This is the transcript for the episode "Kole".
Prologue
(Opening shot: the night sky, shining with the diffused luminosity of the aurora borealis, or Northern Lights. Pan/tilt down to bring a cylindrical black-and-silver tower into view on a plain covered with snow and glaciers. It is topped with a large gem or crystal prism, and the details on its side, including a large yellow circle, resemble a giant light bulb. At this distance, a figure can be seen on the uppermost platform as a tiny blob, but the voice instantly gives away the identity of the one responsible for this lot.)
Doctor Light: Brilliant...
(Cut to the platform; he steps to a control panel near the crystal, which is held upright by a set of clamps. A thick cable is plugged into his back.)
Doctor Light: ...if I do say so myself. My dazzling creation will transfer the energy from the sky into my suit!
(When he presses a button, lights around the crystal's base flick on one by one and the rock itself begins to pulse bright green. Long shot, showing a varicolored beam of energy connecting it to the astronomical light show, then cut to a close-up of the crystal and tilt down to its base. The other end of Doctor Light's cable is hooked up here, and the camera pans to follow the juice that flows from here into his back. The lights on his gloves and chest now cycle in time with the crystal.)
Doctor Light: Soon, I'll have all the power of the Northern Lights at my fingertips! (Longer shot, puling back.) And up here at the Arctic Circle, no one will ever come to stop me!
(A distant flash pops on the horizon and resolves into something racing across the snow, toward the camera at high speed. The details sort themselves out during approach: it is the T-Ship, fixed up after being shot down in "Snowblind," and riding on pontoons as if they were giant ice skates. It thunders up a hill and skids to a stop as the camera pulls back in an overhead view to frame the human power station watching from his crow's-nest position. He voices a soft, shocked gasp and finds himself facing Robin when that cockpit opens first. The Titan is wearing the same hooded tunic/coat he used in the previous episode, and he pushes the hood back and cocks one eyebrow.)
Robin: Wanna bet?
(Fade to black.)
OPENING THEME
Act One
(Opening shot: a close-up of the pulsing energy beam that streams down from the skies. Tilt down to Doctor Light, frozen in a moment's indecision at having been interrupted, and cut to the rest of the Titans. All are dressed for the cold as in "Snowblind"; Beast Boy has gone back to his original hood and goggles, not the fur hat he swiped from Starfire, who is still outfitted as normal and ready to throw some heat. After a moment, Robin jumps down to join them.)
Doctor Light: (from o.c.) The Teen Titans. (Cut to him.) Even you will be no match for my enhanced powers.
(He raises one heavy glove and throws a blast, but Raven counters it by erecting a hemispherical shield around all five.)
Raven: Doctor Light, why do you even keep trying?
Doctor Light: If at first you don't succeed...
(Close-up of the control panel, panning across as he twists a dial and a row of bar-graph readouts lights up. Now two more beams from above lock in on the crystal heart of his setup, the power boost floods into his back, and his eyes glow above a fierce grimace: something they have never done before. Raven drops her shield, the camera pulling back a bit, and the Titans charge before Robin can even think about using his trademark line. Beast Boy has become a tiger for this assault.)
(Robin slings a handful of discs toward the platform, but the amped-up villain creates a small force field to stop them in midair and directs them off to one side. They detonate, causing no damage to man or machine, and he smirks down at the bunch. Next one in is Cyborg, who lets his sonic cannon do the talking; Doctor Light stops this shot with the back of his hand, and all three boys stop short. What comes next is a burning glare and a wide blast from both hands that sends them diving for cover. It makes its way toward Raven, whose eyes pop briefly before she puts a shield up around herself. This time, however, his attack punches right through her defense and she is dumped unceremoniously into the snow.)
(Starfire's turn. She uncorks the starbolts she has been holding in check all this time, but none of them can pierce the force field Doctor Light has raised. Lowering it right away, he counters with another two-handed beam that sends her plummeting to the ground. At the base of the tower, she and Robin slam down together as the feline Beast Boy bounds past them to take on the villain, who comes down to meet the group. Another blast, which misses its mark when he jungle cat slips to one side; now he becomes an elephant only to be hurled backward by a high-energy arm swing.)
(Robin, Cyborg, and Starfire have barely enough time to get out of the way before the green pachyderm thunders into the snow. He resumes human form, lying in the crater he has just made, and the other two boys get back to their feet.)
Beast Boy: Don't we normally beat his butt by now?
Doctor Light: And to think, I'm not even fully charged yet!
(Close-up of a birdarang being pulled from Robin's belt; pull back on the next line to show him bringing up a second one in the other hand.)
Robin: I'm putting your machine out of order!
(Both weapons go flying on the end of this, but a crack of the same laser whip Doctor Light generated in "Birthmark" shatters them out of the air.)
Doctor Light: (retracing it; mocking chuckle) It looks like your weapon is the one that's out of order! (Cut to the Titans, save Raven, on the end of this.)
Cyborg: (runs ahead and raises his cannon) Sound trumps light every time!
(His burst lances into the heart of the light-bulb design on the side of the tower. Cut to the base of the crystal, tilting up slightly as it begins to splinter and light blazes out in all directions, triggered by the damage just caused. Slow pan across Doctor Light.)
Doctor Light: I devised the synthetic diamond myself! It's built to withstand a force a thousand times greater than you could ever give!
(The crackling diamond and sparks flying from the rest of the rig would seem to indicate otherwise. Now Raven moves up for a better look, still a bit dazed from the pounding she got.)
Robin: Your machine can't take any more!
Doctor Light: Illuminating theory... (warms up his hands) ...but I have the definite advantage!
