SCENE 1 - Dark Room We open on static. The video is bad, with muffled sounds, a glitchy screen, and a shaky camera. It’s dark, and most everything is undefinable in the blackness. A dark figure appears through the haze and goes up to the camera. Unknown Figure (to camera): “There’s no time for an explanation; they're looking for me.” The video clears a little, and we see it’s a member of the scratch team, @ballyisback. He glances around, nervous. ballyisback: “This message is going out to everyone. The end of scratch as we know it is approaching. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true. I’ve done my best to help, but my hands are tied behind my back. I’ve sent out an item as a last-ditch resort; it holds enough creativity to at least slow them down.” The video cracks, then clears. Footsteps pound in the background. He glances toward the sound. ballyisback: “I gotta hurry—the only way for someone to do this is—” A shout is heard, and the video camera is knocked over. For a second, it’s chaos, but we hear a final shout. ballyisback: “Three weeks till the deletion!” The video turns black, and we hear no more. SCENE 2 - SCRATCHER MEET-UP SPOT (CAFE, POPULAR PROJECT, COMMENTS SECTION, ETC.) The room is packed, yet completely quiet. A TV is in the corner, and it only shows static. It turns back to a project that was playing. The entire room burst into frantic chatter. Scratcher Extra 1#: “It’s a joke! April fools!” Scratcher Extra 2#: “They wouldn’t go this far—something’s wrong!” This kind of mindless argument continues for a minute. In the chaos, @FrenzyTV steps up. FrenzyTV: (yelling): “SILENCE!” The room turns silent at his yell. FrenzyTV: “Whether this is real or not, don’t we all care enough about scratch to check it out? I plan to figure this all out. If anyone else cares to join, speak up now.” His words echo around the room. Scratchers stare, but no one talks. We hear the scrape of a chair. @Clover_Animations stands up. Clover_Animations: “I’m in.” Her statement inspires others. A couple of others stand. BeagleBagelz: “I’m in.” Reubeo: “Me, too!” RedAndBlue999: “Count me in!” SupperConnerMan: “I’m in too.” After they stand, silence once again takes over. A couple of scratchers look down, and others shake their heads a little. FrenzyTV: “Is that really all?” No one speaks. FrenzyTV: Fine. We’ll find this thing ourselves. The group of six walks out, leaving others to argue among themselves. SCENE 3 - VILLAIN’S OFFICE It’s a dark hallway with an open door. It all has the same style as the dark room we saw in scene one. A large black chair sits in front of a desk inside the room (we can only see the back of the chair). Dark music plays softly in the background. A dark voice echoes from the chair. Unknown Figure: Bring him in. Two masked figures drag someone into the room. The prisoner wears a bag over his head, muffling his screams. The masked guards tie him to a chair. Unknown Figure: “You are dismissed.” The guards nod and leave. The chair spins around slowly, squeaking. The unknown voice is Scratch Cat. He stands and approaches the prisoner. He rips off the bag. The prisoner is ballyisback. ballyisback: “Huh? Oh—um—hey, Scratch Ca—” Scratch Cat: “I thought I could trust you.” Scratch Cat’s voice is dark. It starts low, but gets louder and madder with every word. Scratch Cat: “You decided to go behind my back and ruin everything.” Ballyisback: “Only because people’s lives were threatened!” Scratch Cat walks back to his desk and pulls a code block from under it. ballyisback: “What are you gonna do now, ban me?” He is trying to be fierce, but he knows the power that scratch holds. He is practically quaking with fear. Scratch Cat: “No. I know a much… better way to handle this.” Scratch Cat comes closer again and shoves the block into Ballyisback’s face. The screen goes black. A gasp, and a scream cut short. The camera fades back. Scratch Cat kicks over the chair; it’s empty. Scratch Cat: “GUARDS!” Guards flood the room. Scratch Cat: “Get this chair out of my office.” The masked figures comply. One lingers for an extra second. Guard 1#: “Sir, what about the item?” Scratch Cat: “Delete every project… until you find it.” The guard nods and hurries out of the room. Scratch Cat drops the tool on the floor and returns to his chair. The camera zooms in on the block. It says: Delete. SCENE 4 - COLLAGE Each member of the team gets their own small segment, each one recruiting another person or searching for a project. In between each, we see a growing pile of random objects, and more and more projects getting deleted from the home page. SCENE 4.1 - FRENZYTV FrenzyTV leaves another project, his hands stacked high with random objects. He dumps them all on the ground, shoving them this way and that, even kicking one. He shakes his head sadly and marks the project as EMPTY.
