Chapter One: Sugar Crash

Boing boing boing boing boing

Pomni screwed her eyes shut, determined to ignore the persistent little rubber demon that had managed to roll its way through the gates of hell.

Boing boing boing

She tried to force her body further into the bed, tucking in her chin and bringing her shoulders up to protect herself.

Boing boing

It had to get tired at some point. Surely her will was strong enough to outlast the colourful nightmare trying to get inside her head. If she could just-

Boing

"Aaarg!" Pomni screamed in frustration, throwing herself up and aiming a gloved punch at the sentient beach ball bouncing on her head.

Her soft fist caught the brightly coloured sphere in midair. The impact made a ponk sound as it was launched in the opposite direction. Pomni jumped off her clown-themed bed and charged. A high, enraged scream reverberating around her cavernous bedroom as she did so.

The offending ball had barely rolled to a stop, its movements drunken and sluggish. Pulling back her leg, Pomni put all her might into a savage kick, her curled-toe shoes making a hard impact with the soft material. Her foot stretched clear through to the other side, its plastic skin morphing around the shape of her foot. It took a moment before whatever passed for physics in this mad little world caught up to it, and it flew around the room at lightning speed. It bounced off the walls in all directions, making pinball sound effects as it did so.

Pomni grabbed her face in frustration. Pulling downward, her face stretched well out of proportion, reaching her knees before she let go. Her skin, as white as freshly fallen snow, snapped back into position, no worse for wear.

Pomni sighed, trying to ignore the cacophony around her as the little demon ball continued to bounce around at mach three. For all the other ways in which she was stifled, at least the cartoon logic of this world allowed her to express herself.

She briefly considered trying to catch the ball, more of a blur at this point. It showed no signs of slowing, though. Newton's first law held no authority here. Theoretically, the little rainbow menace could continue to bounce around her room infinitely.

Pomnis' head twitched as an idea occurred, causing the twin tails of her jester hat to jingle.

She lifted a gloved hand to hold her chin, humming as she fell deep into thought.

Only for the demon ball to slam into her face with enough force to throw her against the wall, flattening her into a stretched-out, paper-thin sprite.

Pomni moaned, dazed. She peeled an arm off the wall, the demon ball continuing to ping around the room. She wanted to run her hand down her face, but as she reached over, her arm flopped. The thin appendage unable to support its own weight as it folded over listlessly.

Screwing her eyes shut, Pomni fought back against the frustration blooming inside her, her face pulsing in rhythmic pain from the hit she'd taken. Exhausted from lack of sleep in her overstimulating room. Everything in this over-saturated world seemed intent on driving her to madness.

"Oh, bonk this!" Pomni breathed in frustration, her attempt at cursing being censored as it left her mouth. "How about we try this your way then?" She growled through gritted teeth.

Raising her limp arm, she pressed her flattened fingers together and curled them back slightly. Her hand took on a facsimile of a spatula.

"Okay Pomni, that's good. The rules here might be different, but there have to be rules of some kind." She said to herself, voice shaking with doubt as she tried to calm herself down. She inserted her spatula hand between the wall and the back of her head.

"Logic in the face of madness, don't let the nonsense get to you. And in three, two, one…" Pomni counted down.

With a strained groan, putting as much strength as the position and her altered form could muster, she peeled herself from the wall. Whatever force was holding her in place fought her, until it gave way all at once. Pomni separated from the wall with a pop, her body springing back to its usual, three-dimensional proportions midair. She landed on her feet, back to normal.

Or at least as normal as her little cartoon jester body usually was, anyway.

Taking a deep breath, Pomni flexed her gloved hand, looking around the room. The demon beach ball was still hurtling around the room with no signs of slowing. Pomni paused, before spinning on her heel and walking straight out the door, done with this ludicrously. She made special note to slam the door as hard as her little noodle arms would allow.

Outside, she stood in an enormous hallway. Everything in this world seemed to be scaled to two, three, or four times the size it should be, with its colourful walls and crazy carpet.

Still, it was quiet here, the incessant pinball machine noises not following her out. Pomni sighed in relief.

"Sup red."

"Gah!" Pomni screamed in shock, recoiling defensively at the lanky purple rabbit she hadn't realized was there.

"What? Do I have something in my teeth?" He asked, face plastered with a wide, shit-eating grin.

"Can food even get stuck in our teeth in here?" Pomni asked, ducking around the rabbit, trying to slip past.

"You know what, I've never noticed, given I can't actually open my mouth." He reached up to his mouth as he turned to follow Pomni, matching her pace.

Jax hooked his fingers under his lips and pulled wide. His mouth stretched well beyond the width of his head, more teeth appearing as if he were drawing back a curtain.

Pomni ducked her head down. She'd hoped Jax would have wandered off in search of other entertainment. However, he was acting quite content at following her.

"You're all teeth. Mine doesn't do that." Pomni responded, trying to give a neutral response.

"Ha!" Jax suddenly exclaimed, letting go of his lips, his face snapping back into position. "You're going to say that when we have Caine ordering us about?"

"Oh…I wouldn't say he's ordering us around. More just, trying to entertain us…in a…mandatory, sort of way." Pomni said hesitantly.

Caine, the floating, deity-like being dressed as a classical ringmaster with a set of chattering teeth for a head, seemed mostly benevolent. Though Pomni was unsure how much she believed her initial impressions. Her head was still spinning, trying to understand her arrival in this strange world.

"Oh yeah, mandatory entertainment; nothing says benevolent like 'suggestions' you can't decline."

Jax reached his hand out, before slamming it into his face. Pomni winced as the entire shape of his head changed. Yet despite the impact, he continued walking as if nothing was out of the ordinary. When he removed his hand, his face looked entirely different. A heavy brow, small mouth, and fat cheeks hanging down to form wobbly jowls. He raised one hand, the tips of all his fingers pressed together and shook it at her as he spoke.

"Imma make you an offer you cannot refuse," Jax said, his voice taking on a deep, wheezy quality.

Pomni was about to respond when they crossed the threshold from the hallway into the main bigtop area.

Pomnis' eyes went wide, and her arms dropped to her side, as slack as her jaw.

"Mamma Mia!" Jax exclaimed, his neck craning upwards.

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