The Administration (episode)/Transcript

(Lloyd and Arin jump out of a portal and find themselves at the Administration.)
Arin: Still in one piece. That's a good thing.
Lloyd: Where did the suits with the Core — go?
(Arin uses his grappling hook to get them to a higher vantage point, and they study the area around them.)
Arin: Okay, you've traveled way more than I have. Where are we?
Lloyd: No idea. Better ask someone.
(They approach a queue of people.)
Arin: Hope this isn't the line for the bathroom.
Lloyd: (To a random man.) Excuse me, what is this place?
Applicant: Yeah, I know the Administration can be confusing. You're in Block AA sub-block 99T 53 Stroke 34-7 minus the square root of 453.
Arin: Wait, the Administration? What's the Administration?
Applicant: Uh, it's only just the center of all the bureaucracy in the world. You know, permits, licenses, permits to get licenses, licenses to apply for permits, everything.
Lloyd: We're obviously new here and could use some help. Would you mind showing us around?
Applicant: No way. Uh-uh. Can't leave the line. I've been here for way too long.
Arin: How long is way too long?
Applicant: Just my entire adult life. I took over from my dad, who took over from his dad before him. Now I'm only a few thousand days away from my turn. (He blocks a woman trying to cut before him.) When my grandfather first got in this line, he knew this moment would someday come.
Lloyd: Wow, you must be in line for something really important, then.
Applicant: (He shrugs.) Sure. I mean, knowledge about the purpose of this line was lost, like, a generation ago. But whatever it's for, it's got to be important, 'cause we've devoted our entire lives to it.
Arin: Are you kidding me?
(Two agents approach Lloyd and Arin.)
Allen: Never seen you two before. You have authorization to be here?
Underwood: Present your permission formsss, now!
Lloyd: Forms? We, uh, might not have them.
(The two agents aim their guns at the ninja.)
Allen: No forms, no permission. And no permission is...
Underwood: Unacceptable!
----
(In the Wyldness, Kai and Wyldfyre tend to Heatwave.)
Wyldfyre: Why isn't Heatwave healing faster? Are you sure the crystal goo is still working, Kai?
Kai: Things like this take time.
Wyldfyre: No, they don't! Heatwave has to get better, and we have to get that Dragon Core back to the other ninja, and this is taking forever! Ugh!
Kai: Impatience makes everything worse, Wyldfyre. It clouds your judgment and you make bad decisions. Trust me, I know from experience.
Wyldfyre: But we can't just do nothing!
Kai: You wanted to learn some of Master Wu's techniques? Try this: moving through forms. It'll help you focus, to be in the moment. (He demonstrates.)
Wyldfyre: Standing in one place moving super slow? I told you, I can't do nothing!
(Heatwave growls and rolls his eyes.)
Kai: This isn't nothing. You'll see.
Wyldfyre: (She tries to imitate his movements, but keeps getting distracted.) Ugh! I can't do this! I can't stop worrying about Heatwave! He's never been hurt like this before.
Kai: When you're worried is exactly when this is most helpful. You are not your emotions. Focus on your form. Let the emotions pass through you.
Wyldfyre: You pass through you! You're patient. I'm not. Remember?
Kai: (He laughs.) Okay, no one has ever called me patient. I'm the hothead, in more ways than one. But when I lost my sister to the sea... long story. Master Wu had me practice my forms. I was never as good as the others, but ninja never quit. So I kept going until it worked enough to calm me down. And if it can work for me, it can work for anyone, even you, because you kind of remind me of someone.
Wyldfyre: Who? Master Wu?
Kai: No. Me! You remind me of me. (He sighs.) So if you're ready, let's try again.
----
(In the Administration, the agents charge up their guns.)
Arin: So then the spirit guy told us to go to the weirdo garden, and the snail guy there let us have the Dragon Energy Core, but —
Allen: You're stalling. Stalling is forbidden, unless you have an authorized stalling permit.
Underwood: Your permission forms, now!
(A tube capsule descends near Arin and drops two rolled-up sheets of paper.)
Lloyd: What is that?
Arin: They look like... permission forms?
(Allen and Underwood take the papers.)
Allen: Ah, so you are authorized to be here.
Lloyd: We are?
Underwood: According to these... wait a minute.
