Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

        Jax slowly stirred as he woke up to his nearly pitch-black room. His hearing was muffled, and his cloudy vision further darkened his already dark room. For a moment, he didn’t know where he was. He felt soft cushions, the feeling of oak wood, and purple, pink, and magenta color palettes that appeared all too foggy, too unclear. A slight ringing reverberated constantly, deafening anything and everything around him. However, as he slowly woke up, his blurry vision cleared, and the ringing in his ears slowly receded, every movement suddenly becoming almost too loud in the already deafening silence. As his senses became sharper, more clearer, the painful memories of yesterday slowly started seeping back into the fabric of his mind - the flashbacks, how his vision was clouded by static when he pressed the red button, the booming of his laughter - which made him shudder even now. The words he yelled at Caine bounced around in his mind like echoes in a cavern.

        “YOU DIRTY LIAR! You Scum bag!”

        “You can mess with our minds too, can’t you?! The stupid sauce, the vegan thing - WHO knows what else?!”

        That last bit really got to him. He remembers when Pomni first arrived at the circus. Caine had said:

        “The only thing I DON’T have control over is your mind!”

        That couldn’t be further from the truth.

        Jax doesn’t just suspect, he knows that Caine can mess with their minds. He saw how the stupid sauce affected Ragatha during that boring fast food adventure, and how Caine LITERALLY made him become a vegan against his own will via “democracy,” or whatever that meant.

        He hated it. He hated every moment that stupid A.I. ringmaster kept them in this place - no - this prison. Of course, the ONE chance they had at actually escaping - it had all been for nothing. Even that “Abel” guy was simply another one of Caine’s “fantastic world-building skills,” as he himself put it. And Jax? He knew it. He knew it from the moment he heard those cursed words come out of Abel’s mouth.

        “I think I’ve found a way to leave.”

        More like you’ve found a way to just drive each and every person in here closer to abstraction.

        He about kicked the bucket mid-abstract-nap the day before. If it hadn’t been for Pomni and Ragatha knocking at the door, well, he would’ve ended up in the cellar along with Ribbit, Kaufmo, Queenie, and so many others, so many others that have succumbed to the same mindset as either Kaufmo, himself, or just being so fed up with the place that you decide an eternity in the cellar is better than whatever whimsical eyesore Caine called “a circus.”

        Jax rubbed his temples as he tried to blot out the mere concept of abstraction from his mind. He didn’t want to think about that now, not when he just woke up, for goodness sake. He looked around his bedroom, with everything still being in place. The pastel color palettes, the rainbows plastered on his walls, and the glow-in-the-dark stars on his ceiling. He rubbed his eyes and groaned softly as he trudged over to his mirror, dragging his cinder blocks for feet. He looked at himself, and despite the concept of “bedhead” being just about obsolete from the digital circus, he could still tell he looked like utter garbage. For a moment, he tried to plaster on his trademark Cheshire cat grin, the one that would instantly make the others want to avoid him. But, instantly, the grin fell, becoming a sad, wet mop of an expression. He just couldn’t do it right now. He couldn’t be the funny one. Not right now, at least.

        Well, that was a shame. Looks like he’d just have to sleep in and miss Caine’s next big, grand, and spectacular adventure he had in store for them. Jax walked back over to his bed, and flopped down face first, not even bothering to turn over so he could breath. They didn’t necessarily need to breathe in this place anyway, so why even bother? Jax slowly closed his eyes, further enclosing the darkness around him in his vision. He felt the different stages of falling asleep come quickly; first closing his eyes, then any background noise that the circus had to offer faded bit by bit, then, right as he nearly became subconscious, a familiar yet unwelcoming voice boomed in his room.

        “Good morning, Jax!” Jax practically screamed as he jolted like a cat off his bed, and fell onto the floor. He grunted and looked up at Caine, who was floating, looking down at him like an eager child who annoyingly woke his parents up early in the morning. Jax felt his digital blood boil as he looked at him, then yelled slightly.

        “Caine! What the heck! Didn’t you know that I was trying to sleep?!” He complained as he slowly got up, yet still had to look up at him.

        “Nope! But don’t you worry, I have something special to make up for it!” Caine boomed theatrically, sounding excited as if he hadn’t just traumatized the poor cartoon rabbit the day before.

        “Ugh, I swear, if this is another-”

        “I’m sending YOU on your own, special adventure!” Caine announced, waving his arms like he was performing a magic trick.

        “Yeah, okay listen- wait, what?” Confusion overtook Jax’s annoyance toward the pair of dentures, with frustration taking the back burner.

        “That’s right! I know yesterday may not have turned out… the best…” Caine slowly trailed off, gazing down at the floor in shame. A moment later, he reassumed his chipper and theatrical persona. “But! To make it up to you, I’m sending you on your own special adventure today, while everybody else has to go on the main one I planned!” Jax looked down for a moment, pondering on the set of information Caine had presented him. He wasn’t too keen on going on an adventure, especially after the stunt Caine pulled.

        However…

        “Y’know what, sure, why not? I guess I could use a break.” Jax shrugged nonchalantly, his signature grin finally coming back to him.

        “GREAT!” Caine suddenly exploded with too much energy, as if he hadn’t been expecting him to comply. “Today, your adventure is called: ‘The Mystery of Playtime Co!' You assume the role of an ex-employee of a company named ‘Playtime Co,’ and you’ve returned to the factory after receiving a letter from an ex-associate of yours to explore the mysteries of what happened!” Jax put a finger to his chin, and chuckled, shrugging afterward and shoving his hands in the pockets of his overalls.

        “Alright, sounds fun. Okay, send me in, Caine.” Jax said, giving a half-salute while leaning against his dresser.

        “Of course! One thrill-filled adventure coming right up!” Caine said. He then whirled his cane around in the air, a colorful swirling vortex appearing right above Jax. Before he knew it, he was vacuum-sucked into the portal, leaving Caine to sit in silence for a moment. Then, he exclaimed slightly, letting go of his cane and leaving it to float around for a moment.

“My goodness! He’s going to LOVE this one! He likes horror… right?”

Chapter Text

        A portal appeared in the middle of the room, the same one that Caine had summoned in Jax’s room. It spat Jax right out, then vanished as fast as it had appeared. Jax coughed and dusted himself off, mumbling slightly.

        “Jeez, he could’ve at least-” Jax was cut off as he looked up, and saw the room around him. Moonlight from behind him poured onto the pale floor tiles, with blue, red, and yellow tiles blotching the white. Dust particles drifted lazily in the moonlight, with each one of Jax’s movements disturbing them. The walls were the same color as the floor, with blue fences being painted on. At the front of the room was a large, half-circle desk, with a fuzzy blue character with red lips curved up into a smile painted on the wall behind it, the character being stuck in a waving position, saying “Welcome!” The entire room appeared to be a receptionist area. However, the floor was dirty - dirty enough to signify that nobody had even touched the place in years. As Jax looked around the room,  he put one hand on his hip.

        “Huh, so this is the factory?” He muttered, walking toward the receptionist desk. There wasn’t anything notable on it. A half-crushed pop can, an old computer monitor that you’d see from the 1990s, and, weirdly enough, a cassette tape. Jax’s interest piqued slightly as he inspected the tape.

        “Who left this here?” He looked around the room, then suddenly grinned mischievously.

        “Well, they sure ain’t getting it back.” He said, stuffing it into his front overall pocket. As he continued to inspect the room, his eyes fell upon a single cart in a dark corner of the room. On it was a VHS player, and above it mounted on the wall as a box television. Approaching it, he pulled out the cassette tape in his pocket, then looked back at the VHS player.

        “Ah, okay, so you go here then.” He muttered as he walked right in front of the player. With a grin on his face, he inserted the tape in, followed by a series of clicks.

        “Let’s see what junk that they got stored on this thing.” Jax said, crossing his arms as he leaned back slightly. The television’s screen flashed blue for a moment, then instantly transitioned a man in a suit and tie, slowly walking toward the camera. Strangely enough, there was a pink filter on the lens.

        “You are about to see the most incredible doll ever invented.” The man’s voice was deep, mature, and business-like, and his face was almost monotone. 

        “Her name is Poppy, and she is the first, truly intelligent doll in the world.” Jax watched with some intrigue, but his expression was pancake flat.

        “Eh, it’ll probably be just another generic doll commercial,” He said unimpressed, then smirked slightly to himself. “Maybe the doll will look like Ragatha.”

        “A little girl can talk to her. Poppy gives her answer,” The man said, a small smile on his face. “She is the first doll actually able to have a conversation with a child.” Jax grimaced slightly, shuddering at the thought of a doll literally listening to everything one would say.

        “Yeesh, creepy.”

         “Hard to believe?” The man seemingly interrupted Jax. “Just watch.” The screen on the television faded to black, static filling the silent air for a moment. Then, fading into the screen is a small, porcelain doll. She had a fair blue dress on, red hair that fell to her shoulders, big crystal-like blue eyes, rosy petite cheeks, and glossy red lips. Then, a chorus of children shouted, breaking the static.

        “Poppy playtime!” They cheered. Jax winced a bit at the doll that stared blankly at the camera, pulling back just a bit.

        “Geez, that thing is creepy.” He grimaced. Yet, he continued watching.

        “Poppy’s as lovable as a real girl, and she talks like one, too!” This time, a more mature woman’s voice narrated over the screen displaying a hand pulling back a string to make her talk.

        “Hi! My name is Poppy! I love you! Can you help me polish my shoes?” Jax’s face remained flat, as well as his tone. 

        “Yep, told you. Generic doll stuff.” He said to no one in particular as he continued to watch the television with half the interest. The woman agreed with enthusiasm, taking a pale white paper sheet and rubbing it across Poppy’s shoe, saying how “just like a real girl,” allegedly, Poppy always wanted to look her best. 

        “Her hair is sturdy, and won’t come out when you brush it!” The television displayed a hand delicately brushing Poppy’s hair as a demonstration, then showed the image of a real poppy flower, the female narrator telling the single audience member that she smells just like the real thing. 

        “Huh, seems like the real deal.” Jax muttered as the screen displayed the same Poppy doll, tagged with the price of $5.99. For the “world’s first actual intelligent doll,” it seems quite cheap, Jax thought.

        “Is there anything else you’d like to say, Poppy?” The narrator asked. That of which, Poppy did respond.

        “I’m a real girl! Just like you.” She enthusiastically responded. Then, the narrator asked what the time was, and at this point, Jax had filtered out the meaningless banter of the advertisement. However, right as he was about to walk away and let the tape finish its course, the camera lingered on a single, lone catwalk stretching to a door in a wall, with a large poppy flower painted around it. Jax’s eyebrow shot up a bit, and then, the VHS turned off with a click. 

        “Huh… that was weird.” He whispered to himself. He turned his back toward the VHS player, looking at the rest of the receptionist area. Nothing notable comes into his view except for another VHS tape laying by the computer. However, when Jax picks it up, he just shrugs and tosses it into the air, causing it to fall to the floor with a clatter, the impact disrupting the silence more than it should have. He walked off to the right of the room, entering a short hallway, then lazily pushed a set of glass double doors open.

        The next room was even darker inside than the receptionist area, so much so that Jax wouldn’t be able to see if it wasn’t for the trickles of moonlight that was able to seep into the room. Inside was messier than the room behind him. Shelves of toys were tipped over on their sides, and toys were scattered carelessly, as if a bratty child had played with them and refused to clean them up afterwards. From above, a single, circular model train track hung from the ceiling, a model train revolving around and around continuously. Jax had to slightly duck his head in order not to get his ears pinned between the train’s wheels and the tracks. He looked at the model box cars that the small locomotive hauled behind it. They were in a specific color pattern, perhaps specific enough as if it were intended that way. Green in the front, then pink, then yellow, and red tailing the rest. Jax stared at the train for a moment, then shrugged with a bored expression, then walked out of the room.

        “Y’know, Caine, you said there’d be a lot of mystery, but I’m not seeing anything mysterious.” He said aloud, his voice echoing in the almost deafening silence. He didn’t know if Caine actually heard that. Then again, he didn’t really care. He was probably prioritizing the others’ “grand adventure” more than this one.

        When he walked out of the double doors, he found himself back in the main receptionist area. He put his hands on his hips, and tapped his foot rapidly, almost impatiently. His eyes darted around the room to search for something, anything that might come off as “mysterious,” as Caine had put it. Then, his eyes laid upon another set of double doors, this time, there was a small, multi-color coded keypad on the left side. Jax strutted over to it and leaned down until his face was parallel to the keypad, half filled with curiosity, half filled with disappointment.

