After the team defeated that squid and got the white puzzle piece from him, they decided to swim back up to the surface. Pink Sheep volunteered to be the first one to swim up, and so he did. After taking a deep breath, he plunged his body out of the airy sanctuary of the ocean monument, swimming upwards. Although Pink Sheep’s breath started to dwindle, it only took a minute for him to reach the surface. Pink Sheep doggy paddled to the very nearby Jungle Island, panting and huffing because he was so out-of-shape, but after he got there, he caught his breath. After he stopped sputtering and wheezing, he yelled out for all the hashtag-pod to hear.
“YO YO YO WE DID IT!!!!!!!”
Mouse Sheep’s head popped out of the water, as apparently he was the next one to step out of the ocean monument. As he started to swim over, Homie Dolphin poked his head out of the water.
”Shit, FR?” Homie Dolphin asked.
”Yes, for real.” Mouse Sheep replied, having found his way to where Pink Sheep was.
White Sheep poked her head out of the water. She made her way over to Jungle Island, just like her two teammates.
Mouse Sheep said, “Okay, three of us are on the island. I guess Purple Shep is going to pop his head out of the water next, right?”
White Sheep worriedly responded, “Actually, Purple Shep started swimming before me…”
“HahA!” A familiar voice rang out.
Everyone turned their head to the direction of the voice. To everybody’s horror (even Pink Sheep’s!) they saw Purple Shep swimming in the opposite direction of the island.
A unified chorus of ”OH SHIT!” came from the herd.
Even though Homie Dolphin thought Purple Shep was ugly and stupid, he didn’t want the little dragon-lamb to die in the freezing ocean. No sheep or dragon could swim long enough to reach land from here. Homie Dolphin dived underwater at breakneck speeds to chase after Purple Shep, swimming fast enough to feel the chilly water hitting his face, much like how a land animal would feel wind in the same scenario.
After what felt like forever but was probably only a few seconds, Homie Dolphin managed to turn Purple Shep around. Now the young boy was cheerfully paddling towards the right direction. Pink Sheep breathed a sigh of relief. Although Purple Shep was annoying, he was still their son.
Purple Shep arrived at the island happily, shaking his wool out like a dog. Of course, because of just how fluffy sheep wool is, it would take a lot longer for the hatchling to dry off in the sun, but at least he wasn’t so wet that his wool was dripping like an overfilled sponge. Shep trotted up to the rest of the freshly-formed herd having a conversation.
“So we’re actually pretty close to land,” said Mouse Sheep, pointing at his map. “We should be able to get there in an hour or two!”
Pink Sheep hopped onto Homie Dolphin, with a couple more of his hashtag-podmates quickly coming to support their friend. “Okay then, let’s go, I’m getting impatient.”
White Sheep said, “O-oh, already?”
”I guess so,” replied Mouse Sheep, who was getting on a dolphin of his own.
”oh gOlLy HeLLo!!!” yelled Purple Shep.
And so each sheep got back on their respective dolphins, on their way to the Orange Mountains.
~~~~~
After about an hour of nothing but blue sky and even bluer water, the hashtag-pod finally was close enough to land for the herd to easily swim to the beach. Most of the team said their thanks and goodbye, while Pink Sheep and Homie Dolphin were making out, somehow. Purple Shep had no reaction, as this was obviously a normal thing for him. However, the same could not be said for White Sheep and Mouse Sheep.
”What the fuck…?” Mouse Sheep glanced over at White Sheep, who was clearly just as confused as he was.
Pink Sheep pulled out of the kiss. “It’s called kissing the homies goodbye, and it’s not gay,” they explained.
White Sheep and Mouse Sheep looked at each other, confused.
”Haven’t you ever kissed the homies before?” Homie Dolphin asked.
“No…!” White Sheep answered, confusion and exasperation in her voice.
”Of course they haven’t,” Pink Sheep added with a scoff. “Their mustaches are not on fleek.”
Mouse Sheep, in the middle of a facehoof, scolded, “For God’s sake, stop making out. We need to make it to the Orange Mountains as soon as possible!” he looked up at the sky to see the location of the sun. “And it’s already noon. If we want to make any kind of progress today, we have to get going now.”
”Ugh, fine,” puffed Pink Sheep. “Cya, Homie Dolphin!”
”Cya!” Pink Sheep’s best friend responded.
And so the group of four began their long journey towards the Orange Mountains for real. Even with the weight of their wool (and in Pink Sheep’s case, fat as well,) dragging them to the bottom of the sea like lead weights all over their skins, they all swam over to the sandy beach. Well, except for Purple Shep, who didn’t swim so much as he was carried by the scruff by White Sheep, who didn’t want him to paddle in the wrong direction again.
Mouse Sheep arrived at the beach first. Although his wool was still weighing him down, he was able to move his body atop the wet sand. He sat down, waiting for the other three to arrive. White Sheep arrived second, dropping Purple Shep the moment she could. Purple Shep, once again, shook out his wool like a dog, getting White Sheep’s hat all wet. While White Sheep was muttering expletives and complaining about how wet her hat had gotten that day, Pink Sheep threw himself onto the land last, panting out of sheer exhaustion. He collapsed on the ground the moment he stood up. However, his rest would not last long.
”hEllO dAdDy.”
”hEllO dAdDy.”
”hEllO dAdDy.”
”hEllO dAdDy.”
”hEllO dAdDy.”
Purple Shep was giving his father a little kick with one of his front hooves every time he had said those words. Not enough to be painful, but enough to be annoying.
