THIRD PERSON
He was at last defeated. Poptropica was safe. He and his acquaintance had cursed the prophesied hero and her Poptropican, even manipulating magic on Twisted Thicket in an attempt to make Fierce Fox betray Alice out of jealousy. But now he was defeated, and his acquaintance was gone. The chaos was over. Or was it? There were some unanswered questions. For one, who had started the earthquake on Nabooti Island?
Athena knew it wasn't Hades, and Zeus did not wield such power. Poseidon wasn't to blame, either. So who had done it? In fact, who had cursed the zomberries on Zomberry Island to chase Alice? It wasn't godly power, so who had done it? Maybe it was the voice. Or something else. Athena knew it had been a long time since a new island had appeared. Perhaps the voice had been doing something else. But what? Even a goddess like herself didn't have the answer.
Athena knew this was a strange timeline. There were many different timelines and alternate universes, with different Poptropicans as the heroes. They were connected through the common rooms. And the islands followed the same path in every universe, no matter what hero. But this universe was different, due to Alice's arrival. If Alice could affect it, could she affect others? Athena tapped her chin. Zeus' threat had only affected their universe- and possibly others- but if a higher power got to Alice or another human… it could affect every timeline.
The goddess shivered. She couldn't make such rash judgments. Not yet, anyway. There was still time.
ALICE
"Look, celebrities!" a guy holding a camera cried as we landed on Back Lot Island. He gasped. "Is that the prophesied hero?!"
"Let's go." I whispered. Fierce Fox and I dashed past the people and entered a green talent agency. It has slightly crumbling, pale walls, and large fans blowing down air. People are queued up behind a desk. Fierce Fox and I approached the woman behind the desk, who's a former actress. But we weren't supposed to know that yet.
"You're… you're a natural!" the woman exclaimed, eyeing Fierce Fox. "You've got the look of a star!" She turned to me. "And you're the prophesied hero! So well known around here. I bet you could be a great star, too." Yeah, right, I thought.
"Us?" Fierce Fox asked. "Stars?"
"Just pay me a thousand dollars each for your set-up fee and we'll get started." the woman replied.
"We don't have a thousand dollars!" Fierce Fox cried, eyes wide.
"Hmm," the woman said, tapping her chin. "If it's money you need, I heard Harvey Scoops is looking for help with his gossip rag." So that's what we did. We headed out to the sunset-lit street, puffy clouds dancing in the sky. The street- Sunrise street- looks like it came straight out of Hollywood, including this giant, Chinese-themed theater.
Fierce Fox and I spoke to Harvey Scoops, who was standing outside the gates of the Grand Majestic studios. He gave us an old camera that needed film. If you don't know what film is… look it up. Fierce Fox and I got some film, and climbed up this large, wooden, greenish-blue building, near the studio. We stood on a ledge, when suddenly there was an earthquake. We fell off the ledge and landed in the studio.
"Arf! Arf!" a dog barked nearby us. We'd landed on a set that looks like it came from a fairy-tale. There are butterflies hovering around, and a fairy-tale castle.
"I don't think we're in Poptropica anymore!" Fierce Fox cried, which is a reference to the Wizard of Oz.
"Nope, we're still here." I replied, getting up. Fierce Fox followed me over to Soundstage 1. It's a big, metal shed, with many props standing around outside. An organized-looking woman- called Sofia- was also there.
"Uh oh!" she cried. "Are you two from studio security?" We told her we weren't. She told us that a movie was being made in Soundstage 1, and we had to stay out of the way. So we did the exact opposite and barged right in. We interrupted a movie scene, where an actor named Kirk Strayer was creeping down some stairs.
"Hey!" he grumbled, seeing us. "Watch the light! Why are you trashing my scene?"
"Say what?" Fierce Fox asked. Kirk stormed off in a fit of rage.
"Kirk, please!" the director- Carson Wills- cried. He chased after Kirk. I shrugged at Fierce Fox; we followed them. Sofia was outside, appearing frantic.
"We're going to blow our schedule if we can't get Kirk back in here," she said worriedly. She has neat, brown hair tied up in a ponytail, and glasses sitting on her nose. She also carries a clipboard. "I've got a ton to do here- can you two go try to get him out of his trailer? You can take that cart."
"On it." I replied. Fierce Fox and I climbed into a small, blue golf cart. Remember Cryptids Island when we drove that jeep? Well, the cart wasn't much better. We skidded all over the place, eventually arriving at Kirk's dirty, purple trailer. The director was outside. He told us to fix the problem.
Fierce Fox and I spoke to Kirk, who refused to leave his trailer until he got a coffee. Well, I can understand that. Mom likes coffee a lot, being a former barista and all. So Fierce Fox and I, going to different coffee shops, made the exact coffee Kirk ordered. We all returned to Soundstage 1. But our job wasn't over yet.
"Sorry, union rules," the camera guy said. "I can't work another minute today." He exited.
"You two!" Carson yelled, looking at us. "Think you can handle a camera?"
