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INT. MOREAU AND D.’S OFFICE – AFTERNOON
CUT TO MOREAU and DIRECTOR D., practically wasting away in their office. They’re surrounded by a mess of papers and folders neither have bothered to clean up.
DIRECTOR D.
You’d think Jupiter would at least send in other prisoners for us to talk to while we’re still here.
MOREAU
He knows we aren’t psychologists. Besides, I don’t think he cares about the rest.
DIRECTOR D.
Yup. Did you see another volunteer come in today?
MOREAU
Hah! Another piece of canon fodder for him because the coward won’t do it himself.
DIRECTOR D.
Be a little more optimistic, Moreau. If he loses too many people he may ask us to go next.
The building suddenly shakes. Both jump from their seats.
DIRECTOR D.
Earthquakes now??
MOREAU
Look!
She’s pointing out the window. DIRECTOR D. rushes to it, and both stare in shock as the golden glow of sunset slowly breaches through the clouds. Thunder and lightning still rage on above, but now allowing the prison access to the outside world.
DIRECTOR D.
What…
CUT BACK to JUPITER. His grin is so wide it’s nearly maniacal, and his gaze is fixed on a computer screen. There is a diagram of the tanks on the computer, and three are now flashing with a bright red “COMPLETE” mark.
JUPITER
Go on…finish it.
(Con’t)
Bring all that power to me…
CUT TO JADE, rushing through the dreamscape. The sky is cracking as the dreamscape begins to collapse. Ahead is the farmland, and she tumbles into grass taller than herself. She takes a moment to open a bag now strapped over her shoulder. Inside are three objects–a paintbrush, an astrolabe, and a fancy model ship, all with an ominous soft glow.
JADE extends a hand to touch one, but quickly pulls back, grimacing in a sudden flash of pain. She takes a few deep breaths, then tries to figure out her surroundings.
HARE
HEEELLPPPPP!!!
JADE turns quickly, moving through the grass until she comes across a very strange scene–giant ants moving along the path, dragging DR. HARE along with them again.
DR. HARE
Not this dream again–no, stop! Stop! STOP!
(He spots JADE, and frantically waves to her with a free arm)
Hey! HEY YOU! Could you kindly-ACK-help me?
(Con’t)
COME ON! Help me! I’m ordering–ACK!
HARE’S words are cut off as the ants drag him into a hole in the ground. With a groan, JADE chases after them, leaping into the tunnels.
CUT TO the prison again. DIRECTOR D. and MOREAU are rushing out of an elevator, into Floor 13. A few guards yell at them, but all seem to be too preoccupied with the chaos to stop them.
GUARD #1
Hey!
GUARD #2
Did Jupiter let you–
RAVEN presses his face up to his cell door, calling out.
RAVEN
You guys!
(Con’t)
Do you have any idea what’s going on out there??
The two stop by his door.
DIRECTOR D.
Not a bit.
RAVEN
Don’t rush in there right now–the machine’s been making weird noises for hours.
MOREAU
You think it’s failing?
RAVEN
Could be, but I’ve got a feeling…I think he’s finishing it, whatever he’s been up to.
(Con’t)
Do you guys have any clue?
DIRECTOR D. and MOREAU share an awkward look.
MOREAU
No…
RAVEN
Liars. Quit acting like I can’t see yo–
The building shakes again. Alarms start blaring, and the hall is suddenly awash in red warning lights. The door to JUPITER’S lab is already cracked open by the forces shaking the building, the lock broken, and when he reaches it DIRECTOR D. makes quick work of pulling some small tools from a pocket and breaking it open.
Meanwhile, back inside…
JUPITER, as though he’s too entranced to even notice the destruction–or as if he’s aware of it and doesn’t care–is standing at the Dream Machine podium with a grin on his face. The machine lights up once more, and JADE materializes in front of him.
JADE staggers out of the chair, taking a moment to regain her balance and familiarity with her surroundings. She quickly changes from confused to shocked when she notices the earthquake and raging thunder.
JUPITER
Have you got everything?
JADE
All four. I couldn’t find any of the volunteers–
JUPITER
No matter. Hand them over.
JADE’S mood changes again, to disturbed, but at this point her final goal is to get out of there—her “true” mission is already complete. She hands the bag over to JUPITER.
JUPITER opens it, inspecting the contents as his smile only continues to grow, turning into a maniacal grin. The “dream totems” all sit, glowing in the bag with a mysterious and dangerous power.
JUPITER
Finally, all I need…
(con’t)
Well, girl, aren’t you going to do something? You must have put the pieces together by now.
JADE
I don’t have the powers to stop you.
(con’t)
But I know people who do.
JUPITER
Huh, do you now? I await them.
JUPITER takes the totems into his hands. Lightning flashes–but from him now, not the sky. JADE turns and runs, but before she does anything else, she hides in a corner behind one of the Dream Machine tanks.
When DIRECTOR D. and MOREAU finally break in, all that remains where she was is a small package.