(The manufactured gem chooses this very moment to disintegrate in an impressive little light show and catch Doctor Light totally off guard. He finds himself holding only two handfuls of air and wearing an uncharged suit.)
Doctor Light: Or not.
(As bits of the machinery start to rain down, he throws himself clear and a large fissure opens in the ice. It runs between the feet of Robin and Cyborg, with the other three all on the same side, and another crack starts nearby.)
Robin: Look out!
(Raven gets a shield up to ward off the falling debris; cut to inside.)
Cyborg: The ice is gonna give!
(Cut to Doctor Light, who begins to pull his face off the ice as a webwork of cracks races all around him. The whole area finally crumbles away and drops him screaming out of sight; the cable connected to his back is yanked out, its free end spitting sparks. Pull back to show that Raven has taken down her shield and a little more ice is sliding into the freshly opened crevasse.)
Beast Boy: Whoo! That was close.
(The ice under his feet suddenly starts to splinter crazily, and a moment later, the danger zone has expanded to include all five. Suddenly, the cracking stops; terrible silence.)
Raven: You just had to say it.
(One last bit of stress proves too much for the fractured ground; all drop out with a long yell, Beast Boy hanging briefly in midair and turning into a penguin before going down. He resumes human form upon thudding into Cyborg's chest, and both lose their respective headwear: hood, goggles, knit cap.)
Cyborg: Hey, watch where you're going!
Beast Boy: I'm following you!
(One by one, they plunge gracelessly onto the snow-covered slopes far below the surface and go sliding down them like human bobsleds beyond all control. Cut to a waterfall and tilt down toward the pool at its base as they come crashing out through the cascade; only a group of submerged shadows marks their approach to the shore. Up they come, Beast Boy perched as a frog on Cyborg's head and promptly resuming human form. The terrain here is not frozen, but rather resembles a jungle in the tropics.)
Robin: Everyone okay?
Starfire: (shoves her wet hair back) Where are we?
(Long shot of the area. Two waterfalls stream down side by side from rocky peaks into a thickly forested landscape, and an immense dome of ice stretches over the entire panorama. Tilt down to the soggy Titans, who can only stare in wonder at having found such a clime this far below the harshly intemperate Arctic. Even more incredible is the sight of several dinosaurs gathering to drink at a riverbend. Cut to one group of the creatures and pan to Beast Boy and Cyborg as a pterodactyl wings past; the green goofball taps the big man on the head for attention.)
Beast Boy: When are we?
(To answer that one, Cyborg slides back his coat sleeve and checks a forearm panel. It displays the word "SEARCHING" for a moment, then changes to "PRESENT.")
Cyborg: We're not in the Stone Age. It's still present day. (Beast Boy becomes a frog again and hops away.)
Robin: And we've still got to find Doctor Light.
(Cut to a pile of their soaked winter clothes, spread out on the ground to dry. Robin's long-sleeve tunic/coat is tossed on; pull back to frame all five, back in their normal outfits. Beast Boy is himself again.)
Starfire: Which direction?
Cyborg: He was standing across from us when the ice gave way.
(He leads the others off toward the jungle. Cut to a patch of undergrowth, which he parts from behind to clear the way.)
Cyborg: He should have landed somewhere over-- (Pull back; a dinosaur's foot lands near the camera.) Oh, boy.
(The foot's owner is soon joined by several others: a different species from the ones that drank at the river, and a rather nastier-looking one at that. These look something like a cross between dilophosaurs and velociraptors, as seen in "Jurassic Park".)
Starfire: Beast Boy, perhaps you can communicate with them. (Tilt down; he half-squirms to the front between Robin and Cyborg.)
Beast Boy: Uh...nice dinos?
(This greeting is met by a low, menacing growl and bared teeth.)
Raven: Hey, genius, I think she means try it in their language.
(Taking the hint with extreme reluctance, he steps toward the predators and turns himself into one of them. As he speaks in a cadence of caws and yips, the camera cuts to a slow pan across the other four, none of whom quite knows what to make of this loopy turn of events. Back to the dinosaurs on the end of it; he resumes human form and turns back to the Titans. He has gotten only another low growl for his trouble.)
Robin: What did they say?
Beast Boy: Well, they want to eat us.
(A wide-eyed gasp from the other four, whereupon the entire herd begins a roaring charge. Robin is first to act, extending his fighting staff to full length and bashing one dinosaur after another aside. As he fights the onslaught, Cyborg is knocked onto his back; the one that flattened him tries to bite, but he pushes its head back and moves his own away from those deadly teeth. When it gets one bionic hand champed in its jaws, he converts that arm to cannon mode, meets a surprised glare with his confident smirk, and blasts the beast high over the treetops.)
(Tilt down from its tumbling arc to frame Raven and Starfire back to back; the former levitates two attackers and pitches them away, while the latter is throwing starbolts as fast as she can conjure them up. Beast Boy charges in and becomes a roaring tyrannosaurus rex, towering over the herd, but he is all too quickly surrounded, dragged off his feet by their sheer numbers, and lost to sight under the ones that pile on next. Pan away from this spot as he shrinks down and escapes in the form of a dragonfly.)
(Robin, meanwhile, has his hands full with one dinosaur that keeps backing him up while dodging his staff swings. Right behind it comes Cyborg, whose next cannon shot traces a path just in front of several others and opens up a fissure in the earth, dumping them o.c.)
Cyborg: All right!
(His cheerful mood evaporates instantly at the sound of screeching and the dinosaurs' emergence from the pit.)
Cyborg: Not all right!