        “Great, now Caine’s having me do puzzles.” He mumbled, glancing at each colored button absentmindedly. He leaned up slightly to look around the short hallway for any signs or hints that could help him with it. However, all he found was peeling posters, and faded, chipping paint. He groaned with annoyance, looking back at the keypad with furrowed brows. He looked at the colors again. Green, yellow, cyan, red -

        “Wait a minute.” Jax said quietly and suddenly. He took a look at the Green and yellow at the top, red in the middle, and pink at the bottom. His mind flashed back to just a few minutes ago when he was in that model train room, how the box cars went from green to red in order. He thought that, just maybe, the box cars had some sort of relation with the keypad? He decided to test that theory. Worst comes to worst, he could always break through the glass door.

        “Green, pink, yellow, red…” He clicked each button in order, careful not to mispress. With a small, positive ding from the pad, the door opened, sliding into the wall and granting Jax access to the room. He grinned to himself, confidently congratulating himself. Although, in the recesses of his mind, he wondered how he even was able to do that at all without any outside help.

        Inside the room was darker than the previous two rooms he had been in thus far. Inside was a glass case containing some sort of coiled metal cable, the rest being obscured from Jax’s current point of view. To the right was another cart, with another television plugged into the wall, accompanied by another VHS tape player. To the left, there was a small table, a corresponding VHS tape lying on it, seeming as if it was waiting to be played. Jax walked up to it, picking it up with the same curiosity he had with the other tape. Glancing at the glass case, then at the tape player, he inserted it in, followed by the same corresponding series of clicks. The television flickered on with static, which disrupted the silence so much that Jax thought for a moment someone outside might hear him. But, then he remembered how this was an adventure, and Caine most likely put more thought on the inside rather than the outside.

        On the television, a purple background flickered on, followed by a yellow mannequin-like figure holding some sort of device. It had the same coiled metal cable pack on the back, and in the front were two two hands, the left blue, and the left red.

        “Hold both cannons.” The video displayed, but Jax simply rolled his eyes, and walked away from the television.

        “Eh, whatever.” He said, approaching the glass case containing the grabpack. However, when he tried to open it, he realized there were no handles, and no way was he going to shatter it. With a groan he wiped his hand over his face, grumbling as he trudged back over to the television.

        “Great, now I gotta wait for this thing to finish.” Jax grumbled as he stared at the screen absentmindedly.

        “Wire is conductive! Use it for rewiring!” The subtitles encouraged as it showed the same mannequin from earlier using the metal cables to wrap around a metal pole to conduct electricity. Then, before the screen went black, it displayed the company’s motto: “What’s the time? Playtime!”

        “Finally.” Jax said as the glass case opened, rewarding him with the grabpack. Jax rubbed his hands together with a giddy grin on his face, looking at the device like a child looks at their birthday present. He practically ripped it out of the case, tightened the straps, and held both cannons. The grabpack felt weighted, but not heavy enough to slow him down. It felt almost like a school backpack stuffed with school supplies. However, despite what the video displayed, this grabpack only had the left blue hand. It would have to do, though.

        Jax looked at the blue hand with a sort of curious excitement. He pulled the trigger, and -

        THWIP!

        The blue hand shot out and hit the wall in front of him, soon retracting with another pull of the trigger. Jax’s grin grew impossibly wider as he whooped.

        “Hey! This thing is fun! Ah, if only I could bring it back to the circus…” He trailed off a bit, dreaming of all of the chaos and mischief he could cause the others. He’ll have to ask Caine if he could keep it at the end of the adventure, he thought.

        Walking out of the room and back into the receptionist area, Jax looked around once more, searching for anywhere to go. On either side of the front desk, there were turnstiles still operable, and somehow not locked up. Then again, even if they were, he could always utilize his height and step over them. Walking through the one on the left, he spotted a large, glowing blue handprint scanner, the size perfectly matching the size of his left blue hand.

        “Alright, let’s give this a shot.” He said. Firing the blue hand at the scanner, digital whirring could be heard as a small blue bar slowly filled up at the top. Then, with a small ding, the metal shutter slowly opened, granting access to whatever Caine’s adventure had in store for him. Not waiting for the shutter to fully open, Jax ducked under it, walking into the main lobby. What he saw firsthand, however, threw him off guard completely.

        Standing in the middle of the lobby was a lanky, towering, fuzzy blue statue with a red-lipped smile frozen, and yellow hands, the fingers stitched together, standing in the center. His right arm was stuck in a waving position, as if someone had made his arm like that. Around the lanky figure were plain, large, wooden blocks that spelt out “H-U-G-G-Y.” In front of the figure were some small panels displaying the character’s name, background, and history, the center one having a small, red button.

        Jax felt a small shiver go down his digital spine as he slowly approached the figure, suddenly becoming subconsciously cautious. He looked at the panels, and in large letters, it displayed the character’s name.

        “Huggy Wuggy (1984) -” The rest cut off there.

        “Jeez, this company’s still making them?” Jax muttered as he looked back up at the towering figure. Jax doesn’t know why this was off-putting him so much. This was only an adventure made by Caine’s insane and unstable A.I. mind. Plus, Caine’s adventures never proved to be very long, perhaps a few hours at most if someone really kept track of the time. But then again, everyone in the circus had stopped caring about time. After all, they’re never going to escape this digital prison. Yesterday proved to be a bleak reminder.

        Jax shot his eyes to the floor, narrowing them as he tried to shove away the thoughts of the day before. He didn’t want to think about that now. After all, why should he worry about anything? He was the funny one, after all. He shook his head, relaxing his eyebrows, and glanced back up.

        Around the room, large yellow and red building blocks of different shapes and sizes littered the corners. A few small boxes containing miniature Huggy Wuggys (Huggy Wuggi?) were placed around the main, large one. However, to the left in a dark corner was a door, with another blue hand print scanner. Jax walked over to it, shoving the bad thoughts away, and shot the blue hand at the scanner. However, right as it made contact -

        BZZTTZZT!

        The scanner went blank, and sparks flew from the cable connecting to it. Jax groaned aloud as he looked around the room in annoyance.

        “Of course the power had to go out, just more puzzles to-” Before Jax could finish, a soft jingling noise broke his grumbling and the surrounding silence. He scanned the room for the source of the noise, and then he laid his eyes on the large Huggy Wuggy figure again. Hanging from his stitched, waving hand, a pair of keys softly swayed, as if someone had sneakily placed them there when Jax wasn’t looking. His eyebrow shot up, a sensation of skepticism coming over him. He wasn’t usually one to be cautious in horror adventures, but this… felt different. It all felt too real. Nothing had sharp, cubic, pixelated features. Everything was like it was updated to be 4K. Even the tiniest of fur on Huggy Wuggy’s body was crystal clear. It was like Caine had taken graphics from the real world, or the “macroverse” as he called it, and had ported it into the circus. Whatever it was, he was certainly doubling down this adventure.

        Jax stared at the keys for a moment, removing his left hand from the trigger and tapping his cartoonish chin with it thoughtfully, gears turning in his head.

        “Now, how am I going to get you…” He trailed off, and, suddenly, his expression flashed a moment of revelation.

        “Duh! I’ll just use this thing!” He exclaimed as he gripped the trigger of his grabpack, and sent the blue hand flying up towards the keys. As desired to him, the blue hand gripped the keys, and retracted, landing them right in Jax’s free hand.

        “Gotcha. Jeez, this makes me feel like Pomni.” Jax chuckled. He remembered that bar adventure, when the oh-so young Pomni explained her thrill of exploring abandoned buildings. It truly was interesting, as someone as plain and simple as her, an accountant for a supermarket chain, a part-time urban explorer, and armed with social anxiety, would end up in a digital circus full of freaks. Perhaps she was curious. Then again, who wouldn’t? A headset connected to a computer that is somehow still running, despite it being in an abandoned building that closed down years ago? That would be enough to pique anyone’s interest and curiosity, even for someone like Pomni. For a moment, and only a moment, he wondered how she was doing.

        “She’s probably feeling just how all of us are: helplessly hopeless and hopelessly helpless.” Jax thought to himself. The sharp image of Caine congratulating them all for selecting the “good ending” flashed in Jax’s mind. How can that A.I. cause so much harm to them all? How was it even possible that they were all there? Who were the absolute freaks who made this digital prison? When Jax got out of there, he was going to -

        Jax suddenly cut himself off before he got deeper into thought. He already knew, as well as everybody else, that they weren’t escaping. This lockup they were all in was their new home, whether any of them liked it or not, including Jax himself. After all, he was the funny one, so if he escaped without everyone else, who would crack the jokes and pull the pranks? That’s why he had to be there, so he could bring the fun, and the funny!

        Jax shook his head, and scowled at himself for even allowing himself to think that deep. He was a cartoon character now, and cartoon characters had no depth to them. They had one singular archetype, and they had to stick with it. So that’s why he had to stick with his archetype. Jax glanced at the keys in his right hand, and then around the room.

        “Now, where do these go?” He asked himself softly. There was a door near the front with the word “Innovation” plastered above it, as well as the same Poppy doll from the VHS tape from earlier adjusting a construction hardhat, and wielding a wrench with her left hand. That, however, didn’t necessarily scream, or even hint at “Power room.” Looking around more, he spotted a theater entrance, a testing lab entrance, and another door requiring not just a blue hand print scan, but a red hand scan as well. Slouching a little bit, Jax sighed, continuing to scan the room. Finally, his eyes laid upon a door that had a light illuminating it. Above the door was the word “Power.”

        “Ugh, finally, now let’s get this power back on,” Jax said as he started toward the power room door, keys jingling from his right index finger. “When will this adventure actually get good?”

Chapter Text

        Emerging from the power room door, Jax, eyes closed and swinging the key around on his index finger, strutted out of the room, taking a deep, mocking sigh.

        “Y’know, Caine, I might just quit this adventure early if-” When Jax opened his eyes and stepped back into the main lobby, his heart nearly skipped a beat. The towering Huggy Wuggy figure that had been standing on his small platform, had vanished. There wasn’t any trace of where he could have gone, he had just disappeared; he was simply gone. Jax’s eyes went wide as the key that was once on his finger, fell to the floor with a small clatter. His heart beat accelerated as he scanned every corner of the room, squinting into the darkest of crevices. After a moment, though, he simply shrugged, his nonchalant grin coming back to him.

        “Ah, whatever, he’s probably off to the bathroom or something.” Walking over to where the restored blue handprint scanner was, Jax aimed his grabpack at it with lazy precision.

        “Alright, let’s see if you work now.” He muttered to himself. With a squeeze of the trigger, the blue hand shot forward, and once it landed on the scanner, the same digital whirring pierced the silence, followed by the metal shutter opening, granting him access further into the building. Greeting Jax at the beginning of the hallway was a sign in red and blue letters, saying:

        “Build a friend!” Jax glanced at the sign and strolled past it, not noting it of any importance. Towards the end of the hallwayHowever, upon approaching the end of the hall, a thin flash of blue and stitched yellow slithered along the wall, and retreated behind the door to the left. Jax stopped in his tracks, staring at where the blue blur used to be. His big, black pupils thinned as he continued staring at the spot on the wall.

        “Okay…” He muttered. Jax peeked around the corner, half expecting nothing, while also half expecting to be jumpscared. He had seen plenty of horror movies to know this type of trope.

        “Didn’t Caine say that this was more mystery-based than horror-based?” Jax wondered. When he peeked around the corner, he saw nothing but an industrial hallway, pipes streaking along the walls, a light illuminating a door at the end, and a blue path waving down the corridor. Jax shrugged slightly, tossing the slithering blue blur away into the recesses of his mind, putting it off as some cheap horror trope that Caine most likely used. After all, if the Mildenhall Manor adventure that was supposed to be “scary” turned out to be like a child’s horror game, how bad could this one be?

        As Jax proceeded through the corridor, the environment was filled with an almost deafening silence. If it wasn’t for the light at the end of the hall, Jax wouldn’t be able to see at all. When he got halfway down the hallway, he stepped right in front of a pipe -

        HISS!

        Steam shot out as suddenly and as loud like a bullet, causing Jax to leap back. Out of pure fight-or-flight instinct, he pulled the trigger on the grabpack, shooting the blue hand out at the steam, only for it to retract back, retrieving him nothing. Staring at the steam pipe for a moment, Jax chuckled lightly to himself, continuing forward past the pipe.

