Municipal

Municipal is the fourth book in Minecraftia Arc 3. It will be published in July 2018.
==Synopsis==
There's only a few things left: Free the others and start a town.
==Plot==
===Chapter 1: Blood and Iron===
It was over. A pile of inventory was on the floor. I was in such shock I couldn't identify who it belonged to. Whether it was The Mayor, Louis, or maybe even Gerald or Annie. When I finally came back to my senses, I saw Gerald... Annie... and Louis. The Mayor was defeated.
"I... I did it. I defeated the Mayor," Louis gasped.
"Dude... you rule," Gerald told Louis.
"Now, we should get back to the others then find Ryland," I told them.
"Our group's so split up I can barely keep track of it anymore," sighed Louis.
"Can't wait to finally leave this place," Annie told us.
"Where would you go?" Gerald asked her.
"Away from this place is a start," Annie replied.
"Amber? Louis?" Gerald asked.
"Right. We're starting our own town. You're welcome there," Louis told her.
"No, I can't. You did enough by saving me back there," Annie replied.
"Does that matter? What matters is that the Mayor is dead and we don't have to worry anymore. And you know what that means? I control this town again," explained Gerald
Louis laughed.
"You could mess up The Mayor's guards and his warden so bad," Louis replied.
"Yeah, but, saving the others is more important. Amber, you're not banished. Louis, you're not either. And Nathan and Taylor aren't under arrest," Gerald continued.
"This is twice you've done a favor for me. I'd like to help with your town however I can," Annie told me.
"Our town's not a possibility until we meet Ryland at the prison," I replied.
"Yeah. We should go," Louis added. 
"One sec," Gerald told us.
Louis raised an eyebrow.
"BA BOOM BA BA BOOM BA BA BOOM BOOM BOOM THE MAYOR IS DEAD AND WE NOW CONTROL THIS TOWN!" Gerald yelled as loud as he could.
The guards who were chasing Stevie and Annie stopped beating up Stevie and looked at Gerald at the top of City Hall.
"I wonder what laws I'll add to punish the Mayor's guards!" Gerald said as loud as possible, again. 
As soon as he said that, the guards ran for Elliottown's gate.
"What's wrong? You terrorize an entire town but when it gets a Mayor that actually cares you just run off?" Gerald asked.
"We should make them pay for what they put us through!" Annie exclaimed.
"And I'd like to kill Cedryth ten times over but I'm afraid that's not possible either," replied Gerald.
"What do you mean?" Annie asked.
"If we "made them pay" we'd be no better than the Mayor," replied Gerald.
"We should go to the others," Louis suggested.
We all jumped off the City Hall.
"Everything will be fine now," Louis said.
"I bet Nathan's relieved to hear," I replied.
"Sonar knew he'd get what was coming to him, and I bet she'll just tell us 'I told you so'," Gerald added.
"Who's Sonar?" asked Annie.
"My assistant," replied Gerald.
"You really think it's over?" Stevie asked.
"Dude, where'd you come from?" asked Gerald.
"I saw you walking and re-joined the group," replied Stevie.
"Right. So, we're going back to the others now?" Gerald asked.
"Yeah," I replied.
We all returned to Ryland's house, and opened the door. Brooke, Swarfiga, Sonar, and Leo were still there.
"Dude, what happened?" asked Swarfiga.
"He's dead," replied Gerald.
Gerald and Swarfiga high-fived.
"We just need to return to the prison. Then the Citadel," Louis told them.
"Good. Where's Kenney?" Sonar asked.
"He and Ryland are at the prison," replied Louis.
"Yeah. We just need to leave Elliottown," I added.
We left Ryland's house. It was night, and mobs would spawn any time soon. We opened the gate and fled Elliottown.
"Uhh, guys?" Louis said.
There were strange mobs everywhere.
"Citadel Soldiers? That's impossible! They're trapped underground!" exclaimed Gerald.
"Someone's obviously set them free, then!" I replied.
Besides those, there were zombies, creepers, skeletons, and spiders everywhere.
"Gimme a break," sighed Sonar.
Leo ran through the mobs, and all the creepers ran away.
"Leo!" yelled Louis.
We all ran after him while dodging mobs and these obsidian soldiers. Leo ran into the woods and Swarfiga had to chase after him.
"Meet me at the prison!" Swarfiga yelled to us.
I nodded and ran for the portal to the prison.
"What prison?" asked Annie.
"The Mayor's prison. Since I'm Mayor now I can free whoever I want," replied Gerald.
