“How are we going to get Isaac? The rainbow griefers seem really scary.” Jane was shaking.
“We’re just going to have to do it. There’s no other option,” Lucy said as she put her bow and arrow away and grabbed her sword instead. “Are you guys ready?”
Phoebe and Jane followed Lucy as she sprinted toward the rainbow griefers, ready for battle.
“Isaac!” Lucy called out as she leapt at a rainbow griefer and struck him with her diamond sword.
“Lucy?” Isaac was shocked.
Phoebe took out a potion of harming and splashed the two griefers while Lucy and Jane hit them with their swords. One of them released Isaac and charged at the girls. As Phoebe dodged a blow, Jane rushed in and struck him, giving Phoebe the chance to pull another potion out of her inventory.
Lucy ran at the griefer still holding Isaac, but as she raised her diamond sword, he clutched Isaac tighter, pushing the sword into his chest. Lucy backed off, raising her hands to show she wasn’t going to attack. But Jane and Phoebe came to the rescue; they’d just finished off their rainbow griefer, and they took the griefer holding Isaac by surprise, attacking him from behind with their bows and arrows. With a cry, he was destroyed.
“Isaac, you’re coming with us,” Lucy demanded.
“Okay,” Isaac said.
“Really?” Phoebe asked, stunned. “You’re just going to come with us that easily?”
“I’d rather be in jail at Minecrafters Academy than with the rainbow griefers,” Isaac admitted. “They helped me escape, but I wasn’t sure why they wanted me to be free.”
Lucy interrupted. “Was this the first time you met the rainbow griefers?”
“Yes. They just showed up outside my window and told me they would get me out of the jail. How could I refuse such an offer?”
Lucy asked, “But what did they want in return?”
“I didn’t know at the time. But now I can tell you that they wanted me to help them stage an extreme attack on the Overworld.”
Lucy wasn’t sure why Isaac was confessing all of this information to them. She assumed he was just in shock and was happy to be saved, but she didn’t know if they could trust what he told them. Still, she asked, “Why didn’t you want to join them? You love plotting griefer attacks.”
“Yes, I do,” Isaac admitted. “But I didn’t trust the rainbow griefers. Once we left the campus, they were very mean to me, instead of treating me like an equal partner. I think they just wanted me to help them attack the Overworld, and once the attack was over and they didn’t need me anymore, I think they were going to have me destroyed.”
The group walked silently toward the mountain next to the school, noticing a large hole carved into its side as they approached.
“This looks like it might be a mine.” Jane peeked her head into the darkness of the cave.
“It’s too bad we can’t explore, but we need to get Isaac back to the academy,” Lucy said with a sigh. If they found diamonds in the mine, she could trade them for supplies to replenish her inventory. She was about to walk away when the whole group heard someone crying.
“Do you hear that?” Phoebe asked.
“I guess we should find out who’s in there,” Lucy said. “Does anybody have a torch?”
They were all surprised when Isaac said, “I do. Should I light it and place it on the wall of the cave?”
“Yes,” Lucy replied. “That would be very helpful.”
The mine was very dark, and even with the light coming from Isaac’s torch, it was still hard to see. As they walked deeper into the cavern, the cries grew louder.
“Who’s in here?” Lucy asked.
“We are here to help,” added Phoebe.
Jane spotted someone in the distance. “I think I found them! Follow me.”
Jane reached the end of the tunnel first and crouched over the person who was crying. “Maya? What are you doing here?”
Lucy ran forward. “Maya? Are you okay?”
Maya stood and backed up to the wall of the cave, taking a deep breath and trying to hold back her tears. “You’d better watch out. This place is filled with cave spiders, and there must be a creeper spawner somewhere, because I’ve seen about five creepers. I’m lucky I didn’t explode.”
“But how did you wind up here?” asked Phoebe.
Maya moved into the light, and shock crossed her face when she saw Isaac standing behind Lucy. “What is he doing here?”
“We just found him. We are taking him back to the academy,” Phoebe explained.