SCENE 4.2 - CLOVER_ANIMATIONS Clover_Animations is sitting at a desk, scribbling furiously on a piece of paper. The screen zooms in, and she holds the paper up. It’s a thumbnail advertising the scratcher’s campaign to find the item. The screen cuts to her, waving a flyer around, with multiple others strung up on various surfaces. SCENE 4.3 - BEAGLEBAGLEZ A scratch billboard is full of notices, things about new studios, featured projects, newspaper clippings, stuff like that. BeagleBagelz approaches quietly and peels off a picture, replacing it with Clover’s campaign flyer. He drops the poster to the wind, where we glimpse a WANTED BY THE SCRATCH TEAM, BANNED, OR UNBANNED sign with the team's face on it. SCENE 4.4 - REUBEO & REDANDBLUE999 RedAndBlue999 and reubeo are talking earnestly next to a scratcher. RedAndBlue999: “Millions of projects have gotten deleted from scratch; it’s all going to come down until someone finds that object.” The scratcher’s eyes widen. reubeo: “It’s true, we need as much help as possible!” The scratcher hesitates, then nods. RedAndBlue999 and reabou grin. SCENE 4.5 - SUPERCONNORMAN SuperConnorMan is hidden in a dark project, hiding behind a barrel. He glances around nervously, panting. A bright flashlight beam shines on him, and he ducks back behind. The light grows brighter, and voices sound. Two hands grab him, and he screams. We hear a gravelly voice, it’s a guard. Guard 2#: “Someone’s poking around where they don’t belong, eh?” SuperConnorMan hits/elbows/kneeds/slaps him in the face, and the guard drops him. SuperConnorMan races into the darkness. SCENE 5 - NEWS STUDIO We come in on a classic news studio. A theme plays, and a news reporter appears. Reporter: “Millions of projects and scratchers have been reported missing. Extra patrols from Scratch HQ are roaming the site, likely tied to a mysterious video from a couple of days ago warning of the end of Scratch. Even though most people laughed at first, more and more people are starting to believe this video, which was once thought to be an April Fool's Day joke. A dedicated team of scratchers is determined to find the mysterious item mentioned in this video, and is described by the scratch team as fugitives, but most believe they are the only thing stopping the end as we know it. Help them if you can. Please make sure to stay safe and not get deleted.” SCENE 6 - DARK AND SPOOKY PROJECT (SIMILAR TO, BUT NOT THE ONE FROM SCENE 4.5) A huddled figure of scratchers is making its way slowly through the project, whispers echoing faintly around them. We zoom in and see their faces. It’s the team. FrenzyTV: “Spread out, guys, look for anything and everything that could be the item.” The group follows his order and pans out. Suddenly, Scratch888888889 (a new member of the team) hits a code block in the darkness. An alarm starts up, and a black voice begins to rush closer and closer to the group. FrenzyTV: “The project is getting deleted! Run!” The group rushes back the way they came, but the exit is nowhere to be found. SuperConnorMan turns around. The void is almost there. He dashed back—away from the exit. Clover_Animations jumps forward to try to grab him, but he lurches away. He grabs a code block and thrusts it forward, and it goes into the void. For a second, the void stops, then continues. He continues to throw more and more blocks and scripts into the void. He picks up a MOVE 10 STEPS block and uses it on the rest of the team. They are propelled forward just before the void reaches the exit. SuperConnorMan is lost in the void. Scratch888888889: “This is all my fault, I should’ve been more careful.” FrenzyTV: “It’s not your fault. It could’ve been any of us; it was bound to happen eventually.” Helicopters swarm overhead, and the group is forced to retreat. SCENE 7 - SCRATCHERS HQ Our group of rebel scratchers is surrounding a table, each one more downcast than the next. BeagleBagelz: “As you know, a man was lost today; he sacrificed himself so we could continue our mission to restore Scratch to its former glory. Things may seem bleak, but we are the last line of defense.” Another scratcher, cooudcool, stands up. cooudcool: “Your way doesn’t work. Hiding hasn’t helped! We’re losing. Your mysterious item doesn’t exist! The only hope we have is striking them first. Anyone who cares enough not to risk anyone else, follow me.” He storms out of the room. A couple of scratchers exchange glances, then stand up and follow. FrenzyTV looks around at who’s left. FrenzyTV: “Let’s look through everything again, maybe we missed something.” The remaining group gathers all the items and stacks them. FrenzyTV: “Well, let’s get searching.” PART ONE OVER CREDITS ROLL
