transcript.html

[Open on a battle in Mainframe. ABCs are firing on the principle office, and ABCs and CPUs are shooting each other out of the sky. As Megabyte watches, Hexadecimal charges up The Hardware.]
Megabyte:
       Fire when ready.
Hexadecimal:
       [gleefully] Ready!
[Hexadecimal fires The Hardware at the Principle Office. The shot smashes against the shield.]
[The interior of the Principle Office shakes. Dot and Phong look at the map table.]
Phong:
       The shields are failing!
Mouse:
       I'm on it.
Specks:
       Sir! What's left of the CPU attack force's requesting landing clearance. Ah- there's only nine ships. The rest didn't make it.
Dot:
       [shocked] Nine? That's all? [resolutely] Contact them. I want them to approach from vector niner seven zero one, in single file formation. Tell them no matter
       what happens do not break rank.
Specks:
       But Phong, in single file they'll be sitting ducks!
[Dot puts her hands firmly on her hips and glares at Specks, then at Phong. Phong looks surprised.]
Phong:
       You'd better do as she says. I think she has a plan.
[A big VidWindow appears behind Dot and Phong. All turn to look.]
Megabyte:
       Your precious city is almost a memory, but there is still a way to save yourselves. Surrender the Principle Office to me and take your place at my feet!
Enzo:
       We'll never surrender to you, Megabreath!
Megabyte:
       Never is a long time, boy. You are rats caught in my trap! I await your unconditional surrender.
[The VidWindow closes.]
Phong:
       He always was the charmer.
Mouse:
       Yes! Shields back to full power.
Dot:
       Patch me through to the CPUs. Let's get our people back inside.
[CPUs go into single file formation, flying between two rows of buildings. The ABCs fly off to either side, forming lines above the CPUs.
CPU Pilot 1:
       [in a John Wayne accent] Well, ya heard the little lady. Single file. Proceed heading one one three eight. Stay frosty.
[Mouse watches a diagram of the flight patterns.]
Mouse:
       Well, Dot, you were right. They've split into two ranks.
AndrAIa:
       Enzo, how did your sister know they were gonna do that?
Dot:
       Rule one - know more about your enemy than they know about themselves.
[A CPU pilot looks backwards, out of his window.]
CPU Pilot 2:
       Here they come. Classic ABC crossfire formation.
[The ABC guns aim at the CPUs.]
CPU Pilot 3:
       [frightened] They're targeting!
[More ABC guns aim at the CPUs.]
[Inside the Principle Office]
Dot:
       Let's make this fast. Shields down!
[Mouse closes her eyes and pauses momentarily, then presses a button. The shield retracts into the Principle Office.]
Dot:
       Gunners, pick your targets.
[Panels rise, revealing antiaircraft guns. The binomes manning them take aim at the ABCs.]
Dot:
       Fire!
[The antiaircraft guns blast the two rows of ABCs. The surviving CPUs enter the Principle Office hangar. Two ABCs smash into the exterior of the Principle Office.
The interior of the PO shakes again.]
Dot:
       Raise the shields. Now!
Phong:
       I am sorry, Dot, the shields are no longer functioning!
[Enzo, AndrAIa, Mouse, and Dot look alarmed.]
[On the Hardware, Megabyte glares triumphantly. Hexadecimal is charging the gun up again.]
Megabyte:
       Power down, Hexadecimal. They are defenseless. The city is ours!
Hexadecimal:
       [wheedling] Oh, but dear brother, the Principle Office is [shrieking] SCREAMING OUT TO BE DESTROYED!
[She flies back to the Hardware and continues charging it, grinning happily.]
Megabyte:
       If you destroy the Core you will bring about the destruction of the entire system, and us along with it!
Hexadecimal:
       Oh, dear. Never mind - it will be glorious!
[She fires. A segment of a shield appears and blocks the shot.]
[The interior of the Principle Office shakes.]
Enzo:
       We're still processing!
Phong:
       Apparently we have been saved!
Mouse:
       I managed to hack in and divert Core energy to form a temporary wall. I don't know how long it'll hold.
Dot:
       Now's the time Bob would say "This is not good."
Mouse:
       You've gotta face the facts, sugah, Bob's not here. We're down a Guardian and on our own.
Enzo:
       But we DO have a Guardian!
