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thescarletnargacuga · 3 months

Text

Art: @iamespecter

CHAPTER EIGHT

Racing AU!

IT'S SHOWTIME! Pomni needs to learn how to drift! Who better to teach her than the race AI himself? It's totally not a date. Nope.

Hey... anyone seen Gummigoo?

WARNING: none

~~~

The afterparty in the garage was still going strong. Colorful lights flashed through the windows into the night. Loud, bassy music vibrated the walls. A heavy crowd of NPCs danced in repeating patterns, never stopping.

As rowdy as the party was, it was muffled for Caine as Pomni still held his half melted body. He couldn't hear anything over the sound of his code memorializing this moment. He managed to pull himself together just enough to return her embrace, carefully wrapping his arms around her.

Pomni's head cleared with a jolt. The small amount of silly juice she drank had worn off, and because video game logic, had no side effects. Her inebriated state just ended abruptly. Her eyes widened as she realized what she was doing. She jumped back away from Caine. "Oh my god, I am SO sorry!"

Caine was still holding his arms out in front, missing her already. "Whatever for, my dear?"

Pomni's cheeks burned hot. "For- I shouldn't have- I just- the drink!" She couldn't form a coherent sentence from the embarrassment.

"It's okay, Pomni! Really! I thought the hug was very sweet of you!" He grabbed his cane out of mid air and kept his hands busy with it. "I rather enjoyed it, actually!"

That didn't help Pomni's state of mind. She heard Jax's voice in her head. "He's taken a liking to you. Find a way out." This was madness. Every logical part of her brain was screaming HE'S A PROGRAM! Every other part of her... liked the hug.

"Pomni..?" Caine watched her stand there staring into nothing for at least a solid minute.

She jumped like Caine had suddenly appeared. "I'm sorry. I...I'm just, uh... thinking about today's race."

"Really? Me too! It was nice to do a simple just have fun race!"

She was glad he took the bait for a new subject. "Yeah, would have been better if I could drift properly." She rubbed the back of her neck.

"Wait, you weren't driving like that on purpose?"

"Pfff, no. I just suck." She looked down.

"No, you don't! You just lack experience! Would you like to take a drive on the tutorial drift track? I could teach you!" He gripped his cane, hoping she'd agree.

Pomni saw the eagerness in his eyes. He really wanted to spend time with her alone. "Alright."

He almost exploded with glee. "Fantastic! Right this way!" He snapped his fingers and a portal appeared. "After you." He took off his hat and bowed.

"Thanks..." She stepped through and found herself on a short, windy track. Garage gone. Stands gone. The track was lit by a multitude of high power light poles. The sky above just as dark as the default. She figured the whole game ran on the same day/night cycle.

Caine came through behind her and the portal vanished. "Alrighty, my dear! How would you like to do this? I could summon your kart and I just tell you what to do OR I could summon my own and do the driving for you for a few laps as you get the feel for it first." He posed, ready to snap.

"Uh...I don't know. Maybe, you should drive-"

That was all he needed to hear. He snapped and his bright red and white kart appeared, engine running. "Your chariot awaits!"

"Oh...oh boy." The last time she was in his cart, it was the wildest ride of her life. She hoped she at least wouldn't vomit this time.

She got in and prepared for takeoff, but the kart didn't burnout from the start. It moved forward slowly, taking her through the track turn by turn like it was casual Sunday drive. Caine's voice came through the radio as his body flew high above the track for an arial view.

"Welcome to the drift tutorial! My name is Caine and I'll be your guide-! Ahem- sorry, force of habit."

That got a small smile out of her.

"Drifting is really simple, my dear! First thing you need is speed! Let's rev things up!" The kart accelerated, taking the turns as fast as it could without drifting. Pomni held tight to the steering wheel.

"Now, it's all about timing! This is the part that will take practice! Hit the break and flick the steering wheel hard as you go into the turn. Use the throttle to control the angle of the drift and once you're out of the turn, let off the accelerator and straighten your kart."

"That doesn't sound simple!" Pomni's heart raced with the kart.

"Eh, drifting Is more of a skill you gain through experience than explanation. But that's what we're here for! Let's give it a try, shall we?"

His kart hit the first sharp turn and drifted around it with ease. Pomni felt thrown into the side of the kart by the g-force, but fought it. She got used to it after a few turns and learned to lean with the kart.

