Mushroom Boy

Act II

Just one mundane, overcast day later, DreamXD was back. Sapnap watched as the monotone skies parted to make way for the mysterious, green-robed being. Show off, he thought, squinting at the sudden burst of sunlight.

He ran to alert George, who was sitting by his window, wrapped head to toe in a blanket, with a warm cup of tea. Though it was a peaceful scene at first, one look at George's face revealed that DreamXD's arrival had not gone unnoticed. 

Sapnap had barely sat down when a thunderous knock on George's front door ripped through the tense silence, making George spill his tea in fright, the mug shattering on the floor. He jumped up to clean the mess, leaving the blanket on the chair. Sapnap went to help him when a second knock reverberated across the house, this time accompanied by an echoing, singsong voice.

"Geoooorge! Where are you, mushroom boy?" DreamXD called out. George froze, face pale as bone, as Sapnap took a deep breath and answered the door.

"Sapnap!" the deity shouted. Sapnap fought hard not to flinch, though all he wanted was to run back into the house and hide. I have to stand my ground, he thought. George needs me. He sighed. "DreamXD," he began, "We need to talk."

"Of course, of course!" DreamXD laughed. "But first..." He took a step inside, surveying the area. "Where's George?" He asked, his smile falling a little. Sapnap led him inside and offered him a seat. "He's out mining right now right now," Sapnap explained. "About George..."

While Sapnap tried to reason with DreamXD, George was, in fact, mining. He left out the back door, wearing some of Sapnap's old iron armor, as he couldn't stand to wear the netherite DreamXD had given him, and his other armor didn't fit over the mushrooms. He soon found a ravine untouched by previous explorers, when he noticed a peculiar patch of cobblestone protruding from the wall.

He quickly mined through the wall, excited at the thought of what could be in this dungeon. Discs? Old books? An enchanted golden apple?

Meanwhile, Sapnap was struggling to keep DreamXD's attention, as well as his own sanity.

"What do you mean, he doesn't like the mushrooms?" DreamXD complained. "That's not true. He told me himself."

"Well, he told me differently," explained Sapnap. "He said he was too scared of you to tell you the truth. Doesn't sound like you're being a very good friend, to be honest."

"Well, look who's talking?" DreamXD growled. "You're ignoring his messages right now. Is that something a good friend would do?"

Sapnap gasped and quickly checked his chat, heart dropping to his stomach:

<GeorgeNotFound> HELP ME
<GeorgeNotFound> SOMEONE HELP
<GeorgeNotFound> HELP

George was huddled in a corner, his shield up, no options left but to beg for help. Of course it couldn't have been a zombie spawner. Even spiders he could deal with. But who gave these skeletons so much armor? He hadn't even managed to light up the room before he was overpowered. He swore angrily under his breath. I can't keep pretending someone is going to save me,  he thought, slumping against the stone wall. Dream isn't here to protect me anymore. I'm a thousand  blocks away from everyone else. What was I thinking? I'm no good at fighting. That was Dream's job. And he's gone.

Before he could continue his spiraling train of thought, his shield finally gave in. He looked up. Every skeleton stood, bow drawn, ready to kill. George watched, seemingly from the third person, as the arrows flew at him.

But he didn't die. He blinked, rubbed his eyes. There DreamXD stood, atop a pile of broken golden helmets and lifeless bones, hand outstretched to a dumbfounded GeorgeNotFound. Since George was too shocked to take DreamXD's hand, the green-clad deity scooped him up and flew out with a very confused mushroom boy in his arms.

George wasn't sure what made him do it. Maybe it was the leftover adrenaline from the dungeon. Maybe it was the fear of DreamXD's wrath when he landed, having had to save George once again. Or maybe it was the feeling of mushrooms spreading across his chest that made him struggle out of DreamXD's grasp, sending him a thousand feet down into the forest beneath him, the colors of the sunset flashing past before everything went black.

GeorgeNotFound fell from a high place