Chapter Text
Pomni
Pomni woke up in a cold sweat. She laid in her bed all alone, covers were on the floor. The lights were all off with the sun that illuminated the entire room through the blinds. Open and empty instant ramen boxes crowded around one corner, some toppled her desk. Her posters peeled off the wall.
What…had happened..?
The woman sat up, and wiped the sweat from her face. The room was normal. Too normal. It was filled with dull colors and the occasional pop of neon. No, there weren’t any floating blocks and the accustomed assortment of spherical shapes. It was her own bedroom. Not the one that was designed for her. Her day to day bedroom. And it was very.
Very..real.
The first thing she did was feel for any coincidentally missing body parts. Her face had all surprisingly human features. Her eyes were smaller(and a shade of brown), she had a nose, and her mouth had lips. Her hair was made of thin individual strands wrapped in a low messy bun instead of thick blocky renders.
“Something..is off..” she whispered to no one.
Nothing was off. Everything was real. Real and blatantly terrifying. Different from those excruciatingly painful six months she spent in the Amazing Digital Circu-
“OH!” she gasped in realization, she stood up on her bed suddenly before she hit her head on the low ceiling.
“Ow…”
The Amazing Digital Circus!
Pomni sighed, tears of relief and fear formed in her eyes. Oh my god..she was free! She was out! No more Caine! No more drama! No more Caine! No more adventures! AND NO MORE CAINE!
Hold on.
“How much time has passed since I..?”
Pomni- No. Not Pomni, crawled to the nearest electronic device while she clutched her head in one hand. With the other she clawed for her phone and frantically clicked the screen. Dead. She grabbed her charger and plugged it in as she breathed heavily.
In the Digital Circus, it seemed like she was stuck in there for months. Maybe even a year. Time probably worked differently there but a terrible thought came to Pomni as she waited for her phone. Surely even after a week without any real food or water.. her human body should have died..
Her phone screen buzzed to life..the time read..
“Wednesday June 6th, 2017…”
Huh…so only 3 days had passed since she…
Her head snapped to the virtual reality headset that hung from the corner of her bedframe. She felt her blood run cold as she continued to stare at it. Memories flooded back as she remembered that when she went exploring she brought home the headset and outdated computer from that abandoned office…
It probably was a good idea to lock it in a box and chuck it somewhere to hope that it reaches the bottom of the ocean…
Pomni gingerly picked the headset up by the strap and tossed it under her bed. She exhaled before she laid down on her bed again. She’d need a reallyyyy long time to process all this.
She recounted what happened while she lived in the Digital Circus. She couldn’t remember ever needing to use the washroom or shower. She didn’t need to eat real food. She didn’t sleep often. She also couldn’t remember her real name while in there..
Wait! What was her real name!?
Pomni checked her phone again. She can’t believe she still can’t remember her own name…She scrolled through texts, messages, IDs…anything that could have her name…gosh her memories were all jumbled up..
Then...in her mom’s rows of very concerned texts.
“Amy”
Amy Lin..
Right. She was Amy Lin. Not..Pomni..
Even though she had used the name Amy for twenty-five years. It suddenly felt very foreign to her. Which made sense since she had only been addressed as “Pomni” for what felt like too long. She felt a tinge of sadness that she’d only be called Amy from then on..
Another thought entered her head.
What about the others..?
Jax, Ragatha, Kinger, Zooble, Gangle..
God, she missed them already.
For five minutes, Amy decided to search up their digital circus names. She knew she was absolutely bonkers to even do so. None of them would go by those names. The more she searched the more anxious she got, she felt her throat sting. How would she ever know if they even made it out like her?
They could have easily abstracted, remained in the circus, or just…died... Out of all the possibilities, she really, REALLY hoped it was the second over the first and third. It was really strange, everything was really fuzzy before she escaped. She couldn’t remember anything that happened leading up to it..
Her phone suddenly rang, she felt a rise of hope.
“Hello..?”
There's a pause.
“AMY!”
Amy flinched as her own mother screamed her name through the phone.
“Where have you been?!”
“Mommm..relax! I’m all oka-?”
“Don’t you ‘all okay’ me young lady! You didn’t answer my calls for three days straight! I almost called the police to break down your door and check on you!”
Amy stared at the ground guilty. She really never wanted to make her mother angry. Or anyone in general. She preferred to keep things peaceful..for the sake of her ears and mental health.
“I called your boss! She said you haven’t been on shift all week! I swear, all this technology is making your brain go dead! Phone this! Google that! I didn’t raise you in America just to do a lousy job, and terribly on top of that!!”