”hEllO dAdDy.”
”hEllO dAdDy.”
”hEllO dAdDy.”
“Shut up,” Pink Sheep groaned.
Mouse Sheep joined Purple Shep in his annoyance of Pink Sheep.
”hEllO dAdDy.”
“Hello, Pink Sheep.”
”hEllO dAdDy.”
“Hello, Pink Sheep.”
”hEllO dAdDy.”
“Hello, Pink Sheep.“
Now there were two hooves kicking at them. Wonderful.
”hEllO dAdDy.”
“Hello, Pink She-”
”OH MY GOODNESS WILL YOU TWO STOP!?!?!?” Pink Sheep yelled, suddenly standing up.
Purple Shep lowered his head and put his ears down. “I’m sOrrY dadDy.”
”Alright, alright, fine,” Mouse Sheep replied with a smirk on his face.
~~~
After everyone had gotten up and (somewhat) dried off, they began walking through plains stretching far beyond what the eye could see. Not even a single tree or bush could be seen, let alone any orange mountains, although they did run into a nether portal, brandished in such a way that it was an obvious portal to the nether highway. Mouse Sheep led the expedition, bounding ahead of the rest of the herd. Purple Shep was in the air above him, occasionally crashing, but always getting back up. White Sheep was trotting quietly, her hooves hitting the ground with a soft thump. Pink Sheep was behind everyone else. Their head was bowed and their ears curved downwards. They were miserable.
Pink Sheep had never been that athletic, and his diet mostly consisted of “Prankster Gangster Fuel,” AKA Doritos and Mountain Dew. And yet, over the past four days, he had been constantly moving and running around. His hooves hurt and his muscles ached. To sour his mood even more, he left most of his Doritos and Mountain Dew at Mouse Sheep and Glitter-Glue Sheep’s house and the few of his stash he brought with him he had already eaten up. This made it so that after the herd sat down at the nearby pond to have a lunch break, he had to eat grass (ew!) and drink the most unthinkable thing for an epic prankster gangster pro gamer like himself: water.
Pink Sheep thought back to the last time they ever ate grass. It was actually relatively recent, only a few years ago. A young hater with a blue cap had shaved off their magnificent pink wool. Pink Sheep was devastated. The only way for them to ever recover from this was to eat some grass. It was the only way for their beautiful wool to grow back.
It was about then that the herd ran into a small hut. It was made of oak wood, with a roof of cobblestone. Clearly, the person who made it built it relatively recently. There was a sign on the door saying, “Wife and Husband’s house.” Obviously, these Wife and Husband fellas had found an oak tree nearby, as there was a line of oak trees right outside the house.
However, what caught Pink Sheep’s eyes the most was a small fence enclosure. Inside the enclosure was a beautiful light blue sheep. Her wool sparkled in the sunlight, almost looking crystalline. She had a barrette in her head-wool that looked like a flower, but Pink Sheep couldn’t figure out what kind. But what he really noticed was her perfect, long eyelashes.
Mouse Sheep broke Pink Sheep’s trance, saying, “Huh, I guess somebody lives here. We should probably get out of here before they get back…”
Pink Sheep heard the faintest whisper from White Sheep, “Hey, what about that other she-“
A boy walked up to the herd. He had a blue vest and cap, and his shirt was white with blue stripes on the arms. He wore jeans, and his shoes were the same shade of brown as his hair.
White Sheep hid behind Mouse Sheep. Pink Sheep stepped up to the boy.
”What are you doing here?” He asked.
”We’re heading over to the Orange Mountains, and your house happened to be here.”
”Oh.”
”What’s your name?” Pink Sheep asked, tilting his head to the side like a dog.
“Wife,” the boy responded. “What’s yours?”
”I like that name. My name is Pink Sheep.”
”That name sucks,” Wife said, putting his hands on his hips. “You just suck in general. I’ve seen your videos. They all suck.”
Pink Sheep’s eyes narrowed. His ears fell to his head in anger. Mouse Sheep cringed at his thoughts of what Pink Sheep was going to do. However, Pink Sheep didn’t do anything physically violent. Instead, he growled the war cry of the Prankster Gangster Nation. It was a cry every prankster gangster, no matter how recently they joined, knew by heart:
”HATER ALERT!!! HATER ALERT!!! HATER ALERT!!!”
While Pink Sheep and Wife were arguing, White Sheep slipped away to talk to the blue sheep.
”Hey,” whispered White Sheep.
”Hey,” the blue sheep responded.
”Do you need help?” White Sheep asked worriedly.
”Yes! I’ve been trapped here for days!” The blue sheep sighed.
”Okay, blue sheep, here’s what we’re going to do. These fences are too strong to be knocked over by bucking it down, but if we buck the fence from both sides, we may be able to break it,” White Sheep explained.
”Okay… I hope this works.”
”Three…”
White Sheep began the countdown.
”Two…”
Purple Shep cowered in fear at Pink Sheep’s and Wife’s argument.
”One…”
The two ewes prepared to buck the fence.
”GO!!!” White Sheep yelled the loudest anyone has heard her yell as the two girls bucked the fence.
To the blue sheep’s surprise, it worked. The fence collapsed with a thud. Unfortunately, the noise caught Wife’s attention. As he stormed over, White Sheep made the bravest move she had made in a very long time.
”RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!” She yelled.
Pink Sheep picked up his shaking son, and the sheep all ran around Wife’s house. The quartet all ran as fast as they could, even Pink Sheep, who was lagging behind the rest of the group. They ran swiftly into the horizon, away from Wife.