“Not really a time for joking,” Hamid said.
“No, it’s a time for panicking,” Ant said. “But I’m not giving Whiner the pleasure of seeing me pee my pants.”
“The liquid might short circuit this contraption,” Jaina said from her seat on the other side of the strange machine. Two skeletons held her in place. “It could be worth a try.”
Ant closed his eyes and concentrated. He quickly opened them again.
“Not happening,” he said. “I’m either too scared to pee, or you know, this skin isn’t set up for that sort of thing.”
Hamid craned his neck around to get a good look at the room. Whiner had called it the Portal Chamber and it was easy to see why. A massive Nether Portal, built on a raised platform, dominated the middle of the large room. The gateway to the fiery realm of Minecraft pulsed an ominous purple.
Whiner stood near the portal with Slashax. The principal nearly jumped out of his blocky skin when he saw a pair of skeletons emerge from the Nether Portal. The skeletons walked down the platform and across the room.
“Where did they come from?”
“Relax, Mr. Whiner,” Slashax said. “They are merely returning from Nether. My soldiers come and go all the time.”
Another pair of skeletons climbed the steps up the platform and walked through the portal. They were quickly swallowed by the purple light.
“Is that where Herobrine is?” Whiner asked.
“Perhaps,” Slashax said. “One must pass through the Nether to find Herobrine, but you need not worry about such things.”
The painting on the wall near the skeleton king pulsed to life. Slashax moved to stand in front of the painting.
Hamid couldn’t see the painting clearly from where he was, but he could hear it buzz like it was charged with redstone. And he heard the voice that came from the painting.
“What is your progress, Slashax?”
Slashax bowed deeply to the painting.
“Greetings, Master,” he said.
Ant’s eyes went wide at the sound from the painting.
“Is that …?” His words trailed off.
Jaina nodded quickly and shot him a look telling him to stay quiet. Hamid didn’t need such a warning. He also didn’t need to be told whom Slashax was talking to. Only one entity could command such respect from Slashax.
Herobrine.
Slashax bowed to the screen again.
“We have secured the artifact you seek,” he said.
“Then why is it not with me? How dare you delay in completing your task!” said Herobrine.
A collective shudder ran through the skeletons in the Portal Chamber. Even Whiner, who didn’t know Herobrine from a hero sandwich, flinched.
“There is no delay, master,” Slashax said quickly. “We are merely preparing the Seed Generator for travel to your location.”
Slashax waved a bony hand to where a group of skeletons had dismantled the strangest mob-spawner Hamid had ever seen. One of the skeletons removed the brown Seed from inside the cage and held it up for Herobrine to see.
Hamid struggled against the firm grip of skeletons holding him in place. The object of their quest was within reach, but it might as well have been on the other side of the Overworld. Hamid was trapped. He couldn’t even scratch his nose.
In the hands of the skeleton, the seed had stopped spinning. Long strings of numbers continued to float out from the seed and up into the air. Each number was a blueprint for a new Minecraft world. Soon, all those Minecraft world seeds would be corrupted by Herobrine and his minions.
The skeletons handed the seed to Slashax. He held out the seed in front of the screen.
“You see, Master. Here is the key to your freedom. We will bring it to you right away.”
“Do not delay,” Herobrine said.
“I would not dream of it.” Slashax bowed deeply, cradling the seed like a newborn baby.
The screen sizzled and blazed with a fiery glow. The light faded and the screen was once again a painting. Herobrine was gone.
Slashax handed the still-glowing seed to a skeleton and stepped down from the platform. His red eyes burned into the three friends, still stuck in their seats.
“Alone at last,” he said. “Now we can get on with the real show. That’s the one where my loyal subjects give the power of their True Diamond swords to the almighty Slashax.”
“You’ll never get away with this!” Hamid said.
“Oh, but I already have,” Slashax said. “That fool Herobrine doesn’t suspect a thing. And even your friend, the ghost creeper, cannot help you now.”
“Yurei!” Ant said. “How do you know about Yurei?”