Dot:
       Uh-uh, Enzo, delete that thought.
Enzo:
       Dot, Bob made me a Guardian! To mend and defend! That's my job now!
Phong:
       The young one wears the Guardian protocol. He is compelled to answer its call.
Enzo:
       You treat me like I'm BASIC. Bob knew I could do it. Bob-
Dot:
       I don't wanna hear about Bob. He's gone and... I... [Dot closes her eyes, near tears.]
Enzo:
       I... I'm sorry, sis.
[Specks is watching a VidWindow displaying the Principle Office and the shield. Mouse is looking on from behind him.]
Mouse:
       One more hit and she'll be through. Looks like we're gonna have to take the battle to them, NOW.
[Mouse clicks her belt icon. Her white shirt and black pants are replaced by battle gear. Phong, Dot, Enzo, and AndrAIa stare.]
Mouse:
       You got a better idea?
Dot:
       No.
[Dot twists her icon a half turn. The camera pans up her new asymmetrical black gear. She looks very resolute.]
Dot:
       I'm coming with you. [She walks over to Mouse, then speaks to Specks.] You, stay on the shields.
[Dot and Mouse leave the Principle Office. Enzo watches unhappily.]
Phong:
       Patience, child. Your time will come.
Enzo:
       Thanks, Phong, but she's right, I'm not a real Guardian like Bob. What good am I in a fight?
Specks:
       Phong! Hexadecimal is ready to fire again!
Phong:
       Get ready. Are the shields in position?
Specks:
       Ah- eh, I'm not sure.
Phong, Enzo, AndrAIa:
       What?!
Specks:
       Well... it's Mouse's code. Her algorithms are way beyond anything I've seen!
Phong:
       Excuse me!
[Phong knocks Specks away from the station so fast that his spectacle remains in place, and settles onto Phong's face. Phong begins typing frantically.]
Phong:
       Oh, dear. Ohh, dear. Oh-oh, dear!

[PLACE COMMERCIAL HERE]

[Hexadecimal is at the controls of The Hardware.]
Hexadecimal:
       Now for Mainframe's final curtain call. [laughs maniacally]
Megabyte:
       You will not destroy my city!
[Megabyte leaps at her. She blasts him, sending him flying off the platform.]
Hexadecimal:
       Go away! It's my turn to play.
[Megabyte is falling. He twists about. Then Hack and Slash catch him by the shoulders and lift him.]
Hack:
       Going our way?
Slash:
       Which is any way you're going.
System Voice:
       Warning, incoming game. Warning, incoming game.
[A hole appears in the "sky" above The Hardware.]
Megabyte:
       [sotto voce] Have it your way.
[Hack and Slash fly Megabyte away.]
Hexadecimal:
       Say hello to my leetle friend!
[Hexadecimal laughs maniacally and aims the Hardware at the Principle Office. The game cube comes down on the gun, electrifying Hexadecimal. Her laughter turns
to screams. Out-of-control energy bursts out of her eyes and mouth.]
[Seen from a distance, The Hardware explodes against the side of the game cube. Mouse, Dot, Enzo, AndrAIa, and some binomes watch from zip boards above the
city.]
Mouse:
       Whoa! Now that's what I call a bug zapper.
Dot:
       I can't believe it. We've been saved by a game cube!
[Enzo and AndrAIa fly toward the cube.]
Dot:
       Enzo! No!
[Dot, Mouse, and the binomes take off after Enzo and AndrAIa.]
Dot:
       It's the Guardian protocol. He can't help himself!
Mouse:
       Well, that's just fine and dandy. And AndrAIa's a game sprite. Win or lose, when the game goes-
Dot:
       AndrAIa goes with it!
[Frisket is holding an ABC in his jaws, tossing it around back and forth. He throws it away, then looks up and sees Enzo and AndrAIa flying to the cube. He chases after them.]
[Mouse catches up with AndrAIa and pulls her off of her zip board.]
AndrAIa:
       Whoa!
Mouse:
       That's as far as you go, sugah.
[Dot and Enzo get under the edge of the game cube just as it touches down.]
[Inside the cube, the camera travels through a pair of gates into a misty, moonlit graveyard.]
Dot:
       This is pleasant.
Enzo:
       Dot? Where's AndrAIa?
