Chapter Seventeen: Death Bowl

(Chapter 17 is here. This chapter took awhile to write for. But it here. Also, Season 2 of MCSM was awesome! I played it, and it was trilling and I'm nervous about what will happen next. But enough said, let's get started.)

Jesse and Axel fell onto the ground rather painfully. Reuben fell on Axel's back and pushing his face back into the ground, before jumping to land on Jesse's back, causing the amulet to go soaring out of her pocket.

'Why do I have butter fingers?!' Jesse screamed in her head. This always happens to her since the game started.

The amulet hit the ground and rolled around a pool of lava, clattering to the ground just as it reached the edge. The two of them got to their feet, and got a better view of the room. The floor was made up of sand and obsidian, with two lava falls. A small, two block bridge connected the land they'd fallen on to where the amulet had rolled to.

Jesse began making her way across the small bridge towards the amulet, but then a silhouette of a person walked pass a group of levers.

"You are completely surrounded by hundreds of hidden death traps." The person said as they walked by the amulet, "One step closer..."

"And KABOOM!" he pulled a lever and two sand blocks right in front of Jesse popped up, revealing TNT underneath.

Jesse yelled, falling onto her back, half her body hanging off the bridge. She looked over the side at the lava below it, before hastily making her way to her feet. 'Why does this always spook me?!' She thought in her mind.

The person leaned down and picked up the amulet, the green part glowing brighter at his touch. It was revealed to be Magnus.

"It's Magnus!" explained Axel, jumping from foot to foot in excitement, "We totally got caught by Magnus!" Meeting Jesse's glare, his face fell, "Er... I think we're gonna die now. Again."

Magnus looked at the two of them, and his eyes widened in shock. "J-Jesse?! Axel?!"

"Wait, You know what's going?" Jesse asked him, and Magnus nodded before saying, "Yes, I know that this is the day of the Witherstorm and that-that..." Magnus stopped and looked at the floor in sadness.

Jesse winced slightly knowing what he was going to say, then Magnus looked back at them, "Do you know why we are back here in this timeframe?" he asked her.

Jesse knows why but she can't tell them that it was her. "I-I don't know." She lied.

Magnus let out a small 'oh' before he asked her, "So, does anyone else remember about what happened before?" She nodded and told him, "Yes, there's Olivia, Axel and I. Also... Ivor remembers."

Magnus' eyes widened and sighed, "Oh, that's... bad. You know, because he has to make that monster again." Jesse nodded before noticing that if Magnus is still grieving over Ellegaard then he won't be arguing with her.

"Umm, can you remove that TNT in front of us?" Jesse asked politely, Magnus realized that, "Oh, right. Sorry. I'll take care of that." He pulled the lever and the TNT blasted to the side, and they ducked down, in case they were blown up. Reuben was running in circles behind them, squealing in fright.

"Okay," Axel said in the silence snapping her out of her thoughts. "Now that we found you, we can go back to the temple."

Magnus laughed at him, "Did you forgot about what is around here, because uhh it's kinda full of griefers."

"Oh, right." Axel realized that the place is full of people that are hunting for him. "The whole "Challenging the King for His Crown" thing. I-I forgot about that."

"We can try to sneak you out." Jesse suggested.

He shook his head and explained, "They'll spot me. Look, I'm to good and they're to eager. It that vicious cycle that keeps me here."

He slightly walk pass them before turning to face them, "Simply put, that's life as King of Boom Town."

Jesse and Axel looked at each other, knowing what's going to happen next. She is going to challenge Magnus.

"So, I h-have to challenge you?" Jesse asked with hesitation in her voice. Magnus smiled at her and nodded, "Yep. You have to beat me like last time. In a Death Bowl!"

Jesse nervously chuckled before telling him, "Just try not to be a sore loser this time." Magnus scoffs and informed her, "Don't worry, I won't."

"Ohhhh this is gonna be good. I'm actually excited about this, again! But we gotta make sure it looks legit. The Death Bowl has never seen the carnage we're about to create." Magnus said with a huge grin on his face.

Jesse had a small forced smile as she winced, "Erm, oh... great."

Few minutes later, they were outside in a large arena-like structure, Magnus walked forwards with a large grin, "This. Is. The Death Bowl!" he threw his hands into the air. Griefers were cheering from the stands or on buildings.

A griefer in a suit and 3-D glasses walked up, hands in the air as he shouted to the crowd, Wellllllllcome, ladies and gentlegrefers, to the Death Bowl! In one corner, we have Magnus, your king of Boom Town," he gestured to Magnus, the griefers cheered as he waved to them, "Prepared to defend his title and crown."

Magnus turned to Jesse, who had a grinning Axel standing beside him, "So, Tiny. Welcome to the Death Bowl once again."

