#mcytrabbithole

As the groups around the chaos that had formed began to awaken, people found themselves with people that they hadn’t been on the same side as in a long time. This being the case of a group consisting of Eret, Zedaph, Impulse, Tommy, Doc, and Antfrost. They found themselves waking up in the jungle, luckily, they were in the shade, which was not the luck that some groups had had. As they began to wake up and look around, they realized they weren’t just with members of their own respective servers.

The first one awake was Impulse, who was quick to look around to try and figure out where he had ended up. Luckily, thanks to the giant shadow of Iskall’s tree, he had a pretty good idea of where he was. As he was looking around, he takes note of the other people that he’s with. Zedaph, Doc…who were the other three? The cat person looked oddly familiar and so did the kid in the red and white shirt, but the person in the sunglasses and crown seemed just a little less familiar. He doesn’t have long to think about this before Doc is shooting up into a sitting position.

Doc looked a little rumbled, looking around wildly for a moment, then seeing Impulse and calming down a little. “Doc? Are you okay?” Impulse rarely saw Doc get any form of frazzled, he was normally one of the Hermits that stayed calm; most likely a result of being a creeper hybrid, can’t risk making yourself blow up. “One second I was free falling mid-air after I felt this pain in my chest that made me close my elytra by accident and the next, I’m here.” Doc sounded almost panicked, that must’ve been a terrifying experience.  “That sounds like it must’ve been a horrible experience, buddy.” Impulse frowns, he had been hit by pain, but he had been in a safe place. What about the others? Had they had experiences like Docs?

Before Doc can offer another reply, Eret is sitting up, looking around in a sort of confusion as they try to figure out where they all are. When they see Doc and Impulse, she pauses for a moment. “I get the feeling that this isn’t where any of us are supposed to be.” Eret had been in his share of rough experiences, this wasn’t the worst one, but it was one of the weirder ones. “I mean, I know where we are at least? We’re at my friend Iskall’s base-well, in the shadow of Iskall’s base. Which is in Hermitcraft, which is where me and those two are from.” Impulse offers up as he gestures to himself, Doc, and Zedaph. “Hermitcraft? Given that me and those two are from the Dream SMP, I get the feeling that something has gone very wrong.” Eret says this, and as they do, Antfrost begins to wake up. Eret helps Ant sit up, and Ant frowns a bit as he looks around. Then his eyes land on Doc and Impulse and he seems to realize something,” Did we end up in Hermitcraft?”

Impulse and Doc seem surprised by this nodding as Ant quickly offers up an explanation,” I’ve seen you both at MCC before, cheering on people from Hermitcraft, and I’ve seen you walk into MCC from the Hermitcraft portal so…” Ant shrugs his shoulders a little as he says it; he was used to paying attention to the little things. Though when he notices that Tommy and Zedaph are still passed out, his eyes seem to show more worry than what he speaks as he looks over at Eret,” Have they both been asleep that whole time?” Eret nods,” I’m afraid so. Maybe they both took a harder hit than we did, it could be a case of severity based on factors we can’t understand.” Of course, if that was the case than Eret had to wonder what made her awaken before Tommy, but who’s to say what held the scales in balance?

As if someone was answering Eret’s question for them, that’s when Zedaph awakens. Though he stays laying down for a moment, trying to process where he was before he sat up. Shade, branches, must be in the shadow of Iskall’s tree base; but as he turns to glance to his side, he begins to see the people around him. This is what makes him sit up, trying to wrap his head around who all he’s with. Zed opens and closes his mouth a few times as he tries to figure out the right words, they finally seem to pop into his head,” Did my experiment go wrong and I’m hallucinating again or is this real?” Impulse and Doc chuckle a little at Zed’s words, he has had quite a few hallucinations because of experiments. Though normally just things like Grian as a full-blown cod or Scar with Jelly’s face.

“While that sentence is somewhat worrying, I believe it’s safe to say that this is really happening.” Eret answers from where he was sat next to Tommy,” Whatever happened landed us together. Shot in the dark; but I’m guessing you felt a large amount of pain right before you passed out? That’s what happened to us.” The others nod at Eret’s question and Doc speaks up,” Was there anything happening on your end that you think could’ve caused it?” Those from the Dream SMP shake their heads,” We were in the middle of a…server meeting when it happened for us. What about you guys?” Ant asks this and the three offer up their answers. Impulse had been working on a project, Doc had been at his mansion looking for a shulker he couldn’t find, and Zed had been working on a map for a farm he wanted to build.

“So it seems like we haven’t done anything that would cause any sort of thing like this.” Impulse offers this up as Tommy finally starts to move a little. Though he doesn’t seem to wake up, just turning his head a bit. Eret frowns as she looks at Tommy,” I’m going to try and wake him up.” Eret gently places a hand on Tommy’s shoulder, shaking him just a bit. Tommy doesn’t wake. Eret shakes Tommy again, Tommy still doesn’t wake. “Is he a deep sleeper?” Doc asks,” That might explain why he isn’t getting up.” He was trying to be optimistic. Eret shakes their head,” No. Tommy hasn’t been a deep sleeper since…I can’t remember the last time Tommy slept without waking at the slightest sound.” Sometimes she wondered if what happened in L’Manburg had made it worse; but he knew that it did.

