Minecraft (Masters of Minecraft Box Set Book 1)

by Terry Mayer

  Rolling, he comes up on his right knee and fires the arrow at the dark shape standing above him. Immediately he is thrown backwards from the impact of an arrow in his chest. Heaving himself to his knees, he draws his sword and in one fluid motion blocks a killing downward blow. Avoiding the next deadly blow by throwing himself backwards he lands on his back and the air is knocked from him. Gasping, he looks up at his assailant who is raising a diamond sword high into the air. Just when it looks like he is finished, a voice rings out, halting the killing blow.

  "Natasha, stop!"

  Turning her head, but keeping a wary eye on Warlord, she looks at Nate, who has run to within 5 blocks of them.

  "Why Nate? He was going to kill me, just like PowerGlide killed Jethro."

  "I know Natasha, but you're hurt. You know how this works, if you kill him then you die too."

  Glancing down at herself she can see blood oozing from the wound in her side and an arrow stuck in her chest.

  "Well, he deserves it Nate. I've had enough of this game where grifters like him kill everyone I love."

  "I know Natasha, but you can't do it."

  Laughing manically, Warlord looks from Nate to Natasha. "Ha, ha, losers. So you can't kill me without dying yourself? Awesome. Well, if you two little girls have quite finished maybe you can help me up and I'll get the heck out of here. Maybe I'll see you two around again, throw a few blows, see how this whole, 'I can't kill you' thing works out."

  Looking at Warlord with pure hate in his eyes Nate spits through gritted teeth, "I said she can't kill you, I never said I couldn't," and he swings his sword through the neck of an astonished looking Warlord.

  BOOM. The canon sound explodes in the air and then the thunderous voice announces...

  The eighth competitor has been eliminated. Warlord999 has not proven worthy. Four competitors remain. Continue the tournament.

  Reaching out and placing her hand on Nate's back, Natasha turns him to face her, "hey Nate, you ok?"

  Wiping tears from his cheek he nods and replies, "yeah, that's for Jethro."

  "It sure is Nate, but are you ok. That was pretty cold."

  "It was never going to end Natasha. You heard him. He was going to continue to hunt us until we made a mistake and then he would end it. I had no choice."

  "Woo boy. There's no complaints from me. He deserved exactly what he got. I just want to make sure that you're fine, that's all."

  "Fine? I don't know what fine is anymore Natasha, but if you want to know if I'm ok, then no, I'm not. What the heck were you thinking? If you had delivered that last blow you would have both been dead."

  "I Know Nate, I guess I wasn't thinking, I was just caught up in the moment."

  "Well you better start thinking Natasha. I don't want to be left here on my own because you weren't thinking, you got it?"

  "Oh Nate, I'm sorry, come here" she replies, grabbing Nate as tears stream down his face, "I promise I'll be more careful next time, ok?"

  Hugging her, he looks into her blocky face and smiles, "sure Natasha, just be careful. You got any food?"

  "Boys, that's all you think about."

  "Not for me you fool, for you. You need your health bar replenishing quick before you get Jethro'd."

  "Really Nate, Jethro'd, so soon?"

  Looking slightly embarrassed, he replies, "yeah, well the J-Dog would be cool with it. In fact it would probably be the first time that cool and Jethro were mentioned positively in the same breath."

  Laughing, then grimacing as the arrow moves in her chest, Natasha grabs Nate and hugs him clumsily. "You know what Nate, you're right. J-Dog would have liked it. Now give me a hand with this damn arrow, it hurts like crazy."

  "Sure, but get the last of the pork down you before we do anything else."

  Eating ravenously, Natasha offers some to Nate, but he just waves her away.

  "Eat it Natasha, I'm serious."

  "Ok mum. Jeeze, take a chill pill will you."

  Smiling despite himself he waits until she has finished before asking, "so, how's the health?"

  Looking deep inside herself, Natasha smiles and replies, "just over half Nate. This is amazing, I'm feeling better already, and look," she points, pulling the arrow from her chest, "it just sort of fell out as I got better."