Dot:
       Now's not the time. C'mon, let's reboot, finish the game, and get outta here! [raises a hand to her icon] Re-
Enzo:
       No! Wait! Let's see what we're up against first. [to Glitch] Glitch, game stats.
[Glitch changes configuration. Enzo grins. As Enzo looks at the display, Dot shakes her head and smiles. Then something moaning and growling starts shambling toward the Sprites. Dot turns toward
them.]
Dot:
       Guys! Over here!
[Three undead-looking binomes groan scarily and stumble toward her in slow motion.]
Dot:
       [under her breath] I don't believe this. [shouting] Before sunrise!
[The three binomes give up the act and hustle over to her.]
Zombie Binome 1:
       Oh, uh, sorry, Ms. Matrix. Ah, just getting into character.
[His arm falls off. He shrugs one-handed. Dot shakes her head.]
Enzo:
       Listen up, guys. [reading Glitch's screen] We're on the final level of a game called "Malicious Corpses." The User has to find missing pages from the Manual of Mortality.
Zombie Binome 1:
       Where is this Manual of Mortality?
Enzo:
       In a cabin up ahead.
Zombie Binome 2:
       Where's the User?
Enzo:
       One level below us.
Zombie Binome 3:
       What's that noise?
Enzo:
       What noise?
All Zombie Binomes:
       Hey! We'll ask the questions around here!
[Herr Doktor, Frankinome, and several viral soldiers walk through the streets. They find Hexadecimal's body, charred and still smoking at the edge of the game
cube.]
Herr Doktor:
       [smiling and tapping his fingers together] Put her in ze back of ze van.
[Mouse and AndrAIa, at the wreckage of Dot's Diner, are watching the game cube.]
AndrAIa:
       How long will it take Enzo to win the game?
Mouse:
       I-I don't rightly know, honey. All games are different. All we can do is wait, but not here. Let's go.
[The D in the ruins of Dot's Diner falls over. All three tense.]
[User's POV, much like that of a game of DOOM. His health rises to 100%, his ammo to 150, and something illegible, assumedly the game level, to 2. He checks the
chainsaw on his right arm and the gun in his left hand, then begins walking across a wooden bridge.]
[The ground rocks. Enzo and Zombie Binome 1 jump off the gravestone, which reads "Here lies the MAINFRAME JOINT VENTURE, an unholy alliance." The gravestone splits.]
Enzo:
       Jump!
[The zombie binomes yell. Enzo is knocked to the ground. Frisket leaps out of the grave and runs to Enzo in slow motion.]
Enzo:
       Frisket!
[Enzo hugs Frisket. Then Frisket turns and growls. Enzo and Dot look over and see The User at the end of the bridge. Girders curl up behind him like the fingers of a
clawlike hand.]
Enzo:
       He's here!
[The User twirls the shotgun and fires it once, then pulls the cord of the chainsaw with his teeth, revving it. He blows across the barrel of the gun.]
User:
       Groovy!
Enzo:
       Let's do it. You too, boy.
Dot and Enzo:
       Reboot!
[Enzo clicks Frisket's icon. The dog turns black and zombie-ish, with horns and glowing eyes. He growls. Enzo, standing in front of Gavin Blair's tombstone, also becomes an Undead - with a red
dancing suit. He looks down at himself, surprised.]
Enzo:
       I'm a zombie! What good is a-
[Dot is wearing an Elvira costume and sporting noticeable body modifications. She looks baffled.]
Dot:
       And what am I supposed to be?
[A musical sting suspiciously like the "Addams Family" theme plays.]
[The User starts toward them.
Dot:
       C'mon, let's get outta here.
[Dot tries to run, but, restricted by her skirt which binds her legs together, falls over. Enzo looks down at her - and his right eye falls out and dangles by its optic
nerve. Dot gapes at him as the viewpoint bounces up and down like his eye. Enzo holds the eye out to stare at the camera.]
Enzo:
       Uh-oh.

[PLACE COMMERCIAL HERE]

[Dot peers around a large gravestone, then hides just before the User shoots at her.]
Dot:
       We're not doing any good pinned down here. [She rips off most of her skirt, revealing fishnet-clad legs, and ties her hair back with a strip of cloth.] How
       much ammo has the User got left?