"You know I'm taller then you." Jesse told him in a deadpan voice.

"The Grief-Off to end all Grief-Offs." Magnus walked over to stand next to her, speaking quietly so no one else could hear, also he might have ignored what she said, "You know how this is going to be planned out? The, ah, grand plan. Better lay it on me quick, griefers aren't known for their 'patience'."

"We'll do what we did before," whispered Jesse, "We will start small, and then I'll throw some TNT at you." Magnus raised his hand to wave at the crowd, "Just let it graze you and then we'll call it a finish, alright? Also do not, I repeat, do NOT go bonkers. Okay?"

"Okay." said Magnus, "The TNT plan. Awesome."

3-D Glasses walked up to Jesse, "And you?" he said, loudly and dramatically, "What name do you go by?" Jesse look at him with a confused expression, scrambling her brain for a name. 3-D Glasses said in a normal voice, "I'm gonna need a name."

"T-They call me.. the Amulet Holder!" shouted Jesse.

"You heard the name, folks." said 3-D Glasses, Give a big Death Bowl welcome to the Amulet Hoooollllder!" the griefers cheered. "Then lets begin!"

Jesse and Magnus stood in front of each other, 3-D Glasses on either side of them, "Opponents will craft their own griefing towers, which they will then use to grief each other."

"The only rule is-"

A griefer cut him off, "That there are no rules!"

"-No eye poking." this caused some boos from the crowd, "Other than that, go crazy. Seriously."

Jesse gave Magnus a small smile, but Magnus returned it with a wicked grin.

"Amulet Holder! Pick your building material! And Magnus, you-"

"Nah, I'm good." Magnus cut him off, "Brought my own supply."

"Let the griefing begin!" shouted 3D Glasses guy, throwing his hands into the air as the crowd cheered and screamed in excitement.

Jesse and Magnus split up, going to their own side of the arena. Jesse came to three already open chests, glancing inside them and listing of their contents, "Wood. Some stone. Some... hmm..." Reuben jumped up onto the last chest, grinning at her as if to say 'pick this one!' "Pink wool?"

"Stone it is." said Jesse, kneeling in front of the middle chest. Jesse could hear Reuben oinked in disappointment.

Jesse made her stone tower, which had a wood platform and had a chest and a sticky piston holding a slime block with TNT on the end. Magnus also had his tower built and had a chest and TNT-Launcher of his own.

"Hmm. Not bad, not bad. Guess it'll have to do." The Jesse spotted Axel at the bottom of Magnus' tower, jumping up and down and looking up at the green-wearing King in adoration, "Axel, you are still on his side?"

"Yeah," said Axel sheepishly, "Thought you might bring that up. I just want to, umm, watch you from over here. That or to see the battle from this view."

Jesse rolled her eyes before smiling at him. Then she looked back up to Magnus. The King's eyes narrowed, and he gave a single nod, breaking out into an excited grin, "Take your best shot!"

Taking out some eggs, Jesse tossed it in the air and caught it. She aimed at Magnus and threw the egg, but the rogue didn't even flinch, as the egg went way off and hit somewhere far behind him.

The crowd booed, while Jesse rubbed the back of her head, "And that's how you shouldn't throw an egg!"

"Ha!" laughed Magnus, turning his back to Jesse to face the crowd, putting his hands on his hips, "You grief with me, you grief with the best!"

Jesse grabbed another egg. She threw it at Magnus, hitting him right in the head and knocking him over. A baby chicken popped out, flapping its wings excitedly. Jesse grinned, as Magnus got to his feet and turned to her.

"So, Amulet Holder. Taking an amulet isn't enough... you need to take my crown as well?"

The audience clapped, Magnus standing to take a Bow. His acting was incredibly good.

"I do not discriminate in my accessory-taking." said Jesse, "Your crown shall be mine."

Magnus turned to little chicken running around in circles, and picked it up and let it fly or flouted down.

"You are nothing but a student!" Magnus declared, walking over to his launcher, "Prepare yourself! For I am here to give you your final lesson!"

Magnus pulled the switch and the TNT went flying, Jesse ducked. But it was unnecessary, for the TNT missed her tower entirely, instead hitting 3-D Glasses and sending him flying to the other side of the arena.

Magnus cleared his throat as the crowd booed, "Er, that was just a warning."

"What?" shouted a griefer behind him, " A warning that you need glasses?"

Jesse grinned and walked forward, "It seems that the student has become the master, and the Amulet Holder will win the day!"

"I don't know what that means," another griefer shouted, "But I love it and want to put it on a T-shirt!" Reuben oinked encouragingly up to Jesse from below.

