Nemo Returns: The Restoration of Pashitea's Lyre

Synopsis:  Nemo is grown up and married to Caroline.  They have had 2 children of their own and Nemo has all but forgotten what transpired in Slumberland.   Morpheus and Clarisse have been keeping Slumberland’s nightmares from seeping into the mortal world, and Pasitea sings the mortal world asleep, keeping rogues from piercing her barriers.   

~*~CAST~*~

Nemo Noddington:  

Barbara Noddington:

Phillip Noddington:

Shia Bentley:  

Joan Bentley:

Deanna Bentley: (their daughter)

Caroline Noddington:

Cimon Noddington:  

Isleen Noddington:     

King Morpheus:   

Princess Clarisse:

Prince Osirus:

Pasithea: (their daughter)

Webby: (a banana spider)

Weaver: (an orb spider)

Topor: (a sloth)

Lourdes:  (a Baku)

Sutek: (a nightmare that escapes)

Harv: (a bully)

Beatrice: (a bully who repents)

Xander: (another bully who repents)

Gretta: (Harv’s little girlfriend and a bully)  

Gloomp #1:

Gloomp #2:

Gloomp #3:

Bon Bon:

Flip:   

Professor Rufus Brightly:

‘All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.’--Edgar Allen Poe, ‘A Dream Within a Dream’  

‘And if hope will survive, destiny will arrive.   I’ll bring all your dreams alive for you.’--lyrics from Magic from Xanadu  

Scene 1--Nothing out of the Ordinary

Cimon:  Isleen !  Wake up !   The bus is almost here !  

Isleen:  (with Gabriel the flying squirrel next to her)  No, Cimon...Five more minutes....

I wanna ride the rollercoaster again.   

(Gabriel chitters and wakes her up, and the two bound down the stairs, using the railing instead of walking)

Nemo:  Isleen !  Cimon !  What did we say about sliding down the railing ?

Cimon:  (embarrassed, a bit reluctant)  Not to.  

Caroline:  I know it’s tempting to want to fly down these bannisters but the finish simply can’t handle it.    

Isleen:   Aw, that’s no fair.   

Nemo:   Safety sometimes isn’t fair, but it’s for your own good.  (they both kiss them goodbye, hand them their lunches and are on their way.)   Have a great day at school !  

Isleen/Cimon:   Bye mom !  Bye dad !   Love you !   

(Gabriel flies close with Icarus and nuzzles him affectionately.   They start chasing each other through their hamster tubes as they typically do.)    

Caroline:  Seems like only yesterday we were changing their diapers and singing them lullabies.

Nemo:  (chuckles)  Yes, and now they’re in school, really excelling in almost everything.   

Caroline:   (pauses leans against him and kisses his cheek affectionately)   You know, sometimes I wonder about Slumberland.   It feels like no time truly passed, but we haven’t heard anything from Clairese or Orion.  

Nemo:  I’m certain Clairese is fairing well as a new leader of her people.  Morpheus has gotten older and someday the throne will be entirely hers.  

Caroline:  I wonder if she has family.

Nemo:  I bet she does.  I always thought she and Orion would make lovely parents.   (looks at watch)  Oh, shoot.  I best be off.   The company isn’t going to start without me at the helm.

Caroline:   (nodding)  You’re right.  They’re counting on us.   (kisses deeply)  Love you, Nemo.

Nemo: I love you too, Caroline my darling.

(Scene fade)  

Scene 2--Bullies Will Bully

Cimon:  (comparing drawings with his sister)  Oooh, that one is stunning !  

Isleen:   I like this clown you’ve drawn.   Why do I feel like he’s familiar ?  

Cimon:  I don’t know Isi.   But you’re right.   He gives me a sense of deja vu.

Harv:  What’ya got there, nerds ?  (knocks their art supplies on the floor and crushes their art supplies)  

Gretta:  Some dumb little pathetic drawing of a clown ?   Phhttph.   This isn’t art, it’s not even knock off anime.   (rips up picture)   

Isleen:   No !  Cimon worked really hard on that !    

(They rip up the other pictures and break whatever is left of their art supplies)  

Xander:   Looks like we created our own Jackson Pollack on the floor !   High five !

Beatrice:  Good one, Xander !  (high fives him)

Harv:   These nerds are no challenge...Come on, let’s go.  

Cimon:  (As soon as most of the bullies leave, he starts crying)  

Xander:  I know we participated in that, but we’re tired of following what Harv says.  

Beatrice:   We’re just too scared to do anything because Harv would beat the crap out of us.   

Isleen:   (wiping away angry tears)  How can we trust you ?   You helped them.  

Xander:  We know you’re angry but we’re going to make up for it.    

Beatrice:  We’ll buy you new art supplies.   Xander and I have been longing to stand up against Harv and Gretta and the time to rise is now !   

Xander:  (proudly)  Viva la revolution !   Viva !  Viva !  Viva !  

Cimon:  Oy, vey.    

