Eva handed Brett potions. He thanked her and said, “But even if we escape, how are we going to survive a battle in this blizzard?”
Eva stared out the window. “Wow, that’s an intense storm. I’ve never witnessed anything like that before.”
The wind created snowdrifts that buried the soldiers, and zombies and skeletons left footprints in the heavy snow. The gang crowded around the window to watch this epic blizzard when the soldier came with their daily meal.
“We have to do it now,” said Eva. Poppy wasn’t convinced this was the best timing, but there was no time to debate because Eva splashed a potion on the soldier, the other alchemists joined in, and he was destroyed. They grabbed the plate of apples and devoured them, leaving some for Poppy and the others. As the alchemists sprinted out of the prison cell, they clutched potions and attacked every soldier they encountered.
Brett and Poppy followed them out. Brett remarked, “It’s so cold. It’s colder than walking through or falling down a portal.”
“I know.” Poppy shivered. “This is unbearable.”
Two zombies leaped at the duo, and they splashed potions on them. Brett said, “This is going to be an awful battle unless we get our supplies back.”
Poppy said, “I have a plan,” and she hurried toward a soldier battling a skeleton. She held a potion next to his face. “Give me a diamond sword now!” she demanded.
The soldier had one heart left, and the skeleton was about to shoot an arrow at him. The soldier didn’t reply, and Poppy was infuriated and grabbed his sword from his hand as the skeleton shot an arrow that ripped into the soldier’s shoulder, destroying him.
“We need to get weapons from the soldiers,” she said to Brett as she struck the skeleton with the soldier’s diamond sword, obliterating him. Then she picked up the bone it dropped on the snowy ground.
The snow was falling harder, and the snowdrifts were getting deeper. As they approached another soldier, ready to empty him of his inventory, Theo slammed his diamond sword into Brett’s back, shouting, “What do you think you’re doing?”
16
THE JOURNEY
“Stop this nonsense!” Brett said as he splashed a potion on Theo. Poppy plunged her diamond sword into Theo’s arm. He had one heart left.
“Help! Army!” Theo could barely get out the words.
Only two soldiers could hear him through the noisy wind, but they were struggling to battle a gang of skeletons.
Poppy pressed her sword against Theo’s yellow robe. “One more strike from this sword, and you’re destroyed.”
“So, I’ll just respawn in my ice castle.” He smiled.
“My ice castle,” Poppy corrected him. “And you won’t respawn there. I have command blocks, and I have placed everyone on hardcore mode.”
“You didn’t do that,” said Theo.
“Poppy doesn’t lie,” said Brett.
“If you don’t believe me,” she said as she pressed her sword a little deeper, “I can destroy you, and you’ll find out if I am lying.”
“No,” Theo said. “Don’t.”
Poppy led Theo toward the cold, damp bedrock prison and marched him into the cell. “Look.” She pointed to an apple on the ground. “There’s your dinner.”
“If I stay in here, will you take me off hardcore mode?” asked Theo.
“Maybe,” Poppy said as she locked the gate. “But you were never on hardcore mode.”
Theo looked at Brett. “I thought you said Poppy never lies.”
Brett smiled. “I never said I didn’t.”
Poppy and Brett sprinted from the cold prison, and Poppy called out, “Theo is captured. Everyone must surrender.”
Surprisingly, the snow stopped and the soldiers walked toward them. One soldier cheered, and the others joined him.
“Theo is really in prison?” questioned a soldier in disbelief.
“Yes,” said Poppy. “And we will keep a close eye on him because we don’t want him destroying the Overworld.”
One of the soldiers asked, “Was that his plan? He never said that.”
“We’ve seen the future,” Poppy said, “and he was going to destroy most of the towns and force people to become soldiers and live in the ice castle. Luckily, this was just the beginning, and we were able to stop him before he destroyed our towns.”
One soldier called out, “Liar! Theo was trying to make this a better world. He was leading us.”
