Chapter 6

Chapter 6 Wearing Sunglasses Indoors? Totally Acceptable If They're Hot- Wired with Improvised VR Tech! Po had to admit it: he was impressed. Where yesterday there had been one set of VR glasses, now there were six. The styles ranged from classic aviators to sci-fi new-wave shades— all with wires and computer-chip gizmos attached. "Harper, you're amazing! You did all this last night?" he asked. Harper smiled at the compliment. "It was easy once Doc explained how it worked," she said. "I'm just glad Jodi had so many sets of sunglasses." "I feel a little silly," said Theo. He was trying on a set of goggles that clearly belonged at a swimming pool. "You look awesome," Po promised. "Honestly, it's about time this group started experimenting with new styles."

"I don't care how we look," Morgan said. His glasses were oversized and clunky, as if they belonged in an old-school video game. "I'd wear a burlap sack and mismatched socks if it got us back into Minecraft." "I'm with Morgan on that," said Ash. "We only have a little bit of time before you have to be in class and I have to be at the library." She slipped her goggles on. "Let's make the most of our time." Po gasped as his digital form took shape. Evidence of the Fault was all around him. He saw it in the black sky.

He saw it in a strangely glitching tree, which seemed to blink in and out of existence. But that wasn't why Po was gasping. He was gasping…because his avatar was half bee and half axolotl. And that was awesome. "Look at me!" he cried. "Look at me!" "Oh no!" said Jodi. "Your skins got all mixed up." But Po was laughing. "I'm a whole new creature! Call me a bumblotl!"

"I won't call him that," Theo said to the group. "BE CAREFUL, Po," Morgan warned. "I can tell you're excited, but we should all stay close together." "My sword is back in my inventory," Ash said, and she drew a diamond blade. "But…I think it's got a different enchantment than before." "There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to any of this," said Harper. She was standing in a patch of snow. "You can say that again," said Jodi, who stood next to Harper. Yet Jodi appeared to be in a miniature desert biome, complete with sand and a cactus. Morgan bonked his fists against his square forehead. "I feel like I'm losing my mind!" he said. "Minecraft is supposed to

have rules. And I have all those rules memorized. But this…? It's just absolute chaos!" "We'll fix it," Ash promised. "We'll find the last piece of the Evoker King. Fixing him will fix the game. Right?" Theo shrugged his blocky shoulders. "That's our theory. And it's just a theory. But it's the best idea we've got." "Then we need to find the butterflies," said Jodi. "They've led us to all the other pieces." "It's going to be like finding a needle in a haystack," said Po. "If the haystack was moving. And occasionally transformed into a bear." "Well, here's some good news," said Theo, and he swung his pickaxe into the dirt. "We can still mine." "And we can still craft!" added Harper. She lifted a freshly crafted sword from a crafting table. "As long as we can do those things, we can survive here." Jodi picked up the dirt block that Theo had knocked loose. "Let's build a tower," she suggested. "Maybe from up high, we'll be able to see what we're looking for." Po joined in. "I've got a lot of cobblestone. We can use it to build." But as Po began laying the foundations for a tower, he noticed something strange. The blocks he set down were a variety of colors, each different from the last. "Do you all see this?" he asked. "That's not cobblestone," said Theo.

"It was cobblestone when it was in my inventory!" insisted Po. Everyone gathered around, and those with extra building materials pitched in. It was the same for everybody. They would try to place cobblestone, but the block they set seemed to be chosen at random. Sometimes Po could barely tell the difference. He couldn't always distinguish one type of stone block from another. But as blocks of obsidian, glass, slime, and dyed wool appeared, nobody could deny what was happening. "This is too weird," said Harper. "But sort of beautiful," said Jodi. Po stepped back to look at their build. Jodi was right. Their watchtower was an odd mismatch of colors and materials. But it was strangely nice to look at.