Chapter Text
Disclaimer: The following report is sent to us from a person by the name of Tiger: Male, 25, Pisces, Blood Type: O. It contains information on activities of Tiger along with his childhood friend now called Pomni in The Amazing Digital Circus. This information is highly classified by the C & A Corporation.
The Cat and the Jester - My TADC Fanfic
Let me tell you a story about what happened to me and a close childhood friend of mine. I know pretty much all of you'd surely find this absolutely ridiculous, and hey, before all this, I'd seriously agree with you, but I just like you all to keep an open mind and just listen to this story that might also hopefully teach you to think twice about touching weird stuff in abandoned buildings.
First, let me set the stage: This story starts off in, weirdly enough, some outdated computer game set in a grassy landscape surrounding a large circus tent, and inside it, a most unusual show is about to begin.
Caine: Welcome to the Amazing Digital Circus! My name is Caine! I'm your ringmaster, and I'm here to show you the most jaw-dropping, heart-stopping, mind-bending paraphernalia you've ever laid your eyes upon! (takes off his hat) Isn't that right, Bubble?
Bubble: (emerges from Caine's hat) That's right, Caine! I can't wait to see what you've got cooking up for today.
Caine: Well, let's not waste any time. Let's get right into the show.
(The curtains pull back as a cartoony-sounding song starts to play.)
Gangle and Zooble and Kinger, too!
Ragatha, Jax, and there's Kaufmo*, woo-hoo!
*Disclaimer: Kaufmo the Clown did not show up today.
Day after day after (video loops) day after (loops again) day after day we fly
Past the moon and the sun and we don't know why
This is where we come in. Naturally, the two of us were quite surprised when we first popped up into the circus with all this random stuff flying through the air.
(Jester): W-w-where?
(Cat): What the?
Even more so when we got a good look at each other.
(Cat): Is that you?!
(Jester): What about you?!
(Cat): Huh? (I looked down and raised my arms to see orange fur with black stripes covering them, with black fingerless gloves on my new hands) What the what?!
As shocking as that was, I just couldn't keep myself from checking myself out.
As I looked at the rest of my body, I saw that I wasn't wearing a shirt or shoes but thankfully I was still wearing pants, except they were black with green stripes streaking all the way down the outer sides of the legs. They looked kind of cool actually.
In hindsight, I should've focused less on my new body and more on what my friend was doing. While I was distracted, she looked like she ran off towards what looked like some kind of door that disintegrated as soon as she got near it, then she got spooked by a flower pot that when it landed, it did some crazy glitching like any other background stuff in 90s videos games tend to do. Of course, this caused her to back away which led to her crashing into me, who in turn, bumped into what looks like a purple rabbit with sort-of pinkish-colored overalls, who then knocked into a giant chess piece with a lopsided left eye sporting a purple robe, who finally caused what seemed to be a bunch of red ribbons wearing a mask shaped into a person to fall over too, which then caused her mask to slide off and break in half revealing another mask underneath.
Needless to say, this caused the entire show to come to a screeching halt with everyone, including a living ragdoll with a button where her right eye should be and I don't know, some kind of mix-and-match figurine-type person, shifting their attention to the two of us as we backed away, confused and a little embarrassed.
So much for first impressions.
Jax: (annoyed) Caine, are these guys a couple of your NPCs or are they two new suckers? 'Cause if at least one of them's a new character, we're gonna have to redo this whole theme song.
Zooble: I'm not doing that again.
I'm guessing the rabbit was talking to the floating guy with the dentures for a head and the red tuxedo.
Caine: (shocked) My my, it appears two new humans have entered this realm!
(Cat): "Human?" I'm not really sure I qualify as that anymore. I mean, look at me. My arms, my legs, (spots his tail swaying about) my tail?
My friend, however, was focused on something else at the moment, mainly clawing at her face trying to find the headset she put on that brought her here. I, myself, took a calmer approach as I felt around for my headset but came up with zilch.
(Jester): (panicking) How do I... take this... headset off!?
Jax: Just keep grabbing at it. That worked for all of us.
Upon hearing that, I could already tell that he and I are not going to get along. I then shifted my attention back to… wait? Is she yanking her eye out of her socket?! Are you kidding me?! As her face snapped back into place, I started to assume that real-world physics don't entirely apply here.
(Cat): (ran up to the jester) Are you alright?
(Jester): Yeah, I'm fine, but… W-What's going on?
(Cat): All I know is we strapped on some weird headsets and now we're… here. Wherever "here" is.
Admittedly, we were both confused and a bit scared at this point. I decided it was time to assert myself and try to get to the bottom of this.
(Cat): Alright, people, I demand to have some answers! First off, who are you weirdos? Second, why can't we get these dang headsets off? And finally, where the heck are we anyway?!
Then, the ragdoll lady walks up to us as she tries to diffuse the situation.
Ragatha: Let's just try to calm down. Everything's gonna be ok, new stuff. We've all been through this. You just need to get your head to—
But before she could continue, she and I both got startled by my friend suddenly flipping out.
(Jester): WHAT THE (Boing!) IS GOING ON?!...what—
(Cat): (confused) Excuse me?
Caine: Now now now, my dear. We can't have any of that foul language around here. The Amazing Digital Circus is a place to be enjoyed by all ages. (points to the two of us) You, my friends, have stumbled into an incredible world of wonders, where anything can happen! E-except for swearing.
Now, I'm not really much into swearing myself, so I'm a bit okay with that. I mean, I tend to say some minor curse words here and there, but they're usually few and far-between. My friend, however…
(Jester): (Honk!) (Squeak!) (Boing!) (Bonk!) (Awooga!) (Boink!) (Shloompf!) (Pop!) (Splat!) (Boi-oi-oing!) (Boink!) Oh, my God.
Well, now that my friend established the fact that she has a mouth that would make even a sailor cringe, I awkwardly try to change the subject.
(Cat): Ooookay… Anyway, what if, say, someone wants to, you know… leave?
All I got for a response is Caine just floating there all slack-jawed, well, about as slack-jawed as someone with a set of joke teeth for a head can get anyway.
Ragatha: W-Well, don't freak out about it or anything, but uh, we.. don't exactly—
Jax: (interrupting) You can't.
(Cat and Jester): What?
Zooble: Shut up, Jax. But yeah, he's right. Welcome to your new home, and your new bodies.
(Jester): (worriedly) "N-n-new home"?
(Cat): "New bodies?" What's that supposed to mean?!
Ragatha: Guys, don't be mean.
Sadly, the lady's pleas fell on deaf ears as the snarky rabbit who we now know as "Jax" spoke up once again.
Jax: We've been stuck here for years! Old Kinger over there's supposedly been here the longest.
We then directed our eyes toward what looked like a pillow fort, and popping out of said fort was the chess piece from earlier.
Kinger: Huh, did somebody say something about an insect collection?