MOREAU
Where is he?
DIRECTOR D.
Probably had something to do with that!
They turn to a wall, which now has massive holes in it, opening to the sky. Crimson clouds form around the roof of the prison.
DIRECTOR D.
Should we do something to stop him?
MOREAU
No time. We have a chance to escape!
There is the sound of glass cracking and shattering. They turn, finding DR. HARE on the floor, among the broken pieces of his tank. Both run to him, DIRECTOR D. quickly draping a blanket over him.
DIRECTOR D.
Not good to just shock them out like that. Moreau, quick, make sure the others get out without dying!
MOREAU climbs onto the lower platform. BINARY BARD’S tank is still relatively intact, and he seems to be stable, so she takes the opportunity to look around and find a way to release the others safely. She misses the package behind his tank.
More cracks sound, from above. Blue gel falls over the sides of the upper platforms, some landing on MOREAU. Grimacing, she climbs a ladder upwards, where CRAWFISH and WIDOW already lay. CRAWFISH is coughing loudly, while WIDOW still seems to be unconscious.
CRAWFISH
W-Wha–
MOREAU quickly drops blankets over the both of them, before heading back down.
For a moment, we see WIDOW come to her senses, noticing the blanket, then her cousin who left it for her.
Back on the floor, at the computer station-
MOREAU
I’ve got all of them, but the Bard’s still in his.
DIRECTOR D.
He was too far from the blast. I’ve got into the system–releasing him right now. He should have the least shock out of all of them, at least.
RINGMASTER RAVEN walks into the room just as DIRECTOR D. starts up the system.
RAVEN
What…happened here?
MOREAU
Jupiter took the totems, went mad with power, and now he’s destroying everything in sight.
RAVEN
Totems?
CRAWFISH falls off the upper platform, stumbling his way to them.
CRAWFISH
Wh-what-what–Jupiter! The places, the–the lab!
DIRECTOR D. grabs him firmly by the shoulders.
DIRECTOR D.
We’re getting you all out. Don’t panic (we really don’t need it right now).
CRAWFISH
Get out? How, we’re surrounded by ocean!
RAVEN
I’m not sure if the escaping staff took all the boats…
DR. HARE, still wearing his blanket, is looking out the damaged wall. A boat with six prisoners is zooming away from the scene.
HARE
Speeding Spike and his gang just left with the last one!
MOREAU
What about the helicopters?
DIRECTOR D. pulls a small walkie-talkie out, hidden inside his jacket.
DIRECTOR D.
I’m not getting anything from any of my agents, if there are any left.
(sighs)
Once Jupiter knew who I was, he started finding them and sending them away or telling them to go into the experiment!
HARE
Wait, how many people were going into our heads??
RAVEN
Something’s over here!
MOREAU and D. step onto the lower platform. BINARY BARD is sitting on the floor, still regaining his senses. Behind his tank are some paper packages stacked on top of one another.
DIRECTOR D. opens them. Inside are all the prisoner’s normal clothes–all except BARD and HARE have been wearing uniforms since the start.
DIRECTOR D.
Huh?
His eyes trail to the unopened strings of one of the packages. A tiny, black circular device is attached to it. As WIDOW climbs down her platform to get her things, DIRECTOR D. pockets the strange object.
MOREAU
(whispering)
Jupiter?
DIRECTOR D.
No, someone was here before us.
An explosion comes from outside, louder than the others at least.
HARE
What now?
CRAWFISH
I know that sound!
HARE
Good for you, they’re all just loud to me!
While putting on a maroon jacket and sword belt, CRAWFISH runs to the building’s edge, looking through one of the gaps in the stone. He turns from surprised to excited, waving the others over.
CRAWFISH
Quick! Haha, look who’s arrived!
All cross to where CRAWFISH is, looking down the 13 floors to the ocean. While vermillion lightning flashes on above, a ship has made it through, much older looking than any of the official prison boats. It has red and green patched sails from decades of weather, and the figurehead, of all things, is a bronze crawfish with sharp claws and glowing eyes.
CRAWFISH
Haha! I knew my crew awaited!
MOREAU
We can take the elevator–
Nope. CRAWFISH has cannonballed straight down into the water.
DIRECTOR D.
…he does know water will react like concrete if you jump from too high right?
WIDOW
(Climbing over the edge)
Either way, I’m out!
Like a bunch of seals diving through the ice, everyone immediately starts jumping off the edge. WIDOW uses the slanted side of the prison to her advantage, sliding down it and the rocks at the bottom to safely get to the water. RAVEN and HARE both take tarps from inside the room, and BARD…he just seems to wing it.
MOREAU takes off her lace gloves.
MOREAU
Allons-y!
CRAWFISH’S ship pulls in closer to the island as everyone doggy paddles their way toward it–all except CRAWFISH.
CRAWFISH
(bobbing up and down in the water, coughing)
Hey!
(bobs)
YOU! All of you! Faster!
RAVEN
Maybe you should have remembered you can’t swim before you jumped!
