Chapter Text
“Don’t look at me like that! This is your fault!” Pomni scolded as she and Jax wandered down an impossibly long hallway. Or at least, she assumed it was a hallway, though it was far too dark to actually tell. She couldn’t actually see that he was glaring at her, but she could feel it.
“My fault?! How is this my fault?!” He shouted back and despite not being able to see him, Pomni could feel the way he bent down to meet her eye level. She narrowed her eyes in the pitch blackness hoping to get at least an outline of rabbit ears, but to no avail.
“How is it your fault?” Pomni repeated, crossing her arms over her chest. The pair had stopped walking at this point. “Oh I don’t know, maybe when you pointed to a hole in the map and said ‘hey Pomni, what do you think is down there’ and then threw me in!” She’d hit the ground hard too. She was actually surprised there even was a ground— she was almost certain she’d just be falling through the map forever until Caine eventually realized she was missing. Luckily she’d managed to grab onto one of Jax’s ears before he was able to really fling her, hoping that it would prevent him from being able to throw her. Nope. Turns out it just took him with her. Ragatha was probably panicking right now wondering where they were.
“I thought it would be funny! I didn’t think you’d actually take me with you!” Jax rebutted and Pomni rolled her eyes.
“Oh yes! It’s hilarious Jax. It’s so funny that I forgot to laugh at you being a total and utter a**hole! But what’s new right?” Jax didn’t respond immediately and if Pomni was being honest, she felt a little bad about that little crash out. It’s not like anything was actually going to hurt them, they couldn’t die and with that knowledge, most of Jax’s antics did actually become pretty harmless. However, Pomni had really been looking forward to finishing this stupid adventure and now they’d be stuck in here for who knows how much longer. She supposed it wasn’t all that terrible though. At least she wasn’t alone down here. “Whatever,” she remarked. “Let’s just keep walking and see where this leads. Maybe it leads to a way out.” Jax didn’t respond, but she heard his footsteps pick up behind her.
They walked in silence for what felt like either a few minutes or a few hours, Pomni couldn't actually tell. All she knew is that eventually the hard ground under their feet started to sound like there was a thin layer of water on it and somewhere in the distance Pomni could hear an incessant beeping. It was really getting annoying.
Jax clicked his tongue, “Listen, Pomni, I’m—“ Whatever Jax had planned to say was cut off by that grating beeping. It was getting louder and louder and faster and faster. Pomni could feel the way her head was beginning to throb.
“My god what is that sound?” She brought her hands up to her ears, hoping it would drown out some of the sound but to no avail. It was like it was coming from inside her own head.
“No idea.” Jax responded. “Maybe Caine had mercy on us and put a bomb down here.” He supplied and honestly, at this point Pomni wasn’t opposed to it. She hadn’t even realized she’d closed her eyes until she cracked them open and saw what looked like a light at the end of the tunnel. Huh. How fitting. “What’s that?” Jax asked.
“Only one way to find out.” Pomni answered as she began rushing toward the light. Hopefully it would pop them back into the common area and they could kiss this stupid adventure goodbye. The beeping continued to get louder and louder and eventually got so fast that it stopped sounding like beeping and just like one high pitched tone. She didn’t know how long it took them to reach the light, but the second she could reach out for it she did, and suddenly…
Everything went white.
The light was blinding, the beeping had stopped completely and Pomni was left with deafening silence. She switched between being hot, then cold, then hot again, then freezing, and then suddenly…nothing.
Pomni hit the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of her. She gasped for air, coughing a few times, the cold of the ground helping to orient her. There were spots in her vision and she winced at the sharp throb in her skull.
Finally, her lungs filled with air and her eyes were able to open and she saw…what the hell was she looking at? Pomni was on the ground, on her back, and in front of her was some kind of…pod? Chamber? The front door had unlatched and was currently wide open, the clamps that had previously kept her secured in place open and empty, a headset melded to the headrest. A headset that was distinctly empty…because her head was attached to her body…on the ground— holy shit is she real?!
Pomni shot up, though quickly realized how terrible of a decision that was when her skull throbbed painfully. She winced, but the pain was secondary, hardly important compared to what she saw when she looked down at herself. She recognized her own legs, her own human legs clad in the same shorts she last remembered herself wearing. She could feel the fabric of her sweater on her skin and her black hair fell into her view as it parted over her shoulder. It felt so real. It was real. How was it real?
