Chapter Text
On one morning during the circus, everyone awoke and got ready for the day just like they normally did. Pomni would visit Jax's tent. Ragatha would join her sometimes and bring her to the cafe. Zooble and Gangle would leave the former's room. Kinger would leave his pillow fort and visit the aquarium.
And if it really were a normal day, Caine would be checking in on everyone. Except he was nowhere to be found. This eventually caused confusion between everyone. They remembered that a few days prior Kinger managed to get into the circus' code and give everyone internet access (even if it was slow as hell.)
But it was weird for Caine to just not be there. He was always there.
Rain or shine, it didn't matter.
"You think Caine finally needed to shut down?" Zooble inquired.
"He did seem… busy yesterday," Gangle mumbled.
Kinger shook his head, bucket haphazardly covering part of his face. "No, he would shut down when we're asleep. Not to mention his cooldown time for rebooting is fairly short."
"Uh… guys?" Ragatha called out. Right in front of her was a new portal. The color alternated between green and blue.
"Huh… is… this another one of Caine's adventures?" Pomni asked aloud.
"Surely not…" Zooble sighed.
"Maybe he made it for fun..? But I don't know how he'd be missing…" Gangle briefly tangled up her ribbons, but was quickly able to untangle them as she murmured.
Ragatha hesitated before reaching out. She pulled her hand back just as quickly when the air around the portal shimmered with static.
“It’s… warm,” she whispered.
Kinger adjusted his bucket. “Portals don’t just appear on their own here unless Caine opens them."
Pomni finally got closer to the portal, now to Ragatha's left. "You think we should enter? Caine might be there. And who knows? Maybe with that internet access this world will be a bit more… tasteful?"
"Not like there's much else to do. Plus I can't lie… I am a little worried about the guy," Zooble slightly groaned as they stood up.
One by one each member approached the portal. Pomni looked toward the small tent in the center of the common grounds. Jax was sleeping peacefully in the tent, just like he did every day since he abstracted. Pomni let go of whatever anxieties she may have had about leaving him behind. This wouldn't take long. All of them have some level of control over the circus as a whole. If they're away too long, they can just leave whenever.
With a deep breath, Pomni took the first step into the portal.
And behind them, everyone else followed.
Pomni opened her eyes to see a long winding gray hall. She looked behind her only to see no one behind her. She was all by herself.
"Oh you've got to be kidding me…"
Alarms blare overhead, and Pomni wastes no time running. She manages to spot automatic doors to her right and enters. The room inside was covered wall-to-wall with firearms. She scrambled to grab something.
Anything.
She grabbed a pistol and checked the ammunition. While she was at it, she snagged a few magazines and tucked them away into her inventory. She could hear shouting outside. Something about an intruder. All Pomni could think in that moment was:
"What kind of adventure did Caine just make?"
Ragatha was blinded by sunlight. But she could feel the green grass brushing against her hands and the sound of the sea in the distance. Once her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw a beautiful green landscape. It was nothing like the Grounds outside the circus tent. There was texture in this grass that the circus simply lacked.
She heard the sound of fighting in the distance and immediately got up and ran towards the source. She couldn't recognize any of the voices, but it was better to figure out what was going on from whatever NPCs were fighting at the moment rather than just staying ignorant.
Once she got close enough she saw what looked to be a blue hedgehog. She feels like she's seen a character like that before, but only briefly. He laughed heartily as he smashed what seemed to be the final soldier in an army of robots.
"Man. Egghead's really upped his game."
Ragatha watched, frozen for a second, as the blue hedgehog crushed a robot under his boot and flicked its sparking remains aside like trash.
Then, in the blink of an eye, he turned toward her. Those green eyes locked onto hers with an intensity that made her stomach flip. For a second, she thought that he was going to pounce on her and attack her like he did those robots
Instead he gave a friendly grin.
“Whoa! You’re… uh… not one of Eggman’s bots!” he said cheerfully, wiping grease off his gloves on his chest. “You from around here?" Behind him lay wreckage. The sky above was clear and blue, but it seemed more natural than the sky in the circus.
"No, not really." Ragatha relaxed slightly, her eyes darting to different areas of the wreckage.
"Yeah, I figured. You look lost," the hedgehog smirked as he wiped his nose. "Name's Sonic. What's yours?"
Zooble was on the run the moment they entered that portal. Many people seemed to point and stare. Jeez, these NPCs were very judgemental…
They ran until they finally found a spot away from the crowd: a small little coffee shop. They finally let out a sigh, but it was short lived when they saw a lone barista.
"Welcome to the Mean Bean, how can I-" He trailed off as he saw Zooble, but seemed to shake off the shock.
"Sorry. Um… how may I help you?"
Zooble hobbled toward the counter. "Honestly, I dunno if you can help with all of what I've got wrong right now." They watched as the man cleaned one of the mugs he grabbed from the sink.
"Well… maybe a little rest can help you find your bearings?"
Zooble pondered the offer before returning it with one question.
"Got any alcoholic options?"
Gangle was in a beautiful garden of sorts. Strange creatures swarmed her, but they seemed friendly enough. They repeated the word "chao" over and over, assumedly being their language.
Whatever panic Gangle had at being alone after entering the portal faded away as the creatures tended to her, even offering to fix her comedy mask, which had not been mended since even before Caine's temporary deletion.
Suddenly, there's footsteps in the distance, causing the chao to momentarily forget about Gangle and run toward the source. From a distance, Gangle could see a young rabbit and a pink hedgehog enter. The rabbit had a similar creature but it wore a red bowtie. Behind the two was a large purple cat with a fishing rod and a frog on his shoulder. All of them stared at Gangle.
Everyone couldn't even say a thing.
That was until the little rabbit tilted her head and started to walk toward her.
"Are you lost, miss?"
Kinger looked around to the best of his ability. He was trying to keep the bucket on his head to the best of his ability. From what he could see, the streets looked similar to pictures he saw of Venice. But it wasn't Venice. He remembered when him and Queenie had their honemoon in the actual city. This must've been some strange recreation that Caine wanted to make or something.
He walked among the cobblestone road and glanced at the mom-and-pop shops that surrounded the road. That was until he came upon a grand building with multiple students. The architecture looked Roman in nature. In front of the building was a courtyard filled with students. And in the middle of it all was an older looking man who quickly took notice of Kinger.
"Oh, my dear fellow. You seem lost."
Kinger looked toward the man. "I am, actually. I'm looking for someone. Someone really important."
The man smiled and gently led the chess piece inside as he would any other regular-looking human. "Well, I can probably help with that. What's your name?"
"It's Kinger."
"Nice to meet you Kinger. Welcome to Spagonia University. I'm Professor Pickle."
Pomni wove through hall after hall trying to find some semblance of an exit. She held her pistol in hand, thankfully not having to use any of the bullets in the chamber.
Pomni’s breath came fast and shallow as she ducked behind a server console, pressing her back against cold metal.
The shouting had gotten louder—boots stomping, radios crackling with static. She could hear orders being barked: “Secure Sector 7! Intruder in the armory!”
Her fingers tightened around the pistol. This wasn’t like Caine’s usual adventures. This place felt real.
Dangerous.
She peered over the edge of the console just enough to see two soldiers in gray tactical gear rounding a corner down one of those endless halls, rifles raised high like they expected combat at any second.
If they found her here…
"I found her."
Shit…
She turned and saw a black and red hedgehog. Before she could raise the gun and shoot, she was swiftly tackled to the ground. The force made her hit her head hard enough to knock her out.