Preface: Hello, again! Happy new year! Apologies for not uploading yesterday - I decided to take the day off. To make it up, I have a double-whammy of chapters as a special new year treat! So let's start with the "final exam" of this portion of the Code Challenges...
MINECRAFT MANIACS:
LIGHT AND DARK
Previously...following an ambush from the manipulator, Danny, Liam, Kevin, their companions, and some of their allies from Bonegea and Mobius went on an adventure to fill the second Key of Balance. Afterward, the players returned to the Multiversal Gateway and accomplished the next Challenge of the Code.
Now...they await their encounter with the next Keeper of Code...
Roll Call
Danny - Alfred von Any: Hero with emotional issues. The leader.
Liam - Willy Blanq: Expert crafter. The maker.
Kevin - Nevile Napoleon: Part-gangerman player. The brains.
Pork Chop - Dee Bradley Baker: Danny's companion. The pet.
Spawny and Spawnette - Damien Laquet: The rabborg siblings. The heart.
Balancia - Marieve Herington: Guardian allay. The fairy.
Chapter 16:
High Risks, High Rewards, Part Two -
An A-Maze-Ing Bomb Defusal
[Main Party Selected: Danny, Liam, Kevin, Balancia]
[Supporting Party Selected: Pork Chop, Spawny, Spawnette]
[Character Selected: Liam]
[Current World: Minecraftia]
[Current Location: Minecraft Code, Hallway to Doongus]
Ca-chunk. Chunk-ca. Ca-chunk. Chunk-ca. The pistons doing their moving magic was all the players could hear as they inched closer and closer to the second Keeper of Code. Their minds raced, wondering what kind of challenge they would face this time.
"Maybe we have to solve some kind of puzzle," Kevin proposed. "That sounds like something redstone-related."
"Or maybe a parkour course?" suggested Liam. "Mmm, nah, that doesn't sound very redstone-y."
"(I'd be happy about that,)" said Spawny, gulping. "(After that parkour course in the mini-game tournament, I'd be happy to never do that again!)"
"I'm just wondering what the next Keeper of Code will look like," said Danny. "Their voice, their motives, their…oh! Here they are! Or her, I guess…" The flying machine suddenly stopped in front of another large head, this one resembling that of Agnes Larrson, another Mojang developer.
"Hah, this must be the Temple of LadyAgnes," said Liam, cracking a joke. "I bet she'd give ghast tears."
"How insolent you are, Liam," a booming, feminine voice suddenly intoned. "But I am aware of the big heart that lies underneath that rudeness. Please, step out of the machine." Slowly, the six climbed out of their boats and jumped off of the flying machine. The invisible ground had returned, with no fear of falling into the void.
"Um, hi," said Kevin, awkwardly waving. "I'm sure you know who we are."
The Keeper of Code suddenly opened her eyes. "I am," she said. "I am Doongus, the second Keeper of Code. I am aware of your meeting with Jarvis and your success in acquiring the first Cube of Balance."
"So communication does happen between you guys," said Danny, nodding. "Are you proud of our success?"
"Quite," said Doongus. "But that does not mean I shall make this easy willingly. The difficulty of this next challenge will depend on your tenacity - you must work your way through a maze within twenty minutes in order to disarm a block of TNT."
"Cool, a bomb defusal," said Liam, impressed. "But twenty minutes to get through a maze, huh?"
"And it doesn't look like we have much room for error," said Kevin. "I doubt we have much choice, though. Okay, we'll do it."
"Perfect," said Doongus. "Be sure to pay attention to the redstone wire on the floor - you must remove all five redstone repeaters within it, but you will also need it to make your way through the maze. Good luck." And with that, Doongus closed her eyes, sending everyone to their next destination.
[Character Selected: Kevin]
[Current World: Minecraftia]
[Current Location: Minecraft Code, Final Exam #2]
[BGM: Peter Hont - The Maze]
As soon as you teleport to your next final exam, you immediately survey the location - a basic-looking maze made of red wool, with a trail of unactivated redstone dust leading up to a block of TNT, and a large redstone lamp display counting down the twenty minutes you have. Just to be safe, you take your empty fist and punch the TNT, but not a single crack appears. "Yeah, I figured it wouldn't be that easy," you say, sheepishly.
Danny cracks his knuckles. "We better get going," he says, then kneels down to Pork Chop. "Think you could sniff our way through, Porky?" he asks the pig. Pork Chop nods and starts sniffing the trail.
"Don't you think this counts as cheating?" Liam asks as you all start walking into the maze.
"I mean, we are using our innate abilities," you point out, "so I'd count it under that tenacity that Doongus just said we should use."
"Can't argue with that," Liam then says, shrugging. You follow Pork Chop through the twists and turns of the maze, trying to avoid any dead ends. It goes well for a bit, but then you realize something - you've started going in circles!
"Hey, guys?" you say. "Something tells me the next door's hidden."
"(He's right!)" says Spawny, pointing to the wall. "(Look! A pressure plate!)" Peeking into the small hole in the wall, a stone plate sits within.
"Touching it would probably open the door," says Danny, "but it would also activate the TNT. We better find that first repeater."
