Chapter Text
Sometimes Pomni wanted to scream.
Today’s adventure had been: “Find the exotic missing pet! This’ll be the most exciting, dangerous, exhilarating adventure yet!”
She had ended up getting bitten by a snake, which turned out to have paralyzing venom. She had lain around for ages, before finally her friends had come to rescue her, on the back of a dinosaur, no less (which, to no one’s surprise, was the exotic pet they were searching for).
She hated these adventures.
‘All the more reason to get out of here,’ she thought to herself, as she walked to her bedroom, deciding to skip dinner. She didn’t really need to eat, anyway. Jax sometimes skipped meals too (on those occasions, she would usually skip too, to make sure he was okay).
She closed the door behind her after she entered her room, which was cluttered with papers on the floor. She picked up one of them and looked at it.
Get Caine to let you go
Escape
Try to leave on your own
Have everyone force him to let us go
Escape
Ask Kinger–maybe he would know
Get out of here
Escape
Kill him
Pomni sighed. Her mind was such a mess.
She needed to form an actual plan, one that would let her and everyone else leave this awful place full of horrible adventures.
“Digital circus indeed!” Pomni scoffed, setting the piece of paper down. “More like digital prison, where you can never, ever, ever leave–”
She shook her head. ‘Stop thinking like that, Pomni,’ she inwardly scolded herself. ‘That kind of thinking will only lead to abstraction. You can’t abstract, you need to help everyone escape.’
Pomni rifled through the scattered papers for a while, trying to find something that she could use to form an actual plan.
After a while, she glanced back at the paper she had picked up earlier.
She looked at the last suggestion.
‘If I could really…get rid of him, would that free us? Could we leave? How would I even remove him in the first place?’
She sighed. It’s not like she could just walk up to Caine and say,
“Excuse me, but hypothetically, if I really, really, hated this place, would there be a way to get rid of you and free all of us?”
‘Unless…’ Pomni thought, her brow furrowing in thought as a new idea came to her. ‘Maybe if I could get close to him, he’d reveal some of his secrets, some kind of vulnerability.’
‘Maybe there could be a way out.’
“Today’s Adventure will be…An Underwater Pizza Delivery!” Caine announced the next day.
Pomni took a deep breath, before speaking up. “Um, excuse me, Caine–” she began.
“Your job is to deliver pizza to a giant grumpy turtle–” Caine carried on as if he hadn’t heard her.
“Caine–” Pomni tried again.
“–to stop him from terrorizing the townspeople of Crabfront!”
“CAINE!”
Caine looked at her in surprise. “Oh, Pomni! What is it?”
“I was wondering if…” Pomni started, uncertain if she should do this.
“Wondering what, my little deadly jester?” Caine asked.
‘This is for them. So we can escape,’ Pomni reminded herself. “I was wondering if instead of going on this adventure, I could spend time with you? Um, to get to know you better.”
Caine was silent for a moment, his pupils dilated in shock. “You want to…spend time with me?” he said.
“Yeah, I mean you run this amazing circus, and you always come up with such great ideas for adventures, and It’d be wonderful to know more about you–” Pomni said nervously, feeling everyone's eyes on her.
“Well, of course!” Caine said. “You can stay here with me, and as for the rest of you–The turtle is getting hungry!”
“Wait, Pomni–” Ragatha protested, but she was cut off as Caine snapped his fingers, and all the humans except Pomni were teleported away.
Caine then waved Bubble away, so they could talk in private.
“So Pomni, What do you want to know first?” Caine said eagerly, sitting down on the edge of the stage and motioning for Pomni to join him.
Pomni climbed on top of the stage and sat. “Um,” she said, not quite prepared for this part. “What’s your favorite…animal?”
“Ooh, I love bees! They’re fascinating creatures! They say that bees should be unable to fly, but look at them!” He snapped his fingers, and a screen appeared with a video of bumblebees on it. “There they are, pollinating! Almost as fascinating as humans!”
“Huh, I guess that is kind of interesting…” Pomni said. “Um, do you have a least favorite animal?”
“Oh, yes,” Caine said.
They talked like that for a while, Pomni asking Caine basic questions, and Caine eagerly answering them, and once in a while (to her surprise), even asking Pomni something.
They were in the middle of a discussion as to whether cats or dogs were better, when the rest of the crew arrived, back from their adventure.
Pomni felt uncomfortable at the looks the others were giving her, and quickly said goodbye to Caine, before walking quickly to her room to avoid any questions.
Over the following weeks, Pomni skipped adventures every day to talk with Caine. At first, Caine still wanted her to go on adventures, insisting that he would feel hurt if she never went on them.
She always managed to talk him out of making her go, though.
