Last Stand on the Ocean Shore Read online

  Books by Mark Cheverton

  The Gameknight999 Series

  Invasion of the Overworld

  Battle for the Nether

  Confronting the Dragon

  The Mystery of Herobrine Series: A Gameknight999 Adventure

  Trouble in Zombie-town

  The Jungle Temple Oracle

  Last Stand on the Ocean Shore

  The Herobrine Reborn Series: A Gameknight999 Adventure

  Saving Crafter (Coming soon!)

  The Destruction of the Overworld (Coming soon!)

  Gameknight999 vs. Herobrine (Coming soon!)

  The Algae Voices of Azule Series

  Algae Voices of Azule

  Finding Home

  Finding the Lost

  This book is not authorized or sponsored by Microsoft Corp., Mojang AB, Notch Development AB or Scholastic Inc., or any other person or entity owning or controlling rights in the Minecraft name, trademark, or copyrights.

  Copyright ©2015 by Mark Cheverton

  Minecraft® is a registered trademark of Notch Development AB

  The Minecraft game is copyright © Mojang AB

  This book is not authorized or sponsored by Microsoft Corp., Mojang AB, Notch Development AB or Scholastic Inc., or any other person or entity owning or controlling rights in the Minecraft name, trademark or copyrights.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Sky Pony Press, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

  Sky Pony Press books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Sky Pony Press, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or [email protected].

  Sky Pony® is a registered trademark of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.®, a Delaware corporation.

  Visit our website at www.skyponypress.com.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

  Cover design by Owen Corrigan

  Cover artwork by JiaSen (jiasen.deviantart.com)

  Technical consultant - Gameknight999

  Print ISBN: 978-1-63450-098-2

  Ebook ISBN: 978-1-63450-099-9

  Printed in China

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I’d like to thank my family and friends, who have been so supportive during this journey through Minecraft. I’d especially like to thank my nieces and nephews, Breanna, Samantha, Lacy, Brennan, Cheyenne, Devin, Grant, Kyle, Kim, Jared, Austin, Courtney, and Danielle, for all their support and excitement. A special thank-you goes out to my wife’s minions. Thank you everyone!

  WHAT IS MINECRAFT?

  Minecraft is an unbelievably creative game that has changed the face of the computer gaming industry. It can be played online with people from all over the world, played with friends across a local area network (LAN), or played alone. It’s one of the most creative things I’ve seen come to computer gaming in a long time. Referred to as a sandbox game, it gives the player the ability to build anything his or her mind can imagine, using textured cubes as building material. Of course, most players first build a castle, which was the first thing I built—it looked terrible, but it was my creation, so I loved it. For some reason, because you build with blocks, all buildings seem to gravitate toward castle-like. It seems like a rite of passage in Minecraft—you have to build a castle sometime.

  But as I built things with my son, I quickly realized that the rules of physics don’t apply to this digital landscape. In Creative mode, you can build floating cities in the sky, or a bridge to nowhere, or an underwater village of glass (which was one of the things that was destroyed on my son’s server when it was griefed!). I’ve seen people build massive, ornately decorated spiral staircases that extend from deep down at the bedrock level all the way up to the build limit (layer 255) and others build massive space stations that float in the sky and span hundreds of blocks in all directions. Anything is possible as long as you follow two important rules: (1) everything is made of blocks, and (2) you can build anything! Below is something that Gameknight999 and I built, with a few visitors in the picture. Sadly, it was griefed within hours of this screenshot being taken … when will people learn?

  If you haven’t seen some of the creations made by the master builders on HermitCraft, you’re missing out. Go look for some videos. Their creations will spark your imagination and make you want to create something of your own.

  The creative opportunity that this program offers users is incredible, with people building replicas of cities such as London or Paris, or creating maps of entire countries, or creating pixel art that is incredible to behold; the real game, however, is played in Survival mode. In this setting, users are dropped into a blocky world with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Knowing that night is fast approaching, users must gather resources: wood, stone, iron, and so forth, in order to craft tools and weapons so that they can protect themselves when the monsters come; nighttime is monster time.

  To find resources, the player must create mines, digging deep into the flesh of Minecraft in the hopes of finding coal and iron, both necessities in order to make the metal weapons, tools, and armor that are essential to survival. As users dig, they will encounter caverns, lava-filled chambers, and possibly the rare abandoned dungeon or mine where treasures wait to be discovered—but with passageways and chambers patrolled by monsters (zombies, skeletons, spiders, and the ever-present creepers) waiting to snare the unwary.

