SPIKETheGuy

Caine: “Your mission, my everlasting gobstoppers, is to explore the mighty complex that is ‘Felix von Coney’s’ FUNHOUSE OF WINDING WHIMSY & TREACHEROUS TRICKERY!!"

Bubble: “FOWWATT……?”

Caine: "Exactly, my corporeal cohort of varying tolerance!! He needs you to find three keys in order to unlock his Chest of Wonderment to claim the prize within…but his house has many winding turns and challenges waiting. He may offer you hints, but be wary…he may feed you more lies than truths!”

With that, Caine had everyone through the portal. Zooble tried to leave, as they tend to, but Caine wouldn't let them sit this one off.

———————

There, the group had been settled outside the funhouse, twisting and shifting like a living, breathing thing.

Knocking on the door, they were greeted by Felix von Coney; a large plush cat with cotton candy-like fur, a striped shirt and carnie hat. He spoke with a gravely, yet warm voice and had the vibes of a Cheshire……

Explaining the same rules as Caine, he set them on their way to finding the keys. Though he warned not to stray too far into the funhouse, joking that “it might just eat them alive.”

The gang got to work exploring the funhouse, making their way through all sorts of obstacles set up whilst occasionally splitting off and meeting back up, as the funhouse twisted and converged on itself.

Some of the obstacles included swimming through a gelatin-filled room, hitting moving targets over a bottomless chasm (in which Jax used Gangle's mask as a ‘ball’) to playing Roshambo with an NPC (Zooble played against the NPC but because of their abnormal arm, the game won in their favour despite not doing anything).

———————

One such room was to ‘give out fortunes to NPCs’ in order to get the first key. Naturally, Cue was ecstatic but again, Pomni couldn't understand why this meant so much to him.

The two got into an argument from there, escalating into Pomni acting in sheer bafflement at Cue's desire to stay at the circus in spite of everything that has happened. Cue retaliated by saying that he “felt like he belonged here” and that “Nobody is waiting for him at ‘that old place’....”

The others looked on at the argument from a distance. Gangle, Kinger and Zooble showing varying degrees of visible concern, whilst Jax was relishing the drama happening.

Ragatha tried to simmer tensions between the two down but, in a moment of letting her optimism down, she opened up to agree with Pomni that staying at the circus was not an ideal move.

Feeling betrayed by Ragatha’s siding, especially given how she was siding with the person who had previously abandoned her, Cue went off on his own to look for the last key. Pomni looked back with some regret, but angrily went back to exploring the funhouse with the others.

———————

Now on his own, Cue was making some rather bitter remarks about Pomni up ‘til he found his way into a rather mysterious part of the funhouse. Convincing himself that a key would be found here, he decided to delve deeper into the mystery area.

After a while, the regret eventually got to both Pomni and Ragatha. The pair agreed to go looking for Cue, whilst the remaining four continued key hunting.

Eventually, the mystery area revealed itself to be built around a ‘Hall of Mirrors’ attraction. Cue would promptly garner some amusement from the distorted images.

———————

As they were hunting for the last key, Gangle expressed concern over Cue being lost, to which Jax commented that “he was a lost cause before we even got here.”

Disgusted by the comment, Zooble questioned why Jax had such contempt for Cue, and asked “you used to be friends with him, what the f[%$!#]k did he do for you to hate him?”

Jax, going quiet for a moment, bitterly responded “he stopped being my friend, that's what……”. When Zooble asked how, given his friendliness, Jax pulled out the last key from out of nowhere and played the whole thing off.

———————

Meanwhile, Pomni and Ragatha found the Mirror area, to which they heard Cue’s amused laughs from afar. Recognising the voice as Cue, they traveled in to find him.

However, once the amusement had past, something about the mirrors was starting to feel off to Cue……Their shifting and distorting nature were beginning to get to him, the reflections seemingly coming to life and coming after him.

In panic, Cue decided to ditch the idea of getting the last key and find a way out of this freaky maze. Alas, there didn't seem to be a way out in sight and in the process, he managed to bash the back of his head in, causing the fluid to seep out of the cracks.

Suddenly, the room shifted into what looked like the real world……from afar, human silhouettes were interacting with one another, cherishing one another. It looked familiar to Cue, but in his panicked state, he couldn't make out what it was.

———————

Pomni and Ragatha continued, beginning to feel lost in the maze themselves and becoming more concerned for their friend as his panicked screams echoed throughout However, when they noticed the fluid on the floor, they opted to ‘follow the trail’ in order to find Cue.

On the way, Ragatha explained that they'll have to find Cue fast and fix him up, concerned that such an accident will have “dire consequences this time.” Naturally, Pomni wanted to know what Ragatha meant by ‘this time’, but Ragatha instead promised to explain later.

———————

As Cue looked on at the humans, their words began to echo through him, telling him to “...remember…”, “...don’t be afraid of yourself…”, leading him to panic even more……When he opened his eyes, he was now in a pitch black room, with but a single mirror in front of him.

