As I awoke, Jamie was still fast asleep, her arms still wrapped around me. Looking out the window, it was bright outside. As I got up, Jamie rolled over to the side. I recalled some moments from last night.

"I love you mike"

"I don't want to lose you, you mean too much to me now"

"I don't want you to die"

As I glanced at Jamie in her sleep, I couldn't help but think.

"I don't want her to go on this mission…"

As I opened the door silently, I walked quietly downstairs.

"Where's Jamie?" Erik asked as I approached him and Walter in the middle of the room.

"Still asleep." I answered. "What about Josh?"

"He went out to get supplies." Walter answered.

Thinking back to the village that was cratered, I was reminded of when Erik was explaining minecart bombing to me.

"Hey Erik?"

"Yeah?"

"I remember you were talking about using TNT minecarts, how was it done?"

"I don't know for sure, but I think they spawn a shit ton of minecarts on a rail, then give them a push towards the target, and as soon as it hits, they all go off at the same time."

"Hmm…" I thought.

"They will probably have minecarts surrounding that village." Walter added.

"Why would the griefers be putting themselves in danger?" Erik asked.

"To use it as leverage." I replied. "All they have to do is give those carts a little push and their whole village goes bye bye."

"So… what do we do about them?" Erik asked.

"We destroy them." I answered.

"Uh… how?" Erik answered. "Those minecarts are like a live bomb!"

"You can destroy minecarts by running them into cactus, or shooting arrows at them." Walter added.

"I'd say we grab some cactus then." I replied.

"The cactus trick will only work if the carts are on rails…" Walter explained. "If the carts are in a stack on the bare ground, there's no easy way to break them."

"What if we dropped them in water?" Erik suggested.

"They could detonate, but if they're in water, it probably wouldn't cause as much damage." Walter answered.

"Hmm, we'll get some water buckets too as a last resort." I added. "By the way, what supplies is Josh getting?"

"I had him go get some iron and sticks for swords." Walter replied.

"Well, we're gonna need some of that iron for buckets too." I replied. "Is there a pond or something nearby where we can take some water?"

"There's one just outside the gates." Walter answered. "We can fill the buckets up on our way."

"Let's also go through the path of the desert so we can mine up some cactus there as well." Erik suggested.

Just then, Jamie started walking down the stairs. Well… barely. She couldn't walk straight, I assumed from last night.

"Morning sleeping beauty!" I smiled at her.

"M-morning Mike…" She replied. Her hair was a mess again.

"Damn Jamie, did you get a static shock or some shit?" Erik asked, pointing to Jamie's hair as she approached the group.

"So, what's up…" She asked, still half asleep.

"We're discussing our attack strategies." Walter answered.

"W-well… run them by me…" Jamie yawned.

"How About we run you up some food first, you look tired as shit." Walter replied.

"Yeah… that sounds good." Jamie replied.

"I'll help ya." Erik said, following Walter to the kitchen. Once they were out of view, I made an attempt to fix Jamie's hair. She smiled at me, leaning against me a bit.

"How'd you sleep?" I asked her.

"Oh… I'm still asleep…" Jamie responded. Just then, Josh barged into the house.

"Guess who's back!" He announced.

"How do you have this much energy already?" I asked.

"Uh, I guess I just do!" Josh answered.

"Well, why don't you invest that energy into more training. Walters making some food right now, how about we head out when we're all at full stamina and train against each other?"

"I guess that sounds good…" Josh replied. "And this time we get to do it with actual swords, right?"

"Yep." I replied.

"Mike's a force not to be reckoned with…" Jamie added. "He can dual wield…"

"Wait, huh?" Josh asked.

"Come with me, and I'll show ya."

As I walked up the stairs, Josh followed behind. Opening the door to our room, I sifted through the chest and pulled out both the diamond and iron sword. Holding them in each hand, I showed them off to Josh.

"Holy shit, that's so cool!" He commented. "Can I try?"

"Eh, you can try with this one…" I said, passing Josh the iron sword. "The diamond sword I don't let anyone use but Jamie."

"May I ask why?"

"Well, I originally got this sword for her, but she keeps insisting we share it." I replied.

"Awww, that's cute…"

I could feel my face start to turn red.

"W-well… I wouldn't say that…" I said hesitantly.

"Ah.. okay." Josh said, handing me back the iron sword.

"Well, I'm going to see if the food is ready." He said, walking out the room. Looking at the floor, I noticed the empty potion bottle from last night. I picked it up and stuffed it in the chest before heading back downstairs. Surely enough, Walter had breakfast ready for all of us.

