Creeper Invasion Read online

“It looks like it’s right here.” Robin pointed to a cave.

  “Let’s go in.” Lily walked into the abandoned mine and searched for the stronghold.

  “Over here!” Robin called out.

  “Watch out!” warned Lily.

  Two skeletons spawned in the stronghold. Lily shot an arrow at one of the bony beasts, but lost a heart when a cluster of silverfish crawled by her feet and attacked her. “Robin, there are too many silverfish over here. You have to battle the skeletons on your own.”

  “I’ll try,” Robin gasped. The skeletons were vicious and shot a barrage of arrows that struck Robin’s body.

  Lily put her bow and arrow back in her inventory and took out the diamond sword. She furiously struck the small silverfish that carpeted the dirty floor. Lily knew there had to be a silverfish spawner close by, but she didn’t want to search for it while Robin battled the skeletons on her own.

  “Help!” Robin called out. She was down to two hearts and the skeletons weren’t backing off.

  Lily pulled a potion from her inventory and splashed it on the skeletons, as she ordered Robin, “Strike them now!”

  Robin fumbled with her diamond sword.

  Lily cried, “Don’t drop it!”

  Robin regained her footing and struck one of the skeletons until it was destroyed.

  Lily stood by Robin’s side and destroyed the second skeleton. “I hope we don’t have to deal with any more skeletons.”

  Robin took milk from her inventory and handed it to Lily. “We have to drink this—both of us are very weak.”

  Lily took a sip. “We must look for the silverfish spawner.”

  Robin paused. “Do you think we made a mistake coming to this stronghold? Should we have stayed in Lisimi Village and helped our friends?”

  “I think we’ve exhausted our inventories many times and this was a good idea. Now we’ll have an Ender chest filled with resources that are invaluable in helping us battle this new griefer.”

  “I guess you’re right,” Robin said as the two searched for the silverfish spawner. The hall was dark and they kept an eye out for more hostile mobs that might spawn in the stronghold.

  “We have to craft that Ender chest,” Lily remarked as they explored the musty stronghold.

  “Why don’t we do it now? I have obsidian and the Eyes of Ender,” Robin suggested. “We can just make it and fill it with twenty-seven pieces from our inventory.”

  “Good idea,” Lily agreed, but when a horde of silverfish crawled toward them, she knew they had to continue their search for the spawner.

  “I think I see the spawner,” Robin crept toward a dark corner of the stronghold. “Follow me.”

  “I see it, too!” Lily called out.

  The two broke the spawner and let out a collective sigh of relief. “Now we can build that Ender chest.” Robin smiled.

  They gathered the supplies from their inventories and crafted the chest. As they each placed vital items from their inventories into the Ender chest, they heard voices in the stronghold.

  “Do you hear that?” questioned Lily.

  “Yes.” Robin picked up her pace and filled the Ender chest. “We have to hide the Ender chest.”

  Lily placed it into the dark corner. “It should be fine here.”

  The voices grew louder. There was a sliver of light emanating from the ceiling and Lily walked over to the small patch of light, hoping she’d be able to see who was in the stronghold.

  Lily gasped.

  “Do you see them?’ questioned Robin.

  Lily whispered, “Yes, I’m really scared.”

  7

  EXPLOSIVE ENEMIES

  “Who is it?” Robin was too afraid to look.

  Kaboom!

  A slew of creepers detonated, destroying them, and the two friends were back in the cottage and behind the bedrock wall.

  Lily looked down at the ground and was relieved to see the hole was still there.

  Robin leapt out of bed and jumped into the hole; Lily followed.

  “Who did you see in the stronghold?” Robin asked as she placed a torch on the dirt wall.

  “I know it sounds crazy, but I think I saw Pablo, Ronan, and Matthew.” Lily couldn’t believe she was uttering these words.

  “Really? They’ve escaped from prison?” Robin questioned while sprinting through the tunnel.

  “I don’t know,” Lily wondered. “Maybe they’re working with Nicholas?”

  “Oh no!” Robin shuddered. “I guess we have an even bigger battle to fight.”