Amy winced.
“...I wasn’t feeling good so I just slept..and forgot to pick up the phone…for uh..three days..” Amy lied.
“Forgot to pick up- MY ASS! Do you want your poor mother to die early?
“No mom…”
“Aiyo..if only I had more children while I was young! I’m sure my other children wouldn’t be this stupid!!!”
“How would you even know that…?”
“Don’t give me attitude!”
Amy braced her ears as her mother swore at her in Chinese-English for another five minutes for the rest of the call. It was pretty normal somehow, it gave her a sense of familiarity.
“Okay Mom…! I need to go… to work! I’ll talk to you another time..!” She said through clenched teeth as she clicked the end call button.
The room went silent and Amy flopped over on her bed again. The woman felt herself yearn for her friends again. Not the ones she made as Amy. The ones she made as Pomni. She started thinking; At this point, was the Digital Circus better than living in the real world?
Her phone rang again. Stupid, Stubborn, Mom was probably calling again! Amy huffed before she aggressively answered her phone.
“Hello?!”
“Hello..”
The voice belonged to a man, perhaps middle aged. It was quite similar to someone’s despite Amy not knowing this number.
“Hi how can I help y-”
“Hi! Is this Amy Lin?”
The voice was undeniably goofy and eccentric. She raised an eyebrow. How on earth did this person know her name? Maybe it was one of the hiring managers to the places she applied at.
Amy clutched her phone harder. “Oh uh Amy speaking..?” she felt a little bit awkward after she practically screamed hello.
There's dead silence.
“Uhm how can I help-”
“Amy, did you by any chance ever go as Pomni?”
Hope flooded into Amy’s mind once more before it was tainted by slight dread.
“Yes! Yes I did- hold on- how did you know-”
“Oh it’s nothing,” the man said chalantly, “I just tracked the computer location, found your address. Oh, and then I searched for a resume that had the same address.”
Amy was NOT happy with the news of this very blunt stalker she had in her midsts. Yet, she somehow knew that this man could maybe help her…where had she heard that voice though..
“Hey Pomni? Are you there?”
Wait..SHE RECOGNIZED THAT VOICE!
“Wait a damned minute! Kinger is that you..?” Amy said, wary. Only someone like Kinger would admit something like stalking too casually. Maybe Jax too.
“Yes, now Pomni…I need your help..”
“Yea..?” she replied expectedly.
“Could you open the door? It’s sunny outside.”
Amy looked incredulously back at her phone.
“You’re here…? AT MY APARTMENT…???”
“Yes!”
He ended the call and Amy headed to the door. She was praying that he was joking(he doesn’t joke. At least not like that). He better NOT be outside..She looked through the keyhole and found a blue eye staring right back at her. She shrieked.
“JESUS-! Kinger…!"
Yep definitely him.
She slowly unlocked her door. Kinger smiled, oblivious to her sudden distress. He was a European caucasian man who had graying platinum blond hair. His eyes were bloodshot and couldn’t focus on one thing. He stared wildly inside to look around before he sat on the couch.
“Wow. Your house is a lot smaller than I expected. Back in my days, apartments were bigger. How much was this one? $14,000?”
“..Thanks..Kinger…”
“No problem.”
Amy wondered, did this version of Kinger have some sort of brain damage? During her time in the circus, he was a little cuck-koo and only functioned in the dark..No, surely if he tracked her all the way here he had some sort of intellect left.
“Hey Kinger..or whatever your real name is..”
He turned around to look at her.
“Uhm…do you want me to close the blinds....or are you good?” She didn’t know how to phrase that without sounding blatantly disrespectful.
Kinger stared at her blankly before he abruptly laughed much to Amy’s embarrassment.
“No, I am good. Yet thank you for offering.”
Amy nodded quickly.
“Okay. Got that.” she said, “Uhm. Quick question Kinger..Why are you here..? In. My. Apartment.”
Kinger stared at the ceiling.
“..Kinger…?”
“Oh yes,” He coughed, “I think I’ve found a way to find the others.”
Amy’s eyes widened in shocked but delighted surprise. She was already very lucky to somehow meet Kinger again..but the others too? She felt her heart beat go faster .
“You..you found a way to reach the others…?”
Kinger nodded as he brought out photos of his computer screen. He handed the photos to her and she squinted to stare. Each photo had a profile of a person with their name and address. Amy laid them out on her coffee table before attempting to guess.
“These are them?”
“Yes. They took a while to find.”
“Uh huh..did you track them too?”
