Chapter Text
“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! Isn't that right, Bubble?”
“That's right, Caine! I can't wait to see what you've got cooking up for today!”
“Well, let's not waste any time! Let's get right into the show!”
And as the curtains parted, all six new members of the Digital Circus would soon appear.
The first one we see is a crow, dressed like something straight from Hot Topic. She seems very revolted by the circus.
“Why’s everything so brightly colored? Is this some kinda bait-and-switch horror game?”
As she continues to question this strange world, we pan to the next member, a princess in a blue dress holding a parasol.
“Oh my, I’ve always wanted to go to a circus! I wonder what excitement is in store for me?”
Next is a duo of a cat in a metallic suit and a short, spherical robot. The two are mid-conversation.
“So first we gotta find who the hero is, uhh… W-what was your name again? Sorry, um….”
“Speaking of… I-I… can’t remember mine for some reason.”
The camera shifts focus to a slender mummy with red ribbons, wearing a theatrical mask, leaning on the blue walls in the background.
“What kind of trip am I on now?! And what moron puked those rancid colors onto everything?! My eyes are gonna fall off!”
Finally, the camera shifted to a human girl wearing mostly blue clothes.
“Woah! So this is the game! Looks… pretty neat!”
Caine soon floated over to them.
“My my my! It seems 6 new people have entered this realm!” He said.
The crow and the mummy look at each other in visible confusion.
The cat walks up to Caine and asks “Hello! Do you by any chance know where we can find a- uhh- hero?”
“A hero? My dear, in the Amazing Digital Circus, you are the heroes!”
Caine points at the new members with his staff.
“Wh- What?”
The cat and the robot look at him as if he just told them they were rubber ducks.
The ringmaster elaborates: “You’ll get to go on many, many adventures - and you’ll be the hero of every single one of them! Doesn’t that sound wonderful?”
“Uhhh- I don’t know… heheh…”
The cat puts on a slight, forced smile.
“Cool. Uhm, can we talk?”, the robot says, as he grabs the cat and gently pushes her to the side for a four-eyes conversation.
“Listen. We are so [%$(◇)!#]-ed! … Wait, what the [%$(◇)!#] just hap- … Are we getting censored?!”
“Now, now, we can’t have any of that foul language around here.” Caine answers. “The Amazing Digital Circus is a place to be enjoyed by all ages! You, my friends, stumbled into an incredible world of wonders, where anything can happen! - E-except for swearing.”
“What?! Are you serious?!”, the mummy bursted out in anger.
The robot stutters something incomprehensible, before burying his face in his hands.
The cat tries to cheer him up: “Don’t worry! I’m sure there will be a final - uhm - adventure, yes! There is always a final level, you know?”
Caine interrupts their conversation once again. “Oh, don’t worry! In the Amazing Digital Circus, the fun never ends!”
Getting back to their conversation, the cat sighed before turning to the robot again. “Listen, I’ve heard of these “endless” games before. There has to be a final level to this.”
The robot looks at her with great annoyance in his singular eye. “There better be, because you just told me 15 minutes ago that this was going to be ‘the shortest mission for this week’!”
“Relax! I know this isn’t going so well, but we’ve been here for less than 10 minutes, so don’t be so pessimistic! We barely know anything about this world yet! … Speaking of which, I’d like to know why I can’t remember my name…”
“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 the only thing I can help you with is coming up with a new one!”
“A new WHAT?”, the crow screams from far away.
“A new name, of course!”, Caine answers.
The newbies look around, one more flabbergasted than the other, their eyes looking for conclusions. Suddenly, a slot machine appears, containing a set of rapidly rotating slots with letters written on them.
The ringmaster points at the crow. “Let’s start with you!”
“Wait- ME?”
“Yes, you! You have been chosen to be the first to get a new name!”
“But I don’t want a new name!”
“Well too bad! You’re going to get one anyway!
Let’s see… What do you think of PQRTP?”
“Wh- What the [%$(◇)!#]?!”
“You’re right, terrible! Let’s try that again!”
Caine slams the lever attached to the machine, making the machine re-roll the letters.
“What do you think of OGHPT?”
“What? NO! Give me a real name at least!”
“Well I don’t know what a ‘real’ name is!”
Caine slams the machine one final time; it displays the name “TOMMI” after the letters finish spinning. The crow then speaks:
“‘Tommi,’ huh? Sounds cool, so… what happens next?”
“Now for the others!”