(They compare the drawings on the paper to Lloyd and Arin.)
Allen: Yep, definitely looks like you two. Your papers are in order. (He stamps the papers, hands them back, and the two agents leave.)
Underwood: Ugh, now we're gonna have to go file suspected-some-people-but-it-turned-out-fine paperwork. It'll take ages.
Arin: That was weird. Who sent us those permission forms?
Lloyd: Beats me. But we need to find where those other two agents took the Dragon Core, fast.
----
(In their cubicle, Underwood reads a rulebook while Allen stamps some papers.)
Underwood: Hold it! Regulation 474 Alpha 1! Permission forms are supposed to have photos, not drawings!
Allen: Those two tricked us! They weren't authorized!
Underwood: They gave us... (She gasps.) Fake forms!
Allen: Ah, wait. We have to fill out trick-by-fake-forms forms first.
Underwood: No time. Just fill out a defaulting-of-paperwork-to-a-later-date form.
----
(Elsewhere in the Administration, Lloyd and Arin look for the Core.)
Lloyd: Excuse me? Has anyone seen a glowing object about this big?
(No one answers.)
Arin: Don't everybody answer all at once.
Admin Worker 1: We are not authorized to discuss objects, items, gadgets, or any other such whatsits. Not without —
Lloyd: Permission forms?
Admin Worker 1: Stamped and notarized.
(They leave. Another tube drops off a piece of paper in front of them.)
Lloyd: Another message? "Duck."
Arin: Like, quack quack?
Lloyd: No, like duck!
(They duck behind a printer.)
Allen: We need to find those form-fakers!
Lloyd: Who keeps sending these things?
Arin: Someone who knows what they're doing, I hope. (Another tube shows up next to Arin, he takes the message.) "Turn right and go straight."
(They follow the instructions and are given another piece of paper.)
Lloyd: Quick, hide!
(They hide in a cubicle.)
Admin Worker 2: What are you two doing?
Arin: We're... gathering pencils. For sharpening. Got any?
Admin Worker 3: Indeed we do! (They hold out their pencils.) Wow, there hasn't been a good sharpening in years!
(They leave with the pencils.)
Lloyd: The directions say "right, right, left, right, then another right to Mail Cubicle 45-67A. Got that?
Arin: Sorry, didn't hear you. Trying to find a pencil sharpener. Let me know if you see one.
Allen: All agents, be on the lookout for two suspects carrying fraudulent permission forms. Repeat: fraudulent forms!
(Multiple agents peer out from their cubicles. Underwood faxes wanted posters to every printer.)
Underwood: Everyone's on high alert. No way the unpermitted can escape now!
(Lloyd and Arin nearly run into them, but hide just in time. Allen and Underwood turn around suspiciously, but quickly move on.)
Allen: Mm. It'll be impossible for them to evade our constant vigilance.
(Lloyd and Arin continue running. Arin spots his picture on a poster in a printer.)
Arin: Aw, man. That doesn't even look like me.
Lloyd: Mail Cubicle 45-67A. This is it.
(They open the door to the cubicle to find Zane sitting inside.)
Zane: Excellent. You have arrived.
Lloyd and Arin: Zane?
Zane: Thank you for taking the risk of infiltrating the Administration to rescue me.
Lloyd: Uh, Zane, not that we don't love you, but we didn't even know you were missing. When we left to get our Dragon Energy Core, you were still at the monastery. (He uses his powers to break Zane's handcuff.)
Arin: Yeah. How'd you end up here?
Zane: I was continuing my work, attempting to activate the teleportation gate of unknown origin beneath the monastery, but I was getting nowhere. However, my efforts did not go unnoticed.
Past Underwood: We've been alerted to too many failed portal activation attempts at this location. Violation of code 69/17. You'll be coming with us.
Zane: In retrospect, I should not have gone with them. Their manager detained me here in a mail room to work sorting parcels while my violation is being processed.
Lloyd: I've never heard of this place, but they act like they have authority over everything in the world.
Zane: It may be helpful for you to know, the Administration is a region within the former Realm of Madness.
Lloyd: Okay, yeah. That does explain a lot. So their forms and permits don't actually affect anything?