Jesse made her way to her own launcher, aiming at Magnus, who once again had his back turned and was probably threatening the griefer that told him that he needed glasses. She fired the TNT and it went flying right towards him, but Magnus turned around and placed stacked slime blocks right in front of him. The TNT bounced off it and before flying towards Jesse instead.

The TNT exploded upon contact with Jesse's tower, knocking her onto her back. The crowd of griefers went wild. Jesse climbed to her feet, looking at Magnus with confusion, "But... what happened to getting hit by my TNT?" She asked in a low voice so that the crowd couldn't hear her, but Magnus certainly could for some reason, for his eyes narrowed.

"Nobody messes with the BOOM MASTER!"

Jesse's eyes widen, "Uh oh. You just had be a sore loser Magnus, don't you."

"Jesse?" called Axel, running up to her tower, "Jesse, you okay?"

Jesse quickly nodded, then Magnus yelled from his tower, "Had enough yell? Alright. I think Noob Time... is over. We had some nice laughs, but now they must come to a close."

Jesse glanced at the crowd of screaming griefers, before turning back to Magnus, "Luck sometimes visits the most unskilled of us, but it never lingers. Skill... Mastery... These are the things that will see you defeated!"

"Magnus!" a green-haired griefer called, "Craft a cannon!"

"Yeah!" a different griefer yelled, "Finish em' with a cannon!"

"If it's a cannon you want," said Magnus, "It's a cannon you'll get!"

"Yep, he's completely lost it again." said Axel, "Dude's going for the kill! Jesse, you'd better craft... I don't know, the greatest thing of your life. Like, right now!"

"There's still some materials in the chest." Jesse turned to the chest, searching through it and bringing out some stone blocks. She then made a small wall with a little hole in the middle.

"Hey, Axel, check it out!" said Jesse, grinning once she was done, "Ha! That should hold him."

"Yeah, it's... yeah." Axel called up, "Um, yeah, it might do. But Jesse, don't you remember what he built?" he pointed towards Magnus' tower, and Jesse looked up, her grin immediately fell and her eyes widen.

Magnus was standing in front of two levers. He threw his head back and laughed, his eyes on fire, and his tower turned into an opened mouthed skull with TNT in the mouth and a double lava fall.

Jesse groaned, "You were supposed to throw the fight."

Still laughing, Magnus pulled a lever and a block of TNT shot out of his skulls mouth, flashing in midair as it soared towards Jesse's pathetic little fort. She hit the ground, and the TNT immediately destroyed her stone wall. More TNT came flying towards her rapidly.

Jesse dodged to the left, the blast destroying some of her tower. "Jesse, look out!" shouted Axel from below, and Jesse had just barely gotten to her feet before even more blocks came soaring right for her, and she ducked, the TNT just barely missed her and blowing up her chest and TNT launcher. More and more TNT came flying, destroying her tower bit by bit.

Magnus, who's pupils were replaced by fire, was still flipping the switches. Reuben look up with an angry oink, before turning away and running off.

Axel looked around before he spotted the three chests that Jesse gotten the supplies to build her tower with, he opened one and began searching through it, as Magnus continued firing his TNT.

Now Jesse's tower was just a few cobblestones and wooden blocks, floating in the air. Jesse pulled herself up, as Magnus shouted from his skull, "You're going up against the King of the Griefers and you pick stone? Ha!" Rueben rounded a corner and coming up behind Magnus.

Reuben backed Magnus away from the levers, squealing and kicking his legs. "Get off!" shouted Magnus, the fire in his eyes died, "No pigs allowed!"

"Stuff!" Axel shouted up to Jesse, still going through the chest, "I've got cool stuff!" he grabbed an arrow and began sprinting towards Jesse's remains of the tower, "Coming your way!"

"I got you an arrow for your bow." said Axel, tossing it up to her, "I think it's enchanted or something."

"A bow?" Jesse said, "In a Cannon fight? Axel! There are all sorts of clichéd lines about this!"

"Yeah, but the TNT. Inside the cannon!" Axel pointed to Magnus' skull or more specifically, the mouth. A large stack of TNT could be seen between the lava falls, enough to blow the whole thing up if activated.

"TNT plus arrow..." Jesse held his bow and arrow. Axel put his hands on his hips, grinning. "Oh, yeah."

"Time to see how well you fly, pig!" said Magnus, grabbing Reuben and sitting him in front of his TNT launcher.

"Reuben!" shouted Jesse.

The fire returned to his eyes, Magnus pulled the lever, "BOOM!"

Reuben went soaring through the air, squealing in fright. Axel quickly ran along, looking up at the flying pig. "I gotcha, I gotcha!" He jumped up and caught Reuben before he could crash into the ground, before setting him down on his feet, "Man, you smell delicious right now."

