The Last Contestant — Episode 15: “Broken Lights and Black Lies”
[INT. RUDY’S HOUSE – LIVING ROOM – NIGHT]
(Rudy, Quibble, and Stix sit on the couch, the broken VHS tape in pieces on the table. The TV emits faint static. Princess is missing.)
STIX (low tone)
“She’s gone, right? Like… dead-dead?”
RUDY (quietly)
“I don’t know. But I didn’t feel her leave. That’s the part that’s scaring me.”
QUIBBLE (small voice)
“She screamed before that tape ended. I heard it too. Like something pulled her in!”
[INT. PRINCESS’ ROOM – ABANDONED]
(The camera slowly pans across a dark, quiet room. Princess’ wand is left on the bed. Her crown is on the floor, cracked. Her plush collection is gone. Her aura is completely… absent.)
[INT. SKY ABOVE HAPPY TOWN – DAWN]
(The sun rises. Then… flickers. Like a lightbulb. The sky glitches faintly.)
NARRATOR (V.O.)
“You ever feel like your reality has hiccups? Like it’s sneezing without warning? Yeah. That’s what today feels like. BUT NOT FOR ME, HAHAHAHAHA!!! Still, that’s sad that they have to go through this everyday and don’t tire not once...”
[INT. TOWN HALL – DAY]
(The main cast sits around a long table. Zora, Wade, Stix, Carrie, Rudy, and Quibble. Princess’ seat is empty. The lights dim for no reason.)
ZORA
“Something’s wrong with the sky. I can feel it in the air. Like… the sun’s lying to us.”
QUIBBLE
”W-Dah—What…???”
WADE (grimly)
“There’s a tear in the light spectrum. You can see it when you close your eyes.”
CARRIE
“Skully said he saw something last night. Like a shape in the dark. Watching the moon ‘bleed.’”
[FLASHBACK – ZORA’S DREAMSCAPE – NIGHT PRIOR]
(Zora astral projected while asleep, drifting over Happy Town. The dream is hazy, discolored. In the distance, she sees two beings talking: Queen Empress Vyntra… and a man of shifting darkness and refracted rainbow light.)
ZORA (V.O.)
“He was like… negative space wrapped in radiance. His voice broke physics! Literally. And he mentioned Princess... Said she was ‘claimed.’ Said ‘the Gem’ was awakening.”
[INT. MYSTERIOUS REALM – BLACK SKY, GLOWING GROUND]
(Princess stands inside a twisting spiral of darkness and glass. She’s unconscious. Hovering before her is the new villain: Nyroth—a being of pure Light and Darkness, wearing a torn coat and a halo cracked in half.)
NYROTH
“Vyntra failed. The girl was too soft. But you… you’re a brighter match. You burn with imbalance. Hmph! Let’s peel you into something more useful.”
(He touches her forehead. Her eyes twitch.)
We cut to Happy Town—Nightfall.
(Lights begin to short-circuit all over town. Children cry. The moon phases between crescent and full every few seconds. Time begins to skip.)
CARRIE:
”Oh fuck no-“
RUDY (sighs deeply)
“…I felt her. Princess. She’s not dead. She’s being rewritten by someone or something but I don’t know who or what.”
QUIBBLE
“By who?”
RUDY
“Are you fucking with me right now?!”
STIX
“Someone worse than Semi. Someone that even Vyntra hated. I know this because—just like Rudy.. the cosmos is speaking to me too.”
[INT. VYNTRA’S OLD SPACESHIP – HIDDEN VAULT – NIGHT]
(The crew sneaks into the wreckage of Vyntra’s spaceship, searching for answers. They find her recorded message.)
VYNTRA (HOLOGRAM)
“If you’re hearing this, he’s returned. Nyroth. The Paradox Rival. He’s what happens when light betrays its own shadow. He’s a god by the way. Keep the gem away from him. Or everything becomes neither true… nor false. Signing out, bitches.”