CUT TO the ship stopping, using ropes to pull everyone aboard. Despite his somewhat embarrassing display, CRAWFISH bows proudly once he’s onboard, the small group of pirates clapping.
PIRATE #1
Yo! He has returned!
PIRATE #2
We’ve been trying to get through that whole storm for weeks! It finally let up enough for us!
CRAWFISH
And all in perfect timing, too! Crew, crew!
CRAWFISH raises an arm. One of the crewmembers tosses him a sword, and he catches it perfectly at the hilt.
CRAWFISH
All these fellows here, they’re with us today. They may not know much about sailing, or living at sea, or anything much–
BARD
(Scoffs)
CRAWFISH
–But we have a new mission at hand already! This fine Mr. D. has explained a strange curse that is spreading across the land, one we cannot run from. With them, we are about to embark on our next dangerous journey, to save all of us!
The PIRATES all cheer, crowding around the newcomers and seeming to accept them pretty quickly. Most of the prisoners finally have a moment to soak in the spotlight, but D. and MOREAU take an opportunity to walk off to a secluded area behind a mast.
MOREAU
What is it?
DIRECTOR D. pulls out the device. He looks at it in confusion for a bit, tapping it a couple times. Suddenly, it flips open, and a small projection of the girl from earlier appears.
JADE
If you’re seeing this now, well…it means you’ve found this.
(con’t)
In case you’re curious, I go by “Jade”. I have a couple things to explain to you, Director D. and Mademoiselle Moreau.
(con’t)
From the information I got, the experiment Jupiter did would have pulled energy from the prisoner’s brains, using it to gather power. He likely chose those who, while smart, wouldn’t fight as hard against something if they felt it was “encouraging” them in their dreams.
(con’t)
Normally, this would have killed all of them, but as the one successful “volunteer”, I was able to put some nanodevices in their minds before I left, which counteracted this.
DIRECTOR D.
Who…
JADE
In case you’re wondering, yes, I learned all this from the Poptropica Hero’s Union.
MOREAU
What–
DIRECTOR D.
They’ve caught onto us?
JADE
I’m not with them…technically, but for some reason they trusted me with this, probably so Jupiter wouldn’t catch on that they finally decided to mess with his stuff.
(con’t)
I think that’s all I need to say. Oh, just a warning, this thing will explode once I’m done.
The projection turns off. A tiny red light on the device begins beeping. DIRECTOR D. bounces it like a hot potato in his hands, before tossing it into the water. It bounces a few times like a stone, before sinking and blasting underwater, sending ripples out.
Back to CRAWFISH and the others. D. and MOREAU are joining them again.
CRAWFISH
Did you hear that?
DIRECTOR D.
Ah, one of those lightning bolts got really close to the ship. We should probably get going.
PIRATE #1
Agreed!
CRAWFISH
Edward, you take navigation as before–I’ll lead this ship out of here!
(con’t, to the escaped prisoners and former “prison psychologists”)
Where to next?
DIRECTOR D. spends some time shuffling through things in his inside jacket pockets, before finally pulling out a map. It’s a map of the oceans, with many islands scattered throughout, to the point many are just tiny dots that contain whole other civilizations.
DIRECTOR D.
I’m not quite sure where this “golden apple” is located, but we can probably gather clues by traveling to areas most affected by the breakdown.
(con’t)
Places like where you and Bard are from, for example.
BARD
…let us leave Arturus for now.
CRAWFISH
According to this map, your kingdom will have some of the worst storms imaginable. Let’s head for some of the others, but they all will be a bit difficult to near.
WIDOW
(Smirking)
Too difficult for you?
CRAWFISH
Ha! Nonsense! I’ve been craving a new adventure after all these months.
CRAWFISH goes to the steering wheel, handing off the new map to EDWARD, the navigator. Everyone takes their places on the ship, the pirates steering them away from Erewhon Prison as the storm above rages on. Dr. Jupiter may be quite a problem, but it won’t be theirs for now.
After all, these villains have to save the world first.
END OF EPISODE 10.
END OF SEASON 1.
So, thank you all so much for reading during the long first part of this journey! It makes me more happy than you could imagine to see readers enjoying this TV show concept, and I actually do plan on adding more seasons! I’m going to probably take a couple months’ hiatus again to make sure Season 2 is more streamlined when I “release” the episodes, and then we’ll be back with the gang as Crawfish and the others sail away to new and familiar destinations!
With the recent news about memberships going down, I am aware of the unfortunate possibility this blog series may end up outliving the game itself. That being said, I’ll make sure “The Villain Saga” completes its course regardless of the status of the game. After all, it’s here to reminisce about classic Pop, and I hope you all will stick around with me to its end. :>
Castori honorem ~ Smart Bubbles
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Yesss!
:> Yay!
SUCH A GREAT ENDING TO SEASON 1!!!!!! Hyped for season 2! 😀
Thank you! I’m excited to see how things pan out as well!