Hidden in the Overworld Read online

  Ben said, “We ought to trust him. He handed Violet his sword.”

  Harrison suggested, “Let’s check through his inventory.”

  And Elias questioned, “What can he do to us?”

  Lastly, Noah summed up the situation. “He’s vital to us. He probably knows where Daniel is hiding. If he really doesn’t want to work for Daniel anymore, maybe he can help us battle him. We need to trust this orange griefer. He’s our only lead and we need all the help we can get.”

  Violet agreed with Noah. The others weren’t one hundred percent sold on the idea of having an orange griefer sleep in the igloo, but they all had to admit that Noah was right. They needed to find Daniel, and this stranger could tell them what the griefers were planning.

  Violet returned to the orange griefer. “Do you have a name?”

  “Funny, nobody ever asks me that. I am just called soldier. But before I became a rainbow soldier, I was a farmer and my name was Jack.”

  “Well, we’re going to call you Jack,” Violet announced pleasantly.

  “Does that mean you’ll let me stay with you guys?” asked Jack.

  “Yes, but we need to check through your inventory,” she informed him.

  “Okay, you can do that!”

  Violet paused. “. . . And you have to help us find Daniel.”

  “I can do that, too! I don’t want to belong to his army anymore!” The orange griefer raised his voice so the rest of the group could hear him.

  Violet and her friends let Jack, the orange griefer, into their igloo. They crafted a bed for Jack. They all pulled the wool covers over their bodies and hoped that Jack was being sincere. As the friends drifted off to sleep, they wondered what the new day would bring.

  They didn’t expect the day to start with a knock on the door.

  10

  GATHERING FACTS

  “Who can that be?” Violet jumped from the bed. She looked over at Jack, the orange griefer. He was still in bed.

  “If these are your rainbow griefer friends ready to attack us, you are going to pay, Jack,” Ben threatened.

  Noah hurried to answer the knock. With his diamond sword in hand, he opened it slowly.

  “Angela!” Noah was surprised to see their old friend from the town.

  “How did you find us here?” asked Violet.

  “It wasn’t easy. But I found out from a rainbow griefer that Daniel was in the Cold Taiga Biome and I knew you’d be here. I’m so happy this is your igloo.”

  “What rainbow griefer?” questioned Ben.

  “They’re back. Kyle and I spotted one in town. We captured the griefer and got some information. He was sent there to blow up as many structures as he could.” Angela gave them the details of the capture and told them how the desperate, trapped griefer alerted her to Daniel’s location and his plan to summon the Wither on the town.

  “Yes, he is planning on summoning the Wither,” the orange griefer confirmed.

  “Who is this? Why do you have a rainbow griefer staying with you?” Angela was confused.

  “We captured him last night,” Hannah told her.

  “His name is Jack and he doesn’t want to be a griefer anymore,” explained Violet.

  “Daniel calls us all soldiers,” the orange griefer clarified. “We don’t get to have individual names.”

  “It doesn’t matter what you call yourself. You are just a bunch of bullies who cause trouble and hurt innocent people,” Harrison told Jack.

  Violet didn’t want the gang to get distracted in a debate about whether Jack was a griefer or a soldier; she wanted to save her town and stop Daniel before he called in the Wither. “When is he summoning the Wither?” she asked.

  “I’m not sure, but he wants to do it soon. He was trying to figure out the command blocks to summon the Wither,” confessed Jack.

  “We have to stop him! Where is he hiding?” Hannah took out her sword and pointed the weapon at Jack.

  “There’s no need to point swords,” Violet admonished as she reached for Hannah’s sword. “We should be nice to each other. We all have the same plan. We want to defeat Daniel.”

  “Yes, I want to defeat Daniel, too,” exclaimed Jack.

  “Great, then we are on the same page,” Hannah said, but she didn’t believe him. She wanted to get as much information out of him as they could before he turned on them.

  The gang ate apples and drank milk because they needed strength to battle Daniel. After they were done eating, they followed Jack down a snowy path.