“How can you make a place better by ruining it and capturing the people who live there? That doesn’t make sense,” said Brett.
As they spoke to the soldier, Eva and the alchemists came over along with Joe, Nancy, and Helen. Eva asked, “What happened?”
“We’ve captured Theo,” declared Brett.
“That means I can go home, right?” asked Eva.
Brett and Poppy hoped they’d be able to help Eva and the alchemists return back to their time period, but they knew that the portals weren’t very reliable. You never knew when and if you’d find one, and if you did, where you’d wind up. Poppy said, “We will try to get you back home.”
“We should try to craft a portal to the Nether,” said Sophie.
“Yes,” said Poppy. “But first I want to make sure Theo will be watched and that the army will happily change back to their old skins.”
Before she even finished her sentence, a group of soldiers changed back into their old skins, but there were two soldiers who remained dressed in yellow. The two soldiers in yellow raced toward Poppy and Brett with their diamond swords and struck them.
“We are going to release Theo from prison,” one of them screamed as he bolted toward the bedrock prison.
Eva and the alchemists rushed after the soldier. “Give up,” Eva ordered. “Your leader isn’t going to destroy the Overworld, and neither are you two.”
Eva splashed a potion on the soldiers, leaving them weakened and with one heart each. The alchemists escorted the two soldiers into the prison.
“You have company,” Eva said as she placed the two soldiers into the prison cell.
As she walked toward the gate to close it, Theo splashed a potion on her. “You never emptied our inventories.” Theo laughed as a soldier swung his diamond sword at Eva, destroying her. The three prisoners escaped, tearing out of the bedrock prison.
“They’ve escaped!” hollered Brett and Poppy in unison.
Theo was about to splash a potion of invisibility when Sophie knocked the bottle from his hand.
“You aren’t going to be invisible. You’re going back to prison,” she said as she splashed a potion on Theo, but the soldiers attacked Sophie.
Poppy, Brett, and Joe raced over to help Sophie, but they were too late. She was destroyed. Poppy screamed at Theo, “Just surrender. It’s pointless. You lost.”
“Never!” Theo said. “I will win!”
Six of Theo’s former soldiers ran over to him. One of them said, “We used to be your soldiers. You probably don’t recognize us because we are dressed in clothes that we chose for ourselves. You better give up because, even if you escape, we will spend our lives finding you and making sure you never attack another town again.”
Another soldier said, “We know that you were going destroy towns across the Overworld.”
“I know, I had such a promising future,” remarked Theo.
17
NETHER FOREVER
Poppy thought she could see tears in Theo’s eyes when she walked him back to the bedrock prison alongside his former soldiers. Theo and his last two remaining soldiers stood silently as Poppy locked the gate.
She was about to leave when she pulled out a large chest. “Please empty your inventories. I want to place all of your items in here. Once we feel that you aren’t going to threaten the Overworld, we will release you and let you have everything back.”
The trio reluctantly emptied their inventories. Theo questioned, “You’re really going to give our stuff back?”
“Yes,” said Poppy,
“when we know you aren’t interested in hurting others anymore. See, when you took people’s inventories, it was for your benefit, and you never planned on returning it. You simply stole it.”
“There is nothing simple about that,” said Brett.
One of the soldiers asked, “Can I change my skin before we give up all of our items? I don’t want to be part of Theo’s army anymore.”
“Me neither,” said the other soldier.
Eva and Sophie had returned to Hillsdale and rushed into the bedrock prison. “There’s a storm!”
A thunderous boom was heard outside.
Theo said, “The storm is my fault.”
“What?” ask Brett.
“I have command blocks in a cave outside of town, and I am manipulating the weather.”
“We have to break those command blocks,” said Brett.
Joe and Brett hurried out to find the command blocks and to break them into pieces, so the storms would stop.
The wind rattled the small window in the cell, and a skeleton spawned inside the prison.
Eva struck the skeleton as Poppy continued to take items from Theo’s inventory.
