The Nether Attack

by Winter Morgan

  As soon as they reached the entrance, three blazes shot fireballs at them.

  Noah shot an arrow in retaliation. Violet threw a snowball. They all tried to dodge the cascade of fireballs, and finally the fireballs stopped.

  “We did it!” Trent was happy they were able to defeat the blazes.

  Hannah rushed inside the fortress in search of Nether wart for her potions.

  “I found some!” She reached into a patch of soul sand and picked up the Nether wart.

  “Watch out!” a voice called out.

  Hannah looked up and saw a magma cube bounce inches from her leg. She grabbed her diamond sword and hit the cube, destroying it. She then realized the voice that had warned her about the cube wasn’t a familiar one.

  “Who are you?” she asked as she pointed her sword in the voice’s direction.

  “Don’t hurt me!” a man wearing a black suit begged Hannah.

  The gang entered the room and saw Hannah threatening a stranger with a sword.

  “What’s going on?” asked Will.

  “This person is trying to destroy me!” cried the man in the black suit.

  “Hannah, put the sword down,” Trent told her. “We know him.”

  Hannah listened to Trent and placed the sword in her inventory.

  “This is our friend Otto,” Trent told the group. “Will and I used to treasure hunt with him.”

  “I’ve missed you guys,” Otto said as he looked at Will and Trent.

  But the reunion was cut short as three blazes shot more fireballs at the group.

  “Snowballs!” Otto shouted and handed snowballs to the gang. The ice-cold balls of snow struck the fiery blazes and destroyed them.

  “We got them!” declared Ben.

  “No, we didn’t. There are more coming.” Otto pointed at three more blazes flying through the Nether fortress.

  “I bet there’s a spawner in this fortress,” Trent warned, and he began to search the many rooms that filled the structure.

  Will followed closely behind Trent as the others pelted the flying yellow beasts with snowballs.

  “I see the spawner!” Trent called out.

  “We need torches!” Will shouted.

  Noah threw a snowball with one hand and grabbed a torch with the other. “Here you go. Let’s deactivate this spawner.”

  Will and Trent destroyed the spawner, and the gang finished their battle with the evil blazes.

  Once everything was calm, Violet suggested, “Let’s go find the treasure.”

  Trent led the way through a long hall. Finally, he turned to the right. “This is where we usually find treasure.”

  Hannah stopped when she spotted mushrooms growing in a dimly lit area of the fortress. “Mushrooms! I want to pick these and place them in my inventory. They come in very handy when you’re brewing potions.”

  Hannah started collecting the mushrooms while the others followed Trent. Once Hannah had finished picking up the mushrooms, she continued toward the treasure and found the group standing around three empty chests.

  “Somebody has already taken the treasure.” Will shook his head and stared at the empty chests.

  “I wonder who took it?” pondered Ben.

  A loud familiar voice boomed from the end of the hall. “I did!” the voice said with a sinister laugh.

  4

  SMALL MISTAKE, BIG PROBLEM

  Daniel!” Noah shouted.

  “Yes, my old friend,” Daniel laughed.

  “We’re not friends!” Noah shot an arrow at Daniel to confirm that fact.

  Daniel sprinted out of the Nether fortress and the gang chased him. The group was surprised to see Daniel alone in the Nether. He usually traveled with his evil rainbow griefer army. Noah shot another arrow at Daniel and this time it pierced Daniel’s leg and slowed him down.

  “I think I got him, too,” Violet called out as she charged up next to Daniel and struck him with her enchanted diamond sword.

  Daniel fought back with his sword. He hit Violet, but he was outnumbered. The others began to attack Daniel. His health bar was very low. With one more hit, he would be destroyed. Just when the gang was about to defeat Daniel, two ghasts flew at them and shot fireballs in their direction.

  Noah and Ben hit the ghasts with snowballs, and then saw that a horde of skeletons was marching toward them.

  “Ouch!” Hannah cried as an arrow hit her leg.

  The gang began to battle the bony beasts.

  Click! Clack! Clang!

