So, with new resolve and a heavy heart, President Stan2012 turned his back to the Lesser Mushroom Island and willed his boat to accelerate at top speed toward Element City.
CHAPTER 4 SPIES AND HUNTERS
I still can’t believe just how immature she’s being,” G muttered under his breath to Jayden. Jayden took a deep breath, counting to ten in his head. He could barely comprehend that, even though the two of them were sitting in a military camp and preparing to sneak into the camps of the Noctem Alliance, G was still ranting about Kat.
“G, for the last time,” said Jayden slowly, trying to keep his composure despite his frustration, “we kind of have other things to be focusing on. Like . . . you know . . . a war?”
“I just really expected more from Kat,” G said, throwing back his head in exasperation. “She’s a smart, reasonable person, so why can’t she just let bygones be bygones like I have? We could have worked together fine. We still make a great team! Yet she continues to harp on it and hate me for it, totally refusing to let it go. . . .”
“Do you even realize what you’re saying?” spat Jayden, his tolerance finally snapping. “G, you’re the one who’s refusing to let it go! You haven’t shut up about Kat this entire time. You’re the one who’s turning this entire situation into a giant thing, and, frankly, none of us want or have time to hear it.”
“Oh . . . that’s just great,” grunted G, glaring at Jayden. “Now my best friend won’t even take my side.”
“I’m not taking anybody’s side!” yelled Jayden, his eyebrow twitching in irritation. “I don’t know everything that happened, so it’s not my place to judge. But what I do know is that now is the worst possible time to talk about it! You want to work out your issues with Kat? Fine, go ahead and give it a shot. But wait until after we’ve destroyed the people who have been trying to kill us nonstop for the past month, please!”
G opened his mouth, then closed it again, glancing at the floor. Although he knew that Jayden was right, he didn’t really care, and was so infuriated by the whole situation with Kat that he wanted to rant and rave about it for as long as possible. However, an explosion directly outside the wall they were next to snapped him out of his thoughts. Realizing that they would be entering combat soon, G pushed his anger with Kat to the back of his mind, and made himself promise it would stay dormant until his mission was over.
G noticed Jayden glancing upward, and he followed suit. The army encampment where the two of them were gearing up was located right at the base of the outer wall of Element City, on the east side. The explosion from above had been fired from the outside, and a considerable chunk of the upper wall had been blown apart by the blast. The two councilmen watched in fascination as, through the power of the soldiers standing at the ready, the mighty stone wall seemed to repair itself, like some great animal regenerating its tissue. Meanwhile, other soldiers could be heard yelling from atop the massive wall, accompanied by the high-pitched whistling of fireballs streaking down and into the outside woods, surely targeting the Noctem Troops waging war below them.
“These people,” Jayden muttered, more to himself than anyone else. “They’re putting so much on the line to defend our city . . . to keep freedom alive on this server . . . I wonder . . .” And Jayden’s voiced trailed off into nothing. There was a moment of silence, punctuated only by the yells and other sounds of the ongoing war.
“What?” G finally asked.
“It’s just . . . ,” Jayden said, clearly in a quite pensive state. “Well . . . it’s the Mechanist. I know that he’s a fantastic leader and all, and if anybody should take over the city while we’re gone, it’s him. But . . . all these people are fighting for justice and equality, and now that the council is spread out all over the server, the entire city is under the control of just one person. And I know that we have the police watching the Mechanist and all, and I trust him. But . . . what do you think the citizens will think?”
G was about to respond when suddenly a door opened in the wall, and a soldier dressed in a full Elementia Army uniform appeared.
“Councilman Jayden, Councilman Goldman,” the soldier said, addressing them respectfully but with a tone of urgency. “The target group of Noctem soldiers is massed in the woods directly outside the wall. Our intelligence suggests that they won’t be there for long. If we are to make our move, we must do it now.”