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a hiss, like compressed air being released and the squeak of hinges. It was this sound that drew her attention to the rest of the room. Her pod wasn’t the only one there, in fact, there appeared to be at least…six? They formed a circle around a single pillar in the middle of an otherwise barren room. Opposite of her, on the other side of the pillar she heard the sound of clamps coming loose and the thud of another body hitting the floor. The gasp and fit of coughing that came next were similar to her own, though clearly belonging to a boy.
Jax.
Holy shit.
He’d been with her in that tunnel, he’d gone toward that light too, he’d heard the beeping. There was only one person who could have also been released with her, it was Jax. Pomni attempted to scramble up, but found herself fumbling like a new born dear, her legs feeling a bit like jello. How long had she actually been in that pod? She fell to the ground again, taking a minute to collect her bearings before half crawling, half dragging herself around the pillar until she reached the other side.
The image of someone flopping like a fish on the ground as they try not to hack up a lung might have been kinda funny if it weren’t for the situation at hand. On the ground in front of her was a man, clearly tall and slender, with shaggy mousy brown hair. Pomni reached forward, curling her fingers around his arm and it was like the world stopped for a moment. She waited patiently for him to catch his breath before risking her own voice.
No matter how hard she tried, her voice was small, the consequences of not being used for so long, but she still tried. “Jax?” She croaked out. The man on the ground in front of her opened his eyes. They were a pretty shade of blue, she noticed, as he stared at her. He furrowed his brow.
“Pomni?” He asked and she frantically nodded. Jax looked up at his own pod, a look of seeming panic behind his eyes before he looked to her again. “What the hell is happening?” Pomni just shook her head.
“I—“ Pomni fell into a coughing fit. “I think you literally threw us out of the map, like it crashed the server or something.” It reminded her of when she would fall out of bounds in a video game and sometimes it would just crash the game, at least, that was the only thing she could equate this to.
Jax huffed out a laugh. “And all my coaches—“ he coughed. “Said I couldn’t pitch for shit. Look at me now.” Despite the situation, Pomni still found it within herself to roll her eyes. Of course he would continue to make jokes. Granted, she actually appreciated it this time. Pomni was exhausted, but she was also terrified that if she closed her eyes, she’d open them again stuck in the circus. She wanted to get as far from this place as possible, wherever the fuck they were. “God my head hurts.” Jax blurted out with a wince.
“Mine too,” Pomni agreed. “Can you move?”
Jax took a breath before rolling himself onto his side, using an arm to prop himself up as he looked around the room. “What the fuck…” He murmured as he took in the scene. Pomni’s gaze followed his and she realized what he must have. There were six pods…there were six players…which meant the others must also be in this room.
“So that whole Caine and Able adventure wasn’t all bullshit.” Pomni said under her breath. They really were in pods together hooked up to those headsets. Finally, Pomni managed to get her legs to work and she pulled herself up, stumbling a bit but stabilizing after a moment. “There’s gotta be a way to get them out right? We got out.” She tried looking into the windows of each pod and realized the glass was frosted, distorting the faces behind it. Were they…frozen? “What the fuck?”
She could hear Jax stand, or at least attempt to before she heard him catch himself on the wall, panting a bit. “I don’t know about you,” he started. “But I don’t see a ‘release hostages’ button.”
She looked around and Jax was right. There were no controls on the pods, no buttons, no levers, nothing that would indicate any way to open them.
“Besides,” Jax continued as he finally steadied himself. “There’s no telling if there is a ‘correct’ way to open these. If we just open them willy-nilly, who's to say it won't just kill them?”
Shit he’s right.
“There’s gotta be a control panel or something right?” Pomni’s mind was reeling. Her friends were right in front of her, so close to being free but she just didn’t know how to do it. “We have to do something, we have to—“
“Pomni.” Jax’s hands were on her shoulders as he stood in front of her…or rather towered over her. He knelt down just enough to meet her eyes. “If you wanna help anyone you need to calm down. Let’s get out of this room and look around, it’s not like the scooby gang is going anywhere.” He motioned toward their friends still trapped in their pods.
Pomni took a deep breath and nodded. They would get them out. She wasn’t sure how she and Jax managed to escape, but now that they were out, she’d make sure everyone else got out too.
“Okay.”