“Oh, so like a username?” The blue-haired girl said. “Is “Taskops” okay?”
“Of course!” Caine said. He didn’t seem concerned at all with Taskops, or anything that seemed unique about her compared to the rest of the circus.
“Next!” Caine exclaimed as he gave the machine’s lever another pull, gesturing for the princess in blue to come over. The machine landed on the name “Beryl”.
“Why, what a nice name!” Beryl told Caine. “I hope that we can have the most fun of times at the circus together…”
“Aw, thanks!” Caine said, before giving the machine’s lever another pull, gesturing for the cat and robot to come over. The machine landed on the names “Razzle” & “Dazz”.
“Razzle…” she muttered to herself before shaking her head. “Look, we need to know who the hero is. Or the villain.”
“Like I already said, Razzle,” Caine said, “You are the hero! But, you will be facing many, many villains on your many adventures.”
“Never mind, let’s just go-” Dazz started, before hesitating. “Razzle. We’re not gonna get anywhere asking this wack job.”
“Uh… yeah, you’re probably right.” Razzle said. “But maybe if we stick around, we’ll find them.”
The red mummy stepped forward.“Hey, what about me? Don’t I get a name?”
“Of course!” Caine exclaimed as he gave the machine’s lever another pull, gesturing for the mummy to come over. The machine landed on the name “Cleo”.
“Well, at least it’s good”, Cleo told Caine as she looked around the circus.
Starting a feel overwhelmed by the bright colors she looked up at the ringmaster, “Well, that’s enough of this [%$(◇)!#]-hole.”
Cleo paused for a moment at the censoring before groaning. She’s definitely going to get off if she stays here even just a minute longer.
She placed her hands on her head to take off the headset she placed on, only to not feel any sign of the headset she placed.
Trying not to panic, Cleo looked up to the ringmaster, “So, how are we able to leave?”
Everyone looked up at Caine as he paused mid-air. Even Dazz and Razzle stopped from their search to look at Caine.
They waited for an answer from the ringmaster but none came. It didn’t take a genius to know what that meant.
“WHAT THE [%$(◇)!#]?” Tommi shouted, immediately trying to take her headset off only to find the same result as Cleo.
“Oh dear.” Beryl seemed to be the most calm out of everyone, “I hope the park won’t have too much trouble without me around.”
“Wha-?!” Taskops tried to pull out her own headset but felt nothing. “Y-you mean we can’t leave?!”
“Now, don’t fret, everyone.” Caine said, trying to calm everyone down. “Yes, it's true that you can’t leave, but I promise you that we’ll have so much fun here!”
“And what type of ‘fun’ do you mean, exactly?” Cleo asked.
“Like I said, we’ll get to go on many adventures. Speaking of which, you’ll be getting a simple, in-house adventure for all of you to get a feel for how things work around here.”
Razzle and Dazz looked at each other, wincing. It’s clear that the people here weren’t the usual heroes they would encounter. But they were heroes nevertheless.
“We’ll have to report this to… to….” Razzle tried to think of their companion’s name, but it couldn’t hit them.
“Oh [%$(◇)!#].” Dazz said.
“Ok, this game world is unlike anything we’ve visited before.” Razzle said, trying to rationalize the situation. “But he’ll know we’re gone, and come looking for us.”
“And risk the fact that he’ll get trapped here, too?!” Dazz yelled, “Let’s just report this and make sure that he doesn’t try to get in here. We have been gone long enough.”
Dazz tried sending out the report, only for it to be unable to make it through. The two of them looked at it in horror.
“We just need to focus on stopping the others before they reach the final adventure.” Razzle nervously said, forcing a small laugh that just quickly died off.
“Before your first adventure, I’d like to give you a tour of the grounds first.”
Grabbing onto everyone, Caine soon warped them outside of the tent.
“Here we have... The Tent! This is where your living quarters are, as well as all sorts of other activities! These activities may include [ERROR], ball pits, mini-golf and more!”
“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!”
Caine then warped them to a large, lightly-colored expanse that seemed to be endless.
“This is The Void! We don't venture out into the void. Not even I know what's out there.”
With that, Caine warped them back onto the grounds.
“We stay right here, where I can keep my hundreds of all-seeing eyes on you.”
“Hello, Caine, I love you.” The moon said, shocking Caine a bit.
“Let’s get outta here before the moon gets frisky!” And with that, everyone was warped back inside the Tent.
Almost immediately, everyone threw up.
“Woah, clean up on aisle you!”