  The skeleton army flooded the group with a sea of arrows. The gang was so distracted by fighting the skeleton invasion they didn’t notice that Daniel had escaped.

  “Where’s Daniel?” asked Violet as she looked out onto the red landscape of the Nether.

  “Did we destroy him?” asked Ben.

  “Or did one of the hostile mobs do it?” wondered Hannah.

  “No, I think he got away,” Violet said. She was annoyed.

  “There’s no time to discuss it now. We are surrounded.” Noah was fighting as many skeletons as he could hit.

  “Oh no!” Trent pointed at the ghasts that flew toward them.

  “This is an impossible battle!” cried Violet.

  Click! Clack! Clang! More skeletons appeared in the distance.

  “There’s only one way out of here,” declared Noah.

  “What is it?” Hannah’s voice quavered.

  “We need to build a portal.” Noah began to craft a portal as he dodged arrows that shot through the sky.

  “This time when we build it, we must break it right away after we use it. We can’t let any of the hostile mobs from the Nether enter the Overworld,” said Trent.

  “Wait!” Ben called out. “Maybe we should look for Daniel first?”

  Two arrows struck Noah, and he looked at Ben and yelled, “Are you joking?”

  A purple mist rose through the air. “Let’s all get onto the portal,” Violet said. They quickly made their way onto the portal and back to the Overworld.

  When they arrived in the Overworld, the sun was shining, and cows were grazing peacefully in the meadow.

  “Well, that was an adventure, wasn’t it?” Hannah walked toward their village.

  “It wasn’t the fun adventure that I imagined,” Violet said. She was disappointed.

  “And we didn’t find any treasure,” remarked Trent.

  “I know! Daniel stole all the treasure.” Their new friend Otto was upset also.

  “I wonder where Daniel is hiding,” said Will. “Maybe we can find him and get the treasure back.”

  “That doesn’t sound like a good idea. Unless Daniel is attacking us, I think we should leave him alone. Also, he found that treasure first. I hate to admit it, but that treasure belongs to Daniel.” Even Noah couldn’t believe he had spoken those words.

  “I’m just glad it’s sunny and we don’t have to battle any more hostile mobs. I just want to go home to the tree house.” Violet was exhausted. She regretted ever suggesting that they go on a treasure-hunting adventure, and she was glad her days of treasure hunting were over.

  “Watch out!” Trent shouted.

  “You spoke too soon, Violet.” Otto grabbed a snowball from his inventory and hit the white ghast that flew toward them.

  “We forgot to break the portal!” Will was shocked by their mistake.

  Trent ran to the portal and slammed it with his fist, breaking it. But it was too late. Hostile mobs from the Nether were already invading the Overworld.

  Four blazes shot fireballs and a group of magma cubes leaped toward the gang.

  “This is awful,” proclaimed Hannah, and she used every weapon in her inventory to battle the pesky mobs.

  Just then, Valentino the Butcher approached the group. He reported, “The town is being attacked by flying monsters!”

  Once Noah heard that information, he told his friends, “I don’t think the portal was the problem. I think Daniel is behind this.”

  Hannah threw the la
st snowball at the final ghast, as Violet defeated the remaining magma cubes.

  “We’re ready to help!” Hannah told Valentino, and the gang hurried back to aid the townspeople.

  On the way back to the village, Valentino told them about the invasion. “There are yellow and white flying creatures that breathe fire.”

  “Those are blazes and ghasts,” Violet informed him.

  “I don’t care what they are called—they are destroying the village,” Valentino continued, “and they’ve hurt so many villagers.”

  “How long has this been going on?” asked Noah.

  “All night,” replied Valentino.

  Noah wondered if perhaps this was not Daniel’s fault. Maybe the mobs from the Nether had slipped through the portal when the gang first entered the Nether on their treasure-hunting adventure. Noah wondered if this could have been their own fault.

  As they reached the town, they saw flames and the damage the blazes and ghasts had inflicted on the homes and shops in the village.

  Noah announced, “Everyone get out any snowballs that you have on hand. That’s how you battle these mobs.”

