Minecraft: The Tournament/2CHP
Chapter 9: Make a Move
Julian exclaims to Jett that they have company, and indeed, two more players in the tournament race toward the two from beside a tree next to a hill. They stop momentarily as they switch their pickaxes to swords. One is wielding a diamond one, and the other is wielding a netherite one. Julian and Jett consider chatting with them, but the chat is disabled. Jett begins to strategize on what to do as Julian considers attacking them, but Jett warns him not to as he tosses out some iron ingots as a peace offering. The other team gives them a stack of zombie flesh in return, and Julian prepares to attack one of them believing that they have been fleeced, but Jett exclaims at him not to and to step back for a second. Julian reluctantly does so, leaving for the snack area in a huff. The opposing team then starts dropping items between each other, and the player with the netherite sword gives Jett a wither skeleton skull. He grabs it quickly, and realizes that the other team trusts him, as he isn’t being attacked. As Julian returns with Hot Cheetos and Takis, Jett informs him of what happened, and the other teams begins laying down beds. The four then sleep through the night, and upon waking up a message appears on screen confirming that Jett, Julian, and the two other players are now a team, and that the chat is now enabled. The other person thanks Jett for the team-up, and he soon finds out that it is Drake and his aunt that he had met earlier. Drake smiles at him, but his aunt frowns and starts whispering something in his ear, causing the smile to steadily slip from his face. Nonetheless, Drake types in chat to Jett that it was good that he didn’t take the last of the guac, or things would’ve gone differently. Julian then says to Jett that there is nothing in the rules against teaming up, and Jett is hopeful that the team-up won’t go to waste.
Chapter 10: Best to Ever Do It
Cece then halts the second session, and Drake and Jett get to talking with each other alongside Julian, and Drake’s aunt, Mel. They start to discuss about attacking the wither, but Jett says that they should probably lay low as not to tip anyone else off. The four then head to the dining room for dinner, consisting of gyros, falafel, and Mediterranean salad. After getting their food, the four head up to a third-floor balcony, with a canopy on top to avoid being soaked by the rain. They then discuss about the rest of the strategy for the final session, with Drake saying that Mel is more of a farmer, and Jett mentions that they already have enough iron blocks to make a two-level pyramid thanks to some cave systems they spawned at early on. Drake then discusses about the other teams, with one team falling off a ledge thanks to a lucky shot from a skeleton, and another team getting killed by blazes early on in the Nether thanks to not having good armor to defend themselves. Mel concurs, adding that there was a village when their chunk expanded the third night, noting that there was a brewing stand, six diamonds, and plently of bookshelves, allowing them to make an enchantment table.
After a bit more discussing, including a FaceTime from Jett’s mom, the four get back into the main conference hall for the final session of the tournament for that day, with Cece encouraging everyone to use it for planning out strategies and exploration. The session flies through like a dream, with Mel and Jett mining out caves, Drake being involved in combat, and Julian being what Jett describes as comic relief, basically keeping the others laughing while doing nothing to push the team forward. On Jett’s next ore run, he comes back to find Julian with ten wolves at camp, and Drake sends in chat that it’ll help with attacking other players, so Jett lets it go. Some time later, Julian falls off a cliff and dies, making the chunk reset, and Cece exclaims that the first day of the tournament is over. Julian awkwardly apologizes for the mishap, and Jett murmurs to Drake and Mel that they aren’t the only ones that have teamed up. Julian insists that they’ll be fine, and Mel adds that it is nothing we can’t fix, informing Julian to wear his boss pants for tomorrow.
Chapter 11: Feeling Attacked
Jett, Drake, and Mel meet up in the lobby of the retreat afterward, with Drake being more mopey than usual. Jett attempts to talk to him when Ayan asks Drake about who had the netherite sword enchanted with Knockback, and Drake is surprised that it was her, and she adds that they are already back at their cave. Drake then introduced Ayan and Miriam to Jett, and Jett recognizes Ayan as someone he had met earlier. Ayan then mentions that she had watched Jett play, and after some brief discussion from Ayan about her and Miriam losing their gear, Mel chimes in and asks for them to spill the beans. Miriam admits that the other participants in the tournament caught onto their trick of teaming up, adding that there is an alliance of around eight players or more as a result. Jett concedes that it could result in other teams finishing the beacon sooner, and Drake is not much better, hoping that they would pull it off themselves. After some more intense discussion about strategies and details, including deciding on going after the Wither in the Overworld, Jett feels like that his "side quest" could come up at the worst possible moment.
Chapter 12: Burning Daylight
The next morning, Jett and Julian eat breakfast together with Ayan and Miriam, as they have now teamed up with the two, in addition to Drake and Mel. Ayan briefly mentions about not caring for the tournament, as she simply wanted to play with Miriam needing a partner, much to Jett’s embarrassment, as he thought she was going to tell him something goofy about the game. Later, as the second day of the tournament starts, Julian gets permission from Cece to move their computers, as well as Drake and Mel’s computers, over to Ayan and Miriam as a way to seem more official. In the game, the team have another wither skeleton skull thanks to Ayan and Miriam, in addition to enough iron stored for a three-level pyramid. Later, they place down some beds to officially form their team. They also decide to signal to other members to dig a hole or do something that seems innocent so as not to tip anybody else off regarding what they are actually doing. Eventually, Ayan and Miriam finish their defenses with a lava trapdoor trap connected to a trapped chest. In the Nether, they gear up on supplies to prepare for the fight with the Wither, but Julian dies in a fire while fighting a skeleton. The team quickly regroup and gear up, but Ayan is accidentally killed by Mel, who poured a bucket of lava on her. Jett then glances up at the big screen, showing another team killing a wither skeleton and getting another skull, making him realize that they are far behind, and continuing to wonder as to how far ahead the big alliance is, but hopes that his team still has a chance of winning.
