“Wow, I’m impressed. You guys are real warriors,” remarked Lucy. “Did you get any rewards from the mobs?”
“The witch dropped sugarcane and the slimes left slime balls,” said Steve, as their other friends walked into the small living room.
“You guys fought a witch and a slime? Wow! And all I did was sleep,” said Owen.
Everyone agreed that Steve, Cyrus, and Adam deserved a big breakfast. As they ate, Max studied the map.
“Well, it’s time for us to move on.” Max looked at the map as he spoke.
“Which way do we go?” asked Lucy.
“Toward the forest,” Max said, as they started off into the forest filled with oak and birch trees, and wolves.
Chapter 6
NETHER AGAIN
“The forest is so pretty!” Lucy remarked as she looked at the green leaves and watched cows graze in the pasture.
“Mine Mountain is just beyond the forest. According to the map, it’s not that far.” Max stared at the map and said optimistically, “I think we can get there before nightfall.”
“Really? I hope so!” Kyra was excited.
Boom!
“What’s that noise?” Owen asked with a shaky voice.
Rain fell as Max replied, “Thunder.”
The sky grew thick with clouds and the sun was hidden, making it the perfect environment for hostile mobs. Two skeletons emerged from behind an oak tree and shot arrows at the group.
“Oh no!” Lucy’s arm was hit. She grabbed her bow and arrow with her good arm and aimed at the skeletons.
The gang ran toward the skeletons, striking them with their diamond swords. No matter how many they destroyed, more would spawn and replace them.
“Zombies!” Cyrus called out.
The group fought the skeletons as an army of zombies lumbered toward them.
“I have an idea!” Steve began to craft a portal.
“Yes! The Nether!” Adam was excited.
“I’ve never met someone who was excited for a trip to the Nether,” remarked Owen.
“I need to replenish my supplies to make potions. I can brew a lot with Nether wart.”
“This is no time to talk!” shouted Steve.
Adam struck a skeleton with his sword.
“Good, keep fighting!” Steve instructed the group. “I’ll build the portal.”
Steve ignited the Nether portal and purple mist filled the rainy skies.
“Come on guys!” Steve shouted to his friends. “We have to stand on the portal now or we’ll be trapped in this rainy forest filled with hostile mobs.”
The gang rushed toward the portal, but Kyra was cornered by two skeletons and a trio of zombies and couldn’t join the others. “Help!” she screamed as the zombies attacked her.
The gang was on the portal; within seconds they would travel to the Nether.
“What should we do?” asked a panicked Owen. “We have to help Kyra.”
“Don’t get off the portal,” demanded Steve, “I’ll help Kyra.”
Steve got out of the portal as the others vanished. He sprinted toward Kyra with his diamond sword.
“Don’t worry, Steve,” voices called out from behind him. Max and Henry had also jumped out of the portal.
As much as Steve didn’t want to admit it, he was happy he had backup. The three friends raced to Kyra’s side, saving her from the zombies and skeletons. But the battle was still intense and everyone’s health bar was getting low.
“We’ll never win this battle!” Steve told them, “Can you guys fight them off while I build another portal?”
“We’ll try,” Kyra shouted as she struck a skeleton and didn’t even have time to pick up the dropped bone because a zombie was making its way toward her.
Steve used the last of his obsidian to construct the Nether portal. “This is our last chance. I don’t have any more obsidian. We have to go now!”
“We’re ready!” Kyra sprinted toward Steve as he ignited the portal. The portal omitted a loud sound as the purple mist filled the air. They were going to be reunited with their friends.
“It’s going to be okay,” Steve said as they emerged into the red glow of the Nether next to a lava waterfall.
“No, it’s not!” Max screamed as a high-pitched sound pierced his ears and a fireball shot at him. Max took out his bow and arrow and shot the fireball. It bounced back and struck the white ghast.
“Good job, Max,” Steve commended him as he walked through the Nether looking for their missing friends.
“I wonder where they are?” Henry looked off into the distance and then climbed up a pillar to get a better view of the landscape.