  Though the land is filled with monsters, the user is not alone. Vast servers exist online where hundreds or even thousands of users play the game, all sharing space and resources along with other creatures in Minecraft. These servers host many types of gameplay, from minigames, to spleefing (my favorite), to PvP (I’m terrible at Player-vs-Player battles), to fractions, to survival, to creative. It’s amazing what people have created with Minecraft, and these many, many servers are evidence of the creative potential that Minecraft offers those with imaginative minds. I’ve recently come across some servers that are so incredible that they deserve mention. These servers have multiple minigames that are incredibly complex to construct, gameplay-like factions, prisons, spleef arenas, PvP arenas, Hunger Games … anything you could ever imagine being built in Minecraft has been done on these servers. But the more interesting thing is that you can find thousands of users on these servers on any given day, with the big daddy, Mineplex, boasting more than twenty thousand users. Look up these servers’ IP addresses and try them out; you won’t be disappointed. Just be warned that in PvP and Factions, other players will try to destroy your character—it’s not griefing; it’s just how those games are played. I’ve played Mineplex, The Hive, Desteria, MinecraftHG, ArkhamNetwork, and Hypixel with my son, and I’m sure there are more options out there.

  This game is an incredible platform for creative individuals who love to build and create, but they are not limited only to constructing buildings. With a feature called redstone, users can create electrical circuits within the game, using redstone circuits to power pistons and other devices so that complex machines can be created. People in the past have created music players, fully operational 8-bit computers, and sophisticated minigames within Minecraft, all powered by redstone. With the introduction of command blocks in version 1.4.2, command scripts could be used to control game mechanics. This opened a new creative avenue to Minecraft programmers all over the world, allo
wing them to make even more sophisticated mechanisms in the game.

  The beauty and brilliance of Minecraft is that it’s not just a game; it is an operating system that allows users to create their own games and express themselves in ways that were not available prior to Minecraft. With the many updates that are continually flowing from Mojang, the game is continuing to evolve and get better. The creative programmers at Mojang have been expanding the instructions available for command blocks, allowing games such as Missile Wars (one of my favorites) and, of course, the classic Cake Defense (another of my favorites) to be constructed. If you haven’t tried these, you should; they are a lot of fun when played with friends. The newest version, called the Bountiful Update, has added some really cool new features. My favorites are the Ocean Monument, the Guardians, and, of course, the rabbits. (However, did you notice the last line in the update description? Interesting??? Maybe he was there all along??? Maybe he’s still there???)

  Minecraft isn’t just a game, or an operating system, or a computer programming environment … it is something more. It’s a blank canvas that extends in all directions, forever, filled with unlimited possibilities.

  What can you create?

  “I saw an angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”

  —Michelangelo

  CHAPTER 1

  THE ORACLE

  The speckled creepers flowed out of the jungle like a green, angry flood, the singular thought within their tiny brains echoing over and over again: explode … explode … explode.

  Herobrine stood atop the cliff that overlooked the Jungle Temple and watched his creatures move out of the tree line and across the open clearing. Huge gouges torn into the landscape marked where TNT had exploded; the red and white blocks had been detonated by the desperate villagers in their defense against the spider queen and her vicious army of eight-legged monsters. Infant blades of grass were just starting to cover exposed dirt with a fresh velvety green coating, erasing the brown pockmarks that made the terrain around the temple look like the cratered surface of the moon.

  The NPCs and Herobrine’s arch-nemesis, Gameknight999, were gone. It was Herobrine’s plan to pounce on the villagers right after the spiders finished their initial attack, smashing down on them with his army of creepers and zombies… . But somehow, yet again they had escaped.

  Rage and fury boiled within him, his eyes glowing bright, but then fading as he regained control.

  “I’m done underestimating you, User-that-is-not-a-user,” Herobrine grumbled to himself. “Our next encounter will be our last!”

  Standing with his arms outstretched, Herobrine yelled down to the black and green spotted creatures.

  “Come, my children; give this stone structure your loving embrace.”

  The massive group of monsters approached the temple. A lone creeper scurried out ahead to the stone side of the structure, its little feet moving in a blur. Stopping right next to the wall, it started to hiss and glow, its body swelling with explosive intent. In an instant, it …

  BANG!

  The creature exploded against the mossy cobblestone wall. It should have been enough to destroy it, but strangely it hardly scratched the rocky partition. Another stepped forward and obeyed Herobrine’s command, giving the last measure of its life… . Again it exploded, but barely hurt the wall.

  Herobrine growled. He could feel the old hag laughing at him from down in her underground chamber.

  “So, Oracle, you’re using your magic to hold this place together,” Herobrine said. “Well, let’s see what you do with this.”

  Reaching his hands up into the sky, fingers curled and extended like a dragon’s claw, Herobrine gathered his crafting powers and projected them into the dark clouds overhead. A satisfying rumble echoed across the landscape, followed by another and another until …

  CRACK!

  A bolt of lightning streaked to the ground, striking one of the creepers. Instantly, a sparkling blue charge of electricity surrounded the explosive creature, giving it an almost magical appearance as sparks danced across its green skin. Another bolt slashed down at the monsters, then another and another, creating more of the charged monsters, the electrical energy magnifying their destructive potential.

  Three of the super-charged creepers moved silently toward the building, the hissing of their internal fuses filling the air. This time, their horrific explosions tore a gash into the side of the building, the electrical boost from the lightning magnifying their strength. Cobblestone blocks rained down across the landscape, the cubes of stone bouncing off the heads of nearby monsters.

