The Abandoned Series, Part 2 [Repost]

 2: The Abandoned Ocean Monument

 I sit in my small farm house, deciding on what I should do for the day. I can go clear the forest around me and get that ready for new farmland, or  I can just go plant and harvest new crops for the server. It was a pretty plain debate. Either more farmland or more farming.

  Amethyst comes and stands next to me. "You ever going to get work done?"

  "I am getting work done." I retort back. "Have you seen how many cookies I have made?"

  Amethyst rolls her eyes at the mention of the 64-cookie packages I have been making. I have made enough to fill a chest or two, just for the fun of it. I debated about giving a package to each of my community members, and two to UFOG.

  Before I can really make up my mind, Qaz, one of my community mates, calls to me as he swims up in a boat. Amethyst disappears from sight as I stand up and wave to him. "I'm up here! What's up?"

  Qaz docks his boat at the guest house, then runs up the stairs to my lower deck. "UFOG is calling for everyone to join in a search for an ocean monument. You coming?"

  I thought about it for a moment. An ocean monument wasn't a rare occurrence, but it was a challenge. A lot of the strange fish-like creatures called Guardians roamed the water, stunning and hurting people with some sort of strange currents. You could see them if you were looking close enough, but -if you weren't careful- those little critters could kill you or drop you into the water to drown. On the other hand, the ocean monuments could provide a lot of good material and the ability to continually farm the guardian creatures to gain their little prizes as well.

  "UFOG says he needs you to get food for everyone else. Stuff like your cookies or melon would be a great thing."

  I raise an eyebrow at Qaz. "Alright. I'll provide the food and some cover." I grab my bow I affectionately named Fury. "You guys conquer that monument."

  Qaz smirks mischeviously. "I'll let him know. He says he wants to get going in about three hours."

