Lexie’s voice grew louder. “Steve, did you summon the Ender Dragon?”
“No, I’d never do anything like that,” replied Steve. “Just ask my friends. They will tell you that I’m not a griefer.”
“Your friends are treasure hunters,” said Jonathan. “We know what treasure hunters do to get treasure. We can’t trust them.”
“But you have to trust me and my friends,” pleaded Steve.
“We will let you participate in the contest, but we are watching you, Steve. If we find out that any of this is your fault, you will not only be asked to leave, but you’ll be in serious trouble,” Sylvia said sternly.
Steve couldn’t believe his ears. Since the contest began, Steve had been worried about being attacked by a hostile mob and respawning in his home or having his house demolished by the Ender Dragon, but he never expected this to be the reason he’d leave the competition.
He knew what he had to do. He had to prove that he was innocent, and he had to build his dream house. Once he was able to clear his name and gain the respect of the judges, he’d be a winner, even if he didn’t place first in the competition.
As he walked toward his house, he saw Georgia pass by. Steve called out to her but she didn’t turn around. Steve was hurt. It seemed as if nobody believed him. He left to build his home—and rebuild his reputation.
12
BEGIN AGAIN
Steve knew how the others felt. They must have been heartbroken that all their hard work was destroyed. Steve recalled how upset he was when Thomas blew up his farm with TNT. The other contestants had to start all over again. Steve didn’t think it was fair, since his house was almost done. He wanted to help the other contestants, but he knew that would be against the rules.
Steve began to place the final windows on his home and create large terraces with ocean views. Although the house was coming along quite nicely, Steve didn’t feel like building. His heart wasn’t in the contest anymore. After being accused of ruining the competition, he felt awful. Steve hated being wrongly accused. He wanted to clear his name. Luckily, he had friends who could help him.
While Steve adorned the walls of the home with emerald designs, he thought of ways Lucy, Max, Henry, and Kyra could help him. Once he placed the last emerald on the house, he walked toward the dorm.
The gang was building the dorm with the judges.
“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be building?” asked Sylvia.
“I just needed to talk to my friends for a minute,” said Steve and Sylvia shook her head.
Lucy, Max, Henry, and Kyra approached Steve. Lucy blurted out, “Steve, everyone thinks you’re the griefer. We tried to convince them you aren’t, but they don’t trust us either.”
Kyra was upset. “I want to leave,” she said. “I don’t like being here when everyone is judging us.”
“I need to prove I’m innocent, and I need your help.”
“How can we help you?” asked Max. “We’ll do anything.”
“I want you to befriend Joshua and try to find out why he would do these things.”
Before the gang could befriend Joshua, four Endermen appeared in the distance.
“Everyone get your pumpkin masks on right now!” Sylvia screamed.
The group grabbed the pumpkins from their inventories.
“Don’t look in their direction.” Jonathan’s voice was shaky as he spoke, “Even with your masks on, look away.”
Steve didn’t listen. He shot forward toward the lanky creeping hostile mobs and struck one with his sword.
Max, Henry, Lucy, and Kyra followed. They struck the creatures.
The Endermen’s loud sounds startled the group as they fought with all their might.
Henry hit the diamond sword into the flesh of an Enderman and a final knock destroyed it.
Georgia and Sarah must have heard the cries from the building area and jogged over with buckets of water, throwing them on the Endermen.
Splash! The Endermen were defeated.
“Thanks,” Steve told them.
“I’m still not sure if you’re the one who summoned all of this evil, but I want to finish this contest,” said Sarah.
Looking at Steve, Georgia said, “Please, no more distractions.”
“This isn’t my fault!” Steve protested.
“We’ll get to the bottom of this soon. Truthfully, I hope it isn’t you, but if it is, I’ll never forgive you,” Georgia told him.
Steve followed Sarah and Georgia and went to finish his house. He hoped his friends could help him solve his problem. He was about to reach his building site when he heard panicked screams coming from the stage area. He sprinted back and found everyone with swords out. Although there were eight of them, the beast they were fighting had three heads.
