here” Etho said.
“Fi-re resssistence” Tango mumbled from where he was laying, Impulse, Etho and Pearl's attention was immediately drawn to the man. “What did you say buddy?” Impulse asked “Fire resistance” Tango said, clearer this time. Impulse’s concern grew “What does he mean with that?” He asked as he turned to Pearl and Etho.
“Oh yeah we gave him a fire resistance potion for his fever” Etho said.
“You did what!” Impulse said, he stood up. “What? We just gave him a fire resistance potion. What's the problem?” Etho asked, Impulse saw the concern on Etho’s and Pearl’s faces grow but he couldn’t think about that right now.
He looked back over at Tango, that certainly explained that then. “Blaze hybrids can’t have fire resistance, it’s dangerous for them” Impulse explained. “Wh-what do you mean?” Pearl asked, now starting to panic.
“Blaze hybrids are supposed to be warm, you can’t give them fire resistance. It’s like giving a dog chocolate” Impulse explained, he looked at Tango again and realized that he had no idea what to do. Tango had never had a fire resistance potion before, or at least not with Impulse there.
“What, we didn’t know, is- is he gonna be okay?” Etho said, guilt now clear in his voice. “I don’t know, I’ve never seen him like this. Tango, do you know what to do?” Impulse asked, hoping that the blaze hybrid was conscious enough to answer.
“Hmm just let me rest, I threw up most of it already anyway” Tango mumbled, his eyes still closed. The man looked exhausted and despite not being affected by warmth had a layor of sweat covering him. “Oh Tango we’re so sorry, we really didn’t know” Pearl said.
“It’s alright” Tango said, slurring his words heavily.
Impulse shook his head and shot into action. He took Tango in his arms and placed him on the bed so he was laying down again. A shiver ran over the man, his teeth clattering. This really couldn't be good. Impulse covered the man in the blanket that was laying on the bed but it didn't seem to do anything. His worry only grew, Tango wasn't supposed to shiver.
“I’ll get you some more blankets,” Impulse said before leaving the room.
“I’ll make you some soup, that will warm you right back up” Pearl said, she too left the room. Etho thought about something that he could do, he was feeling really guilty and wanted to find a way to make it up to Tango.
Etho looked at Tango who was still shivering, it only made him feel more guilty. Of course blaze hybrids couldn’t have fire resistance potions, why would they? Tango’s hair was literally made out to fire. Of course heat wouldn’t affect him in any way.
Impulse returned and covered Tango in the blankets that he had gotten. “Is- is there anything I can do to help?” Etho asked. “I- I don’t know, I have no idea what to do here. This hasn’t happened before or well at least not with me there” Impulse answered.
“Should we ask someone if they know what to do?” Etho asked.
“Yeah, but I have no idea who would know anything about blaze hybrids. Tango is the only blaze hybrid I’ve ever met” Impulse said, Etho also didn’t know any other blaze hybrids. “I think we should just make him as comfortable as possible” Impulse eventually said with a sigh.
“Yeah” Etho said, there was nothing he could do. He was just staring at Tango, the pain that Tango was in was clear on his face. And that pain was Etho’s fault “I’m gonna see how far Pearl is with the soup” Etho said.
He left the room and walked downstairs, Pearl was already making soup in the kitchen. “Do you feel as guilty as I do?” The woman asked when Etho took a place next to her, not even looking up from what she was doing.
“Yup, maybe even worse. I can’t believe it, we basically poisoned Tango” Etho said. “Can I help with the soup in any way?” He asked, maybe if he could do something to make it up to Tango he would feel better.
“No, we just need to wait for it to boil now” Pearl said, “We have to do something to make it up to him” Pearl said, it was like she had read Etho’s thoughts. “Yeah, but what?” Etho asked. “I don’t know, let’s just get the soup to him when it’s done”
And so when the soup was done they brought it to Tango, Tango was still laying in bed shivering. Impulse was now sitting next to him and they were silently chatting, Impulse was carrying the conversations but Tango did look better than before.
“We got you soup” Pearl said, she handed the soup to Tango and she and Etho were about to walk away again. “Where are you two going?” Tango asked, Etho and Pearl stopped and turned back around.
“We didn’t think you would want us here, we are the reason all of this happened to you” Etho said, but Tango just smiled “No you’re not, this is my own fault”
“But we-“ Pearl started but Tango started shaking his head “I was the one who refused to drink water. If I had just stayed hydrated then I wouldn’t have passed out and you two wouldn’t have tried to help me. You didn’t know that I’m not supposed to drink fire resistance, you were just trying to help”
“You’re not angry at us?” Etho asked, almost scared to hear the answer.
“Of course not, now come join us. We’re gonna watch a movie” Tango said, Pearl and Etho shared a look before joining him. Tango laughed and turned on some random movie, the four of them sat there for the rest of the day.
Etho and Pearl let Tango pick all the movie’s as an apology.
They now knew to never give a blaze hybrid fire resistance, they would make sure that Tango would never get a fire resistance potion again. They didn’t think they would ever need to make sure that didn’t happen, but it turned out that many people didn’t know that blaze hybrids couldn’t have fire resistance.