Clash of the Creepers

by Winter Morgan

  “Don’t shoot, this is a good fish. He just shot a healing laser,” Henry called out to his friend.

  An Elder Guardian swam by the entrance to the ocean monument. Max shot an arrow, striking the sea creature but didn’t destroy it.

  “We need to shoot more arrows,” Max informed his friends.

  Arrows shot through the water. Max shot the final arrow. Before succumbing to Max’s arrow, the Elder Guardian was able to shoot one last laser. The yellow laser hit Kyra and she was instantly struck with mining fatigue.

  “Her health bar is too low,” Henry said as he swam toward Kyra. “If she’s attacked one more time, she’ll be destroyed.”

  Adam looked through his inventory of potions. “I don’t have any potions that could help you regain your strength,” he told her.

  “Would milk help?” Lucy asked as she found some milk in her inventory.

  Kyra drank the milk, which gave her enough energy to enter the ocean monument.

  Inside the temple, the gang swam through the many chambers, as they kept an eye for both Guardians and Elder Guardians that might be swimming through this underwater temple.

  “Every ocean monument has three Elder Guardians,” explained Steve, “so we have to watch for the remaining two that are guarding this place.”

  “I think we just found number two.” Just as Lucy spoke these words, the purple laser struck her from the Elder Guardian. When the laser turned a yellowish color, she was hit with mining fatigue.

  The Elder Guardian shot a laser at Max. He tried to swim away from the laser beam but it was too late, he was hit.

  Charlie and Beatrice shot arrows at the Elder Guardian, destroying it. Max drank some milk to recover from the mining fatigue.

  “I know there is a room with gold.” Beatrice swam around the temple in search of treasure and told the gang, “I’ve been in one of these temples before and walked away with a lot of loot.”

  “Watch out!” warned Steve. The final Elder Guardian appeared, shot a laser at Beatrice, and then swam toward her. The gray fish with blue thorns hit Beatrice.

  “Ouch!” she screeched from the thorny bump. Beatrice couldn’t escape. Max shot arrows at the beast, but he couldn’t save Beatrice.

  “Oh no!” Kyra called out as Beatrice disappeared.

  “This is awful,” Charlie moaned. He was devastated. He had just been destroyed recently and he knew how hard it was to get back to the others. He didn’t think they’d see Beatrice for a long time and there was no way she’d make it back to Mine Mountain. The trip was too dangerous to do alone. They were barely surviving even though they had a large group for backup.

  Henry and Max flooded the sea creature with arrows, trying to destroy this rather strong spiky fish.

  “It’s so powerful,” Max said as he let out an exhausted sigh. “I don’t feel like we can destroy it.”

  “We can! We just have to keep shooting arrows,” replied Henry.

  The fish was infuriated and charged toward Henry and Max, ready to attack them with its spikes.

  Lucy and Kyra swam behind the fish and hit it with their diamond swords. Wagging its tail, the fish swam straight toward Henry and struck him with a blue spike.

  Lucy shot an arrow at the fish. After being struck with several arrows, the fish was weakened. The Elder Guardian tried to attack Henry again, but before it could hit him with its dangerous fatal spikes, the fish was destroyed.

  The group raced around the ocean monument in search of treasure.

  “I found it!” Lucy shouted as she swam into a room filled with gold.

  “Maybe we don’t have any diamonds, but we’ll definitely have some gold.” Henry placed gold in his inventory, as the rest of the group gathered gold bricks.

  “Isn’t this nice,” a voice boomed through the room.

  “Yes, I love a happy ending,” another voice shouted and then let out a laugh.

  Two rainbow griefers stood in the doorway.

  Max shot an arrow but it missed them. One rainbow griefer called out, “This is a losing battle. We have the entire ocean monument filled. Now give us your gold.”

  “Never!” Steve screamed. He was about to swim toward the griefer with his diamond sword, when he heard a growling noise.

  A Guardian swam behind the griefers and struck them with its laser, destroying the griefers.

  Max and the others shot a flood of arrows at the Guardian.