We hopped through the portal and landed in the prison.
===Chapter 2: Re-Instatement===
We ran to Nathan and Taylor's cell. Ryland and Kenney were there too.
"Amber! You're back!" exclaimed Nathan.
"And you have friends!" added Taylor.
"Gerald!" exclaimed Kenney.
"We're gonna get you guys out!" replied Louis.
"What happened with the Mayor?" asked Ryland.
"He's dead. Louis killed him," replied Gerald.
"Holy crap! Really?" exclaimed Ryland.
The warden walked over.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Freeing the prisoners," Gerald replied.
"No! Leave or you'll be terminated!" exclaimed the warden.
"I'm the Mayor of Elliottown now. Louis killed the corrupt one, so," Gerald replied.
"What?" asked the warden.
"You're fired, by the way," Gerald replied.
The warden pulled a diamond sword on us. Gerald grabbed it out of his hand and pointed it at him.
"Go," Gerald ordered.
The warden ran off. Gerald unlocked the cell and Nathan, Taylor, Ryland, and Kenney walked out.
"Feels good to be free," Nathan sighed with relief.
"Is it safe to go back?" asked Taylor.
"We have something better," replied Gerald.
"So, uh, where's Leo?" asked Ryland.
Gerald paused.
"He's with Swarfiga. He's fine, though," replied Sonar.
"He better be," replied Ryland.
We all left the prison.
"So, what do you mean by something better?" asked Nathan.
"We have our own town," replied Louis.
"We're all gonna run it ourselves," added Annie.
"Sounds great," replied Nathan.
"And it's possible now the Mayor's gone," Gerald told us all.
"Can we look at it?" asked Taylor.
Gerald led us to the portal.
"A whole town all to ourselves," said Stevie.
"Not really exciting when you've managed two already," replied Gerald.
He hopped through the portal.
"It's not that big so far. We're gonna make expansions, though," I told Taylor and Nathan.
"I've seen it. It's impressive for something built without infinite resources, and by one person," explained Kenney.
"The Citadel and Elliottown were built with infinite resources?" asked Louis.
"The first Elliottown was. The Citadel was. The new Elliottown was built by a community," explained Kenney.
Kenney hopped through the portal, and we all followed.
===Chapter 3: A Dream Come True===
The town was still awesome.
"Yep. This is it," said Brooke.
Gerald was sat on top of the purple apartment complex.
"How'd you get up there?" asked Nathan.
"Ender pearl!" replied Gerald.
He used an ender pearl to get back down.
"It looks awesome! This is ours?" asked Taylor.
"Yeah. I'll show you around then me and the others have to go," replied Gerald.
"You're still leaving?" I asked.
"I still have my own town to run. Me, Kenney, Brooke, Sonar, and Swarfiga are all going," replied Gerald.
"Actually, I'm gonna stay," corrected Brooke.
"Wait, what?" asked Gerald.
"Me too," replied Sonar.
"You too?" asked Kenney, sadly.
"Alright," Gerald told them with a straight face.
"What does this mean for you guys, then?" asked Ryland.
"I'm still staying in the Citadel. I'm sorry, but that place needs me," replied Gerald.
"What about Elliottown?" asked Louis.
"When the time comes, I'll find a Mayor. Maybe I'll join the two towns together yet," replied Gerald.
"What does the Citadel Team do?" asked Annie.
"When we're not chilling, we stop bad guys. Boring, I know," replied Gerald.
"Why do you stay, then?" asked Taylor.
"Because occasionally something exciting comes up," replied Gerald.
"Like what?" asked Stevie.
"Sunshine Citadel," replied Gerald.
"What's that?" I asked.
"You're not ready to know," replied Kenney.
"Kenney's right. When the time comes, I'll give you a scoop on what it is," added Gerald.
Swarfiga came through the portal.
"Swarfiga!" exclaimed Sonar.
"Where's Leo?" asked Ryland.
"He just... ran off. Into the woods. I couldn't catch up," explained Swarfiga.
A look of anger engulfed Ryland's face, and started walking over to Swarfiga. 
"What do you mean you couldn't catch up?" asked Ryland angrily.
"Do you have any idea how fast cats can run?" asked Swarfiga.
Ryland edged closer towards Swarfiga.
"It's alright, Ryland. We'll find Leo," Louis told Ryland. 
"We better," replied Ryland.
===Chapter 4: Sunshine Citadel===
"Right now we should focus on shaping this town up," reminded Gerald.
"He's right," sighed Ryland.
"We can all be a help from now on," added Stevie.