“I have no idea what we could do about this.” Ant knew he and Tommy had always been on opposite sides, but this was something else entirely. “Well, judging by where we are, I’m guessing that there are some traces of Hermitcraft still around. So maybe we should head towards the Town Hall, because if the groups are anything like ours that’s most likely where they’ll want to go because if I remember right, we’ve got a larger number of people, right?” Zed was clearly trying to work out the best plan of action. “Yes, but what does that have to do with Tommy?” Eret just wanted Tommy to wake up, seeing him like that, asleep and yet never waking; it was unnerving in a way that felt too close to being déjà vu. “Maybe someone at the Town Hall will know what to do. Stress, she’s one of the Hermits, is our best healer; she’d probably be more than willing to help.” Those from Hermitcraft knew that Stress would most likely be more than willing to help; she liked helping people.

“Well how would we get there from here? If Tommy stays unconscious, then that means figuring out how to carry him, not counting things like if there’s an incline or water.” Ant was trying to just list all the possibilities because the last thing that they needed as Tommy getting hurt while unconscious. “I could carry him?” Doc offers,” Wouldn’t be the first time, and I’ve probably got the best chance of carrying him for a long period of time because of my arm.” Doc knew he could handle it; he’s had to carry plenty of Hermits back to their bases after long days, especially people like Ren or Keralis. “Okay, but we still need a clear path on how we’re going to get there, and you need to make sure that you don’t push yourself.” Eret knew that they’d have to figure out the best plan of action.

“Well, because of where we are compared to Iskall’s tree…” Impulse tries to picture the map of the sever in his head,” We just need to walk straight till we get to the ocean, then we can just take a boat ride until we get to the Shopping District, which is a Mooshroom Island.” The others seem impressed by this, even the other Hermits present. “How do you remember that? Your base isn’t around here.” Zed had a lot of trouble with figuring out the bases on the opposite side of the ocean. “I can see the tree from my base sometimes.” Impulse shrugs: that and sometimes he needed a distraction, mapping the server in his head was a good one. “Alright…that means boats. So how are we going to get boats?” Ant knew there were plenty of trees around, but he didn’t want to chop them down if there was an easier solution.

“Iskall probably has some in their base, right? And even if they don’t, they’re bound to have wood and I’m sure they wouldn’t mind given the circumstances.” Doc knew that Iskall would understand because they were trying to get Tommy some help, but if Iskall felt like they were owed something then Doc could always pay them back later. “Good idea.” Zed nods,” We’d most likely want wood anyways, that way we can build the boats by the water to save us a little time.” Their inventories still seemed to be working but testing it with the boats they were going to use wasn’t a good idea. “Shouldn’t we try to use a Nether portal first?” Ant spoke, and he and Eret tried to not comment on how the three had talked about taking something before they did it, even planning on giving back to whomever they took from. They weren’t in the Dream SMP anymore.

“That probably isn’t a good idea. If we ended up out here after something brought us together like that, there’s no telling what the Nether could potentially look like.” Impulse knew that the Nether could get wonky just from lag; there was no telling what it would look like now. “He has a good point.” Eret nods his head. If something had happened and their two Nethers had smashed together? There was no telling what that could look like right now,” And even if we were to get into the Nether, who’s to say that the portals would shoot us out at the right places?” Another valid point, trying to go one place only to end up in another would not be a good idea. It sounded like their only option was just boating to where the Cowmercial District was supposed to be and hoping that the others would end up there.

“Now that we’ve cleared that up, I say we head inside, grab the wood and maybe a little food; then head to the shore. Sound like a plan?” Doc was already working on getting up, offering Zed and Impulse a quick hand to help them up, which they both accept. Once they were up, they were turning to offer Eret and Ant hands, but Ant was already up and Eret was checking on Tommy again. Eret sighs, a familiar tension in the back of her throat was there as he checked Tommy’s pulse, steady and strong, like he was wide awake,” His pulse is steady, it isn’t slowed like he’s sleeping…” Even after everything that she and Tommy had been through, he still couldn’t not worry for Tommy. He’s just a kid. He’s just a kid who’s been through a thousand more things than anyone should ever deal with.

“Do you want me to carry him?” Doc asks, just in case, sometimes people just wanted a more to check on someone. Eret nods their head after a moment of checking Tommy over, checking his pulse, his temperature, just hoping for any sign that he’d be okay. “Alright.” Doc carefully moves over as Eret stands up, wiping himself off and making sure that her glasses were in place. Once Doc had securely picked Tommy up, making sure to not accidentally bump his head or anything; he turns to look at the group. “Let’s go find our friends.”

---Meanwhile---

Tommy opens his eyes and finds himself staring into a black void. The void stares back, two big dark eyes, but not with harm, with a curiosity and pain that he almost seems to know.

“Theseus?” The void asks.

Tommy feels something on his face, and he raises a hand to it, he pulls away a tear. He looks back at the void and feels a familiar pull. A pull of warmth, of connection, one that he knows he’s felt before, and yet he can’t quite place where he’s felt it.

