ã€ŠGianni of Circopiaã€‹ The Great Continental Tent, Circopia [1/2] Inside the polychromatic and flamboyant tent walls, an entire continent that reeks of cotton candy, circus animals and old-fashioned plastic exists. The continent is flooded with people dressed in vibrant and extravagant costumes, women and men drenched in bizarre and diverse make-up, animal trainers whipping lions, elephants and sea lions as they rehearse their acts. Boy¡¯s Voice: ¡°The outside world is unknown. We live within the colorful patterned walls of the ever expanding continental tent known as Circopia! It stretches seemingly infinitely and is home to approximately 9.5 billion people.¡± Colossal Ferris wheels and roller coasters are what comes closest to the tent¡¯s extremely tall ceiling. There are people blowing bubbles in the shape of flying chinese dragons, there¡¯s a woman dancing with a monkey, there¡¯s a crowd of people watching someone swim and do tricks with an orca. Boy¡¯s Voice: ¡°The only way to leave Circopia? IT IS TO PERFORM A MAGNIFICENT SPECTACLE THAT THE AUDIENCE FROM THE OUTSIDE WORLD WILL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO LOVE AND APPLAUD!¡± There are individual smaller tents built under the great continental tent of Circopia that people seem to be using as homes. They are all built extremely tightly close to each other with party decorations riddled all around the packed streets. Boy¡¯s Voice: ¡°Everything we know is under the tent. All of us were born here and most of us will die here without ever seeing outside.¡± Boy¡¯s Voice: ¡°Yes¡ most of us¡¡± Inside a crooked, barely stable red tent shaped like a giant jester¡¯s hat - the boy clenches his fist tightly! Gianni: ¡°BUT NOT ME!¡± Similar to the shape of his tent, he¡¯s wearing a crooked jester hat with bells attached to the four ends. His messy wavy purple and gold hair leeks out from the sides of his hat. Makeup riddles his face. His mouth looks like a giant creepy smile thanks to red makeup extending his smile all the way up his cheeks.

Gianni with a clenched fist: ¡°I, 15 year old, GIANNI THE GENIUS, will be welcomed to the outside world with open arms tonight thanks to my latest whimsical performance! I call it¡ GIANNI THE GENIUS AND HIS COMPANIONS BUMPKIN THE BAT AND GOMA-CHAN THE SEAL BATTLE THE RINGS OF FIRE!¡± Goma-chan the seal claps with her flippers: ¡°Ikou! Ikou! Gianni-kun!¡± Bumpkin the bat unenthusiastically hangs with his wings hugging himself, upside down from a bunk bed. Bumpkin: /£Ü ^-_-^ £¯\ ¡°Eeh..?¡± Gianni poses violently: ¡°Goma-Chan! Have you prepared the rings and the gasoline!?¡± Goma-Chan: ¡°Haii haii Gianni-kun!¡± Gianni points aggressively: ¡°Bumpkin! Did you pitch our performance to the 17th grand theatre!?¡± Bumpkin nods, upside down: ¡°Eh.¡± /£Ü ^-_-^ £¯\ Gianni: ¡°Good bat!¡± Gianni navigates his way through the mess in the house, jumping over juggling balls, spilled decks of cards, white doves in cages and costumes until he gets to his mirror. He faces himself in the cracked mirror lit with flickering lights. Gianni takes a deep breath: ¡°Today¡¯s the day. Our 100th performance. I got a good feeling this time, Bumpkin. Goma. WE¡¯RE GONNA MAKE IT TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD!¡± Bumpkin eyes Gianni, he notices Gianni trembling as he stands in front of the mirror, his eyes covered by his jester hat. Goma-Chan smiles supportively as she carries the rings around her neck and the tank of gasoline by its handle with her mouth. Gianni whispers to himself: ¡°I¡¯m gonna make it today. Blanca. I¡¯ll carve out the path for you, so you can follow me to the outside.¡± -32 Mins Later In The City Center Square- The city center is jam packed with people, the strangest shaped buildings and colors that you wouldn¡¯t know ever existed. The sounds of the unorthodox streets are amplified thanks to all of this being under the tent. And even though it¡¯s 10:00P.M., the area is still really well lit thanks to the lights built around the tent walls and ceilings. In the middle of the city center is a humongous chocolate fountain swarmed by crows. On the edge of the fountain, there¡¯s a 15 year old girl with medium-length messy white hair sitting beside her bag and kicking her legs back and forth as she watches the crows. Her left eye is purple, her right eye is pink. Blanca smiles, picks up her bag and unzips it. Inside is packed with marshmallows. The crows eye her. Blanca cheekily eyes them back. She takes out a marshmallow, dips it into the chocolate fountain and hands it to one of the crows. Blanca: ¡°Open sesame! Say aaaah.¡± The crow opens its mouth and grabs the chocolate marshmallow, chewing it vigorously. Blanca giggles: ¡°Hahaha, chew it slowly, you¡¯ll choke! I brought these marshmallows for you guys, they¡¯re not going anywhere, ok?¡± Suddenly Blanca notices almost a hundred crows staring at her holding the bag. They tilt their heads in curiosity. Blanca gets a little shook: ¡°Eh? Uhh¡ There¡¯s enough marshmallows for all of you¡ I think.¡± The crows blink. Blanca blinks with a nervous smile as she starts slowly zipping her bag. The crows swarm her aggressively, grab her bag and start flying away with it. Blanca: ¡°Eeh!? Wait! My poem is in there! Please give it back!¡± The crows laugh as they fly off with the bag. Blanca tears up a little: ¡°That¡¯s so mean!¡± Suddenly in the blink of an eye Bumpkin the Bat soars in with a surprisingly powerful right jab kick straight on one of the crow¡¯s cheeks. The crow¡¯s cheek gets squished and saliva flies out its mouth as Bumpkin looks at it in a disgusted way in slow motion. Bumpkin: ¡°EEEEH!!¡± /£Ü^¨° ? ¨®^ £¯\ Blanca¡¯s eyes widen: ¡°Bu¡ mpkin?¡± The crows drop the bag and immediately flock away. Bumpkin catches the falling bag midair but a poem slips out of its side pocket and starts floating down gracefully. Blanca watches, still startled from a distance. She sees the poem gracefully fall into Gianni¡¯s left hand. He¡¯s standing there with his other hand in his pocket. Gianni glances at the paper: ¡°Hm?¡± Blanca blushes really red: ¡°AAAH!! GIANNI! PLEASE DON¡¯T READ THAT!¡± She runs at Gianni as Bumpkin watches from above. Gianni raises the poem high as Blanca tries reaching and jumping up for it. Gianni nonchalantly: ¡°What is it?¡± Blanca completely red and jumping up and down: ¡°Nothing! It¡¯s nothing! Please!¡± Gianni looks Blanca in her eyes. Gianni curiously: ¡°Hmmmmm¡¡± Blanca nervously, shaking: ¡°Hmmmm¡¡± Gianni: ¡°Aight. Here.¡± Gianni hands her the poem. Blanca takes it really fast: ¡°Thank you!¡± Bumpkin swoops in and puts Blanca¡¯s bag on for her. Blanca chuckles: ¡°Thanks Bumpkin! You¡¯re my hero!¡± Bumpkin nods: /£Ü ^-_-^ £¯\ ¡°eh.¡± Goma-Chan cutely waves at Blanca with her flipper. Goma-Chan: ¡°Konbanwa! Blanca-Chan!¡± Blanca bends down and lifts Goma-Chan¡¯s flippers up and down, making her dance. Blanca: ¡°Konbanwa! Goma-Chan! Kawaii!¡± Gianni bends down sideways glaring at Blanca. Gianni: ¡°Yoo¡ I¡¯m here too.¡± Blanca giggle smiles: ¡°Thanks for coming! Gianni! I like your makeup!¡± Gianni blushes and looks away: ¡°Y-yea sure¡ whatever I guess.¡± -15 Mins Later, They¡¯re Walking Through The City Center- Bumpkin flies from above chasing Goma-Chan around the city center. Gianni walks with his hands in his pockets as Blanca flicks one of the bells on Gianni¡¯s jester hat. There seems to be 2 eye shaped holes in the middle of his jester hat. It rings merrily as they walk together. Gianni: ¡°Don¡¯t play with that! It¡¯s my signature hat!¡± Blanca giggles: ¡°I remember when it was too big on you. You used to wear it as a mask, that¡¯s why you carved those 2 eye holes in it back then, right?¡± A large pirate themed ship carried by people dressed as ocean waves passes by them. There are dancers spinning fire sticks and dancing on top of the ship with loud music. Blanca: ¡°Oh! Cool! Look at that!¡± Gianni looks at Blanca¡¯s innocent face instead. Gianni: ¡°Blanca. Today¡¯s your first performance, huh?¡± Blanca¡¯s face gets a little nervous: ¡°Oh. Uh. Yes. I finally appeared on the Performances list this time.¡± Elephants riding unicycles pass by them along with a couple clowns practicing juggling. Gianni smiles in relief: ¡°I¡¯m glad. You¡¯ll be performing more and more shows in no time. And once I get to the outside world¡ I¡¯ll be waiting for you, ok?¡± Blanca blushes: ¡°B-but I¡¯m nowhere as experienced as you! This is your 100th time you¡¯ve appeared on the list! You have 100 shows of experience on me!¡± Gianni snickers and fixes his hat: ¡°I don¡¯t know why but Circopia has decided to let me perform 100 times already, even though we¡¯re the same age. That is exactly why I shall teach you, Blanca!¡± Blanca bows really fast: ¡°Y- YES! I¡¯LL LEAVE IT TO YOU TO LOOK AFTER ME!¡± This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. 20 people standing on top of each other, body painted to look like one big wobbly walking giraffe pass by them. Gianni: ¡°Remember, when you perform, don¡¯t be nervous. The audience are from the outside world and they never talk. They only sit silently, applaud, or boo at you. It¡¯s like they can¡¯t talk or say any words. No one in here knows why that is but it¡¯s just like that, ok?¡± Blanca nods with a smile: ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve watched all your performances, Gianni! The mysterious never talking audience from the outside world won¡¯t scare me!¡± Gianni: ¡°They were all once in Circopia too, so they¡¯re really one of us, fellow Circopians who have seen the outside world! The only difference is that they¡¯re there now. So they shouldn¡¯t scare you anyway. Just focus on making them applaud. If they do it loud enough the tent walls will open to the outside world. Loud applauds from the audience trigger the sound lock on the walls.¡± Blanca firmly nods again: ¡°Got it! I¡¯m all pumped up now!¡± Blanca slaps her face with both hands excitedly. Gianni offers a fist pump: ¡°Ha! Let¡¯s both give it our all!¡± Blanca nods firmly and fist bumps: ¡°HM!¡± As they hold their fist bump, Gianni¡¯s eyes wander. Gianni: ¡°Huh?¡± Gianni looks ahead to see the 17th grand theatre of Circopia! Performers bloom all around it. It¡¯s built close to the NorthEast edge of the tent. Inside it, lies the stage, the hundreds of thousands of seats for the audience from the outside world and one of 100 exits in the great continental tent of Circopia, that lead to the outside world. Gianni: ¡°OHOHOH! Voila! There it is! The audience of the outside world must be taking their seats as we speak! Le Grand Th¨¦atre de la Circopia! Elle est magnifique, non? Blanca!¡± Goma-Chan: ¡°Hai! Utsukushii Desu!¡± ^_^ Blanca: ¡°Haha¡ yea. Oh! I mean ¡®oui¡¯ or something¡Heh, heh¡¡± Gianni squeezes her hand. Blanca: ¡°EEH!?¡± Gianni smiles at her: ¡°I got you. Ok? You¡¯re gonna do great. We¡¯ll see the outside world together!¡± Bumpkin lands on Gianni¡¯s shoulder and shakes his ears, yawning. Bumpkin: /£Ü ^-o-^ £¯\ ¡°Eooawn.¡± Blanca smiles warmly, holding her poem to her heart and nods: ¡°Hm!¡± -2 Hours Later, Backstage Area Behind The Curtains Of The 17th Grand Theatre of Circopia- The dark and cold backstage is crawling with performers reciting and going over their performances in distress. Some are doing their make up as others repeat their lines multiple times out loud. Blanca nervously has her hands together on her lap as she sits on a bench with Gianni. She watches a lady rehearsing an act. The lady is somehow making jellyfish swim in the air like magic. Blanca: "How is that even possible..." Gianni: "I don''t know? Strings attached?" Blanca: "Gianni, I''m-" Gianni: "It''s ok! Let''s see what''s happening on stage, come on." Gianni peaks from behind the curtain. Blanca nervously: "Gianni... we shouldn''t-" Gianni pulls her beside him: "Come!" Blanca is pulled in and peaks out the curtain with Gianni. She sees a guy swinging on bars and ropes in the ceiling, jumping from bar to bar and solving a rubix cube at the same time. Blanca: "Eeh..." Gianni''s eyes sparkle as he watches: "Freaking cool!" Blanca notices the sparkle in Gianni''s expression and holds tighter onto his arm as she watches with him. Gianni blushes a little as he eyes her. Blanca spots an extremely creepy mechanical elephant, tiger and sea-lion that look like they''re straight out of a horror movie, near the exit of the tent. Blanca: "What are those? They''re really creepy." Gianni: "Oh those are just the circus guardians. Just ignore them." Blanca: "Heh, heh. Ok." The man lands on the stage and bows. The silent eerie audience suddenly burst out in a magnificent applaud. A small doorway leading to a tunnel opens in the tent walls behind the audience. Gianni: "He made it!" The Host stands on top of a high platform as he shouts into the microphone: "Efisio, congratulations!! You have been accepted to the outside world!" The man tears up in happiness and bows many times: "THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I''VE WORKED MY ENTIRE LIFE FOR THIS MOMENT!" The audience continues applauding for him as the mechanical elephant circus guardian grabs him with its trunk and guides him into the exit. The man disappears into the tunnel leading to the outside. The tent walls close behind him. Blanca: "Gianni. That guy really did make it to the outsi-" Host: "It''s time for our next performance, ladies and gentlemen from the outside world!" Gianni stands up: "ALRIGHT! I''m up Blanca! This will be Le Spectacle Final De Gianni De Circopia!" Blanca looks up at him. Blanca: "G-Goodluck..." Goma-Chan: "Ganbare! Ganbare! Gianni-Kun!" Bumpkin wakes up on Gianni''s shoulder. Gianni, Bumpkin and Goma-Chan walk up to the center of the stage. Gianni waits for the curtains to open with a smirk on his face. Host: "Our next performance is called... BUMPKIN THE GREAT AND THE SEAL AND THE USELESS KID!" Gianni''s smirk is wiped right out of his face: "HUUUH!?" Blanca looks worried. Gianni turns to Bumpkin. Gianni: "WHAT THE- DID I HEAR THAT RIGHT!? BUMPKIN! WHY ARE YOU THE LEAD!? This is the act you pitched to the circus!? BUMPKIN THE GREAT!? REALLY!? USELESS KID!?" Bumpkin snickers as the curtains slowly begin opening: "Hehehehe..." /£Ü ^-¨Œ-^ £¯\ Gianni: "We talked about this! YOU''RE SUPPOSED TO BE THE STUPID YET CUTE ANIMAL COMPANION! To trick the slower members of the audience into liking the act even when they''re not cultured enough to comprehend the deep philosophical connotations of our performances!" The curtain is wide open now. And the audience hears a part of Gianni''s screaming to Bumpkin. They eerily sit silent in their seats, glaring their eyes at Gianni. Gianni sweats as he slowly turns to them with his twitching eyes: "AR-ARGH..." Blanca from backstage: "Gianni..." Goma-Chan: "Starto!" Goma-Chan slurps up a mouth full of gasoline and spit-blows it at the flammable rings, attached to the ceiling. The rings ignite in crimson fire! Gianni watches frozen from a panic attack. Bumpkin flies up to the rings and starts flying through them as he spins around in the air. Bumpkin: "EEEH! EEEHH!" /£Ü ^oOo^ £¯\ Gianni tries moving but he barely twitches a finger as his breathing gets really heavy and his clothes start getting soaked in sweat. Goma-Chan boomerangs rings of fire at Bumpkin who keeps flying through them and doing tricks. Goma-Chan: "Ikou! Ikou! BUMPKIN-SENPAI!" Bumpkin does one final swoop through 10 rings in a row and extends his wings out in the air looking down at the audience. The spotlight flashes on Gianni. Gianni sees the mechanical elephant, tiger and sea lion circus guardians watching him uncannily from behind the audience. He uses the remaining of all his strength to control his breathing. He clenches his fists. Gianni in his head: "For Blanca... Come on... COME ON...!" Gianni pulls a stiff aggressive kawaii pose: "I''m... um... the... s- stu- stupid yet cute animal companion...!" Bumpkin and Goma-Chan''s mouths drop. Blanca hides her face in her bag. The audience stays completely silent for 5 long seconds that feel like years. Host: "Uuh..." Gianni in his head: "Come on... please see the charm in it... Please..." The audience begins booing really loud. Gianni''s pupils shrink as his vision starts spinning and his ears ring. The overwhelming sounds of hundreds of thousands booing feels like a gigantic tsunami is crashing on him and drowning him from its sheer weight. Blanca from backstage: "Gia-" A tear runs down Gianni''s cheek. Blanca''s eyes widen. Tears start water falling down Gianni''s eyes, making his colorful makeup droop down as he stares at the audience and the tent walls that remain shut for him. Gianni sprints backstage past the curtain as he cries. Bumpkin and Goma-Chan quickly follow after him. Backstage, all the performers avoid Gianni as he runs past them and huddles up in the corner of the dark room by some props. Bumpkin taps his shoulder. Gianni: "GET AWAY FROM ME YOU LITTLE SHIT! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Bumpkin sadly: "Eh..." /£Ü ^?¦ä?^ £¯\ Gianni: "I KNOW WE FAILED THE PAST 99 TIMES WITH MY IDEAS AS WELL BUT THAT DOESN''T MEAN YOU TRY SOMETHING COMPLETELY OFF SCRIPT WITHOUT TELLING ME!" Bumpkin even more saddened: "Eeek..." /£Ü ^¡ñ¦ä¡ñ^ £¯\ Goma-Chan pets Gianni''s back. Goma-Chan: "Yosh. Yosh. Gianni-Kun. Nakanaide kudasai." Blanca slowly approaches Gianni. Gianni sees Blanca coming from a distance. Gianni: "SHIT! BLANCA''S COMING! CAN''T LET HER SEE ME CRY! QUICK! GOMA-CHAN! I GOTTA USE YOUR FUR TO DRY MY TEARS!" Goma-Chan: "EEH!?" Gianni wipes his face aggressively on Goma-Chan''s fur. Goma-Chan: "Yamete kudasai!" ¡ã(??©n??)¡ã Blanca stops in front of Gianni. With smeared makeup, tears, snot and seal fur covering his face, Gianni quickly turns around: "YOOOO! BLANCA!! HAHAHA! WHAT''S UP GIRL!" Gianni flexes really hard. Blanca looks worried: "Gianni, are you ok?" Goma-Chan signals to leave: "Bumpkin-Senpai." Bumpkin nods. Goma-Chan and Bumpkin leave. Gianni''s veins pop a little from flexing: "Hahaha! Would you look at that! It seems my arms have veins without even flexing from all the heavy backstage cargo and props I''ve been moving lately!" Blanca: "...Please don''t be sad, every performer has a tough act here and there, right? I''m sure next time will be Le Spectacle Final de Gianni de Circopia!" Gianni: "Hahaha! Don''t worry, I''m fine! They just don''t understand my genius, that''s all! No need to sweat about it!" He sweats profusely from flexing really hard. Blanca puts her hand on Gianni''s bicep. Blanca: "Gianni." Gianni: "Huh?" Blanca: "I don''t care what anybody thinks about you or your acts. I love your acts and I lo-" Gianni: "Blanca. I''ve been living a lie. Yes, today was a disaster but I always screw up. None of my acts were ever good. You''ve seen all of them, you should know more than anyone." Blanca: "That''s not tru-" Gianni: "I''VE HAD A HUNDRED CHANCES AND I''M STILL STUCK IN CIRCOPIA!" Blanca: "I LOVE YOUR ACTS!" Blanca angrily breathes heavy. Gianni pauses. Blanca: "Do you remember the first time you showed me one of your performances when we were little?" -10 Years Ago- 5 year old Blanca is brushing an elephant in a cage covered with hay with her comb, even though it has no fur. Blanca: "Hmm hmm" ?????? 5 year old Gianni runs into the cage: "YOO! LISTEN TO ME! UUH- UM- UGLY GIRL FROM NEXT DOOR!" Blanca tilts her head and points at herself: "Eh? Me?" Gianni: "YES! YOU! I GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO... UM... TO BE THE FIRST PERSON TO SEE ONE OF MY, GIANNI THE GENIUS'' PERFORMANCES!" Blanca sticks the elephant comb on her own hair and sits on the floor with a smile: "Oke!" Gianni blushes: "ARGH-AGH!? REALLY!? I MEAN- OF COURSE REALLY! THIS IS A GIFT TO ANY ORDINARY PERSON!" Gianni pulls out a deck of cards: "PICK A CARD! ANY CARD!" Blanca thinks very deeply: "Hmmm... THIS ONE!" She grabs the card. Gianni with an evil magic performer pose: "HAHAHA! NOW TURN THAT CARD OVER!" Blanca turns it over: "8 of hearts?" Gianni: "THAT WAS YOUR CARD WASN''T IT!? MUHAHAHA... MAGIC!" Blanca: "Yea... but... You didn''t put it back in the deck and do anything with it. Is that really how card tricks work?" Gianni: "Tch. I KNEW IT! YOU DON''T UNDERSTAND MY GENIUS!" Blanca pauses for a moment then starts chuckling: "Hahahaha! I get it! You''re a comedy performer!" Gianni: "WHAT!? NO!! STOP LAUGHING!" Blanca laughs really hard: "Thanks! I''ve never laughed this much in my life before!" Blanca wipes her tears of laughter: "It''s nice to meet you Gianni the Genius. My name is Blanca the ''I don''t have a cool name yet''." Gianni blushes as he glances at her. -10 Years Later, Present Day- Gianni: "Don''t remind me of that..." Blanca cheekily smiles: "I loved it! In fact I did that trick to all my friends after that! None of them laughed but... I think it''s really funny." Gianni: "It''s probably cuz just like I''m terrible at performing, you have a terrible sense of humour." Blanca hugs Gianni. Gianni freezes in shock. Blanca snuggles her face in his shirt: "Well then I guess we go perfect together, right?" Gianni blushes as tears start running down his eyes again. Blanca with her face still buried: "Are you crying again?" Gianni wipes his tears really fast: "NOO! NO! NO! This is... uh... I''m practicing for my next act! I''m gonna have to work on crying on demand for the next one!" Blanca hugs him harder and Gianni''s hat falls on the ground. Blanca: "Some day, they''ll understand one of your genius acts and you''ll be accepted into the outside world and I''m going to do my best to follow in your footsteps and improve my performances so that they''ll let me go too. So we can live in the outside together." Host from on stage: "OUR NEXT PERFORMER IS HAVING HER DEBUT PERFORMANCE! EVERYONE PLEASE WELCOME... BLANCA!!!" Blanca gently breaks the hug. She picks up Gianni''s hat and puts it on his head. Blanca smiles: "After this we''ll buy mega packs of cotton candy flavor popcorn and ride everything in Circopia Coaster Land! That always cheers you up after your performances!" Gianni nods not knowing what to say. Blanca runs to the curtains and stands, waiting for them to open with a nervous face. She turns to Gianni again. Blanca smiles: "It''s only my first performance so I''ll definitely get rejected but please cheer me on, ok?" Gianni gazes at her eyes and nods. Blanca turns to the curtains as they open, revealing her to the eerie silent audience. Gianni snaps out of it: "I''m gonna watch and cheer for you from the best seat in the house!" Gianni starts climbing the backstage metal ladders to reach the ceiling. Blanca shyly takes out her paper: "Uh... My performance... Um... I wrote a poem." Her voice echoes in the microphone. The audience glare at her. Blanca looks down at her paper. Gianni makes it to the top and sits looking down at the view of Blanca performing. Gianni: "VIP SEATS! LET''S GO!" Blanca: "Ahem..." Blanca: "Somebody special to me told me there''s a sky outside." Gianni''s face fills in shock as he hears that. Blanca: "Somebody special to me told me there''s a sky outside. He told me it was beyond the tent and it was endless and wide. He told me sometimes it shined and other times it cried. Apparently it even blew trees when it whined and sighed. He said he wants to see it with me and I told him I want that too but I lied. Truth be told, Whether I''m inside or outside, I don''t really care or want anything as long as I''m by your side." Gianni''s mouth trembles: "Blan... ca..." Blanca leans in to the microphone: "Gianni, I lov-" The crowd suddenly bursts out applauding. Blanca: "WA- WAIT! I''M NOT DONE YET!" They applaud extremely loud! Gianni, trying to process the situation: "Huh? They''re... Applauding?" Blanca: "I''M NOT DONE YET PLEASE STOP!" The tent walls begin opening. Gianni turns really slowly in a horrified way at those walls opening: "H-hu-Huh...?" The elephant circus guardian grabs Blanca with its trunk. Gianni: "BLANCAAA!!!!" It starts pulling her in towards the exit tunnel. Blanca: "GIANNI!!!!" Host: "CONGRATULATIONS BLANCA! YOU MADE IT TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD!" Blanca: "NO! WAIT! I WANT TO STAY HERE! I WANT TO STAY HEERREE!!!" Host: "No can doo! HAVE FUN GIRLIE! TRUST ME! IT''S WAAY BETTER OUT THERE!" Gianni falls off the ceiling and lands extremely hard on the wooden stage floor. Gianni: "BLANCA!!!!" Blanca''s eyes widen in terror: "Gianni... What are you-" Gianni''s arm is broken in half, he lays there as he screams out to her and crawls towards her: "BLAAANCAAA!!!" Blanca tears up as the elephant circus guardian eerily drags her inside the depths of the tunnel with its long metallic trunk held together by rusty screws. Blanca: "GIANNI!!! I''LL BE WAITING FOR YOU OUTSIDE!!" The tent walls start closing behind her. Gianni crawls more aggressively as tears and snot run down his face: "NOO DON''T GO!!!" Blanca: "SHOW THEM WHAT YOU CAN REALLY DO!" The tent walls close. Gianni stares at the closed walls, petrified. 