(Starfire moves in overhead and throws a few handfuls of fun down at the group; they retaliate by spitting streams of slime to knock her out of the air. As the gang regroups and Cyborg keeps shooting, she lands awkwardly with this muck covering every square inch of her body. Beast Boy is back to human form.)
Starfire: Ugh! Enough with the spitting, please!
(The cannon winds down while the animals close in for a final lunge, ready to make a very interesting meal out of our heroes. A roar, and the camera has shifted to a slow overhead pan across the combat zone; the Titans surrounded from nearly all angles. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, two figures drop into view from above. One is huge, very muscular, wearing only a small loincloth, and swinging from a vine. The other, much smaller one has its arms wrapped around the giant's neck. It has shoulder-length, bright pink hair, and it wears a white blouse with flowing light-blue sleeves, a broad black belt, and a short skirt in a darker shade of blue. An angular neck piece in this same color and a pair of knee-length white boots complete the outfit. In close-up, the giant is seen to be a caveman who wears a necklace strung with animal teeth, while the rider is a blue-eyed girl, perhaps slightly younger than the Titans. Two strands of hair stand up from the back of her head like insect antennae. We have just met Gnarrk and Kole, respectively.)
(Gnarrk reaches back over his shoulder with his free hand and grabs both of Kole's wrists, swinging her ahead to dangle in his grip. None of the Titans can believe their eyes, but she seems very much at ease with her new position.)
Starfire: (gasping in horror) What is he doing?
Kole: It's okay. He's not gonna hurt me.
(As she says this, her entire body turns into a solid crystal statue, starting from the head and working down to her boot soles. One dinosaur wheels toward her with a bellow and leaps up for a bite, only to fall away with a mouthful of broken teeth. Gnarrk's next move is to drop off the vine and hit the ground in front of the Titans; the predator with the ruined dental work slams down flat a moment later. The human club is brandished before the others, one of which roars in fury, and the caveman sets to work using Kole as a baseball bat. A few home-run swings knock most of the pack over the right-field fence and scare the others into a full retreat.)
(Pull back as Gnarrk tosses the crystallized girl away easily; she instantly reverses the transformation and lands facing the Titans.)
Robin: Now that's what I call teamwork.
Kole: Gnarrk and I go way back. (He moves nervously, trying to hide behind her.) I'm Kole.
(She pronounces her companion's name with a hard G.)
Robin: We're the Teen Titans. I'm Robin. (points out each in turn) That's Raven, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Cyborg.
(Each reacts as follows: Raven pushes her hood back and nods with a small smile, Starfire waves, Beast Boy salutes, Cyborg nods slightly.)
Cyborg: (pushing to the front, cannon still at his hand) Nice to meet you, Narrk.
Kole: It's G-narrk.
(The big man holds out his weapon hand to shake.)
Cyborg: G-narrk. Caveman, huh? (He turns the forearm back to normal.) Nice to meet you.
(Gnarrk cries out in sudden fright, his own name; basically, the only thing he knows how to say, and takes a huge leap into the trees, where he hides his face behind a clump of leaves. After a second or two, he peeks out again.)
Kole: (to Gnarrk) It's okay. Come down.
(He shakes his head and hides again; she addresses the Titans.)
Kole: Sorry. Gnarrk's not so good with people from the upper world.
Beast Boy: (smirking) Neither is Raven.
(She fixes him with a glowing-eyed scowl, which socks him out of his joviality right away, and he twiddles his fingers nervously while Starfire has a good laugh. Pan to Kole as Robin steps up to her.)
Robin: Thanks for helping us out.
Kole: No problem. What brings you down here?
Beast Boy: Uh, gravity.
(Cut to him and the girls on this line; he points upward to get the idea across.)
Raven: We fell in after Doctor Light.
Beast Boy: Have you seen him? Skinny guy, glows, big light bulb on his chest?
(He cinches up his belt and gestures at the appropriate moments to illustrate.)
Kole: Mmm, I think I would've remembered that.
Robin: Well, nice to meet you, but we'd better be going. We've got a criminal to catch.
Kole: We can help, but do you have time for dinner first? Just picked a lovely bunch of cocopolinos.
(Loud stomach grumbling from Cyborg's direction; pull back to frame him.)
Cyborg: (disbelieves) The girl said "dinner." (Cut to Beast Boy and the girls.)
Starfire: It would be rude of us not to partake in the bounty of this land.
Beast Boy: As long as it's vegetarian, I'm in. (Robin leans in.)
Robin: You got enough for five more? (Close-up of Kole's face.)
Kole: We've got plenty to go around. Come.
(She heads off. Dissolve to another patch of the forest; Gnarrk leaps easily into view along the thick branches and vines, then catches Kole when she follows. The Titans stop at the pair's jumping-off point.)
Kole: (as she is carried away) Watch your step.
(Cut to a slow pan along the river's surface, which reflects the seven walking along the bank, and tilt up to them, The fuchsia-haired teen and the caveman lead the way; Cyborg elbows up to walk beside her.)
Cyborg: I can't believe a little girl like you is so tough.
Kole: (slightly needled) What? You think only big guys can be strong? (Raven and Starfire slide up, giving him dirty looks for his answer.)
Starfire: Well?
Cyborg: (unnerved) Uh...no.
(Cut to an overhead view of the group and follow them for a short distance further. They do not notice a nearly invisible figure spying on them from a handy tree limb: Doctor Light, still in one piece after his very long fall through the snow pack. The first half of his next line sounds slightly distorted due to this cloaking technology.)
Doctor Light: With that indestructible crystal girl in my machine, (decloaking; normal tone of voice; zoom in) my powers will be limitless! I've got to have her!
