Chapter Text
The amazing digital circus- Stinging Suspicion
Yet another day in the amazing digital circus, the weirdly murderous sun shone in the sky as the cast were meandering to the stage to begin the day, chatting about this and that. It had been a calm morning, or atleast, as calm as the amazing digital circus could be.
“And like, that's only the first season, Like, I need to show you this, it's SO good!!!” Gangle had finished explaining the plot of her favourite anime, so far getting as far as the first season, her ribbons flapping as she rambled.
“That sounds great actually, I'd love to watch it with you some time!” Pomni complimented.
“I know! I've, never gotten a chance to explain that far into it before!“ Gangle smiled, ribbons flapping happily
Zooble couldn't help but look around “Yeah, normally Jax stops you with one of his stupid pranks... It's been, really nice this morning... too nice...”
“Yeah that's really weird-” Pomni was cut off by a blood curdling scream coming from around where the stage stood
“Wowwww, sensory overload this early? must be my lucky day“ Zooble groaned, antenne twitching and eyes rolling in annoyance at the random screaming.
“Oh geez, is Jax trying that “fish exposure therapy” thing with Kinger again?“ Ragatha pinched the bridge of her nose, part of her dreading what she thought was happening down by the stage.
Pomni just looked at the others, not even sure if she wanted to know, but asking anyway “F-fish, fish exposure therapy???”
“Long story, let's just go get him before Kinger does something drastic, again.” Zooble leads the others as they go check on Kinger.
“HE'S DONE THIS BEFORE- oh who am i kidding this makes perfect sense for Jax. Wait up!“ The jester pinched the bridge of her non-existent nose.
The crew make a dash to the circus stage, greeted by Jax, laying on the floor, face first. not, moving in the slightest. The others quietly hoped he was dead.
“Huh, can't say I expected THAT.” Zooble crouched down by Jaxs body, tilting their head in curiosity, Like a kid finding a dead rabbit.
“do you think he... died? If that's, even possible...” Ragatha couldn't help but comment, as much as she didn't like Jax, she was a little concerned.
“I can only hope“ Gangle added as Zooble disconnected their arm and began poking Jax with it.
Jax only let out a loud groan, sadly the rabbit was alive. Jax turned over, the yellows of his eyes were bright red and glassy, he was foaming at the mouth like a rabid animal and he could barely move. His ears were pathetic and floppy, and it looked like he was hanging onto his life by a tiny, hair thin string.
“Oh #$%@, he's alive.... That sucks“ Zooble sighed, picking themselves up and reattaching her arm.
”Oh god what happened!?“ Ragatha stepped back, whatever happened she couldn't bear to get too close. She slipped her hand into Pomnis, squeezing it gently to calm her nerves.
Pomni looked over the body, puzzled and anxious ”I SWEAR if this is a THIRD zombie apocalypse-” Pomni was cut off by Caine, appearing out of nowhere
“What about another zombie apocolypse- OH GREAT GOOGILY MOOGLY! WHAT the heck happened to jax!?” Caine saw Jax's body and almost immediately recoiled further above the floor.
“No idea. we just heard screaming and found Jax like this.” Zooble shrugged, not really caring if Jax was in pain. Part of him hoping that was the case.
“Jeez... In all my years, I've never seen something like THIS happen... Is, he alright?” Caine poked Jax with the end of his cane, the rabbit groaned. “C'mon boy, speak.”
“rrurhghhm nonoidunwannany...” Jax just murmured some nonsense before hacking up a bit more foam from his mouth.
“Jeez, this is worse than I thought... I... Have to admit, I have no idea what to do here...” Caine sheepishly admitted he was WAY out of his digital depth here.
Pomni couldn't help herself, slowly and hesitantly approaching the body, seeing if she could figure anything out, before she could even get a good look, there was the THUNK of the door to Kingers fortress opening suddenly
“Oh! Morning guys! Am I late? Sorry, me and princess were talking and-” Kinger froze as soon as he saw Jaxs current state “JAX!?” He immediately fell to his chess piece knees, picking up Jaxs body, his worst fears as he saw what was jammed into the rabbits neck “Oh god...”
“What!? What is it??” Pomni squeezed herself to get a look, seeing some sort of, thorn, jammed into Jaxs neck. “What... what's that?“
”It's a stinger, Jax must of gotten stung by something...“ Kinger paused for a second, blinking a couple times audibly ”What were we talking about again?“ The other circus members sighed.
“Look down Kinger” Zooble brought Kingers eyes to Jax, still very much foaming at the mouth. Kinger screamed again.
“OH GOD JAX!” Kinger was still holding Jax as he lay there in assumed agony. “What happened!? I mean obviously you got stung but do you know what by???”
“mrmmm shutupcrybabewhocaresabouturdumbhorses.” Jax just yammered as he choked on the foam in his mouth. “Shutthe#$%@upabouthorsesifreakinhatehorses... stupidhoofed#%$@$%...”
silence rang out until Kinger spoke up again “what?”
“how #$%^ing dare you!?” Gangle was ready to kill someone. Zooble just put their claw on gangles, sort of shoulder. not wanting to risk Gangle possibly getting, SOMETHING from that mess.
”Wait, I think I recognize these symptoms...“ Kinger reached into his cloak, pulling out a book that had been chewed to shreds ”huh. What happened to this?“
”eh, it's okay, but I'm gonna stick to gangles fanfiction, 2 stars.“ Bubble commented, teeth full of paper
Pomni tilted her head ”t-two stars outta what?“
”Dont worry about it :3“ Bubble floated off to go eat gangles fanfiction probably. Pomni just, didn't bother questioning that.