"You're getting it!" Caine cheered. "Now, pay attention to the pedals and steering wheel! Feel how they move!"

By the third lap she felt she had a grasp of what to do. "Let me try!"

"You got this, Pomni!" The kart decelerated as Caine releases his control over it.

Pomni put the petal to the floor. Gold flames shot out the tail pipes as she braced for the first turn. She threw the kart sideways and it nearly over shot the turn entirely.

"Little too much speed! But that was a good start! Keep going!"

Turn after turn, her confidence grew until she was flying around the tutorial track like it was nothing.

"You're a natural, Pomni! You could give Jax a run for his money!"

She didn't know about that, but it was nice to hear. She stopped the kart at the start and stood before Caine as he descended, giving he applause.

"Very well done! But, that's just the tutorial. How do you think you'd fare on a real track?" He arched his upper jaw.

The rush of racing was coming back. It was something that kept coming up inside of her. The speed. The competition. Maybe it was her, maybe it was the game, but right now, she didn't care. "..how about we find out? You and me. Random track. One lap." She crossed her arms bravely.

Caine's lower jaw dropped. "You want to race me?"

"You have a kart, don't you?" She pointed her thumb to the red kart idling behind her.

"Well yeah, but no one's ever..." He chuckled. "You know what?" He snapped and Pomni's kart appeared next to his. "You're on. But I feel I must warn you." He drifted closer to her. "I've never lost."

She stepped closer, defiantly. "Yet."

Caine felt a tingle of static up his spine. "My dear, you become a different person behind the wheel."

Pomni shrugged. "Maybe I become the real me."

Caine smiled. "Whoever you are, you're about to see why they keep me in that host box." He winked and flipped over her head into his kart.

Pomni rushed to hers and jumped in with practiced accuracy. Caine threw his cane and it's gold too started to glow. It dinged once, glowing brighter. Then again. And again.

Green!

The took off and a giant portal appeared just beyond the start. They zoomed through it to space! The translucent track wound it's way around planets and stars and comets. Nebulous formations of colorful clouds shifted in a transcendental dance. Galaxies dotted the background. It was beautiful. Pomni took the first big turn high and hit a booster, getting ahead of Caine. He watches her fly by with as many stars in his eyes as there were around them. She was beautiful. A shell conked him out of his trance. A distant laugh from Pomni.

He shook his head. "Oh, so that's how we're going to play? Very well." He said with a smirk. He went through an item box and got a bar of soap. "Boo." He carelessly tossed it and took a separate direction at a fork on the track. His next item was a pen. Pomni was on a track below him and he threw the pen at her.

Pomni sputtered at the ink on her face and didn't see the next turn. The ink cleared for her in time to avoid running into her wall head on but she ground the side of her kart against it.

They were neck and neck when the track merged. It spiraled around a shooting star with no sense of gravity. Caine got a popper and tossed it at Pomni. "For you, my dear!"

"Ah!" The popper exploded in her face and she lost ground. Another fork in the track took her down a steep booster towards a wormhole. She went through it and was sailing through open space at an unknown part of the track. She used her glider to control her desent, seeing Caine come over a hill. She'd teleported in front of him!

Taking advantage of her shortcut, she landed just before a sharp turn and drifted like an expert through it, hitting another item box on the way.

Caine was flabbergasted. Where'd she come from?? He put the pedal to the metal and drifted after her. His next item was the cilli pepper. He got close and prepared to fire when she turned her head and fired first. He released his flames as he spun out.

Pomni got a huge lead. She completed several turns without seeing Caine again but after a huge turn around a planet, she heard the dreaded purple shell. She couldn't avoid it. BOOM!

She was stunned long enough for Caine to close the gap. He tried to pass but she stonewalled him. It took a shell for her to move and he waved as he went by. It didn't last, his own cane wacked him sideways and Pomni drifted around him on a turn.

On the next bug booster, Caine got a gold cupcake and double timed it at Pomni. He pit maneuvered her and she spun to face the wrong way. She threw it in reverse. Pulling a Kinger and waving as she passed backwards.

"What the!?" Caine couldn't believe it. She was actually outmaneuvering him.