[EXT. EDGE OF TOWN – REALITY FRACTURE]
(A massive glowing scar in the sky. Black light pours out like ink. Inside: echoes of Princess’ laughter, now warped.)
RUDY (tightening her gloves)
“We’re going in. We’re bringing her back.”
CARRIE
“But… if she’s rewritten—what if she’s not our Princess anymore?”
QUIBBLE
“Then we remind her who she is. Or we destroy whatever took her place...”
[INT. FRACTURED DIMENSION – NIGHTMARE LIGHT REALM]
(The cast enters. The laws of physics bend. Nyroth greets them with open arms, speaking in light and shadow.)
NYROTH (smirking)
“So you came. You think you’re still contestants in this game? Poor creatures. This here is no longer a competition. It’s… a correction you could say.”
(Behind him… Princess floats. Her body emits white and black static. Her voice sounds distant.)
PRINCESS (?)
“Do you… remember me…?”
RUDY
“NO! Melancholy! What did you do to her..?!”
NYROTH
“You ignorant cartoonish fools, I simply needed her power. You see, all seven of you are powered by something greater than.. what’s the word? Oh right.. ‘Determination’. Especially you, Volkov. And you—stickman guy, you killed the only entity who would be capable of making my plan succeed..”
STIX
“Semi..”
ZORA
“Who—?”
NYROTH
“It’s a shame, she could’ve used her powers to stop you… if only she wasn’t so… distracted by that… SONG.. UGH! Anyways, your waifu is under MY control now… you 6 will see what happens when you fuck up my plans.”
WADE
“That can’t be good..”
CARRIE
“Uh, guys?”
Numerous portals open behind the 6, shadow clones of themselves appear, an entire army.
QUIBBLE
“Uh—Wait! I’ll imagine something..”
He images swords for the 6 of them.
RUDY
“Quib, you’re one hot jester..”
STIX
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
“Ohhhhh hell yeah! We’re fighting black versions of ourselves!”
ZORA
“Er.. paraphrase that, mate?”
CARRIE
“I don’t really like fighting but— LETS GO!”
The six of them stand in front of the army, several of them flies towards each one of them. The cast dodge the incoming attacks.
RUDY
“Keep your eyes peeled!”
Rudy backflips and jumps off of each of them. Quibble leaps off of one of the shadow’s spikes. Wade turns into a big water ball and absorbs the shadows, turning dark. Carrie yells and punches a crowd of them hundreds of meters away.
NYROTH
“No, no, NO, NO, NOOO!!!”
He stops time.
NYROTH
“Enough!! I’ll handle you myself.. starting with red haired girl..”
He flies towards Rudy, charging a beam faster than her.
NYROTH
“No more nice guy”
The beam fires, suddenly—Rudy moves?! Even Nyroth is shocked as I am, the narrator! Haha.. wait—I DIDN’T MEAN TO SAY THAT!! Grr, it’s that stupid God again..
NYROTH
“What the—?! IMPOSSIBLE—!”
Rudy punches him, time continues to move normally.
RUDY
“See, I made a deal with a certain time god.. and I’m not ready to die!”
PENTUIS
”Hehe, Me!”
The main cast jump Nyroth, but he unleashes a shockwave full of pure stars. The main cast are one-tapped, except for Rudy who dodges. Shes left to confront Princess—whos under his control now.
NYROTH
“Get. Her.”
Princess rushes, Rudy couldn’t react in time—it looked like Princess just ran past her… but in reality she managed to hit Rudy multiple times in one go.
RUDY
“K-OOF!”
[INT. FRACTURED DIMENSION – NIGHTMARE LIGHT REALM – CONT.]
(Rudy staggers forward, wiping blood from her mouth. Her eyes narrow as Princess—still warped with white-and-black static—circles her like a predator.)
RUDY (gritting her teeth)
“You’re still in there. I can feel it.”
PRINCESS (?) (glitching voice, smiling faintly)“And I can feel… you’re weaker than you pretend to be.”