“Do you see them at all?” Kyra asked as she called out their names but got no response.
“No, I don’t see anything.” Henry was disappointed.
“Look,” Max pointed out as he jumped over a pool of lava. “I see a Nether fortress. I bet that’s where we’ll find our missing friends.”
The trio raced toward the Nether fortress. The entrance was in sight when they heard chirping sounds.
“That doesn’t sound like a bird.” Max looked up in the sky. Three ghasts were flying toward them.
“Get your bows and arrows out,” instructed Henry. “I’m no weatherman but I predict in a few seconds there is going to be a fireball storm.”
Max shot an arrow at the ghasts. One shot a fireball but the two other ghasts flew away.
“They get scared when they’re attacked,” Henry said as his arrow struck the fireball and it flew back at the ghasts.
“Quick, let’s get into the Nether fortress.” Steve ran through the entrance. The main room was empty.
“Maybe they’re getting the treasure?” asked Max.
“Lucy! Owen! Cyrus! Adam!” Steve shouted, but there was no response.
“I hope they’re here,” Kyra said in a worried tone. “What if they were destroyed by ghasts and are in the Overworld?”
“We should at least try and find the treasure, so this trip isn’t a total waste,” Henry remarked as he searched the fortress for treasure.
Kyra stopped by the edge of the staircase. “Steve, doesn’t Nether wart usually grow here?”
Steve looked at the side of the stairs and noticed there wasn’t any red Nether wart growing out of the patch of soul sand. “Yes, it does. It looks like somebody already picked the Nether wart.”
“I bet it was Adam! He needed the Nether wart to make potions.” Kyra hoped that her friends were in the fortress.
Henry turned a corner and yelled, “Ouch!” A wither skeleton struck Henry with his stone sword, infecting him with the wither.
“Don’t worry, it only lasts ten seconds,” Steve called out to his friend.
Max struck the black stone carrying a wither skeleton, destroying it. The wither skeleton dropped a skull.
“Awesome!” Max picked up the skull.
Henry was still feeling the effects of the wither.
“Are you okay?” asked Steve.
“I’m not sure. I feel a little funny.” Henry’s health bar was still diminishing.
“Take this potion,” Max said and handed his friend a potion to regain his strength.
“Potion? Did somebody say potion?” Adam asked as he entered the room with the others.
“Have you guys discovered the treasure?” asked Henry.
“No, I think this place was looted before we got here,” replied Cyrus.
“I was able to get a bunch of supplies to brew potions,” Adam told them.
“I think we should head back to the Overworld. I want to get out of the Nether. It’s so dangerous and there is nothing to be gained by being here.” Steve hated the Nether. He only built the portal to escape from the mobs. Now he could make another portal back to the Overworld.
“Do we have enough obsidian to make a portal?” questioned Kyra.
The group paused to check their inventories and see if they had enough obsidian.
“It
looks like we have to keep moving!” warned Henry.
The group looked up.
“Oh no!” shouted Lucy.
Five yellow blazes flew into the room. Their movements were so gentle they looked as if they were floating in water. The blazes began to catch fire and then each blaze shot three fireballs at the group, surrounding the gang in a sea of flames.
Chapter 7
BLAZE OF GLORY
“I have snowballs!” Max called to his friends, and he tossed as many as he could at the hostile mobs.
“Me too!” Kyra told them and handed out snowballs to her friends. But they didn’t have enough snowballs to defeat the flaming mobs.
“We need to find the spawner.” Cyrus sprinted toward a blaze with a snowball, knocking it to the ground, and then raced down the hall searching for the room.
The others threw snowballs at the fireballs and shot arrows at the menacing blazes.
“I found the spawner!” Cyrus called out.
“Good, because we’re out of snowballs!” cried Max.
“It’s over,” Henry lamented. “There’s no way we can win this, even if Cyrus is able to disarm the spawner.”
“Don’t give up that quickly,” said Steve, “I have a plan.”