"Fill up your stamina, you'll need it today." He said, sitting down. "We're going to be playing against each other in the stadium, then we're going to head out the second those pumpkins grow."

Jamie looked a little bit more awake. As I sat next to her, she began to dig into the food.

"I thought you said the stadium wasn't free?" I mentioned.

"You beat Reece." Walter answered. "I'll bet they'd pay you to go to the stadium." He humored me.

Jamie laughed.

"I say we hit them at night again." I suggested. "We do the same thing they did to us."

"Hmm, that isn't a bad idea, considering when we were first overtaken by them, the first thing they did after trapping all of us was take a nap…" Erik added.

"Say, when we get to the base, the top players will be on the frontlines." I replied.

"Hooray! I don't have to die!" Josh replied. "My swordsman skills suck!"

Everyone at the table laughed. We quickly finished our food after that joke.

"Alright, who's ready to duel like pokemon trainers?" I asked.

"BET!" Josh yelled. "I'll whip out my Charizard, Lucario, Bulbasaur, Garchomp…"

"So… that's why your parents signed you up for this experiment…" I replied. Everyone laughed as we made a way for the door, especially Erik.

"I'll bet this kid's watched every season of Pokemon on the planet…" He added.

"I have, actually."

Erik almost fell to his knees in laughter. "THAT MAKES IT WORSE!" He blurted.

Making our way to the stadium, the guard recognized me.

"How much for all of us to get in?" I asked.

"Oh wait, I remember you…" The guard replied. "You're that sick dual wield guy!"

"Mhm." I replied. "Anyways, how m–"

"Oh, you and your friends just head right on in." The guard replied.

"Thank you very much." I replied, heading into the right door. As we walked through the hallway, I explained how stuff was going to go down.

"Alright, each of you are gonna go against me." I stated. "I want to see how you all do. Who's up first?"

"I'll go." Erik said, pulling out an iron sword. "I'm totally gonna kick your ass."

"Wanna bet?" I replied.

"As a matter of fact, yes. 10 emeralds." Erik replied. I shook his hand.

"You're on."

As Erik went to the other side of the stadium, I looked at Walter and Josh.

"Do you guys mind crafting those swords and buckets?" I asked them.

"Sure." They replied in unison, heading for the spectator area.

"What about me?" Jamie asked.

"I suppose you could watch…" I suggested.

"Sounds good…" Jamie replied, heading for the spectator area. "Go easy on him!" She hollered.

"No promises!"

As we were given totems, the doors opened, and I saw Erik on the other side, ready to charge. I pulled out my iron sword and started to pursue him. Looking at the blade, I was anticipating an attack to the head. I pulled the same maneuver I pulled on the Reece guy, ducked, and slashed at Erik's legs. He immediately fell face flat on the ground, dropping his sword.

"Oh come on man…" He mumbled into the sand as he picked himself up.

As he got up, our swords immediately clashed. I only had my iron sword out. I had the diamond one on me, but I didn't want to pose an unfair advantage. As we swung at each other, we only landed a few hits, the majority of them being blocked.

"Damn, you're better than I was expecting."

"Yeah… 10 emeralds are on the line, remember?"

"Why weren't you this prepared when that skeleton shot you in the ass?"

"Oh don't remind me of that…"

In a moment of distraction, I was able to score a direct hit on Erik's torso, causing him to stumble a bit.

"Up your defenses."

"I-I'm trying…" Erik gripped his chest in pain as he got up.

"Your attack's good though." I said, taking another swing. I caught him off guard as the swing landed on his shoulder.

Erik was weakened quickly.

"W-Wait!" He said, as I raised my sword for another attack.

"Huh?"

"I surrender!" he said.

"Where's my 10 emeralds then?"

"Shit…"

"You ain't getting out of this."

"Ugh… fine…" He said, pulling out 10 emeralds and tossing them to me.

"Good fight."

"Yeah yeah."

"Next?"

"I'll go next!" I heard Josh, walking down the seats.

"Bring it on."

As Josh approached the doorway on the other side, he had a newly crafted iron sword equipped.

"Let's test what you've learned."

Josh charged at me. Holding my sword out, I let Josh get the first swing. Sure enough, I was able to block his attacks easily. This went on for a few more seconds until I started to return swings. Sure enough, Josh was able to block some of them, but was quickly overwhelmed by my attacks, and I was able to quickly take him down to a half heart before he surrendered.

