Ghastly Battle

by Winter Morgan

  Lily paced in the small house. “I hope Mr. Anarchy didn’t do anything bad to Michael.”

  The door rattled. Robin hollered, “A zombie is trying to break in!”

  Blossom opened the door and splashed a potion on the vacant-eyed mob, then struck the undead beast with her diamond sword, destroying him. As she picked up the rotten flesh the zombie had dropped, she screamed, “There are tons of zombies out there. And two witches!”

  Lily gasped. “Two witches! And all I have is a diamond sword!”

  Robin handed Lily a bottle of potion. “This will help you if you get hurt.”

  Lily thanked Robin, and the trio ran out of the small house and straight into a soggy battle in the swamp.

  Blossom destroyed a zombie, and Lily sprinted toward the witches. She knew that the more witches she destroyed, the more confident she would be when she encountered them in the future. With the potion in her inventory, she felt more certain that she’d survive the battle with the two witches.

  The purple-robed witches darted toward Lily. She struck them with her diamond sword. One of the witches splashed a potion on her, and she didn’t have the strength to strike them or retrieve the potion from her inventory. She was cornered. Her heart raced. Lily knew this was the end.

  Just then, two arrows shot through the sky and struck the witches. Lily looked over and saw Michael and Mr. Anarchy sprinting toward her. The potion that the witch had splashed on her was losing its potency, and Lily was able to grab Robin’s potion from her inventory and replenish her energy. Michael and Mr. Anarchy had bought her the time she needed to survive.

  Lily joined Michael and Mr. Anarchy in a battle against the witches, and in a moment they had destroyed both mobs.

  “Redstone!” Michael exclaimed when the witches dropped the valuable blocks.

  “Let Lily have the redstone. Her inventory is very low.” Mr. Anarchy handed the redstone to Lily.

  “Thank you,” she said as she placed the redstone in her inventory and then ran to Robin and Blossom to help them battle the zombies. Mr. Anarchy and Michael followed Lily.

  As Lily slayed a zombie, the sun came out.

  “The sun is out,” Mr. Anarchy remarked. “We should travel to the jungle. We have to get the command blocks so I can get us off this server.”

  “Really?” Michael questioned. “You know how?”

  The group walked through the swamp biome and into a lush jungle as Mr. Anarchy explained, “I have command blocks hidden in a stronghold. I was working with Pablo and Ronan on escaping from this server.”

  “How can you do that?” Robin asked.

  “I have figured out how to create this intense lightning storm with the command blocks, and I know it will be powerful enough to zap a bunch of people back to the real world. It’s very similar to the one that sent the Prismarines home.” Mr. Anarchy described how he’d use the command blocks to summon this powerful storm.

  “When can you do it?” asked Blossom.

  “The minute we find the stronghold, I’m going to unleash the storm. We can all return home, and we’ll never have to see this server again. It will be so nice to have a home-cooked dinner and to sleep in our own comfy beds.”

  “But what about Simon?” Lily couldn’t get zapped back to the real world and leave one of her best friends behind.

  “And Sunny?” Blossom added. “I can’t go back to the real world without him.”

  “It’s now or never. If we don’t use the command blocks when we find them, we might never have this opportunity again,” Mr. Anarchy said as he searched for the stronghold.

  “I can’t,” Lily declared. “There’s no way I will leave Simon.”

  “Me neither,” said Michael.

  “You have to think about yourselves. Don’t you want to go home?” Mr. Anarchy asked as he sheared leaves and cleared a path through the lush jungle.

  “I thought you had changed, but you really haven’t changed at all,” Lily said. “If you knew what it was like to truly care about people, you’d never ask us to leave our friends behind and only think about ourselves.”

  Mr. Anarchy wasn’t listening to Lily. “Here it is! Follow me!” he said excitedly.

  Lily stopped at the entrance to the stronghold and looked at the others. She was stunned to see them shrug and follow Mr. Anarchy inside.

  14

  CHOICES

  “Michael!” Lily called out.

  “What?” He sounded annoyed. “We can’t leave Mr. Anarchy alone. I promise I won’t let him zap me back to the real world without Simon.”

