Clash of the Creepers

by Winter Morgan

  “Shh!” Lucy said, “I can hear voices.”

  There was a low hum coming from inside. Steve and the others stood by the entrance and tried to listen but they couldn’t hear what the rainbow griefers were saying. Meanwhile Henry was taking blocks of TNT from his inventory.

  “I wonder what they’ll think when they get a taste of their own medicine?” Henry ignited the TNT and threw it into the entrance.

  Kaboom!

  The griefers’ headquarters went up in flames.

  “Run!” shouted Henry and the group ran toward Mine Mountain.

  Arrows flew at them as they rushed past the enormous trees that filled the lush forest. Max shot arrows back at the two griefers who survived the blast and were chasing them. “I got them!” Max exclaimed when the griefers were destroyed.

  “I wonder where they’ll respawn,” remarked Steve, “they have no home now.”

  The gang continued to sprint through the forest.

  “I see it!” Lucy called out. “I see Mine Mountain.”

  “We need to keep watch and make sure the sky doesn’t fill with ghasts and blazes,” Lucy said as they entered Mine Mountain.

  They were still in awe of the bluish glow from the diamond-filled mine but they couldn’t stop and take in the breathtaking sight. They needed to mine for diamonds as quickly as they could.

  “Thomas, why are you still here?” asked Lucy.

  Thomas dug his pickaxe into the ground and began to mine. “I just helped you destroy the rainbow griefers’ house. Can’t you see I’m on your side?”

  “I don’t know what you’re planning, Thomas. But I still don’t trust you.” Adam dug deep within the ground. He placed diamonds in his inventory.

  “I just want to mine for diamonds. I’m not planning anything,” Thomas said as he held his pickaxe.

  “You can mine with us, but when we are ready to leave, you must go your own way,” Steve told Thomas. Steve thought it was a fair compromise.

  Lucy added, “Yes, we don’t want you coming with us and leading us into a trap.”

  The group gathered the diamonds, placed them safely in their inventory, and then exited the mine.

  “Wow, that was easier than I thought it would be,” said Kyra.

  “Famous last words,” Henry said as he looked up at the sky filled with ghasts and blazes.

  The gang rushed back into the mine, when Lucy let out a shrill scream. “Creepers!”

  Creepers floated by the wall of the mine. Max shot an arrow at a creeper but the explosion almost destroyed everyone in the mine.

  “We can’t destroy creepers in this mine. It’s not big enough,” Lucy said. She had barely survived the blast from the creeper.

  The gang hurried toward the exit as a fireball landed at their feet.

  “Is everyone okay?” Henry asked, while shooting an arrow into the sky. He hoped he would hit something.

  “There’s nowhere to hide,” Steve said, admitting he was terrified. “Wherever we go, somebody is trying to blow us up!”

  “Not if they can’t see us,” Adam said. He reached for his potion of invisibility but realized the bottle was empty.

  Thomas took a snowball from his inventory and threw it at the ghasts and blazes. “Shoot the creeper!” he yelled at Max. Max hit the creeper and it exploded.

  “Here,” Thomas handed Max snowballs. “I need you to throw these while I get something.”

  Then Thomas took out a potion of invisibility and splashed it on them.

  “Now run!” Thomas screamed.

  The group didn’t know which direction they should run but they knew they had to get out of there fast. They sprinted through the forest and into the jungle. They hoped when the potion wore off they would be able to find each other.

  Chapter 15

  CREEPERS OR CREEPS?

  When Steve became visible, all he could see were leaves. He had run into the forest. A wolf raced past him. Steve walked on a grassy path lined with oak and birch trees, searching for his friends, but he couldn’t find them. He called out their names, but there was no response.

  The sun was beginning to set and Steve began to craft a cabin for the night. It was a very quick build, nothing fancy, but there was a bed and he’d have shelter for the night. When he had completed the cabin, he heard some rustling in the distance. Steve took out his diamond sword and placed a torch on the outside of his newly built cabin. He walked slowly into the dense forest to find out who was lurking outside his home.

  With his diamond sword out and ready for action, Steve pounced at the person or hostile mob that was hiding behind a tree.

