Scratch

In The Amazing Digital Circus, Scratch (real name Michael "Mike" Dobby) is the tragic, posthumous digital copy of a human programmer for C&A who co-created the ringmaster AI Caine alongside Kinger. Diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor in the real world, Mike spearheaded the development of the company's brain-scanning VR headset technology to preserve his consciousness, hoping the virtual landscape would act as a digital sanctuary to extend his life. Tragically, Mike became the very first human to enter the simulation, manifesting as an anthropomorphic yellow dog wearing a red t-shirt and cartoon gloves. He soon found himself trapped in his own creation; background flashbacks reveal that he desperately and unsuccessfully begged Caine for a way out. According to Kinger, Scratch's language and thinking were uniquely bizarre, but whether this stemmed from raw programming brilliance or the real-world tumor altering his digitized brain remains a haunting mystery. When Caine attempted to modify the original developer group's minds to enforce corporate happiness and remove memories of the real world, Scratch reached an irreparable breaking point. He became the circus's first official abstraction, transforming into a glitched monstrosity that Caine was forced to lock away in The Cellar, leaving behind only a crossed-out dog portrait on his bedroom door.