“My darling Theseus, why on earth are you here? It is far too early for you, and I cannot guide you to where you need to be.” That voice. Who was that voice?

“I- “Tommy finds himself unable to find the words to ask who the void is. The words are too far gone.

The void seems to freeze, their eyes staring past Tommy, and he turns, yet nothing is there. The void looks to Tommy,” They’re back. I’m sorry my dear Theseus, but I must let you go. Someone will come for you, I’ll find a way to make sure of it.” As Tommy sees the eyes begin to close, he hears a voice talking to the void.

“Talking to the walls again? The rattle of your chains not enough for you now?”

It started out like any other day on the Hermitcraft server. People were building, playing Decked Out, working on gathering more mycelium for the resistance, just enjoying themselves. Well...most of them were enjoying themselves

Xisuma was currently making his way through the shopping district, walking around, trying to figure out what in the name of the Nether was making everything feel so...off. He had checked the coding of the server about five times, nothing was miscoded or anything like that. Though Xisuma could feel that something was wrong, being an admin made him more connected to the server than anyone else on the server. It was like he could feel the change, but couldn’t figure out where it was.

He hadn’t planned on talking to anyone about it, hoping that he’d be able to resolve it on his own, but he sees a message pop up on the chat through his helmet. 

Grian has experienced kinetic energy

rendog: You okay?

Grian: I wasn’t even flying??? I was just standing around. I don’t know what just happened 

Xisuma frowned as he looked at the messages. That meant something was wrong with the server. He uses his helmet to look at what had happened to Grian and grumbled a bit, that was definitely not supposed to happen. Grian had just been working on sorting through some chests so he could prepare stuff for The Barge and then boom, dead. 

Xisuma: That definitely wasn’t supposed to happen. I’ll see if I can figure out what caused it. 

Xisuma finds himself a place to sit down, sitting down on the little porch of the Stat Poker game building as he begins to work his way through the code for what felt like the millionth time. As he looked through it, he swears he sees something out of the corner of his eye, but he chalks it up to just being stressed out from trying to figure out what was causing the problem. 

After a while of scrolling through the code and rewatching the video of Grian’s mystery death, he hears some rockets go off and then the sound of someone landing in front of him. Xisuma moves the chat to the side and sees that Keralis is the one in front of him, wearing his construction outfit and seeming like he was looking for something. 

Though once Keralis sees Xisuma, he grins,” Shiswam! Just the bee that I wanted to see!” Xisuma wasn’t wearing his bee outfit, but he appreciated the pun none the less. “Hey Keralis, what’s up?” Xisuma figured that Keralis coming to find him could mean any number of things. Though he had a feeling that this was about a glitch or something similar. 

“I seem to have ran into a problem at my base and was wondering if maybe you could come help me? I can’t figure out what’s causing it.” Keralis had been trying for over two hours to get this sorter at his base working, he had double checked and yet it still wasn’t working right. “What seems to be the problem?” Xisuma asks this, already pulling up what he could about  Keralis’ base. “I’ve been working on a sorter and I know I’ve got the redstone right, but no matter what I do, it won’t sort.” Keralis may or may not have thrown his construction hat a view times while he was trying to work on it. 

“Do you think it might be a weird piston?” Xisuma asks this as he looks over it, searching through until he found the sorter in question. Everything looked like it was right, the code looked right, the sorter in general looked right. He frowns as he looks it over,” This is weird...everything looks right, even the code looks right...and it just won’t sort?” One is an accident, twice is a coincidence. If one more weird thing happens, then he’ll know that this isn’t just a weird server day. 

As if the universe was listening to Xisuma’s thoughts, a wave of pain shot through him, like he had been stabbed with a sword that had been enchanted to the nether and back. It was only pain in his head, but he found himself grasping onto his helmet for dear life. He hadn’t been in pain like this in a long time. “Shiswam, is something wrong?” Keralis noticed that pain right away, Xisuma never grabbed onto his helmet like that unless he was getting one of the migraines that he rarely got. Those migraines only ever came around on the days where something had gone really wrong and he had spent nether knows how long messing with the code to get it fixed. 

“M-my head.” Xisuma manages to speak, keeping his eyes shut. This was somehow worse than every one of those god awful migraines combined. “Is it one of your migraines? Do you need to get the helmet off?” Keralis takes a careful step forward, not wanting to get too close to his friend incase he needed space. Xisuma shakes his head, he wasn’t taking his helmet off unless he had to. “I just need to let it pass.” Xisuma takes a deep breath, hoping that it would stop. 

And it did stop...but when it did, he opened his eyes...and there was nothing there, it was void, endless nothing, a black empty void. For the first time since he was a child, Xisuma felt nothing but pure fear. “Keralis?” He asks this, his voice shaking like a leaf. “I’m right here, Shiswam.” Keralis’ voice was right in front of him, speaking softly. “I-I can’t see.” Xisuma had known Keralis for long enough that he allowed himself to let the fear show a bit more than what he would've normally shown. “It’ll be alright, Shiswam, I’m sure it’s just the server throwing a bit of a fit.” Keralis was trying to keep calm, but the worry he felt for his friend was worry that made his heart hurt. 

