BUG_FROM_CROWD EDDIE GLENN LADY_MANTIS LOUIE MANDY MAYOR_STINKBUG MO PEBBLEDASH WAITER_BUG WILBERFORCE MO Beautiful. EDDIE Stiiiii-rike! Hey Mo, you seen my bowling ball? LOUIE Down here, Eddie! Picture perfect bowl my bug! EDDIE The Inter Bug Bowling Tournament won’t know what hit ‘em ! LOUIE See, the rules don’t say you can’t use a woodlouse for a ball. MO And do they say anything about not smashing up paintings? LOUIE Oh! Let me get that for ya. LOUIE What is it, an abstract? Great stuff! Now what say we all do something fun together? MO You guys want to paint? LOUIE Actually, I meant more you could join our bowling team... EDDIE Yeah, ‘cos, y’know – bowling’s fun. MO This is you two all over - if it’s not something you want to do, it must be boring, right? EDDIE I wouldn’t say ‘boring’, Mo. More ‘Un-interesting’. Wait! That’s the same thing. MO I happen to think that there’s more to life than than bowling, so until you’re done wrecking the shelf, I’m gonna find somewhere my talents are appreciated! EDDIE So. You’re not coming bowling? Aah! MO Stupid Louse! Stupid cockroach! PEBBLEDASH Gimme a mintshake, Glenn, and double the mint. I deserve it. GLENN Sure thing, Pebbledash! PEBBLEDASH Hey, that is one angry pencil, Mo! MO It’s a form of art therapy. PEBBLEDASH Can’t be easy being an artist around those two. I mean - a louse and a cockroach? No class! GLENN Huhu! Says the stinkbug. PEBBLEDASH Who rattled your web, eight legs? You need a better class of friend. PEBBLEDASH For insts, one who might just have two tickets to Shifty Sands’ most exclusive art exhibition. MO The Mandy Borehole display? You can’t lay a mandible on those! PEBBLEDASH Unless you’re the mayor’s daughter and therefore forced to attend that stuck-up snoozefest. GLENN Lady Mantis is organising that one - steer clear, Mo. She’s banished more bugs than she’s had husbands – and she’s had nineteen husband. MO Banished? GLENN To the Walled Desert, a terrible wilderness filled with dinosaurs! PEBBLEDASH Oopsie. Clean up on aisle Pebbledash! PEBBLEDASH So? You in? MO What’s the catch? PEBBLEDASH No catch. I’m hurt you’d suggest such a thing. Buuuuut... you can’t go looking like than. After all, some of us have standards! I smell a makeover! PEBBLEDASH Welcome to the top shelf PEBBLEDASH Watch it you wannabe butterfly! You know who my Daddy is? You look great. It’s important to make a good impression on people! WILBERFORCE Hey guys! Ready for bowl-ageddon! Say, where’s Mo? LOUIE She’s, ahh, she’s not coming WILBERFORCE So wait, who’s that? PEBBLEDASH Don’t stop, don’t even look around, it’s what they want you to do. WILBERFORCE Pretty classy for bowling, Mo I like it! Maybe I should get my tux PEBBLEDASH Ahaha! She’s not going bowling, Whiskers. MO We’re going to the art exhibition. EDDIE Really!? But you can look at boring stuff any time Mo. MO You don’t get it do you? I like art! And so does my best friend. PEBBLEDASH Come on honey. Don’t let losers make you late. PEBBLEDASH Honey, when you’re with me, you don’t wait in line. You’re a VIB now – a Very Important Bug! BUG FROM CROWD That is just rude! Who do they think they are! MO This is amazing! Look at this! WAITER BUG Extraordinary isn’t it. Fizzy water? PEBBLEDASH vib’s do not chit chat with the staff! Buzz off! PEBBLEDASH Stop doing that! You don’t come to an art gallery to look at art, We’re here to look good! Get with the programme Mo. MAYOR STINKBUG Oh honeybug, you made it. And you brought a friend! It’s about time you had one of those LADY MANTIS Mayor Stinkbug! Come and meet Mr Borehole – now. MAYOR STINKBUG Mustn’t keep Lady Mantis waiting! PEBBLEDASH Great chat, Dad. PEBBLEDASH Don’t look at that, look at those. Fake wings, so last season. WAITER BUG Sorry Lady Mantis it’s only fizzy water LADY MANTIS And you’re ‘only’ banished to the Walled Desert – Security! WAITER BUG But! That’s just bubbles! MO I think I need to step outside PEBBLEDASH Art makes me sleepy too. Let’s have some peace and quiet before