by Terry Mayer
"Seriously?"
"Yes Nate, seriously. These beauties could be our life savers, literally."
Grabbing his ocelot around the neck, Nathan gives it a huge hug and kisses it on its mussel.
Laughing, the others also hug their ocelots and silently give thanks that at least the creepers will not be a problem anymore.
*****
Moving around the clearing, Warlord continues to test the zombie's perimeter. As he moves to the far side of the clearing the zombies move with him, but as the sun rises they are forced further and further back into the trees shadows, so slowing their response time. After about twenty minutes, Warlord realizes that the zombies are starting to move away. No longer able to pursue him, due to the devastating rays of sunlight that are falling through the foliage. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he moves to one side of the clearing, waiting for all the zombies to follow him, and then sprints straight across the clearing and into the trees. Keeping at a sprint it is not long before all signs of zombies are far behind him and he slows to a steady jog. Trying to stay in sunlight, wherever possible, after all this is minecraft, he makes his way east, hoping to find something that will give him some idea as to what he should do next.
*****
Sitting in a tree, looking over a small clearing, Munster turns to PowerGlide. "So boss. What do you think?"
"Looks promising, makes sense for Warlord to dig himself in and wait out the darkness. Do you still have your bow?"
"Sure boss, not so many arrows though."
"Ok, I'm going to take a look at that pit, see if there is any evidence that Warlord was here. You keep an eye on those zombies. If they even look like they are going to move, put them down."
"No problem boss, but you're safe in the sunlight, you know that."
"Safe now, but what happens when all the rules change again?"
"Then I put the zombies down for you. So, are you going or what?"
Looking hard at Munster, PowerGlide jumps from the tree and moves cautiously into the clearing. As he approaches the pit, he can see a few small cubes of cobblestone floating above the ground. So, looks like a player died here, must have been PowerMad. I sure hope he never got a chance to speak to Warlord before he bought it or my job just got a heck of a lot harder. Turning to Munster, he waves him over.
"What's the story boss?"
"Look here, cobblestone, looks like Warlord spent the night here and cleaned out his inventory before he left."
"Yeah, makes sense. So where did he go?"
"Trail leads that way." Walking to the tree line, they see a clear trail between the trees. "Looks like he had a lot of company following him when he left."
"Sure does boss." Bending, Munster examines the trail. "Looks like a couple of hundred zombies and something else."
"Oh, what?"
"No idea boss, I've never seen anything like it before. So, what now?"
"Hm, I think we leave our unfaithful friend to play with his new acquaintances. No point getting caught up in his zombie squabble now, is there."
"Guess not boss, but I sure would like to get even with him."
"And rest assured, if we ever meet up with Warlord again, we will exact our vengeance. Now come on, day light's burning and we have other game to hunt."
*****
8 - New Beginnings
"So, how are we going to make these Ocelots come with us?" asks Nathan, getting up from the ground.
"You don't make an ocelot do anything," replies Hailey.
"Exactly! They're huge, we can't exactly tie a rope around their necks and drag them."
"You don't have to Nate, just walk over there and see what happens," Hailey replies pointing to a small rock formation, maybe 30 blocks away.
Following her lead, Nate walks over to the outcrop and is amazed that the ocelot tags along with him.
"Cool, does this mean that it will follow me everywhere?"
"Yes Nate, you just tamed your first ocelot. It will now follow you, wherever you go. The only things that it is afraid of are wolves."
"Way cool, it's like having a pet tiger."
"Better I'd say, you won't wake up in the morning with an ocelot chewing on your leg."
"Um, this is all very interesting, and thank you Hailey for the ocelots, but maybe now we can get back to finding Natasha?"
"Yes, of course Jethro, so has anyone any ideas?"
"I think the only thing we can do is follow the cliff face and see where it leads us, no doubt there will be some way down," replies Jack.
"Sounds like a plan, all agreed?"
