Chapter Text
The circus halls are empty. These colorfull shapes and builds stood in the tent, alone. The crew gathered together, after Caine had called them, hoping to impress them with a new adventure. Zooble and Gangle sat together on one of the smaller couches on the right, talking about the recent adventure. Ragatha sat next to pomni, more centered in the middle of the variations of couches, both sitting in comfortable silence. Jax sat at the left, far away from everybody. And in the middle Kinger sat, starring into the void. His mind seemingly blank.
Floating above all of them, is Caine, the AI who made it his job to entertain and please his humans. He recently came up with a great idea, wich he was sure to make them happy. Bubble, his loyal assistant floates next to the Ai, staring at him.
Caine cleared his troath, if thats what you could call it. Gathering the attention of different variations of characters. "Yhellow my pickled cow bungas! I've gathered you here, because i, your favorite Ringmaster, made a new adventure for you, which im sure you will love!" The instant annoyance and anger on their faces showed clearly that they didn't had the nerve for another one of his adventures.
Caine could hear some groanes of annoyance, which he assumed came from zooble, the missmatched toybox of the circus.
The Ai ignored the noises made from his humans and procceded to create an adventure name above his head. "Todays adventure is-" Zoobles voice cut him off. "stop, Caine. Don't you get it? We don't want you aventures!" the sound of a broken glass matched with the glitch on the Ai's face. He freezed for a few seconds, the text above him, stopped too, only reading 'Survive-'.
After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence and worried or nervous looks from the crew, the ringmaster spoke, like he hadn't just glitched out. "Anyways, have fun and i'll see you later! Im going on a Vacation!" The Ai snapped and the colorful characters suddenly stood there, wearing old and dark clothes. Ragatha's dress was shortened for more leg movement and bandages now fancied her arms. The short sleeves now both had a small red cross on it, as well as her top. Three red crosses. On top of that, a silver chain on her waist, that held a small first aid kid. Her hair was put in a high ponytail, her bangs layed on her face.
Jax, the purple rabbit whore a white tank top and a black biker jacket on top. The sleeves were roled up. Some short black jeans with many pockets sat on his hips. His pockets looked stuffed. His feet were peotected by dark brown boots and white socks sat on his rabbit like feet. Bandages were wrapped around his knuckles, just like boxers in those old fighting movies. His ears and furr seemed more fluffed up and he wore a black choker around his neck.
Pomni's hat had vanished and a red-blue bandana now instead sat on her head. Her back hear was cut short to a pixi cut, but her bands stayed. Instead of her jester outfit, she now wore a dark grey shirt with some dark red logo of a bee. Typical Caine, pomni tought. She also whore a jacket, hers in jeans style. Dark blue with some pockets on the front. Caine put her in a short jeans with black high tights and black high boots with silver details. A brown bag hung around her side, seemingly nothing inside.
Zoobles parts switched. Their head now fancied a bend in yellow piece and something that looked like a cloud on a stick on the other side. Their right arm was now a two piece brick part with a glove and four fingers. The other arm was a wobbly stick and another glove. The legs stayed the same, but Zooble got a cool leather jacket and a pair of short jeans, with a black leather belt. Their jeans pockets, which where about four, were suddenly filled with some unknown stuff, weighing on the pants. Their feet had brown heavy boots on, black sock sticking out above. Just like Jax, Their hands and fingers were wrapped with bandages.
The Ribbon Gangle suddenly wore a pilot hat, in a dark navy blue. It seemed to big for her fragile ribbon body and mask. A beige cardigan manifested around her shoulders and a small, black spyglass suddenly hung around her so called neck. On her feet stuck light brown walking boots. Short Jeans in blue completed her looks.
The white chess piece with the name Kinger now wore a black coat Instead of his usual purple clothing. Other than that, nothing really changed.
All of their designs turned more detailed and their characters looked more realistic than they have in a while. It was nerving that the Ai that kept them in this digital world, controls their looks and fate.
Everyone looked down, exept kinger, who again followed a butterfly with his gaze.
The ragdoll looked nervous, unknowing what to say about hat their Ringleader just did. Jax had a big smile on, streching his arms and inspecting the outfit. Zooble looked angry, looking up and down at Caine and then Themself. Gangle just starred, not really against this new style of her.
