Speaker
|
Dialogue
|
(The episode starts with Craig, Kelsey and J.P. are feeling sad).
|
Craig
|
I can't believe it's the last day of summer. I don't wanna go to school tomorrow.
|
Kelsey
|
I feel like I've been stabbed by a sword made from sadness.
|
Craig
|
It's not fair, being trapped in a classroom, no adventures in the creek with my best friends. Kelsey! JP! Let me look at you! Let me smell your summer scent before we go away to different schools!
|
("Kelsey crawls to Craig.")
|
("The Stump Kids start crying.")
|
J.P.
|
And smell these books and let me know what they're about also!
|
Kelsey
|
We're not doing your summer reading, JP.
|
Craig
|
Why did you wait until today?!
|
J.P.
|
Because I like living on the edge!
|
("Mortimor grabs Kelsey's phone while The Stump Kids where still crying.")
|
Kelsey
|
Stacks? What's going on?
|
Stacks
|
Come to the library! Quick!
|
("Cuts at the Herkleton Public Library.")
|
Stacks
|
I did it! I read all 87 of the game master's journals, the only written records from the first kids that played in the creek, all the way back in the 1970s.
|
Kelsey
|
I lent them to Stacks last week when I told her about the Tale of the Ancient Ones.
|
Stacks
|
A kid society, just like ours, torn apart by a Terrible capture the flag war. So tragic.
|
J.P.
|
You read all those in a week?
|
Stacks
|
Well, book report season hasn't started yet, so...business has been pretty slow.
|
J.P.
|
Well, I got a couple books that could use some reporting.
|
Stacks
|
You got candy?
|
J.P.
|
Chapter 2. "Duncan was a fine dog, though he twasn't much to look at..."
|
Craig
|
So, Stacks, what'd you find?
|
Stacks
|
Well, this game master was obsessed with keeping score for every game in the creek. But the more I read, the more I noticed something strange. Some of these scores don't make sense. 11 points in a game of HORSE? 30 points in a game of yo-yo? Yo-yo isn't even a game! This game master was meticulous.
|
Kelsey
|
That's a fact!
|
Stacks
|
There's no way these were mistakes.
|
Kelsey
|
Mnh-mnh.
|
Stacks
|
So...I tried something.
|
Kelsey
|
Yeah, you did!
|
Stacks
|
I added up all the weird scores.
|
Kelsey
|
Stacks, no, you didn't.
|
Stacks
|
And that led me...to a library book!
|
Kelsey
|
I knew it!
|
Stacks
|
Read the inscription inside.
|
Craig
|
[ Reading ] "One last game of hide and seek. Only in the summer sun can you find my keep. Reflect the light where the tree strikes three, worthy friends will find the greatest treasure in the creek."
|
Kelsey
|
"A quest?"
|
Kelsey
|
[ Narrating ] Kelsey said with a weary smile. Looks like her weary bones would have a chance to see one more battle before retiring to a desk in Mr. Schulman's 4th grade class.
|
Craig
|
Only in the summer sun can you find my keep...
|
("Craig closes the book.")
|
Craig
|
School starts tomorrow! Which means summer will be over. If we want to find this treasure, we have to do it today.
|
Kelsey
|
I'm in.
|
Stacks
|
Me too.
|
J.P.
|
But... Oh, what about my summer reading?
|
Kelsey
|
The dog bites it. The girl was a ghost. The bridge is a metaphor for childhood.
|
Stacks
|
[ Gasps ]
|
Kelsey
|
I had to do it to him.
|
Craig
|
"Reflect the light where the tree strikes three"...That must mean the time tree.
|
("Cuts at the Time Tree.")
|
Craig
|
The ancients used this tree's shadow like a sundial. 1:00, 2:00, 3:00...Rock. Now we just need something shiny.
|
("Craig brings out a mirror from his purse.")
|
Craig
|
Just like I left him.
|
J.P.
|
Guess we do what the rock says?
|
("Kelsey jumps down.")
|
Kelsey
|
Whoa! This place is...Empty? It's just some bottles and junk.
|
Stacks
|
Did someone beat us to the treasure?
|
J.P.
|
It might be invisible treasure. See if you can smell it. Okay, okay...I'm getting some roots...And dirt...
|
Craig
|
16?
|
("Craig looks behind.")
|
Kelsey
|
No, no, no!
|
Stacks
|
We're trapped.
|
J.P.
|
Help! Somebody!
|
Stacks
|
Is this the game master's idea of a game? Leading innocent kids who enjoy reading and mysteries and using weird books as an excuse to hang out to their dooms.
|
Craig
|
Maybe this is a game. There's a scale and the number 16. I think the game master wants us to make 16 ounces!
|
J.P.
|
Like... us make it? I mean, I drank a lot of juice this morning, but...
|
Craig
|
Huh, he left us a 12-ounce jar and a 20-ounce bottle. I didn't want to think about school on the last day of summer, but I think our only way out of here is math.
|
Kelsey
|
No, Craig! Anything but math!
|
Craig
|
Come on, Craig, just remember common core. Okay, if I fill up the jar, that's 12 ounces. That leaves me with 8 left in the bottle. Let me dump this so I can put the 8 in here.
|
("Craig fills the bottle with water.")
|
Craig
|
Now, if the jar can hold 12, but it's only got 8 in it, there's room for 4 more ounces. So 20 minus 4 equals...16 ounces!
|
J.P.
|
He's a God! A math god...One of the lesser gods, but a god nonetheless.
|
("Craig puts the bottle on the scale.")
|
J.P.
|
Wow, my teacher was right. You can use math in the real world.
