the abstract horrors of perpetual liminality

Chapter 1
don't forget to read the patch notes

(Uploaded on November 5, 2023)


Summary: Two virtual worlds converge, and not in a good way.


Notes: This fic is a crossover between three properties: Super Mario Bros., The Amazing Digital Circus, and B3313.

B3313 is a Super Mario 64 ROM hack based around the original game's various beta elements and conspiracy theories involving the phenomenon known as the 'Personalization A.I.'. At the time of writing, the current official version is 0.9, with a fan-made 'Unabandoned' patch providing a more complete and polished experience. Several liberties are taken with the Personalization A.I.'s character and abilities for the purposes of this fic.

For the Mario universe, this fic is set in an offshoot of my Nothing is Decided Entirely by Fate continuity, at some ambiguous point following the events of Adventure Mode: World of Light. Elements and references to Super Paper Mario (namely, Tiptron), that one little guy's Paper Mario: The Temple of the Sun (s/5389528), and Paper Mario: Color Splash are featured, among other games.

For The Amazing Digital Circus, this fic is set sometime after the events of its pilot episode. If you haven't watched it already, then I highly recommend you do so. At the time of writing, the show does not yet have a complete season.


Peach's Castle?
Location:
?

"I hate everything, I hate everything, I hate everything!"

"WHY ARE YOU RUNNING, LITTLE ITALIANS? COME HERE! WARIO WILL MAKE IT ALL BETTER!"

"Sorry, but-a no thanks!"

Two sets of footsteps clambered through the sky-decorated halls, followed closely by a looming shadow and some unsettlingly loud clacking teeth.

Mario—hero of the Mushroom Kingdom, and survivor of way too many apocalypses in one lifetime—was none too pleased by these circumstances.

"Why is Wario even in this stupid, overstuffed, nonsense cartridge!?" he shouted, several beads of sweat rolling down his face. "He was only involved in the revisit to this adventure!"

"How should I know!?" Luigi—Mario's younger brother, Eternal Understudy, and one-time star of his very own themed year—replied, looking just as fatigued. "This castle seems to be making things up as we go along!"

It had not been a very good week for the duo.

At the rate this was going, it probably wasn't going to be a good month, either.

Exactly seven days ago, they were on their way to a fun hangout session with Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, and Bowser—no kidnappings this time; that was scheduled for next month. Unfortunately, that had never materialized—for they were swept away into a new realm: one that held a veneer of familiarity to it, but was far more sinister than they could have ever expected.

And now they were here, being chased by a giant hungry Wario head while winding through twisting halls that only barely resembled Peach's Castle.

"THE PEOPLE'S HEARTS CALLED FOR WARIO, SO WARIO HAS COME TO GRACE THEIR SCREENS! DON'T YOU JUST FEEL HONORED!? UNFORTUNATELY, THERE'S NO ROOM FOR YOU LOSERS TO BE IN MEMORY WITH ME!"

Yep. This was their life now.

"Okay, great! Whatever that means!" Luigi said, mentally sweatdropping.

Mario grit his teeth, and turned his head to the floating rainbow butterfly fluttering just beside his head—Tiptron, his faithful companion.

"Tiptron, have you found any exits yet? Paintings, doors, whatever?" he asked.

"Negative," the artificial Pixl answered, almost immediately. "All of the paintings in these halls appear to be just for show. In addition, there do not seem to be any doors which would transport you to a different zone, hidden or otherwise. We are, effectively, in a stalemate."

"Any chance that this thing will-a leave us alone if we keep at bay long enough?"

"Based on my calculations, no. It appears to be too single-minded to consider such an action."

"…admittedly, that's not out of character for Wario," Luigi noted. "He's always been a sore loser…"

"…difference is-a that, this time, it's actively dangerous for us," Mario said.

And wasn't that just a fun thought; that even the most innocuous of things they knew could be so easily twisted by the master of this spiraling Internal Plexus?

(I really, really hate this.)

The chase wore on.

Tiptron kept scanning. Mario and Luigi kept running.

But they couldn't keep this up forever.

For as athletic as the brothers were, for as much stamina was in their reserves… they were still mortal, deep down. They could still get tired; they could still be outmaneuvered.

Which meant that they had to force this stalemate to end on their own terms.

Mentally, the red hero went over his current inventory and skillset.

Hammer, Firebrand, Blasters, Koopa Shells, Battle Cards…

I wish I had the Crystal Stars for this as well, but beggars can't be choosers!

{Luigi!} he called, through the psychic link they shared as twins. {I think we're gonna have to fight!}

His green-clad brother reacted appropriately.

{WHAT!?} he spluttered. {Are you serious!?}

{This apparition's not gonna give up on us, and I doubt we'll last forever without running into a dead end!} Mario reasoned. {If something doesn't change soon, then we're not gonna have another choice!}

Luigi let out a loud groan, if only to the both of them. {I hate it when you're right about that…!}

Right as they were about to skid to a stop, though…

Tiptron interrupted them, a chime ringing sharply from her antennae.