“Okay,” Jayden replied, leaping to his feet alongside G. The two of them drew their diamond weapons, all thoughts of the previous conversations wiped clear from their minds. It was time to take action.
“Follow me,” the soldier replied, and he marched through the iron door and into the wall, with Jayden and G close in tow.
Neither of them had seen the inside of Element City’s outer walls before, but they were totally blown away by just how much was going on. What from the outside appeared to be a ten-block-thick wall of solid stone bricks was actually hollow, filled with various staircases and ladders that led to stone-brick platforms at various levels of the massive height. Soldiers scurried to and fro inside the wall, manning various battlements on the outside, and preparing fireball launchers and TNT cannons. G heard a rush of noise directly above his head, and looked up to see a mine cart rushing across a powered rail above, surely delivering vital materials to a point even further down the wall.
The two players hardly had time to marvel at the pinnacle of Minecraft defensive technology that was the Element City outer wall. The soldier led them over to a battalion of players, bearing weapons and dressed in an amalgamation of diamond, iron, and leather armor. They all stood in front of a series of pistons that were set up against the outermost side of the inner wall.
“Okay, men,” the soldier announced in a booming voice, walking to the front of the group of players. “You know the drill. When the blast doors open, make a charge across no-man’s-land into the woods, and engage the Noctem soldiers. They outnumber us by a reasonable degree, so we will only engage them briefly . . . just enough to buy time for Councilmen Jayden and Goldman to execute their mission.”
There was a shuffling in the crowd as all heads turned to face Jayden and G. The looks on the faces of the soldiers unnerved them a bit. These were players who had been entrenched in the rage of war for longer than they had ever expected, and their expressions seemed to demand that the two councilmen not blow their one chance to take a huge step in ending the conflict.
“Corporal!” came a shout from somewhere within the highest reaches of the wall, where Jayden and G couldn’t see. The soldier leading the charge glanced upward.
“You have to go now!” the voice rang out again. “They’re preparing to move out!”
“Okay,” the soldier said to his troops, turning to face the wall. “It’s time to go. Open the blast doors!”
At the soldier’s command, Jayden and G heard a series of clicks and whirs as the pistons retracted, pulling the stone bricks with them and opening the wall to the world outside Elementia.
There were no words to describe the white shock that overtook Jayden’s and G’s minds as they saw what lay beyond the outer walls. The last time they had been there, just weeks ago, the area surrounding Element City had been lush and green, with forest growing right up to the wall.
Now there wasn’t a tree in sight. The ground had been reduced to a field of dirt piles on a stone field pockmarked with craters. Everywhere their horrified eyes looked, Jayden and G could see fires blazing and the inventories of dead players scattered across the hilly ground. The remaining forest couldn’t even be seen from their position directly outside the wall, as the smoke from the fires was too thick, obscuring the world around the outer wall like render fog.
All this ran through the heads of Jayden and G in an instant. Then they found themselves barreling forward, into the valleys and craters created by the TNT cannons, following the command of the captain who had yelled “CHARGE!”
The group of around thirty soldiers, with Jayden and G in the middle, w
as sprinting as fast as they could, but it was difficult to progress. The uneven terrain underfoot made for a lot of stumbling as they pressed onward, staying together as a group. Then, as the edge of the forest finally came into view, the arrows started to fly.
It was a desperate struggle as the squad of soldiers fought their way out of the craters and toward the forest while dozens of black-clad soldiers rained arrows down on them. Jayden heard the clinking sounds of arrows bouncing off the solid armor of the warriors, along with the occasional cry of anguish indicating that a hit had been scored.
As the soldiers finally managed to reach the top of the hill, a rain of fireballs started flying in from behind them. G glanced over his shoulder and saw lit blocks of TNT, flying far over their heads and landing in the forest with a massive blast. The turrets and battlements on the walls, he knew, were backing them up from afar.
