Cocoon

**"Cocoon"** is the ninth episode in the first season of *The Hollow*.

## Overview

The friends land on an island overrun with mutant spider-people. Adam needs help, and their time is quickly running out.

## Plot

### Mutant Spiders

Having just survived the spaceship crash on the beach, Mira checks Adam's pulse and tells Kai that it is weakening. The crashed spaceship continues to glitch.

A large number of mutant spiders emerges from the wall onto the beach. Kai prepares to blast them with fire, but a red spider covers his hand in silk, smothering the flame. As the spiders close in around them, the red spider covers Kai's other hand with silk, and his fire powers are neutralised. Another spider wraps Adam in silk and drags him up the wall. The red spider offers Mira and Kai an ominous warning as she ascends the wall, and the remaining spiders close in around the teens.

Mira and Kai, now wrapped in silk, are taken into the spider village as prisoners. As they are dragged into one of the caves to be held captive, Mira sees Adam dangling from the ceiling of another cave. The red spider leaves them with another ominous statement and instructs a Spider guard to prevent them from escaping.

Mira whispers to Kai that she saw Adam in another cave. After Mira reassures Kai that they have each other, the pair are visited by the Spider Leader, who shows signs of glitching. The Leader reveals that other humans arrived only yesterday (suggested to be Reeve, Skeet and Vanessa), who attacked the spiders despite claims that they could be trusted, costing the Leader two of his legs. Just before the Leader assails the pair, Kai offers to fix the Leader's missing limbs.

Using some rope and sticks, Kai crafts a prosthetic leg which he affixes to the Leader's stump. Meanwhile, Mira flatters the spider guard into releasing her before knocking him out. Sneaking to the other cave, she finds Adam still unconscious. She encounters Kai and the Leader, who frees and heals Adam with his venom.

### The Glitching Clock

Permitted to leave the spider village, Adam, Mira and Kai seek out the other team, though are hectored by the game's glitching environment. In the forests, they find footprints and follow them while theorising that the only winning the game would keep it from collapsing. Crossing atop a fallen tree to bypass a chasm, a glitch causes their bridge disappear, almost costing Kai his life. Fortunately, he figures out how to fly with his fire abilities, saving himself.

That night, the three friends spot a blur they believe to be Skeet. Undetected, they discover their rivals' camp, where Vanessa, Reeve and Skeet search in vain for the Ironwood Tree. Frustrated, Vanessa and Reeve begin arguing, but are pacified by Skeet. Skeet notices the glitching, but Vanessa dismisses it as "just some bug".

Mira has a plan and takes Kai away. Reeve, Skeet and Vanessa overhear them arguing as the pair walk into their camp. When asked about Adam, Mira states that he "didn't make it," falsely confirming Reeve's theory that the game gives players only one life. Distracted, Reeve almost doesn't see Adam run for the Ishibo, but telekinetically snatches it away.

Mira tries to reason with their rivals that the glitches will soon collapse the game, frightening Skeet. Vanessa does not believe Mira however, and refusing their offer to work together. The melee begins.

### Battle for the Ishibo

Adam and Reeve's duel splits the two elsewhere. Meanwhile Mira tries to reason with Vanessa, but is again refused. Mira then summons a murder of crows to occupy Vanessa while she rejoins Kai, who is outmatched by Skeet's speed until Mira suggests Kai uses his "copter of doom" maneuver. Beaten by Kai and Mira's team up, Skeet is temporarily trapped in a glitching rock. Unnerved by the game's state, Skeet forfeits the fight once he is freed and escapes.

Adam crashes into the scene and rejoins his friends. Thoroughly outmatched by Reeve and the Ishibo, the three aren't sure how to take on the telekinetic. Just as Reeve charges them, so too does Vanessa reappear. Realizing what's about to happen, Adam has his friends duck as he jumps, causing their rivals to collide. The Ishibo is thrown from Reeve's possession and grasp by the airborne Reeve.

Defeated, Vanessa tries one final manipulation, blaming her teammates for their hostility. Kai naturally disbelieves her, and the undeterred Vanessa flies away. Adam prevents Kai from pursuing her, reminding him of their goal to return to Ishibo to the Ironwood Tree. The three friends run away as the entire forest and even the sky shows signs of glitching.

## Characters

In order of appearance:

* Kai
* Adam
* Mira
* Mutant spiders
* Reeve
* Skeet
* Vanessa

## Cast

* Ashleigh Ball as Mira
* Alex Barima as Reeve
* Diana Kaarina as Vanessa
* Jesse Moss as Skeet
* Connor Parnall as Kai
* Adrian Petriw as Adam

*Additional Voices By*

* Peter Kelamis as Spider Leader
* Nicole Oliver as Red Spider

## See Also

 **Season 2** | "Home" • "Hollow Games" • "The Return" • "Puzzled" • "Alchemy" • "Dead End" • "Unbalanced" • "Fang" • "Fire" • "Race"