  “What if he unleashes the storm and we have no choice?” Lily was worried.

  Michael whispered, “We don’t know if the command blocks are still in the stronghold. Maybe we are being tricked.”

  Lily hesitated, but after a moment she agreed with Michael, and they quietly walked behind Mr. Anarchy, Robin, and Blossom into the stronghold.

  “There’s a silverfish,” Robin said, and she slammed her sword into the pesky insect.

  “There’s a lot more than one. It looks like a silverfish invasion,” Lily cried. The ground was covered in silverfish.

  “There must be a spawner nearby,” Mr. Anarchy said calmly. “We have to find it.”

  “Do you think Pablo and Ronan booby-trapped this stronghold? If the command blocks were so valuable, they wouldn’t just leave them here,” Michael said as he slammed his sword into a horde of silverfish.

  “That’s a good point,” Mr. Anarchy said as he walked deeper into the dimly lit stronghold, searching for the silverfish spawner.

  Blossom looked off in the distance. “I see stairs. Are the command blocks upstairs?”

  “No, they’re here. But feel free to explore the stronghold. I have to look for this spawner. I can’t summon the storm if we are in the middle of a silverfish invasion.”

  Lily questioned Mr. Anarchy’s motivation for trying to deactivate the silverfish spawner, and she decided to follow him. “I’ll help you find the spawner.”

  “Thank you.” Mr. Anarchy smiled.

  Blossom and Robin were tired of destroying silverfish. Blossom suggested they head upstairs to explore the stronghold.

  Michael said, “Yes, you should go upstairs and escape the silverfish. It’s pointless to destroy them when more will just respawn. I’ll stay down here and help Lily and Mr. Anarchy.”

  Searching for the spawner, Lily, Mr. Anarchy, and Michael walked down a long, dark hallway. Nobody had a torch in their inventory, making them vulnerable to hostile mobs that spawned in low-lit strongholds.

  “Watch out!” Lily called to Mr. Anarchy.

  Three skeletons spawned and shot arrows at the gang. Mr. Anarchy leapt at a skeleton and destroyed it. Lily and Michael obliterated the remaining two skeletons.

  Mr. Anarchy called out, “I found the silverfish spawner.”

  “But we don’t have any torches. How are we going to deactivate it?” Michael wondered.

  Mr. Anarchy said, “I’ll just break it with my hands.”

  “Be careful,” Lily warned him.

  “I will.” Mr. Anarchy crushed the spawner with his hands, deactivating it.

  “Guys,” Blossom called down to the trio, “we found treasure chests.”

  The group rushed upstairs and saw Blossom and Robin standing beside several unopened treasure chests. Robin asked Mr. Anarchy, “Why didn’t you guys open these the last time you were here?”

  “They weren’t here,” Mr. Anarchy replied.

  “Maybe this is a trap,” suggested Michael.

  “But it’s a treasure chest. I really want to open it,” Blossom looked at the treasure chests.

  “I don’t think it’s a trick,” Mr. Anarchy said. “Treasure chests normally spawn in strongholds.”

  “Let’s open it,” Robin said, and she leaned over and took a deep breath before cracking open the first chest.

  “What’s in it?” asked Lily.

  “Enchantment books!” Robin ha
nded them out to the group.

  Blossom opened the next chest and exclaimed, “Diamonds!”

  Lily opened the next treasure chest. “Gold ingots!”

  Michael and Mr. Anarchy opened the remaining chests, which were all filled with diamonds.

  “Wow!” Lily was excited. “My inventory is brimming with all of these treasures. When I go back to Lisimi Village, I’m going to buy meat from Juan’s butcher shop and have a large feast for all of my friends. And I’m going to go to the blacksmith and trade a lot of these treasures for a new pickaxe and other supplies.”

  “We aren’t going back to Lisimi Village,” Mr. Anarchy reminded Lily. “We’re going downstairs, where I will summon a super powerful storm with my command blocks and send us all home. While finding these treasures has been exciting, they are pointless to us. We aren’t going to take them back to the real world, because we don’t want to have anything from this server. Once we get back to the real world, we get to start over. We will all join a new server and hang out with our friends. We can go back to school and be normal kids again.”

