Minecraft: The Shipwreck/5CHP
Chapter 29: Emily
The next day, Emily is getting ready to head toward the community center when her father mentions to her that because she is doing a good job with cleaning the community center, she is allowed to have her phone and laptop back. Emily squeals in excitement, giving her father a hug before heading back to her room. She quickly reinstalls her favorite apps, as well as changing the passwords on them. She then quickly responds to notifications and texts from Pattie and Nita, as well as PacificViv. While Pattie and Nita are excited that Emily finally has her stuff back, Emily mentions that she is still not allowed to hang out with them, but they don’t mind. Later, Emily is sitting on a bench just outside the community center when she notices Ellen Jenkins. She mentions to Ellen that they are just having a lunch break. Ellen then says that she was just checking up on them. As she walks back inside the community center, Jake and Tank arrive from Taco National with lunch, consisting of fish, caranitas, peppers, lime, and various salsas. As they eat, Emily gets a call from Pattie. She declines it and texts back to her, saying that she has "family stuff".
Jake then notices Emily’s phone screen showing her YouTube channel, and asks her about it. Emily mentions that she has a channel "for clothes and makeup and stuff", but she also mentions that she has a channel for her Minecraft builds. Emily nervously hands her phone to Jake and Tank, but Jake is excited upon seeing a video from Emily showing a tutorial on how to build a vending machine. Tank asks Emily if she uses shaders due to the graphics, but she doesn’t respond. Nonetheless, she is happy that Jake and Tank enjoy her Minecraft videos, and adds them to a group chat she made. However, she begins to question about how her, Jake, and Tank will be able to hang out once summer is over. Later, the three are back in the Minecraft server, noticing a nether portal in the distance. They go through it, teleporting them to an area with a path made out of cobblestone and torches. They follow the path to another nether portal, which leads them to a badlands biome. The three find a mineshaft filled with hostile mobs and a chest. Emily barely survives, being able to obtain the book inside the chest, and reads its contents aloud:
Riddle the Fifth
This challenge will surely test your mettle
Cross the bridge of fiery doom
By managing his a conduit settles.
The path to the next challenge courage will show
By going high to go low.
The coordinates in the book lead the three to a castle on top of a mountain. Emily tries to break the cobblestone wall in front of the bridge leading to the castle, but her diamond pickaxe breaks instantly. She then digs below the wall, finding a system of redstone circuitry. Jake finds a chest consisting of redstone dust, redstone torches, and concrete. Emily tries to build something out of those materials to be able to open the door, but nothing seems to be working. Jake then realizes that TheCrestWizard may have set it up as a red herring, and Emily sighs in defeat. Taking several screenshots of the contraption, she then disconnects from the server and wonders if PacificViv would be able to help, scrolling through several videos that she had made. Tank then mentions that PacificViv is actually her younger sister, Vivian.
Chapter 30: Tank
As Jake and Emily stare at Tank in silence, Tank reiterates that PacificViv is her younger sister, Vivian. The three then head over to Tank’s apartment in the west tower, where Ba greets them. Ba mentions that he got hired at the convenience store where Tank used to work until he got community service, and Ba also mentions that Mr. Mishra has his own workshop where he builds robots. Tank is excited that Ba has another job now, but Ba soon leaves for work. Tank then introduces Jake and Emily to Vivian. Vivian shows Emily her world, while Jake shows Vivian a screenshot of the world on the apartment’s LAN network. Vivian seems interested in helping them, and the four soon head back to the computer lab at the community center, re-launching the world and showing Vivian the redstone circuitry. After some trial and error, Vivian is able to successfully open the wall leading toward the castle. The three (Jake, Tank, and Emily) then prepare to enter the castle.
