Chapter Text
"Are you sure about this?" George's tone is uneasy.
"Yeah sure," replies Dream, bouncing his leg under his desk. "If it really works it could make for such an intense video."
"And you're...okay with it? I just don't understand how you could be fine with putting that thing on your head like that. Like, letting that happen to you."
"Pff, it's fine. We've dealt with worse before. We've both been electrocuted, you've put on dozens of shirts--you even sat in freezing cold water and nearly got hypothermia!" Dream laughs.
"Well, yeah, but, isn't this, like, worse than that?"
"Not really."
"What do you mean 'not really'!?"
"Well…" Dream scratches his neck. "Think of it like… as if I'm drunk! Yeah, just pretend I'm drunk."
"Then why not just play drunk instead!?"
"George, you don't get it, it's a challenge! I have to. They said that if I can beat you in a manhunt with this thing on, they'll give me like 5 thousand dollars. We could put like all of that to charity, George."
"I guess…"
"And I'd be the only one who ever beat this challenge!"
"Sure, that's assuming you beat it though."
"Good point, good point…" Dream trails off.
"Ugh! I can't believe I'm agreeing to this. Just put the thing on already."
"Alright, let me start recording first."
Dream sets up his recording software, logging into his recording server with George. In his hands he holds a metal headband that, once placed on his head, will send signals into his skull that will disrupt his brain and scatter his thoughts. It's programmed to get worse as time goes on, but it will stop once the server plug-in detects that Dream has killed the Ender Dragon. All this will be happening while George is trying to kill Dream and stop him from beating the game.
Dream may be treating this like a regular challenge, but he has no idea what he's signing himself up for.
"Okay, I'm recording, and…" Dream laughs softly, his fingers running over the metal in his hands. "Should I just...put it on?"
"Let me log in first…" George joins the server, looking around at the empty world in front of them.
"Alright, well it's supposed to get worse every minute, so let me set up a timer…" With a few commands, Dream gets a timer up on the screen, above his health bar.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" George is still apprehensive.
"Yeah. What, are you afraid I'll beat you?"
"No, no!" George laughs.
"Good, cause I'm starting...now!"
With that, Dream starts the timer, slips the metal headband onto his head, and starts running away from George.
"Hey! Wait that's not fair!" George scrambles to keep up.
Instantly, the headband is activated, sending disruptive signals into Dream's brain. Surprisingly, it's completely painless. At most, it's somewhat uncomfortable. It's at its lowest setting, so its effect on Dream is hardly noticable.
"Augh, that feels so weird!!" Dream laughs as he sprints through trees to get away from George.
"What's it feel like? Are you stupid now?"
"Hah, no, I'm not stupid." Dream leaps over a ravine, turns around, and blocks George from jumping over, causing George to fall to the bottom.
"Ah!" George yells.
"It just like," Dream turns around and keeps running. "It just feels like someone's pouring water in my head. Like, it's kind of numb? It doesn't really hurt."
As Dream says that, the timer reaches zero, and a message stating that Dream's condition is worsening shows up in the chat. The timer then resets back to 59 seconds.
"I can't believe you got me with that ravine that is so unfair!"
"Hahah, yeah, it's a lot easier with just ONE hunter, now that I'm used to playing with like five of them." Dream takes this opportunity to do some crafting and start gathering food. "Like if you tried to fight me I'd just win and you'd have to start back at spawn."
"Oh, true…" George laughs. "Well who knows if your 'condition worsens' enough it'll be easy to kill you."
"No way!" Dream laughs. "No, I'm not going down that easy."
The timer goes off again, and the odd feeling in Dream's head causes him to forget what he was doing. The strange feeling is starting to really set in.
"Ohhh Dreeeaam," George coos, hopping along the tree tops. "I'm coming for you, Dream!"
"Ah! No! Where are you?" Dream fishes his steaks out of the smoker, breaking the smoker and picking it up.
"Ehehehe, I won't tell you, Dream!" George is crouching behind a tree.
Not liking this, Dream turns around and runs. George hops out and tries to attack, but Dream is already running. George is hot on his tail, though, and already, the headband is worsening.
"Nnnn go away!" Dream laughs. "Go away I'm trying to cook food!"
George laughs in return. "No no no, Dream, I'm not leaving til you're dead!"
"Ah!!" Dream is hit. He runs as fast as he can, finally diving into an ocean to get time to eat. He ends up getting dolphins, but when the headband worsens once more, he forgets why he's swimming, slowing down enough for George to get a few more hits in.
"Ah this is not fair! This is not fair my head hurts!" Dream protests.
"Hahahah that's part of the challenge, Dream, it's what you agreed to!"
Dream bites his bottom lip. He's going to have to take George out, in this ocean, or else he's done for. He turns around, taking the aggressive. It's hard to keep himself focused, somehow, but he is able to PVP George with some success.
"Why is it so hard? Why is it so hard, my head feels so weird!" Dream cries out as he swipes George with his sword.
"That's the challenge, Dreamy-poo!" George retaliates.
That nickname causes Dream to laugh quite hard, but it somehow gives him the strength he needs to out-maneuver George and finally kill him.
"Noooo!! Come on! I almost had you!" George shouts.
"Hahaha yes!!" Dream swims up to the surface, watching all of George's items float to the top. The headband alarm goes off once more, and Dream winces as the effects take place. He gathers all of George's items, heads to land, and continues cooking his food.
"This 's hard!" Dream insists, a hint of amusement in his voice. "So hard!"
"Really? Cause you kind of smoked me there, I dunno if you noticed." George sounds salty.
"No, but like, 's different, it's harder, it's hard to know, like, what to do, in that split second, like I'm used to…" Dream's tongue feels heavy in his mouth, and his words are starting to slur together. He squints his eyes, rubbing his face. Then the timer reaches zero once again, and he winces.
"And then," says Dream, "And then when it goes off, when it, when it worsens, it just like, jus' stops me, like, dead in my tracks, I just can't remember what I was doing!"
"Ahhh, so the timer is your weakness, I see, I see…" George is playing it up for theatrics, but he's really quite concerned hearing his friend's voice like this. "You really do sound drunk," he teases.
Dream chuckles. “Yeah, shut up. I’m not. It’s jus’ a challenge.”
Filling his Minecraft character’s belly with some good hot steak, Dream takes a shaky breath. He has a long manhunt ahead of him, and it’s only going to get harder from here.