The desert: like one on our world but on another earth in another time: scorching heat, occasional winds and very little life dare to brave against the heat..
But one such city is an exception: Tinabula.
Based on harmonics and sounds, the city used to be peaceful and connected to other parts of the desert long before the present. Hercules Beetles influenced the city for their large size and awesome strength, even built as gates for passing into the city. Their large wings used as weapons in case of invasion from hostile nations, near and far.
However, like many great empires before and since, it would later be buried beneath the sands of time.
With their irrigation network destroyed by recently powerful sandstorms, the people are forced to flee their home and venture off to one of their friendly nations westward.
A thousand years later:
The Tinabula Preservation Society in Ghafia has been returning to the former site for archeological work and preservation, to remind people of what the city used to be. Some of the people working there could possibly be descendants of the lost city, as Ghafia has been around not long before Tinabula was about to be abandoned. The one crucial item in need of preservation are the Three Bells, a multipurpose tool built for the Arch Councillor of the city.
It must never be fallen into the wrong hands.
Enter Katlin Dodd (Nicknamed Katie and Kate), a volunteering archeologist who’s fascinated with the lost city since her college years, having already learned about history further back in both elementary and secondary school.
For a year now (thanks to the other volunteers who helped her uncovered the site where bells were possibly buried), she finally found them and about to leave. That is until He showed up: Thaddeus Klang and his army of nomads in red cloak, light enough to reduce the heat from the scorching sun.
He’s here not just for the bells, but herself, too. Her site was destroyed, her fellow volunteers were sent out to the desert to die of dysentery. Since she was the only one present in the site to finish the dig, only she can translate the inscriptions.
Though some of the nomads follow his ambitions of using the bells to use the city as a weapon to rule the desert, others, prior to his arrival, wanted to keep the city hidden from any evil force. A couple of the nomads, instead of keeping her under his control, decided to put her on a camel and send her away to a nearby settlement.
It could be possible that the nomads are Tinabulan descendants.
As her camel dashes across the desert, it catches the attention of two guys from a faraway place: a chimpanzee and a cat (more specifically a Japanese Bobtail). With their plane: The BatCat
(a tribrid of the Fairchild 45, the Vought F4U Corsair and the Republic XF-84H Thudnerscreech),
they snatched the woman from the camel (of which the Chimp Lukaku sees Kate’s “face of appreciation” either that or possibly sabotaging a movie scene) and into the canopy, where the plane’s pilot: Takeshi, welcomes her aboard.
The two are here because of taking a vacation from their job as Cargo Runners for the Ghafian Air Service, Takeshi originally from the Sakuran Empire and Lukaku from Loambei (a desert city far east of Tinabula, also descended from one of their friendly nations).
Neither men are willing or able to help as the two just want to go back to Ghafia and spend the rest of the day around town before going back to work. At least they’ll need to know what Tinabula was.
While they know about what Tinabula was, the two guys get to know Kate and what her life was like prior besides history and archeology. She comes from the land of Macedamia (based on the Macedonia region, specifically Greece, Kosovo and Serbia instead of India like in the episode The Road to Macadamia) and has a hobby of singing. She still does, but not as much due to her archeological work she puts a lot of time on. So to give her a break, the three come up with a song together.
What the trio didn’t count on however, is Klang watching them from afar, after having got word from one of the nomads who sent her away (intentionally on the inside).
After a smooth flight, they arrived back at Ghafia so she can report to the society about Klang and the stolen bells, making them worry about what damages they can do to not just Ghafia, but across the desert. Takeshi, skeptical about this, thinks this whole thing is nothing but a waste of time and would rather go back to the usual work of cargo running, maybe even doing regional passenger flights.
Lukaku was about to join Takeshi, but when one of the society members asks Lukaku where he came from and his ancestors’ friendship with the Tinabulans, Lukaku joins in; much to Takeshi’s chagrin and reserves a seat at the local cafe to have a moment.
Later that night at the cafe Takeshi has a moment as to why he left Sakura. He thought of going to Cape Suzette, a place of community and opportunity. From local businesses like Higher for Hire to the giant itself Khan Industries, he wanted to be ambitious and free, spreading his wings to join the other Cloud Riders (a cool term for aviators). But instead he found Milboulda. Yet where it lacked in endless possibilities it made up for it with humbleness. A desert city like Ghafia but with a much more stable climate. He forcefully chose Ghafia because it’s cheaper, consequently that’s where he met Lukaku.