“But you haven’t answered our question,” Lucy said. “What are you doing here, and why are you so upset?”
Maya took a deep breath. “When we were in the swamp, I woke up earlier than you guys. I realized my inventory didn’t have any food in it. I’ve been lazy since we started school, and I only eat my meals there. I used to be very good about having all sorts of food in my inventory.”
“Okay, that’s fine, but how did you wind up here?” Lucy pushed.
“When I went to search for food, I was attacked by two odd-looking people. But I was able to escape, and I ran in here to hide. It’s been terrible, though.”
“Can you describe these odd-looking people?” asked Lucy.
“They were rainbow-colored. And they were very mean.” Maya began to cry. “They took almost everything from my inventory. I was lucky to escape.”
“The rainbow griefers!” Isaac called out. “They also attacked me.”
Lucy told the group about the rainbow griefers and how a man named Daniel led them. “I guess they’re back, and we’re going to have to battle them again.”
“Let’s just get back to the school and tell Victoria and Stefan what we know,” Phoebe said. “We’ll deal with them when we have to.”
Everyone nodded and turned to leave the mine.
But as they wound their way out of the cave, Lucy spotted a large hole in the ground not far down a side passage. It was glowing blue.
“Diamonds!” she called out. “We have to mine!”
Phoebe and Jane reached for their pickaxes, but Maya hesitated. “Watch out for spiders,” she called, striking two cave spiders with her diamond sword as they skittered toward the group.
“Despite the spiders, and the fact that we have to return Isaac to the school, we should try and unearth these diamonds. We’d be crazy to pass up such valuable resources.” Lucy hopped into the hole. She gathered the diamonds as quickly as she could with Jane and Phoebe, and eventually Maya and Isaac, at her side. When all of the diamonds were found, Lucy was the first to climb out of the hole.
Her heart skipped a beat. An army of rainbow griefers surrounded the exit.
“Oh no!” she called to the others. “We’re trapped.”
She didn’t notice the silent green creeper floating up behind her until it exploded.
Kaboom!
Lucy respawned back in the swamp. She was completely alone.
Chapter 11
CAPTURED
Lucy crawled out the bed she had slept in the night before. She wasn’t sure what to do. She wanted to head back to the mine, but she knew it was probably better if she went back to the academy and explained everything to Victoria and Stefan. They had to know that the Overworld was under attack by an old enemy, the rainbow griefers.
As Lucy walked out of the small house and into the thick of the murky swamp biome, she could hear a noise coming from behind her. It sounded like someone was calling her name.
“Lucy,” the voice called out. “Are you here?”
Lucy rushed back to the house. “Maya?”
“Yes.” Maya walked out the door. “I was also destroyed by a creeper.”
“What happened to the others?”
“They were captured by the rainbow griefers right before I was destroyed. We have to save them!”
“How? Do you know where they are?”
“I don’t, but we can’t leave them there without any help.”
Luc
y agreed, and the two sprinted back to the cave. They were exhausted when they reached the side of the mountain. Lucy looked over at Maya. “Where do you think they are?”
Maya walked toward the mine, taking slow steps and watching her surroundings. “I don’t see them over here.” Maya entered the mountain and took out a torch to place on the wall.
“I think I hear something,” Lucy said, pausing to listen.
There was a muffled sound coming from behind the wall of the mine.
Lucy crept closer. “I bet it’s a stronghold, or a hidden room on the other side of this wall.”
Maya joined Lucy and pressed her ear to the wall. “It sounds like someone is calling for help!”
“It sounds like Phoebe,” Lucy said. She banged her pickaxe against the blocky wall, trying to break through.
“Stop,” Maya exclaimed. “We don’t want to be that obvious. We can’t just break down a wall. We need to sneak in.”
“But how?” Lucy asked. “Do you think there’s another entrance?”
“I’m not sure, but this isn’t the way to get in. We need to look around for a hole or something.” Maya walked along the wall, inspecting the area for any holes.
After a short search, Lucy called out, “I think I found something.”
