“Um,” Maya stammered. “I don’t think we should.”
“I agree,” Victoria said. “There’s no time.”
Stefan protested, “But we can’t leave her behind.”
“This is a battle, and we all have to watch out for ourselves,” Victoria responded.
“How can you say that?” Lucy was shocked.
Jane picked up obsidian from her inventory. “I’m crafting a portal.”
“Ouch!” Steve cried out.
“Oh, no!” Lucy looked up and saw three winged griefers gliding above them. They shot arrows at the gang.
Adam took out his bow and arrow and aimed at the flying griefers.
The caped griefer sprinted toward them, his shield-carrying soldiers close behind. “You can’t escape now.”
Jane stopped crafting the portal and grabbed her diamond sword from her inventory, spinning to pummel into a soldier.
A fireball flew through the sky and landed near Lucy. She narrowly escaped the dangerous, explosive ball.
“Ghasts!” Lucy shouted.
Lucy’s heart began to race. She remembered her teacher, Eitan, instructing her to use her fists to fight ghasts. She made a fist and struck the fireball that flew in her direction. It struck the ghast and destroyed it.
“Good job,” someone called out. She could swear it was Eitan’s voice that spoke to her. Lucy quickly turned around and saw her old teacher standing next to Phoebe.
“Phoebe! Eitan!” Lucy exclaimed, but there was no time for happy reunions. Ghasts were shooting fireballs at her as winged griefers shot arrows at her friends.
“Help me!” Lucy called out to her friends.
Phoebe used her fist to destroy one ghast with its fireball, and Eitan destroyed the remaining mobs.
“How did you two find each other?” Lucy asked as she aimed her bow and arrow at a winged griefer.
Phoebe replied, “Eitan was also fighting Liam and Dylan in the cold biome. He saw me making a portal to the Nether, and I asked him to join me.”
Victoria and Stefan saw Eitan in the distance and called out, but they were too busy battling the flying griefers to come over to him.
Eitan sprinted toward Victoria and Stefan, helping them battle the pesky griefers. With his bow and arrow, Eitan destroyed the winged griefers.
“Wow! You’re a warrior,” Phoebe exclaimed. “I’m glad I found you in the cold biome.”
Eitan smiled. “Thanks. I just want this battle to be over. We have a graduation to plan.”
Lucy sighed. “That seems like it’s never going to happen.”
“It will,” Eitan reassured her.
Adam cried out for help. He was battling the caped griefer and was losing hearts. Lucy ran over to her friend and helped him. She crashed into the caped griefer, pushing him into a pool of lava.
There were several soldiers left in the Nether. Since these soldiers carried shields, they were hard to battle. Debbie, one of the most skilled fighters at Minecrafters Academy, was having trouble.
Eitan, Maya, Phoebe, Jane, Victoria, Stefan, Steve, Adam, and Lucy helped battle the remaining soldiers.
When the last soldier was destroyed, they all drank potions to regain their strength.
“Do you think the battle is over?” asked Phoebe.
“I wish,” said Lucy. “I have no idea where these griefers are going to strike next.”
“We have to build a portal back to the Overworld,” said Phoebe.
“Yes, and this time we all have to get on it,” joked Maya, looking pointedly at Phoebe.
“I don’t think we have time to build a portal,” Jane warned them. “Look up!”
A group of blazes flew through the sky. Their black eyes and yellow skin stood out in the Nether landscape.
“There must be a Nether fortress nearby,” said Eitan.
“Well, I’m not going to look for it,” said Phoebe as she grabbed a snowball from her inventory and aimed it at the blaze.
The gang had inventories full of snowballs; they were prepared for this battle with the fiery beasts.
Lucy picked up the blaze rods and glowstone dust as the blazes were destroyed and dropped them.
“We need to build a portal now,” exclaimed Phoebe.
Within seconds the gang had built and was standing on a portal, surrounded by purple mist. Lucy wondered where they would emerge in the Overworld.