  Lily looked at her inventory and she thought about Lisimi Village. She realized that Mr. Anarchy was right. If she did leave the server, she’d never see Lisimi Village again. She’d never be able to ride on the roller coaster again. She’d never visit Juan’s butcher shop or talk to Emily the Fisherwoman or Fred the Farmer. She hadn’t realized just how much she’d miss this server.

  “Let’s go downstairs. I want to summon the storm,” Mr. Anarchy told them.

  “I can’t go without Simon,” Lily protested.

  “Or Sunny,” added Blossom.

  A loud voice boomed across the musty stronghold, “You’re not going anywhere!”

  15

  FINDERS KEEPERS

  Pablo and Ronan stood by the stairs, their arrows aimed at the gang. Pablo shouted, “I see you found treasure. You can keep it.”

  “We don’t need your permission,” said Mr. Anarchy.

  Ronan hollered, “Mr. Anarchy, you’re coming with us. You have to summon that storm now. We have Matthew, Otto, and Emma waiting. We want to go back to the real world.”

  “Never!” Mr. Anarchy shouted. “I’ll never help you leave this server. I want to know that you’re trapped on here forever.”

  Lily screamed, “What did you guys do with Simon?”

  Michael added, “And Peter and Ilana?”

  “And Sunny?” Blossom wanted to see her friend again.

  “They’re all destroyed,” Pablo replied with a sinister laugh. “We put them on Hardcore mode and destroyed them.”

  Ronan snickered, “We removed them from existence.”

  “What?” Lily was shaking. She hoped they were tricking her. “How could you do that to them? You are the worst people in the world.”

  “Yes, we are,” Ronan said proudly.

  “But they were our friends!” Blossom’s eyes welled with tears.

  Michael leapt at Ronan, striking him with his diamond sword. Lily shot Ronan with an arrow. Mr. Anarchy clutched his diamond sword and slammed it into Pablo. As a team, the gang destroyed the two griefers.

  “Where will they respawn?” Lily asked.

  “I don’t know,” Mr. Anarchy replied, “but we have to get Otto, Emma, and Matthew away from those command blocks. Those are our only way home.”

  Lily’s heart pounded. She couldn’t go home without Simon. She imagined sitting in Mrs. Sanders’s classroom and seeing that Simon’s seat was empty. She started to cry. She didn’t want to go home. She wanted to find a way to see Simon again.

  “Lily?” Michael asked, “Are you coming with us?”

  Lily stared at Michael, who was waiting for her by the stairs. “I’m not sure. I don’t think I want to be there when Mr. Anarchy’s storm is unleashed. I can’t go back to the real world without Simon. It would just be too painful.”

  “I know what you mean. But we also have to think about everyone else on this server. If we don’t protect the command blocks, nobody will be able to leave.”

  “Why do I care about the other people on this server? They turned against us. They believe we’re the griefers. They put me in prison. Let them get stuck on this server.”

  “Lily!” Michael was shocked. “This doesn’t sound like you at all.”

  “Don’t you care about Simon?”

  “Yes, but we can’t do anything about it. He was destroyed by evil griefers. What can we do?”

  Lily didn’t know what they should do. She just stood silently, feeling overwhelmed. The only thing she knew was that she missed Simon. “I don’t know.”

  “Just come downstairs,” Michael said softly. “We will figure this out together.”

  Lily followed Michael down the stairs. Mr. Anarchy was in the middle of an intense battle with Otto, Blossom was battling Emma, and Robin was splashing a potion on Matthew.

  “Help!” Robin called out.

  Lily struck Matthew with her diamond sword and asked, “Why did you have to destroy Simon?”

  “Simon?” Matthew looked confused. “Destroyed?”

  “Yes.” Lily used all of her strength as she pounded her sword against Matthew’s unarmored chest.

  “Stop!” Matthew pleaded. “What are you talking about?”

  “Pablo and Ronan said they destroyed him. They put him on Hardcore mode—” Lily couldn’t finish the sentence. She starting sobbing instead.

  “Simon isn’t destroyed,” Matthew said. “He’s in the prison with Peter, Sunny, and Ilana.”