Sarah, Georgia, and Caleb rushed toward the stage.
“What’s going on, Steve?” asked Sarah.
They didn’t wait for an answer. Everyone saw a flash of blue and the deafening sound of an explosion. The half-built dorm was torn to pieces.
The black three-headed Wither had spawned, shooting Wither Skulls at the group, who tried to protect themselves by seeking shelter underneath a nearby enormous mushroom. It was useless; the beast unleashed its barrage of skeletons, and there was no place to hide. They had to fight.
Steve raced toward the monster with his diamond sword. He wanted to save the day, but one person was no match for such a powerful menace.
Max, Lucy, Henry, and Kyra raced toward Steve to join him in battle. Dressed in armor, they shot arrows at the Wither, hoping it would weaken the creature. The Wither just crushed the partially built stage.
“How are you going to win this battle?” Kyra asked the group. The Wither cornered her and shot a Wither Skull in her direction. She was about to be hit. Kyra closed her eyes and braced herself for the punch.
When nothing happened, she opened her eyes. “What happened?” she asked.
“Look!” Steve’s voice was breathless with exhaustion. “It has a new enemy.”
An army of Endermen with gaping mouths making piercing sounds stood in front of the Wither. It was a battle of the mobs.
13
FIGHT IN THE SKY
The Endermen’s eyes glowed as the sun began to set and darkness fell upon Mushroom Island.
The Wither shot Wither Skulls at the Endermen as they lurked toward the Wither. A group of Endermen teleported toward the Wither and struck him, but the Wither’s energy was high and it fought back, unleashing more Wither Skulls that hit the Endermen.
“Maybe they can battle this on their own?” Kyra asked hopefully.
Max looked up at the sky. “No! Look!”
“Not again!” Henry cried as he saw an Ender Dragon’s purple eyes in the dark sky.
“Someone needs to light a torch,” Henry told the group.
Caleb got a torch. “But I need my hands to hold my bow and arrow,” he cried out.
Max walked over to the one remaining wall of the rebuilt dorm. “Place the torch on this wall,” he suggested.
In the light, the gang watched the Ender Dragon swoop down, avoiding the Wither Skulls the powerful Wither shot at the flying creature.
The Ender Dragon flew into the sky as the Wither rose up from the ground, advancing toward the Dragon. The masterful three-headed beast skyrocketed toward its winged enemy, still shooting Wither Skulls at the Dragon.
The Dragon was hit but not defeated. Growling and roaring, it soared higher. With an open mouth, the Dragon lunged toward the Wither. The attack made the Wither turn red. The battle intensified in the sky, but the group didn’t have time to watch this competition between the two bosses because they had their own battle. They had to battle the now unoccupied Endermen.
The Endermen teleported toward the group as sounds of the Dragon and the Wither’s battle echoed.
Steve and Henry ran toward the mobs with swords as the rest of the gang placed pumpkins on their heads and went in search of wate
r.
The group sprinted toward the water, but before they reached the shoreline, there was a loud boom!
“What’s that?” Kyra asked nervously.
Boom! The sound was louder and followed by a bolt of lightning.
“It’s going to rain!” Lucy said joyfully.
Steve was in the middle of an intense battle with the Endermen when the first drops of rain poured down on him and destroyed the long-legged pests.
“Raindrops never felt so good,” Steve said to Henry as he brushed the rain from his face.
The storm grew stronger and so did the battle between the Wither and the Ender Dragon. Neither were affected by water and they continued to chase each other. Both of these creatures were very strong and the battle wasn’t going to be quick.
The Dragon flew fast and dodged many of the Wither Skulls, but it was no match for the Wither. Its three heads shot Wither Skulls from its mouth almost instantly, and it was on the Dragon’s tail. The Dragon roared and struck the Wither with its wing and for a moment the Wither turned red. The Wither flew up through the rain, narrowly avoiding a lightning bolt that shot through the stormy sky.