the buffet WILBERFORCE Hey Mo! Guess who went and won the Inter Bug Bowling Competition. Give ya a hint – these guys! MO Oh, that’s so cool! LOUIE So how is the exhibition? MO It’s good I think. Mandy Borehole is there. EDDIE Mandy Borehole? He’s the one that does all that weird ‘what the heck is that’ stuff, right? MO It’s not just him, Lady Mantis is there, and the mayor LOUIE Well look who’s gone all lah-di-dah! MO Uh!You don’t have to be snooty to like art, Louie PEBBLEDASH But it helps, right? And it’s thanks to bugs like my Dad and Lady Mantis that Mandy Borehole is here at all MO I guess PEBBLEDASH You guess right! So tell me Mo, are you one of them… or one of us? EDDIE Oh!Why are we still here? Art even smells boring. PEBBLEDASH Smart move. Now let’s see if you can cut it with the big bugs… LADY MANTIS Tolerable. But be sure there’s a slice of cheesecake with my name on it later! PEBBLEDASH So what would a VIB do in this situation? MO Outta the way… you do know whose daughter this is, right? PEBBLEDASH You’re learning! MO If I had antennae like hers, I’d wear a hat. PEBBLEDASH Yeah. A big one. Enough to hide my whole head! This is so much nicer with a friend. EDDIE Excuse me! Maybe not touch what you can’t afford! WILBERFORCE Ooh, chillax, we got an invite… “The Bowling Champion and friends,” see! MO Unbelievable. Couldn’t you even leave me alone to enjoy this? LOUIE I thought you’d be pleased to see us? MO You thought wrong. I have an image to maintain now, I can’t be seen hanging around with… a bowling team! PEBBLEDASH C’mon Mo. Let’s find someone more important to be rude about! LOUIE This isn’t you, Mo. It’s her, dragging you down to her level. MO Nobody’s dragging me anywhere! I’m right where I wanna be. And if you don’t like that – you can bowl on outta here! LOUIE Hey! Oh! LADY MANTIS Oh my goodness! EDDIE You should so be on the team! MO Grrr! You, you and you. Clean this up before I set the Mayor on you! I hear the Walled Desert’s pretty dinosaur-y this time of night! MO From now on I do what I want, when I want! Give me that cheesecake! LADY MANTIS That was mine. MO So? I’m a VIB! My friend’s dad is the Mayor. Right, Pebbledash? PEBBLEDASH I… I hardly even know this girl! MO Aaaah!!! Uh? LADY MANTIS Security! LADY MANTIS Enjoy your new home, my dear. And do watch out for the dinosaurs. LOUIE Dinosaurs! Eddie – bowl me! MO He saved me! EDDIE What are friends for? Now, how do we get back up? MAYOR STINKBUG You don’t. I’m afraid once you set foot in the Walled Desert, you cannot return. LOUIE Now you say! MO Mayor Stinkbug! Can’t you bend the rules – just once? MO Not for me. For Eddie and Louie! I turned my back on my friends because I thought they weren’t good enough – but despite that they didn’t turn their backs on me. They deserve another chance. WILBERFORCE Banish my friends, banish me too. PEBBLEDASH And me too! MAYOR STINKBUG Honey bug! PEBBLEDASH Sorry, Daddy, but I finally found a friend to hang out with. I should’ve stood by her. I just hope it’s not too late to start now. MAYOR STINKBUG You don’t scare me, Lady Mantis. Oh! Fine, you terrify me. But do you think you could possibly, maybe find yourself changing your mind? Pleeease? LADY MANTIS Very well. You can all consider yourselves un-banished! LADY MANTIS After all, Shifty Sands needs more bugs like you! That was quite a strike, young man! EDDIE You like bowling? LADY MANTIS I love it! I sponsor the bowling tournament as well as the art gallery – why do you think your prize was tickets to the exhibition? MO Great! Nothing wrong with liking both, right!? LADY MANTIS But eat my cheesecake again and I’ll crush you! Now who wants to meet my friend Mandy? EDDIE So Mandy, tell me – your paintings – you’re joking, right? MANDY Maybe! MO Hey, thanks for standing up for me. PEBBLEDASH Still wanna hang? MO Sure. But I’m not getting a make-over, ok? PEBBLEDASH Ah! Hey! Watch it! LOUIE Blame the bowler! LADY MANTIS Sti-rike! Yes! PEBBLEDASH Great shot, Lady Mantis! 7