Preface: Hello, again! First, huge announcement - I'm (hopefully) back for good at long last! I have decided to push off any side-stories planned to after this one, so from now on until further notice, I will upload one chapter during the week and one during the weekend. I can't apologize enough for my lack of uploading, but I now have a track to finish this story at last. So let's not waste another minute and jump right into this!

MINECRAFT MANIACS:
LIGHT AND DARK

Previously...following their adventure to fill up the first Key of Balance and an ambush from the Manipulator, Danny, Liam, Kevin, and their companions set out on an adventure across Mobius to fill the second Key up. Afterward, they completed the third Trial of the Code and obtained the second Cube of Balance.

Now...Liam goes on a solo mining adventure, unaware of what awaits him...

Roll Call

Liam - Willy Blanq: Expert crafter. The maker.

Chapter 18:
High Risks, High Rewards, Part Four -
Battle of the Heart and Mind

[Character Selected: Liam]
[Current World: Minecraftia]
[Current Location: Private World, Liam's Base]

[BGM: C418 - Mice on Venus]

It was the day after the trip to Mobius, and Liam found himself in the players' private world, all alone. Not that he minded it - he figured it was good to get some alone time, much like how Danny got his alone time in his own personal world. But while Danny decided to build, Liam was going to mine.

Slugging his netherite pickaxe over his shoulder, Liam walked past the big statue of the players he built two years ago in search of a trail of dirt blocks he left going out of the beach. Let's see, where did they go… he thought, searching the sandy grounds for the theoretically worm-infested blocks. A-ha! There they are! He found them just a few blocks away from the statue and began to follow them.

After a few minutes of playing leap-frog with the blocks, Liam found what he was looking for - a large, open cave system he stumbled upon while exploring with the others. "Time to get some more diamonds," he said, a hint of greed in his voice as he started his journey down. Hopping from block to block, he carefully traversed the steep cliff face, placing a torch every so often to help himself get out later.

Since he had a surplus of coal stored up over the years, he ignored the coal ore he found as he spelunked, instead focusing on the iron ore that was around the area. This is good, but I want me some gold, Liam thought, storing the raw material in his inventory. As he thought this, he saw a faint glow coming from a dip in the ground. Excitedly but cautiously, he followed the glow to its source, and said source made him grin.

"A ravine!" he shouted, an echo reverberating around the open cliff face. "Jackpot!" Lava, which was the source of the glow, boiled down the rockface, mixing with water at the bottom to make cobblestone. Ores of all rarity dotted the stone environment, from diamonds to emeralds to redstone. But first, Liam turned his attention to the yellow flecks right across from him.

"Gold! Yes!" Just as he was about to grab the ore, he screeched to a halt in front of the ravine. "Oh, right. Better make a bridge." Taking out the stack of dirt blocks in his hotbar, Liam sneaked to avoid falling off and used the dirt to build a bridge across the hole. Then he happily mined up every single block of gold ore before turning to the bottom of the ravine. "Let's see what else I can find," Liam thought aloud, dumping the water bucket he had to make a waterfall down to the bottom. But the first thing he saw confused him.

It was an open, 3x3 chamber, with only a single chest inside. "That doesn't happen naturally," said Liam, slowly approaching the chest. "Maybe one of the others hid this for me? Or maybe it was those weird otherworldly beings?" He was fully inside the chamber now, his hand raised to open the chest…

[BGM: End]

"No. No, it's gotta be a trap." His rational side regained control and made him put his hand down. "And maybe just not any trap…" His mind turned towards the otherworldly being that was currently antagonizing. "Nice try, Manipulator!" Liam shouted into the air for said being to hear. "You can't fool m-" His claim paused as he found his attempt to leave the chamber foiled by an invisible barrier, which made a purple-colored ripple as he walked into it. "What the-?" He ran his hands across the barrier, trying to find a way out. Before he could get far, however, he heard the chest open by itself and turned around to find a fire charge hovering out of the chest. "Oh, so it was the chamber that was the trap, not the chest," said Liam.

