Phantasmagoria

I open my eyes to see that I'm completely fine from the fall.

Of course I would be.

The girls aren't allowed to kill me off in the game. They'll get penalised. I wonder if the other participants just went through what I did. I wish I knew what they were doing.

Have they encountered a Never before?

Did they get the same one I did?

Did he treat them just as rudely?

Stop, Nash.

Stop thinking about them. I've got to stop focusing on the other contestants. I need to focus on the game at hand. Focus on what I have to do. On what challenge I need to come up with.

I see I have been taken to the beginning of the level. To the dilapidated and abandoned amusement park.

''Ah, so this is Neverland,'' I say to myself. I remember I said this when I first met the girls. It feels like a distant memory, but it happened technically around 20 minutes ago. There's not much going for the place. I wonder why they transported me back here?

Can I only do the challenge here?

And what challenge should I come up with?

''Wow, you take so long!'' an English female voice says above me. I look up to see where the voice came from, and I see Marzipan on a red bumper car floating in mid air.

''Long for what?'' I ask her, craning my neck upwards to meet her gaze. The sky above her is still dreary and grey.

''Long for you to come up with a challenge,'' I hear Marigold say as she joins her sister in a blue bumper car in mid air as well. They like coming at me from both sides, don't they?

''The other participants have started theirs, Mr Williams,'' Marzipan says.

''You are taking too long,'' Marigold snaps at me.

''You're quite a boring one,'' Marzipan says. Marigold adds to this by yawning very loudly.

Oh, these girls are getting quite annoying.

''Is there anything I should know before I start the challenge?'' I ask them. You can never be too sure in this game. There might be some unexpected rule I must follow or that I need to avoid something if I want to survive. I remember the Verbal Compendium very clearly.

''You can never leave Neverland,'' Marigold announces. That sounds like more than a threat than a rule, as she and her sister begin grinning madly. As soon as Marigold says this though, the sky turns an ugly dark grey and bright blue lightning streaks begin to thunder across it. Tornadoes begin to form and I see some of the lightning strikes hit some of the rides. The rides then come alive and start operating normally, and I see the same Never that threw me out of the window from Montague Manor coming towards me...

From different directions...

So there definitely is more than one, but...they're all the same.

Can he multiply himself?

''What song now, Mari?'' I hear Marzipan ask her sister. Up goes her hand again and her infamous song clicking. Which classical symphony will I be subjected to now?

''Guns N' Roses, Welcome to the Jungle,'' Marigold answers.

Wait, what?

''Come up with a challenge yet, Mr Williams?'' Marzipan asks me. A challenge? To the tune of Guns N' Roses? I look around at all the Nevers, who all look ready to do something to me. If they are looking for a fight, I might as well make a challenge out of it.

''I will defeat all the Nevers,'' I announce to them. The girls smile a smile I believe is more out of happiness then evilness.

''Have fun, Mr Williams,'' they say together with their thumbs up.

I think I actually will have some fun this time.

I hear Marzipan click her fingers, and I smile as I hear their song of choice bombard my ears.

Now this is what I'm talking about.

Marzipan and Marigold create their own fun by having a bumper car war in mid air. How very entertaining. Now, how should I defeat these guys?

''Let's take a little inspiration from my friend Neo,'' I say to myself as imagine myself having the fighting skills of Neo. I close my eyes and wait for it. I wait for the Nevers to converge on me.

But I don't hear a thing.

No screaming from them, or any noise at all.

I open my eyes and I barely manage to duck as a Never comes and launches a punch at my face. As I avoid that one, I fall prey to the attack of one from behind me. When did he-

''Uff!'' I make a noise as another Never attacks me on my head. Where on earth did he come from? I can't hear a sound or anything. And it's not just because of the music. I actually watch a Never come towards me, and neither his feet nor the rustling of his clothes make a slight sound, and it's as if I am deaf to it.

What is going on?