        “Of course, just steam.” He told himself. Although he was unwilling to even admit it in his mind, let alone out loud, that startled him more than it should have.

        Finally, he reached the end of the hallway. Plastered above the door was an image of Huggy Wuggy smiling widely, holding a hammer, and wearing the same construction hardhat that the Poppy doll image had on earlier. Jax glanced up at the character as he walked through the door. His mind flashed back to that fuzzy, blue blur that slithered on the wall. Could that have been Huggy Wuggy? Jax thought to himself. Although, he swiftly denounced the thought, reasoning that Caine was just trying to get a few scares out of him using cheap horror stuff.

        On the other side of the door was a large industrial storage room, it was composed of the same, rather boring design of some of the areas of the factory Jax has gone through thus far. Ahead of him was a steep set of stairs going upward to an overhead catwalk, to the right was a heavy blast door with caution lines painted in front of it, and the rest of the space was occupied with another VHS tape player, another television, a couple of stray push-carts, and spilled blue paint. Jax looked around the room, and then at the VHS player and television, first with curiosity, then disregarded the set entirely.

        “Jeez, how many VHS tapes does Caine want me to find?” He said, mentally shoving it aside as he climbed the stairway. Upon crossing the catwalk above, he entered another room, this one much larger than the previous one. On the ground floor was an industrial black conveyor belt, closed off chutes on the walls, multiple shelves that are either knocked over, or have remained upright, aged toys and toy boxes scattered on the shelves as well as the ground floor. However, on the far side of the room, above a door that the conveyor belt runs through is a glass case, containing a red hand that seemed to be the perfect fit for Jax’s other grabpack slot. Looking over to the glass case, Jax smirked a little bit, but it didn’t last long. He still needed a way to get to it.

        “Okay, now how do I…” He trailed off, trying to enable whatever critical thinking he had leftover after years of being in the circus - or what felt like years, at least. His eyes landed on a console nearby on the catwalk he was on, with four colored battery slots empty, silently requesting to be refilled.

        “Red, blue, yellow, green.” Jax softly mumbled to himself, studying the pattern of each battery slot haphazardly. Maybe they didn’t need to be in order, he thought. But then again, when it came to Caine’s adventures, it was always a coin toss; you either had to be super precise, or sometimes, parts of the adventure would straight up not load. Caine always put it off that it was a “coding error,” but perhaps that was merely an excuse for an overlooked section. With a leap, he landed almost effortlessly on the cold concrete floor, almost as if he had been practicing to do that.

        As he patrolled the room, he scanned each corner for his objective. In one corner, he found the blue battery, up high on a shelf, he grabbed the red one, lying right in the middle of the floor, he grabbed the yellow one, and on another shelf was the green one. Through the blast door, and a climb back up the staircase, Jax found himself back at the console, looking at the batteries he collected, then at the console.

        “Let’s see…” However, before he could proceed, something out of the corner of his eye drew his attention. A face; fluffy, blue fur, red-painted lips, and a set of eyes, pupils enlarged. Before he could get a good view of the thing, a metal door dropped shut, the sound of metal against metal echoing in the silence. He inserted each one in order; red, blue, yellow, and green. The console chirped with a successful ding! a grin becoming of Jax.

        A cranky groan reverberated off the walls of the room as the large metal claw reached for the glass case containing Jax’s prize. Upon retrieving it, the claw made its way toward him, when suddenly, it dropped the case on the conveyor belt, the sound of shattering glass knocking the relative silence out of the ball park. Jax almost covered his ears upon the glass shattering, but when the dust settled, he saw that the red hand inside the case was intact.

        He jumped off the catwalk and landed on the conveyor belt, tip-toeing toward the case with precise steps, watching for any piece of shattered glass. Reaching into said case, he swiftly snatched the red hand, and equipped it on the empty slot of the grabpack. Grinning ear to ear, he launches the red hand out to nothing, the hand retracting back into its slot with a THWIP!

        “Sweet!” He whooped as he leaped off the conveyor belt. Ahead of him was the same metal door he saw when he first stepped into the room, with both blue and red hand scanners silently waiting for him. Jax looked at them curiously, stepping toward them, grabpack cannons armed.

        “Well, let's get this adventure over with."

Chapter Text

        THWIP! With a charged current, the red grabpack hand made contact with the secondary electrical outlet, a sudden roar coming from the machines below. Groaning with annoyed relief, Jax slumped back.

        “FINALLY. Jeez, this took way too long.” He complained as he descended the metal stairs, making his way over to the toy part dispensers. He stood in front of them and watched, arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently. His brows furrowed as he continued to expectantly watch the machines, which were simply emitting a loud hum, not yielding any results to him. Jax’s eyes scanned the machines inch by inch with frustration, looking for anything that might indicate something of use.

        Finally, his eyes landed on levers on the side of each machine. In quick succession, Jax shot out his blue hand at each lever, toy parts rattling together as they tumbled over each other and onto the conveyor belt that fed continuously into the larger googly-eyed machines at the front of the room. Jax noticed, as he mindlessly strolled around the room, that the large red machine in the middle of the other two had its eyes glued onto him, watching his every move. He shuddered slightly, looking away and trying to distract his mind with something else.

        “Eugh, creepy.”

        Finally, a small, yellow and black striped toy was rolled out of the machine on the right, stopping just short of the same door that Jax had encountered when retrieving the red hand. The object took the shape of a cat, transfused into a bee, with small, thin wings and two springy antennas atop its head. Jax picked up the tiny thing with both hands, looking at it with an uninterested stare. Then, grabbing it by the antennas, he walked over to the large metal shutter at the back, standing in front of it once he reached it. Arched over the top of it was a banner draped over the metal shutter.

        “Never leave without a toy!”

        Jax rolled his eyes as he read the banner, carelessly tossing the cat-bee toy in the scanner next to the metal shutter, which granted him access once satisfied. Jax proceeded forward, both grabpack cannons disarmed, and strutting as if he were a popular, mean teenage high school girl. However, right before he stepped through the darkened doorway -

        A towering, blue, fuzzy toy, with lanky limbs, a red-lipped smile, and the blackness of its pupils nearly consuming his blank eyes, stepped out from the doorway, looming over Jax, emitting an ominous presence.

        Huggy Wuggy.

        Jax jerked back, laying his eyes on the gangling figure in front of him. For a moment, he was stunned in place. Then, a grin sprawled out onto his face.

        “Hey! It’s you! Uhh…” Jax trailed off as he racked his memory for Huggy’s name. “Huggy… Huggly…? Ah, we’ll just call you Cookie Monster.” Jax took a step closer, inspecting from a distance Huggy’s features.

        “So, you’re the main attraction, huh?” He quipped, crossing his arms and tapping his foot. “...a bit too tall. Overcompensating for something?” He waggled his eyebrows smugly. Huggy continued to stare at Jax, almost gazing right through him. Slowly, his lips parted to open his mouth…

        …to reveal a meaty inside, with rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth that looked like it could cut through bone.

        Jax’s eyes shot open, and his heart and stomach swapped places for a split second. He quickly masked his expression with a casual smirk, and slowly and subtly armed both grabpack cannons.

        “Hey, cool teeth, but I kinda left something back here. Be right back.” As soon as the words left his mouth, he was gone at the drop of a hat, a cartoon-ish cloud outline taking his place, then vanishing the next. Jax sprinted toward the open conveyor belt duct, ignoring the blaring alarms and the heavy yet soft footsteps of the beast behind him. Without looking back, he ducked his head so he could fit in the tight space, and darted down the line, the slamming of metal coming from the now closed door. Squinting in the darkness, Jax tried his best to make out something - anything. 

        “It’s too dark in here.” He mumbled. Right on cue, a flashlight from his grabpack snapped out, and illuminated the space ahead of him. The tight space was narrow and cramped, with specs of dust drifting endlessly from corner to corner. Somewhere from within the depths of the conveyor belt system, the blunt groan of metal could be heard. The smell of mildew, dust, and decaying metal blended in a rather repugnant stench. Other than that, everything was silent, even the banging behind him had stopped. However, that only added to the dreadful and deadly atmosphere within the small crawl space, making it seem as if anything could jump out at Jax at any moment. Taking a deep breath, Jax pressed forward, shoving away any intrusive thoughts on what could be in there with him. A few steps forward and he was at a drop. Not a terribly long one, but enough to make him feel the wind in his face. Jax looked around for any alternative path, but to no avail.

        “Well, only one way forward.” He nearly whispered. He slid down the slope, the rollers beneath him propelling him forward as he gained momentum. He clutched the grabpack closer to him, keeping the hands away from the walls that seemed to inch closer to him every step he took. He continued on once he reached the bottom, the springs of his every nerve wound up. Ahead of him was a grate, showing another part of the conveyor belt that was blocked off. However, the closer he inched toward it, the louder the sudden sound of metal thuds grew. He felt his heart hammer against his digital rib cage harder and harder until he saw, nearly crawling on the other side of the grate, Huggy Wuggy - his pupils enlarged, blank, yet feral, his teeth sharper than a knife, and his complete attention set on one target: Jax.

        Immediately Jax darted left, peeling around sharp corners, not caring the blunt pain that his shoulders protested every time they grazed the walls and corners of the ventilation shaft he was in. As he came over an incline, again emerged the same blue monster that was practically racing toward him.

        “OH S@&#!” He nearly shrieked, only to be interrupted by Caine’s censor bar. Even when put in a digital life-or-death situation, Caine wouldn’t let them swear. Really?

        That didn’t stop Jax, though. He veered right, twisting around bends and being careful to not trip on the bare rollers beneath his feet. The pounding of padded hands and feet drove him to accelerate. His mind screamed at him to not even steal so much as a glance, knowing that due to classic horror tropes, if he were to, then he would be caught and eaten, plain and simple. So, he advanced forward, part of him being overcome with a fearful determination, with the other part being consumed by pure, instinctual survival.

        Turning another bend, he nearly tripped over an obstructed part of the conveyor belt as he raced down an incline. He quickly regained his footing, and jumped down a hatch that led him even deeper into whatever death trap Caine had programmed for him.

        Why the HELL did Caine think this was a good idea?! His thoughts were racing. He knew that this was simply just a conjure of Caine’s twisted and maliciously oblivious thoughts.

        But this?

        This felt too real, even for Caine.

        Jax ducked under a half-closed door, and pressed his back against a wall, listening above the faint humming of the (somehow) working conveyor system. The thud of metal and soft, savage growl that came from Huggy slowly but surely went past, becoming background noise that receded under the rest of the conveyor system. A small breath of relief left Jax’s mouth, but his body and mind didn’t allow him a moment of rest. In an instant, he sprang forward, resuming his racing through the system, going through any open spaces that allowed him to advance.

        He eventually came to a space with a yellow light illuminating the space in front of it. However, before he could cross it, a door slammed shut right in front of him, and another door behind him did the same. Jax’s heart rate spiked as he used his actual hands to pound against the door.

        “Hey! HEY!” He yelled. His fists banging against the door soon became synchronized with metal banging coming from his right. He turned his neck sharply, and saw Huggy pressing closer and closer to the lanky, frightened rabbit. Jax almost stared at him in pure fear as the door in front of him opened, ripping his attention away from the blue beast, and back to the situation at hand. He didn’t wait for the door to fully open, he ducked under, and, gripping his grabpack, ripped his way forward. His digital muscles began to protest against the constant running, and his lungs started to burn. However, that wouldn’t stop him from getting away from whatever that thing was. He rounded another corner, with another slope leading downward at the end of the space. A desperately relieved expression flashed onto his face, only to be wiped off when he realized he started to slow down because of the conveyor belt beneath his feet running the opposite way he was.

        “OH COME ON! NOW?!” He shouted. Just a moment after, the familiar deadly fluff against steel advancing toward the rabbit came back again, this time growing ever closer. Jax's heart threatened to burst right through his chest as he did everything he did to make it to that decline. Then, something clawed his back: soft, stitched mittens. Jax's body retaliated, and, without his command, he threw himself forward.