"Hang on a second, this is minecraft, yeah, and in minecraft, you can fall from as high as you like as long as you land in water. So, I know it's scary, but maybe we should just go over the waterfall, like Natasha."
"Are you joking? that could kill us."
"But it didn't kill Natasha, Jack."
"Says who?"
"Says the game. No announcement means no death."
"Sorry to interrupt your little squabble boys, but just in case you have not noticed, I'm human."
As all eyes turn to Hailey, they nod their understanding.
"Be that as it is, I think Jay has made a very valid point, Natasha is my friend and we swore to stick together. I think you guys should follow the cliff face and find a way down, I'll go over the waterfall and find Natasha, then we can meet up somewhere down there," points Jethro.
"Wow guys, we can't start splitting up, haven't any of you ever seen a horror movie. The moment someone says, 'let's split up it's the start of the killing."
"I know Jack, but we need to decide now, before it starts getting dark."
"Jethro, we need to stick together."
"Yes Jack, that would be best, but we also need to find Natasha, and Hailey can not jump over that waterfall and survive. So, I have decided. I am going to find Natasha, the only question left is where do we meet?" asks Jethro, looking out over the vast jungle below him.
"Not so fast Jethro, I'll come with you."
All eyes turn to Nate.
"What? We can't let him go on his own."
"Are you sure Nate?"
"Yeah I'm sure Jay. I like Natasha and if I can help her, I will. Look, over to the left, there is a stone building sticking up through the trees. Let us meet there tomorrow, at midday."
Looking out into the jungle where Nathan is pointing, Jay replies. "That's a temple Nate, could be mobs in there."
"Yes indeed, but it is a landmark in this almost uniform jungle. Right, Nathan, if you are sure that you wish to accompany me, then I would be delighted to have you along. Everyone else, good luck, and we will see you at the temple tomorrow."
Picking up his meager belongings, Jethro removes his crafting table from his inventory. Placing boards on the crafting table, he quickly makes a couple of new boats.
"Right Nathan, if you're coming, then we need to get going."
Turning to the group, Jethro holds out his hand to Jay, "It's been a pleasure Jay, it fact, it's been a pleasure to meet all of you." Turning away quickly, Jethro jumps into his boat and pushes it into the water. To his surprise, his ocelot jumps in with him, almost sinking his boat. Still very new to the ocelot owning experience, he is very unnerved having a 200 pound cat snuggled up so close.
"Right, see you guys tomorrow, don't be late," jokes Nate, jumping into his boat. As with Jethro, his ocelot jumps in beside him. "Right Jethro, shall we get this carnival on the road?"
"Yes indeed Nathan, and good luck."
Pushing off from the bank, the boats rapidly gain speed and shoot towards the waterfall edge.
Standing on the bank, the others watch as their friends disappear over the edge of the falls, and the last thing they hear is Nate shouting. "To infinity and beyond!"
*****
Moving at a fast jog, without encountering any problems, Warlord has covered thousands of blocks over the last couple of hours. The terrain has gradually been changing from wooded plains to
more thickly forested. In fact, in the last few blocks, it has turned hot and humid and the foliage has become almost jungle like. At this thought, he stops in his tracks and takes a careful look around. Yep, change of biome, he thinks, looks like I am into a jungle biome now, this is going to slow me down. Removing his sword, he uses it as a machete to help cut a way through the ever-thickening vegetation. Trying to stay in the less heavily forested sections he continues to move east, he is not really sure why, but he needs to head somewhere. Checking behind him he sees he has left a very obvious trail. Man, I hope I lost those zombies before I entered this jungle or I am going to be dead easy to find. Stopping at a large tree, he decides to climb it and take a survey of the surrounding area. Reaching the top, after a few hairy moments, he pushes his head through the canopy and gasps. Jungle stretches as far as the eye can see. It is a vast field of green, only broken by a wide blue river. Yes, that is where I need to go. Taking a bearing on the river, he climbs down and heads in that direction.