2 guards pick Gianni up. Guard: "Alright, let''s go buddy, you''re messing up the show." Gianni under his voice: "Blanca..." Gianni screams as he gets dragged off stage: "BLAAANCAAA!!!!" TO BE CONTINUED The Great Continental Tent, Circopia [2/2] -1 Week Later, Gianni''s Next Performance- Gianni has an extremely depressed expression as he steps on to stage with a cast on his left arm. Bumpkin and Goma-Chan are with him. He looks to the audience to see Blanca watching with a blank emotionless expression. He waves at her with his other arm. Blanca doesn''t wave back. Gianni''s mouth trembles as he begins his performance. He dances and performs with Bumpkin and Goma-Chan but he''s zoned out in his mind, talking to himself. Gianni''s Inner Monologue: "Performance 101. Blanca showed up in the audience. I don''t know if it''s cuz I''m a complete idiot but I truly believed that unlike the rest of the audience she would talk or at least shout something out to me like she always does... But just like the rest of them, she didn''t say a word and I still didn''t know why. Blanca was sitting right there in front of me with all the answers. She knows what''s outside. She knows what it''s like now. She knows why the audience doesn''t speak. She knows why I''m trapped here in Circopia. She knows why Circopia even exists. She knows everything that I''ve wanted to know my entire life and yet... I can''t talk to her anymore..." Gianni interrupts his performance half way. He stops dancing. Bumpkin and Goma-Chan look at him worriedly. Gianni turns to Blanca. Gianni, speaks out loud: "Please... Say something to me..." Blanca coldly watches him. Gianni: "PLEASE EVEN IF IT''S JUST WITH YOUR EYES! SAY SOMETHING TO ME! BLANCA!!! WHAT''S OUT THERE!?" Blanca doesn''t open her mouth. The guards come in as Gianni starts tearing up again. Guard: "Ok. Let''s go Gianni. You''re done for today. We''ll escort you." They hold him and drag him off stage. Gianni''s Inner Monologue: "When I was being dragged off stage, she blankly stared at me and clapped. Precisely 8 times. It was the blandest, fakest clap I have ever heard in my life. Whatever it''s like outside, she must have already moved on to bigger and better things. Watching me perform must be such a bore to her now." -2 Weeks Later- Gianni steps onto stage, still with his cast. It''s now signed by Bumpkin. He glances up at the audience to see Blanca again. Gianni''s Inner Monologue: "Performance 102. She showed up again with that blank expression but this time... She didn''t even have the nerve to clap 8 times! She gave me 5 claps." Gianni shouts out loud: "5!! REALLY!? IS THAT ALL I DESERVE!!? 5 CLAPS!!? BLANCA, 5 CLAPS, SERIOUSLY!?" He stares up at Blanca. She keeps her emotionless face. Gianni: "SAY SOMETHING!!!" The guards come back and grab him. Guard: "Alrighty, escort time Gianni, come on." -1 Year Later- Gianni steps onto stage with a healthy arm now. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Gianni''s Internal Monologue: "Performance 155. I thought by now Blanca would stop showing up but she still came. Probably out of pity. It was always the same routine. I''d perform. No one would applaud. Blanca would clap a few times, except sometimes she wouldn''t even give me a single clap." Gianni screams at the top of his voice: "REALLY, BLANCA!? NO CLAP TODAY!? DON''T FEEL LIKE WASTING YOUR ENERGY CLAPPING FOR SUCH A BAD PERFORMANCE, HUH!?" Blanca blankly gazes at him. The guards start walking up from behind Gianni. Gianni gives them ''the hand'': "I WILL ESCORT MYSELF, THANK YOU!" Guard: "Argh- right..." -3 Years Later- 18 year old Gianni steps onto stage. Gianni''s Internal Monologue: "Performance 347. A while back now, I noticed a pattern in Blanca''s clapping. She probably got so bored that she decided to designate how many times she wanted to clap each performance so she wouldn''t have to do it on the spot. She would clap 8 times first, then next time she''d clap 5, then 12, then 16, then she wouldn''t clap for one of my performances, then she''d clap 13 times next time, then 5 times and then she''d start the pattern from the beginning." Gianni angrily throws the juggling balls he''s holding on the ground. Gianni shouts to her again: "Here''s a round of applause for you MISS BLANCA!!" Gianni starts clapping at Blanca as she emotionlessly watches him. Gianni aggressively clapping: "HOW''S THAT!? HUH!? YOU LIKE THAT!!? YOU LIKE THESE GENUINE CLAPS!? REAL NICE, RIGHT!!!?? OH WAIT! YOU DON''T GIVE A SHIT! TCH." The guards come in. Guard: "Gianni-" Gianni eyes them: "I SHALL ESCORT MYSELF GOOD SIR!!" Guard: "Y-yes!" -6 Years Later- Gianni walks onto stage and glances at Blanca. Gianni''s Internal Monologue: "Performance 615. Blanca and I are both 21 years old now. It''s been 6 years since she made it outside and she hasn''t skipped a single one of my performances. Her hair is much longer and neater than it used to be. Her... uh. Her chest seems to have grown too. I''m not mad at her anymore. Despite probably having had at least 10 ex boyfriends by now in the outside world, she still comes and watches all of my shows. Even if it''s out of pity, she hasn''t stopped watching me and I think that''s her way of telling me that I am doomed to live the rest of my days in Circopia, so she''ll make those days better for me by coming to all my performances. Until as they say... death splits us apart. Haha... I really am an idiot. We''ve already been split apart for 6 years now. Maybe it''s time I moved on too and built my own life, here in Circopia. Maybe a family?" Gianni bows as he finishes a rabbit out the hat performance. No one applauds. He glances briefly at Blanca who still has her emotionless stare. Guard: "Nice performance, Gianni. I kinda actually liked that one. Sad that you didn''t get any applause, as usual." Gianni: "Why thank you, guard. Now if you excuse me. I will be escorting myself." Guard bows: "But of course." -Later That Night- Gianni gets home really tired and yawns as he takes off his hat. He sees Goma-Chan asleep on a pile of costumes and Bumpkin writing on the white board with a red marker. Gianni walks beside him: "You already scripting the next performance without me, Bumpkin? What are we doing this time? Ice Skating over knives?" Bumpkin: "Eeeh..." /£Ü ^-_-^ £¯\ Gianni glances at the white board and sees a bunch of numbers written on it. Gianni: "A math performance?" Bumpkin also points to the alphabet which he has drawn next to the numbers. Gianni: "Are you trying to learn how to talk or something? It''s a little too late for that, you''re already getting pretty old for a bat." Bumpkin slaps Gianni. /£Ü ^???^ £¯\ Gianni: "IT''S TRUE! I WAS THINKING ABOUT WHERE TO BURY YOU THE OTHER DAY!" Bumpkin points at the white board. Gianni glances back at it: "Huh?" Gianni confused: "These are... The amount of times Blanca claps each performance." Bumpkin throws the marker at Gianni. Gianni catches it: "What are you-" Bumpkin points at the alphabet: "EEEEH!!!" /£Ü ^o_o^ £¯\ Gianni''s pupils shrink: "...This whole time. I thought she was bored and pitying me. I shouted so many terrible things at her... BUT BLANCA''S BEEN COMMUNICATING WITH US THIS WHOLE TIME! OF COURSE! THE NUMBERS ARE LETTERS FROM THE ALPHABET! AND THE DAY SHE DIDN''T CLAP IS A SPACE!" Bumpkin screeches confirming the theory: "EEEEH!!!" /£Ü ^?''¦Ø?''^ £¯\ Gianni rushes to the white board and starts messily writing each letter, decoding Blanca''s clapping. Gianni: "OK!!! LETS SEE!! 8TH LETTER OF THE ALPHABET! THEN THE 5TH... AND THIS... AND THAT... AAND... DONE!!" Gianni backs off from the white board and drops the marker as his eyes widen. Bumpkin looks in shock. /£Ü^???^£¯\ The marker rolls under the mirror with the flickering lights. The white board... It reads...

TO BE CONTINUED Especially the Electric Eels... -9 Years Ago- 12-year-old Gianni and 12-year-old Blanca are climbing up the rails of an abandoned roller coaster ride at a hauntingly deserted theme park. Gianni is ahead of Blanca as he climbs high up the rails of the roller coaster, about 100 meters above the ground. Blanca is sweating and trying to catch up out of breath: "Gianni! Don''t go that fast! You''re gonna fall!" Gianni climbing with a determined look: "As if! I''m the greatest performer alive, Blanca! This is nothing for me! Plus, the top of this roller coaster is so close to the ceiling of the tent, maybe we can hear what''s outside there! I''ll meet you at the to-" Gianni''s feet slip off the rail: "Hah?" Blanca''s eyes widen. Gianni starts falling: "AAARRGGH!!!" Blanca catches him from his shirt mid air. Gianni looks down at the abandoned theme park nervously as he dangles from his shirt: "Ah shoot man. Almost became the tragic end of the world''s youngest most talented performer." He turns to Blanca. Gianni: "Thanks Bla-" He sees her holding on to him and crying. Blanca tears up, blushing: "Idiot." Gianni in shock: "Oh... Ah... My bad... Bla-" Blanca sniffs her nose: "No more climbing for you! I''m doing the climbing and you''re gonna hug on to my back like a stupid koala!" Gianni: "Y-yes m''am!" -15 Mins Later They Reach the Top of the Coaster- Blanca pulls herself up the last rail with Gianni hugged up on her back like a koala. They collapse on top of the abandoned coaster cart left at the highest point of the ride. Gianni takes a comfortable seat on the cart: "OH YEA! WE''RE AT THE TOP! THAT WAS EASY!" Blanca breathing extremely heavily sits exhausted on the seat beside: "I can''t feel my teeth, Gianni, help me..." Gianni panics: "AH CRAP! WHAT''S WRONG WITH YOUR TEETH!? DID YOU PUSH YOURSELF TOO HARD!? LET''S HEAD BACK DOWN! I''LL CALL HELP-" He''s interrupted by Blanca giggling: "Hehehehe..." Gianni pauses: "Huh? What." Blanca flicks his forehead: "Do you feel your teeth, silly?" Gianni has a big think moment. Gianni: "AH COME ON! Don''t scare me like that!" Blanca rests her head on his shoulder as she catches her breath. Gianni goes bright red as he freezes: "Ahh..." Blanca closes her eyes: "Is it ok if I sleep here?" Gianni trying to act cool: "S-Sure I guess, this cart is pretty tight, not like you can sleep anywhere else." Blanca rests her eyes with a smile on her face. Gianni eyes her for a moment then looks up to the ceiling of the tent. Its flamboyant colors and patterns stare back at him. Gianni: "Blanca..." Blanca, still resting her eyes: "Hm?" Gianni: "You know, there''s something called a sky above the tent ceiling." Blanca doesn''t open her eyes: "Sky?" Gianni: "The sky! Sometimes it''s blue! Sometimes red, orange, yellow, even purple or black! AND CLOUDS! THEY''RE SO COOL! They''re like giant fluffy white cotton candy floating in the air! THEY MAKE THUNDER! IT''S LIKE ELECTRIC EELS IN THE SKY! There''s also something called rain! And snow! And wind! And Hail! Which are different ways the sky cries or something. There''s also day and night! The sun shines bright in the daytime and it''s scorching hot but it feels so good! Oh! And the moon takes over at night! It''s so peaceful and dark! No circus lights!" Blanca shifts herself, snuggling in his shoulder: "How do you know about all of this, Gianni?" Gianni proudly brushes his nose and chuckles: "Hahaha... I just know." Blanca: "Milano told you, didn''t he?" Gianni: "HUUH!? HOW DID YOU KNOW!?" Blanca lays on Gianni''s lap and looks up at him. Blanca: "I don''t know. It sounds like something he would say." Gianni: "Arh-argh-" Gianni blushes and looks away moodily: "How does he even know about that stuff?" Blanca looks up at the tent ceiling: "I don''t know. He''s pretty mysterious." Gianni with his arms crossed: "Tch. I''m mysterious." Blanca: "Not really." Gianni: "Am too!" Blanca: "I don''t like mysterious anyway." Gianni: "Ok, I''m not mysterious." Blanca chuckles: "Hahaha! See? Anyway, it doesn''t matter if he told you because you were the one who told me, Gianni. Thanks to you, I know about the sky!" Gianni blushes as he looks down at her: "D- Do you want to- uh..." Blanca puts her hand on Gianni''s hand. Blanca: "I want to see the sky with you someday." Gianni tears up in happiness and speaks in a wobbly way: "E- Even the electric eels...?" Blanca squeezes his cheeks with her hands: "Especially the electric eels!" -9 Years Later, Present Day- Gianni''s eyes open on the messy floor of his tent house, riddled in props and costumes. Bumpkin the bat is drawing a moustache and monocle on Gianni''s tired face covered in dry and smudged make up. /£Ü^-¨Œ-^ £¯\ Gianni with a sore voice: "Blanca..." Goma-Chan is cooking pancakes: "Ohayo Gianni-Kun!" The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Gianni turns his head around to see the white board... ''help me'' is still eerily written on it in red from last night. Bumpkin flies off and lands on the bunk bed. Gianni gets up immediately: "ELECTRIC EELS!!! I- I MEAN- BLANCA! I''M GOING TO SAVE YOU!" Gianni starts pacing frantically around the room: "What do I do!? WHERE DO I START!?" He stops. Gianni: "...Milano." -Flashback, 12 Years Ago- 9-Year-Old Milano, a boy with long black hair is on his knees beaten up with messed up clothes, bruises and a bleeding nose. His cheek is gruesomely ripped. You can even see the inside of his mouth through it as blood leeks down his face. 9-Year-Old Gianni unrolling his sleeves: "HAHAHAHA! THAT''LL TEACH YOU FOR THINKING YOU''RE A BETTER PERFORMER THAN ME!" Milano doesn''t face Gianni. He blankly looks up to the tent ceiling instead. Gianni: "Oi!! I just beat your ass, dumbass! At least be man enough to look me in the face! Why you looking up at the tent like a weirdo!?" Milano as he stares up at the tent ceiling: "I''m looking at the sky." Gianni: "The what? Stop making up stupid bullshit." Milano''s blue eyes glimmer as some of his hair brushes off his beaten up face. Milano: "The sky. It''s beyond the tent." -12 Years Later, Back to Present Day- Gianni clenches his fist. Gianni with a deep dead voice: "I need to talk to Milano..." Bumpkin tilts his head: "Eeh?" /£Ü^-_-^ £¯\ Goma-Chan bites into the pancakes: "Itadakimasu!" ¡î*:?''(*¡Ð¨Œ¡Ð*)''?:*¡î -5 Hours Later, 2:15 P.M in front of Milano''s House- Gianni stands in front of Milano''s house. Bumpkin is sitting on his shoulder staring up at the immense size of it. Unlike Gianni''s small jester-hat-shaped-tent house, Milano''s house is a large mansion of a tent with colossal metal barred gates blocking the luxurious and well kept garden of the mansion. Gianni gazes at it, astonished: "What the- Did Milano get filthy rich!? He even has his name printed on the front gates in gold!! This just feels like a slap in the face telling us how broke we are, Bumpkin." Bumpkin stares at the mansion in envy: "Eeehh..." /£Ü^?¦Ø?''?^ £¯\ Gianni walks up to the gate and presses the bell on the side: "It''s probably the karma I get for bullying him." Bumpkin nods in agreement: "Eh. Eh." /£Ü^©V0©V^£¯\ The voice of a drunk girl is heard from the bell device: "Wh-who is-thiss...? hehe." Gianni blushes: "Oh! Ah... hello... This is Milano''s place right? I''m... an old friend... or something." Drunk girl''s voice from device: "Oooh- Oke! Come in! Join the party!" The device makes a buzzer sound and the heavy gates start opening. Gianni and Bumpkin stare up at it as the shadow of the gates opening reflects on their faces. Gianni: "You ready? Bumpkin." Bumpkin flies inside without waiting: "Eeeaaah!" /£Ü^£¾¦Ø£¼^ £¯\ Gianni: "You little flying shit..." Gianni takes his first steps inside to see rows of giant fancy bush sculptures of Milano flipping with orcas. Gianni: "Huh?" He hears loud music and a lot of people cheering from the backyard. Gianni: "Milano...?" Gianni walks that direction and gets to a towering weeping tree. The sounds seem to be coming from the other side of its drooping branches. Gianni gently navigates through the drooping branches until he gets to the other side of the tree. Gianni: "WOOAAHAAH!?" The backyard is full of girls cheering and dancing in their bikinis. Bumpkin is dancing with them too. They''re all gathered around a ginormous salt-water pool to watch a spectacular performance. /£Ü^-¨Œ-^ £¯\ Milano, a beautiful man with long tied up black hair, blue eyes, wearing a tight one piece swimsuit is doing flips and flashy tricks with an orca in the pool-tank. He jumps out of the water with the orca, does multiple air flips and dives back in with perfect form. The girls cheer extremely loud. The water splashes on Gianni. Gianni, soaking and in amazement: "Milano..." As Milano gracefully flips with his orca, water droplets sparkle all around him mid air like he''s some kind of angel. He locks eyes with Gianni for a moment. He dives back in the water. Gianni mutters to himself: "Milano... you got this good but you haven''t been selected to perform for the audience yet!?" Girl in the crowd: "That might be the case but I''d bet all my money that Milano''s gonna get sent to the outside world as soon as he''s picked to perform his first performance!" Milano resurfaces from the water and unties his long black hair, letting it loose and shaking it around. His orca swims around him. All the girls cheer for him: "THAT WAS INCREDIBLE MILANO!" "YOU''RE SO HOT! YOU''RE THE BEST PERFORMER IN CIRCOPIA!" "I CAN''T WAIT FOR YOUR OFFICIAL DEBUT PERFORMANCE!" Milano feeds a fish to his orca from the fish bucket: "Thank you everyone for supporting me during my evening training." (U_U) Gianni in his head: "THIS IS JUST TRAINING!?" Milano: "But... I wouldn''t even be close to where I am today without my best friend and partner. My Orca, Sky." Sky smiles and lets out orca noises as Milano pets his head. The girls cheer again: "SKY! WE LOVE YOU!!" "SKY!" "I''M GONNA GET A TATTOO OF SKY ON MY BREASTS!" "SKY! LOOK AT MY BREASTS!" Sky blushes and dives underwater. (?????) Milano climbs out of the pool and glances at Gianni. Milano waves at him with a warm smile. Gianni waves back in disbelief, still dripping in water. One of the girls runs and puts a towel on Milano''s back. Girl: "Hm? Who''s that?" She looks at Gianni standing awkwardly. Milano: "Oh. That''s my childhood bully. He''s the one who gave me this." Milano points at the scar on his cheek that stretches to his mouth. Milano: "I got my butt handed to me that day. My left cheek was ripped open actually. I looked like a ghoul or something. The doctors thought it was makeup for a horror themed performance." Girl: "That''s terrible! I thought that was an accident with your orca! Do you want us to kick him out for you?" Milano: "No, don''t do that. I''ll talk to him." Gianni in his head: "Oh. Right... Once again, I realize how much of an idiot I am. How do I even have the nerve to show up here and ask him for help... After everything I put him through... I should..." Gianni speaks out loud: "I''m sorry... I''ll leave now." Gianni starts walking back. He feels Milano pull him back from the back of his shirt. Gianni turns around. Milano with a friendly smile: "Sorry about the girls, Gianni. Let''s talk privately inside the mansion. I imagine you''d only come here if it was an emergency. I''ll make us some Boba Tea." Gianni looks shocked: "Boba wha?" -20 Mins Later, Inside the High-Class Living Room of Milano''s Mansion-Tent- Gianni and Milano are seated at a fashionable table inside the silent and large living room with their boba teas. Behind them in the interior swimming pool, Sky the Orca swims around and blows out air from her blowhole as Bumpkin makes a game out of dodging the water she blows out. Milano sips his Boba Tea: "I see. So once you deciphered Blanca''s clapping, it translated to ''help me''. That''s very peculiar." (U_U) Gianni stares at his boba with a dead expression: "Why is she asking for help? The outside world... it''s supposed to be better than here. Isn''t it?" Milano: "Gianni, what you went through sounds like long term trauma." Gianni glances up at him: "What?" Milano: "You know, like PTSD. When people are put in traumatic situations it''s possible for them to make up things that aren''t actually there even after the trauma has seemingly faded. Are you sure this wasn''t some sort of misunderstanding? Or perhaps you were hallucinating in order to give meaning to Blanca''s meaningless claps because they left you feeling empty insid-" Gianni stands up aggressively and clenches his fist: "I''M NOT MAKING THIS UP!!! I WOULD NEVER MAKE SOMETHING LIKE THIS UP!! BLANCA NEEDS MY HELP AND I DON''T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!" Milano takes a long contemplating sip from his boba as he eyes Gianni''s clenched fist. (U_U) Gianni''s eyes widen when he sees his own clenched fist. He loosens it up and immediately sits back down. Gianni tears up: "I''m... sorry." Milano looks at him sympathetically and puts his hand on Gianni''s hand. Milano: "It''s alright. I know you must be going through a lot of pain right now and as an old friend, I''ll help you as much as I can." Gianni moves his hand away: "I bullied you man... I wasn''t your friend... Stop acting so nice, it makes me feel even guiltier about it." Milano chuckles: "Please don''t say that, because that would mean I had no friends back then. And also the scar you gave me gets a lot of compliments from the girls, so if anything I have to thank you for that!" Gianni looks into Milano''s blue eyes. (U_U) Gianni: "Milano... What is there in the outside world?" Milano tilts his head: "Hm?" Gianni: "What lies beyond the tent...?" Milano puts his finger on his chin: "Hmm... Well there''s a lot of theories on that, some people think there''s nothing. Others believe it''s the end of life or heaven. I even heard a theory about the tent being inside another tent, that would be kind of ironic thou-" Gianni: "Milano! I know every dumb fake theory by heart! I can repeat them all without notes! I''m asking you what really is out there." Milano: "Oh. I don''t know." (U_U) Gianni: "Wha- WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON''T KNOW!? YOU''RE THE ONE WHO TOLD ME ABOUT THE SKY, DUMBASS! YOU EVEN NAMED YOUR ORCA AFTER IT!" Milano: "But Gianni... I made up the sky. I thought you knew that." Gianni''s pupils shrink: "What." Milano: "It''s like what I told you earlier. PTSD and trauma can cause you to make things up and really believe them. You could probably tell despite me trying to hide it but I had a rough upbringing as a child." Gianni freezes: "What are you even saying to me right now man... Shut up... Shut up and tell me the truth." Milano: "I created the sky in my head as a kid. It filled the empty void inside me. All the different types of weather I invented and colors of the sky were just symbolic of my feelings." Gianni trembles as he tears up: "R-rain...?" Milano: "It doesn''t exist..." Gianni''s expression turns cold and pale: "S-Snow...?" Milano: "Doesn''t exist..." Gianni shouts: "CLOUDS!!?" Milano: "Sorry... I made those up too." Gianni clenches his heart: "E- Even the electric eels...?" Milano puts his boba on the table: "Especially the electric eels..." TO BE CONTINUED... The Boy Who Invented the Sky [1/2] -14 Years Ago- Under the majestic and dazzling Circopian tent, there exists a huge corporate organization, known as the ACO (Animal Companion Organization). It''s facilities riddle many major cities within Circopia and they are the ones responsible with selecting each young performer''s animal companion. 7-Year-Old Milano is sitting in a waiting room on the 47th floor of one of these establishments, awaiting the animal the ACO will partner him with. The waiting room is flooded with a diverse range of kids all dressed as extravagant performers wearing colorful makeup, clothes and hair. Milano is the only one wearing a suit and tie and supporting his natural black hair. Milano nervously glances at an electronic screen on the wall that shows random kids and the animals they were partnered with. It shows that Gianni was partnered with a bat and Blanca with a white seal. Milano smiles a little: "So Gianni and Blanca got their animal partners... I wonder what mine will be... I want a shark!" Somebody pokes Milano''s cheek. ?: "Poke!"