  "Cool, but we need more food to build your health before we go anywhere."

  "Hang on Nate, I picked up Jethro's stuff, let me see if he had anything." Looking in her inventory she removes some bread and pork, "our last meal together in the temple, but we never got to eat it. Here, have a pork sandwich," passing some bread and pork to Nate she continues, "he's to you Jethro, You were a good friend."

  "Yeah, to J-Dog," smiles Nate, biting into his pork and bread, feeling his health bar re-fill as he swallows. "So Natasha, did you mean what you said earlier?"

  "What was that?"

  Looking bashful, Nate continues, "uh, that you love me?"

  "WHAT?" she splutters, nearly choking on her bread. "When did I say that?"

  "When you were getting ready to kill Warlord, you said you were fed up with grifters killing everyone you love."

  Grinning at Nate, she replies, "yeah Nate, but last time I checked no one killed you."

  Crestfallen, Nate kicks at a stone on the floor, "oh, I thought you meant me. Sorry, forget I said anything."

  Pulling herself over to Nate, she leans against him and hugs him tight, "come on Nate, I'm just messing. You mean everything to me, we're a team."

  "Yeah, a team, that's what I meant. So you ready, how's your health?"

  "Great, full bar. So, you ready to get PowerGlide, dish out a little old school vengeance?"

  "Oh yeah, bring it on." Dragging himself to his feet, he holds out his hand to Natasha and pulls her to her feet. "Remember, no solo heroics, if we stick together we can't lose, ok?"

  "Sure thing Nate, that was too close last time. Let's move out."

  Moving silently into the jungle they start tracking PowerGlide, intent on revenge.

  *****

  BOOM. The canon sound explodes in the air and then the thunderous voice announces...

  The eighth competitor has been eliminated. Warlord999 has not proven worthy. Four competitors remain. Continue the tournament.

  Looking up from his concealed position, PowerGlide is startled by the announcement. OMG, they got Warlord. I never saw that happening. Maybe they are a little tougher than I gave them credit for, and where the heck are they anyway. I've been tracking them for hours and they're still nowhere to be seen.

  Running his hand through his blocky hair, he looks around, staring into the thick jungle foliage he decides it's time to clear out of this biome. Looks like these guys are better at tracking in this jungle than I am, time to level the playing field, I think.

  Climbing a huge tree he scans the jungle in all directions, looking for the easiest way out. Spotting a break in the foliage he checks the direction of the clouds which always move to the West, so a new biome is East, he thinks. He is just climbing back through the canopy when a huge black shadow flies across the sun.

  OMG, what the heck is that, he mutters to himself, crouching down on the upper branches and watching the dark shape move away from him. Look's like there's a new kid in town and I don't think were going to be besties.

  Reaching the bottom of the tree, he places a cobblestone block on the floor and checks it out for the grey L on top. Finding the L he positions himself so that it faces forward, indicating North. Right, so if that's North then East is this way, he mutters, moving off to the right of the block. Cutting a trail through the jungle, he makes good time, not caring if he is followed, just wishing to escape from this jungle biome.

  *****

  "Argh," screams Jay as Medousa pulls a hard left turn and plummets for the jungle canopy. "What are you doing Hailey? You promised to behave if I ...."

  "Heads up Jay."

  "What?"

  "Look up and behind us."

  Turning, he g
lances quickly behind and above him and is shocked to see a huge black shape moving over the sun. "What is it Hailey?"

  "Don't know, but whatever it is it can't be good news for us."

  "Do you think it saw us?"

  "I don't think so but I'm not taking any chances."

  Settling on the canopy, Medousa spreads her wings and gripping the upper branches, she slips below the leaves and hangs, suspended above the jungle floor, almost invisible from above and below. Climbing onto her saddle, Hailey pokes her head through the canopy and watches as the dark shape moves across the sky.

  BOOM. The canon sound explodes in the air and then the thunderous voice announces...

