The cool November wind blew through their hair as Maddie and Robbie rode to the movie theatre (well, technically Maddie was riding her bike, and Robbie was running next to her).
The raccoon, wearing a dark green jacket and gloves, leaped up and touched the metal bike rack outside the theatre. "Ha! Beat you again," he said with a smile.
"Yeah well, the wind was slowing me down," Maddie said with a smirk as she parked her bike. She was wearing her violet jacket and bluish-grey jeans, "Do you have the ticket money?"
"Right here!" Robbie said, taking out his wallet, "Snack money?"
"In my pocket," Maddie answered, "Let's go, I want to play a round of DDR before the movie."
While they could've easily gone to the mall theatre, which was closer and about a dollar cheaper, the kids decided to go to the Megaplex Theatre. Why? Because it was awesome!
There was an arcade, giant movie posters and cardboard standees, a huge snack stand with pizza, hotdogs and ice cream as well as the usual popcorn and candy, and widescreen tvs all over the place playing movie trailers. The screens were also a bit bigger, and unlike the theatre at the mall, the floors weren't sticky (one time they had to sacrifice a pair of shoes just so they could leave the theatre). So yeah, it was definitely a cool theatre.
"This is going to be so cool!" Robbie said, his tail twitching back and forth in excitement. The movie they were seeing was a monster movie based on the comic series they had both read. According to the reviews, it was one of the best, and there was no way they would miss it.
"I know! I wonder if they're going to do the part where-oof!" Maddie bumped into a tall figure. She looked and saw a man in a theatre worker's uniform. He looked about fifty, with black and silver hair. He glared at the bird.
"Oh, um, sorry," Maddie said quickly. The man continued glaring. "Uh, sorry Sir?" she added. The man didn't say anything, but just walked away.
"What was wrong with him?" Robbie asked.
"That's just Old Man Tickets," a familiar voice said, "he's always like that."
With a groan, the two kids turned and saw Mikey, stuffing his face with popcorn.
"Let me guess, you're seeing the same movie we're seeing," Maddie said, scowling.
"And you're going to bug us throughout the whole thing?" Robbie finished.
"Nah," Mikey said, wiping his buttery fingers on his pants leg, "Mom's making me take Sammi and Matt to the new Disney movie, it's going to be so lame. "
"What going to be lame, big brother?"
"And what does 'lame' mean?"
The twins walked up to their big brother. Matt looked like a mini version of Mikey and Muscleman, while Sammi was small and actually kinda cute. If it weren't for the green skin and long brown hair, you wouldn't be able to guess she was related to her brothers.
"Uh, nothing," Mikey said, "hey, how 'bout we go get some ice cream before the movie starts?"
The twins cheered. "Can we get chocolate with brownie bits?" They asked in unison.
"Well duh!" Mikey answered with a smile, "and you know who else likes chocolate ice cream with brownie bits?"
"Who?" they asked, curious.
"My grandma!" The two six year olds squealed with laughter, and then ran ahead, telling their big brother to hurry up. "See you later, losers," the chubby eighth grader said before running after his younger siblings and laughing along with them.
"You know, he may be a jerk," Maddie commented, "but at least he's a good big brother."
The two best friends then walked over to the arcade. They had enough quarters to play several rounds of 'Alien Hunters IV' and a game of Dance Dance Revolution. At ten minutes before the start time, they walked over to the ticket counter. There was no one their, so they knocked on the window.
"Excuse me?" Maddie asked. In a flash, the same man from before, Old Man Tickets, appeared.
"Um, we just need two for-," Robbie started to say, but the man cut him off.
"That movie is not age appropriate," he said, his voice monotone and yet still threatening.
"But you didn't even know what we were going to sa-," Maddie started to say, but again the man interrupted.
"You two either need to pick an age appropriate movie," he said, narrowing his eyes, "Or leave!"
"Geez, he's even grumpier than Benson," Robbie mumbled under his breath before saying, "We know the movie is PG-13, but our parents let us watch this kind of stuff all the time," Robbie tried explaining, "We know it's all fake, so it's not like we're going to get nightmares or anything like that, and we have the money for the tickets. So, could you please just let us-"
"You two either need to pick an age appropriate movie," Old Man Tickets repeated, sounding a lot more threatening, "Or get. Out!"
The kids took a step back. 'What's up with this guy?' Robbie thought, scowling a little. They had the right to see the movie, their parents said they could! They weren't just going to let this guy bully them into seeing a little kids movie just because they were two years under the age limit.
"Okay." Robbie looked up. "We'll just take two for the Disney movie," Maddie said, handing the man their ticket money.
"What! But Maddie!" The bird gave her friend a shove, silently telling him to be quiet.