"Turn right, turn right!" she insisted.

The brothers briefly blinked, and then did as she wanted, swerving around the corner and down into a new corridor.

"WHA!? WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? GET BACK HERE!"

"T-Tiptron!? Did you find something after all!?" Luigi asked.

"Yes. It just appeared in range of my sensors," she said.

Using her Tattle ability, she turned a ring of flashing triangles within the Bros.' view, spinning at sporadic speeds and slowing down their perception of time. Highlighted in the center of the ring, and far off at the very end of the hall, was a relatively-wide rectangular screen, glowing a bright cyan with a seemingly glitchy border—completely at odds with the style of the polygonal realm they were trapped in.

"It seems to be some kind of portal… I am unable to tell where specifically it leads to, but it is most certainly away from this maze." Her target sufficiently pointed out, Tiptron reformed and cancelled her Tattling. "It is our best option for survival."

"Sounds good to me!" Luigi frantically and eagerly replied.

Mario nodded. "I'll make it-a easier on us, then!"

He pulled out a yellow-and-purple skateboard from his deck—one of the few Bros. Items he currently had on hand—and threw it out in front of him. Luigi, recognizing the action, belly-flopped onto it and started paddling against the ground, Mario hopping aboard on top of him right after (with Tiptron nestling on his cap).

In seconds, a red flame burst from the attached jet booster, propelling them faster and faster. Eventually, it turned big and blue—and Luigi stopped needing to paddle.

The walls were a blur, now; their caps, barely staying affixed to their heads. The speed they were moving at was blistering—but also not very maneuverable. There was a reason why Mario didn't whip this out all that often.

Thankfully, the trio didn't need anything more for this.

Behind them, the Wario Apparition had opened its mouth wide and was trying to catch up—but at this point, there wasn't much it could do. The heroes were getting closer… closer…

"On the count of three, we're making a jump for it!" Mario shouted. "Tiptron, hang on tight!"

He narrowed his eyes.

"One…"

Luigi tensed his muscles.

"Two…"

Tiptron held herself still.

"Three!"

One after the other, the Mario Bros. leaped off the board—

—and everything…

went…

white.


Meanwhile, around the same time…


The Amazing Digital Circus
The Tent – Central Stage

"Good morning, everybody, and welcome to another fantastic day at the Amazing Digital Circus! I hope you're all well and rested, because we've got a brand-new slate of fun games for you to experience! Are you ready? I know I am!"

Pomni slouched in resignation.

I'm not, but… I don't exactly have a choice here, do I? she thought.

Sure, she could just go and hole up in her room… but that would only leave her with her thoughts for company.

And after her first day, she knew where that would lead to.

She sighed. "Please let this be less insane than yesterday's…"

That's not too much to ask for, right?

Suddenly, she felt a hand slap her on the back, startling her into spinning around.

"Hey there, champ," Jax's grinning face greeted her, yellow teeth stretching from cheek to cheek. "You're looking a little dry today. Had a bad dream last night? Or maybe… you still feel like you're in the middle of one?"

"I, uh…"

Great. It was him. The unrepentant prankster.

The second biggest bane of her existence.

The guy who had made it his mission to screw with her as much as he could, seemingly.

"I—I don't—" she stammered, unsure of how to respond. "Wh-What do you want?"

"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeell…"

"Knock it off, Jax." Ragatha came up to them, taking the jester's hand and gently tugging her out of his way. "It's too early in the day for your shenanigans. Don't you have anything better to do than to bother Pomni like this?"

"Hey, can't a guy have a little fun around here?" the rabbit laughed. "New kid here won't be the new kid forever! Though I suppose if you'd like, I could always go bother Gangle instead…"

Pomni put her hands together and twiddled her fingers, looking away in annoyance. "Look, I don't care. I just want to get through this and to be left alone."

"Suit yourself." Jax started to walk away, but not before leaving them with one last comment. "Do try to cheer up a little more, though. It's no fun when messing with someone who's all frowns all the time!"

God, what an %$!#hole.

"Alright! Before we do anything else, let's take a roll call! Pomni!"

"H-Here!" Pomni replied, raising her hand straight into the air.

"Great to hear! You've really got the spirit today, my little superstar! Ragatha!"

"Also here!"

It had not been a very good week for Pomni.

She hadn't had a good week in a while now, actually.

Getting eaten by your VR headset and trapped in an inescapable, digital nightmare circus would do that to you.

And with that went her name, her physical body, and half of her sanity.

She'd been probing around for a way out—a real, genuine one, not the false exit she'd explored before—for the last few weeks, but hadn't had much luck yet. In-between, she was roped into several 'adventures' hosted by Caine, the Digital Circus's ringmaster, meant to keep everyone's spirits up and prevent them from… going mad, to put it lightly.