NYROTH
“Oh, I love this. The little mortal still thinks she can fix what I’ve rewritten. Don’t you get it, Volkov? She’s not your friend anymore—she’s contrast. A piece of me.”
[BATTLE SEQUENCE – RUDY VS PRINCESS]
(Princess rushes forward at blinding speed—every movement creating shadow-lag behind her. Rudy blocks one strike, ducks the second, but the third slams her across the battlefield. The ground ripples from the impact.)
QUIBBLE (yelling from the distance, fighting his own shadow clone)
“Rudy! Snap her out of it before she rips you in half! Just like me…”
RUDY (under her breath)
“…That’s the plan.”
(She reaches into her belt and pulls out a cracked crystal—the same one she salvaged from Vyntra’s ship. It glows faintly.)
[INT. NYROTH’S PERSPECTIVE – INTERNAL MONOLOGUE]
NYROTH (V.O.)
“She’s clever. Too clever. But cleverness without balance is… chaos. I’ll break her spirit, then fold her into my spectrum. And the rest will follow.”
FIGHT ESCALATES: LIGHT AND DARK COLLAPSE AROUND THEM.
Rudy grabs Princess by the wrist mid-strike, locking eyes.
RUDY (firm, low voice)
“You are Princess Melancholy. Whatever your real name is. You’re the ruler of Happy Town. You annoy the hell out of me. But you’re also really nice and trustful. You don’t take orders from anyone. Not even him.”
(The static flickers in Princess’s eyes for a moment. Her grip loosens—but Nyroth tightens control, flooding her body with dark light. Princess unleashed an electrical attack that overwhelmed Rudy’s defense, sending her flying back. But Rudy recovered quicker than ever)
NYROTH
“Ah-ah-ah. None of that sentimental redemption arc nonsense!!”
BEHIND RUDY – THE REST OF THE CAST FIGHTS THEIR SHADOW CLONES.
(Stix and Zora double-team their doppelg?ngers—Stix using flames and lava attacks, Zora teleporting behind her own clone and blasting it into a rift. Wade swirls into a vortex, pulling five shadow copies into a watery air prison. Carrie smashes hers into the ground like a hammer.)
CARRIE
“Anyone else’s clone just so much meaner than they are?”
STIX
“I’ve been holding back! This is fun!”
Meanwhile..
Rudy slips past another flurry of attacks, her movements sharper than before—like she’s anticipatingevery strike.
NYROTH (snarling, narrowing eyes)
“…The time god. Of course. That meddling hourglass rat.”
RUDY (smiling slightly)
“Guess I’m not the only one you underestimated.”
(She drops low, sweeps Princess’s legs, then pins her down—pressing the cracked crystal to Princess’s chest—Princess uses her iconic scream, but Rudy tanks it pretty easily. A blinding flare of light bursts, forcing Nyroth to recoil. The static in Princess’s body begins to burn away.)
[PRINCESS – CLEARING VISION]
Her eyes flicker between black-and-white static and her usual mischievous brightness.
PRINCESS (weakly)
“…Volkov…?”
RUDY (grinning faintly)
“Yeah. Welcome back, Your Highness.”
[NYROTH ROARS – THE FRACTURED DIMENSION SHUDDERS]
NYROTH
“You think this changes anything? You’ve freed one pawn. You haven’t even seen the board yet.”
(He spreads his arms, light and darkness tearing reality open. Dozens—maybe hundreds—of new portals bloom in the air, each showing glimpses of warped versions of Happy Town, the cast, and even Pentuis watching from afar.)
NYROTH
“You seven were never the only contestants. And your little game… just became mine.”
(Behind him, the portals stabilize, revealing distorted versions of other teams—warped contestants in twisted variations of Happy Town. Some look like shadow versions of Rudy’s group. Others look like alternate futures where they’ve already failed.)
ZORA (quietly)
“…That’s not… possible.”
NYROTH
“Oh, it’s worse than possible. It’s entertaining.”
