Mystery on Mushroom Island

by Winter Morgan

  “Watch out!” Billy screamed as arrows flew past Edison.

  Edison grabbed his sword from his inventory and leaped at a skeleton. The creepers were gone, but there were more skeletons.

  “They keep spawning,” Anna said breathlessly. “Even with all of our manpower, we can’t seem to defeat them.”

  Edison joined his friends in battle. He annihilated two skeletons and tried to destroy another, then spotted a person off in the distance who wore the same black jacket as Omar.

  “I think it’s your doppleganger!” he called out to Omar.

  “Where?” Omar asked as a skeleton’s arrow sliced into his arm and destroyed his last heart. He vanished.

  12

  REUNITED

  “Omar!” Amira cried.

  The gang was shocked when Omar’s doppelganger sprinted toward them and called out, “Guys, I thought I’d never find you.”

  Edison almost dropped his bow and arrow, but he was jolted back to battle when a skeleton’s arrow scratched his arm. He quickly shot an arrow at the skeleton, but it never reached the bony beast because the sun came up and the hostile mobs disappeared. The battle was over, and the gang was standing next to the rubble of Louis’s farm as Omar said, “You have no idea how hard it was to find you guys. I missed the boat because I was being held prisoner, and then I tried to TP here, but I’ve been dealing with a bunch of odd glitches.”

  “Where were you held prisoner?” asked Anna.

  “Didn’t you guys hear me calling for help when we were in Verdant Valley?” asked Omar.

  “Yes,” said Edison, “but when I respawned that night, you were in my bungalow going through my potions.”

  “No, I wasn’t,” he said. “What are you talking about?”

  Anna clarified, “So this is the first time you’ve seen us since I saw you in Verdant Valley?”

  “Yes,” Omar replied.

  “But we’ve seen you,” said Amira.

  “What?” Omar questioned his friends.

  Peyton and Erin spoke at once. They tried to explain what had happened and how Omar had traveled with them to Mushroom Island.

  “And you had a cough,” said Peyton.

  “A cough?” questioned Omar.

  “Yeah, you kept coughing,” confirmed Erin.

  Dina exclaimed, “I knew it! That man dressed in your friend’s skin was the traveler who cursed me.”

  “What curse?” Omar didn’t know anything about the curse, and as he heard the story, Edison watched his reactions. He knew this was the real Omar. What he didn’t know was who was underneath the other Omar’s skin. They had to expose this criminal.

  Omar asked, “Why would someone want to impersonate me?”

  “I don’t know,” said Anna, “but we will find out.”

  “Who kept you prisoner?” asked Billy. “I think once we figure out that part of the story, we will find our answers.”

  Omar wasn’t very helpful. He didn’t know who had kept him prisoner. “I was leaving the castle and a man approached me about a building project. I told him that I didn’t have time to work on it at the moment, but I would in a month. This irritated him, and he told me that I was his prisoner and I must work on the project right now.”

  “Wow,” exclaimed Anna. “And then what did he do?”

  “I told him that I refused to be his prisoner, but as I spoke, he splashed me with a potion of Weakness, and I could barely move. He forced me into a minecart and then took me to a cave between Verdant Valley and Farmer’s Bay. I had one heart left, and I had no energy to fight back. It was nighttime, and he crafted a bed in the cave. I slept there under his watch. A large cave spider crawled toward me and I knew that if I were bitten, I’d be destroyed. I hoped this man didn’t see the spider, because I wanted to respawn in my bed in the castle, but he saw it and destroyed it. Then he forced me to eat an apple so I’d have enough energy to survive another day. I don’t think he expected the hostile mob attack, and he was upset that he was distracted by a creeper that spawned in the cave, and I was able to escape to the front of the tunnel to call for help.”

  “That’s when we heard you,” said Anna.

  “Yes, I could hear you and Edison calling my name, but that just infuriated this man, and he struck me with a sword, which left me with one heart. Then he walked me to the back of the cave, where there was a stronghold, and then put me in a jail. It took me two days to escape, and then I just TPed here.”

