The Nether Attack

by Winter Morgan

  “Tell Daniel,” the silver griefer called out. “He has to annihilate these prisoners and their friends.”

  “Yes,” the blue griefer laughed. “Hardcore mode for all of these creepers.”

  The gang raced as fast as they could, but they were losing energy. They didn’t have any potion of invisibility left and the journey back to the town would take a while. There was no way they would make it if they had these rainbow griefers trailing them.

  Noah suggested, “Maybe we should teleport?”

  “Good idea,” replied Violet.

  “But we don’t know where we have to teleport to? We’ve never been to your village,” explained Lucy.

  “That isn’t a good option then,” said Will.

  Trent saw a bus out of the corner of his eye. “The bus!” he exclaimed.

  The group boarded the bus, and Trent used command blocks to drive as fast as he could to the village. Violet looked out the window. The rainbow griefers weren’t in sight. “I think we’re going to make it,” she said happily.

  The bus drove through the sandy flat desert dotted with cacti and into the lush green forest. It passed the jungle temple. Will and Trent pointed out the large structure.

  “We can’t stop now,” Violet told them. “We have to get back to the village. And it’s too risky with Daniel following us.”

  Lucy added, “That’s the temple where we met you guys.”

  Henry said, “As I said, once we defeat Daniel, I will take you on a treasure-hunting expedition.”

  “That sounds like fun,” remarked Violet as she held onto her seat on the bumpy bus ride.

  The bus reached the outskirts of their village just as six blazes flew directly at the them.

  “Get out!” exclaimed Trent. “The bus is going to explode!”

  The group exited before the fireballs struck the bus and it burst into flames.

  “We made it out just in time.” Violet watched as flames engulfed the vehicle.

  Suddenly, Valentino joined them. “You’re back!” He was very excited to see his old friends. “It’s been a harsh battle against the Nether mobs. Every time we defeat them with snowballs, more spawn.”

  “I think we’re about to be attacked by rainbow griefers, too,” Noah warned Valentino.

  “They’re mad because we freed Will and Trent,” added Violet.

  Valentino stared at Henry, Max, and Lucy. “Who are you?” He was suspicious of any newcomers. He had the right to be wary of new people, especially since Otto had turned out to be a traitor.

  “I’m Lucy. These are my friends, Henry and Max.”

  Will said, “They have been good friends of mine for a long time. They helped save me.”

  “Me, too,” added Trent. “We were trapped in the basement of a desert palace in a dark room, where we were constantly attacked by silverfish.”

  “That sounds awful,” said Valentino.

  Violet interrupted, “Seriously, this is no time for introductions and backstories. There are ghasts and blazes flying over the town.”

  “And large cubes!” Valentino added.

  “I’ll deal with the magma cubes,” Hannah offered. She felt like a magma cube expert since she had defeated countless cubes with just one strike from her diamond sword.

  The group hurried into town. When they arrived, they were surprised to see the silver griefers still attacking the townspeople. The two silver griefers were striking innocent people with their diamond swords.

  “Stop!” Noah called to the silver griefers.

  The griefers laughed, and one of them screamed, “It would be our pleasure to destroy you!”

  “Never!” Noah rushed toward the griefers and struck one of them with his diamond sword.

  Violet shot an arrow at the other griefer, but it was too late. The griefers had destroyed Noah. He respawned in the little house outside of the desert. Violet imagined him all alone. She wanted to go to the house and save him.

  “Violet, watch out!” shouted Hannah.

  Violet tried to avoid the arrow that was flying in her direction. She stepped back, but a fireball destroyed her.

  Violet respawned in the house. “Noah?” she shouted as she looked for her friend.

  “Violet?” Noah called out. He was standing outside the house. His arrow was aimed at a chicken.

  “We need to get back to our village!”

  Noah successfully hunted down the chicken and offered some to Violet. She thanked him for the food.

  “I have a plan,” he reassured Violet as they finished eating.