The blindness didn’t stop, but what happened soon after was further proof that things were going very wrong. Keralis had taken a seat next to Xisuma, trying to help him ground himself and not getting lost to the panic he felt...when Keralis got the hit of pain just like Xisuma had earlier. Little did the two know, that at that moment, all across the server, hermits were getting flashes of pain like none of them had felt before, none of them got it as bad as Xisuma did, but it still hurt like all hell. 

Keralis had sucked in a sharp breath, gripping onto the porch for dear life. This wasn’t good. If this was anywhere near the pain that Xisuma had felt, then Xisuma handled it like a champ. “Keralis? What’s wrong?” Xisuma heard that breath, that wasn’t a good sign. He couldn’t see the code, he couldn’t see anything, he hated this so much. “My head.” Keralis says this as he takes his construction helmet off yet again, holding it in his hands and just squeezing it that way he wouldn’t be pulling at his hair.

“It’s happening to you too?” Xisuma hated this. He felt helpless, like he couldn’t do anything to help his friend. “It should pass, give it a few minutes...let’s just hope it doesn’t blind you like it did me.” Xisuma manages to find Keralis’ shoulder and give it a squeeze, hoping that it would stop faster for Keralis than it stopped for him. Keralis closed his eyes, hoping that if he closed  them then it might stop a bit faster.

As they waited for Keralis’ pain to vanish, all around the server, people found themselves in similar positions. False had been in the Nether, helping Stress with setting up her path to the Nether Hub, when the pain had hit them both and sent them both crashing to the floor, hitting some minecarts in the process. Wels had been nearby, doing some work on his portal when he had heard the loud crash of the minecarts, so he decided to go check and see what caused it. 

Wels had seen the girls on the ground and gone running to them, hoping that he might be able to help, but only for the pain to hit him at that very moment...and sending him crashing into a minecart head first. Not his best moment, but at least he had his helmet to protect him. The sound of him crashing into the minecart didn’t help the pain in their heads, if anything it made everything all the worse, especially for Wels since his helmet hit the cart and the cart practically slammed the helmet back at his head, which hurt a lot more than 

In a similar turn of events, Grian, Impulse, and Etho were all in the Mycelium Resistance base, working away on actually getting the base looking like a proper base. The other resistance members were out doing things like getting materials, checking their shops, that sort of a thing. 

First it was Impulse, who was sorting shulkers at the new meeting table, who just grabbed the nearest chair and sat down cause he knees nearly gave out from the pain. Then it was Etho, who had been writing down the amount of mycelium that they had gathered up and doing a tiny bit of math as he tried to figure out how many mycelium they could make in an hour. He had been standing by the mycelium generator, when he felt the pain hit him, causing him to drop his book as he leaned against the wall to try and keep himself steady. Finally, it was Grian, who was working on the walls of the base. He had seen Etho and Impulse sit down and had been a bit confused, then the wave hit him and he almost fainted from the pain as he sat down against the stone wall. All the three could do was look at one another, unable to speak from the pain. 

The pain spread through the server like wildfire...and soon enough the pain had gripped onto every member of the server. As people all around the server began to hit the ground, gasping for breath as they tried to figure out what was happening, they felt the change in the air, felt the change in what felt like the very core of their codes. As they all shut their eyes, hoping that the pain would stop, they felt it, things had just changed, yet they couldn’t seem to open their eyes to see what had happened. 

Waking up in a field wasn’t exactly ideal, especially for those who were actually in the field. Those in the field being Xisuma, Dream, Keralis, Tubbo, and Joe, as Dream would observe once he actually got a solid look around at the group. They were all scattered about the field, all of them slowly seating up and getting up as they got their bearings. One thing they noticed was that none of them had their Elytras and that their armor was gone, which just added to the list of oddities that they were currently dealing with.

Xisuma had sat up, but he wasn’t going to try to stand,” Who all is here?” He could tell that others were there, but he couldn’t figure out who all was there since no one had spoken and he still couldn’t see anything. Keralis had gotten up and was slowly making his way over to Xisuma, he figured that Xisuma was asking since he still couldn’t see, which meant Xisuma might need some help getting around,” Well, there is me, you, Joe, and two people that I do not know the names of...” Then Keralis looks at Dream again,” But I believe, unless my gorgeous eyes are fooling me, that you are Dream, yes?” Dream nods, focused on making sure his mask was all good and far too aware of the fact that he couldn’t talk.

“He’s Dream and my name is Tubbo.” Tubbo gives a small smile as he makes his way over to Dream, wanting to stick by the person that he knew in all of this. “And he’s been having trouble talking so I guess I’ll be speaking for the both of us?” Tubbo looks at Dream and Dream nods again, at least Tubbo was someone that Dream knew he could trust with speaking well for the both of them. Some people may think that Tubbo would not be the best choice to speak for them, but Dream had paid attention to Tubbo when he spoke. Tubbo could speak far better than a lot of people would like to think that he can, he just needs to be talking about the right thing.

Xisuma frowned upon hearing Tubbo’s words, Dream wasn’t supposed to be here and neither was Tubbo. If Dream was here then this meant a problem that was out of the realm of himself by a long shot. Dream was currently thinking something similar, knowing that if a problem like this had occurred then it meant that some was wrong. Both of their minds went to the same place after these thoughts, to their friends. Were they okay? Was anyone hurt? Had anybody been blinded or muted like Dream and Xisuma had been?