“I wish we had shelter,” Lucy said as she looked at the hostile battle in the sky and tried to cover herself from the rain.
Kyra began to build a house out of the mushrooms. “Mushroom houses don’t take that long to build. Let’s make them together.”
The group gathered red mushrooms and bone meal. They began to construct the floors as they attached ladders and used a torch to light up the interior of the home. They worked as fast as they could in the rain. Once the rain stopped more Endermen could spawn, and they needed a shelter from them.
Everyone’s house was completed but Joshua’s. He didn’t have any bones in his inventory to make bone meal. Steve could see him searching for something to help him craft the home.
“Do you need any bones?” Steve asked Joshua.
“I’m fine. I don’t need any help from you,” Joshua replied as he walked toward Caleb’s house.
Steve could hear Joshua asking Caleb if he had any space for two beds. Then Joshua walked into Caleb’s mushroom house.
“Everyone finished?” Kyra looked at the group.
“Yes,” the group called out in unison as they made their way into the comfort of their mushroom shelters, safe from monsters but still able to see the show in the stormy sky.
The raindrops fell against Steve’s roof as he watched the Ender Dragon bang into the Wither.
The Wither unleashed more Wither Skulls and the Dragon seemed to be growing weaker as it flew closer to the ground. At times it looked as if it was about to fall to the ground but it didn’t. The Dragon seemed to grow stronger as it flew toward the Wither, and with a final blow, it destroyed the three-headed monster as a Nether Star fell from the sky.
Although Steve watched the battle and cheered when he saw the Wither was defeated and the Ender Dragon had won, he also knew this meant they were the Ender Dragon’s next victims.
“Fire your arrows!” Steve encouraged the group.
The group got out their weapons and aimed at the Dragon. The arrows struck its underbelly, and the Dragon dropped an egg and was destroyed.
The powerful Dragon might have been the winner of the battle of the boss, but it was a short-lived victory.
Finally the rain stopped. Steve and the gang made their way toward the rubble where the stage was being rebuilt.
“I think it’s safe now,” Steve told them.
A roar boomed in the distance.
“Not again!” Georgia cried out.
14
THE BATTLE OF THE BUILDERS
“How many Ender Dragons do you see?” Georgia asked as she peeked out from her mushroom house.
Sarah looked at the sky. “I see three!”
“Who is doing this?” Georgia was mad. She wanted the competition to continue.
Sylvia, Lexie, and Jonathan stood with their bows and arrows out, ready for battle.
“We can’t worry about who started it,” Caleb told them. “We just have to fight until it’s over.”
Steve didn’t agree. “If we find out who did this, we can get them to stop and we can end this pointless battle.”
But Steve’s words were lost when the three Ender Dragons flew through the air. Their wings flapped as they gathered up speed and headed toward the group standing beside their mushroom houses. The mooshrooms grazing behind them looked up at the hostile mob.
The three Dragons charged at the players and swooped down. One struck Sylvia.
“Are you okay?” Steve asked as he shot an arrow at the Dragon.
“Yes,” she said softly. Sylvia was hurt but still alive.
The second Dragon hit Caleb’s mushroom house, destroying the roof. Boom! The third Dragon hit the side of the mushroom house. Caleb and Joshua tried to fight them off with arrows.
“Stop!” Joshua screamed. “Don’t attack me!”
The Dragons didn’t listen. They growled at Joshua and he sped away from the house, leaving Caleb to battle the Dragons on his own.
“Joshua!” Caleb screamed, but Joshua didn’t turn back. Caleb shot an arrow at the Dragon, but he was no match for the three hostile beasts that were now cornering him.
Caleb shot a second arrow just as the Dragons lunged toward him.
“Help!” he cried out.
Steve and the group ran toward Caleb and started shooting their arrows, hoping to weaken the Dragons. One of the Dragon’s three-toed black feet hit the side of Caleb’s mushroom house as the Dragon steadied itself for flight and tried to avoid the barrage of arrows.
Caleb was lucky. The Ender Dragons had a better enemy to battle. Another Wither!