  Blossom stopped battling Emma and hurried over when she heard Matthew mention Sunny. “Where’s Sunny? They told me he was destroyed and erased from existence.”

  “He’s in the prison in Lisimi Village,” Matthew said. But just then, Michael ran over to them and destroyed Matthew with a final blow from his diamond sword.

  Mr. Anarchy obliterated Otto and Emma and called out, “The command blocks are still intact. I have to summon the storm before the griefers return. Are you ready?” Lily replied, “I can’t go. I have to go back to Lisimi Village.”

  “Lisimi Village?” Mr. Anarchy was confused. “But they’ll just put you back in prison.”

  “Matthew said that Simon was in prison with the others,” Lily replied, “and I can’t leave him.”

  “Matthew could be tricking you,” suggested Mr. Anarchy.

  “That’s a chance I’m willing to take,” Lily said. She had made up her mind. Turning on her heel, she sprinted out of the stronghold and back to Lisimi Village. She didn’t even look back to see if she was alone.

  16

  THE SHOWDOWN

  “Lily,” Michael called out. “Wait for me!”

  “Me too!” Blossom yelled as she ran, with Robin at her side.“But you’re going to lose your chance to escape from the server,” Lily told them. “If you come with me, we might be stuck here forever.”

  “I can’t leave Simon,” Michael said.

  “And I’d never forgive myself if Sunny were stuck here and I went back home,” Blossom added.

  “I want to save Peter and Ilana,” Robin said. “In fact, I don’t want to leave this server if I know others are stuck on here. It’s just too painful to think about.”

  As they approached Lisimi Village, they saw their old friends, Warren and George. Lily didn’t say anything because she wasn’t sure if their friends had been convinced that they were evil.

  George spotted them. “Lily! Michael!”

  “Please don’t attack us,” Lily pleaded.

  “Why would I do that?” asked George. “Warren and I are working to stop this insane griefer army. We knew that Otto, Emma, and the others weren’t telling the truth. We’re trying to save Simon, Sunny, Peter, and Ilana.”

  Warren said, “They’re trapped in the prison. We have to free them.”

  “Our plan is to free them, too.” Lily was happy that they had additional help. She was hoping to free their friends before Mr. Anarchy unleashed his powerf
ul storm and was able to transport them back to the real world.

  “Lily!” a voice called out. Lily turned out and was shocked to see Mr. Anarchy sprinting toward her.

  “I couldn’t summon the storm and leave on my own. I understand what you were talking about,” Mr. Anarchy said. “When you care about people, you just can’t leave them.” He paused, taking a deep breath. “I’m going to help you guys. We’re going to save Simon, Ilana, and Peter.”

  They were steps from the prison when Juan the Butcher hurried over to them. “Watch out,” he warned the group. “Emma, Otto, and Matthew are in town. I just saw them by the prison.”

  “Thanks,” Lily said and then stopped. “Does anyone have a potion of invisibility?” she asked.

  “I do.” Robin took the potion from her inventory. As she handed out to the others, they heard Ronan holler at them.

  “This is the end,” Ronan screamed.

  “No, it isn’t,” Mr. Anarchy said. “I’ve hidden the command blocks, and I’m the only person who knows how to summon that storm. You can’t threaten us.”

  “I don’t care if we go home anymore. If we’re stuck here, I’ll be able to torture you for the rest of time. I think I might enjoy it.” Ronan unleashed a sinister laugh.

  Mr. Anarchy was infuriated. He leapt at Ronan and struck him with his sword. Robin splashed a potion of weakness on Ronan and Pablo, and then said to Mr. Anarchy, “Don’t bother with them. We have more important things to do.”

  Robin splashed a potion of invisibility on the gang and they sprinted toward the prison to free their friends. When they approached the prison, they were shocked to find ten guards in front of the door.

  “There are so many people,” Lily whispered as they walked past the guards and entered the prison.

  The gang ran until they reached Simon, Ilana, and Peter.

  Simon was pacing in the small cell. “I’m so upset. I bet Lily and Michael think we’re destroyed.”

  Ilana said, “I’m sure they went back to the real world without us.”

  “What?” Simon was distressed. “They’d never do that. My friends would never abandon me.”