Max threw his final snowball at the black-eyed flamethrower. “Do you have any more snowballs?”
“No.” Steve handed the potion of invisibility to his friends; they all took a gulp and instantly disappeared. The blazes had no idea where their targets were. They couldn’t aim fireball at nonexistent people. Everyone rushed toward Cyrus to help him destroy the spawner.
“Cyrus!” Owen called out as he watched his friend unexpectedly get struck with a fireball and disappear.
“Oh no!” cried Lucy.
Adam threw a fire resistant potion at the offending blaze, and Max shot it with an arrow. Henry took this opportunity to reach the spawner and place a bunch of blocks around it. Steve placed torches on the blocks.
“We did it!” Steve called out as the spawner was deactivated.
“But Cyrus is back in the Overworld,” Owen said sadly.
“We need to get back to the Overworld too. Did everyone check their obsidian supply?” added Steve.
Together they had enough obsidian to create a portal. The gang headed out of the fortress but stopped when they saw a pair of yellowish eyes hop toward them. The black magma cube jumped at Max.
With a mighty blow from his diamond sword, Henry stopped the cube from attacking his friend. The black cube was similar to the slime and instead of being destroyed, the magma cube morphed into four smaller cubes. The gang struck the smaller cubes. When the cubes were destroyed they dropped magma cream.
Steve picked up the magma cream and handed it to Adam. “Take this cream. You can use it to brew fire resistant potions.”
Adam placed the magma cream in his inventory and they rushed out of the fortress. As they walked on the Netherrack ground and looked for a spot to construct a portal to the Overworld, a zombie pigman walked past the group. Since zombie pigmen are usually tame, the group ignored this creature of the Nether, until Steve was using flint and steel and accidentally set an arrow on fire. The flaming arrow flew past the zombie pigman, which began to attack Steve.
More zombie pigmen appeared and began to crowd around the group.
“What should we do?” questioned Lucy when she struck one with her diamond sword, but it didn’t seem to hurt the zombie pigman.
“We need to get out of here!” Adam shouted and he gave everyone a potion of swiftness.
The group rushed away from the zombie pigmen and toward a bridge that took them over a large lava river.
“We’re safe,” Lucy sighed happily.
“But we left the portal. All of our obsidian is over there and now we’re trapped in the Nether,” Steve said wearily.
“We have to get back to the portal. I want to go to the Overworld and see Cyrus.” Owen was upset.
Everyone was exhausted. Steve, Max, and Henry hadn’t slept for days, and the battles in the Nether had taken a toll on everyone. Their patience was being tested. A fight began to brew among the friends.
“We need to search for more obsidian,” suggested Max.
“Why did we even come to the Nether? This is all your fault, Steve,” said Owen.
“This trip to find Mine Mountain has been a nightmare. Who even knows if it really exists?” complained Kyra.
“Stop it!” shouted Steve. He wasn’t a fan of raising his voice, but he knew he had to get everyone to pay attention. If they didn’t stick together, they’d never get out of the Nether.
“Do you have a plan?” asked Max.
“I can’t come up with a plan if everybody is complaining,” replied Steve.
The group looked at each other. They knew Steve was right. As they sat silently, they heard voices coming from behind them.
Owen ran a short distance and called out, “Charlie! Beatrice!”
Charlie and Beatrice looked at the others in shock.
“You stole our treasure,” Henry exclaimed and pointed his sword at Charlie and Beatrice.
“Stop, Henry. What are you talking about? These are my friends,” Owen protested.
“We didn’t steal your treasure. We were destroyed. You didn’t help save us,” said Beatrice.
“Why are you in the Nether?” questioned Steve. He didn’t trust this duo and he found it rather suspicious that they had appeared in the Nether.
“We were on a treasure hunt,” Charlie replied. “We were just about to go back to the Overworld.”
“That’s awesome! We need to go back to the Overworld, but we don’t have any more obsidian,” explained Owen.