But Maya didn’t reply. Lucy looked up, but she couldn’t see Maya—her friend had gone missing again.
Before Lucy could search for Maya, an arrow grazed the side of her arm, and she cried out in pain.
“I thought you were destroyed by a creeper,” said the pink rainbow griefer, aiming an arrow at Lucy.
“I have the other one,” an orange griefer announced, stepping out of the shadows. He held a diamond sword against Maya’s back.
“You must join your friends, our prisoners!” the pink griefer told Lucy.
“I’ll never be your prisoner,” Lucy yelled at the pink griefer.
He shot another arrow at Lucy. It struck her left arm, and she felt a horrible pain shoot through her body. She was losing hearts.
“I will keep shooting you until you are so weak, you’ll have no other choice but to do what I say,” the pink griefer laughed.
Lucy reluctantly walked toward the griefer. The two griefers led Lucy and Maya through a tunnel that led to a large cave dwelling. Lucy saw Jane, Phoebe, and Isaac at the end of the tunnel.
“Do you see your friends?” the orange griefer asked the girls. “You’ll be joining them soon.”
The pink griefer laughed. “In jail.”
Lucy was devastated. She was afraid nobody would ever find them, and they would spend the rest of their days trapped in the cave.
“Yes, we have a nice, large jail cell for you.” The orange griefer smiled. “No more studying for you now, girls. School is over.”
“But this isn’t fair,” protested Maya.
“You shouldn’t have tried to stop us,” said the orange griefer.
Lucy and Maya met their friends at the end of the hall. The pink griefer led the entire group into a dark room. “This is your new home. Enjoy.”
The pink griefer closed the door, and the group could hear the orange griefer laughing as they walked away.
Two red eyes peered at them from the darkness deep in the cell. “It’s a spider,” Lucy cried out as she used her diamond sword to destroy it.
“Oh, no!” Isaac looked at the ground. “Our cell is covered in silverfish.”
The group used their swords to destroy the pesky insect infestation.
“I see another,” Phoebe pointed out, and Jane destroyed it.
“I’m exhausted,” Jane announced.
“I don’t have any food in my inventory,” Maya said nervously, “and my health bar is dangerously low.”
“How long do you think we’ll be trapped in here?” asked Jane.
“I don’t think we have any chance of escape,” said Phoebe.
“That’s an awful thing to say, Phoebe,” Lucy cried. “We will find a way out of here. We have to.” Lucy put on a brave face, but she wasn’t sure she even believed the words that fell from her mouth.
Chapter 12
HELP
Lucy looked up at the ceiling. It was very high up, and there was no way they could reach it without a ladder. She hardly had anything left in her inventory besides a pickaxe. She began to wonder if Phoebe was right and there really was no way out. Lucy had been in serious binds before, but this was the first time she had ever thought she might not escape. She couldn’t believe she was going to be defeated by rainbow griefers.
She looked over at Isaac. “You always craft sinister plans. What do you think we should do? How do we fight this enemy?”
Isaac looked at the ground. “I have no idea. I’m old and out of plans. But for the first time, I realize how awful I am. I am always plotting to attack and hurt people in the Overworld, but I’ve never been the victim of an attack before. I realize now that it feels really bad.” He sighed. “I’m not a nice person.”
Lucy wanted to comfort Isaac, but she also knew that he was right. He had done many terrible things to the Overworld. He had destroyed countless homes with TNT attacks, and terrorized towns by spawning hostile mobs in them.
Phoebe grabbed her pickaxe and hit it against the wall. “Bedrock!” she cried out.
“We can’t even use the cube of destruction, or we will all be destroyed with it,” Lucy said.
Phoebe banged her pickaxe against the other wall. “This one’s also bedrock.”
“We’re seriously trapped.” Jane looked ready to cry.
Everyone stood frozen as the top of the ceiling opened and light shined in.
“Up here!” a voice called out. A ladder fell from the hole in the ceiling, and as their eyes adjusted to the sudden bright light, they saw Victoria and Stefan looking down at them. “Quickly, climb up the ladder. We have to get you out of here,” Victoria called out.