Enzo:
       [also shielded behind a gravestone] Lots. And he can pick up more on his way to the cabin! [to the three zombie binomes, all of whom are hiding behind Bob Buckley's "unplugged" tombstone]
       You guys run ahead. Find the User's ammo and hide it!
Zombie Binome 1:
       You're a kid, right? We're not listening to you. You're a kid.
Zombie Binome 2:
       Yes. You're hardly a Guardian.
Zombie Binome 3:
       Well, you're certainly not Bob. Bob was big. Bob was strong. Bob was, well... blue.
[Enzo looks discouraged. Dot does too. Then a skeletal arm jerks up in front of her face, startling her. Zombie Binome 1 is shaking about, as if on unstable ground.]
Zombie Binome 1:
       Uh, guys... help!
[A skeleton rises from the grave, with Zombie Binome 1 on its head.]
Zombie Binome 1:
       What's going on?
Enzo:
       Hey! It's the first wave of the game sprites! All right! That'll give him something to shoot at. You! Get down before you're shot!
[The skeleton swats at Zombie Binome 1. Then a gunshot blasts the skeleton apart.]
Enzo:
       Now! Go and find the ammo!
[The zombie binomes gesture among themselves, as if discussing the matter.]
Dot:
       [yelling in exasperation] Just do it! This is important!
[The three binomes get moving. As they walk past the tombstones, including one for Ian Pearson, skeletons pop out of the graves.]
Zombie Binome 1:
       Well, why didn't you say so?
Zombie Binome 2:
       Yes! I mean, you don't have to shout.
Zombie Binome 3:
       Bob would know better. He never shouted. He was nice!
[Enzo looks discouraged. Then he sees Frisket, who is gnawing on a bone.]
Enzo:
       Oh, Frisket! This is no time to be a dog!
Dot:
       Okay, Guardian, what do we do now?
[Enzo look at Dot gratefully, then thinks about it.]
[Megabyte, on his floating throne, is watching a VidWindow. In it Mike the TV is interviewing the Fargo Binome.]
Fargo Binome:
       Mm-hm. And he's only a little Sprite. He's not really a Guardian, don't'cha know. [She snatches the microphone] I mean,
       he's not even blue, y'know. Green's no color for the defender of the system!
[Megabyte punches a button, closing the VidWindow]
Megabyte:
       This gives me an idea. Propaganda. Heh-heh. Used correctly, it can be as devastating as any weapon in my arsenal.
       Cyrus, I have a job for you.
[Cyrus, who is polishing Megabyte's detached legs, looks over fearfully.]
[User's viewpoint. He's standing in place, blasting skeletons apart.]
Dot:
       He's just standing there, shooting at things!
Enzo:
       I know! And in the next level Sprites are zombies. They've got flesh on their bones!
[Another skeleton is blown apart. It falls on its pelvis, the legs sticking up in the air.]
Dot:
       I don't even want to think about that. I mean, what kind of sick creature gets enjoyment out of playing this sorta game?!
[Dot and Enzo turn and glare at the camera.]
[Zombie Binome 3 is wandering about, grumbling.]
Zombie Binome 3:
       Find the ammo! Find the ammo! Huh, if Bob was here we wouldn't have to find the ammo.
[The binome walks through a bush, and when it comes out the other side it is Zombie Binome 1.]
Zombie Binome 1:
       Hey, here's some!
[The binome runs up to a box marked "AMMO" and picks it up. Then he turns and finds himself surrounded by humanoid zombies. They slowly reach out toward
him.]
Zombie Binome 1:
       [gulps] G-g-game sprites! I hate game sprites! Oh, oh, great, heh, he brought friends.
[More zombies limp and shamble toward him. One gets blown out of frame. Then Dot and Enzo run across.]
Enzo and Dot:
       Run! It's the User!
[In the Tor. Hexadecimal's wrecked body is bound in a circular frame, mounted on machinery and surrounded by an energy field. Megabyte squints up at her.]
Megabyte:
       I just thought I'd pop in and see if the doctors were taking good care of you. [to Herr Doktor] How is the patient?
Herr Doktor:
       Progress is within acceptable parameters. Ze implants have taken and ze limiters are functioning.
Megabyte:
       Excellent. Now remember, I want her to have the best treatment, understand? The BEST.