(Fade to black.)
Act Two
(Opening shot: a from-the-ground view of the treetops and the ice dome that encompasses the entire jungle. Birds chirp in the boughs as the camera tilts down to ground level where, in the distance, a dwelling has been set up on an elevated platform. A rough ladder ascends to it, and Kole and Gnarrk have led the Titans up here for a chance to rest their feet. Close-up of the mistress of the house, pulling back.)
Kole: Here's the living room.
(The camera movement exposes a low table and seats formed by cutting thick slices from tree trunks; Gnarrk is sitting here with a knife and fork in hand. A quick twirl carries Kole to an enclosed space built a bit higher up.)
Kole: Upstairs are the bedrooms...
(Gnarrk pops up at the door to point it out. Pan to a second, similar area, which he also gestures at, then cut to a close-up of Cyborg's stomach as it growls noticeably. Pull back; he covers it with both hands, hunching nervously under the others' slightly derisive glances, after which we see Kole again.)
Kole: ...and over there's the kitchen.
(Pan away as she says this and stop on a small enclosure set up nearby. Nothing in the way of an oven, blender, toaster, or the like, in fact, not much of anything at all from this point of view. Cut to inside, an overhead shot of the room, revealing a cooking pot suspended over an unlit fire and a bunch of large fruit hanging from the ceiling. These would be the cocopolinos Kole referred to a short while ago. She and Gnarrk enter.)
Kole: Dinner'll be ready in just a minute.
(She raises both arms. Back to ground level; as Raven and Starfire look on from the doorway, she turns herself to crystal and is lifted to knock the food loose. Cut to the doorway.)
Starfire: Kole? You are certain you do not need our assistance?
(Close-up of one fruit on a countertop; it is neatly sliced in two by the human statue's extended hand. Pull back to show that she has assumed a new pose, with only this one arm up for Gnarrk to use as a knife. Now she becomes flesh and blood again.)
Kole: Nope. We've got everything under control here.
Cyborg: You got any lights?
Kole: Sorry. We're pretty low-tech down here.
(He pops his chest panel open like the drawer of a cash register, fishes out a couple of useful items, and closes it up again.)
Cyborg: It's okay. I got an extra battery, and a light bulb.
(A little hatch pops open on his forearm and ejects a wrench, which he catches in his other hand. All ten fingers move too fast to follow for a couple of seconds; when the work stops he has hooked up the light bulb and battery. Now Gnarrk leans curiously over his shoulder.)
Cyborg: (offers a wrench to him) Uh...wanna help, Narrk? (Sight gag: "Super Deformed" Starfire pops up behind him.)
Starfire: (whispering) G-narrk. (She pops down; gag ends.)
Cyborg: G-narrk.
(The Neanderthal plucks the tool away, eyes it up and down as if it might bite his fingers off, and then puts it cautiously to the light bulb's socket.)
Cyborg: (soothingly) That's it, just tighten it there...
(As Gnarrk does so, he keeps himself at arm's length, ready to jump clear if the setup should decide to try and chase him out of the joint. Close-up of the bulb; his last bit of wrenching completes the circuit and lights up the place.)
Cyborg: (from o.c.) ...and we have light.
(Pull back. Gnarrk lets off a short cry, fully expecting to get blown through the roof, but when the cataclysm does not come, he reaches toward the light with a puzzled grunt. The sizzle of skin on hot glass and his exclamation of pain are almost simultaneous; with one furious swing of Cyborg's wrench, he plunges the room back into its original semi-darkness. Next, he runs to cower behind Kole, who now carries a tray loaded with sliced cocopolinos, and pays no mind to Raven and Starfire just behind her. Cut to the smashed light bulb and tilt slowly up to Cyborg's slightly bemused expression.)
Cyborg: Dinner by moonlight is just as nice.
Kole: It's okay, Gnarrk. (to the Titans) Gnarrk has had bad experiences with the modern world. (Close-up of his face, panning slowly; she continues o.c.) Technology scares him. That's why he stays down here and never goes to the top.
(The tray is set on the tabletop, where she stands to preside over the other six.)
Kole: Dig in. (They do so with gusto.)
Starfire: Mmm... (her eyes pop extra-wide) ...delicious!
(A little drool works its way out of her mouth as she says this. Now Gnarrk tosses down half a fruit in one chomp and throws a taunting glance off to one side; pan in that direction to Cyborg, who matches the feat without any trouble. The taste seems to agree with him as well.)
Cyborg: Seconds? (Kole smiles broadly and sets down a new tray piled high.)
Kole: Knock yourself out.
(As soon as the cocopolinos are within the big man's reach, he tosses back two halves. Gnarrk does likewise, and soon both are stuffing the food down as quickly as they can grab it off the tray. Everyone else watches with amazement and perhaps a touch of revulsion as the gastronomic gladiators go at it.)
Beast Boy: Looks like we've got an eating contest. My money's on Cyborg! (A round of funny looks from the other three Titans.) Well, if I had any money, it would be.
(The two continue to munch away, the pile of fruit between them shrinking at an alarming rate, and glare daggers at each other with every bite. In a short time, the tray has been nearly picked clean; cut from Gnarrk to Cyborg and back. The former glances down at the chunk in his hand with the sudden distaste that comes from overindulgence, and the camera tilts down to show a few more halves on his end of the tray. Sight gag: these are sucked away by what appears to be a brown elephant's trunk, and the cybernetic Titan leans into view, having turned his mouth into this appendage to get at them.)
