It all happened during the "escape the circus adventure." Caine saw what everyone wanted and he made it into an adventure for them. Which led to hope. Caine only wanted to make them happy yet it all went downhill. Just as Pomni was about to press the blue button—the one that would supposedly shut the game. Making them go back to the real world. Jax rushed over, pressing the red button instead, the one that would make everyone stay trapped here. That was Caine's fault—he was messing with his mind. Making him have flashbacks about the accident that happened when he was in the real world. Same one where he ran over a child. Jax was practically hyperventilating. "What did you just do...?" Ragatha mutters with wide eyes—hand half raised up as Jax slowly turns to look back. "I-I..." Jax trails off as the screen Infront of them opens like a PC turning on and Caine appears. Caine: "Congratulations, my little catty wopus cucumbers! You picked the good ending, where you realized that you would rather stay with me then go back to that pesky old macro verse or whatever we decided to call it. I knew you would make the right choice!" Pomni: "You-you mean this was all..." Caine cuts her off. Caine: "An adventure, yes! And one that I have been cooking up for a long while! Good job playing your part Abel." Caine elbowed the mannequin NPC and they both shared a laugh. The same "NPC" that fed the others the idea of leaving the circus forever through Caine's office. Abel: "All in a good day's work. By the way you think I can get a raise after that performance?" Caine: "Haha, you're getting too smart. Time to delete." Caine snaps his fingers. Abel disappears in a zap of lightning and static. Usually the NPC's he deleted disappeared in confetti. Didn't sound like they were in pain... "So none of that was real...? The CnA stuff, the pods, our way out..." Ragatha trails off, Caine speaks up instead—continuing her sentence on for her. Caine: "A fabrication of my incredible world building skills!" "I...was right? I can't believe that I was right!" Jax mutters breathlessly then starts laughing. Loud, wild. Like a person on the verge of insanity. Ragatha stared, horrified then turned to Caine. "W-What would have happened if we picked the other button?" Caine ponders for a moment then shrugs. Caine: "Oh I didn't put much thought into it cause I knew that you would never pick it. So I left that up to Bubble." "I made it take you to shrimp town." Caine: "Yeah, it would have taken you to...shrimp town." Jax finally recovers from his laughing fit—slamming his fists on the console as he looks up at Caine with tears in his eyes. "You dirty liar! You scumbag, you—ugh! You got in my head. You just have to lie about everything, don't you!?" Caine raises up a finger, attempting to speak then pauses. Caine: "I—uh, huh?" Jax points a finger at Caine at where he's floating in the air. "You can mess with our minds too, can't you!? The stupid sauce (from a previous adventure), the vegan thing? God knows what else!" Pomni: "Our names..." Pomni trails off, raising her head to look at Caine as he frantically waves his hands. Caine: "Now, now, hold on guys! Wait, wait, wait, I may have the ability to add temporary modifiers to make the adventure more interesting but that's about it! If I did anything else. Trust me, it wouldn't end well." Kinger mutters something to himself—slowly starting to remember. "Scratch, the first abstraction..." Caine waves his hands frantically again. Pointing at Kinger. Caine: "Hey, hey! I didn't say anything like that! You know that I am just here to have...fun—" Caine's cut off when you lunge. Actually lunge at him as you jump up. The calmest of the group ready to strike the AI showing just how much Caine's messed up. He disappears before you can hit. because of course he does. Leaving behind a basket of lotions. Zooble's shaking with suppressed anger, the others are probably angry too. You look livid while the others are just processing the entire situation. Caine just made a lot of enemies..