10

SCUFFLE WITH SKELETONS

Lily was having a hard time getting onto the server. The connection was spotty, and her computer kept freezing up, so she could only access the server for a couple of seconds. The storm had passed through the town, knocking the electricity out for a few hours, but luckily her laptop was fully charged. She wanted to call her friends to see if they too were back in the real world, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to reach them. She felt out of sorts being back in the real world without them, but also because time moved very slowly in the real world. They had been on the server for days, while only a couple of hours had passed in the real world. When she logged in and got onto the server, she found her friends in the jungle, but the minute she called out to them, she was shut off the server. Lily was devastated. She wanted to talk to Robin and she wanted to find Mr. Anarchy.

“Not again!” she yelled, and her mother asked her if everything was okay.

“Yes,” she replied quickly, not wanting to alert her mother to what was happening in the world of Minecraft.

Robin watched as Lily vanished from the server. “Lily!” she cried.

Simon could hear a voice in the distance. “Quiet!” he said to Robin, “I think I hear Mr. Anarchy.”

“Where is it coming from?” Robin looked through a thick patch of leaves; she could hear the voice, but wasn’t sure which direction to go.

“I think he’s over here,” Blossom called out and ran down a grassy path lined with trees.

“That’s near the stronghold,” Robin told them. “I can show you the entrance.” Robin led them to a hole in a large redwood tree. “In here.”

The gang followed Robin into the tree. She called out, “Mr. Anarchy? Are you in here?”

“Robin,” she heard. His voice was faint.

Blossom cried out in pain and grabbed her arm. Three arrows pierced her body and she started losing hearts. “Skeletons!” Blossom was struck by four more arrows and narrowly dodged another barrage as she grabbed milk from her inventory to replenish her energy.

Robin struck two skeletons with her diamond sword as she called out for her lost friend, Mr. Anarchy, but there was no response. Robin worried that he had been destroyed by the skeletons and had respawned in the jungle house. She wanted to escape from the skeleton battle and search for Mr. Anarchy in the jungle, but more skeletons spawned and she couldn’t leave the battle. In fact, she could barely keep up with the bony beasts, which outnumbered her friends.

Michael and Simon splashed potions on the skeletons. Michael cried out, “I have to search for the spawner. It’s the only way we can win this battle.”

“I think it’s in the dungeon,” Robin shouted.

“I’m going there right now,” Michael hollered and he sprinted toward the dungeon, leaving his friends to finish the battle with the horde of skeletons.

Michael dodged two skeletons walking down the hall, avoiding a strike from the hostile mob. As he made his way down to the dungeon, he could hear the rattling of skeleton bones and was terrified when he approached the spawner. He wasn’t sure he could destroy the spawner on his own. Michael grabbed his iron pickaxe and banged the spawner. It wasn’t easy. He used all of his strength and was barely able to demolish the skeleton spawner, but he finally destroyed it. Michael rushed back to his friends.

He entered the stronghold and called out to them, “Simon, Robin, Blossom!”

There was no reply. Nobody was there.

“Guys?” shouted Michael, “Where are you?”

Pablo appeared in the stronghold.

Michael was annoyed to see him. “What do you want? I know you are the one causing all of this trouble. Why would you do that to us? I don’t understand. You are back home and have all the comforts of real life. Why would you want to trap us here?”

Pablo chuckled. “I don’t want to hurt you guys. Why would you think that?”

“Don’t lie to me,” Michael replied. He wanted to threaten Pablo with his diamond sword but he knew it was pointless. Pablo could be destroyed a million times and it wouldn’t matter at all. To Pablo, this was just a game, but to Michael, this was real life.

“I’m not lying. Why would you think I’m a griefer?” asked Pablo. “Just because I griefed on the server before I was zapped off doesn’t mean I am doing it from the real world.”

Michael listed all of the reasons he suspected Pablo. “Every time you show up there is a TNT explosion.”

“That can be just a coincidence,” Pablo defended himself.

Michael was about to tell Pablo that Lily had confirmed that Pablo was a griefer, but before he could speak, Lily spawned in front of them.

“Lily!” Michael said with a smile.

“Lily,” Pablo frowned.

“Where are the others?” Lily asked them.

They replied in unison, “I don’t know.”

“Pablo,” she said as she stepped right up to him and held her diamond sword against his chest, which was more for effect than for action. “I can’t believe you. Leave them alone. I know your secrets.”

“What secrets?” Pablo questioned.

“I have the emails you sent,” she yelled. “Do you want me to read them to Michael?”

Pablo didn’t respond. He vanished.

“What did he write in the emails?” Michael was curious.

“It doesn’t matter,” Lily replied. “We have to find the others quickly.”

Lily hurried out of the stronghold and Michael followed closely behind her. “Where do you think they are?” he asked.

“I’m not sure,” she answered, as she sheared a path through the lush jungle biome.

“I hear voices,” Michael told her, and he strained to listen.

“Me too!” Lily exclaimed.

Michael was a step behind Lily when she vanished. “Lily!” he called out, but there was no response.

The voices grew louder, and Michael panted as he raced toward them. He could see Robin and Blossom through a patch of leaves.

“Guys!” Michael exclaimed, “I’m over here!”

“It’s Michael,” Mr. Anarchy cried.

A shattering blast shook the jungle. Trees fell all over. Michael couldn’t see his friends.