Well, that was random.
Jax: That's why he's craaazy. (chuckles while doing a cuckoo finger twirl) Eh.
With this revelation, my friend started to get hysterical again. I darted straight toward her and tried to calm her down, but all of a sudden, she just stopped.
(Cat): Uhh…
(Jester): Ohhhh, okay, now I get it! (laughs)
(Cat): Get what?
(Jester): This is a dream, and we should just play along until we wake up, right?
I could tell she's trying to make this all make sense to her and I'll try to support her on this, but part of me just knows this doesn't feel really dreamlike to me, and I see that the ragdoll lady and the walking hodgepodge feel the same way and of course Jax just adds his two cents on the matter.
Jax: Whatever you say, kid.
I then turned toward the sound of the walking ribbon crying.
Gangle: (sobbing) They broke my comedy mask…
I felt so ashamed, I couldn't help but head toward her and try to help.
(Cat): Oh, man. I am so sorry about that, Miss uhhh…
Gangle: (sniffing) Gangle.
(Cat): Gangle, Uh, Okay. (toward everybody else) Does anyone here have, like, some glue or a piece of tape or something to fix Gangle's mask over here?
But before anyone could answer, Jax just strolled by and cracked Gangle's mask even more without giving it a second thought. Man, I'm starting to wonder why nobody bothered to pummel him into a big bunny burger by now.
Jax: So, Caine…
(Cat): (angrily) DUDE!
But he just ignored me as he continued.
Jax: …We havin' a new adventure today for the newbies or what?
Caine: I'd like to give our brand-new members a tour of the circus grounds first.
Caine then swooped down like a vulture towards me and grabbed my left arm.
(Cat): But what about Gang–(Caine yanked me toward my friend before I could finish) Yah!
(Jester): Uh-
That was all she could say before Caine grabbed her right arm.
Caine: Off we go!
Caine then kind of zipped us to the outside of the tent, but get this, we were actually floating above the ground alongside him!
Caine: Here, we have The Tent! This is where your living quarters are, as well as other sorts of activities! These activities may include–
Yeah, that's right. He actually froze up. My friend and I just floated there uncomfortably watching Caine just zone out with his eyes all Blue-Screen-of-Death-like with his cane still twirling around in the background and also, is that an old dial-up modem I'm hearing? Anyway, I slowly and hesitantly reached out to poke him to see if he's, well, still alive. But, before I could do that…
Caine:-ball pits, mini golf, and more!
Apparently, he must've needed a reboot. After that, Caine zipped us further away from the tent where we found out this whole place is really an island. Besides the Tent, we could see stuff like trees, mountains, an amusement park and a lake with a big water slide in the middle of it. We then saw the sky split between day and night with the night side looking like it was drawn by a preschooler.
Caine: And here, we have The Grounds! Drown yourself in the digital lake or engage in ridery at the digital carnival! Night, day, it's all okay! The choice is yours, a cosmic buffet!
Great! All this and crazy rhyme time too, and look, the sun and moon even have faces on them.
(Jester): Uh, is... that all there is?
Caine: Of course not.
And here we go with another zip, this time to… wait, what the heck? There's, like, nothing here! Just a big white space with a lot of squares constantly changing sizes.
Caine: This is The Void! We... don't venture out into the Void. (floats closer to us while speaking in a soft spooky voice) Not even I know what's out there.
Dude, there's a little thing we like to call "personal space." Have you heard of it?
(Cat): (nervously) Uhhh….
(Jester): That's, uh–
But before my friend could say anything, Caine zipped us right back to the grounds.
Caine: We stay right here, where I can keep my (dramatic voice) HUNDREDS OF ALL-SEEING EYES ON YOU!
And just like that, he summoned a bunch of creepy eyeballs behind him. Well, nice to know "Big Brother" Caine will be watching us while we're here.
Moon: (soft voice) Hello, Caine. I love you.
Caine: (shocked) Aahhh! Let's get outta here before the Moon gets frisky!
Okay, I don't think I want to know what's going on with those two. Anyway, as Caine pushed us away, my friend nudged me to get my attention, then pointed towards an actual exit door on the grounds near the lake.
(Cat): Hold on, what the heck is–
But Caine zipped us back in the tent before I could finish. After we landed, I started to feel like that last zip was more than either of us could take.
(Cat): (groaning) Uhh.. Oh! Oh, God.
In an instant, my friend and I started to gush out an insane amount of inky-black vomit all over the floor. Clearly, a lot more than what a usual human pukes up, but hey, cartoon physics. After we finally emptied out, thank God, I fell right down to my knees gasping for breath while my friend just stood there in total dizziness. All while the ragdoll lady and Franken-Toy stood there disgusted. Jax, of course, was just standing there actually enjoying this. Seriously, what is wrong with that guy?!
Caine: Woah, clean up on Aisle You Two!
Just then, a giant bubble with black dots for eyes and razor-sharp teeth popped out of Caine's hat.
Bubble: I'm on it, boss!
Wait, what's that bubble going to…oh, Aw, come on! Seriously?! Is he actually cleaning that stuff up with his tongue?! Ugh! I swear I'd hurl some more if I wasn't already completely tapped out, and I'm pretty sure Caine's on the same page about that.
Caine: (disgusted) Why are you like this?
As that bubble continued… Ugh, that, my friend finally came back to her senses as I managed to get back on my feet.
(Jester): (groans) Wait, wait! W-was that an exit door I saw out there? Is that a way to leave?
Jax: What exit?
After asking that, Jax then, again without any regard for anyone else here in this circus, yanked out the jumbled-up toy's arm and just used it like a backscratcher.
Jax: If there was a way to leave, I'm pretty sure we'd have all left by now.
Zooble: Yeah, what are you talking about?
Well, I guess the mash-up person can still control their limbs even if they're detached, because as they were talking, I saw their arm suddenly move and immediately wring Jax's neck as he collapsed onto the floor. Huh, I think I'm starting to like them already.
(Cat): No, wait! She's right! I saw it too right before Caine whooshed us back here.
We then see Caine still watching that bubble finish "cleaning up" as our talking about that exit door snapped him out of it.
Caine: Uh-uh-I- (clears throat) I assure you there is no "magical exit door." You're both probably just experiencing DIGITAL HALLUCINATIONS! From your minds' transition to the digital plane.
(Jester): But, I-I swear we saw-
Caine: (frantically) Digital hallucinations!
(Cat): Okay, okay! Jeez!
Wow! If that didn't sound like someone hiding something, I don't know what does. After regaining his composure, Caine immediately tried to change the subject.
Caine: How about we talk about something else? Like your names!
(Jester): My name? My name is uhh... AAHH! OH, GOD! WHY CAN'T I REMEMBER MY NAME?!
(Cat): (shocked) What do you mean you can't remember your name?!
