Minecraft: Stonesword Saga/GolemGame2CHP
Chapter 8: Harper, Harper, You Can Do It! Right? Because, Really, the Whole Team Is Counting on You.
The next day, after school, the group (Jodi, Po, Theo, and Harper) are back in the Nether in Minecraft. As Jodi expected, Morgan did not show up. Harper then steps forward as the next volunteer to attempt to retrieve the item. She then decides to make her own items, noting that Morgan didn’t bother taking the ingredients to craft them. Luckily, the first chest that Harper opened had a plethora of nether wart, which she could use to brew potions of fire resistance. She then heads toward the bastion remnant, clearing the warped forest with relative ease before approaching the lava lake. Harper then drinks the potion of fire resistance that she brewed and then swims in the lava lake to about halfway before making a small two-by-two platform of stone blocks in the middle, hopping onto them just as the potion effect wears off. She then drinks another fire resistance potion and swims from the platform to the other side of the lake, but soon notices that a ghast is just above her. Harper decides to submerge herself in the lava to get out of the ghast’s line of sight, and came up for breath after several seconds, only to see that the ghast had drifted off. However, she begins to hesitate about whether to head to the shore or head back to the stone platform, but by then, it was too late. Harper then dies as the potion effect wears off, burning to a crisp in the lava lake as she yells for help. Back in the library, Mr. Mallory asks Harper if she is okay, and she says that she is fine, saying that she was playing a video game, but it felt real to her. This made Theo realize that Harper had failed the golem’s challenge.
Chapter 9: Theo, Theo, He’s Our Man! If He Can’t Do It, No One Can! But No Pressure. Nope, None at All.
Theo then decides to be the next volunteer to attempt to retrieve the item, and he rummages through the chests, hoping to find anything useful. Fortunately, the last chest that he checks holds a pair of elytra. Jodi then asks Theo if elytra allow him to fly, but Theo says that it feels more like gliding than flying, knowing that he’ll have to be high enough so he can glide across the lava lake. Upon making it to the lake, Theo places dirt blocks below himself to make a pillar just high enough for him to glide safely across the lava lake. He then takes off from the pillar, but is soon attacked by skeletons firing arrows at him. Theo dodges their attacks as best as he can, but unfortunately, his dodging skills ended up costing him. He splashes into the lava lake and is killed instantly.
Chapter 10: We Meant Po. If He Can’t Do It, No One Can! And We Hope He Can Do It, Because We Are Really Starting to Run Out of Options!
Po then decides to be the next volunteer to attempt to retrieve the item. He rummages through the chests at the campsite and takes out stacks of dirt, stone, and netherrack. It isn’t long before his inventory is almost full of blocks, so he decides to build a bridge across the lava lake. Po soon realizes that he is running out of blocks from building the bridge too wide, so he dismantled it and started from scratch. While building the bridge, Po notices an enderman off in the distance, but is unable to avert his eyes from it before it teleports to him. Frightened, Po attacks the enderman, and then leaps backward to avoid the enderman from hitting him, but the leap led him straight down into the lava lake, and he too is killed. The group now realize that they have only one chance left to retrieve the item that the golem needs.
Chapter 11: A Twist of Fate! A Twist of Ankle! This Chapter’s Got More Twists Than the Latest Dance Craze.
The group then gather at the playground at Woodsword Middle School, with Morgan feeling a little guilty for not being there for his friends. Theo says to Jodi that she is their last hope for retrieving the item, but Morgan says that he has an idea – he will attempt to retrieve the item again on the condition that Jodi give him her spot. Jodi immediately objects, saying that it isn’t fair, and Harper appears to agree, feeling unsure that the golem will not allow it. Theo then reiterates that the golem is part of a computer program, knowing that they can convince it if their argument is logical enough. Jodi then interjects, saying that they would have to convince her that Morgan taking her spot would be a good idea, but Morgan decides to leave, letting the rest of the group decide as to whether to do so or not. Morgan then decides to set a stopwatch and see how long it can take for him to make one lap around the school track – in crutches. It isn’t long, however, before he falls onto the track, with nobody to catch him.
Chapter 12: Nurse Your Wounds, Not Your Grudges! Wounds Heal, but Grudges Just Get Worse.