  “Stop!” the voice called out.

  “Thomas!” Steve said angrily, “what are you doing here?”

  “I don’t have any place to go,” replied Thomas.

  “Do you know where the others are?” Steve questioned.

  “No, I don’t,” Thomas said as he pointed out a creeper in the distance. “This forest isn’t safe. In fact the whole area around Mine Mountain isn’t safe. It’s infested with creepers.”

  Steve saw an arrow fly past them and straight at the creeper.

  “Who shot that?” Steve called out, but there was no reply.

  “Let’s go to your house,” suggested Thomas.

  “Who said you can take shelter in my house?” Steve was annoyed that Thomas assumed he could stay at the house.

  “There is no time to argue,” Thomas said as he saw another creeper. “This forest has too many creepers and it’s very dark. I can’t see anything. If we don’t go back to your house now, it might be too dark to find it.”

  Another arrow shot through the sky and destroyed the creeper as Steve walked toward the house with Thomas. “I wonder who is shooting these arrows?” he questioned.

  Thomas replied, “I have no idea but I don’t have the energy to fight them if they start shooting at us.”

  Steve approached the front door of the small cabin and told Thomas, “I don’t have a bed for you.”

  “That’s okay, I can craft one,” replied Thomas.

  The two entered the house, and Thomas began to craft a bed for himself.

  “When you said the forest and the area around Mine Mountain are infested with creepers, do you know if the rainbow griefers are the ones infesting the area? Do they have a creeper spawner?”

  “No, I don’t think they are involved. This is one of those areas that happens to have a lot of creepers.”

  Steve took out one of the books he had gotten from Avery the Librarian and began to read about the area around Mine Mountain. Maybe Thomas was telling the truth and this was simply a challenging part of the Overworld. Steve flipped through the pages and couldn’t find any reference to creepers. As he drifted off to sleep, he tried to keep one eye open but couldn’t. He didn’t trust Thomas.

  Within seconds of falling asleep, Steve heard someone at the door. “Who is it?” Steve got out of bed.

  “Don’t just ask who is it,” Thomas replied irritably, “they could be here to attack us.”

  “If anyone is attacking us, it’s your friends, the rainbow griefers.”

  “I told you, I’m on your side now,” Thomas shouted.

  Wearing diamond armor and holding his powerful sword, Steve opened the door slowly.

  “Steve!” Lucy smiled. She was standing in the doorway with Kyra.

  “Can we come in?” asked Kyra.

  “We are being chased by creepers. Max, Henry, and Adam have been shooting arrows at the creepers all night,” Lucy informed Steve.

  “So that is who was shooting the arrows!” Steve was glad that they were friends and not foes.

  Lucy and Kyra entered the small cabin. There was barely enough room for them to stand and there certainly wasn’t enough room to construct two more beds.

  “Help!” a voice called out from the forest.

  “It’s Max!” cried Kyra. “We need to get our armor on and help him battle the creepers.”

  The grou
p rushed out of the cabin. Steve’s jaw dropped when he saw the sea of green between the leaves. As creepers exploded, more spawned. They were in the midst of a creeper invasion.

  “Are you sure there isn’t a spawner in this jungle?” Steve asked Thomas as they walked into the middle of this fiery battle.

  “I don’t think so, but I’m not certain,” admitted Thomas.

  “Well, we have to find out,” Steve said as he shot arrows at creepers and watched a bunch of mini explosions light up the dark night sky like fireworks.

  Steve and Thomas ran toward Henry, Max, and Adam but on the way there they fell into a hole in the ground.

  “What is this?” Steve looked around.

  “It looks like a stronghold.” Thomas walked over to a staircase as a creeper emerged from a corner. He aimed at it and destroyed it. Thomas walked down the stairs and said, “Steve, I think there is a spawner and it’s here.”

  Steve followed Thomas but couldn’t find him. “Thomas,” he called out.

  “Help!” He could hear Thomas struggling.

  Steve ran down the hall. He found Thomas locked in a jail cell in the stronghold.

  “How did you get in there?” asked Steve.