(The screen then reads ‘Elsewhere in Slumberland…’)  

Scene 3--A Rogue Nightmare Gets Loose

Pasithea:  (playing her lyre in the garden, singing merrily)

(All sorts of butterflies, especially various colors of brown ones, surround Clairese and Orion’s daughter)

Pasithea:  Oh, Webby !   What an exquisite dream catcher  !   That will keep and rogue nightmare at bay.   The silk should defend the mortal world.    The human world will be falling asleep soon.   I will lead them all into their dreams and help them sleep peacefully throughout the night.     

Webby:   My pleasure, M’Lady.

Weaver:  I wove reinforcements around us.   The silk should be strong enough to ward off any rogues that even dare to escape your parents’ and grandfather’s magic.  

Topor:  I sense the humans now descending into slumber.  

Lourdes:   Shall I accompany some into their dreamscapes ?   I can go to many at once, Highness.

Pasithea:  Go, since you like the journey, Lourdes.  

Lourdes:  (bows and grins a bit wolfishly)  I will keep nightmares at bay even though my other selves won’t be as powerful without my initial self keeping all my others selves in line.  (she multiplies and then flickers out of Slumberland’s existence)  

Pasithea:   (playing lyre, wistfully, singing ‘Beautiful Dreamer’)   

Sutek:  (Drawn by the lyre)  What is that glorious melody ?   

(The spider’s defenses are weakened immediately and the webs are broken by a mere touch of Sutek’s razor ‘claws’)  

Pasithea:  What are you doing in the garden ?  How did you escape ?    Webby !   Weaver !  Topor !    

Topor:  (hums a meditative tone and they harmonize with him)   

Sutek:   (with a touch he puts all of them into a static state)  

Pasithea:  What...what did you do to them ?    (Sutek continues to get closer to her)

Stay back !   (the lyre is formed into a stunning sword, something not quite Asian or Arabic but a combination of both, and there are ancient Celtic, Nordic, Hebrew and Welsh runes on it)

Sutek:  (learning how to speak)  Weapon ?   From Music ?  Sutek...confused.   

Pasithea:  Come no further, rogue nightmare !     

Sutek:   (touches the middle of her forehead and puts her in stasis and grasps the sword, which reverts to a lyre)  Hmmm….Sutek will find a use for this.   

(Scene fade)

Scene 4--Summoned by the Future Queen

(Before they depart the repented bullies present a plan they have to get Harv and Gretta to leave them alone for good,)  

Bea:  Ah, super.  So, it’s all settled then.

Cimon:  That it is.   This should work.   You guys are geniuses.  

Xander:  We won’t know if that’s true until tomorrow.   See you around.  

Bea:  Stay frosty, you two !  

Cimon/Isleen: We will !   (They run home and hug their parents tightly.   The squirrels chitter at them and rub up against their cheeks affectionately.   As they happily eat dinner together, they are zapped from their delightful meal to Clairese’s foyer.)  

Clairese:  Oh thank the Stars.  The teleportation worked.  

Nemo:  Princess Clarisse !   What’s happening ?

Orion:  (gravely)  As you can see, it is worse than we feared.

Clairese:  Even though we did our best to fight off rogue nightmares, one escaped the blast of my father’s sceptre and our magic.   It took what abilities we had to transport you to us.  

Caroline:   Why is almost everything frozen in place ?

Morpheus:  See, that’s just the thing...the rogue nightmare.  He is the cause.  

Flip:  We had no idea he’d be this powerful.   

Clarisse:   He purloined my daughter’s harp.   Apparently the rogue’s touch solidified her.   

Isleen:  How terrible !  

Cimon:   How can we help ?  Maybe our martial arts skills can aide you.   

Isleen:  We’re both black belts, Your Highness.   

Clairese:   I see courage radiating from you both.   

Orion:   I am lending you my dream sword.  

Morpheus:  And my scepter.    

Clairese:   Here is my quiver and a set of nunchucks.   

Isleen:   Woah, nifty !   

Cimon:   Swell !     Thank you, M’Lady.  

Nemo:   We’d better start moving.   

(scene shift)    

Scene 5--Following Sutek’s Trail of Destruction

Cimon:  Looks like Sutek followed this pathway.   

Isleen:  Dear God, it looks positively desolate.   How sad.  

(Some homeless Gloomps come up to them, whimpering and crying, pulling at their clothing, begging them in their murmur/mutter language that their homes have been taken from them.  Everything seems to be frozen in place, dead or dying.   The harp has been turned into an ‘axe’ with spikes and flames surrounding it.)

Sutek:  I’ll watch everything here burn.   Burn it all down.   Burn it to the ground.   

(in the midst of turning into a firebrand, Isleen throws a rock at Sutek)  

Isleen:  Hey, you !   Quit starting fires, you little arsonist !  

Sutek:   Who dares ?   You are insulting Sutek…

Cimon:   We don’t care if you’re the King of England !    Stop this immediately.

Nemo:  No one wants this to come to a fight.   Let’s talk this over.  

Sutek:  ( hands balled into fists ignite)   Imprisoned too long… No longer oppressed !  (he tries throwing a blunt uppercut Cimon’s way but he ducks it in a beautiful Matrix-like fashion.  Sutek gets close lined by Caroline.)  