(After he has eaten the last one, the gag ends and the camera tilts back up to Gnarrk, who glares as nastily as his bulging cheeks will allow. Cyborg gets to his feet and lets off a belch of sufficient intensity to shake the whole house. To concede defeat, the caveman doubles over behind the table and proceeds to yak all over the floor.)
Beast Boy: Dudes and dudettes! (Pull back; he lifts Cyborg's arm.) The new underworld eating champ! (Kole gives said champ a high five and giggles.)
Kole: Wow! I've never seen anyone eat more than Gnarrk.
(He storms out of the place with an angry outburst, reaching the ground in a few long steps.)
Kole: (suddenly concerned) I've gotta go after him.
Cyborg: I didn't mean to upset him. Maybe I should go with you.
Kole: No. I should go alone.
Robin: (standing) And we really should be looking for Doctor Light.
Kole: Go. Gnarrk and I'll catch up.
(She runs off. Dissolve to a profile close-up of her walking through the undergrowth, then cut to an overhead view as she comes to a large tree.)
Kole: Gnarrk? I know you're up there.
(The next cut shows her looking up at a large leaf nestled in a knothole. Tilt up slightly.)
Kole: You really should get a new hiding place. (The leaf is moved, exposing him.) Come down.
(He says something petulant whose meaning becomes quite clear based on her response.)
Kole: No, I do not like the Teen Titans better than you.
(A little more resentful muttering.)
Kole: Okay, so Cyborg ate more than you. It doesn't mean I like him better.
(The camera stays on her this time as his grumbles drift down.)
Kole: No, silly. I'm not going back to the upper world with them.
(Back to him now; his next word is a query.)
Kole: Really. You're my best friend. I would never leave you.
Doctor Light: (from o.c.) Aww, that's sweet.
(Those words spoil the reconciliation; she looks fearfully back over her shoulder.)
Doctor Light: (from o.c.) Too bad you don't have a choice. (walks up) You're coming with me!
(Close-up of each of her arms in turn. He gets hold of both and she gasps in fright; cut to Gnarrk, who does the same and seizes a nearby vine. With a vicious yell, he pushes off from his perch, leaving Doctor Light to stare gape-jawed as he sweeps his little buddy out of the lighted gloves' grip and swings away. After both have hit the ground, they turn to face the intruder.)
Doctor Light: Let's shed a little light on the situation, shall we? (He fires a beam from one hand.)
Kole: No!
(Her arms spread wide, she turns to crystal and lets the blast ricochet right back in his face. It sends him sprawling to the ground, but he has no time to rest, as the yelling Gnarrk rushes in with the glassy girl in hand for a bludgeon. Just as he is about to cave in the helmeted skull, though, Doctor Light gets a hand up and plows him backward with a blast. Kole, knocked out of his grasp, tumbles away as her natural self, and badly dazed by the assault.)
Doctor Light: (standing up) You're not so tough now, are you?
(When the prehistoric man moves up to help her, he is sent diving for cover with another shot across the bow. As he huddles on the ground, ducking and covering, the human dynamo scoops up his target, who struggles to get free.)
Kole: Gnarrk!
(Close-up of him as she calls the name; it begins to shake him out of his fear. Cut to an overhead view of a different patch of the forest. The Titans gather here for a look around; cut to just behind them, tilting up slowly as the flashes of Doctor Light's shots play out over the canopy.)
Raven: Doctor Light!
Cyborg: It's coming from Kole's place!
Robin: Titans! Go!
(They get moving. Cut to Gnarrk, lifting an enormous boulder from the ground; he hurls it at the kidnapper, who forces Kole into crystal form and shields himself with her. Chuckling nastily, he pulls out a disc and skids it across the rocky ground. When it stops, a cluster of sparks crackles out, forming itself into a spherical force field, and an instant later, she has appeared within it. The space is big enough for her to stand in, as evidenced when she gets to her feet, still in crystal form.)
Doctor Light: This should hold you until we get to the surface.
(Gnarrk moves in with an incensed growl, but the enemy seems not to notice as he fires a beam directly into Kole. The material acts as a lens, focusing his rays to such an intensity that Gnarrk is blown clear off his feet. Now an energized glove is raised, scaring him into a whimpering duck-and-cover.)
Doctor Light: What's the matter? (approaching; Kole is now herself again) Afraid of a little light?
(Stopping just short of the force field, he turns his back to it; the port set in his suit fires up and causes the whole thing to attach here. He trudges away with this new load, as if he were a snail on two legs, while Gnarrk pulls himself up with a scowl. Now a globe is tossed back over the shoulder toward the Neanderthal and pus forth a force field wall when it stops; Gnarrk hits this at a dead run and is flung back again. Cut to behind him and tilt up to frame the full extent; it seems to reach all the way to the high ice dome, then to an overhead view as the Titans catch up, then to them.)
Robin: Where's Kole?
(Gnarrk points straight at the field with a single word that is enough to make ten eyes pop and a couple of jaws drop to boot. Fade to black.)
Act Three
(Opening shot; a close-up of Doctor Light's shimmering, translucent barricade. Tilt down to the Titans and Gnarrk, still on the wrong side of it.)
Starfire: Do not fear, Gnarrk. We will help you rescue your friend.
(A look of angry resolve comes over Beast Boy's face as he steps up; in an instant he has become an elephant, and he hits the wall at a good clip only to be driven back by its energy. Down he goes in human form.)
Beast Boy: There's no way through Doctor Light's force field!
Robin: Then we'll have to find another way out of here. Gnarrk! Can you help us?
(His nod and curt reply need no translation.)
Robin: We've got to stop Doctor Light before he reaches the surface.