  The townspeople grabbed snowballs and the gang began to battle the ghasts, blazes, and magma cubes.

  “This is a nightmare!” shouted Hannah as a ghast shot a fireball at her. She tried to dodge the blast, but it hit her. Hannah was destroyed.

  Violet threw a snowball at the ghast that incinerated Hannah. With one shot, Violet obliterated the fiery beast.

  Violet was feeling confident that the townspeople would defeat the invaders, until she heard a familiar sinister laugh in the distance.

  5

  YOU DON’T BELONG HERE

  The ghasts fired their blasts at the townspeople. The magma cubes pounced at the villagers. Thus began a terrible invasion as Daniel and his army of rainbow griefers marched into the town.

  “You’re the one who summoned the mobs from the Nether, aren’t you?” Noah confronted the invader while he held his diamond sword against Daniel’s chest.

  Suddenly, the rainbow griefers shot a barrage of arrows at Noah, destroying him.

  “Noah!” Violet shouted.

  “Your friend is respawning somewhere.” Daniel laughed. “And he’ll never get to hear my response.”

  The rainbow griefers raced through the town, attacking anything that stood in their path. Daniel let out a loud laugh as he watched his army destroy the town.

  “You might have a new army,” Violet shouted at Daniel, “but you’re not going to win!”

  Daniel smiled and shot an arrow at Violet, destroying her.

  Minutes later, Violet respawned in the tree house and called out, “Noah?”

  “Violet, I’m here,” Noah answered.

  “I can’t believe Daniel is behind this attack,” she replied.

  “It’s better than the mobs creeping through the portal. Now we have a true enemy. And we know how to beat Daniel.”

  Violet sighed. “Well, I think we need to do a better job. Daniel seems to come back every time we destroy him.”

  “This time we will defeat him for good. Maybe we can place him on Hardcore mode.”

  Violet gasped. “Hardcore mode? Doesn’t that seem extreme?”

  “No, we need to end this reign of terror.” Noah ate a carrot as he spoke. He offered one to Violet. They needed more energy for battle. As the two ate, Hannah and Ben ran up the stairs.

  Ben demanded, “You need to help! The town is in ruins. There are fires everywhere. We have no idea what we’re going to do!”

  Hannah added, “We just respawned in our home. We could see the smoke rising from the center of the town.”

  The gang raced toward the town. Violet wanted to help, but she wasn’t sure she was capable of solving this problem. She feared that Daniel had finally staged an attack they couldn’t win.

  “Do you guys have a plan?” Violet asked as they got closer to the smoking town.

  Valentino the Butcher hurried past them. Noah shouted, “Valentino!”

  The village butcher turned around. “I didn’t see you guys. I was going to look for you. We need help. Something awful has happened.”

  “What?” asked Noah.

  “Will was about defeat Daniel when Otto attacked Will! Your new friend Otto is apparently working with Daniel.” Valentino could barely speak those words.

  “I knew we shouldn’t have trusted Otto,” Violet remarked, although she knew it was a pointless comment. They had trusted him, and now they were in trouble.

  “Did he destroy Will?” Noah was worried because Will would respawn in another village far from them. Will and Trent hadn’t slept in the tree house recently.

  “No, he isn’t destroying them,” Valentino explained.

  “Then, what is he doing to them?” Violet was afraid to hear the answer to this question.

  “Otto has a large bus. He placed Will and Trent on the bus and drove away using command blocks. I have no idea where he’s taking them.”

  “Are Daniel and Otto gone?” asked Violet.

  “Yes, but the flying flamethrowers are still here. There are so many mobs, and it’s getting dark. If we don’t destroy these flying terrors and cubes, our town will be destroyed by the morning,” Valentino told them.

  “But we need to find Will and Trent. Who knows what Daniel has planned for them? He could destroy them forever.” Violet was worried about her friends.

  “We will find them,” Noah reassured her, “but we must battle these mobs first. Valentino is right—it’s almost night, and we need to help the town.”