“Yes. To some extent. Although I can't pinpoint all their exact locations.”
Pomni looks at a photo. “Okay. So Ragatha’s name is Jillian Hayes…”
Kinger smiled.
“Yes. She was actually the easiest to find. She still had her contact website up. Surprisingly, her number was kept by her family. I called her and she said she was doing well. Unfortunately, she’s still figuring out IDS and things. She’s been claimed missing for years.”
Amy raised an eyebrow.
“Wait..but if I was only gone for a few days and it felt like half a year..how many years was everyone else in there…?!”
“I’ve been there for approximately 18 years. However it felt like around the amount of time I've lived in general.” Kinger counted off his fingers.
Amy’s heart dropped. “Time he’s lived in general” was equivalent to about fifty years. Fifty years trapped in an artificial digital world.
“Oh..that’s..really sad actually..”
Kinger shrugged.
“Well we can’t do anything but move on can we?” He said, “ I actually don’t regret my time in the world at all.”
Amy looked up confused.
“I got to meet all of you, and that’s all that matters to me.”
Amy smiled in relief.
“Aww. I mean, I guess me too..”
He nodded. “Yes, and let’s continue. Who’s next?”
“Oh! Right, sorry. Uhh…”
She squinted. God the quality was so bad. Couldn’t he have used his phone to take pictures? Wait..how did Kinger even call her..does he even know how to use a smartphone..?
“Avery..Rodrigeuz..uhm..the one that has tattooing and barista on their profile..is Zooble I think. Zooble mentioned working both.”
“Yes. Zooble’s number is inactive though, so I assume their phone number had been deactivated. However, they do live in this city.”
“Wait..how do you know they live here..? This city?”
“Well. Everyone living in America who enters the circus has used a Virtual Reality headset from the same office. I’m positive no one is driving hours just to explore an abandoned office from decades ago.”
“So..there’s only one device? So then how did Zooble return back to where they lived?”
“There’s more than one headset. I reckon everyone took the VR set along with the computer home. Most don’t trust the headset or the building itself enough to use it there.”
Oh. So everyone thought like her..
“How many locations of the C&A are there?”
“One here, since we are based in America. Another in Australia because the CEO's brother wanted a location for himself. Finally, there's a small office in Japan that was set there because Japan was the most tech savvy country back in the 90’s.”
“Uhm..none of them are still used..right?”
“None are used. The two in America and Australia have been completely abandoned. The one in Japan had been renovated to be a fast food chain restaurant.”
Fast food chain restaurant..god. Amy didn't want to see any of those since that one adventure from the suggestion box. She hated working parttime jobs in retail. She never understood why Gangle wanted to work-
“Wait! Wouldn’t Gangle be there?” Amy said suddenly, looking through the photos.
Kinger nodded encouragingly. “You’re correct. I suppose I didn’t think of that..”
“We’ll note that down. So you found Gangle as…”
Amy squinted at the name.
“Ayaka…uhm..I can’t pronounce the rest properly”
“Ayaka Watanabe.”
“.Yea..wait, so she was actually Japanese?”
Kinger stared at her.
“Well wasn’t that quite obvious? Remember the Japanese animation adventure she picked?
“No no, I remember that. It’s just that..I thought she was just an otaku in America. You know. She was speaking English..” The word otaku felt funny in her mouth because Amy knew darn well that she watched anime too.
“Pomni, you just told me that Gangle could have found the headset at the Japanese C&A location.”
Amy laughed nervously.
“Oh right..”
“About the English speaking part. The AI was trained to be able to do translations. Caine wouldn’t want miscommunication between the members. So I’m guessing that Gangle had a translator filter on her. Or. She may just be very good at English.”
“I guess that’s true.” She flips to the last photo, “Uh..”
Jax..
“Liam..Walker”
“I thought that his name would be something like Hopper.”
Amy stared at Kinger warily.
“I apologize. Please continue”
“...”
She stared at the photo again.
“Hold on…he lives…in AUSTRALIA???? HE’S AUSTRALIAN??”
So that was the explanation of the adventures from the suggestion box’s lightning round…
“Did you know that Australia has the most rabbits?”
“...”
“Anywho. Seems like we have a long journey to go on.”
What.
“Woah woah wait-” Amy places the photos down again, “It’s great that you’ve found all of them. Really. However, I don’t have the money to fly to Japan or Australia..both are like- HALFWAY ACROSS THE WORLD-!”
Kinger contemplated.
“That’s not that bad. How much are plane tickets these days? $800?”
“Kinger. I only make around $120 a day! And that’s BEFORE THE INCOME TAX!”