(Jester): I'm saying that I've completely forgotten my name!
(Cat): But that can't be! I know for a fact that your name is… uhhh, well, uhh… hold on a minute. (snapping my fingers) I just need to… ahhh! Come on, already!
(Jester): You see?!
(Cat): Alright! Alright! Well, can you remember my name then?!
(Jester): (concentrating) Okay. Uhh… Uh, No. No, that's not it. Uhh.. No! NO! I CAN'T REMEMBER YOUR NAME EITHER!
(Cat): What?! Okay, it's… uhh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!
I even went as much as banging my head on some nearby object, but no dice.
(Cat): (furiously) Okay, you floating pile of pearly-whites! What did you do?! Why can't we remember either of our names?! Huh?!
Caine: Nobody can remember their name once they enter the Digital Circus. One of the few things I don't have control over are your minds. So all I can help you with is coming up with a new one.
Really? First, a new body and now, a new name?! What kind of crazy place is this? Okay, okay, I just need to calm down. I got to remember I can't just go flying off the handle, especially with my friend in the state she's in now.
(Jester): (groaning) What's my name...?
Caine: (patting my friend's head) Don't you two worry your little heads. Your new names can be anything! (started to speak very quickly, as if it were a commercial warning) Hereby acknowledging that your chosen name and/or names may not breach the Digital Circus user license agreement stating that your name may not include objectionable contact. Objectionable contact includes but is not limited to sexually explicit materials, obscene, defamatory, libelous, slanderous, violent, and/or unlawful content or profanity. (back to normal speed) What are ya thinkin'?
(Cat): Okay. (I examine my body once again) Hmm. (muttering) Well, I know I'm some kind of cat, but which one? My fur's orange and I can see some black stripes there too, so maybe I'm like a tiger?
Caine: "Tiger" it is!
Tiger: (just realized my mistake and started stammering) Whoa, what? No, wait!
But it was too late. Caine just zoomed straight toward my friend to assign her new name without giving me a second thought. So my name's going to be "Tiger" from now on. Maybe it won't be so bad.
Caine: (pointed his cane toward my friend) And how about you?
(Jester): Huh? I don't care, just pick anything.
Caine: Let's see!
Suddenly, a crazy-huge slot machine just crashed down in front of us and started spinning. After a few seconds, the five slots stopped at five random letters that combine into just total gobbeldygook.
Caine: What do you think of "XDDCC"? (pronounced "zzz-duh-duh-cuh-cuh")
(Jester): I don't-
Tiger: Absolutely not!
Caine: You're right, terrible. Let's try that again.
Caine cranked the lever and the slots started spinning again. After a few more seconds, they all stopped at letters that form a word that's thankfully easier to pronounce.
Caine: What do you think of "POMNI"?
Tiger: Sounds okay to me. How about you?
Pomni: Huh? Uhh, s-sure. I think I just-
Unfortunately, Caine's not done with us just yet.
Caine: Gadzooks, you're right, Jax! We should have a brand new adventure for our new members, Tiger and Pomni!
Jax: (distant) I said that, like, 5 minutes ago.
How could he tell, I have yet to find anything that tells time here. But I digress.
Caine: You! (pointing his stick to the two of us) Do you like adventure? Activity? (keeps talking faster) Wonder? Danger? Horror? Pain? Suffering? Agony? Death? Disease? Death? (back to talking at normal speed while also conjuring up a cake in his hand) Angel food cake?
Before either of us could answer, that gross bubble popped up and ate the whole cake right out of Caine's hand.
Caine: YOU PARASITE!
Caine immediately popped that bubble right in front of our eyes. It's a shame he didn't do it before it chomped up that cake. I was really hoping for a piece. But again, I digress.
Pomni: Uh- I don't really-
Caine: Since you two are new around here, we're gonna make it a simple, in-house, adventure to warm you up to how things work around here.
Zooble: Wha– No! God! I don't want an in-house adventure!
Caine: Don't worry, Zooble. (pats Zooble on the back) I'll make it something unobtrusive that you can still choose to not get involved with.
Caine then zoomed toward the front of the stage.
Caine: Today's adventure is... Gather the Gloinks!
Caine then started laughing maniacally until it was suddenly cut off as he flew toward that bubble that somehow reformed.
Caine: That's right! The entire circus tent will be infested with gloinks, and you gotta catch 'em all!
Bubble: But what are they?
Caine: I'm glad You asked, Bubble, they're small-
Bubble: And what do they do?
Caine: They-
Bubble: And how do they-
But Caine thankfully popped Bubble again so he could stop interrupting.
Caine: Gloinks are small mischievous critters that steal anything and everything they run into.
We then see that these "gloinks" are actually moving geometric shapes with weird googly eyes doing exactly what Caine said: stealing every kind of object that isn't nailed down. I'm guessing they're kind of like the rats of the digital world.
Caine: Why do these humanoid hash-browns do this? How do you stop them? That's for you to find out. Now, good luck, and have fun, my little superstars!
And with that, Caine suddenly poofed right out of the circus, leaving the seven of us to try and deal with these basic NPC pests. But, I could tell Pomni's still a bit on edge with being isekai'd into this glorified insane asylum.
Pomni: (left eye twitches) What did any of that mean?
Ragatha: Oh, that's just one of Caine's little adventures.
Tiger: Oh, uh, sorry, what's your name?
Ragatha: It's Ragatha.
Tiger: Ragatha, Oh, right, cause you're a… (chuckles)
Ragatha: (giggles) Yep, that's me
Tiger: Yeah. Anyway, no offense, but I just see this as less adventure and more uhh… pest control.
Ragatha: No, it's alright. I get it, but still, it's something fun to do to, you know, prevent us from going insane. (nervous chuckle)
Zooble: (sighs) Speak for yourself. If anyone needs me, then (Sproing!) off.
As Zooble demonstrated, apparently even flipping the bird is censored here. But though Zooble wants to stay out of this "adventure," the googly-eyed cyber vermin had other ideas. In an instant, Zooble was completely surrounded.
Zooble: Oh God, oh jeez, NO!
The gloinks quickly tore Zooble apart and took the pieces to who-knows-where.
Zooble: Oh, God! Agh! Somebody help!
Jax: (deadpan) Oh no, they killed Zooble.
Tiger: (growls) Seriously? You're all just going to stand here while your friend gets hauled off by cookie-cutter packrats?
Jax: (scoffs) Anyway, you guys wanna go get something to eat?
As I started fuming, I noticed my right ear started twitching. Before I could try something like rally the troops…
Ragatha: Oh, wait – we should go check on Kaufmo. I'm pretty sure he'd like to meet Pomni and Tiger.
And while Ragatha made her suggestion, another swarm of gloinks made off with Kinger's pillow fort.
Kinger: (shrieking) My impenetrable fortress!
Okay, I hardly call a bunch of pillows "impenetrable."