Milano turns: "H-huh?" He comes face to face with a beautiful girl wearing a red sparkly dress. She has smooth brown skin, yellow cheek blush makeup on the sides of her cheeks, crimson red eyes and a small amber afro. She smiles in a cheeky way: "Hi!" Milano lifts his hand: "Yo?" Girl: "Name''s Solange! Don''t mind me, I just like talking to the elephant in the room everywhere I go. They tend to be the most interesting." Milano: "Oh. Um. I''m not an elephant. If that''s what you got as your animal companion, you can pick it up from the room next door." (u_u) Solange chuckles: "I know you''re not an elephant silly. It''s an expression! Elephant in the room! You don''t know that? It''s like the odd one out. For example, in this room everyone is dressed with super expensive costumes but you''re the only one that''s dressed boring. No offense Mr. Elephant." Milano looks at his suit and tie: "Aah. I thought this was business casual." Solange: "Ok listen up! Let''s play a game! I''ll try to guess what animal partner will be assigned to you and you try to guess mine, ok?" Milano: "O-Ok... That seems like a doable task." Solange stares deeply into Milano''s eyes. Solange: "Hmmmm... bet you''re getting an elephant!" Milano: "Haha... I hope not." Solange: "Ok your turn!" Milano glances at her. Solange cheekily winks and poses with her tongue out. Milano: "Hmm... A giraffe? No... Oh! A komodo dragon! Or... maybe a salamander! Solange hesitantly smiles: "A salamander...?" Milano: "Yea, I''ll go with salamander." Solange giggles in an unsure way: "I don''t know about that..." Solange pauses: "Hey... You know how the elephant in the room is the odd one out? I think that''s because the elephant doesn''t belong in that room. Not because it doesn''t deserve to be in the room but because I think the elephant would be happier outside the room." Milano: "Out... side?" Solange: "But everyone else, they''re better off inside. Only the elephants will be happy out-" Milano points to the electronic board as his face lightens up: "Solange Look! Our names are appearing on the board! And I didn''t get an elephant! I GOT AN ORCA!!! THAT''S PRETTY MUCH A SHARK! I think..." Milano: "And let''s see... you got a-" Solange covers Milano''s eyes. Solange with a cheeky smile: "Nope! I think I''d rather keep mine a secret for now!" Milano: "Is it a salamander?" Solange glances at the board and laughs: "Not even close dummy. Nice try though! Wanna be friends? Let''s be friends, Mr. Orca?" Milano, excitedly with his eyes still covered: "Sure! I forgot to introduce myself. I''m Mr. Milano." (zU_Uz)

-1 Year Later- 8-Year-Old Milano is covered in bandages, soaked in blood and hooked up to an IV system laying on a dirty ripped up sofa in a cold and dusty office room. The wooden desk has a large beige old school globe of the continental tent of Circopia surrounded by messy stacks of paper and cigars. A voice of a man talking outside the room can be heard. Milano barely manages to get a glimpse of the shadow of the tall man talking on the phone with a cigar in his mouth through the slightly open door. Tall Man on the phone: "Ye'' he''s alive. All I did was sell a few o'' his organs. Y''know kidney, part o'' the lung, part o'' the liver, his dick. Hell, I got a son, gotta make ''im useful somehow! Hahaha! Customer!? At his state now!? Whatevs I guess, sure thing, he can take it." The man peaks from behind the door and glares at Milano. Milano has his eyes barely open from his many patched up surgical wounds. Tall Man: "He''s tough as can be. He is my son after all. Alright, alright, tell the customer come here! We''re open for business!" The tall man hangs up the phone. Tall Man: "Aye Milano! We got a customer. I''m gonna cut a little hole on the bandages around your backside ok? I know you can''t move right now, so just let him fuck you in the ass for a lil'' so I can take your mom on a nice date, alright?" Milano can''t move. Tears start forming in his eyes and sinking down his face. The Tall Man puts his cigar out on Milano''s tears, slightly burning him. Milano closes his eyes in pain. Tall Man: "Good boy! Poppa''s word is final, aye?"

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. -1 Year Later- 9-Year-Old Solange and Milano are floating in a huge body of water in a trash wasteland under the Circopian Tent. Piles of old broken down carnivals, metals, pieces of roller coasters, costumes and animal bones surround the area. The water reflects the bright purple, orange and red colors and patterns of the tent ceiling above. There also seems to be plastic vibrant balls floating on the water. Milano and Solange are floating close to a half sunken gigantic mechanical angler fish structure that seems to have been broken for decades by now. Their swimming suits are bright-colored and retro looking. Solange looks up at the tent and smiles as she relaxes in the water: "So, since this ''sky''you keep talking about is blue, does that mean water is blue in the outside world? Since water just reflects the color of what''s above and inside it." Milano flips his long hair out of his face and smiles: "Pure blue. No plastic color reflections from the tent." Solange: "Hmm. That''s kinda hard to imagine. So... Who''s to say the sky doesn''t have something even beyond it?" Milano: "Something beyond the sky?" Solange lifts her arms out of the water and splashes Milano. Solange laughs: "You know, like a sky for the sky!" Solange grabs one of the floating plastic balls: "OOU! Maybe there can even be floating balls in the sky of the sky!" Milano chuckles and splashes Solange back. Milano: "Don''t be stupid, Solange! Why would the sky have a sky?" Solange wipes the water out her eyes and passes the ball to Milano. Solange: "Guess you''re gonna have to go outside the tent to prove me wrong!" Milano catches it as his smile turns to hesitation: "You know I can''t do that." Solange glances at him. Milano looks at the ball in his hand: "There''s no way I can do that. My parents messed that up for me. That''s why I''ll live my life here in Circopia with you. At least until you leave. Then when you see the sky. Just think of me, ok?" Milano passes the ball back. Solange doesn''t catch it, it falls beside her and floats away. Solange''s lips eerily move with a whisper: "No. You''re coming with me." -12 Years and 6 Months Later, Present Day, Beside the Pool at Milano''s Mansion- Gianni is wearing an orca training wetsuit and he waves aggressively in Milano''s face, who''s also wearing a similar wetsuit. Gianni: "Yooo! Milano! Wake up you edgy bastard! You snoozin'' with your eyes open now? We''re in the middle of training, you know man! What kinda trainer sleeps on the job!?" Sky the Orca swims around the circumference of the pool. Milano: "Ah- seems I... dozed off. Sorry, I was just remembering something I think... I kinda forgot what it was now though..." Gianni: "Yea yea, less blah blah blah and more bla bla Blanca! Am I good enough yet? To perform with the orca and make it to the outside world to save Blanca!!?" Milano snaps out of it and clears his throat: "That''s what we''ll be finding out today! Gianni, you''ve been training with me for 6 months ever since you came to my mansion crying about your white haired maiden... You survived a serious case of depression in the first month of staying here after finding out the sky didn''t exist where you would rarely leave my guest bathroom! YOU SURVIVED ON TAKE-OUT ORDERS AND SLEPT IN THE BATHTUB FOR NO GOOD REASON EVEN THOUGH I HAVE LIKE 8 GUEST ROOMS!" Gianni psyched up: "YESS SENSEI, THAT WAS I!" Milano: "YOU ALMOST DIED 4 TIMES, HITTING YOUR HEAD ON THE SIDE OF THE POOL DURING ORCA TRAINING IN THE SECOND AND THIRD MONTHS!" Gianni proudly clenches his fist: "THAT WAS I TOO!!" Milano poses fabulously: "YOU ATE THE RAW FISH FROM MY ORCA''S BUCKET THINKING IT WOULD MAKE YOU ONE WITH THE MAJESTIC BEAST IN THE 4TH MONTH. THIS CAUSED YOU TO SHIT THE WORST SMELLING DIARRHEA ON MY LUXURIOUS LIVING ROOM CARPET WHICH LEFT A STAIN! AND IT ALSO GOT YOURSELF HOSPITALIZED!" Gianni flicks his hair: "HA! INDEED, THAT TOO, WAS SOMETHING THAT I DID! I REMEMBER THAT!" Milano puts his hand on Gianni''s shoulder. Milano: "HOWEVER, MY PRECIOUS DISCIPLE... In the 5th and 6th months of your training, you''ve improved greatly and learned pretty much all the basics of orca performance. So today... WILL BE YOUR FINAL TEST!" Gianni: "ARGH-AGH!? MY FINAL TEST!?" Milano: "You will perform for me and our 2 other guest judges." Milano presents the respected guest judges with his hand. Bumpkin the bat and Goma-Chan the seal! They''re seated by a long white table close to the pool with rating cards that score from 1 to 10. Bumpkin is sipping on a pina colada through a straw as he eyes Gianni judgingly: "Eeh." /£Ü^-_-^ £¯\ Goma-Chan cheers out with cheerleader pom poms: "GANBARE GIANNI-KUN! Dai suki!!" (ìá?¦Ø?ìá) Gianni: "What the heck man. You couldn''t have called any of the thousand model girls in love with you instead?" Milano puts his finger on Gianni''s lips and hushes him. Milano: "Shhh, it''s alright. I will be your third judge. All 3 of us will rate you out of 10 each. In order to pass you have to earn a total of at least 29 out of 30 points." Gianni: "Ttw-tww-two- Twenty-nine!? ARE YOU SERIOUS!? YOU LITTLE-" Gianni grabs Milano''s collar. Milano turns serious: "If you can''t even get that score from us, there''s no way you''ll even come close to making the audience from the outside world applaud. You want to make it to the outside world and save Blanca, don''t you?" Gianni angrily clenches his grip on Milano''s collar and stares into his eyes. His stare weakens as his grip loosens and he lets go when he sees Milano''s calm gaze. (u_u) Milano brushes and fixes his collar. Gianni glances up at the tent ceiling staring back at him. Gianni, under his breath: "Freaking tent..." Gianni sighs and looks at his hand silently. Milano grabs his hand and shakes it firmly: "You''ve been training with me for 6 months! YOU HAVE THIS!" Gianni''s depressed look is replaced with a smirk: "Hahaha... HAHAHAHA! YOU''RE RIGHT! I''M GIANNI THE GENIUS!! I CAN DO ANYTHING! YOU HEAR THAT!? YOU FREAKIN'' TENT!!?" Milano: "That''s not what I said..." Gianni takes off his signature hat and shoves it on Milano''s chest. Then he clenches his waterproof makeup riddled face as he looks directly at Sky the orca. Gianni: "Let''s do this you son of a bitch!" Sky leaps out the pool and splashes back in, spraying water all around the garden. Milano slaps the back of Gianni''s head. Gianni: "ARGH!" Milano: "Don''t call my orca a son of a bitch." (u_u) Gianni:"Tch." Milano with crossed arms: "Just saying man." (u-u) Gianni: "Whatever... ALRIGHT! HERE I GO! WATCH ME, MILANO! YOU DEFINITELY GONNA SCORE ME A 10 AFTER THIS!" Gianni starts sprinting to the pool full speed. Milano lets out a little smile: "Good luck, young makeup drenched cricket. I''m not going easy on you." Gianni jumps up and dives into the pool aerodynamically. -20 Mins Later- Gianni splashes out of the water and crawls onto the poolside breathing heavily. Sky the orca blows out water from her blow-hole. Gianni coughing: "How- how did I do... Better than Milano right?" Goma-Chan raises up a score of 10: "PERFECT-O!" (?^¥î^)?*:??? Gianni: "HAHA! THANK YOU GOMA-CHA-" Bumpkin raises a score of 9 as he moodily sips his drink through the straw: "Eeh." /£Ü^-_-^ £¯\ Gianni clenches his fist: "You little flying monkey bird piece of shit! You''re just jealous I''m gonna perform the next performance with Sky instead of you!" Bumpkin looks to the side as he adjusts his sunglasses: "Tch." /£Ü^¡ö-¡ö^£¯\ Milano stands upright holding his stack of scorecards: "Gianni. You were nowhere close to me." Gianni turns to Milano. Milano looks down at him: "Not even a little close." Gianni: "But... but I TRAINED 6 MONTHS MAN! COME O-" Milano: "However." Gianni pauses. Milano: "I believe what you performed today will be enough to excite the audience from the outside world. So..." Milano flips his score to reveal it''s a 10. Goma-Chan''s eyes widen in joy: "SUGOI!" ¡ã???(???)???¡ã Gianni jumps up and punches the sky: "YESS!! BLANCA, I''M COMING FOR YOU! I''M GONNA SAVE YOU! AND WE''RE OLD ENOUGH TO HAVE SEX NOW HAHAHAHAHAAHA!" Milano slaps Gianni with the back of the scorecard. Gianni as blood splashes from his bruised nose: "AARRGH!?" Bumpkin snickers happily: "Hihihihi." /£Ü^-¨Œ-^ £¯\ Milano: "Get serious man. Tomorrow''s the big day, this might be your only chance to leave Circopia and save Blanca and that''sthe first thing that crosses your mind?" Gianni: "Come on man... I''m a 21 year old virgin here, you know how sad that is!? Actually nevermind, don''t- don''t answer that. Of course you don''t know, you''re crazy popular, you can make love to any girl you want." Milano mumbles: "Yea that''s kinda hard when your dad sold your penis." Gianni: "What. What was that?" Milano: "Nothing. Yo... Gianni..." Gianni stands up: "What now man?" Milano: "I got one last thing to pick up for your performance tomorrow. You stay home though, get some rest." Gianni smirks: "Wait... Is it our secret plan B?" Milano smirks back and winks: "The secret equipment we ordered made it just in time." -1 Hour Later- Milano walks and glances at the lights of the dazzling Circopian city center. Milano gazes at a map in his hand: "Where was the exact address the equipment was located at again?" A slender woman with a large red afro bumps into Milano''s shoulder. Milano looks up: "Ah! I''m so sorry! I wasn''t looking in front of m-" The woman ignores him and walks past. Her strong wind of perfume blows in Milano''s face. Milano sniffs the aroma as his eyes widen: "That perfume..." He turns around immediately. Crowds of people flourish in the streets. Milano stands in the middle of the road in confusion, frozen, in the buzzing city center where people move like ants in a colony. The woman is gone. TO BE CONTINUED The Boy Who Invented the Sky [2/2] -Roughly 12 and a Half Years Ago Inside an Abandoned Art Studio- The dark studio exists under the Circopian tent and seems to have had no visitors for many years... until recently... Two 9-year-old kids have made visiting the studio at late hours a part of their routine. Solange and Milano are gathered in the largest room within the studio. The room has an extremely tall ceiling with towering shelves that are stacked with cans and buckets of paint of every color in the rainbow. The higher shelves are blanketed by decades of accumulated spider webs. The spacious room also has 10 long and skinny tables with stacks of empty canvases, pencils and other equipment. Milano and Solange are on a stage area at the end of the room. They''re cutting out shapes from pieces of paper, painting and attaching strings to them. Solange cuts out the shape of a large cloud from a huge canvas sheet and attaches a string on it. Solange: "Milano!! Check out my cloud! Is this accurate?" She proudly holds her cloud up: "Fufufu!" Milano, with splattered yellow paint on his face and clothes, is super concentrated as he paints giant zigzag shapes he''s cutting out in yellow. Solange pouts: "Oi... Milano! Look at my cloud! Look at it!" Milano glances for a brief moment: "Oh. It''s pretty. Hang it up next to the others." Solange blushes and smirks: "Hehehe! I''m better at making clouds than you, aren''t I?" Milano, still heavily invested in his yellow zigzags: "Mhm." Solange stands up and stretches deeply: "Aaaeehhhyy...!" She gazes at their masterpiece so far. A wall painted in blue, paper clouds hanging on strings from the ceiling, drops of dark blue paint to imitate rain and paper crafted snowflakes decorating the surrounding area. Solange to herself: "Hmmm... we already have a lot of clouds... where to hang this cloud...?" Solange glances behind at Milano painting. Solange: "Milano, how many clouds are there in the sky? We have like 26 here, are we almost done?" Milano glances up: "Hm? There''s an infinite number of clouds in the real sky." Solange kinda pissed off: "Aaah whaaat!? Tch. I''ll go get more strings from the storage room." Milano stands up: "No need. We''re only making a portion of the sky here. And I think I just finished the final edition of our masterpiece." Solange glances at the yellow zigzags: "Oh? What are those?" Milano: "Uh... To be honest... I don''t know yet. But they also exist in the sky. They''re like... cloud poo." Solange looks disgusted and drops her cloud on the ground: "Wait... is rain just cloud pee then?" Milano chuckles: "Hahaha... don''t drop it on the floor, it''ll get dirty." Solange picks it up: "Oh! Sorry!" The dirty floor colors one side of the cloud grey. Solange: "Ah crap. You were right, it''s messed up now. I''ll clean it, don''t worr-" Milano''s eyes widen: "NO!" Solange is startled for a moment: "Eh?" Milano relaxes a little: "I mean... no. Keep it grey. I like it. I think the sky has grey clouds too." Solange: "...Ok...?" Milano glances at his yellow zigzags. Solange: "Milano... You know... I love talking about and making the sky with you. These past 2 years have been so fun..." Milano keeps his glare at the yellow zigzags. Solange blushes a little: "And um... I''ve had some of the best times coming up with new ideas for the sky project with you!" Milano''s eyes start filling in rage. Solange: "I think even though you''re banned from ever performing because of your parents... I think there''s a way for us both to go to the outside world without performing..." Milano''s fist tightly clenches. Solange: "And... I... I don''t want to go without you! I want to see what''s really outside with you! So... um... basically what I''m trying to say is that... I like you... or something." Milano: "Screw you..." Solange: "Wha...?" Milano turns around: "The sky... is a project for you? A project we come up with new ideas for? What''s really outside? Seriously...?" Solange: "I mean... Weren''t we making a cool concept of what''s out there-" Milano shouts: "THE SKY IS REAL, SOLANGE!! I THOUGHT YOU KNEW THAT!! YOU ALWAYS TALK ABOUT WANTING TO SEE IT!!" Solange stares at Milano. Solange: "Who cares if the sky is real...? I just like spending time with you so I go along with it. I want to see whatever''s actually in the outside world with you." Tears flow down Milano''s cheeks. Milano: "I can never see it. I will never see it but... just knowing that it''s right outside this tent is enough for me. The sky has to be real... otherwise all the hell I''m going through inside this tent... What the fuck is the meaning of it all?" Solange: "You don''t have to go through hell anymore! I''m saying I have a way to leave the tent without performing!" Milano: "I''m not leaving." Solange: "WHA- YOU SEE THAT PROVES IT RIGHT THERE! YOU DON''T EVEN CARE ABOUT HOW BAD YOUR LIFE IN HERE IS! YOU BEING BANNED TO LEAVE IS JUST CONVENIENT FOR YOU BECAUSE YOUR BIGGEST FEAR ISN''T EVEN YOUR FAMILY OR YOUR SHIT LIFE! YOUR BIGGEST FEAR IS LEAVING THE TENT AND SEEING THAT THE SKY DOESN''T EXIST!" Milano as his tears drip on the yellow zig zags: "Screw you." Solange tears up: "As long as you stay in here, the sky will be real for you. So stay inside the tent forever for all I care!" Solange rips the grey cloud in half. It echoes in the spacious room making a thundering sound.