“I’m on it, boss!” Bubble appeared and started licking up the vomit.
Caine just looked at Bubble with disgust and disappointment, “...Why are you like this?”
Cleo was the first to recover and noticed the color of the vomit: “It’s black.”
"No sh[%$(◇)!#], Sherlock!" Tommi said in response.
"Oh my!" Beryl said, looking at the unladylike action she had done. "Do excuse me for my accident."
Throughout her life, Cleo had grown up with the harsh lesson that any drop of her black blood would cause her to become a target to everyone in her home.
Yet, as she looked at the others, none of them blinked twice. Maybe a bit shocked, but not the fear type of shock that she had expected. In her mind, she breathed a sigh of relief, knowing she’d have some form of safety.
“Now then, as I said earlier,” Caine began. “All of you will be getting a simple in-house adventure to warm you up on how things work around here. Today’s adventure is… Gather the Gloinks!” Caine said, laughing psychotically.
“That's right! The entire circus tent will be infested with Gloinks, and you gotta catch 'em all!”
“But what are they?” Bubble asked.
“I'm glad you asked, Bubble. They're small-”
“And what do they do?” Bubble interrupted.
“...They-”
“And how do they-?” Bubble began to ask before he was popped by Caine again.
"Gloinks are small mischievous critters that steal anything and everything they run into! Why do these humanoid hash-browns do this? How do you stop them? That's for you to find out! Now, good luck, and have fun my little superstars!" And with that, Caine disappeared, leaving everyone to themselves.
Tommi groaned loudly. “Do we have to do this stupid adventure?”
“An adventure.” Razzle said. “Dazz, I think we’ll have to go on the adventure if we wanna find the-”
Before Razzle could finish her sentence, Gloinks hopped into view and started attacking her.
“Heeyy! Get away from me!”, she screamed whilst unsuccessfully trying to keep them at bay.
The Gloinks dragged her away from the group as Dazz hurried off, yelling at the Gloinks to put her down.
“[%$(◇)!#]-it, Razzle.” Dazz muttered. “Now I’ll have to go rescue you again.”
“Well, looks like she’s dead.” Cleo stated.
“Anyways, what do you guys wanna do now?” Tommi asked.
“I say we explore this place.” Cleo answered, “That Grannymouth has to be lying. There has to be an exit out there.”
“Well, I know I sure don’t like this dumb[%$(◇)!#] circus.” Tommi said. “Let’s find the way out and get the [%$(◇)!#] out of here.”
“Um, shouldn’t we go help Razzle and Dazz first?”, Taskops asked.
“I don’t need help, I can find Razzle on my own.”, Dazz snapped.
“Well, suit yourself. I'll be off finding an exit.” Tommi walked off without another word.
Beryl walked up to Dazz, “Are you sure you won’t need any assistance?”
She was quite curious about Dazz. He seems to be another robot, yet his behavior is extremely different from how she and the others acted.
Sure, he might have been programmed this way, but something tells her that that might not be the case. He seems to act more… freely.
She wonders how that feels.
“I’m sure. This isn’t my first rodeo.” And with that, Dazz sprinted off to find Razzle.
Taskops wanted to go after him despite his protests, and probably would have if Tommi and Cleo hadn’t called them.
“Hey!” Tommi yelled from the second floor, “We didn’t find the exit, but we found our ‘new rooms’.”
Taskops and Beryl went up to the second floor and met the two at the entrance of the Dorm Hall.
Sure enough, this seems to be their living quarters as six of the doors were marked by an icon of their face.
Cleo looked at her icon with shock in her face. “Wait, is that what my face looks like? REALLY? This dentist clown cannot be dead[%$(◇)!#]!”
She stops for a moment, before groaning loudly.
Taskops noticed the other doors. Some had a mannequin on the icon, while others had a different person that was crossed out with a red X.
“What happened to these people?” she quietly asked, gaining an uneasy feeling in her stomach. She tried to open one, but it wouldn’t budge.
Tommi opened her door to find her room was very, very girly.
“I’m going to kill him.” The venom was clearly heard in her voice.
Beryl’s room had a very industrial look to it, while Taskops’ was more akin to a combination between a bedroom and a science lab. Cleo’s room was the most normal compared to everyone else, being a mostly standard bedroom.
“Anyways… I was gonna help Dazz find Razzle.” Taskops said. “Anyone wanna come?”
“Bite me. I’m still looking for the exit.” Tommi said.
“How about you guys?” Taskops said to Cleo and Beryl.
