Maybe they should've stayed in the Nether.
Because Chosen had realized too late that Alan had come back to being on the computer, and none of them had a good explanation for where they'd been, or why there was a random new stick, or why Second was missing, or why Chosen was there.
They had nothing.
Luckily, he wasn't online, but had left evidence that he'd been there. And they were 100% sure he'd want an explanation that they didn't have.
"So...what do we do now?" Green asked.
"Get some sleep and I'll think of how we'll explain this to Alan, and how we stop Herobrine."
"Is there a way to stop him?" Red asked.
"If King could stop him solo, albeit temporarily and with the staff, then we can stop him together without the staff."
"Right."
The next morning, as Yellow stepped into the kitchen, he came face to face with Chosen, still on his laptop.
"Your up early." He commented.
"Never went to bed." Chosen grumbled, lowering his head into his hands. "I don't know how to stop Herobrine, and I've searched everywhere."
"Lemme see." Yellow took the laptop and typed in "how to defeat herobrine in minecraft", knowing Chosen had probably searched that millions of times by now.
"Potions...good armour...a beacon...home-field advantage..." Yellow read on.
The gears in his brain suddenly began to turn as he continued to read through it. "...I've got it!" He exclaimed, shooting the exhausted Chosen back into reality.
"W-what?"
"I've got an idea on how we stop Herobrine. And it's gonna take team effort, so we're gonna have to work together."
"Can I get some sleep first?" Chosen asked.
"...Fine. And then can I explain my brilliant plan?"
"Yes, you can."
"Yes!"
"So...what's the plan, Yellow?" Blue asked as Yellow continuously wrote on a chalkboard.
They were crowded in the living room, Yellow and Chosen currently working on what seemed to be their battle strategy for fighting Herobrine.
"Since all of us have certain skills, I've been thinking we use those skills to weaken him long enough for Second and Purple to gain the upper hand and defeat him."
"What kind of skills would we use?"
"Blue, your a master at potions. So your going to use potions to weaken and harm him."
Blue tossed an empty bottle in the air. "Perfect."
"Green, you know how to use crossbows, so you'll use those while also moving frequently." Yellow said, tossing a crossbow at Green.
"Nice."
"Red, you'll rally up Herobrines students and attack with them. Afterwards, you'll help Blue with making and dealing out potions."
"Got it."
"What about the three of us?" Chosen asked.
"Me and you will set traps, and King...King will make enough armor and tools for us to survive long enough until Purple and Second get here."
"Got it."
"Now, the key in fighting against Herobrine is stay fast on your feet," Chosen said. "Always be moving. Blue, I'd recommend making swiftness potions for us so that it's easier for us to not get hit by his attacks."
"Way ahead of you, Cho." Blue said, already running towards his potion station.
"In the meantime, while the rest of you get weapons and armor, me and Chosen will start setting traps." Yellow said, running up to his room to grab redstone supplies.
Everyone quickly began to move to their own stations, the very thought of defeating Herobrine seeping into their veins and creating adrenaline.
As Yellow gathered up redstone, he watched Red head towards the Nether portal. Chosen had checked, and Herobrine had seemingly vanished, giving Red a chance to rally up mobs for an attack.
King had given Red an idea earlier about finding the piglin brutes that had helped them earlier when they destroyed the staff, so he was quick to jump on that idea while also grabbing the Monster School mobs along the way.
Needless to say, Red knew what he was doing.
Yellow finished gathering up redstone stuff for a trap he had heard about, and headed outside towards where they were going to lead Herobrine.
The Outernet.
Blue gather up his potions. He had a list of all the potions he was going to need to make, and holy shit, there was a lot.
Swiftness, strength, weakness, poison...yeah, he was making a lot.
He loved making potions, so it'd be a piece of cake!
Right?
"You remember when I shot you with one of these?" Green asked in the background, throwing one of his crossbows in the air.
Blue didn't answer. He was too busy taking inventory of all the items he'd need.
"Blue? Earth to Blue? Hello?"
"Huh? Oh! Sorry, I'm taking inventory. What'd you say?"
"Remember when we had that gunslinger battle and I shot you?"
"Oh yeah! The whole "there ain't enough space in Adobe Animate for the two of us!" thing, right?"
"Heh...yeah. Wish Sec had seen it."
"You wish Second had seen Yellow defeat you with a single arrow?!"
"Well, before that!"
"Of course. Maybe after all of this and everything's back to normal, we can have another gunslinger battle."
"Bet!"
They hadn't given themselves plenty of time. The traps still weren't set, but they'd set them later.
King had armor ready. That was enough. Yellow had given him the staff as ensured protection.
Blue had plenty of potions. That was enough.
Green had enough arrows for three small armies. That was enough.
Red had found plenty of mobs. That was enough.
Yellow and Chosen had the basics of the traps. That was enough.
They were hardly ready, having taken too much time planning and not a lot of time preparing. But they'd work with what they had.
They planned to attack the day before the day of Surrection, hopefully giving Second and Purple just enough time to complete the journey and get to where they were so they could attack Herobrine altogether.
They'd spent almost 3 days planning. Tomorrow, they'd fight until sunrise on the day of Surrection, when the Surrection portal opened.
They'd mapped out the attack. They knew exactly how it would work.
They just had to wait for Herobrine, the very thought of the agonizing wait coursing through their veins as they stepped through the WiFi widget to the Outernet.
The battle began the minute they arrived.