Stevie was then shot in the head with an arrow.
"STEVIE!" yelled Annie.
"Holy crap dude!" exclaimed Gerald.
"Who did that?" I asked.
"The hell is going on?" asked Kenney.
"He was shot on the right side of his head. Whoever killed him did it from the mountains," Gerald analyzed.
"Then let's go there!" replied Brooke.
"Right. Amber, Sonar, Louis, Nathan, Kenney, follow me," ordered Gerald.
The six of us ran to the mountains, analyzing the area. I found a mask on the floor.
"No!" exclaimed Kenney.
"What? What did you find?" asked Sonar.
I held up the mask and showed it to them.
"What's that?" asked Nathan.
"That mask... I've heard about it," replied Louis.
"What is it?" I asked.
"It belongs to a cult," replied Louis.
"Not just any cult. The Sunshine Citadel," added Gerald.
"What's that?" I asked.
"I guess you have to know. A dangerous cult. They find random people minding their own business and sacrifice them for their ritual," explained Gerald.
"They do it quick, right?" asked Louis.
"No. First, they strip you of your inventory, then they trap you in an obsidian cage underground and leave you there to starve," explained Gerald.
"Dude..." gasped Nathan.
"I'm gonna find the Sunshine Citadel, and put a stop to them," finished Gerald.
"You can't. Not by yourself," I replied.
"Then I'll take a small group with me. Amber, Louis, Nathan, Kenney, and maybe one or two of the others," explained Gerald.
We returned to the group.
"What did you find?" asked Annie.
"We're going after the killers," I replied.
"Well, I wanna come," replied Annie.
"Same. Maybe just in the hope that Leo found the portal," added Ryland.
"Okay. Let's go," ordered Gerald.
===Chapter 5: Bid You All Farewell===
"Bye, guys," said Taylor.
"See you soon!" exclaimed Sonar.
We left the town, in search of the cult that killed Stevie.
"So, this group dangerous?" asked Nathan.
"Nah. They just strip people of their inventory and then bury them alive," replied Gerald.
"Jeez!" exclaimed Nathan.
"These people are dangerous. We cannot split up under any circumstances," Kenney told us.
"We won't," I replied.
"Well, they should pay for what they did," said Annie.
"Yeah, but, Gerald and Kenney said they're dangerous," replied Louis.
"I thought Elliottown was about helping people," replied Annie.
"It is, but, we should be careful," explained Louis.
"It's fine. Compared to us, they're sheep when it comes to combat," replied Gerald.
"I just want retribution, then I want to start a town with the others," replied Annie.
"You can. We just need to be careful, like Kenney and Louis said," I explained to her.
"If we're lucky, we could find some cages and see if anyone's alive down there," added Gerald.
"So, retribution while saving people?" asked Annie.
"Yeah exactly," replied Gerald.
"While still watching our backs," added Nathan.
"Leo?" Ryland called out.
"What the hell are you doing?" asked Gerald.
"Seeing if my cat's here!" replied Ryland.
"Ryland, he's gone! I hate to say this to you, but he's not coming back!" exclaimed Gerald.
Ryland sighed and stopped calling out Leo's name.
===Chapter 6: Search Warrant===
We continued to walk.
"Do you even know where they are?" I asked.
"Yeah. The lost tunnels," replied Kenney.
"What's that?" asked Annie.
"Exactly as the name suggests. A system of lost tunnels," replied Gerald.
"Hey, guys, this soil seem strange to you?" asked Louis.
I gave a confused look.
"It feels solid," said Louis.
"Yeah, it's a solid block," replied Gerald.
"No, just feel it," replied Louis.
Gerald dug up the area Louis stood on. It was a layer of obsidian.
"Dude! We found one!" exclaimed Nathan.
"Better hope they're alive in there," replied Kenney.
Gerald grabbed a diamond pickaxe and mined the obsidian. There was another layer.
"What?" asked Ryland.
"Makes sense. If they wanted to assure they couldn't escape they'd have several layers of obsidian," explained Gerald.
He mined the rest of the obsidian. There was a person trapped inside. Barely alive.
"You okay down there?" asked Nathan.
"Yeah, she's just been starving for who knows how long," replied Gerald. "Kenney, gimme a boost."
Kenney grabbed Gerald's legs and he climbed onto the wall of the cage. He reached his hand out, and the girl trapped grabbed it.
"Pull me up!" yelled Gerald.
Kenney pulled Gerald up. The girl was unconscious.
