Treasure Hunters in Trouble

by Winter Morgan

  “We know you have treasure,” one of the rainbow men yelled at them. “Hand it over!”

  “Never!” Alex screamed to the griefers.

  One of the rainbow men shot an arrow at Steve and it struck him. His health bar was dangerously low. If he was hit one more time, he’d be back on his wheat farm with Snuggles, Rufus, and Jasmine. He wanted to make it to the desert. He wanted to save his friends.

  Alex rushed to Steve’s side as the others battled the rainbow men. She took a potion of healing from her inventory and gave it to him. His health bar was restored.

  “Thank you,” said Steve.

  “No problem. Now I want you to help me destroy these evil rainbow griefers. They’re not taking any of our treasure.”

  Alex and Steve ran toward the rainbow griefers.

  Will had cornered one of the rainbow men by a lava pool. The rainbow man was trying not to fall in. Steve sprinted toward the rainbow man, and the griefer lost his balance and fell into the lava.

  “Gothca,” Will said and he went to join the others battle against the other evil griefer.

  Two wither skeletons approached the group dueling the rainbow man and began to strike them with stone swords, hitting Alex and Will.

  Steve sprinted toward the skeletons with his diamond sword. Kyra shot arrows at the skeletons.

  The wither skeletons distracted the group and the rainbow man was able to escape into the Nether.

  The gang was too busy battling the wither skeletons to worry about the rainbow man. At least they still had their loot. They didn’t want to lose any treasure; they had worked too hard and come too far to lose the battle.

  Steve struck the wither skeleton hard and finally destroyed it. Kyra shot a final arrow that destroyed the other wither skeleton. The battle had been won.

  “I don’t think we saw the last of that rainbow griefer,” Alex said as she looked into the distance.

  “I just want to get out of the Nether. There are too many hostile mobs here and no real places to hide. It’s a death trap,” remarked Steve.

  “Let’s make a portal,” Will said and the group gathered obsidian from their inventory.

  Alex took out some flint and steel and started a fire to ignite the portal. Purple mist flew through the sky as they made their way back to the Overworld.

  The first thing they saw when they walked out of the portal was a large red mushroom.

  Steve looked out and saw water and then said, “We’re on Mushroom Island.”

  “This is the same place where you had the building competition,” added Kyra.

  “Kyra, you’re going to have to build us boats to get off the island,” said Steve.

  “Or we can go back to the Nether,” suggested Alex.

  Kyra didn’t like that suggestion at all. She gathered wood and started to build boats for the group. As she looked through her inventory, she worried she might not have enough wood to build boats for everybody.

  “Does anybody have wood I can use?” asked Kyra.

  Everyone checked their inventory. Nobody had the resources to help Kyra build boats to get them off the island.

  “Oh no,” said Kyra, “we’re stuck here. I better start chopping down trees or something.”

  “Maybe you can build a boat out of a mushroom,” suggested Will.

  “I don’t think that will work,” replied Kyra.

  The group rested on the lawn. A mooshroom walked past, and they used a bucket to milk it and filled their food bar with mushroom stew.

  As they ate and looked out at the water, the group was very despondent. They didn’t want to be trapped on Mushroom Island. They needed to get to Henry, Lucy, and Max and save them from the rainbow griefers who had trapped them.

  The gang began to chat, but Steve stood silently. He had an idea. Steve took out a potion of underwater breathing. He held it up in front of the group.

  “Do you think this can help us get off the island?”

  10

  UNDER THE SEA

  Steve handed the potion to the others and they all drank.

  “Okay, let’s dive in!” Kyra said and they jumped into the water.

  The group went deep into the blue ocean biome.

  Steve wondered how long the potion would last and if they had enough to make it to the shore, but he also enjoyed exploring the ocean biome.

  Kyra swam toward a structure deep within the ocean biome.

  “It’s an ocean monument,” she called out to the group.

  “I thought they were called ocean temples,” said Will.

  “I thought they were called water dungeons,” said Steve.