  “Didn’t you see us with the other Omar?” asked Amira.

  “No,” he said. “But why there is somebody walking around with my skin?”

  “I assume it’s the same person who kept you as a prisoner,” said Billy.

  “But why would he do this?” asked Omar. “I never did anything wrong. I was just working on the castle.”

  Dina introduced herself. “I’m Dina, and I had a similar situation as you. I was just working on my farm when someone who wanted my mooshrooms approached me. When I refused to give them to him, he put a curse on the island. Now our peaceful island is being attacked by all sorts of hostile mobs.”

  “That’s terrible,” he said.

  “Is there anything you can remember about this person?” asked Anna.

  “He wore ripped jeans and a blue shirt. His hair was yellow, and he had glasses,” he said.

  “Anything else?” questioned Peyton.

  “He had a cough,” said Omar, “which I thought was strange. Sometimes he had trouble speaking.”

  Dina said, “That’s the same man who cursed the island.”

  “And I think we accidently brought him with us to Mushroom Island,” said Amira.

  “What?” questioned Omar.

  “We thought he was you,” said Amira.

  Edison wanted it put on the record that he never thought it was Omar, but he kept quiet.

  “Where is he now?” asked Omar.

  “We have to find him,” said Anna.

  Edison said, “If he slept when you were in the cave, that means he must be there.”

  “Should we go back there, or do you think we should wait for him to return?” questioned Peyton.

  “We have to TP back to Verdant Valley,” suggested Anna.

  “Yes,” said Edison. “We will surprise him there.”

  “I’ve never left Mushroom Island,” Dina confessed. “I don’t even know how to TP.”

  “We’ll show you,” said Anna. “You’ve fought so many mobs that you’re prepared now.”

  “I don’t think we have to go anywhere,” said Allyson.

  “Why not?” asked Dina.

  “Look over there,” Allyson said as she pointed to the man dressed in Omar’s skin. He was in the distance crafting a portal to the Nether.

  13

  NETHER SAID THAT

  Purple smoke surrounded the imposter as he disappeared in front of their eyes. Edison lunged toward the portal and hopped on without turning around to see if his friends had joined him. He emerged in the fiery Nether, clutching his bow and arrow as he looked in the sky for any ghasts or blazes that might want to attack him. His friends hadn’t spawned right behind him like he assumed they would.

  He also didn’t see the imposter. Edison climbed to the top of a large netherrack platform that overlooked a lava waterfall. He could see a Nether fortress off in the distance, but he didn’t see the imposter or his friends. He didn’t want to travel to the Nether fortress on his own, and he considered crafting a portal back to Mushroom Island. Edison climbed down the ladder on the platform and walked toward the spot where he spawned in the Nether. Two zombie pigmen walked by him, but he didn’t lock eyes with them, and they ignored him.

  Edison was searching through his inventory for the resources he needed to build a portal when he heard a familiar voice call out, “Edison!”

  He looked up to see Billy, Anna, and all of his other friends rushing toward him. Edison also saw three ghasts flying behind them. He called out to his friends, warning them about the mo
bs, but it was too late. Amira was struck by one of the fireballs that the ghast shot at her. It landed on her back, and by the time she turned around, she was pelted by two more fireballs and disappeared.

  Edison shot an arrow at the ghasts, instantly destroying one of the white, blocky creatures with tentacles. Dina was frozen. She had never seen a ghast and wasn’t sure what to do. Edison called out, “Dina, stay away from the fireballs. If they come toward you, use your fist to deflect it.”

  “What?” Dina looked down at her hand. She couldn’t imagine how painful touching a ghast might be, and she worried she’d get burned. Dina pulled a bow and arrow from her inventory. She ran toward Edison and shot arrows alongside him. One of the arrows hit a ghast and destroyed it.

  “You’re a quick learner,” Anna called out as she watched Dina destroy another ghast.

  When the gang destroyed the ghasts, Edison told them about the Nether fortress in the distance. “Should we go there? Do you think the imposter Omar might be hiding there?”

