Act One
(The story opens up in Ms. Fowl's classroom. Jimmy is busy drawing on a sketchpad while the other students sit quietly. In the background, the bell rings.)
Ms. Fowl: Class dismissed!
(As everyone starts to pack up and leave, Cindy glances over at Jimmy as if considering something and smiles. She grabs her books and moves next to Jimmy's desk; Jimmy is still drawing in his sketchpad.)
Cindy: Hey, Jimmy. You got any plans for the weekend?
Jimmy: Yes! (Cindy is taken aback) I mean no! (Cindy is confused) I mean… (moves sketchpad for Cindy to see) Well, I've been designing some modifications for one of my inventions that I was hoping to get to work on.
Cindy: Ooo.
Jimmy: (puts sketchpad down, looks at Cindy) Unless you had something else in mind.
Cindy: (shakes head) Uh, no, that's okay. (closes eyes, frowns) You go ahead and work on your invention.
Jimmy: (jumps out of desk) Thanks, Cindy. (kisses Cindy on the cheek, grabs sketchpad) I knew you'd understand. (walks towards door)
Cindy: Wait, Jimmy! (Jimmy stops and turns around) There's something I've been meaning to ask you!
Jimmy: What is it, Cindy?
Cindy: (nervous) Well, not that I haven't enjoyed hanging out or- flirting with you, (laughs) but do you think we could try taking our relationship to the next level?
Jimmy: (shocked) You mean like go out on a date… just the 2 of us… alone… together?!
Cindy: Uh, yeah, that's what I had in mind.
Jimmy: I don't know, Cindy; it might not be such a good idea.
Cindy: What?! (suspicious) Why?
Jimmy: Well, you see… (scratches head) How do I put this nicely?
Cindy: Neutron? Are you scared?
Jimmy: Who?! Me?! Of course not! I'm just, uh...
(Jimmy looks at Cindy, who doesn't look convinced.)
Jimmy: Oh, alright. I guess I am a little scared. I'm just worried that... I'll say or do the wrong thing and then you won't want anything to do with me again.
Cindy: Oh, Neutron, it's okay. (walks next to Jimmy) Since we haven't made anything official between us yet, we've got nothing to lose by trying.
(Jimmy rubs his chin as he thinks about that for a moment. Then, his eyes light up.)
Jimmy: You know what? You're right. (straightens posture, speaks in british accent) Very well, Ms. Vortex; (points at Cindy) I owe you a date.
Cindy: (giggles) Okay.
Jimmy: (in normal voice, walks toward door) See you later.
Cindy: (yells) I love you!
Jimmy: (yells, off-screen) I love you more!
(We transition to 2 days later. Carl and Sheen are walking towards Jimmy's clubhouse. Carl knocks on the door.)
Carl: Hey, Jimmy! It's us! Can we come in?!
Sheen: (gasps, pushes on Carl) Carl! Get to the side! Quickly!
Carl: (confused) Why, Sheen?
Sheen: Just hurry!
(Sheen pushes Carl to the right side of the welcome mat and jumps to the left side as a trap door opens underneath it. Sheen smiles and points at it.)
Sheen: (laughs) Nice try, welcome mat, but I'm not falling through you this time!
(Suddenly, 2 more trapdoors open underneath Carl and Sheen; they float in midair for a moment. Sheen looks at the camera and frowns.)
Sheen: Sometimes I really don't like Jimmy.
(Carl and Sheen fall through the trapdoors and slide down a series of tubes, screaming all the way. Carl lands in Jimmy's lab on his belly, but before he can stand up, Sheen falls and bounces off his back; Carl grabs it in pain.)
Carl: My scapula! Why'd it have to be my scapula?!
(Sheen sits up and shakes his head just as Jimmy walks by him, now wearing his lab coat.)
Sheen: Hey, Jimmy. (stands up) Me and Carl just wanted to see if you'd like to come to Retroland with us this afternoon.
Jimmy: No can do, boys. I'm on the verge of completing my greatest invention yet.
Sheen: (excited) Ooo! Ooo! What is it, Jimmy?! What is it?!
Carl: (excited) Yeah, the suspense is killing us! And it hasn't even built up yet.
Jimmy: (chuckles) Alright, guys. (walks between Carl and Sheen, puts hands on their shoulders) Carl, Sheen,... (they start walking)... I'm sure you both remember the Chrono Arch. (walks away from Carl and Sheen)
Carl: (points at Chrono Arch) Oh, yeah. It's that time portal doohickey (puts down hand) that took us to a horrible future where Libby was a dictator and I was a wanted man and Jimmy and Cindy were married and-
Sheen: (panicky) Carl! Stop! Don't say another word! You're going to remind me of having to take care of Cindy's mom's feet! (pause, slaps head) Ah, dang it!