"Here," the man said, handing Maddie the tickets without even saying 'Enjoy your film!' or 'Thank you!'.
"Thanks," Maddie said, as she grabbed Robbie's arm and dragged him past the counter.
"Maddie! We could've used that money to rent a good movie! I don't want to see a lame kids movie!"
"We're not going to see a lame kids movie," Maddie whispered, "Look, no matter what movie you pick, the ticket price is the same. So, if you bought a ticket to one movie, but went to another, it wouldn't do any harm because you're still paying the theatre and you still bought a ticket, you're just choosing to use it for another movie."
"Oh," Robbie said with a smile, getting it. The two quickly went through the snack bar, filling their arms with tasty treats.
"Okay, let's go!" Maddie said, smiling at her best friend. The two walked to the theatre, the door closed. When they opened it, they couldn't believe it.
"Can I help you?" Old Man Tickets asked, glaring at them.
"Uh," the two kids said, not knowing what to say. But before they could even try, the man grabbed Maddie and Robbie by the arm (causing them to drop their snacks) and dragged them away. At first, they thought he was going to throw them out. But then they walked past the exit.
"Um, where are you taking us?" Robbie asked. The man stayed silent. They continued walking until they arrived at a back room. Old Man Tickets opened the door, and shoved the two kids in there.
"Hey!"
"You two, are staying here," he said, pointing at them, "until you learn to respect the ratings system!" He thought for a moment. "Or until the last show of the day." With that, he slammed the door shut.
Maddie and Robbie both tried to open the door, but neither one could get it open. "Man!" Maddie said, throwing her wings up in exasperation, "This can't be legal! He can't keep us in here!"
"Yeah, but we don't have much of a choice," Robbie said, opening his cell phone, "No signal, so we can't call anyone. This so sucks, the rest of the day is ruined!"
With the light of Robbie's cell phone lighting up the room, Maddie could see around the small, closet sized room. It was very cluttered, filled with old movie posters and cardboard boxes. There was also small containers of old popcorn and moldy nachos. But what caught Maddie's eyes was the thing in the back of the room, sitting on a small table.
"What's that?" Maddie asked. Robbie turned around, and shined his light on the object. It was an old movie projector.
"Wow," Robbie said, getting a closer look, "Looks like it's a standard 35 mm projector, with film still in it! Looks like it's in really good condition too."
"You actually read a book on movie projectors?"
"It was a boring day, okay?" Maddie smiled.
"Can it turn on?"
"Give me a second." In only a couple seconds, Robbie found what he needed and turned the projector on. But instead of pictures or a movie, it only flashed a square of white. "Huh?"
"I thought you said it had film in it," Maddie said, looking at the projector. She could see film spinning and threading through it. Was the whole thing blank?
"Maybe it's just too old to work," Robbie commented, "film can sometimes fade if it gets harmed by chemicals or light or something like that."
"Well, that's too bad," replied Maddie. They could've watched a movie while waiting to be let out. "Well, what do we do now?"
"Since we have light, we can make shadowpuppets or something," Robbie suggested, "Mom used to do them for me all the time when I was little." The raccoon walked forward to be in front of the light, but because the floor was still dark, he slipped in a puddle of spilt soda. He slid forward, and let out a yelp. For a minute, Robbie thought he was going to hit the wall, but instead, he went through it!
"Robbie!" Maddie shouted. She quickly ran forward, and carefully put her hand against the wall. Her hand went through. Now that she knew it still worked, Maddie stuck her head through the white rectangle on the wall. "Robbie, are you-... Whoa."
It was like she had entered a different dimension. The atmosphere was swirling purple colors, with random strands of film floating by. All around the world, their were small screens, hundreds of them, each showing a different movie. Some were live action, others CGI, others animated.
"Maddie!" The bird blinked, and looked down. She saw Robbie hanging on the edge of a screen.
"Robbie! Hold on, I'm coming." Maddie quickly climbed through the window in between dimensions, and hopped onto a screen. She jumped to the next one, and the next one. But before she got to the screen Robbie was hanging onto, a strand of film quickly flew past her, making her lose her balance. "Whoa, whoa!" she shouted, waving her wings to try and get her balance back, but to no avail. The violet bird fell back, and into the screen.
"Oof!" Landing on a patch of grass (which frankly felt more like newspaper rippings than soft grass), Maddie quickly looked around, taking in the enviornment she was in. It was so bright and colorful, it almost hurt her eyes. But ironically, while it looked colorful, everything seemed flat. Where was she?
"Look out below!" A small body landed on Maddie's back, making her fall forward. "Oh, sorry about that, Maddie," Robbie said. The two then heard giggling all around them.