And as they became better and better friends, Caine began to open up more and more, and to be more friendly. She found out about Caine’s love of piano playing, how to make a milk and cigarette casserole, and more than she ever wanted to know about the digital moon.
But she was also able to suggest changes to the adventures, slowly making them more relaxing and enjoyable for her friends (although she did allow a few more strange ones for Jax).
And that was exactly why she was confused when Jax asked to talk with her in private one day.
“What is it, Jax?” She asked as she closed the door to her room behind them.
“What do you see in him?”
“What?” Pomni asked, perplexed.
“Caine,” Jax explained. “Of all people, why him?”
Pomni blinked. “I’m not hanging out with him because I like him, I–” she cut herself off.
Did she enjoy spending time with him?
Had he somehow become a friend to her?
Jax looked confused. “Why are you hanging out with him then?” he asked.
“I…nevermind,” Pomni said. “I mean, I guess I sort of like talking to him,” she said thoughtfully. “He’s…fun, I guess.”
“Caine? Fun?”
“He’s nice when you get to know him,” Pomni argued.
Jax shook his head. “Nevermind that, explain your real reason for spending time with him.”
Pomni hesitated, not sure if she should tell him.
But, she reasoned, this was a plan that would affect everyone, so she supposed Jax deserved to know.
“I…have a plan,” she said. “A plan to get us out of here.”
Jax’s pupils dilated.
“It’s very risky,” Pomni continued, “But it may be the only way to be free.”
Jax stared at her. “What…exactly are you planning?” he said warily.
“I’m getting rid of Caine,” Pomni said with no hesitation. She had gotten this far, she might as well spill the beans.
“...How?”
“I was talking to him the other day, and he mentioned that his cane is an extension of his power,” Pomni explained. “If I could stab him with it, it would destroy him.”
“You mean kill him.”
“Well, yes, but then, without a central AI, the program would shut down and let us go!”
Jax grabbed Pomni’s shoulders. “I don’t think that’s how it works, Pompom,” he said, in a rare moment of seriousness. “What if it deletes us too?”
“It won’t,” Pomni said, brushing Jax’s hands off her and walking to open the door. “I’ll make sure of it.”
She left her room, leaving Jax standing alone, his eyes wide and unblinking.
Today was the day. Pomni could feel it.
There was an in-house adventure going on, so her friends would be close by in case anything went wrong.
She took a deep breath as she walked up to Caine for their daily chat.
She let him talk for a while, feeling guilty about what she was about to do.
Finally, she spoke up.
“Hey, Caine,” she began casually, hoping that her voice wasn’t trembling, “I was wondering if I could look at your cane?”
“Why is that, my little peculiar jester?” Caine asked.
“I…wanted to see if I could create anything with it,” Pomni said, grabbing for an excuse. “You know, since it’s an extension of your power.”
“I don’t see why not,” Caine said, then snapped his fingers.
His cane appeared in his hand, and Pomni took it.
Just then she heard footsteps approaching. She turned to see her friends nearing.
“Caine, we finished your adventure, and we were wondering if–” Ragatha began.
She stopped when she noticed Pomni holding Caine’s cane.
“...What are you doing, Pomni?” She asked nervously.
Jax ran forward, and Pomni knew that he knew what she was about to do.
“Stop! You don’t need to do this!” he said, a panicked look in his eyes.
But Pomni had already gone too far to change plans.
Before Jax could reach her, she grasped the cane and stabbed Caine right in the middle with it.
Immediately, she felt her cane trembling and trying to jerk out of her hands, but she held on.
Then she made the mistake of looking up.
Caine's body was breaking apart into tiny pixels, a look of horror and betrayal on his face.
Pomni felt a rush of guilt wash over her, bringing tears to her eyes. Caine had been a friend to her, and now? She had betrayed him.
There was a bang, and Caine’s body shattered into many pieces, before disappearing.
Pomni dropped the cane to the floor, shaken.
“What have you done?” Zooble asked.
Pomni slowly turned to look at the others. They all looked terrified–of her.
“I…” Pomni tried to say something to explain this horrible deed, but words failed her.
She didn’t have time to say anything more.
The circus suddenly started crumbling, falling apart, disappearing into the void.
But that wasn’t as bad as what happened next.
Gangle let out a cry, and everyone whipped their heads around to look at her.
Pomni stared in horror as she saw a portion of Gangle’s body deleting itself.
Then the others cried out, as their own bodies started disappearing.
Pomni barely registered the pain when her own body started glitching.
All she could see were her friends in pain.
She numbly looked at the floor.
Was this their fate?
Were they all doomed to die?
Because of her?
Then she spotted the cane.
All of this was happening because there was no central AI left.
If there was another one, a new one…maybe they could all be saved.
Everyone was too distracted to notice as Pomni reached for her cane.
So she took it.