The Amusement Park Trip.

My cart reaches the ground and the glass door opens by itself allowing me to leave. Outside a path shows up, making sure you won't get lost it is railed up. Though anyone could easily jump over said rails, there were a few reasons to. I leave my cart and take a step away, the cart's entrance closes itself, and then I climb up the wheel again. The next cart arrived and stopped though its door kept closed.

So that's what was happening, I had thought that it was extremely unstable leading it to stop every so often while inside the cart, but it was simply that each cart was stopping momentarily. 

"Still... Just what is this?" I question intently gazing at my left wrist. A wristwatch(?) wrapped around. I'm more than certain I hadn't worn any, and neither did I remember owning any that looked like the one on my person.

The 'watch' part of it was completely dark, it might have been a digital one that had died out, but yet, just what was it doing on my wrist?

The new cart once again rotated, and the next one came to a stop, the door didn't open as well. Intrigued I raised my head and counted the number of carts.

"22...23... 25." 25 carts, each quite the distance from the other, this Ferris wheel was astonishing.

If it was a normal, stretching the definition of normal, Ferris wheel then it might've housed something closer to a hundred carts, but yet so much space was wasted on only a quarter of that. Goes to show, that whoever had built this hadn't profit in mind.

Nothing was rushing me to move on, so I decided to wait and see through all 22 carts left. Whatever I'm going into won't be like last time, I could tell as much at the very least. on top of that, this place was just... surreal.

"Just what do they gain from all of this?" I murmur to myself taking in my surroundings. The word amusement park came to mind but at the same time, it felt not. Rides were everywhere, the screams of joy that followed played as well, the neverending loop of an amusement park's melody sang to. Though I could confidently say it was an amusement park, I could confidently say it was not one for amusement as well.

Soon enough, on the 16th cart, ridding me of my train of taught, the cart that came to a stop had its door open. Inside, a young-looking boy curled up on the cart's ground. Clutching his head with both of his hands his whole body shook in what I could assume was fear. I got closer to him, eventually getting a look at his face. His eyes widened and his teeth chattering. It surely wasn't cold, so I could remove that option.

"Hey, kid. You okay?" I crouch down talking to the boy. He didn't respond at all, as expected. He didn't look like he would be shaken off by a simple call out.

I sigh.

His head was resting on his right hand, which left his left hand exposed, so making sure I checked and I found a similar 'wristwatch' to the one on my wrist. It too was out of battery, if I were to take my theory of it being a digital watch at face value. The time for the cart to move on was closing in, I had thought of pulling out the kid forcibly, but I decided not to. Instead, I wanted to see how it would play out, so I stayed with the shaking body.

And it stayed. I was confident more than enough time had passed, yet the door remained open and the cart hadn't moved on. I then stepped out myself, and it persisted. So, unless no one was left within the cart, it would stay. Now that I was done with my experimenting, I had to do something with the boy.

As I stepped back in, the boy turned to face me.

"W-who are you?" he asked, lying on the ground. His eyes hid deep fear.

"Avery, Avery Sky. You can just call me Avery though." I crouched down once again.

"Where are we..." His words were hazy, and his eyes darted around terrified.

"Hmmm... A Ferris wheel?" I stated the obvious.

"Ferris wheel?" The boy asked. He was still unaware of his surroundings. He pushed himself up and looked outside the cart's glass panels. "W-what is this place!"

A completely normal reaction, though I was suspicious of this being his first time seeing the view from outside the cart. Did he wake up traumatized normally with it having nothing to do with the surroundings?

"Well, if you would ask me, we are about to go through an experiment." I stood up from my crouched position.

"Experiment. You mean, the experiments?" the boy turned to face me.

"Well, that's what I call them at least." I place both of my hands to my side and exhale.

"Mannnn... and here I was thinking I would get to relax this break." Rather than being terrified or fearful, the boy sounded annoyed, as if the coming occurrence was nothing but an inconvenience. 

Taken by surprise, I questioned the boy, "That's it? Shouldn't you be a bit more scared of what's coming?"

The boy tilted his head and questioned me, "Well, you sure aren't scared yourself, no?"

