Baby Zeke: The Diary of a Chicken Jockey: The Complete Minecraft Series, Books 1-9: An Unofficial Minecraft Book

by Dr. Block

  “Could probably shoot a boulder a kilometer or two if the wind was in the right direction.”

  “Wow, that’s amazing,” said Bob. “I wonder how far I could go in it?”

  I laughed at the thought of Bob being launched by the siege engine. “I guess that’s one way for a chicken to fly,” I said with a grin.

  “We are not going to be launching any chickens in this thing,” said the general. “We will have to strike hard and fast. We must pummel the High Castle in one exact location and hope we can break through it. It’s the only way.”

  “I know, I know,” said Bob. “But, maybe after the battle is over…?”

  Now it was the general’s turn to laugh. “I like your attitude, chicken. When the battle is over, I will personally see to it that you get shot from the trebuchet.”

  “Awesome,” said Bob.

  Chapter 14

  A little while later, one of the Ender soldiers performing reconnaissance for the targeting adjustments informed the general that he had discovered a cave close to the High Castle. The soldier had spent some time exploring the cave and it seemed to be safe, or, at least, unoccupied by enemy forces.

  “I think, Sir,” said the soldier, “that we might be able to mine upward through the cave into the bottom of the High Castle, taking Herobrine by surprise.”

  “Excellent thinking, PoisonSpider2005. Why don’t you teleport some of these zombie pigmen with you and you can mine together?”

  “PoisonSpider2005? Is that an ender name?” I asked the general.

  “Well, these elite Ender soldiers are allowed to have their own nicknames, so….”

  “Cool,” I said. “Anyway, could I go to the cave too? There’s nothing for me to do here but stand around and watch the Ender soldiers work.”

  “Yeah, it will be closer to the action. I’m coming,” said Otis.

  The general considered my request for a brief moment and then said, “Okay. I’m going to send 25 zombie pigmen, you, Otis, your chickens, and 10 of my Ender soldiers. If there’s trouble, the soldiers can teleport everyone back to base. If you manage break into the High Castle, the soldiers can help with the battle and one of them can teleport back to get reinforcements.”

  “How long until the bombardment commences, general?” asked a soldier named Michael.

  “I’d say we should have it dialed within the hour. Round up everyone who is going to the cave and leave immediately. You will know when the bombardment starts because you will feel the earth shaking.”

  The Ender soldier saluted, turned and said to Otis and me, “Come on.”

  As Otis and I walked quickly behind the long-legged Ender soldier, Otis said, “I really don’t like mining very much, but if it gets us closer to Herobrine, I’m all for it.”

  “Yeah, and those other zombie pigmen are probably pretty good at mining. They’ve been living in a cave all their lives, so they probably spent a lot of time digging in the rocks.”

  I could see Otis clench at the thought of having to work alongside the other zombie pigmen. But, they had had a truce and no insults about Otis’s porcine ancestry had been uttered yet. As long as Otis could hold his tongue and keep his temper, everything should work out.

  We soon passed by Harold and Bob, who were pecking at the ground and clucking, I said “Harold. Bob. Come on. We are going to try to infiltrate the High Castle from underground.”

  “That sounds pretty cool,” said Harold.

  “It’s like being a spider hiding in the dark and then coming up through a crack to scare someone,” said Bob.

  “You are kind of a freak sometimes, you know that?” said Otis.

  Bob just looked at him with his black, flat, unintelligent chicken eyes, saying nothing. Freak, indeed, I thought.

  At that moment, I looked up and saw the Ender soldier, Michael, had opened up quite a distance between us during the time we’d spent talking with our chickens. I jumped on Harold and told him to get going. Otis did the same with Bob.

  In no time, our noble steeds caught up with the Ender soldier just as he and PoisonSpider were explaining everything to the zombie pigmen.

  The zombie pigmen seemed enthusiastic about mining. I guess it was better than sitting around waiting for the unknown.

  The Ender soldiers then gathered their colleagues who shouted, “Hooray. Let’s rule the day. It’s time to make Herobrine pay.”

  “How long you think they’ve been practicing that?” whispered Otis as he rolled his eyes.

  “I don’t know. Why don’t you ask them?” I said.

  “I don’t care.”

  “I dare you.”

  “Shut up.”

  Chapter 15

  A few minutes later, we teleported to the cave.

  The cave was dimly lit by a few torches, apparently placed there by the Ender soldier during his earlier reconnaissance.

  We stood in a chamber just large enough to hold our small force.

  “The High Castle is in that general direction,” said PoisonSpider, pointing up and to the north. “If we mine at an upward angle from here, we should eventually enter the fortress from underneath.”

  “And,” said Michael, “we think it would be best if there were multiple mining tunnels heading in the direction of High Castle to increase our odds of locating it. Once one of us enters the fortress, we can all concentrate efforts on that particular tunnel.”

  It sounded like a pretty good idea to me.

  The soldiers assigned each of us a location and we began to mine.

  I was located about 10 blocks to one side of Otis. Both of us began mining in an upward angle. Our chickens followed behind, at the ready in case we needed to leap into battle on their backs, but otherwise just observing what was happening.