“Uh, sure, why not.” Cleo said. “Not like I have anything better to do.”
“I would be glad to help out someone in need!” Beryl said with an enthusiastic smile.
The three ran off as Tommi continued exploring the vast corridors.
They soon met up with Dazz at a hole in the ground, where he could hear Razzle talking to someone.
“What the [%$(◇)!#] are you doing here?” Dazz said to the others.
“We want to help you.” Taskops said.
Dazz groaned. The last thing he needed was for these heroes to find the villain.
“Well, I’m going in!” Dazz said, about to jump in. “Don’t even think about following me!”
Dazz leaped into the hole.
“Well, sorry for trying to help, [%$(◇)!#]-hole!” Cleo yelled after him.
“I can still hear you, dumb[%$(◇)!#]!” Dazz’s voice echoed from the hole, rapidly getting fainter as he fell to the bottom.
Beryl frowned a bit. “Such language. I’m glad there aren’t any children here.”
The other two looked at her a little curiously. Her way of talking is very different. A little robotic, which is strange as Dazz is the one who looks like a robot.
Dazz rolled down a giant slide and straight through a group of pin-shaped Gloinks arranged in a bowling formation. A floating sign appeared, spelling the word “STRIKE!”. He then bumped into a large flower pot, stopping him. As he was getting up while scratching his head, he noticed his friend.
“Razzle!” Dazz called.
Razzle, who had been talking to a large, slug-like creature with faces on both ends of its body, called out to Dazz. “There you are! Look, I found our villain!”
“So, what do you offer the Gloink Queen, you non-Gloinkinian felinoid?”, the Gloink Queen asked.
“Well, do you have any enemies you always wanted to defeat?”, Razzle asked.
“I do not tolerate any non-Gloinkinians and I will Gloinkify all of them!”, the Gloink Queen said.
“I and my friend here would like to… help you.” Razzle tried to rack her brain for an explanation of her quest, but nothing came to mind… even though she felt deep down that she and Dazz needed to help the Queen.
“Help me? The Gloink Queen does not need nor accept help from non-Gloinkinians!”
“Are you sure? I think we could give you quite the tactical advantage over your foes!”
“Well, if you so wish…”
The faces of Razzle and Dazz start to brighten up.
“You can join my army of Gloinks, but to become a Gloink, you first need to become my feast!”
The duo was horrified. Razzle shouted, “FEAST? But that means we would-”
“Yes. And I’m sure you will be delicious.” The Gloink Queen attempted to snap up the duo with her large jaws, only for them to dodge her attack. Razzle and Dazz proceeded to run, with the Queen commanding her subjects to follow the two. “After them! Get me my snacks back!”
Meanwhile, Beryl would begin to hear the screams of Razzle and Dazz from the hole.
“Oh, dear!” Beryl said. “Could that be our new friends in danger?”
“Would anyone like to join me in helping our friends?” Beryl looked at the others.
Cleo scoffed, “Um, no. Have you heard [%$(◇)!#]-head? He clearly doesn’t need any of our help.”
“That’s true, but it clearly sounds like they are struggling down there. Plus there’s Razzle we need to think about.” Taskops was still looking at the hole hearing the two’s screams.
“Ugh, fine.”, Cleo said. “Wanna come with us, Taskops?”
Taskops nodded, “We could use all the help that we could get.”
And with that, all three jumped down the hole.
Upon landing, they saw the Gloink Queen chasing the two. Taskops began to use her special vision to formulate a strategy. While doing so, she saw her companions had special abilities.
“Cleo, your ribbons!”, Taskops said.
Cleo noticed that the ribbons that were covering her body were starting to float around her.
“What the [%$(◇)!#]?” She was both confused and intrigued by this discovery.
“You can control them!”, Taskops said. “Try using them to tie up the queen!”
“Got it!” Cleo ran towards the queen and ran in front of her. Before she could get eaten up, she jumped up over the queen and used her ribbons to tie the queen in place, using all of her strength while Razzle and Dazz ran over to the three.
“So, you said you didn’t need our help, huh?”, Cleo said to Dazz with a smirk.
“Oh, shut up.” Dazz said in a huff.
“Could I speak to this creature, everyone?”, Beryl said.
Razzle looked at Beryl with a bit of panic. “What? Why would you need to talk to her?”
“She might be angry because we disturbed her habitat.” Beryl explained calmly.
“If you say so…” Cleo said, letting the queen go as Beryl walked up to it.