  Hannah added, “Also, we have no idea where Daniel has taken them. It could be anywhere in the Overworld. We might never find them.”

  Violet shuddered. “That’s awful. How can you say that?”

  Ben defended his friend Hannah. “She’s right. Searching for Will and Trent might put us on a wild goose chase.”

  Violet was surprised at Ben’s reaction. “But we can’t just let them disappear. We must search for them.”

  “We will,” Noah told her. “But let’s concentrate on saving the town first.”

  The group walked toward the town. Fires were burning, and a ghast flew past Violet’s head.

  “Get out your snowballs!” Noah shouted.

  The group pelted the flying terrors. Noah reached into his inventory and realized there were no more snowballs.

  “Does anyone have a snowball?” he asked.

  “I have one left,” Violet said and, with a careful aim, she struck one of the ghasts and it was destroyed.

  Hannah and Ben used their last snowballs to destroy the remaining ghasts and blazes until the sky was empty. As two magma cubes leaped at them, Violet struck one of the cubes with her sword, and it broke into two smaller cubes. Hannah annihilated the smaller cubes with her diamond sword. Violet watched as Noah and Ben defeated the other magma cube.

  The townspeople emerged from their homes and applauded the group as they walked through the mob-free town.

  Noah made an announcement: “We will defeat Daniel again. But we need to stockpile snowballs. Does anybody have snowballs in their inventory?”

  There was silence. Finally one townsperson said, “We’ve used up all of our snowballs battling the Nether mobs.”

  Noah informed the crowd, “Until we find a way to stop the Nether mobs from spawning in our town, we need to gather snow. There is a cold biome just outside our village. We will travel there and make snowballs, but we need you all to keep a close watch on the town.”

  Someone in the crowd called out, “You can’t leave! We need you to protect us!”

  Another townsperson cried, “If you leave, the town will be destroyed!”

  Noah reassured them all. “You will be fine. We will make a quick trip. Upon our return we will distribute snowballs to everyone in the village. If we don’t have these snowballs, our town will be destroyed.”

  But the townspeople didn’t agree with Noah. They still wanted th
e gang to stay and protect them.

  Noah looked at the townspeople that crowded the center of the village. “I’ve watched you guys fight Daniel. Every one of you is a warrior. Some of you used to work for Daniel. Use that knowledge to beat Daniel at his own tricks. Be confident, and fight hard!”

  With that speech, Noah and his friends began the hike to the icy cold biome. The sky was growing dark, and Violet questioned, “Do you think it’s too dangerous to travel at night?”

  “It’s our only option. We are running low on snowballs. We need them to battle these mobs,” Noah said quite confidently.

  “Well, that’s annoying. We can go search for snow, but we can’t search for our friends,” Violet complained.

  “We will find Will and Trent. I promise,” Noah said as he looked at Violet.

  Violet hoped Noah would keep his promise. She knew she should be worried about the town’s safety, but she couldn’t stop thinking about her friends who were trapped on a bus taking them to an unknown part of the Overworld.

  6

  CLIMBING MOUNTAINS

  Violet, Noah, Hannah, and Ben hiked through the grassy biome heading in the direction of the ice plains.

  “Are you sure you know the way to the ice plains?” asked Violet.

  Noah studied a map. They had stopped, as the night sky grew darker.

  Hannah suggested, “Maybe Violet should build a structure for us to sleep in.”

  Noah studied the map a bit longer. “I think that might be a good idea.”

  “Yes, especially since I spot a group of zombies up ahead,” commented Ben. He took out his bow and arrow and began to shoot at the zombies.

  Violet excused herself from battle and quickly constructed a crude structure where her friends could spend the night. As she worked, she could see Hannah strike a vacant-eyed zombie with her diamond sword. Violet soon placed the final planks of wood and the house was completed. Then she carefully crafted beds for each of them. When she was finished with the beds, Noah walked through the door to the house.

  “Wow, you did a really good job,” he said.

  “Thanks, Noah.” Violet was pleased with her quick work. “I assume all of the zombies are destroyed?”

  “Yes, they are gone,” Noah replied.