Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Minecraft, aside from my OC's. All OC's belong to their respective creators.

A/N: Okay, so this took a while to update. I am very sorry for that, but I have been doing a lot of work from school…even so it shouldn't have taken quite this long though. So yeah, I am very sorry. However, I've already started writing the seventh chapter so you can expect it far sooner. So now that that is squared away, I really am curious about how people will like this chapter. Lots of stuff happens in this chapter, and it's my first time writing such a major battle sequence. So I would really appreciate it if you could drop a review and tell me how I did. Anyway, I'm sure my talking isn't nearly as interesting as the story itself, so please, enjoy chapter six!

-Jeff's Point of View-

'This game seems a lot gorier than I recall.' I thought as my pickaxe tore through another pigman, the creature reeling off the edge of the Nether brick bridge from the hit.

"We're almost to the opening! I see it just up ahead!" I heard DJ shout. I quickly glanced up past the blazes and pigman in our path, spotting the opening DJ was referring to. If we could get inside the Nether Fortress and off the bridge, it would stop the ghast's onslaught.

"Alright, let's rush it!" Glenn called. True to his word, he thrust his large diamond and obsidian sword in front, cutting through the enemies. Taking advantage of the opening, he ran to the safety of the inner corridors of the fortress. I felt someone grab my hand, before I suddenly found myself inside the fortress, Andr smiling next to me. I offered her a grateful smile as I turned my head to the entrance, watching the rest of our group rush in. Once everyone had made it inside, Josh was quick to block the entrance with the cobblestone we had brought with us.

"What now?" Andr asked me as we all stood in the corridor.

I smirked. "Now comes the easy part. Without the Ghasts harassing us, it'll be a simple matter to find the entrance to that dome we saw earlier. Then…well, we fight the boss." I finished explaining. Our group set a quick pace to where we thought the dome was, easily dispatching any pigman or Blaze that attempted to hinder our progress.

It suddenly dawned on me how easy it was to do all this as compared to what I thought it would be like. It seemed almost odd, in a way. At the same time, it made me feel confident. If we were having so little trouble doing this, then perhaps the boss wouldn't be too much trouble for all of us anyway.

Us. I had to remind myself that we weren't a small group. We were a large group, armed to the teeth. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to attribute the fact we did so well to our numbers. With so many people, it wouldn't be much trouble to defeat the mobs as we were. If I were, say, by myself, I had no doubt I would be overwhelmed, regardless of skill or how well armed I was.

This brought on another thought. Herobrine had mentioned other groups before us. Logically, that meant other large groups must have done what we were right now. Yet, Herobrine made it quite clear that none had actually, truly defeated the Nether boss as of yet. Did this mean the Nether boss was extremely powerful or could it mean that there hadn't been a group this large fighting the Nether boss before?

With a sinking feeling, I realized the latter was unlikely. Chances were the Nether boss was like nothing we've seen before. As a matter of fact, the creature we were going to face was quite literally nothing we had seen before. It wasn't like the Enderdragon or the Wither, which we had seen before and therefore could prepare for to a certain degree. All we had were assumptions based on observations of the environment, like the ones I had pointed out when speaking to Andr a day ago.

'Regardless,' I thought as I looked around at my friends, 'we have prepared for this as much as we could…I won't stop here because of a little worry.'

"There it is!" I heard Cupa's voice, breaking me out of my musings. "Wow! It's huge!" She observed as we all came to a stop in front of the admittedly massive door.

"Looks pretty fancy too." Sabri commented as she scrutinized the runic carvings on its surface.

The unfamiliar etching mad me a little uneasy. "Josh, DJ, Glenn, do you guys recognize any of this?" I asked them. I didn't remember seeing anything like these symbols in the game before. The closest thing I could compare them to are the enchantments for an item to be enchanted, although they still looked marginally different from that.

Josh seemed to grow wary as well. "No…nothing like it. How odd." He typed on his laptop for a moment, only for his frown to deepen.

Glenn walked up to the door, tapping it with his sword lightly. As he did, an eerie echoing sound filled the chamber. It didn't take a genius to figure out the sound wasn't from Glenn's sword alone. Rather, it came from whatever was behind the door. We all looked between each other for a moment, unsure of how to proceed. That was, until a voice suddenly echoed through the room.