Chapter 31: Jake
The three then enter the castle, consisting of a floor of blackstone and several lanterns. Jake notices a faint blue light at the opposite end of the room. Upon further inspection, he notices that it’s water with a bubble column going upward. The three head up the bubble column to a small alcove, which leads them to another column of water, going downward toward a cave leading toward an ocean monument. Jake gives Emily and Tank potions of night vision, and the three explore the ocean monument. They go up against some guardians, but kill them with ease. The ocean monument also consists of a room filled with tiles that play music notes. Emily begins to feel like that TheCrestWizard may have set up the ocean monument as a decoy, but Jake insists that they are in the right place. The three eventually find the treasure room consisting of gold behind some dark prismarine. As Jake leaves the treasure room to double-check for any remaining areas they had not yet explored, he comes face-to-face with an elder guardian.
Chapter 32: Emily
Emily quickly kills the elder guardian, and the three (Jake, Tank, and Emily) stumble upon a statue resembling a mermaid. Emily interacts with it, causing the wall of the room it is in to open, revealing a hallway. Mermaids also follow the three throughout the hallway, leading toward two doors which bring the three back into the ocean, along with the mermaid kingdom in the distance. The three then question as to why the mermaids are building a wall around the kingdom, but soon notice the ocean floor rumbling underneath them. The ocean floor soon gives way to a trench of magma blocks and obsidian as a creature, described as "molted in dark green scales, with long fins billowing out behind it" attack them. The creature roars at the three, killing them instantly. Death messages reveal that the creature is a leviathan.
Chapter 33: Tank
Jake, Tank, and Emily quickly regroup and attempt to kill the leviathan, but after several deaths, the three soon get frustrated. Jake and Emily argue about how to defeat the leviathan. Tank tries to interject, but Emily scoffs at him, asking if he can build a maze so the leviathan gets stuck in it. Feeling angry, Emily disconnects and leaves in a huff. Jake pleads with Emily to stay, but she quickly meets up with Pattie and Nita. Pattie asks Emily about Jake and Tank, but she replies that they were just the two people who did community service with her. Emily, Pattie, and Nita soon head toward Emily’s apartment. Tank gets a text message on his phone from Shark, reminding him about hanging out together, and soon leaves as well, replying to the text message with a simple "Yes".
Chapter 34: Jake
Feeling down from Emily and Tank leaving, Jake quietly knocks on Ellen’s door, greeted with a smile from Ellen. Jake informs Ellen that they are done working in the community center, and also mentions about the three computers that were left out. Ellen tells Jake not to worry about it, but informs him that she had baked cookies for him and his friends. Jake almost feels like throwing up. The next morning, Jake is back in his apartment, feeling weird that he is there instead of the community center as usual. His father asks if he is okay, and Jake informs him that he is done with community service. Jake then asks if they’ll end up moving again now that the "project" is done, but his father reiterates that they are staying here while Jake is in high school. His father also mentions that the renovation of the community center is starting on Monday, and soon leaves for work. Sighing in defeat, Jake does numerous things to try to stay entertained (flipping through TV channels, attempting to text Danny, and playing Minecraft on his laptop), but nothing seems to work. Still determined to find a way to defeat the leviathan, he quietly heads back to the community center, but soon hears Ellen Jenkins and Isabella Reyes having a light argument. Jake quickly realizes that Isabella Reyes is Ellen Jenkins' daughter. Jake hides behind some shrubs as Ellen and Isabella argue about the renovation project. Ellen feels proud of Isabella, but Isabella says that Ellen had nothing to do with the project. Ellen hastily wipes her face as Isabella walks off in a huff. Just then, an empty soda can falls by Jake, making Ellen turn her head toward the sound, spotting him. Jake has no choice but to run off.
Chapter 35: Emily
Emily, Pattie, and Nita are back in Emily’s apartment, taking numerous selfies. Emily then shuffles through her Polaroid pictures, noticing that her pictures of Tank and Jake are shuffled in with the pictures of nature and architecture. Acting quickly, she puts the pictures of Tank and Jake into a dresser drawer as she tries to have fun with Pattie and Nita. Pattie and Nita approve of Emily’s set up and feel like they should film a video for their YouTube channel. Nita then stumbles upon the book of mermaid drawings that Emily had taken from the community center. Emily stumbles through the drawings, eventually coming across a drawing of the leviathan. Quickly reading through the story, Emily mentions that she has to do something, and asks if they can hang out some other time.