  “Excellent!” shouted Herobrine. “The rest of you … ATTACK! LEAVE NOTHING STANDING!”

  A wave of charged creepers scurried forward, each exploding and taking with it another chunk of the jungle temple. Slowly, the upper level disappeared one creeper at a time. The green spotted monsters erupted with hateful fury as they climbed across the structure, looking for any piece of the building they could destroy, satisfying their purpose in life with a violent exclamation point.

  Once the surface of the temple was destroyed, the charged creepers moved into the underground passages, blasting away until there was not a single cobblestone left. In minutes, any evidence of the jungle temple’s existence was completely erased from the surface of the Overworld.

  Teleporting to the now-smoking crater, Herobrine looked down into the hole. A large pool of lava sat off to the left, part of the old hag’s traps. But to the right, he could see a set of stairs that plunged down into the depths of Minecraft.

  “I know you’re down there, old woman, and I’m coming for you,” he said.

  Putting his fingers to his mouth, Herobrine whistled. The piercing sound cut through the air like a blade through flesh, making all the creepers cringe. In an instant, moans and growls filled the air as a massive army of zombies stepped out of the tree line and approached the newly formed hollow. Herobrine knew what would be waiting down there at the end of that stairway … jaws and fangs ready to tear into flesh. He wanted nothing to do with that fate himself. Instead, he would sacrifice his zombies’ lives until it was safe for him.

  “Go into that tunnel and secure it,” Herobrine said to the mob of zombies, “but leave the old woman alone … she belongs to me.”

  The zombies growled their understanding, then moved down into the crater, around the pool of lava and into the dark stairway. Instantly, Herobrine could hear the growls and barks of wolves, probably a hundred of them. He imagined those snapping jaws tearing into the zombies with reckless abandon, but his monsters continued into the stairway obediently, driven by Herobrine’s command and fear of their leader. Wave after wave of decaying green creatures pushed into the passage. Moans and barks echoed out of the underground chamber together. But slowly the zombie growls rose to the front of the cacophony as the barking diminished … one wolf perishing for every two or three zombies.

  Eventually, the final yelp of pain from the last wolf echoed underground, leaving only the sorrowful moans of the zombies to fill the air. It was now safe for Herobrine to enter. Pushing aside the green creatures, he strode down the stairs like a conquering hero, even though all he did was cruelly sacrifice the lives of others for his own selfish end.

  Shoving his way down the stairway, Herobrine pushed zombies out of the way until he finally reached the bottom of the stairs. The passage opened into an elaborately decorated chamber, with blocks of lapis, emerald, and gold spotting the floor. Tall columns of cobblestone stretched up to meet the ceiling, holding the overhead canopy of stone and dirt in place. The walls were ringed with torches spaced four or five blocks apart, their flames casting circles of light that filled the chamber with a golden radiance. The entire scene would be described as beautiful by anyone, except for Herobrine.

  “So, you have finally come,” a scratchy voice said from the other end of the chamber.

  Herobrine moved off the stairs and onto the chamber floor. Looking around him, he could see
piles and piles of zombie flesh, many balls of glowing XP floating amidst the carnage. Taking a circuitous path, he stepped carefully away from the XP, not wanting to transform into a wolf or zombie. As he moved across the chamber, he could hear the click of the old woman’s cane. She was coming toward him … perfect.

  “You have caused much trouble, Virus,” she said. “Was it necessary to kill all my wolves?”

  “I will destroy everything that you cherish, just out of spite,” Herobrine answered.

  “But you killed many of your zombies as well,” the Oracle said. “Have you no respect for any living thing?”

  “These zombies are mine to command and mine to sacrifice as needed. They were happy to give their lives for me.”

  “They didn’t look very happy to me,” the old woman said.

  “You lack vision, old hag, and cannot see what is really important. A few hundred zombies sacrificed … who cares? Your emotions and sentiment cloud your judgment; that is why you will lose and I will win.”

  “We shall see, Herobrine. But this time, Gameknight999 will be ready for you.”

  “Like last time?!” he shouted. “Your puny little dogs were all that kept him from being destroyed. That won’t work again. The next time I face the User-that-is-not-a-user, I will have a little surprise waiting for him … something that even the great Oracle did not foresee.” He took a step closer, causing the old NPC to grip her cane firmly. “Did you feel the servers change? I didn’t think so. I was ever so careful when I crafted something that seemed so harmless and unimportant that it made it past the ever-watchful gaze of the great Oracle. But this innocuous thing will shift the balance of power for good, and bring the User-that-is-not-a-user to his knees before me.”

  Herobrine then cackled an evil, maniacal laugh that reverberated throughout the chamber. Taking another step forward, he drew his sword and approached the Oracle.

  “Your time is up,” he said with a smile on his face, “and now you don’t have any of your mutts to protect you. You have been abandoned by all the NPCs and are completely alone. The Oracle is at my mercy.”