The Return of the Rainbow Griefers Read online

  “This is good,” Violet said to the others. “Nobody will notice that we aren’t rainbow since it’s getting dark.”

  “Should we build a place to stay?” asked Katie.

  “No, we don’t have time. We have to remain focused and find our friends,” replied Noah.

  “They need to be taken to the dungeon,” a voice called out.

  “Did you hear that?” asked Violet.

  “Yes, where did it come from?” Noah replied.

  “I don’t know, but it sounds like Daniel.” Violet turned her horse in the direction of the voice. “I think it’s coming from that desert house.”

  “You’re right!” Noah said as he heard the voice again.

  Violet knew it was definitely Daniel’s voice when she heard him say, “Once we bring them to the dungeon, we’ll put them on Hardcore mode and destroy them!” Daniel’s shrill laugh echoed throughout the village. The laugh was piercing, loud, and plain evil.

  “He’s just a one-trick pony,” Noah said as he hopped off his horse and strode toward the house.

  “What do you mean?” questioned Dash.

  “When Daniel wants to destroy someone, he tries to put them on Hardcore mode. It’s his only plan,” remarked Noah.

  “I know, you’d think he’d find another plan,” Violet added as she also got off her horse and followed Noah.

  The others dismounted and walked closely behind Noah.

  “Do we have a plan?” questioned Violet.

  “Our plan is to save our friends,” replied Noah.

  “That’s not a plan. That’s a goal,” Violet retorted.

  “It’s just semantics,” uttered Noah. He knew Violet was right, they needed a plan.

  The gang stood by the door of the desert house. Two small cacti sat on either side of the entrance. Before they could enter, two red griefers attacked them.

  “Gotcha!” one of the red griefers called out as he hit Violet with his sword.

  Noah and his friends tried to fight back but the griefers threw a potion on the gang and it weakened them.

  “We need to bring these evil folks to Daniel,” the red griefer told his fellow evil griefer.

  “No, we should keep them from Daniel,” replied the other griefer.

  “Why?” His friend seemed confused.

  “They are worth something. These are the people Daniel told our entire village to look for, and we can use them to our advantage.”

  “You’re so smart. We should totally do that,” his red griefer friend replied.

  The two griefers were so busy plotting how they could use the captives for their potential gain, they didn’t notice Dash racing toward them with his diamond sword. Dash struck one of the red griefers, pushing him onto the cactus.

  “Help!” the red griefer called out.

  His friend couldn’t help him because he, too, was thrown against the cactus. Katie had struck the other griefer with her sword and he fell onto the prickly plant.

  The cacti damaged the griefers, but the gang finalized it when they struck the two griefers with their swords and destroyed them.

  “See what happens when you get greedy,” Noah said to his friends.

  The gang could hear Daniel’s voice call out, “I think I hear someone outside.”

  The door to the desert house opened. A flood of rainbow griefers sprinted from the home.

  An orange griefer spotted Noah and shouted, “I found them! They’re here!”

  The gang fought with splash potions, arrows, and their enchanted diamond swords, but they were outnumbered. Even a skilled fighter like Dash was no match for the large griefer army.

  Daniel walked out of the house ordering the griefer army, “Don’t destroy them. Just capture them.”

  “We’ve got them!” a green griefer called to Daniel.

  Daniel commended the group, “Good job, griefer army!”

  The group was surrounded, and the rainbow griefers marched them into the house.

  Daniel laughed, “I have big plans for you guys.”

  The gang walked into the house. One of the griefers asked Daniel, “What are your plans for them?”

  Daniel replied, “Don’t ask questions. You just take orders.”

  The griefer army led the group down the stairs into a dark room with a couple of torches providing a dull light to the musty basement. Noah spotted Hannah in the distance. She was in a jail cell, trapped behind bars.

  “Help!” she cried.

  Noah wanted to help, but he knew, for now, he was helpless.