  “We should head in that direction,” said Anna. “I don’t want to lose sight of our goal. I know there’s a lot of treasure to be found in a Nether fortress, but we have to think about Mushroom Island. They are being destroyed, and we have to get back there to help them.”

  Everyone agreed this was the best plan. Edison did need some Nether wart, but he didn’t want to mention the possibility of picking some up in the Nether fortress. He hoped he could find a minute to gather some, but he knew that they had to be focused or they might not be able to capture this menace.

  “What type of hostile mobs spawn at night?” questioned Dina.

  “There is no night in the Nether,” explained Anna.

  “What? It’s daylight all the time?” asked Dina.

  “I don’t know if you’d call this daylight,” said Peyton, “but it’s always the same in the Nether.”

  “I’m not a fan of the Nether,” confessed Edison.

  “I don’t think anybody likes the Nether,” said Billy. “I should say that I like the treasures and resources I can get here, but it’s certainly not my favorite place to be. It’s very dangerous.”

  Dina stopped along the lava river. “If we touch the lava, we can be destroyed, right?”

  “Yes,” warned Erin. “Stay away from the lava.”

  Dina knew the Nether wasn’t the most hospitable environment, but she was in awe of it. There was something quite beautiful about the color of lava. When they approached the Nether fortress, she said, “This is such a gorgeous place.”

  “Watch out!” Billy called out as a group of blazes rose from the ground ready to attack anybody who wanted to enter the fortress. One of the yellow creatures locked eyes with the group. One of the were the protectors of the fortress and didn’t want just anybody to enter. If you had the skills to defeat these fiery, yellow multi-limbed mobs, then you deserved admission to the fortress.

  Dina had no idea how to destroy a blaze, but she could spend an entire day staring at it. She thought it was just as pretty as her mooshrooms. When she thought of her mooshrooms, she remembered what was happening on Mushroom Island, and that’s when she took out her bow and arrow and shot at the blaze. She couldn’t be distracted. She had to stop this person who had cursed Mushroom Island. She had to find out if he was in the Nether fortress.

  The final blaze was destroyed, and the gang walked through the doors into a large room with a staircase. Edison eyed the Nether wart growing next to a patch of soul sand.

  “You should pick it up,” said Billy. “We’ll look around for the imposter.”

  There wasn’t time to pick up the Nether wart, because as Edison grabbed some, he heard Allyson scream, “He’s here!”

  The gang rushed down a long corridor and into a small room where they saw three people who looked like Omar. Omar hollered at them, “Who are you?” The trio laughed and splashed a potion of Invisibility and disappeared.

  “Where did they go?” screamed Omar.

  “You’ll never find us,” one of the Omars called out, but they could only follow the sound of his voice, and they lost him.

  “Should we go back to Mushroom Island or stay here?” asked Dina.

  “We have to find them,” said Allyson.

  The gang scrambled through the hot Nether. Sweat fell from their faces and got into their eyes, clouding their vision, as they traveled farther away from the fortress.

  Dina asked if they could stop so she could catch her breath. “Where do you think the three Omars are headed? I feel like we’re running without a plan.”

  “Can we not refer to them by my name?” asked Omar. “I don’t have anything to do with them, and I have no idea why they want to walk around in the same black jacket that I wear and with my face. They should use their own skins.”

  “They’re cowards,” said Anna. “If they weren’t, they’d be able to show their own faces.”

  As they spoke, Allyson spotted three people off in the distance. They were in the midst of a battle with two zombie pigmen.

  “Is that them?” asked Allyson.

  “I think so!” said Dina, and they sprinted toward the trio that struggled to defeat a couple of zombie pigmen.

  14

  HOME AGAIN

  Despite putting up a tough fight, the trio defeated the zombie pigmen and then hopped on a portal and vanished in a purple haze. The gang jumped on the portal after them. Standing close together, Edison said, “I hope this winds up in Mushroom Island.”

  “I do too,” said Allyson.

  When they emerged, it was a familiar landscape, but it wasn’t Mushroom Island. They were in Verdant Valley.

