The Case of the Creepers

by Winter Morgan

  “Do you think someone has done something to the hostile mobs again?” asked Billy.

  “I don’t know.” He looked over at Lucky and said, “Maybe it’s just luck.”

  As he said those words, the wolf disappeared.

  “What just happened?” asked Billy, “Where’s Lucky?”

  “I don’t know,” said Edison. “He just disappeared.”

  Billy got up out of his bed and looked out the window. “There aren’t any hostile mobs. I don’t even see a Polar Bear.”

  “I think someone is tampering with the contest,” said Edison.

  “And you want us to report it.” Billy searched the small igloo for Lucky, but he couldn’t find the tamed wolf.

  “Yes,” said Edison. “We can TP to the committee and let them know what happened in the Nether and also that your wolf vanished in front of our eyes.”

  “But I just want to finish the week. We’ll find Lucky when the contest is over,” said Billy.

  “I don’t think we can wait that long.” Edison was annoyed at his friend. “You promised me that if anything else happened you’d report it.”

  “But—” Billy was about to plead his case, but he was interrupted when Anna spawned in the center of the cozy igloo.

  “Anna,” Billy asked, “what are you doing here?”

  “The Overworld is in a state of chaos, and we need your help,” she told her friends.

  9

  FACTS OR RUMORS

  “Anna, what’s going on?” asked Edison.

  “There are no mobs in the Overworld,” Anna explained, “and it’s causing a horrible effect on the universe.”

  “We think someone is tampering with the hostile mobs in order to win the treasure hunt,” said Billy. “We were going to report them, but I wanted to go on with the hunt. I feel bad that I didn’t report them, but I was having so much fun being a part of the competition.”

  Anna said, “But the competition is so small in comparison to what is happening across the Overworld. There are no mobs, which means there is no meat, and people have been stealing from farms in the middle of the night when nobody can see them. This lack of mobs has created a famine across the Overworld. The food shortage is intense, and people are starving. Do you have any food in your inventory?”

  Edison looked through his inventory and found some chicken. “I have a piece of chicken.”

  “You’d give me a piece of chicken? That is so rare. You can trade chicken for almost anything. I can’t take anything that valuable from you,” said Anna.

  “I want to give it to you. You’re a good friend.” Edison handed her a piece of chicken, but she refused to take it.

  “I will take anything else, but I won’t take a piece of chicken. Do you have a piece of bread or a cookie?”

  Billy pulled a piece of bread from his inventory. “Is this good?”

  Anna ate the bread in one bite. “Thank you. I was starving. This happened so quickly, nobody had time to prepare.”

  “Now we have to find the person or people responsible for this, because we can’t let them destroy the Overworld,” said Billy.

  “Do you really think it’s all happening because of the competition? Or is this something bigger? Is someone trying to ruin the Overworld?” asked Anna.

  “It seems like too much of a coincidence,” said Billy. “There have been a few treasure hunters that ­haven’t followed the rules of the competition, and I think they could be behind this attack.”

  “Are you talking about Sally and Herman?” asked Edison.

  “I also wonder about Spencer and Aaron. I find it odd that they disappeared before the rainstorm,” said Billy.

  “Yes, the rainstorm was the brief period when mobs returned, but nobody could hunt because there was a skeleton attack,” said Anna.

  “We had to battle skeletons too,” remarked Edison. “This can’t go on. We have to put an end to this. We can’t let the people of the Overworld starve.”

  Billy didn’t want to express his disappointment for the competition coming to an end when the Overworld was in such an awful state, but he had to admit that he was very sad to leave the treasure hunt. “We will find the people behind this. Anna, are you going to help us?”

  “Of course. We always work together.” She smiled. “And now I can think because I have eaten. You have no idea how awful it is to have nothing to eat. I couldn’t think about anything else but getting some food into my stomach. My health and food bars were empty.”

  Edison and Billy looked through their inventories and began to rattle off the food. “I have lots of meat, fruit, and bread,” said Billy. Edison had a fully stocked inventory, which included milk and potions to help them regain their strength.