She enjoyed the idea of everyone wearing this new style. It seemed like a fresh and nice break from the normal circus dress code. "Caine. What the f%$!#k?!" Zooble was the first one to speak. "Why are we all wearing this.. stuff?" The toy box starred angrily at the dentures. Caine moved closer. "Because this will be your new attire for my next Adventure! Have fun!"
Caine snapped and a portal opened right underneath them. The six person group looked down, then up at Caine. Ragatha wanted to say something. "Ah-.. wait!-" And then they fell. Kinger looked down getting disstracted by a golden butterfly. Pomni gets trown through the air, her head getting dizzy. Jax ears wiggled trougth the wind, slapping Ragatha repatedly in the face. Zoobles part begann to part from their main body and gangles ribbons fluttered in the wind, getting tangled in the air. Her happy mask fell off, and she tried to grab it.
There Seemed to be no ending to the fall. Their screames shut down and they looked around. The sky was light blue, not a cloud came to sight.
Jax pulled the attention to himself, making a typical Jax Joke. "So were just gonna fall in this adventure forever? How fun!" His smirk was heard clearly. He looked at everyone, holding his smirk expression. Zobble roled their eyes. "Stop it Jax!" The purple bunny shrugged as far as it was in his possibility to do so. "Well, do you see an adventure?" His tone was mocking, which upset the toybox even more. "Guys, just calm down, everything is fine. Im sure!" Ragatha tried to calm both of them down.
Pomni begann to talk, her voice held something scared and panicked. "G-Guys..." Nobody acknoledged her. She tried again, this time louder and more frantic. "Guys!" All members now turned to Pomni, who pointed down, fighting against the wind and gravitation.
The group looked down in sync and then it all went black.
Ringing. A shrill and screaching sound echoed in the mind of the little jester. Everything was dull, her mind foggy. Pomni's body ached, her eyelids heavy. She tried to force her eyes open, which seemed to be harder than usual. A groan escaped her lips, as she tried to move her limbs. The darkness around her slowly crept away. Like a snake fleeing from sight. Pomni's eyes opened slow, but they opened. The jester felt relieved.
The fear of not knowing what's infront calmed and she blinked a few times. Her vision blurry, 'shortened' her ability to see where she was. After sitting up with a groan, the jester rubbed her eyes, trying to get rid of the unpleasent feeling. The next time she looked around, everything seemed cleaner, the edged of the room they were in sothened out and Pomni could now see clearly.
They were in a small, empty room. The floor was made out of concret and was covert in dirt and withered plants.
The wallpaper that covered the wall began to come loose and fell off in some places, exposing the plain concret frame of the room. Every wall was covert in strange, messy graffity. Her mind was running, searching for an explanation of where she was, when she heard a movement. The Jesters head shot in this direction and in sight came the Ragdoll, Ragatha.
"R-Ragatha?" The Jester crawled towards her, her body slowly regaining strength. Pomni's eyes scanned her friend for any injuries before she begann to softly shake her friend awake. "Ragatha wake up!"
A groan was heard from the uncontious Woman, before she slowly opened and closed her eyes repeatedly. She tried to get her eyes adjusted to her new suroundings.
Another groan of pain. Ragatha's eyes wandered the the face of the Jester, and she tried to sit up. Pomni suported her. "Pomni? W-w.." The Ragdoll looked around. Her troath sore. "Where are we?" "I have no idea.." The Jestergirl looked around, searching for more of her companions. The in the Corner layed Jax. Kinger was leaned on the wall below a Window, uncontious. Zooble and Gangle both held hands, laying near a brown, old oak door.
"Ragatha followed her gaze. "We should wake them up."
Both Circus members woke everyone up, after getting their strenght back. One after the other gained contiousness, everyone asking the same Question...
"Where are we?"
Gangle looked around, her hand still interlocked with zoobles. The toybox turned her gaze from the room to the afraid woman next to her. "Don't worry Gangle, im sure this will soon be over. We just need to complete this stupid adventure." There gaze held something reasuring, wich seemed to calm the ribbon down.
Gangle began to smile, and even tho Zooble doesn't have a mouth, Gangle could see the smile in there eyes.
