Attack of the Ender Dragon Read online

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  Copyright © 2016 by Hollan Publishing, Inc.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

  Cover design by Brian Peterson

  Cover photo by Megan Miller

  Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-0602-6

  Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-0612-5

  Printed in Canada

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Chapter 1: Try Again

  Chapter 2: The Attack of the Ender Dragon

  Chapter 3: Surprise Storms

  Chapter 4: Glitches

  Chapter 5: Back to the Lab

  Chapter 6: Homesick

  Chapter 7: Missing

  Chapter 8: New Enemy

  Chapter 9: Computer Problems

  Chapter 10: Scuffle with Skeletons

  Chapter 11: You Can’t Take It with You

  Chapter 12: Snow Day

  Chapter 13: Never in the Nether

  Chapter 14: Good-bye and Good Luck

  Chapter 15: It Can’t Be the End

  Chapter 16: Final Rides

  Chapter 17: Servers

  Chapter 18: New Student

  1

  TRY AGAIN

  “I see it!” Simon called out.

  “Great,” Lily exclaimed. “Can you reach it?”

  Michael looked at Simon and grabbed a pickaxe. “We’ll have to mine to get it,” he said.

  Lily picked up her pickaxe and banged it against the blocky ground. “I see it too!”

  The gang dug deep into the floor of the mine until Lily, Simon, and Michael were surrounded by blue.

  Lily cried out, “Diamonds!”

  “Sweet!” Michael exclaimed, and he grabbed as many diamonds as he could fit in his hands.

  “This is the best mining job ever,” Simon declared as he stuffed his inventory with diamonds.

  “We should trade these at the blacksmith’s shop and get more armor,” Lily suggested.

  “Good idea,” Simon agreed as he scanned the mine. “I think we have all of them. Let’s go back to Lisimi Village.”

  Blossom hurried into the mine. “Guess what, guys?”

  “What is it, Blossom?” asked Lily.

  “I think Mr. Anarchy has figured out the glitch. There are people crowded outside his lab.” Blossom beamed.

  “Wow,” Simon exclaimed. “That’s fantastic news.”

  “Is it true? How can we be sure? Maybe there is another reason people are at Mr. Anarchy’s lab.” Michael spit out a slew of questions. He was skeptical.

  It had been a while since Sunny and the others were zapped off the server. Mr. Anarchy had come close to discovering why there was a glitch, but none of his attempts to solve it were successful, and Michael had been disappointed way too many times.

  “I think this is it. I think it’s real,” Blossom told him.

  “I hope so,” Michael replied as he followed Blossom and the others back to Lisimi Village.

  Simon remarked, “I’ve really enjoyed these last few months in Lisimi Village. It’s a lot of fun to stay on this server when we aren’t battling griefers.”

  The past few months had been peaceful, and the gang was able to explore the server. They had traveled to various biomes. One day they had an enormous snowball fight in the icy cold biome with all of the townspeople.

  “Remember the snowball fight?” Lily recalled with a chuckle.

  “I still have an inventory full of snowballs,” Blossom gloated. “While you guys were busy pounding each other with frozen snowballs, I was collecting them.”

  “Why did you bother? It’s not like anyone is going to spawn Nether mobs in the Overworld,” Simon said. “We don’t have any griefers to battle.”

  “You never know.” Blossom defended her reasoning for hoarding snowballs, “I can use them when I’m in the Nether searching for treasure.”

  As the gang entered the village, Emily the Fisherwoman and Juan the Butcher approached them. Juan called out, “I think Mr. Anarchy has an announcement.”

  “We know!” Blossom replied, “I hope it’s good news!”

  “I think it is,” Emily said. “I’m pretty sure he’s found a way to get you guys back to the real world. There is a line forming outside his lab.”

  “Hope so!” Michael exclaimed. He was finally hopeful this would be the day he could go home.

  Juan admitted, “I’ll miss you guys.”

  “We’ll try to come and visit like Pablo did,” Lily told him, “but we’ll miss you too. It’s going to be hard trying to readjust to our old lives.”

  “You’ll do fine,” Emily said with a smile. “Go ahead and find out. Let us know.”

  The gang headed for Mr. Anarchy’s lab. Although Lily had heard there was a long line outside his lab, she was still shocked when she saw it with her own eyes.

  “Wow,” Lily exclaimed, “look at how many people are waiting. It will take forever for everyone to get off the server.”

  “But we’ll get off okay. I just know it,” Blossom proclaimed.

  Michael walked over to a townsperson standing in line and asked, “Is it true? Has Mr. Anarchy finally found a way to get us all home?”

  The townsperson shrugged. “I’m not sure. Peter said Mr. Anarchy had a big announcement. Everyone raced over and once we got here, Peter told us to line up.”

  “Where is Peter?” Michael asked. He didn’t see him on the line.

  “I don’t know. Nobody has seen Peter or Mr. Anarchy for a while. We’ve all been just standing in this line waiting.”