Chapter 13
SNEAKY CREEPERS
The portal left them in the center of Steve’s village—and in the middle of a creeper attack.
“Lucy! It’s been nonstop since you left. Someone is spawning creepers,” Kyra explained while she leapt away from an exploding creeper.
“We are trying to track down the spawner,” explained Max.
“But we can’t seem to find it,” added Henry.
Thunder boomed. Rain fell on the village. As a lightning bolt shot through the town, it hit a creeper.
“A charged creeper!” Steve cried in terror.
A charged creeper was more powerful than a normal creeper. As many of the creepers were struck by lightning bolts, the gang was frightened.
Zombies and skeletons spawned in the rainy weather. “Stand back,” Lucy warned them.
Kaboom! A skeleton’s arrow struck a charged creeper. The rain flooded the town, as more zombies and skeletons spawned. Lightning struck again, charging more creepers.
“We’re in trouble!” Phoebe was shaking, and her voice had a desperate quality. “How are we going to get out of this?”
“We will,” Lucy promised her, and she grabbed her diamond sword and rushed through the rain to strike two skeletons.
Jane and Maya fought alongside Lucy. They used all of their strength to battle the bony mobs.
Kaboom!
“Kyra!” Steve shouted.
A silent creeper had destroyed Kyra, and everyone was upset.
Max called out, “Don’t worry. We built a large house where Kyra will respawn.”
Lucy tried to brush the rain from her eyes. She needed to see so she could battle the four zombies that lumbered toward her.
Adam splashed a potion on the zombies as Lucy pummeled them with her diamond sword.
“We make a good team,” Lucy said when they destroyed the vacant-eyed zombies.
“More creepers!” Adam said as the quiet green mob entered the village. “We have to find the spawner.”
Lucy and Adam ran down the village streets in search of the spawner. “Do you think it’s in one of the village shops?” asked Lucy.
“I have no idea where the spawner is, but I know we have to deactivate it. It’s our only hope of surviving this battle,” Adam replied as he searched the buildings for the spawner.
“I think I see it,” Lucy called from the library.
“Lucy!” a frightened voice cried.
“Avery?” asked Lucy.
“Yes,” she replied. “I’m behind a bookshelf.”
“Are you okay?” asked Lucy
Adam rushed into the library. “It’s here! The spawner is in here.”
Lucy stood next to Avery. “We’re going to stop this battle and restore peace to the Overworld.”
Avery smiled. “Thank you.”
“But you have to leave the library as we deactivate this spawner. It could be very dangerous,” Lucy informed Avery.
As Avery exited the library, Lucy warned her to watch out for zombies. Lucy walked over to Adam.
“Do you have a torch?” Adam asked as he worked on deactivating the spawner without getting blown up by creepers.
“Yes.” Lucy took out a torch and handed it to Adam.
“Almost done,” he said as he deactivated the spawner.
Outside thunder boomed throughout the village. They could hear the rain pounding on the library’s roof. Lucy cried, “I bet there is lightning outside, and it’s charging the rest of the creepers.”
“Okay,” Adam smiled. “I deactivated the spawner.”
The
creeper invasion was over, but the battle was far from done. The soggy streets were filled with charged creepers, zombies, and skeletons. As Lucy ran out of the library to inform her friends that the spawner had been deactivated, an arrow pierced her back. Lucy turned to see two skeletons, and for a moment she was relieved that the arrow was from a bony beast and not from a griefer’s bow. The village was filled with hostile mobs, and Lucy wasn’t sure she’d be able to battle griefers at the same time.
“Lucy!” Phoebe shouted.
Lucy sprinted to Phoebe, who was in the middle of battling three zombies and two skeletons. Lucy struck the zombies, but they weren’t losing hearts.
“These are tough zombies,” Lucy said as she hit them again and still hadn’t destroyed them.
Jane and Maya rushed to their side and battled the zombies and skeletons. As Lucy struck a zombie, the rain stopped and the sun came out.
“Is everyone okay?” Lucy called through the village streets.
Adam announced, “We deactivated the creeper spawner.”