The three Dragons flew through the skies away from the group toward a Wither. They surrounded the Wither, attacking it from each angle until it was destroyed and another Nether Star dropped down by the gang.
“Uh-oh, now we’re next!” cried Lucy.
“But we will battle this together,” Steve reassured them.
Max looked down and saw more Endermites. “Oh no!” he said, and leapt toward two with his diamond sword.
“And more Endermen!” announced Sarah as the group put on their pumpkin masks.
“Lead them to the water!” Henry instructed Steve and Caleb.
Steve and Caleb took off their masks and the Endermen’s mouths gaped open and shrieked.
“They’re teleporting!” Steve shouted to Caleb and they leapt toward the water, where the Endermen fell in.
As Steve and Caleb swam to the shore, they could see Joshua aboard Max’s pirate ship.
“Joshua!” Caleb called out, but Joshua didn’t turn around. He navigated the boat toward the sea.
“Let’s follow him!” Steve said, and the duo hurried toward the pier, hopped onto Henry’s sailboat, and raced after Joshua.
Steve navigated the boat in Joshua’s direction; they picked up speed and came to the side of the pirate ship.
“Where are you going?” Caleb shouted.
“I’m leaving,” said Joshua. He didn’t look at his friend but instead he attempted to increase the speed of his boat.
Steve sped up. The two boats raced as Steve jumped aboard the boat Joshua had stolen from Max. Joshua was shocked when Steve took out his diamond sword.
“This is my friend Max’s boat,” said Steve. He held the diamond sword, pointing it at Joshua.
“I’m sorry,” said Joshua. He could barely get the words out. His lips quivered.
“What is your problem?! You hit my boat. You stole Max’s boat. And you abandoned your friend.”
“I don’t know,” replied Joshua.
Steve inched forward, bringing his sword closer to Joshua. “I don’t believe you; I’ve met people like you before.”
Joshua moved back from Steve. “What does that mean?” he asked. The boat was barely moving.
Caleb abandoned the other boat and hopped aboard the ship with
Joshua and Steve. “You aren’t my friend anymore, Joshua!”
Joshua was cornered. There was no escape. They were at sea and he was outnumbered.
“Stop! Stop!” Joshua screamed. “You’re right, it’s all my fault.”
Caleb was shocked. “Why?”
“I was jealous. I wanted to be a part of the contest,” Joshua confessed.
The Ender Dragon’s roar could be heard in the distance. Steve was worried about his friends.
“Because of your jealousy, my best friends are fighting the battle of their lives, and you ruined a competition that I had been looking forward to for a long time!” Steve screamed at Joshua.
“I wasn’t chosen for the contest!” Joshua screamed back.
“Do you only care about yourself?” asked Caleb.
“No!” yelled Joshua.
Henry’s sailboat was drifting farther out to sea. Soon it would be lost.
Caleb looked out at the boat. “Look what you did to Henry’s boat! If we didn’t have to chase after you, it would be at the dock.”
“The boat!” said Steve in frustration. “That’s just one of the many things. You summoned the Wither and the Ender Dragon.”
“And the Endermites and Endermen!” added Caleb.
“Can’t you see how much damage and chaos you’ve caused? Just because you didn’t get into a competition!” Steve shook his head.
“You have to put an end to this,” Caleb warned Joshua.
“I don’t know how,” Joshua could barely spit out the words.
“I should never have brought you here,” moaned Caleb.
Boom! A blast was heard in the distance.
“I feel so helpless. I need to be there for my friends.” Steve was very upset. “There has to be something you can do, Joshua. We’re taking you back to Mushroom Island.”
“I want you to tell everybody what you’ve done. And you will make it better,” Caleb told him as Steve guided the boat back to the shores of Mushroom Island.
“I don’t know how I can fix it, I really don’t,” Joshua said and then tried to jump overboard just as Steve docked the boat.
“No!” Caleb shouted as he grabbed Joshua.
The Endermen Invasion Page 5