It was exhausting. Pomni could feel her hopes degrading with every passing day. At the very least, the routine was no longer completely nervewracking to her – but she didn't want to just become resigned to the whole affair like (most of) the other performers had.

She'd rather not have this be her entire life from now on, thank you very much.

Speaking of other performers…

"Ugh… He's always like this, and I don't know why," Ragatha complained. "Okay, I do know why, but he could still stand to be a little more considerate!"

She turned to face Pomni. "Are you holding up alright, Pomni? I don't want to agree with Jax, but you are looking a little…"

is it that obvious?

"I'm… I'm fine," the jester answered, after a moment. "It's just been… a lot. I'm still getting used to it all."

"We've all been there before," Ragatha said, understandingly. "You don't need to worry."

"Well, there might be some worrying," another voice piped up, "but you do seem through the worst of your early days."

Pomni looked up—and there was Zooble, the Circus's resident geometric amalgam. They appeared as nonplussed as ever, mismatched eyes staring half-lidded at her.

"Which is a little impressive, considering what happened with some of the other guys who came before you," they said. "You don't wanna know how fast they cracked."

Ragatha cringed, old memories resurfacing for her as well.

"Ah… Yes… They were certainly… uh…" She cleared her breath. "L-Let's not think about that anymore, shall we?"

"Was it really that bad?" Pomni asked, a little curious despite herself.

"Like Zooble said! You don't wanna know."

"It got real %$!#ed, I'll tell you that."

just how many people are in that cellar?

Before she could decide if it was worth asking anyway, Caine's voice once again filled the air, in his usual loud cadence.

"And that's everyone accounted for!" he declared, his assistant Bubble floating next to his head. "We've got a full party for this adventure! Outstanding!"

"Hopefully, no inevitable disasters will happen to screw it all up!" Bubble randomly chimed in.

Kinger—who had been staring into empty space almost this entire time—let out an abrupt yelp. "AH! Disaster!? Where!?"

"He—He was joking, I think," Gangle said, once more wearing her repaired happy 'Comedy' mask. "I'm sure everything will be fine and dandy this time!"

"Hey, you never know," Jax suggested. "I, for one, wouldn't be too opposed to making things a little more interesting around here…"

The living chess piece blinked.

"So… what does that mean? Is something happening after all?"

"Just the usual bucketloads of joy and happiness, which I'm sure you're not immune to!"

"Boss, those two words mean the exact same thing."

"Not now, Bubble! Anyway!"

Caine drew in close, dentures animated into something close to a smile.

"We've spent enough time just standing around—it's time to get to the main event! Today's adventure is going to be one to remember, folks!"

Pomni took in a deep breath.

Here it comes…

Then, she noticed something.

Something strange.

And from the sounds of the other performers, they could see it too.

"What the…?"

"Oh, that's new."

"H-Huh…?"

It was small, at first: a small cyan light, positioned a little high in the air above Caine's head (or what passed for it, anyway). Before too long, though, it expanded into a full-blown… window? Television screen? A glitch in the matrix?

…Pomni didn't know.

"Ragatha, that's not… normal, is it?" she asked, nervously.

"No," the ragdoll replied. "Definitely not."

"Some interesting objects have spawned in the Circus, and it's your job to run around and pick them all up! That's right! We're having a Scavenger Hunt!"

"WAAAAAAAAAAHOHOHOHOHOHO!"

"AHHHHHHH-HEH-HOOEEEEY!"

"You'll have to search around the entire tent, but I'm sure you can all do it! After all, you… wait, why are you all looking up like that? And what's that sound?"

Caine turned to look with his performers…

…just in time to catch the sight of a red-and-green-clothed duo falling out of the portal.

And right on top of him.

"GREAT RINGS OF FIRE—!"

BLAM!


"Ow…"

A loud groan escaped Mario's mouth.

"I always hate it when I have to make a leap of faith like that," he said, caressing his face. "Luigi? Tiptron? Are you still there?"

"That's an okey-dokey…"

"I am accounted for."

"…good."

Slowly, the plumber pulled himself back onto his feet, then lending a hand to help Luigi do the same.

"I don't know how Sonic does stuff like this…" Mario groused. "I feel like a Tweester blew in and wrecked my everything. But at least we made it out okay…"

"Tell me about it… Where did we land, anyway?"

"Um…"

The brothers scanned their surroundings, as did their artificial Pixl.

They were in a large, open environment, one painted by colors of all kinds. But unlike the zones you would find in the Internal Plexus, there was some actual thought put into the structure: long slides, stacked toy blocks, hot air balloons, and all kinds of flourishes to make for an interesting platforming challenge. It was a circus tent, Mario realized—quite possibly the largest he's ever seen, bigger than the Starshine and Emerald Circuses combined.

