Creeper Invasion

by Winter Morgan

  Robin told Warren, “Run as fast as you can to the cottage and sleep there. We need to know that you’ll respawn in Lisimi Village.”

  “I can’t sleep if there are hostile mobs nearby,” Warren reminded her.

  Lily handed Warren a potion of strength. “You’re right. Drink this. You need to be strong. We won’t let you get destroyed.”

  Robin saw Michael, Simon, Ilana, Sunny, and Blossom fleeing from Lisimi Village.

  “Guys, help over here!” Robin called to her friends.

  The gang saw Robin battling the tricky Ender Dragon and quickly raced to her side.

  Arrows shot through the sky as they tried to defeat the Ender Dragon before the skeletons and zombies unleashed a deadly attack on them.

  “This is impossible,” Lily screamed as she was repeatedly struck by arrows from the horde of skeletons while attempting to defeat the Ender Dragon.

  Michael said, “Don’t worry. We’ll help you.”

  “How?” Lily questioned. They were outnumbered and she didn’t even have time to tell Michael about the new evil griefer that was on the server.

  Simon shot an arrow at the Ender Dragon when he saw Warren. “Warren. How did you get here?”

  “It’s a long story,” Warren wearily replied as he struck the Ender Dragon with his diamond sword, but the dragon flew away.

  The dragon unleashed a loud roar and flew toward Warren. He tried to grab the potion of strength, but he didn’t have time. The dragon’s wing struck Warren and he lost a heart. He tried to grab the potion again, but three skeletons shot arrows at him. As the arrows ripped through his arm, Warren lost his final heart and was destroyed.

  “Warren!” Lily cried.

  “He must be back in the jungle prison,” Robin shouted. “We have to find him.”

  Michael pierced the dragon with his diamond sword, and the beast was destroyed. He reached over to pick up the dragon’s egg and almost tripped onto the portal to the End.

  “Watch out!” Robin cried.

  Michael thought Robin was talking about the portal, when she was actually warning him that six creepers were right behind him.

  Kaboom!

  The creepers detonated and Michael was obliterated.

  Simon struck the final skeleton that battled them. “Now that we’ve destroyed all the hostile mobs, can somebody explain how Warren got back on this server?”

  “In the morning,” Lily replied and she sprinted back to the safety of her cottage. The others followed.

  4

  NETHER ESCAPE

  Lily ran to the window. The sun was shining, as she called out to Robin, “We have to find the others and rescue Warren.”

  Robin put on armor and they raced to find their friends, but when they reached the center of town, it was empty. Lily wondered if everyone was hiding from the creeper invasion, but was relieved when she spotted Michael and Sunny in the center of town.

  Lily called out to them, “Are you coming with us?”

  “Yes,” Michael said. “We’re waiting for Simon, Peter, Ilana, and Blossom.”

  The others emerged from the blacksmith shop. Ilana remarked, “I think we have enough weapons. I feel prepared.”

  “Do you have potions?” asked Lily.

  Ilana was a well-known alchemist and had a bunch of potions on hand. “Yes, do you need some?”

  Lily took out the diamonds she had in her inventory and traded them for potions.

  “I think we’re ready to go.” Michael studied his inventory as he spoke.

  “What about Mr. Anarchy? We need him. He’s probably the only one who could defeat this new one-eyed griefer,” said Lily.

  “He must be in his lab.” Robin walked toward Mr. Anarchy’s lab, which was housed in an old library.

  There was a stronghold underneath the library where he carried out his experiments. Mr. Anarchy had tested various ways of leaving the server and felt he was finally close to getting everyone back home.

  Lily walked into the lab. “Mr. Anarchy?”

  Mr. Anarchy was working with a couple of command blocks. “Oh good, you’re here.”

  “We have to stop Nicholas and save Warren,” Lily told her friend.

  “I’m ready.” Mr. Anarchy armored up and sprinted out of the lab.

  As they traveled to the jungle biome, Lily expressed her concerns about the new griefer, “He’s the only other person who is able to zap people onto this server. I’m really worried. I didn’t want anyone else to get trapped on here.”