  The eighth competitor has been eliminated. Warlord999 has not proven worthy. Four competitors remain. Continue the tournament.

  Immediately the huge, dark shape emits an ear piercing scream and dives towards the jungle, smashing through the canopy and disappearing into the eternal twilight.

  "What the heck just happened?" stammers Jay.

  "I think a Wither just entered the game."

  "A Wither, but they are only 4 blocks tall, that thing was massive."

  "I know, but nothing is normal here. So, four players left, how do you feel Jay."

  "I'm just glad it wasn't Natasha or Nate."

  "Yeah, I hear you, but what happens if you guys are the last players. You can't kill each other."

  "No way, but with that Wither in the game I don't think we'll be short of anything that wants' to kill us."

  "Yeah, you're not wrong there, so what now?"

  "I think we should head back to the temple and see if the others have found it, after that I've no idea."

  "Ok, that's a plan for now but I really think we need something more Jay. This game is starting to wind down and we need to have some sort of strategy worked out or we are going to get caught off guard."

  "You're right Hailey, I'll start thinking but let's just hang on here for a few minutes, I don't like the look of that Wither entering the forest so close. You think it's a trap?"

  "Nah, I think it's off chasing whatever it came for, let's just hope it's not us."

  "Too right, but lets just rest up here, just in case."

  *****

  10 - I Told You So

  "Nate, over here," whispers Natasha. "Look through the trees, behind that rock, I think it's him."

  Pulling himself across the jungle floor, Nate slides up next to Natasha and looks at the place she is pointing.

  "Nah, that's just a shadow, I'm telling you Natasha, he's miles ahead of us. Just look at the trail he's leaving, it's like he doesn't care if we track him, he just wants out of this jungle."

  Staring intently at the shadow, Natasha shrugs and stands. "Yeah, I guess your right Nate. I'm getting too jittery, seeing every shadow as PowerGlide."

  Standing next to Natasha, Nate replies. "No probs, it's better to be cautious than dead, but if we want to catch up with him we need to get a move on."

  "Yeah, about that Nate, we need to make a decision. It won't be long before it's dark so we need to decide whether to track down PowerGlide and get revenge for Jethro or go find the temple and hook up with the others."

  "That's a no brainer Natasha, we kill PowerGlide. The others can look after themselves."

  "Yeah, but if we don't hook up with them now we may never find them again, and we promised Nate."

  "Yeah, well we promised we would revenge Jethro too, and it's not like we even know where the Temple is."

  "True, but don't you think we should hook up with the others first before we continue to hunt PowerGlide?"

  "If we stop tracking PowerGlide now we may never find his trail again and the next time we see him is when he kills another one of us and I can't risk that Natasha. I vote we continue tracking PowerGlide and hope to find the others later."

  Staring into Nate's unwavering eyes, Natasha shrugs, slaps him on the back and says, "ok Nate, tracking it is, I just hope this is the right decision."

  "Finding and killing that murdering coward is always the right decision. Come on, let's get going."

  Watching Nate jog along PowerGlide's trail Natasha wonders if any of them will ever be the same again.

  *****

  "Yes, farewell jungle," laughs PowerGlide as he pushes through the last of the jungle foliage and emerges onto a Savanna biome. "Grass, oh beautiful grass, I though I would be stuck in that hell hole of a jungle forever."

  Looking in all directions he spots a small mountain range a few hundred blocks away and starts out at a jog, intent on reaching it before nightfall.

  *****

  "Ok Jay, it's gone. So, what do you want to do?"

  "I don't know Hailey, there's no point searching for the others, we can't see anything through this damn foliage and we would just be walking blind if we drop down onto the jungle floor."

  "I know Jay, so should we return to the temple and wait for them, it's going to be night shortly."

  "Yeah, let's go back to the Temple and hopefully they will find us and if not we will have to make a new plan tomorrow."

  Pulling herself through the upper branches, Medousa pokes her head through the canopy, takes a look in all directions making sure the area is clear, then launches herself into the air. Flapping her mighty wings she sails into the air and heads back towards the Jungle Temple to wait out the night.