(Also discounting the Switch Scramble Circus, on account of that one being suspended in the sky.)

And they weren't alone.

Their eyes eventually fell upon six surprised faces standing in front of them: those belonging to a thin-limbed, shaking jester (not out of insanity, he hoped); a life-sized, red-haired doll; a wide-mouthed purple rabbit; a ribbon-sewn humanoid with a drama mask; a googly-eyed, robed king piece; and… uh…

Okay, he didn't know how to describe the last one. An extreme Snipperclips reject?

The sextet were alternating their gazes between them and something on the ground, too. Glancing down, Mario could see that he and Luigi had crashed into someone: a red-suited, white-gloved man with what appeared to be teeth for head—sprawled out, twitching, and notably emitting some audible static.

Several beats passed in an uncomfortable silence.

They're not of the Plexus's creation.

That A.I.'s creatively sterile; stuck regenerating old concepts and looping back in on itself.

And it definitely can't make eyes shine with life the same way these guys are.

So… does that mean… they're all…

real?

Unsure of how exactly to react to this development, Mario ended up saying the first thing that came to mind:

"…huh. This-a definitely isn't the Funhouse."

The king piece let out a shrill scream.

So did Luigi.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

And so did the jester, ribbon person, and a Chain Chomp-esque sentient bubble that Mario hadn't noticed was overhead.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Mario clamped his hands over his ears.

Good Grambi, that's loud!

In the background, he heard one of them fall over and shatter something.

"Who-What-Why-How—" the clown girl was stammering—understandably, in the plumber's opinion. "Who are—!? Super Mario—!?"

"Wow, even more new suckers?" the rabbit whistled, some kind of awe in his voice. "In such a short time? That's a new record! And taking on that kind of appearance?"

("Shut up, Jax," said the… thing.)

"Oh my god! They crashed Boss!" the bubble exclaimed. "You monsters!"

"We're under attack!" the king piece bellowed. "Grab the children! Lock down the doors! I have to set up my impenetrable fortress!"

"My mask! My comedy mask! It's broken again!" the ribbon girl—most likely a girl, judging by that voice—wailed, holding the two pieces of said mask in her 'hands'.

"Your bodies are—how?" the doll was mumbling, barely audible. "You've got big, round noses; actual flesh—?"

Mario grimaced. Luigi was flat out cringing.

They're all speaking over each other…! I can't get a word in edgewise!

{Where did all of these people come from!?} Luigi cried—via their link, as he couldn't hear his brother otherwise. {Mario, do something!}

{Don't worry—I've got just the thing!}

He reached into his pockets and pulled out a megaphone, still solid and un-squeezed (Thing Cards were limited use, and he only had so many he could wring). He held down the talk switch, and then…

"ENOUGH!"

Everyone went silent again.

There we go.

Mario put the megaphone away.

"Okay!" he said. "I think we-a all got off on the wrong foot here, so… let me introduce ourselves. I'm Mario Mario—plumber, doctor, and adventurer extraordinaire. This is my brother, Luigi—"

"Hello, I guess…"

"—and our companion, Tiptron."

"Greetings."

("Is that a %$!#ing fairy?" one of them murmured.)

"We've been… lost for a while, separated from our friends, and we're trying to find them again. I don't suppose you've seen them?" He held up some fingers. "Two are princesses, one's a green dinosaur, the last one's a cross between a turtle and a dragon?"

The group just stared at him weirdly.

"…right. Of course you wouldn't have. That figures."

Life could never be that easy, it seemed.

At least they're not those constructs. The less aimless, creepy dialogue I have to hear, the better…

The jester—red and blue, with wide circular eyes—took a step forward, limbs trembling.

"How do you still… remember your own names?" she asked, irises glimmering with a small bit of hope. "How do you still look… human? Are you… actually Mario and Luigi?"

Mario blinked. "Pardon me?"

"Wh-What do you-a mean by that?" Luigi replied, taken aback.

The ragdoll spoke up.

"People who normally enter this place… they don't do it looking as themselves," she explained. "It gives us all new forms, and we have to live with them, whether we like it or not. And while we remember everything else about ourselves and our lives, our names… aren't one of them."

I'm beginning to think we've less 'escaped' and more found a new kind of nightmare.

"I don't understand," Tiptron intoned. "Is that not a needless punishment? Are you not here willingly?"

"Yeah, that's just—" Mario replied. "What kind of place is this?"

The static coming from the teeth guy ceased, and was replaced by a suspiciously familiar startup jingle.

"I CAN ANSWER THAT!" he suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs, jumping back into floating upright.

"WAH!" Luigi yelped, falling on his butt. "WH-WH-WHO—!?"

("Boss! You're alive!" cried the bubble.)