“Well, that's unfortunate... What was I doing again- OH GOD JAX!” Kinger remembered what was happening again. Pomni sighed, grabbing a bucket out from under her hat and putting it over Kingers head
“Pomni, what the #$@% are you doing?” Zooble asked, mildly entertained by Pomnis' antics, if confused.
Pomni adjusted the bucket to keep it over his eyes “Kinger sorta, regains his sanity in the dark. so putting this here should help him focus long enough to, actually figure out what's happening and, hopefully do something.”
“Huh, neat.”
“Oh! who turned out the light?” Kinger looked around a bit, before he felt something in his mind whirr to life, like a machine that had long been abandoned turned on once again after years of silence. “Ooooh, right, Jax is dying.”
“wahoo.” Zooble said with mild amusement.
“Uh okay, lets see...” Kinger checks Jaxs vitals “yep, he's chock full-a venom alright”
Jax hacked up a chunk of foam like a cat with a hairball
“ew.” Zooble stepped back, shaking the foam off their foot
”Well, at least if he's dying he won't cause any problems? at least, more than usual” Gangle didn't mind Jax’s pain, reveling in the karma he was experiencing.
Pomni looked, a little concerned “Uhh, Guys I know we all hate Jax, but shouldn't we at least be a little concerned?”
“I know I am” Kinger said, standing back up “Because that means there's a Killer roaming free!”
”Oh god I was just being nice, I didnt even think about THAT!“ Pomni felt herself get nervous. Deep breaths, in and out, remain calm Pomni, Now isn't the time to panic.
Kinger pat Pomnis' head in an attempt to keep her calm ”Who knows if, whichever of my beloved insects who did this is planning to strike again! We're gonna need to figure out who did this, that way we can hopefully prevent another murder, worse case scenario we can make-up an antivenom.”
Pomni smiled “Oh, that's not too bad...”
”We might wanna make up some antivenom anyway, because there's a very above 0 chance Jax might abstract from the amount of Pain he's in. actually more of a, 87% chance he will, if not higher.“
Zooble shrugged ”is that really so bad?” Jax proceeded to hack foam all over “ya know what, nevermind, if it means he stops doing that, he can live or whatever.”
“Sounds like an adventure to me!” Caine spoke up, trying to make the best of the situation “Today's adventure is, um, uhh, “THE MYSTERIOUS SORTA DEATH OF JAX THE RABBIT!” yeah, yeah that's good, good job caine“ Caine pat himself on the back.
”Wow, that's a stupid name- oh yummers!“ Bubble proceeds to lick the foam off the ground ”I love ########“
”Bubble dont make me get the wand.“ Caine starred in disappointment.
”Which one?“
”.. you guys focus on the adventure, I'm getting the wand.“ Caine teleported off to get a comically large bubble wand. Bubble continued to lick up the foam like a freak.
Kinger nodded, mostly to himself ”Hm, I know exactly How We're gonna figure this out! Ragatha, Zooble, you two take Jax down to the medbay in my fortress, Gangle, I need you to play the emergency playlist we've prepared for something JUST like this, and Pomni. Pomni, I want you to help me solve this case!“ Lightning rolled as storm clouds formed and poured inside the circus tent.
”uh, What?“ Pomni blinked audibly.
“Okay that was a little early, but that's okay.” Kinger muttered mostly to himself. “Uh, let's just move inside the fort, don't wanna get soaked out here.”
“I uh, SURE.” Pomni went inside, better than getting soaked even if it didn't make sense, then again it was the circus, nothing made sense.
Kinger stood in an office, looking out a window, smoking a pipe with a stereotypical detectives hat on top of the bucket on his head
”the time? December 26th, Most recent major event? Ragatha and Pomnis first date. Days adventure, the mysterious sorta death of Jax the rabbit.“ Kinger took a drag of the pipe, bubbles floating out of it.
”Kinger what are you doi- ow” Pomni hit her face on a conspiracy board Kinger somehow had prepared already, a few pictures falling, the strings preventing them from falling completely. Kinger saw that and quickly put everything back in place on the board before turning to Pomni.
”Aha! Pomni! Just the jester I wanted to see!“
”H-how did you have that prepared so fast-“ Pomni let out a little ”oof“ as Kinger put a detective's hat over her usual jester hat.
”Now, Pomni, you've got smarts, skills, and a curiosity that's unmatched. I want YOU to be my deputy for this case!“
”Uhh, okay, s-sure, I can do that.“ Pomni shrugged, at least maybe she could have a question actually answered for once ”Where do we start, exactly?“
Kinger took another drag of his pipe dramatically. ”Well normally we start by examining the victims symptoms and cross examining those with my notes, but bubble ate those...“ Kinger held up the shredded notebook, it somehow had more bite marks than before.
“Please tell me you at least have some sorta plan B? Or backup notes? I'd say memorizing them, but I, don't think that would be possible... Just, do you have ANYTHING else?“
”Plan B is a full-scale investigation of every venom having insect in the entire kingdom!“ Kinger pointed dramatically, completely unearned confidence dripping in his voice.
”and... how many is that?“
”265.1. And I know JUST where to start. Follow me!” Kinger took Pomnis hand and began to lead her to his little bug kingdom. Pomni couldn't help but rub her temples.
“Oh Jesus christ this is gonna be a long day...”