        He jumped forward, landing stomach first on the rollers and tumbling down seemingly endlessly until he tumbled out into a wide-open area, his slender body slamming against toy crates that obstructed the path ahead. Not wasting another moment, Jax shot up, his eyes darting around for anything that could stop Huggy’s advance, despite the door he came tumbling through having closed. That bought him time, though, said time could only be mere seconds. Suspended on a catwalk above the conveyor belt that he was standing on was a large toy crate, large enough to throw Huggy Wuggy off course. Jax didn’t waste another minute. He pulled both triggers of the grabpack, and -

        THWIP!

        Everything happened in a quick, blurring succession.

        The moment the crate fell, Huggy Wuggy broke through the door, only to be halted by the falling crate. The crate came crushing down on not only him, but the conveyor belt as well, the surface beneath Jax’s feet giving way to the crushing weight of the large wooden box. He let out a scream as he landed flat on his back, or rather, on his grabpack, as the slamming of fluff and meat against cold, hard steel, and an unreal screech echoing around the large, open area. 

        Jax, however, remained on the cold, hard catwalk, all of his senses numbing and blurring together as he put a hand over his chest, panting as his lungs burned and reeled for sufficient air. His muscles ached as he stared up at the ceiling, the rapid and shallow breaths being the only sound he could hear. After a minute, his breathing evened out, his muscles recovered some, but were still tense, and the burning in his lungs simmered down. He grabbed the railing of the catwalk as he raised himself up, looking around the space he was in. The faint humming of the factory softly reverberated off the walls, and metal pipes creaked with age. Jax, however, was focused on one thing: getting the f#$% out of there.

        “Caine?” He called out, “I’m done now.” However, only the echoes of his own voice responded to his call.

        “Caine?!” Nothing.

        “CAINE!”

        …but nobody came.

        Jax’s breathing became shallow again as he stared back down onto the catwalk, every inhale and exhale becoming shorter and shorter as the infinite void of the black depths below peeked through the holes beneath him. He closed his eyes, and focused on breathing. He dug through his mind, searching for any method that could help him in that moment. When he could find nothing, he pressed harder, trying not to pay attention to the increasing fuzziness in his head. Then, something in his mind flashed: a memory. He couldn’t remember much, but a woman was speaking to him in a comforting tone, placing a hand on his shoulder.

        In for four - hold for four.

        Out for four - hold for four.

        Jax followed as his memory instructed, not counting a second more or less. He shut his eyes as he focused on his breathing, not allowing anything outside to distract him. Inhale - hold - exhale - hold. Slowly, the static that buzzed in his head receded, his heart calmed, and his breathing returned to deep, almost calm inhales and exhales. He gripped his grabpack once again, and scanned the space around him instead of whipping around like a rabid animal.

        The space around him was lined with pipes, catwalks, and somewhere in the corner, another television and another VHS tape player sat patiently in the silence. However, what caught his full attention was on the far side of the room from where Jax was standing. A large, concrete wall sprawled out from corner to corner, with a large, ominous poppy painted on it, with a door seeming to act as the bud of the flower. A subtle yet noticeable chill ran down Jax’s spine as he cautiously crept forward. He followed the path of the catwalk, his eyes set on the looming poppy painted on the wall; or, more specifically, the door in the middle. Something drew him to it, almost as if it was beckoning his name. However, his attention toward the door was broken as a small, plastic object hit his foot, knocking to the edge, but balancing itself before it could fall.

        Jax looked down and saw a black VHS tape teetering on the edge of the catwalk. Picking it up, he inspected it, noticing the scraggly writing on the front of it reading: “Final Log.” Nothing more, nothing less.

        Looking to his right, he spotted the same television set from before. Walking over to it, Jax inserted the VHS tape with a small click, static flashing on the screen before giving form to a skinny arm, molded together in a cursed amalgamation of steel, wiring, and… bone? The hand connecting to it was outstretched toward the screen, the spindly fingers made of bolts and needles almost touching its side of the screen. A cold, calm voice spoke out from the television.

        “Final log, in relation: experiment 1-0-0-6: the Prototype. Coordination and Cooperation within his skill set, as well as the skill set of all other experiments of his type.” In the background, small thuds and noises could be heard, with some sounding like… screaming? Were those people screaming on the other side of that tape? The thought made Jax shudder.

        “Though still missing,” The man continued. “today’s events are no doubt in relation to him. His absence was a flaw in the scientific process…” Scientific process? What scientific process? Jax’s mind prodded at a solution to the information, however vague it was, while tuning out the continuously growing screams and cries in the background.

        “...that’s why I’m making this log; so the same mistake won’t be made twice.” The man’s speech grew more frantic as the now apparent banging in the background blended with the cries of desperate voices. 

        “I’m not worried about myself; one breakthrough and I’ll be back.” What exactly was he talking about? Was there something he knew that no one else did? Jax shook off those thoughts, and focused on the man’s voice.

        “We must forge onwards in the name of science-”

        CRACK!

        Something in the tape, whatever it may have been, interrupted the man, a rising panic in his voice as his attention did not waver from the recording.

        “Whether those beneath us realize it or not. End of-!” Before the man had time to finish, the tape abruptly ended, clicked, and the television went blank. Jax was left to stare at the empty screen for a moment, dazed as he processed the words of the scientist on the recording. He blinked twice, then, with a small voice, he spoke.

        “...what the hell did Caine shove me into?”

        Turning around, he started back toward the door at the center of the poppy, a growing, unsettling tension building as he drew closer and closer. Sooner than he would have liked, he was standing in front of the door, reluctant yet eager to open the door. On one hand, he wanted to end this stupid adventure, but on the other hand… he did just get done getting chased by a toy-turned-freak with teeth sharper than his own quips.

        But, he did have to bite the bullet. Reaching out to the door, he swiftly turned the knob, and threw the door open.

        What he saw, however, was something somehow even more jarring than a killer toy pursuing him.

        On the other side of the door was a hallway, with lamps on either side, and vintage, patterned wallpaper plastered neatly on both walls. Taking a step inside and closing the door behind him quietly, Jax descended the steps that met him soon after stepping through the doorway, the stark contrast of the almost comforting atmosphere of the hallway when compared to the eerie, cold ambience of the factory colliding with each other. As he continued forward, a faint, small sound ringing through the empty silence. The more Jax grew closer to the source, he eventually made it out; it was a small, innocent, and almost uncanny melody.

        A music box.

        Jax stepped into a living room-like area, with a wooden panel separating the space, neat diamond patterns stretched out on it. Dressers, lamps, chests, and other bits and pieces of furniture decorated the space. The whole thing clearly resembled a home - but who in their right mind would have a house in a factory of horrors?

        The thought was silenced by the melody of the music box growing louder, accompanied by a red glow seeping through the cracks of a set of double doors ahead. With both curiosity and suspicion piqued, Jax crept slowly toward the doors, carefully listening for any other movement. He stopped for a moment - checked - nothing but his own quiet breathing and footsteps on the hardwood floor. Nodding slightly, Jax looked down at the door handles with hesitation, a million thoughts racing through his mind. Although, out of all of them, one did remain true: open the doors, complete the adventure, and forget about this whole thing by tomorrow.

        Almost thrusting open the doors, but being careful enough to not make any noise, Jax laid his eyes upon a doll; the same Poppy doll from the commercial. It had the same blue dress, same red, curly hair, and the same porcelain face. Except now, however, its eyes were closed, and it was upright, its hands folded neatly together in front of its small body. The doll was concealed in a glass case, seeming to be sleeping, almost as if Jax had walked in during its slumber. 

        By now, the music box was stronger than ever. However, the exact source of it was hidden from sight, continuing to fill the air with its soft, eerie melody. Strewn across the floor were pillows, to the right was a small, wooden table, and in the left corner of the room was a large, oak wardrobe, taller than the case itself. The light above cast a revolving, indiscernible pattern, casting a poppy red in the process. On the walls, modest, vintage wallpaper peeled from where it was in some spots, age showing itself through the design. Jax gripped his grabpack tighter as he approached the glass case, his eyes not leaving the doll for a second. For all he knew, the little thing could somehow disappear from his sight without making so much as a creak. He continued to stare at it, even when he was right in front of the case. There was a brass handle with no lock, the door of the case becoming almost inviting to Jax, beckoning him to open it.

        He hesitated again for a moment, before remembering that this was most likely the goal of the adventure; open the case, free the stupid doll, and then go “home.” But he wouldn’t ever truly return home, would he? No. He was stuck in this digital nightmare along with the other five, and there was no escape. No back door, no secret exit, no nothing. Caine had made sure to make that very clear the day before.

        Jax shook his head, bringing his attention back to the doll in the case. He wasn’t going to think about that now. He’s already come to terms with being stuck here, so why not make the best of it by bringing the fun and going on adventures?

        Adventures that made you run from toy monsters with the mind of a feral animal ready to eat you, apparently.

        No more distractions. Jax gripped the door handle, and, with one final sigh, he pulled it open.

        For a moment, nothing happened. The doll continued to slumber in its place, the music box continued, and the light above continued to display its pattern. Perhaps that wasn’t the objective. Perhaps -

        Suddenly, the light above flickered, the music box stopped abruptly, and between flashes of red hue, Jax saw the doll blink open its large, blue eyes, locking right onto him. Then, with a pop, the light bulb went out, and the following darkness consumed the room. Jax called out, but suddenly, he felt light-headed. The same static from earlier filled his mind as his senses numbed again. Everything felt too heavy. The grabpack felt too heavy, his own body felt too heavy. Then - 

        Thud. Jax collapsed to the floor, his head landing on one of the pillows scattered about. Despite the blinding darkness, Jax could feel his eyes close, and his mind slip into unconsciousness. He stirred on the ground for a moment, then, before he succumbed to the static filled in his mind, he heard a voice; a small, female voice that echoed in his ears.

        “You opened my case…”

        The world for Jax went blank.

Chapter Text

        Void. That’s all he saw, and all he could see; void. He didn’t know where he was, he didn’t know how he was there, and he didn’t know where the harsh buzzing rattling around the inside of his noggin came from. He reached out his hand, feeling for something - anything that might be submerged in the darkness as he was. However, his attempt was futile as his hand swiped through nothing. He retracted his hand, looking around and noticing the hard floor beneath his feet. He was certainly somewhere, he just didn’t know where. Then, right in front of him, two small, rounded objects formed and morphed themselves in his vision, their shapes indistinct, but their hues clear: red on the left, and blue on the right. His blood ran cold as he realized the colors belonged to their respective buttons, and a bright, blue screen flashed to life in front of him. The rest of the room continued to forge itself around him, and only then did he realize where he was.

        The console room at the back of Caine’s office.

        But… how?

        He couldn’t be there, he shouldn’t be there. Not now. Not again; not after what happened. He moved his body to turn around…

        …but his body wouldn’t budge.

        His heart rate spiked as a flood of confusion and fear consumed his mind. A cold sensation ran through his blood as he continued to resist in futile effort whatever force was restraining him. He couldn’t even turn his head, only shoot his eyes in every direction like prey pinned against the ground from its predator. Except now that predator was invisible, and was not keen on letting him free. He stared at the buttons in front of him - the buttons stared at him back, boring into his eyes and burning themselves into his retinas. A sudden pulse of energy emitted from the console, not pulsing outwards, however; it drew inwards. He felt his body being pulled toward the two buttons, no matter how hard he tried to protest and rebel against his own body rebelling against him. His left arm extended itself out toward the two buttons - or, rather, toward the one on the left.

        The red button.

        A surge of terror shocked his mind as he, to no yield, pushed even harder against the force that now had assumed control of his body. His hand drew ever closer to the button, his inner terror swiftly evolving to internal hysteria. He begged, he pleaded for his body to stop; but it didn’t listen. His hand was hovering over the button, and before he knew it - 

        Click.

        It had already been done.

        The moment his hand pressed the button, he jerked back violently, tripping over himself as he crawled away from the console, realizing the sudden control he now had over his body. The console screen in front of him went blank, the only light now filling the space being the two foreboding luminous buttons. For a moment, everything was silent save for his quick, panic-stricken breaths. The next moment, the screen opened, and flooded the room with a blinding, bright light. He shielded his eyes with both his hands, snapping them shut as soon as the light hit them. However, there was no Caine to greet him for completing the adventure; what met him instead - 

        Were plastic, toy-like claws yanking him by his salmon-colored overall straps.

        When he opened his eyes, he was met with a geometrically put together figure, composed of stray parts and bits and pieces, both of their eyes disproportionate in size. He realized that in front of him, screaming their lungs out, was Zooble.

        Or rather, a distorted version of them. While their limbs were usually disproportionate and mismatched by nature, this Zooble's limbs were unnaturally either twisted, enlarged, or shrunk until they almost looked unrecognizable.