"Players. Do you wish to challenge the Nether Boss?" The haunting voice asked, falling silent after it delivered its message.

I looked between everyone, seeing all of them fixed with determined expressions. I felt someone grab my hand. Turning my head, I was greeted by the sight of a smiling Enderwoman. "We'll follow you." Andr stated.

Smiling back at the girl, I then looked back toward the foreboding door. "We accept this challenge!" I responded to the disembodied voice.

There was no response. The large door simply parted down the middle, swinging outward. It revealed a mass of black space, glowing with a faint dark red. It was a portal.

No words were needed. We all stepped through the portal.

"Damn! It's way too hot!" DJ complained as we looked around at the massive dome-shaped room we had all been teleported into. Lava flowed freely between crevices in the Nether block floor, with the same blocks lining the walls. There were small mounds of soul sand placed randomly about the room for what, I could only guess. This was apparently the boss room.

"So…what now?" Sabri asked after a few moments of tense silence. We looked around. No one was really sure of what exactly to do. Honestly, I had been expecting to be fighting for my life right now, not standing in an empty room.

"Maybe we should…" I began, when suddenly the ground beneath our feet began to shake violently. A couple of us fell over from the sudden movement as it grew more severe, nether blocks falling from the ceiling and landing with wet splats into the lava rivers. Suddenly that same lava began to spew into the air in the center of the room, all of it seeming to defy gravity as it piled on itself, creating a rough shape of a mound. It was forming something.

Something big.

It was nothing more than a massive blob of lava that stared at us with small beady red eyes, lava parting below those eyes in a gurgling, thunderous roar of anger originating from the creature. The thing then expanded slightly, leaning back and puffing up, as if it were intending to blow out the candles on a birthday cake.

I'd played enough games to know this was the boss. Then again, you didn't have to be a genius at video games to know this thing was the boss. It was thanks to my experience that I knew what the behemoth was planning to do. Thinking quickly, I spoke, "Move out of the way!" I shouted, grabbing Andr and dashing to the side. Josh, DJ, and Glenn apparently had the same idea as they too were already leading the rest of the girls away. Just as I had suspected, the Nether Boss spewed forth a massive glob of lava moments later, the searing liquid splattering the ground we had been standing on only moments before. "Damn! We won't be able to use melee weapons against this thing!" I cursed as Andr teleported me out of the way of another blast of lava. When we reappeared Andr prepared her bow and let an arrow fly. It hit the lava monster, but the behemoth did not seem to notice as the projectile simply burned away.

"I didn't really think that would work…" Andr mumbled in disappointment. All the while I was wracking my brain trying to come up with what to do. I hadn't expected a being made of pure lava. Moreover, I had expected a larger form of an already existing mob in the Nether. It was only now I realized how naïve I had been. It all matched up. Herobrine had openly admitted no one had defeated the Nether Boss…if that was the case, then of course it would be something no one would know about, or even expect, let alone predict. The people before us were probably good players; if it had been a beefed up version of a mob it would have been defeated long ago.

"Look out!" I heard Andr shout before I felt her grab my arm, teleporting again. To my horror, a massive meteor had impacted where we had been moments before. I looked back to the monster, who had now switched from spitting lava to shooting molten rock into the air, raining hell on our heads.

"Wait! Think about this, Cupa!" We heard Josh shout. Looking over, we saw Cupa lighting a mass of TNT, all bundled together to create one large bomb.

"Blowing up stuff always works!" Cupa shouted back as she hurled the lit explosive at the Nether Boss, exploding upon impact. Josh quickly grabbed Cupa and projected a shield from his laptop, a glowing blue dome covering the two. Andr grabbed my hand and teleported. Hanabi carried Glenn into the air, Sabri and DJ sprinting away from the creature.

Our retreat proved to be a smart decision as the explosion sent mounds of lava flying off the monster. To my satisfaction, the monster roared in what sounded like pain. Less appealing was the fact we had to frantically dodge the lava. Andr teleported numerous times, while Hanabi performed all manner of aerial maneuvers to dodge. Sabri and DJ managed by some miracle to avoid getting hit; Cupa and Josh were safe inside the genius's barrier. I grimaced as I looked around the room; much of the floor now sizzling with puddles of lava I knew would not be disappearing any time soon. It was not ideal.