The fire charge shot towards Liam, and Liam thought he knew how to handle it. He held his pickaxe like a baseball bat and prepared to hit the charge back into the wall. While he successfully hit the charge, the result was not what he anticipated - the fire charge exploded into smoke, covering his surroundings. Liam desperately looked around, trying to find his way. This is just like how Danny described it, he thought, recalling his friend's recount of his own experience. So dark I can barely see.

[BGM: Antimo & Welles - Mob Grinder (103 Credits) [Minecraft: Story Mode 103 OST]]

As he had those thoughts, the space suddenly brightened up, and he heard Danny yelling. "Liam! Don't just stand there! Help us!" Turning to his left, Liam saw Danny and Kevin fighting off an entire herd of skeletons. To his right, he saw a solitary diamond.

Oh, I get it. It's a moral test, Liam realized. Well, this is a no-brainer. He took out his dispenser and rushed over to his friends to help out, but was suddenly ambushed by a dark figure rushing across the area, causing him to trip. "Ow! What was that?" Picking his head up, Liam couldn't believe who it was - a shadowy clone of himself, wearing the enhanced iron armor he wore under his 'Supafied' state, complete with attached arm cannon. Just like what happened with Danny.

"Oh, come now," said Shadow-Liam. "It's just one diamond. I'm sure your friends will understand."

"Hmm…maybe…" said Liam, considering the thought. Then he realized the true meaning of what his clone said. "Hey, I see what you're doing!" He drew his dispenser and fired an arrow into his clone's head. "Nice try, but I won't throw my friends away for just one diamond." As Shadow-Liam prepared to retaliate, Liam got up and charged into the skeleton fray, rapidly firing arrows against the bony brutes.

"Yes! Thanks, Liam!" said Kevin, appreciating the backup. He inhaled a bunch of other skeletons and spat out the bones at some others, while Danny used his sword to slash many of them at a time.

"Hmm, well if you won't give them up for one diamond, how about this?" said Shadow-Liam, his arm cannon charged up. He aimed at Liam, who only had enough time to look up before he took the full blast of the cannon.

"Ow!" Liam winced, raising his hand to rub his head when he suddenly noticed his health bar wasn't affected at all. "Hey, that didn't do any damage!" But when he looked around, he realized his clone wasn't trying to hurt him - instead, he was in a new situation.

Now Danny and Kevin were tied up with a rope, slowly being lowered down into a pit of lava. "Liam! Help us!" Kevin cried, struggling to free himself.

"You really want to help them, don't you?" said Shadow-Liam, teleporting into the room. "Must be an easy choice, right?"

"Duh," said Liam, reaching into his inventory. But when he searched through it, he couldn't find his main weapon. "Hey! My dispenser!"

"Oh, yes. Going to be hard to help them without this," Shadow-Liam taunted. He took out the dispenser and juggled it in his hands. "Especially since there's this in the offering…" In his hands now, Shadow-Liam held several diamonds, enough to make five full stacks.

"Come on, Liam, don't listen to him!" called Danny. "We're more important than some silly diamonds!"

Liam shook his head in disgust at his shadow clone. "I see what you're doing," he said. "You're trying to make me betray my friends. Well, it's not gonna work the way you think."

"And why is that?"

"Gimme the diamonds."

"Hmm. Guess you can betray your friends after all," said Shadow-Liam. "I knew you'd - hey!"

"Forgot to get my crafting table, didn't you?" Liam responded. He tossed the diamonds onto each slot of the table, quickly picking up the diamond blocks that were made. Shadow-Liam swiped his hand onto the crafting table, destroying it, but by then Liam had enough blocks to fill up the lava pit. After grabbing the crafting table before his shadow clone, he tossed the blocks, one-by-one, into place, covering up the scorching substance completely by the time Danny and Kevin stopped being lowered.

Liam took Danny's hand to help him off the diamond. "Thanks, Liam," he said, nodding.