Well, that's true. I hadn't found anything to be scared of yet, but I wouldn't look down on the experiments so much yet. But, that wasn't what bothered me. Why was he so calm? If he hadn't feared the experiments, then why was he in such a state just not too long ago? And he didn't look like he remembered any of that, or was he acting? Was he getting my guard down?

The boy continued to look up at me, innocence radiating off of him.

I decided to ask his opinion on our situation, "Kid, you know about that?" I asked pointing at his left wrist.

With a bitter smile at the title, he looked down as he raised his left wrist to his face, "Hmm, what is this?" he carefully examined the wristwatch. "No, I don't believe I know what this is..."

"Then that makes two of us. Let's go, hanging around here won't get us anything." I stepped out of the cart and kept moving within the confines of the rail-pathed walkway.

"H-hey wait!" The boy hurried behind me, and as I had predicted, as he stepped out the cart moved on allowing the Ferris wheel to continue its rotation.

The boy stopped for a moment to look back at the Ferris wheel, then immediately rushed to me. "Hey, w-wait for me." Reaching me he matched my pace a couple steps back.

"Avery, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, what is it?" The end of our destination wasn't anywhere in sight, so I had made a safe guess that it would take a fair amount of walking. I decided to kill some of that time indulging in conversation.

"By chance, are you bad with amusement parks?"

"No? I don't believe I am?" My answer came out reluctant, as I had found the question itself odd. Did he mean as in sacred of heights, unable to get on the rides?

"I-I see. Then... if possible, can you help me through this?"

"Through what?"

"This. the experiment. If given the chance, could we stick together? I-I am bad with amusement parks..."

Help someone, huh? Well, that sure hadn't crossed my mind. Is something such as that even possible? If anything wouldn't that get me in an unfavorable position? Was this what he was aiming for? Is this why he had acted traumatized, aiming for my sympathy? I couldn't help but doubt the sincerity of the boy.

So, to clear up some of my doubts, I decided to ask some questions myself. "If you are going to ask for my help, then it's only normal that we come to know each other first, no?"

"O-Of course! My name's Yousef Ragheeb Fatih, 3rd year engineering student."

"3rd year?!" I question almost screaming. I wanted to question the legitimacy of the boy's intentions, but I couldn't help but get caught in surprise.

"Y-yeah..."

I can't believe I had been calling an upperclassman 'kid'. And he had been just going along with it? Wait, actually, why does he look like a kid in the first place?

"How old are you?" I turned around facing the boy, making sure my first impression wasn't wrong.

"16..."

"16?!" I get more confused by the second.

"Y-yeah..." he scratched his cheek with his index finger.

Just what was a 16-year-old doing here?! and a 3rd year???

"For reference, Avery... how old are you?"

"I'm a 20 year old 1st year..."

"pff--" He held himself back.

"Hey..." He was making fun of me... 

I continued moving and moved along with our conversation, "Would you care to explain? How exactly are you 16?" I asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah... That would sound confusing wouldn't it?" He said, "I just skipped a couple of years."

He could have avoided the question easily, but instead, he opted for honesty. But, I was more interested in his story, "A couple you say..." I couldn't help but comment at that point.

"Well, maybe a bit more than a couple. But, my point is that I skipped."

"And how much did you skip exactly?" I wanted a straight answer.

"Well... I skipped kindergarten and got into first grade at 5. Then skipped 4th and 6th grade... then got into NUR right after 11th grade."

"Did you just spend your years jumping around?"

"ha ha... where I was from they didn't care about the education system... as long as you proved you were good enough they allowed it. Plus, NUR doesn't ask for any prior qualifications. As long as you passed their entrance exam, or were invited, you are free to apply at any time. So I skipped my final year of school." he said.

"Woah, Now that's one hell of a story. You some kind of genius?"

"I wouldn't call myself a genius..." He said bashful, "It's just that I was a bit better at studying, that's all."

"Well, clearly it wasn't just a 'bit'"

"Hehe..." 

He sure was happy about getting complimented.

We continued following the railed path, and the kid kept opening up more and more. He had told me all about his life, from his archaic days in a third-world country to his golden days on the campus of NUR. He had been the ACE of the football club as well... The more he spoke, the more envious I got.

As the amusement park kept running to our sides, the sounds of the cries of joy and the looping melody of a carnival filling up the background, I decided that I had won.

