Minecraft: Ironsword Academy/NowNether2CHP
Chapter 7: Nine Out of Ten Piglins Agree: The Best Seat in the House…Is a Boat!
Meanwhile, in the Nether, Ash had already added three extra stone walls around the base, with Eek placing a boat in every open space he could see. Ash then sighs, leading Eek to ask as to what is wrong. She says that nothing is wrong, but Eek starts accusing her of lying. Ash then reiterates that she and her family are once again preparing to move, adding that it doesn’t bother her, but she feels alone when she takes off her headset. Eek jumps off the wall and sits down in a boat, appearing to understand the difference between the real world and Minecraft and wanting to play catch-up, but realizing that Ash and Morgan and company are their only friends. Meanwhile, Morgan and company find a figurine of a pig in costume as a vampire in Prince Pellet’s cage. Ash wanted to find that funny, but it was too much to bear with her and Eek being left out. Eek then asks as to what a vampire is before Ash explains to him that they aren’t lonely, but independent, as she focuses on her work with the Wilding Scouts when she is alone, adding that she picks a goal and sticks to it. Eek insists that they stay at the base, but Ash explains that her friends aren’t here as they weren’t supposed to get in trouble. Her eyes then settle on the bastion remnant, making her decide that she was going to get the treasure in it. Eek insists that they don’t need it, and Ash appears to agree, while also saying that it would make getting to the End easier. She then asks as to where the iron is, and Eek points out the chest, worried if something will happen to her. Ash reiterates that she will be fine as she is wearing gold armor, noting that piglin brutes will attack her despite the gold armor. She asks for Eek to keep an eye out for surprises, and he appears to understand. Ash then leaves for the bastion by herself, saying to Eek that she’ll be right back.
Chapter 8: If Pork Chops Drop, That’s a Hoglin. If Pork Is Chopping You Until You Drop, That’s a Piglin.
Meanwhile, Morgan, Jodi, Harper, Po, and Theo are busy polishing suits of armor at Ironsword Academy’s Hall of History. Jodi begins to wonder if Principal Ferris likes collecting them when she starts hearing Eek’s voice through the earbud. She presses in her earbud to start a private conversation with him, asking as to what is up. He asks Jodi if she doesn’t like fighting, and she agrees that she doesn’t, both in the real world and in Minecraft. Eek then asks Jodi if she is bothered if other people fight, and she says that she isn’t before asking if it bothers him. He agrees that it does, insisting that he doesn’t want to fight or destroy anything. Jodi then asks Eek if he needs help with understanding about fighting, and he says that he does. She explains to him that fighting is part of the nature of the game as some mobs go out of their way to fight players. She adds that piglins and hoglins are different, as piglins fight hoglins and skeletons to protect themselves, and they fight players because players appear to be scary to them.
Jodi also believes that piglins are jealous at players for being able to go back into the Overworld, as she further explains to Eek that piglins transform into zombified piglins there, in additional to animals and people fighting because they need things. Jodi further says that Minecraft feels best when mobs are treated as real and respect them as part of the connected world, despite them being just code in the game. This makes Eek understand that it would be better if they did not fight the piglins and hoglins and just focus on the treasure, which makes Jodi ask him as to why. He then explains to her that Ash become bored, so she decided to go to a bastion remnant by herself. Jodi is so shocked that she stands up quickly, causing her head to bump a helmet of a suit of armor. The visor swung open, and Jodi catches the figurine of a pig that fell out, depicting a pig in a boat. She then tells Eek to tell Ash to get out of the bastion. Morgan overhears this and suggests that one of them should go back to the computer lab, but Eek insists on doing so himself.
Chapter 9: Every House Needs a Treasure Room. And a Magma Cube. And One Hundred Piglins. They’re So Lava-Ble!
Ash carves through the hallways and the bridges of the bastion remnant as fast as she could. She started at the top and had to work her way to the bottom, where the treasure was in the middle of a lake of lava. She feels confident that this will be a breeze, but soon finds the first piglin brute. Eek yells at Ash from above to come back out where it is safe, but she insists that she’ll be fine. She starts swinging at the piglin brute, but it hits her back as hard as it can. Ash quickly retreats, takes out the stairs below her, and eats something to regenerate her health. She knows that she had fought piglin brutes before, but wondered why they are so difficult now. She assumed it was the rush of defeating them quickly, but she would generally avoid them until she was prepared as much as possible, making sure that she would make it to the End, a place that she had never been to before.
Ash decides to press on, but is soon down to one heart left. Eek tries to tell her to not fight the piglins and to get out of there, but she refuses. Just as another piglin brute tries to attack her, Eek zooms in and starts placing down boats beneath the piglin’s feet. Ash yells at Eek to get out of here, but he refuses, insisting that he is putting an end to the fighting by placing down the boats. Ash insists that she can do this on her own, but Eek says that he can do this on his own, knowing that she told him to be more independent. He then explains that he is part of the game, as well as the mobs, knowing that it a piglin brute is killed, his world gets emptier, and if they are are killed, then he would have to start over again. Ash finally realizes that she was being reckless and says to Eek that they should go back, but Eek refuses, saying that if he continues his actions, that they can both get the treasure and no one would have to fight. He continues placing piglins in boats as Ash colllects whatever she can find. Eek then zooms back to halfway up the bastion and leaps toward the island of treasure in the middle of the lava lake. Fortunately, he places a boat in mid-air, softening his landing upon reaching the island. Eek then heads over to the chest and then opens it despite Ash warning him not to do so. The piglins hear this and ready their weapons at Eek. Ash then shouts at Eek to catch them, but he says that he is out of boats.