  “Me either,” Mr. Anarchy agreed. “But I think I know a way we could stop him.”

  “How?” questioned Simon.

  “I’m going to experiment with a new technique I’ve been working on. I’m going to zap him off the server. Or at the very least, I’m going to destroy his command blocks. Without those, he won’t be able to zap anyone onto the server,” explained Mr. Anarchy.

  Large trees loomed in the distance. They approached a calm river.

  “I can see the jungle,” Peter called out.

  “Great, we’re almost there.” Lily asked, “Does anyone know how we’re going to find Nicholas’s house?”

  “I’m not sure.” Peter suggested, “I can clear a path, so we can explore the biome.”

  The gang explored the jungle biome. Ilana called out, “I see a jungle temple.”

  A large jungle temple stood on the foot of the river. Michael stopped and stared at the jungle temple, “We should go in. We can find some treasure.”

  “Treasure will be worthless to us soon,” Mr. Anarchy reminded him. “We will be back in the real world and starting again on a new server.”

  Lily agreed. “Right now we have to concentrate on stopping Nicholas and getting back home.”

  Ilana called out in a panicked voice, “I don’t see Peter. Does anybody see him?”

  Sunny and Blossom searched the leafy path. Sunny said, “Don’t worry. I see him in the distance.”

  “Me too!” Blossom sprinted toward Peter.

  As they approached their friend, they realized he was in the middle of a battle with the one-eyed griefer.

  “Stop!” Mr. Anarchy screamed at Nicholas.

  “Never,” Nicholas laughed as he struck Peter with his diamond sword.

  Peter was extremely weak. Lily wanted to hand him a potion of healing, but she didn’t have the chance. As creepers spawned, they silently crept close to Lily and exploded. Lily’s hearts were depleted. She didn’t even have a chance to fight back. She was destroyed.

  When Lily respawned in her house, she looked for Robin, but she wasn’t there. Lily assumed Robin was still in the jungle and decided to TP back to her friends. As she began to TP, Lily heard a loud explosion.

  “Lily,” Robin shouted at Lily. “Watch out!”

  Lily emerged in the jungle biome near a group of creepers. Luckily Lily was able to escape this creeper invasion and she raced toward Nicholas and ripped into his chest with her diamond sword.

  Nicholas lost a heart. “You think you’re going to win, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” Mr. Anarchy shouted and he rushed toward Nicholas with a potion of weakness.

  “Warren,” Nicholas shouted. “Ignite the portal.”

  Lily and the others were stunned when Warren quickly crafted a portal to the Nether. They watched him run toward the portal and disappear with Nicholas.

  As purple mist surrounded them, Lily called out, “Warren? What are you doing?”

  He didn’t respond. He was already in the fiery Nether biome.

  “Do you think Warren is working with Nicholas?” questioned Ilana.

  “I don’t know.” Lily stood speechless.

  “There’s only one way we’re going to find out.” Mr. Anarchy started to craft a portal to the Nether. “I need more obsidian.”

  Peter grabbed obsidian from his inventory and placed it on the ground, completing the rectangle.

  The group huddled together as they ignited the portal and traveled to the Net
her.

  When they emerged in the red Nether landscape, the gang spawned by a large lava waterfall. Lily looked out for ghasts and blazes.

  Peter walked a bit further from the group, exploring the biome, and called out, “I see a Nether fortress.”

  “We have to find Nicholas and Warren,” Lily reminded him.

  “I know,” Peter said. “But we have no idea where they might be.”

  “Maybe we shouldn’t have traveled to the Nether.” Ilana appeared defeated, but the battle hadn’t even begun.

  Michael looked at the fortress. “I think we should check it out. They could be in there.”

  Simon said, “And we could find treasure!”

  The minute Simon uttered the word treasure, everyone started to fantasize about the various treasures that might be deep in the Nether fortress.

  Lily didn’t want to search for treasure in the fortress, but she had to follow the others. She was outnumbered and reluctantly traveled toward the grand structure with Peter.

  Three blazes guarded the fortress. Lily shot an arrow at a blaze, destroying the yellow beast. She was reaching for the blaze rod as it dropped when she heard a voice cry out for help.