*****
"So what's the plan boss?" asks Munster as he jogs along the edge of the tree line.
"Find the other group of players, and finish them off. I can't believe they got away from all those creepers and zombies."
"I know, I thought for sure that they were goners."
"Right, but they must have found a way out, so let's head back to the village, and see what we can see."
"Cool boss, but I sure don't want to be around come nightfall. If we're caught out in the open, with that many creepers, then we're done for."
"You're not wrong there Munster. Right, double time, let's get to the village with a little daylight to spare."
Sprinting along the tree line, they spy the village after about twenty minutes.
"Ok Munster, slow down, let us approach with a little caution. Those creepers were out in the daytime yesterday, let's not walk straight in on them."
Moving stealthily along the edge of the tree line, the village, or what is left of it, slowly comes into view.
"What the heck! It's gone," exclaims Munster.
Where the village had once stood is now a battlefield of craters. The surrounding wall is still pretty much intact, but everything inside is now destroyed.
"There must have been one heck of an explosion to create that much damage."
"Yeah, or lots or small ones," replies PowerGlide pointing at the hundreds of small craters that join together, all through the village. "Looks like they made a last stand here, but how did they manage to get away?"
"Maybe they flew?" jokes Munster.
"Well, it's possible in creative mode but I've never heard of it in survival before."
"Yeah, but this is not exactly a normal game of minecraft, is it?"
"Guess you're right, but let's take a look around for other options first."
Spreading out they start to search the area, looking for any sign that the other players passed through.
"Hey boss, over here."
"What did you find Munster?
"Look, a tunnel." Pointing at the bottom of a particularly large crater, where the bottom had blown out the roof of a tunnel below.
"Nice work. Seems our friends were more prepared than I gave them credit for. Let's take a little lookey see where this leads, shall we?"
Jumping into the tunnel, they both light a torch and draw their swords.
"Ok boss, that way slants up so I bet you would find they tunnel entrance if you followed it, so I guess we go this way."
Jogging along the tunnel, stopping only to place torches they soon arrive at the intersection.
"So, which way boss?"
"Judging the direction, and the straightness of the tunnel I'd say that this way," pointing straight ahead, "goes to that small hill behind the village. Now last night, that giant black monster was stood on top of the hill, so I'm guessing that's why they stopped and dug this other tunnel."
"Yeah, makes sense. So, where does this tunnel go?"
"No idea, so why don't we go and find out?"
Jogging down the intersection, they arrive at a dead end with steps rising to the ceiling.
"Clever, they covered their exit point after they left so the mobs would not know which way they went."
"Yeah, but do you think it worked?"
Looking around the tunnel, PowerGlide replies. "Yeah, looks like it. If a thousand creepers had been through here there would be signs, and the tunnel is still sealed. I've never heard of a creeper placing blocks before, have you?"
"Nah, you're right boss. So what now?"
"Guess we follow the trail," he replies smiling and removing a stone pickaxe from his inventory. Moving up the stairs he breaks the two blocks sealing the tunnel and daylight flows in. "Come on Munster, we have some players to catch up with."
"Hold on one minute boss, be right there." Dashing back down the tunnel, Munster removes his pickaxe and starts workings at the walls. After breaking 15 blocks, he dashes back up the exit and up the stairs into daylight.
"What took you so long?"
"Just spotted some iron ore, so grabbed it before we moved on."
"Good work, how much you got now?"
Looking in his inventory, Munster replies. "I've got 30 iron ores and 3 iron ingots, how about you?"
"I've got 12 iron ingots and 8 iron ores, that's enough for two sets of amour. Let's take five and re-equip ourselves before we move on. You make the ingots, I'll do the armor."
"Cool boss."