  13

  DÉJÀ VU

  “Look at you guys. You should be happy that you’ve been reunited,” Daniel cackled as he slammed the door of the jail behind them.

  “We’re going to get out. We’re going to be free,” Violet shouted at Daniel.

  “I’m having a feeling of déjà vu.” Daniel smiled. “I’ve heard that before, and guess what: I always come back and get my way. I am going to win. You might as well just give up.”

  “Never!” shouted Violet.

  “And we will rebuild Supersonic,” Katie blurted out.

  “How funny,” Daniel put his hand on the prison bars, “you’re worried about an amusement park, when you should be worried about yourselves. This is the end, my friends.”

  The gang all began to shout at once, but Daniel didn’t listen. He just removed the torches and walked up the stairs with his griefer army, leaving the gang trapped in a pitch-dark basement.

  “What are we going to do?” Will asked them. He was terrified.

  “We’re going to escape,” Violet replied. She paced around the small cell. Her friends looked at her, hoping she had a plan.

  “Watch out!” Ben called to his friends as a spider crawled through the prison cell.

  Noah grabbed his diamond sword from his inventory and struck the spider. Violet watched Noah destroy the spider and said, “I know how we are going to escape!”

  “How?” the group asked in unison.

  Violet paced as she spoke. “I mean, for all of his planning, Daniel never pays attention to the most important detail.”

  “What?” the group asked.

  “Daniel never emptied our inventories,” Violet said. “We aren’t trapped. We have weapons . . . and that means we still have power.”

  “Yes!” Noah called out. “We have pickaxes!”

  The group took pickaxes from their inventories and began to dig into the ground.

  “Watch out for lava,” Violet warned as they dug their pickaxes deep into the ground.

  They worked hard together until they had a deep a hole. Noah said, “We need to climb in.”

  One by one they each jumped into the hole. Ben suggested, “I think we should light a torch and place it down here.”

  Hannah took a torch from her inventory and placed it on the wall of their makeshift cave.

  “We need to dig a seriously deep tunnel next,” Noah instructed the group. “When we begin to dig an exit hole out of the tunnel, we want to be so far from this desert house that we have a chance to escape.”

  “But how are we going to defeat Daniel?” questioned Violet.

  “We just need to get out of here first,” replied Noah.

  “I think I see something blue,” Marco told the group as he dug the tunnel.

  “Wow, I didn’t think we were deep enough to find diamonds!” marveled Hannah.

  Violet walked over to Marco. “You’re right. You did find diamonds. How amazing!”

  The gang began to grab the diamonds and place them in their inventories.

  “They are going to come in very handy,” said Leo. “We’ll need all these resources when we rebuild Supersonic.”

  The group used their pickaxes and worked hard. Violet looked back. “We’ve dug a fairly long tunnel. I wonder if we should start thinking about digging upward and getting out of here.”

  “Let’s just dig a bit more. I want to make sure we are far enough from Daniel’s headquarters.”


  Hannah paused. “Oh no,” she cried out.

  “What is it?” asked Ben.

  “Shh!” Hannah told the group, “I think I hear voices.”

  Everyone stood silently until Violet whispered, “You’re right! We aren’t alone.”

  Noah spotted rainbow griefers behind them. “They found us! Dig up!”

  The group furiously dug a hole into the top of the tunnel. Noah was the first to climb out. He called to the others, “Be prepared for battle!”

  As each of them scrambled out of the tunnel, they were surprised to see a horde of skeletons shooting arrows at them.

  “I thought we were going to battle rainbow griefers,” Violet said as she tried to fight the skeletons.

  Dash struck four skeletons and destroyed them.

  “This guy can fight!” exclaimed Ben as he dodged an arrow flying in his direction.

  “I know,” Noah said proudly of his friend Dash. “He is the best fighter. We’re in good hands.”

  As the gang battled the skeletons, the rainbow griefers emerged from the tunnel and shot arrows at them.