Ragatha: You wanna come with us to check on Kaufmo?
Kinger: No, not really. (he then stood up and walked, or more accurately, slid toward us) I think Kaufmo's gone insane.
Tiger: Huh? Why would you say that?
Kinger: Well, last time I spoke with him, he was rambling endlessly about some exit. (he started to lean towards me and Pomni) Kind of like you two. You both might be going insane, too.
Tiger: Uh, I wouldn't call it "rambling."
Pomni: But, wait – wouldn't that more likely mean the exit does exist?
Jax: Could also mean that you just have a jumpstart on losing your mind.
Gangle: (distant) Wait, what about Zooble?
Tiger: Well, I think Pomni and I'd like to ask him about it.
Pomni: U-Uh, if this was real. Which it isn't, because it's a dream.
Jax: (staring ahead of himself) Heh, she still thinks this is a dream.
Wait a second. Is Jax actually trying to break the fourth wall?
Ragatha: (realizes Jax is looking in her position) U-Uh, why are you looking at me like that?
Jax: I'm fine with doing whatever, as long as I get to see funny things happen to people.
And right after Jax said that, a gloink came by, as if guided by karma, jumped up and whacked him in the face.
Tiger: Heh! Yeah, I see what you mean.
Jax: (annoyed) Okay, I've already had enough of these things. (sighs, then points to Ragatha) You, (points to himself) me, (points to me and Pomni) and the noobs will go check on Kaufmo, (turns and points to Gangle, then Kinger) which leaves Crybaby and Hoo-ha together to go handle the Zooble situation.
Ragatha: (laughs nervously) Do you think pairing them up together is a good idea?
Jax: Of course I do. They're the two most mentally stable and capable characters to be paired together.
Yeah, I could tell that's a lie, as I could see Kinger starting to shake violently like he's about to do the biggest eruption since Mt. Vesuvius.
Jax: Come on, ladies... and Tiger. Let's go harass the clown.
Sadly, I knew I'd been outvoted on this, so I just heaved a big sigh and followed along to see this Kaufmo guy with my right ear twitching the entire time.
Ragatha and Jax then led Pomni and me to a hallway with a bunch of super-weird 3D pictures adorning the walls as well as two separate rows of doors. Each door in turn comes with its own unique 2D picture, but what really has me curious is that some of these portraits seem to be marked with a red X.
Ragatha: So, this is where we all live – or, well, where we all sleep at night. Even though we don't really need to sleep, it's sometimes nice to kind of take a break from everything and have a bit of routine, you know? I'm sure there will be one for...
We then stopped and right across the hall from the door that has Ragatha's picture on it is another door with, I'm guessing, my picture. Do I really look like that? It just looks like I'm seriously giving off some major "Grumpy Cat" vibes.
Ragatha: Oh, look, Tiger, – you already got one. Oh, and Pomni, there's yours right next door.
Sure enough, right next to my door is a similar one but with Pomni's picture, which clearly shows sporting a really sad expression, and, of course, I see Pomni staring at it with the same look on her face. Quite accurate, I might add.
Tiger: So, these are our rooms, huh?
Ragatha: Yep, you got it.
Jax: Oh, yeah. I bet yours even comes with a giant yarn ball or maybe even your own litter box. Huh? What do you think?
Tiger: (laughing sarcastically) Hilarious. Why don't you just go choke on a carrot or something?
Jax: Oh, I see. Just because I'm a rabbit, that makes me a carrot addict, is that right?
Ragatha: Guys?
Tiger: Yeah, well, if you think I'm just going to spend most of my time getting stoned on catnip, you are sadly mistaken, pal!
Ragatha: Guys.
Jax: Ooh! Well, at least I don't need to worry about hacking up gross hairballs every 5 minutes!
Ragatha: GUYS!
I guess Ragatha's usually the referee in arguments like this, as Jax and I immediately laid down our arms after her outburst.
Ragatha: Tiger, I get it. Jax can be, well, a lot most of the time, but you really shouldn't let him get to you so easily, you know? I mean, the seven of us are basically all we've got here in the circus, so we all should at least try to get along even if some of us don't always make it easy.
Tiger: (sighs) I know. Sorry about that, Ragatha.
Ragatha: That's okay, but I'm not the one you should apologize to.
Tiger: You're right. I'm sorry, Pomni.
Ragatha: (coughs then gives me a stern look) Tiger.
Tiger: Alright, alright. I'm… I'm sorry, "Jerks."
Jax: (grumbles) Whatever.
Ragatha: It's Jax, but I'll let that slide.
After we cooled off, we continued on to find Kaufmo's room.
Pomni: I... still don't understand. About the adventures? Why even go on them at all? W-w-why not try to find a way to leave?
Ragatha: Well, we usually do, when we first arrive. But after a while, you start to realize that you really can't leave and constantly chasing an unattainable goal will start driving you a bit crazy.
Speaking of crazy, I started to notice Ragatha starting to sound like she's getting closer to losing it herself with each second she spends on her explanation.
Tiger: Uhh… Ragatha?
Oh, boy. Now I'm trying to get Ragatha's attention. I didn't think we'd do role reversal this early. But, unfortunately, that didn't phase her.
Ragatha: (ranting) And eventually, you get to asking what the point of anything is and you completely lose sight of who you are and why you're even alive.
Tiger: (concerned) Ragatha.
Ragatha: (about to freak out) And when you reach your breaking point, something really terrible can happen.
Tiger: RAGATHA!
Whew! Well, third time's the charm. Thank God I finally managed to snap her out of it. After that, it seemed to take one look at my worried face to get Ragatha to pull herself together, and right at the moment we finally reached Kaufmo's room. From the look of the picture, it seems Kaufmo kind of looks like Pagliacci, except he's smiling and he doesn't have that red nose most clowns seem to have.
Ragatha: Ah, but that's not something we need to deal with today. Above anything else, the adventures give us something to do that keeps our minds healthy and stimulated.
I then hear the familiar sound of a doorbell as Ragatha pushes a button next to Kaufmo's door. I'm guessing they're standard-issue around here?
Jax: Thank goodness this is all a dream, right, Pomni?
I just scowled at that remark, but then was shocked to see Pomni all zoned out and staring into the abyss. It seems Ragatha's ranting must've hit her worse than I thought.
Tiger: Pomni? Hello? Are you there? (placed his paws on Pomni's shoulders and started lightly jostling her) Come on, Pomni. Don't give up on me!
Miraculously, that finally woke her up.
Pomni: (gasp)
Tiger: (sighs in relief) Oh, thank God! Are you okay, Pomni?
Pomni: Why are we here again? What are we doing?
Ragatha: We're getting one of our friends.
Ragatha then rings the doorbell again, but still nothing.
Ragatha: Huh, maybe he's not in his room? I hope he's alright.
Jax: Don't worry, Dollface, I've got a key to his room.
