Chapter Text
It had been a couple weeks since Pomni arrived.
She had gotten used to everything, the lighting, the smells…(how can she even smell with no nose??), the sights yet there was one thing she wasn’t prepared for…
A sharp blaring fog horn sounded from beside her pillow.
The jester practically shot out of bed before realizing it was just her alarm clock.
”Jesus…” Pomni muttered.
I have to wake up for what? A stupid adventure? Pomni scowled at the idea of Caine’s adventures now. She had to go through getting possessed, watching Ragatha getting beat up by Kaufmo, Gummigoo literally popping and…she just had terrible experiences in the past with adventures- why should she bother?
But on the other hand, she had good people behind her. Ragatha was always looking out for her, Kinger wasn’t terribly crazy all the time- in fact he was quite comforting when he needed to be. Zooble was pretty chill for the most part, Gangle seemed kind and Jax…was Jax. Overall- she supposed she could just survive.
Pomni was now propped up on her elbows in her two-colored bed.
But of course she could survive- that’s all she could do. Right..?
We don’t need to eat, drink or sleep in this digital world. So the digital food only gives off the sensation of eating without any nutritional benefit-
That meant she couldn’t die. she remembered Kinger mentioning that during her first day here-
Before Pomni could spiral further, she heard a soft knock on her door. A voice she recognized spoke.
”Hey Pomni! You up?” Ragatha spoke from the other side of the door, her voice slightly muffled from the barrier between. She must have been there to pick Pomni up just as she did every morning before.
”O-Oh uh- yeah! What’s up?” Pomni stuttered from her side of the door as if she didn’t know why Ragatha was there.
Pomni scrambled to the other side of the room to open the door, slightly stumbling on her way.
”Just here to pick you up for Caine’s adventure today- remember?” The ragdoll chuckled slightly as Pomni clumsily opened her door. “You didn’t forget, did ya?”
”N-No way! How could I?” Pomni muttered the last part. She did it with a small yet genuine scowl that Ragatha pretended to not to notice.
Even through she didn’t necessarily hate the fast food adventure or “The Lightning Round”, all those adventures took a toll on her. It was like she couldn’t really catch a break. The only thing kind of good about yesterday was getting to know Jax a bit. He actually seemed kind of cool when he wasn’t acting like a jerk to anyone.
“-ready to go?” Pomni was broken from her thoughts right as Ragatha finished saying something.
“Hey, you okay? You seem tired.” The taller woman observed.
“Sh-shoot my bad sorry.” Pomni reprimanded herself internally for not listening before realizing that she was leaning against her door a little too much while she was thinking. “Yeah, I guess I kind of am- my bad” Pomni apologized again.
Ragatha gave her a concerned look before speaking again. “It’s all good don’t worry. I’ll give you some more time. It is pretty early anyways!” The ragdoll added a shrug with a seemingly forced smile. “I’ll let ya sleep in!”
Pomni was too tired to argue or question Ragatha.
She and Ragatha said their goodbyes. Pomni didn’t bother to close the door fully due to her attempting to close it behind her back successfully- yet failing before making her way back her bed for however long she had before she was awoken again for the adventure to start.
———
Jax had woken up before his alarm. To him, it was a good thing. That alarm was one of the most annoying things to him right after Caine and his “fun” adventures. Jax wasn’t a fan of the adventures- much like everyone else. He knew no one really enjoyed them.
Jax would sigh dramatically before rolling out of bed, dragging himself across his lavender rug, and aggressively opening his door.
The moment the rabbit stepped outside, he noticed Pomni’s door was ajar. Just slightly, but still accessible.
Why not just peek inside?
Instead of peeking, Jax swiftly slipped inside the ajar door and snooped about. Eventually reaching the side of jester’s bed. On top, was a large bundle of blankets. It was as if the blankets were breathing…because they were. Pomni must have been bundled underneath.
A reasonable person would let Pomni sleep. A real person would let her rest until she was ready to get up…
Not Jax!
The rabbit would begin to lift up his arms to hoist up the bundle of blankets and send it rocketing it to the floor before…
“Jax…what the f#*k are you doing in Pomni’s room?”
He recognized that voice immediately and stopped what he was doing momentarily.
”Oh hey Zoobs!” Jax greeted the toy box character with the most condescending voice he could muster “Just making sure Pom-Pom here is sleeping soundly enough-“
”Bull-s&ħ!#.” Zooble interrupted “You were in there to f#ċ*# with her… weren’t you?”
Jax would scoff. “You know me too well Zoobs…way to ruin my fun” The lanky rabbit would then grab and elevate the bundle of sheets. To no one’s surprise the load was very light. Jax gave it a small toss in the air.
”PUT HER DOWN” Zooble grumbled loudly.
The volume of their voice must have woken up Pomni. Jax could feel rustling coming from the ball of bedsheets.
Jax would groan dramatically before speaking “Great job Zooble…you woke her up!”
“I didn’t do s#!#!” Zooble groaned as they turned “That’s it- I’m out”
The colorful character walked out without a second glance back, not caring what Jax had gotten himself into.
A second later, Jax heard mumbling from the jumble of blankets. Knowing that Pomni was somewhat awake, he dropped the ball harshly to the floor.
“Oof-” Pomni had squeaked as she hit the floor “Jax! What the f#&-!”
The jester’s face was red with a mix of anger and embarrassment.