"Don't laugh, that really hurt," Maddie snapped, pushing the raccoon off her back.
"It wasn't me!" Robbie said in defense. He looked around for the source of the laughter, and then saw exactly where it came from. "Look!"
Right behind them, there was another screen. Only this one wasn't blank, on the other side there was a theatre, with real people in the audience. They could even see Mikey and his siblings in the seats.
"It's our world," Maddie said, "and if that's our world, and they're in a theatre watching a movie, then that means..."
"We're in the movie," Robbie finished, "Well, at least it's better than being in a dirty, old closet."
"Excuse me!" The two kids turned, and saw a perky looking woman in a bright, pink gown. She had long orange hair with pink blossoms braided in it, and there were happy animals all around her. "Hello you two," she said, flashing a perfect smile, "It's absolutely wonderful to meet you!"
"... I'd rather be stuck in the closet again," Maddie said, dryly. Honestly, this lady was so perky, she would probably make Pops cringe.
"How are we going to get back to our world? Because we can't go through there," Robbie said, pointing at the audience, "This movie's not in 3-D." He flashed a smile, and Maddie rolled her eyes.
"Ha ha," she said, "anyway, I think I have an idea." She turned to the red haired woman. "Hey, do you have a pencil or something I can draw with?"
"Oh, of course!" she replied, happy to help. A blue bird flew over to them, and handed Maddie a quill with ink already on it.
"This is an animated movie, right?" Maddie asked, looking at a curious Robbie, "Then I should be able to do, this!" The violet bird began drawing square box, and drawing swirls in it. They waited a moment, and then there was a flash of light. Now, instead of just a drawing, there was another screen to jump through.
"Awesome Maddie!" Robbie complimented. The two quickly jumped through the screen. Unfortunately, as soon as they did, another screen floated underneith them causing the two to jump into another movie.
"Where are we now?" Maddie asked looking around. The people in the movie looked real, but everything was in black and white. Even the two kids were in black and white!
"It doesn't matter, let's just find a way out!" Robbie said. Without wasting another moment, they began running through the streets, dodging people and old cars. As she ran past a group of kids playing with marbles, Maddie spotted a flash of purple out of the corner of her eye.
"Hey, Robbie!" she shouted, "Over here!" The two ran down the lane, and jumped through the screen as soon as they found it. In a flash, they regained their colors, but lost their balance in the process.
The kids jumped through a western, a crime movie, a CGI movie (that was pretty cool since they turned into CGI characters), a documentary about penguins, a horror flick, an 80's comedy, and a musical (which wasn't too bad since both kids were pretty good at singing, but it was annoying since they weren't allowed to stop singing until they went to the next movie). And those were just the tip of the iceberg. After the 34th movie they jumped through, Maddie had had just about enough.
"This is impossible!" She shouted, her voice echoing in the purple atmosphere, "There are millions of movies, we can't jump through each one."
"Yeah, it would be years before we even got through a third of them!" Robbie agreed, "There has to be an easier way to..." The raccoon then noticed the strands of films, weaving through the screens. They would take zig zag paths, each different from the other, but eventually they all floated to the very top, where Robbie could see a blank screen. Their screen!
"Let's just take a shortcut then," Robbie said, smiling. He jumped up, and grabbed onto a piece of film. "Jump on!" Maddie jumped up, holding on right beside Robbie. The two floated up, past all the screens and dodging other strands of film.
After about ten minutes, they were near the white screen. "Here's our stop!" Robbie shouted. The two jumped up, and grabbed onto the edge of the screen. Holding each other's hand so neither one would fall of the edge, they leaped through the window.
Landing on the dirty floor, Maddie and Robbie looked around and cheered. They were back in their dimension!
"Well, I see you found my projector." The kids immediantly became quiet, and turned to see that their was a third person in the closet with them. "Yeah, those were the days, when it really was 'Movie Magic'," Old Man Tickets said, looking very distant, almost saddened. But then, his face turned dark.
"I worked in the movie business for forty years," he said, "But people kept criticising me, saying my movies were too old fashioned. I gave their movies a chance, I even liked them! They're a lot better than the films these days, nothin' but computers and bad actors! But they forced me to retire, and to put food on my table, I got a job here. But that just made things worse.
"You people these days wouldn't know a good movie if it hit you! Everyday, people complain about movies, demanding refunds as if it was my fault! They spill their food on purpose, they sneak into movies, they don't give any mind to the ratings system! Though, I shouldn't have to remind you two of that."
"Look, we really are sorry," Maddie started to say.
"But we if we could just leave, we promise to 'respect the ratings' and all that," finished Robbie.