"How sweet, but you forgot one important detail." Jax interwined, he looked annoyed and angry. His voice put detail on the word 'Important'. "We don't know what shitty adventure dentures planned for us, because someone cut him off!" He again put emphasis on the word 'someone'.
Zoobles gaze turned from soft to annoyed in seconds. They stared at the purple Rabitt. "How was i supossed to know that would happen?!" Pomni watched the fight, thinking of a way to get back to the circus.
Her eyes creept over everyone. Over Kinger who stood near the window, lost in tought.To Ragatha who stood at the side, observing everyone. Then to Gangle, who watched the fight, her anxiety over the roof. At last she looked at the two fighting members.
"I can't f%$!#g look into his brai-" Pomni interrupted. "Guys, Don't fight! We need to figure how to get back."
Four pair of eyes now focused on her. The room silent. Everyone expected a plan, or some kind of idea. Even a stupid or untoughtfull idea. Just something to help the nerves. "Pomni is right guys, we shouldn't be fighting." Ragatha spoke up, walking up to Pomni and stopping next to her. "We should work together to get back as quickly as possible." She smiled and glanzed trough the group.
The jester smiled at the Ragdoll, which returns the smile. "Ragatha is right, we need to find a way out, we don't have time to decide who's fault it was."
Zooble and Jax looked at each other and rolled their eyes. "Fine." Zooble gave in. "So waht should we do?" Pomni still had no idea, she was unsure if they should explore the building they are in, or if the should stay in this old room until Caine brings them back.
"Well, we could explore... or stay here." The crew thought for a moment, then Ragatha speaks up. "I think exploring would be fun." Zooble agreed. "Yeah, staying in this room starts to get boring.. i want to end this adventure as soon as possible." Pomni smiled at her, thankfull. Then Jax spoke up. "I guess walking around would be more interesting." The purple rabbit smirked at the Jester. "I don't know.. what if there is something scary outside.." Gangles voice was filled with worry, seemingly on the edge of tears. As always.
"Everything will be fine Gangle, i promise you. Caine wouldn't make a scary adventure after another right?"
Pomni wasn't sure, but she hoped she was right. "I guess..." Gangle looked up at Zooble, who gave her a reasuring nod. "Okay..." Pomni smiled. "Thank you Gangle."
Pomni then turned to Kinger, who was blankly starring at the wall, focusing on a smeared graffity which read 'Bee' in a rather cursive font. "Kinger." Gangle called out. The chesspiece turned his gaze. The whole circus crew looking at him. "We want to go outside to search for a way back. Do you want to come with us?"
Pomni Was nervous. Wishing the older chess piece would accompany them on their journey. The Chesspiece always helped her calm down and she hoped if things get stressing or scary, that he would sooth her nerves, just like he did once before. Ther was an akward silence for a few seconds before he spoke up. "Sure Pomni, i'll come with you so-"
"Great, let's go." Jax interrupted the crazy man. Ragatha furrowed her brows, looking at the rabbit. The little jester woman walked to the exit.
The wooden door was old, cracks fancied the dirty wood. Pomni reached put her hand to the dirty handle, taking a deep breath. The crew stood behind her. The door handle squeaked as she turned it around.
It was loose and nearly fell of when she moved it. Pomni pulled open the door, behind it an old abandoned building. It had no wallpaper. Everything was dirty concrete and graffities. The floor was covert in dirty foot prints all over and pomni could make out strange liquids splattered everywhere. She took a few steps trough the door looking around in the bigger hall. It was old and spooky, but the sunlight shining trough the glassless windows lifted the darkness.
The gang followed her out, everyone was a bit nervous as what to expect. Left to the door they just walked trough, a stairway downstairs lead them to the ground floor. Pomni and ragatha looked at each other before taking the steps.
The concret was broken on some edges and pieces of concrete, wich fell from the roof made the steps rought and dirty.
The stairway had a turn to the right in the middle. First Pomni, then Ragatha. After them followed Gangle and Zooble, together with Kinger. Jax came last, keeping a small distance to the crew. The stairs ended and everyone, once again, looked around. The room they were now in was smaller, still dirty and full of ugly graffity. To the left was a wooden door. Some rough holes fancied it and sun beams crawled their way trough them. This room was not so empty, looking back at the other ones. There was an old, propably rusty wooden chair in one of the corners. On there was an old picture of a normal family. A father, a mother and a small young boy. The glass was shattered and the picture frame was broken.
