Chapter Text
Ragatha looked up at the alarm that was going off just above her head. Her muscles were tensed, her pupil fixed on the red flashes. The penalty, she knew, would soon follow.
How had today turned out this bad?
It had started normally; she woke up, went through her morning routine, and joined the others in the main area. The tension clung to the air after the gun adventure. Still, Ragatha tried her best to push the discomfort deep down and continue as if nothing happened.
How else was she expected to navigate this insanity?
Dwelling on the negatives was… dangerous. So, she shut those feelings out.
Instead, she focused on the good things that had happened yesterday. She managed to talk with Kinger again. He had been more lucid than he normally was.
Because of him, she managed to grow closer to Pomni. She silently thanked him for that… again.
During her talk with Pomni, she kept herself from prying. Whether that was for Jax’s sake, Pomni’s, or her own, she didn’t know. Pomni painted a clear enough picture either way, and she knew Jax well enough to fill in the blanks.
A nauseating worry bubbled within her chest. Faint memories of Ribbit pushed their way to the forefront of her mind. She quickly, desperately, pushed those away and locked those deep down.
That didn’t matter right now.
She needed to focus on Pomni. On the others. They still needed to survive this insanity.
This morning, Jax seemed normal. As always.
His demeanor changed when Pomni joined the fray, though. He seemed upset—really upset at Pomni. And not in the way he’d get upset at Gangle or Ragatha herself either.
If Ragatha didn’t know any better, she’d almost guess he was afraid.
…But this was Jax.
At first, he ignored Pomni. When that didn’t scare the jester away, he went on the attack. He poked and prodded at her with snarky remarks that were too specific.
Ragatha tried to come between them.
Jax’s glare had been enough to leave her speechless. She felt impossibly small under his gaze.
Pomni, to her credit, directed the conversation elsewhere. She barely reacted to Jax’s attempts to rial her up. The tension lost its edge because of her.
Caine came by soon enough to start today’s adventure.
The adventures were… a complicated matter for the doll. She really enjoyed some of them… And dreaded others. She told herself they were necessary for her to survive this madness. She knew the others didn’t think that way, but it worked for her.
Caine seemed proud of today’s activity. That… didn’t tell Ragatha anything. He was proud of all of his creations.
Still, she couldn’t help the fear from quietly settling in her stomach. Regardless, she clung to the hope that things would work out today.
That hope was crushed when she walked through the portal.
They ended up on platform, floating above what looked like a void. Not the void, mind you, but it was as if there was nothing to catch them if they fell.
The thought brought a shiver down Ragatha’s spine.
She suppressed that feeling too.
The ground they stood on was metallic and hard. The light glared off of it in a way that would give her a headache if they looked at it too long.
Caine appeared before them before anyone could properly take in their surroundings. He floated above them, kicking his feet in excitement.
“Today, you’ll be competing against each other!” he announced.
Gangle shrank in on herself.
Zooble glared at Caine, their antenna twitching.
Kinger was staring into space, not paying attention.
Pomni clenched her fists.
And Ragatha nervously cradled her arm against her chest. She hated adventures like these. Friendly competition was one thing, but something about the ringmaster told her that was not what this was.
Only Jax seemed to share the ringmaster’s enthusiasm. His eyes traveled between Pomni and herself, then narrowed. His grin grew ever so slightly.
In response, Ragatha could only tighten her hold on herself. Pomni didn’t acknowledge Jax at all.
The goal of this ‘level’—as Caine called it—was to up the obstacle course that appeared with a snap of the ringmaster’s fingers. It looked like something from an old platforming game. Colorful platforms floated impossibly in the air. Traps—some obvious, others less so—lined the course.
Silently, Ragatha cursed whatever had put it in Caine’s mind that this was fun. Protesting never worked, though. Ragatha had learned that long ago. Zooble clearly hadn’t, though.
“Seriously, Caine?!”
Their protest fell on deaf ears.
“Come on, Zooby,” Jax taunted them. He leaned in closer to them, “This’ll be fun!”
“…For you maybe…”
Ragatha watched as the rabbit turned his gaze to Pomni. The jester met him head on. Ragatha really envied her confidence. Pomni only joined them recently, but she managed to find her footing extremely quickly.
…What Ragatha wouldn’t give to have that kind of confidence…
A bell signaled them to start.
They all kicked into gear, clumsily making their way up the course. Despite Caine’s intent, they helped each.
When they were halfway up, Ragatha froze into place. Her eye was locked onto the metal platform they had been standing on.
A pink substance started rising up. It was kind of gooey, and the smell alone was enough to put Ragatha on high alert.
Stupid sauce.
Caine wasn’t threatening them with physical pain today. Instead, they’d lose their mental faculties… again… if they fell off.
Her mind immediately pushed fuzzy memories of Spudsy’s to the front. She had treated Gangle terribly… hadn’t she?