“Hello there, my name is Beryl.” Beryl introduced herself, “What’s your name?”
“I am the Gloink Queen!” The queen yelled. “What is your demand?”
“We’re sorry for destroying your home. It seems like a cozy place for you and your subjects to live in.” Beryl said.
“Silence! I do not listen to non-Gloinkinians like you!”
“There’s no reason to fuss over what my friends did. We’ll be taking our leave shortly.”
“There is no escape, insolent humanoid!”
“Now, all this name-calling is very unnecessary. Where are your manners?”
“I will give you one last chance to behave yourself.” Beryl said, pouting a bit.
The queen’s only response was a growl. Cleo wrapped up her mouth again.
“Ok, this is clearly getting us nowhere.” Cleo said, “Any other bright ideas, Princess?”
As she was saying this, she failed to notice the other mouth of the Gloink Queen slowly reaching forward. As a response, Beryl whacked it with her parasol.
“HOW DARE YOU ATTACK ME?!” The Gloink Queen shrieked. “For this, you will become Gloinks! All will be Gloinks! GOD WILL BE GLOINKS!”
"Such a tone in front of my friends!" Beryl said. "Come along, everyone! I believe we should leave this person alone until they can learn to be nice!"
Beryl was about to walk off when the Gloink Queen bumped into her, sending her flying into a nearby wall, where she saw them going after the others.
At this point, Beryl lost her cool.
“And you dare attack my friends?!” Beryl screamed back.
Everyone watched in shock as Beryl began to grow larger. Her arms opened to reveal black tentacles poking out that turned into the shape of swords, and her eyes turned pitch black.
With a yell, she raced toward the Gloink Queen and started slaying her with her sword arms, causing the queen to start glitching. Their fighting started to affect the environment around them as the walls started shaking for a short bit, before finally returning to normal. As the Gloink Queen laid defeated, Beryl was on the ground, having turned back to normal.
Beryl gasped, “Oh dear, what happened?! I can’t remember a thing!”
She looked back at her friends who were looking at her with a mix of fear and shock.
“Um, yo-you t-t-turned into some sort of… uh… monster.” Razzle said, with Dazz only being able to nod.
“Oh dear! I must be under some terrible curse!”
“Curse?” Cleo could only say. She gained a new respect for the princess, which is saying something considering the things she witnessed growing up back home.
“That was actually the best thing I have ever seen!” Cleo said. “Do it again!”
“I’m afraid I won’t be doing that.” Beryl replied. “Besides, this might get in the way of my duties as a princess.”
Beryl took some time to look around the cave.
“Speaking of which, I believe I have had far too much excitement for one day. Is there a way out of here?”
“Um, guys, over there.” Dazz said pointing at one side of the cave. Sure enough, there was an escalator located there leading back up to the Tent.
“That was there the whole time.” Razzle groaned.
They all went up the escalator and re-entered the circus, where Tommi was waiting.
“Eh… couldn’t find a way out.” Tommi sighed.
Cleo groaned, “Oh great.”
“Congratulations on defeating the Gloink Queen everyone!” Caine cheered. “As a reward, you’ll be treated to a delicious digital feast cooked by our head Bubble Chef.”
“Made with all the love I’m legally allowed to give!”
“Hey, Mr. Caine?” Taskops asked. “I was looking at our rooms, and I saw some had a red X on them. What does that mean?”
“Well…” Caine said, struggling to think of an explanation. “Sometimes, people can’t handle the Digital Circus. They get all these negative thoughts and well… something terrible happens.”
"What do you mean?" Beryl said.
"You see, sometimes the humans get in trouble during my adventures." Caine said. "And when they can't vent their frustrations in a suitable outlet... they... Abstract."
"What?" Tommi asked. "What do you mea-?"
“But don’t worry!” Caine said, going into a more cheerful tone. “I’m sure my adventures will keep you in high spirits!”
Razzle and Dazz looked at each other uneasily. Hopefully the next adventure had a villain who would be more willing for assistance.
Soon, the entire group sat down to eat the digital feast.
Tommi looked around at the other circus members. Razzle and Dazz were having a private discussion. Beryl was eating her food delicately. Taskops was trying to make conversation with Cleo, who was dozing off in her seat.
Tommi was taking this time to process everything. She remembered the mirror she found earlier, the new body she was given. She took this time to look at her wings before getting slowly agitated.
She was finding a way out of this circus. And nothing was gonna stop her.
THE END