Removing his forge from his inventory, Munster loads it up with his, and PowerGlide's iron ore, then stokes the furnace with wood chunks. Before too long, iron ingots start falling out of the furnace, which he hands to PowerGlide, who arranges them on his crafting table to construct a suit of iron armor. Laying three ingots across the middle then one at either end he constructs a helmet, three across the top then two at either end, he has some leggings. Placing eight ingots on his table with one missing at the top centre builds a chest plate, then for the final time he places two sets of two ingots on the table and makes some boots. With a complete set of iron armor, he then repeats the process for Munster. With all the iron ore smelted and the armor complete, they climb into their new outfits and admire their work.
"Wow boss, I have done this a million times on minecraft but this is awesome, we just made a suit of armor and it's so light and easy to move in. Feels no different to wearing clothes."
"You're not wrong there Munster, I was worried that we would be slowed down, or cumbersome in the iron armor, that's why I did not bother to make any. Just stuck with my leather chest plate, but this feels really good. Right, let's move out, we need to find where those other players went and set up a defensible position before dark."
Looking around the clearing for any clues as to where the players might have gone they see the river with muddy foot prints at the edge.
"Fools, they go to all the trouble of hiding the tunnel then leave foot prints into the river."
"Yeah boss, but remember you don't have to think of these things in the game, so maybe they just didn't realize?"
"Yeah, but that mistake is going to cost them their lives. The prints show them dragging boats into the river. Looks like were going for a little boat ride."
"Cool!" Removing his crafting table, Munster quickly knocks up a couple of boats and places them on the rivers edge. "Ready to go boss?"
"Right you are Munster, let's go hunting!"
*****
9 - The Falls
Turning his head, Jethro smiles at his friends on the riverbank, as his boat drifts towards the falls. Turning to look at Nathan, he is shocked to see a huge grin plastered on his friends face and even more shocked when he punches the air and screams as he disappears over the waterfall ahead of him.
Waving goodbye to his friends, Nathan turns forward in his small boat, and for the first time the sheer magnitude of the waterfall grips him. Instead of fear, he feels excited and alive. Smiling with anticipation as his boat picks up sp
eed, he is swiftly pulled towards the precipice. As the boat reaches the edge he punches the air and on impulse screams at the top of his lungs.
"To infinity and beyond!"
As the boat starts its plunge into the mist created by the crashing water, Nathan cannot help but compare it to his favorite ride at Disneyland, the log flume, although this is the biggest log flume ever invented, and surely no one sane would ever ride it. Falling through the mist, into a torrent of millions of gallons of water, his stomach rises into his mouth, his heart rate increases, and a feeling of weightlessness almost lifts him from the boat. Gripping the sides and pushing back against his ocelot, trying to keep them both in, they plummet towards the river below. 150 blocks worth of rushing, bubbling water shoots by, and as Nathan reaches the bottom, his boat hits the water at what feels like a thousand miles an hour. Incredibly, instead of shattering, the boat plunges below the surface, travels for 20 plus blocks underwater then surfaces in a spray of foam, rising 20 blocks into the air before once again slamming down onto the river surface.
"Yeeha! That was awesome," he screams, turning to make sure his ocelot is still with him. Clinging to the boat, with extended nails, the ocelot is still there, but not looking quite as thrilled as Nathan looks. "Yes, Flumey my buddy, we made. Cool, Flumey, that's your name." Smiling, he gives him a huge hug and turns in alarm as a terrified scream rips the air.
Watching as Jethro plummets down the face of the waterfall, Nathan cannot believe that he had just ridden such a ride. The sheer size alone was enough to numb the senses. Screaming, Jethro is half out of the boat as it hits the water and disappears, only to reappear very close to Nathans boat. Laughing, Nathan quickly paddles over but is shocked to find just a terrified ocelot clinging in the bottom of the boat. Looking all around, Nathan shouts for Jethro, but there is no answer. After a few minutes of panic, paddling as close as he dares to the base of the waterfall, Nathan is starting to fear the worst when a shout from behind him draws his attention.
