Chapter 25

The portal spit the wither sickened trio and Jesse onto the floor of Soren's fortress. Rueben squealed with alarm and trotted over to check on Jesse.

The four of them stood up and Jesse took off the Enderman helmet.

"We made it!"

"Making it is relative," Soren said as he stood up and dusted himself off.

Petra flinched and pointed to the doorway. There was a zombie lumbering towards them, along with other mobs behind it.

"Oh, come on!" Jesse said, extremely annoyed. He pulled out his sword and attacked the zombie. As he finished it off, the skeletons loaded and aimed their bows at the boy. Jesse turned and ducked behind the wall justas the arrows zoomed passed.

"Not that this isn't a ton of fun but— lets grab that Formidi-Bomb and get out of here!" He said to Soren, who was across the doorway.

"One small problem. Tiny, really. Minuscule," the ginger said as he pulled out his sword and swung at an approaching zombie. "I haven't actually built it yet."

"That's a 'small problem'?" Jesse exclaimed.

"You seem like a person who appreciates cool stuff that's cool for no reason." Two arrows embedded themselves into the stone next to Rueben, who squealed and backed up further into the shadows.

"Thanks?" Jesse said.

"Why are we talking about personality types in the middle of an arrow shower?" Steven asked.

"Go ahead and throw that lever behind you," Soren said pointing to the level on the wall behind Jesse and ignoring Steven.

"Jesse?" Olivia asked.

The burnet jumped and hit the lever with his sword.

"Hold onto your socks— 'cause they're about to get blown off!" Soren said as pumpkins fell from shoots and landed on iron blocks in a T shape, turning all the statues into iron golems. "Go to work boys!"

Rueben squealed.

The golems smacked and punched and struck the mobs into dust, clearing the room. One even started going gorilla swing style, while a team of them started playing baseball with the mobs.

"Oof, ouch," Soren said a a skeleton slammed into the wall next to the group and fell, bursting into dust.

"That did turn out to be pretty cool," Jesse commented.

"I wouldn't lie to you Jesse," Soren said. "Oh, wait a minute I would. I didn't lie to you— that's what I meant."

With the fortress clear of mobs, Soren started walking forward and directing the golems to another area of the room.

"Do you guys hear that?" Axel asked.

"Hear what?" Jesse asked.

"All that stuff whispering. 'Take me. Take me now.'"

Jesse took off the gloves of his suit and looked around. They were in a stone brick room lined with tubes and chests. Chest minecarts on powered rails traveled above them. Redstone glowed from the rafters.

"I think it's saying… 'Olivia should get to take more than Axel,'" Olivia responded. "But why? 'Because she's cooler.'"

"I know it's cool," Jesse started, "but the only things we need in here are the ingredients for the Formidi- bomb.

"The loot says you're wrong," Axel said, pointing at Jesse.

"I'll fetch the Super TNT, it's right up… there," Soren said, turning to look behind him at some chests above the doorway.

"How are you going to get up there?" Steven asked.

"Oh, I have my ways…" Just then, three iron golems created a ladder to the platform. Soren shimmied up it in a second. He turned to the group. "Oh, and feel free to help yourselves!"

Axel and Olivia grinned. They raced off to the chests.

"Just make sure you keep an eye out for gunpowder we'll need to make the Formidi-Bomb."

The wither sickened trio and Lukas walked to the back of the room. Jesse scoured a few chests before coming up to them.

"Are you all doing okay?"

They were silent before answering.

"It's gotten really bad," Lukas said.

"Really really bad," Steven muttered with his eyes shut, leaning against the wall. He coughed.

"Part of me is hoping that— when we bomb the Wither Storm, the sickness will just… dissipate," Lukas said.

"That would be nice," Gabriel said.

"It makes sense, doesn't it?"

"I had the same thought" Jesse said.

"Fingers crossed, right?"

"Toes too." Jesse walked away to check on the others and check more chests for gunpowder.

The group jumped when the back wall opened up, revealed my a minecart track. The carts rolled out on their own and lined up in tow rows as the tracks lit up.

"Cool," Petra said before coughing.

They heard Jesse call to Soren about having enough gunpowder and Soren respond with reporting he found the Super TNT. The group gathered around the bomb.

"Wait, I thought the Super TNT was the Formidi-Bomb," Olivia said.

"Of course not! They're two completely different words, aren't they?" Soren asked.

"Let's build us a Formidi-Bomb," Jesse said.

"Yes! Let's! Build away!" Soren said.

"Um… how do we build us a Formidi-Bomb, exactly?" Jesse asked. Soren looked at him. "Do we just combine this with the gunpowder?..."

"The crafting recipe is quite simple really," Soren explained. "Super TNT in the middle, gunpowder all around."

Jesse smiled. "Got it!"

Jesse reached for the Super TNT. Soren pulled away, saying "No! No, no, no! The ingredients are highly unstable— even putting them in close proximity is a risk."

"Okay… well… we may not have the Formidi-Bomb yet, but at least we finally have the ingredients to make one. Progress," Jesse said. Steven weakly fist pumped the air.

"And now that we have them, we…" Jesse didn't respond and put his hands on his hip. Soren tried again. "Ahem. We… I literally don't remember. You're going to have to help out a little, Jesse."

"We're still going to need Magnus and Ellegaard to use this thing," Jesse said. "They must be close."

Just then, an Enderman teleported into the fortress. Everyone turned away and covered their eyes.

"Oh, dear," Soren said. "I was afraid of this. With The End underwater, the Endermen will try to escape." Rueben oinked in fear, his little legs trembling. "Of course, of course!" Soren exclaimed, putting the Super TNT in his pocket. "To the mine carts, everyone!" The group ran towards the tracks. "I've been waiting to say that… to people, I mean."

Many Endermen teleported into the fortress just as the group made it into the mine carts, Steven collapsing into his. Petra started to check on him, but he waved her away. The carts started zooming along just as the Endermen started closing in. The wall closed just as the Endermen hissed at them, slamming shut in their faces.

Hey guys, how are y'all doing? So I have a few shout out to supporters:

Thank you SuperCools, machomatthew29350, and The Diamond Gamer for the follows and favs. It made my day seeing the notifications. And now, onto Review Replies!

Ellismskd24: It would really depend on what she likes and your personality.

Endless-Stories992: I think it would stress out any sane person. Only a moron would not worry about three super sick people in a world full of monsters.

FeathersOfFancy: I guess that my short break was good thing then so that you could catch up. He is very relatable though. Thanks for the support!

xxLilacLavenderxx: That sounds a lot like my thoughts when I let them wonder. Generally I'm focused on something, but my train of thoughts takes unexpected turns when I'm not. Maybe they need soaps so that they smell better. I hope this chapter is as good as the last.

Sorry that some of these replied and shout outs are a bit late guys. But have a good week. Go get 'em tigers!"

-ThinMintE