TMNT: Raph and The Secret Door

The Final Showdown

Beldom-So, you're back.... (His voice sounds dry and tired. He turns his face towards Raph. It is a green death mask, cracked and peeling - his true face) And you brought vermin with you. You killed my family, and now this.

(Raph shudders and steps back. The cats make a fearful sounds and dig their claws into his skin)

Raph-No, I... I brought friends.

(The Beldom rises up, taller than Raph. He is withered to the bone; with plate-like shoulders and shell; His true form. He reaches his long, sharp fingers made of needles to Raph's face)

Beldom-You know I care about you.

Raph-You, you have a very funny way of showing it.

(The Beldom smiles, turns away, then back, his hand outstretched)

Beldom-So? Where are they - the ghost eyes?

(Raph pulls out the three spheres from his bag and starts to hand them over. But he catches himself)

Raph-Hold on. (He pulls them back) We aren't finished yet, are we? (The Beldom looks daggers, then smiles sweetly)

Beldom-No, I suppose not. After all, you still need to find your old brothers, don't you? Too bad you won't have this. (He produces the triangle candy that Raph lost and flings it into the green fire. The Beldom laughs while the magic burns out of the candy with sparks and pops)

(Raph tenses for a moment, but then, the third ghost eye pulses with a purple glow in his hand. Raph turns away, so the warlock won't see)

Sweet Ghost Girl-Be clever, sir; even if you win he'll never let you go!

(Raph looks towards the locked little door behind the armoire bug and understands: he's got to get the Beldom to unlock it! But he must be quick. He furrows his brow as an idea comes to him then nods. He's gotta be careful, one false move, he's done for. He turns to the warlock and in the most confident tone he can muster)

Raph-I already know where you've hidden them. (The Beldom turns from the fire, both concerned and skeptical)

Beldom-Well... produce them. (Raph points to the little door)

Raph-They're behind that door.

(The Beldom leans close, knowing Raph is wrong, and speaks very quietly)

Beldom-Oh, they are, are they?

(A smile creeps onto his terrible face. And he starts towards the little door, moving in an odd, laboring way, as if he had four legs instead of two. He signals the armoire bug to stand aside, his back to Raph. Raph hears the soft chirp of his brother's finger on wet glass! Looks around, desperate - where is it coming from?! The cats look around then see something on the mantel!. Ice Cream Kitty whisper to Raph)

Ice Cream Kitty-There! (She and Shadow jump to land beside the Times Square snow globe - opaque with frost. With a soft chirp, a section of glass is wiped clear from inside by a tiny forearm- and we see the tiny, cold figures that are Raph's trapped brothers! Raph's heart races. He purposely stays back from them)

Raph-(Whispering) Leo, Donnie, Mikey!

(Oblivious to Raph's discovery, the Beldom coughs up the key into his hand. He turns to Raph, expectantly)

Raph-Go on. Open it. They'll be there, all right.

(The Beldam stoops to push the key into the lock, turns it, leaves the key in place. He grins at Raph and speaks in a low, sing-song voice)

Beldom-You're wrong, Raph! (He opens the little door, revealing the empty, spider- web tunnel.

(Raph glances from the open door to the cats - obscured on the mantel - and back to the Beldam. He's thinking very hard)

Beldom-They aren't there. (He opens his hands: one holds box with Raph's green button eyes, the other a threaded needle. Triumphant, the he softly gloats)
Now you're going to stay here forever.

Raph-No ... I'm ... (He grabs the cats off the mantel and raises them over his head) NOT!

(He hurls them at the Beldom. The cats - faces shocked with surprise - sail through the air and land right on the astonished warlock's head. freaked-out, the cats scratch the shrieking Beldom's face, who staggers to one side of the little door. Raph grabs the snow globe with his brothers inside, stows it in his bag, and moves out to approach the door from the other side. The Beldom flails wildly at the cats. The cats howl like banshees, raise their claws, and, two shiny black buttons hit the floor - the Beldom's eyes! He throws the cats on the armoire bug, and covers his face)

Beldom-NOOOOOOOOO! (His hands pull away to show empty, flat sockets and torn thread) You horrible cheating mutant!

(He furiously stomps the floor which flies up in a spiral of floorboards that drive Raph to the room's center. A huge web trap lies beneath the floor! The web trap stretches down into a deep pit. There is nothing beyond but pale nothingness. The cats scrambles along the tops of falling furniture straight to the little door and disappear into the tunnel. Raph falls to the very bottom of the web. Above, the Beldam laughs maniacally and leaps down like a huge, flying spider! (*Shudders*. The part really creeped me out. How 'bout you guys?) Raph manages to pull himself to the outside of the trap just as the Beldom lands. The warlock, furious his prey has escaped spins around, grasping blindly)

Beldom-Noo!! Where are you? You selfish brat!!

(Raph, nearing the top, looks up and spots the little door, still in the corner wall of the Other Living Room. He goes to climb back inside the web, when his bag gets caught on a barb. He pulls and pulls until it breaks free, sending a strong vibration down the vibrating web to the very sensitive hand of the Beldom)

Beldom-Hahahaha... (The Beldom smiles, he knows where his prey is now! Raph makes it to the little door, but the Beldom is coming up behind him very fast!)
YOU ... DARE ... (Raph scramblies through the door, key in hand, and grabs the door's handle. Before he can shut it, the Beldom's head thrusts inside) DISOBEY YOUR BROTHER??!!

(Raph kicks him in the face, knocking him back. The cats take off down the tunnel. Raph nearly shuts the door, when needle fingers grab hold through the crack. The door starts to pull open!)

Raph-PLEASE...SHUT!!

(The ghost children's fluttery dismembered hands fly out from his bad and grab hold of Raph's hands that grip the door's handle. And his strength is quadrupled. The door starts to shut. The Beldom snatches desperately at Raph, reaching through the closing gap with one thin claw. There's a final moment of resistance - the Beldom's wire-thin wrist caught in the door - and then SNAP! The door shuts, and the Beldom's hand drops to the ground! He screeches like nails on a chalkboard! Raph just manages to lock the door in the dark when it is bounded from the other side, green light coming through cracks! He takes off down the tunnel, stooped down, as fast as he can. The pounding grows more insistent, green light flashing)

Beldom-DON'T LEAVE ME! DON'T LEAVE ME!!! I'LL DIE WITHOUT YOU!!!!

(The tunnel behind Raph starts to become shorter, like a collapsing accordion and the pounding far door with the blind, one-handed Beldom on the other side starts to catch up to him! Ahead, daylight appears, and then the little door to the real world! In the real living room, Raph flings himself through the doorway, shuts and locks the door and braces himself against it. A split-second later, the other world door catches up with a crash! Raph is thrown back. But the real-world door and lock, hold. It's over... Raph lies on his back, as beat-up and tired as he's ever been, gulping in breaths of air till his heart slows a little. The room is brightly lit by sunlight, the first since he moved here. He smiles, remembering, and turns to his bag with the ghost eyes and snow globe with his brothers inside. He opens it up, and searches, shoving aside ghost eyes and garden shears. But the snow globe is gone! He gets on all fours, starts searching the floor. His hand hits a small puddle by the fireplace, with tiny bits of snow. A drip plops down, then another. He looks up to the mantel and spots the missing snow globe. He stands up and finds that it's broken open, and his brothers aren't inside. As the last of the snowy liquid drains from the globe, Raph's face clouds with confusion and fear: What does this mean and where are his brothers? Then his wonderfully real brother calls to him!)

Leo-Raph? We're home!