"Uh... you alright?" asked Gerald. "Louis, got any health pots?"
Louis threw him a potion of healing and Gerald shoved it down her throat.
"Stop dying!" ordered Gerald.
The girl woke up.
"What? What happened?" she asked.
"You were one of the Sunshine Citadel's sacrifices?" replied Gerald.
"Am I dead?" she asked.
"Nah. We saved you," replied Gerald.
"I was trapped for so long. And I couldn't call for help. It was driving me insane," she explained.
"So, we're, like, gonna kill these guys if you wanna come," replied Gerald.
"Yeah. I'll come. My name's Esther, by the way," she replied.
"My name is Mr. Not Seen The Cannibal Holocaust, aka Gerald," replied Gerald.
"I'm Kenney," replied Kenney.
"I'm Ryland! This is Nathan, Annie, Amber, Louis! And we're the Elliottown crew!" exclaimed Ryland.
Everyone stood silent.
"There was no need for that," replied Gerald.
"Are we doing this or what?" asked Louis.
"He's right. Let's just go," I suggested.
===Chapter 7: A New Threat===
We continued to follow Gerald to the tunnel.
"How far away is it?" asked Louis.
"Quite far," replied Gerald.
"Whatever the cost, it's worth it," said Esther.
"I just wanna defeat these guys and get back to town," replied Nathan.
"Town? You guys have a town?" asked Esther.
"Yeah. Well, they do," replied Gerald.
"Me and Gerald need to get back to the Citadel as soon as possible," added Kenney.
"Nothing I say will change your mind?" I asked.
"This isn't the end. I'll still visit," replied Gerald.
"I can't decide if I wanna stay in your town or go to the Citadel," said Annie.
"Stay. We need all the help we can get," replied Ryland.
"I'll help. I owe you guys," replied Esther.
"I mean, me and Kenney were the ones who saved you, but, sure," replied Gerald.
"Uhh... guys?" I gasped.
They turned around, and we all saw the tunnel.
"Anyone wanna stay?" asked Gerald.
Everyone shook their heads.
"Alright. Now move!" ordered Gerald.
We all ran into the tunnel.
"It's dark," Nathan commented.
"That means we can't be caught then, right?" I asked.
"No. These guys have ninja senses," replied Gerald.
"I thought you used to be a ninja," replied Kenney.
Gerald froze.
"Uhh... guys... it's the same mask," stuttered Louis.
"What?" asked Annie.
He was right. On the floor were the same masks that Stevie's killer wore.
There were 10 on the ground.
"If we put them on, we can blend right in," thought Gerald.
"Great idea," replied Kenney.
We put the masks on. There were 2 left on the floor. Slowly, we joined the Sunshine Citadel. They were gathered in a circle, surrounded by a fresh, neatly digged hole in the ground. They were building an obsidian chamber.
It was sick. They were planning some kind of sacrifice. It was creepy. I could tell the others were creeped out as well. The cult members did not say a word. We watched as they held a struggling person, and threw them in the chamber. Then they put the roof on.
I could see Gerald was shaking from anger, but we had to hold it in a little longer. Gerald was looking at a particular member. I thought it was Stevie's killer at first, but I could tell from the hair and outfit that it was actually the jail warden.
The cult started to do a chant, and we tried our hardest to conform. When Louis messed up the chant a bit, we could tell they knew we weren't a part of their group.
===Chapter 8: All Out War===
The leader, who wore a black version of the mask, pulled out a long, diamond sword. It was bigger than normal. Gerald and Kenney drew their swords, but the warden took his mask off.
"Look who it is. The leader of the Citadel," exclaimed the warden.
"You're sick in the head," replied Gerald.
"Sorry, but I didn't kill a town full of people," replied the warden.
"Your Mayor is dead," exclaimed Louis.
"He was just another member of our club," replied the warden.
"We'll kill all of you!" yelled Ryland.
The cult raised their bows. We drew our swords, and Ryland charged at them. He was shot in the abdomen.
"RYLAND!" yelled Nathan.
"GET THEM!" yelled Louis.
Kenney was able to dodge the arrows and stabbed two of the members. Kenney pulled Ryland up.
"They shot me!" exclaimed Ryland.
"What do we do?" asked Louis.
"Run!" yelled Annie.
"I'm not dying without a fight!" yelled Gerald.
Gerald grabbed the warden.
"What are you doing?" asked the warden.
"We're doing the same thing to you that you've done to others!" yelled Gerald.
Louis pulled out his bow, and hit behind a pile of stone. He shot at several members. More cult members showed up.