  “This is awful,” Lily remarked as they crawled out of the tunnel and onto the shore.

  “We should see if we can find any of our friends,” Robin said.

  Lily was already looking off in the distance, hoping she’d see Simon or Michael, but the town looked empty. “I don’t see anyone.”

  Robin suggested, “Let’s go to Juan’s butcher shop and see if he has seen anyone in the town.”

  “Good idea!” Lily exclaimed and they set off for the village.

  “Robin! Lily!” a voice called out.

  “Michael!” Lily was thrilled to see her friends. “And Simon!”

  Michael spoke quickly, “Everyone is trapped in the jungle. Nicholas has awful plans for them. Mr. Anarchy tried to reason with him, but it didn’t work.”

  Simon added, “Nicholas is pure evil.”

  Lily said, “We have to go to the jungle and help everyone.”

  “Yes,” Michael said. “We were just on our way there.”

  Lily suggested they TP to the jungle and everyone agreed that was the best plan. As they emerged in the thick of a jungle path, dense with leaves, Lily dodged a fireball. “What was that?” she cried out.

  “It looked like a fireball from a ghast.” Robin searched the sky, but it was hard to see because of the leaves.

  “Oh no! I hope Nicholas didn’t spawn Nether mobs in the Overworld.” Lily’s voice shook as she spoke.

  “He has,” Michael replied.

  “And we had to battle the Wither,” Simon told Lily and Robin.

  “Twice,” Michael reminded him.

  “He’s not joking around. He does want to terrorize us,” Lily remarked.

  “We can’t let him distract us with these hostile mobs; we have to pay attention and focus on freeing our friends,” Michael said.

  Another fireball shot through the leaves. Lily struck the fireball with her fist and hoped it would strike the fiery beast. She wanted to tell Michael and Simon that she thought she saw Pablo, Ronan, and Matthew in the stronghold, but she knew this wasn’t the time. They had to concentrate and battle these hostile mobs so they could free their friends.

  “There are ghasts!” Robin screeched.

  “Tons of them,” Lily cried as she saw several ghasts through the leaves.

  “I wish we had snowballs,” Simon said as he aimed his bow and arrow.

  Michael was annoyed. “We used up all of our snowballs fighting the Wither.”

  Lily looked through her inventory. She didn’t have any snowballs. Robin also checked and didn’t have any, either.

  “We don’t have snowballs,” Lily remarked. “We’re just going to have to use our fists and our bow and arrows.”

  The gang battled the ghasts, but it wasn’t easy. The flying fiery mobs shot countless fireballs at the group, and the gang was growing weaker by the minute.

  “We have to save our friends. This is getting very annoying,” Lily yelped as she struck another fireball with her fist and destroyed yet another ghast.

  “Nicholas isn’t playing around,” Michael said as he dodged a blast. “I have no idea what he’s planning for our friends, but I’m sure it’s going to be terrible.”

  Simon looked up at the sky and there was hope in his voice when he said, “It looks like there are only a couple of more ghasts left to destroy.”

  Lily used her last bit of strength to defeat the ghasts that flew above them. “Now lead us to our friends,” she order
ed Michael.

  Michael and Simon sheared a path toward the prison where their friends were being kept prisoner.

  “It’s over here,” Michael said quietly.

  They walked to a tree with a large hole in its bark, and Michael was about to climb in when Lily suggested, “Should we splash a potion of invisibility on ourselves? We don’t want Nicholas seeing us.”

  “Good idea.” Michael grabbed the potion from his inventory.

  “I hope it isn’t booby-trapped,” Simon said.

  “Me too!” Robin agreed.

  Before they splashed the potion, Lily spotted Pablo, Ronan, and Matthew rushing toward them.

  “Oh no!” Lily gasped. “Here comes trouble.”

  8

  CONFRONTATIONS

  Simon pointed his diamond sword at Pablo, Ronan, and Matthew and hollered, “What do you want?”

  “We’ve come to help,” Pablo confessed.

  Lily was suspicious. “Help us? Really?”

  Ronan explained, “Nicholas released us from prison. He wanted us to help him take over this server. We agreed to help him, but as we worked with him, we realized that he was one of the scariest people we’ve ever met.”