  Omar suggested, “We should go to the cave where he kept me prisoner. I bet that’s where they are staying.”

  The group hurried out of Verdant Valley and toward the cave. They grabbed torches from their inventories as they walked into the musty cave, and Edison led them to the back and opened the door to a stronghold.

  “We have to be careful,” said Omar. “We don’t want them to trap us.”

  Omar walked through the door, and someone sliced into his arm with a diamond sword.

  Edison gasped when he saw twenty people dressed like Omar in the small stronghold. They all carried diamond swords, and they leaped at the gang. Omar was lost in the group, and Edison couldn’t tell which was Omar and which were imposters.

  Edison screamed to his friends, “We have to get out of here.”

  “We can’t leave Omar,” cried Anna.

  “There is no way we can battle these imposters in the stronghold,” said Edison.

  “We have no other option, and we can’t talk about it,” said Anna as she slammed her diamond sword into a person she hoped wasn’t Omar.

  Edison pulled potions from his inventory and splashed them on the many Omars and called out, “Please leave the real Omar alone.”

  Laughter erupted from the army of Omars as they attacked the group. Billy cried for help when four Omars surrounded him and he was unable to break free. He was losing hearts quickly and would be destroyed within a couple of strikes.

  Using his sword, Edison slew two of the Omars and splashed potions on the other two. Anna rushed to their sides and annihilated the remaining Omars that threatened Billy. Edison handed Billy a potion to regain strength as he slammed his sword into another Omar.

  “This is intense,” said Billy.

  “I keep thinking that I’m destroying Omar,” confessed Anna.

  “I think we’ll know the real Omar when we see him,” said Billy.

  “I hope so,” Anna replied as she swung her sword at a man who looked just like her good friend Omar. She told herself that it wasn’t him.

  Edison heard the real Omar’s cries from deep within the stronghold, “I hear him, don’t you?” he asked Billy and Anna, who fought by his side.

  “Yes!” Anna exclaimed. “But how are we going to get to him?”

  “We will just have to fight our way through this crowd,
” he said as he splashed potions and used his sword to weave through a crowd of hostile people in dressed in fake skins.

  Dina screamed out from the other side of the stronghold. She was overwhelmed by the attack. Edison wanted to help her, but he saw Allyson, Peyton, and Erin dash to her side, which alleviated his guilt.

  As Edison, Billy, and Anna tried to find their way to the real Omar, they could see a cluster of skeletons in a dimly lit section of the stronghold. “Do you think they know skeletons are spawning down here?” asked Edison.

  “I don’t know, but they can only help us,” said Billy.

  “Yes,” said Anna. “If we avoid the skeletons, they can attack these fake Omars.”

  The gang narrowly avoided getting destroyed by the skeletons as they saw Omar being placed in a jail cell in the stronghold. “That’s probably where they kept him the last time.”

  “I wonder which one is the leader of the group?” asked Anna. “It’s hard to tell when they’re all wearing the same skin.”

  They sprinted toward the jail cell, but there were two people who looked like Omar guarding the dirty jail cell that housed their friend.

  “Omar,” Edison called out, “we’re going to get you out of here.”

  “Don’t waste your time trying to break me out of here.” Omar’s voice was weak.

  “We have to save you,” said Edison as he lunged at the guard.

  Billy and Anna ripped into the second guard with their diamond swords, and he was destroyed. They helped Edison defeat the remaining guard as Omar said, “There is someone who is the head of all of this, but he’s not here.”

  “Where is he?” asked Edison as he tried to open the locked gate. He slammed his sword against the bars, but they were stuck.

  “He’s on Mushroom Island,” Omar’s voice was even fainter than before.

  “How many hearts do you have left?” asked Anna as she handed Omar a potion to regain his strength. It was hard to get it through the slots of the bars, and some of the potion spilled on the dirt ground.

  Omar barely had the strength to sip the potion, but once he did, he felt a lot stronger and more hopeful. He had to tell his friends about his discovery. Once he told them, they’d be on the brink of stopping the person behind these attacks and solving the case.