MCC started in less than half an hour, and Astrid could hardly keep her dinner down.

"It'll be fine!" Tommy reiterated, care in his voice even though he was clearly setting up his own stream too.

"I know I just..." she pondered, "don't want to let anyone down is all"

"You won't! You're cracked trust me, you learnt from the best" he subtly boasted, clearly meaning himself.

"Yeah, Dream was good to me" she smirked as he scoffed.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, making sure everything was set up.

Niki had snuck in earlier to put down a glass of water and a small tray of snacks, wishing her good luck with a soft smile and a pat on the shoulder.

And now she was left alone, not completely, of course, maybe that's what helped most.

"You feeling okay?" Tommy hummed quietly.

"Yeah, just a few hours and it'll be over, and then I can never apply for MCC again" Tommy laughed at her joke, but didn't push any further.

"We should join the group"

Her stream had started only minutes ago, running around the starting area whilst greeting her chat. She was originally looking for a team member when she ran into George.

She hadn't expected him to stop, but he had.

A small wave and crouch came from his player before he ran off, just enough to pull a smile to her lips and to make her chat go insane - which she pointedly ignored.

The games started quickly, Dream and Tommy taking the leading roles; telling people where to go, what to do and their best possible tactics.

"Astrid can you get the blocks and we'll build" Dream suggested as he ran to get his own supplies, he was right: buildmart was stupid.

She nodded to herself, looking around the three designs before running back to the blocks; oak wood, jungle, iron, black stone.

Astrid ran back and forth multiple times, too many she'd say, but it worked out in the end when they got second place.

Ace Race also kicked her about, the trident messing her up and elytra flying her too low.

"Slow and steady" Dream reminded her as she got frustrated, "you don't have to be first, don't worry about your place"

Wilbur had deafened to speak to his chat, Tommy too, whilst Dream had chosen to stay on the call with Astrid - talking her through whilst he kept up his first-place title.

It helped a lot, she stayed calm acing some of her jumps and getting in front of a few of her opponents, coming in 21st overall, which admittedly was better than she'd ever expected.

With Wilbur and Tommy back in their chat they all hyped each other up, all of them bouncing off each other throughout the stream.

Near to the end they were doing well, third place overall. There were two games left to go up a place, and then they'd be in the final.

Everybody threw their eggs, Dream had aimed them towards parkour tag and, unsurprisingly, that's the game that'd won.

The four had practised this relentlessly, knowing Dream and Tommy were the best hunters and training Wilbur and Astrid enough to pick up the slack.

It wasn't too hard, running around for a minute or so whilst doing her very best to avoid capture. In fact, she was rather good at it.

Not particularly because of the parkour, mostly just because Astrid herself had no idea where she was going, meaning that any hunter couldn't guess her movements ahead of time.

Wilbur had even complimented her on her 'insanely good eye for unknown routes' which was just another way to say well done for having no clue what was going on.

But she still appreciated it.

A few people had managed to tag her though, George being one of them.

In fact, George hadn't gone easy on her at all - not that she had expected him to, but the way he chased her first every time, even if it meant having no time to get anybody else, seemed to mean something. Especially when this wasn't the only game he'd targeted her.

His team was first, destined to be in the final, with himself and Sapnap together there was no surprise. The way their game went she knew that he most definitely would not go easy on them

if it came down to dodge bolt.

The game kept them at third only a few hundred coins behind second.

They had one game left to get into the finale.

Hole in the wall.

They hadn't practised this game much, banking on doing well in the attack-dominated games and getting by on the rest.

It started as always, the group shouting out directions, running back and forth to get to the right place.

Luckily for her, she seemed to not need the practice, she was naturally good at it.

Unlucky for her, so was George.

The two were regularly the last two left, jumping in sync as her team cheered her on, reminding her that she didn't need to beat him, just do enough to be in the final; which they most certainly would be.

On the final round George fumbled, spamming to jump over the small wall but not getting there fast enough, the arm sweeping him off the ledge.

"ASTRID YOU BEAUTY!" Tommy scream down his mic the whole time as he saw them advance to second place the team being redirected to the dodge bolt stadium, their view count boosting by thousands.

This was it, the final match.

They could do it, they could win.

She could shove it in everyone who doubted her's face. Shout from the rooftops that she did it, that she wasn't useless.

But first, she'd need to actually, y'know, win.

And that wouldn't be so easy.

—————

Written: 17th December 2022

Published:19th December 2022

Was gonna put MCC all in one chapter but it'd be way too long