  I give my single nod as I walk to the storehouse. "I'll be ready by then."

~~~

  I arrive on shore to see a few people getting ready. There are a few empty chests lying around, so I stash my packages of cookies and melons into one of them and leave to make sure I have enough arrows in my quiver.

  As I gather some more arrows, I run into a different friend nicknamed Lost. He was jumping around, getting some rather useful potions together and making sure everyone had some. "Ani, you want any potions?"

 I look over my shoulder as I put a few more arrows in my quiver. "Nah, I should be good. I won't be going in there until all the water is cleared out. Until then, I'll cover you guys from the outside guardians."

  "Alright, cool." He smiles, trotting away. "I hope you can keep them off us."

  "I can burn them to death and push them back with enough power to knock a horse down. I should be okay." I chuckle. 

  He chuckles as I walks away, going to our other community mate Hyouroh. Most of our community members are armored up with diamonds, with the exception of Luni, UFOG's helper and housemate. Apparently, UFOG, Luni, and Wizz are sharing a giant house in the jungle. At some point, I'll have to go and check it out. But that is for a different time. 

  "Hey Ani." I hear another male voice call behind me. "Thanks for the food!"

I turn around and see our mate Ballzz -yes, that is his nickname- raising a cookie in between bites to show his thanks as he rode in a boat with Lost.. I wave back at him before checking to make sure my bow was ready to go.

  I walk back out as the rest of our small adventuring party heads out to the shoreline in the noon sun. I catch up rather quickly and begin listening to what UFOG is talking about. 

  "Remember, we need to get in there and seal up the monument as fast as possible so we can catch the remaining water with our sponges. And did someone grab some slabs so we can make a platform above the monument?"

  "I have some." Hyouroh answers, holding up a piece of slab. 

  "Good, good." UFOG grins. "Now, do we all have our boats and enough chests and things to make our usual crafting stations."

  "Got that covered, UFOG." Luni answers. "We'll have a furnace and a table up in no time."

  "Cool, cool. And are we ready with all our food?"

  "Cookies and melons to spare, just in case y'all get in a pinch." I smirk. 

  "Sweet. Let's get going."

  We arrive on short just as the sun begins to hit mid-afternoon. This will give us enough time to cover the distance between our town center and the monument in minutes. I am the first to jump in the boat as the others decide who will pair up and who was rowing alone. I decided to row alone, as did Hyouroh, so the others could jump in a boat. UFOG told us some other members might join us a little later, but -for now- it was the six of us.

  Arriving there wasn't the problem. The monument is close enough to the farm to make grabbing extra food and stuff easy for me, but far enough that any lost time could mean trouble for the group as a whole. I make sure I have Fury ready as I shoot at the outside guardians surfacing. They attack the rest of the team as the team members begin to assault the monument, building within the spaces of the outside border. I take my place on top of the platform, watching for other little boogers who dared to shoot at me or at the others as they surface and descend multiple time. First with stone and dirt, then with sponges to soak up the extra water. The whole time, I can't go in and help them, despite the amount of yelling I hear. If I go in there, I would probably die to the guardians before the water can take me.

  After about an hour, the last of the guardians give up for a moment as they swim away, looking for a different monument to occupy for a while. The team cheers in relief and begins to take everything they can downstairs. I hear the ancient chants and lighting of a portal, supposedly to the Nether Hell where we connect various parts of our world together through other portals. It is a cleaver system, but one I am not too fond of, considering all the nasty creatures you have to look out for. Nevertheless, the portal is built, and everyone begins the long hall of moving stuff in and out of our new conquered territory.

  I decide to take my boat out and take a picture of the platform from a distance. It reminds me of our starting point, and the little bit of chaos we started with just a few moments ago.

  As the others work, I jump back onto the platform and begin taking more pictures, just to see what the inside of this thing could look like. I have never been in an ocean monument before, so it is curious to me to see such a sight. 

  As I look at it all, I wonder what will eventually go in here. I have heard of some of the buildings that could be done in here. Perhaps someone would have a home around and underneath the farming area for the guardians. Perhaps it would just be a farm with a lot of storage inside. It could be just a home too, decorated and covered with glass so you could look outside and enjoy the view. It could also be other things that -at the moment- I can't think of. I am just amazed by the size of the monument and the prismarine it is made of. It looks scaly, is if made of the guardians itself, with a rather bright tinge of sea coloring.

  I hear the others laughing about something up on the platform, but I don't bother to go up and see what they are on about. I know they are probably downing cookies and milk, talking about some of the crazy rooms tucked away in here. I look around some more, but can only find a single room with two double doors leading further down in the monument. I really don't want to go in there, but it sounds like a great place to hide something awesome.

  I don't bother to look for anything more as I ascend the ladder and look back at the platform. The rest of the team keeps up their high spirits and talks about the plans for the base. All I hear is UFOG say, "To the Broken Hip!" The others join in the cheer before heading through the portal back to the town center rather than go back by boat. I take my boat back to my farm and wonder about what to do now.

~~~

"You know, you can always work on the farm." Amethyst jokes, know well enough that -right now- I just want to relax and take in the view of the farm for a while. I leave the automatic water farm running, allowing the farm to become more of a water ride than an actual farm. 

  "I really want to expand. Or maybe build something new here." I think carefully. "Perhaps I should start cutting down trees."

  We both hear a pinging sound come from the communicator in our ears. UFOG and his computer wiz Bob made them recently, allowing us to all communicate from the other side of the world without having to travel. We can usually hear someone calling for us by a sudden ping, followed by their voice. 

  "Hey, Ani, can Rev and I come hang out at your farm?" I hear an old friend ask. 

  "There you are, Mosin!" I exclaim, happy to hear from him again. He has been gone for a while, but it seems he has made it to this world without too many problems. "Of course! You're welcome to come over. Just don't break any of my stuff."

  "We won't, we won't. Rev wants to take a look around again to see how the redstone currents are doing, and I just want to come over and see if you built anything cool." Mosin chuckles.

  "Alright, come on over then. Rev knows where the farm is." I chuckle. I mute my communicator as I look to Amethyst. "Well, looks like I have my work cut out for me now."

  "Oh?" asks Amethyst, "Why's that?"

  "Well, simply put, Mosin likes to have a lot of fun joking around with people. That, and I have a feeling Rev isn't coming over to look at the redstone. Not with Mosin around."

  Amethyst rolls her eyes and gives a huff in amusement. "I guess you do have your work cut out for you. Good luck."

  Amethyst leaves just as I see a trail of ice forming on the ocean between the town center and my farm. I recognize that trail anywhere.