Jimmy: Well, um,... say hello to its new sister invention.
(Jimmy moves to the side to reveal a gray machine with a screen, wheels, and black cables coming out of its left side.)
Jimmy: Behold: the Neutronic Quantum Fluctuation Computer, or the NQF-Com for short.
Carl and Sheen: (intrigued) Ooo...
Carl: (looks at Jimmy) What does it do?
Jimmy: This device is capable of decoding the structure of the entire space-time continuum itself! (picks up cable, walks over to Chrono Arch, plugs cable in) Once I combine it with the Chron Arch, I'll finally be able to begin my long-desired study of quantum realities.
Carl: (confused) Quantum realities?
Sheen: What the heck are those?!
Jimmy: I'm glad you asked Sheen; (gestures towards main computer) follow me and I'll show you.
(Jimmy walks towards his computer, sits down, and types on his keyboard while Carl and Sheen stand behind him and watch. The screen turns white.)
Jimmy: (looks at Carl and Sheen) Most people believe that time passes in a straight line, but in the field of quantum mechanics,(looks back at screen) there's a theory...
(Jimmy presses a key on the keyboard; a line starts moving down the middle of the screen from left to right.)
Jimmy: ... that for every possible outcome that can happen in a given event,...
(Jimmy presses another key on the keyboard; the line stops in the middle and splits in two. The 2 lines split into more and more lines until the right side of the screen becomes a mess.)
Jimmy: ...the flow of time splits, allowing each possible outcome its own chance at occurance, resulting in a series of alternate timelines called "quantum realities", (Carl and Sheen look intrigued) which exist in a way similar to parallel universes, (looks back at Carl and Sheen) like Dimsdale.
Carl: Oh. So, if I had to choose between 2 flavors of ice cream at the Candy Bar, time would split so I could choose both flavors at the same time in 2 different universes?
Jimmy: Exactly, Carl. (looks back at screen) But it goes much deeper than that.
Carl: What do you mean, Jimmy?
Jimmy: Well, there could be a world where llamas have gone extinct (Carl screams and falls over) or a world where Sheen gets stranded on an alien planet; (looks back at Carl and Sheen) the possibilities are limitless!
Sheen: Well, I just hope that doesn't mean there's a world where Ultra Lord doesn't exist; a world without Ultra Lord is a world lost.
Jimmy: (whispers to himself) Hmm,... it's probably best that I don't correct him on this.
Sheen: What was that?
Jimmy: (startled) Oh, nothing, Sheen! (Carl starts standing up) Nothing!
Carl: Um, Jimmy, when you're ready to visit these alternate realities, could me and Sheen come along with you?
Jimmy: Well, of course, Carl; I was planning on inviting you guys anyways.
(Carl and Sheen become really happy.)
Jimmy: (climbs out of chair, grabs spray can) Now, if you'll excuse me, (walks over to NQF- Com) I need to put the finishing touches on my machine; (looks at spray can) it's got to be resistant to water, extreme heat, (pause) power surges-
Sheen: Oh, come on, Jimmy! You can do that anytime! (walks over to Jimmy) You've been down here for 2 days; (puts arm around Sheen) you need a break! Why don't you come down to Retroland with us?
Jimmy: I don't know, guys; I-
Carl: You know you could use this as an opportunity to plan for your first date with Cindy.
Jimmy: (eyes widen) Cindy! I forgot all about her!
Sheen: (gets on knees, begs) Come on, Jimmy! Pleeeease!
Carl: (gets on knees, begs) Yeah, Jimmy, pleeeease!
Jimmy: (thinks for a moment, smiles) Alright, guys, you win; I'll go to Retroland with you.
(Carl and Sheen get excited and grab Jimmy by the arms, causing him to drop the spray can he was holding. We transition several minutes later and see Jimmy, now without his lab coat, Carl, and Sheen walking around Retroland.)
Carl: So, what kind of rides does Cindy like?
Jimmy: I don't know. We've never discussed it before.
Sheen: Then, I guess that means you get to call all the shots tonight.
Jimmy: (looks at Sheen, smiles) What are you talking about, Sheen?
(Jimmy, Carl, and Sheen stop walking.)
Sheen: I'm saying that you can go on all of your favorite rides and share the experience with Cindy. I've already done it with Libby before.
Jimmy: Say, that's a great idea, Sheen.