        “WHY THE F$#% DID YOU DO THAT, YOU JERK?!” They demanded. He went to open his mouth, but was immediately ripped away from Zooble, leaving him upright and standing all on his own, but now faced a new familiar face. Ragatha, with eyes distorted, blackened, and her expression permanently etched with agony, fear, and anger, all mixing into one amalgamation.

        “I knew it! You always have to mess everything up!” She barked at him. He felt a pang inside of him strike his chest, and he opened his mouth, and tried to explain himself.

        “Ksnwnfdfd… jdn!”

        But he couldn’t. All that came out was a sad, garbled, jumbled voice that glitched and stuttered the harder he tried to talk. However, the moment he turned around, something struck him across the face - something hard, something with jagged edges, and something that when it made contact, caused his skin to feel like it was almost going to shatter into a million pieces. When he laid his eyes on his attacker - his heart nearly stopped.

        Ribbit.

        His ears drooped as a hysterical grin was carved into her face, abstract eyes and a black substance consuming half of her body, contorting and glitching it until she was nearly indescribable hadn’t it been for her other half.

        “You were always a liar, weren't you Jax?”

        No…

        “You drove me to be like this, Jax.”

        No!

        “Jax, why did you-”

        “STOP!”

        His voice, sudden yet powerful and loud, surged above all the noise surrounding him, and all at once, they disappeared. He was left with silence and the returning void, not even the two buttons on the console accompanying him with light. He felt his eyes turned into crazed scribbles, his breathing becoming more and more shallow as he brought his knees up to his chest. His ears began to ring as all else around him - or what at least could be heard - disappearing into the void. His heart beat in his throat as his entire body shook as if he were going to come apart at the seams. But then, there was a voice who called to him.

        “Jax.”

        It was feminine, small, and anxious. It sounded like the kind of person that you would include in a group activity simply because they had no one else to partner up with. And Jax - Jax knew who that was.

        Pomni.

        He whipped around and stood up almost immediately, causing his vision to blur as his mind struggled to process the sudden motion. Despite all of that, he could still see her clear as day; Those big, sad blue and red technicolored eyes, the artificial blush on her cheeks, the bells on the tips of her jester hat… it was all her. No distortions, no abstraction eyes - just her.

        “Why did you leave?”

        What?

        The moment she uttered those words, a sudden, overwhelming and borderline painful stinging surged through his entire body. First, they came in pulses, but after a moment, it was full blown constantly.

        “This isn’t funny, Jax.”

        He attempted to reach out toward her, but the moment he did, he realized where the source of the stinging was coming from.

        His arm was covered in black, jagged, lagging edges as technicolored eyes polka-dotted his arms and hands like chickenpox. Some of the eyes darted in different directions, some of the eyes looked at each other.

        Then, they looked at him, tens upon hundreds of colorfully dreadful pupils boring right into Jax's.

        He would’ve widened his eyes, had it not been for the fact that the same jagged edges and technicolored eyes began to consume his face, eating away bit by bit. He felt all of his senses slowly anesthetize, as he realized that this was his fate; finally, after all this time in the circus, he was finally facing abstraction. Took it long enough. However, in the last moments he could truly see Pomni, she reached for him, and he swore with the last remnants of his wavering consciousness he saw a stray tear roll down her cheek.

        “Please don’t leave…”

        Jax’s world… had finally succumbed to oblivion.

- - -

        The sensation of a hammer beat against Jax’s head time and time again as he lifted his eyelids. He squinted as he attempted to make out the world around him; he only was able to make out a poppy red hue flood his vision as the world contorted, blurred, and twisted and whirled all around him. He let out a weak and almost exhausted groan as he blinked hard, twice. The world gradually returned to normal, the revolving and spinning coming to a halt, and his hazy vision clearing up. He sat up and rubbed his temples, squeezing his eyes shut to try and stamp out the great headache he now possessed. He opened his eyes and took in the space around him; he was still in the same room he had been in when he saw that Poppy doll.

        “Ugh…” Jax groaned as he heaved himself up with the aid from the case that was next to him, its door still open. However, weirdly enough, he didn’t feel anything inside. He looked inside of the case -

        - and found it vacant.

        Jax’s eyes shot open, all of his senses now coming completely online. He darted his head all around the small bedroom he was in, but to no avail; the Poppy doll wasn’t there - she had left, somehow, someway. He shook his head once, and looked back into the empty case.

        “What… that should be -” he trailed for a moment, his thoughts having hit a wall. “Where did that doll go?” He turned his attention toward the silent hallway, still, almost waiting for him. Jax’s mind ran through what this could mean, and why he was still there. The moment he realized it - it hit him like a truck.

        “You’ve GOT to be kidding me! I STILL have to go on this stupid adventure?!” He whined loudly, kicking his right foot. He huffed with frustration and took hold of both of his grabpack cannons again, the familiar weight of it being more welcoming than anything else in that horrid, terrifying nightmare.

        Jax’s mind flashed, only for a moment, back to the hallucination - nightmare - whatever term fitted it best. He recalled with chilling accuracy the horrifying expression on Ragatha’s face, how ticked off Zooble had been, and he remembered… her. Ribbit. He gazed off at the ground for a moment, before shaking his head and slapping his face twice lightly. 

        It doesn’t matter now. None of this is real, and never has been. It shouldn’t be this deep. Jax thought to himself, which, for the time being, was enough incentive to cease dwelling and turn towards the door. However, a lingering vexation festered in Jax’s chest and mind. Furrowing his eyebrows, he grunted and started out of the door, slouching under the weight of the grabpack, and the weight of the frustration he felt.

        “I’m gonna kill Caine when this is over.”

Chapter Text

        Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well currently. I would like to start this off by posting this message first.

        First, I would like to notify you all that I will be occupied this weekend, so this will be the only chapter that comes out until I come back in a few days, so you all can expect to see chapter 6 late Tuesday at the earliest. Secondly, I have seen you guys asking what will happen when Caine "snaps" during this adventure, since this does technically take place during episode 8 - and to that, I have an explanation. 

        So, I have decided that Caine will eventually "snap" like in episode 8, and I will hint at it when it does happen, although it will be through Jax's POV in the "adventure." However, instead of the crew trying to eventually shut down Caine, they will most likely attempt to free Jax first, and then shut down Caine so Jax doesn't get tangled up in whatever mumbo-jumbo that is Caine's antics and adventures.

Also, in this chapter, I decided to give Jax a use for his knack of keys ;)

Again, thank you all for the support via the comments, the kudos, and also simply just reading this story!

Now, with all of that said - let's get this show on the road!

- - -

        Jax emerged from the hallway that led to the doll’s room, walking out into the living room area he’d seen before. Everything was left the same as before; furniture was neatly arranged, a small dollhouse sat in a corner to his right, pillows strewn across the floor, almost as if a group of children had passed by and played in the space while he was passed out. The lighting in the room was nearly dim, a couple stray lamps on the walls flickering, clearly needing bulb replacements. However, when he crossed the room, he nearly jumped when he saw the now addressed elephant in the room. 

        The way that he came in was completely barricaded. Large, blue chests and wooden crates obstructed his potential way out of there, and they were too tightly packed for him to crawl out. Jax, now struck with perplexion, shoved his entire body weight against the chests. But, as expected, none of them moved an inch. That didn’t deter him initially, though, as he continued to heave, push, and even slam his body in a desperate attempt to escape; yet it all proved futile. Grunting in frustration, he launched both of his grabpack hands point blank at one of the top crates, each hand firmly grasping the side of it. Even that, though, served to be ineffective as it only moved the chest a mere inch. Jax let out an interjection as he punched one of the crates, only to instantly regret it as blunt pain shot through his hand.

        “Agh! F$#%!” He hissed as he held his injured hand. He leaned against the wall behind him that split the room in two, looked down as he rubbed his now pulsing hand. His ears drooped down to his eyes as his frustration gradually subsided into the recesses of his mind. The scent of musty dew slowly filled his (nonexistent) nostrils, and if he did have one, he would’ve scrunched it because of the light gag that was forced from his throat. He flicked his eyes to the right absentmindedly, but, instead of seeing the dresser that was there before, he saw something else entirely.

        Surrounded by the same shared aging wallpaper, peeling just as it had in the doll’s room, was a door. There was no explanation as to why it was there, no hint, no markings; nothing. Jax stared at it curiously, approaching it slowly as he glanced between the dresser that was now placed over to the side, then back at the door. He turned his eyes toward the door knob, and, after fiddling with it for a moment, then ripping it open, revealed another gray, industrial, and almost monotone hallway that he had traversed through before he encountered Huggy Wuggy. He looked around the room, then poked his head out into the hallway, ensuring that no other killer toys would try and make him their next meal.

        “Well, nowhere else to go, I guess.” He muttered. However, right before he stepped out into the hallway, he hesitated; something inside of him, somewhere, somehow, begged him not to go, a small sense of dread filling his consciousness for a moment. But, in typical Jax fashion, he shrugged it off, shaking his head and venturing out into the hallway, leaving whatever had happened to him, and whatever the nightmare that he had back in that excuse of a mock-home.

        The air instantly shifted from the illusion of a safe, comfortable home, back into the cold and uneasy atmosphere that surrounded the rest of the factory Jax had been in thus far. Fluorescent lights from above faintly flickering, with every other one going out for a second, then barely brightening up again. Painted on the left wall was Huggy Wuggy, his arms stretched out as wide as his cartoon-like smile. Painted on the right wall was a character Jax hadn’t seen yet; a big, red brontosaurus stood proudly, with wide, baby blue eyes, and a small twig clamped between its pearly whites. Jax, although he didn’t want to admit it, preferred looking at the right side of the wall when compared to the left, with even the faintest sight of blue fur sending a chill down his digital spine. He continued down the hallway, passing by similar illustrations on the wall, only now Huggy Wuggy had wrapped himself in a tight hug, and the red brontosaurus was smiling right at Jax, its grin almost too wide. Jax forced his attention forward, not daring to look either left or right, lest he gets reminded of the unknown horrors of the factory that Caine had forced him into.

        Seriously, why does Caine think we like this stuff? Jax pondered in his head. He didn’t understand why some of his adventures could be light-hearted and fun, boring and unsatirical, or just straight-up nightmare fuel, this adventure probably being Caine’s prime example of an adventure yet that will leave you with more than enough trauma needed to go see a therapist. While he could be borderline malicious sometimes, it was due to pure obliviousness. So, even after that - nevermind. Caine still liked and practically adored the lot of them, so there was no reason for him to hate them, right?

        A maroon door came into sight as Jax exited the hallway, the rather colorful aspect, despite the faded illustrations on the wall and the red, blue, and yellow tricolor palette decorating the tiles on the floor. Above it was a golden nameplate reading in bold text: “ELLIOT LUDWIG.” Jax put a finger to his chin, staring at the name, and suddenly recalled the man in the Poppy doll commercial he saw at the very beginning. It had been right before he obtained the grabpack, and right before he saw -

        Shut up about that already, idiot. Jax internally scowled at himself. None of this is real, so just shut up about it.

        He tugged at the doorknob, but only reeled in a firm jiggling noise from it; locked. Jax pulled away, brow furrowed at the inconvenience, and peeked out at both pathways going in either direction. To the left was a locked door with two deactivated hand scanners above it, clearly needing power, which was a chore that Jax was already not looking forward to. The path leading right winded down even further, perhaps providing a possible solution to his current predicament. Both directions locked in a debate in Jax’s mind, only for both to be thrown out of the picture when he remembered one thing he had that Caine couldn’t control - or at least control yet.

        “Oh wait!” He exclaimed with a smile, diving his hand into his front overall pocket, retrieving his prize: a large, red handled key with a tin poppy flower at one end, shining slightly in the faint fluorescent light. “This’ll do the trick!”

        Jax inserted the key into the hole, and with a familiar and  satisfying click, the door creaked open, granting him access inside.

        Inside was an office, styled completely different from the rest of the factory, and even the mock-home he had been in. In front of him, the floor was layered with dark oak floorplanks and dust, with a red carpet sprawled out beneath a desk. The walls of the office were lined with bookshelves and wooden cabinets, with a single set of fluorescent lights that were miraculously still working, just like everything else within the factory that had power. Sitting on the desk was a book, a few stray pieces of paper, a blueprint, and… a golden flower? Jax entered the office, his curiosity now full-force as he explored every small detail of the office, which was mainly the desk. He could care less about the bookshelves.