  *****

  Bursting out from the Jungle foliage, Nate stumbles and almost falls before a strong hand reaches out and helps him regain his balance.

  "Steady Nate, there's enough things trying to kill us without you trying to kill yourself," laughs Natasha.

  "Thanks Natasha, the change in biomes caught me off guard. I still can't get used to how fast things change, one minute it's dense jungle then open plains. It's just mad."

  "That's Minecraft for you Nate, you just have to be more.... Nate, Nate, come back, what's wrong?"

  Sprinting across the grass, Nate turns his head and shouts over his shoulder, "it's him Natasha, about 150 blocks ahead of us, he's heading for those hills, come on."

  Looking past Nate's avatar, Natasha can just make out the shape of someone running towards the hills. Payback time, she thinks as she sets out sprinting after Nate.

  *****

  Almost there, just another 100 blocks then I can find somewhere to spend the night, thinks PowerGlide. Glancing over his shoulder he spots Nate and Natasha burst out from the jungle. Damn those kids, I better pick up the pace.

  Sprinting towards the mountains he franticly searches for somewhere to hide, not wanting to confront the two of them in open combat. Spotting a black fissure in the rock wall he redoubles his pace and sprints towards the opening.

  Just then a huge black shape crosses the sun and an ear splitting scream nearly knocks him off his feet. Glancing in all directions he spots the creature moving rapidly in his direction, descending towards him.

  Screaming despite himself, he sprints towards the opening, hoping and praying that he will make it in time. As the shadow descends on him, getting ever larger, PowerGlide's screams increase in volume until his and the Wither's combined anguish are indistinguishable.

  *****

  "OMG Natasha, what the heck is that?" stammers Nate, coming to a halt and pointing towards the Mountains.

  "That Nate is a whole heap of trouble. It's a Wither but I've never seen one so big."

  "Why am I not surprised, so I guess they are pretty tough?"

  "Tough, are you kiddin' me? A normal size Wither is a Boss Mob Nate, that means they are as tough as all heck, but that thing is massive. I can't even image how tough they are."

  "Cool, well I guess it's goodnight for PowerGlide then as it looks like that thing just nailed him," replies Nate, laughing.

  "Uh Nate, I don't think we should be out in the open like this. If that Wither spots us we are toast."

  "It's ok Natasha, it will be busy with PowerGlide for a few minutes, we still have time to find some shelter."
>
  Glancing around at the wide open Savanna, Natasha replies, "I hate to be the bearer of bad news Nate, but I think our time just ran out, look."

  Glancing back at the Wither, Nate's jaw nearly hits the floor as the Wither lifts back into the air, screaming its ear-piecing cry.

  "Where's PowerGlide, that thing nailed him, why's he not dead?"

  "Uh Nate, I've no idea what just happened but we need to get out of here now."

  Looking around franticly, Nate replies, "where Natasha, there's nowhere to go. We will never make it back to the jungle before that thing sees us."

  "Grab you pick Nate, when there's nowhere left to hide the only way is down."

  *****

  Diving through the fissure in the rock wall, PowerGlide rolls onto his side and stares at the three heads of the Wither. As the color drains from his face he starts back pedaling away from the entrance, trying to keep as much distance as he can between himself and certain death. Just as the Wither smashes out the blocks on either side of the fissure entrance, enlarging the hole, PowerGlide pushes himself back in one last ditch effort to avoid the Wither and falls backwards into darkness.

  *****

  Spotting it's prey disappear from view the Wither emits another ear-piecing scream and launches itself into the air. Spinning quickly, scanning the area for its prey, it spots two shapes in the distance. Choosing to pursue the easy prey it flies towards Natasha and Nate, intent on catching them before they can escape.

  *****

  "Uh Natasha, I think it's seen us," stammers Nate, pointing at the fast approaching Wither.

  "If you want to live, then dig Nate, don't just stand there. DIG"