This 'game'... It's going to be oh-so boring.

8.1:The rules.

We step into the tent at the end of the railed path. Inside two people seemed to be waiting.

Smiling at me and the boy as we stepped in a familiar face. The other person, shrunken back in fear, a new one.

"Hello, took you two long enough." The smiling man said. The other one eyes us with suspicion not showing any hints of opening up.

The boy, Yousef, kept behind me as if hiding.

"Now, how about we listen to the rules that we have all assembled?" The smiling man turned around, his gaze now focused on the massive flatscreen TV at the side of the tent.

As we closed the tent sheet behind us, static raided the air. Followed the tv played such.

"Greetings, humans. As all have assembled within our starting grounds, we will now begin with our experiment." The voice came from the flatscreen TV. No longer dark, it now showed an eagle vision of the amusement park.

The kid behind me crouched down and held his head at the view of the flatscreen TV. The tall malice glanced over at him, his chilling smile still occupying his face.

"As you all have come to understand, the size of this experiment exceeds the regular, as such it will be taking place over 2 days. You all will be competing through a series of games, and the winner in each game will be awarded a single point. The competitions are to take place in the style of 1v1 while every 2 are to be teamed up. So in essence, there will be 2 rounds to each competition, 1 round with the 2 team leaders against each other, and the other with 2 members against each other."

We all looked at each other.

"If the two rounds end up split, with 1 team winning the leader round, and the other winning the member round, then no point will be awarded. If a single duo wins both rounds then that duo will be given the point. If no rounds are won by any of the duos, then no points will be awarded once again." The voice stopped momentarily then continued, "Please, proceed with the grouping up so we can proceed. To team up: simply allow the player counter screen of you and the person you wish to team up with to touch." This time a deafening silence followed.

I looked at the 3 other participants. The kid next to me continued to shake in fear clutching his head as he curled his body down to the ground. The tall smiling menace turned to me, and the 4th person continued to suspiciously eye us.

"Avery," As expected, the man had gone for me. "How about you and I team up?"

"Hmm? And why should we?" There was no reason to ask really, but I decided to understand his character anyway.

"Just look at the other two. I believe if we both were to team up, we could clear this without any difficulty."

"That so?" He was merely stating the obvious, but I couldn't play along, so I teased him some more. "And what happened to all that ' I will make sure to leave none of that apathetic self of yours behind.' thingy?"

The tall man, straightening his back laughed.

"hahaha! I'm truly sorry for such a provocative statement, Avery. If I had known what our game would've been, I wouldn't have said such." His voice calm and cunning, he spoke his eyes shut tight as if amused.

"Anyway," I looked back at the shaking kid hiding behind my feet, "As you can see, I've already been occupied."

"I see. What a shame then." He turned his Eerie smile away from me, allowing me to calm down.

Crouching down, I faced the traumatized boy.

I sigh.

As the boy shook I wondered. Is this really what I have become? To give away such an easy pass for this. I sighed. I did agree to help him given the chance, and conveniently enough this whole experiment was a chance.

I took hold of his shoulders and faced him head-on.

"Oi, Yousef. Let's team up."

His teeth, chattering, calmed down, and his eyes returned to normal.

"T-team up?" His eyes started darting around as he came to.

So he really couldn't remember anything while in such a state...

"The experiment will need us making teams of two, duos. Let's work together." Our eyes meeting I offered.

"Alright, okay." he nodded.

"Here," Smiling I raised my left hand and pointed the wristwatch screen at him. "Tap yours onto mine."

He did as told, and then stood up.

"Please, pick a leader among you." Instructions came out of our watches.

Understanding that Yousef had more experience I tried to offer him the position, but, "Hey--"

"Avery, you be the leader. As I told you before, I'm bad with amusement parks." He said, a bitter smile talking to me.

"Alright, as you wish." I had already seen him break down twice, as much experience as he has, if he were to break down in a pivotal moment, then all that experience could be seen as nothing. With that, I agreed.

We both pressed on the 'No. 1' option which had my ID picture accompanying it. I wondered, if we had a different choice, just what had happened?

Static sounded once again, this time turning the eagle view of the never-ending amusement park, into a virtual screen showcasing the two teams.

He too picked the leader spot I see. The walking malice's ID photo was shown on screen as well alongside his teammates.