As the soldiers poured forward into the forest, it seemed that the majority of the Noctem soldiers were still scrambling for their gear and weapons. It had been fairly obvious that they hadn’t been expecting the attack. Jayden and G hardly noticed this, though. They were sprinting to the side, ducking into a small copse of trees, out of the Noctems’ line of sight.
As soon as they were safely hidden within the vegetation, the two councilmen stripped off their armor as fast as possible. They then proceeded to yank black leather caps and tunics out of their inventories and pulled them on. As soon as they had both adorned themselves in the enemy’s uniform, Jayden and G made a roundabout back into the trees and emerged behind the Noctem fighters.
It was mayhem on the battlefield. Arrows whizzed through the air, some lit on fire via enchantments, while a steady rain of fire and explosions fell from the smoky skies of the Elementia side. The soldiers were engaged in full-on combat, swinging swords, axes, and pickaxes at a rapid pace, while the vapors of dozens of potions drifted up and into the air.
Jayden rushed forward into the combat right as a Noctem soldier faded into Invisibility right beside him. He whipped out his diamond axe, ignoring all combatants on either side until he found who he was looking for. The corporal leading the attack was fighting a Noctem soldier with a diamond sword that glowed with a red luster. Jayden rushed in to meet the corporal just as he finished off the Noctem soldier. The corporal was about to strike Jayden when the two locked eyes. The corporal realized who it was, and a flash of relief crossed his face. The plan had succeeded. Jayden and G were now in the enemy camp.
“Retreat!” the corporal bellowed, giving Jayden a nod before turning and sprinting back down into the valley. “All forces retreat!”
Within the next few seconds, the Elementia troops were disengaged from the combat and heading back down into the valley of haze as the rain of fireballs and mortars stopped falling. Although a few Noctem soldiers continued to fire arrows into the crowd of fleeing Elementia troops, the majority just looked confused, wondering what had happened.
“Where did that come from, General?” Jayden heard a voice ask from somewhere in the crowd.
“I’m not sure,” a female voice responded slowly. “That attack came out of nowhere . . . and it was over awfully fast. . . .”
“Maybe they just underestimated our numbers,” the first voice replied.
“You’re right,” responded the general, who Jayden still couldn’t see. “That’s probably what happened.”
“So, back with the mobilization?”
“Yep,” the general said, before yelling at the top of her lungs, “All right, everybody! It’s time to move out! We have to hurry. That attack set us back, and they need us back in Nocturia as soon as possible!”
As the mass of black leather started to march, Jayden glanced around wildly, trying to find G. Before long, his eye caught the eye of a player with green eyes and bronze-textured skin under the leather armor. Jayden nearly began to panic, wondering why this random soldier was keeping eye contact with him, before he remembered that this was G’s new skin. Jayden sighed in relief. He was so used to seeing G in his old skin that he had forgotten the change, which was necessary so that no Noctem troops would recognize his extremely distinct appearance.
The two friends and councilmen gave each other a quick nod and returned to marching. Jayden shivered in excitement. This was it. The plan had worked, and now the two of them were marching their way toward Nocturia, with the Noctem Alliance none the wiser.
“Do you honestly need to be so loud?”
Kat halted in her tracks, her foot falling to the ground with a loud squishing noise. She clenched her teeth even tighter than they had been, to the point where she imagined that they were near shattering.
“Cassandrix,” she said, trying to keep her head on straight, “this is a swamp. Because we are in a swamp, the ground is very soggy. Therefore, it is difficult for me to walk on it quietly. Do you understand?”
“Well, I seem to be managing just fine,” Cassandrix trilled in reply. “And, of course, considering that we are attempting a sneak attack here, well, I think that we should practice being as quiet as possible. But if you’re not capable of handling that, Kat, I understand . . . I’m not surprised, but I understand.”
Kat clenched her fists. She wanted to kill the arrogant, stuck-up player who trudged through the swamp in front of her. However, she held herself back. As annoying as Cassandrix was, Kat knew that she had to be the bigger person and deal with it. They were on a mission that might decide the fate of her best friends, and Kat knew that she had to stay focused.