  The gang swam out of the room filled with gold, searching the temple for other rainbow griefers.

  “Those two griefers said this temple was full of griefers,” Max said as he swam past a series of empty rooms.

  “Would you trust a griefer?” asked Steve.

  “I think our potion is wearing out,” Adam gasped for breath, “we have to make it to the surface.”

  The gang swam out of the temple and toward land. When they finally reached the surface, they couldn’t believe who was standing in front of them.

  Chapter 12

  THE MORE THE MERRIER

  “Thomas,” Adam stood on the shore and stared at his old friend in disbelief. “How did you find us here?”

  “I didn’t know you were here,” replied Thomas. “I was exploring. I’m just as shocked to see you.”

  Steve emerged from the water. “Thomas,” Steve questioned, “why are you here?”

  Although Steve was glad Thomas was standing in front of him and not destroying his town like he had imagined, he wondered if Thomas had something to do with the rainbow griefers. It seemed too much of a coincidence that he was here on his own.

  “I was exploring,” Thomas said while he watched the others reach the surface of the water and walk onto the shore. “Wow, I can’t believe all of you are here.”

  “Do you seriously think we believe you?” Adam asked Thomas.

  “What are you talking about?” Thomas stuttered.

  “You want us to believe that you were just exploring when you found us coming out of the water?” Adam was upset.

  “Especially since we were just attacked by rainbow griefers?” added Steve.

  “Well, um . . .” Thomas couldn’t get the words out.

  “Admit it, Thomas. You are griefing again.” Adam took out his sword and walked toward Thomas. “How can you do this?”

  “I never said I was griefing,” Thomas defended himself and backed away.

  “Well, we all find it suspicious that you are standing by the water.” Lucy also took out her diamond sword, advancing toward Thomas.

  “Please don’t attack me,” Thomas cried. “I’m innocent.”

  “Prove it!” Kyra stood in front of Thomas with her diamond sword.

  “How?” Thomas asked.

  “We’re about to head back to Mine Mountain. I’m sure we’ll see some rainbow griefers there. If they know who you are—” Adam called out, but Thomas interrupted him.

  “They won’t. I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Thomas pleaded.

  Two arrows flew through the air.

  “Rainbow griefers!” Charlie screamed, “I can see them. Get ready to battle them.”

  Thomas took out his bow and arrow and was ready to fight alongside Adam.

  “Thomas!” One of the rainbow griefers screamed as Thomas shot an arrow at him, “What are you doing?”

  “I knew it,” Adam turned and pointed his diamond sword at Thomas, “I knew you were guilty. Why would you lie to us?”

  “No,” Thomas confessed, “I’m lying to the rainbow griefers. I want to help you.”

  Adam was confused. He didn’t know whom to believe. But there wasn’t time to contemplate whether Thomas was innocent because a group of rainbow griefers sprinted toward them. Adam fought them with his diamond sword and didn’t turn back to see if Thomas followed him.

  Clang! Bang! Adam was struck by a rainbow griefer’s sword. Max snuck up behind the griefer, helping Adam with this skilled griefer. Although the griefers were strong fighters, they were seriously outnumbered by
Steve and his friends and within minutes the gang had defeated this small group of rainbow griefers.

  Yet there was no time to take a breather, as more griefers were approaching. Steve and his friends were worried, but Adam had a plan to destroy them all.

  Adam called out to his friends, “Guys, come here!”

  The gang sprinted toward Adam and formed a circle around him to hear his plan. Thomas joined the circle but Adam stared at him and said quite coldly, “I’m sorry, but you don’t belong here.”

  Thomas took out his sword and rushed toward the griefers that were making their way toward Steve and the gang. Adam didn’t know if Thomas was planning on attacking the griefers or joining them, and he didn’t care. Adam had a plan.

  “When the griefers approach, I’m going to splash my potion of invisibility on them and us. We have to stick together as a group and run away once I splash the potion on them. They won’t realize we are gone and will wind up shooting at each other, and they’ll destroy themselves,” Adam told them as he held the potion of invisibility in his hand.

  “But there might be one griefer left,” suggested Max.