"Sorry!" I heard Cupa apologize as Josh dissolved the barrier. We were forced back into action as the Nether Boss resumed its onslaught.

"No melee weapons, projectiles don't do anything, and we can't use TNT without screwing ourselves! What the hell do we do!?" Glenn yelled in frustration as he swung his sword around, smashing a meteor sent in his direction to pieces. I was starting to get irritated too…well, I suppose it was more accurate to say I was beginning to panic. With no way to effectively attack, what would we do?

That was how we fought for some time. Dodging more than fighting, really. I could tell it was taking a toll on all of us. Aside from the fact we barely had time to catch our breath; the stifling heat the creature radiated was weakening us as well. All the while I was trying to think of a way to attack the Boss effectively. "Crap!" DJ dodged out of the way of yet another lava blast, "This is more annoying than the Enderdragon!" I agreed, though I said nothing aloud. I mean sure, the Enderdragon was annoying, especially since you had to destroy the recovery crystals to really kill the dragon. It was more indirect and therefore pretty irritating…wait.

Indirect.

I quickly scanned the room, looking for anything out of place. No conventional weapons could kill him! That had to mean we needed to find a way to hurt him indirectly, manipulate the environment or something. I looked up at the ceiling, where stalactites of bedrock hung proudly. Bedrock was one of the few things that could stop lava. If we could get those to crash down on the Boss, it would have to do something. Normally I wouldn't have considered the idea of breaking bedrock, but we had already proven to be able to do things the game didn't allow previously. I noted the stalactites were spaced about on the roof in clusters. Looking down to the floor, I found they were directly above those mounds of soul sand. The soul sand that had a hole on the top of the mounds, likely for shooting something in the air. Of course, it would need some sort of trigger. Casting a glance at Cupa, I noted that if she were to throw a stick of TNT into the hole we could trigger whatever it was that was down there, and be perfectly safe from the ensuing explosion.

I finally had a plan.

"Everyone! We have to lead the Nether Boss to the nearest mound of soul sand! I have an idea!" I shouted. Despite getting some confused looks, though I noticed Josh take a look at the mound, then up at the stalactites. He was the only one to give me an approving nod.

Despite that, everyone acted accordingly. We were ready to try anything at this point. Glenn and DJ got closer and taunted the creature, able to withstand a degree of the boss's attacks thanks to their sturdy weaponry. All the while Hanabi was firing blasts of fire at the lava monster, doing no damage but certainly pissing it off. Seeing the monster steadily drawing closer to the mound, I called Andr and Cupa over.

"Cupa, I want you to get a stick of dynamite ready. When I tell you, light it and toss it into the hole on the soul sand mound. Andr, I'm counting on you to teleport our creeper friend out of there. Sound good?" They both looked at me skeptically, but nodded nonetheless. It seemed like kind of a far shot, I would admit, but if it worked, we could win. If it didn't…

I shook my head. Now wasn't the time for doubts. This would work. Everyone got into position, just as the Nether boss reached the soul sand, almost directly over the hole.

"Everyone, back off! Cupa! Now!" I shouted, the creeper girl throwing the TNT in a perfect arc, landing directly in the hole as the taunters retreated. I noticed with some amusement that she pumped her fist in the air happily before being teleported away. The Nether Boss was now directly over the hole when we heard a faint boom. For a moment, nothing happened.

Then the soul sand exploded.

Lava exploded into the air, propelling into the air and smashing into the bedrock stalactites with such force it sounded like a cannon just went off. Then, with a loud crack, the stalactites fell from the ceiling, on a collision course straight for the boss. The Boss cried out as the stalactites hit their mark, slashing the creature and cutting it up. That was when the unexpected happened. The Boss exploded into Magma Cubes, the cubes looking about in confusion. Where the Boss used to be, there was a massive Magma Cube core.

The Nether Boss was an enormous Magma Cube.

I noticed the smaller Magma Cubes all hopping to the large core. It was immediately obvious they were trying to reform. I quickly gave our next orders. "Melee weapon users, hit the Magma Cubes! I want projectile users to hit the core! Cupa, you help us with the Magma Cubes!" I quickly called on my dual pickaxes, slashing into the horde of Magma Cubes in a frenzy. My friends followed suit, as scores of the Cubes were taken down. The Core kept on flashing red as the arrows from Andr and the fire blasts from Hanabi beat down on it. Despite that, about two thirds of the magma cubes managed to reform on the core. The Nether Boss was notably smaller.