  “Okay, but we must get back. We don’t have much time.” Violet was worried about the townspeople and her friends who were battling the Nether mobs and the silver griefers by themselves.

  “Let’s teleport,” Noah told his friend.

  And in an instant they were back home.

  13

  RAINBOW LAVA

  They’re throwing lava!” Hannah pointed out to Noah as he and Violet arrived in the center of town.

  Suddenly Daniel appeared. He stood in the center of town laughing as his rainbow griefer army marched down the street carrying buckets of lava. They threw the lava on townspeople and used some lava to flood shops and homes.

  “We have to stop them!” Noah called out.

  “How?” Violet was scared. She didn’t want to be destroyed by lava.

  “We don’t want to destroy the town,” added Hannah. “We have to be very careful.”

  Just then, a ghast flew at Violet. Before the fireball could strike her, she threw a snowball at the flying menace and destroyed it.

  Noah rushed to help his friends. He shouted at Daniel and his army, “This is it! This war is over! Leave our town alone!”

  Daniel laughed defiantly. “After what you’ve done to me? Never!”

  Otto appeared and charged at Noah. He hit Noah with his diamond sword and destroyed him.

  “I’ll keep destroying Noah and the rest of you until I’ve annihilated this town off the map.” Daniel laughed again—and this time the laugh was even deeper and more sinister.

  “Not on my watch,” warned Violet. She grabbed a bucket of lava from one of the griefers and threw it on Daniel. He was instantly destroyed.

  “You’ve destroyed him, you evil person!” Otto screamed at Violet.

  “He deserved it.” Violet was happy with her victory, but she assumed it was short-lived. Daniel was probably going to teleport into the center of town to retaliate at any minute.

  Otto held his diamond sword against Violet’s neck. “You have caused enough trouble,” he threatened.

  “I thought you were my friend, Otto. When we met in the Nether, you were so friendly. I have no idea why you changed.”

  “I was just pretending to be nice. I was waiting for Daniel to give me instructions on how to destroy you.”

  “Why do you need instructions from Daniel? He’s just a bully. Can’t you think for yourself?”

  Otto stood, silent. Then he slammed his sword against Violet’s arm. It pierced her, and she lost some hearts.

  “Stop it, Otto!” Violet said. “You aren’t a griefer. You don’t even have rainbow skin. You’re still wearing your black suit. Why don’t you just be your own person?”

  “Violet, you are really bothering me,” Otto said, and he struck her again. Violet’s health bar was growing weaker as she lost more hearts.

  Violet wanted Otto to think for himself, but she also wanted to survive. She grabbed another bucket of lava from a pink griefer and splashed it on Otto. He was destroyed instantly.

  “You’ve destroyed Daniel and Otto,” one of the townspeople called out. “You are our hero!”

  “The battle isn’t over.” Violet pointed to the ghasts flying through the sky and the many griefers carrying lava buckets. “We still need to fight.”

  Violet threw snowballs, but she knew this wasn’t a real plan. She and her friends were just treading water. They needed an effective plan, one that would end this Ne
ther mob invasion once and for all.

  Noah and Ben kept busy battling the lava-carrying griefers. They struck them with arrows. They were doing a good job, and there were only a handful of griefers left. Just as they were about to destroy one of the last griefers, Noah and Ben were destroyed in a surprise attack.

  They hadn’t noticed the two silver griefers creeping up behind them. The silver griefers struck them with their diamond swords. As Noah and Ben turned around to defend themselves, the silver griefers threw lava on them.

  Noah respawned in the small house Violet had built. Ben respawned next to him.

  “What are we going to do? I don’t want to go back there unless we have a plan,” Ben complained.

  Noah looked out the window. The sky grew dark. “It’s almost nighttime. I think this is going to be an ultimate battle. Soon the regular hostile mobs of the Overworld will spawn, and we will have to fight them, too.”

  “What is your plan?” Ben was hopeful Noah could save the day.

  “I think we need to trap the griefers,” Noah told him. “Now, let’s teleport.”