  “How?” questioned Lily. She didn’t believe Ronan.

  “He wanted us to put Ilana on command blocks and then destroy her while the others watched. He wanted to show them that he could erase them from existence,” added Matthew.

  “You’ve tried to do that to us. Why do you think that’s such a big deal?” asked Michael.

  “The real reason is Nicholas doesn’t want to go home,” Pablo said.

  Ronan interrupted him, “He wants to zap everyone he can onto the server and just torment them. He is trying to build a large prison in which to put anyone who doesn’t agree with his plans.”

  “How will he do this alone?” questioned Simon.

  “He is zapping people on now. He is creating an enormous army,” said Ronan.

  “He zapped more people onto the server?” Lily was infuriated.

  “Yes, he zapped two people when we were working with him.” Ronan choked back the tears. “I just want to go home. I’m sorry I was a griefer. I just want to get off this server.”

  “If only we could rescue Mr. Anarchy. He was on the verge of figuring out how we can get off of this server.” Lily wanted to free Mr. Anarchy. She knew he’d be able to help them.

  “Nicholas will never free Mr. Anarchy.” Ronan sniffled. “He is the most powerful person on this server. Nicholas is going to force him to work with him.”

  “But how? Mr. Anarchy isn’t a griefer anymore.” Lily was confused.

  “Nicholas is very tricky; he will use some tactic to make Mr. Anarchy a griefer again,” Matthew said.

  Lily was starting to trust Pablo, Ronan, and Matthew. She asked, “How can you help us?”

  Simon added, “How can you prove that you’re not griefers anymore?”

  Michael said, “It took a long time for Mr. Anarchy to prove his dedication and to convince us that he’s good.”

  Pablo stuttered, “Can’t you just believe us? Can’t you take our word?”

  “Your word!” Michael laughed.

  There was no time to discuss the griefers’ motives and whether this trio was trustworthy or not because a large blue monster flew through the sky, distracting the gang.

  “It’s the Wither!” Michael yelled.

  “Not again,” Simon sighed.

  “We don’t have any snowballs.” Robin was upset. She aimed her bow and arrow at the three-headed beast, but she knew it was pointless. The Wither was impossible to battle.

  Lily was shocked when Pablo handed her a stack of snowballs. “Use these; I have a bunch.”

  Lily handed a few snowballs to Robin and they threw them at the beast. A fiery wither skull shot through the leaves and the blast struck Lily, leaving her with the dreadful Wither effect. Lily stood motionless and exhausted, and her hearts turned black and were depleted.

  Ronan sprinted to Lily and offered her milk. Lily gulped the milk and replenished her inventory. She was beginning to trust these griefers.

  Michael and Simon struck the beast with snowballs and weakened the powerful flying mob, but it was still strong enough to shoot countless wither skulls at the gang. Robin was also struck by a wither skull and experienced the Wither effect. Matthew gave her milk, as he used his other hand to slam a snowball into the Wither.

  “We’re weakening it,” Simon called out hopefully.

  Lily used her last snowball to strike the Wither. The snowball destroyed the Wither, as the beast dropped a Nether star.

  Lily sprinted toward the falling Nether star and placed it in her inventory. “Is it okay that I took the Nether star?” she asked the others.

  “Yes.” Pablo smiled.

  Michael declared, “Let’s go free the others from Nicholas’s prison.”

  Everyone splashed a potion of invisibility on themselves, and one by one they crawled into the hole on the side of the tree. Lily was slightly worried that Pablo, Ronan, and Matthew might be deceiving them, but they had proved themselves in the battle against the Wither, and she had to trust them. They needed as much help as they could to battle Nicholas. Lily was also happy that they didn’t have to worry about these griefers.

  As they walked deeper into the cave and made their way to the stronghold, Lily worried the potion would wear off before they were able to find their friends.

  “I don’t see anything,” Michael whispered. “I thought the prison was right down this hallway.”

  “Look out,” Lily cried out in a hushed voice. “There are cave spiders lurking around this place.”