|
Craig
|
Come on!
|
Craig
|
P59. This must be another game.
|
Stacks
|
Maybe it's a page number from the book! Page 59. Be... the... friend... ship... tree.
|
Kelsey
|
The friendship tree? Like the poem?
|
J.P.
|
More school, game master! What kind of sick monster are you?
|
Kelsey
|
My dad used to read this poem to me before bed. It's about two friends who had to move away from each other, so they planted a tree so their friendship could still grow!
|
Craig
|
Okay. What are we supposed to do with that?
|
Kelsey
|
We need to be the tree. We need to use the power of friendship to touch the sun!
|
("Cuts to J.P. trying to lift Craig and Stacks.")
|
Kelsey
|
J.P., are you sure you can lift all three of us?
|
J.P.
|
I eat my sandwich crusts so my body is extra fortified!
|
Stacks
|
Come on up, Kels!
|
("Kelsey jumps up.")
|
Kelsey
|
A little higher!
|
Stacks
|
Ohh!
|
Kelsey
|
Ahh! Got it!
|
Craig
|
Kelsey? Stacks?
|
Kelsey
|
We're here! We're okay!
|
Stacks
|
But...Looks like this is another game.
|
Craig
|
Hey! There's a door over here. It won't open. There's no handle!
|
Stacks
|
I see a handle! It's on our side!
|
Kelsey
|
Stacks! Wait!
|
Stacks
|
Ahhh!
|
Craig
|
What happened?
|
("Kelsey pulls Stacks up.")
|
Stacks
|
Oh, you know, I was just trying to walk and I stepped onto a tile and almost fell into a death trap! This is what I get for trying to enjoy my childhood!
|
Kelsey
|
Alright! The floor here has all these tiles with weird symbols on them.
|
Craig
|
Yeah, there's weird drawings on our side too, but...on the wall. Maybe it's the way across?
|
Kelsey
|
Okay, so what's the tile that won't end us?
|
Craig
|
Uh, the first one is like a big curvy shape with a pointy end and a round end. In the center, it's all squiggly but...
|
Kelsey
|
Hey! Craig! This is life and death here! Give us a concise description!
|
J.P.
|
To me, it looks like a snake that's eaten too much pasta.
|
Kelsey
|
Oh, I see it!
|
("Kelsey steps on the tile JP described.")
|
Kelsey
|
Haha! I'm alive!
|
J.P.
|
Alright, game master. It's my turn. Box man.
|
Kelsey
|
Got it!
|
J.P.
|
Hand but no thumbs. Bricks, but they're metaphors!
|
Stacks
|
[ Laughter ]
|
J.P.
|
Skeleton knees! Buttered toast! A baby's imagination!
|
("Stacks opens the door.")
|
Kelsey
|
JP, that was amazing!
|
JP
|
Aww... I am what my guidance counselor calls a visual learner.
|
Craig
|
Ah! What now? The final game.
|
J.P.
|
What is it?
|
Stacks
|
Look! [ Reading ] "In this game, there are winners and losers. We lost the creek, but you are the future..."
|
Craig
|
They must be talking about capture the flag.
|
Stacks
|
[ Reading ] "Pick the things that make the creek the best. If you're wrong, this game will be your last."
|
J.P.
|
Alright, well, let's just do trial and error.
|
("J.P. picks "Power".")
|
J.P.
|
Here we go... power!
|
Craig
|
Somebody turn it off!
|
Kelsey
|
I got it!
|
("Kelsey tries turning "Power" off.")
|
Kelsey
|
You guys alright?
|
Craig
|
Yeah, but we should be careful with this one.
|
Stacks
|
It looks like a game of tic-tac-toe. So I'm guessing we have to choose three things?
|
Craig
|
And there were three trials. The water in the bottles...The creek. It gives us a place to play and be ourselves.
|
("Craig picks "Creek".")
|
Craig
|
Phew! Okay, what was next?
|
Kelsey
|
The friendship tree! The creek would be nothing without friends to make memories with.
|
J.P.
|
And trust! Like how you trusted me with those picture tiles and your hearts.
|
("J.P. picks "Trust".")
|
("A ladder appears with a treasure.")
|
Craig
|
The treasure!
|
Stacks
|
Wow... rags!
|
Kelsey
|
What? Just a couple of rags?
|
J.P.
|
Wait, hold on, Kelsey. These just aren't any rags. Oh, yes, they are.
|
Craig
|
C-T-F...Capture the flag. They're the flags from the ancient game of capture the flag! The game master must've hidden these flags after the war to make sure they didn't fall into the wrong hands.
|
Kelsey
|
Whoa. With these two flags, we could start a war.
|
J.P.
|
So much power in such a low thread count. So scratchy!
|
Kelsey
|
But wait, if the game master was so worried about them falling into the wrong hands, then why didn't he just destroy them?
|
Craig
|
Because it's a game. You can't destroy a game, but you can make sure it's played right.
|
J.P.
|
Wow, the pipes are so happy we solved the puzzle, they're screaming! The pipes weren't excited, they were trying to warn us!
|
Mortimor
|
[ Chriping ]
|
Craig
|
The ladder!
|
("Kelsey opens sewer entrance.")
|
Craig
|
Well, that's it. The end of summer. The last night without homework, the last day all to ourselves...It's over.
|
J.P.
|
Well, at least we have a creek to come back to, unlike those other kids.
|
Kelsey
|
That's true. Let's keep it safe.
|
Craig
|
You're right. See ya tomorrow, creek, after school, When the time tree strikes three.
|
(The episode ends).
|