The trio got back to the main group. Before Grian or Pearl could explain the situation in a sane and non-panic-inducing way when Taurtis, with all the subtlety of a mac truck crashing into a china shop, blurted out "Guys, there's this army of weird purple glowing creepers and this red glowing one!"

The group started to chatter panicked.

"If I know my color meanings, red and purple are bad news," Mini said.

Martyn turned to the more sensible people in the trio. "Okay, Grian, Pearl, tell us what you saw," he said.

"We saw a large group of about 100 purple creepers with a red one nearby," Grian said.

The entire group started to shout and panic.

"Oh no!"

"Crap."

"It's the end of the world!"

"We're all gonna die!"

Timmy used this time to crack a joke. "Well Grian," he said with a nice big smirk, "it looks like we found Sonam's weird creature."

"Okay, and what should we do about it?" Grian asked with his arms crossed.

That seemed to get rid of Timmy's smirk.

The group was just about to start bickering again when Zee piped up from the back.

"I have an idea."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The creeper and its army marched on through the plane, ready to destroy the vermin once and for all. It was confident that this much firepower would obliterate them. Looking over the horizon, it saw a creature with rust orange hair and matching chest adornment taunting the army. The head creeper sent 12 of its army to obliterate the rust creature. The creature fleas as the 12 started chasing it. Then came the pure blue creature it first saw killing creepers. The creeper sent 12 more to chase it down as well. Then came the green chested creature, then the lime one, then the bald one, then the muscular one, then the purple one, and finally the long-haired one, each getting 12 creepers siced on them.

However this proved to be a bad idea when the blue and black, the red chested, and the black and white creature lept from a ledge and attacked him all at once, and he only had four-guard creepers. The aggressing creatures shot arrows at the guards, missing many times as they backed away from the approaching creepers, but eventually, the attackers killed the noble guards trying to save their master. The red creeper, in an act of regret and anger, charged at the aggressive creatures in one last stand for the creeper species.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From atop a ledge, Grian, Pearl, and Taurtis watched the creeper convoy dwindle.

Grian had to admit Zee's idea was a good one, despite how crazy it was. "I just hope the others are okay," he said.

"They should be fine Griba," Pearl said.

"Besides, Mini's probably secretly enjoying this with all the murder," Taurtis said.

"Yes, but Mini's also an idiot. Besides, I doubt he can fight off 12 overpowered creepers without any help." Grian said.

"Well, we still gotta have faith in them. They lead the other creepers off so we can get a clear shot in at their leader." Pearl said.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Taurtis said smiling as he leaped over the edge, abandoning the better vantage point.

"Tarutis you, idiot." Grian yelled.

Pearl just shook her head as they both followed down the mountain after the excited fool, shooting at creepers as they went. Between the three of them, during the trip down the mountain, 30 arrows were fired, and only 10 actually hit a creeper, however as the trio was rapidly making their way down the ledge, they were able to pull bows back to full strength and a few of the stronger arrows managed to hit the creepers. With equal parts skill and dumb luck, they were able to defeat the guards. However, their leader wasn't done yet. The red creeper charged at the trio of assassins, causing them to back up into the league. The managed to get three mid-strength shots in on the creeper before it came within 20 blocks of them and blew up. It may have been a suicide mission, but it created a large crater, exposing a decently sized dark pocket underground where all kinds of hostile creatures could spawn. After that blast, Grian, Pearl, and Tarutis were knocked down to one health point. That wouldn't have been too dire if they could also heal, but none of them were healing at all. They tried to move, but any attempt was meet with every muscle feeling like it was hit with a meat tenderizer. There wasn't much the three could do but wait for whatever comes by to finish them off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The others had just recovered after distracting the creepers.

"Okay, killing 12 creepers was kinda easier than I thought," Timmy said, trying to make himself feel better about being caught in the blast radius of one of them.

The others were about to call him on being a braggart, but Mini interjected. "Well I killed 24," he said, smug grin on his face.

"How'd you pull that off?" Timmy asked.

"I didn't stop to kill mine," Zee said. "Too busy running away."

"Well right now we don't have time to brag about who killed the most creepers," Martyn interjected, "We need to check in on Grian and the others."

The group nodded in agreement and ran back to the place they started splitting off to distract the army. Once there, they were greeted with the site of their friends, wounded and helpless, as a few zombies and a creeper crawled out of an exposed dark patch. Mini, still in total murder mode, dove into the cave to fight the undead in order to keep them from further harming his friends.

The rest of the group were assisting the wounded assassins, Tom, Big B, Timmy, and Martyn standing watch to make sure nothing can sneak up on them. Zee, Netty, and Salem tended to Grian, Taurtis, and Pearl, Salem digging in her pockets to find some healing potions.

"How do you feel?" Netty asked.

"Well I feel like I'm one wrong move away from becoming pulled pork," Pearl said.

Taurtis cut straight to the point. "It hurts."

"That's strange Taurtis. I thought it felt like a pleasant massage." Grian said with just a bit of sass, causing the ones tending to him to smile and chuckle.

"Well, we know it can't be that bad if Princess Grian's making jokes about it," Zee said.

"That's Emperor Grian, thank you."

"Well Emperor Grian, I found the potions," Salem said. "Here." She handed one to each of them.

Pearl, Grain, and Taurtis immediately downed the sweet mellony liquid and started to feel much better as the healing potion kicked in. It wasn't long before the three of them helped each other to their feet.

The group immediately went back home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In a lonely field, the creeper respawned as a normal creeper. It wandered towards the place where the evil creatures built to see if it's sacrifice had paid off. Once there it saw them all alive and well. It could hear their excited shouts as they chased each other around the strange sandstone structure. The creeper immediately knew it had failed. A wave of frustration and sadness washed over the explosive creature, but it did not last long. A trio of creepers walked toward their hurt comrade and nudged him. The creeper looked over to the group, wondering what they want with him. The group tilted their heads away from the collection of dangerous creatures it wanted to murder. The creeper thought about the invitation for a minute before wandering off with his new friends.

Author's note: And there's the end of that one.  Now to do the short stories.  Taurtis, Grian, and Halloween specials still happening even if they come out late.  My editor and I are also working on The Game, (that's really been shunted to the back) and when that does come to this account, and it'll come with at least one new chapter.  You all have that to look forward to.  Early thank you for bearing with me during this mess.