-Present Day- 21-year-old Milano enters his mansion through the front door. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Milano places down a heavy box full of metallic exoskeleton-like objects on the floor: "I''m home!" He sees Bumpkin, Goma-Chan and Gianni snoring with their heads leaned on each other on the couch by the TV. There''s a crappy black and white horror movie playing and bits of popcorn riddle the marble floors. Goma-Chan: "Snore..." (-?-? )zzZ Milano smiles warmly: "I was going to cook us a celebratory dinner tonight. Oh well. I got the secret equipment for tomorrow''s performance, Gianni. Goodnight man." Gianni nudges and moves in his sleep a little. There seems to be an envelope beside him. Milano: "Hm?" The envelope reads ''For Milano''. Milano picks it up and looks at Gianni who''s still sleeping. Milano holds his laughter: "You made this for me? Bet I wasn''t supposed to see this until tomorrow but I''m opening it anyway." Milano opens the envelope to see this piece of paper:

Milano barely manages to hold in his laughter: "Soo cute! But I was being metaphorical when I called them giant flying electric eels! This make-up drenched idiot thought they actually looked like this!" XD Gianni angrily twitches in his sleep. Milano shuts his own mouth and makes his way 7 floors up to his bedroom. Milano drops to his bed head-first without changing his clothes: "Aah. I''m tired." Milano sniffs himself: "My clothes smell of that strange lady''s perfume. It must have been really strong." He talks into the bed: "The mansion will probably get lonely at night again starting tomorrow night if Gianni succeeds and makes it to the outside world..." Milano starts falling asleep: "But I hope Gianni saves Blanca... And I hope... They get to see the sky together..." He falls asleep. -Approximately 12 and a Half Years Ago- Under the ominously colorful tent walls, 9-Year-Old Milano limps through the narrow alleyways of the Circopian boonies dimly-lit by neon flickering circus lights. Milano''s ripped cheek injury from his fight with Gianni is still fresh but gruesomely stitched together by what seems to be dental floss. He''s moaning in pain as he barely manages to limp in front of a colorful strip club in the red-light-district of Circopia. Solange is sitting on the steps at the entrance of the club. She seems to be distracted shaking a plastic box with 9 colorful spheres inside. Milano, with huge dark eye bags under his eyes, barely manages to smile in relief as some blood leaks out his stitches. Milano: "Solange..." Milano collapses on the street. Solange takes off her hoodie to the sound of someone collapsing: "Hm?" Her crimson red eyes spot Milano laying on the ground. Solange enthusiastically smiles: "Hi Milano! How''s the sky model going at the studio? Your dad beat you up again, huh? Or was it your mom?" Milano with his face buried on the ground: "It was my friend this time..." Solange puts her finger on her lip in thought: "Oh. I see. So you have other friends that aren''t me, that''s kind of annoying. Maybe someday when you die you''ll get reincarnated as a punching bag!" Milano: "Hospital... Take me... to the..." Milano goes unconscious. Solange smirks: "Finally." -8 Hours Later- Milano wakes up on Solange''s lap. She''s looking down at him with a cheeky warm smile. Milano: "Are we at the hospital?" Solange: "Nah. Much better. We''re at a place you woulda never come to if you were conscious." Milano, sweating in fear: "Solange... What are you saying...?" Milano''s vision clears. He finds himself staring up at the enormously tall wall of the Circopian tent, only inches away from him. Milano jumps in shock: "AARGGH!!? SOLANGE!! WHAT ARE WE DOING THIS CLOSE TO THE EDGE OF THE TENT!!?? THEY''RE GONNA CATCH US!!" Solange puts her finger on Milano''s lips. Solange: "Shhh. It''s ok, I snuck us here. This is one of the less secure tent-edges. And isn''t it obvious? We''re going to crawl from under the tent and see what''s outside!" Milano is trembling uncontrollably: "Sol! Tent-Slipping is illegal!" Solange sighs as she rests her back on the tent wall: "Duh. That''s why I snuck us here, silly. Don''t you wanna see what''s outside?" Milano touches his cheek to feel thick bandages. Solange smiles jovially: "Don''t worry I patched you up!" Milano grabs her arm and holds it tightly. Milano: "We''re leaving!" Solange tilts her head: "Eh?" He tries getting up but collapses again, his grip loosens on her arm. Solange holds Milano''s hand and pulls him in. She hugs him. Milano, extremely fatigued: "Let go of me..." Solange embraces him: "Your life sucks, Milano. I''m really happy that I wasn''t born as you. You get bullied by kids your age and raped by adults." Milano tears up: "Stop..." Solange embraces him harder: "Your parents are terrible people too. Even though you were born really talented, none of that talent matters since you''re banned from ever officially performing in Circopia because of your parents'' crimes of trying to illegally tent-slip. You didn''t even do anything wrong. But you''re stuck in Circopia forever just because you''re the son of 2 criminals." Milano softly cries on her neck as he sees her plastic box with the 9 colorful spheres sitting on the ground beside them. Milano: "Please... Solange. Let''s go home..." Solange breaks the hug and takes a perfume bottle out her pocket. She sprays it on herself and on Milano. Milano: "What are you..." Solange whispers: "They say the sense of smell is the closest linked sense to memories." She holds Milano''s hand tightly and slips their hands together under the tent. Milano freaks out: "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!? STOP!! BRING MY HAND BACK IN THE TENT!!!" Solange: "MILANO IT''S OK!" Milano: "NOOO!!! NOO IT''S NOT OK!! PULL MY HAND BACK IN THE TENT!!! SOLANGE PULL IT BACK!!!!" Solange: "MILANO CALM DOWN!!!" Milano: "I''M NOT CALM!!! PULL MY DAMN HAND BACK IN THE TENT!!" Solange: "I''M DOING THIS BECAUSE I LOVE YOU!! YOU DON''T NEED THE SKY TO BE HAPPY! YOU JUST NEED TO GET OUT OF CIRCOPIA!" Milano: "YOU DON''T GET TO TELL ME WHAT I NEED TO DO!" Milano punches Solange hard on the side of her face. For a split moment that seems forever Solange is falling towards the ground from the force of the punch. Milano and Solange stare at each other with disgusted expressions. Last second, Solange grabs Milano, making him fall with her. They hit the ground hard and messily roll under and through the tent... outside Circopia. Outside of the tent.

-Present Day- Milano wakes up screaming in bed in the middle of the night. Milano with cold sweats and blood shot eyes stands up: "AAARRGHGH!! AAARRRGHGH!!! AARGH!!!" He continues screaming at the top of his lungs, so loud that his vocal chords begin taking damage. With the back of his hand he violently swipes everything on his desk away as all the items crash and break on the wall. He grabs his mirror from the wall and starts smashing his face into it, over and over and over. Milano: "ARRGH!! AAARRGH!! ARRGGH!!" Blood starts leaking onto the mirror and the ground and his face starts getting disfigured as he constantly smashes the mirror on himself over and over. One of his eyeballs gets ripped out of the socket and dangles on his face as he screams even more. Downstairs, Gianni wakes up to the loud screaming. Gianni: "H- huh...? Wh-Who the heck is screaming, man...?" Bumpkin and Goma-Chan wake up and get alerted by the sounds too. Meanwhile upstairs, the mirror crumbles in Milano''s hands. Blood has flooded and is being absorbed by the wooden floor of his bedroom. Milano disgustedly turns to look at his bedroom balcony standing before him. Milano: "Clouds can''t cover it anymore. I have to forget the outside world. Death. THE SWEET RELEASE OF DEATH!! GIVE IT TO ME! I WANT IT! GIVE IT!" Milano limp runs towards the balcony with his dangling eyeball like a hungry wild animal running to a carcass. He spreads open the doors and steps foot on his luxurious balcony. Milano hysterically: "DEATH! DEATH!! YESS!! HAHA! HAHAHA!!" He begins climbing the protective screen of the balcony as he hears someone try to open and aggressively knock on the door of his bedroom. Gianni from behind the door: "MILANO!!! YOU OK MAN!? WHAT''S GOING ON!! Oii!!! THE DOOR IS LOCKED MAN!" Milano sees Gianni''s drawing of electric eels for him soaked on the floor with blood. Milano climbs the balcony screen and looks down: "I''m sorry, Gianni." Gianni kicks open Milano''s bedroom door. He comes face to face with Milano. Gianni sees Milano''s long black hair blow in the wind and the sorrow gaze he gives him. Gianni screams: "MILAAANOOOO!!!!" Milano lets himself fall off the edge of the balcony. Gianni sprints at him: "YOU FREAKING IDIOT!!!" Gianni leaps over the balcony screen and aerodynamically dives down towards Milano mid air, as if diving at an orca performance. Gianni catches Milano mid air and with all his effort barely manages to aim their fall into the orca pool at the mansion instead of the hard poolside stone flooring. They splash inside the pool together. The pool is dyed in red with Milano''s blood. Gianni opens his eyes underwater to see Milano staring at him. As Sky the orca swims past them curiously observing the situation, Milano mouths a sentence to Gianni underwater. Milano as bubbles escape his mouth into the bloody water: "GIANNI! NO MATTER WHAT. DON''T GO TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD!" Gianni''s Inner Monologue: "At that moment, it was only a split moment. I don''t know how it happened but just for that moment I suddenly stopped caring about Blanca. She wasn''t even on my mind after she had been for years. I no longer wanted to see the outside world even though I had wanted to all my life. At that strange inexplicable and contradictory yet short moment, all my brain could tell me was to stay as far away from the outside world as possible." TO BE CONTINUED Performance 666 [1/2] -1 Hour Later, 4:44 A.M, Gianni and Milano are Seated Beside the Pool- With towels around their backs and soaking wet clothes, they talk at the mansion garden dimly lit by the lights of the pool. Half of Milano''s face is patched up with thick bandages, covering where he lost his eye. Gianni wraps his own towel tighter: "Ah. So you''re stuck in Circopia forever cuz of your parents, huh? Your dad cut your dick off... And your crazy ex-girlfriend took you to the outside world illegally. Man... That''s a lot to digest." Milano with his towel loosely hanging on his back like a cape: "Remember when I had disappeared for about a year when we were kids?" Gianni looks down: "Yea it was right after the day I messed your cheek up..." Milano looks to the tent ceiling: "I was in the outside world during that time... I think Solange was with me too." Gianni: "Maan... You don''t remember anything? Anything at all... Even if it''s something small, from the outside world? A detail? A scent? A scenery?" Milano: "I forgot everything moments after splashing in the pool. I don''t know what made me remember the outside world for that brief moment in the first place... but I can tell you how remembering it made me feel." Gianni turns to Milano. Milano: "Terrified, angry and disappointed with a touch of feeling even more trapped than I did in the tent and longing to know more. For some reason, when all that mixed into a pot, all I could think of was to kill myself. Death felt like the only escape in a room without a door." Gianni clenches his teeth: "And... the sky?" Milano: "...There was definitely no sky where I was." Gianni sighs in acceptance: "Well, that confirms it. The sky really doesn''t exist. But Blanca''s clapping... Her call for help... It wasn''t my imagination and it''s even worse than I thought." Milano gazes at Sky the orca swimming in the bloody pool. Gianni looks down: "Milano... That outside world that made you want to kill yourself..." Milano glances at Gianni. Gianni shakes: "Blanca''s there everyday... and she''s been living there for almost 7 years... You asked me not to go to the outside world... But... I can''t do that. I can accept being stuck in Circopia for the rest of my life but I can''t let Blanca suffer anymore. That''s why..." Milano smiles: "I know. No matter what I say, you''re gonna go outside. But there''s something I have to tell you." Gianni: "Ah?" Milano: "Don''t try going outside by tent-slipping. It''s not a real escape." Gianni: "Wha?" Milano: "I forgot the logic behind it but... If you want to make it to the outside world in a way you can save Blanca, it has to be officially through one of the main exits at a theatre. Crawling through a tent-edge... It''ll end you up like me, or maybe worse." Gianni: "Aah man. Yea, I figured it wouldn''t be that easy." Milano with a brighter smile: "Oh yea. Don''t worry about Bumpkin and Goma-Chan by the way. I''ll take care of them while you''re gone." Gianni: "Thanks man. Bumpkin probably got another year to live tops anyway." Milano: "Haha... don''t let him catch you saying that." Gianni: "Hahaha he just can''t accept that he''s getting old for a bat." Milano smiles as he thoughtfully looks at Gianni. Gianni: "Nah seriously. Thanks for everything man. You''ll forever be my friend inside or outside the tent." Milano: "I''m kinda half hoping you fail. It''s gonna get lonely in this mansion without you, haha... I''m not gonna watch your performance either. Even if you succeed and make it outside, I''m gonna lock my bathroom and just pretend you''re in there crying about the sky not existing or something... I''ll slide in a couple plates of take-out food every now and then too. Although they might go bad and start smelling nasty since there''s no one eating them anymore..." Gianni: "Hahaha... And I''ll hope you don''t kill yourself when I''m gone..." Milano gets serious: "But no. You have a mission. Even if they boo, we have Plan B." Milano winks: "You''re making it outside this time." Gianni turns to him. Milano offers his hand: "Save her." Gianni reaches his hand: "Performance 666!" Milano: "Le Spectacle Finale de Gianni!" They share a firm and unforgettable handshake. -18 Hours Later, the Night of Performance 666 at the 17th Grand Theatre of Circopia- The spotlights aggressively flash at Gianni''s face as he stands on stage in front of the audience of the outside world. Host: "Next up... We have everyone''s favorite failure! GIANNI THE GENIUS WITH HIS 666th PERFORMANCE! AN ORCA SHOW!" Gianni fake smiles and poses: "YES IT IS I! AH HA! HAHA!" Gianni doesn''t break his fake smile as he gazes at the audience and sees Blanca sitting at her seat with her cold and emotionless face. Gianni clenches his fist. He then turns to Bumpkin who nods at him with a determined look: "Eh!" /£Ü ^?o?^ £¯\ Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. He then turns to Goma-Chan who whisper-yells encouraging words: "Ganbatte Gianni-Kun! Dai suki! Hontou ni dai suki!" (?¦Ø? ) ~? ( ?? ? ?? )? "!!!OK-E!!!" He takes a final glance at the unsettling sight of the metallic circus guardians defending the exit of the tent. The elephant, tiger and sea-lion guardian motionlessly keep their grounds like statues with demonic faces. Gianni starts walking to the gigantic 100 meter long freezing cold saltwater tank twice the size of an olympic pool installed on the stage. Sky the orca is warming up, blowing water from her blowhole inside the tank. There seems to be a plethora of other sea creatures lurking inside the tank as well as large rings hanging from the roof and other elaborate props. Gianni stares up at a 30 meter tall ladder leading up to an olympic diving platform. He begins climbing the ladder. The audience of the outside world watches silently as he climbs. Blanca notices something is different this time. Her mouth twitches slightly. Gianni makes it to the top and glances down at the pool of sea creatures. Gianni speaks to the waterproof mic attached to his cheek as his voice echoes in the silent theatre. Gianni: "I''ll be performing an orca show tonight, I trained really hard for this." Goma-Chan shuffles a deck of cards beside the tank. (???) Gianni: "Oh and also, remember the card my assistant Goma-Chan randomly selects from the deck." Goma-Chan pulls a card and shows it to the audience: "Koko ni arimasu!" (???)/ It''s an 8 of hearts. Blanca''s eyes widen in a hauntedly shocked way. The host and everyone else seem extremely confused. Gianni: "BUMPKIN START THE MUSIC!" Bumpkin blasts the speakers full volume: "EEEH!!!" /£Ü ^-¨Œ-^ £¯\ Gianni starts dancing on the diving platform as he gets a glimpse of Blanca watching him in a nervous way. Gianni smiles and whispers to himself: "Finally... I see some emotion in your eyes... Blanca... I don''t even care what emotion it is... It''s been a while." Gianni suddenly leaps up and dives from the 30 meter platform and plummets into the cold and dark water elegantly. He stays underwater for what seems to be a very long 10 seconds. The audience watches in anticipation. Suddenly Sky the orca bursts out of the water with Gianni riding her on her back! Water splashes to the front rows, there are signs signalling "splash zone" beside the seats at the front as a warning. Gianni balances on Sky mid air as his hair violently flows in the wind of their jump. Gianni: "OK SKY! WE''RE LEAPING HIGHER NOW! DIVE DEEPER AND GET MORE MOMENTUM!" Sky glances back at Gianni and nods as she makes orca clicking sounds. They splash back into the abyss of the water. Gianni grabs on tight to Sky''s dorsal fin and holds his breath as Sky speeds up rapidly under water dodging glowing squids, sharks and other marine creatures. Sky continues her eerie orca clicking melody as she navigates through the marine obstacles underwater. The audience looks at the screens installed on the walls that show them what''s happening under water. Blanca gazes up at the screens, astonished. Gianni taps Sky on the back. Sky''s pupil eyes Gianni. (?o?o?) Gianni screams underwater: "NOOOW!!!" Sky rushes to the surface full force! Gianni''s cheeks quiver from the momentum of the swim as the light of the stage from the surface of the water begins getting brighter on his face. THEY BLAST OUT MAJESTICALLY ALONG WATER DROPLETS THAT COULD BE MISTAKEN FOR DIAMONDS! Gianni: "AAAARRGGHH!!! THROUGH THE RING!!! THROUGH THE RING SKY!!!" Sky spots the large ring on fire above them and she makes a determined face! Goma-Chan cheers: "IKOUU!!! SKY-U!!! IKOUU!! KUSSO-YAROUU!" (????????)? ?? Bumpkin: "EEEEEHH!!!" /£Ü^¨° ? ¨®^ £¯\ SKY ROCKETS THROUGH THE RING AS Gianni barely limbos through it managing to save his face from being burnt off! Gianni: "OOOOOH YEAAAAA! FUCK YEAAAA!! FREEEAAKING YESSS YOU FAT BLUBBERY WHALE!!" Sky murderously glances at Gianni. (?¡ò?¡ò?) Gianni chokes on his words: "AH- I MEAN! YOU DID GREAT, BEAUTIFUL!" Blanca can''t get her eyes off of Gianni as he continues riding Sky through more obstacles, leaping many times, performing flips in the air and tough maneuvers under water. Sky begins rapidly swimming through the surface of the water as Gianni jolts himself up and gets on his two feet, riding her like a surfboard. Groups of swordfish and dolphins leap out around them, creating a truly mesmerizing spectacle! Gianni: "IT''S TIME FOR THE FINAL ACT! SKY!" Sky throws Gianni into the air! Gianni launches up full speed: "AAAAHHH BUMPKIN WHERE YOU AT!?" Goma-Chan mixes the deck of cards. Bumpkin grabs the deck from her and soars towards Gianni. Bumpkin flapping his wings: "Ehh!" /£Ü ^-o-^ £¯\ Gianni: "COME ON YOU PIECE OF SHIT, HURRY!" Bumpkin flaps harder: "EH! EH! EH! EEH!!" /£Ü ^o_o^ £¯\ Gianni mid air: "FASTER!!!" Bumpkin''s eyes bulge as he flaps harder: "EEEEEEEEEHHHH!!!??" /£Ü ^OoO^ £¯\ Bumpkin and Gianni exchange the deck of cards mid air. Gianni begins falling as he lets some of the cards fly out of his grip. They scatter all around! Gianni, falling: "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN OF THE OUTSIDE WORLD!!!" Blanca is at the edge of her seat. Gianni lets more and more cards fly out of his grip: "I PRESENT YOU..." SKY BLOWS OUT A HUGE JET OF WATER. GIANNI RAISES THE 8 OF HEARTS TO THE CAMERAS: "YOUR CARD!! THIS WAS IT! WASN''T IT!? MUHAAHAHAH-" He''s cut off when he plunges into the water. The 8 of hearts floats gracefully on the surface of the water as the rest of the cards rain down into the tank. Bumpkin lands beside the tank and shakes his ears, curling up into his wings in a comfy position: "Eeh..." /£Ü ^-_-^ £¯\ Blanca''s eyes water ever so slightly. The host sits in her chair, expressionless. Gianni surfaces and takes a deep breath: "AAARRGH! MAN WHAT THE HECK, I got attacked by a squid down there you know! Why did no one question why I was underwater for so long!?" Gianni sees the eerie silence of the crowd gazing at him. Gianni: "Aah...Why hello there. Pretty freaking awesome performance aye? Thank you for watching! This has been GIANNI THE GENIU-" Everyone in the audience begins booing except for Blanca. Gianni pauses: "... Eh?" The host smirks. Gianni floats in the water as he confusedly beholds the panoramic view of the audience booing. Gianni chuckles in disbelief: "Wh- Wha? Y- Y''all are kiddin'' right? Hehe..." Gianni glances at Blanca. Blanca''s hands tremble as she avoids eye contact. Goma-Chan and Bumpkin stare at the intimidating and overwhelming boo of the audience in disbelief. Goma-Chan: "Masaka..." (;???) Host: "GIANNI! I AM DEARLY SORRY MY LOVE! IT SEEMS YOU HAVE SCREWED IT UP ONCE AGAIN! NOW IF YOU WILL PLEASE LEAVE THE TANK SO OUR TEAM MAY CLEAR UP THE STAGE FOR OUR NEXT PERFORMER!" Gianni looks down at the water to see the 8 of hearts floating in front of him. Gianni to himself: "Ah. I get it now. I was never gonna get an applaud from the beginning... Ever since I started performing, it was never ''cause I was trash. That was just what was written down for me..." The booing gets louder and louder, vibrating the water in the tank. Gianni picks up the card from the water: "Well..." Blanca watches Gianni as the entire audience boos. Gianni''s eye twitches and he rips the card in half: "I''m done being their clown." Blanca''s pupils shrink in fear. Gianni: "SKY! BUMPKIN! GOMA-CHAN!" They all turn to him. Host lifts an eyebrow: "Eh?" Gianni rips his wetsuit revealing an inner layer of waterproof metallic exoskeleton armour attached to his body, reaching across all his limbs and his torso. Gianni with an evil smirk: "It''s time to initiate Plan B!" Bumpkin takes off as Goma-Chan scurries in another direction. Sky the orca dives underwater, swimming full speed towards Gianni. Host: "Oii! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU''RE-" Gianni: "YOOO HOST LADY! I HOPE YOU DON''T MIND BUT I GOT ONE MORE TRICK UP MY SLEEVE TONIGHT!" Sky shoots up and boosts Gianni into the air super high! Blanca stares up at Gianni as tears of fear run down her eyes. Gianni''s exoskeleton transforms and grows metallic bat-dragon wings! And the wrist portions begin charging with fiery flame throwers! Gianni expands his metallic wings and swoops past the host and over the audience, flying straight towards Blanca. Host: "HE''S TRYING TO ESCAPE WITH THE WHITE HAIRED GIRL!!" The circus guardians'' eyes begin glowing in a blood-curdling and spine-chilling way. Gianni: "BLAAANCAA!!! I''M COMING TO SAVE YOU!!! CHECK IT OUT!! I''M A FREAKIN'' DRAGON!!! YOU KNOW, LIKE THE STORY OF THE DRAGON SAVING THE PRINCESS FROM THE KNIGHT!!! Or wait, was it the other way around!?? AAH SCREW IT! IN THIS STORY, IT''S THE DRAGON!!!" Blanca is frozen in shock as she watches the make-up riddled dragon, that is Gianni, messily fly at her. A petrifying melody emits from the metallic elephant, tiger and sea-lion guardians sitting beside the exit of the tent. An ear-piercing melody. It consumes the 17th Grand Theatre of Circopia. A song of death. TO BE CONTINUED Performance 666 [2/2] -11:32 P.M at the 17th Grand Theatre of Circopia, Gianni''s Plan B is in Action- Gianni swoops above and over the audience with his wide-wing-spanned rusty metallic bat-dragon wings as a few loose screws and bolts fly out of its complex structure. Gianni carefully maneuvers his wings downwards and reaches his hand out to Blanca. Gianni: "BLAAANCAA!!! HOLD ON TO MY HAND!" Blanca looks up at him, petrified. Gianni: "NEVERMIND, I GOT YOU!" Gianni dives down and grabs Blanca out of her seat, hugging on tight to her. They accelerate up together towards the exit of the tent! Blanca gazes at Gianni holding her. She notices the adrenaline and terror that cloaks his make-up drenched face. Gianni: "I DON''T CARE HOW SCARY THE OUTSIDE WORLD IS!! I DON''T CARE WHAT''S OUT THERE ANYMORE! BUT WHATEVER IT IS, YOU DON''T HAVE TO FACE IT ALONE NO MORE! WE''RE GONNA LIVE OUTSIDE TOGETHER!! AND MAAN YOU SMELL SO FREAKIN'' GOO-" A metallic elephant trunk whips Gianni''s right wing with great force, crumbling it into pieces! Gianni: "AARRGGH!?:" Gianni loses grip of Blanca in the air. They both start falling towards the audience! Gianni: "SHIT FUCK FUCK SHIT FUCK SHIT!!" The metallic Sea-lion circus guardian catches Blanca. Gianni: "Blaanc-" In the blink of an eye, the metallic Tiger circus guardian leaps up and punches Gianni in his gut, mid air! Gianni coughs out blood as he lets out a wheezing sound: "HHEEEE!?" Gianni gets sent flying and breaking through seats and props, finally slamming into a pile of wooden crates beside the audience. Gianni''s metallic wings flicker in electrical sparks and twitch uncontrollably. Blanca reaches out in terror. Host shakes her head: "Oh my goodness... Please keep the damage to a minimum..." Blood leaks out of Gianni''s mouth: "Aaah... Man..." The bipedal tiger guardian cracks its own neck as it slowly walks towards Gianni along the smoke riddled audience area. Blanca watches helplessly from the hands of the sea-lion guardian. The elephant guardian eerily watches from a distance. Gianni barely manages to stand up: "C- Come at me- you metallic-" The tiger sprints there in a split second and goes for a pounding kick at Gianni. Gianni acts quickly and flaps his barely working metallic wings, dodging the kick! Gianni as blood sprays out his mouth: "BURN BITCH!!" Gianni unleashes the flamethrowers attached to his wrists, spraying the tiger guardian in fiery hell. The guardian erupts into flames as it roars demonically! It starts tumbling down the stairs towards the stage. Gianni flaps his messed up wings and flies towards Blanca and the sea-lion guardian! Gianni: "LET GO OF HER!!!" The sea-lion guardian places Blanca on the ground and leaps at Gianni with a murderous roar. They fly at each other like comets! -3 Months Ago, During Orca Training with Milano- Milano, dressed fashionably, leans on a wall as he sips some boba tea: "Oh yea, Gianni, since I''m funding your entire performance, I also asked that sketchy company to add a little more of an explosive weapon to your exoskeleton. I added it just in case but it''s a one time use and you''ll end up with some pretty bad second and third degree burns if you use it. So try to avoid using it if you can." -Present Day- The metallic exoskeleton surrounding Gianni''s right arm starts rapidly heating itself up and begins catching fire! Gianni charges his fiery right arm: "AAAH MAAN THIS IS GONNA HURT LIKE HELL!!!" The Sea-lion guardian demonically transforms and opens its mouth wide-enough to fit a human in with razor sharp metallic teeth! Gianni: "YOU HUNGRY!!? EAT THIS!!! CAREFUL THOUGH, IT''S HOT!!!" GIANNI PUNCHES THROUGH THE SEA-LION GUARDIAN''S MOUTH, EXPLODING IT INTO METAL SCRAPS!!! The entirety of Gianni''s right arm and parts of his back and shoulders catch on fire. Gianni messily falls and stumbles on the ground like a carcass. He lands in front of Blanca''s shoes. His right side is still on fire. Blanca immediately crouches down and holds Gianni up. She tears up as she looks in his eyes. Gianni coughs as he squints with his blurry vision at Blanca. Gianni: "An... angel?" The elephant guardian charges and swings it''s heavy metallic trunk towards them. Blanca grabs Gianni and jumps out of the way! The trunk slices the air and the elephant disgustedly looks down at Blanca as the eerie melody plays from inside the elephant''s metallic structure. The elephant slams down at them! Blanca hugs Gianni and braces as some of the fire spreads on her. Bumpkin immediately flies in and claws at the elephant''s eye! Bumpkin: "EEEEEEEHHHHHHH!!!!!" /£Ü^¨° ? ¨®^ £¯\ Bumpkin is flung away as the elephant''s eye detonates! It roars in pain as the trunk barely misses slamming the ground next to Blanca and Gianni. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Blanca pats out the little bit of fire on her. Gianni snaps out of it and gets a glimpse of the tent''s exit: "AAARGH!! BLANCA, LET''S GOO!!!" Gianni grabs Blanca''s hand with his left hand and limps to the exit. Blanca is abruptly pulled by Gianni forward. Gianni: "WE''RE ALMOST THERE!!" Bumpkin the bat uses the last of his energy to fly and land on Gianni''s shoulder. He rests on his shoulder. /£Ü ^-_-^ £¯\ The elephant guardian is still disorientated and roaring in pain as it looks for Gianni and Blanca with it''s one working eye. Gianni and Blanca are almost at the exit of the Circopian tent! Blanca tries resisting and stopping Gianni from getting to the exit. Gianni: "WHAT!? WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? WE CAN''T STOP RIGHT NOW!! WE''RE ALMOST-" Goma-Chan speaks into a microphone from the stage: "Gianni-kun... Tasukete..." ??o¡¤(? ??????????? )?o¡¤? Gianni stops in front of the exit as his eyes widen. He slowly turns his head around to see the metallic tiger guardian holding Goma-Chan up from her head. The guardian is partly on fire and some of its metal colors have melted off to reveal it''s metallic skeleton. Blanca tears up. Bumpkin: "EEH!?" /£Ü ^¡ñ.¡ñ^ £¯\ Host: "Oh Gianni, this has been quite the dangerous show thrown for our audience tonight. Perhaps it''s time you put an end to it and come back down here before somebody gets hurt." Gianni looks into Goma-Chan''s eyes. The tiger guardian lightly squeezes her skull. Goma-Chan with her slightly ashy burnt fur: "Gi... anni... kun..." (?>©n Gianni: "She doesn''t wanna be saved." Solange: "Course she does. She''s a liar. Just like Milano." Gianni looks at Solange. Solange: "What if I told you there was a way, Gianni. A way we could go to the outside world together. You, Milano and me. And just kill whoever put us in the tent in the first place then just replace them. I mean... Yea it''s a pretty simple and vague goal but think about it, we can change the air conditioner to whatever degree we want! We can see if the sky really exists! And you can be with Blanca too! All we''d have to do is tent-slip through the 5 layers. So what do you say? You up for some mighty adventure?" Gianni looks at his own reflection in the pool of blood he coughed up. ?: "GIANNI! I BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU EVERYWHERE! ARE YOU OK!?" Solange and Gianni''s eyes widen. They turn around to see Milano with his long tied up hair and his bandaged eye. Salamander the lion opens one eye to get a peak at him. Gianni tears up: "Mi- Milano... I... I screwed up big time man... I don''t know what happened to your orca... And... And-" Milano smiles in a comforting way: "Gianni, it''s ok. I had some of my fan girls escort Sky back to the mansion. More importantly..." Milano menacingly looks at Solange. Solange hesitantly smiles: "Heyo... Milano... Hehe..." Gianni watches them awkwardly stare at each other. Gianni: "Aah... I''m still poisoned you know guys..." Gianni collapses on the ground. Milano: "Gianni!" Milano sprints to Gianni, running right past Solange. Solange: "Oh crap. I forgot I poisoned him." Milano: "YOU WHAT!?" Solange shuts her own mouth: "Shit. I mean ah- He got beat up pretty bad by the circus guardians!" -2 Hours Later, Inside Milano''s Mansion- Milano and Solange are sitting on the floor with their backs up against the wall next to the door that leads to the bathroom. The bathroom door is closed and locked, sounds of Gianni throwing up from inside can be heard. Solange: "So uh... Then I travelled all across the 5 layers of the tent to come back here and find you and-" Milano: "You sure the antidote you gave him is gonna work? He''s been in the bathroom for sometime now." Solange: "Um. As long as he keeps throwing up he''ll get it out of his system eventually. But as I was saying, you''ve never been to the outside world. What you saw and got scared of wasn''t the outside world, it was only the second layer of the te-" Milano to the door: "Gianni! You sure you''re good in there? You''ve been throwing up for a long time now, you need some water??" Gianni''s voice from behind the door: "I''m fine man... I''m fi-" He throws up more as Milano and Solange silently sit, listening to the sound of Gianni''s throw up making contact with the toilet water. Solange, shyly: "So ah, how''ve you been? I see you''re doing pretty good now... You have a mansion and fangirls... I don''t think the fangirls are actually necessary but you know maybe you can get rid of them?" Milano ignores her as he rests his head on the wall. Solange blushes and silently fiddles with a plastic box she has which contains 9 colorful spheres inside. Milano eyes her playing with the box. Milano: "So your animal companion''s a lion." Solange: "I called her salamander though..." Milano sighs: "Why are you here, Solange?" Solange: "I told you. I saved Gianni." Milano: "And you also poisoned him, my only friend. Why are you actually here?" Solange: "I''m also your frie-" Milano stares at her: "Don''t finish that sentence." Solange pauses with the box in her hand. Solange: "Alrighty... Guess I should just be honest. It took me years to get back to Circopia but I did it. I''m here cuz I want to take you to the outside world this time-" Milano: "Not interested. Like you said, I''ve been doing pretty good here and I even have a friend I can trust now." Gianni''s throw up sounds echo in the background as Milano and Solange stare each other down. Solange: "Will you at least let me explain the layers. I made it through them. You can make it through too." Milano: "Nope. Not listening." Solange reaches in her bag. Milano: "Not interested in whatever you''re grabbing out of your bag." Solange takes a Russian matryoshka doll out of her bag and places it in front of Milano. Milano saltily squints at it: "What is that creepy thing? Gross." Solange: "It''s not creepy. It''s a matryoshka doll." Milano pokes it and makes it fall over. Solange: "Stop." Milano: "Tch. It was looking at me." Solange picks the doll up and splits it in half, revealing a smaller matryoshka doll inside. Solange: "See? The matryoshka doll has layers and layers of dolls that get progressively smaller inside each other doll until you get to the smallest doll inside all the other dolls at the core." Solange splits the doll 4 more times to reveal a tiny matryoshka doll. Milano: "Wait. You were serious when you said the place I went wasn''t the outside world!? Solange: "The tent works the same way and the smallest of them, or the core, it''s Circopia. All 5 layers are a different and bigger world with different rules until you make it to the outside world, which is kinda like the 6th layer." Milano: "Layer? But if that''s the case, the outside world is not a layer." Solange: "That''s the thing. I don''t think it ends with the outside world. I think the outside world''s tent... It might be something like the sky." Milano''s eyes widen. Solange gets passionate: "And beyond that - the sky of the sky! And the sky of the sky of the sky! And so on! An infinite amount of layers that progressively get bigger and bigger and bigger! Until you realize nothing we do or none of our lives are even that important anymore cuz they''re just too small to even matter. I call it the matryoshka doll theory." Milano, surprised: "So... You believe that the sky exists...?" Solange: "I believe that an infinite amount of layers means an infinite amount of possibilities. Which means, it''s impossible for the sky to not exist somewhere out there." Milano is left frozen: "Infinite... possibilities...?" The bathroom door gets unlocked. Milano and Solange turn to look. Gianni''s voice from behind the door: "I''ve lived in this god damned tent my whole life. I never left. I''ve never been outside. I''ve been ridiculed by the audience from the outside world my whole life. And 7 years ago, they took the one person that made living in Circopia bearable away from me in order to make my life even more miserable than it already was." Gianni fully opens the door. Milano and Solange gasp in shock. Gianni for the first time has washed off all his makeup, shaved off all his colorful hair, changed all his clown clothes and is wearing a plain grey shirt with black pants. His hair is now it''s natural black color and really short. Gianni drops his signature hat on the floor. Milano: "An... intruder!?" Gianni steps on his jester hat and clenches his fist tightly! Gianni: "No. Milano. IT IS I! Not a clown! Not Gianni the genius! Not Gianni of Circopia! But I! Just freakin'' Gianni! Circopia is hiding the outside world and trapped us in here. Circopia killed Goma-Chan and Circopia is doing something terrible to Blanca and all the others that made it to the outside world! and Milano... As my only friend... I''m gonna tell you this straight up man..." Milano, still frozen, looks at Gianni in disbelief. Gianni: "SOLANGE IS A SOCIOPATHIC CRAZY BITCH! BUT SHE''S RIGHT ON ONE THING... I''M NOT GONNA LET YOU DIE AND ROT INSIDE THIS FREAKIN'' TENT EITHER! WE''RE GONNA GET OUR ASSES OUTSIDE AND WATCH THOSE ELECTRIC EELS TOGETHER, YOU EDGY ASSHOLE! WITH BLANCA TOO!" Milano tears up: "Electric eels..." Solange: "Sociopathic bitch?" -_- Gianni: "SO, I SAY WE FOLLOW YOUR CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND THROUGH THE ENDS OF INFINITE, IN SEARCH OF THE SKY YOU CREATED! IN SEARCH OF BLANCA! IN SEARCH OF THE FREEDOM WE''VE ALWAYS WANTED! And... Not just for us... BUT FOR EVERYONE THEY TRAPPED IN THIS TENT JUST LIKE US!" Milano and Solange watch Gianni in awe. Gianni: "THAT''S RIGHT! I''M NOT JUST MAKING IT OUT! I''M GONNA DESTROY CIRCOPIA! I''LL DISMANTLE THE ENTIRE TENT WITH MY BARE HANDS IF I HAVE TO! I''LL KILL WHOEVER''S IN CHARGE AND NO ONE WILL EVER HAVE TO BE APPLAUDED TO BE HAPPY EVER AGAIN!"

The Second Layer -2 Months Later- -Somewhere Under the Second Layer of the Circopian Tent- A mime with orange hair runs in panic through a vast labyrinth-like theme park under the Circopian tent. Magnificent ferris wheels and roller coasters twist and turn for miles up, forward and behind as he sprints on the ground of the colossal theme park. A pink muppet with a big nose and high pitch voice suddenly jolts and peeks from behind a carnival game stand: "Hello, Mimey! Did you think you could outrun me?" Mime sprints faster: "NO! NO! PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE!" The pink muppet tilts its fabric sewn head as the mime runs ahead. Then a skinny red muppet peeks from behind another stand and talks with the same voice: "I thought mimes couldn''t talk, Mimey?" Mime screams in terror and runs past it: "AARGH!? I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE!" A huge blue fury muppet monster peeks from behind a giant ride: "LEAVE YOU ALONE!? YOU KNOW I CAN''T DO THAT... RIGHT?" Mime''s pupils shrink as he runs while hyperventilating. He then sees hundreds of colorful muppets of different shapes and sizes riding the ferris wheel above him and peeking from its windows down at him. They talk in synchronization: "AFTER ALL, IT WOULD TAINT THE REPUTATION OF THE PHANTOM MUPPETEER IF SOMEONE WHO CROSSED PATHS WITH HIM MANAGED TO ESCAPE!" Mime starts crying as he keeps running: "I PROMISE! I PROMISE I WON''T TELL ANYONE!" Muppets begin peeking and popping out of every nook and cranny of the theme park, even on top of the roller coasters! All muppets synced: "YOU SURE TALK A LOT FOR A MIME. IT''S TIME TO SILENCE YOU FOR GOOD, MIMEY." Mime: "THE PHANTOM MUPPETEER WASN''T A MYTH! HOW IS ONE MAN PUPPETEERING THIS MANY AT THE SAME TIME!?" Yellow furry claws grasp to the side of a stand up ahead and a gigantic yellow muppet with huge googly eyes and sharp teeth peeps from the corner, laughing maniacally: "HAHAHAHA!! WALK INTO MY MOUTH!" Mime: "AAARRGGHH!!?" The muppet snaps its jaws and blood splatters on the fabric of the muppets around. The lower half of Mime collapses on the floor and the upper half remains in the yellow muppet''s mouth. Suddenly, in a split second all the muppets flop on the ground as if lifeless. Meanwhile, on top of the ferris wheel a man wearing a somber black suit, slick-back black hair and a top-hat looks down at the scene with a dull unamused expression and his hands in his pockets. Man with a raspy Australian accent: "Sorry Mimey. Like I said, my reputation as the phantom muppeteer was on the line." There seems to be another man standing behind him. This other man is wrapped in a flamboyant cloak bursting in colors of purple, red, gold and white. His face is covered by an alluring and magnificently glistening Venetian masquerade mask with a lion-like mane of long golden feathers surrounding it. Phantom Muppeteer: "I know you''re behind me, Wishmaster." Wishmaster: "HOHOHO! The muppeteer MUTTERED! It seems I have been DISCOVERED! From anyone else, you are FASTER! I humbly bow at your presence for I am the WISHMASTER!" Wishmaster politely bows as he cheekily giggles. Muppeteer: "Why the hell did you join the Circus Purge? I''ve never seen you as the type to kill." Wishmaster: "You know I adore you to the point I''d purr and rub my face on you like a KITTEN! But I cannot answer that for it is a secret that is HIDDEN! Unless you wish for it OF COURSE! Then I shall tell you with no REMORSE!" Muppeteer lights a cigarette: "You know I don''t believe in that abracadabra magic crap. You can shove that wish up your colorful arse." Wishmaster giggles: "Yet here you are puppeteering hundreds of muppets on your OWN! And how you do it, to the whole world, is UNKNOWN! It can''t be a team of people for they are nowhere to be SEEN! It can''t be mechatronics or robots for there is no MACHINE! They just come alive, talk and the next thing you know the enemy is TOAST! Then whatever was inside disappears and the muppet flops on the ground as if it was controlled by a GHOST!" Phantom Muppeteer: "I assure you it''s not magic. Yes, it''s not a team of people and I don''t use robots either but... I trained for years to be able to do this. It''s an elaborate and tedious trick to pull off but it''s not magic." Wishmaster: "OHOHO! I do not mean to ANNOY! However, I must ask if you joined the purge to find the BOY!" Muppeteer exhales smoke: "Small talk''s over aye? That''s why you joined too ain''t it? You son of a bitch." Wishmaster puts his hand on the mouth of his mask and chuckles with his shoulders jolting up and down: "Hehehe... I know he is quite UNIQUE! But why exactly the boy do you SEEK?" Muppeteer inhales his smoke: "I hate when people think somethin''s magic. The existence of magic would be the equivalent of someone taking a big fat dump on my entire life and havin'' a good laugh about it. I''d reveal the trick behind every magician''s magic if I could live long enough to do it. But I ain''t got that many years left in me, Wishy. So, since that Gianni boy is the greatest magic trick to have ever existed, all I have to do is expose the trick behind his existence and that should be enough to prove all other magic false. Plus, I get a free ticket to the outside world, savvy?" Wishmaster: "Aahhh! If the boy''s not real then why is there such a high price on his HEAD? After all, he is wanted alive or DEAD!" Muppeteer turns slightly: "Same reason why those artists that splash paint on a canvas sell them for millions of dollars. It ain''t the art that''s expensive, it''s the name of the artist that made it. A magician''s magic is their art. And I think you know a whole lot more about Gianni''s artist than I do." Wishmaster backs off to the edge of the ferris wheel: "Only slightly more than the average performer in the CIRCUS PURGE! But getting the boy won''t be easy... for that is everyone''s URGE!" Wishmaster backflips off the edge of the ferris wheel: "HAHA! Wishmaster OUT! We''ll meet again, I have no DOUBT!" Muppeteer throws and steps on his cigarette: "Moron." -20KM Away at a Strange Museum Displaying Dinosaur Fossils Under the Circopian Tent- This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. The museum is a large studio with a glass dome ceiling, showing the Circopian tent above. The gigantic and mighty fossils of t-rex, triceratops, spinosaurus, the long necked brontosaurus and a plethora of others are cleanly displayed with white lights in the otherwise dark studio. There are pterodactyl fossils hanging from the ceilings with their magnificent wings and the water dwelling behemoths liopleurodon and mosasaurus fossils are displayed on the walls above. A crew of engineers and doctors seem to be working on the fossils and drilling metallic bits inside the bones. High above the ground, is a 21-year-old girl with bone-white short hair stylized as a wavy bob style. Wearing a slim-fit suit and tie accompanied by a business skirt and a clean blazer hung on her back as if a cape, she''s laying on the long neck of the brontosaurus fossil as if it was her own bed! She dangles her legs and arms off the fossil as if dead-weight and fiddles with a popsicle in her mouth. She''s wearing the tooth of a megalodon as a necklace and she stares up at the dome ceiling with her slightly dead creamy beige eyes. She sighs: "Why were dome ceilings even invented... The only thing you get to see is the stupid tent." Someone calls out to her: "Miss Mira!" Mira lazily looks with her popsicle in her mouth: "Hm? Oh." Mira, using minimal effort, barely raises her hand: "Yo, Eve. What up." Eve, a girl with glasses, long brown hair and also wearing a similar suit and tie looks up at Mira. Eve: "WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING ON THE NECK OF THE BRONTOSAURUS!? HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND!? Your mom is already going to kill me when she finds out what you''re doing to her fossils!" Mira: "Correction, Eve. They''re my fossils. Not mom''s. And I''m not doing anything bad to them, just bringing them back to life." Mira has a small content smile on her face as she watches the engineers play with a few remotes to see some of the fossils'' limbs moving. Eve: "Mira... You still have a chance to stop this. You don''t have to join the Circus Purge. Your life is great here! You''re the daughter of the owner of Circopia''s greatest prehistoric museum!" Mira jumps down the fossil and lands in front of Eve with her blazer blowing as a cape. Eve looks into Mira''s sleepless eyes tensely. Mira takes the popsicle out of her own mouth and puts it in Eve''s mouth. Eve with a mouth full: "Eh!?" Mira: "Hush, Eve. My head hurts and the last thing I want to hear about is my life in the tent." Mira starts walking away. Eve clenches her fist. She then angrily takes the popsicle out of her mouth. Eve: "That''s enough! I might be working for you but I''m your best friend before I''m your assistant! So u-uh... Umm... I- I WON''T LET YOU JOIN THE CIRCUS PURGE MISS MIRA!" Mira stops. Eve shakes in fear as the popsicle melts in her hand. Mira: "What caused the dinosaurs to become extinct, Eve?" Eve, confused: "Huh? Um... The rise of mammals, right?" Mira turns to face her: "Yes. But why were those small dirty inferior mammals suddenly able to rise over such perfect creatures?" Mira places her hand on the leg of a Spinosaurus fossil. Eve: "Are... Are we the small dirty inferior mamma-" Mira glares at her: "Answer the question. Eve." Eve hides behind her folders: "I- I DON''T KNOW!" Mira sighs, calming down: "It''s alright, don''t be scared. You know I can''t stay mad at you for longer than a minute." Eve peeps from behind her research folders. Mira: "Besides, the question I asked you wasn''t fair because even the greatest Circopian scientists haven''t been able to answer it. Don''t you see, Eve? I''m sure of it. The reason we don''t know what made the dinosaurs go extinct is because whatever it is, it came from outside of the tent! From up there!" Mira points to the dome ceiling. Eve''s eyes widen as she looks up: "Outside?" Mira: "The answer literally doesn''t exist in Circopia. Which means, I can''t stay here any longer. I know everything about dinosaurs Circopia has to offer so I have to make it outside. It''s almost impossible to win the Circus Purge to make it to the third layer but... now there''s another way, Eve. There''s that Gianni kid who''s wanted dead or alive. He''s going to be my ticket to the outside!" Eve: "But your mom doesn''t want you to go either Mira!" Mira starts walking off: "Yea, yea. My mom is bedridden what''s she gonna do? Beat me?" Eve: "Mira! She''s your mom!" Mira does a graceful 360 spin as her bone-white hair flows in her wind. She then flicks her middle finger at Eve. Mira: "Tell her to suck a big fat bone!" Mira imitates sucking a penis with her hand and continues walking off, chuckling to herself. Mira: "I''ll be back to collect the enhanced fossils later, ok bye, love you!" She makes a heart with her hands and exits. Eve stands there frozen: "Idiot... What about me...? Did you think about how I feel about you leaving...? Who is this Gianni kid anyway... STUPID! STUPID GIANNI! FUCK YOU! Hope you die." -47KM Away at a Dark Circopian Sea Under the Tent- An extremely buff muscular old man in his 80s dressed as a butler rows a medium-sized boat. The boat is carrying a huge cargo crate on its back with air holes on it and growling sounds coming from inside the crate. In front of the giant old man, a tiny 16-year-old girl dressed in a spectacular princess dress and wearing a princess cone hat with silky blond hair is happily doing her makeup while humming a song. Princess: "Hmmm hmm hmm!"????????? Old Muscular Butler: "Do excuse me my lady but I still do not think it was wise to run away from the castle in hopes of joining the Circus Purge. Perhaps we should turn around." Princess''s cute happy face turns into a disgusted one: "HAAH!? BUTLER! DO YOU DARE QUESTION MY PRINCESSLY SCHEMES!?" ( ¨p¨Ž Òæ¨ £© Butler: "N- NO MY LADY! OF COURSE NOT! BUT THE KING-" Princess waves her finger side to side: "Ah. Ah. Ah! You are MY butler and you do whatever I tell you to do. I didn''t pump you with steroids and give you such a grueling exercise routine for you to betray me! Do you know the story of the princess in the tower?" Butler: "Yes, my lady." Princess: "I''LL TELL YOU ANYWAY YOU KNOW IT ALL! The king traps his daughter, the princess, in a tower for her to never leave! Then a knight with shining armor saves her! That is exactly my story! I''m the princess! And the tower I''m trapped in is this bullocks tent! Which means... my knight awaits me outside of Circopia on his white horse! I do not plan on keeping him waiting!" Butler: "Yes that''s all dandy my lady but the knight is not helping us. How do we know he even exists?" Princess: "Oh you gullible old man, of course he exists! Otherwise my life would be pointless... right? Tell me he exists..." She looks at him with a dark gaze. Butler: "Yes my lady. In fact I''m sure he''s right outside the tent as we speak." Princess: "YES! I KNEW IT! Oh and we don''t need extra help anyway, Butler. After all, my animal companion is something all of these fools think of as a fairytale." The butler and the princess peer over to the huge cargo crate on the back of the boat as the growling sounds get louder and turn into a blood-curdling roar from inside it. Princess smiles cheekily: "I''m gonna toast that jester boy and then jump into the arms of my strong sexy knight." -100KM Away at the Metallic Mouth of a Gigantic Dead Circus Guardian- A 21-year-old guy wearing a woman''s pitch-black kimono with red and pink flower designs on it jumps off a small canoe and walks towards the colossal teeth riddled mouth of the fallen circus guardian laying in the middle of the Circopian sea. The guy''s hair is full of thick dreads that are tied together in a strange way to form the shape of a palm tree on his head. He also has a katana hooked up on his back and jewelry on his neck, wrists and ears. He stops in front of a gate with a counter beside it. Behind the counter, a robot girl greets him with a warm smile. Guy: "Yoo... name''s Shinjiro. I''m joining the Circus Purge." Robot Girl: "Welcome Shinjiro! It''s my job to let you know that anyone may enter the Circus Purge at any time, however, once entered you will not be allowed to leave until you are one of last 2 survivors or you capture or kill Gianni of Circop-" Shinjiro slices the robot girl''s head off with one clean strike. Robot Girl malfunctioning: "Gia- Gianni- Of- Gianni- Circopia- Gianni of- Circopia- Giann-" Shinjiro: "I know the rules, you metallic piece of trash." The headless body of the robot girl presses a button and the gates begin opening. Shinjiro calls out to something behind him: "Let''s go, Akuma." He calmly starts walking into the labyrinth-like mouth of the massive circus guardian. -All of Them Speak at the Same Time at Different Locations-

...