"How many people are in this cult?" yelled Esther.
"Too many," I replied.
I pulled out my own bow at shot at several members. I hid behind the rocks with Louis.
"They have to run out at some point. Those bows aren't enchanted. They don't have infinity, but we do," explained Louis.
Gerald built a wall and he, Kenney, and Esther hid behind it. Nathan followed behind. But where were Annie and Ryland?
"Where are the others?" Louis called at them.
"They hid behind a rock!" yelled Gerald.
Louis and I were ambushed by several cult members, and we were grabbed.
"This is it! It's been nice knowing you, Amber!" exclaimed Louis.
The others were so focused on the other members that they never noticed us getting dragged away. The members stripped us of our inventory.
There were two people who saw the whole thing, however: Annie and Ryland.
===Chapter 9: Fight for the Three Towns===
"ANNIE! DO SOMETHING!" yelled Ryland.
Annie ran up to one of them and punched them in the face.
"Leave them alone!" she yelled.
Another member of the cult hit her, and she fell to the ground. One of the members who captured me and Louis grabbed Louis by his arm and dragged him to an obsidian chamber.
"LOUIS!" I yelled as loud as possible.
This caught Gerald's attention and he ran from cover to Louis. He punched the member as hard as possible and grabbed Louis. Kenney ran up to me, and killed the two members. He then grabbed me. The four of us ran to cover.
Behind the hall, was the warden passed out. 
"What did you do to him?" asked Ryland.
"Wait, where's Annie?" asked Nathan.
Gerald saw the members carrying Annie to the obsidian shelter. He started to run, but got shot in the leg.
"Gerald!" I yelled.
The members got out these strange eggs and threw them at us. Creepers were spawned each time one was thrown. They were going for Gerald.
"No!" yelled Kenney.
He ran to Gerald and started to kill the creepers.
"Cover me! I'm going for Annie!" ordered Gerald.
He started to run after the cult while Kenney covered for him. He tackled one to the ground and freed Annie.
"Run!" he yelled.
Annie ran back to the group while Gerald attacked the cult.
"This is crazy!" exclaimed Esther.
"What do we do?" asked Kenney.
"Esther, Annie, Nathan, Ryland, run for the exit. Me, Amber, Gerald, and Kenney will catch up," ordered Louis.
Ryland nodded, and the four of them ran for the exit. Gerald ran back to us.
"We can't kill all of them," he sighed.
"What do we do?" I asked.
"Run for the exit," he replied.
"What?" asked Louis.
"He's right. There's no other way," replied Kenney.
"Let's just go," I suggested.
We all ran as fast as possible.
"If we keep going forward we'll get to town in no time!" yelled Gerald.
===Chapter 10: Shelter From The Storm===
We ran for the town as fast as possible. We still couldn't believe what happened back there. I thought having a power-hungry municipal leader on us was bad enough, but a whole cult? I thought that was it back at the tunnel.
"That was so crazy back there!" exclaimed Louis
"What about Ryland and the others?" I asked.
"We'll meet them back at the town," replied Gerald.
"What if they didn't make it?" asked Kenney.
"We'll worry about that later," replied Gerald.
We stopped when we saw Nathan.
"The others are coming," said Nathan.
Gerald nodded his head.
"Where are they?" he asked.
"We thought we saw them. They're not back yet," replied Nathan.
Ryland, Annie, and Esther came back.
"False alarm. It was just a skeleton," stated Ryland.
"We need to get going before it's not just a skeleton," replied Gerald.
"Yeah," I said.
We continued to run, but stopped when we heard a loud bang. It was lightning.
"What?" I asked.
"There was no lightning scheduled for today..." gasped Gerald.
It started to snow.
"This is a desert though..." gasped Louis.
"What's happening?" asked Esther.
"This is so weird..." gasped Annie.
"Okay everyone. Stay calm," ordered Gerald.
We looked up at the sky. A storm was definitely on its way. And a bad one.
==Characters==
===New Characters===
*Amber
*Ryland
*Louis
*Nathan
*Taylor
*Sonar
*Annie
*Esther
*Sunshine Citadel Cult
===Returning Characters===
*Gerald
*Kenney
*Swarfiga
*Brooke
==Deaths==
*The Mayor (confirmed death)
*Stevie
*Several unnamed people (confirmed death)
*1 unnamed person
*Several members of the Sunshine Citadel Cult
==Trivia==
TBA
Category:Gerald-XR-Donovan
Category:Minecraftia Arc 3
Category:Completed books