  Thomas didn’t have a chance to reply. Cyrus and Owen were standing with their diamonds swords aimed at Steve.

  “Give us all your diamonds,” Owen demanded.

  Chapter 16

  TROUBLE’S BREWING

  “Why are you doing this?” Steve asked them.

  “It’s very simple. We want all the diamonds for ourselves,” Cyrus replied.

  “What about Beatrice and Charlie?” asked Steve.

  “They’ll take care of your friends.” Owen laughed.

  Thomas had already destroyed a cave spider. They were trapped in the small cell, while Cyrus and Owen were spawning creepers just a few feet from them.

  “Steve!” Lucy called out.

  “Don’t come down here, it’s a trap,” Steve cried from behind the bars of the small jail cell.

  Although Steve warned Lucy to stay away from the stronghold, she hurried down the hall toward the jail cell. She wanted to save her friend.

  “Lucy, stop!” Steve called out, but it was too late. Cyrus and Owen demanded she hand over all of her diamonds and forced Lucy into the small jail cell beside Steve and Thomas.

  “We have to warn the others,” Lucy said, because she was worried about Kyra, Max, Henry, and Adam.

  Owen counted the diamonds. “Don’t worry about them. I’m sure Beatrice and Charlie have destroyed them by now.”

  Cyrus spawned more creepers and added, “Or maybe the creepers got to them before Beatrice and Charlie.”

  “Nobody destroyed us,” Henry said as he and Adam ran past the jail cell and shot an arrow at Owen and Cyrus.

  Adam splashed a potion of harming on the two sinister diamond thieves. “You’re the ones who are going to be destroyed.”

  Kyra breathlessly rushed into the stronghold and called out, “Henry! Are you here? Beatrice and Charlie are destroyed!”

  Kyra paused when she saw her two friends behind bars. “What are you doing here?”

  “Let us out,” Steve shook the bars. “We need to help Henry and Adam destroy the creeper spawner.”

  “And we need to defeat Owen and Cyrus,” added Lucy.

  Kyra opened the door to the jail. “Owen and Cyrus?” she asked. Kyra was confused.

  “Yes, they are behind this whole creeper invasion,” Steve remarked. “They are working with Beatrice and Charlie.”

  “They’re diamond thieves,” added Lucy, as they all sprinted toward the creeper spawner, ready to deactivate it.

  Steve and his friends reached the creeper spawner. They approached the spawner and could see Cyrus battling Henry while Adam cautiously tried to deactivate the spawner without exploding himself.

  Max shot an arrow at Cyrus, destroying him.

  “Good shot,” exclaimed Henry.

  “He stole our diamonds!” Lucy shouted. “Get them from him.”

  Max grabbed the diamonds Owen had dropped and handed them to Lucy.

  “These are for Steve and Thomas.” She handed them the diamonds and they thanked her.

  “I’m glad we have the diamonds back but we have to stop this spawner!” shouted Adam.

  Thomas grabbed three torches from his inventory and placed them by the spawner to stop any creepers from spawning from the black cage.

  Henry held a brick of TNT. “We have to blow this place up and we’re going to need a lot of TNT.”

  The others grabbed TNT from their inventories. They placed the TNT by the spawner, ignited it, and sprinted as fast as they could to safety.

  When the gang emerged, it was daylight and the sun was shining brightly. There were no rainbow griefers in sight and everyone felt at peace.

  “Now that we all have our diamonds, we should head back home,” suggested Steve.

  “Great,” Kyra looked over at Steve, “I’ll head back to the wheat farm with you.”

  “We’re not going back to the wheat farm, we are planning to go on a treasure hunt,” said Lucy. “Now that we have all of these diamonds, we can make great armor to protect ourselves and go on an extreme treasure hunt!”

  Everyone was ready to part ways until Kyra shrieked, “Ouch!”

  Arrows shot through the sky striking Henry and Max. The battle wasn’t over.

  Chapter 17

  REWARDS

  “Get your bows and arrows out,” Henry said as he tried to figure out where the arrows were coming from and who was attacking them.

  “Do you see rainbow men?” asked Adam.