"Now that both teams have been made, we will be introducing the punishments and rewards for both teams." The voice returned, as monotonous as ever. "The failing team, each member is to have the closest to their soul punished. The passing team is to be allowed to skip out on the next experiment they are placed in."

Skip?! To say I hadn't expected such would've been a lie. I will be allowed to skip out on the next hell I'm thrown into, huh? And for the punishment... I could forget about it, not like it's going to pass.

"Now, to start with, please step forward." Static played, signifying the end of the announcement. And then the tent's sheet, opposite of where we had come, opened up allowing a new path.

The opposing team stepped forward first, and then we followed.

Walking through the massive amusement park, the boy kept a couple of steps behind me.

8.2: The games.

At the end of the railed path, two motorcycle arcade games sat. They were regular, unlike the rest of the amusement park. Isolated from the rest of the astonishing engineering of this land, they sat at the back of a regular-looking wall. 

"So, this will be our first game," I murmured to myself.

A tiny speaker sat atop the middle part of the two machines.

"Please, pick the order you wish to play at, and start. Either start with your leaders, or your members." the monotonous voice ordered quickly.

As expected, to my side, the other leader approached me, his towering build overwhelming with malice, "Avery, how about we start? As the leaders, it's only understandable that we set the precedent." His eerie smile faced me.

"Sure, why not." I went along with his idea, "But I would like it so that the order changes, I do not wish to have us, leaders, always start the games."

His smile widening he said, "But, sure. We do not wish to monopolize all the fun, do we?"

I face away from him and look at my teammate. 'Man... Not again...' Just bad was he with amusement parks? Once again the man had a look of terror. Just what was so fearful of an arcade game? And a motorcycle one nonetheless?

I left him and went. Approaching the arcade machine, we both took our seats and played.

I lost.

There was nothing else to say, we played fairly and I lost. The game was of my and his avatars only, no NPCs existed, and I fairly with no foul play simply lost.

I raised his body and stretched his long arm towards me.

"Good game." His chilling smile once again took away all genuine feelings he might've had.

I shook it, "Sure."

After that, it was the member's turn. His duo immediately moved to his machine, while Yousef remained stuck in place.

"Ohh, would you look at that? Looks like your little friend needs help, Avery." The man said mocking me.

"Yeah, yeah." I sighed approaching him. I place my hands on his shoulders bringing him back to our world.

"It's your turn man, I lost. Give it your best." I said pushing him towards the machine.

"Hhuh? What? Oh, right, yeah. Okay." He stumbled over his words as he stepped onto the machine.

And, as expected. he lost too.

"Now would you look at that, it seems we are to be given the first point," Slenderman said as he gazed at his wristwatch.

"Sorry..." Yoused returned apologetic.

"Don't worry about it, not like we could've done anything. We lost like any person would." I said patting his shoulder, "Just don't do that thing again."

"I-I will try." He dropped his shoulders. Be a little confident, would you?

"Please, continue on the railed path." The speaker spoke hurrying us over.

As soon as the second round was done, the right side of the arcade machines, which was closed by handrails, opened up as they fell beneath the ground.

"Come on let's go," I said, immediately moving.

"Alright..." Yousef, still sounding apologetic, followed.

This time we were met with a zombie shooting arcade machine. Is this going to be the entire experiment?

A similar procedure followed.

"Now then, shall we go or would you like to switch it up?" The malice-filled man asked.

"Let's just go."

"Haha. As you wish."

I saw him break down again, this time much more shaken than before. But, it wasn't due to fear. His expression was one of shock. Something was coming together in his head, and he didn't like it.

Our round ended with my loss, again.

"It seems we will be having a repeat." The man said as we walked away from the machines.

I paid the Harrowing smile of my opponent no mind and approached my teammate, I didn't know what to say. But, I knew had to say something.

"Yousef, what is it?"I asked outright.

"I-it's nothing," he stumbled over his words once again, "R-really... it's nothing." He went quiet.

"Then, how about I give you a little tip?" I told the kid.

"Tip?"

"Yeah, do not hold down the trigger, it shoots faster if you repeatedly push it yourself."

"..." He said nothing as he looked at me, then moved past me with one last remark, "I know."