"Don't mention it," Liam answered, but just then, his shadow clone fired his blaster at him again, warping him to yet another scenario. But this one was so ridiculous it made Liam scoff. Yet another bit of diamonds, a whole vein of them, and right across from that, Danny and Kevin excitedly examining a deadbush.

"Look at this fantastic deadbush!" said Danny with complete sincerity.

"Yes, it must go in our treasure collection!" said Kevin. "Come on, who needs those lame diamonds?"

Liam smacked his face. Alright, I'm getting sick of this, he thought. "Come on out, shadow-me!" he called out. "I know you're still trying to make me go against my friends!"

As if summoned, Shadow-Liam teleported back into the area. "What's wrong? You don't want to get a mere deadbush?"

[BGM: Antimo & Welles - Ivor Fight [Minecraft: Story Mode 102 OST]]

"Of course not!" Liam said, exasperated. His hands flew on the side, placing down his crafting table and quickly making some sticks. "But I know what's happening - you're trying to make me follow my greed to make something happen. But I'm not gonna let you." Just after saying that last word, he swung the freshly-made diamond sword across Shadow-Liam's chest, knocking him back.

Shadow-Liam grunted and picked himself back up. "So be it." He waved his hands, making everything in the area vanish, before aiming his arm cannon at his organic counterpart. Liam brandished his sword, ready to fight. Then, the two charged. The arm cannon fired, which Liam deflected with his sword. Then he jabbed the sword into Shadow-Liam's stomach, to which Shadow-Liam retaliated with a successful arm cannon fire.

Liam went flying back, sticking his sword into the ground to slow his skid. Then, he charged back, swinging the sword once more into the way of his shadow self's arm. The cannon fired blasts just out of Liam's reach as the two weapons wrestled, until Shadow-Liam finally decided to kick Liam in the groin. "Had enough?" he gritted, preparing to fire his arm cannon once more.

But just as he was about to fire, Liam grabbed the arm cannon, jumped over Shadow-Liam with a somersault, and ensured that it was aimed at the shadowy clone before letting go. "No, but I'm sure you do…" The arm cannon activated, and Shadow-Liam took the full blast. As he began to fall towards the ground, Liam got one last sword swipe in. The dispenser flew out of Shadow-Liam's inventory, allowing Liam to grab it and aim both it and the sword at his shadow counterpart. "I'm only going to ask this once: Where? Is? The Manipulator?"

Shadow-Liam closed his eyes. "Fine. You want the Manipulator? Here it is…" He spread his arms and descended into the blackness. Liam looked up to see the bluish, energy-made figure he so antagonized appear from the smoke.

"Hello, Liam," said the Manipulator. "I see you chose your friends just about every time. A foolish choice, I feel."

"Cut the games, Manipulator," Liam growled. "Here's what's gonna happen - I'll do whatever else I have to do, and then you're going to let me go. Understood?"

The Manipulator nodded. "I see," it said. "Very well. I shall give you one more choice, but it will not be an easy one." It spread its arms out, and behind Liam, the ghostly figures of Danny and Kevin waving appeared. "You can choose to go free with your friends but do not attempt to stop me again, or you may stay and stop me, but never see your friends again." The Manipulator waved its hands again, causing the figures to vanish like dust.

This was one that made Liam genuinely think. What do I do? he asked himself. I don't wanna lose my friends, but I also gotta stop the Manipulator. And if I do that, how would I never see Danny and Kevin again? Would he kill them? Make it so that we can't see each other? Little did he realize what this moral dilemma would result in. No. No! I can't not see my friends again, but I also can't let the Manipulator win! Suddenly, he uncontrollably got down on all fours and felt the sensation of the smoke all around being absorbed into his body. As his body began to glow with partially white and partially black energy, Liam glared at his adversary and shouted, "Manipulator, I choose both!"

It was at that moment that the Manipulator realized what was about to happen. "Of course…" Now fully imbued with the power of balance, Liam flew up into the air, plowing through the layers of stone and dirt that attempted to block his way. The Manipulator followed him, now knowing what was to happen. "I see you have the same special power as your friend," it said, seeing Liam's hovering body. "No matter. I also have your friend's powers…" The Manipulator held its hands out and split into several duplicates of itself, one of the many magic powers Danny had.