Now Jesse was really mad at Magnus. No one threatens Reuben on her watch! She turned back to him with a deadly look in her eyes, "Hey, Magnus!"

"Yeah, short stuff?"

Jesse jumped onto the highest point of her towers remains, which happened to be about three wooden blocks. She stood, drawling her arrow back, "Flying pig jokes are totally played out."

At the site of the bow and single arrow, Magnus began laughing again, flipping switches back-and-forth. Jessie's eyes narrowed as she took aim, explosions starting to go off as the TNT hit their target at random. She jumped, just as some TNT hit her small patch of flouting wood, and she fired her bow.

The arrow spin as it went into the mouth of the skull and embedded itself into the TNT dead-center. The fire left Magnus' eyes, "Oh, crap!"

It exploded, and Magnus fell off his tower with a yell. Reuben grinned, the griefers gasped, Axel had his mouth wide-open, and Magnus slammed right onto the floor. 'I really should've just stick to the plan.' Magnus thought about this experience.

Jesse screamed as she fell too, only to grab onto a single bit of cobblestone block, flouting all by itself. Holding on by one hand, she looked down at the fallen Magnus with a small grin.

Smiling up at her, Magnus got to his feet, brushing himself off. The crowd was silent, as 3-D Glasses emerged from the hole in the ground, looking from left to right with a disbelieving grin. "We have a winner! The Amulet Hoooolllllllder!"

Jesse grinned and waved at the waved at the crowd of cheering griefers, still dangling from her single little block. She climbed up onto the cobblestone, standing up and putting her hands into the air, before jumping down as Axel and Reuben ran towards her.

Axel put his hands in the air, as 3D Glasses turned to Jesse, "You gonna say something there, champ? It's just that the winner sometimes, I don't know, gives a speech... ?"

After thinking for a moment, Jesse turned to the crowd, waved her arms above her head again, "Hello Boom Town! How you doing, huh?" The griefers cheered even louder, "Alright, that's awesome. That's awesome. I am so proud to be standing here in front of all of you today."

Above her, a griefer in a blue mask walked forward, three other griefers around him. One held TNT above his head. "Welp, you guys ready, then?"

Somewhere else, more griefers held up their own TNT. "Yeah, this will be a way easier target then Magnus!"

"Oh," said Axel, "I kinda forgot about this part."

Jesse looked around at the grinning griefers, "Oh, well, that's not good." But before any griefers could start throwing their eggs and TNT, everything began to shake.

"Holy CRAP!" said Magnus, looking up at the approaching Witherstorm in the shy with wide eyes, "I-Is that your Witherstorm?!"

The monster growled as it entered the kingdom of Boom Town. Eating the buildings and people, as it roamed around.

"How are we... w-what are we... GAGH!" Magnus yelled. He watched as the tractor beam came over one of his griefers, lifting him into the air.

"Oh no." said Jesse, looking around as another griefer was lifted into the air, "Oh no."

"No!" explained Magnus, as another group of griefers were taken by the tractor beam, "No no no no no NO NO no NO!" He looked around at the screaming griefers, one that was trying to run away got caught in the purple lights and lifted towards the Witherstorm.

Magnus stared in horror as he remembered about what this creature did to his kingdom and his lo- Ellie. And it's happening all over again.

"STOP EATING MY KINGDOM!" Magnus screamed, with tears held back in his eyes.

"Magnus, come on!" said Jesse, appearing beside him and pushing him to get him running.

Magnus stopped after a only a few paces, turning to face the Witherstorm again, "YOU'LL REGRET MESSING WITH BOOM TOWN!"

"Go!" yelled Jesse, and the both of them began running again.

They ran and got to the portal and managed to find a way to get in. The four of them stopped to catch their breath, and Jesse looked at Magnus who was still shaken up by this experience. "M-Magnus? Are you-"

"I'm f-fine." He stuttered as he got up from the nether-rack floor, "This had to happen anyway. L-let's get to the temple before the Witherstorm breaks this portal."

Axel nodded, "Y-yeah, that's a valid point." he said catching his breath.

They got into the minecraft and Jesse had Reuben with her in their cart. She then heard Magnus clearing his throat, "Uh, Jesse? Do you think that... maybe, there is a chance that Ellie will remember about all of... this? When she got... you know."

Jesse frowned at the rouge and sighed, "I don't know. But, we will find out once we get back."

Magnus nodded before smiling slightly at the raven-black-haired girl and pray that Ellie will remember. And they stayed silent as they headed to the temple.

Started: 7/9/17 Finished: 7/19/17

(The Witherstorm ate Boom Town and Jesse recruited Magnus to fight the thing. And Magnus might not want to fight will Ellegaard. Let's see what happens in the next chapter, Bye.)