As I awoke, Jamie was still clinging onto me in her sleep. Getting up slowly, I made sure the covers didn't come undone as I put my hoodie and pants back on.

"H-hey…" Jamie said, one of her eyes half open.

"Good morning."

"M-morning…"

"You want me to bring you something to eat before I head out to see what that headmaster wants?"

"Y-yeah. I'd like that." Jamie replied, moving her hair out of her face.

"Alright." I replied, opening the door.

As I walked down the stairs, I approached the kitchen to cook some beef in the furnace. Just then, Walter walked into the room.

"Mornin Mike." He started.

"Morning, I'll be ready in a minute, I'm grabbing something for Jamie real quick." I replied.

"Sounds good."

As I took the beef out of the furnace, Walter came a bit closer to me, reaching towards the furnace to stuff some of his own stuff in there.

"Say, what was that rocking noise last night?"

My heart sank.

"U-uuuh…. What– Noise?"

"Well, it sounded a lot like a group of drunks playing Just Dance at 2 in the morning."

I laughed hysterically. "Hah, that's funny."

"Were you asleep or something?" Walter asked.

"Asle– I mean YEAH! I was out like a light the instant I touched the pillow. I didn't hear shit."

"Ah, okay. It must've been some mob or player falling on the roof or something." Walter answered. "Hope they're okay, I think I may have heard screaming too."

"I-uh… I'll be down in a second." I said, rushing my way out of the kitchen and back upstairs to the bedroom.

"Hey, I'm back…" I said, the beef in my hand. I noticed that Jamie had already gotten up and was sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Thank you…" Jamie said, taking the food.

"I'm going to head off to talk with the headmaster."

"Okay, does anyone need to come with you?" Jamie asked.

"I don't think so. He just wanted to talk to me, according to Walter."

"Okay. be safe."

"I will." I said, as I went over to the chest to grab my belongings.

"Love you."

"Love you too."

Walking downstairs, Walter was waiting for me at the door.

"Alright, I'm ready, let's head out." I stated.

As Walter opened the door, I followed him outside and he led the way across the we walked past the bar, all the players there waved at me, as I waved back.

"You've built a decent reputation here in just a few days…" Walter said. "Impressive."

"Yeah… I guess so." I replied.

As we were walking, we approached the biggest building in the town, a big watchtower placed on the side of it.

"Here he is. He's all yours." Walter said, patting me on the back.

"O-kay…" I said, approaching the door. Raising my hand to knock, the door opened to…

"H-Homer Simpson?" I blurted, looking at his player skin.

"Yep, the headmaster of this village is a comedy TV show character." He said, inviting me in. "By the way, my real name is Charlie."

"Good to meet you, I'm Mike." I said, introducing myself. As we walked throughout his house, he led me to the top of the watchtower.

"Wow, this is a great view!" I commented, looking at the forest in the distance and the rising sun in the background.

"Yeah, it's pretty great." Charlie commented. "Anyways, tell me about yourself man."

"Uh, well… Where should I start?"

"How long have you been stuck inside this server for?" Charlie asked.

"Uh, about a week or two, give or take." I answered. "I'm not really keeping track, but my friends have all been here longer than me."

"Really? Wow. I've been here for four months." Charlie followed up.

"Four months?" I said. "So, I see you had plenty of time to build this place!"

"Actually, I wasn't the only one building this place." Charlie explained. "It was me and 5 of my friends. We all signed up for the experiment and ironically got into the game at the same time. How bout your friends?"

"I met them along the way. I met Erik first, then Jamie, then I came across Walter and Josh on the way here." I explained.

"Damn, you got quite the friend group going." Charlie commented. "You must have a great personality."

I laughed awkwardly. "Yeah. anyways, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Well…" Charlie started. "I'm sure you have heard of the pumpkin heads by now, with how long you've been in the server and why everyone is so hysterical towards pumpkins, right?"

"Oh, yeah, I know them well." I responded.

"Are you aware of their plans for a spawn incursion?" Charlie asked.

"Yes, actually, that's why we came here. Our village was hit."

"Contavern, right?" Charlie followed up.

"I believe so." I replied. "One of them killed our housemaster and it went downhill from there."

"How the hell did you escape?" Charlie asked, pulling out an apple and snacking on it.

"Well, I figured they were going to loot all our houses, so I began to hide all of our valuables under the floor of our house, and accidentally dug into a ravine." I responded. "That sheer luck is the sole reason why we're here now."