  “Really?” Michael began to worry.

  Lily stood next to Michael and said, “I’m going to get some answers. I can’t just stand here and wait.” She entered the lab and called out, “Mr. Anarchy?”

  There was no response.

  Lily called out again, “Mr. Anarchy? Where are you?”

  “In here.” His voice was very faint.

  Lily walked down a long dimly lit corridor. A pair of red eyes glared at her. She grabbed her diamond sword and struck the spider before it could inject her with any of its poison.

  “Lily,” Mr. Anarchy said as he ran toward her. “There you are. I’m having a bit of a problem.”

  “What happened?” asked Lily.


  “I thought I found a way to get everyone off the server, but then I realized that it might not work. There is a line of people in front of my lab, and I don’t want to disappoint them. I’m not sure how to let them know I made a mistake,” confessed Mr. Anarchy.

  “I knew it wouldn’t work,” a voice called out from behind them.

  Lily turned around to see Michael approaching and she tried to explain his words to Mr. Anarchy. “Michael has been very sad lately. He keeps getting his hopes up and gets very upset when he’s disappointed.”

  “I don’t blame him,” Mr. Anarchy said. “I’m upset with myself. I should have found a solution by now. I work tirelessly day and night, but I can’t come up with any answers. It feels so pointless.”

  “No, it’s not.” Lily knew she had to give Mr. Anarchy a pep talk, but she didn’t want to tell him to try harder because she knew he was trying as hard as he could. “You’re doing your best. I know you feel it’s impossible to solve this problem, but I have faith that you’ll find a way to crack this code.”

  Mr. Anarchy smiled in appreciation. “You always make me feel better.”

  Lily continued to offer her support to Mr. Anarchy. “Maybe if you tell me what you’re doing I can help.”

  “Okay.” Mr. Anarchy rattled off the various ways he had worked with the command blocks to get everyone out of Lisimi Village and back to the real world.

  Lily stood by the command blocks, listening to Mr. Anarchy’s many stories about his failed experiments. Suddenly, they both heard a loud roar.

  “What is that?” Lily gasped.

  A scaly wing crashed into the lab and Mr. Anarchy leapt back, shielding himself from the rubble. “Oh no! It’s the Ender Dragon!”

  2

  THE ATTACK OF THE ENDER DRAGON

  Blossom aimed a hard icy snowball at the powerful dragon and it landed on the dragon’s tail.

  Lily and Mr. Anarchy dashed from the lab, clutching their bows and arrows. Mr. Anarchy struck the beast with an arrow.

  The crowd of townspeople scattered but they all attacked the flying beast with different weapons.

  “Who summoned this dragon?” Lily cried out.

  “Probably another griefer,” Michael answered as he slammed his diamond sword into the beast. It roared in pain.

  “We’re weakening it.” Simon was hopeful the dragon would be destroyed quickly.

  Annihilating the dragon turned into a town effort, and with multiple strikes from diamond swords, snowballs, and arrows, the dragon was quickly losing its strength.

  “We’ve got it!” Simon exclaimed as he delivered the final blow, obliterating the Ender Dragon.

  The crowed cheered.

  Michael stood emotionless. “We still don’t know who summoned it. This isn’t a time for celebrating. We have to figure out if there is a new griefer on the server.”

  “It could be a glitch,” suggested Simon.

  Mr. Anarchy interrupted the debate when he announced, “I’m sorry I made everyone wait, but I’m afraid I have some bad news. I thought I knew a way to get us off this server, but I encountered another glitch and my solution isn’t working.”

  The crowd let out a collective moan.

  Michael asked, “What happened?”

  “It’s hard to say, but just when it seemed I’d finally gotten to the root of the problem, I realized my problems had just begun.” Mr. Anarchy apologized again and thanked everyone for their patience.

  Peter also apologized. “I’m the one who spread the word around town and told you all to wait by Mr. Anarchy’s lab. I’m sorry.”

  Robin hurried over to Lily. “Are you freaked out about the Ender Dragon?”

  “Yes,” Lily said. “I’m worried we could have a potential griefer on our hands. And since Mr. Anarchy announced he has no way to get us home, I can’t take any more bad news. I want something happy to happen.”

  “Me too,” Robin agreed.

  Peter glanced at the sky. “It’s getting dark. We should all head home for the night. Hopefully, Mr. Anarchy will make some progress with his project, and we can get back to the real world tomorrow.”

  Michael was annoyed with Peter. “You’re filling everyone with false hope.”

  “Don’t be such a downer,” Peter said as he looked at Michael. “We’re never going to succeed with that attitude.”

  The two stood face to face. Michael said, “I don’t want to fight.”

  Peter said, “I know. Neither do I. I just want to get home.”

  Robin pointed to the nearby road and cried out, “Endermen!” Peter and Michael stopped arguing and sprinted toward Robin.

  Six Endermen walked right by her; one shrieked and teleported. Robin ran as fast as she could to the shoreline.