  Lily looked over at Mr. Anarchy. “I hear someone crying for help.”

  The gang battled the remaining blazes, as Lily and Mr. Anarchy snuck into the Nether fortress.

  “I don’t see anyone.” Mr. Anarchy stood in the main room.

  Lily walked down the hall. She was shocked to see Nicholas and Warren immersed in a battle dangerously close to a pool of lava.

  “Quick!” she called to Mr. Anarchy. “They’re in the lava room.”

  Warren cried for help.

  “See!” Lily called out. “I knew Warren wasn’t evil.”

  Mr. Anarchy rushed toward Warren. He looked at Lily and whispered, “I hope Warren isn’t tricking us.”

  5

  THE INVASION OF THE WITHER SKELETONS

  “Warren,” Lily called to her friend.

  “Help me!” Warren cried.

  Lily ran over to Nicholas, pounding her diamond sword into Nicholas’s chest. “Stop it!” Lily pleaded.

  The others entered the fortress and hurried toward Lily and helped her battle Nicholas.

  Nicholas splashed a potion of harming on Peter, leaving him with one heart.

  “Drink this.” Ilana rushed to Peter’s side with a potion.

  Peter gulped the potion and used his renewed energy to strike Nicholas, leaving him with only one heart. “Gotcha!”

  Mr. Anarchy delivered the final blow and Nicholas was destroyed.

  “We have to stop him,” Warren said breathlessly as he grabbed a potion of healing from his inventory.

  “Can you lead us to the jungle?” Mr. Anarchy questioned Warren.

  “Yes, I know where he is,” Warren started to say, but before he could finish his sentence, a swarm of wither skeletons spawned in the dimly lit fortress.

  Lily sprinted away in an attempt to dodge one of the spawning wither skeleton’s powerful stone sword, but the dark skeleton struck her and she was hit with the Wither effect. Lily was weak and could barely gather enough strength to hold her diamond sword or pick milk from her inventory to restore her energy. She watched as the others tried to battle the wither skeletons, but one by one, each of her friends was struck with the Wither effect.

  Warren was able to sip milk and restore his health. He struck a wither skeleton and defeated the dark, bony Nether mob. “It dropped a stone sword!” Warren exclaimed, noting the rare find.

  Three wither skeletons surrounded Lily. She tried to battle them, but she was outnumbered. Lily clutched her diamond sword, but she dropped it while leaping at the wither skeleton. Two skeletons lunged at Lily and plowed their stone swords into her arm. Lily was destroyed. As she faded, Lily saw one of the wither skeletons pick up her diamond sword.

  Lily respawned in bed. She wanted to get back to the Nether fortress to help her friends battle the evil skeletons, but there was somebody standing beside her bed.

  “Lily,” the sinister voice said with a snicker, “it’s just you and me. What an easy battle.”

  Lily panicked. She didn’t have her diamond sword, although her inventory was full of potions she had gotten from Ilana.

  Lily cried out, “Nicholas, what do you want from me? What do you want from any of us? Can’t you see that being a griefer is just plain mean? Even Mr. Anarchy changed his ways and learned that it’s better to work with people than against them.”

  “I don’t need to hear one of your speeches about good and evil. I know what I want. I want to take over this server.”

  “But don’t you want to go home? Don’t you want to leave this server?” Lily questioned, hoping this would humanize Nicholas.

  “No, I never want to go home. When I go back home, I’m just a kid who has to go to school every day and do chores. Here, I am master of the world. I can stay here forever and be king.”

  “But it’s not real,” Lily uttered, but these words infuriated Nicholas.

  He struck Lily with his diamond sword, until she only had one heart left. “You’re defenseless,” he laughed.

  Lily stared at Nicholas; she tried not to look over at Robin, who had respawned in her bed, and quietly walked over to Nicholas. When Robin was close enough, she splashed a potion of harming on him and then struck him with his diamond sword. Lily grabbed a potion from her inventory and threw it on Nicholas. He was destroyed.

  Lily looked at Robin. “I don’t have a diamond sword. One of the wither skeletons has it.”

  Robin looked through her inventory. “I have an extra one. Take it.”