"Wow, quite the luck." Charlie replied. "And as for the others?"

"What do you mean?"

"The other villagers."

"Oh, uh…"

"Yes?" Charlie said, looking towards me.

"We went back for them." I answered.

"Really? How did that go?" Charlie asked.

"Well, pretty well, considering how many of them we were able to rescue and bring back here."

"Any casualties?"

"I don't think there were any on our side, but there were definitely some on the enemy side. They were quite literally committing friendly fire on each other."

Charlie laughed. "The hell?" He said. "And I'd think they'd be a little more coordinated."

"The only player that actually posed a threat to me was someone with a netherite sword, and that one was worn out, so I was able to counter attack him with my dual iron swords." I stated.

"Hang on a second, say that again?"

"...Dual Iron swords?"

"Wait…" Charlie stopped. "You can dual wield?"

"Yeah." I responded.

"How?"

"I dunno, I was just fighting someone and when I beat them, I took their sword and I was able to use both at the same time. The rest is history."

"Well, congratulations, dual wielding is a skill in this game that usually takes months to fully understand."

"Thank you." I commented.

"Well, it's great that players like you guys are finally trying to fight back." Charlie stated. "If we can get enough of them on the bandwagon, we'll be able to take all of those pumpkin head bastards out!"

"Yeah." I replied.

"Speaking of which, I received some news just last night."

"What?" I asked.

"An abandoned village in the desert biome was just bombed last night. There was nothing left of it."

"Oh boy…" I said in shock. "How close was that to here?"

"Well you see, Mike, that's the problem." Charlie stated. "It was basically right besides us."

"Oh shit…"

"Yeah, "oh shit" is right. That can only mean one thing."

"This place is next?"

"Bingo." Charlie said. "Now, I surely do have some fighting experience, but not all of this town's inhabitants have played on PVP servers before, and a handful of them haven't even played the regular game at all."

"Wait… what are you getting at?"

"Mike, I need you to lead us in the next attack." Charlie stated. "You know a lot more about combat, coordination and planning than these people do." He said, pointing towards the players on the ground, walking across the many pathways. "People's lives are at stake."

"Yeah… I know that." I replied. "This is different though. Last time, I had 10-ish people to work with… now, I have, let's see… one, two…"

"About 35 players." Charlie stated. "Plus the few that Walter brought in last night."

"That's a lot of people that I'd be responsible for." I said. "A lot of weight on my shoulder."

"Well, it ain't just going to be you carrying it, you have your friends, don't you?"

"I suppose so, but I don't know if that will be enough." I responded.

"If you need me for anything, I got you." Charlie replied.

"Well, I appreciate that." I replied, stopping for a second to remember the portal we found last night. "Actually, there is one thing."

"And that is?"

"Do you have a block of obsidian and a fire charge?" I asked.

"I take it you want to fix a ruined portal?" Charlie answered, heading back downstairs.

"Precisely." I said, following him. "I figure we should try and go to the nether to find supplies before doing anything."

"Great thinking." Charlie replied, approaching a chest, and opening it. "Are you going to go with your friends?"

"I plan on it." I responded, as Charlie took out a single block of obsidian and a pair of flint and steel.

"I don't have any fire charges, but this should suffice." He said, handing the items over. "And if you need anything else before your trip, let me know."

"Alright. I'll come back here when we get back and we can discuss what we are going to do from there." I said.

"See you soon."

"See ya."

Making my way to the door, I opened it and left the house to see Walter in the distance buying some carrots from one of the players.

"He's got quite the house, doesn't he?" He commented as I approached him.

"Yeah. say, I got the stuff we need to fix the ruined portal we found in the forest last night, I figure we head to the nether and stock up."

"Uh, stock up for what?"

"Charlie mentioned that the abandoned village, I'm assuming the one near your temple, was just bombed last night. That means that this place could be next." I explained.

"Well, that's not good. Not good at all, but what do you have to do with that?"

"He wants me to lead the counter-attack." I replied.

"Ah." Walter replied. "Well, you'd be just the person for the job."

"Well, last time I led a counter attack, I was only dealing with 10 people, we lost, and I got someone killed. I don't know if I can handle 35 players, plus the ones from the village that are already traumatized." I explained.

"Alright, I understand that." Walter replied. "Well, I think you got this in the bag man, so why don't we go back to the house and get the others some golden boots on the way so we can go and relight that nether portal?"