  The town was in shambles, but the rainbow griefers were all destroyed. Violet rushed over to her friends with the good news. “We’ve destroyed all the griefers.”

  Hannah added, “For now, that is. I’m sure they’ll be back.”

  The townspeople destroyed the remaining Nether mobs that lurked in the town. There was a rare silence as the night began to set in.

  Noah made an announcement: “We must build a jail.”

  Violet was perplexed. “Why?”

  “We need to trap the griefers. If we destroy them, they will just respawn. Once we have them trapped, we can find Daniel and trap him, too. That will prevent him from summoning any more Nether mobs.”

  Violet wasn’t sure Noah’s idea would work, but there wasn’t any other plan.

  “Should we go home since it’s dusk and we don’t want to be attacked by hostile mobs?” one of the townspeople questioned.

  “I’m sorry, but we can’t. We must help Violet construct a large jail. One that would be impossible to escape from,” said Noah.

  Violet didn’t want to admit that she was excited about this building project. It was an unusual project for her. The only time she had built a prison was when she once created a small bedrock house to trap Daniel in. Violet took supplies from her inventory and began to build the foundation for the jail.

  The townspeople crowded around Violet, and she gave orders on what needed to be constructed. Noah and Ben kept a lookout for hostile mobs of the Overworld that spawned in the darkness.

  Violet and the townspeople were making progress on the jail when Noah screamed out, “Zombie attack!”

  14

  GHASTLY CREEPERS

  The zombies weren’t the real trouble, though. Noah didn’t see the silent creepers that came up behind him and ignited themselves. Noah and Ben were instantly destroyed.

  The townspeople halted construction on the jail and battled the gang of zombies lumbering toward them.

  “Look up!” Lucy screamed, as a ghast shot a fireball down at them.

  “We have snowballs,” exclaimed Henry, and he pitched them at the flying Nether mob.

  A cluster of creepers swarmed into the town and exploded near some townspeople.

  “I don’t know who to fight first,” Violet called out, as she held a diamond sword in one hand and a snowball in the other.

  “At least we don’t have to battle any rainbow griefers right now,” said Hannah.

  “You always look on the bright side,” said Violet, praising her friend.

  Snowballs flew through the night sky. Townspeople dodged blasts while they tried not to be destroyed by the tricky silent creepers that were spawning all over the town.

  Noah and Ben teleported back to the town after they respawned and continued their battle against the zombies.

  “Ouch!” cried Lucy. She was expecting to see a skeleton, but she was surprised to see an orange rainbow griefer standing in front of her. He aimed his bow and arrow at Lucy, and she was hit by another arrow.

  “Griefers!” Lucy warned the others.

  Ben lit a torch and placed it outside Valentino’s butcher shop. He spotted Valentino inside the shop. “Save us!” Valentino called out to his friend.

  “I’m trying!” Ben replied.

  Fireballs fell onto the townspeople. Zombies ripped the doors off houses. Creepers exploded. Rainbow griefers shot arrows at everyone. It was total and utter chaos. Noah tried to come up with an alternate plan as he fought a griefer. Soon after the skeletons marched into town and began to shoot arrows, the sun came up. The hostile mobs from the Overworld disappeared. The group only had to battle the Nether mobs and the griefers.

  Violet looked at the jail. She just needed to complete the roof and the building would be finished, but she wasn’t sure how she’d be able to do it. There were too many distractions, too many battles.

  The group was shocked when Daniel strolled into the town. He walked over to Violet and said, “Ah. You were planning on trapping me again, weren’t you?” Daniel inspected the jail and said with a smirk, “Don’t you remember that I escaped from your bedrock prison? You can’t trap me!”

  Violet used all of her might to strike Daniel with her diamond sword. He lost a few hearts, but he still had energy left. He reached for his sword, and Violet screamed, “Help me!”

  The entire town rushed at Daniel and destroyed him.

  “Now you can finish the jail,” Noah said to Violet.