“I hope Brett and Joe can stop the storm before it gets too intense,” said Poppy.
Theo didn’t say anything. He silently emptied his inventory and handed it to Poppy, who placed it in the chest.
As she placed Theo’s and the soldiers’ final item in the chest and closed it, Poppy was happy that the battle was over and the Overworld was saved, but she knew that they had to return to the Nether to help Eva and the alchemists. Despite everything, Poppy still disliked the Nether. She also liked Eva and was sad to see her go back to her time period.
There wasn’t time to be sentimental, because four more skeletons spawned in the prison, and Poppy, Eva, Sophie, Nancy, Helen, and the alchemists began to battle bony beasts. Zombies were ripping the hinges from the prison’s door when the snowstorm stopped.
“Do you think that happened on its own or because they destroyed the command blocks?” Poppy questioned.
“They destroyed it, I’m sure of it,” said Theo.
Brett and Joe sprinted through the doorway to the prison. “The command blocks have been broken.”
“Hallelujah,” said Poppy.
“Now we get to go home,” exclaimed Eva, and the alchemists cheered.
“Does anybody have obsidian?” asked Nancy.
Poppy looked through her inventory. “I’ve used all of mine because I crafted so many portals.”
There was a period of silence as everyone checked if they had obsidian, and finally one of the former soldiers called out that he had some obsidian and offered it to the gang.
“Thanks.” Poppy took the obsidian and placed it on the ground and began to craft a portal. “I hope we can all fit,” she said as she looked at the eight alchemists and her friends.
“I think I should stay behind,” said Nancy. “I want to make sure Theo stays in jail.”
“I’ll stay with you,” said Helen.
Joe said, “I have to go to Verdant Valley to work on the farm, so I can’t go.”
Brett said, “When we get back, I will meet you in Verdant Valley.”
Poppy hoped Brett was right and they would get back from the Nether. She was very nervous about this trip, and she understood why so many of her friends weren’t going to be able to go with them, but she was secretly envious of them. She still disliked the Nether, but she knew that she couldn’t complain. She had to help Eva and the alchemists make their way back home.
Poppy ignited the portal that sat on the snowy ground. As they were surrounded by purple mist, Poppy was happy that she was escaping the cold. She wasn’t dressed for Hillsdale weather, and now she would warm up quickly. The trip to the Nether was fast, and within a second, they were surrounded in a world filled with lava waterfalls, zombie pigmen, and blazes.
“Ghasts!” Brett called out.
The gang aimed their bows and arrows and attacked these fiery mobs. Poppy shot an arrow at the final ghast, and a ghast tear fell to the netherrack ground. She handed the tear to Eva. “When you make a potion, I hope you will think of me.”
Eva smiled. “I will think of you guys often. You’ve been so good to me. Sometimes I can’t believe our luck.”
Sophie said, “I can’t believe that when we walk through this portal, we will be living in a peaceful world.”
“We will be back in the lab and warehouse crafting all sorts of potions,” said Eva.
The other alchemists reminded them that they had bottled the dragon’s breath, and they were all teeming with excitement.
Poppy didn’t want to ruin their happiness, but she did have to point out that she didn’t see a Nether fortress.
Brett added, “You’re right. Does anybody know which direction we should go?”
“I don’t know.” Eva was panicked. Just a few seconds before she had been excited about the return home, but now she wondered if they’d ever find the portal and feared they’d be stuck in the Nether forever.
“We will get you home. We will find the Nether fortress,” Poppy promised them, but she wasn’t sure she’d be able to keep the promise.
A group of four zombie pigmen walked past them. One of the alchemists walked too close to the zombie pigmen, and they began to attack the alchemist with their swords.
18
BREWING
The zombie pigmen were vicious and attacked the alchemists. Poppy and Brett struck the zombie pigmen with their diamond swords, and the alchemists splashed potions. When the final zombie pigman was destroyed, they picked up the gold nuggets the pigmen had dropped on the ground.
