Usurped - The Veggie Caliphate

MiecraftMan fears leaving his room on the moon, but he dreads returning to his palace even more.  The ghosts of war and history lie etched in the walls of the place MiecraftMan once called home.  The moon wasn’t much better, for entirely different reasons.

Relations with Colin are strained to say the least, and the Yemeni officials maintain a cold air of hostility.  He avoids Nickelz and Qy, fearing flashbacks of the war, and of times when hope for the Veggie Caliphate seemed bleak.  The other emperors weren’t much of a delightful company either.

The end of life on the moon draws closer and closer, and soon the time will come to leave back to Earth.  Everywhere MiecraftMan goes though, the walls are laughing at his back.  He hears the whispers.  He knows what they say about him.  He pretends to be unperturbed, but it takes a great mental toll on him.

“He got us into all this, now he’s on a shuttle with us all fine and dandy?”

“He’s just a child, he can’t rule an empire.”

“Tsk tsk, shouldn’t he be back in Africa hopelessly attempting to settle his own rebellions without making treaties here with us?”

“He stole Benin.”

“Won’t look so happy with a knife in his back.”

Hmm, that was a new one.  MiecraftMan stole a quick glance behind him, and saw the leader of Yemen and his general whispering intensely in a corner.  One of them caught Miecraft’s glance, and his dark, uncompromising eyes tore deep into MiecraftMan’s soul.  The eyes.  Those cold, hard, evil eyes staring straight into him.  MiecraftMan shuddered.  And to think peace was an option.

The treaty is sealed.  MiecraftMan, 88pikachu, and two VC generals are given a shuttle by the Blaze Empire, and begin the journey back to Earth.

The trip flies by.  Pikachu tries fruitlessly to cheer his emperor up, but to no avail.  The generals maintain a distance, wondering what they should be doing.

The shuttle arrives at the Veggie Caliphate.  MiecraftMan puts on a “cheery face”, and waves at the crowd.  He assures everybody the treaty went well, assures everybody that the Veggie Caliphate and himself are, indeed, fine for a change.  They think all is well.  They don’t know better.  They couldn’t be any more wrong, however.

The palace looms up ahead.  The Royal Farm sprawls around him.  He takes a deep breath and enters the palace.  Breath.  Just calm down and breathe.  Viniga can not hurt you.  Yako can not hurt you.  Those crabby old officials that want to take your freedom and clarity of mind can not hurt you.  MiecraftMan closes his eyes and breathes.

His eyes jolt open.  He bolts upright, sweat covers his face.  Just a dream.  He looks around him, and sees the familiar sight of his chambers.  Not that that’s comforting, he added to himself.  I just need, I don’t know, a drink or something.  A midnight snack might do wonders.  Ack, what if the cook gives me something with vinegar.  I’ve got to pull myself together.  Yes, a snack would do just fine.  He thinks about calling his cook, but then considers otherwise.  Let the cook sleep.

He exits his chambers and makes his way towards the kitchens.  Not knowing exactly where the cooks hide their extra protein broccoli granola bars, he starts searching around.  He thinks he hears a scratching noise behind him, so turns to look behind him.  And regrets it.  The scream is loud and thick, but it only lasted for a second before he caught himself.

The hallucination ends, but the images are still in his mind.  He sees Viniga, tall and elegant, in his royal gown, ruling the Viniga Sultanate.  He sees Viniga, disgraced, leading a secret rebellion.  He sees Viniga in his final moments, blood rushing from the fatal knife wound in his back.  The look in his eyes that moment was one of such hatred, MiecraftMan would never forget.

Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, MiecraftMan thinks. I’m going back to bed.  He made his way back to his chambers.  And then… MiecraftMan stumbles back, a look of alarm on his face.  Yako, he was right there, a mutant beast besides him.  Another hallucination.  Shoot, this can’t go on.  Ugh, I’ll do something about it tomorrow.  

MiecraftMan eventually got some sleep, but it wasn’t the restful kind.  Plagued by nightmares, MiecraftMan welcomed the morning.

