The Sky is Not the Limit

Chapter 2

"But if the squids and Herobrine are responsible for all this, how are we going to find Herobrine? He could be anywhere." Sky protested.

           "But, we do have one way of finding out where he is." Ty looked over at Jason.

           "What?" Jason shrugged innocently.

           "You made a Herobrine tracker, didn't you?"

           "Yeah, at one point, but I'm fairly certain it got destroyed when I crash-landed."

           "Could you make another one?"

           "Sure, but I'd need the materials."

           "We can go and gather them. Just tell us what you need."

Jason thought hard. "Well, for the inner-works, I'd need two diamonds and six iron ingots."

           "I've got those." Ty nodded.

           "Some stone..."

           "Too easy." Sky laughed.

           "And soul sand."

           "Wait what?" Sky stopped. "Soul sand, as in the stuff from the Nether?" The Nether was their world's version of Hell, with lava and dangerous mobs running rampant. If you were foolish enough to go there, you'd better have a dang good reason.

           "Yeah, I'll need about a handfull’s worth of it. That won't be a problem, right?"

           "Nope," Sky lied, gulping on the inside, "I'll go now."

           "Take your recruit with you. She'll need the experience." Ty suggested.

           "Gotcha," Sky waved, "see you all soon."

            Nicki followed Sky through the castle, until they reached a door marked: 'Nether: Danger!'

         He opened the door, and revealed a tall black portal with a purple wall of energy inside it. "Ok, we'll need to get in, and get out as soon as possible."

           "Right."

           "And whatever you do, don't upset the zombie pigmen! On the count of three. One," Sky counted down, "two, three!"

           They jumped in, and hovered in space for a moment, before flying out onto the hot, red ground. Nicki looked up, and saw endless rivers and seas of lava. She couldn't put into words how cool and terrifying it looked.

           Getting up, she turned to Sky. He motioned towards one of the lava oceans, where brownish-red sand was formed like a beach.

           In the air, large white, jellyfish-like creatures called ghasts floated about. Don't want one of them to see us.

           Sky ducked suddenly, just missing a fireball. A blaze, a golden flying creature, had just spotted them.

           "I've had it up to here with fireballs today. Run!" Sky and Nicki darted for the 'ocean', ducking and jumping as multiple blazes joined in and shot at them. Sky scooped up the sand and put it in his pocket.

           "Ok, got it! Now let's get out of here!" Both turning, they saw that they were cornered. Nether mobs stood in their way, threateningly glaring.

            The two exchanged looks, and simultaneously got out their swords. Sky jumped into the fray, and was about to finish off a blaze when he turned and accidentally struck a zombie pigman.

           "Uh-oh..." Simultaneously, all the pigmen in the area swarmed Sky. With the massive group looming over him, the spiteful mobs pounced.

           Hearing his yells, Nicki ran over, slashing at one. "Get off 'em!"  The pigmen all turned their attention to her with the same vengeance and got jumped almost as quickly. Taking multiple blows from various weapons at once, her only defense was to cover her head and take the hits. Do I die like this? Getting trampled by pigmen? A firm hand grabbed her arm, and she saw Sky pulling her from the crowd. She met his sprint and booked it from there.

           Leaping through the portal, the two landed sprawled out on the ground, beat but safe. Ty, who had been waiting outside the door, burst in.

           "What in Notch’s name happened?" Ty gasped, helping them up.

           "I broke my one Nether rule. I can take the blame this time." Sky replied, heaving.

           "Oh wow, there must have been a lot of 'em!" Ty looked them over. "Go freshen up, and then come to the landing pad. Jason’'s almost done with the tracker and needs that sand to finish it."

           As they went to the bedroom wing of the castle, Sky tried to find the words.

           "Uh, thanks for what you did back there."

           "Honestly, I should be the one thanking you. You could've just left me there, but you didn't."

           Sky didn't respond, but opened the door to one of the rooms.

           "There should be some clothes in there to change into. I'll meet you at the doors." He shuffled away, blushing.

            Nicki went into the small guest bedroom. Peeking in a closet, she found an outfit; a blue shirt and jeans. She had just finished changing, when she noticed a something lying on the bottom of the closet. It was an amulet, smaller than Sky’s but almost identical, with the center being made of emerald instead of amethyst. The color matched her eyes. She picked it up and put it on. It pulsed slightly, making her jump. That's weird. I'll have to ask Sky about this.

         Like he had said, Sky was waiting at the front doors, adjusting a crooked painting.

         "Good, you're ready to go. Let's head..." Sky stopped as he turned to see her, his eyes resting on the small amulet. Speechless, he stumbled, "W-where did you get that?"

         "I found it in that room you showed me. Is something wrong?"

         "No, it's just that...I haven’t seen it since..." Sky shook his head. "Nevermind. Let's go. Ty and Jason are waiting."

           They found Jason at the landing pad, kneeled over a small iron box about the size of a cell phone. Looking up, he laughed, "Ah, good, you're back! And not dead!" Sky handed him the sand, and Jason added the finishing touches to the box. "Ta-da!" The others stared blankly at it.

          "Uh, how does it work?" Sky finally asked.

          Jason picked it up and demonstrated. "You hit this little green button, and it will pull up this map that points to where Herobrine is if he is in the area. Simple!"

         "Well, we'd better start looking before he starts causing any more trouble." Ty took it and examined the screen. "That's weird. It says Herobrine is close by, as in a couple feet away. Jason, are you sure you programmed this right?"

         Suddenly, Herobrine teleported in front of them, grabbed Sky, and flashed away before they could move.

         "SKY!" They rushed forward, but were too late. He was gone.