“I am the Skeleton King! I know all,” Slashax said. “Yurei has tried to defeat me in the past and failed. When I have the power of the four True Diamonds, I will finish him once and for all.”
Slashax moved to the center of the condenser wheel. At his signal, three skeletons stepped forward on either side of the kids. They each held a diamond sword. The skeletons slid the swords into the tubes.
“That’s what they’re for!” Ant said. “Here I was thinking they were for holding an umbrella.”
“Don’t do this, Slashax!” Jaina said. “Herobrine will destroy you!”
“It is I who will destroy Herobrine!” Slashax placed his bony hands on the redstone block. “We are ready for you, Mr. Principal.”
Principal Whiner looked up from where he stood, still staring at the painting. Even their school principal felt the power of Herobrine long after he had vanished. He turned to Slashax, looking like he was in the middle of a terrible dream.
“Hurry, you fool,” Slashax snapped. “You dare keep me waiting from my destiny. When you add your sword to the condenser, all power will flow to me. Only then will I be able to help you rid your world of the menace you call Minecraft.”
Whiner shuffled to the diamond condenser. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere but in this room.
“You’re sure you can defeat Herobrine?” he said. “What if you can’t? What if Herobrine comes looking for me? Maybe we shouldn’t cheat him like this.”
“Silence!” Slashax barked. “Place the sword in the holder or my skeletons will do it for you.”
Principal Whiner took another reluctant step toward the condenser.
“Don’t listen to him!” Hamid said.
But Whiner did listen to Slashax. The school principal climbed onto the condenser. He sat in his seat. He slid the final True Diamond sword into its slot.
The condenser jumped to life. Redstone buzzed with energy and untold power, all of it flowing to the center hub. In the middle of it all, Slashax let the power of the True Diamonds pour into his bones.
Minecraft had a new ruler.
Chapter 17
The entire Portal Chamber sizzled.
The condenser rumbled, like an angry beast woken from a long sleep. Power drained from the True Diamond swords. It flowed into Slashax, coursing through his bones and sending him into a dreamlike trance.
Jaina struggled to keep her eyes open as the power drained from her as well. Her body grew weaker but her brain was still sharp. Her mind stayed alert for any chance to escape the machine and stop Slashax’s power grab before it was too late. The skeleton hands holding her firmly to the seat made sure that both those things were not going to happen.
In the seats across from Jaina, Ant and Hamid squirmed against the hands of their own skeleton guards. They wriggled like a pair of first graders struggling to sit still through a two-hour school assembly. They were helpless to stop Slashax from stealing the power of their swords.
Principal Whiner looked like he was actually enjoying the ride. His pudgy face was frozen in a look of bizarre happiness. The few hairs remaining on his head stood on end and quivered like antennae as the power of the True Diamonds were squeezed into Slashax’s very bones.
The Portal Chamber blurred on the edges of Jaina’s vision. The room spun like a pinwheel. The
double doors on the far side of the chamber barked like a pack of dogs.
Jaina fought to clear her mind before she completely lost control of it.
She heard it again. Barking. Lots of barking.
An avalanche of white tumbled through the doors into the Portal Chamber. Growling, snarling and gnashing teeth, the pack of dogs sent the surprised skeletons scrambling. Jaina’s heart leaped at the sight the dog leading the charge.
“Bones!”
Red-collared and tongue wagging, Bones jumped at the skeleton holding Jaina to the diamond condenser. The dog’s teeth dug into the skeleton’s leg.
“Get him, boy!” Jaina shouted.
The skeleton swatted at its new attacker with a bony hand. Jaina pushed against her captor with renewed strength. The skeleton’s remaining grip on her shoulder broke. Jaina slipped free of the condenser and fell to the ground.
All around her, dozens of dogs snarled, barked and bit at Slashax’s skeletons.
Jaina stumbled to her feet. “You brought the entire pack, Bones! Good doggie.”