"We don't need to pick up more boots, there was enough gold in the chest to craft each of us a pair." I replied.

"Oh, that works out great!" Walter replied. "In that case, we can head out as soon as we get everyone else in on it!"

"Yeah. we'll need to stock up on a shit ton of gold nuggets for glistering melons, and nether wart for healing potions."

"Don't forget blaze rods." Walter said, as we continued walking towards his house. "We can turn them into blaze powder for strength potions, and magma cream for fire resistance."

"Oh yeah. I haven't been in the nether in a while but I know there is a lot to be collected there, especially the new ancient debris. We'll need to get a team together to mine that."

"Good luck with that." Walter scoffed. "When I tried looking for that stuff, I spent 2 hours looking and only found like 10."

"Well, 10 is better than none." I replied, as we approached Walters house. This time, I opened the door for him. "Thanks!" He said, walking into the house, as I closed the door behind me. When I entered, everyone was in the living room.

"So, how did it go?"

"They're hitting this place next." I stated.

"Oh shit…" Jamie stated. "Well, just as I thought we'd be getting a break."

"Well, everyone…" I said, bringing out the single block of obsidian and tossing it in my hand. "We're going to the nether."

"WHAT?" Everyone yelled in unison.

"WHY?" Jamie yelled.

"If what Charlie said was true and we actually are next, then we need to stock up on supplies for potions, netherite, and other stuff, meaning, we're going to have to go to the nether. I have a block of obsidian that we can use to complete the portal we found in the forest, and Jamie has the gold she can use to craft us all golden boots so we don't get assaulted by piglins."

"Mike, this is the nether we're talking about. Are you sure about this?" Erik asked. "The nether mobs aren't as easy to fight as the overworld mobs are."

"I know that." I replied. "We'll be fine, as long as we…"

I looked towards Jamie.

"As long as we stick together." I said.

"Man, what kind of Disney plot bullshit are you on?" Josh said. "If anything, that would just make it easier for ghasts to kill us."

"Well, one, I aint fuckin Kristoff, Josh. Second, ghasts are easier to fight than a freshman in the school bathroom." I stated. "Anyways, before we head out, we need to stock up on weapons and armor. Jamie, I want you to craft all the gold into gold boots for all of us."

"Uh, s-sure…" She said, heading back upstairs, a look of uncertainty in her face as she walked up the steps.

"Erik and Josh, I need you to head to the storage room and grab as many bows and arrows as you can find."

"What about crossbows?" Erik asked.

"Grab some of those too." I replied.

"And what about me?" Walter asked.

"You… can feed my pet while we're gone."

"I'm not coming with you?" Walter asked.

"Walter, you do enough just by giving us a place to stay. I don't need you to be risking your life with us."

"But that's literally what we did the other night…" Walter stated. "Fuckin hypocrite."

"Well, okay, we need you a little bit, but this time, I want you to stay here and take care of Miles because I don't want him to come with us and drown in a lava lake." I stated.

"Well…" Walter sighed. "I'll make sure he's all riled up to see you when you get home." Walter said.

"Alright, thank you." I said, going up the stairs to my room. Jamie was in the corner crafting all the gold into boots.

"I hope you know how dangerous this is going to be." She said, continuing to craft the boots.

"I know that. That's why I'm going in first."

"And I'm going to be right behind you." Jamie immediately responded.

"Of course." I said. "We're all going to stay close."

"Okay."

"Gotta make sure we all abide by Rule 4." Just as I said that, Jamie started chuckling.

"How do you still remember that shit, and I don't…" She stated.

"I have a great memory." I said, hugging her from behind.

"Mhm.. bet you can't recite them all to me right here and right now."

"Rule one, we share our stuff. Rule two, don't stir shit up with the other villagers."

"You broke that one…" Jamie said, laughing a bit as she finished crafting the rest of the boots.

"Yeah, I suppose I did." I replied. "But it was for you, which made it completely worth it."

I paused for a second. "Hang on… I don't think you ever told us what rule 3 was…"

"Oh?" Jamie said, turning to me, confused. "I didn't realize…"

"Well, what was it?" I asked.

Jamie paused to think. Once she seemed to realize, her face started glowing red.

"I-I remember now…"

"Well?" I asked, as Jamie looked away from me.

"Try hitting on me, and you get a sword up your ass."

"Well then…" I stated. "I have CERTAINLY broken that one…"

We both shared a good laugh.