Smells Like a Color, Looks Like a Song, Sounds Like a Scent Milano: ¡°I was broke.¡± -13 Years & 8 Months Ago, Red-Light District of Circopia in the 1st Layer of the Tent- Inside a filthy rundown apartment 8-year-old Milano walks out the bathroom, limping on crutches and covered in bandages. He sees a tall man, his dad, undressing a 14-year-old girl as 3 other girls sit beside the man in the living room covering themselves and avoiding eye contact. The girl uncomfortably looks away from him as he unbuttons her shirt. Tall Man: ¡°The hell you doin¡¯!? Look me in the eye-¡± Milano: ¡°Dad, why is my penis gone?¡± Tall man turns to him: ¡°Hah!? MILANO! DIDN¡¯T I TELL YOU TO STAY IN THE BATHROOM BOY! Daddy n¡¯ these nice ladies hav¡¯ some business to take care of!¡± Milano notices the girl his dad has pinned down has feathered wings surgically attached to her back. One of her eyes seems to have been replaced with the eye of a lizard. She shakes and gazes Milano in the eyes. The other girls also have strange animal-like body parts surgically attached to them. Snake-fangs, monkey-tails, parrot-feathers. Milano pretends they¡¯re not there: ¡°I can¡¯t find my penis.¡± Tall Man: ¡°The hell is a penis, kid?¡± Milano: ¡°The thing¡ that was in between my legs¡¡± Tall Man: ¡°Aah! Your dick! Guess ya were a ¡®lil loopy from da drugs when it happened. I sold it to some guy who¡¯s fond of collectin¡¯ things like that along with a few of yer other organs.¡± Milano tears up: ¡°¡why.¡± Tall Man: ¡°Hey, hey. Don¡¯t cry kid. We¡¯re not exactly drownin¡¯ in money here, y¡¯know! Had to let go o¡¯ your mom for da same reason, she was suckin¡¯ in too much of dat precious mula.¡± Milano: ¡°Will it grow back?¡± Tall Man: ¡°Hah?¡± All the girls look at Milano. Milano: ¡°Will my penis¡ grow bac-¡± Tall Man: ¡°AHAHAHAAHA!¡± He hysterically laughs as Milano and the girls watch him uneasily. Tall Man wipes a tear of laughter: ¡°Yea, yea sure, it¡¯ll grow back. All ye gotta do is believe in you¡¯self! Oh also! I heard gettin¡¯ fucked by an elephant will get your dick growin¡¯ right back! Somethin¡¯ bout their trunk genetics or somethin¡¯.¡± Milano: ¡°Fucked¡? By an elephant?¡± Tall Man: ¡°Yea, yea. Now get outta here!¡± -1 Month Later- Tall man holds the phone to his ear. His cigarette falls out of his mouth in shock. Tall man speaks to the phone: ¡°My son did¡ what!?¡± Voice from phone: ¡°He¡ Ah¡ He snuck into our Animal Companion facility and had¡ He had sexual intercourse with one of our male elephants.¡± Tall Man: ¡°Is he¡¡± Voice from phone: ¡°Yes. Your son is dead sir. My condolences.¡± Tall Man: ¡°Holy shit. That¡¯s hilarious. What a way to go, Milano.¡± -The Next Day at an Eerie Graveyard Under the Colorful Circopian Tent- Tall Man smokes a cigar in front of 8-year-old Milano¡¯s grave. Tall Man: ¡°N¡¯ I was plannin¡¯ on givin¡¯ you me business when ye got older too. Shame.¡± An 8-year-old child with an amber afro runs up from behind the man and stabs him in the back with a knife. Tall Man screams and his cigar falls out his mouth: ¡°ARGH!!? SON OF A-¡± Solange screams at the top of her lungs: ¡°ROT IN HELL!! YOU KILLED MY MILANO!¡± Tall man rapidly turns around and kicks 8-year-old Solange in the gut, sending her flying. She hits a tree and falls to the ground. Tall man pulls out a pistol from his coat: ¡°YOU LIL¡¯ BITCH!¡± Salamander the lion creeps from behind the tree and growls at the man. Tall Man disarms himself: ¡°Hahaha¡ Hello little kitty. I was just on my way. Just a father visitin¡¯ their beloved son¡¯s grave here.¡± He unstabs the knife from his back and limps away. Solange¡¯s tears hit the grassy ground of the vast graveyard. She struggles to breathe from crying. Milano actually woke up in his coffin the day after he was pronounced dead. He was screaming for help while they were doing all that. They didn''t hear him though. By chance, 2 days later a few grave diggers chose to scavenge from his grave. -2 Days Later- A guy with a beanie wipes sweat from his face as he holds a shovel: ¡°Hahaha! Open it up, man! Hope this one got some jewelry in it!¡± Another guy with a mullet opens the lid of the coffin with a smile on his face: ¡°HEHEHE¡ Let¡¯s see what we got in he-¡± Milano lunges out of the coffin and swings a punch at the guy. Mullet Guy: ¡°ARGH WHAT THE-¡± Milano¡¯s fist kisses the guy¡¯s face and Milano limp-sprints out of the coffin towards the wilderness. Beanie Guy: ¡°FOLLOW HIM MAN!¡± Milano: ¡°DON¡¯T FOLLOW ME! I¡¯MA GHOST! I¡¯LL HAUNT YOU!¡± The guys stop in fear. Milano scurries into the bushes as he yells ghostly sounds: ¡°Ooouuhh! Ooouh! Argh- Crap! Poison ivy! Oouuuh!¡± -1 Hour Later- Milano stands at the doorstep of his apartment. Woman: ¡°Yea, sorry kid. Your dad sold the apartment to me and then tent-slipped wit¡¯ your mom. You got any money to take care of yourself?¡± Milano: ¡°No¡¡± Woman: ¡°Beg on the streets. Works for me. You won¡¯t need to train for any performances anymore since you¡¯ll be banned from performing cuz of your parents¡¯ tent-slippin¡¯, so you got time now.¡± She closes the door on him. Woman yells from behind the door: ¡°Oh and he sold your orca too!¡± -1 Year Later- Then... Solange kidnapped him and they tent-slipped to the 2nd layer. Poor kid. Can''t get a break can he? Something glitches. An angler fish holding an umbrella speaks at an empty Circopian valley: ¡°THOU WHO CROSSES BACK INTO AN INNER LAYER FROM AN OUTER LAYER SHALL FORGET MEMORIES THEY MADE IN THE OUTER LAYER.¡± -Another Year Later- 10-year-old Milano crawls and tent-slips back into the first layer. He breathes heavily as his pupils dilate and turn back to normal. Milano¡¯s facial expression immediately changes to calm: ¡°Hm? I¡ I feel like¡ I forgot something just now.¡± This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. He turns around slowly. His vision blurs and adjusts to see the edge of the flamboyant tent. Milano steps back: ¡°Wh- Why am I so close to the edge of the tent!?¡± He notices he¡¯s holding a briefcase. Milano: ¡°Hah?¡± He opens the briefcase to see a single credit card laying in it. He had forgotten everything that happened in the 2nd layer. An entire year of his life that he spent there, wiped out of his memory. But the credit card he found in that briefcase had 1 Billion euros in it. His broke life was over. But the mind don''t like things that don''t make sense. So he convinced himself that he somehow earned the money himself. What a silly kid, am I right? -1 Day Later at an Orca Show Theme Park Under the Circopian Tent- The crowd cheers loudly as orcas and dolphins perform tricks. Meanwhile, inside the facility, Milano talks to the owner of the place. Owner: ¡°Hey cutie! You asked for me? You wanna know more about the orcas or something?¡± 10-year-old Milano: ¡°Hello Ma''am. The reason I requested you is because I would like to buy your leading orca, Sky. She used to be my orca but my dad sold her to you guys.¡± Owner blinks. Milano gazes up at her calmly. U_U Owner: ¡°Hahaha! Aaaw, you¡¯re very cute, little guy! You wanna take the orca home so bad don¡¯t you? You know, when I was your age, I was just like you! I wanted to take all the orcas hom-¡± Milano opens a briefcase with huge amounts of money inside: ¡°I¡¯ll pay you 100 million euros for Sky. I expect her to be delivered to the address I provide to your email tomorrow.¡± The owner stares at the money in shock. -Later- Milano rings the bell of a mansion in front of its gate. Voice from bell: ¡°Hah? A child? What do you want? I¡¯m a busy man.¡± Milano: ¡°Hello. I would like to buy your mansion.¡± Voice: ¡°Is this a prank or something? It¡¯s not for sale. Plus this mansion is worth 4 milli-¡± Milano: ¡°I¡¯ll pay you 20 million and another 10 million if you move out by tonight.¡± Voice: "¡" Milano looks at the bell. The gates begin opening. Milano smiles. But how long would he be able to fool himself? What happened in that 1 year at the 2nd layer that made you want to die, Milano? Something glitches. Glitching fragments of broken muted memories play on an old-school tape player at an unknown location. -Present Day at an Abandoned Wood-Puppet Factory Within the Circus Purge, 2nd Layer of the Tent- Milano¡¯s only eye bursts open. He¡¯s laying sideways on a wooden floor and the first thing he sees is Solange¡¯s matryoshka doll laying beside him. Milano: ¡°AAARGH!!¡± Gianni immediately wakes up: ¡°SOLANGE! PIN HIS LEGS DOWN!¡± Solange: ¡°OKIE-DOKIE!¡± Solange grabs Milano¡¯s legs and holds them down. Milano: ¡°HAH!? WHAT!?¡± Gianni pounces on Milano and begins punching him repeatedly. Gianni: ¡°TAKE THAT AND THIS AND THAT!¡± Milano: ¡°ARGH! ARGH!? WHA!? WHY!?¡± A punch connects with Milano¡¯s left cheek. A hook to the right! A jab to the nose! An elegant blow to the eyepatch. A disrespectful slap to the man-bun and a perfect form upper-cut to the chin. Gianni continues punching one after the other: ¡°I¡¯M. NOT. GONNA. LET. YOU. TRY. TO. KILL. YOURSELF. AGAIN MAN!! I¡¯LL KEEP PUNCHING YOU UNTIL YOU FORGET WHATEVER YOU REMEMBERED!! I¡¯LL KEEP PUNCHING UNTIL YOU BECOME AN IDIOT LIKE ME IF I HAVE TO!! DIE BRAIN CELLS! BRAIN CELL GENOCIDE! MUAHAHA!! HAHAHA!¡± Solange: ¡°HAHAHA! YEA GET HIM GIANNI! Oh! Oh! Get the right side of his brain! I heard that¡¯s the logical side of your brain. Punch that ¡®nuff and he¡¯ll end up as stupid as you in no time!¡± Gianni: ¡°HAHAHA! OOH YEA!¡± Milano grabs Gianni¡¯s punch. Gianni looks with a surprised monkey-like expression. Milano: ¡°EVERYTIME I WAKE UP SCREAMING DOESN¡¯T MEAN I¡¯LL TRY TO KILL MYSELF AGAIN!¡± Gianni pauses with bruised fists and looks down at Milano who sniffs his bloody nose with a salty expression. Gianni: ¡°So¡ You¡¯re NOT gonna kill yourself?¡± Solange pretends to go to sleep. Milano: ¡°Ugh¡ No. And even if I was, THIS is seriously the plan you 2 came up with to stop me?¡± Solange begins fake snoring. Gianni: ¡°Ok I¡¯m lettin¡¯ you go now. If you end up killing yourself¡ I¡¯ll¡ I¡¯LL KILL YOU FOR KILLING YOU!¡± Milano chuckles with his bloodied face: ¡°That¡¯s pretty cute of you.¡± Gianni gets off: ¡°Well yea man. We ¡®posed to see the electric eels together, remember? You, me and Blanca!¡± Milano smiles: ¡°Yea.¡± Solange curled up in a sleep position: ¡°What about me!? I¡¯m sleep talking right now by the way.¡± Gianni: ¡°I guess you can come too. Even though you tricked us, said we could just tent-slip all the way to the outside world and then led us into the circus purge. Hmm¡ Actually maybe you¡¯re not invited.¡± Solange: ¡°Yes I am.¡± Milano stands up: ¡°You guys. I¡¯m not going to kill myself so don¡¯t worry about me. But I did almost remember something from the last time I was in the 2nd layer again.¡± Solange: ¡°Eh!?¡± Gianni: ¡°Wha?¡± Milano: ¡°Solange. I¡¯m sick of having these nightmares. Please tell me what happened the last time we were here.¡± Solange picks up the matryoshka doll and puts it in her bag: ¡°Sorry. Told ya¡ I¡¯m not telling you for your own good. Trust. It¡¯s better for you not to know. N'' things will be different this time. I won¡¯t let any of that happen again. Promise.¡± Solange jovially smiles with a blush. Milano with a tired face: ¡°Aight. I¡¯m going to the backroom." Gianni''s eyes flare out: "It''s time!? You mean¡ you gonna talk to the wooden demon!?" Milano intensely: "That''s right. It''s time!" Solange: "Ya sure you don''t want our help?" Milano: "I gotta do this one on my own. I''ll try to avoid a fight." Solange: "That''s gonna be impossible wit'' her." Gianni intensely: "GOOD LUCK MAN!" Milano does an intense thumbs up: "THANKS!" Milano leaves the small room and closes the door behind him. Gianni eyes Solange. Gianni: ¡°Can''t believe ya made us join this battle royale of psychos.¡± Solange looks at her matryoshka doll: ¡°The Circus Purge is the only way we¡¯ll get a chance to make it to the 3rd layer. You wanna save Blanca, don¡¯t you?¡± -203 Kilometers Away- A place that¡ Smells like a color. Looks like a song. Sounds like a scent. The Phantom Muppeteer wakes up at that place. His eyelids have been sewed together. He sees nothing. Phantom Muppeteer: ¡°Considering the warm hospitality I suspect I must be at ¡®That Place¡¯.¡± Little Girl: ¡°You are at ¡®That Place¡¯. And I¡¯m surprised you¡¯re the 3rd performer who gained 666 points this year. The Centipede Witch and Giraffe Pirate were here over a week ago.¡± Phantom Muppeteer: ¡°The hell? You sound younger than I imagined. Was sewing my eyelids together really necessary at ¡®That Place¡¯?¡± Little Girl: ¡°My age is none of your concern. Sewn eyelids are necessary at ¡®That Place.¡¯ The stitches will be removed later. You have spent 666 points you earned in the Circus Purge for this meeting. What do you seek?¡± Phantom Muppeteer: ¡°Tell me the story behind Gianni of Circopia¡¯s creator and how it all relates to the Circus Purge.¡± Little Girl: ¡°Oh? Why not ask me how Gianni of Circopia was created? That is what you truly seek after all, is it not?¡± Phantom Muppeteer: ¡°You should know that I have nothing valuable enough to offer as a trade for information like that.¡± Little Girl: ¡°And what do you offer in return for the information you asked for?¡± Phantom Muppeteer: ¡°I heard you¡¯re the curious type. I¡¯ll tell you how I¡¯m able to control hundreds of muppets at the same time without a team and without using robots or technology.¡± Little Girl: ¡°Is it not just magic?¡± Phantom Muppeteer: ¡°There is no such thing as magic, little girl.¡± Little Girl: ¡°Awfully bold of you to assume I¡¯m a little girl. Truth is, this little girl is on death row and she¡¯s only reading out what I want to say to you in exchange for another year before she¡¯s executed. If she goes off-script, shows emotion in her words or messes up, she will be killed instantly. I use a different person in every meeting, I myself am located in what you call the outside world.¡± Phantom Muppeteer sits silently with his eyelids sewed together. Little Girl: ¡°Not too talkative now, are you? I can confirm that magic does not exist and I am curious on how you control all those muppets. So I accept your offer.¡± Little Girl: ¡°Under the 2nd layer of the great Circopian tent exists the robotic carcass of a colossal Whale Circus Guardian. The Circus Purge takes place within the body of that giant robot whale carcass. The Whale came to the 2nd layer of the tent from the 3rd layer around 300 years ago. Unexplained bizarre things, cryptids and phenomena from the outer tent layers sometimes make their ways into the inner layers. These are what we call ¡®leaks¡¯. At the time of its arrival, the Whale was slain by the greatest performer Circopia has ever known, Gianni of Circopia¡¯s creator. He was also a ¡®leak¡¯. He was the one that started the Circus Purge all those years back. He decided that every year a battle royale between circus performers who want to make it to the 3rd layer will take place inside the robotic carcass of that whale. And anyone who tries to tent-slip to the 3rd layer without winning the Circus Purge will be eliminated and their skin and other bodily parts will be used to manufacture a toy. This toy will then be sent back to the 2nd layer and displayed in the Toy Museum within the 2nd layer which-¡± Phantom Muppeteer: ¡°I know that fucked up museum. My entire family is displayed at that museum. My daughter was turned into a jack-in-the-box. I don¡¯t need to hear more on that.¡± Little Girl pauses for a moment. Little Girl: ¡°Gianni of Circopia¡¯s creator is also the creator of the toy museum, the Circus Purge and of course the rules of the Circus Purge¡¡± The Show Must Go On -At the backroom of the Abandoned Wood-Puppet Factory Within the Circus Purge, 2nd Layer of the Circopian Tent- Milano: "Juno. Please excuse me. May I come in?" Milano opens a door to a dark spacious room. The stairway leading down from the door is consumed in seawater. There are various platforms on top of the water across the room. Milano gazes up with his one eye at the ridiculously high ceiling of the room. The ceiling is built like some sort of intricate labyrinth with many crevices, gaps and conveniently carved peeping holes. A diverse collection of demonic wood puppets dangle lifelessly on puppeteering strings from the ceiling. The ends of the strings are hidden and connect into the labyrinth. Milano: "I''m coming in." Milano jumps from the door and lands on the closest platform. Milano: "Sorry, I won''t be doing that ridiculous ritual to summon you today." Footsteps rapidly run through the elaborate paths of the labyrinth on the ceiling. Milano gets a small glimpse of a figure scurrying past the many gaps and holes of the labyrinth. In a flash, all the candles in the room ignite. A single human-sized wooden puppet girl is released through a crevice on the ceiling. It drops elegantly and lifelessly hits the ground on one of the platforms. Milano calmly observes. The strings dangling from the ceiling tug on the puppet and slowly begin to hoist it up to an upright standing position as if it were rising from the dead. Its wooden limbs click and clank as its head rotates into position to face Milano. The coils on the puppet girl''s alluring indigo and violet curly hair bounce. Her flawless wooden complexion has no evidence of a single scratch or dent and her hypnotizing polished marble eyes support twirly pupils that swirl around like a carousel. The puppet girl''s surprisingly expressive and captivating face sarcastically blushes and smirks as she holds her bra to her curvy wooden breasts. Milano with his unchanged expression: "So you do appear without the ritual." Juno, sardonically mocking, as her bra straps dangle on the sides of her wooden shoulders: "Milanooo. I didn''t expect you to be the type to just barge into a girl''s room like that. How embarrassing. I was changing." Milano gazes back up at the ceiling: "Juno. You don''t have to use puppets to talk to me." The puppet strings jolt in aggression. Juno points at her marble carousel eyes: "Oi. Milano. My eyes are down here!" Milano doesn''t look down at the puppet and keeps his gaze at the ceiling. Milano: "Come down from the ceiling. Let''s talk flesh to flesh. Or do you want me to prove to you that you''re human?" Juno''s eye twitches and her seductive wooden lips eerily move: "You know... If you were anyone else I''d eat your soul for that statement. But you''ve been a nice worshipper for the past few weeks so... This is your last chance to stop acting like this. I''ll forgive you if you sacrifice some blood or maybe a finger or 2 to me." Milano looking at the ceiling: "Why would I sacrifice anything to you? It''s not like you do anything with the body parts that people give you, it''s all just a show. There''s no such thing as demons Juno. You''re huma-" Juno''s wooden fist connects with Milano''s cheek at a scary velocity. In slow motion, Milano keeps his calm gaze as his cheek is hammered and gets squished into his face, his head is tilted sideways and a flying tooth and juicy saliva marinated in blood decorate the air. Milano gets violently thrown to a wall, slightly cracking it and messily falls onto a platform. Juno, her curly purple hair covering one of her eyes: "Don''t screw wit'' me, Milano. I''m all knowing and all powerful." Milano, on the floor, looks at his bleeding face in the reflection of the water: "Then I''d like to see you try to eat my soul." Juno slowly starts making her way to Milano as her make-shift joints scrape against each other, creating off-pitch unpleasant sounds resembling scratching a blackboard. Juno: "The hell''s wrong wit'' you today!? Skipping the ritual, staring and talking to the ceiling... And most revolting of all... Comparing the likes of ME to such inferior apes. You know what, this should be hilarious. I''ll let you attempt to ''prove I''m human'' in 2 conditions. Condition 1, You have to give me 10 pieces of evidence proving that I''m human and you can''t use the strings or anything about the ceiling as evidence. Condition 2, you''ll have a time limit to do your proving... You have until I kill you." Milano spits some blood out, stands up and smiles with bloody teeth: "We''re gonna be in here all day with those conditions." Juno: "You''ll be dead before that. LEVITATION!" Her strings violently pull her up as if she jumped 30 feet into the air and started levitating. Milano: "You''re so obviously not levitating." -_- Juno: "I AM LEVITATING! YOU''RE NOT ALLOWED TO USE THE STRINGS AS EVIDENCE!" Juno opens her wooden mouth demonically wide. Little wooden arms and legs grip onto the sides of her cheeks from the void of her mouth. Milano watches and takes a dead fish out of the inner pocket of his blazer. A group of smaller baby puppet humanoids crawl out of her mouth and jump down like skydiving giggling demonic babies. Juno controls the demonic babies with thin strings as thicker strings control her from the ceiling. Milano: "SKY!" The large pale white eye-spots of a smiling orca lurk under the dark waters. Juno: "WHAT THE HELL IS IN THE WATER!?" Milano tosses the dead fish at the falling puppet babies. Orca clicking sounds echo in the room as Sky the orca leaps from the water and bites down at the puppet babies, snapping their strings. Juno: "ARE YOU SHITTING ME!?" Milano makes a ''1'' with his hand: "Evidence # 1, if you were the all knowing omnipotent demon that you say you are, you''d know that Gianni and I drilled a hole connecting this puppet factory to the ocean to let my orca in!" Sky dives into the water and lurks at the surface. Milano sprints to the water and initiates a flashy spinning perfect form dive: "You''d also know that I''m an orca performer!" Milano lands on Sky who boosts him up to the air! Milano with a punch-thirsty fist: "And a damn good one!" 1 baby puppet escaped the bite and sneakily crawls into Milano''s blazer, mid air. Milano''s fist refreshes itself with a juicy punch on Juno''s face! Juno disgustedly eyes Milano as little bits of wood and splinters fly from her face: "I ALREADY KNEW THAT! I LET YOU GET A HEAD START IS ALL!" Milano, mid air, like some sort of angel: "Mhm. Why isn''t my soul eaten yet? Not to your taste?" He grabs tight onto Juno''s puppet strings before he falls back down and tries climbing up the strings to the ceiling. Juno: "ARGH! LET GO!" Milano climbing: "It''s ok. I won''t judge what you look like." Juno punches him in the liver multiple times. Milano loses grip: "SHIT!" Milano almost falls but manages to desperately grip tight on her wooden breasts. Juno screams: "LET GO OF ME PERVERT!" Juno hammers her hard wooden chest onto Milano''s forehead. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Milano lets go and starts falling as drool flies out his mouth: "Ah-" He splashes into the water. 3 more large human-sized puppets are released from the holes in the ceiling. A humanoid puppet with a Potoo-Bird face, a humanoid puppet with a toilet for a face and a puppet of a human walking on all fours and wearing an ushanka hat. They plummet until their strings stop them right before they fall into the water when their feet make contact with the surface, making them appear as if they were standing on water. Milano climbs out of the water on top of Sky: "Ok fine... Evidence # 2, Whenever you''re alerted, you release exactly 3 additional large puppets for a total of 4 large puppets. If you weren''t just a human with 2 hands and 2 feet, I assume you''d use all the hundreds of puppets you possess at once. Since you know... You say that you''re an all powerful being!" Juno lands on the water like Jesus: "I- I JUST DON''T FEEL LIKE USING THEM ALL TOGETHER! IT''D BE TOO EASY! OK!?" Milano rides Sky like a surfboard. All 4 puppets surround Milano as they walk on water. Milano drops a dead fish into Sky''s mouth and pets her on the head. Sky makes happy orca sounds. The Potoo-Bird puppet pounces at Milano with a flying taekwondo kick while the Toilet-Faced puppet goes for a 360 low-spin kick to the ankles. Milano: "NOW SKY!" Milano springs to the right to Potoo-Bird and Sky swims to the left to Toilet-Face! Sky uses her flippers to rapidly drift on the surface of the water like a racecar and slaps the shit out of the Toilet-Face puppet with her tail, sending it flying! The Potoo-Bird puppet''s kick lands a bullseye on Milano''s crotch! Potoo-Bird smiles sinisterly in content but its face quickly changes when it notices Milano psychotically smiling instead of squirming in pain. Since Milano''s dad sold everything that''s supposed to be ''down there'', HE TAKES IT LIKE A CHAMP! Milano, sarcastically (he finds this hilarious): "ATTACKING A MAN''S WEAK SPOT. HOW DIABOLICAL OF YOU!" Milano pummels Potoo-Bird into the water then pounces at Juno! Juno: "HOW THE HELL DOES A MAN ENDURE THAT!? DOES HE HAVE BALLS OF STEEL!?" Milano grabs Juno and they messily fall on a platform. He tries climbing her strings but Juno kicks him off and spins up on her 2 feet using a break-dancing move. Milano kicks up to a fight stance and raises his fists: "Juno. Let''s end this. You don''t have to come down from the ceiling, just wave with your flesh hand from one of the holes." Juno ties up her curly purple hair and prepares her wooden fists: "I don''t have a flesh hand." She swings forward as Milano blocks and they begin exchanging blows on the platform as Sky fights off the other puppets. Milano, while fighting: "Evidence # 3! Your main puppet has almost perfect realistic facial expressions and human-like movements when used on its own. However, when used simultaneously with multiple other puppets, both your hands and feet have to split the work. This results in even your main puppet to compromise, moving in a sloppier, less realistic way and displaying much less expressive expressions. Honestly, this is one of the reasons I''ve found myself gaining much respect for your craft. It''s amazing that you''d even continue to focus on facial expressions at all when using 4 puppets at once..." The Ushanka-Hat puppet ambushes Milano from the side with its tongue out! Milano''s bloodshot eye glares at the puppet coming at him from the side: "EVEN IF IT MAKES YOUR ATTACKS SLOWER!" Milano rolls out of the way and pins Juno down! Juno: "SHIT!" Milano holding her down: "Are we done?" The baby puppet from before hops out of Milano''s blazer with a front flip and grabs Milano''s man-bun. Milano looks at his head: "Hm?" Baby Puppet yanks his man-bun: "HOHO!" Milano: "AARGH!?" It pulls hard, stretching Milano''s face and slightly lifting his upper eyelids. Juno: "HAHAHA! I''M ABOUT TO PROVE EVERYTHING YOU SAID WRONG!" A 5th muscular humanoid Angler-Fish puppet lands on the platform behind Milano supported by thick strings. Milano freezes as Juno snickers up at him. The Angler-Fish puppet breathes heavily. Milano slowly stands up and faces it: "Evidence # 4, The 5th puppet. This is one that took me a little longer to figure out. I considered you having an extra arm, extra fingers or perhaps even an assistant of some kind. But then I realized... WHEN 5 PUPPETS ARE USED AT THE SAME TIME, YOU STOP TALKING! THAT''S CUZ THE STRINGS OF THE 5TH PUPPET ARE ATTACHED TO YOUR TEETH AND AROUND THE MUSCLES OF YOUR TONGUE! WHICH MEANS YOU CAN''T UNTIE THOSE STRINGS AS FAST AS THE OTHERS!" Sky the orca sneak leaps towards the 5th puppet. Juno''s smile immediately fades away in horror. Milano with a psychotic laugh: "I WON''T ASK SKY TO PROTECT ME FROM YOUR NEXT ATTACK! AND I DON''T HAVE 6 MORE PIECES OF EVIDENCE! SO IF I''M WRONG, ALL YOU GOTTA DO IS KILL ME SECONDS AFTER SKY TAKES YOUR 5TH PUPPET DOWN! But hell... If I''m right... I bet it''s a damn shitty feeling to have your teeth and tongue pulled down by the weight of an orca! SO IF YOU''RE READY TO ADMIT I PROVED YOU''RE HUMAN, JUST HAVE YOUR MAIN PUPPET MAKE A PEACE SIGN!" Juno with a horror-struck look on her face immediately makes a peace sign with her wooden fingers. Milano: "Sky." Sky snaps at the air next to the 5th puppet and dives in without taking it down. Juno gasps on the ground in relief. The other puppets detach from their strings and fall into the water. Juno stands up and glares at Milano. Milano looks to the ceiling: "Now that that''s ove-" Juno punches Milano down. Milano: "Ah." Juno: "STOP LOOKING UP THERE! STOP TALKING TO THE PERSON IN THE CEILING! SHE''S NOT THE REAL ME! SHE DOESN''T EXIST! I''M ME! LOOK ME IN MY MARBLE EYES!" Milano: "Juno-" Juno: "WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO MAKE YOU LOOK AT ME!?" Juno removes her bra. Juno: "LOOK AT THEM. DOES THIS WORK!? Do they turn you on? Of course they don''t. They''re just curvy pieces of wood, right!?" Milano looks at them with a thoughtful face: "Wood-" Juno kicks Milano on the ground. Juno: "Y''know... You still lost. You only gave 4 pieces of evidence. So you''re still gonna die." Juno goes for a finishing move. Milano coughs on the floor: "I was gonna say... Wood and all... They''re pretty nice..." Juno pauses: "Hah...?" Milano: "They''re the perfect shape and size. They look soft even tho they''re made of wood. And the nipples are uh... well placed." Juno blushes and immediately covers them: "O... OK! OK! St- STOP LOOKING AT THEM NOW!!" Milano: "But weren''t you the one that-" Juno: "IT''S DIFFERENT WHEN YOU''RE LOOKING AT ME AS A PUPPET!" Juno avoids eye contact and softens her voice: "You''re looking at me as a girl right now. So turn around." Milano''s eyes widen and he turns around, thoughtfully thinking to himself. Juno shyly puts her bra back on: "Ok. It''s ok now." Milano turns back around: "Juno. I want to show you something I haven''t shown anyone else." Juno: "Eh?" Milano stands up and begins unzipping his pants. Juno freaks out: "EH- EEH!? WAIT! WAIT! WHAT''RE YOU DOING!? I THINK YOU GOT THE WRONG IDEA HERE!" Milano''s pants fall to the floor and his perfectly toned butt is revealed. Juno covers her eyes flustered. Milano: "It''s not like that. Just look." Juno slowly peaks: "W- Wua- Whadyu mean?" Milano stands with a serious face. Juno looks: "Eh." Juno: "WH- WHERE''S YOUR THING!?" Milano: "My dad sold it to the black market when I was a kid." Milano pulls his pants up: "The few weeks we''ve been here, you''ve told me a lot about the three mythical performers of the Circus Purge. The Phantom Muppeteer, a man who controls thousands of muppets at once all on his own. The Centipede Witch, a bizarre cryptid from the outside world. And... the Giraffe Pirate also known as the boogie man that sails the twisted seas of the Circus Purge. He''s named after a giraffe because of his ridiculously tall stature of 2.5 meters." Juno clenches his fist: "Why the hell are you bringing that monster up?" Milano fixes his eyepatch: "Because... I''m the son of boogie man." Juno''s eyes widen. Milano: "You said you only joined the Circus Purge to kill the Giraffe Pirate but you never told me why. I''ve seen glimpses of your shadow when you run past the holes in the ceiling. He... He changed parts of your body right? I know it''s him. What I saw looks too much like his work. I''ve seen him do it to others when I was little too." Juno shakes: "N- No... I- He- He can''t do anything to me! I''M- I''M A DEMON! I DON''T EVEN HAVE A PHYSICAL BODY! I''LL MUDER HIM! I''LL TEAR HIS FLESH AND EAT HIS SOUL AND HE CAN''T EVEN TOUCH ME! He... He can''t touch me... He can''t... Touch..." Milano: "Rule 2 of the Circus Purge states that there can only be 2 survivors at the end. But I want to get out of here with Gianni, Solange and you. Hence, rule 5, we need to collect 666 points to make a contract with the head of the Circus Purge. A contract where we will request there to be more than 2 winners at the end. I''ll sacrifice anything for that contract. Even if it''s all 4 of my limbs. Anything except my remaining eye, I need that to see the electric eels with Gianni." Juno stares at the ground in agony. Milano: "Rule 3 states that we make points by killing other performers. But I don''t want to go on a massacre and kill innocent people. Plus it''d take too long. So instead, we go after the performers who hold the most points and only kill them. I need your help to kill the Giraffe Pirate." Juno''s puppet remains expressionless as soft crying can be heard from the ceiling. Milano: "I''m sorry, Juno. I know this puppet is a part of you. But you aren''t just a puppet. The puppet''s what you want people to perceive you as in this ''show'' that is life, right? My whole ''show'' I''ve controlled the puppet of a young talented orca performing self-made millionaire who gets all the girls, lives the ideal life and is destined to perform a spectacle to make it to the outside world... But the truth is, the puppet master has always been a depressed and suicidal child with a shitty father... I''m not saying that your puppet isn''t you. I''m saying that it''s only half of you. If you live your life convincing yourself that only half of you exists, it''ll just be a shortcut to the end of the show... I... I was gonna cut my puppet''s strings not too long ago... But Gianni showed me that the show must go on... and Solange too... in her own psychotic way." Juno''s puppet begins moving again and looks at Milano. Milano: "Our bodies are the puppets of our thoughts. A puppet can''t do anything without a puppet master, but what the hell is a puppet master without a puppet? ...Life is just a tug of war between the puppet and the puppet master until the strings finally snap and the curtains inevitably close." -Meanwhile in Another Room- Solange fiddles with her matryoshka doll: "Psst! Gianni! Y''wake?" Gianni with his eyes closed: "Depends. U gonna mess wit me cuz u bored again?" Solange cheekily giggles: "Heh heh. Nah. I was just gonna ask... Aren''t ya scared?" Gianni opens his eyes: "Hah? Why the heck should I be scared?" Solange: "Y''know... Since everybody in the Circus Purge is huntin'' you. Includin'' all the myths. Phantom Muppeteer, Giraffe Pirate, Centipede Witch, they all want a piece of your butt." Gianni looks to the ceiling: "Oh that." Solange looks to the ceiling with a jovial smile: "Yea that." Gianni: "To be honest... I don''t care ''bout no giraffe guy or centipede bitch. There can be a frickin'' walrus pirate therapist toucan stripper OR EVEN A DILDO TARANTULA! Even if there''s a frickin'' dildo tarantula, I have no fucks to give! I''m fuckless! Lacking of the ''fuck'' as one might say! That''s how little it matters to me! That phantom guy can pull a muppet out of his asshole for all I care! I''LL JUST STICK IT RIGHT BACK IN THERE! Even if all of Circopia comes to hunt me down, I''ll bitch slap their cats, French kiss their moms and spit on their uncle''s moustache! Cuz nobody''s stopping me from makin'' it to the outside world and seeing the electric eels with Milano and Blanca! So all''s I gotz to say is..." Gianni smiles with his sharp teeth: "The show must go on!" TO BE CONTINUED Clown Meat Gianni and Solange stare at the wooden ceiling as they lay on the floor at the opposite ends of the small dusty room inside the abandoned puppet factory. Gianni: "To be honest... I don''t care ''bout no giraffe guy or centipede bitch. There can be a frickin'' walrus pirate therapist toucan stripper OR EVEN A DILDO TARANTULA! Even if there''s a frickin'' dildo tarantula, I have no fucks to give! I''m fuckless! Lacking of the ''fuck'' as one might say! That''s how little it matters to me! That phantom guy can pull a muppet out of his asshole for all I care! I''LL JUST STICK IT RIGHT BACK IN THERE! Even if all of Circopia comes to hunt me down, I''ll bitch slap their cats, French kiss their moms and spit on their uncle''s moustache! Cuz nobody''s stopping me from makin'' it to the outside world and seeing the electric eels with Milano and Blanca! So all''s I gotz to say is... The show must go on!" Solange squishes her pillow as she keeps her jovial smile to the ceiling. She then turns her head to Gianni. Solange: "And if your curtains close before this grand final act you have in mind with Blanca, Milano and your beloved electric eels?" Gianni''s smirk is replaced with a serious face. He turns his head to Solange. Gianni: "Then I''ll tear the curtains down." Gianni and Solange continue staring at each other silently as they lay in opposite ends of the room, Solange with her jovial smirk and Gianni with his grim expression. Milano opens the door next to them. Gianni springs up: "Oh. Hey man, you''re bac- Woah. What the hell happened to you?" Milano holds the door open and looks at them with his bruised up face: "Wooden fists hurt more than flesh fists." Solange excitedly blushes: "Hehehe, you always look so much cuter when you''re all messed up and bloody. <3 So did ya convince the puppet girl or should I go in there and chop us up some firewood, it''s gettin'' kinda chilly in here." Milano: "She''s gonna help us earn points by hunting down the 3 myths." Gianni: "OOH YEAA! I never thought you''d be able to convince that wooden bitch! YOU DID IT MAN! C''MERE, LEMME LICK YOUR MAN-BUN!" Gianni pounces on Milano. Milano: "What? No, please don''t do that. And don''t call women ''bitch'', it''s not nice." Milano tries keeping Gianni away from him with his arms. Gianni with his tongue out and sharp teeth exposed: "C''mon man! Your man-bun deserves a nice lick!" Milano sweats as he struggles to keep him away: "This is not a normal way of congratulating a friend." Solange stands up and begins talking with a serious tone: "Whad''yu mean 3 myths? I thought I said we could only go after 2 of ''em." Milano and Gianni stop and look at Solange. Gianni with his tongue still drooping out his mouth: "Eh!?" Milano looks at her with a monotone face. Solange: "Our plan was to go after the Phantom Muppeteer and Centipede Witch. Killin'' those 2 will give us more than enough points to buy the equipment we need and make a deal with the head of the Circus Purge." Milano, blankly: "Yes. I misspoke." Gianni''s eyeballs look back up to Milano. Gianni: "Ain''t the Centipede Witch the strongest one? Why don''t we jus'' go after the Muppeteer and Giraffe Pirate guy?" Solange tilts her head trying to read Milano''s single eye. Solange: "Cuz I know things about the 2nd layer and the Circus Purge that you 2 don''t." Milano, sternly: "Maybe it''s time you told us then. Why you won''t allow us to go after the Giraffe Pirate, why Gianni got a prize on his head, why''s everyone in here hunting him down, and what happened the last time you and I were in the 2nd layer?" Solange smiles warmly: "Can''t tell ya that, you''ll just go n'' try ta'' kill yourself again. And honestly, even I don''t know why everyone''s so obsessed with Gianni." Gianni, confused: "Ain''t it cuz I burned the 17th grand theater down?" Solange bursts out in laughter: "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Milano blinks. Gianni: -_- "What''s so funny, you sociopath lady?" Solange wipes her tears of laughter: "Is that seriously what you thought? There are performers who''ve done way worse than that, y''know? Especially in this layer. There must be somethin'' else ''bout you, probably ''bout your past, that arouses the fear of the higher ups of Circopia. I ain''t the only one wit'' secrets. What kinda skeletons ya got in your closet, clown boy?" Gianni: "Hah? I don''t got a closet, I''m too broke and ma house didn''t have no space. Plus if I had one why the heck would I put skeletons in it? That makes no sense." Milano puts his hand on Gianni''s shoulder, supportively. Milano: "It''s an analogy, my friend. Like the one you made about the show and curtains." Gianni with an educated expression: "Oooh!" Solange: "Oh that reminds me... Milano, what did you see in the dream you had earlier? You never told us. You said you remembered something from the last time me and you were in the 2nd layer. Can''t have ya rememberin'' anythin'' ya know." Milano looks at Solange and pauses for a moment. Milano: "I forgot." Solange lifts an eyebrow. A portion of the wooden ceiling above them starts cracking and a fog of wood dust fills the room. Gianni looks up with a clenched face: "What the heck!?" Solange nonchalantly: "Hehe, the spoiled brat finally leaves her room." Milano calmly observes. A part of the ceiling breaks open and wood tiles plummet onto the floor. Juno''s puppet drops through the hole in the ceiling and lands in front of Gianni. Juno''s strings, dangling from the ceiling, pull her up into an upright position and she stares at Gianni with her indigo and violet curly hair, wooden skin and swirling carousel eyes. Gianni looks up at her: "PUPPET BITCH!!" Milano eyes Gianni from behind Juno. Gianni: "I mean- puppet lady." Juno connects a powerful wooden kick onto Gianni''s chin, sending him flying into the wall, breaking a shelf filled with small wooden puppet body parts. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Gianni: "AARGH!!?" Solange: "Ouch." Juno: "I know where the Phantom Muppeteer is. But it''s also the location of one of the 6 Prize Dispensers within the Circus Purge, meaning it''ll be infested with other performers as well." Milano: "That''s alright, it works to our advantage to be close to a prize dispenser. After we take down the Muppeteer, we''ll use his points to buy the necessary equipment we need from the dispenser to stand a chance against the Centipede Witch." Milano and Juno glance at each other for a moment. Juno: "Right. Centipede Witch." Solange squints as she notices Milano''s zipper on his pants is slightly unzipped. Juno: "We''ll start with the Muppeteer then. His location is the surrounding area of Prize Dispenser 3, Liminal Land Amusement Park." Solange: "Amusement park?" Gianni stands up with a bloody chin. Everyone turns to Gianni. Gianni: "BUMPKIN! COME HERE YA USELESS FLYING MONKEY!" Bumpkin the bat dives into the room through a broken window and lands on Gianni''s arm. Bumpkin: "EEEH!" /£Ü ^-_-^ £¯\ Gianni smiles at him: "Lookout duty''s over buddy! We''re leavin'' this shithole! We going to a theme park!" Gianni''s smile wobbles a little: "Jus'' like we used to wit'' Blanca and Goma-Chan!" Bumpkin, determinedly: "EH!" /£Ü^¨° ? ¨®^ £¯\ Milano smiles. His smile then fades. Milano: "Gianni. Out of all of us here, you need to be the most careful." Gianni: "Hah?" Milano: "If the performers at the theme park realize that you''re in there with them, I''m sure the mission will quickly turn from trying to kill the Phantom Muppeteer to trying to get you out of there alive." Gianni blinks. Unlike when he heard it from Solange, when Gianni heard that from Milano, he finally understood the severity of his situation. Gianni looks at Milano with a monotone expression. Solange giggles: "Hehehe... Whoopsie daisy! It finally clicked in your brain, didn''t it?" Juno eyes Gianni. Juno: "Entering that theme park for you will be like jumping into a pool of hungry sharks." Solange: "Hungry for clown meat! Hehe! CHOMP CHOMP!" Juno: "Ew... clown meat? What''s the sauce? Teriyaki Makeup?" Solange: "HAHAHAHA WITH A SIDE OF RED NOSES." Juno: "Hehehehe! Served in a jester hat dish." Milano gently smacks them both on the back of their heads. Solange and Juno: "Ouw!" Milano: "Stop bullying him." Milano turns to Gianni. Milano: "Gianni, are you alright?" Gianni stares them down: "... I ain''t scared. Only a clown would be scared." Gianni gains back his smile: "Plus! I''m the one that dragged ya out of your luxurious depressing mansion prison and I made that promise to you that we''d see the electric eels together! Ya better start puttin'' in some work or I might have to drag ya all the way to the outside world myself, orca boy!" Milano smiles: "Ha! Don''t worry. I made a promise to myself too! My days of looking up and seeing a giant ugly tent are numbered!" Solange looks a little shocked as she hears Milano say that. It makes her feel explosions of rainbows and sunshine in her insides. She smiles with a small chuckle. Gianni: "HAHAHAHA! YEAAAHAA!" Juno laying on the floor with her arms behind her head: "By the way, Milano. Clown kid. I''m gonna need you 2 to push a cart filled with 99 puppets to the theme park, got it?" Gianni and Milano''s motivated smiles get knocked out of their faces: "Eh!?" Gianni: "Why don''t you like... levitate them with your demon powers or something." Juno pouts: "CUZ I DON''T FEEL LIKE IT! HMPH!" Gianni looks at her super confused. Milano whispers into Gianni''s ear: "There''s no such thing as demon powers." Gianni pulls his educated expression once more: "Ohhoo!" Juno: "I HEARD THAT, EYEPATCH!" -42KM Away, Liminal Land Amusement Park, Location of Prize Dispenser 3- A colossal 666 meter tall prize dispenser resembling a gigantic gashapon toy dispenser with a tinted spherical glass frame holding mysterious contents stands tall in the dead center of a seemingly endless and empty amusement park under the flamboyant Circopian tent. It is marked with a giant "3". Under the shadows of the infinite red and purple roller coaster tracks, a man wearing a plague doctor mask desperately swims towards the shore of a colorful plastic ball-bit. Yes, a colorful plastic ball pit made up of exactly 666,666,666 plastic balls. The ball pit stretches for miles and reaches unknown depths deeper than 1000 meters. The man miserably flaps his limbs around trying to make it to the far away ball-pit beach as he struggles to not sink into the rainbow colored abyss. The sensation of static shocks pierce his skin from the countless plastic balls and the strong smell of polythene plastic digs its way into his nostrils. He swims by large yellow signs graffitied in spray paint as he gasps for air. As the man keeps swimming, a section in the ball-pit begins moving in an unnatural way. Man: "Please God, please. PEASE! Forgive me for joining the Circus Purge! I was just going to kill Gianni of Circopia to win my son a ticket to the outside world! All the other kills I made were self defense! THEY WERE SELF DEFENSE! Please forgive me for my sins!!" An uncanny figure of a gigantic monster lurks from under the man, only parts of it visible from the gaps in the infinite plastic balls stacked on top of each other. The man begins crying: "AAAAAAHHHH HUEEEUHAAAAAEE-" He abruptly and violently gets pulled into the ball-pit. Silence. The ball-pit stops moving. Not far from there, the Phantom Muppeteer is sitting inside an operating ferris wheel, slouched on his seat as he stares at himself in the reflection of the pod window. Sitting across him is a large 2 meter tall sloth muppet who barely fits in a crouched position inside the ferris wheel pod. It fiddles with its cloth hands. Phantom Muppeteer looks at the stitch marks on his eyelids left from the meeting he had earlier with the head of the Circus Purge. Phantom Muppeteer: "And here I was, thinking I couldn''t get any uglier." The sloth muppet talks: "You are very handsome, dad. I''m sure you will find a lucky woman for you some day." Phantom Muppeteer fixes his tie: "You''re forgetting I have a wife. She''s my one and only." Sloth Muppet: "But isn''t she-" Phantom Muppeteer, coldly: "Just because she''s dead don''t mean I don''t have her." The pod goes silent. Sloth Muppet stays quiet. Sloth Muppet awkwardly taps his fluffy toes on the floor to cope with the daunting silence. A device in Phantom Muppeteer''s pocket beeps and begins speaking. Device: "Phantom Muppeteer, you have killed performer ''Plague Doctor''. Circus Purge Points earned, 17." Sloth Muppet looks out the window like a child: "Ooh! Pollywog got another one. I''m super jealous!" Phantom Muppeteer: "Oi. What did I say about being jealous of your siblings, Sloth." Sloth frowns with his chunky lips: "Yes. Sorry, dad." Phantom Muppeteer leans his head on the window: "Although, I am exceptionally proud of Pollywog. She''s not the talkative type but she''s been doing great lately. I think I''ll have her be the one to finish off Gianni of Circopia after I''m done with him of course." Sloth silently clenches his cloth fist. Sloth: "Oh yea. Shouldn''t we be going after Gianni of Circopia, dad?" Phantom Muppeteer rests his cheek on his palm: "Nah, no need for that anymore. He''s comin'' to us." Sloth scratches his head inquisitively: "How do we know that?" Phantom Muppeteer smirks: "Let''s just say I made a little deal with somebody. She''s bringin'' Gianni of Circopia right to us." Sloth: "WHOAAH! YOU''RE FREAKIN'' SUPER AWESOME, DAD!" Phantom Muppeteer chuckles: "Hahaha... You''re freakin'' super awesome too, ya little rascal!" Phantom Muppeteer playfully pinches Sloth''s cheek. Sloth: "HEHEHE! Stop! It tickles!" Phantom Muppeteer: "It tickles aye? How about... THIS!" Phantom Muppeteer tickles Sloth''s large cloth armpits and knitted belly. Sloth laughs out loud as he rolls around on his seat: "HAHAHAHEEHEEHE!!" Phantom Muppeteer then lays back on his seat and looks up at the ceiling of the pod with his arms behind his head: "But you know, Sloth. If I was really that awesome, your mother would still be alive." Sloth is caught by surprise and begins to fiddle around with his hands, not knowing what to say. Phantom Muppeteer with his tired eyes: "I really need a smoke right now." Sloth''s face suddenly fills with a cheeky smile. Phantom Muppeteer looks strangely: "Hm? What you smilin'' at?" Sloth opens his mouth unnaturally wide: "BLECH!!" Inside his mouth-hole is a stockpile mountain of a hundred cigarettes. Phantom Muppeteer''s eyes slightly widen and he picks a cigarette from the pile. Phantom Muppeteer looks at the cigarette in his hand: "You''re a lifesaver, kid." He lights his cigarette as Sloth wholesomely smiles, watching his father smoke. Theme-Park Eat Clown, Yum -11:11 P.M, Liminal Land Amusement Park- A nimble silhouette swiftly jumps and swings through the summit of the spiraling tangled roller coaster tracks. It pounces from structure to structure while remaining hidden in the shadows of the infinite tracks that riddle the top of the theme-park. The silhouette is holding onto long puppet strings that stretch down all the way to the theme park floor. The strings are connected and puppeteering Juno''s curly violet haired puppet as it sprints through the plastic wonderland, vaulting over extravagant attractions. Her wooden feet tap the ground faster and faster as she speeds up and her skirt and hair flow in the wind behind her. She slows down and stops when she reaches the dark unsettling entrance-exit of Liminal Land amusement park where Solange is laying with her feet kicked up on the rows of metallic gates next to the empty ticket stands. They glance at each other. Solange, cheekily: "Oh, you''re back. Took you long enough. I started to think ya got gobbled up by a muppet in there." Juno stretches and cracks her wooden fingers: "I was stashin'' 99 puppets on the canopies of the theme-park, you thought it was gonna take 5 mins?" Solange spins her matryoshka doll in her hand: "Hm. I guess. So are they like lying lifelessly on top of the roller coasters or something?" Juno''s carousel eyes spin in aggression: "N- NO! THEY''RE ALL ALIVE FRAGMENTS OF MY DEMONIC SOUL AND UH- S- SCOUTING THE AREA! Or something." Solange blinks: "Sure thing. And this matryoshka doll is also alive then." Solange moves her matryoshka doll side to side and pretends it''s talking: "YoOHoO! i''M SuPeR DuPeR aLiVe! HeLLoO!" Juno: "I''ll kill you." -_- Solange moves the matryoshka doll again: "Oouu! ScArY! TiMe To HiDe iN SoLaNgE''s BoObS!" Solange stuffs the matryoshka doll in her shirt. Juno: "..." Solange points at her shirt: "She hid in between my b-" Juno: "I HEARD IT THE FIRST TIME! Where are the boys?" Solange points at the ground. Juno makes a confused expression then looks down. Gianni and Milano are on the floor laying like a pair of sweaty sardine corpses reeled up from sea and left to dry out. Gianni twitching on the floor: "My ass... my ass hurts..." Milano stares up at the tent tiredly. Bumpkin takes advantage of the situation and sips some blood from Gianni''s neck. Bumpkin: "Ehehehe..." /£Ü ^-?-^ £¯\ Bumpkin: "Eh...?" /£Ü ^-_-^ £¯\ (He seems disappointed with the flavor) Milano continues gazing at the tent. Juno''s face fills with a jovial smile and she clasps her wooden hands together: "Aaaw, you 2 worked so hard pushing that cart full of my puppets all the way over here! Good job, good job! You managed to warm my cold evil wooden heart. <3" Gianni: "I hope you get termites and a woodpecker lands on your ass." Juno: "HAH!?" (¨p?¨Òæ¨?) Juno tries attacking Gianni but Solange holds her back. Bumpkin hides back in Gianni''s shirt. /£Ü^???^£¯\ Juno: "LET GO! I''M GONNA KILL HIM!" Juno struggles in Solange''s arms. Milano weakly nudges Gianni with his elbow. Milano: "Hey. Hey Gianni." Gianni turns to him, exhausted: "What man?" Milano points up at the tent: "Get a load of that loser. Staring down at us with his stupid colorful designs. I think he thinks he''s tough or something." Gianni diverts his eyes to the tent: "Haha... Yea. What a loser. He thinks he can keep us from seeing the electric eels. I bet even Goma-Chan could beat his ass." Milano puts his finger on his mouth: "Shh, he might hear you." Gianni: "Like I care! In fact, I hope he hears me!" Gianni screams up at the tent: "HEEEYYYY TENT!! YOU''RE A PUNY PLASTIC PIECE OF SHIT! I''LL BEAT YOU TO THE GROUND, WHIP MY DICK OUT AND TAKE A PISS ON YOUR FACE FOR BREAKFAST!" Milano: "HAHAHAHA! YEA! I CAN''T DO THAT SINCE I DON''T HAVE A DICK BUT I''LL KICK YOU ON YOUR FACE AND SPIT ON YOU FOR LUNCH!" Gianni: "PUAHAHAHA! I''LL SLEEP WITH YOUR GIRL FOR DINNER!" Milano: "I''LL SPANK YOUR MOM FOR A LATE NIGHT SNACK!" Gianni cracks up: "HAHAHAHA!! LATE NIGHT SNACK!!" Milano: "YOU HEAR THAT GIANNI!? HE''S TOTALLY CRYING BECAUSE OF US!" Gianni: "HE TOTALLY IS!" Gianni and Milano: "HAHAHAHAHAHHAAHA!!" Solange and Juno stare at them: "._." Juno: "Um... Are they ok...?" Solange smiles after a moment: "Yea, they''re only ok when they''re like this." Gianni gets up: "Although I wouldn''t actually sleep with his girl since I got Blanca." Milano smiles and gets up: "Yea, yea, I know." Solange walks in front of them: "Finally you''re up. With how lifeless you were layin'' on the ground, I coulda sworn you were one of Juno''s puppets." Juno: "HMM!?" (¨p ¨° ? ¨®) Milano: "Let''s go over the plan before we go in." Solange: "Yea, yea we split into 2 groups to look for the Muppeteer, find him, kill him, take his points, then head to the giant prize dispenser to buy the equipment we need to take out the Centipede Witch and her points should be more than enough for us to make a contract with the head of the circus purge that asks to change the rule of only 2 people being allowed to win the circus purge to 4. Easy peasy." Solange pets Salamander the lion, who''s cuddled up sleeping on the ground. Milano: "Easier said than done. There are a limited number of rivers and canals in the theme park that connect with the ocean. So Sky doesn''t have that much range and I''ll have to stay close to the water most of the time." Juno: "I didn''t go too deep into the theme-park when I was stashing my puppets but I didn''t see any muppets roaming around. They must be deeper in. They''re definitely in there though, this is the Phantom Muppeteer''s terrain. It''s kind of creepy, where could he be hiding thousands of those things?" Gianni: "Probably in his asshole." They all turn to Gianni. Gianni: "What?" This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Solange comes around from behind Gianni and squeezes one of his buttcheeks. Gianni: "ARGH-" Solange: "Me n'' Gianni will go in as group 1. Milano you go in wit'' Juno, since you''re limited to areas close to the water, Juno can cover you better. She has more range than all of us thanks to her puppets." Gianni: "Nope. I''m not goin'' in wit'' you." Milano puts his hand on his chin: "Hmm. That actually sounds like a good strategy though." Gianni: "AH COME ON!" Solange grips Gianni''s butt tighter. Solange: "I know right! By the way Gianni, why''re you actually kinda thick!? Wasn''t expectin'' this much voluptuousness." XD Gianni: "STOP VIOLATIN'' ME WIT'' YOUR SOCIOPATH HANDS! I''M SAVIN'' MYSELF FOR BLANCA!" Juno: "I showed you guys the map but we still haven''t decided where each group''s going. Now''s the time." Solange: "You 2 go through the love canal into the water park zone, Milano''s orca will have more range in that area. Me n'' Gianni will head towards the ferris wheel and ball pit." Milano: "Why the ferris wheel?" Solange smiles: "Jus'' a hunch." Juno with a serious face: "Alright then it''s settled. But like I said, when we go in that theme park, we''re entering the Phantom Muppeteer''s terrain." Gianni and Milano take in the view of the entrance as the eerie low droning sounds of the retro neon flickering lights reading "LiMiNAL LAND!" greet them. Juno: "This is one of the 3 mythical performers of the circus purge. The roller coasters are like his guts and intestines, the ball-pit his stomach, the water park his bladder, the ferris wheel his heart and the entrance his jaws. Goin'' deep into that park is willingly letting it eat you alive." Gianni and Milano glare at the entrance as they fist bump each other with serious faces. Milano: "Looks like we found another tough guy, Gianni. He''s gonna have some digestive issues soon though." Gianni: "EAT ME UP THEME-PARK! I''LL GIVE YOU DIARRHEA!" Right by the entrance, a small hidden frog muppet is watching them without a single blink from on top of a pendulum ride. -7KM Away, At the Ferris Wheel- Phantom Muppeteer exhales cigarette smoke into the Ferris Wheel pod, hotboxing the small pod. Sloth Muppet smiles as the cigarette haze drifts around him: "You really are a genius, dad! Making a deal with the puppet girl to bring Gianni right to you and all! What was the deal anyway?" Phantom Muppeteer chuckles: "Hahaha... Puppet girl? All I said was I made a deal with a girl. I never said anythin'' ''bout no puppet girl, kid." Sloth Muppet tilts his head and looks at Phantom Muppeteer. -12:44 A.M, 2KM Away From the Ferris Wheel- Gianni and Solange make their way through an immense and jumbled jungle-gym playground. They navigate through the plastic slides, colored mats, spongey mazes, spiraling ladders and spinning cylinders. Solange balances her way through a gapped playground bridge. She glances down at the vast ball-pit made up of 666,666,666 plastic balls through the gaps on the wobbly bridge. Solange: "You know, Gianni. There''s somethin'' about you but I can''t exactly pin it." Gianni squeezes through plastic cylinders: "Hah?" Solange: "No matter where you go you''re always the elephant in the room. It''s pretty impressive. Even with all these psychotic weirdos running around, if the Circus Purge was a room, you''d still be the elephant in it." Gianni begins climbing up ladders to an upper floor in the jungle-gym: "You always say that. What the heck does it even mean?" Solange lightly bounces her way through a path of trampolines: "In your case, I don''t know what it means either to be honest. It''s like you''re unreal or fake but not in a bad way, more so in an unnatural way? But that also sounds bad, it''s hard to explain." Gianni crawls into a tube slide: "What kinda sociopathic bullshit are you spouting out?" Solange crawls in from behind him: "Oh I got it! I just can''t help but feel like if life was a show, you''d be the main character. You feel more like a protagonist to me rather than a person. When I talk to you, I get this surreal feeling as if I was talking to Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny or something." Gianni turns to look at her: "When I talk to you I get this surreal feeling of wanting you to shut up." Solange: "Hahahaha! And you''re funny too, I love it! But seriously everytime you say something it feels more like a line rather than you just saying something. Or like you''re making a speech to someone or something that none of the rest of us can see." Gianni makes it out the other end of the slide and looks out to the rest of the jungle-gym silently. Solange looks at Gianni as she makes it out too. Gianni: "I spent ma life perfectin'' the art of bein'' a clown so that the audience from the outside world would like me and applaud. Even clowns got their lives outside o'' work but I was so focused on bein'' as real of a clown as possible for them, even when they weren''t watchin'', that somewhere down the line I prolly became as fake of a normal person as possible." Gianni looks down at the ball-pit: "The fake me is still tellin'' me to get up on stage dance around like an idiot, shake my butt, slip and fall, hurt myself and make ''em laugh." Gianni smirks: "But guess what the real me is sayin'' about everyone who laughed and booed? It''s sayin'' I should drown them in the gallons of make-up I washed off my face over the years." Solange: "You did it again." Gianni: "Ah?" Solange: "The speech thing. Hehe. You totally got somethin'' way creepier about you than that depressin'' ol'' story you just babbled on about." Gianni: "Tch. Besides that, ma life''s been cleanin'' bat shit, so I dunno what to tell ya." Solange puts her arm around Gianni. Solange: "Ya can''t hide it forever." Gianni: "I''m not hidin'' nuffin." Solange: "Ok my turn, can I tell you a secret?" Gianni looks at Solange. Solange: "The reason I insisted that we go after the Centipede Witch instead of the Giraffe Pirate is cuz the Giraffe Pirate''s Milano''s dad." Gianni''s eyes widen: "What." Solange: "The memory from last time me and Milano went to the 2nd layer that made him want to kill himself was something to do with his father. So, Milano can''t know the Giraffe Pirate is his father cuz if he does, he''ll go after him. And if he goes after him, he''ll remember again. The memory so awful that it made him want to kill himself." Gianni: "WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! WHAT!?" Solange: "If Milano runs into the Giraffe Pirate, it''ll be curtains for him. So don''t tell him, ok?" -9KM Away- Milano and Juno are being pushed by Sky the orca through a romantic abandoned love canal tunnel on a swan canoe. Milano: "Solange doesn''t know that I figured out the Giraffe Pirate''s my dad. She thinks we''re going for the Centipede Witch after we take out the Phantom Muppeteer. Gianni thinks that too..." Juno lets her wooden fingers drift by in the calm current of the water: "So, you feel bad for lying?" Milano looks up at the ceiling of the tunnel to see a silhouette controlling Juno''s puppet strings while walking hidden on the complicated pipe structures. Milano: "I''d feel worse if I let my dad live. He''d continue doing the things he did to you and I to other kids." Juno gets a glimpse of another canoe approaching from ahead in the tunnel: "Milano, someone''s there." Milano looks with a serious face. The girl from the museum with bob-cut bone-color hair, Mira, spots them from her canoe. Milano: "...A girl?" Mira with dark circles around her eyes: "How many points...?" Juno, confused: "What?" Milano squints his eye and immediately notices Mira''s canoe is covered in blood and guts likely from other performers. A skeletal sail of an animal is lurking in the water beside Mira. Milano: "JUNO!" Mira fiddles with a remote control: "Give me your points." An 18 meter Spinosaurus fossil unfolds out of the murky water as water runs down every crook and crevice of it''s ribs and skeletal structure. It spirals around Mira''s canoe and roars at Milano and Juno as water trickles down the empty eye sockets on it''s skull. The spine-chilling vocals of the Spinosaurus echo ear-piercingly through the tunnel. Milano and Juno''s eyes burst wide open! Juno: "IS THAT A FREAKIN'' DINOSAUR!?" Milano: "SKY!!!" -9KM Away- Gianni and Solange continue moving through the vast jungle-gym above the colossal ball-pit. Gianni: "WAIT SO WHAT THE HECK IS THE MEMORY THAT MADE MILANO WANT TO KILL HIMSELF!?" Solange: "Secret, till you tell me your secret." Gianni: "SERIOUSLY, I GOT NO SECRETS!" Above them... The guy with the palm tree shaped dreads wearing a woman''s kimono, Shinjiro, stalks them from a higher floor on the jungle-gym. Shinjiro: "He''s missing his grotesque makeup and nauseating hat, but without a doubt. That''s him. It''s Gianni of Circopia." Shinjiro keeps his stare: "Akuma... I would like to make an order..." A gut-churning uncanny mouth merges from the shadows behind on the left of Shinjiro. It leans and whispers into his ear. Shinjiro: "No. I have it memorized. Make me a cold number 47 from the menu, Devil''s Cocktail." Akuma excitedly giggles and switches to Shinjiro''s right side, still staying behind him. Shinjiro draws his sword: "Yea, yea. Ain''t nothin'' in ma'' life left smilin'' bout anyway. Just put the check on my tab! And you can have my older sister''s big toe as your tip! I''ll slay that clown before the Muppeteer gets his gloves on him." 2 unappetizing hands reach from behind Shinjiro and tie a baby''s apron around his neck.