  Violet carried supplies to the jail, and a bunch of townspeople helped her. They were determined to build a prison to securely house the evil griefers. Violet placed the roof on the building as Noah began to force the griefers into a temporary jail in a small house in the village.

  At first it was hard to get the griefers to enter the temporary jail, but when Noah threatened them with hot lava, they quickly dashed into the house.

  “We have six rainbow griefers in the house,” Henry told Violet.

  Violet finally completed the new jail. “Bring the rainbow griefers over here. I have jail cells for all of them.”

  Lucy, Max, and Henry held buckets of lava ready as Noah marched the imprisoned griefers toward their new home—a jailhouse.

  Every time a griefer looked like he was ready to run, Lucy reminded him that she was carrying hot lava and she wasn’t afraid to use it.

  “You did this to yourselves,” Noah told the griefers. “If you didn’t follow Daniel, you wouldn’t be a prisoner.”

  Otto suddenly appeared in the town and shouted to the griefers, “Fight back! Don’t go to jail!”

  The griefers looked at Otto. The griefers looked at the lava. They kept marching after Noah.

  “Don’t let them win!” Otto screamed as he raced toward Noah with his diamond sword.

  A ghast flew at both of them. Noah jumped back and narrowly avoided being destroyed by the fireball. Otto, however, was destroyed.

  Noah continued to lead the group of griefers to their new home. Once they reached the jailhouse, Violet said, “Each one of you gets a window. When this battle with Daniel is over, I want you to see how a normal, peaceful village operates. I want you to look out this window and see people working together to build a community. Yes, we occasionally argue with each other, but we don’t summon Nether mobs to destroy innocent people. We don’t join an army obedient to a man who once tried to destroy our Olympic games and our amusement park. We think for ourselves, and we are free. You’ll get to see that every day and realize what you are missing. That will be the biggest punishment of all.”

  The griefers were marched into their cells. Suddenly, Daniel appeared and called out, “What a great speech, Violet.”

  “Daniel?” Violet was shocked. She instructed the townspeople to lock the jail cells quickly so the griefers couldn’t escape and help Daniel.

  “Yes, it’s me.” Daniel laughed.

  “And me, Otto.” H
e had appeared in his black suit, wearing armor and holding a diamond sword.

  “You have led these people to a life of imprisonment,” Violet stated, pointing at the griefers in the jail. She held her sword tightly and pointed it at Daniel.

  Noah and the others stood behind Violet. All were armored up and holding their swords.

  “You’re not going to win this time, Daniel,” said Will.

  “Oh Will, why did all of your treasure-hunter friends join forces with Violet and Noah? Why couldn’t they be smart like Otto and stick with a winner?” Daniel laughed again.

  “Smart?” Lucy called out. “I think joining your army was the worst thing Otto could have done.”

  Otto looked at Lucy and winced. Her words seemed to impact him.

  “Otto, destroy her!” ordered Daniel.

  Lucy was terrified. She didn’t want to be destroyed and respawn alone in the house near the desert. Her heart skipped a beat. She waited for Otto to destroy her, but he didn’t move.

  15

  TIME-OUT

  Otto shocked everyone when he rushed toward Daniel and hit him with his diamond sword.

  “Otto? What are you doing?” Daniel gasped as he tried to fight back.

  “Don’t destroy Daniel,” Noah called out to Otto.

  Otto was confused. “But I want to destroy him. He’s evil!”

  “Destroying him won’t solve anything. It’s better to put him in this jailhouse,” explained Violet.

  “I’ll never go into that jail!” Daniel screamed. “I’d rather be destroyed.”

  The townspeople gathered around Daniel and trapped him. They marched him to the jailhouse while he protested all the way. But nobody listened. Violet led Daniel toward his jail cell.

  “Did you hear my speech about the window?” asked Violet.

  “Spare me the speeches,” Daniel replied angrily as Violet closed the gate to the jail cell and looked at him through the bars.

  “Daniel, now you will have time to think about all the bad things you’ve done to us.” Violet continued. “And you’ll get to watch us rebuild and live the life we want to live.”