But now we knew what to do.

"How much you wanna bet we can take it down on the next attack?" DJ challenged with a smirk.

"I'll take that bet. Let's do this!" Glenn declared as the two surged forward, once again catching the boss's attention as they coaxed it to the next soul sand mound. Hanabi was already helping them. Cupa and Andr were already getting in position. Sabri walked over next to me.

"Good job. Looks like you managed to save the day, fearless leader!" She smiled.

I spluttered. "Leader? I'm not-" I began to protest before Josh interrupted me.

"We need a leader of some sort. And to be honest, you certainly are able to act the part." He commented, as I slumped in defeat. "Anyway," He pointed to the boss who had just been speared by more stalactites. "I'd say we finish this."

I nodded, quickly moving to slay more Magma Cubes. This time, we managed to kill the remainder of Magma Cubes, leaving only the core left. With one last arrow from Andr, the core glowed brightly before exploding, sending out a shockwave that staggered us. The lava that covered the field from the fight dissolved, leaving it in only the crevasses once more, thankfully. I also noticed the temperature decrease somewhat. For a moment nothing happened. Then part of the wall separated, revealing another smaller, but still spacious room. At the end of it, sat a solitary disc player, an accompanying disc waiting to be played. We all knew what it meant.

As one we moved into the room. With one last look at my friends, I slid the disc into place.

"CONGRATULATIONS!" We heard the eerily cheerful voice of Herobrine shout at us, accompanied by clapping. Somehow it managed to take away our previous happiness from defeating the boss. "My, my, my! You are the first to defeat the Nether Boss! Good job! I had a feeling you all would make me proud!"

"We didn't do it for you." I spat out as I glared hatefully at the disc player.

My statement was met with laughter. "Oh, so cold! You wound me!" He seemed to collect himself, as we heard him clear his throat. He then spoke in a controlled tone, though we could still pick out a trace of amusement in his voice. "This is, however, the first time the Nether Boss has been defeated. How interesting…"

"We're not just people you can mess around with like experiments!" DJ declared.

"Really? Well, that's quite the surprise! You seemed to be quite willing so far!" Herobrine laughed again, "And this is all part of the game! And hey, I'm a good sport. If you win, you get rewards! If you lose…well. That won't be fun for you. Then I'll get to have MY fun!" His laughter resumed, causing all of us to grimace.

"So why is this here? To piss us off?" I asked impatiently. I was beginning to lose my temper.

"Well, I need to give you your hint for the next location! At the end of the road, you find a dead end. You can take the elevator there, up to glory, or down to despair, all determined by the guardian of the dead end." Herobrine spoke, awaiting our answer. This one was probably even more obvious than the first.

"It's the End. With the Enderdragon." I answered, rolling my eyes at the obviousness of the answer. As if we could've guessed that one wrong.

"Well, aren't you all so smart? You think you've got it all figured out, hm? But yes, that is correct." He confirmed, sounding slightly bored. I smirked at the fact I had been able to make him show some form of disappointment. "Anyway, it seems an unexpected mid-boss has arrived! What will our heroes do?" Laughter followed his strange statement, just as the disc shot out just like the first time, flying across the room.

What we didn't expect was for the disc to be caught by someone. A teenager with red hair had caught the disc, wearing no armor, but odd clothes all the same. He had baggy black pants, and what seemed to be a black sheet with sleeves that was torn up in parts as it reached his waist. He held an odd sword made of obsidian, but we could see some sort of red substance in holes on the blade. He was looking down at the disc for a few moments, before turning to look at us with a glare. He crushed the disc in his hand. That was when we noticed his strange purple eyes.

"Quite the performance back there." The teenager commented in a neutral voice, still glaring. "Was that Herobrine you were talking to?"

I looked at him inquisitively, but if he was another player I supposed he had the right to know. "It was…why do you ask? Are you fighting him too?"

"Yes." The teen spoke without hesitation. "I'm going to kill him."

The way he had talked about killing so offhandedly disturbed me. I mean sure, it was Herobrine, but he sounded so emotionless when he said that. "Ah. Okay." We stared at one another for a few more moments of tense silence. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"There is." The teen responded so readily and quickly it almost seemed like he had interrupted me. "But first…what is your name?" He looked expectantly at me.