"I don't care what powers you have," gritted Liam. "I'm still gonna make sure you don't hurt my friends!" And then the two charged. The clones of the Manipulator moved their hands around, altering the structure of the mountains all around to block Liam's way, but Liam simply broke off chunks of them and used them as clubs, swinging them around and smacking the Manipulator in its indiscernible face.

"Hmmph. A relentless one," gritted the Manipulator. It put its hands together and created a blue barrier around itself, akin to the golden one that Danny created on occasion. However, that proved to not be powerful enough to stop Liam, who simply charged into it with all four limbs outstretched and began to claw, savagely, at the barrier, slowly causing it to explode into chunks before he finally managed to hit the Manipulator in the body.

"Go ahead. Keep trying," Liam taunted. "We'll get you every single time, Manipulator." After saying that, he grabbed the Manipulator's outstretched hand, swung the being around by it, and tossed it into the air, watching as his adversary flew for miles before vanishing entirely. His powers' duty fulfilled, Liam slowly floated down to the ground before the glowing, as well as the powers, left his body.

[BGM: End]

The first thing Liam did when he reverted to normal was catch his breath. "Wow," he said, astonished. "So that's what that feels like." His eyes turned away from his screen and to his phone, which he promptly grabbed to text Danny and Kevin.

As soon as he finished his explanation by text, Danny and Kevin were left astonished. "Whaaaaaat?" Danny answered. "That's crazy!" Kevin agreed.

"I know," Liam texted back. "Better tell Balancia about that." With that dilemma settled, he picked his controller back up and began to resume his journey through the mines.

But something stayed with him as he gathered the valuable minerals he desired. A horrible thought. So far, Danny had the powers of lightness and Liam himself had the powers of balance. That meant that the powers of darkness would have to go to the one player who is part-gangerman…

[Character Selected: Manipulator]
[Current World: In-Between Space]
[Current Location: N/A]

The Manipulator rested its unobvious head following its scuffle with Liam. "That's two players now that have the foretold powers," it thought aloud. "But if I'm lucky, the third won't be so rebellious." It looked at its hand to see another ball of energy, flashing between gray and white. "And at least I now have more bio-data." It looked over towards the Planet of the Gangermen, specifically focused on the prison area of the fortress. "And if there are others who have failed to stop them with their natural powers, I shall make an offer they can't refuse…"

To be continued...and next time: a trip to Rabborgia!

Next chapter: It's time to hop "Into the Fountain" and take a journey to Rabborgia for the third part of the heroes' quest! This time, they will be faced against an old adversary returning... Plus, Andy and Mark have their own special plans, but something about them doesn't seem right...

Postface: Chapter complete! That's two of the players with balance powers down, but the last one doesn't seem like it'll be pretty...

Trivia time! I chose Liam to be the wielder of the second Cube of Balance's powers because I think he does a good job of representing that 'balance' - he's kinda snarky and can be a bit of a jerk at times, but he means well and actually does care about his friends. His greedy side is one that I don't think I've shown a lot, however, so that's why I made the inciting incident, so to speak, of the ambush be a mining trip, with the bit about him stopping himself from falling into the ravine being a way of showing how he has a rationality to his more brash decisions. The three tests he is given are also meant to represent the three pieces of the yin-yang - the first test depicts an easy decision for him (the light), the second test has him take both options (the balance), and the third test is supposed to trick him into making the bad choice (the dark). As you can see, I am definitely getting deep within the yin-yang themes of this story!

That should be it! Please read, review, and share around, and I'll see you all next time for the journey to Rabborgia! Stay diamond, everyone!

-Alfred

~Minecraft and everything related to it are properties of Mojang Studios and Xbox Game Studios. No copyright infringement with any of these companies nor financial gain was intended in the making of this story. Any resemblance to real-world people or events are either coincidental or done fictitiously.~