“We’re free?” Jane couldn’t believe it.
“Yes, but we have to move fast. This place is filled with dangerous rainbow people,” Stefan called down.
They climbed up toward the light, and in moments, they were all free. Lucy spotted a few rainbow griefers in the distance. “How are we going to get past them?” she asked.
Victoria splashed a potion of invisibility on the group, and they ran as fast as they could up the mountain.
They didn’t reappear until they were on top of the mountain. “I can see my arms,” Jane called out.
Lucy looked at Jane. “I can see you, too!”
Victoria also reappeared, and she announced, “Let’s all stop on the top of the mountain. We need to make sure everyone is here.”
Lucy was relieved when everyone, including Isaac, reappeared. She looked over at Minecrafters Academy. “It looks like the jail has been rebuilt.”
“Yes, we had it rebuilt when you were away,” Victoria told them. “We also have had most of the students return to the school. And I’m happy to say that their reports have confirmed that the Overworld isn’t under attack. The rainbow people have just started to stage whatever plans they have.”
Everyone was relieved, but then Stefan explained, “It seems to us that they are very focused on destroying our school. This battle may not be about the Overworld; it’s just about us. We must fight to keep the academy safe.”
Victoria said, “We’ve spent too long atop this mountain. We must climb down and make our way back to the academy. We have a lot to do to protect the school.”
The gang sprinted down the mountain. Lucy was thrilled when they walked onto the campus. She had missed the school. She wanted to run right up to her dorm room and hop underneath the covers, but she couldn’t. The second they arrived, thunder boomed, and it began to rain.
“Skeletons!” shouted Phoebe as an arrow struck her arm.
Four skeletons surrounded Lucy. She wasn’t going to let them destroy her; she didn’t want to respawn in the swamp. But the battle was tough. She didn’t have any potions left in
her inventory, and she was losing hearts. She tried to remember all of the techniques Eitan had used to skillfully battle the wither skeletons, but she couldn’t think.
A woman wearing a purple sweater and grey pants ran toward Lucy and helped her battle the skeletons. Together, they were able to defeat the bony mobs.
As the last skeleton disappeared, the rain stopped and the sunshine returned. Lucy introduced herself to her fighting companion. “I’m Lucy. Thanks for helping me battle the skeletons.”
Maya rushed over to them. “I see you’ve met my roommate, Debbie. I told you she was nice.”
Debbie smiled at Lucy. “I was hoping you could get me into the talent show.”
Lucy had almost forgotten about the talent show. How could she think about that while the school was under attack? “I guess I can,” she said. “We’ll be having another meeting soon.”
“Thanks,” said Debbie.
“You’re a really skilled fighter,” Lucy said.
“That’s what got me into Minecrafters Academy.”
Lucy was a skilled hunter, but she wanted to perfect her fighting. She hoped she could learn from Debbie. But she knew that she had to concentrate on stopping the rainbow griefers.
Debbie let out a gasp as a group of rainbow griefers marched onto the campus. Lucy looked over at her. “I’m glad you’re fighting alongside me in this battle, Debbie.”
Debbie and Lucy sprinted toward the rainbow soldiers with their diamond swords. They were ready to save the academy.
Chapter 13
WAIT, IT’S THE WITHER
“Attention students,” Stefan called out. “We are under attack!”
Students poured out of the dorms and into the center of campus, ready to battle the rainbow griefers.
Victoria had to make a decision. Was she going to escort Isaac into his jail cell, or was she going to battle the griefers?
Isaac looked over at Victoria. “Do you want me to help you battle these griefers?”
“Isaac, I think you should go back to jail. I’m sorry, but I can’t be distracted now.”
Isaac understood. “I guess that makes sense.”
Victoria led Isaac back into the jail. Unlike the structure that had previously stood in its place, this prison was made of bedrock and couldn’t be destroyed.
Skeleton Battle Page 4