        He reached out toward the golden flower, the object not even staying a moment in his hand before it burst into confetti, with a small kazoo blurting out of thin air. Jax jumped back slightly as his eyes darted across the room for a moment, before calming and reminding himself that it was just one of Caine’s antics. He released a heavy sigh after a moment, taking another glance around the office for anything he could’ve missed; a couple of children’s drawings lining the right wall in between bookshelves. The one on the top seemed to be a child standing in front of a life-sized toy train, with colorful passenger cars connected to the main locomotive, which was equally as colorful. However, what was on the bottom unnerved him more.

        The bottom drawing illustrated blue scribbles in the form of Huggy Wuggy, the monster that had seeked Jax’s digital flesh perhaps hours ago, having one arm wrapped around an identical twin toy; a pink copy of Huggy, but with a red bow tie instead of yellow, and with a sweeter, more innocent smile that Huggy’s. Hearts surrounded the pair, with each of their respective names scribbled beneath them: Huggy and Kissy. For a split moment, Jax quietly muttered that there couldn't be two, before snapping his head to the side, averting his eyes to blot out the drawing. However, his eyes landed on something more peculiar.

        Behind the desk were two ventilation grates, one behind either side of the piece of furniture. The one on the right seemed intact, although aged with time. However, the one on the right looked as if it were about to pop its bolts out, but the more strange aspect, Jax noticed, were the painted hands that dotted the metal object. Jax eyed the grate, then his grabpack, then the grate, then the grabpack again… only when another minute passed by did it fully click in his mind what he was supposed to do.

        “Oh, duh! I use these! I knew that.” He said casually and confidently, acting as though his mind hadn't just gone blank. He launched the red hand at the ventilation grate, ripping it off with ease, and with enough noise that could’ve alarmed anybody - or any thing - if they were nearby. Hopping up into the vent, the familiar click of the grabpack’s flashlight snapped out again, illuminating the path ahead. Jax crept his way through the duct, subconsciously paranoid that something was going to chase him again. Were the walls closing in? He wasn’t sure. He shouldn’t care, anyway.

        He descended down the ventilation shaft, turning past uncanny red warning lights and flinching slightly whenever the metal beneath him creaked and groaned. The shaky yet steady breath was the only noise filling the uncomfortable silence, while somehow making it even more uncomfortable. Sooner than later, Jax could see out of the mixture of brick red light and pitch black darkness the illumination of artificial light ahead, drawing a sigh of relief from him.

        At the end of the ventilation shaft, he dropped down into the open space, landing effortlessly on his feet, even though there wasn’t an audience that he could show off to. The room was undoubtedly a maintenance room; there was a power generator at the far right of the room, piping snaking along the walls, boxes with the same Poppy doll plastered on them that he’s seen a dozen times now, the same conductive spires that he utilized for the power puzzle back in the make-a-friend area, and a bright yellow poster on the other side of the room with a small toy robot holding a cardboard box in his hands, an enthusiastic look on its face.

        Handle with care! The poster encouraged. However, it only probed a blank expression from Jax as he skimmed over it and moved on. He continued to scan the room for anything useful - or at least anything interesting that he could mess around with. After a minute of finding nothing of the such, he drew a disappointed breath, crossing his arms indignantly.

        “Y’know, for a toy company, there doesn’t seem to be many fun things to play-” 

        CRASH!

        Jax's muscles and nerves tightened and tensed in an instant as leaped back as a cardboard box fell from a small platform above the piping on the wall, accidentally slamming his back into the wall in the process. He let out a small yelp of pain as he instantly directed his eyes toward the source, arming his grabpack, ready for anything.

        However, what he saw wasn’t a killer toy; it wasn’t a monster, nor a beast, nor anything that seemed harmless, let alone want to kill him.

        Up on the small platform, in front of an electrical outlet, was a small doll, its face made from pure, spotless, white porcelain, small blushes powdering each of her cheeks, red glossy lips, large sapphire, innocent eyes, and red, curly hair styled into two pig tails on each side. The doll was wearing a fair blue dress, reminiscent of simpler, more elegant fashion, yet enough to get somebody’s attention. The doll’s expression was surprised and apologetic as she looked at Jax, almost seeming embarrassed for tipping over the box.

        Jax instantly recognized the doll; she was the one he had seen plastered on walls and on posters time and time again throughout the factory. She was the doll that he saw in the commercial at the beginning, seeming to be the company’s prized possession, and poster child at the same time. This was the doll that had been described of being the first truly intelligent doll, one that could listen to your conversations and that she would respond to. Most of all, though, this was the doll that Jax had freed from her case, granting her freedom to the outside world again.

        And that doll - was Poppy.

Chapter Text

        Poppy gazed nervously at the anthropomorphic purple rabbit below her as she fidgeted with her hands, almost in embarrassment as if she had done something wrong. She looked at the rabbit up and down once, struck with curiosity and surprise; she hadn’t seen anything, or anyone, like this before. Was he a toy, perhaps? Was it a costume? A suit? The awkward tension in the air thickened as the two continued to stare at each other, until finally, Poppy broke out with embarrassment tinged in her voice.

        “Oh! - sorry. I was just trying to turn the power on…” She said, moving out of the way of the power outlet behind her. However, Jax still didn’t move; he didn’t flinch, he didn’t say anything - he didn’t even seem to breathe. Nothing. He just simply stared at her, his black pupils enlarged, and his mouth closed. His eyes weren’t exactly feral, hungry, or malevolent. They were just blank. Poppy’s curiosity of him slowly morphed into confusion as his attention didn’t waver from her. Lifting up her small left arm, she waved a little bit.

        “Hey, um… are you okay?” She asked with a small voice.

        Jax, on the other hand, was too mentally occupied. His mind was racing with thoughts, every single one overlapping each other. He took note of every single detail of the doll up on the little walkway; her blue dress, her curly red hair… only one thought kept constant in Jax’s mind.

        Why in the world did she look like Ragatha?!

        Jax immediately shook his head and forced his mind back into the present digital reality that was the current adventure he was in - if he could still call it that. He shoved the thought of Ragatha and Poppy’s similarities far, far down into his mind, not daring to dwell on it any further. Clearing his throat, he stepped closer to the walkway that Poppy was standing on, the grip on his grabpack loosening, yet still staying firm, throwing on a casual and lazy grin, replacing the blank expression he had just a moment ago.

        “Yeah, sorry.” He said, looking up at Poppy. “So, you must be that doll I’ve been seeing everywhere; Poppy, right?”

        “Yes, I am the Poppy,” She returned, tension leaving her now that Jax had finally shown any form of consciousness. “In the… porcelain, I suppose.” Jax nodded slightly, looking inquiringly around the room, then back at Poppy.

        “So, you said you were trying to get the power on, right?” Poppy nodded, gesturing toward the electrical outlet, a red light glowing above it, the whole thing lying dormant.

        “Yes. I was having some trouble turning it on…” She flicked an eye toward the outlet, then at Jax, a slight smile rooting on her face. “Perhaps you could help me.” Jax smirked and closed his eyes, his cockiness surfacing and being a stark contrast to the rest of the room. Then again, the whole atmosphere of him - body color, overalls and everything - stood out like a daisy in a rose field.

        “Sure. This’ll be easy.” With a twitch of his left hand, the blue hand shot out of its cannon, instantly locking on to the outlet. The conductive wire pulsed to life as a humming sensation vibrated through the grabpack and through Jax’s back. He twitched a slight smile; no matter how many times he felt it, the sensation of electricity always made his body tingle. Wrapping the wire around the electrical spire, he circled the room slowly like a vulture, searching each minute detail for the missing outlet needed to complete the puzzle. Finally, next to the generator was the prize he had been seeking. Jax pulled the right trigger, launching the red hand point-blank at his goal. The wire coiled on his back surged, then died as both hands retracted back to their respective cannons, an electrical thrumming coming from both the generator in the room, and deep within the walls of the room. From his left was the sound of two small hands clapping together, a smile coming from Poppy as she observed him from above. Jax’s grin grew wider as he soaked up the applause, albeit his audience was a singular, small little red-haired doll who he still had no idea who she was. However, it was better than the rest of the circus members - most of them, anyway.

        “Ahem,” Poppy started, her hands now resting by her sides. “I wanted to thank you for freeing me.” Jax shrugged and pulled his hands toward the back of his hands, leaning back in the air.

        “Ah, well, it’s nothing. Another day, another dollar.” He remarked. Poppy nodded, folding her hands in front of her as a smile spread across the face - the type of smile that is eternally grateful for one, small kind act. A smile that could inspire hope, inspire trust, and inspire understanding. Jax returned it with a lopsided grin.

        “I was stuck in there for so long… Thank you.” Jax put up his hands and shrugged, chuckling as he took a step back.

        “Hey, it’s nothing, really. I’ve had to do worse.” He said. With a nod, Poppy turned around and disappeared into the vent behind her, her voice echoing off the thin steel walls of the space and into the dense walls of the room.

        “Well, I’d like to pay you back. There’s a train station nearby.” Jax’s ears and eyes perked up, a small sensation rising in his chest: hope. If he could get to that train station, he could finally leave the nightmare Caine had trapped him in, he could finally return to the circus, and he could finally go back to living his “normal” digital life. The mere thought of it brought a smile to his face.

        However, that thought was quickly slapped on the hand. Jax’s brows furrowed slightly as he dug deeper into the contradictions of the idea. What if Caine had other plans? What if this adventure somehow extended even longer? What if there was more to this than meets the eye? What if, What if, what if, what if…

        Nevermind that, Jax thought. That’s all it is right now - just what-ifs. We’ll see how it goes. Jax swapped his expression from one of troubled thought to interest and curiosity, looking up toward the source of the reverberating thumps that came from Poppy’s tiny footsteps.

        “A train station?” Jax inquired, shoving his gloved hands in his pockets while slouching back lazily.

        “Yes. It needs a code, and I have it.” Poppy confirmed, the sound of her voice growing closer. 

        “We’re going to get out of here.” That last sentence contrasted with the last one, evolving into something more; her voice dripped with resolve. Jax could tell that she wanted to get out of there just as much as he did, and he didn’t blame her. Being stuck down there, and especially in the case that he had freed her from, would be enough to drive anybody mad, especially Jax himself.

         It’d probably drive even Kinger nuts, too, and he’s all sorts of coo-coo crazy. The thought of Kinger being tenfold the amount of mad that he already was unnerved Jax, and he threw that thought away. Poppy emerged from the other side of the small ventilation shaft she was in, this time, she was practically on top of the room next to the larger vent that had Jax initially entered the room through. 

        “As soon as you get up here.” She teased, letting out a smile, playful laugh. Jax grinned and armed his grabpack, aiming one hand at the handle bar above the vent entrance.

        “Well, you don’t have to tell me twice, dolly.” He quipped back.

- - -

        THWIP! Both the red and blue hand landed on each of their respective scanners, the familiar electrical whirring of the devices resonating within the hallway. Jax flexed his hands as he inspected them, almost as if he had just painted his finger nails, despite knowing that the only thing underneath the yellow gloves he wore were smooth, rubbery purple fingers. He let out a little huff as he dwelled on it further, tapping his foot almost mechanically as he continued to stare down at his hand. He would never admit it, but if he could rip the digital skin that ensnared him at all times, he would; if he could just -

        Ding! Jax tossed aside his thoughts as he snapped his head back up, now looking into a corridor with a massive gap in the middle, a hungry void below sitting silently, patiently waiting for anyone unfortunate enough to fall into its ravenous depths. On the ceiling above it was a handle bar, a faint yellow light highlighting it against the gray and faded paint. Jax peered down into the void, then looked up at the handle bar. A small smirk twitched on his face as an idea clicked in his head. With a swift flick of his right hand, he launched the red hand out, gripping onto the handle bar. As the metal wire slowly pulled him forward, a sudden rush of adrenaline and energy shot through Jax as he full-on sprinted toward the gap. His stomach flopped as he dipped into the darkness for a moment - then, he emerged on the other side, landing effortlessly with his red hand now retracted back into its cannon. He looked back at the gap, a wide, childish-, awestruck grin spreading from rabbit ear to rabbit ear.

        “I’ve GOT to do that again sometime.” He whooped. The after effects of his energy rush buzzed through his body, stimulating every sense and every movement that flowed through him.