As his round played out, we were left astonished. Yousef completely overwhelmed his opponent.

"Hmmm. It seems no points are to be given this turn, how unamusing." Said the other leader, his smile turning into a frown.

As Yousef got back, he looked deep in thought.

"So, are you going to fill me in?" I asked Yousef. He had figured something out, something important. Otherwise, such an outcome wouldn't have come. If he had won he wouldn't have returned with such an expression. He would have smiled and jumped in joy, but instead, he was making sense of his situation. He knew something.

"Avery," He said, his gaze still down in deep thought, "What's your opinion on Deja vu?"

"Deja vu?" What had such a concept been brought up now for? "Well, it's interesting I guess?"

"Interesting..." He mused.

I tilted my head confused, and he had noticed.

"A-anyway," He said startled, "There was a trick to that game, two really. The first was to trigger repeatedly as you had recommended, and the other was to aim slightly below the top of the right edge of the screen. That's where enemies would mostly spawn with their heads exposed."

"I see," I couldn't help but widen my eyes in surprise, to think he was able to figure out the algorithm that quickly, "Well done!" I patted the boy's shoulders.

"Now, let's aim for a double win in the next game!" I declared to him.

"Yeah!" He replied.

Once again, hurried by the speaker we continued down the newly opened path.

The games passed.

We had won the next one, tied the one after it, tied once again, won, lost, lost, and finally tied.

The games were just as simple. All nothing but your average arcade games. Thankfully Yousef was able to catch up when I had won, and I was able to cover for his losses. He was never able to replicate what he had presented during the zombie arcade game. I wondered why.

The next game was nothing, what we had approached was not an arcade machine, but what looked like resting grounds. 

As we approached the locked door, the speaker above sounded.

"As time had gotten late, and our participants were hungry and tired. You are to rest within The Land of Joy's hotel. You are free to split the rooms as you please, meals are to be served in the hall soon." Followed the door unlocked.

Entering, we had been greeted with a scene right out of the medieval era. Chandeliers, gold furniture, massive hallways, and a spiraling stairway with a red carpet. They had definitely not pulled any punches. The Towering man moved up the stairs, and we followed. A long hallway stretched beyond us, with 3 rooms to each side, and one at the very end. According to the announcement we were able to pick any, and as such the tall man went for the one at the very end.

I guess will be following the rules of: First come, First served.

I took the one right to the staircase and left the two members to pick any of the other 5 rooms they wanted.

Throwing myself onto the comfy, bouncy, bed. I allow myself to rest.

8.3: A talk between pawns.

After our meals, Avery and the other leader both went to their rooms without any other word. I had wished to talk with Avery, as I had something to discuss... But, I wasn't very confident. I didn't want to waste his time on my random spews. After all, who would believe someone if they just told them "I can see the future."

I sigh as I rest in the hall. The other member stayed back as well, so it was the slightest bit uncomfortable. I would've walked away to get rid of that sense, but I felt like it would hurt him, so I just swallowed and fell into thought.

I stared at my wristwatch, "2, huh..." We had somehow won 2 games, while they had won 3. We were still at a disadvantage. Thankfully, we probably still have the entirety of tomorrow, so a chance for a comeback exists. Otherwise, if we don't end up winning... No... I do not want to imagine it. The whole reason I'm here is to protect him and provide for him, I can't allow him to be harmed. I will do my best!

"Hey," The other member approached me, "you think we could talk for a moment?"

Talk... huh. I couldn't see anything but drawbacks to such an action. If we were to develop any kind of acquaintanceship now, it would only hurt later. But, sure. Why not, I really wanted to kill time, after all, I wanted my mind to stop.

"Sure, I'm Yousef, 3rd year engineering student."

"Yeah, I've heard of you, you're kind of celebrity with how young you are."

"Ahhh... It's nothing big really." Didn't imagine I would be getting praised by my opponent...

"No, no. It really is. Someone like you is to not be compared to someone like me. Not only are you younger than me, but smarter as well!" He continued praising me. Was this his idea of manipulating? Or was he genuinely that nice... Anyway, I couldn't help but be flattered.

"I'm not that smart now, come on. Just look at how much you have been dominating the games." I said pointing out his superior score.