You turn around and walk back down the path you just took. You swear you saw another pathway, and sure enough, there it is to your right. "Something tells me it's down here," you alert the others. You all walk down the path, and shortly after you start walking, you see the white object with two red torches on it.
"The repeater!" says Liam, picking it up. "That's one!" You then all hurry back to the pressure plate. "So, who wants to see if it works?"
"I'll do the honors," says Danny. He takes off his shoe and carefully reaches his foot onto the plate. As soon as his sock-covered invisible toe hits the plate, you hear the sound of pistons as the next path opens up behind you. "Yes! That's what I'm talking about!" he says, putting his shoe back on.
Pork Chop resumes his sniff-search and you all follow him down the winding maze. You look up at the timer to check how much time you have left - seventeen minutes and forty seconds.
The next stop you and the others come to is at a split into three paths. Looking down the path in front of you, you see a small box of green wool built into the ground, with all but one of the corners stretching one block into the air and the one line of dust on the box, on the part which doesn't have a raised corner, branching off onto a staircase leading to a dispenser facing a target block. "Hmm…looks like a clock circuit," you say, examining the scene, "but it's not complete."
The others look around for something they can use to complete the circuit. No chest or barrel with supplies in sight, just what appears to be a crafting table with inverted colors - blue wood instead of beige, a black saw, hammer, and pincers with white handles instead of the other way around, and a dark blue cloth instead of reddish-brown.
"What the heck is that thing?" asks Liam, glaring at it. "It looks like something out of the Cursed Caverns."
You sense Danny's brain working. "Gimme that repeater, Liam. I wanna see something." Liam tosses the repeater into Danny's open hand, and when Danny places it onto the table, it splits apart into its ingredients - two redstone torches, a lump of redstone, and three blocks of stone. "A-ha! I saw this in a machinima once - this is a decrafting table!"
"A decrafting table, huh?" you say. "So we must have to use the ingredients to finish the circuit!"
Danny takes the torches and lump of dust and connects them to the set of blocks opposite of the line connecting the dispenser. The first torch and the redstone light up, while the second torch dims as a result of being in contact with a powered redstone wire. "We better find that next repeater, then," he says, pointing to the ground, "because no way this is gonna be enough!"
"Let's check the other two paths," Liam proposes, and you all go back to the fork to take the left path. Nothing there but a sign on the wall, reading "B2, B5, E5". "Yeah, that's gotta be a clue," he says. "Let me just write that down…" He grabs a piece of paper and a pencil in the real world to write down the message.
The other side does have the next repeater, so after Liam collects it, you all run back to the initial room and he uses the decrafting table to convert the repeater back to its parts. "Here we go…" He attaches the remaining redstone torch to its rightful spot, then the lump of dust into the open space in front of the last one. Instantly, the torches and dust begin to flash on and off, causing the dispenser to activate. Arrows fly out of its open mouth, hitting the target square in the bullseye and opening the next door. "There we go!" says Liam, pumping his fist.
"Better hurry a little," you say, glancing back at the clock. "We're down to half-time now." Pork Chop resumes his sniff-search, you and the others diligently following behind.
"Y'know, I've been thinking," Danny suddenly says during your search. "If we're supposed to be collecting repeaters to stop a TNT explosion, why is it at the start of the maze?"
"(He is right,)" Spawnette points out. "(It seems odd how what we are trying to stop was at the start…)"
"(Uh-oh…I hope that doesn't mean…)" Spawny begins, but his thoughts are interrupted by a sudden "click". "(What now?)" he bursts out, worried, turning to face the tripwire you realize you just crossed.
"Oh, relax," says Liam, looking up at the dropper that the tripwires activated. "We just got some gear." Three bows and three arrows fall from the ceiling, and Liam picks them up. "Dang, these bows have low durability."
"And going with that clue you found," you say, thinking, "our next challenge must be…" Your question is answered when you step into the next passageway, revealing another open room with a large iron bar barrier blocking a wall of wooden buttons, with only holes being able to shoot arrows to the buttons. "One of these, whatever they're called."
"So the sign must've been what buttons we have to press to open the door!" says Liam. "But with these busted bows, we may only have one shot at hitting each button."
"(Ooo! Ooo! Can we do it?)" Spawny asks, raising his and Spawnette's hands. "(We haven't really done anything so far.)"
"Why not?" says Danny, shrugging. Liam gives the rabborgs one bow and one arrow each, then hands the last of each to you. "Do us proud," says Danny, nodding.
"I'll try," you answer. You turn to face the iron bars. "Liam, what was the clue again?"
Liam inspects the sheet of paper next to his controller. "B2, B5, and E5," he says. "Knowing what we're dealing with, you should try shooting all at once."
"Okay, so if there are five buttons across and five down," you think aloud, "then the second button on the second row is B2…" You draw your bow and back up to aim at the open hole correctly.
"(And this is B5…)" says Spawny, aiming at the bottommost button on the column.
"(And this is E5!)" says Spawnette, pointing at the final button of the final row. "(On the count of three?)"