        Strutting with an aura of sheer confidence, Jax entered the next corridor that stretched ahead of him. However, something in the air shifted immediately as he stepped into the hallway. The air grew colder, more thick, creating an almost insufferable sense of constant eeriness. The adrenaline boost that once provided Jax with blind confidence morphed into superstition and almost prey-like timidness, every stimulated sense now utilized to pick up on even the slightest of irregular sound. His flat footsteps echoed throughout the hallway, each reverberation trading off the sound to the next before disappearing. However, a soft, uncanny, yet comforting tone resonated through the space. Jax’s digital hair stood straight up as his heart nearly jumped, and his stomach flopped, the grip on both triggers suddenly clenching the grabpack tighter. The sound - the sound that softly rang through the space - seemed distantly familiar. Only after a moment of listening did Jax realize what it was.

        It was the same melody of the music box that had played in Poppy’s room.

        Now, however, it was being hummed by an individual unseen to Jax, the rhythm seeming to come from the walls themselves. As Jax continued to cautiously step forward, the source of the melody only grew stronger, emitting the sharpest from the blank, white door in front of him. He stared at the door, his mind torn apart and both sides begging him to listen to their cause. One side beckoned him to turn back; the other side attempted to convince him to open the door. Jax’s eyes flicked from the door, to the hallway behind him, then back at the door. Closing his eyes, he drew a long, heavy breath of air, and set his mind on one goal: open the door, then find Poppy - wherever she was. He reached out with reluctant resolve for the door knob, and, with a twitching grip, he opened the door.

        The room that lay in front of Jax caught him off guard. On the far side of the room was a locked gate - with no signs for unlocking - sitting silently, with big, white letters spelling out: “GAME STATION.” To the left was another large locked gate, however, its lettering was far too jumbled up for someone to decipher. However, the elephant in the room was the large, wide, gaping hole in the floor, the obstruction giving way to the same black oblivion that Jax had faced with boldness only a couple of minutes before. The humming now was at its strongest, and now, he could finally see the source of the unsettling tune.

        Poppy stood as still as a statue in front of the hole, dangerously close to the edge. She seemed to be staring down into it, humming the uncanny rhythm, seemingly not taking notice of the door swinging open. There was an enigmatic sphere of aura about her - something Jax couldn’t quite make out. Why did she need his help? What happened back in that room after he freed her? Why did he pass out the moment that case opened? Jax couldn’t, and most likely wouldn’t, ever know the answers to any of those questions. He took a single step into the room, which seemed to break Poppy from her trance, with her humming ceasing abruptly and turning her small, porcelain body around.

        “You’re here. Took you long enough.” She poked, a small teasing smile on her face. Jax returned the gesture, coming closer to the small door that he dwarfed nearly tenfold.

        “Sorry, got caught up with stuff.” He quipped, a lopsided grin plastered on his face. Poppy giggled softly, then, became serious in almost an instant, as if she had put on a mask just like he does every day.

        “Listen, I’m going to need you to trust me-” Suddenly, a soft rumbling shook the room. The rumbling intensified as soon as it had started, shaking the entire room, causing Jax to stumble and Poppy to fall forward as the room vibrated, jerked, and trembled violently. Accompanying the earthquake in the symphony of chaos, the walls, ceiling, and even the very floor beneath the duo’s feet glitched and lagged in and out of existence, ugly and inconsistent digital patterns of coding bleeding and flashing through the digital reality. Jax, almost by instinct, yanked Poppy away from the hole that somehow, through all the chaos, stayed consistent - almost like an anchor in an angry, violent sea. Overcoming the noise of trembling walls and bits of debris jumbling about was a roar - a loud, terrifying, and malevolent roar that made the very bones of Jax’s digital body shake. The thunderous howl crescendoed, and with it, the chaos surrounding him and Poppy followed the director. Through everything that was happening, Jax recognized faintly of whom the roar belonged to - and when he did, his heart nearly skipped a beat.

        Caine.

        Within an instant, everything stopped, screaming chaos and an earthquake that made Jax’s very body tremble along with it replaced with terrifying stillness and deafening silence. His breathing was quick, yet deep, his mind racing as it struggled to adjust to the immediate change. Poppy stood up, equally just as shook as Jax, only paired with confusion. She looked up at him with big, blue eyes.

        “What… what was that?” She asked, voice small, frightened. Jax slowly turned to her, his expression reflecting her own. His voice cracked as he spoke.

        “I… I don’t-” Suddenly, a thin, pink hand shot out of the void of the hole behind Poppy, with an even more matching, slender, and impossibly long pink arm snatching her without hesitation and with little care, dragging her into the depths below. Poppy let out a pure, petrified screech that came from the as the hand drug her down deeper, her voice ringing until it could no longer be heard. Jax instantly shot up and leaped toward the hole, stopping short of the edge as he stared into darkness.

        “Poppy?!” He bellowed down into the pit, only to be returned with silence that formed a dark, sickening pit at the bottom of his stomach that made his skin crawl and his head feel like a balloon, his breathing hastening in pace.

        “POPPY!” He hopelessly barked, hoping in vain for any sort of response.

        But nobody came.

        Jax stood straight up, his hands abandoning the grabpack triggers as he darted his eyes around the room like a wild animal. However, he found nothing but rubble, deafening silence, and a gaping hole in the ground that, with foreboding silence, called his name. Jax let out a sigh of reluctance mixed with annoyance, coiling his digital muscles back as he prepared himself for the void below.

        “She better not be dead by the time I get down there.” He muttered.

        With a half-determined gleam in his eye, Jax sprang forward, and entered a free fall as the darkness enveloped him, only leaving interpretation of his imagination on what was in store for him.

Chapter Text

        Jax toppled out of the slide that he sped out of, landing hard on his rear end in a comical fashion. He groaned and dusted himself off, taking in the new environment that he found himself in. The room was large, decorated with the increasingly repetitive red, blue, and yellow colors, with the same colored concrete building blocks acting as supports for the inaccessible path that was obstructed by yet another metal shutter. Behind him were five slides, all placed by each other with names above them from left to right: Eddie M.N.R., Leith Pierre, Elliot Ludwig, Stella Greyber, but the last one… the last one’s name wasn’t present. The letters were all on the floor, dormant. Jax glanced at the slide with Ludwig’s name plastered above it. He nodded a bit as he took note of it, storing it in his memory banks, just in case.

        To the left was another metal shutter, yet, it was opened the very slightest, denying Jax any access. He let out a small huff, then looked to his right, and spotted something that could prove of use, albeit in his least preferred fashion; two electrical outlets sat on opposite sides of parallel catwalks, individually fused to the same power generator, with large, electricity-conducting spires erected on either catwalk. A puzzle. Jax whined as he trudged over to the dreaded area, wiping his face with his hands.

        “Why does this place have so many of these?!” He complained. Now standing in front of the first electrical outlet, he gave a haphazard pull of his left trigger, the blue hand making contact with the outlet and sending the same buzzing, and ecstatic electrical surge through the wire coiled on the grabpack. Jax backed up and attempted to wrap the wire around the first spire, on first contact, however - 

        BZZTZ!

A metal grate snapped up and rammed into the wire of the grabpack, knocking the hand off the outlet and causing it to retreat back to its cannon. Jax’s expression flashed with frustrating surprise, a sharp, temper-driven flare in his chest rising. He shot the blue hand to the electrical outlet again.

        And again.

        And again.

        And again.

        Jax let out a cry that was comparable to that of a pouting child. He clawed at his face and, out of blinding anger, slammed his fist into a snaking blue pipe that pillared up into the ceiling above. A burst of pain shot through his hand as he yanked it back, waving it around as he heaved from pain and anger. He glanced at the blue pipe, then at the other catwalk; then at the blue pipe, then at the other catwalk. Suddenly, an idea conjured itself in his head, and -

        Oh my gosh, DUH! If there was a lightbulb above his head, he swore it would have lit up the entire room, and even the factory itself. Jax jogged over to the opposing catwalk, just about pressed his body to the generator, and aimed his blue hand at the first electrical outlet.

        THWIP! Step one: done. He carefully manipulated both his body and the wire around the catwalk, stepping in tandem with each soft, humming electrical surge he felt flow through his grabpack. Eventually he reached the first spire, and, holding his breath and crossing his fingers with his free hand, coiled the wire around the object. He listened for the metal grate to shoot up, however, it didn’t; nothing happened. Jax silently celebrated his molehill of a victory by spreading a grin on his face, then started toward the second tower, a renewed feeling of confidence surging through him like the electricity surging through his grabpack. Wrapping the wire around the second spire, and made a mad dash toward the second outlet -

        WHAM!

        Jax’s whole body had an unpleasant meeting with a second metal grate that sprang upward the moment he wrapped around the spire. Stars floated above his head (literally) for a moment before he regained his bearings. He peered through the gate and poked his head around it, his face creasing with confusion and a pang of frustration. He was so close to his goal - yet he was so far. He eyed the railing, and an idea popped up in his head that sent a slight chill up his spine; why couldn’t he just step on the railing and fire the grabpack there? Well, it was risky - too risky, even for his liking. With how everything was so far in the nightmare that was the Playtime Co factory, his nerves felt coiled up every second he spent in that place, only being able to relax when he was absolutely certain that he was safe, which in and of itself was a rare occasion. Jax slowly backed up ducked underneath the coil behind him, and found himself back on the first catwalk. He had a clear shot for the other outlet, and, crossing his fingers, he pulled the trigger -

        THWIP!

        - and successfully made contact with the second outlet, allowing electricity to flow through, completing the puzzle.

        Relief and pride flooded Jax’s expression as he whooped aloud, his celebratory cries bouncing off the walls around him and echoing into the room from where he came. Trotting off into the slide room, he looked at where the metal shutter once was, and found himself gazing down a long, stretching hallway that seemed to be unnecessarily lengthy. His sense of pride immediately washed away, tense nerves and a sense of trouble taking its place. The bottom of the walls were painted in wavy, red patterns, leaving the rest of them a boring, blank gray. Weathered cracks and patches of black smudges that Jax didn’t even want to guess what they could be dotted the walls, red, yellow, and blue piping either slithering or protruding along and from the walls and into the dark ceiling above. Overhead, a lone, fluorescent light flickered, casting haunting shadows along the floor. At the very end of the hallway was another metal shutter, with a red hand scanner stationary above it. Jax’s instincts screamed for him to stop, his nerves and muscles winding tighter and tighter; he knew something was wrong. Each step he took only caused his heart to race faster and faster, until he found himself standing in front of the metal shutter, much sooner than he would’ve liked. He glanced at his red hand, and launched it right at the scanner -

        - before having a pink, slender, rubbery hand ejecting from the darkness above faster than a bullet grip onto it.

        “A new playmate!” A squeaky, cheerful, high pitched female voice rang out, the pink hand retreating back into the void that was the ceiling, and leaving Jax down a hand.

        “Hey!” He protested, yelling up at the source of the voice, that of whom slowly descended down so Jax could get a full view of her. A pink spider, with an unnatural, sick, and downright creepy grin stretched widely across her face, with wide green eyes and thin black pupils. Four thin, elongated limbs stabilized her mid-air, pink hands and feet using the walls around them as support. She hovered overhead of Jax, staring down at him in a way that shouted “I’m going to murder you later.” Every hair, if he had any at all, stood on end as chills ran down his spine and every muscle tightened, ready to run, if he was even able to outrun the beast that was hanging off of the walls around them.

        “It’s been so long,” The spider chirped. “Isn’t this exciting, Poppy?” Coming down from the darkness that the spider herself had come from, was Poppy, her mouth covered with a mask of sorts, preventing her from making any noise at all as she squirmed and wriggled in the spider’s clutches. She didn’t need to speak, though; her cold yet terrified expression said everything.

        “ ‘Very exciting, Mommy!’ ” The spider spoke for Poppy, poorly imitating her voice as she tilted and slightly toyed with her like a doll (quite literally). The spider’s head snapped unnaturally back toward Jax, arms and legs shifting downward closer to him, causing him to swiftly step back, his grasp on the grabpack he held becoming tighter.

        “Mommy heard that Ms. Poppy was going to just - give you the train code to escape.” The spider adjusted itself on the wall to a position where she was now boring her eyes right at Jax from an upside down angle, her unsettling grin remaining the same.

        “Now how is that fun?” Jax had a timidly bold expression on his face, clenching his teeth despite them appearing fused together.