  Lily accidentally stared at one of the remaining Endermen, and another one unleashed a high-pitched cry and raced toward her. She rushed to the shore and jumped into the refreshing blue water alongside Robin. When the two were safely underneath the peaceful water, they heard a deafening roar.

  “It can’t be,” Robin uttered as she came to the surface.

  “Yes, it is,” Lily gasped as another Ender Dragon flew boldly through the skies of Lisimi Village. “Who is summoning these beasts?” Robin was horrified.

  “I have no idea.” Lily grabbed her bow and arrow and tried to strike the dragon. The muscular beast was flying very fast, and Lily’s arrow missed its scaly grey side.

  Townspeople emerged from their homes and joined in the battle against the second Ender Dragon. Everyone was exhausted from waiting at Mr. Anarchy’s lab and then being let down about the possible return to the real world. The dragon sensed the town’s lack of energy and preyed on it. The beast roared and flew close to a group of people, knocking into them.

  Blossom pulled another snowball from her inventory and slammed the ball into the dragon’s side. It roared and she threw another icy ball.

  “Good job, Blossom,” Lily exclaimed as she moved to Blossom’s side and aimed her bow and arrow.

  “And you guys made fun of me for collecting snowballs,” Blossom said as she struck the dragon again, and the beast lost another heart.

  “You’re right. If I had collected snowballs instead of taking part in the great snowball fight, I’d be in much better shape. But I have to admit, that snowball fight was a lot of fun,” Lily replied as she shot another arrow and missed the dragon.

  Blossom continued to pound the dragon with snowballs. Lily raced behind her, hoping one of her arrows would strike the dragon. She kept missing the dragon and was very annoyed at herself. Blossom struck the beast again.

  The Ender Dragon let out a final roar. As the powerful dragon was destroyed, it dropped an egg and a portal to the End appeared.

  Blossom grabbed the egg and stared at the portal. Michael walked over to her and warned, “Don’t go to the End. Nobody likes the End, especially in real life.”

  Blossom shuddered. “I can’t even imagine what it’s like there,” she said.

  Lily wasn’t contemplating a trip to the End, but was fixated on finding out who was summoning the Ender Dragon.

  When Pablo appeared on the server, he stood beside Lily and asked, “What’s going on? Have you encountered any Ender Dragons since Dylan left?”

  “No, it’s been quite peaceful,” she answered.

  Pablo shook his head.“That’s strange.”

  Lily asked Pablo, “Do you know if there’s another griefer on this server?”

  “Not that I can tell,” Pablo replied.

  “There is definitely something strange going on,” Robin said.

  Lily looked up at the darkening sky and warned, “We have to get back to the cottage.”

  Pablo smiled. “Go home and be safe. I’ll keep a watch on Lisimi Village.”

  As Lily and Robin hurried toward their house, they heard a thunderous boom. A lightning bolt flashed through the dark sky.

  “Lily?” Robin cried.

  Lily had vanished.
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  3

  SURPRISE STORMS

  “Lily!” Robin shouted out to her friend in the rain, but there was no response. The cottage door was open. Robin hoped Lily had rushed inside. She stepped into the small living room, calling her name, but there was still no response. Lily wasn’t there.

  Robin turned and headed back toward the door, ready to search for Lily in the dark stormy night, when four zombies entered the cottage. Robin reached for her sword, but she was outnumbered. The zombies extended their blocky arms, cornering her. She tried, but couldn’t fight back. Robin respawned in her bed, and spotted the zombies lumbering toward her again. She was fumbling with her diamond sword when Lily dashed into the cottage, surprising the zombies and obliterating them.

  “Lily!” Robin exclaimed.

  Lily shut the cottage door. “I was zapped off.”

  “But you’re back?”

  “There must be a glitch. It was such an odd experience.” Lily seemed out of sorts. She crawled into the bed beside Robin.

  “What happened?”

  Lily stuttered, “I’m n-not really sure. I was just gone and suddenly I was in the middle of Lisimi Village in the rain.”

  “So you didn’t get back to the real world at all?”

  “No, I just vanished and then reappeared. As I said, it was very odd.” Lily spoke slowly, as if she was trying to process the entire experience.

  “I know you’re not going to like hearing me say this, but I’m glad you’re back. I guess that’s selfish of me, but I would be very lonely without you,” Robin confessed.

  “That’s not selfish. I’d feel the same way if you were zapped off,” Lily admitted, and she drifted off to sleep thinking about all of her friends who had left the server. It seemed like years since Greta and Brett had vanished with the Prismarines. She had so many friends who were able to escape, and she hoped she’d be the next one off.

  The sun was shining the next morning and before Lily could get out of bed, Mr. Anarchy was at their door.

  “Lily? Are you here?” Mr. Anarchy called.

  “Yes,” Lily replied and opened the door.

  “I’m shocked. I heard Robin calling your name,” Mr. Anarchy exclaimed. “I thought you were zapped off last night. It was hard to sleep. I was worried I’d never see you again.”