"One, two, three…" you count down. "Now!" You and Spawnette shoot your arrows in synchronization, and while Spawny is a little slow, his slightly later impact has no negative effect and the door successfully opens just as your bows turn to particles. "Oh! I think this is the end of the maze!" you say.
"Something tells me you're right," says Liam. You all walk out the open door, finding yourself at the very end of the maze, signified by a repeater sitting on a smooth stone block.
"Yes! Finally!" shouts Danny, picking up the repeater. But just as he starts to celebrate your apparent victory, you all remember something crucial. "Wait, this only makes four! We're still missing one!"
"And we already crossed every path here that should have a repeater, if Pork Chop's nose didn't fail us," you add. "Which means…" A sudden feeling of dread washes over the group as you realize what this means. "Oh, no…"
"(I was afraid of this,") says Spawny. "(We're gonna have to go through the maze backwards!)"
[Character Selected: Danny]
[Current World: Minecraftia]
[Current Location: Minecraft Code, Final Exam #2]
[BGM: Johan Johnson - arena2]
I closed my eyes, took a few deep breaths, and centered my attention to the task at hand. "Okay, let's all relax, we already did all the puzzles," I said, putting my hands up. "I doubt Doongus would be that cruel as to make us do them all again."
"I guess you're right," said Liam, nodding. "Especially when we have…" He looked up at the timer, and I swear I saw his heart sink from the outside. "FIVE MINUTES?"
"What the heck kinda clock is that?" shouted Kevin. "Come on, Pork Chop! We gotta get back to the front!" Pork Chop saluted and went back into the maze. Shoving his snout to the ground, he began to sniff the redstone like it was a field full of flowers, looking for the right way out of the maze.
Thankfully, I was right about us not having to do all of the puzzles again. But the maze was huge! It took us quite a while to get back out, especially since Pork Chop made a few wrong turns here and there. So when we finally did make it back out, we wound up having…
"ONE MINUTE LEFT?" We all shouted, glancing at the timer. "Seriously?" Liam sounded particularly agitated this time.
"But wait, there's the last repeater!" I said, pointing to the TNT block that was gonna blow any second. The final repeater had appeared right in front of it, and time was running out to get rid of it.
"I got this!" cried Kevin. If this were an action movie, time would've been moving in slow motion, cutting between Kevin running towards the repeater, the clock counting down to zero, and the rest of us watching in fear. It certainly felt like that.
Luckily, I wasn't the only one who could pull through at the last minute. As ten seconds remained on the timer, Kevin's hand came down onto the repeater, and it vanished just before the redstone wire could activate.
[BGM: Peter Hont - What You Came For]
I felt the sensation of teleportation flow through my body as we were sent back to the area where we first met Doongus. "Whoo!" I cried. "Now who's the puller-througher?"
Kevin awkwardly chuckled. "Okay, okay, it's me." Suddenly, Doongus reappeared, causing us all to yelp, just like when it happened with Jarvis. "Seriously?" shouted Kevin.
"I apologize for the abrupt appearance," said Doongus. "We cannot help such a thing. But still, you have proved your tenacity well. I was particularly impressed with the pig's use of scent."
"Told you it wasn't cheating," I heard Kevin whisper into Liam's ear after that compliment, which made Pork Chop smile.
"Now, here is your reward," Doongus continued. Just like last time, a hole opened up in the ceiling, and a cube that was half-white and half-black floated down, resting in Liam's hands. "This cube has the ability to amplify the power of the multiverse's pure and impure energies, as well as the power of the second set of Order Gadgets."
"So this is how we make the gadgets we found in the Unikingdom more powerful," I said, staring at the Cube of Balance in awe. "Then the last one must cover the ones that were from Whisker Haven."
"You pick up knowledge well, Danny," said Doongus. "I wish you luck in obtaining the final one and using the three cubes' powers for good." And with that, my screen filled with white, and I braced myself for the return back to the Multiversal Gateway.
To be continued...and next time: another trip back home!
Next chapter: "A Hero's Purpose" Now that the second Cube of Balance is in the players' grasp, what's next? No matter what, Danny's fairly certain about what his new purpose is at long last! Meanwhile, Sonic visits an old location of his to help a friend...
Postface: Chapter complete! That's two Cubes of Code down, one to go!
Trivia time! I chose to use a maze full of redstone puzzles with the purpose of defusing a block of TNT because I thought that would be a clever way of conveying the use of redstone, plus a bomb defusal is pretty cool, right? The fact that the redstone repeaters were facing the front of the maze was actually a bit of an oversight of mine, but I decided to rework it into having to go through the maze backwards, to add a little extra bit of suspense. As for the bit with the clock circuit, I based that off of a section in the old Redstone Handbook - I actually had to look through my old copy of it to make sure I got the design right! The decrafting table, on the other hand, was taken from a machinima created by the YouTuber GoldenArmor, and was used because I thought it fit the unusual-ness of the Code Challenges' environment. Also, the little moment of Danny taking off his shoe to activate a pressure plate was one I had in mind for years, so to finally put it to use here was kinda exciting!
That should be it! Please read, review, and share around, and the next chapter should be up and running! 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.~