I won't be able to defeat any of them if this keeps up. I look around for anything that can help me (because I seriously doubt the twins would be of any service at all) and try to defend myself as much as possible. I fly kick a few of them, and give one an uppercut, and I run away from them as fast as my legs can carry me. But where am I going?

Ah!

The roller-coaster!

I run up to a long, green roller-coaster sitting stationary a few meters away from me and jump in it. I turn to see that 10 Nevers have already caught up to me and 4 of them jump into the roller-coaster before I can make it take off. The one nearest to me jumps from his car to my one and battles with me. He punches quite fast, but I try my best to dodge each one and try and land a few myself. I feel a bit unsteady as the roller-coaster goes round, and I quickly glance forward to see how the path is going. I see that we are going to be inside a tunnel soon, so I produce rapid punches and hope that the Never falls.

Which he does.

Oh great, one of my punches landed! I see the Never fall to the ground and turn into blue starry lights. Just like the rabbit did.

Yes!

I think I can do this!

I can defe-

''Ack!'' I yell as the second Never comes and punches my arm.

I didn't even see him coming!

I wrestle with him as soon as I grab hold of him, but I lose sight of him as we become shrouded in darkness. It seems that we've entered the tunnel.

Nevertheless, I still hold on to him, so I can make another less Never. The lesser the Never, the better. I imagine the Never is as light as the glowing rabbit and throw him upwards, and I see him burst into blue stars as he hits the roof of the tunnel. I wait for us to come out of the tunnel, and I brace myself for the next one. As we come out, I can see the last Never still at the end of the ride.

But...wasn't there another...one?

I slowly turn around as I guess that's where the third one went. He picks me up by my clothes and dashes me to another car, but I manage to hang onto the handle bar as the roller-coaster begins to turn upside down. The Never swings from car to car like a monkey before he is in front of me, and we have a kicking battle hanging upside down. I flail my legs madly at him, hoping one of the kicks will push him off. This feels like it's taking forever.

Haha, yes!

I mange to gain the upper hand and he comes off. I see him turn into blue lights before the roller-coaster begins to turn upright and I stumble into the car i was hanging from. I get back on my feet and see the last Never is already in front of me.

These guys are as silent as ever.

''Let's make a change of course,'' I say to him as I see that the roller-coaster is going to be coming to an end. I lift it from off the tracks and make it fly around in the air. It probably looks like a mechanical dragon to the twins, as I see their awe-struck faces glance up at me in the roller-coaster. I turn my attention back to the Never, who is getting ready to pounce. I catch him off guard by flying into him and wrestling with him. He begins pushing my face away, and good thing he does too, because I get a glance of the time and see that I have under a minute left. I quickly get out of the lock the Never had me in and get him into a headlock. As I am struggling with him, I hear a buzzer beeping loudly.

''Warning, perimeter breach approaching,'' I hear a female robotic voice announce. I look around and see that the front part of the roller-coaster is disappearing.

Oh no, it's disappearing!

Oh crud, I forgot!

I mustn't leave Neverland!

I look down and see that the theme park stops at the point of where the roller-coaster is disappearing.

''Looks like I've got to go,'' I say to the Never as I jump out and leave enough time for the car I am in to catch up to the perimeter so that I can let the Never perish in it. I see him recover in time to smack into the invisible wall and turn into blue stars.

''Oh, great,'' I say as I realise, once again, that I am falling. Oh, but I still have more Nevers to defeat!

I see the rest on the ground, waiting to get me as soon as I land on the ground. I look up at the time and it's already 10 seconds.

10 seconds?!

I've got to make it count.

So what should I do?

How do I defeat 100 Nevers in less than 10 seconds?

I know!

I form my hands in front of me into balls of fist, and make my body become like Superman's.

I know what to do.

I'll fly into them and make them all blow up. I smile as I reach closer to the pool of Nevers waiting to meet me.

''Yippie ki yay, Never suckers!''