Bones barked and took another bite out of Jaina’s former captor. The skeleton struggled to break free but could not escape Bones’s toothy grip. Two more dogs jumped onto the guard, bringing the skeleton crashing to the ground in a clatter of bones.
The wolf pack was in doggie heaven with all these skeletons in one place. They chewed up the place like hungry teenagers at an all-you-can-eat barbeque.
Three dogs leaped onto the skeleton holding Hamid in place. The guard fell to the ground under the snarling puppy pile. Hamid jumped free of the condenser. He scrambled to the enchantment tables near the map wall.
On the other side of the diamond condenser, two dogs played tug-o-war with the leg of the skeleton holding Ant in place. That was all the distraction he needed to slip free and run toward Hamid.
Seeing her friends begin to rally, Jaina ran through the mess of flying fur and joined them beneath the maps. A pair of dogs dragged another skeleton to the ground in front of them. The skeleton broke apart in a clatter of bones. Each dog ran off with a fresh bone in its jaws.
“Who ordered the puppy patrol?” Ant said.
“That’d be me.” Jaina smiled at the memory of saving Bones’s pack from drowning only a few days ago. “Some old friends returning a favor,” she added.
“I hope they got here in time,” Hamid said.
He looked across the furry chaos to the diamond condensor. Their swords were still stuck in their umbrella stands. Hamid’s heart pounded in his chest. What if the wolves had arrived to late? What if Slashax had drained the True Diamond swords of their power?
The machine had fallen silent. The transfer of energy from their swords to Slashax had stopped like a light switch turned off. Only Principal Whiner remained in his place in front of his sword. He watched, eyes wide and speechless as Jaina’s wolf pack battled Slashax’s skeletons.
With the flow of energy suddenly gone, Slashax woke from his trance and noticed the canine chaos around him. Rage flamed through his bones.
“You dare stop my transformation?”
The skeleton king stomped down from the now silent condenser. He marched toward the three friends, his empty eyes fixed on each of them.
“It wasn’t us!” Ant said. “It was the dogs. Honest.”
“Don’t blame my doggies.” Jaina whacked Ant in the shoulder.
“It takes more than a few mutts to stop me,” Slashax snarled.
Hamid spied more skeletons pouring in through the doorway on the far side of the chamber. Reinforcements. Now that the element of surprise was over, the battle could turn very quickly.
“My minions will deal with this rabble soon enough.” Slashax stalked closer. A sinister-looking sword appeared in his bony hand. “But I will have the pleasure of dealing with you!”
Fear gripped Hamid’s own bones as the skeleton king stomped closer. Diamond blue energy crackled along the length of Slashax’s blade.
Hamid reached for his own sword, only to remember where he had left it.
“Probably would have been a good idea to grab our swords before escaping Slashax’s condenser contraption.”
“Too late for that now,” Jaina said.
“Far too late, little kiddies.” Slashax raised his blade high, ready to strike. “The power of the True Diamonds is mine!”
Hamid and Ant jumped back just as Slashax’s sword sliced through the air. The blade smashed into the ground, sending up an explosion of rocks where the boys had stood only moments before.
The skeleton king raised his sword, ready to strike again.
“Your time in my world is finished,” he snarled.
Hamid stood by Jaina’s side. He was out of ideas and they would soon be out of time, but that didn’t mean they would go down easily. Ant flanked Jaina. The three friends stood shoulder to shoulder.
Around them, angry wolf barks had turned to painful whimpers. Slashax’s reinforcements had corralled Bones and his pack to one corner of the Portal Chamber. The dogs were fighting valiantly, but it was only a matter of time before the boneheads won.
The battle for Minecraft was over. Slashax and his skeleton army had triumphed. He had taken the power of the True Diamond swords. He had stolen the Seed Generator. Now he would defeat Herobrine or die trying. It didn’t matter who would win that fight. Both Herobrine and Slashax would cause destruction and chaos to escape Minecraft and spread to their own world, their own school, their own homes.
Slashax held his fierce blade high, ready to cut them down.
“The game is over, brave heroes,” he snarled. “Prepare to die!”