Luckily enough, none of their friends had been harmed, at least not physically. Though they wouldn’t find that out until later. While Xisuma, Dream, and their group tried to really figure things out, groups all over the place were beginning to wake up and realizing that things were wrong. That they were not in their respective SMPs anymore.

As people began to wake up and realize that things were wrong, one very lucky group got a much better wake up than the rest of them did.

This group beginning the group of TFC, Jev, xB, Purpled, Punz, Ponk, Alyssa, Callahan and Hypno. They woke up in the Shopping District, specifically right outside of the Town Hall. As they each woke up, beginning to look around to see where they were, they noticed the people that they were around. Purpled popped up from behind some of the bushes near the diamond trees and Ponk and Punz followed suit, looking like the Three Stooges for a moment.

Jev, xB, and Alyssa had woken up near the bottom of the stairs that led up to the entrance of the Town Hall and were trying to get up without falling down the stairs because they were all a little dizzy, though they couldn’t quite figure out why. Callahan and Hypno had woken up the furthest from Town Hall of the group, waking up in the middle area between the two boards in the middle of the main road. Which wouldn’t of been too bad, but when Callahan went to get up, he fell over and they jingling sound that the bells from his outfit made was pretty funny to hear.  

TFC had woken up in front of the Nether Portal that led to and from the Shopping District, which was currently a broken portal, and was trying to get himself up off the ground since he didn’t have his tools to help him get up. Luckily for TFC, the wonderful trio of the Three P’s had made their way over to help him since they could tell that he was struggling. TFC did accept the help, because he knew that he was most likely going to need it. Purpled helped him up since he got there first, while Ponk and Punz sort of stood back a little incase their help wasn’t needed.

“Does anybody know where we are right now?” Callahan signs this as he steadies himself, having finally gotten up without tripping again. Jev had made it to the end of the stairs, so he spoke up,” Yeah. We’re in front of the Town Hall in the Shopping District…but I get the feeling that you guys don’t know that because you’re not from this neck of the woods.” The others from the Dream SMP shared a look, they were all a bit confused, but they nodded.

“Yeah…you guys are from Hermitcraft though, right?” Ponk speaks up, he had seen some of them before from when they would go to MCC, since they’d be there to cheer on the members of the Dream SMP while the others would be there to cheer on those from Hermitcraft. “Yeah, that’s where we are now…which makes me wonder how you guys got here.” xB was wondering if something had gone wrong within the two worlds, maybe an accidental glitch that had caused a temporary collision?

“Do you think the others are okay?” Alyssa asks this from where she had sat down on the steps,” Dream looked like he was in pretty rough shape, but then again I think we all kind of did once we hit the ground.” Those from Hermitcraft looked at Alyssa, surprised by her words. “If I had to make a guess, you all blacked out after being hit with a wave of pain?” TFC had been led to one of the little benches outside Town Hall and was sitting down as he spoke. The members of the Dream SMP could only nod, all of them beginning to get a bit worried as to what was going on.

“Hey…” Callahan signs this, he looked like he had been thinking about something for a minute,” If we got separated like this, do you think the others are in groups like this? Or do you guys think we’re the unlucky ones that just got separated from the rest of them?” The group could only wonder this as they tried to think of ways to contact the group, which was made all the more difficult by the realization that the communicators weren’t working.

As the group within the Shopping District tried to figure things out, another group was waking up just near the valley of Tatooren, in the part of the mesa that was right by the jungle where the Jungle Crew’s respective bases were. This group consisted of Wels, False, Niki, Techno, and Tango, who had a pretty solid awaken compared to some of the groups. They woke up in a clearer spot of the mesa, though the sun was beating down on them like all hell, which was not idle, especially for Techno since he wears about four layers on his top half alone…aesthetic doesn’t save you when the sun beats down like that.

As they woke, the first thing they noticed was the heat, then they noticed one another. Getting into a sitting position was pretty difficult, but Wels was actually the first one who managed to sit up, which was impressive given the usual knights armor that he wore. As he looked around at the people laying around him, his eyes widened a little when he saw Niki and Techno. “Um…hi?” He was confused and also very aware of how hot he was thanks to the armor. 

“Hi.” Niki managed to sit up before Techno, which wasn’t too hard to do cause he currently looked like a turtle who was trying to get off of their shell. Which would’ve been pretty fun if it weren’t for the slight fear that Wels felt towards Techno cause he has heard plenty about him and he’s seen him in MCC. If there’s anyone that could genuinely go toe-to-toe with False, the best fighter they had, it was Techno, and that was a terrifying thought.

Tango had sat up and was helping False sit up, though once he saw Techno, his eyes got real wide, which was a bit insane given how big his already were naturally. “False, punch me.” Tango says this in the most serious tone he could possibly speak with. False raises an eyebrow at Tango, concerned,” Why?” She glances at Techno, it was just Techno, he wasn’t even that scary to her. “Because I’m seeing Technoblade in front of me so I’m probably hallucinating and even if I’m not then I don’t wanna be awake cause he is terrifying.”