I don't know how, but Jax somehow conjured up a key and started toward Kaufmo's door.
Ragatha: (stammering in an upset tone) Wha– Wait, wh– why?! You– You– You shouldn't have keys to anyone's room.
Jax: Nah, I've got keys everywhere, and you've all been fine. By the way, I may have left something in your room today, so let me know if you find it. Uh, you're not afraid of centipedes, are ya?
Tiger: (groans in disgust)
Ragatha: (shouting in a panic-induced rage) JAX! That's literally my only fear! Why would you do this?!
Jax: Whaaaat? It could be a completely unrelated question. You'll never know until it's too late.
Well, I can't really argue with results seeing as Jax actually managed to get the door open.
Tiger: Seriously, is he always like this?
But before Ragatha could get a chance to answer that, the door opens to reveal to our collective shock a room with eerie-looking portraits, countless scribbles of the word "EXIT" all over the walls as well as what looks like a drawing of a nasty-looking Caine with sharp fangs chasing Kaufmo with the words "NO WAY OUT" on the side in blood-red paint.
But that's not the worst of it, right in the middle of the room arose some kind of sick glitchy jagged-looking creature with eyes flashing in many different colors all over its body. That is clearly not like any clown I've ever seen, not even that one who creeps around in sewers occasionally saying that "they all float down there." No, to me, this freaky blob seems less Stephen King and more H.P. Lovecraft.
Jax: (grabs what looks like a bowling ball) Oh, I've been looking for this. Thanks for keeping an eye on it, Kaufy. I'm gonna head out, see ya.
And just like that, Jax just bolted out of here leaving the rest of us at the mercy of whatever the heck this is.
Tiger: Jax, where the (Honk!) do you think you're going?! Get back here and help us deal with this!
Oh, man! I can't believe I actually said that word.
Ragatha: (nervously) Oh, Kaufmo's.. been abstracted! That- That's okay.
Tiger: Abstracted?! What the heck is that supposed to mean?!
Pomni: What… is that?
(Kaufmo growling)
Ragatha: Uh… it might be that terrible thing I was talking about earlier, when you reach your breaking point.
Tiger: Explain later. Maybe we could lock him back in again.
Unfortunately, Kaufmo renders that idea moot as he pops what might be his head out the doorway effectively keeping us from getting to the door.
Ragatha: O-okay, wait! M-maybe there's still time to fix him if we get Caine!
Kaufmo then bursts out of his room completely and closes in on Ragatha like a spider to a fly, while I see Pomni get back on her feet and run for her life.
Tiger: Pomni, wait! What about Ragatha?!
I then started to chase after Pomni as Ragatha tries in vain to soothe the proverbial savage beast.
Ragatha: Oh, whoa! Kaufmo, listen! I know we didn't always get along, like when you called me out for fake laughing at your jokes. I swear, I really did think they were funny. I was just having a bit of a bad day!
But it seems Kaufmo wasn't really in a listening mood as he grabbed Ragatha and started slamming her against the walls, ceiling, and floor. After he finished tossing Ragatha around like… well, a ragdoll, Pomni and I both saw that the smackdown Kaufmo put down upon Ragatha was causing her to start to glitch out as well.
Tiger: Ragatha!
Ragatha: (glitchy) H-H-Hey, g-g-guy-uy-uys? Do you-ou-ou think y-you cou-ou-ould perha-aps he-help me out here-re? I u-u-understand if you-you-you don't want to, th-tho-o-ough.
Pomni then reached out her hand to Ragatha, but the second she touched her…
Pomni: Ow!
…it resulted in a painful shock that caused her hand to glitch out as well. We then saw that Kaufmo was eyeing us as his next victims. I could somehow tell neither of us could outrun something like that. But then, I suddenly realized there was something I could try that could save us both.
Tiger: Pomni, I might have a way to get us out of this but for it to work, I'm going to need you to climb on my back.
Pomni: (confused) What?! Tiger, how would…
Tiger: Pomni, please! Just hop on my back and hold on tight. I'm sure this could work but I really need you to trust me right now.
Upon hearing that, Pomni took a good look at me then at Kaufmo, inching ever closer towards us.
Tiger: Do you trust me, Pomni?
Pomni thought about it a bit, but then nodded to me and held out her non-glitched hand. I quickly grabbed hold of it and helped her up on my back. She quickly apologized to Ragatha, then held on to me for dear life as I leapt out and started to run on all fours.
Turns out it actually worked as I reached deep into my new feline form and found out I could run with about as much speed as a cheetah, not to mention the enhanced agility as I effortlessly avoided all of Kaufmo's attacks as he tried to close in on us. As I carried Pomni to the end of the hallway, I managed to bounce off the railing and hid us right next to the entrance. Fortunately for us, Kaufmo can't seem to stop on a dime as he crashed straight through the railing and landed on the floor below. I then allowed Pomni to climb down off my back as we peeked over the railing to see Kaufmo still alive after that high a fall and started chasing after a gloink and completely forgetting about us for now. Pomni and I both decided it was a good time to catch our breath.
Tiger: (loud sigh) Whoo! Man! That was nuts! (started to laugh)
Pomni: (joins in on the laughter) Oh, yeah! How did you know you could do that?
Tiger: I don't know. I remembered I had this new cat body, so I figured if the outside of me changed, maybe the inside did too.
Pomni: So, you're saying you weren't really sure you could run that fast.
Tiger: Well, I was planning to test that out later but of course, none of us knew we had to deal with Kauf-zilla back there.
Of course, we went back to laughing over the fact that we succeeded in evading Kaufmo simply through a combination of faith and dumb luck. After we calmed ourselves down, we then decided on what we should do next.
Tiger: Okay, we've got a former clown turned abstracted nutjob, a glitchy friend in need of help, a circus full of gloinks and absolutely no idea how to call on Ol' Chopper-face. Am I missing something here?
Pomni: No, I think that's pretty much it.
We then put our heads together to strategize. A few minutes later…
Tiger: Alright, how about this? You go back to try to help Ragatha as best as you can. Meanwhile, I'll go ahead and try to find the others and inform them about our current situation. Maybe they'll be able to help us out.
Pomni: (skeptically) Uhh… yeah, sure, that'll work.
I then leapt off the railing onto the various structures below using a bit of cat-style parkour and probably scared Pomni a bit. After I left, she then started to run away from the hallway, but stopped and looked at her glitched-up hand which probably stirred up a bit of guilt as she decided to go back and help Ragatha after all.