Next to the chair, more placed in the middle, stood a dresser. It was dirty not much different from the chair. The circus crew spread themselves in the room, looking around. Those oddly placed furnitures lingered in Pomni's mind. Ragatha walked up to the picture Carefully picking it up. Her eyes darted around the taken photo, but her mind lingered somewhere else.
This photograph made her think about her life before the circus. Before all of this.
Ragatha starred at the little boy. Was his Family as happy as it looks on the picture? Or was it like hers. Sweet and kind on the outside, but cold and ruthless on the inside. The ragdoll seemed to have lingered longer than she tought, because suddenly Gangle stood next to her.
Ragatha flinched just a tiny bit, going unnoticed by the small ribbon woman. "Ragatha..?" Her tiny voice called out. Her tone was frail. "Yes Gangle?" Ragatha turned her head, putting on a smile. "A-are you okay?" she asked, fidgeting with her tiny ribbon hands. Ragatha nodded and put the frane down. "I'm good! Really." He women both smiled at each other, then pomni spoke up. "Guys, should we leave this house?" Zooble, Jax, Gangle, Ragatha kinger and pomni moved to the door. Pomni turned her head around, looking at the crew. "Is everyone ready?" Everyone nodded and smiled or grinned at the small clown woman.
Once again, pomni grabbed the door handle and twisted it, and again, it squeaked like a dying cat. Not pleasent for the ears of everyone. Pomni pressed the door open, fresh wind hitting at first her and then everyone else. The sun blinded them for a few seconds before their eyes adapted to the bright light.
Everyone stepped outside, the green grass infront of the building was high. Probably hadn't been cut for a long time.
They were in a neighbourhood, withered and abbandoned houses lined up Infront of them. Zooble glanzed around annoyed. "Where the f%$!#k are we?" "What could possibly be the adventure in this s%$!#hole?" Confusion spread amongst them. Pomni wispered to herself. "I don't know.."
"W-what should we do now...?" Gangle stammers, keeping her frail tone. "We could ask people for help, maybe there is someone living in one of these houses. They can't all be abandoned."
Zooble spoke there toughts. Everyone agreed. "That's a great idea Zooble." They left the house, stepping on the street. There where old and dirty cars, abandoned and overgrown with tendrills. The road was full of junk and old, rust metal pieces. "What the h%$!#l happened here?" Jax muttered under his breath.
His eyes scanned his surroundings. Not one sound. No bird cheeping, no dog barking, no other strange noises.
Gangle took a deep breath, releaved. This adventure seemed to be normal and not scary or frightening. The smell lingered in her none existant nose, crawling trough her ribbon body. It tasted weird on her tounge. A look of disgust apearred on her mask like face. "Disgusting..." The air tasted like a mix of metal, old food and something the ribbon could not make out.
Ragatha seemed to taste it too, based on her displeased look. "Ragatha...-" The red head turned around. "What do you think happened here?"
Gangle fidgited with her pointy ribbon hands, gazing at Ragatha, unsure. "Im not sure.. maybe.. a sickness.. or a big storm?" She wasn't sure herself, but that could be an explanation. "That's not something Caine would do. A simple storm?" Zooble apeared. They looked around. "He wouldn't use a simple storm as an adventure."
"That's not like him." Zooble's eyebrows furrowed in suspicion. "Maybe he changed things up? You never know." Ragatha chimed i, trying to ease everyone's worry. Then Pomni and Jqx joined their conversation. "Maybe Ragatha's right... maybe he tried something new. He sometimes does that, doesn't he?" Jax opened his mouth to smugly answer the clown girl, when a ringing was heard from a small distance. Coming from behind them. It kind of sounded like a doorbell. They turned around to find Kingers pointer finger on the bell of the house in front of them.
It was the house opposite of the building they left. "Look guys, it sounds like a bellbird!" He said, hid voice filled with joy.
Everyone looked at him, unsure if to be mad. "Kinger, you can't just ring the doorbell. We don't know what is awaiting us." They cought up to him, now standing infront of the door wich provides the entry to the old building.