“Glad to know that just by laying down and existing I bring some level of fear.” Techno finally sits up, with some help from Niki. “Ignore Tango, he’s being a fool.” False looks at Techno, she and him got along pretty well whenever they would run into one another at MCC, plus they both had acknowledged how strong the other person could be. “It’s fine, happens all the time…but uh…do you know where we are?” Techno tries to stand, helping Niki up as he does so.

“I’m pretty sure we’re still in Hermitcraft, if that helps.” Wels says this as he gets up, heading over to False and Tango so he can help them both up. “Hermitcraft?” Niki frowns, this was not good at all, they couldn’t afford something like this in the middle of a war,” But me and Techno were on the Dream SMP only a moment ago…how’d we end up here?” False frowns at Niki’s words, so something must’ve gone wrong on the SMP end and on the Hermitcraft end. “By chance, did you guys hit with waves of pain? Like ridiculous pain that made you double over where you were standing pain?” False asks this as she and Tango get up with Wels help.

“Yep. I’m guessing the same happened to you guys?” Techno sighs, taking off his cloak as he does so and folding it over his arm. He always hated mesas, got too hot and meant he had to drag his clothes along instead of wearing them. “Yes.” Tango tried not to think too hard about the fact that he was talking to Techno, cause he’d seen him at MCC’s, but he had been way too scared to actually ever speak to him. Techno was a legend for quite a few reasons, but the one that stuck out the most to Tango was the fact that he was a PvP god.

“Alright. So safe to assume that something has happened, maybe something happened to the code or there was a crash somewhere that couldn’t be handled because our dear friends who could handle it were too busy being doubled over in pain.” Techno suggests this as he looks around, trying to figure out where they could go form here. “So maybe our best course of action would be to head somewhere that we could all meet up at? Be able to figure out what happened?” Wels figured that if they could all meet up, they’d be able to at least figure out how everyone else faired.

“Sounds like a solid plan to me, Niki, you in?” Techno looked over at Niki, who had this strange look on her face. She was looking around, like she was looking for something. “Niki?” Techno would’ve raised an eyebrow, if he had had any that were visible. “Do you not hear that?” Niki looks at Techno and the others. What could she be hearing that would’ve gotten that reaction from her? Techno was gonna tell her no, that he couldn’t hear whatever it was that she was hearing, but then he did hear it. It sounded like crying, like a high-pitched sort of crying that made him wonder how Niki had heard it given that he knew he had better hearing than she did.

The other three was looking at Niki and Techno were absolutely mad…and then the sound got louder. It was coming from the jungle nearby. “We need to check that out.” Niki sounded worried, something about that sound was hitting her heart in a very particular way that she could not quite describe. She starts heading over to where they heard the sound coming from and the others followed suit because part of them were curious, but some were worried about what the sound could lead them too.

As they got closer, the sound became clearer. It wasn’t as high pitched as it had originally sounded, but it was definitely crying. It sounded almost like a…baby? But why would a baby be out here? Neither SMP had any babies in it, so what could be making that noise? As they tried to think of what it was, they came upon one of those jungle trees that was real low to the ground, the leaves were about a block above the ground, leaving a block tall gap between the leaves and the ground…and in that gap was whatever was making the noise.

Niki takes a step forward, now being the one closest to the tree as she bends down and takes a look to see what’s under the tree…and what she sees make her eyes widen, though the tone she uses when she speaks is soft,” Hello little one, what on earth are you doing down there?” The crying had stopped once Niki had appeared, now they could hear what almost sounded like a cooing noise. It sounded like a baby, but what could it be? “Techno, can you hand me your cloak, please?” Niki glances over her shoulder at Techno, who nods and hands her the jacket.

Niki was careful, gently moving as she took the cloak and made sure it was placed well in her hands before she reached into the little gap,” It’s okay little one, no one is going to hurt you…I just want to get you out from under there, okay?” In response, the thing in the gap makes another small cooing noise. She manages to take the cloak and wrap it around the thing in the gap, making sure it was wrapped up nice and tight before she gently pulls it out from under the tree. The others couldn’t quite see what was wrapped up in it, but whatever it was clearly wasn’t dangerous since Niki didn’t seem too scared of it.

“Hello little one.” Niki speaks softly, moving the bundle in her arms so she was holding it like a baby. Tango was the first one to take a step forward,” What is it?” The others were glad he had asked since they were wondering what it could possibly be. “I’m not quite sure…maybe you can tell me?” Niki moves the bundle a bit and offers it to Tango, who carefully accepts it from her, being careful as he holds the bundle like Niki had. He moves the cloak around until he can see the things face and his eyes widen at what he sees.

It was a...normal day on the Dream SMP. At least as far as their normal days could go, which was to say that it was the most chaotic thing possible. Todays chaos involved the fact that things had finally boiled over for the seventeenth time. Now it was time for another showdown, this time the showdown was going on right past the fear sign that was outside of Pogtopia.

This was it, another battle for Pogtopia, another battle towards gaining their freedom. At least, it was looking like it was going to be another. The whole server was there, some watching, some ready for a fight. Niki and Eret were watching, because Niki didn’t have enough armor and Eret just couldn’t bring himself to fight. Seeing the people who are your home fight for the right to go back to the place they once called home isn’t something that many people would want to see. 