  “No, I can’t see anything because of the leaves,” replied Henry.

  Steve looked up and saw Charlie and Beatrice in a tree and they had their bows pointing at the group.

  “Look up!” Steve enjoined the group.

  Henry and Max aimed for Charlie and Beatrice but missed.

  “They must have a house near here because they respawned very quickly,” noted Steve.

  “We have to defeat them. We don’t want them stealing our diamonds.” Lucy was determined to win. She shot another arrow at Beatrice and Charlie.

  A lone yellow blaze flew through the air, taking note of the two people perched in the green oak tree, and let out a fiery blast. Beatrice and Charlie barely had enough time to move, when the fireball hit them.

  Max aimed at the yellow blaze and shot an arrow. The others copied Max and shot at the floating flamethrower until it was erased from the sky.

  “Finally!” exclaimed Lucy. “We have to get out of here.”

  “Not so fast,” a familiar voice called out.

  “We aren’t afraid of you, Owen,” Lucy said as she sprinted toward him with her sword. But Cyrus threw a splash potion on Lucy that weakened her.

  “Lucy!” Kyra rushed to her friend’s side as Owen splashed a potion of harming all over Kyra.

  Max charged at Owen with his sword. With three hard blows he defeated the evil villain and then helped Lucy and Kyra by giving them milk.

  Henry battled Cyrus. It was a tough battle. Cyrus was a skilled fighter. Their diamond swords clanged as the fight intensified.

  “You’ll never win!” Henry told him, “Evil never does.”

  “Ha!” exclaimed Cyrus. “You’re wrong, Henry!”

  Max and Adam crept up behind Cyrus. Max struck Cyrus with his sword and Adam threw a potion of weakness on him.

  “No, you’re wrong, Cyrus!” Henry said, delivering the final blow and wiping out the sinister Cyrus.

  Steve looked around and didn’t see any hostile mobs that were summoned to attack them, or any colorful griefers. In fact, he just saw trees and sunshine. “I think we’re safe, but we better get out of here before they return.”

  “Yes, we have no idea where they will respawn,” added Lucy.

  The gang hurried out of the forest and into the familiar sandy biome. The sun was beating down on them and they
were hungry.

  “Do you think it’s safe to stop and eat now?” Kyra asked, looking behind her. She wanted to make sure their old enemies weren’t planning an attack.

  The group stopped and rested. They needed energy for their journey away from Mine Mountain.

  “I still can’t believe we went to Mine Mountain.” Steve was shocked they actually made it to the famed mountain and had filled their inventory with a huge supply of diamonds.

  “I know!” said Kyra. “Everyone back home will be so excited to hear our stories.”

  “We should write a book,” suggested Steve. “Avery can keep it at the library.”

  “That’s a great idea,” Kyra smiled.

  Lucy had a chicken in her inventory and cooked it. She handed out portions of chicken and even gave some to Thomas. The group stopped feasting when they heard voices nearby.

  “It sounds like Beatrice and Charlie,” remarked Lucy.

  The group hid behind a tree. They could hear Beatrice and Charlie talking to each other.

  “I can’t believe we don’t have any diamonds. We should go back to Mine Mountain,” Charlie complained.

  “We can’t, the rainbow griefers will attack us with blazes and ghasts. It’s too hard,” said Beatrice.

  “But Steve and his friends were able to get the diamonds,” Charlie told her.

  “Our only hope was getting the diamonds from them, but it’s too late. We will try to go back to Mine Mountain another time,” explained Beatrice.

  “Or maybe Cyrus and Owen can get them from Adam’s house,” plotted Charlie.

  Steve was about to jump in front of both of them and strike them with his diamond sword but Henry held him back.

  In a whisper Henry said, “Let them go. We’ve fought enough. They’ll just get destroyed and respawn, but they’ll never learn anything.”

  Steve realized Henry was right. Charlie and Beatrice were the ones who were walking away empty-handed. If they battled them, it would just be a waste of time. Steve looked through his inventory and was excited to see the many diamonds that filled it. He knew when he went home he’d be able to trade them and use them to help his village thrive.

  Chapter 18