  “Daniel was staying here,” said Jack, and he led them to a large hole on the side of a mountain.

  The group carefully and quietly entered the cave. Violet walked closely behind Jack. “The cave is empty,” she called out.

  “They must know you are looking for them,” Jack speculated as he examined the cave.

  There was a large hole in the ground. Ben looked down and said, “It looks like they were mining here.”

  Elias shouted, “Blue! I see blue! There are diamonds here.” He was about to climb into the hole with his pickaxe in hand, but Violet warned him to stop.

  “This could be a trap. I don’t trust Daniel. Why would he leave a cave with diamonds?” Violet looked around the entrance.

  “Look, there’s a room with empty beds,” Ben yelled to the gang.

  “Evidently they’re coming back,” surmised Violet. “They didn’t abandon the cave; they’re probably out hunting for us.”

  “What are we going to do? Should we leave?” Ben’s voice quavered. He was very nervous.

  “No, we are staying,” declared Violet.

  Hannah put on her helmet, grabbed her pickaxe, and jumped into the hole. “I’m mining while they are away. I want diamonds.”

  Ben joined Hannah, and the two mined for diamonds.

  “I think someone should watch out for Daniel,” suggested Noah.

  Jack volunteered. “I think I should be the watchman, because I blend in.”

  The group spread out in different directions around the frozen cave. Elias walked down a long hall and investigated various rooms. Angela searched the main room. They were all looking for any clues that could help them figure out what other attacks Daniel was staging.

  Violet entered a room with only one bed. “This must be Daniel’s room,” she called out to Noah, who followed her into the room.

  “A chest!” Noah raced to look it over.

  Noah and Violet opened the chest. It was filled with numerous enchanted books.

  “If he has so many enchanted books, why was he focused on finding the one that I had taken from that cave?” Violet questioned.

  “It looks like he collects them. Maybe he wants all of the enchanted books in the Overworld.”

  Violet thought Noah’s analysis made sense, but she also wondered if Daniel wanted the books because he was planning some master attack that involved a battle with multiple enchanted swords.

  The group explored the rest of his room, but there was nothing there to help them figure out his next move.

  Disappointed, Violet and Noah walked out of the room. Noah’s heart skipped a beat when he heard Jack shout, “They’re here!”

  11

  HIDE AND SEEK

  “Jump down here!” Hannah hollered up from the hole. “It looks like there’s a stronghold. We can hide there.”

  Harrison, Elias, Angela, Violet, and Noah emerged from rooms deep within the icy cave and quickly jumped into the hole where Hannah and Ben were mining.

  It was a race against time. When they finally reached the bottom of the hole, they could hear Daniel and the rainbow griefers returning. Hannah led them safely to a door, but as they opened the door to the stronghold, they could hear a rainbow griefer state, “Wow, I don’t remember digging that deep. I’m a better miner than I thought.”

  The gang rushed through the entrance and into the stronghold before the griefers could spot them. They found themselves in a large empty room. Noah noted as he walked down the h
all, “Sometimes there’s treasure in a stronghold.”

  “I’m worried that we’ll end up t-t-trapped here. How are we going to get out when Daniel and the rainbow griefers are above us?” Ben stuttered as he spoke.

  “There’s no turning back now.” Noah led them down the hall and into a room that had two floors and a cobblestone center.

  “It’s a storeroom,” remarked Violet as she looked at the torch and walked up the wooden stairs to the second floor, where she discovered a treasure chest.

  “Look! She found a chest!” Elias exclaimed as he followed behind Violet.

  Violet opened the chest. “More enchanted books!” she said in excitement.

  “Daniel would go crazy if he knew you had his chest of enchanted books,” added Noah.

  The group placed the enchanted books in their inventories.

  “Watch out!” yelled Harrison.

  A silverfish crawled past them. Noah reached for his diamond sword and struck the insect.

  “Look over there!” Ben shouted.

  The group watched a huge group of silverfish crawl into the storeroom.