She needed to stay in control, and the fear of losing that last bit of agency filled every pixel of her digital body.
A hand on her shoulder pulled her out of her stupor.
“Come on,” Pomni said as her eyes met Ragatha’s.
“R-right,” the doll mused quietly.
Together, they managed to get to the top of the course, with Jax close on their heels.
The rabbit had been targeting Pomni without a doubt. He set off every trap he could, and even just tried to push or pull her down on multiple occasions.
Kinger quickly joined them at the finish line.
Zooble and Gangle were the last to make it. Zooble was still scrambling to their feet.
With a quick, dismissive motion, Jax pushed Gangle off the platform. Zooble tried their best to catch Gangle, but they were too slow. The bundle of ribbons let out a surprised wail as she fell. Before long, she was submerged into the sauce.
Gangle’s icon—like the one on her door—appeared in front of them. The color drained from. Gangle was out.
The group collectively let out a breath.
No one said it, but for just a second, everyone feared Caine would cross out her icon, like he did to those who abstracted. They didn’t need the reminder that eventually, only one fate awaited all of them.
Ragatha’s stared at the icon. Even when is disappeared, she didn’t look away. Next to her, she heard yelling. They were going off on Jax, no doubt.
It didn’t reach Ragatha.
Before she knew it, the second “level” began.
The group grew quiet again, mentally preparing themselves for what else Caine had cooked up for them.
…Was one of them going to fail every level? And would this continue until only one person was left…?
Ragatha just knew she wasn’t going to win this.
…She didn’t know whether she wanted to win this. She didn’t want to be exposed to more of the sauce, but she’d feel horrible if she let everyone else be exposed in her stead.
The next stage was… suspiciously easy.
The platform transformed into a field with trees. Different kinds of fruits hung from the trees. They all were given a basket. A small icon showed which fruit they needed to collect.
The person who followed the basket’s orders the best, would win. The person who did the worst job, would be subjected to the concoction below.
With the sound of another bell, they started their tasks. Well, everyone but Zooble. They just sat on the ground, deliberately setting themselves up as the worst player.
…
When the countdown reached 0, the ground beneath all of them gave out.
They all fell.
Ragatha squeezed her eye shut, sure that they’d all be subjected to the sauce regardless.
Only for Ragatha to land face first on a hard surface.
She opened her eye to find she landed in a glass box. She watched as Zooble continued to fall, and eventually disappear into the sauce.
Just like with Gangle, their icon appeared and the color drained from it.
“Jeez,” Jax breathed, “What a buzzkill.”
Ragatha looked in the direction of the sound. Jax, Pomni and Kinger had also been caught by a glass box. The games would continue.
A sound above Ragatha caught her attention. She looked up just in time to see a wall slide in above her, effectively sealing her inside the box.
They didn’t need to breathe.
Still, Ragatha found it harder to draw breaths as a claustrophobic feeling washed over her.
A light, line the ones you’d find on police cars, morphed out of the wall.
A screen hummed to life in front of Ragatha. She looked around to see the same happening to the rest. She peered a bit closer to see a question pop up on it. Below the question, there were multiple possible answers.
A quiz…?
The remaining members stood in silence as their attention was focused on the quiz. Ragatha picked her options with shaking hands. She dared not look away from the screen.
Just like she dared not let her mind roam. Guilt spread through her like a poison with every answer she got right. Every time she was right, she felt like she was pushing one of her friends to the sauce.
Selfishly—because that was what she was—she didn’t want to fall into the sauce herself either.
The questions were growing harder and the answers were starting to become confusing. Tiny differences in structure made her second guess every answer.
Regardless, Ragatha pushed on, trying to hide the inevitable.
…Until the inevitable happened.
Of course she was the first to make a mistake.
It was her penalty for putting herself above the group, wasn’t it?
She deserved this.
Believing that didn’t stop the fear from taking over, though.
The light above her started flashing, covering her in a red hue. An alarm went off to signal her failure.
Instinctively, she took a step back, only for her back to immediately be pressed against the glass wall of the box.
She lost control before ever being exposed to the sauce. Her breathing picked up as her eye fixed on the sauce below her.
The world was impossibly loud, before she was blessed with silence. Everything dulled.
Somewhere at the edge of her mind, she heard Jax’s laughter. The apathetic, cruel sound got under her skin and dug deeper into her than any death traps Caine could throw at her ever did.
Pomni’s voice echoed somewhere in her mind, but she couldn’t make out the words.
It couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, yet her mind stretched those seconds into minutes as she waited for the floor to give in under her.
Like a drop tower, it was as if Caine was building her suspense before dropping her.
A pitiful yelp escaped her mouth when the ground eventually did open up.
She entered a freefall for just a few seconds, before she crashed into the liquid below.
Pain washed over her entire body, only for it to immediately be dulled by the sauce. Within seconds, she felt nothing anymore.
…There was just the darkness.