Eva called out, “Is that the fortress?”
Poppy looked off in the distance. She didn’t see the fortress, but she followed Eva. She hoped it would come into view, but it felt as if they were walking forever, and they hadn’t reached it. Poppy’s forehead was covered in sweat, and she wanted to make a portal back to the Overworld when she saw the fortress ahead.
Eva and the alchemists charged the fortress and annihilated the blazes that stood guard before Poppy and Brett arrived. When they reached the fortress, they sprinted out and into the room with the hole. They crawled through the hole, but the room that housed the door to the portal was closed, and their alchemist friends were gone.
“They left without saying goodbye.” Poppy looked at the ground, and her eyes filled with tears.
“They were excited, and sometimes goodbyes are easier short,” Brett rationalized.
“That wasn’t a short goodbye; it was a nonexistent one,” said Poppy as she climbed through the hole. She heard a familiar voice.
“Poppy!” Eva called out.
Sophie said, “We just got the treasure from the fortress, so we have some loot to trade when we get back home.”
“I thought you guys left without saying goodbye,” said Poppy.
“We’d never do something like that,” said Eva.
Sophie said, “I want to thank you guys. You’ve really helped us a lot.”
Poppy said, “You’re welcome, and I wish I could visit you.”
“I know, it’s so hard to say goodbye when we know we can’t visit,” said Poppy.
“I’m glad we met,” said Eva as she approached the door.
“Poppy, we shouldn’t be in here when the door opens to the portal,” warned Brett. “We don’t want to wind up in the future.”
“Wait!” Poppy said to Eva before she opened the door. “Since we stopped Theo, that means that Meadow Mews still exists. Can you visit us there? You can introduce yourself to my future self, and we can be friends.”
“Of course,” said Eva. “We’ll all take a trip to Meadow Mews and find you guys.”
“Now I have something to look forward to,” said Poppy.
“Me too,” said Eva.
Poppy and Brett exited the Nether fortress before they opened the door. They ran out of the fortress and created a portal back to
the Overworld. When they emerged, they were in front of Brett’s house.
Brett said, “I have to head to Verdant Valley to help Joe on his farm.”
“Good luck,” said Poppy. “I want to go home and brew potions with all of the ingredients from the Nether.”
“Poppy! Brett!” Nancy and Helen called out as they raced over to them. “Did they find their way back in time?”
“Hopefully,” said Poppy. “We did find the Nether fortress, and they entered the portal. We hope that it lands them in the right time period.”
Brett looked up at the sky. “I have to excuse myself. It will be dark soon, and I’m going to travel to Verdant Valley to help Joe with the farm.”
Nancy said, “It’s going to be nice to be able to work on the farm without the fear of a rainstorm.”
“I know,” said Brett. “I am so glad we were able to destroy those command blocks.”
Brett said goodbye and entered his house. Everything was back to normal, and his inventory still had a bunch of potions that the alchemists had brewed. He looked down at all of the beds on his floor. They covered almost every inch of his house. He was excited to work on the farm, but he was also sad that the adventure was over.
Outside he could hear Nancy, Helen, and Poppy going through their inventories. They were listing their remaining potions and the ones that they were going to brew. He also wished he could stay at home and brew with his friends or brainstorm ideas for new pranks with Poppy, but he packed up all of his farming equipment and a bunch of new seeds and started out on his journey to Verdant Valley.
The sun was about to set when he arrived in Verdant Valley. Joe was excited to see him and dashed over to Brett to greet him. Brett told Joe about the trip to the Nether and about saying goodbye to the alchemists.
“I guess I will meet them soon enough in Farmer’s Bay, since that is where Eva is from,” said Joe.
“They also promised to find us in Meadow Mews. It’s strange to think that the alchemists might be hanging out with our future selves at this very moment,” said Brett.
“I don’t think it’s strange; I think it’s incredible,” Joe said as he placed an irrigation system. Brett began to help him.
Escape from the Nether Page 6