Everyone cheered, but stopped as Victoria and Stefan rushed into the center of the crowd.
Stefan said, “I saw the caped creeper. He’s on the shore.”
Victoria announced, “And he’s with Liam and Dylan.”
Chapter 14
WATERWAYS
The gang, along with the entire population of the town, sprinted toward the shore to capture the three griefers, but when they arrived, they saw each griefer sail away on their own wooden boat.
“We have to get them!” Lucy shouted.
Kyra called out, “I have boats. I made a bunch recently.”
“Enough for everyone?” questioned one of the townspeople.
“No, I don’t think we should all chase after the griefers. I think most of us should stay here and protect the village from any hostile mobs and these griefer’s soldiers.”
The group agreed. Kyra led a handful of people to the building where she stored her boats.
Lucy counted the boats. “You only have five.”
Victoria eyed the coast. “We have to get aboard a boat soon, or we’re going to lose them.”
Kyra ordered, “Lucy, Phoebe, Maya, Jane, and Debbie. These boats are for you. Get on board and save us from the griefers.”
The girls hopped on the boats and sailed off on the ocean. Lucy called to the others, “We need to sail as fast as we can.”
Everyone picked up speed. They were trailing the griefers. Lucy could see the caped man jump overboard.
“Is he jumping overboard?” she asked.
“Yes,” responded Jane, “and it looks like Liam and Dylan jumped into the water, too.”
“Their boat is empty,” confirmed Lucy.
“Does everyone have a potion of water breathing?” Lucy asked her friends in the neighboring boats.
“Yes,” they replied in unison.
“We have to drink now.”
The group drank their potions.
“See you under the sea,” Lucy said, and she plunged into the deep blue water. At first the swim was refreshing, but once she spotted an elder guardian swimming past her, Lucy’s heart began to race. She knew the griefers must have jumped under the water to loot an underwater temple, and she didn’t want to battle guardians, elder guardians, and griefers. But she had no choice.
“I see the griefers,” Jane said as she swam. “They are outside an ocean monument.”
“Watch out, Lucy!” Phoebe called to her friend.
Lucy tried to swim as fast as she could, but she was still struck by the rays from the elder guardian, which left her with the Wither effect. Lucy grew very weak and couldn’t swim. Trapped and powerless from the Wither effect, she felt as if she was about to be destroyed and respawn. The fish focused on Lucy again and aimed its powerful rays at her.
Maya pushed Lucy out of the way just in time and handed her milk. “Drink this.”
Lucy sipped the milk and replenished her energy. “Thanks! We have to get away from the elder guardian.”
Debbie aimed her arrow at the elder guardian and struck the powerful fish. She hit the fish three more times, destroying it.
“We need to get to the griefers,” Phoebe said and swam toward the ocean monument.
The five girls swam toward the ocean monument, the griefers had already destroyed the guardians that protected the monument. The girls swam inside.
“I bet they’re in the room with the gold bricks,” said Phoebe.
“I’m sure of it,” said Lucy.
They swam deeper into the ocean monument, andLucy cried out, “No!” A guardian had spotted Lucy and shot a ray at her.
Phoebe shot an arrow at the guardian, and Jane swam toward the fish with her diamond sword. “Got it!”
The guardian was destroyed. Lucy’s energy was still low, and she drank the remainder of the milk she had in her inventory.
“How many times am I going to get struck with the Wither effect?” asked Lucy.
“I wish I could answer that question, and I wish I could say that you’d never be struck by a guardian’s rays again,” Phoebe said as she swam and searched for the griefers.
“I hear something,” Lucy whispered.
“Me too! It sounds like Liam,” said Phoebe.
The gang of five swam toward the voices. They had their diamond swords in their hands, ready to attack.
Lucy stormed into a room full of gold bricks and struck Liam. Instead of helping Liam, the caped griefer and Dylan swam away.
“Get them!” Lucy screamed as she struck Liam again.
The others followed the griefers. Liam grabbed his sword and struck Lucy.