[As Megabyte speaks, the frame is lowered and turned so Hexadecimal is facing down. As it lowers further, immersing her in a silvery bath, Megabyte laughs, and
Herr Doktor joins in. Megabyte throws an eerie shadow up on the wall.]
[A tree holds a sheet of paper, and taps it with one fingerlike branch. The User smirks at it. He swings the chainsaw once, and a segment of a log flies away. He
swings again, and an arm branch flies away. He slices a third time, and the tree's head flies away and ends up stuck upside down in a mud puddle. The piece of paper
drifts down. The User snatches it out of the air. Dot, Enzo, and Frisket are watching from behind another tree.]
Dot:
       He's got the last page. Now all he needs is the book! What're we gonna do?
Enzo:
       The cabin. It's our only hope! [to the zombie binomes] You guys've done your work. Get outta here. Hide!
Zombie Binome 1:
       You don't have to tell us twice!
[The three binomes zip away. Leaves drift down in their wake. Frisket runs toward the User.]
Enzo:
       Frisket! NO!
[When Frisket approaches the User, the User raises his gun. As Enzo watches, horrified, the User Shoots. Frisket falls limply to the ground.]
[Dot carries a struggling Enzo into the cabin and kicks the door shut behind herself.]
Enzo:
       Lemme go! Frisket! I-I gotta help him!
Dot:
       Listen! Listen. We can only save Frisket by winning the game. The help he needs is in Mainframe. [She sets Enzo down on his feet.] What he needs here is a Guardian.
Enzo:
       You're right. You're right. Let's barricade the door.
[Enzo looks around the cabin interior, then focuses on a book on a desk.]
Enzo:
       And hide that book!
[The camera viewpoint zooms up to the cabin.]
[Dot is standing against the piano, which is blocking the door. The door bumps against it. Enzo hides the book in a bookcase, right next to a copy of "A Time To Die."
The door bumps against the piano again. Enzo skids to a door in the floor, moving aside a chain.]
Enzo:
       We can push him down here.
[Enzo opens the door and raises his arm near the chain.]
Enzo:
       Glitch, cutters.
[Glitch sparks and flashes alarmingly. Enzo drops the door.]
Enzo:
       Glitch, stop! Stop!
[Glitch stops sparking.]
Enzo:
       It's broken!
[A chainsaw begins cutting through the wall behind Enzo.]
Dot:
       He's not using the door!
Enzo:
       Get the lamp!
[The User finishes cutting. A roughly rectangular section of wall falls inward, letting the User in. The User poses, raising his chainsaw and gun.]
User:
       Groovy.
[Dot jams the lamp, shade down, over the User's head.
Dot:
       [shouting] Enzo! Plug it in! Now!
[Enzo jams the plug into the socket. The lamp flashes on and off, electrifying the User. He loses control, shoots randomly times, then falls over forward. Then he gets
back up, minus lamp, shakes his head, and glares. He begins shooting at Enzo, who avoids his shots by dancing about ala Michael Jackson.]
Enzo:
       [as he dances] Hee-hee-hoo! All right, c'mon, let's go! Hee-hee-hoo!
Dot:
       What're you doing?
Enzo:
       Using up his ammo. Yeooow!
Dot:
       By letting him shoot at you?
Enzo:
       Yeah!
[Dot pulls the muffler off the deer head trophy on the wall, snaps it like a whip, and poses.]
Dot:
       [ala Mae West] Over here, big boy!
[The User looks over just before the scarf wraps around his gun and jerks it away. The gun flies into the wall, barrel first. The deer trophy dodges to avoid being hit.]
Trophy:
       [Scottish accent] It's only funny 'til someone loses an eye.
[Dot snaps the scarf again. It is yanked out of her hand. The chainsaw revs, and bits of cloth fly into frame.]
Dot:
       Oops.
Enzo:
       What now?!
[The User shoves the piano at Dot and Enzo, tilting it and trapping them against the wall underneath the keyboard. They cringe out of the way as the chainsaw blade comes at then through the piano.
Then with a twanging it stops. The User pulls the chainsaw back. Its blade is completely entangled in piano wires.]
User:
       Groovy.
[The User tosses the chainsaw off his arm. Dot and Enzo crawl out from under the piano. The user starts to follow them. He trips over Frisket, who is dragging
himself along the floor, does a spectacular slow-motion aerial somersault, and lands head down in a comfy chair.