  I was mining quickly, but not so fast as to sap my strength in case it was needed for battle. Otis, on the other hand, was mining like a pigman possessed. He was probably mining almost 20% faster than me, bits of dust and rock were spraying behind him and hitting Bob in the head.

  “Ouch, Otis! Slow down a bit,” said Bob.

  “No way. We are too close for slowing down. Slow down sounds suspiciously like quit.”

  “Slowing down isn’t the same thing as quitting,” I said.

  “In my book it is,” said Otis.

  We continued mining for another five minutes. That was when one of the Ender soldiers yelled up our mine shafts, “Find anything?”

  “No,” came the response from both of us.

  “Keep digging. No one else has found anything yet either. But, we must be getting close.”

  It was five minutes later that I looked over and saw that Otis had disappeared from view.

  I heard an echoing “netherrack” coming from Otis’s hole as he cursed at something.

  “What is it Otis?” I yelled.

  There was no immediate response, but soon I saw Otis slide out of the hole and stand on one of the steps he crafted as he was mining.

  “You are not going to believe this.”

  “What is it?”

  “Just keep mining. You’ll get there in about 15 seconds.”

  I figured it must not have been something dangerous if Otis was telling me just to go ahead and keep mining. I was very curious to see what Otis had found, so I mined as quickly as I could.

  Soon thereafter, I cleared the final piece of bedrock and was face-to-face with a wooden board. I must be under the fortress, I thought. I was excited.

  I drew my pickaxe back and smashed at the board until it disintegrated. That was when a TNT block fell through the hole and landed in front of me.

  “Weird,” I said as I grabbed the TNT block and put it into my inventory. My new item secure, I stuck my head into the hole.

  As I beheld the sight Otis must have seen, I could only mutter to myself, “Oh my Notch. Oh my Notch.”

  Chapter 16

  As I came up through the hole, I was looking into a chamber so vast that it did not appear to have an end. The si
ze of the room alone would have been enough to astonish me, but what was in the room not only astonished me but terrified me more than I had ever been terrified in my entire life.

  The entire room was filled with TNT blocks.

  In the distance, I could see TNT blocks stacked five or six deep from the floor to ceiling. But closer to me, they were only stacked two high or one high. It was as if the room was being filled from the other side towards the side where I was standing.

  I looked over and saw Otis had stuck his head back up into the room. “What do you think all this is about, Otis?”

  “Seems like Herobrine has been stockpiling TNT to use in his pranks, or maybe he is going to use all this TNT to destroy the world.”

  A wave of terror rushed through me. “You think he’s going blow up the world using TNT?!?”

  Otis was surprisingly nonchalant. “Probably. You remember how he was with those mysterious objects, the pyramid and the cuboid? He was about to destroy the world until we stopped him. The TNT is probably his backup plan.”

  “Do you think he could actually blow up the world just using TNT?”

  “Sure, why not? You’ve seen the size of the holes just a few blocks of the stuff can make. If you had enough of it, I bet you could obliterate everything.”

  I shook my head in disbelief. I looked behind me and saw Harold standing there looking up at me. “Get up here, Harold.”

  Harold climbed the last few stairs and entered the chamber. He surveyed the stockpile of TNT. He too was amazed and astonished and terrified.

  “This is amazing and astonishing and terrifying,” said Harold. “I have never seen even a tiny percentage of this much TNT in any one place.”

  “Otis thinks Herobrine is going to use it to blow up the world. What do you think?” I asked.

  Harold rubbed his beak with his wing, thinking.

  Finally he responded, “It doesn’t seem like there’s any reason to stockpile this much TNT if you’re only going to use it for weapons. TNT is not that hard to make if you just need a normal amount. I think Otis might be right.”

  I felt my chest tighten with anxiety and fear. “We have to go tell the Ender soldiers and the Ender general.”

  “I agree,” said Otis. “Let’s go.”

  We had just begun walking back down our mine shafts to locate the Ender soldiers when we felt the first concussion of a boulder hitting the side of the High Castle.

  The trebuchets!

  “Oh my Notch! Otis, that was close. It sounds like the boulders are colliding against the wall of this very chamber!”

  Otis nodded. “Yeah. If they break through that wall and ignite this TNT, it could set off a chain reaction that might destroy the world. We have to stop them.”

  We ran down the stairs as quickly as we could. We had to find the Ender soldiers immediately.

  The entire time we were descending, constant bombardment shook the cave.

  Something hit the side of the High Castle at least once every two seconds. It was amazing and impressive, and I would’ve been happy about it if I had not been so terrified that the Ender general’s plan to breach the High Castle might actually work and the TNT would be detonated.

  And, the world would end….

  When Harold and I got to the bottom of our mineshaft, we saw the Ender soldiers standing in a corner talking. I ran over, waving my stubby arms to get their attention. “Michael! Michael! We have to tell the general something.”

  The soldier could tell that something terrible had happened by my expression and tone of voice. “By Notch’s beard, what is it Zeke?”

  “We have to stop the bombardment.”

  Michael looked at me like I was daft. “Why would we want to do that?”