"Shit, I surrender! Don't kill me please!"

"You'll be fine. That's why they give everyone totems here." I said.

"I call the next spot." Walter said, bringing out an enchantment diamond sword.

"Oooh… it's big boy time." I said, swapping out my iron sword with a diamond sword.

As Walter entered the field, I could sense the determination in his eyes.

"We fight till the last heart." He said.

"Got it."

"No surrendering."

"All good."

"Alright. Let's roll."

Walter stayed at the door as I began to run towards him. He walked onto the field with his sword, and as I was preparing to swing, I aimed for his lower chest and…

He blocked my attack instantly. The enchanted effect on his sword bursted out, pushing me back several blocks.

"Knockback… nice." I commented.

"Oh, that ain't the only thing this baby's got."

We charged each other, each time our swords collided, we were each pushed back a couple of blocks. I realized I was at a disadvantage. I assumed his sword had some sort of sharpness on it as well, as when he landed a hit on me for the first time, it hurt significantly worse. This is when I went for my failsafe. I pulled out the iron sword.

"Hacks mode, ON!" I said, as I swung the two swords at Walter's single sword. Sure enough, my failsafe plan began to work and I started landing some hits, but they were minimal. We both still had a little over half health left, the battle was still going strong. Each one of Walter's swings had more power and force in it then mine, tiring me out. I could feel myself losing breath.

"You can do this!" I could hear Jamie cheering me on from the spectators area.

"Yeah! Beat his ass just like you beat Reece!" Erik added.

As I was distracted, Walter raised his sword directly above my head, and I crossed my two swords together in an X to block his attack. As he swung, our 3 swords collided, and the iron sword cracked severely.

"Shit…" I thought. "I may actually lose this…"

Every swing I took at Walter just made me more and more tired. Eventually, I started to lose coordination, allowing him to score more hits on me. Sure enough, I was down to my last heart in a heartbeat. Laying flat on the ground and staring at the ceiling of the stadium, Walter approached me, his hand outstretched.

"Hey, great fight you put up there." He said, pulling me up. Grabbing my swords, I stuffed them away.

"Yeah. you're definitely going to be on the frontlines with me…" I replied. "That fighting was impressive."

"Yeah. my strat is to empty all of the enemy's strength and willpower to go on, then quickly finish them off."

"Well, obviously, it worked." I said, as Walter passed a healing potion to me. I took a sip.

"Alright, the last person is up!" I hollered as Walter made his way for the exit.

"That would be me!" Jamie said, heading down the steps.

As she came onto the field, she had a single iron sword out. As I looked at her, she still seemed tired from last night, I couldn't help but feel bad.

"You good?"

"Y-yeah. Let's get this over with." I switched to my iron sword.

Jamie slowly ran towards me with her sword outstretched. It seemed her sleepiness was finally starting to wear off, as she was now actually walking in a straight line for once. As our two swords collided, our eyes locked.

"Why are we doing this…" I thought, as our swords kept swinging aimlessly. "I don't even want her to come on this mission shit with me…"

Jamie landed a swing on my arm, pausing for a sec as I stumbled back a bit.

"You okay?" She asked.

"I'm good. Let's keep at it." I replied, getting up.

We both had equally worried looks on our faces. It was clear neither of us wanted to actually hurt the other.

As our swords clashed again, Jamie flung mine from my grip and it landed behind me. I pulled my other sword out. I blocked her attacks as I slowly approached the iron sword to pick up. Jamie landed another hit on my chest, as I grabbed the other sword. As I stumbled to the ground, I was able to pick it up, when I turned around, Jamie had me pinned, her sword hanging above my chest by an inch.

"I…"

"I-"

"I can't do it." She said, putting her sword away, putting her hand out. I grabbed it and pulled myself up, putting my swords away as well.

"Uh… I guess let's just consider that a… tie." I suggested.

"The hell was that?" Erik hollered.

"You have no room to talk." I yelled. "I beat you in like 10 seconds."

"Touché" Erik replied.

"Alright, that concludes the training for today." I said. "Let's meet outside."

As we all made our way for the stadium exit, Walter passed healing potions around for all of us to take a sip out of.

"Let's make sure those health bars are full when we head to that village. We're going to need them." He said.

"We're heading there now?" Josh asked.

"Yes." I replied. "We need to get there by sundown."

"Oh shit… more walking."

"Stop bitching about walking or I'll give you something real to complain about." I threatened.