"I've used cameras before," I replied. "Like my mom's old one. Yeah, let's do this." I turned to Fierce Fox. "All we have to do is keep Kirk in the center of the screen. It'll be okay." So we jumped up to the camera, which shines down on the grey set. It's supposed to be a scary short film, after all. I focused the camera on Kirk, as he leaped down staircases and was spooked by special effects. Not as good as modern ones, but oh well.
We finished recording Kirk, then headed over to Soundstage 2 via the golf cart. It's a bit different in there. There's a green prop hill, and a hot air balloon. As well as the dark walls you'd expect to see in a soundstage. Sofia was also there, appearing frantic as usual.
"Where is Goldie with the script?" she demanded. "We told him it was due yesterday! He's probably in his usual spot, head in the clouds. Find Goldie and get that script!"
"I know where he is," I told Fierce Fox. "Come on." We went back to Soundstage 1. Goldie was on the roof- his head was literally in the clouds. Unfortunately, when we reached him, the script blew away in the wind and scattered all over Sunrise street. So Fierce Fox and I headed over to Sunrise street and searched for the missing script. A little while later, we found the entire script, and returned to Soundstage 2.
"Let's put the script in correct order," I said. "It'll make life easier." With that word, we put the script in the correct order. Then we gave it to Sofia, who was contented. But the problems still weren't over.
"Our lead actress never showed up," Sofia explained. "We need a Lacey Williams type. Get us someone like her!" So guess what folks? We had to return to good old Sunrise street. From there, we went to the Talent Agency. Remember how I said the woman who runs it is an actress? Well…
"Lacey Williams, at your service!" the woman said, jumping out of her chair. "This Talent Agency thing was just a safety net. I'll see you two at the studio!"
"There you go." I said, shrugging.
I slipped on a navigator costume. I was entirely covered, so you couldn't recognize me at all. A bandit face mask was over my mouth, and goggles were plastered over my eyes. Brown, leather clothing covered my body, and I was wearing a white scarf instead of my normal grey scarf. I stood on the green, prop hill, facing Lacey Williams, who was also dressed up. Only her face was exposed. Still more than me.
"Quiet on set!" Carson cried, Fierce Fox and Sofia next to him. "Ready… action!" Filming started.
"This is it, my friend," Lacey said dramatically. "It is time for us to say goodbye."
I pictured the script in my head. "But-"
"I know what you're thinking," Lacey replied. "You can't come with me!"
I spread my arms above my head. "But we've come so far! You can't leave me behind now!" I'm not much of an actress. Well, not after the leg incident anyway. I lost too much of my confidence to ever think about pursuing a career like that.
"I'm sorry," Lacey said, shaking her head. "But the journey from here is too dangerous!"
"Take this to remember me by." I said. I gave her a metal compass.
"What is it?" Lacey asked, observing the object.
"It's my compass," I answered, smiling. "For when you're lost in the stormy skies."
"Thank you, my friend." Lacey said, saluting. A hot-air balloon lowered from the sky; she climbed in.
"Safe journeys!" I cried melodramatically. "I'll never forget you!"
"So long!" Lacey replied. The balloon floated into the sky, appearing in the background as a prop. It was struck down by some fake lightning.
"Noooo!" I shouted. I looked at the camera. "Guess I shouldn't have given her that metal compass in a lightning storm."
"Print it! That's a wrap!" Carson cried. I sighed. You bet.
Fierce Fox and I entered Soundstage 3. There's a moving screen there which looks like it came from Wild West Island. There's also a giant fan, and a bin full of buffalo plushies. Our old pal Sofia was waiting by the side, still looking stressed.
"The set-builder's a no-show," she told us. "Sift through that pile of old old props over there and try to get a prop train together." We headed over to a bin that was stuffed with pieces of wood. We fiddled with the wood and made a train shape. We had to do this three times to make the train.
"It doesn't look like a train at all!" Fierce Fox proclaimed, when we finished. She was right. It looked more like a Lego project.
"Nothing a fresh coat of paint can't fix." Sofia retorted. She waved her paintbrush. The train suddenly looked amazing, and even moved. I wish I had a paintbrush like that. "See? Movie magic. But we're not done yet. Grab the hats from upstairs and try to find the right actors for the parts. There are plenty of out-of-work actors milling around Sunrise Street." So off we went. We managed to scrounge up two actors: Willy Bingleman and another guy I don't know the name of. Willy was the bad guy, and the other guy was the good guy.
Sofia turned to us. "We need you two to be the stunt coordinators. When we call for an effect, you set it off!" Fierce Fox and I faced the moving picture. The good guy was standing in front of it.
"And… action!" Carson called. The good guy started running. "We need more buffalo!" Fierce Fox slammed her fist on the buffalo button. A plushie buffalo charged for the good guy; he jumped over it. "Cue the tornado!" A press of the button with the tornado on it summoned a fake tornado. "Cue the villain!" I pressed the button with a black hat. Willy was riding on a fake horse. The good guy tried to catch him, but missed. This process repeated a few times, until the good guy caught the bad guy.