"It's Jeff." I answered, still feeling rather uneasy. "Might I ask yours?"

"My…current name, is Vile." He answered, looking down at his sword for a moment. "You see, it's something of a policy of mine to know the name of those I kill. And seeing as how you passed the Nether Boss, if I kill all you fools then Herobrine will have no choice but to confront me."

My eyes widened, "Kill? Hold on, what are you-"

One moment he was standing at the opposite end of the room and the next he was directly in front of me, bringing down that odd blade of his. It was on instinct that I raised my pickaxe, barely managing to redirect the strike with my weapon as his passed by me, directly in front of my body.

"Die."

That was the last thing I heard before my world was consumed by a blinding light, a deafening boom…

…Then it was all black.

-Andr's Point of View-

I watched, numb, as an explosion was produced from Vile's sword and enveloped Jeff, blasting him across the room and into the wall where he slammed against it with an audible thump. He stood there for a moment against the wall, before slowly sliding down it, resting on the floor, eyes closed. It was then I noticed the splatter of blood, his blood, against the wall, trailing down to where he now rested on the floor. A small puddle of the red liquid was beginning to pool around him.

All of us stood still for a few moments, stunned. Then the silence was broken.

"You…YOU BASTARD!" I turned back to see DJ lunge at the teen that had attacked Jeff, arms outstretched, gauntlets ready.

Vile frowned, "Pathetic." With that single word he teleported, appearing behind DJ, sword upraised in the same manner he had before.

"DJ! Watch out!" Sabri shouted a warning to him.

"Gah! Shit!" DJ quickly twisted around, knocking the sword to the side. He quickly brought his large gauntlets in between himself and the sword, knowing what would happen next. Sure enough, there was a blinding light and an explosion, propelling DJ back. Fortunately DJ was able to roll with the force, scrambling back to his feet. His gauntlets had been badly damaged. Even the diamond material had held off poorly against the attack, the once smooth armor jagged and torn.

"He has Ender man capabilities! Watch out!" I heard Josh warn, even as I teleported to the bloodied form that was Jeff. I heard battling behind me, the firing off blasts of flame, clanging of weapon against weapon. More concerning were the explosions I heard. But all that was second to Jeff right now. Looking down at him, I gasped. The damage was horrible…I wasn't sure if I should move him. His entire front was a bloody mess from the detonation of the sword directly in front of his chest. I couldn't tell if he was breathing over all the commotion.

"Jeff…" He couldn't be dead! After all that had happened! Not when I had just started to…

-Josh's Point of View-

"This is bad…" I commented to myself as I frantically used my redirection ability to send sword strikes and explosion alike away from us. The situation was bleak. This person, Vile, was skilled. That would have been bad enough, but the exploding sword and the teleportation made things worse. Only a minute into the combat and most of us had already suffered burns, DJ in particular whom I feared to have third degree. Hanabi had a nasty gash in her side from a sword strike, but had managed to dodge the explosion. She would have been killed if she hadn't. Glenn was attempting to protect the white haired girl, especially seeing as it was due to the fact she had taken that hit for Glenn. Sabri's chain had been destroyed in an explosion, and all she could do was try to ensnare Vile in a web. Against someone who could teleport, that was largely useless. Cupa was staying close by me, as she couldn't do much against an opponent like this. She was better at crowd control.

I glanced to the fallen form of one of my best friends, and the girl kneeling beside him looking absolutely petrified. I may as well have considered Andr out of the fight due to her worry, but I couldn't hold it against her due to the feelings I suspected she held for the teen. Obviously Jeff, one of our best if not the best fighter we had, was completely incapacitated and most likely needed treatment in short order if he were to survive.

Assuming he was still alive.

But before that this Vile had to be taken care of. As long as they were fighting him, Jeff would not be getting the help he needed. With this in mind I had even hit all of my comrades with splash potions meant to increase abilities. Even that did not do enough. How to turn the tide…?

-Vile's Point of View-

I frowned. Their leader had been dispatched, as was planned. So why were they still fighting so fiercely? It was out of necessity they fought with him, was it not? Moreover, their reactions surprised me. They all glared hatefully at me, not hesitating to go for what I knew to be lethal strikes. Not that they would come close to hitting me, of course. More worrying was the Ender woman's reaction. Why was she so worried for that boy anyway?

