Minecraft: Ironsword Academy/HotCold1CHP
Prologue
Eek could feel that someone is watching him, first noticing footsteps outside the Nether base, and then a shadow moving between the trees of the crimson forest, noticing a sparkle of silver before the figure vanished. Eek calls out if anyone is there, and he notices another sparkle of silver belonging to the shadowy figure heading toward the Nether portal and going through it. Eek follows the shadowy figure through the portal, entering the mossy cave and heading back up to the surface. The two then start heading up a nearby mountain, but Eek soon comes face-to-face with a creeper. He quickly sets up a wall to avoid taking damage just as the creeper explodes, and the moon shines down on a forest as a creature howls hungrily in the distance.
Chapter 1: Harper, Wake Up! Wake Up! It’s a Science Emergency!
Harper wakes up to the sound of her alarm as she usually does each morning. On weekdays, she usually gets up at 6:30AM to start her morning routine of checking the weather, packing extra clothes for weather changes, double-checking her schedule, eating breakfast, giving some vegetables to her pet snails, and going over her plans for Minecraft before leaving for school at 7:30AM. Today, however, was different; Harper woke up at 7:25AM, suddenly realizing that she hit the snooze button eleven times! She wonders as to why she nearly overslept, and then remembered that she had been thinking and worrying so much the night before, causing her to fall asleep hours later than usual. With the clock ticking, Harper gets out of bed quickly, puts on some basic clothes, feeds a chopped carrot for her pet snails, and barely makes it on the school bus. Upon arriving at Ironsword Academy, she opens the front doors, only to be met with gusts of very cold air thanks to the air conditioning being on at full power. Heading to Ms. Minerva’s room, Harper wonders as to what is going on, adding that it could be one of Doc’s experiments. Po says that he doesn’t know, and Theo says that it isn’t, adding that Doc said that she has no clue either. Morgan then shows Harper a text from Ash, saying that Eek is nowhere to be found. Despite the setback, Harper is hopeful she’ll come up with a plan to find him.
Chapter 2: There’s No Business like Snow Business!
Meanwhile, in Minecraft, Eek is seen wandering the mountain by himself. About an hour later, he starts heading down the mountain and notices a snowy village at the base of it. Heading to it, Eek attempts to chat with the local villagers, but they don’t seem to care much about him at first. That is, until Eek pulls out some wheat in front of a farmer villager, who offers him an emerald. Eek happily takes it before noticing that some of the villagers need something, like jobs or children. He gets to work, crafting a barrel so one of the villagers can work as a fisherman, crafting a cauldron so another could work as a leatherworker, and building houses and beds for the younger villagers. This took several hours, but Eek never needed to sleep, finishing it off by decorating the streets with status of his friends and trading with every villager for everything they needed. As the sun rose over the village, Eek decides to leave and try to head back to the spawn point, promising to the villagers that he’ll come back for them. Climbing back up the mountain, Eek knows he couldn’t rule over the village, but instead wanted to watch and learn from them, making himself happy by exploring the world and helping everything in it. Just then, he hears a creeper explosion off in the distance, followed by a yelp of pain that didn’t seem to belong to a human. Heading toward the crater, Eek notices a snowy wolf in it, and he offers the wolf a bone.
Chapter 3: Before Reading This Chapter, Get Your Favorite Blanket and Make Yourself a Hot Chocolate.
Back in the real world, Ironsword Academy was practically frozen, with Harper hoping that someone would fix the air conditioning, but nothing changed after each class, and Principal Ferris didn’t even mention it in the morning announcements. Other students had sweaters and jackets in their lockers, but Harper had nothing except for books. Later, as the final bell rings for the day, Harper heads straight to the computer lab to look for Doc. Upon noticing her, she asks as to what is going on with the air conditioning, and Doc sheepishly says that she has no idea. Theo then arrives, believing that someone must’ve changed the temperature on purpose, and Harper wonders if they can change it back to normal. Doc says that they can, but access to the air conditioning is locked behind an administrator password, making Harper believe that Principal Ferris must’ve changed it on purpose; Doc concludes that it might not be him, though, as he hasn’t answered her emails. Harper then discusses with Morgan, Jodi, Po, and Theo about their plan, speaking through chattery teeth and frequent shivering that they would need to make eyes of ender from ender pearls and blaze powder. As Jodi and Po are the only ones able to log into Minecraft, Harper has them do so to meet up with Ash to look for Eek, with Morgan ready for advice if necessary, while she and Theo head to Principal Ferris’ office for the password for the air conditioning.