  “Because,” said Otis with a snarl, “if we breach that wall it will be we who destroy the world, not Herobrine.”

  Otis and I quickly explained what we had found. Michael did not say anything, only grabbed both of us and teleported to base camp.

  Chapter 17

  When we materialized back at the base camp, it was just in time to hear the Ender general yell, “Fire!”

  I watched in horror as the four trebuchets launched their payloads in rapid succession. First an obsidian block, then a TNT bomb, then another obsidian block, followed by a second TNT bomb.

  “No!” I yelled, running to the general. “Stop the bombardment!”

  The general looked to me like I was mad. “Why? Por qué? Porque? Warum? Kwa nini? Pourquoi? Lematha? Naze? Wèishéme?” asked the general, mocking me in nine different languages.

  “It’s true general,” said Michael. “The bombardment is causing a great danger to the survival of the world.”

  That statement got the general’s attention. He turned around and said, “Stand down, men.” The Ender soldiers stopped their bombardment and stood at attention next to the trebuchets.

  The general then turned back to me, Otis and Michael. “Explain yourselves.”

  I jumped in first. “Otis found a gigantic chamber. An endless chamber. Filled with TNT blocks. If you break through the wall of the High Castle, you’re likely to set off a chain reaction explosion.”

  “Yes, general, it could be enough to destroy the world,” said Michael mournfully.

  The Ender general tapped his square black chin in thought. “So, that was Herobrine’s ruse. He’s been stockpiling TNT in order to carry out his evil plan since failing with the mysterious objects.”

  “It looks that way,” I said. “But, there’s so much TNT there, it seems like he must’ve been stockpiling it even before I found the mysterious objects. I think he was planning on blowing up the world no matter what, but when we recovered the mysterious objects from many generations ago, he thought it would just be a shortcut.”

  “I really hate that guy,” said Otis, punching his fist into his palm.

  The general began to pace back and forth. He was clearly worried about our situation. “If we can’t bombard the High Castle, the only other way is a direct teleportation attack. Unfortunately, we have no idea what might await us inside.”

  “I volunteer to go first,” said an Ender soldier.

  “Only if you take me with you,” said Otis firmly.

  The Ender general shook his head. “No, if we go, we go together, and we bring the trebuchets.”

  “What good are the siege engines inside the High Castle?” I asked.

  “Maybe none, but the High Castle appears to be a very large place. If we could get the trebuchets into a courtyard or something, we might be able to use them to combat Herobrine’s forces in some manner.”

  “What if he just decides to blow up the world rather than fight us?” I asked with fear in my voice and an ache in my heart.

  “He may,” said the general. “But, that is the risk we have to take. Besides, Herobrine seems to be rather vain. I think he would prefer to kill you and then blow up the world rather than kill you by blowing up the world,” said the general.

  This did not make me feel any better. Either way I would be dead.

  Personally, if I had to die, I’d rather just die when the whole world got blown up than being killed by Herobrine. But, my preferred outcome was not to die at all.

  “It is settled then,” said the general to the Ender soldier. “Spread the news and then gather everyone together at the trebuchets. We invade the High Castle now.”

  Chapter 18

  Just before we teleported into the High Castle, two enderman teleported into the air a great distance above the High Castle. They looked like black dots from the ground. We all watched as they began falling towards the earth.

  As they fell, they scanned the High Castle for a good place to which we could teleport. They fell further toward the earth and closer to the High Castle and then teleported back to the base camp and gave their report.

  “General, I spotted a large flat area, possibly a military training ground, in the northwest quadrant of the High Castle grounds.”

&n
bsp; “I saw it too, General. There is also a smaller open space near the middle of the fortress. It’s large enough for a handful of troops to go there but probably not large enough for the trebuchets.”

  “Thank you, Jason and Chris,” said the general.

  The general began to contemplate what to do.

  He looked at the trebuchets, he looked at his troops, he looked at the rest of us.

  And then, he decided.

  “Here is what we will do. 100 Ender soldiers will teleport to the large open area with all four trebuchets. They will take 25 zombie pigmen and all of the villagers with them. The pigmen will provide the manpower to run the trebuchets while the Ender soldiers will defend against any attacks. The villagers will repair any broken trebuchets and continue to craft munitions.

  “The remainder of the Ender soldiers and pigmen along with Otis, Bob, Zeke, Harold and Zeb will come with me to the smaller area. We will attempt to find Herobrine and, if possible, take him by surprise. If the entire High Castle is distracted by the bombardment coming from within its own walls, we may be able to catch Herobrine unawares.”

  “That sounds like the most ridiculous plan I’ve ever heard my life,” said Otis. “But I am honored to be a part of it.”

  “I don’t think it’s so ridiculous. I just think it’s really dangerous,” I said.

  Harold and Bob looked at each other, nodded their heads firmly and said, “Let’s do this.”

  Harold walked over to me and stood there waiting for me to get on his back. Bob did the same to Otis. Zeb pulled out a diamond sword and adjusted his helmet to be sure to be protected from the sun.

  The general looked at all of us.

  You could tell he was proud.

  This was the final stand against overwhelming odds.

  This was our defining moment.