Morgan ends up spending a huge portion of the afternoon in the nurse’s office. He had ended up twisting his ankle, but Doc reaffirms Morgan that although nothing is broken, nor is the damage permanent, that he would really need to rest. She also says to Morgan that his foot will be fine in a couple of weeks, and Morgan feels like that he finally learned his lesson. Jodi, Harper, Theo, and Po are surprised to see that Doc is also the school nurse, but Doc says that she only fills in as the nurse when the actual nurse, Glenda, is on vacation. She then leaves to give the others some time to chat amongst themselves. Po then says to Morgan that they were really worried about him because he didn’t show up to class. Harper then says that they even called Ash, and Ash is glad to hear that Morgan is okay. She then asks Morgan as to why he feels upset, and he says that he is worried that his friends either don’t need him or feel like that he is holding them back. Po immediately interjects, saying that Morgan does the exact opposite of holding them back, but Morgan states that he hasn’t been able to keep up with Minecraft stuff like he used to. Harper then states to Morgan that replacing him on a relay race doesn’t mean that they are replacing him as a friend; she also states that that don’t even care about winning the race, and just didn’t want Morgan to exacerbate his injury. Morgan agrees, saying that he took the thought of being replaced too personally and didn’t want to miss out on Field Day, but he says that he now understands the facts and will be resting to allow his injury to heal. Morgan then apologizes to Jodi for asking to take her spot, and although Jodi accepts the apology, she wishes that they could all work together to attempt to retrieve the item that the golem needs. Ash then interjects and says that there could possibly be a way to do this, adding that they should treat it "less like a competition", and more of a relay race.
Chapter 13: Jodi and the Piglins. Sounds Like a Band! And Speaking of Music, Are You Ready to Netherrack and Roll?!
Later, back in Minecraft, in the Nether, the golem immediately asks for Jodi to choose her items. After consulting with her friends, Jodi decides to take a pair of elytra, an empty glass bottle, and a golden helmet. Additionally, unbeknownst to the golem, Jodi’s friends had also told her everything that she needed to know in order to successfully retrieve the item. Jodi then navigates through the warped forest with ease, followed by using the elytra to glide to a small island in the middle of the lava lake. She then brews a potion of fire resistance with the ingredients that Harper had left behind, and dove into the lava immediately after drinking it. Upon reaching the shore, Jodi decides to go around the soul sand valley and take the path through the crimson forest, which soon leads her to the bastion remnant. The piglins see Jodi approaching them, but they don’t attack, thanks to her wearing a golden helmet. Jodi then finds the chest at the center of the remnant, which contains a warped fungus on a stick, a saddle, and a music disc. An illustration was also in the chest, showing her what to do with the saddle and the warped fungus on a stick. A bit later, Jodi’s friends are waiting for her on the opposite end of the lava lake, looking surprised and delighted that she is riding a strider. After reaching the opposite end, Jodi’s friends cheered for her as she stepped ashore. The golem then asks Jodi if she has the item, and she says that she does, wondering as to why the music disc is considered valuable to the golem.
The golem then says that the music disc is not precious, but rather that "the joy it brings is priceless". The golem then directs Jodi to place the music disc in a jukebox, and upon doing so, "Pigstep" is heard. Everyone dances to the beat, with Jodi realizing the golem was the emotion of joy that the Evoker King had. As they continue to dance, the golem transforms into a mass of butterflies, who dance along to the beat before flying toward the nether portal, leaving behind the torso of the Evoker King in its place.
Chapter 14: Field Day! In Which Baron Sweetcheeks Shows His True Colors and Everyone Has a Great Time!
In the real world, at Woodsword Middle School, it was finally Field Day. Ms. Minerva is doing some final preparations when she notices Morgan wearing a bib with the number "43" on it. She then notices that he is down for the relay race, and Morgan says that he is because he missed the deadline to change the event. Just then, Po shows up wearing a bib with the number "13", and the two trade their bibs, so Po is now wearing "43", and Morgan is now wearing "13". Later that morning, Po, Harper, and Theo are in position for the relay race, with Morgan, Jodi, Baron Sweetcheeks, and Duchess Dimples watching from the bleachers. As the race starts, Harper sprints ahead, but runs out of energy as she catches up to Theo, who stumbles but soon reaches Po, who moves forward as fast as he can. In the end, Team Blue gets second place in the relay race. The next event was discus throwing, with Jodi getting Team Blue first place. The next event after that was free-throw basketball, with Morgan participating. At first, he feels the pressure to do as well as Jodi did, but remembers that Field Day events are just for fun, and meditated for a bit. Morgan ends up shooting two baskets; the first misses, while the second goes in. In the end, Team Blue gets last place in the event, but it didn’t matter to him, as his friends were cheering him on the entire time.
Chapter 15: Everybody Loves a Happy Ending! Which Means You’re Probably Going to Really Hate This Part.
A few days later, back in Minecraft, the group (Morgan, Jodi, Po, Theo, and Harper) spawn at the camp in the Nether, and now realize that they only have one piece left of the Evoker King to find: the head! Harper notices that everyone is running low on everything, but Theo says that they’ll be able to resupply in the Overworld. Upon going through the portal, Morgan’s jaw dropped at what he saw; The Fault had swallowed up nearly everything, with a dark abyss stretched out everywhere, and the landscape having been broken into floating islands. Jodi asks as to what happened, and Morgan says that they are too late, as The Fault has begun swallowing the Overworld.