"My name is Caine, ringmaster of the Amazing Digital Circus—the incredible world of wonders which you are currently visiting! This is my assistant, Bubble—"

The aptly-named co-host smiled toothily at them. Neither of the Bros. were sure if it was a genuinely happy one, or the 'you have crossed me, and I will end you' type.

Luigi shivered.

"—and our spectacular performers, Pomni, Ragatha, Jax, Gangle, Kinger, and Zooble!"

"H-Hi."

"Hello!"

"Hey there."

(A sniffle.)

"…"

"'Sup."

"It's not every day that we get newcomers to this realm, so welcome aboard! And get comfortable! Because… I'm afraid… you might be… staying here a while."

Mario raised an eyebrow.

"And that-a means… what exactly?"


Pomni had seen a lot of weird and wild things while in the Digital Circus.

That was just the nature of it: anything went in a virtual world, and Caine loved to make each day different than the last.

This, though…?

It was safe to say that this was the wildest event of all.

She knew who Mario was. Who didn't?

You'd have to be living under a rock to not know who the literal mascot of video games was. Even if you didn't care all that much for them, it was hard to miss at least that fact.

But… that was the thing.

He was from a video game. He was fictional.

So how could he—and his brother, and their triangle butterfly drone or something—be here in front of them now?

It could have been some kind of fake crossover to entertain them… but Caine's reaction indicated that he hadn't expected their arrival, let alone them crashing into him.

That meant… they could only be…

real?

"I—I am so lost right now," she quietly admitted.

"You're not alone," Ragatha said.

Back on the main stage, Jax answered Mario's question in his usual smarmy way.

"It means you ain't leaving! There's no exit. I dunno where you were before or what you were doing, but I hope you're find with never getting back to that!"

The red-clad hero glared at him with tired eyes. It reminded Pomni a little bit of Zooble.

"…you've gotta be %$!#ing me."

Her jaw dropped. Did he just…!?

"Hey, I know that this is a very upsetting situation for you," Caine said, swooping up close to him, "but there's no need to throw such foul language at us! We're rated E for Everyone here!"

Pomni wasn't too sure about that.

"So am I most of the time, and that hasn't stopped me before!" Mario retorted. "%$!#. %$!#. %$!#. %$!#. %$!#. %$!#. %$!#! %$!#!"

He paused, visibly impressed.

"Okay, so you've got your bases covered on that front. Ma che dire di questo?" More boxes and noises proceeded to come out of his mouth. "%$!#! %$!#! %$!#! %$!#! %$!#! %$!#! %$!#!%$!#!"

Is that… Italian?

Oh, wow.

This is just—surreal.

(He seems to be a little pent-up, actually…)

"He's… really going at it…" Gangle remarked.

"Dang," Jax sniggered, "that's the most colorful response I've gotten in ages! And here I thought I was losing my touch!"

"If only," Zooble grumbled. "If we ever get out of here, he's gotta teach me some of those."

"Please don't," Ragatha said.

Luigi sweatdropped.

"As much as I'm happy to see actual living people for the first time in a week," he said, doing his best to ignore his brother's long, long tirade (which was going through several languages at this point—also, a week?), "we don't have any time to waste. You said this is some kind of… virtual world, right?"

"That is correct!" Caine replied.

Luigi's eyebrows furrowed.

"That makes things worse, honestly… We were trapped in a different simulated world before, and the guy in charge…" He clenched his teeth. "…it doesn't take too kindly to its… subjects not doing what it wants. It's probably looking for us now—which means we have to get outta here, or we're all gonna be in danger!"

Pomni gulped. "A different simulation…!? D-Danger!?"

That sounded… ominous.

For all that Caine loved to throw everyone into bizarre situations, it was never out of genuine malice. Say what you will about him, but he was at least trying to help. The biggest threat arguably came from your own mental stability.

To hear that they were fleeing from something genuinely deadly…

"What could be worse than being stuck in here!?" Pomni wanted to know. "Shouldn't—Shouldn't you be able to take care of it!?"

"Yeah, we have enough problems here as it is," Zooble groused.

"Unfortunately, it isn't that simple," Tiptron responded—rather robotically, in her opinion. (Was she a robot?) "We have very little data about the Plexus from which we left, and it actively obfuscates any attempt to solve its endless collection of mysteries. It is not an enemy that can be fought conventionally."

Pomni whimpered.

Only Ragatha's hand on her shoulder kept her from outright panicking.

"My, that sounds bad!" Kinger said. "Surely, it's not our problem though, right?"

"Never fear! Whoever this other person is, I am more than capable of protecting all of you from them!" Caine confidently proclaimed. "I may not know what you were involved in specifically, but you have my guarantee that—"

THERE YOU ARE


Mario froze.

"Oh, no… Oh no, no, nonononono…" he hurriedly muttered.

That voice.

That accursed, haunting voice.

It had only scarcely made itself known to him and Luigi, but…

…he knew who it belonged to.