  It didn’t matter what people called it—it was a large temple that grew on the very bottom of the ocean. Steve had never been in one, but he knew that squid-like creatures called the Guardian and the Elder Guardian guarded the temples, and they’d have to battle them to get anywhere near the gold treasure housed in these grand temples.

  They approached the mammoth temple, lit by sea lantern blocks.

  “Let’s go in,” said Alex as she swam toward the entrance.

  Before Alex could enter, a Guardian made an incredibly loud noise and shot a dangerous laser beam at her. She avoided the beam, swimming away from the door.

  Two more Guardians with piercing eyes emerged from the temple, swimming swiftly through the blue water. They omitted sounds as they shot laser beams at the group. Kyra took out her bow and arrow and shot at one of the Guardians.

  “You got it!” said Steve, who also aimed an arrow at the underwater terror.

  “I think we have to hit it a few more times,” Kyra said.

  The Guardian was fast, giving it an advantage in the water. No matter how hard they tried to swim faster, the water slowed down the group.

  One of the Guardian’s beams struck Steve; he lost hearts from his health bar. Steve felt wiped out. He’d never felt so exhausted in his life.

  “What’s happening?” he asked Alex.

  “Don’t worry, it’s just mining fatigue. It will go away in a few minutes. Just make sure you hide from these Guardians. You don’t want to get struck with a laser beam now,” replied Alex.

  The sound from the Guardians was deafening. They shot beams in all directions. Will was hit and also had mining fatigue.

  Steve worried they would all get destroyed in the temple. He knew they’d respawn on the wheat farm, but he didn’t want to start again. He had to battle these Guardians, get the gold treasure, and save his friends.

  A Guardian swam past him with menacing eyes. Its tail moved quickly. Steve gathered the little energy he had left and struck it with a sword, clobbering the evil fish. The Guardian dropped prismarine crystals.

  Alex and Will were in an intense battle with a sea of Guardians. She moved to avoid laser beams as Will shot as many arrows as he could at the mob. He destroyed one, but there were still four other Guardians attacking them. Steve swam toward them and shot arrows at the Guardians.

  Kyra swam to join them, but was stopped by the Elder Guardian. The large fish had its creepy eye on her and shot an extremely powerful laser beam, striking her.

  “Oh, I’m so tired.” Kyra could barely get the words out as her health bar diminished rapidly.

  “The Elder Guardian has the ability to give you serious mining fatigue. A lot more powerful than the smaller ones,” Alex said and swam to Kyra’s side.

  Steve shot an arrow at the Elder Guardian as Will attacked a Guardian with his diamond sword.

  “We’ll never get in the temple,” Kyra told Alex.

  “We can’t give up,” Alex told her and then shielded Kyra from another laser beam as she shot an arrow at a Guardian.

  Steve’s battle with the Elder Guardian was one of the toughest he had experienced. He leapt at the evil creature with his diamond sword and with several strikes he was able to defeat this beast of the sea.

  Will destroyed the final Guardian, and the group could finally make their way into the temple.

>   “We have to find the gold,” Alex said as she walked through the massive temple.

  “I have no idea where it could be,” Steve said as he peeked through the empty rooms of the temple.

  “I know we’re going to see more Guardians soon. They live down here,” Will told them, as he walked slowly, keeping a close look for any fish swimming in the temple.

  It didn’t take long. Two Guardians were swimming in the distance. The group tried to hide behind a temple wall, but the fish saw them.

  The mobs’ powerful, loud cry almost shook the temple as the group readied themselves for an attack. Each of them had their bow and arrow pointed in the direction of the creatures.

  “Okay, go!” Alex screamed at them and they all shot arrows at the fish.

  “We did it!” Kyra called out.

  The group kept an eye out for more Guardians as they made their way farther into the underwater temple.

  “Now I know why they also call this place a water dungeon. You can be trapped down here, deep within the ocean, fighting evil fish all day. It’s awful. And it feels like there is nothing here,” Will said as they peeked into a series of empty rooms.