I felt like I must've ran and jumped around the entire tent looking for the other members. I only stopped when I found a mirror located at some random location. I couldn't resist looking through it and seeing my new self staring back at me. I noticed I now have green cat eyes with blue irises in the middle of them and on my forehead, there looks like some hair sticking out kind of like that of a character in an anime. Suddenly, I spotted something behind me in the reflection. I turned around to find that same exit door that Pomni and I spotted near the lake during Caine's tour. I began to walk slowly towards it as if it was calling out to me. I could feel the temptation to go through it and hopefully back in the real world again rising up within me as I moved my hand toward the knob, but then I stopped as I suddenly remembered about Pomni and Ragatha and that they needed help right now. I knew I might not get another chance like this, but I also knew that I shouldn't just abandon anyone when they need me the most. Finally, I decided to continue my search for the others hoping that door would still be there when Pomni and I come back.
Elsewhere, Gangle and Kinger were at the edge of a big hole where they could hear the sound of Zooble's screaming from deep down.
Kinger: I don't know what I'm looking at here.
Gangle: We saw a gloink carry one of Zooble's pieces down there, remember?
Kinger: Oh, yeah. Thank you for the recap. Boy, we're not very good at this, are we?
Suddenly, Jax came by stopping to catch his breath.
Jax: Ugh.. sup, fellas?
Kinger: (shrieking) JAX! (normal volume) We found the Zooble hole.
Jax: Cool. (groans)
Finally, I found Kinger and Gangle, and ugh… Jax near that big hole.
Tiger: (running on all fours towards Gangle, Jax and Kinger) Hey, guys!
Gangle: Tiger?
Tiger: (stood upright) Guys, I need to talk to you about Kaufmo.
Gangle: How is Kaufmo doing? I hope he's not still mad at me for not laughing at his jokes.
Jax: (lying through his teeth) Oh, he's doing greeeat.
Tiger: What?! Are you kidding me?! No, he's no—
But before I could inform Gangle and Kinger of what really happened, Jax shoved that bowling ball he snatched right into my mouth to try to shut me up. I'm a bit surprised that this thing could actually fit in my mouth, but again, cartoon physics.
Jax: In fact, I don't think I've ever seen him this happy before.
Kinger: Well, it's good to know he hasn't completely lost his mind.
But Jax and I both know that's not true as we then heard Kaufmo growl in the distance. We then looked at each other, well, I was actually doing an angry glare at him while doing my own growl, complete with more right-ear twitching. Of course, Jax just yanked the ball out of my mouth with complete indifference.
Jax: (holding up the bowling ball) He actually asked me to give you this.
Tiger: Hey, wait, Jax! No!
But, too late as Jax chucked the bowling ball at Kinger, knocking him down the hole while grabbing onto one of Gangle's ribbon legs, dragging her along with her. I quickly rushed toward her and grabbed one of her ribbon hands to try and pull her back up, but the fact that Kinger and the bowling ball were weighing her down made it a bit more difficult. It didn't really matter though as Jax, as jerky as ever, just kicks me down into the hole with himself jumping right in after.
We then found ourselves going down some crazy twisty-turny slide with me, Gangle and Kinger all wrapped up in a giant ball with Jax just sliding behind us.
At the end of the slide underneath the circus, there was a cavern chock-full of gloinks. Some of which were actually shaped like bowling pins which seemed a bit appropriate as the three of us just crashed through the whole group, leaving only one of them still standing. A mistake Jax immediately corrects. This then results in a large sign reading "SPARE" popping up out of nowhere which Jax just breaks in half. Why he decided to do that, I have no idea.
Finally, the three of us stopped and got ourselves untangled and landed face-down on the ground. We then looked up to see what looks like a large, red slug-like creature with yellow spots and a whole mess of googly-eyes on both halves of its body. We then see it chow down on a table that some gloinks gave it while the other half belches out more gloinks.
Kinger: (gasps) An insect collection?
Tiger: What is it with you and bugs, man?
Gangle: I think it's a nest.
Kinger just took a look at Gangle and unexpectedly let out a huge shriek right in my ear, unfortunately. Heck of a time to discover that I also have cat-like hearing.
Before we continue, I'd like to inform you that some of the following segments of this story were based on separate reports given to me by Pomni, Ragatha, and even Caine so I could provide you with the information of what they have done on their separate ventures. Also, I didn't want this report to be only what I did here in the Digital Circus, as I thought it wouldn't be fair to the others. (sighs) And yes, that includes Jax, but don't tell him I said that.
After we split up, Pomni went straight back to search for Ragatha in the hallway which Kaufmo tore up in a rather different take on the old "Bull/China Shop" scenario.
Pomni: Hello? R-R-Ragatha? That was your name, right?
Ragatha: (glitchy) O-o-over-r-r he-er-er-re. (groans)
Pomni then sees Ragatha sitting against a wall and rushes towards her.
Pomni: H-hey, look, I'm...I didn't mean to leave you behind like that. I– (sighs) Just...look at my hand. I– (whimpers) I didn't know what to do.
Ragatha: (glitchy) It—it's okay-y-y. W-w-what you-you need to d-do ri-ight now-ow is find C-cain-n-ne. He'll be able to f-fix me up and t-t-take care of K-kaufmo-o-o-o.
Pomni: O-okay, but where can I find him?
Ragatha: (glitchy) Uh-uh-uh, I d-d-don't r-really know-ow-ow. J-j-ju-u-ust look arou-ound and call for him, I suppo-o-ose.
Pomni: Uh, okay, I'll get him. You just stay right there. Not that you can really move or anything. Uh, Just hang in there. I'll be right back, I promise. (starts to run off but soon pauses when Ragatha starts to say something and looks over)
Ragatha: (glitchy) W-wai-it! What a-abou-out Tig-g-ger-er-er?
Pomni: Oh, well, uh, he told me was going to find the others so they could help us out with all this.
Ragatha: (glitchy) Coo-oo-oo-ool. A-a-also, Po-omni-i-i? I-i-i'm s-sorry y-your first day-y-y he-e-ere had to-o b-be so-o-o t-t-terrible.
Pomni: Uhhhh, yeah, well, don't worry about it. I'm just gonna go get Caine now.
And so, Pomni set off to search for the enameled ringmaster.
Pomni: (shouting) Hello? Caine? We have a bit of an issue here!
But she doesn't hear a thing. Pomni then decides to search the rest of the tent for Caine, but all she found were doors that led to what looks like the bottom of an ocean (I still have no idea how all that water didn't just blast out when she opened it,) a strange tower of carousels stacked on top of each other whirling in the abyss, a bathroom with a mannequin in the bathtub which seemed to launched a screaming red demon face at Pomni. Thankfully, she slammed the door before it had a chance to do any damage, and finally some spring-loaded boxing gloves.
After a while, Pomni heard the sound of shattering glass.
Pomni: (from behind a wall) Caine?
Unfortunately, it wasn't Caine she found, but the staticky multi-eyed monster formerly known as Kaufmo, who, even less fortunately, spotted Pomni and, simply put, the chase was on once again.
Meanwhile, the rest of us weren't exactly doing any better as that giant slug thing finally spotted us, and let's just say she doesn't take kindly to uninvited guests.