The crew thanked us for our help, then we headed over to Soundstage 4 (don't worry, this is the last one before post-production). This one has a city-themed set, which reaches the roof. Kirk and Carson were standing there.
"Okay, Kirk go ahead and suit up." Carson ordered. Kirk went to the change rooms. He returned a short time later, wearing a gorilla costume.
"It's demeaning!" he exclaimed. "I won't do it!" He returned to the change rooms and chucked the costume off. It landed nearby us. Carson sighed deeply.
"Does he need another coffee?" Fierce Fox asked.
Carson frowned. "I've had it up to here with his primadonna hijinks! You think you're up for the role of a lifetime?"
I patted Fierce Fox's shoulder. "Go for it."
"Sure!" Fierce Fox replied brightly. She slipped on the gorilla costume, completely unrecognizable. She looked more like King Kong than herself (well, obviously). Swiftly, she leaped over to the city-themed set, then turned to me. I told her what to do; she nodded. I watched her athletically scale the fake, yet imposing structures, grabbing balloons. Fake planes and guns fired at her, damaging her life. But she kept going.
Eventually, Fierce Fox reached the top and got the red balloon that Lacey was holding. Then she fell back down, completing the scene.
"Great!" Carson congratulated us. "All the scenes are shot! Now head over to post-production!" Naturally, we did that. Post-production is a stone-built, neat building, with shiny pink windows. Inside there are different stations where editing takes place: film editing and sound editing. I was going to do film editing, and Fierce Fox would do sound editing.
Film editing is a bit different from… modern film editing. I had to cut pieces of film from… well, film, that the movie was on. The film I had to cut off had errors on them, like on one there was a microphone above my head. If you know what film looks like, this will make more sense to you. Anyway, using a razor, I sliced off parts of the film. It was pretty easy.
"Now, to add sound." Carson said, facing Fierce Fox.
"Didn't we record the sound when we were filming?" Fierce Fox asked.
"I forget, you are a neophyte," Carson replied, sighing. Neophyte means newbie- I googled it. "No, we will add most of the audio effects now, so that we can make them sound exactly as we desire."
"I'll help, don't worry." I whispered, nodding at my Poptropican. She shrugged. We made our way over to the sound department. We had to use the appropriate sound effects at the right times. I called out when; Fierce Fox triggered the sound effect. We missed a few times, but we made it. We got the complete movie onto a film.
"My masterpiece, finished at last," Carson admired the film. "Will you take this film to the theater? I have… other business to attend to."
"Come on." I told Fierce Fox.
We arrived at the chinese-style theater. There are some posters on it that are references to movies, like the Hobbit. Sofia was standing there too.
"He's a strange guy," I said, like we'd been talking for a while. But you should expect that. "What's his deal?"
"Watch the movie and you may understand." Sofia replied. I shrugged at Fierce Fox, then we entered the dark theater. There were a lot of people in there, including some actors and civilians that could be spoken to. I raced up to the top section, and put the film in the projector. The movie started.
It showed all the scenes we'd recorded in the soundstages, except in HD. Well, mostly. Anyway, the movie was cool... I guess, but definitely not the best movie I've ever seen. Everyone seemed to enjoy it quite a lot, though. Fierce Fox seemed pretty confused as to why the movie had made Carson Wills so strange. Even I was a little perplexed.
"That didn't make a lick of sense." Fierce Fox expressed, once we were outside.
"Genius, absolutely genius!" somebody cried.
"Carson Wills is back!" somebody else cried.
"If only I had thumbs to give this movie!" another person agreed. I giggled into my hand.
"You see?" Sofia asked as we approached her. "It was him. He had so much early success, but he lost his imagination and went after the money. It turned him into a monster."
"So this movie was his way back home, huh?" Fierce Fox asked.
"Yes," Sofia nodded. "And I think it may have been his swansong. He left for Cannes just before the screening. But he told me to give you this." She handed us the medallion. Then it was time for the bonus quest. "Shoot! I think I left the camera running on Soundstage 1. Would you go shut it off?" We nodded and headed over to do so. However, when we got to such soundstage, something happened.
"Hold it right there!" two voices called. They belonged to two women wearing fancy clothing.
"Who are you?" Fierce Fox asked.
"We're the Warren sisters, the owners of Grand Majestic Studios!" one of the women answered. "And you two are trespassing on our property."
"Stealing from us!" the other added.
Fierce Fox began, "We weren't-"
"We've caught you red-handed." the first one growled.
"You two stay right where you are," the second continued. "Security will be here in a moment to arrest you."
"You have to catch us first!" Fierce Fox cried, grabbing my arm. She pulled me out of the soundstage and onto the golf cart. We went on a wild ride. Fierce Fox proved she had some serious driving skills- well, not surprisingly- when we skidded all over the joint. I really began to regret buying membership. Regardless, security chased us around, but Fierce Fox kept ahead of them. She grabbed some energy balls laying around, to improve our life.
When the chaotic mess that is the bonus quest was finally finished, I almost passed out. The Warren sisters complemented Fierce Fox on her driving skills, so at least she was happy. Or she was laughing at me. You decide.