  “Patience,” Alex told him. “We’ll find treasure. If there weren’t anything here, the Guardians wouldn’t work so hard to protect it.”

  It felt like they were walking through the temple forever. Steve was certain the potion of underwater breathing would lose its effect at any minute.

  “Look, sponges,” Kyra pointed out. The group went into a room and extracted the sponges and placed them in their inventory.

  They walked through a series of rooms but they were all empty.

  “Maybe somebody beat us to the gold,” Steve told them.

  “There’s just one hallway we didn’t go down. We should look there,” Alex told him.

  “I’m worried we are wasting our time and our potion will wear out,” said Steve.

  The others didn’t listen. They kept exploring, and when they reached the end of the tunnel, they found a room with a square of prismarine blocks.

  “I bet the gold is under these prismarine blocks,” said Steve.

  Steve broke one of the blocks with a pickaxe and saw gold.

  “Gold!” he shouted.

  The others began to pickaxe the remaining blocks.

  “Yes, all eight blocks are here,” Alex said.

  “Oh no!” Kyra called out.

  The group didn’t understand why Kyra was upset.

  “Kyra, we just found gold,” said Alex as she walked over the bricks and put them in her inventory.

  Steve joined Alex, but when he picked up a gold brick, he saw a rainbow leg peeking out behind a block.

  11

  MINING FATIGUE

  The rainbow griefer shot an arrow at Steve, but missed.

  “Just take some gold and leave,” Steve told the griefer.

  “Like that will work,” Kyra said and shot an arrow at the rainbow man.

  Steve shot an arrow at the griefer and looked around for more rainbow griefers, but it looked as if this one was alone.

  Alex and Will put as many bars of gold as they could in their inventory.

  “Help us!” Steve shouted to Alex as he and Kyra battled the rainbow man, but she didn’t listen and kept grabbing gold bars.

  “Alex and Will, we need your help!” Kyra called to them.

  The rainbow griefer leapt at Steve with a diamond sword and hit him.

  Kyra shot an arrow at the griefer and quickly took her diamond sword from her inventory. She struck the rainbow griefer.

  Alex took out her diamond sword and was about to strike the rainbow griefer, but the griefer screamed out, “Alex, this wasn’t part of our plan!”

  Steve was utterly shocked. “You know this griefer?”

  “What plan?” Kyra asked as she hit the griefer.

  “What are you planning to do to us?” Steve asked Alex.

  Alex hit the rainbow griefer with her sword. “There’s no plan. I can’t be part of your dark world anymore.”

  “Alex, you promised. Stop!” the rainbow man pleaded as his health diminished from the blows.

  “No, you’ve caused enough trouble. Look at what the rainbow griefers have done to those poor treasure hunters in the desert. I can’t work with you anymore. I don’t think what you do is right,” Alex said and delivered a final blow that destroyed the rainbow griefer, leaving Alex with all of his treasures.

  “Here, you take his treasures.” Alex handed around gold, iron ingots, and other items from the griefer.

  “Alex, you’re working with the rainbow griefers?” Steve was upset.

  “Not all of them,” she confessed. “Not the ones we fought in the cave.”

  “But the ones that trapped our best friends?” asked Steve sternly.

  “I can explain,” Alex told him.

  “Explain? What were you planning to do with us once we got to the desert?” Kyra was mad.

  “And what about you, Will?” asked Steve.

  “Will really isn’t part of this. He’s innocent. And I’m not really part of the rainbow griefers, either,” replied Alex.

  “Really? Not part of the griefers? Then how did he know your name?” Steve was annoyed.

  “I destroyed him, didn’t I? Can’t you see I’m with you guys now?” Alex tried to defend herself.

  “How did you meet the rainbow griefers?” questioned Kyra.

  “When you asked me to help and I said yes, one of the rainbow griefers saw me leaving the desert. He told me that if I brought your friends back here with their loot, he’d give me even more treasure.” Alex felt a weight lift off her chest as she confessed.

  “It’s true. I heard it all,” Will confirmed.