Cyborg: His machine! With her powers, there's no telling what he can do.
(The Stone Age technophobe runs o.c., parallel to the field, and the Titans are quick to follow his lead. Cut to a from-the-ground view of clear "sky" above the trees, the camera retreating as if it were pointing backward over a walking person's shoulder. Doctor Light's labored groan is heard well before he straightens up into view, trying not to collapse under the weight of the captive on his back. The force field has shrunk to the point where she is forced to sit cross-legged.)
Kole: For a supervillain, you're kind of a weakling, huh?
Doctor Light: (groaning) Yeah, well, for a little girl, you sure are heavy! (Longer shot; he is going uphill.)
Kole: Gnarrk will stop you.
Doctor Light: He won't be able to get through my force field!
Kole: Then he'll go around it. He knows every inch of this place, and he won't stop looking until he finds me.
Doctor Light: He'll never catch up to us fast enough!
Kole: (smiles) Then I'll just have to slow you down.
(She puts her money where her mouth is by turning to crystal, and within a few steps the dramatic weight increase causes Doctor Light to overbalance badly. Not until he is within an ace of tumbling down head over heels does he manage to get both feet back on the slope. Every step is now an even greater effort, and the sweat begins to pour down his face.)
(Cut to an elevated view of the trees. Gnarrk swings into view on a vine, then lets go and jumps swiftly from one limb to the next; tilt down to ground level, where the Titans are doing their best to keep up. They are headed toward a rocky tunnel at the far end of this subterranean realm.)
Robin: We're almost there! (Starfire pulls even.)
Starfire: Hurry!
(Their guide stops on a branch and calls down to them, a note of panic in his voice.)
Cyborg: Anyone know what he said?
(Close-up of Beast Boy. A loud squelching sound makes itself heard on one of his footfalls and stops him cold. Pull back; he, Robin, and Cyborg are now sinking into the...)
Beast Boy: Tar pits!
(In a second, Starfire is moving in and trying to pull Robin up by the wrists. Beast Boy leaps as far up as he can to grab hold of her as well, but the added weight drags all three into the morass. With no one to help him out, Cyborg just stands there and sinks quickly; he shoots an arm up and grabs the hem of Raven's cloak when she flies overhead. She is yanked down as well, and all five end up with their heads above the surface. Gnarrk, meanwhile, claps a hand to his face with a disgusted groan as the Titans strain to break free of the tar. Now Beast Boy cycles through a few animal forms: saber-toothed tiger, giant sloth, pterodactyl, with no luck, but his next try as a woolly mammoth lifts the others clear. Unfortunately, when he resumes human form, he is right back where he started and ends up submerged to his eyeballs.)
(A yell from Gnarrk in the branches, the twirl and throw of a vine, and Robin has his lifeline. He and the others are also back in the tar, presumably because they were unable to pull loose from the mastodon's sticky fur. Cut to the caveman, hauling on the vine, and tilt down to show everyone being hauled out in a human chain. Beast Boy, at the lower end, turns into a monkey and is lifted up to the branch in this form before becoming himself again. Tar is scraped away from various body parts, and Cyborg spits out a large mouthful of the black gunk.)
Cyborg: Aw, man, I got goo in my gears.
(He sticks one arm straight out to the side; Beast Boy grabs hold and works it up and down like a pump handle, causing spurts of tar to issue from the joints on Cyborg's other side.)
Cyborg: Let's go see if we can find Kole.
(Pan to Robin, Starfire, and Gnarrk. The team leader hops lightly to the ground, followed by the other two boys, and they are off across the forest toward their goal. Cut to the surface a long shot of Doctor Light's tower under the still-brilliant Northern Lights. A tiny glowing spot marks his location on the upper platform; cut to him, hooking a cable into his back just as in the prologue. The force field containing Kole is no longer attached here.)
Doctor Light: It's in perfect condition.
(Overhead view. He has set the prisoner, back to her living, breathing self-down alongside, and both are looking at the clamps that used to hold the original synthetic diamond.)
Doctor Light: All it needs now is a new crystal. (Cut to her; he leans in close.) You'll do nicely.
(One thick glove reaches in toward her. Cut to the empty clamps as he lugs her struggling into view.)
Kole: The reason I went underground was to get away from people like you! (as she is set within) People who just wanted to use me for my powers! (She is secured, standing up.) I'm not gonna help you with your stupid machine! (It warms up.)
Doctor Light: You don't have a choice!
(A blast of energy envelops her, forcing an agonized cry from her throat. High overhead, a beam slices down from the natural light show; tilt down to follow it into the heart of the rig and Kole's body. Eyes squeezed shut, teeth gritted so hard they might break, she is doing everything she can to withstand this onslaught, but finally, she loses the battle and is forced into her silent, motionless crystal form. Pull back to frame Doctor Light, who is now getting the full and focused charge from his jury-rigged apparatus. The lights on his gloves and chest now pulse as they did in the Act One battle with the Titans.)
Doctor Light: (raises a glowing hand) Not even the Teen Titans will be able to defeat me now!
(Overhead view of the Titans and Gnarrk, running/flying like sixty on the home stretch.)
Starfire: (pointing) I can see the Northern Lights!
(Their perspective: this is the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, with the Arctic Circle laid out below it. Cut to outside as the Titans emerge onto the ice and stop, then to the skyward end of the beam pouring into the tower, and tilt down to frame it in a long shot. Beast Boy is first to spot it.)
Beast Boy: (pointing) There's Doctor Light!
(All start in, but Cyborg stops short and looks worriedly back into the tunnel. Gnarrk has stopped several yards short of the exit, afraid to venture into the surface world; the walking hardware store turns back to him.)