“Oh. Then I suppose that would be quite heavy on your wallet..”
Amy sighed. “Besides. Your passport has probably been expired for years. It’s too long to sort everything out..” She said, slightly disappointed, “We don’t have to see them. What matters is that they’re alive.”
Kinger tilted his head. “Well. The only one we actually have contact with is Ragatha. So we don’t actually know the status of the other three.”
“If only there was a way to know..” said Amy, suddenly she had an amazing idea.
“HOLD ON! STAY RIGHT HERE KINGER!” The woman ran to her bedroom and brought over her laptop.
Kinger stared at the sleek thin device in her hands.
“What is that, Pomni?”
“It’s a laptop,” she sat next to Kinger, showing him the screen. “If we go on Instagram or Facebook, surely we can find them right?”
He felt the screen edge. “Technology has gone a long way and I wasn't even there for it...Are those Social networking sites?”
“Yep! This is Instagram!”
Amy typed “Avery Rodriguez” and searched for Zooble on Instagram. They would probably be the only one with Instagram due to it existing only after 2012. She’d go on Facebook for the rest of em. Lots of profiles came up.
“Okay..we divert from here. Look, what would Zooble post on their account?”
“You can post pictures onto the website for everyone to access easily?”
“Yes- uh maybe..do you think they would post their tattoo art?”
Amy scrolled through multiple accounts. Most weren’t Zooble-like. Another worry entered her head. What was the possibility that Zooble was on a private account? She searched for another 10 minutes until…
“Wait..Kinger come see this.”
Kinger, who was trying to stack and balance her coffee cups into a tower, went over to see what she had found on the Instantgram or whatever.
She slides him the screen. There are a lot of pictures of tattoo designs, presumably done by Zooble. The name was “AveRyDesigns”. There was a picture of a person with slightly tanned skin, brown eyes, and messy dyed pink hair.
“That feels very Zooble to me. That hair color is a fabulous choice.” Kinger noted.
“Right? Okay let’s try sending a message.
Amy pressed the follow button and typed a message. “‘Hey! It’s Pomni. Do you want to meet up sometime?’ Does that sound okay, Kinger?”
“It’s grammatically correct if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Good. Okay..” She sent the message before she sat back. “And now, we wait.”
“Uh, Pomni, how long does this message thingy take?” Kinger stared at the computer screen.
“Surely you know- nevermind. Uhm it’s when they decide to reply.”
“What if they don’t”
“Well..” She didn’t think about that, “Don’t worry. I believe Zooble will.”
For an hour, Amy taught Kinger how to play modern console games with her. He understood it a lot quicker than she expected, it surprised her because he was almost on the same skill level. Which, kind of pissed her off. In a good way.
“How are you winning?! You haven’t played Nintendo for like…two decades!” Amy yelled over the Mario Kart music as her Yoshi placed 2nd.
“I’m not sure. This is somehow a lot easier than the one I played back in ‘96.” Kinger replied as his Toad was the occupant of first place.
The television screen flashed colors as “FINISH” waved across the screen.
“Damn it!” Amy huffed as Kinger waved his arms in the air.
“Ping!”
Amy set down her controller, the victory video played in the background in honor of Kinger’s win. She picked up her phone to see a message from instagram.
“Kinger! Zooble responded!”
Kinger stopped his victory dance and went over to look at her phone. “You could have just messaged them on this cellular device. Why use your laptop?”
Good point.
“Uh I kinda forgot,” Amy said sheepish, “Let’s check what Zooble said.”
____________________________________________________________________
Your message request has been accepted.
AveRyDesigns: sure
AveRyDesigns: wait how did u find me Pomni..
AveRyDesigns: r u stalking me or what
____________________________________________________________________
Typical Zooble.
“No, Kinger did.” She typed back, “Now where should we meet?”
AveRyDesigns: wait u found Kinger too? I underestimated ur stalking powers wtf
“NO! KINGER FOUND ME-!”
AveRyDesigns: okay okay. meet at my house or smth.
“Okay..? Where is your house?”
AveRyDesigns: I’m sure you’ll find it lol
“ZOOBLE!”
“Pardon my interruption, but do you usually scream your messages out-loud while you type them?” Kinger asked.
Amy turned around. “Oh uh no. Sorry. I’ll tone down..”
Amy_Lin222: Let’s just meet at McDonalds. The one next to Blueberry Cafe. Sound gud?
AveRyDesigns: sure. I’ll go rn
“Yes! Okay Kinger. Time to go meet Zooble!”