Through out the day, as time led up to the battle, things had been...odd. Not just normal SMP odd either, odd like things had been going weird odd. Dream had noticed this as he always did, because as the admin, or the ‘god’ as he was jokingly referred to, he had to know what was up with his server. So if that meant sometimes he had to watch the chaos a little bit before he understood what was going on, then so be it. 

Tommy had lost his pickaxe twice, even though he and Techno both knew it had been in his bag, and it reappeared in a chest that was by the potato farm. They hadn’t even been near the potato farm. Well, Techno had been but Tommy hadn’t been down there so they didn’t know how it had ended up there. Dream knew Tommy had had the pickaxe in his bag, he had seen him with it, so he knew that that had to have been a glitch. No biggie, one glitch isn’t a problem.

Then Dream had had the weirdest glitch he had seen in a while pop up.

Nihachu has burnt to death

The_Eret has burnt to death 

The_Eret: Me and Niki weren’t even near one another and I wasn’t near any lava so I don’t know what just happened

Nihachu: I was just working on fixing some holes in a wall and then I just died? Dream could you take a look and see what happened?

Dream: Yeah, did you guys lose anything?

The_Eret: Nah, it says I burnt to death but all my stuff is where it was when I died 

Nihachu: Same here. 

Dream: I’ll take a look at it 

Dream sighs as he reads over the messages a few more time, he didn’t really use his admin powers for much besides getting people their stuff back and giving people the supplies they needed. He double checks to make sure that he’s alone, which he was considering he was by himself in his house, and then he takes off his mask, allowing himself to see the code and take a look at it. 

He didn’t take his mask off a lot for many reasons, but it was mainly so that he wouldn’t have to focus on the code that he could see thanks to being an admin. For some admins it was a case of needing something so they could see the code, for others it was a case of needing something so that they couldn’t see the code. 

As he looks over the code to try and figure out what was wrong, he frowns. Everything looked right, but something just felt...wrong. It was like that itch at the back of your throat that you get even when you feel healthy as can be. Maybe he just hadn’t looked at the code in a while, maybe it was just the nerves that came with every battle that he fought in. Just because he’s a good fighter doesn’t mean that he doesn’t get nervous before a fight. Especially one like the one that was going to go down outside of Pogtopia, because that fight meant a fight against his friends. 

He checks the time, the frown remaining on his face as he realizes how little time he has left until the fight. Dream takes a deep breath, taking one last look at the code before he puts his mask back on. Dream begins to make his way over to Pogtopia, trying to ignore that feeling at the back of his throat. It was just nerves, just his connection to the server being a bit stronger because of what was about to happen. 

When he arrived, he saw that the sides were slowly beginning to form. Seeing Fundy, George, his team, fight against him wasn’t something he wanted, but he was willing to put aside his feelings. Dream looks over to where Wilbur, Tommy, and Techno were standing; they were quietly talking about something. Dream acted like he was middle ground, standing in between the two groups that had begun to form. 

He couldn’t help but listen to the Pogtopia side of things, being an admin allowed for these moments. Allowed for him to listen in, figure out what people were saying and feeling without having to let himself get close. Some might call it rude, but he knew he needed to hear how the people he was going to fight alongside were feeling, even if he couldn’t reveal that he was fighting alongside them yet. 

“Wilbur, are you sure you can handle going up against him? He’s still your son, even if he’s a traitor.” For once, Tommy wasn’t yelling and screaming. He was worried, worried for his friend. Wilbur sighed, taking a deep breath,” I can handle this, Tommy.” Though Dream could tell, Wilbur hated doing this. Going up against his son, it was something Wilbur never pictured happening. “Wilbur,” Techno spoke, using that same voice, but they could tell he was serious,” Am I allowed to hurt him? Cause I don’t wanna accidentally stab your kid if you’re not cool with me stabbing your kid.”

“Techno,” Wilbur looked at Techno, he sounded tired, looked tired,” If you absolutely have to, then stab...and if there is no other option, go for the kill. He’ll just respawn and be a bit pissed at you, or me...probably me.” Techno nods, he was always glad to go into another fight, but he also didn’t want to be the one that killed the people that they didn’t wanna kill. 

Dream decides to stop listening to the conversation and just take a second to look around. He wouldn’t listen to the Manburg side, not even what Fundy had to say right now. Dream could see that those who were watching were the ones who couldn’t fight, though if they end up needing them, he’s more than willing to drop the gear that Niki needs or that Eret may need. 

Finally, after quite sometime, the sides have spoken quietly to each other and now the real talks could begin. Dream stayed where he was, in the middle, but he was fully prepared to make a break for it and run for the Pogtopia side if he had to. The talks began calmly enough, with Wilbur saying,” Are you lot quite sure that you want to do this?” And Schlatt actually laughed, being far too arrogant for a man who didn’t wear armor,” Oh we’re quite sure, Wilbur.” 

Dream sighed, looking between the two sides. He figured taking a shot at one last civil conversation was worth it. “Before you guys decide to go all out and murder one another,” He glances between the two groups,” One last chance to change sides, one last chance to talk things out peacefully, like adults.” He takes a deep breath and freezes at the sudden tightness he feels in his throat. 