"Those games aren't of count, they are nothing but luck and whims... It's not like any of us were experienced or knew about them beforehand." The Other member said.

I was left in deep thought, he had failed to allow me to lose my thought.

"Oh right, my name's Kevin Gennadius. 2nd year Psychology student." He tried to continue our conversation.

"Nice to meet you, Kevin."

"Likewise."

Once again, silence came.

"Hey, can I tell you something?" Kevin asked. Tell? Not ask? 

"Sure, go ahead." I nodded intrigued.

"Well, it's just that. I'm really good at reading people you see. Whether it be their intentions, their roles, or their beliefs. Like, really, really good." He said, looking away at the well-lit hall. "Ever since I have been in elementary, I have been used by others. Whether it be for petty acts, errands, or as a convenient puppet."

He continued, and I listened intently to my colleague as he opened up to me.

"That eventually led people to take full advantage of me, getting either bullied or used by people I had even considered friends. But, a part of me didn't hate it... as I had turned it into a game with myself. The moment I met someone, I would try to understand them, try to understand just how they would see me, just how they would use me, just how they saw the world and their own actions. And let's just say after enough time, I had gotten extremely well at it."

I could tell, he wasn't telling me his story for pity or validation, he was trying to reach some point... just what was that point?

"That had greatly helped me in NUR. Though my role as a puppet, a pawn you might say, continued, I could still tell who was right to serve under, who was righteous with their actions, and who was confident. And throughout, I trusted all my hunches with absolute certainty." He then faced me, continuing "But, this game was an exception. All 3 of you, have been nothing but surprised. I can read all 3 of you, but yet I'm left with nothing but doubt."

By nothing but instinct, I couldn't help but ask, "And why is that?"

"Well, you see. You first, you're just like me" His eyes looked straight at me, our gazes meeting, "I could tell, the moment you both had walked in. You were nothing but a pawn. A stepping stone. You were Avery's very own puppet. And, that's why I was confused. As I said before, you are very well known: 'The genius 16-year-old who despite his age wanders NUR untouched.' Yet, there you were, nothing but a pushover for another's success, just like me. I couldn't help but doubt my intuition."

We continued to stare at each other, his words were no lies. He faced me straight as he spoke, not once did his gaze move. The man was speaking his truth, that was at the very least for certain.

"Then, there was, Tabula Voida, My team's leader. He too was an unusual case, that man was so filled with confidence, it was simply unbelievable. The moment He had stepped into the tent, much earlier than you both, and much earlier than the rules. No, much earlier than that. Even before our awakening in this 'Amusement park'. He had approached me on campus, declared his win, and left. Most might have seen it as nothing but provocation, but I could tell. He believed he would win, not a hint of doubt. The man was brimming with so much confidence you would've believed his win was foretold by a time traveler." He continued, his gaze turning to the ground away from me, "I couldn't help but question it, could such a person even exist? I would understand feeling confident, but triumphant? Neither the rules nor the game were even announced yet, but to himself, he had won."

Tabula Voida. What was the key to his confidence? I had met him before the game, he had approached me too. If he had made contact with both Kevin and myself, then it's safe to assume he had done so with Avery too. So, that would've meant he knew. He had already known the participants beforehand. 

"But, you two were nothing... The greatest mystery was him." Kevin brought his palm to his face, covering it as if denying his own words. "That man, Avery. Just what is he? From the moment he had stepped in until now. That man has been nothing but bored."

Bored?

"You can't believe it either, huh?" He said facing me, "Neither can I. As I said, you three have been nothing but mysteries. If I were to describe him... It's like he was watching a play, script in hand."

A moment of silence passed.  It was true that Avery was the one mostly causing our team to not fall off, but we were still losing, right? And, even then, it's not like he has been demonstrating anything of such importance. If anything he has been acting like any other person would, performing like any other person would. Was Kevin delusional?

"...I'm sorry, I went on a tangent there." Kevin apologized. "Of course, this is all my own thinking and beliefs. you can ignore them, I wouldn't blame you."

He stood up, "Anyway, we should probably go and rest, ourselves. It's gotten pretty late." He waved me a quick goodbye and went upstairs.

I sat mindlessly staring at my wrist for a moment.

"Puppet? A script in hand? ...As if." I said chuckling to myself, following suit.