Cyborg: I know you don't much like it up here, but that's where Kole is.
(A look back at the semi-tropical home, then ahead toward the frozen north, and the camera cuts to outside again as Cyborg backs up and Gnarrk comes out. Close-up of the latter's feet, which cross from bare rock to slippery ice and instantly lose traction, then pull back just in time for him to crash down flat. Cyborg offers a hand to the supine fellow.)
Cyborg: And we'll be here, too.
(The hand is accepted, and with one easy pull Gnarrk is back on his feet so both can charge in side by side. Cut to the front of the tower and tilt up to the platform, where the supercharged supervillain gazes at the youngster who has become the guts of his scheme. His half-crazed grin gives way to a puzzled glance over the plain; here come five Titans and one caveman across the frozen plain, ready to strip him down to bare wires.)
(Cyborg leads off with a cannon shot, but Doctor Light fires a two-handed blast to overwhelm it and drive him back. Next up is Raven, dodging the next salvo and gaining a little altitude; she puts up a shield, only to have it blown apart and get shot out of the sky in the bargain. Starfire takes her place and throws a pair of starbolts that explode against the black-suited figure with the force of a mortar round. Smoke fills the screen, then clears to show Doctor Light still in one piece; he lowers one upraised hand to reveal the little force field he has created in its palm for protection.)
(The flyer zooms in even closer, ready to have another go, but he catches her by the wrist in one hand and warms up the other one. A flash of the beam, and she winds up on her back in the snow, skidding toward the approaching Robin and Beast Boy. The shape-shifter turns into a polar bear on the run; Doctor Light jumps down to meet them, recharges both hands, and generates a burst that hurls both Titans away. As Robin goes flying up toward the Northern Lights, he whips a pair of discs toward the enemy, and they are summarily disintegrated, so that only smoking bits of the casings get anywhere near him. A follow-up beam forces Robin and Cyborg to dive in opposite directions as it slashes ahead on the ice, and the one after that sends the other Titans scrambling. Beast Boy is back in human form now, but makes his escape as a bird.)
(At the top of his flight, he becomes a rhinoceros, intending to let his weight do the work of putting Doctor Light out of action. The laser whip that lashes up and wraps around one of his horns wrecks that plan, though, and the green pachyderm is slung overhead and dashed to the ground. Now Raven and Starfire go into a two-way bombardment, but a force field stops every shot and he counters by blasting down every Titan but Beast Boy, who is himself again and bringing up the rear.)
(A few steps is all he needs to become a saber-toothed tiger; he dodges shot after shot, but finally takes a glancing hit that sends him sprawling. The huge light gloves begin to warm up again as he resumes human form at point-blank range. What saves him is Raven's sudden emergence from the ice just behind him; she throws her cloak over him and yanks him down an instant before that spot is blown away.)
(Doctor Light now rises into the air, light shining around his entire body and a machine-gun barrage of shots ringing out ahead. Robin, Cyborg, and Starfire break for cover and find it by diving off an ice shelf into a natural trench. They are shortly joined by Raven, who opens her cloak to let Beast Boy out; pan to show Gnarrk nearby, huddled with head in hands and truly scared out of his wits.)
Doctor Light: This is my shining moment! (raises his charged hands; pull back) Finally, I will defeat the Teen Titans!
(Mad laughter as he fires a one-hand burst that slices into the ice. Tilt down to the besieged fighters; Robin takes a cautious peek over the edge of the trench.)
Robin: We've got to shut down that machine!
(Pan to Gnarrk, who has also taken a savage interest in the events, then cut to Doctor Light as he rises past the tower's platform. A short, derisive laugh is followed by a blinding blast that nearly rips the top of the Neanderthal's head off. Before anyone else can react, he is off and running along the trench, which is now seen to curve around the tower. Its architect continues his merciless fusillade while the camera pans to bring the upper portion into view. A powerful leap brings Gnarrk up to the platform's edge, and from here it is easy work for him to climb on.)
(He steps gingerly over to Kole, staying back a bit from the unbelievable amount of power that streams through her glassy form. Trying to pull the clamps off her does no good. On the ground, Doctor Light shoots Raven ad Starfire down; Beast Boy and Cyborg quickly close in, the former as a pterodactyl carrying the latter, who fires off a cannon shot. He is let go and readies the weapon again, but the enemy rises to meet him and drives him back with a force field. Four hundred pounds of muscle and circuits hit the ice very hard indeed after this hit.)
(Robin dashes up, then away from the beam that flashes toward him. Zoom in on the tower, where Gnarrk is still having no success tearing the clamps away from Kole. A sudden flash of inspiration strikes Cyborg, who flips open his little forearm hatch and brings up the same wrench he let the prehistoric man use in Act Two.)
Cyborg: (throwing it) Gnarrk!
(A slightly confused look greets this call, after which the tool lands neatly in one brawny hand. Gnarrk gives it a glance, taps it in his other palm, and strides over to the clamps. Extreme close-up of the bolt holding one joint together as he applies the wrench to it, then cut to Robin and Starfire. Two shots set them diving off; back to the tower.)
Doctor Light: (from o.c.) Get away from there!
(He unloads a searing double beam that launches the amateur mechanic far over the empty plain and drops him almost at the horizon. An instant later, Gnarrk pulls himself out of the snow and hustles back toward the battle with Cyborg's wrench still in hand. One shot after another tears toward him, but a little fancy footwork keeps him intact and a roaring jump takes him toward the side of the tower.)