  Dash charged at the griefers, striking them skillfully with his sword. Within seconds he wiped out the entire batch of rainbow griefers trailing them.

  “Good job,” praised Noah.

  “I’m not finished yet,” Dash replied breathlessly as he raced toward the remaining skeletons and obliterated them.

  The sun began to rise. Violet looked around and realized they were in the middle of the desert village.

  “Everyone is waking up,” Violet told them. “We have to get out of here!”

  The gang hurried toward home. They knew the next time they battled Daniel, it would be on their turf.

  They raced past the empty checkpoint. Violet was hoping they’d find another herd of horses as they made their way through the Savanna Biome, but there weren’t any horses roaming around the grassy land.

  “What are we going to do when we get back to our village?” asked Hannah.

  “Don’t worry,” Violet announced, “I have a great plan.”

  14

  RETURNING THE FAVOR

  The first person the gang spotted as they entered their village was Valentino the Butcher.

  “You’re back!” Valentino called out to his friends.

  “How’s everything in town?” asked Noah.

  “It’s been quiet,” replied Valentino.

  “That’s because we were busy fighting Daniel in the Desert Biome,” said Noah.

  Valentino asked, “Did you defeat that evil villain?”

  Noah looked at the ground; he was embarrassed to admit they had fled the town without destroying Daniel and his minions. “No, we didn’t.”

  “Oh no. Does that mean Daniel is coming back here?”

  “Yes,” said Violet, “but we’ll be prepared. We are going to defeat Daniel.”

  “And we’re going to rebuild Supersonic,” added Leo.

  “In fact, we should get started on rebuilding the amusement park right away,” Violet told the gang.

  “Seriously?” questioned Hannah. “That’s what you want us to work on? I mean, shouldn’t we spend our time brainstorming a plan to defeat Daniel?”

  “Trust me”—Violet smiled—“this is a part of the plan.”

  Valentino said, “Great! Go rebuild the amusement park. I can’t wait to work at my restaurant again. I loved working at the park. It was so festive.”

  “It will be festive again. Daniel isn’t going to stop our happiness,” said Katie.

  The group was in a jovial mood. They were excited to hear Violet’s plan, but once they reached the park’s entrance, their mood became quite somber.

  “This is a lot worse than I imagined,” Violet said as she stared at the ruined park, now flooded with lava.

  “I told you all that Daniel flooded the park.” Leo shook his head at the mess that flowed through the park.

  “How are we going to rid the park of lava and rebuild?” Violet worried that her plan might not work out.

  “Should we rebuild the park in another spot?” suggested Will.

  “No, there isn’t another spot,” replied Katie. “And we can’t just leave this park covered in lava. It’s a symbol of defeat.”

  Everyone agreed with Katie. They must clean up the park and rebuild the amusement park on the same land.

  “Do you need help?” a voice called out.

  Violet and the gang turned around and were surprised to see the entire town standing behind them.

  One of the townspeople said, “You’re not alone. We can help clean up the park.”

  On further inspection, Violet realized the entire town was carrying buckets.

  “We’d love your help.” Violet beamed in relief.

  Using one bucket at a time, the townspeople emptied the toxic substance from the amusement park. It took an entire village and an entire day to rid the park of lava, but as night began to set in, the park was clean.

  “Now we just have to rebuild,” said Violet. She thanked the townspeople, “Without your help this park could not be rebuilt. You are all warriors in the battle against Daniel.”

  One of the townspeople spoke, “As you might recall, many of us were forced into being a part of Daniel’s rainbow griefer army. We will do anything to see him defeated.”

  The townspeople cheered. Violet never felt happier. Even though their situation was dire and rebuilding the park wouldn’t be an easy job, she was happy to see that so many people wanted to help.

  “You are the strongest asset we have in this battle against Daniel. Knowing that we have your assistance will help us ultimately defeat Daniel.”

  The townspeople cheered, until one cried out, “I’ve been hit!”

  Skeletons descended upon the town.