Sheen: It is?!
Jimmy: Yeah. We'll all go on my favorite rides so I can choose which order to go on them and then me and Cindy'll ride them this evening in the order I choose.
(Carl and Sheen agree with Jimmy's idea.)
Jimmy: Alright, then. Let's go!
(Jimmy, Carl, and Sheen start running. A montage follows. The first part of the montage shows the 3 of them riding on the Bat-Out-of-Heck roller coaster and going around on the 3 loop-de-loops, screaming the whole time. The second part of the montage shows the 3 of them in a house of mirrors; Sheen points to one of the mirrors and walks toward it while looking at Jimmy and Carl.)
Sheen: Hey, guys. I think the exit is this way.
(Sheen runs into the mirror and gets knocked down; Carl points at him and laughs. The final part of the montage shows a crane machine in an arcade. We zoom out to see that Jimmy is playing on the crane machine and has a stack of prizes sitting next to him.; the crane machine dings and Jimmy pulls out another prize. Carl and Sheen are amazed.)
Carl: Wow, Jimmy! 13 times in a row!
Sheen: That's gotta be a world record!
Jimmy: (bows) Thank you. Thank you.
(The montage ends. We transition several minutes later and see Jimmy, Carl, and Sheen walking around the park again. The sky is starting to get gray.)
Jimmy: (counts on fingers) Okay, so that's 7 attractions down and 3 more to go. (puts hands down) We should have this done by dinnertime.
Sheen: (excited) Then, what are we waiting for?! Let's go!
(Sheen tries to run, but hits something and falls down. He looks up to find that it's Libby, who's at the park with Cindy.)
Sheen: Libby?
Libby: Sheen?
Jimmy: Cindy?
Cindy: Jimmy?
Carl: (smug, points at himself) Carl. (Everyone else looks at him weird) What? Everyone else was saying someone's name.
Jimmy: (looks at Cindy) What are you doing here, Cindy?
Cindy: (upset, points at Jimmy) I should be asking you the same thing. (puts hand down) I thought you were down in your lab working on that invention you showed me.
Jimmy: Oh, I was, but then Carl suggested that I could come here to plan for that date we talked about, so we've been riding all of my favorite rides to determine which order we could ride them.
Cindy: (surprised) Wait! Are you serious?!
Jimmy: (confused) What do you mean?
Cindy: Well, that's exactly what we were doing.
Jimmy: (surprised) Wait! Seriously?!
(Jimmy and Cindy stare at each other for a moment and start to laugh. Libby her rolls eyes and walks next to Carl and Sheen)
Libby: Oh, brother.
Sheen: Tell me about it. I love those guys, but sometimes they can be so pathetic.
Carl: (smiles) Oh, I don't know; I actually think it's kind of sweet.
(Suddenly, thunder is heard in the distance. Jimmy and Cindy look up and notice some very dark-colored clouds in the distance.)
Cindy: (upset) Thunderclouds?!
Jimmy: Yes, and (pushes button on watch) according to my calculations, it's going to be raining all evening starting at 6:00.
Carl: 6:00?!
Sheen: Well, I guess a date in Retroland is out of the question.
Jimmy: (pauses) Come on. Let's get out of here.
(The 5 of them start to walk out of the park. We transition to Jimmy's clubhouse; the wind is starting to pick up. Down in the lab, an alarm is going off on the computer. The screen is showing what's going on in the yard while displaying the words "Activating Automatic Lightning Rod System". Outside, a large lightning rod extends out of the back corner of the roof on the clubhouse; a strong gust of wind blows and knocks it over in the middle of the roof. Suddenly, the top half of a lightning bolt strikes the lightning rod while the bottom half runs through the Chrono Arch. The Chrono Arch explodes and sends a purple shockwave everywhere. Back at Retroland, just as everyone's approaching the exit, Libby looks up and notices the shockwave.)
Libby: (worried) Jimmy! (Jimmy looks at her, points at shockwave) What is that?!
Jimmy: (looks at shockwave, startled) I don't know!
(The shockwave washes over them and dissipates. Jimmy looks at himself and the others.)
Jimmy: Don't worry, guys. Whatever that wave was, it doesn't seem to have affected us physically.
Cindy: (worried) Jimmy? (Jimmy looks at Cindy) What... happened... here?
(Jimmy looks at where everyone else is and notices that the whole park's changed: some of the rides are damaged, several people are now wearing green and purple outfits or small devices on their foreheads, and there are Yolkians floating all over place. Jimmy looks concerned.)
End of Act One