"Oh no," Old Man Tickets said, "You two, everyone in this theatre, needs to learn to respect the classics! Respect the film industry! Respect me!" The man lifted his arms, and film shot out of his sleeves. The film wrapped around Maddie and Robbie like rope.
"Hey!" they shouted, trying to escape.
"I hope you two enjoyed your movies," he said grimly, "because you're never coming out! But don't fret, you'll have company soon enough!"
"Yeah right!" Robbie shouted, glaring back. He then began biting through the fragile film.
"Hey, you little-!" Old Man Tickets tried to wrap Robbie up some more, but he hadn't noticed Maddie hoping over next to him. The young bird kicked the man in the shins. He shouted, loosening the film's grip on the kids. They tried opening the door again, but it was still locked!
Old Man Tickets tried to capture the kids, and they quickly dodged each attempt. But there wasn't much room in the closet. Boxes and posters kept getting knocked over, and they were quickly running out of places to hide and room to dodge.
"Resistance is futile! Show me the money! Say 'Hello' to my little friend! I'm mad as-!"
"You know, all those quotes come from movies made before we were born," Robbie commented, poking his head out from behind the table, "So what would make you think that we've heard them be-?" He got cut off by another attack. Robbie quickly ducked down, and the shot of film hit the old popcorn bucket, knocking it onto the floor. Getting an idea, Robbie grabbed the bucket, and slammed it over Old Man Tickets' head.
"Hey! Get this off of me!" he shouted, trying to pull the bucket off. Robbie quickly ran over to Maddie.
"We have to think of a way to turn off that projector," Robbie said.
Maddie was about to ask how when she noticed the moldy nachos still on the floor. She smiled cleverly. "I think I've got just the thing." She grabbed the nachos, and threw them at the projector, just as Old Man Tickets got the bucket off his head.
The nachos hit their target perfectly. The moldy cheese dripped into the projector, and caused it to start smoking and sparking. The two kids quickly ran for cover.
"No! My projector! What have you done!" The frantic man ran over to the projector, not noticing the small fire that had started. The kids gasped.
"Old Man Tickets, look out!" Maddie shouted. But the man ignored the kids as he desperately tried to get the cheese off the projector. But when he finally did notice the fire, it was too late. There was a small explosion, which knocked him back through the blank screen and into the movie dimension. The projector shook, and finally let out one more big explosion. The projector was now in a hundred pieces, and the wall was solid once again.
The room was silent and dark. "So, he's gone?" Robbie asked.
"I guess so," Maddie said, "but, hey, at least he can spend the rest of his life in the movies he likes instead of listening to people complain." So, it was kinda a happy ending. They kept quiet for another moment.
"Talk about a cheesy ending," Robbie finally said. Maddie groaned.
"Why do you have to have your dad's corny sense of humor?"
"It's not corny!" Maddie was about to disagree when they both heard the door open and light flooded the room.
"Hey, what are you guys doing here?" asked a voice. It was a man, but this one was a lot younger than Old Man Tickets, with long, brown hair. He looked about 23 years old.
"Um, we were put here," Maddie answered honestly.
"Let me guys, by the old guy?" The kids nodded. "I'm sorry about him, he's just kinda, well, I can't think of a nice way to say it." He looked around the room. "Where is Old Man Tickets anyway? His projector isn't here." He couldn't see the broken pieces behind the kids.
"Uh, he said he was quitting," Robbie said, thinking quickly.
"Yeah," added Maddie, going along with it, "He said he was going to retire and spend the rest of his life 'respecting the classics'."
"Oh," said the 23 year old, buying it completely, "Well that's good. That guy was a nutcase, he needs a little relaxation. Well come on you two, get out of here." They happily obeyed, walking out of the room and shutting the door behind them.
"So," Robbie asked, "What should we do now?"
After all that had happened, they weren't really in the mood to watch a movie anymore. "Wanna go over to the park and play one of Dad's old video games?" Maddie asked. Robbie happily agreed.
And so, the two walked outside and over to the bike rack. As they headed towards the old park, they reminded themselves that the next time they did watch a movie, they would have to keep an eye on the people in the background and see if they could find a certain old ticket-counter worker.
I read in a review that this story hasn't really been having that 'regular show' feel the past few chapters, and I had to agree with it. It's just hard for me to write the crazy regular show situations (I have to give credit to J. G. for being so creative), it's easier for me to write 'normal' situations. But I wanted to try and make this chapter more Regular Show-y.
My best guy friend invited me to the movies, and then I thought "Movies! Let's do that!" And so, I thought of this. I hope you guys liked this chapter, it took me forever to write it just because I kept getting distracted :P Please review, and hopefully I'll have the next chapter up soon. See you then!