Caroline: (winces)  Oh my Gosh...I hope I didn’t hurt him too badly.  

Isleen:  You’re worried if he’s hurt ?   (shakes head)  Mom, sometimes I just don’t get you.   

Sutek:  (starting to wake up)   Slumberland belongs to me and me alone...It will be Sutek’s kingdom.  

Nemo: Not if we have anything to say about it.   

(A massive battle, fought with weapons and martial arts plays out against familiar music originating from The Badlands series from TNT.   Sutek fights valiantly and uses the harp as an axe, quite literally, to try and defeat his foes.  It is no use.   At long last, he is struck by an arrow since he tries to slaughter Isleen, but Isleen escapes the dagger’s sting.)  

Sutek:  How...Can it be ?   No….And yet...I was so close…

(Sutek’s breathing becomes shallow, but he has no fear now….)

Sutek:  Maybe Sutek will be reborn.  May the Cosmos be ever kind to him.    

(his form returns to stardust and sand.   Fairly soon those who were frozen awaken, including Pasitea.)  

Scene 6--Slumberland Awakens

Pasithea:  (her lyre floats back to her, completely restored as if nothing happened)  My lyre...it’s in one piece !    (to the heroes and heroines) Thank you.  I would’ve done it myself, but he overpowered all of us.   It seems that we need to brush up on our technique.   

Caroline:  You’re being too harsh on yourself, majesty.   There’s no way you could’ve predicted Sutek would’ve been that powerful.   

Nemo:   I’m sure your mom and dad are going to be proud of you regardless.   

(In fact, having mentioned the family, they come out and escort the heroes in for a feast.  Everyone is having such a fabulous time they almost forget they have to return home.)

Cimon:  It’s a school night !  

Pasithea:  That’s a pity.   I wanted you all to stay a bit longer.   Oh !   I have something for you all.  A way to keep in contact with me.   I also gives you the ability to travel to Slumberland whenever you like without my direct teleportation.  

(Her animals help place the moonstone tear shaped necklaces over the necks and kisses Cimon on the cheek.)  

Pasithea:  Thank you for everything.   If you want to return, just clutch your amulets and you’ll be returned in the wink of an eye.   

Isleen:  Unbelievable.  

Nemo:  (bowing)  Glad to be of service again, m’ Princess.

Clairesse:   Always a pleasure to have such courageous souls.  You are burning fires, glimmering in the darkness.    Never let that light be extinguished.  

Caroline:  We won’t Clairesse.  

Morpheus:  Safe travels to you all !   

(They all clutch their amulets and return to earth, fast asleep, contented and snuggling under their covers.  The flying squirrels are sleeping soundly, undisturbed.   The next day dawns.)

Scene 7--Bullied No Longer

(At school, their main nemeses come to hector them.)

Harv:  If it isn’t the artsy fartsy nerds creating their trash again.

Gretta:  I think we should burn all this trash in a fitting tribute to how terrible it really is.  

Beatrice:  Both of you should be ashamed of yourselves.   Personally, we all think you’re jealous of Cimon’s work.   

Deanna:  (whispering to her other friends)  No, I can’t believe it !   Some of the bullies are actually standing up to the top dog of jerks, Harv and Gretta themselves  !  

Harv:   Whatever.   You traitors can have these imbeciles.   Gretta and I have no time to hang with plebes.   

(They walk away in a huff, never looking back.)  

Xander:  (wipes imaginary sweat from his brow)  Whew.  What a burden shed !  Am I right ?

(The others laugh and joke with each other.)  

Cimon:  I never thought you would actually become our friends.

Isleen:  Yeah !   What you did was really brave.  

Beatrice:  I learned it’s wrong to insult others just because you might not understand them.  Now I know we’re much more alike than I thought !   

(School carries on at a usual pace.   Our bullies are no longer an issue.   When Cimon and Isleen go to bed, they clutch their pendants tight.)  

Cimon:  You thinking what I’m thinking ?

Isleen:  You know it, bro.   Off to Slumberland we go !  

Nemo:   (narrating)  And such it has been for every night since the defeat of Sutek.   The Slumberlandians grow more formidable in time.   Then came the day I saw my son marry the Princess.   I had anticipated that the first time their eyes met after her rescue.  I knew it had been love from the start, and it only blossomed.   We had always been a part of Slumberlandian royalty but now we were a permanent part of it.   We keep the watch between the waking and sleeping worlds.   Thank us for keeping your minds cleared of roguish nightmares that might try to wreck havoc on your peaceful sleep.   We’re only doing our jobs, and no thanks is necessary.   It’s simply an act of unconditional love and kindness.     

(We see Cimon’s jovial celebration unfold with pomp and circumstance, Mendelssohn's Wedding March playing in the background and Bon Bon comforting a verklempt Flip.   Pashitea’s creatures attend the wedding, shedding joyful tears of joy.  Roll credits, wedding album to follow, and a huge, goofy family photo at the end reading ‘THE END’ in a curly, decorative font, bedecked with stars and meteorites.)