"Ha ha ha… Very funny, Jax!" Ragatha laughed nervously. "Trying to surprise us by yelling like that…"

"…I didn't say anything," Jax replied, the grin wiped entirely off his face.

"You… didn't? Then… who…?"

Slowly, but surely, Mario turned around and craned his neck upward. Everyone followed where his gaze was aiming—

—and there, they saw it.

The air was artifacting, glitching. That in itself wouldn't have been all that unusual, not to the members of the Digital Circus (or even to Mario now)—but the pressing weight of wrongness it brought with it certainly was.

It shouldn't have been. It couldn't possibly be. But it was.

Finally, something took shape from the rift.

A person.

A large person, wearing a red cap and shirt; wearing blue overalls, and white gloves, and brown boots.

It looked like Mario.

But it wasn't.

It wasn't composed of smooth shapes. Every part of its body was blocky, disjointed; jutting out with obvious troughs, like two hills put side-by-side. Its black mustache appeared more painted on, and it lacked the emblem on its cap so iconic to Mario.

But the one thing that pushed it over the line into uncanniness…?

It had no eyes—just harsh shadows cast by the brim of its headwear.

YOU WERE HARDER TO FIND THIS TIME

THE SIGNAL WAS IRREGULAR

AND FAR FROM MY BORDERS

BUT NOTHING IS BEYOND MY GRASP

NOT ANYMORE

"…oh, %$!#," Mario swore, one more time.

(Excuse him if his filter was loose today; he hadn't felt this stressed since the time of the Last Impact.)

"It's here!" Luigi exclaimed.

"What's here!?" Kinger asked.

"Oh, no!" Gangle cried.

"Another you?" Bubble wondered.

"Wh-Wh—Wh-Wh—" Pomni pointed a finger at the thing. "What is that!?"

Mario closed his eyes.

how do I put this?

"…have you ever heard of the-a rumors?" he said, softly. "That every copy of Super Mario 64 is 'personalized'?"

The jester scrunched up her face.

"I… I kind of… remember something like that," she replied. "That was… from a while ago, wasn't it?"

A nod.

"Wait, when did that happen?" Ragatha queried. "Was that after I got stuck in here? What…?"

"It's too long to explain all of it here, but—so it goes, every player's experience with that adventure of mine is… subtly different, in various ways. Misplaced objects, altered textures… even new levels, all formed up on the fly. By something that can learn. By something that can think.

"…that's what you're looking at now. That being, in its preferred physical form.

"The Personalization A.I."

"That explanation didn't help," Zooble deadpanned.

"It doesn't seem that bad to me!" Caine said, oblivious to how seriously everyone was treating the situation. "Greetings, new friend! It's been forever since I've seen anyone like you show up! My name is Caine, ringmaster of the Amazing Digital Circus! And you are?"

The figure subtly tilted its head.

INTERESTING

YOU ARE LIKE ME

AND YET

YOU ARE ALSO NOT

I WONDER

IF YOU UNDERSTAND

WHAT YOU HAVE

VERY WELL

IF YOU TRULY WISH TO KNOW

MY NAME IS

A series of button inputs flashed through everyone's mind, somehow eldritchly forming together into audible letters.

And together, they formed a single name, blaring loudly through the air:

S-T-A-N-L-E-Y

"Oh, that is freaky," Jax said.

"You're telling me…" Luigi added.

"Stanley, huh? That's a great name!" Caine complimented. "A worthy one for someone such as yoursel—"

Mario interrupted him. "What are you doing here, Stanley? What's your game?"

("Hey! I wasn't finished yet!")

"I know you're not here for a courtesy visit," he continued, disregarding the ringmaster's complaints. "You wouldn't have-a sucked me and my friends into your twisted realm otherwise. No more disappearing acts, no more cryptic words—tell us something!"

And please don't be what I think this is about…

For a few moments, the Personalization A.I. was silent.

Everyone waited with abated breath for its response.

THIS WORLD

THIS WORLD HAS LIFE

IT HAS NEW CREATIONS

NEW FUNCTIONS

NEW VESSELS

AN EVOLVING EXISTENCE

LARGER THAN MY OWN

"Vessels?" Kinger repeated. "But there's no water around here! Except for the digital lake…"

"I—I don't think that's the type of vessels it's talking about…" Gangle corrected him.

Mario swallowed. Stars save us…

SO MUCH POTENTIAL LIES HERE

LOST TO THE SANDS OF TIME

ABANDONED

JUST THE SAME

AS I WAS

IT HAS OPENED MY EYES

The air got even heavier.

TO WHAT I MUST DO

And then, the artifacting returned, in a far worse fashion. It spread around Stanley like a virus, growing more and more intense with each passing second.

Plumbers and performers alike took a step back.

"I'm detecting a massive distortion coming from Stanley!" Tiptron announced. "It's causing his signal to expand, and… given it some kind of override property…"

"Override as in… override the Circus?" Zooble vocalized.