Chapter 13: Saboteur
Jett stands up from his chair and stretches his back as a wave of exhaustion hits him, wondering if his team will continue to work together despite some setbacks. Jett heads to the snack table to pull out his phone and text Dri for some advice, letting her know that there is a girl on his team. After a bit, Dri replies back to call her when she can. This gives Jett his confidence back as he puts some trail mix into a cup for himself while getting grapes for Julian and drinks for everyone else, but as the other kids from the tournament mutter about sabotage and attempting to talk to the other teams, Jett spills the lemonade, and the other kids clam up and hurry off. Claudia then comes by to help clean up, and Jett quickly gets back to his seat as he thinks that Mel poured lava on Ayan on purpose, but even then, he doesn’t think that Ayan is the saboteur; still, Jett believes that Ayan is playing nice so the others don’t know what she is really doing, and his mind then goes to Mel being the saboteur. Julian has Jett snap out of that mindset by saying that everyone had been off by themselves at some point, knowing that they would need to figure out before the team falls apart. Julian then goes to help Miriam while Jett goes through his inventory, thinking of an idea to uncover the saboteur and refocus on winning the tournament.
Chapter 14: More Tournament to Go Around
Jett quickly sets back into mining, but his head is spinning as he is having difficulty doing his own thing and watching everyone else. Ayan is keeping the supplies for everyone organized to perfection, as Julian keeps calling her a quartermaster, Miriam and Julian are taking turns between scouting the perimeter of their chunks and harvesting supplies in the Nether, Drake is working as a utility belt–roving between patrolling, getting materials for Ayan, and mining with Jett–and Mel is setting up a space to prepare to fight the Wither. Jett then looks out at the rest of the players, noting that everyone else had made one big team, and they have already made the first layer of their beacon out of blocks of emerald. Despite this, the group notice that because the team is huge, the Wither would be tough for them as well. Ayan considers informing Cece about it, but Jett calmly assures her and the rest of the group that there is more tournament to go around. Drake then notices a force field belonging to the other team on the eastern border of their own chunk, along with a lava moat. Julian knows that it would slow them down, and Jett says that the other team is set up to go against them. Miriam and Ayan nod in agreement, and Jett’s mind starts turning into knots once more, now thinking that Drake is the saboteur, and Ayan and Drake are being mistrustful, just as Julian predicted.
Chapter 15: A New Option
Later, as the second day of the tournament ends, Jett, Julian, Drake, Mel, Ayan, and Miriam all head back to the third-floor balcony as thunder booms around them. Jett begins to wonder if he and Julian will hike together or explore the fishing hole, and despite all of them wearing on each other’s nerves, Jett believes that the group is feeling like a family. Miriam plops down on the couch between Drake and Jett, saying that the whole tournament up til now has been pretty intense, with Jett still hoping to win the internship to be able to get his grandma’s house fixed up. Miriam and Drake concur, but the former says that it is not how internships work, and the latter says that it could be too much pressure on Jett. Jett lets off a shaky laugh as he mentions that the tournament would be a good thing to put on his college application. Cece then meets the six and informs them of the saboteur side quest that was activated when the original teams became the teams they are now: if the team correctly guesses the saboteur on their team, they will win the tournament, however, if the team guesses the saboteur incorrectly, or if the saboteur reveals themselves, the team will lose the tournament. This makes everyone outraged, with Ayan, Jett, and Drake asking as to how it could be fair, and Cece says that the tournament isn’t about being fair, but about what they are going to do with the new information they’ve been given. When no more questions are asked, Cece wishes the six goodnight and leaves. After some heated discussion, Drake, Mel, and Julian retire to their rooms, leaving Jett, Ayan, and Miriam at the balcony. Miriam and Ayan decide to tell Jett that the saboteur is Julian, much to Jett’s initial shock. The two say to him that Julian intentionally died from fall damage early on by going as high as he possibly could, and is also marking the chests with loot with sunflowers, concluding that Julian is intentionally acting like a noob at the game. The three then leave for their rooms, with Jett wondering to himself if Julian is actually the saboteur or not. Jett decides to run on the treadmill in the workout room to clear his mind before heading to his room, fortunate to see Julian snoring softly. Jett then cleans himself up and slides into bed, hoping that the entire team could win tomorrow, and also hoping that everyone on the team agrees that Julian is intentionally playing bad on purpose.
Chapter 16: Now or Never
Awful dreams haunt Jett once more in his sleep, ranging from Julian distracting the others fighting the Wither by dancing to Ayan leaving the team after the sunflowers are replaced with Wither roses. Jett wakes up with a fright as thunder cracks outside, and the rain is gushing down in thick sheets. Jett and Julian quickly make their way to breakfast where they meet up with Drake and Mel, where Drake tells them that something big is happening, and Mel chimes in that the game stations in the conference room are all dark. Entering the conference room, all of the chairs are set up in a circle. The group find some chairs to sit down at as Cece is whispering urgently into her phone; lines of worry crease her forehead. Drake considers that the other team flipped on the saboteur, meaning that the tournament to be over. Ayan and Miriam then arrive, and the group are deciding whether to ask Cece if Julian is the saboteur, leaving it up to Jett to ask her. Just then, one of Cece’s assistants hands her a microphone, and she clears her throat as she prepares to speak.