“Oh whaaat?” Jax would tease “I thought everyone loved a good wake up call”
Leaning down to her level, the rabbit made his best attempt at an “innocent face” as he spoke. Failing miserably while putting his index finger to his cheek.
While waking up to hitting the floor forcefully wasn’t the best experience, the face he was making looked awfully stupid. Pomni found it hard to be mad at him. She began to laugh before she spoke up…
“Oh, it’s on!”
———
Jax had found himself to be losing. Surprising. Pomni was just ahead of him, about two feet maybe? For her short stature, she was fairly fast. Before Jax knew it, they had reached the end of the living quarters and just outside the hall, on the balcony.
“HAHA! YES!” Pomni panted. “In your face bunny-boy!”
The short jester would jump up in the air while pointing a finger at him.
The tall rabbit would scoff before trying to joke with the jester.
“I was just trying to keep you entertained- I wasn’t even trying” Jax attempted to nonchalantly brush off Pomni’s victory “Besides- it’s not like it counted…you know cheating and all…”
The pair began to walk down the stairs and towards the stage.
Pomni pretended to act offended before protesting “Like I’d stoop that low…to cheat- in a foot race? Especially against you? How low do you think of me?”
“I would say pretty low!” While leaning over, Jax faced palm of his hand down as he held it to the top of her hat. “With that short height of yours!”
Pomni would giggle before the two began a different conversation. Preferably not about the jester’s height.
———
As Pomni and Jax got closer to the stage, a plastic arm of sorts fell from the sky.
Just a second later, Pomni heard a voice…
“Could you toss that back up here…?”
She knew that voice anywhere. It belonged to Zooble. She looked up to find them peering down from inside a hanging flower pot. Before she could ask-
“Making good use of your parts gimmick, eh?” The rabbit poked.
“Oh..shut up”
“What are you doing up there?” Pomni questioned.
“Hiding from…Caine. I heard him talking to Bubble…about an ‘in house adventure’ and I want no part in it” Zooble ducked back down with a wave of their hand.
“Up there? L-like not in your room?”
“He’s been checking in on my room lately- when I don’t answer, he just starts singing Daisy Bell in front of my door…” Zooble mumbled uncomfortably “It’s creepy-”
Pomni turned to Jax and spoke “Does he really do that?”
“Hmmmm- I don’t know let’s ask him” Jax’s mouth opened wide; a strange sight to see as he called out “HEY CAAAINE!”
Zooble then cussed the rabbit out as the ruckus-making ringmaster popped in from seemingly no where. Caine had taken notice of Zooble once Jax outed their hiding spot. Caine then explained to meet at the stage.
Off we go…!
———
“YOU HAVE 5 MINUTES TO FIGURE THE TEAMS OUT AND ONCE THAT’S UP…IT’S A FREE FOR ALL!”
Ragatha had just gotten back up…right after getting shot. No thanks to Jax.
Who would trust him with a gun?
As she began to walk away, she felt a tug at her dress.
“Hey…uh you wanna be on my team?” Pomni would ask.
“Oh! I would love to- but I don’t want Kinger to get stuck with Jax…” Ragatha regretted saying no but she really didn’t want Jax to pick on Kinger. Who knows? Jax can get carried away sometimes after all- maybe he…
“Oh- y-yeah. I could be with Kinger! He and I were together once and it wasn’t too bad!” She offered. Ragatha knew she was being sweet but…
“And have me…on a team with…?”
The jester looked almost embarrassed she mentioned the idea, her face flushing slightly. “Right! Um…just forget I asked- I’ll be on Jax’s team. I can keep him in check. You don’t have to worry about me!”
Ragatha tried to stop her to talk to her for a second. Ragatha had panicked and offered to be an outlet for her. She must have rubbed Pomni the wrong way- the short jester made a slightly awkward smile and walked off.
———
After running off, the chess piece and the ragdoll were found by Pomni and Jax.
Ragatha was down to two lives…she couldn’t help but envy the two…they looked so happy together. She couldn’t help but stare…out of fear of the duo and out of admiration? Who was she to think these things- she can’t impose. She was somewhat friends with Pomni so…why was she jealous of their friendship? Just as she was broken from her thoughts, a gun shot echoed through the air. And right through her.
She was down to one life. The ragdoll quickly lifted herself from the tile from the floor, turned and for the nearest shelter she could find. Just as Jax rose, he followed.
Ragatha found herself calling for Kinger, but to no avail. He was most likely busy hiding or fighting.
“Howdy, Howdy!”
Ragatha yelped as she fell to the floor, startled by Jax.
Trying to make a distraction, she screamed aloud. “I-I know exactly what you’re doing with Pomni… and it will never work!” She yelled with the most certainty a vulnerable ragdoll could sound while someone had a gun pointed toward her.
The lanky rabbit cocked his head sideways, looking genuinely confused. “Eh?”
The ragdoll tried to explain herself as she tried to stand up, “Ya know…getting close with Pomni- to corrupt her?”
With absolutely no hesitation, Jax pointed and aimed his gun to her face.
“WAIT- WAIT! NO,NO, NO, WAIT!” In a panic, Ragatha used the only diversion she could think of…
Swiftly moving her pointer finger into the end of the barrel…
The doll squeezed her eye shut… praying it would work-
BANG!
She blinked her eye open- she wasn’t eliminated?
“Oh! I didn’t think that would actually-” Her voice was cut off by more rounds of short-lived pain and the sounds of gun shots.
With a comedic pop, Ragatha found herself in the loser corner.
Great.