"So… why didn't you do it then?"

"Eh?"

"Y'know… the whole sword thing." I asked.

"O-oh…" Jamie replied, her face only glowing brighter. "I guess it was because…"

"Because what…?"

"You were the first player on this server to treat me the way you do, so I suppose you get a free pass."

"Well, thanks." I replied, kissing Jamie on the cheek. She was startled.

"I'll see you downstairs."

"K-keep melting my heart like this, and you really will get a sword up your ass…" Jamie said as I opened the door and went downstairs. I chuckled at her glowing red face As I walked down the steps, Walter had a chest situated in the front, filled with beef.

"This should feed your dog while you're all gone." He said, opening the chest for me to take a look at.

"Yeah, seems just about right. We shouldn't be gone for long." I said.

"Good to hear. Send me a message when you get back to the overworld."

"Sure will."

Just then, Jamie emerged from the bedroom and headed downstairs to join my side.

"Erik and Josh still ain't back yet?" Jamie asked.

"They should be back in a few minutes, unless they get side tracked." Walter replied. "The storage area is only down the street."

"Eh, knowing them they're probably at the bar again." I replied, Walter laughing.

"Yeah, I don't doubt it…" Walter said, just as the door opened and Erik and Josh walked in with a chest full of arrows, bows, and 3 crossbows.

"What's this about the bar?" Erik asked, setting the chest down on the floor.

"Nothing." me and Walter said in unison.

"Anyways, there's like 6 bows in there, so if just us four are going, that leaves us with one bow for each player, with two backups."

"Great, what about the crossbows?" I asked, looking at the 3.

"Uh, we take a vote?"

"I'll take a regular bow," Josh offered. "I can barely aim with a regular bow, so giving me a crossbow won't do you any good."

"Alright." I said, taking two of the crossbows out and handing one to Jamie. "We're going to need some food, wood and building blocks next."

"Like…" Erik stated.

"Cobblestone's a good one to start off with. Each of us needs at least half a stack."

"I think I may have some of that in my room." Walter said, heading upstairs.

"Can you check if you have any boats too?" I asked.

"Yeah." Walter said, entering his room.

"What are we looking for?" Erik asked.

"Primarily, stuff for potions. If we have time, we'll go back to the overworld and craft some TNT to blow out some chunks to find ancient debris for netherrite." I answered.

"I doubt it." Josh replied. "Ancient debris is more rare than an honest politician."

We all chuckled at the joke. "Well, you ain't wrong." I said. Just then, Walter walked down the stairs with a few stacks of cobblestone.

"I couldn't find any boats, sorry." Walter said, passing us each a stack of 32 cobblestone. "Is that it?"

"We should already have some sort of food in our inventories, so I think that's about it." I stated.

"Well, good luck then. See you soon." Walter said, as I approached the door and opened it.

"See you soon."

As we walked throughout the town, we got closer to the door.

"We got this, guys." I encouraged them, looking at the sun, right smack in the middle of the sky. "We'll go in there and kick some ass, come back, then kick even more ass with all the others."

"Hell yeah!" Erik said. As we approached the gate at the front of the village, the gatekeeper quickly rushed to get it open for us to pass through.

"Thanks." I said to the gatekeeper.

"Come back soon." He said, closing the gate behind us as we turned for the forest. Walking into it, I started heading towards where I remembered the portal would be.

"Make sure you have your armor on guys." I said, equipping my set of iron armor, replacing my boots with golden ones.

"Do you have that golden chestplate with you?" Erik asked.

"Yeah, but it's in my inventory." I replied. "Much rather use the boots." as we walked, the portal came into view, and I took out the block of obsidian that Charlie had given me.

"Yall ready?"

"Yeah." Erik replied.

"Yep." Josh answered.

"Ready when you are." Jamie added.

As I placed the obsidian block in the gap, completing the portal, I pulled out the flint and steel. Slamming the flint and steel together, it ignited, and I held it against the empty obsidian frame. The flame quickly spread to the edges of the obsidian frame, then slowly turned purple, as they slowly filled to the middle. As the now purple flames began to spin in a circular motion, an ominous noise started to emit from the portal as the glow of the flames intensified. The portal also generated some wind current towards it, blowing across our hair like anime characters at the top of a mountain staring blankly into the sun.

"Alright… let's go." I said, approaching the portal. Looking back, everyone gave me the thumbs up, and began to follow behind me as I stepped through the purple flames.