I shook my head as I stopped a ways away from the group for a moment. They all began to rush to where I now stood. 'It doesn't matter. There are only six currently fighting me. As long as I'm careful, they won't-' My thoughts were abruptly cut off as pain erupted in my abdomen. Looking down, I found a blade of red diamond was protruding out of my front.

-Josh's Point of View-

I was surprised to see a new arrival sneak up behind our foe, but did not call out. If we were going to receive aid, then I was not going to complain. It was with an odd satisfaction that I saw the newcomer stab a red sword through our troublesome opponent's stomach. Vile looked down at the blade in what I guessed to be disbelief, before simply glaring at the blade, and then he was gone. He had teleported away.

I hoped he would die. Of course, I supposed it was unrealistic to be quite that optimistic. Most likely he had teleported to either allies or a plethora of potions that would heal him. Even so, I suspected he would not show up for a long time. One does not recover from being stabbed with a sword quickly, no matter the circumstance.

Despite the newcomer, there were bigger issues to take care of. I grabbed Cupa's hand and led her to where Jeff was lying; to my worry the puddle of blood grew. He needed help right now.

"Andr. Andr!" I called her firmly, as she turned to me, tears in her eyes. "I need you to help me, if we are to save Jeff." Seeing her nod, I continued. "All right. How many people can you teleport at once?" By now the rest of our group had come over, all forming a circle. If the newcomer was annoyed by being ignored he didn't show it. Instead he simply joined the circle while looking uneasily at the injured teen. I quickly checked to see if there was a pulse. In the meantime Andr answered my question.

"I can teleport myself and two others…it's a strain on me, but…" She trailed off, looking down at Jeff.

"I understand." I simply replied, as I finished checking for a pulse. I nodded, satisfied it was still there, however weak. "He's alive, but not for long if we don't do something. Andr, I need you to teleport Jeff and I back to the portal. We have to get him to my lab as soon as possible."

Andr nodded, quickly putting a hand on my shoulder and grabbing Jeff's hand. In an instant, we were at the portal. It wasn't long before I was operating on one of my best friends, a situation I had never really considered. At one point I remember asking Andr to go get Cupa, as she would be a valuable assistant and aid in this, seeing as she knew where everything was. She had arrived soon after that, and I had to command Andr to wait outside where everyone else was waiting as well. Even that teen who had helped us was there as well. I was doing the best I could, and I had never seen Cupa work so hard either. Yet his pulse was not improving.

I steeled myself. Now was no time to get frustrated. If only people were as simple as machines. All you needed was another power source and there you had it! But unfortunately there was nothing like that here. I was at the end of my rope, resigning myself to the fact I could not save one of my best friends. For all my intellect, what use was it when I couldn't save my friends? I looked up, Jeff's ruined red jacket catching my eye. Red was always his favorite color.

My eyes widened. I immediately got back to work. "Cupa!" I called, gathering my assistant's attention. She turned to me, stopping what she was doing and awaiting instruction. I smiled for the first time since the operation started.

I would NOT let my friend die. "Get me some redstone, stat!"

A/N: Cliffhanger! Done. That is the took-too-long-to-update chapter six. I promise the next chapter will come out soon!

Here's a list of OC's I've accepted, along with their respective creators. (Some haven't made an appearance yet.)

Jeff – Created by: Kirbboy

DJ – Created by: Kirbboy

Josh – Created by: Kirbboy

Glenn – Created by: Kirbboy

Kel'Goroth –Created by: muredin

Garvin – Created by: muredin

Jaden "Blade Fury" Silvic – Created by: TheFlamingBlade

Ariana – Created by: ShadowyReviewer

Ethan – Created by: BanesBloom

Trent Laurel – Created by: LightvsDark99

Dennis – Den51

Those are all the OC's I have accepted so far. Emphasis on the 'so far'. Previous submissions are still being considered, and of course feel free to send more submissions if you want to!

Feel free to contact me in a PM if you have concerns about any old thing.

Please review! I really want to know how I did on this chapter! No flames though, I'll just move those to the Nether.

And for my next trick, I'll make myself disappear! This is Kirbboy, over and out!