  “I can’t do that,” Lily said. “That’s too valuable.”

  “No gift is too valuable for a friend.” Robin handed Lily the sword.

  “Thanks,” Lily said, “but can I trade you for it? I just feel awkward taking it.”

  “Okay, you can trade two emeralds for it.”

  “That’s not enough,” Lily said as she retrieved two emeralds from her inventory and handed them to Robin.

  “That’s all I’m willing to take. And anyway, this stuff will be meaningless soon. Once Mr. Anarchy figures out a way to get us off this server, we’ll be able to go on new missions to refill our inventories. We’ll be on a new server and we’ll just play a game, not live it.”

  Lily hoped Robin was right. She was beginning to lose hope, but she didn’t want anybody to know this fact. She smiled. “You’re right. We’ll be home soon.”

  As these words fell from Lily’s lips, Nicholas burst through the door. “I’m back and you’re my prisoners!” he screamed at Lily and Robin.

  6

  HOME SWEET HOME

  Lily gasped as she watched Nicholas construct a bedrock wall inside her house. “There’s no way to escape now. You’ll be trapped in here forever! I hope you have a lot of food.”

  Robin screamed, “Stop!” She pleaded with Nicholas, “Don’t finish this wall. You’re being a bully.”

  “I know,” Nicholas laughed as he finished the wall, boxing the two into a small space.

  “What are we going to do?” Lily paced in the small bedrock prison.

  “I don’t know,” Robin said. “But I know the others will come looking for us. Maybe they’ll see the bedrock wall and destroy it.”

  “How?” Lily was annoyed. “Bedrock is impossible to destroy.”

  Robin paused and said, “The cube of destruction. They can use that and break down this wall and release us from prison.”

  “That’s incredibly powerful. If they detonate the cube of destruction, my house will be destroyed. And so will we.”

  Robin reminded her, “We will respawn and we can rebuild the house. We just have to get out of here.”

  “I wonder how long we’ll be stuck here.” Lily grabbed a couple of apples from her inventory and handed one to Robin.

  “Thanks.” Robin took a bite out of the apple. “I’m sure they’ll come l
ooking for us soon.”

  A thunderous boom was heard outside. “I bet he summoned a storm! And we can’t even help our friends.” Lily was upset.

  “Now they’ll be so busy battling hostile mobs that they’ll never be able to save us.” Robin’s eyes filled with tears.

  Lily looked at the ground. “Nicholas isn’t as smart as we think he is.” She grabbed a pickaxe from her inventory and banged it against the ground.

  “Oh my!” Robin looked down. “You made a hole.”

  “We are going to dig our way out of this.” Lily smiled.

  Robin grabbed her pickaxe and broke away at the blocky ground. She looked down at the hole. “We’re making lots of progress.”

  “Soon, we’ll be able to crawl in and dig our way into Lisimi Village.” Lily used all of her strength to make the hole large enough to fit through. Once the hole was the right size, she hopped in and Robin joined her.

  “I have a torch.” Robin placed her torch in the tunnel.

  “That helps,” Lily said enthusiastically. “We don’t have to go too far.”

  “Yes.” Robin hit the ceiling and saw a glimmer of light. “It looks like the rain has stopped.”

  The two worked furiously to break through the roof and climb into Lisimi Village. Robin was the first to climb to safety. Lily followed; she looked out and saw the shore.

  “We’re on the beach,” Lily remarked.

  Emily the Fisherwoman was on the shore, fishing. “Lily and Robin, you have to get to safety. There’s a new griefer terrorizing Lisimi Village. I’m placing all of my fish in my inventory and trying to find a safe place to hide.”

  Lily looked through her inventory. After dropping and giving up her diamond sword, she began to worry that she might lose other items from her inventory. She looked over at Robin. “Do you think we should store some of our resources in an Ender chest?”

  “That sounds like a good plan, but where will we put it?” questioned Robin.

  Emily the Fisherwoman suggested, “There’s a stronghold near a mine right outside of town. You should put it there.” Emily showed them a map and pointed out the stronghold.

  Lily and Robin studied the map and started toward the stronghold.