Nations at War

Frontier Rising

It was a calm, sunny day. The dark, imposing, moss-covered stone of the raider-held mob reprogramming base glistened in the sunlight. A single creeper wandered across the ground outside. All seemed normal.

Until a stream of grey particles erupted from a hilltop and slammed into the wall, slightly damaging a block.  Alongside came bursts of different projectiles, striking the walls, smashing a rare window or completely pulverising the creeper on watch duty. It took a few moments for the occupants to realise that they were under attack. Instantly, a chaos of voices erupted and a high-pitched noteblock siren sounded. It was cut off by airborne TNT sailing into the vaulted walls of the structure.

With the walls and ceiling completely demolished, the mobs inside were released in a frenzy. Skeletons shot at anything within sight, some with incomplete data streams aggravating the zombies, who were being obliterated at a constant pace, mainly by the heavy pounder-fire pouring from the hilltop where Fort Cobblestone stood. Groups of spiders crawled out of the fray, disappearing into the mountainous hills, no doubt heading for the rebel-held fort.

Although the reprogramming base was mainly underground, the mobs had only one way to the surface-through the elevator mine-shaft which was now demolished. From the top, resistance fighters poured various substances down, raining the raider-brainwashed mobs with lava, musket shots, poison darts and various viruses designed to crash the game.

However, the bombardier in charge of the rebel artillery had connection problems, caused by a faulty router. As a result, he was forced to play on a tiny render distance to avoid lag. This resulted in him being unable to see that the surface structure was destroyed and the rebels were steadily eradicating the enemy mobs.

"Hey! I think we should stop firing! We could hit our own troops!" a cannoneer slid back the loading mechanism of his cannon.

"Not if we aim at their base. If we keep hitting their base, none of our own troops will get caught in the radius, because they are being held back by the incoming mobs.

"Turn up your render distance, sarge! We've already destroyed the surface construct!"

The sergeant pressed ESC and switched his render distance to far. In the distance, he could clearly see a frozen snapshot of a winning position. The resistance soldiers were at the top of a shaft, firing down into the darkness.

"Artillery! Hold your fire!"

Due to his extreme lag, the command did not arrive on the chat until too late.

A single TNT soared through the air and smashed into the ground behind the rebel formations, burrowing deep into the ground before detonating in a ground-shaking blast. The mine tunnel was now open to air, with the TNT crater/cave providing a rugged but suitable access route or the mobs to reach the surface.

At that time, Sergeant Telion (the artillery man) had returned his render distance to tiny. He pressed ESC and closed his pause menu just in time to see a squad of giant mutant spiders flinging themselves through the air towards him.

**Telion disconnected from the game**

*          *          *          *          *

"What the hell is going on?" the griefer commander was almost hysterical. "The Mob Master will be enraged! How can you idiots allow these rebels to destroy our base? And why are we trapped underground?"

"I don't know, sir. They caught us by surprise, sir," said a raider trooper. "The good news is, a new cave has been blown out, and it provides an access point to the surface for our mobs. Also, the rebel positions seem to be clearing."

*          *          *          *          *

An Encounter-class Zeppelin sailed out over the terrain. While the battle was happening below, the pilot seemed completely oblivious. Behind, another Encounter-class and a Millennium-Class sailed behind.

"Skyline looks clear," Spark called over the comlink.

"It always looks clear," muttered Steve under his breath. "Doesn't mean it's completely safe."

Nivelia was taking the lead, flying ahead in one of Steve's lesser airships. Following behind was Admiral Spark (in another Encounter-Class) and Steve Block (in HMS Enderman).

"Where exactly are we going, Nivelia?" Steve was becoming increasingly impatient. They had been cruising for two minutes already, and the surroundings looked no different.

"We're almost there," said Nivelia. "I was flying over here in the Homeward Bound two days ago. I noticed something strange. I can't tell what is is from my ship, so we might check it out. I think it could be a base of some sort."

*          *          *          *          *

The mobs at the training base were almost defeated. The last of them hung back in the shadows of despair, looking onward towards the clouds of doom that lurked above their pit.

A single creeper charged through the terrain, and up through the TNT crater into the rebel formations.

"Creeper!"

Hissssssssssssss-

However, there was no explosion. The creeper had been blasted into oblivion by a blunderbuss shot which scattered debris over the original mine shaft.

"How the hell did that thing get up here?"

The rebel lieutenant was completely oblivious of the spiders rising behind him. He saw them too late. He hurtled through the air down into the pit.

**Chromo hit the ground too hard**

**Chromo disconnected from the game**

Mobs were now charging up through the newly opened tunnel into the resistance fighters, sending them scattering, and retreating up the hill, with a large army of hostile mobs chasing after them.

*          *          *          *          *

Spark turned his vessel to the side. "Well, we're here, and there's nothing to see."

"Just wait, Admiral. I'm picking up disturbance," said Steve across the comlink.

Admiral Spark turned his head to the side to look at the other 2 ships.

Then he turns around.

And comes face to face with the biggest creeper he had ever seen.