“Liam, you’re weak. You should give up the battle,” Lucy said as she shielded herself from his sword.
“No!” Liam laughed. “I’m going to win.”
“Your friends abandoned you,” Lucy shouted as she struck him repeatedly with her diamond sword.
“I know where they are going. They didn’t abandon me.”
“Where are they going?” asked Lucy.
“Like I’d tell you.” He smiled.
“I’m going to destroy you!”
“Then I’ll respawn with my friends,” he said. “I don’t care.”
Lucy used all of her might to strike Liam, and he was destroyed. She realized she was alone in the ocean monument. She swam over to a small stack of gold bricks and placed them in her inventory. As she picked up the last gold bar, an elder guardian swam near her. It shot a ray at Lucy.
“Oh no!” she called out, but there was nobody there to hear her cries or to give her milk. She was all alone and losing hearts. Lucy scanned her inventory, but she didn’t have any milk left.
“Help!” she cried out again, but there was no response.
Lucy waited for the Wither effect to lose its power, as she used what little strength she had to battle the elder guardian. But Lucy knew she was going to lose the fight.
“Lucy!” Phoebe called out.
Jane, Debbie, and Maya appeared and skillfully destroyed the elder guardian with their diamond swords.
“We know where the griefers are hiding,” Phoebe said as she handed Lucy a potion of healing.
“Drink that quickly. We have to get to Mushroom Island,” said Jane.
Chapter 15
ISLAND INVASION
Lucy and her friends swam to the surface. They could see the boats floating on the water, but they were far away from them.
“What are we going to do?” Phoebe cried.
Lucy replied, “We have to swim to the boats.”
The water was rough and the friends were exhausted by the time they reached the boats. Lucy barely had enough strength to hop aboard her small wooden vessel. When she was seated in the boat, she grabbed an apple from her inventory and sailed alongside her friends.
“I can see Mushroom Island,” Phoebe called out. She was very excited.
“We can’t dock our boats on the Island. We have to surprise the gr
iefers,” Lucy said as she took a bite from her apple.
The group of five navigated the waters outside the island, and Jane suggested that they ditch the boats and swim to shore.
“That sounds like a good plan,” Lucy agreed.
The gang jumped into the cool blue water and swam to the shore. Normally Lucy loved Mushroom Island. It was a peaceful place, with mooshrooms roaming around the landscape, which was dotted with oversized mushrooms sprouting from the ground. But Lucy wasn’t excited for this trip to Mushroom Island, because she knew they had to confront all three powerful griefers. If they didn’t stop these griefers, the Overworld might be destroyed.
“I don’t see them,” Jane said as they walked around the small island.
A mooshroom walked past them, and Maya suggested they milk it. “We should take a break and have some mushroom stew. It’s so tasty.”
Lucy didn’t think this was the time for a meal, but she also knew they needed energy. “Okay, if we can do it quickly, we should milk the mooshroom.”
Maya and Debbie leaned over and placed a bowl underneath the mooshroom, milking it while the others kept watch.
“I hear something,” Jane whispered to her friends.
“Me too,” said Lucy.
“It’s coming from over there,” Phoebe called out. “By the water.”
The group spotted the three griefers docking their boats on the shoreline. Liam spoke. “I’m very annoyed that I wasn’t able to get all of the gold blocks from the ocean monument.”
“Next time, we’ll loot the entire monument,” replied Dylan.
“Don’t worry about small treasures,” the caped man explained. “We have bigger plans. Soon we will be the leaders of the Overworld. Then we will have all the treasure we’ve ever wanted.”
“You’re right. Who cares about a few gold bars when we will be able to have everything?” Liam grinned.
The five girls didn’t know if they should attack or hide behind the mooshroom. They didn’t have very long to contemplate a plan of action, because the three griefers saw them.
“We see you!” Liam laughed, and the three evil griefers sprinted toward them with their diamond swords held high.
Lucy took a deep breath. “We can do this,” she said to her friends.
Battle in the Overworld Page 5