  Steve didn’t know who to believe anymore. But he also knew they were all on the bottom of the ocean and had very little time before the potion of underwater breathing lost its power. They had to make their escape. He had to trust Alex.

  A sea of Guardians swam into the room with the gold bars, aiming laser beams at the group. They shot arrows, but they weren’t destroying the sea creatures.

  Steve felt weak. He looked at the others and could see they were also moving slower. The potion was losing its strength. They had to act fast. They shot more arrows and finally destroyed one Guardian.

  “Yay!” Kyra exclaimed.

  “We have more to destroy,” Will reminded her as they shot more arrows and shielded themselves behind the gold bars.

  The Guardians’ beams were powerful and if any members of the group were hit, they might not survive. To escape, they continued shooting arrows.

  Arrows flew through the water. The Guardians were getting weaker and finally they were destroyed, leaving a bunch of salmon. The group gathered the salmon and ate it. They needed their strength as they made their way to land.

  As they attempted to exit the temple, an Elder Guardian swam past them. The group tried to hide, but it was pointless. Before it could omit a ray, Alex charged at the Elder Guardian and lashed out at it with her sword. She defeated the fish with a few hard strikes.

  “Let’s get out of here!” Steve shouted and they raced toward the door and through the calm blue water. Eventually, they looked up and saw land.

  “We’re going to make it!” Alex said as they got closer to the shore.

  They walked onto the land and looked up.

  “Oh no!” Will sighed when he saw the massive stone mountain that stood on the edge of the water. “There’s no way we will be able to avoid climbing that stone mountain, is there?”

  “No, but we’ve climbed mountains before, so we’ll be fine,” Steve reassured him.

  “I’ve never climbed anything that high; it looks as if the peak touches the clouds.” Will stared at the top of the mountain.

  Kyra took out a potion of swiftness and was about to drink it when Steve stopped her.

  “We can’t go up the mountain too fast. We might fall off,” Steve told her.
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br />   “Steve’s right,” said Alex. “It might be a large mountain, but we’ll take it one step at a time and make it to the other side.”

  They walked along the gravel shoreline and made their way toward the mountain. Each step was hard, but they climbed carefully and were able to reach the top. Once they reached the mountain’s peak, they stopped for a break.

  “It’s pretty up here.” Kyra looked at the blue ocean and the sky.

  Will stumbled and saw a hole in the middle of the mountain. “I think I see a cave.”

  “Oh, remember what happened last time we saw a cave by a mountain. It was filled with spiders and rainbow griefers,” Kyra reminded him.

  “Are there rainbow griefers here?” Steve asked Alex.

  “I told you, I only knew the ones who approached me. It just happened that one of those rainbow griefers was in the ocean temple.” Alex wanted them to believe her.

  “Okay, we believe you,” said Kyra.

  Steve and the group walked into the cave.

  “I don’t see any rainbow griefers,” Kyra said as she lit a torch and placed it on the wall.

  “Steve!” a familiar voice called out.

  “Kyra?” another, more distant voice exclaimed.

  12

  A BLAST FROM THE PAST

  “Adam?” Steve asked as he walked farther into the cave.

  “Thomas?” Kyra asked.

  “Yes,” Adam walked toward them. “Thomas and I were here mining. I also need to get a bunch of resources to brew new potions.”

  Steve introduced his neighbors, Adam and Thomas, to Alex and Will. He hadn’t seen Adam and Thomas in a long time. After Thomas created so much havoc in the village, he left the village with Adam and started to explore other biomes.

  “We are on our way to save Henry, Max, and Lucy,” Kyra told them. “They are trapped in a desert temple by rainbow griefers.”

  “We just encountered some rainbow griefers,” Adam told them.

  Steve didn’t ask if Thomas had done any more griefing. Thomas had promised Steve he would never cause trouble again, and Steve wondered if he had stuck by his promise.

  “Did you find any good minerals in this cave?” Kyra asked.

  “We just got here; we were about to start mining. Want to join us?” asked Thomas.