  “There has to be a spawner nearby,” said Noah as he dashed toward the silverfish and tried to strike as many as he could with his sword.

  The others joined Noah in his battle against the small bugs. Violet ran past the insects on a quest to find the spawner in the stronghold. As she raced down the hall, she was struck with an arrow.

  “Ouch!” Violet called out. She looked up to see three skeletons standing in front of her, pointing their bows and arrows at her. Violet was outnumbered. She lashed out at a skeleton, but the others shot arrows at her. “Help!” Violet called to her friends.

  Hannah was the first one to help Violet clobber the bony menaces. She also used her diamond sword to attack the skeletons, but they were strong and the battle wasn’t easy.

  “Somebody help us!” Hannah yelled as she saw more skeletons marching down the hall toward them.

  Click. Clack. Clang. Their bones clanged as they advanced toward Violet and Hannah.

  The two friends struck many of the skeletons, but they weren’t making any progress. These skilled bony fighters were able to inflict damage on both warriors, despite all the armor they wore. They needed help.

  With a sword in one hand, Hannah was able to grab a bottle of a splash potion of Healing. She splashed it on two skeletons. They were destroyed and dropped bones.

  Elias, Ben, and Angela rushed to join them in battle. They struck as many skeletons as they could, and they felt confident that they’d win the battle until Noah hollered, “Help us! This room is flooded with zombies and silverfish.”

  “Do you think this is a trap?” Violet questioned as she struck another skeleton and worried that her energy level was about to be depleted.

  Angela raced down the hall to help Noah. Violet felt powerless; she couldn’t help them because she was barely handling her own battle.

  Angela called out, “I found the silverfish spawner. Someone help me deactivate it!”

  Ben ran to Angela’s side. Violet felt relieved that at least one of the mobs was being destroyed.

  Hannah’s potion of Healing was destroying the skeletons faster than a strike from a sword. She kept splashing the potion while Violet finished off the weakened skeletons with a strike from her sword.

  “We make a good team,” Hannah said as she splashed more potions on the skeletons.

  “Yes, but we have to save some of that potion for ourselves. We are losing too much energy in this battle.” Violet tried to catch her breath as she struck the final skeleton.

  When the final bone dropped to the ground, Noah shouted again, “Violet, I need you!” Violet and Hannah dashed down the hall. They weren’t prepared for the battle they were about to fight. The room was filled with vacant-eyed zombies. There were so many zombies that it was almost impossible to move around.

  “This is crazy. I’ve never seen this many zombies in one place before. This has to be one of Daniel’s attacks.” Violet struck a zombie, but another hit her, and she lost energy.

  “We can do this!” Noah told them as he threw a potion of Healing on the zombies and weakened the walking dead beasts.

  “There are too many to battle!” yelled Violet. She charged three zombies with her sword, striking them as hard as she could, but only destroyed one.

  Ben and Harrison were battling zombies that were wearing armor, and they were about to lose the battle. Violet worried they’d be destroyed and respawn in the igloo, where Daniel would be waiting to capture them and put them on Hardcore mode.

  Hannah shouted, “Everyone take out all the potions you have that can harm the zombies and throw them at these beasts.”

  The group followed Hannah’s direction and the zombies were all destroyed.

  “Excellent!” Noah shouted in relief.

  “An extreme splash attack!” Violet praised her friend, “Good idea, Hannah!”

  They wanted to celebrate. Everyone grabbed milk and potions of Healing from their inventories to regain their strength. It was a jubilant time, but it was also very brief. Once the group finished their drinks, they heard a voice call out to them from below the storeroom.

  “Are you ready for another battle?” the voice asked with a sinister laugh.

  12

  BACK TO THE END

  “It’s Daniel!” Harrison shouted. The group rushed down the hall in search of an exit from the stronghold.

  “How are we going to get out of here? I knew it! We’re trapped!” Ben called out to the group.

  “Down here!” Violet turned into a room at the end of the hall.

  “Not again!” Noah sighed.

  The rainbow griefers could be heard in the hallway, while the group stared at a portal in the middle of the room.