Zane: The only thing they are effective at is gross incompetence. But they take their imagined importance with a deadly level of seriousness. They speak of a leader called the Administrator, but as far as I can tell, no one has actually seen this person. I must ask, if you did not know I was here, who did you think was sending the messages in the tube capsules?
Lloyd: I don't know. It was a mystery.
Zane: It is unwise to blindly follow mysterious messages.
Arin: So you drew that terrible picture of me?
Zane: It is actually a very good likeness of you. I do have a photographic memory. (Zane spots Arin holding pencils in his hands.) Why are you carrying pencils?
Arin: They need to be sharpened?
Lloyd: We followed two agents here who took the Dragon Core we were after. We have no idea what they've done with it.
Zane: I may be able to locate it. (He types on a computer.) Oh, no. The Core has been declared an extremely dangerous Class B artifact, and is slated for immediate destruction. It is impossible to reach the demolition level in time to retrieve it, unless we use the tubes. (He types in a computer and summons a large tube above them.)
Lloyd: Are they safe for people?
Zane: No.
(Suddenly, Allen and Underwood barge in.)
Allen: Freeze! Under regulation 78-34B, I hereby detain you for —
Arin: I'm sorry! I couldn't find a sharpener! (He throws the pencils at the agents.) 
Underwood: What the —? (She and Allen slip on the pencils.) 
(In the distraction, Zane throws Arin and Lloyd up the tube and enters it himself.) 
Allen: They're headed to the Department of Demolitions!
Underwood: They could wreak havoc there. I can't shut the tube down, but I can split them up and reroute some of them elsewhere. (She changes the ninja's destinations on the computer.)
----
(Lloyd lands in the Department of Demolitions.)
Lloyd: Arin? Zane? (He watches a Nindroid operate a mech to carry the Core to the conveyor belt for destruction.) The Dragon Core!
----
(Zane lands on an unknown level.)
Zane: Interesting.
----
(Arin lands in the Department of Reassignment. He watches Cloud Kingdom monks on a conveyor belt being sent through a portal.)
Prentis: There! We've ported them off to wake up in the lands formerly known as the Cursed Realm, which is where they're originally from. Probably.
Arin: Excuse me? What is this place?
Prentis: Department of Reassignment. We deal with interstitial space bubbles.
Arin: Space bubbles?
Prentis: A form of stasis. During the Merge, some people were shuffled into pockets of the Nothing Space between what used to be the realms.
Arin: And you find these people?
Prentis: Not on purpose. But when teleporting, Administration Agents sometimes bump into pockets of these Nothing Space Merge refugees. It becomes our department's job to send them back where they originally came from.
Arin: How do you know where they came from?
Prentis: Well, best guesses. It's all fine, probably. We keep records. (He sends Awakened Warriors through the portal.) Off to Cloud Kingdom, which is probably, almost definitely, their home. Okay, that finishes up that bubble.
Arin: Wait, my mom and dad, they went missing in the Merge. Did you find them and assign them somewhere?
Prentis: Young man, we've found so many random people that — hey, who are you anyway? Do you have authorization to be in here?
Arin: Oh, sure! I keep my authorization over there, and I'll go get it now. (He runs off.)
Prentis: He's not coming back, is he? Manager! We've got a situation!
(A door opens and Jay emerges, looking annoyed.)
Jay: What is it, Sub-Agent Prentis?
Prentis: Sir, a strange kid was in here asking questions. He just ran off.
Jay: Did he need realm reassignment?
Prentis: Uh, no.
Jay: Then does this sound like our department's problem?
Prentis: I, uh... no, Agent Walker.
Jay: Then bothering me was?
Prentis: Was... a waste of your time?
Jay: Correct. Now, excuse me. I've got a video g— uh, some paperwork to file. (He leaves.)
----
(In the Department of Demolitions, Lloyd knocks the Nindroid agent out of the mech with Spinjitzu and uses it to retrieve the Core.)
Lloyd: That was close.
(An alarm goes off.)
Alarm voice: Highly dangerous Class B artifact stolen on the demolition level.
Denholt: We have him. Move in and get that artifact!
----
(In the Wyldness, Kai and Wyldfyre go through forms.)
Wyldfyre: (She sighs.) Okay, I'll admit. This isn't not working. (Heatwave licks her from behind.) Heatwave? You're better! Of course you are. I can tell. Oh, you're all healed!