(His impact against the metal throws enough dust and smoke to hide him from view; cut to a close-up of the spot as the haze clears. Now he is lying within a jumble of electrical conduits and circuitry, he hits hard enough to smash in through the wall. The first thing he notices is a glowing cable in which he is entangled, identical to the one that connects Doctor Light to this rig. He gets to his feet and snaps it in two with a yell.)
(Close-up of the human dynamo, whose face suddenly goes slack upon realizing that his systems have been sabotaged, then pull back to frame the upper portion of the tower and tilt up slowly. Explosions rip out here and there, and Gnarrk bursts into view to knock out one of the platform lights surrounding Kole. This time, instead of putting the wrench to the bolts on those clamps, he simply batters them apart with it. After all are destroyed, she reverts to organic form and gives him the biggest hug she can, considering their size mismatch.)
Kole: Gnarrk!
(Both look off worriedly; cut to a close-up of a cable lying on the deck. This is picked up in one massive hand, and a cut to Doctor Light shows him on the receiving end of a vicious yank that instantly unplugs him. It takes a moment for him to regain his balance and composure.)
Doctor Light: You may have stopped my machine, but you cannot stop my suit! (He slashes a beam toward the Titans and warms up his hands.) I already have all the energy I need!
(A double-barreled blast obliterates the spot where Kole and Gnarrk are standing. He bounds away just in time, carrying her, and Doctor Light turns back toward the Titans. That last shot threw up thick curtains of powdery snow, hiding the team from view; now four figures emerge at a run. Cyborg, then Beast Boy as a yak, then the girls, but all are thrown back by a fierce burst. Doctor Light's ear-to-ear grin is suddenly replaced by a panicked stare, and here comes Robin with his staff in hand and a feral yell ringing out.)
[Animation goof: In this shot, the light bulb on his chest has gone out.]
(He swings time and again, only to see each blow stopped by a force field in the maniac's right hand; the left generates a light blade and hisses out for a counterattack. One slash cuts the staff in two, after which a retina-frying blast shoves the Boy Wonder back and lifts him into the air. Dropping the staff pieces, his body bent cruelly backward, he groans and strains against the torment as Doctor Light strolls up.)
(Close-up of one glowing hand, panning away slightly before a ray of light shoots down into the ice from the sky and flashes toward him. Another one rockets past Beast Boy, and both reach Doctor Light and angle up to hit the agonized Titan over his head. Now Robin looks as if he is about to be ripped limb from limb, but here come Kole and Gnarrk.)
Kole: (as Cyborg and Starfire catch up) Starfire! Shoot me!
Starfire: (horrified) What?
Kole: I need you to shoot your starbolts through me!
Starfire: I do not wish to hurt you!
Kole: You couldn't if you tried!
(Spreading her arms slightly, she turns to face the madman and crystallizes herself.)
Cyborg: Kole's right. She can focus the energy from your starbolts through her crystal like a laser.
(This explanation does not seem to put her mind entirely at ease, but she covers her eyes with one hand and fires with the other. Her starbolt connects dead center with Kole's back; close-up of the immobile girl, pulling back as every part of her begins to glow with the power buildup. After a long moment, it pours forth from her chest as a broad beam and the camera cuts to Doctor Light, whose triumph chifts to a shocked gasp with all the subtlety of a train wreck.)
(He takes it in the gut and is plowed backward into the tower, letting Robin go and crashing out the other side. A long skid across the snow, a Titan who thumps down into it, and Doctor Light finds sparks crackling all over his shorted-out suit. A frustrated scream rips the air as all the captured energy from the Northern Lights shatters his chest bulb and surges back up to its point of origin. Raven is first to reach him.)
Raven: You're a sad little man, aren't you?
Doctor Light: (sobbing) Uh-huh.
(Dissolve to a long shot of all eight principals: the Titans on one side, Doctor Light sitting bound by Raven's powers behind them, and Kole and Gnarrk a short distance off. She and Beast Boy are themselves again, and wreckage of the tower is in the foreground. Cyborg crosses to the underworld dwellers; close-up.)
Cyborg: (giving a thumbs-up) Way to go, Narrk! (The others pop up behind him.)
Robin, Beast Boy, Raven, Starfire: (in unison) G-NARRK! (He blushes, embarrassed.)
Cyborg: (holding palm his up for a high five) Way to go, Gnarrk.
(They slap skin as the new friend voices his own jubilation.)
Robin: Thanks for your help in capturing Doctor Light. (crosses to Kole, with something in his hand) It could be that some other people might come looking for you. (He holds it out.) Call us if you're ever in trouble.
(A close-up of the palm reveals his offering to be a communicator, which she takes.)
Kole: Cool! (She opens it.) But I don't think we'll be needing this.
(Cut to another such unit, lying closed on a tabletop with wires snaking out of it.)
Kole: (over comm) Gnarrk and I are going back home where we belong.
(Tilt up to frame four familiar shapes, so dimly lit that they are almost silhouettes. The Brain, General Immortus, Monsieur Mallah, Madame Rouge; the core members of the Brotherhood of Evil. The eyes in the Brain's skull-face pedestal glow a sinister red in the darkness, and the fluid in its container glows green. They are in their Paris hideout, as seen in "Homecoming" and "Trust," and the wall-to-wall world map stands behind them. The comm hooked up before them is the one Madame Rouge tricked Robin into giving her at the end of "Trust.")
Kole: (over comm) Who's gonna bother us down there?
(Zoom in on one region of the map; a certain spot begins to flash red, and the word "LOCATED" appears nearby to mark it. Another target has been spotted, in keeping with the Brain's announced plans in "Homecoming" to take down the Titans and their allies. Fade to black.)