Both groups had been paying attention to Dream, so when he suddenly stopped talking, they all noticed. Dream tries to take another breath, but he can’t, and suddenly he’s gripping at his throat hoping to god that he’ll be able to breathe again. He’s gasping for breath, and people are trying to figure out what’s going on. 

“Dream?” George says his friends name, concern for his friend running through him just as it did for everyone else, besides Schlatt. “He’s just faking it to buy time.” Schlatt says this easily enough, but everybody looks at him like he’s just snorted a bunch of blaze powder. Dream could swear that he was starting to see spots, unaware of the fact that he had started to shake. Fundy almost took a step, but he was sure that Dream would be fine.

Then it hit Dream again, and he hit the ground, landing on his hands and knees. “Dream!” George, Sap, and Bad went running towards their friend. Schlatt puts an arm out to stop George,” Don’t.” George just gives Schlatt a look,” He’s my friend and I’m going to check on him.” Then he pushes past Schlatt and heads over to Dream. 

Dream was gasping for breath, trying to get in any air at all, but it just wouldn’t happen. “Dream, can you hear us?” Bad asks this, carefully crouching down next to his friend. “Does anybody have any water?” Sap looks towards both groups, war bedamned, his friend is in pain and he doesn’t want to see him in pain. Niki digs around in her pockets, finding a glass bottle,” I’ll get some water from the river!” She went running towards the river, Dream was a good guy and he needed the help.

Dream manages a nod, he could hear them, but things were getting faint. “Can we take the hood off of your head?” Bad was doing his best, so he figured yes or no questions were the best ones to ask right now. Dream nods again, getting the hood off might help. Bad carefully pulls the hood off of Dream’s head, and it helps for a moment, but then the pain comes back a thousand times stronger, causing him to let out another gasp. He could feel the lack of oxygen getting to him, could feel the bile in the back of his throat from how much the pain made him want to vomit. 

“Dream, I think we’ll need to take the mask off of your face.” Bad says this carefully, knowing that Dream hated taking his mask off around people. Dream manages to think about it for a moment, then manages to shakily lift one of his hands, moving his mask just enough for his nose and mouth to be uncovered. That did help, allowing him enough air to breathe for longer than a moment. 

Then suddenly, the pain stopped, and he was breathing again, though right after this, he does vomit. Bad rubs his back as Niki comes running up with a bottle of water, which she hands to George, cause she still doesn’t want much to do with Sapnap. George thanks Niki for the water as she heads back over to the sidelines where she and Eret had been. 

Once Dream had stopped vomiting, George handed him the bottle of water and Dream practically downed it. Once he had finished the water, he went to thank George for it...and couldn’t speak. He frowns, trying to speak, but nothing comes out. Dream couldn’t talk, he couldn’t talk, oh this could not be happening. George frowns,” Are you having trouble talking?” Dream nods, sitting up as best as he can. 

“What on earth is happening?” Wilbur seemed confused, concerned for Dream, but confused. “I think he can’t speak anymore.” Sap frowns, this was weird. Dream never felt any level of bad, so for him to have something like that happen...what on earth was going on? 

Dream tries to speak again, but nothing comes out... and the pain comes back, except now it was in his chest. He doubles over, hitting the ground on his back this time. “Shit!” Sapnap and George both looked like they had no idea how to help and Bad was so freaked out that he didn’t even bother to say language. 

Wilbur decides he’s going to take a step forward and see if he can help...and then the pain hits him straight in the chest and he hits the ground. “Wilbur!” Tommy is at his friends side in an instant, Niki running over to see what was going on. On instinct, Fundy reacts,” Dad!” He takes off towards them, Schlatt tries to stop him, placing an arm out and saying,” Don’t. Let him suffer.” Fundy responds to that by whacking Schlatt upside the head and ducking under his arm. Unfortunatley the pain to hit him a moment later and send him to the ground not too far from the midline of what had been the land between the two groups.  

Schlatt frowns,” What kind of display of weakness is this?” Was this some sort of weird trick? Surely this was the only reason Dream and Wilbur would both be doing this. They had to be playing some sort of trick on him, that was the only thing that made sense. 

Tubbo saw Tommy hit the ground and he almost went to him, almost went to his friends, but he didn’t want to risk it. Then he sees Eret hit the ground and he runs over to see if he could possibly help him. Right now, Eret was technically neutral so surely helping him wouldn’t be a bad thing. As he reaches Eret, the pain hits him and he ends up on the ground near Eret. 

Then it starts to hit them all one by one, eventually everyone had hit the ground from pain...the only one left standing was Schlatt. “Ha! Look at all of you acting so weak! What kind of weird trick is this?! You think you’ll get pity from me just because you’re all in a little pai-” Before he can finish his rant, which was probably something about how strong he is, the pain finally hits him and he hits the ground. 

As the pain hits them, they all shut their eyes, hoping that the pain would stop. That’s when they felt the change, the shift, the feeling of their code suddenly being moved somewhere else. Dream felt it the most, felt the way the server changed, he could practically feel it in the very beginnings of his code.