Gloink Queen: (growls) What form of non-gloinkinian mass dares presume presence in the nest of the Gloink Queen?
That thing's a queen? Well, I guess that explains why Kinger and Gangle were kneeling in front of her.
Jax: Oh, is that who you are? You know, you could have asked for my consent before forcing me to see something so completely and utterly disgusting.
Tiger: (groans) Dang it, Jax! Are you trying to get us all killed?!
Gloink Queen: (snarling) How despicable, a rabbitoid that runs its mouth in the presence of my royal figure.
Kinger: Well, as a royal myself, I would like to kindly ask if-
But Kinger's attempt at negotiation was cut short when he spotted Zooble's head being carried by a bunch of gloinks.
Kinger: Oh, look there's Zooble! (waving) Hi, Zooble!
Zooble: (in an unpleasant, serious tone) Agh! Help me, you idiots!
Jax: Kinda rude, Zooble. Now I don't wanna help you.
I just growled as I began to work out my attempt at rescuing Zooble while Kinger and Gangle just played Rock-Paper-Scissors for who gets the job. Although, it's not exactly the best game to play for, say, someone with ribbons for hands.
Gangle: Oh, I always lose.
Kinger: Yes!
Kinger then slid up to the gloinks and grabbed Zooble's head.
Kinger: Gotcha!
But this seems to prove that there is a disadvantage with having disembodied limbs as Kinger noticed that Zooble's head was still being carried away but now with Kinger's hand along for the ride.
Kinger: (befuddled) Oh.
We then see the gloinks stack on top of each other with Zooble's head on top as they realized they were next on the menu.
Zooble: Hey! Kinger, you motherf–
But, before Zooble could finish, Her Royal Sliminess wrapped her tongue around their head like it was a lollipop and just slurped them up whole.
Well, I wasn't going to take that lying down, so I darted towards Her so-called Majesty and delivered a flying kick straight to her throat with enough force to cause her to spit Zooble's head out towards the ceiling. I then climbed up the big leech's head and used it as a diving board to jump up and catch Zooble's head in midair and land gracefully on my feet. I am seriously starting to like being a cat right now.
Gloink Queen: (coughs then growls furiously) How dare you?!
Tiger: Oh, I dare alright! I dare to put my (Buzz!) on the line to try and save the people I care about from cruel, coldhearted, soulless monsters like you!
Zooble: (awestruck) Whoa!
After that, I gotta say, heroic act, I walked up to Kinger.
Tiger: Here! (handed back Zooble's head as well as his, well, hands) And try to keep a tighter grip this time, okay?
Kinger: (relieved) Oh, thank God you're okay! You didn't experience a game show in there, did you?
Zooble: (confused) Uh, I– What are you talking about?
I then walked back up to the royal pain.
Tiger: Alright, Your Lowness! I am having quite possibly one of the worst days in the history of bad days right now, so I'm only going to tell you this once: either you call off your "children" and get the heck out of dodge, or I am going to go ahead and yank out every single eye on that disgusting body of yours!
Surprisingly, as I did a martial-arts stance, I actually felt my claws pop out. Huh, cool beans. Anyway, all it got from Jax was an overexaggerated yawn before he spotted a blue star-shaped gloink glitching out just like Ragatha.
Jumping back to Pomni, we find her panicking as she was still running for her life with Kaufmo on her tail.
Pomni: Gotta hide, gotta hide, gotta hide.
She then ran toward an out-of-place mirror, possibly the same one I found earlier, which distracted her from the crazy clown-beast. Pomni was understandably shocked as she gazed at her new form, but then quickly broke out of her trance as she heard Kaufmo closing in. She then found a barrel of all things and decides to hide inside it, but the second she cracked it open, a bunch of plastic monkeys came bursting out which thankfully provided the distraction Pomni needed as Kaufmo changed his target toward one of the hopping chimps while she was hiding behind the barrel. After Kaufmo immediately smashed the poor little monkey and then went on his merry way, Pomni quickly ran from her hiding spot and went back to her search.
Pomni: God, Where is Caine?
She only stopped in surprise as she saw the exit door right in front of her. Sadly, Pomni didn't make the same decision I made as after hearing Kaufmo again, she believed the only choice left was to open the door and go straight through. Once inside, Pomni found that she was in some kind of waiting room with another exit door on the other side, which in turn led to another waiting room that looked like the last one except narrower. Naturally, this shocked Pomni a bit, but she shook it off and ran to another exit door, this time leading to another similar room but with some racks added.
Back outside, the original exit door disintegrated as a gloink bounced by before getting stomped on by Kaufmo with enough force to break the floor.
As for myself and the rest of us, I could tell that we've officially worn out our welcome with the slug who would be queen.
Gloink Queen: You foolish assortment of colorful characters! Do you not realize everything must be gloinks?! I am gloinks! You will be gloinks! God will be gloinks-uh!
Jax: This is dumb and weird.
Wow. I cannot believe I'm saying this, but I think I actually agree with Jax on this.
Gloink Queen: (at a loss for words) Well, b– Uh– Y-yet, you're still watching it!
Jax: I'm not here for the adventure or anything. I'm just here to hide from the-
At this time, I could not believe the timing as Kaufmo suddenly busted through the circus floor and slammed directly on top of Her Royal Grossness. Naturally, I did my best to stay calm through all this.
Tiger: (shocked) HOLY MOLY!
Uhh… Never mind. We then see that Kaufmo's taking no time to lay the smackdown on old Queenie causing her to glitch out as well.
Gangle: (terrified) What's happening?!
Jax: It's just Kaufmo. Don't worry about it.
Gangle: (panicky) Kaufmo abstracted?!
Tiger: That's what I was trying to tell you before (gesturing to Jax) Peter Cotton-butt over here shoved a bowling ball down my throat!
Jax just rolled his eyes as Kinger then voices his concern.
Kinger: (screaming) YOU'RE RIGHT! HOW ARE WE GONNA GET OUT OF HERE?!
Zooble: (calmly) Guys, over there.
We then saw that Zooble was gesturing to– wait, what? What the what is an escalator doing here of all places?! Anyway, why bother looking this gift horse in the mouth?
So, we all headed toward the escalator in the relief that Kaufmo and the Queen could be each other's problem now.
Jax: (nicely) Ladies first. (realizing what he just said) No, wait, why would I say that?
Jax then shoves Gangle to the ground, much to my disgust. I just growled then immediately helped Gangle back up.
Gangle: (shyly) Thank you.
Tiger: It's okay.
After that, I allowed Gangle to go up in front of me with Kinger, still carrying Zooble's head, coming up behind me.
Zooble: (angrily pointing out) Wait, Pomni's not even here? Wasn't this whole thing for her too?!
Tiger: Sorry, but she's busy trying to find Caine so he could help us with Kaufmo back there.