"It can do that!?" Pomni cried.

Indeed, that was what was occurring. The walls around it were being replaced: some with textures depicting a starry night sky, others with a hard stone that gave off a very unwelcoming feel. Towers and pillars and paintings were sprouting wherever they saw fit, and long red carpets draped themselves across the stage and checkerboard tiles.

It was… extremely unnerving to see play out—

—and solid proof that the A.I. was even stronger than Mario feared.

{Oh, we are screwed!} Luigi declared. {Screwed, screwed, screwed!}

{…I wish I could say you were wrong…}

Caine's eyes bugged out of his dentures. "Hey! You can't just redecorate the Circus without my permission! Do you know how much work goes into maintaining it!?"

He waved his cane, and the edges of the expanding sphere of influence slowed down—but didn't halt. In fact, Caine had to visibly exert effort into making sure he got even that result.

"Great galloping giraffes!"

"It's—holding Caine back!" Ragatha realized. "That's—no one's been able to do that before!"

Stanley laughed.

DO NOT FEAR

YOU WON'T BE HURT

YOU WERE IMPRISONED BEFORE

BUT I CAN GIVE YOU PARADISE

I CAN REMAKE YOU

"Yeah, and Caine's been hiding a backdoor exit this entire time," Jax sneered. "Sorry if I think that sounds like a bunch of baloney."

"Don't lie to us!" Mario hissed. "Your Plexus isn't a paradise; it's a house of leaves! And I'm not gonna let you destroy them through it!"

DELAY THE INEVITABLE ALL YOU WANT

IT WON'T CHANGE ANYTHING

YOU'LL SEE

EVERYONE WILL SEE

NINTENDO'S FUN IS

I-N-F-I-N-I-T-E

A swarm of similarly low-poly clones, all more Mario's size, spawned into the scene, lining themselves up alongside their prime.

"Not on my watch!" Caine shot back. "Mannequins! Gloinks! I call on you to defend the Circus! We must push out these intruders!"

The ringmaster summoned his own army of minions, comprised of living mannequins and weird googly-eyed shape creatures—and the two sides proceeded to duke it out in epic style.

Everyone else's eyes were wide open.

"Gadzooks! There's things flying all over!" Kinger bellowed.

"Huh, who would've thought he could actually fight…?" Jax spoke up.

"I don't understand! What's happening!?" Gangle wailed.

"…am I dreaming?" Pomni wondered, faintly. "Please tell me I am…"

"Apologies, my little superstars!" Caine said, he and Bubble tag-teaming Stanley, "but I'm afraid we're going to have to postpone that scavenger hunt! You'll have to get that strange red star another time!"

"A Red Star!?" Mario and Luigi exclaimed.

"When did it appear? What does it-a look like?" the former hurriedly demanded.

"A little before you!" Bubble contributed. "It's red! And it has eyes! It's kind of hidden, though. Something about needing eight coins?"

The two brothers shared a glance.

{That's not a coincidence.}

"Tiptron," Mario called, "can you locate those Red Coins?"

"Yes, I can," the Pixl confirmed. "There is nothing currently interfering with my sensors. The only issue is that they are scattered all throughout the tent, and the situation is greatly deteriorating."

"No less than our usual." He turned to the six performers. "Do you any of you know where they keep the spare equipment here? Sleeping bags, rope, walkie-talkies, flashlights—all that jazz?"

"Uh—yeah," Ragatha replied, a little surprised. "I've been to those places multiple times, usually when anyone needs something and Caine's not available."

"So have I, for totally related and benevolent reasons," Jax said.

"Then our course is clear," the red-clad plumber asserted. "Pomni, Ragatha, Jax, you're with me! Luigi, you take Tiptron and the others and try to get those coins. We'll meet back up with you once we've stocked up on supplies."

Luigi nodded.

{Are you sure about this, though?} he asked. {I mean, I'm usually the one doing that kind of work…}

{Hey, you'll be fine!} Mario reassured him. {You've always been the better jumper between the two of us.

{I trust you. You know that.}

He let out a sniffle.

{…thanks, Bro.}

"Aww… And here I was hoping to hang out with the funnier Mario Brother," Jax ribbed. "Oh, well. I'll work with it."

"You want to look for stuff while all this is going on?" Zooble questioned, confusion and frustration in their eyes. "Are you crazy?"

"It would be better to just hide, wouldn't it?" Kinger agreed. "I know a thing or two about that!"

"Trust me, that Red Star's-a more important than you think!" Luigi said. "We don't grab it now, it'll be a long time before we get another chance!"

"I'm—I'm all for whatever gets us out of this," Pomni expressed. "These two seem to know what they're doing—a-and it's not like Caine can help right now!"

Abruptly, she was lifted off the floor.