Pomni cranked the kart the right way around and casually tossed some soap.

"Oh no, you don't!" Caine avoided the soap and pulled out an orange shell. He threw it but was too close to Pomni so it ricocheted and hit him too.

"You're making rookie mistakes! You scared?" Pomni taunted.

"The only thing I'm scared of is having no room for another win!" Caine clapped back.

There karts bang into one another like bumper cars, both being more aggressive with their place on the track.

Pomni got an idea to distract Caine from the next item box. "Hey Caine!" When he looked at her, she blew him a kiss.

He blue screened. He was completely spaced out for several seconds and missed the boxes entirely.

Pomni laughed and zipped ahead.

When Caine came back around, she had yet another lead on him and he gripped his steering wheel hard. "Now you're playing with fire." He smirked and floored his kart. Golden flames rocketed out the back as he wheelied from the force of the acceleration.

He got all the speed. Boosters and cupcakes galore. He was going so fast, he defied physics and did a three sixty drift around Pomni. "This has been a fun date, when's the next?"

"You think this is a HUH??"

He full belly laughed at her face.They drifted together through a sharp turn and the finish line was in sight. One last box for each. They both got the same thing, a hat.

They became two comets shooting across the heavens, flying together in a dance of power and speed. They crossed together, the finish line unable to tell who won. The karts slid to halt on the other side as their powers disappeared. Pomni and Caine looked at each other, out of breath and full of excitement.

Caine was out first, flying up and doing an arial flip. "That was the best! Holy mackeral on toast! You were amazing! How have you EVER lost a race driving like that!?"

Pomni got up from her kart and stretched. "Like I said. I suck." She laughed at herself. "That was a lot of fun. And I'm saying it sober this time. Thank you...er, for teaching me."

"It was very much my pleasure, Pomni. And thank you for that race! My code is absolutely buzzing!" He settled a bit and floated in front of her. "I mean this Pomni, you have been the best addition to our roster of racers, and I-...I've never met someone so easy to talk to before. I always feel like I'm talking at people, not connecting. But you...um, I may have connected too well now that I think of it. I may have overshared the first few times we've talked and I apologize. My problems shouldn't be yours to bear. Certainly not while you're still adjusting."

Pomni gave him a soft smile. "It's alright, really. I'm happy to listen. It seems like a lot has happened before I showed up."

"A truer statement has never been spoken, however, today was meant to be fun. Problems can wait." He gently took one of her hands and held it with both of his. "Pomni, would you be interested in doing this again? Just the two of us?" His eyes pleaded with her.

"You really meant when you called this a date, huh?"

Caine looked away, feeling a bit bashful. "Oh, well, I mean-"

Pomni giggled. "I'd love to."

Caine blue screened again.

"Oh. Oops. Caine?"

He came to with a start. "Pomni! You-!"

"Me?"

"...I forgot what I was going to say."

"Yes?"

"Yes!! I said you said YES!! AH-HA!!"

Pomni laughed more, more than she had since day one.

Pomni teleported into the garage alone. The NPCs had all disappeared, the music was off and the lights stopped flashing. The party was over. The place was a mess. Jax was passed out under the table and everyone else was nowhere to be seen.

She got to her room and plopped face down on her bed, smiling into her pillow. She has to admit to herself, racing Caine was some of the most fun she had since she got here. The adrenaline, the banter, his excitement and encouragement and wit and... beautiful eyes. She gripped her pillow in realization. She couldn't actually be-

"Enjoy your trip?"

A voice broke the silence of her room and she sat up with a shout. "WHA-!? Gummigoo? What are you doing in my room?"

Gummigoo was sat in a chair in the corner behind the door. His arms and legs were crossed. There was a faint blue shimmer in his eyes and he spoke without his accent. "Gummigoo isn't available at the moment. We must speak."

"What do you mean? What's going on?" She asked slowly, scarred to move. The way he was speaking so coldy freaked her out.

"I'm your way out of here."

Pomni's anxiety spiked. "You know h-how to leave? WHO are you??"

"I am Abel."

~~~

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#the amazing digital circus #tadc #tadc pomni #tadc fanfiction #tadc caine #tadc showtime #tadc jax #tadc ragatha #tadc gangle #tadc kinger #tadc zooble #tadc au #the amazing digital raceway

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