  “More skeletons!” shouted Marco.

  “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we keep seeing skeletons. I’m sure Daniel is summoning them,” noted Violet as she shot an arrow at the bony beasts clanging through her dimly lit town.

  The gang and the townspeople battled the skeletons. Violet was upset that many townspeople were destroyed by the bony terrors.

  Click! Clack! Clang! More skeletons paraded through the town.

  “Do you think he has a skeleton spawner outside the town?” questioned Noah, as he struck a skeleton with his diamond sword.

  “Should we search for it?” asked Ben.

  “It may be our only option,” replied Noah.

  Noah and Ben made their way through the battleground and walked outside of the village.

  “They’re coming from over this hill,” Ben pointed out.

  Noah and Ben hiked over the hill and spotted a cave. “It must be in there!” The duo cautiously entered the cave. Noah quickly found a cave spider and destroyed it.

  “I see it!” Ben called out.

  Noah and Ben took out torches and placed them by the skeleton spawner.

  “Thankfully the skeleton invasion is over.” Noah smiled.

  “For now.” Ben wasn’t convinced the skeletons were really gone. Daniel was tricky. He might have another spawner close by.

  Noah and Ben were emerging from the cave when Noah suddenly shouted, “Watch out!”

  It was too late. The creeper exploded and Ben was destroyed.

  Noah knew Ben would respawn in the desert village. He didn’t know if he should head to the desert village alone and protect Ben or if he should go back to the town and get help. As he stood in the darkness, he felt very conflicted about the decision. He was so immersed in thought that he didn’t notice a green creeper silently sidle up to him.

  Kaboom! Noah was destroyed. He respawned in the tree house. The gang was climbing up the ladder when they saw Noah.

  “Where’s Ben?” Hannah asked him.

  “We were both destroyed by creepers,” replied Noah.

  “Oh no!” Hannah gasped. “We need to go and save him.”

  “We can’t. We need to sleep fi
rst.” Violet didn’t want to appear heartless, but she knew the gang needed to sleep in the tree house. If they didn’t, some of them would respawn in the Desert Biome.

  “But you don’t realize where Daniel had us sleep. It was a horrible place. He is such a bad person. We were sleeping in a dirty cave before he placed us in that cell,” Hannah said as she walked toward the ladder.

  “We need to sleep here and find Ben in the morning. If not, and if you are destroyed during a battle, you will respawn in the desert.”

  Hannah paused. She knew Violet was right, but she wouldn’t be able to sleep with Ben in danger. “But Ben—”

  Noah interrupted, “Ben is a strong person. He’ll be fine.”

  Hannah didn’t know if that was true, but she was tired. She climbed into her bed, and within seconds everyone was asleep.

  15

  GRAND REOPENING

  “Good morning!” Ben called out as the sun began to rise.

  “Ben!” Hannah was so happy to see her friend standing in the tree house. “How did you escape?”

  “The village was empty,” Ben told them.

  “Empty?” Violet was surprised to hear that.

  “I have no idea where everyone went, but there aren’t any people in the desert village anymore,” said Ben.

  “Daniel must have relocated his group,” said Noah.

  Violet paced the length of the tree house. “I don’t like this at all. I have a feeling we are in for a serious attack today.”

  “But we must rebuild the park,” said Katie.

  “Yes, we will rebuild the park today,” Violet reassured her friend. “I’m sure once we announce a grand reopening, Daniel will stage his attack.”

  “You’re right,” confirmed Noah. “Daniel loves an audience. As soon as the park is filled with people from all over the Overworld, he will have a big audience for his attack.”

  “Let’s go and rebuild!” announced Violet.

  “But I don’t want the park to be destroyed.” Leo was worried about the park. He didn’t want to rebuild and have the park simply demolished again. He thought that was pointless.

  “Once we stage the grand reopening, we’ll be ready for Daniel. If we’re properly prepared, we will defeat him,” said Violet.