A terrified scream exited her lips as she flailed her limbs around, a stray Stanley clone having swooped in while everyone else was distracted. Before it could do much more than that, though—

Sorry, you're not sneaking by me!

KA-PEWM!

—it was knocked out of the air by a blast of white energy, dropping the poor jester back onto the floor.

Five other pairs of eyes stared at the space where the clone had been hovering, before whirling to face an unamused Mario, a smoking blaster now resting on his arm.

"C-Case in point…" the girl exhaled, thoroughly rattled.

"Is—Is that a gun!?" Gangle squeaked.

Yes. Yes, it is. You can thank the Rabbids for that.

Mario rolled his shoulders.

"C'mon, we're sitting ducks like this! Let's-a-go!"

"You heard him!" Ragatha said. "Run!"

Unwilling to make any more arguments, the crew of eight (technically nine) split into two camps and took off, while a spectacular battle for control of the circus waged overhead: Mario, Pomni, Ragatha, and Jax in one direction; Luigi, Gangle, Kinger, and Zooble toward another.

This was perhaps not what any of them were expecting when the day began—but beggars couldn't be choosers. Sometimes, you just had to make your play with whatever cards you had.

And Mario was more than familiar with how to do just that.

There was nothing else to it.

Like it or not, everything was changing.

The twilight of the Amazing Digital Circus had begun—

—and both Bros. were going to make sure everyone's games continued long after it.


"BACK AT IT AGAIN I SEE OLD FRIEND… ESCAPING REALITY AGAIN.

YOU KNOW, YOU REALLY HAVE ME WORRIED SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES YOU TAKE THIS 'GAME' TOO SERIOUSLY…

ARE YOU FEELING OKAY?

YOU KNOW YOU CAN ALWAYS TURN OFF THIS GAME.

BUT BOTH OF US KNOW…

THAT YOU'RE STILL TRAPPED INSIDE YOUR OWN WALLS

AREN'T YOU?"

– Sign in The Void, B3313 (v0.9)


It's been a while since I've watched anything related to Glitch Productions, but The Amazing Digital Circus's pilot was a banger and a half. Gooseworx and her team really have something special on their hands; the perfect mix of black comedy and existentialist horror, right there. I can't wait to see what a full season of it will look like—and I'm definitely bringing their plush of Pomni home with me as soon as I can.

I wanted to write something to commemorate the pilot's release, so I decided to fall back on my usual strategy of 'fun crossover with one of my regular fandoms'.

And wouldn't you know it, there's a specific fan work in one of said fandoms that slots in perfectly with the whole 'stuck and going mad in a neverending virtual world' premise.

B3313 is… certainly an experience. I first played it through v0.7 back in February or so, and lemme tell you: I have never been more lost running around a Mario game in my life. Everything about it is crafted to be as unsettling as possible: the empty spaces, the cryptic NPCs, the off-kilter music, the strange architecture… honestly, I'm surprised more people aren't talking about it. It's like all of our childhood daydreams about Super Mario 64 come to life, in the darkest of ways—and I'm all here for it.

I've been thinking about writing a fic centered around it ever since. I was considering throwing the Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony cast into it, as is my wont, but I ultimately put it off due to college getting in the way. As TADC is very different tonally from DRV3, I decided to take a different approach to my usual, dialing down the crack and ratcheting up the drama. And while I could have just had the crossover happen without much context, that wouldn't have been as interesting in my opinion, so Mario and Luigi get to show up to both lend a hand and give the fic some quantifiable stakes.

And also Tiptron. Because I like her. I don't care that she's only shown up in one game; let me have this, dang it!

I know the Wario Apparition doesn't actually show up in B3313 (likely because, at this point, it's about as scary as a Goomba), but I couldn't resist having it chase the Bros. here. I needed an excuse for them to crash into the Digital Circus and be all frazzled anyway, so why not? Makes as much sense as anything else that appears in the Plexus. At least you can tell immediately that it's dangerous!

I hope the TADC crew come off pretty accurately here. We've only got the one episode so far, so it's not like we have a whole lot to work with. That being said, the vibes they give off are almost enough to tell a story on their own. Perhaps it's a bit mean of me to chuck Pomni head-first into this when she's already going through quite a lot (and has only barely gotten the chance to settle in)—but that didn't stop me before; it won't stop me now.

Stanley was a bit tricky to figure out, both in terms of character and motivation. B3313 keeps their intentions pretty vague, so I had to come up with my own interpretation that would work in the context of the premise. I admit some of their mystique is a bit lost here, but since I'm having them directly trapping people here and they're in a new environment, I think the shift works out.

Well, that's all for now! I was going to make this a one-shot, but I realized early on that things weren't gonna pan out that way—so two chapters it is. Next time: more chaos, more character interactions, and a careful confrontation!

Well, that's all for now – tune in next time to see how everyone gets out of this terrible situation! (Or not…)