Kai: Then it's time to go. Let's get this Core back to the monastery. (The Core in his hand flickers.) Wait. This isn't right.
Wyldfyre: What? It's a fake?
Kai: Where did the real Core go?
Kai and Wyldfyre: Dorama!
----
(At the Administration, Lloyd is surrounded by agents.)
Denholt: Surrender that Class B artifact, or I will destroy you!
(Suddenly, Zane bursts into the demolition level in a car.)
Lloyd: Zane?
Zane: Lloyd, I suggest a hasty exit.
Denholt: Get that artifact!
(Lloyd and Zane smash a wall and escape through the office cubicles, nearly crashing into multiple agents.)
Zane: Please! Disperse! (Agents shoot at them from ahead, and he notices a button in the car.) Intriguing. (He presses it, causing the vehicle to spin.) Most advantageous!
(A Munce agent tries to pull Lloyd out of the mech, but Arin arrives and throws him onto a copy machine.)
Lloyd: I was wondering where you went.
Zane: If we want to reopen the portal that brought you here, we will need a special punch card!
Allen: Activate the energy defenses!
(Laser blockades appear all around them.)
Lloyd: Zane, go get that punch card! We'll run defense!
(Zane drives off and approaches a group of hiding agents.)
Admin Worker 1: What are you doing? Take cover! There's a dangerous Class B artifact in a thief's hands!
Zane: I need a level 3 portal access punch card right now!
Admin Worker 1: Well, good luck. I can't give you a level 3 without forms A1022 through C1101 filled out, in triplicate. (He hands Zane a stack of forms.)
(Lloyd and Arin run from agents in their mech.)
Arin: Get us closer to the grids.
Lloyd: Closer to the laser grids?
Arin: Yeah. I wanna try something. (He detaches his smaller mech from Lloyd's, leaps through the gaps in the lasers, and destroys the laser devices.)
Lloyd: How did you make that happen?
Arin: I thought this might be a two-in-one mech. I heard about these when I was a mech street racer, but I've never actually seen one.
(Zane completes the forms at extremely high speeds.)
Zane: Forms completed! (He returns the stack of forms.) You will find these are in order.
Admin Worker 1: I have never seen form skills like this before. You're a form genius. (He gives Zane a punch card.)
Zane: Thank you. (He speeds off in his car.)
Admin Worker 1: Wow.
Zane: (To Lloyd.) Portal punch card acquired!
Lloyd: Lead the way!
Zane: (He uses the punch card to open a portal.) The portal is open! Hurry!
(Lloyd and Arin enter the portal. Zane spins his car to destroy the portal generator before following suit.)
Allen: We'll have to explain all this.
Underwood: So much paperwork.
----
(In the Mother Garden, Zant-Tanz balances rocks in a tower when Lloyd, Arin, and Zane enter through a portal, knocking over the tower.)
Zane: I apologize. I did not mean to ruin your work.
Zant-Tanz: Eh, just means I get to enjoy doing it all over again. (He chuckles.)
(The three ninja leave on the Destiny's Bounty, waving goodbye to the Mucoids.)
Lloyd: Okay, that was a whole thing, but we managed to get our Dragon Core, and I'm sure the others got their Cores too.
----
(Back at the monastery, the ninja excluding Nya's team regroup.)
Wyldfyre: We didn't get our Core.
Kai: Yeah. Dorama's probably brought it to the Empress by now.
Arin: What about Nya and Sora?
Kai: They aren't back yet. No idea if they found theirs or not.
Lloyd: Rapton tried to get this one and failed. I have no idea what the Empress would want all three for.
Kai: Whatever it is, it can't be good.
Arin: Her having even one of them keeps us from stopping the MergeQuakes and saving the world.
Zane: The best course of action now would be to safely leave our Core here, and retrieve Kai and Wyldfyre's Core from Imperium.
Lloyd: And hope Nya and Sora are heading back here with theirs.
----
(They arrive at Imperium and watch it from afar.)
Arin: Imperium. Can't say I missed it.
Lloyd: I hope getting in and out will be easier than the last time.
(A shockwave emanates from within the city.)
Kai: I'm thinking it's not gonna be.
(End of the episode. For more information, click here.)
Category:Transcript
Category:2023
Category:Season 1 (Dragons Rising)