[PORTALS – QUICK CUTS OF OTHER CONTESTANTS]
? A team of rusted mechanical versions of the cast, their eyes glowing red.
? A timeline where Princess rules alone, her friends turned to statues of black glass.
? A Happy Town made of pure darkness, where laughter echoes hollow.
QUIBBLE (staring into the portals, voice cracking)
“Are… are those us? Like, evil us?”
STIX
“Evil-er, you mean? ’Cause I’m already not on the nice list.”
RUDY (ignoring them, glaring at Nyroth)
“What’s the point of this, Nyroth? What are you trying to prove?”
NYROTH (smirk widening)
“That there was never a ‘point.’ You’re all just strings, all woven by higher hands! Pentuis, that Magician, Vyntra, Semi—they all played at being gods. I’m the only one willing to cut the weave!!! ME!”
[NYROTH RAISES HIS HAND – THE DIMENSION CRACKS]
(Nyroth channels both searing light and crushing dark, sending waves through the floor. The cast braces as the entire dimension tilts.)
WADE
“Uh, Rudy? I think the floor’s… breaking reality.”
RUDY (gritting her teeth)
“Stay focused. He’s trying to shake us apart.”
[PORTAL FLASH – ANOTHER FIGURE APPEARS]
(From one of the side portals, a faint glimmer of gold breaks through the darkness. A familiar voice echoes, amused.)
PENTUIS (V.O.)
“Ohhhh, now this is good TV.”
(A golden hourglass silhouette forms in the air. Pentuis steps halfway through the portal, watching with that smug half-smile.)
PENTUIS
“Hey Rudy, you forgot to invite me to your multiverse implosion party! Rude.”
NYROTH (snarling)
“You—stay out of this!!”
PENTUIS (laughs)
“Ohhh no. This is too fun to stay out of.”
[CAST REACTS]
CARRIE
“Oh great. We have two gods now. What’s the worst that could happen?”
STIX
“Stop saying that!”
[NYROTH RAISES HIS HAND – BLINDING LIGHT BURSTS]
NYROTH
“Fine. If you want the game, Volkov… we’ll make it official.”
(A massive symbol of black-and-white energy forms above them, like a countdown clock. The portals stabilize into an arena-like ring around the fractured realm.)
NYROTH
“Seven days. Seven trials. Survive… and you might see your Happy Town again.”
RUDY (steps forward, eyes narrowed)
“Then deal. But when we win—”
NYROTH (amused)
“When?”
RUDY
“—you’re done rewriting anyone. Ever.”
(Nyroth smirks, vanishing into the light. The portals start to dim.)
ZORA (looking at Rudy)
“You just agreed to a god’s game. Again.”
RUDY (half-smile)
“Yeah. But this time, I’ve been planning even more..”
RUDY (Cocky and Confident)
”Besides… I’ve been crafting up my own martial art.. something more focused on attacking the soul and mind. Wanna see?”
(Rudy shows off her ability—aura surrounds her—light surrounds her. Rudy then illuminated)
STIX
“Holy moly, Quibble your girl is always prepared huh?”
QUIBBLE
”Yeah..”
(Rudy then unleashed a bright beam that departed all clouds in the world. The cast were shocked)
ZORA
”Let’s get our friend back.”
[DIMENSION FADES OUT – THE CAST DROPS BACK INTO HAPPY TOWN]
(The sky over Happy Town is fractured like broken glass, each shard showing a different version of reality. A faint echo of Princess’s voice lingers in the air.)
PRINCESS (V.O., DISTORTED)
“Don’t… forget… me…”
[TO BE CONTINUED…]
Nyroth has arrived. Semi was born from madness. Her creator betrayed her a long time ago, she died a happy life and lived in a happy anime. Nyroth was born from narrative contradiction. A being who feeds on unstable outcomes and paradoxical resolutions. And now, Happy Town is his next meal.
Will Rudy save her friend? Will Princess be the same? Why does light sometimes burn more than darkness?
END OF EPISODE 15