  “Then we’ll outnumber him and it will be an easy fight,” replied Adam.

  “That’s an amazing plan,” remarked Lucy.

  Six griefers surged toward them. “I see you guys just standing there ready to surrender,” one of the griefers yelled.

  “Never!” Steve screamed.

  Adam splashed everyone with the potion of invisibility.

  “I can’t see anything!” one of the griefers cried out.

  Arrows shot through the sky. People were struck. As the potion wore off, Steve and his friends were the only ones remaining except for one rainbow griefer, who threw a block of TNT at them and then ran away.

  “Jump!” Steve yelled, but it was too late and Charlie and Owen were caught in the explosion.

  “Oh no, we lost Charlie and Owen,” cried Lucy.

  “And Thomas,” added Adam.

  The group was tired. The sun was beginning to set. They wanted to find a place to spend the night.

  “I wish I was at my wheat farm. I want to sleep in my bed,” Steve groaned as night fell and the group were left vulnerable in an unfamiliar part of the Overworld.

  “There’s no point in complaining, Steve.” Kyra was annoyed. “We all want to go to sleep, but we can’t.”

  Adam surprised everyone. “I don’t want to sleep. I want to figure out a plan to get rid of these rainbow griefers. If we just stop fighting for one minute and sit down and think of a plan, we can probably defeat these menaces.”

  The group agreed. They needed to find a plan. They also needed to fight the creepers that slowly floated in their direction.

  Arrows flew through the air as the creepers exploded. The gang saw two skeletons walk past.

  “Let’s hide,” suggested Kyra quietly.

  “No, let’s dig!” said Steve, as he dug his pickaxe into the ground.

  “What are you doing?” asked Lucy.

  “I’m making a hole for us to hide in. We only have to go three blocks down; we can jump in and stay there until morning.” Steve had already dug a deep hole and jumped in.

  Using their last bits of energy, the group dug holes in the ground to seek shelter for the night and to hide from the bony skeletons.

  “I hope we’ll be safe here,” Lucy remarked as they stood close to each other in the hole.

  “We’ll be fine,” Adam said and drank a potion.

  “What are you drinking?” asked Kyra.

  “It’s a potion for night vision,” replied Adam. “I’ll keep a lookout for us.”

  Adam peeked out of the hole. “It looks like we are fine. There’s nothing out there.”

  Kaboom!

  “Adam, what was that?” Kyra was nervous.

  Adam paused and stared off into the distance. He didn’t say anything.

  Chapter 13

  FIERY BATTLE

  Four yellow blazes flew by with two white ghasts trailing behind them. Thomas sprinted through the dark night and was struck by a fireball from the blaze.

  “Someone’s summoned a blaze and ghasts,” Adam shouted. He saw Thomas disappear within the smoke.

  “Someone?” Lucy was annoyed. “You mean the rainbow griefers.”

  “I’m sure you’re right. And I saw Thomas get hit by a fireball,” Adam said.

  “Thomas? I thought he was destroyed,” said Steve.

  “He must have respawned,” Adam replied while he looked out from the hole.

  “I think you should stop peeking out of the hole, we don’t want one of the blazes or ghasts to see you,” warned Kyra.

  Steve could see the sun rising. “It’s almost morning, we can get out.”

  “The blazes and ghasts were summoned. They are only supposed to be in the Nether, which means even if it’s daylight, they could still attack us,” Henry said as he too, peeked over the hole.

  “We have to battle these fiery mobs from the Nether or we’ll never get back to Mine Mountain.” Steve was ready for battle.

  Although he was ready to battle, he was also distracted. He couldn’t stop thinking about Thomas. He wondered why he was sprinting through the Overworld at night. He wondered why he was alone. He wondered where Thomas would respawn now that he was destroyed again. These thoughts spun around in his head as he heard Lucy cry, “Watch out!”

  First there was a high-pitched scream and then they saw the fireball. Steve narrowly avoided the blast from the ghast. He didn’t have time to shoot the fireball but attempted to deflect it.

  Max used the hole to hide from the floating flamethrowers and shot arrows.