"The button was blue." He said, as if that justifed his actions. Pomni's eyes hovered over the bell. It indeed was blue. Very radiant and outstanding. Pulling the attention of a few members.
Pomni sighed and shook hee head. Meanwhile Jax stepped closer to the door, he examitates it and pushes it open. The door was opened a split. "It's not locked.." he muttered under his breath. He pushed the door again, slightly, to open it whider. While the rest of the crew talked with kinger, jax entered the house. The floor was covered in dirty wood and a few furnitures stood in the hallway. More than in the other building i was in He tought.
A few cockroaches hurrily crawled over his feet, making his body shiver.
"Disgusting.." He walked in further, his eyes darting around. "Hello? Any NPC's here?" He wispered, to nervous to be any louder. The atmotsphere in this building was creepy and nerve racking.
The purple rabbit took a left and stopped infront of a wooden door. It had a selfdrawn picture taped in the middle. It was drawn messy, probably the doing of a child. He examits the paper. Half of the page was green. The grass. A stick figure with a big brown head simbolized the mother and a smaller figure next to her was supposed to be the child. The sun was messily smeared into the top right corner.
The picture was dirty, as if it hung there for a long time. When jax reached for the door handle, he noticed a belt tightly wrapped around the metal. "What he f%$!#k?"
Jax's brows furrowed in a mix of suspicion and not knowing what to expect? Yet he still firmly grabbed the handle. His mind went trough a few scenarios which could happen, before he slowly twisted the handle. It was harder than expected, probably because of the tension the belt was creating.
He pulled harder and it gave in. A deep breath before he opened the door whider. Strange groaning and wailing sounds semmed to come from this room. It sounded scary and a foul smell creeped out of the door split he opened. He pinched his nose, a look of distgust on hus face. "What the h%$!#l is this smell? Disgusting."
Jax let go of the handle, unsure if he should open the door. The smell was blinding. Stinging in his eyes and nose. He thought for a moment, reached for the handle and with small hesitation, he pushed it open. What Jax saw inside of that room forced puke up his throath and he had to turn away. A child, bloody and wounded, sat there chained in a small puddle of their own blood and sweat. The blood seemed almost dry, tho Jax couldn't see it very clear, beeing distracted by the horrible sight infront of him.
Her messy hair looks dirty and full of grime. Strands of hair sticked to her sweaty, bloody face. Jax found her eyes. The dark green milky eyes looked dead inside, showing no sign of life or a soul.
The rabbit slowly stumbled back unsure what to do. Heplaced his hand over his mouth, hoping he wouldn't puke. He blended verything out, his breathing fastened. Until suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder. Jax snapped back to senses, his head shot around to find out who the hand belongs to.
Next to him he finds zooble, the circus member with a triangle head. The look in their eyes held worry and confusion. "Jax. What's wrong?" But Jax coulsn't answer. So he just pointed. Then a wisper escaped his lips. "The girl.." This raised even more confusion in them, but they followed his finger and walked that way. Pomni and the others now also apeared in the hallway following zooble. As soon as they layed their eyes on the sight in the rom, their faces went pale, some paler than others. Some turned away, some couldn't.
"oh my.." Pomni panted between breaths, holding her breast and squeezing it While trying to calm down. Gangle turnd around squeezing her eyes shut. Ragatha at first turned pale, before turning green i a sickly manner. Her mind rushed. "We have to help her!" She exclaimed, her kind side slipping though her horrified feelings. Zooble gathered themself before answering the ragdoll. "This is an NPC..." Gangle turned back to face zooble and the others, trying not to shift her eyes to the brutal scene. "...But.. isn't that a bit to.. much for Caine?" The ribbon woman sniffled.
Pomni nodded. "It is... why would he suddenly change the 'enjoying all ages' rule." "Well, he is an AI.." Jax reapeared. He looked a bit pale but better than before. "...No one knows what goes through his code."
Pomni and Ragatha nodded, agreeing to the purple rabbit. Some glances switched to the girl.
"Let's close the door.. i can't continue to look at this any second longer." The circus members all nodded, not beeing able to look at the wounded girl again. When no one made a move to close the door, pomni pulled herself together and steped closer to the door. Her small body couldn't reach the door which opened in the room so she steppEd inside, reaching for the handle. The girl twiched, which made everyone flinch slightly.