  A pair of red eyes stared at Lily. She struck the cave spider with her diamond sword and kept a close eye for other pesky bugs that were in the stronghold.

  “Over here!” Simon exclaimed.

  “Quiet!” Michael warned him. “Keep your voice down.”

  “But I found the entrance.” Simon couldn’t hide his excitement.

  “I know, but we don’t want Nicholas to hear us,” Michael reminded him.

  A voice screamed through the darkness, “Too late!”

  Lily turned around and saw Nicholas’s red jacket sparkle in the darkness. She lunged toward Nicholas, ripping through his sparkly red jacket, and since she was still invisible, he was completely vulnerable to the surprise attack.

  9

  FREEDOM

  “Let our friends go!” Lily shouted as she continued to strike Nicholas’s one-eyed skin with her diamond sword.

  Nicholas couldn’t see Lily and tried to strike her with his diamond sword, but her invisibility gave her an advantage and she was easily able to dodge the strikes from his sword.

  “It’s wearing off,” Michael warned Lily as he saw her reappear.

  “Now I’ve got you.” Nicholas leapt at Lily and cornered her against a wall in the stronghold.

  Lily didn’t warn Nicholas that three creepers were silently lurking behind him. The silent creepers exploded, weakening Nicholas. Robin slammed her sword into Nicholas and he was destroyed.

  Michael rushed to the door and freed his friends.

  Ilana was the first to sprint out. “Thank you!”

  Peter, Sunny, Blossom, and Warren hurried out of the prison.

  “Warren?” Lily questioned. “I thought you were working with Nicholas?”

  “No, he isn’t,” Peter replied. “I’ll explain.”

  Lily couldn’t listen to Peter’s explanation. She wanted to know where Mr. Anarchy was hiding. She walked into the small prison and didn’t see him in the room.

  “Where’s Mr. Anarchy?” Lily was stunned to see the room was empty.

  Peter called out, “He’s in his own prison. We don’t know where, but Nicholas took him out and had him work on a project.”

  Warren warned them, “He zapped other people onto the server. He made them change their skins and they are all one-eyed and wear sparkly jackets like
him. Nicholas said something about how he had met other one-eyed griefers when he was playing the game once, and he wanted to replicate their power on this server.”

  “That’s awful!” Lily cried out, but then questioned Warren. “Why did you help Nicholas craft a portal to the Nether?”

  “I was afraid of him,” Warren confessed. “I didn’t want him to hurt you and I know he can be very evil.”

  Three griefers sporting sparkly jackets emerged from down the hall and shot arrows at the group. Ilana splashed a potion of weakness on them, and Lily leapt at the griefers with her diamond sword.

  Warren had other plans. He tried to talk to the weakened griefers. “You don’t have to be evil. I know Nicholas zapped you onto this server. He did the same thing to me. You don’t have to follow his rules.”

  Ilana added, “Nicholas never wants to leave this server. We want to leave. If you stick with us, you will hopefully make your way back to the real world.”

  Peter said, “If you stick with Nicholas you’ll be here forever. He’ll never let you leave.”

  One griefer, who wore a purple sparkly jacket, put his sword down. “You mean he wants us to stay here forever and never go back home?”

  The other two griefers, one dressed in a blue jacket and another in an orange one, were annoyed at their friend for questioning Nicholas. The blue griefer struck the purple-jacketed griefer with his diamond sword.

  “Stop!” Lily screamed at the blue and orange griefers. “How can you follow Nicholas? He’s not going to help you escape. I have no idea what he promised you, but it’s not worth it.”

  “He told us that we will be able to control this server forever, that we will be the kings,” admitted the blue griefer.

  “But we’ll never get to leave the server,” the purple griefer said to his friend.

  “Who cares?” the blue griefer replied.

  “You’re right—we will be powerful forever.” The purple griefer grinned.

  Peter called out, “But that’s awful. Don’t you want to leave? Don’t you miss your home?”

  The blue griefer smiled and struck Peter with his sword. “Yeah, but this is a lot more fun.”

  “Attacking you guys is super awesome,” the blue griefer cackled as he struck Ilana, Robin, and Michael with his sword.