        “Listen, I’m not dealing with your bulls$#%, so can I just go?” Jax deadpanned. He already had to deal with a billion different factors working against him: this stupid adventure he conjured up for him, facing the fact that there wasn’t even a possible exit, trying not to think about how this digital nightmare could be real, and NOW, dealing with this stupid pink spider after running from a tall, blue, slender-tubby knockoff that wanted to tear him apart like a rapid predator. All of that slowly added up and took the form of frustration, anger, helplessness, that mounted interest each day that passed.

        “Ah ah ah! Language, my darling child.” She held out an authoritative finger, waving it around like a condescending mother. “Why don’t we make a game out of this?” The pink spider cheerily suggested. Jax blinked and shook his head slightly, a crawling sense of dread creeping up his spine.

        “The Game Station is still working… It will just be like old times!” The spider cooed. Jax’s foot was now taping automatically, as if it was a pre-set function that was built into his digital body. Taking his hands away from the grabpack, he crossed his arms impatiently.

        “And what’s my prize if I play?” He scoffed. The spider’s grin grew even wider, seeming to slide off its face if it went wide enough.

        “ 'If you win all three games, I’ll give you the train code!' ” The spider’s voice changed again, rattling Poppy from side to side.

        “Mommy loves that idea, Poppy!” The spider said joyfully. “Ooh! You’re going to have so much fun! Head to Musical Memory, and Mommy will get things started!” The spider was now facing Jax in an upright position, making its way back into the void it came from. Jax, however, could care less; his irritation and impatience was catching up with him, and he was about to let it out.

        “Oh yeah? And what happens if I don’t?” He hissed, exasperation flashing in his eyes. The pink spider stopped - then, slowly, it crept toward Jax, its pupils growing a bit, and its grin becoming something more sharp, something malicious.

        “If you don’t participate, I’ll tear you apart and eat your insides - while you’re still alive.” The spider was now face-to-face with Jax’s, his heavy breaths filling in the silence that dripped with dread. Then, the spider raced back into the darkness above, her maniacal laughter echoing not just off the walls, but in the recesses of Jax’s ears and mind like a bell. He stood there for a moment, stunned, inconvenienced, creeped out, and seething with frustration. The metal shutter ahead of him slowly opened, but he didn’t move - at least, not initially. He stared at the path ahead of him, and, with a heavy sigh, silently advanced toward the Game Station, only one thought going through his mind.

        I don't care if I complete this adventure or not - the circus is miles better than this crap.

Chapter Text

        Jax slogged into the room, ducking under the slowly rising metal shutter, gazing out to the wide open area before him. Stretching out was perhaps the largest room he’s encountered thus far in the factory, besides the catwalks where he watched Huggy Wuggy’s grim, swift, and brutal death. At the far end of the room was a life-size toy train that sat listlessly on the tracks, the main locomotive attached to three passenger cars behind it, all of them colored in different patterns and arrangements of blue, red, and yellow. In fact, the entire room was assorted the same way, the same, redundant hues somehow becoming more of an eyesore than the bright, overstimulating sights and colors of the circus. Blue fences lined either sides of a single, tri-colored striped pathway that segmented off into three different ones: one to the right led to a large cardboard cutout depicting a cheerful, bright, yellow bunny, the left leading down to a cardboard cutout that depicted a blue Huggy Wuggy slamming down a hammer on a green Huggy Wuggy, and a path leading down the middle that depicted a large, pastel-colored pug head; Musical Memory, Whack - A - Wuggy, and Statues. The air reeked of must, mold, and decaying infrastructure. It was a wonder how the electrical systems still worked. Catwalks near the ceiling sprawled out in all directions like vines, some heading towards doors, while some others led into rooms that protruded from the walls of the room. On either side of the room, large windows poured in dull, monotone sunlight. Could that be real, outside-world light? It was possible, yet hard to tell. Jax secretly hoped, somewhere deep inside him, that they were natural lighting. 

        He made his way across the room, stepping over bits of faltering fences and wooden splinters, walking toward the large stationary train. Jax pondered why a giant, life-sized toy train was even a part of this factory. 

        Is this thing for show? Is it a way of transporting people? If so, how big could this factory be? Surely it couldn’t be that big, right? Factories never exceeded this size, and this one is probably the same case.

        Jax, deep in his mind, knew that this factory could be different, and most likely would be different to other factories, considering the fact that his life had already been sought by a killer toy, a somehow living doll, and now a large, pink spider that threatened to kill him if he didn’t play her games. He surely was on a roll with this adventure, wasn’t he?

        Standing in front of the locomotive, Jax scanned the entire thing from left to right; most of the details were the same as when he had first seen it from afar. Sitting next to the train on the platform was a cut out of the same pink Huggy Wuggy look-a-like from the drawing he saw in Elliot Ludwig’s office named “Kissy.” She was wearing a train engineer’s uniform with a small blue bow poking out at the base of her fuzzy neck.Next to her was a red button, beneath it a speaker and a text that said. “Press here!” Jax wasn’t paying attention to that, though. He was more focused on why there were two of them? Was Kissy as bad as her blue counterpart? Jax shook his head slightly as he turned around, bringing his attention to the large, metal console behind him, that of which had large, long levers sitting idly at each one. On the far left of the console glowed a red light, silently demanding Jax to pull the corresponding lever. Jax shot out the blue hand, retracting it to pull the lever down, and ignoring the sour sensation that arose in him when thinking about how that lightish-red monstrosity of a spider toy that stole his red hand.

        That pink b!$%#

        “Hi kids!” A lady’s voice played from the pre-recorded message. “Welcome to the Game Station! I’m Stella, and we’ve got three super duper fun games to play.” The voice announced. Jax groaned silently as he recalled the round, pink face that was inches away from his, eyes and voice colder than the rusting metal making up some parts of the supports in the room.

        “These little tests show us just how crazy strong and smart you are!” Jax chuckled a bit, which felt almost foreign, strangely enough, at the thought of a crowd of little children getting hyped up by these messages from, instead of an actual human being, a machine. Then, a thought broke through Jax’s conscience, ignoring the rest of the lady’s dialogue as the message continued.

        Wait, why DOES this factory need a game station for children? Is this place like a second home or a hang-out for kids? The mere thought of it was as amusing as it was perplexing to think of this factory filled with killer toys as a hang-out joint, let alone a home for children. Though, the latter seemed practically impossible; there was no way this factory was a home to children.

        “Make your way to Musical Memory!” The recording beamed. Then, as on invisible command, a heavy, reinforced door in the ground grinded to the side, disappearing into the floor. Jax glanced at the stairs leading downward, then up at the windows. He knew that those were his only way out of this factory; his only ticket to freedom. Jax gripped his grabpack aimed his only hand for the lowest catwalk -

        What about Poppy?

        D@$! it.

        Why does he have to save her? Can’t he just break through those windows and glitch out of the map somehow? However, the echoes of the room that Poppy was doll-napped in bounced around in his head; the glitching, the deterioration of digital reality itself, and that roar… that unearthly roar that sounded undeniably like Caine. Why did any of that happen? Was his system glitching? Was he rewriting code or something? It couldn’t be that he got angry; he NEVER got angry.

        The only reason he hasn’t hurt us is because he likes us. Out of everyone, Zooble’s words echoed in Jax’s mind, and, to a degree, they had a point.

        However, the thought of Caine torturing all of them intentionally, ruthlessly, mercilessly, made Jax uneasy. Caine may torture them ignorantly, and if anything, he was benevolent. There was no incentive for him to be malevolent toward him and the rest of the circus members; he practically adored all of them. Sure, the stunt pulled yesterday - two days ago? It didn’t matter now - could’ve driven all of them to near abstraction, but he had no ill intentions.

        None of that mattered now, though. He was separated from the rest of the group, trapped in this nightmare of an adventure, and now had to save a doll who probably was either dead by now - or worse. Jax armed his grabpack and made his way over to the stairs leading to musical memory, shaking off the thought of that cold, plastic, cursed grin that that abomination of a spider had bared to him. 

- - -

        The large room echoed with the loud, reciprocating hums of the three googly-eyed machines, a series of plastic white hands being submerged in gooey, thick, sticky green paint, a conveyor belt rolling out a new, fresh batch of about ten or so hands that were practically copy and pasted from each other. Jax walked over to the end of the conveyor belt, inspecting the hand at the end a little bit. It was the exact same size, width, and weight of his blue grabpack hand, but, what could this one do? Were there some hands that served different purposes than others? 

        Well, only one way to find out. Swiping the green hand up, he attached it to the empty slot, the tool connecting with a satisfying click! He inspected the green hand on his grabpack with curiosity, and a soft, satisfied feeling in his chest now that he finally had two grabpack hands at his disposal. He aimed the hand at the ceiling, said hand shooting out immediately after he gave the trigger two test pulls. When it retracted for the second time, a grin appeared on Jax’s face before another small, green object flickered from the fluorescent lights overhead. Sitting next to a green VHS player, a small tape of the corresponding color waiting, almost beckoning to be played. Jax obliged its silent request, picking it up and inserting it into the VHS player. A few clicks, and a bright static screen later, and the screen on the television flashed to life, the logo of Playtime Co displaying on it. Jax grumbled slightly as he stared at the screen, crossing his arms and knotting his brows together.

        “Great - another training video. Seriously, how many does this company have?” To be fair, there were a number of dangerous and nearly complicated equipment that the former employees had to use - and that’s not even counting the horrid puzzles that were littered about. Seriously, why were there so many puzzles? Did the employees have to solve every single one when going from place to place? While he knew this was an adventure, the thought prodded at Jax’s mind. But, he had to think about that later, his attention swiveling from his inner thoughts back to the training video on screen. A model of the green hand glowed an electric blue, with subtitles dubbing below it.

        “Hand can hold up to ten seconds of electricity!” The rabbit’s ears perked up as he read the words, glancing down at the green hand, then back at the screen. A slight grin tugged at the corners of his mouth as he thought of how many stupid puzzles he could speed up, or simply straight-up skip with the new green hand he had. Finally, after giving half of his (divided) attention to the video, the screen displayed the company’s motto:

        “What’s the time? Playtime!” Then, the screen blacked out, a deafening silence rushing in to fill its place. Nearby, next to a door - the same door that Jax had gone through when being chased by Huggy Wuggy - was a dead triangular outlet. Then, sitting on the wall next to the television, was the complete opposite of the dead outlet. A bright green electrical outlet pulsed with energy, a few crackles and pops coming from it. Jax wasted no time in launching his green hand straight at it, and, just as the video had said, the green hand instantly retracted, cracking and popping with electricity. Aiming the powered up hand at the dead outlet, energy instantly transferred to the outlet, the door opening, granting him access further in. A small victorious grin sprang on Jax’s face as he waltzed into the inner compartments of the conveyor belt shaft, the door closing behind him after a few seconds. Jax glanced at the door, then at the green hand, then at the path ahead. He took a deep breath, cracking his neck from side to side as he took the first step.

        “Well, let’s get this over with.”

Chapter Text

        Hello everyone! I hope you all have been doing well lately. I thought that, since it's been a while since I've updated, I'd give some insight as to why it has been a good minute since I've written another chapter. First, I would like to apologize for the radio silence (besides my responses to some of your comments). I've been focusing more on school work, and that has led to some burn out simply due to how much work I've been assigned. Additionally, a lot of extracurricular activities have risen up for the last month of school, and so I've been attending those, too, leaving less time for me to work on this. Also, I have been more included in a local heritage group in my home town, since I want to see the place kept up and running, since most of the members there are either middle-aged or senior citizens. Sorry if that sounded rude at all. Also, I have been working on the weekends as well, which does help a lot, since I need the money. Along with all of this, I have also been going out for track, which has been filling up more of my time. While I do enjoy all of this (mostly just track, volunteering, work, and extracurricular activities), it has been booking my schedule, and I have been feeling the burnout of it all.

        I do hope it doesn't sound like I'm complaining to you all. I just would like to inform you all a little bit of why things have been delayed. I do really like writing this series, and I really like seeing your reactions as well. The support as well I really appreciate, whether it be a kudos or a comment expressing your thoughts, or even just reading this story, I really appreciate you all supporting and reading this! 

        I do hope you all understand my explanation. I promise I'll work on the next chapter so I can get it out to you all as soon as I can, as well as make it quality so that it compensates, and so I'm not just "checking in the box. I hope you all have a great day.

        Thank you all,

        - Creator.