  “We should be fine for a while, but we should definitely conserve what we have and eat wisely,” said Edison.

  Anna suggested, “Maybe we should go back to Verdant Valley and meet with the committee. If this does have something to do with the treasure hunt, they should know. If they cancel the hunt, the person behind this might let mobs spawn again.”

  “That sounds like a good idea. Now that there aren’t any hostile mobs, we can head there now since we won’t get attacked by the mobs that spawn in the night,” said Edison.

  “They have to be a part of the competition. If they weren’t, they’d see what they were doing to the Overworld,” said Billy.

  “Maybe they want to destroy the Overworld. Maybe this is the biggest criminal we’ve ever had to find,” suggested Anna.

  “I hope not.” Edison’s voice was shaky.

  “We have to TP there now and talk to the committee,” said Billy. “I know William, who was the announcer at the competition, is in charge of everything now that the hunt has begun. I’m sure he’ll want this information.”

  “He’s staying in the castle, right?” asked Anna.

  “Yes,” Billy replied. “Let’s TP back to the castle.”

  The trio TPed back to the center of Verdant Valley and emerged in front of the castle, but walking inside and searching for William wasn’t as easy as they imagined.

  “Oh no!” Billy cried as he watched a gang of zombies rip the door from the castle. Everywhere they looked, there were hostile mobs. The streets were flooded with skeletons, zombies, and even spider jockeys.

  They each pulled out an enchanted diamond sword from their inventory, but they didn’t know where to begin the battle.

  10

  MISSING

  The people of Verdant Valley were too weak to battle, and Edison watched as the townspeople were instantly destroyed by a single skeleton’s arrow or by a zombie lunging at them.

  Billy spotted his friend Omar in the midst of a battle with three skeletons. Omar leaped at the skeletons with his diamond sword.

  “Omar,” Billy called out to his friend as he raced toward him. “It’s Billy.”

  “Help!” Omar’s voice was faint. “These mobs just spawned. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I only have one heart left.”

  Billy rushed to his friend’s side and struck the skeletons until they were annihilated. He picked up the dropped bones and handed Omar a potion for healing.

  Omar drank the potion in one gulp and said, “It looks like every mob in the Overworld has spawned in the last two minutes.”

  Billy scanned the battleground. Every mob in the Overworld was battling the townspeople except one. Where were the creepers? Two block-carrying Endermen walked through grassy Verdant Valley while a sea of skeleton’s arrows flew past them. Billy tried to avoid locking eyes with the lanky mob, but Omar accidently did. One of the Endermen unleashed a high-pitched shriek and teleported to Omar.

  A zombie crept up behind Billy and put an arm on his shoulder. Billy struck the zombie with his sword, slicing into the fetid flesh. The zombie was stronger than Billy expected, and it took at least four hits before the undead beast was obliterated.

  “Run to the water in the moat!” Billy screamed to his friend as Omar
raced from the Endermen.

  Billy raced to his friend, who stood in the moat next to the bridge that led to the castle Omar had constructed.

  Omar said, “We are too weak to battle these mobs.” He walked out of the water once the Endermen were destroyed by the fatal liquid. “I don’t think we can battle too much longer. I hope this stops soon.”

  “Stick with us,” said Billy, “We have full inventories. We can help you battle these mobs.”

  “Battle these mobs? We’d need an army to defeat all of these mobs. We need more help,” Omar said as he turned around and struck a zombie with his diamond sword.

  The foul-smelling zombies seemed to spawn in groups of twenty, making the fight against them incredibly challenging. The smell from the zombies was sickening, and Billy tried to annihilate as many as he could while holding his breath.

  Edison and Anna raced over to help them battle, but Anna was struck by too many arrows, and she was destroyed. Edison sprinted toward Anna’s home. As he opened the door, he saw his friend spawn in her bed.

  “Take this.” He handed Anna milk and a slice of bread. “You need your energy.”