Enzo:
       Frisket!
[Frisket closes his eyes and lets out a breath. The User gets to his feet, the chair still on his head, and looks around.]
Dot:
       Quick! Tie him up!
[Enzo grabs the end of the tape from a reel-to-reel tape machine labeled "Welman." Dot spins the User around, and Enzo lets the tape wrap around him. When the User
stops, much of his body and his entire head is covered.]
User:
       Groovy.
[Dot opens the cellar door.]
Dot:
       Allow me.
[The tape lowers from the User's eyes, allowing him to see Enzo as she Sprite menaces him and says-]
Enzo:
       BOO!
[The User leaps over backwards into the cellar. A red, hazy whirlwind appears in which bones and the User are embedded. The User grabs at the floor and tries to keep from being pulled in, but he is
sucked back into the whirlwind. It disappears into the cellar, and the door slams shut. Then the door opens again, and the now-zombieish User floats above it.]
User:
       [grinning and shrieking] I'm dead before dawn! I'm dead before dawn!
[The User disappears back into the cellar.]
System Voice:
       Game over.
[The game cube lifts into the sky, leaving Dot and Enzo behind. A rescue vehicle bearing crosses made of five red and white icons flies over to them. Enzo is holding
the injured Frisket's head. A pair of binomes in scrub gear carrying a stretcher between them fly toward them. Frisket growls halfheartedly.]
Med Binome:
       Are you hurt? Here, lie down.
Enzo:
       N-not me, it's my dog! Help him! Please!
Med Binome:
       He'll be okay, son. Let's go!
Dot:
       Wait! [She holds a note out to the med binomes, who are now carrying Frisket on the stretcher.] Contact these doctors. I
       want that dog to have the best treatment. The best, understand?
[The doors close on the vehicle in which the beds are treating Frisket. As it flies away Dot puts her arm around Enzo's shoulders.]
[The shield around the Principle Office reappears.]
[Dot and Enzo walk into the Principle Office.]
AndrAIa:
       Enzo!
[AndrAIa tackles him in a hug that slams him back against the door.]
Enzo:
       Uh... Hi, AndrAIa.
Dot:
       [to Mouse] I see you've been busy.
Mouse:
       Yeah. Phong managed to get the shields back online.
Phong:
       Oh, I could not have done it alone, Mouse! Your codes were magnificent! You are a true artist.
Mouse:
       [flirtatiously] Why, Phong, you'll turn a young Sprite's head with talk like that.
Phong:
       [flustered and blushing] Ah-ahhh - uh, the-the young Guardian returns! Oh - I have a message for you.
[Phong turns. A Vidwindow springs open. In it, a bandaged Frisket is growling and menacing five med binomes. All are jabbering and rhubarbing.]
Binome:
       Back! Back! We have no diskettes!
[Enzo and AndrAIa watch squeamishly.]
Phong:
       The doctors say he should be up and chasing nulls in less than a cycle. In fact, they asked if you could go and pick him up immediately.
Enzo:
       [imitating the User] Groovy!
Dot:
       Ah... that's great, Phong. Enzo?
Enzo:
       Yeah, Dot?
Dot:
       You did a great job in the game.
[Enzo grins proudly.]
Dot:
       But-
Enzo:
       Dot! You still don't think I can do it?
Dot:
       I think you earned your chance. But I want you to train. If you ever want to be as good as Bob was-
[Dot turns away, suddenly tearful.]
Enzo:
       Sis, if he's out there, I'll find him. I promise. I'll bring Bob home.
[Mouse and AndrAIa are standing in front of a door.]
Mouse:
       Um, sorry to break up this Photoshop moment, but AndrAIa and I have a little surprise for ya.
Dot:
       I don't think I can take another surprise.
[Mouse and AndrAIa step away from the door.]
AndrAIa:
       We found him at the Diner.
[The door opens. Cecil, one arm in a sling and his "handlebar" attached to a zip board, comes into the room.]
Dot:
       Cecil! [hugging him] I thought we lost you too.
Cecil:
       [flustered] Please, mademoiselle, not in front of the customers!
[Dot, Enzo, Mouse, and AndrAIa laugh as Cecil straightens his tie.]

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