That morning, MiecraftMan addressed the nation, in what would become known from that day forward as “Miecraft’s Fateful Mistake”.

MiecraftMan took a deep breath, and began.  “Dear people of the Veggie Caliphate.  I have just returned from the moon, where a peace treaty was drafted between all empires.  You might think all is well.  This is a lie.  The emperors wish to deceive us.  They wish to take the great Veggie Caliphate for theirs.  After all, that’s what they’ve been trying to do for the past years, isn’t it?  Nonstop wars, for what?  Nothing for us, at the very least.  The Veggie Caliphate remains today, but what about tomorrow.  What about your children, and the children of your children?  The emperors admire us for our greatness, but they hate us for it as well.  They want it.  Their greed causes them to besiege our great nation.  Their greed is wasting the lives of our citizens.

“This can’t go on.  I have made up my mind.  I have made a decision that will greatly benefit every single on of you faithful, honest Veggie Caliphate citizens.”

The crowd waited in anticipation.

“I have decided to close the Veggie Caliphate’s borders.”

No cheers from the crowd.  Most faces were hard to read, but on some, MiecraftMan could see anger… and disappointment.

Later that night MiecraftMan realized he had made a mistake.

“I need my advisor.  ADVISOR.  COME HERE!” shouted MiecraftMan.

The advisor, who was also the Vice President came in.  “What do you require, Father Nature?” He asked politely.

“I made a mistake yesterday.”

“Yes, you did.  I take you require my help to fix it?”

“Yes, Advisor.”

“Alright then, first let’s have a nice drink of water.”  The advisor poured two cups.

They talked for a few more minutes, and they came up with a plan.

The next morning MiecraftMan woke up ill.  Very ill.  It gave him clarity of mind.  Oh no.  The advisor had two different jugs of water.  I’ve been poisoned.  I need to leave.  “Pikachu… come, I need you,” MiecraftMan rasped.  Miraculously, 88pikachu was passing by MiecraftMan’s chambers, so he heard and entered.

“Pikachu, let me be frank with you.  I haven’t been myself these past days.  I’ve been worried, paranoid, and not a good ruler.  Yesterday it only got worse.  I’ve been poisoned.  I don’t know by what, but I know that my advisor slipped the poison into my water.  Get the doctor, please.”

Pikachu, alarmed, rushed out the door and returned a second later with the doctor.

The doctor checked some stuff, took some tests, and came up with a conclusion.  “The poisoner slipped crushed up Phosphorus into your water, which is highly toxic and can be deadly if left untreated for a certain amount of time.  I have the cure, but it will leave you very weakened for a month or so.  You’ll likely need to flee the country if the poisoner is still around.”

“Thank you doctor.  Yes, the poisoner is my advisor,” said MiecraftMan.

“Shoot, your advisor?  He’s addressing the nation right now.  Nonsense about you resigning and the advisor taking over the country and you being dangerous and mentally ill and whatnot.  After yesterday the public does hate you, you know,” said the doctor.

“YOU DIDN’T THINK TO MENTION THIS SOONER,” yelled MiecraftMan.

“Sorry,” the doctor said meekly.  The doctor then applied the antidote to MiecraftMan, and told him to flee the country straight away because of the advisor’s announcement.

Pikachu then rushed MiecraftMan to the palace runway, where Miecraft’s private jet plane was parked. He put MiecraftMan on the plane, and hired a trusted crew.  “MiecraftMan, the crew are friends of mine.  They will take you across the Atlantic, around South America, to the Galápagos Islands where you can reside for the time being.  I will stay here to make sure that the advisor doesn’t do anything to crazy.  Be safe, MiecraftMan.”  With that, the plane started its engine, and left the runway into the distance.

A new twist in the plot of the Veggie Caliphate.  MiecraftMan is in exile from his own empire, and an evil usurper is abusing the peace treaty and MiecraftMan’s mistake of closing the country’s borders.  After being poisoned, MiecraftMan is sent away to the Galápagos Islands where he can hopefully recover and regain strength, so he can retake the Veggie Caliphate.