Nonetheless, she resented the fact that the two of them were being forced to bushwhack their way through miles and miles of swampland instead of simply sneaking a pair of boats out of Diamond Bay Naval Harbor. That was how Stan and the others had gotten to the Mushroom Islands in the first place, and, despite the fact that the Noctem Alliance now had control over the Northwestern Ocean, Kat saw no reason that she and Cassandrix couldn’t do the same thing. However, the police chiefs had overridden them and demanded that the rescue mission stay a secret. Therefore, Kat and Cassandrix had been forced to take a different route, which involved trekking down a long peninsula of uncharted swampland and then sailing to the Mushroom Islands from the north.
Honestly, it wasn’t the prospect of the uncomfortable trek through the swampland that bothered Kat, though. Quite the contrary, she was thrilled at the potential for danger and excitement that the swamp held—it was a far cry from the boring council meetings and debates that had consumed the last few months of her life. Rather, Kat had been turned off to the adventure because of the prospect of dealing with the constant stream of whininess and unbelievable snootiness that would surely be pouring out of Cassandrix’s mouth the entire way.
And sure enough, the trip thus far had lived up to her expectations. The night before, Kat had gotten the opportunity to fight off skeletons, spiders, Creepers, and an endless horde of Zombies (she suspected that the Zombies in particular had gotten smarter and stronger during the recent update to Minecraft) with Rex the dog by her side, defending Cassandrix as they set up their shelter for the night. It was great fun, and Kat relished the adrenaline rush of the fight; it felt just like old times again. On the other hand, the entire rest of that night had been nothing but Cassandrix yelling at Kat for letting a Zombie or two reach her and complaining about how gross it was to be spending the night in the soggy and putrid swamp, while Kat had been demanding that she just shut her mouth.
Still fuming, neither one of them had had anything to say to the other all day. Occasionally, Cassandrix had made a snide remark to Kat, which Kat answered with stoic silence, but beyond that they had kept largely quiet. The two simply walked single file, stopping occasionally for a silent meal of bread, as the hours slowly ticked by.
Now the sun was finally beginning to set. The two players continued to trek onward through the saturated grass and occasional pools of water, but it was becoming more and more difficult to see. Kat was about to suggest that they make camp when she heard a voice
from not too far away.
“Ey, guys! Dat spot looks kinda dry! We should camp dere!”
“Shut up!” a second voice hissed, barely audible over the natural ambiance of the swamp.
Cassandrix whipped around and looked at Kat. They locked eyes, saw the panic in each other’s face, and glanced around the swamp, trying to locate a place to hide. As the arguing voices grew closer and closer, Kat’s gaze fell on a stone hole in the moist ground. She drew an Ender Pearl from her inventory and pitched it toward the mine. Kat reached over and grabbed Cassandrix’s arm, and before she could question what was happening, the two girls warped to the inside of the cave.
Cassandrix glanced around wildly, trying to piece together what was going on as Kat waited desperately for Rex. By the time he magically warped beside her, Cassandrix had realized what Kat had done. The two of them scurried downward into the cave, tailed by Rex, and halted where they were no longer visible from the cave entrance. Hearts pounding, the two girls listened as hard as they could, trying to catch the conversation that was going on above them.
“Why do you always have to talk so loud?” an enraged male voice sounded out from above. “Are you familiar with the term ‘stealth’?”
“Ey, don’t you yell at me!” a stupid-sounding male voice continued loudly on. “I don’t have da control ober how loud by boise is!”
“Shut up!” the angry voice hissed again. Kat was taken aback by the sheer level of harshness in the voice. “Good Lord, you’re useless. . . .”
“Cut it out,” a third voice ordered, this one female, sounding slightly annoyed, yet still deadly serious. “Lay into him all you want later, but right now we have to find a place to stay for tonight.”
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