“Slashax! Leave them!”
The voice came from the far side of the Portal Chamber. Tall, proud and pale, Yurei the ghost creeper zoomed across the room, straight for Slashax.
“You!” The skeleton king turned to face the new arrival. “How did you get here without me knowing?”
Yurei sped closer, his sad-looking face showing no fear of Slashax and his blade.
“You were too focused on the True Diamonds to watch the borders of your own fortress.” The ghost creeper began to flash. “And this time it ends for good.”
Hearing the sureness in Yurei’s words, Slashax stumbled away from the advancing creeper.
Yurei’s flashing pulse quickened with each second.
“Yurei, no!” Hamid shouted. His heart ached at what would surely happen next.
“Don’t do it!” Ant said.
The ghost creeper did not pause. Step by step, he drew closer to the fleeing skeleton king. Slashax ran to the diamond condenser, desperate to put anything in front of himself and the creeper charging at him.
“Your sacrifice will be in vain, creeper!”
“My sacrifice will be enough.” Yurei collided with the skeleton.
The room around Slashax exploded in a blinding flash. Rocks, dust and skeleton bones flew through the air. When the smoke cleared, all that remained was the twisted frame of the condenser and their diamond swords floating on the edge of a deep hole in the ground.
The explosion sent a shock wave through Slashax’s minions. With their leader gone, many lost the will to fight. The cornered wolf pack jumped on this chance like a tasty doggie treat. Bones led the charge as the wolves swarmed the Portal Chamber, sending their enemies fleeing.
Ant and Jaina ran to collect the True Diamond blades before they disappeared. Hamid’s feet were rooted to the ground. Yurei had given his life for them. Their friend was gone because of Slashax and his greed. The skeleton king had been defeated but Herobrine remained. This battle would not be over until his plans for escape were stopped.
Jaina returned, tossing Hamid his sword.
“We got them on the run now,” she said.
Hamid’s gaze locked onto the Nether Portal. A very familiar and very bald shape stumbled up the steps to the purple-glowing gateway. Under his arm, he carried a bundle about the size of a football.
“Whiner is on
the run, too,” Hamid said.
“And he’s taking the Seed with him,” Ant said.
Jaina raced to the Nether Portal.
“Drop the Seed, Mr. Whiner. Slashax is defeated. It’s over.”
Whiner grinned like he’d finally figured out how to give the entire school detention, including the teachers.
“You’re wrong, Jaina,” he said. “It is just beginning.”
Hamid and Ant stood beside Jaina.
“Come with us to deliver the seed to the Village of Keepers,” Hamid said.
With Slashax gone, maybe their principal had changed his mind about destroying Minecraft.
Whiner took a step backwards toward the Nether Portal.
“I am going to deliver the Seed,” he said. “But not to those foolish villagers. I’ll see that it is used to bring down this world and all Minecraft worlds.”
“How are you going to do that?” Jaina said.
“Simple,” Whiner said. “I am going to deliver the Seed to Herobrine.”
Before anyone could say another word, Whiner stepped through the Nether Portal and vanished.
Chapter 18
Their inventories were full. They had food, supplies and even new armor. They were ready.
The Nether Portal stood before them.
“I still say we’ve left it too late,” Ant said.
They had been over this a dozen times since Yurei the ghost creeper defeated Slashax and Principal Whiner slipped through the Nether Portal with the Seed.
Ant had nearly jumped through the portal after their principal, but Hamid stopped him and reminded him of the chaotic nature of Nether Portals.
“Just because you follow Whiner through that portal, it doesn’t mean you’ll come out at the same spot as him,” Hamid had told his friend. “Besides, you’ll have no food and no armor. Who knows what will be waiting for you on the other side?”
It took some convincing, but after Bones and his wolf buddies had finished mopping up the rest of Slashax’s skeletons, Ant finally agreed to wait.
They gave themselves one night, or whatever passed for night this deep underground. Jaina led them to Slashax’s warehouse full of chests, where they found weapons, supplies and food.
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