As he approached it, he didn't see himself…instead, he saw a human…a silhouette …stare back at him…Cue placed his hand on the mirror and blinked…now he was staring at himself, his avatar…as he blinked, the visage would swap between Cue and the human…until finally, he put the two together…

The man was him, his true self…the same human that was being loved earlier by the family…Cue dropped to his knees, shaking, realizing that he had been stuck at the circus for so long, he began distorting his own memories…believing nobody was waiting for him, convincing himself to stay as a means to survive…

———————

In time, Pomni and Ragatha found Cue, all shook and teary-eyed. They caught him repeatedly saying "I'm sorry......I'm so sorry" in teary whispers towards the visage in the mirror.

Pomni gazed at the lone mirror, seeing a human silhouette of her own. Rushing over to get a closer look, she recognised them as her. However, in frustration, she still couldn't recognise her name and mouthing off Caine over the whole thing.

Ragatha took a look to see her own human silhouette causing her to realize that Cue's fortune to her from earlier came true. When she tried to tell Cue this though, he couldn't bare to even look at them

———————

He apologized to the two for being “a sham of a person”, passively telling them about his life before coming to the circus and his realization of that. He apologized to Ragatha for being so ‘obnoxiously happy’ and to Pomni for his ‘superstitious mumbo-jumbo’ with his fortunes.

In response, the two tried to reconcile with Cue. Ragatha tried to comfort Cue about his revelation, saying that she once thought his kindness and positive attitude was never not genuine, and that made him “a stronger person than she was”

Pomni also took this time to open up to Cue to say that though she doesn't feel like herself, she still keeps going for her friends. She also brings up how he looks out for his friends, and that doesn't make him any less of the person he really is.

———————

Feeling touched by their words of encouragement, Cue thanked the two whilst lightly hugging them…suddenly, he started to become light-headed. They forgot about the fluid leaking from Cue's head.

Carrying Cue's head and body, Pomni and Ragatha tried to make their way back out…only for the walls to distort once more and attempt to play into the pair's insecurities…they would stop in their tracks as a result.

Mustering up enough energy to stand upright, Cue, in a fit of exasperated anger, yelled out at the walls to “KNOCK IT OFF!!” and smashed his fist into the wall. This caused a chain reaction of cracks and smashed glass that led the way out.

Barely keeping himself up, Pomni and Ragatha came up beside him, the trio holding each other's hands the way down. As they made their way out, Cue asked them if they still trust him despite “being a fool”. Pomni responded “only if you trust me back for being the same”

———————

Elsewhere, the rest of the group met up with Felix and his Chest of Wonderment. Having found all three keys, Felix gave away the Chest of Wonderment to the group. When asked if he wanted it back, Felix responded “There's plenty more in the back where that came from…anything could be in there.”

The group briefly pondered what could be inside; Kinger wondered if it had an insect book while Gangle tearfully guessed if it's a new comedy mask. Zooble asked Jax if he wanted to guess what was inside. He cynically responded “Maybe a gun to shoot Caine's teeth out……”

Finally, the trio caught up with the others. Cue had passed out completely at this point, with a slightly panicked Ragatha suggesting they should get back home quickly. Felix bid them farewell through the portal home, saying “Y’all come back soon now”. Jax responded with a blunt “No we won't.”

———————

Caine welcomed the group back home, though Pomni cut him short by demanding him to fix Cue up. He asked what was wrong with him, Pomni responding by shaking his head to let the rattling dice tip Caine off. Whilst everyone was distracted, Jax took to opening up the Chest……only to be disappointed in the ‘prize’ inside

Caine made short work fixing Cue's head, though as he came to, he didn't seem to remember what had happened. He looked around asking “D……did he win?”, whilst Pomni asked if he remembered anything that happened.

Cue froze in place, trying to remember, all the while Pomni’s face dropped as she was losing hope. Ragatha had done the same, as it wasn't the first time this had occurred……

———————

Though as Pomni was getting up to leave in defeat, Jax suddenly stepped in, saying “Ohh no, we are NOT doing this song and dance again!” He came up to Cue and shook his head, telling him “Hey, Dice for Brains, the mini jester’s asking you a g[%$!#]n question! Do you remember anything up there??”

Cue's direction then directed towards the ‘prize’ in Jax’s hand; it was a pocket mirror. He took the mirror out of Jax's hands and stared into it, remembering what he had seen in the Mirror Maze earlier.

Finally, he responded “You know what, Jax? I DO remember some things…that, I am Cue, that you’re a jerk…and that, I am who I am…”, he says whilst turning back to her and Ragatha. He went in to give Ragatha a hug. Despite not liking hugs all that much, Pomni awkwardly joined in the group hug.

Jax expressed a sigh of relief, to which Zooble made note of. “Well-well, I guess you still care for him after all…”, they replied. Jax grimaced at Zooble and said “I'm still choosing to ignore you…and I guess that crummy prize got used for something worthwhile”, before walking out.

———————

Later on, Cue was back in his tent with Pomni. He asked her, “Are you really sure you want me to do this?”, she responded “You’ve done this with everyone else. Let's do it right, this time.”

Cue, looking into his pocket mirror beside him before giving her a reassuring smile, replied “Alrighty then, ‘Pom-Pom’......let's see what your fortune is today……”, carrying on with his fortune-telling.

As the camera pans out from inside the tent, their silhouettes from outside the tent resemble their human selves.

*Roll Credits*