“I’m not sure we want to take your new friends with us.” Charlie looked at Steve as he spoke. “They let us be killed when we were in the jungle temple.”
“But you stole the treasure!” cried Henry.
Steve knew Charlie and Beatrice were their only hope of getting back to the Overworld. If they didn’t make amends with them, Steve and his friends would be forced to travel to the End to find more obsidian and Steve didn’t have enough strength to battle the Ender Dragon. Steve swallowed his pride and apologized. “I’m sorry if we let you down. We didn’t want you to get hurt. And I have no idea if you took the treasure or not. We just know that once you disappeared, the treasure and our map were missing. We don’t mean any harm. We just need to get back home.”
Beatrice looked at Charlie and then she smiled. “Okay, we will let you use our portal.”
“Are you going to come with us to Mine Mountain?” asked Owen. “Once we find Cyrus we are going to continue our trip.”
Steve was annoyed with Owen. He couldn’t believe that Owen trusted these two friends. Steve could tell they were planning something sinister.
“Yes. We’d love to join you,” said Beatrice, looking at Owen. “As your friend Steve knows, we were also going to travel to Mine Mountain.”
“They say Mine Mountain has enough treasure to supply the entire Overworld with diamonds,” proclaimed Owen.
“Great, then there will be enough for everybody,” Beatrice said as she placed obsidian and created a portal to the Overworld.
Steve and his friends jumped onto the portal as quickly as they could. They didn’t trust Charlie and Beatrice. They could change their minds and leave them in the Nether. The purple mist flew through the air and Steve was excited to return to the Overworld but nervous about what might happen once they got there. What else would Charlie and Beatrice steal from them?
Chapter 8
SAFE IN THE SAND
“We’re in the desert,” said Lucy as she looked around and saw sand.
“Max, take out the map. I want to see where we are and how far we have to travel,” said Steve.
Charlie took out his map and asked, “Did you guys get a new map?”
Steve was shocked. Did Charlie just admit to stealing his map? “How did you know our map wa
s missing?”
“When we were in the jungle Max dropped the map and I was going to give it back to him. But I was destroyed.” Charlie handed the map to Max.
“I have a map, too,” added Adam, “that’s what we’ve been using.”
Charlie and Max studied the three maps because they wanted to see if all the maps were the same.
“Looks like these are all identical,” confirmed Max.
“I wonder how many maps are out there? If we have three copies, there might be hundreds circulating and numerous people looking for the same mountain. Once we get there it could be emptied,” remarked Lucy.
As everyone got up to follow Max and Charlie in the direction of Mine Mountain, Steve continued to read a book.
“Steve, what are you doing?” asked Kyra.
“I wanted to read about Mine Mountain in this book Avery the Librarian gave me. Maybe it could help us,” Steve said as he held up the book.
“This is no time to read,” complained Henry. “We have to keep moving.”
“But it says here that Mine Mountain keeps regenerating diamonds, so there will be diamonds when we find it,” Steve informed them as he read from the book. “So we should still look for the mountain.”
“Look!” Owen called out and began to sprint.
“Watch out!” warned Lucy, “I see a cactus. Don’t get too close.”
The gang ran toward Owen. They spotted a desert well and stopped beside it.
“I knew it!” Owen was excited. “A desert well. I’ve never seen one of these before. It’s amazing.” Owen looked down at the blocks of sandstone that formed beside a deep blue patch of water.
Kyra inspected the well and asked, “What does it do?”
Owen stared at the well. “I’m not sure. I think it can help us get water.”
Henry peered into the well and exclaimed, “Guys, there’s a stronghold underneath the well. Let’s go inside!”
Steve was reluctant to go into the stronghold. “I don’t mind going into the stronghold. I just don’t want to go to the End. I don’t have the energy to beat the Ender Dragon.”
It was too late. Nobody had heard Steve. Everyone had already climbed down into the well and made their way into the stronghold.
“Look at this fantastic room!” Owen said as he walked into a room with a pillar and a large fountain.
Clash of the Creepers Page 3