Chapter 10: Here, Piggy, Piggy. Where Are You Hiding? Don’t Be Koi!
Meanwhile, Harper is feeding a koi fish at an outdoor pond at Ironsword Academy. Everything is going fine until she hears Ash screaming in her earbud, causing her to lose balance. Fortunately, Theo catches her arm just in time and pulls her back from the pond. Ash continues to scream, stating that Eek is in danger and is trapped on the island in the bastion. She then says that she doesn’t have much time, and Harper asks as to what she has. Ash says that she has gold, two blocks of blackstone, and several boats. As she says this, Harper’s net gets caught on something at the bottom of the pond. Pulling it up carefully, the object is revealed to be the last figurine of a pig, depicted as a pig skipping rocks at the edge of a lake. This gives Harper an idea, who discusses it with Ash. Soon after, Ash is skipping over the lava by using boats as leverage, and she soon makes it to the island. Eek ends up laughing at her for wasting the remaining boats, and Ash can’t help but laugh it off herself. Eek then says that he wanted to be more helpful, not independent, by helping Ash. Ash concurs, conceding that she taught him the wrong thing. Coming to their senses that they are trapped again, Ash asks the others for help.
Chapter 11: Sometimes You’re Netherite, and Sometimes You’re Netherwrong.
Po volunteers himself to bring the pig figurines back to Principal Ferris’ office while Morgan, Jodi, Harper, and Theo rush back to the computer lab, as the school will be closing in a few minutes. As Po arrives at the office, he notices Will writing in a notebook and asks him as to what he is doing here. He says that he is writing an essay on everything he loves about Ironsword, in addition to how the rules at Ironsword make everything he loves possible, and asks Po if he understands the beauty of a school kept clean, orderly, and perfect. Po says that he does, and the two talk about the koi pond and the suits of armor before he has to head to the computer lab. As Po prepares to leave, he apologizes for his actions with the foam swords earlier in the day, but Will admits that it wasn’t his fault, adding that today was the most fun he had in a long time. The two then fist bump before Po leaves. Back in the computer lab, Jodi is already logged in, building a staircase down to the island the Ask and Eek are trapped in. The three then quickly make it back to their base in the Nether. Jodi is glad that Eek is safe, and Ash apologizes for going ahead by herself, explaining to everyone that she is getting ready to move again, and because of the stress with preparing to move, she wasn’t thinking straight and put Eek in danger. Jodi then says that the skeleton sacrificing itself to save Eek is what saved Eek’s life, and Po agrees, adding that Ash and Eek ended up getting the treasure anyway, which consists of gold, arrows, and a netherite upgrade smithing template, which Eek uses to upgrade his diamond garden hoe to a netherite one. The group decide to hold off on teaching Eek about piglin trading until tomorrow, and start to get back to focusing on their plan to ultimately save Eek. Morgan then says to Ash that Eek had told him about what they had talked about, and he just so happened to contact a few members of the Wilding Scouts regarding her situation. Just then, knocking is heard as Ash’s door, and Morgan sheepishly admits that he might have accidentally started a party.
Chapter 12: Someone Should Take a Snack to the Piglins in Chapter Four. They’ve Been Sitting for a While!
Indeed, the other members of the Wilding Scouts arrive at Ash’s house and decided to throw her a moving out party. This was achieved by Morgan calling one of Ash’s Wilding Scout friends, who in turn told the troop leader, who in turn called her mother, and they organized the entire party as quickly as they could. The troop leader is Mrs. Fontenot, who is also at the party. She gives Ash a freshly-made scout sash adorned with the Troop Traveler badge, which is currently the only one available. Mrs. Fontenot is hopeful that it’ll be approved for wider use for other Wilding Scouts, though. Ash gives her a big hug as Eek says that he also gave her a present: a giant replica of a boat with oars made out of crimson nylium. The others are shocked at Eek for building it so quickly, and Po suggests other things for him to make, which makes everyone laugh. Everyone else logs out of Minecraft for the day, but Ash stays on as Eek chats with the other Wilding Scouts, taking their requests for things to build. Ash feels grateful for Morgan’s thoughtfulness in setting up the party, and the other Wilding Scouts were talking about the mark that she had left on them, but she understands that every single Wilding Scouts had changed her life as well. Ash can now also consider Eek to be her best friend.
The Epilogue: Is Case Sensitive and Requires One Number and One…Unusual Character.
The computer lab was dark as everyone at Ironsword had left for the day. That is, until footsteps are heard in the hallway. The figure opens the door slowly and makes their way inside, sitting down at a computer that had Minecraft on it. They type in Will’s username and password and log into the server, spawning on top of a giant spruce tree. The figure moves the player carefully and quietly, not wanting to be seen, and starts looking for something that they hope is a real thing.