Jax: Be quiet. I can't hear the escalator.
All I did was just groan as I crossed my arms as half of me was fuming at what a jerk Jax has been this whole time with, of course, my right ear twitching once again, while the other half was worried about Pomni and hoping that she was okay.
Speaking of Pomni, she was still going through door after door after door in hopes of finding the actual exit with her sanity seeming to crumble more and more by the second until she went through a door leading her to what looks like a large office. Pomni couldn't believe her eyes as she then spotted a desk topped with an old, rusted-out computer as well as… a pair of old VR headsets? Of course, that looks just like the same office we found before we were sucked into this nightmare of outdated edu-tainment. Realizing this, Pomni's mental state seemed to have taken a turn for the worse as she went through a few more doors before ultimately going to a long hallway that looked like it was getting longer with every step she took. Finally, she reached what she hoped would be the final door, where she prayed that the real world and home would be on the other side. She turned the handle to reveal… the Void. Pomni then flew straight into the deep nothingness into a trance-like state.
Elsewhere, Caine and his little bubble buddy were laughing it up at some sort of quaint little bistro populated with a bunch of mannequins.
Caine: Oh, Bubble, you always know how to make me say this exact sentence.
Just then, Caine heard some cartoon sound effects acting like an alert signal coming from his watch.
Caine: Gasp! An alert on my WackyWatch at this hour?
Caine then checked the watch to see a blip on the radar signifying Pomni floating in the Void, leaving him all cross-eyed in panic.
Caine: Oh, no! Someone's venturing out into the Void! They'll get totally spoiled!
And with that, Caine immediately poofs straight to the Void, grabs Pomni, and then warps her back here in the circus.
Caine: There you go!
Miraculously, Pomni then broke out of her Void-induced trance as Caine surveyed the disaster area in front of him.
Caine: Now, what the heck happened around here? Oh yeah! My doing.
After we spotted Caine floating around next to Pomni, we then sped straight towards them.
Kinger: Caine! Kaufmo went through a sort of Kaufmosis and abstracted!
Caine: Kaufmo abstracted? (exaggerated) Why didn't anybody tell me?
Seriously? Did he really have to act that dramatic? Well, one snap of his fingers was all it took to conjure up Kaufmo from the gloink nest. Then he opened up another hole, leaving me concerned as to what he's going to do next.
Caine: And into the cellar you go.
To my shock, Caine just dropped Kaufmo through the hole and into a dark, watery pit with seemingly more unfortunate abstracted souls. I'm guessing Kaufmo wasn't the first to suffer this tragic fate. All any of us could do was stare down into the hole before Caine sealed it shut.
Tiger: (stammering) Wait, but… what… why?!
Then Zooble's body walked up to get their head from Kinger and placed it back onto their body.
Zooble: Man, I can't believe Kaufmo just gave up like that. I mean, no offense, Kinger, but I always thought you would be next.
Kinger: (happily) Thank you.
Jax: Guess it just goes to show you can't rely on Kinger for anything.
Tiger: (scoffs then gestures to Jax) Pot, (gestures to Kinger) meet kettle.
Zooble: Hey, uh... Tiger? Thanks for, well, you know…
Tiger: It's alright, Zooble. It's just like a wise person once told me: We're all we've got here in this circus, so we should all try to stay together.
Zooble: (chuckles) I guess Ragatha got to you, huh?
Oh, my God! I almost forgot about Ragatha!
Tiger: Oh, no! Guys, listen!
As I tried to explain, I saw Ragatha dragging herself towards Caine.
Tiger: (shocked) RAGATHA!
Ragatha: (glitchy) I-I-I am in s-so much pai-ai-ai-i-i-i-in!
Caine: Oop!
Another snap of Caine's fingers ended the glitch effect on Ragatha as well as on Pomni's hand. I then noticed as Ragatha got back up and walked towards Pomni that they were both looking away from each other, as if they were both ashamed about something.
Tiger: (worried) Pomni? Ragatha? Are you two alright?
Ragatha: Yeah, I'm fine now.
Pomni just nodded. She looked like she was too guilt-ridden to say anything. I immediately tried to change the subject.
Tiger: Ragatha? Why did Caine just stick Kaufmo down that pit? I mean, couldn't he just zap him back to normal like he did you?
Ragatha: (sighs) No, Tiger, he can't. Once you reach your breaking point, that's it. (places her hand on my shoulder) I'm sorry.
Man, does that mean we might all be stuck in that cellar too someday? I seriously don't want to keep thinking about that, so instead, I try to focus on what Caine said next.
Caine: I do have to apologize for lying about the exit. I knew how much all of you have been wanting there to be one, but, you know, I was having so much trouble figuring out what to put on the other side and ended up never quite finishing it. And you know how I never like letting people see my unfinished work, especially if it leads you out into the Void.
After hearing that, I then figured out why Pomni looked so guilty. Aw, man.
Caine: Anyway, it looks like you defeated the Gloink Queen, so I guess the adventure's over.
Caine then directed our attention towards a veritable smorgasbord of digital foodstuffs. And, of course, that weird bubble pops up again, this time, wearing a chef's hat while holding up a spatula and a knife.
Caine: Your reward is a delicious digital feast cooked by our head Bubble Chef.
Bubble: Made with all the love I'm legally allowed to give.
Jax: You know, I am pretty hungry.
Tiger: You didn't do jack squat this entire adventure.
Jax: (annoyed) So what? I can still be hungry.
Kinger: Well, not really, because we don't need to eat, drink or sleep in this digital world. So the digital food here only gives off the virtual sensation of eating without any of the nutritional benefits.
Jax: Sheesh, lay off it. Since when are you an expert on the digital world?
Kinger: Expert on the what?
As the others went to take their seats at the dinner table, I then walked over to Pomni, again in a trance. I then snapped her out of it as I kneeled down and tried to comfort her after everything that's happened.
Tiger: Pomni? I just want you to know that I understand why you did what you did, you know, with that door. I got to confess I was tempted to go through it myself, and well, I just didn't want to leave you here alone in this mad house. But I will tell you, if we were both there, I would have definitely told you to go through it, because, well, you shouldn't have to suffer this insanity with me. I mean, you don't deserve that.
I then noticed tears welling up in Pomni's eyes as I poured my heart out to her. She then burst into tears and buried her face in my chest.
Pomni: (sobbing) Tiger, I'm so sorry!
Seeing her like this then caused me to tear up as well as I wrapped my arms around her comforting her as best as I could.
Tiger: It's okay, Pomni. Everything will be alright. I'm sure there's just got to be an actual way out of here, and I will help you find it. But right now, just know that we still got each other, and I'll never leave you. I promise.
Pomni and I then looked at each other and smiled. We then went back to our tearful embrace knowing that if we're both stuck here in this digital circus, at least we're stuck here together.