Chapter 4: It’s a Video Game Rule: Always Climb to the Tallest Point!
Jodi feels confident that Eek had left the Nether, noting that the doors in the Nether base were all open on the way to the portal. Heading back into the Overworld, Jodi, Ash, and Po decides to split up and look in different directions. Jodi heads to the edge of the forest with two options: a river leading to the ocean, and a snowy mountain, feeling confident that Eek went up the latter, thinking back to when she briefly touched the foundation stone to stop the Evoker King from taking it. Heading up the mountain, Jodi notices a rabbit as the sun sets. She then calls out for Eek, and soon hears the sounds of a wolf and spider fighting. She raises her sword, only to soon hear and notice Eek where the spider used to be. Jodi and Eek happily reunite, with her asking him as to what she was doing this far away from spawn. Eek then asks her if she would like to see the village, adding that he’ll explain everything as they walk.
As Eek finishes his explanation with talking about the player that he was chasing, he reiterates to the group that he is confident that it was a player. Upon reaching the village, everyone else gasps in awe, as the original village is now around fifty times bigger than it originally was. Morgan himself leaned back in his chair in astonishment that Eek built everything in one night, including statues, a castle, and older builds from the previous server. Jodi thanks Eek for the work he did, but informs him that they need to get back to the spawn point. He asks Jodi as to how she knows the way, and Morgan says that they keep track of coordinates. Po then asks Eek if he has numbers in his head that change every time he takes a step, and Eek says that he does, adding that they are currently at X of 864 and Z of 1573. Morgan mentions that they made the base close to X of 0 and Z of 0, and Eek exclaims in delight that he’ll never get lost again, with Ash adding that to make it to the End in time, that they would need to explore the Nether for real.
Chapter 5: The Best Thing About Principal Ferris Is That He’s So Unreasonably Reasonable.
Harper and Theo speed through the halls to Principal Ferris’ office, taking note to power walk instead of run. Upon arriving, Principal Ferris asks the two if they would like some more tasks, and Theo asks politely if they could have the password for the air conditioning. Principal Ferris asks as to why they need it, and Theo, attempting to keep him calm, says that a school as perfect as Ironsword would need a perfect temperature to match. Principal Ferris then asks the two as to what is wrong with the cold, and Harper explains as best she could while also trying to keep herself from yelling, saying that she could barely feel her fingers, the water for the mop is frozen, and Baron Sweetcheeks and Duchess Dimples have piled wood chips on top of themselves to keep them warm. Principal Ferris ultimately disregards Harper’s concerns, saying that the cold is "energizing, refreshing" and that "it builds character", adding that today was one of the most productive days in the school’s history, and that the cold reminds him of his childhood when he lived with his grandparents, as his bedroom was directly above their ice cream parlor. As Principal Ferris lists off some of his favorite ice cream flavors, like vanilla and chocolate, Harper and Theo decide to leave, with the former hoping that he’ll change his mind, saying to him that vanilla and chocolate are boring ice cream flavors as they leave.
Chapter 6: In the Lava Travel Industry, One Mob Is Making Great Strides! Get Your Own for the Low, Low Price of One Fungus!
Meanwhile, in Minecraft, Ash helps Eek build a doghouse at their Overworld base, with Eek explaining that he wanted another friend so he wouldn’t be as bored while the others were gone. Ash concurs, saying to Eek that he did the right thing, and asking him if he had fun building in the village. Eek says that he did, detailing about using his tools and the items he has. The group then head into the Nether, with Po and Jodi leading the way through a crimson forest, picking up some warped fungus to use for striders. As they come up to one, the group use their fishing rods with warped fungus attached to tame the striders, and then put saddles on top of them. They ride on them for a bit, with Morgan warning them to not jump off of them. The group then head off to find a Nether fortress.
Chapter 7: If You Can’t Take the Heat, Get out of the Computer Lab!
As Harper and Theo return, Harper jokingly suggests to hit the air conditioning with a hammer until it stops working. Just then, she notices that it isn’t cold anymore, and Harper reiterates that they would need to kill blazes for blaze rods. Theo and Jodi starting taking off their hat and blanket, respectively, so Harper decides to check the air vent, only to notice it’s really hot. Theo knows that the computers can’t handle the heat very well, so he and Harper leave once more to attempt to talk to Principal Ferris again for the password for the air conditioning.