Pomni wrapped her hand around the handle when suddenly the girl lunged forward trying to attack the jester. Pomni fell bakc, tryig to crawl bac backwards. The crew also jumped backwards, some yelling out in suprise or fear. The girl was about to dig her teeth in Pomni's arms which she put up for protection, when the chain held her back. Only five centimeters and she would have sunken her theeth in the jesters arm.
The girl screamed and yelled from her throath, fighting the chains with her whole body. Pomni panted, chest rising heavily. Zooble looked around, searcing for an answer.
Jax kicked the bloddy girl in her head, making her fling backwards, before grabing the handle and pulling the door shut. Everyone went silent for a few seconds, not daring to take a breath. Every circus member stood still. After a few secons of processing, the first member moved. Ragatha, she exhaled a breath she didn't knew she held and relaxed her shoulders. "Whoa.. what's her problem?" Jax jokingly asked, tho you could hear the slight nervousness in his voice, quivering through his tough facade. The crew ignored the purple rabbit and ragatha reached out to Pomni. Thhe jester took the dollhand and pulled herself up. "Let's go back to Kinger.."
The missmatched toybox sighed, annoyed from the events that already happened. Everyone nodded and together they walk through the hallway. The sunlight was darker, a sign that it was getting late. Outside of the building kinger stood, still unbothered his eyes following a light green caterpillar crawling up the stem of a yellow flower.
After everyone was outside, kinger looked over. "Oh, hi guys!" His voice was carefree and happy. Pomni smiled at him. But in her mind she searched for a way to get kinger sane. They needed his smart programmer mind, but there was no possibility to give him a dark environment. Pomni's toughts got interrupted when gangle pointed out some building. When everyone looked in the direction, they saw another building. Not a house or an apartment complex, but a small post office. "Why don't we go in there for the night..." the ribbon mumbled, her voice holding a hint of sadness like always.
"That's a good idea Gangle..." Zooble smiled. Pomni and Ragatha nodded agreeing to the idea.
The glass doors were dirty and broken, a few glass shards layed infront of the entrance. A few dried drops of blood mixed with the glass. It looked like a picture from a movie. It was nerving. The crew stood infront of the entrance.
"So.." Jax began. "who goes first?" A grin acompanied his face. Zooble sighed, rolling their eyes at the same time.
Pomni looked at the outside of the post office. Should she go in? Everyone listened Quietly. Nothing was heard. Not a growl or fletching theeth, or any signs of anyone inside the building. "I don't think anyone is in there. Let's go in.." Pomni looked at her friens, left Ragatha and Jax, and left, Zooble, Gangle and Kinger.
Everyone returned the looks, ragatha smiled in reasurance.
Pomni took a deep breath- "I'll go first.." -and took a step forward, taking the glass handle. Another deep breath before she pulled it open. A foul smell lingered in the air. Pommi scrunched her nose, but she continued and stepped inside. It was dirty and messy, postcards and pakets layed on the floor, looking like a tornado hit them. Pomni's eyes whidening. "What happened here?" Some lights flickered, some were completely broken and some even hang from the ceiling. The post office desk was trashed with all kinds of trash.
The ceiling concret crumbled from the broken ceiling. It was really dirty. But it seemed to be empty. The Jester turned around. Giving a sign to her friends. A small wave to signal that they can come in.
Ragatha, Zooble and Gangle smiled. Jax opened the door, walking trough the door. As the door closes it hit Gangle who followed him. Her happy mask fell to the floor, breaking in two parts. "Ow.. My mask.." The ribbon sniffled. Zooble picked up their friends mask, iving it to her with a smile.
"Here you go Gangle." Gangle smiled at her friend, sniffling. "Thank you Zooble..."
Both circus members smiled at each other before Zooble grabbed the door handle, opening the door for Their friend. "Thanks zooble.." Ragatha watched the friends, smiling. She loved it when two people were close with each other. And she could feel the sparks between both of them.
Kinger found a small windowless room with many packets so they decided to rest there. Ragatha found a few plush animals in a few boxes and decided to hand them out as pllows.
The sky was getting darker, the damaged clock on the wall in the room ticking in a calm repeating maner.