  “Bull’s-eye!” Max called out as he destroyed one ghast.

  “One down,” added Lucy as she aimed for whatever hostile mob flew past them.

  The blaze flew close to the gang and shot a fireball at the hole. They quickly jumped to safety.

  As the gang fought hard, a person appeared in the distance.

  “It’s Thomas,” said Kyra. “What should we do? Should I shoot him with an arrow?”

  “No, we have to find out why he keeps coming over here. And he must be respawning very close by. Maybe he can lead us to the rainbow griefers,” said Steve.

  Max hit the final ghast with its own fireball. “Gotcha!”

  “Good job, Max,” Lucy smiled.

  As the large yellow creatures with black eyes circled above them, the group worried that it was just a matter of time before they were destroyed by a blaze’s fireball.

  “We have to get rid of these blazes or it will be raining fire soon,” Lucy warned them.

  “I’m trying,” replied Max, as he aimed at the blaze.

  “Stop attacking them,” Steve told Max.

  Max was confused and he put his bow and arrow down. “What should we do?”

  “Just sit. If we stop attacking them, I think they’ll leave us alone.” Steve hoped what he said was true.

  The group stood silently by the large hole. The blazes began to lower themselves from the sky and land on the ground.

  “No, let’s sprint,” Steve instructed his friends and they followed closely behind him.

  When they reached the dense forest, Steve stopped. “We need to eat something. I see a chicken.”

  “I’ll hunt it,” said Max.

  “And I’ll prepare the meal,” Lucy offered because she loved to cook.

  The group feasted on the chicken and then Thomas approached them.

  “This is no time to rest,” Thomas warned. “The rainbow griefers have summoned more blazes and ghasts. There’s no way you’ll survive.”

  “It seems that we’ve already survived the first attack,” said Max, “you were the one who was defeated.”

  “I was coming here to warn you,” explained Thomas. “I was shocked that the ghasts and blazes had already been summoned.”

  “Are they also summoning the creepers?” asked Lucy.

  “I’m no
t sure. I just know it’s not safe here and you guys should head home,” replied Thomas.

  “We know it isn’t safe,” said Kyra,” but we aren’t going home. We are going to Mine Mountain and we’re going to get the diamonds.”

  “I think the rainbow griefers are intimidated by us,” remarked Steve.

  “The rainbow griefers scared and bothered by you? That’s funny,” Thomas laughed.

  “If they weren’t, they wouldn’t use such drastic tactics. They don’t need to summon beasts from the Nether; they could battle us with their swords. But they see what skilled fighters we are and they know they can’t beat us without using dirty tricks.” Steve was upset. He had enough of griefers. They were always ruining everything in the Overworld.

  “Why are you here?” Lucy didn’t understand Thomas and spoke honestly. “You tell us that you want to help, but then you defend the griefers. What is your problem?”

  “I do want to help you but—” Thomas tried to get the words out but Steve didn’t want to hear it.

  “Stop! We don’t care. Just go back to the rainbow griefers. We can’t trust you,” Steve shouted.

  “You don’t have to trust me. But I’m running low on resources and my energy bar is almost empty. If you give me a piece of chicken, I will tell you what the rainbow griefers are planning,” begged Thomas.

  Lucy handed him a piece of chicken. “I’m only giving this to you because you’re hungry. Don’t bother giving us any tips. We won’t believe you anyway.”

  Thomas blurted out, “But I know their plan. They are going to summon the blazes and ghasts by the entrance to Mine Mountain. If you are able to defeat the blazes and ghasts, once you enter Mine Mountain, they’re going to throw blocks of TNT in the mine and blow you guys up.”

  “We need to destroy the rainbow griefers before they attack us,” Steve remarked.

  Henry paused and then asked, “Where do they sleep?”

  “They sleep in a cave not very far from here.”

  “Lead us to the cave,” demanded Henry.

  Chapter 14

  BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE

  Thomas led them to a cave deep within the forest, with an entrance hidden by leaves. Steve looked for rainbow griefers that could be lurking outside the dwelling.