  “Did you happen to notice that every mob from the Overworld is here, but there aren’t any creepers?” she asked as she sat up in her bed.

  A zombie ripped Anna’s door from the hinges, and the duo bolted through her small living room and slammed their swords into the belly of the zombie with oozing flesh that broke into Anna’s home. The zombie was destroyed, but the battle wasn’t over. A spider jockey spawned in front of Anna’s door and shot arrows at them. The arrows flew from the skeleton’s bow as the bony beast rode atop the spider. The spider’s red eyes glowed in the darkness, and Edison took a deep breath as he struck the spider with his diamond sword while trying to dodge the arrows that shot toward him. Edison slammed his sword into the spider, and the skeleton was unsteady and fell off the spider. Anna hit the skeleton’s arm with her sword, weakening the beast but not destroying it. As Anna battled the skeleton on her own, Edison obliterated the spider.

  Anna and Edison picked up the drops from the spider and the skeleton, but when they looked up, they found themselves surrounded by twelve zombies.

  “This is impossible,” Edison said, as he pulled out the last bottle of potion he had in his inventory. He splashed the zombies, but there were too many, and the potion was useless. He tried to fight back, but the horrid-smelling zombies clobbered Edison. He awoke in his bed. His heart raced. He had been destroyed. Did this mean they lost the competition? He felt awful. He had let his best friend down. He had to meet with the committee and explain that this was a special circumstance, and they should be allowed to continue with the treasure hunt.

  The sun shone through his window. Puddles meowed, and he handed the ocelot the last of his raw fish. When Edison fed Puddles, he realized passive mobs had returned. He rushed to the window. Farmer’s Bay was incredibly peaceful.

  He pulled an apple from his inventory and ate because he needed to restore his energy for his trip to Verdant Valley to meet with the committee. He had to explain why Billy should be allowed to stay in the treasure hunt. Edison thought about what he’d say when he approached the committee. He’d list all of the cases they solved together and how Anna, a fellow detective, reached out asking for help. As he stared out the window, he imagined himself standing in front of the committee. He was confident that he could get Billy back in the hunt. From the window, he could see Peyton and Erin walking down the road. He rushed outside and called out to his friends. “Peyton! Erin!”

  He met his neighbors on the path near the town farm. Edison was shocked when he saw the state of the town farm. The farm had been emptied. It was devastated. There were no more crops left, and the flourishing farm was almost gone. There weren’t any new crops ready to sprout from the ground. The apple trees had not a single apple hanging from the leaves. It was just dirt.

  “Can you believe what happened to the farm?” asked Peyton. “People stole all of our crops when the passive mobs vanished and the famine started.”

  “It’s awful,” said Erin. “We are going to work on rebuilding the farm today, but I hope it’s not a fool’s errand. I don’t want to spend the day trying to seed the farm and then have people destroy it again.”

  “It’s okay, we can rebuild now,” said Edison. “Passive mobs are back. My ocelot, Puddles, is in my house.”

  “That’s true,” said Erin, “but who knows what is going to happen next? It seems like every day there is some new challenge. It’s very hard to live in this type of environment.”

  “Yes,” Peyton agreed. “I spent the last few days starving. It’s been awful. I’m glad the passive mobs are back though. I was able to get some chicken this morning. I really missed eating meat.”

  “I know, everything that happened was awful,” said Edison. “I promise I’m going to find out who is behind all of this and stop these attacks.”

  Like many of the other promises he made in the past, Edison hoped this was a promise he could keep.

  11

  BACK ON THE HUNT

  Billy, Anna, and Omar were talking to William when Edison entered the castle. Edison could hear Billy say, “It looks like everything is back to normal. I think I should return to the treasure hunt.”

  William nodded. “Yes, but please come back to Verdant Valley if something happens again. We have to get to the bottom of this, but like you suggested, we will have you investigate when the competition is over.”

  Billy was thrilled to get back to the treasure hunt. He saw Edison. “Did you hear the good news? We can go back to the treasure hunt.”