  “We have to go to the End. It’s our only way out,” Noah said. He jumped on the portal and activated it.

  “I don’t want to go to the End!” Angela was terrified; she had never been to the End before.

  “It’s our only choice,” Noah called out. “Come quickly.”

  The group joined Noah on the portal and within seconds they were in the End, and standing in front of a large Ender Dragon that roared in their faces.

  Violet threw a snowball at the Ender Dragon, but that only aggravated it.

  Noah tried to strike it with his sword, but missed and was hit by the Ender Dragon, depleting his health.

  “We have to destroy the Ender crystals,” Noah told his friends. “That’s our best chance at winning this battle.”

  Harrison aimed at the Ender crystals but missed them. A swarm of Endermites approached him. He tried to strike as many as he could with his sword. “Help!” he cried out.

  Violet looked down in disgust at the Endermite invasion, as the Ender Dragon swiftly flew down from the sky and struck her with its powerful wing.

  “Ugh!” she cried as her energy ran dangerously low.

  Violet rallied her remaining bit of energy to strike the dragon again. Hannah stood by her friend, throwing snowballs at the dragon.

  Elias helped Harrison battle the Endermites. There were hundreds of small Endermites crawling around the ground and attacking them. Ben joined them and destroyed a bunch of the Endermites. He called out, “Look up!”

  Gangs of Endermen had spawned and were teleporting toward them. There was nowhere to hide. The group had a dragon flying at them from above, and Endermites and Endermen were attacking them on the ground.

  An Enderman shrieked and teleported next to Ben, striking him. He was destroyed. Violet glanced over and noticed that Ben had disappeared. She worried he’d spawn in the igloo and Daniel would put him on Hardcore mode. She couldn’t concentrate on the battle. The Ender Dragon swooped down and roared at Violet, but she bravely struck the flying evil creature with her sword.

  Hannah shot an arrow at the Ender Crystals and they exploded. Angela hit the other Ender crystals, but it was too late. The explosion d
idn’t damage the dragon and thus it couldn’t save Violet. She was respawned back into the igloo.

  As Violet woke up in the bed in the igloo, she saw her friends respawn, one by one, into the frozen home.

  “We’re all here!” She was relieved and said, “And Daniel isn’t even here! We’re safe.”

  Noah looked around at the others. “We’re not all here. Ben is missing!”

  “I wonder if Daniel captured him,” Violet thought aloud in a worried tone.

  There was a knock on the door and Violet hurried to open it. It was Jack, the orange griefer.

  “Where’s Ben?” demanded Violet.

  “Ben? I have no idea. But I have big news for you,” Jack said as he entered the igloo.

  “We don’t want your news, we want to find our friend. We know your evil leader captured him. He could be on Hardcore mode at this very minute and could be destroyed.” Harrison pointed his sword menacingly at Jack.

  “Daniel doesn’t have Jack. He is too busy summoning the Wither to your town. He finally figured out the command blocks. And he also sent a small group of rainbow griefers to blow up your tree house,” confessed Jack.

  Suddenly Ben walked into the igloo.

  “Where were you?” Violet was angry. She couldn’t believe he’d simply left the igloo and hadn’t waited for the others to respawn. They were in this together and had promised to wait for each other before they left the respawning point.

  “I heard a noise outside. I was worried it was Daniel,” Ben told them, “I didn’t know what to do.”

  The group forgave Ben, but they didn’t have time for any discussions. They had to make their way back to the town and they had to do it fast. The gang quickly ate some food and checked through their inventories to make sure they had enough supplies for the trip back to the village.

  Jack asked, “Can I come with you guys?”

  Harrison blurted out, “Does he have to? I don’t trust him.”

  Violet was upset with Harrison. “That’s not nice. We should trust him. He just gave us this valuable information.”

  Noah looked at Jack and said, “Of course you’re welcome to join us. You’re our friend.”

  The group left the igloo. They wanted to get back to the town as fast as they could, but they knew the journey wouldn’t be easy.