𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦?! | 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝟏𝟑. 𝐏𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝟐

Generating world

Building terrain

"They're leaving the portal!"

It was go-time.

Vision still clouded by the purple swirls, you could make out four figures crouched next to each other. Clay raised his shield, and you prayed for this to work. Otherwise–you might not have a second chance.

[Username] has made the Advancement [Not Quite "Nine" Lives]

Right-clicking faster than you had in your life, you'd put down a respawn anchor, loaded it with glowstone, and planted a block in front of you as a buffer. You pressed the kill switch.

The effect was immediate and devastating. The portal shattered behind you like glass, and the anchor blew out a tremendous flaming crater in a four-block radius.

BadBoyHalo was killed by [Intentional Game Design]

GeorgeNotFound was killed by [Intentional Game Design]

Antfrost was killed by [Intentional Game Design]

Sapnap was killed by [Intentional Game Design]

Your success was an injection of relief and triumphant euphoria. "YES!"

"LET'S GO!!"

Thanks to the block you'd placed, you only lost 4 hearts–not bad, for a quad kill.

"I'm so glad that worked."

"[Username], I could k–hug you right now!"

"After we win!" Was this really happening right now? You felt ecstatic. Speedrunning with Clay in a manhunt? Dream himself? You and Dream–no, Clay–with the real possibility of victory? Three weeks ago, you never would've imagined it. You dashed over to the smoldering rubble and sifted through the hunters' stuff–some of their best gear had been destroyed in the fire, but you both got a full set of enchanted iron out of it.

"[Username], ready?"

You nodded, and he sent the first Eye of Ender into the air. You were really doing this.

A jungle? Inwardly, you groaned–the verdant scenery was beautiful, but the vines and undergrowth made this biome a nightmare to traverse. Tripping over a parrot, you cleared a sugar cane stalk in frustration.

Clay's prodigious parkour abilities meant he had a slight lead over you. His intuition for which mountains to climb, tree trunks to round, vines to dodge, and ponds to cross was beyond understanding. His avatar gracefully leapt from bush to bush, calculating angles perfectly and never once losing momentum.

"Wait up." You laughed. "Stop flexing."

He stopped. Waiting, Clay axed a melon block.

"Why? Those are the most useless food items ever."

"Yes. But it's also the most beautiful thing I've seen in my life." Clay grinned, switching to hold a melon wedge. "It's a watermelone. Inside of a–"

"Guys, I see them!" Ant.

"Let's meme 'em!"

"Dream, this is all your fault! We're gonna die because of your bit!"

You hazarded a quick glance behind you, and the sight shook you to the core. In those brief 20 or so minutes of stronghold-hunting, the Dream Catchers had both enjoyed absurd diamond luck and managed to catch up to you.

"How?!"

"You remember that Nether chase? We were holding back." Backup gear, you surmised. And then it dawned on you. "You got the diamond-armor-achievement way back then, but you weren't wearing any in the Nether–that's why!" Someone–probably Bad–predicted that they'd die and lose their stuff in the Nether. Back then, their goal was probably to slow you down or knock out one of you, saving their best equipment to guarantee a victory in the endgame.