  Edison wanted to ask Billy if he mentioned that things weren’t totally back to normal, that nobody had seen a creeper in a while. However, he knew how much this competition meant to Billy, and he was glad that everything seemed to be back to normal in the Overworld, with the exception of the disappearance of the creepers.

  Anna and Omar wished Billy and Edison good luck. The duo left to get back to the hunt. Edison asked, “Where do we go now?”

  “The jungle. We have to get treasure from a jungle temple, but it’s not close by. We have to travel to get there.” Billy showed Edison the map.

  The trip to the jungle temple led them into the swamp. Edison wasn’t a fan of the swamp. He realized he’d used all of the potions in his inventory and asked if he could stop back at his house to get more.

  William overheard Billy and Edison and remarked, “No, you can’t refill your inventory. You can only use what you packed before you left for the hunt.”

  “But I used up my potions battling these mobs,” explained Edison.

  “Everyone on this hunt had to battle hostile mobs, and they aren’t able to replenish their inventory. The reason the committee is letting the competition continue is only because everyone had the same challenges,” said William.

  Edison understood what William was saying, but he didn’t necessarily think it was correct. He was certain there was somebody on the treasure hunt who was using command blocks to tamper with the competition, and he bet they didn’t have an emptied inventory. Edison knew continuing with the competition without any potions would leave him exposed and incredibly vulnerable. Before he had a chance to state his reasoning for why he should be allowed to replenish his supply, William said, “You’re lucky I am letting you guys stay in the competition. You were destroyed, Edison, and that meant that both of you were immediately eliminated from the treasure hunt. But I made a special allowance because I know both you and Billy were instrumental in trying to help stop the madness that is taking place in the Overworld.”

  Edison knew it was pointless to continue asking William for anything else, and he followed Billy and Lucky on the path toward the swamp and tried not to think about the fact that he didn’t have any potions.

  “Maybe I can brew something,” Edison suggested as they reached the swampy biome.

  “Do you have a brewing station?” asked Bil
ly.

  “No,” Edison replied, “but what else can we do? I’m really worried that we’re going to be destroyed. I’m an alchemist. I rely on potions for everything, and you know that I’m not the strongest fighter. I don’t want to ruin this treasure hunt for you.”

  “You aren’t going to ruin it for me. We will just have to rely on other skills to get us through this hunt,” said Billy.

  The sky was growing dark, and Billy suggested they build a house in the swamp. As they placed the foundation for the makeshift house, they could hear bounce, bounce, bounce.

  “Slimes,” Edison said as he put a wooden plank atop another to create the wall of the home.

  “Well, this will be our first battle without potions. Luckily, it’s an easy mob,” Billy pulled out his diamond sword as he raced toward the sound of the slimes. He found them on the edge of the swampy lake. He tried not to fall in as he sliced into the boxy slimes with his diamond sword.

  Edison rushed over to help his friend, but he was nervous as he watched the sunset and the full moon loom above them in the dark sky. A bat flew close to his helmet, and he ran as fast as he could until he reached Billy.

  “I’m almost done battling the slimes,” Billy said as he plunged his sword deep into the slime and it broke into smaller slimes. Edison annihilated the smaller slimes with a few whacks from his sword.

  “We have to finish the house before more hostile mobs spawn,” said Billy.

  As they raced back to finish the home, they could hear a creepy laugh in the distance.

  “A witch!” said Billy.

  The purple-robed witch lunged toward them. She clutched a potion in her hand, and the duo raced away from her. They didn’t want an ounce of the potion touching their skin. Billy hid behind a tree and traded in his sword for a bow and arrow and aimed at the witch. The arrow seemed to take forever before it landed in the witch’s stomach. This attack infuriated her, and she picked up speed as she raced in their direction with her potion in hand.

  Edison aimed his bow and arrow at the witch, but the arrow just hit her hat and didn’t affect her health. As the witch approached them, they sprinted further away, shooting as many arrows as they could. Using trees and the darkness to hide from the witch, they were barely able to weaken the creepy creature.