When he first met Lukaku, he was forcibly involved in trafficking. To save his life Takeshi brought him out and found a job of working for the Air Service as Cargo Runners. They were given the BatCat like other Cargo Runners who work for the air service but not fully own the plane until either paying their reached quota of equivalent to $100,000 or retiring at the oldest age of 60. In one instance, they encountered a few nomads when their plane crashed, at the time when they’re following Klang.
Just when he’s about to spend his last night of freedom before going back to work the next morning (maybe alone and no longer with Lukaku), he witnessed both him & Kate entering, apparently the two reserved a table, too. The two walk down over and spot Takeshi at the table, apparently it’s the very table they reserved, too.
Up until now, Kate isn’t quite hopeful for the two boys, seeing them as girl-crazy as she claimed. But now that they know each other more, she finally thanked the two for saving her. Had it not been for them, she would’ve eventually fallen off the camel and died of dysentery, or recaptured by Klang once he found out about her escape.
Meanwhile, though, Klang’s nomads have already entered the city and plot to kill both Takeshi & Lukaku and recapture Kate to Klang. Disguised as visitors from Loambei, they’ve been spying on the trio, up to the trio entering the cafe. They could’ve captured Kate just before she entered and killed Lukaku, but found it better just to capture Kate alone and find another way to get rid of the duo without killing them.
Like before, the trio makes a song together, sharing lyrics to come up with one. It was a pleasant night for an otherwise tense scene building up before them. And as the three part ways, the boys make their way back at their bunks in the Air Service. Takeshi is then woken up by Klang, taking him outside to have a moment. Though Takeshi initially doesn’t trust him due to Kate’s exposition, Klang offers him the money to pay the quota, allowing him full ownership of the BatCat so he can go anywhere, maybe both Milboulda as his dream home and Cape Suzette to get a job.
Besides, why would Takeshi chose a desert city almost inhospitable to all life when we could go to the very one that is climatically more stable?
Why would he be saving the woman who could be obsessed over some bells to a lost city?
And why would he trust the chimp from a city who did nothing to save Tinabula from abandonment and ruination by it’s own people? By leaving it behind because of some irrigation covered in sand.
All Takeshi has to do is take the money and pay the quota. Skeptical, Takeshi inspects the money, hoping it’s not counterfeit or even a check written with disappearing ink. No, it’s not! It looks real! So either he stole it or this is Klang’s own money he’s giving away.
Either way, it sounds like bribery.
Takeshi accepts, paying the quote first thing in the morning before Klang leaves him be. Once the deal’s done that very morning, Takeshi wakes Lukaku up, informing him that he paid the quota and offering to go with him to Milboulda. Lukaku declines, not while they’re making a song together, though more importantly uncover Tinabula. Takeshi winks at him, coming up with a ploy to act out a scene, knowing Klang and his nomads are watching. Takeshi chastises Lukaku, throwing away their only chance of ever finding a better place. Lukaku fires back, calling him a hypocrite when he was this close to call him brother. Takeshi has had enough and gets into the BatCat, with Lukaku secretly getting on and taking off.
With Klang out of range, they now head for the TPS in the hopes of seeing Kate again. Once arrived, though, she’s not there. They asked the members and they haven’t seen her entered. More than likely, she’s captured again. So the duo plot a rescue mission, but not go directly over without being spotted. Instead they head for Tinabula, where Klang, the nomads and Kate are already heading.
The two hug, still accepting each other as brothers in arm and fly off. First they stop off at a nomad’s camp (those not fallen for Klang’s twisted dreams), requesting to go over to Tinabula where Klang has stolen the Bells to find the city, in exchange of keep the BatCat safe from their once brothers. Reluctant at first, the nomads caved in and covered the plane under the sheets, allowing the two reach the lost city. How to get there, the Nomads offer them a camel and will come out if it becomes too serious.
Meanwhile at site, Klang gets out the bells to activate the Hercules statues, the two watch the scene from afar. Lukaku couldn’t help but see the two towering beetles with intimidation and awe after hearing the ringing bells from a distance. The second bell ring flaps the wings, creating a tornado that reveals the city from the sand. After closing the gate with a simple hit of the raised spikes (as Kate told one of the Nomads using their spear) they enter the city that looks like brass musical instruments servicing for one purpose than another:
homes,
offices,
administration,
turrets,
banks,
music halls,
galleries,
The Sonic Cannon.
The very thing Klang needed to rule the desert. A once defensive weapon used to against invading armies from the past, now intent to send waves of sand over to even faraway cities, including both Ghafia and Loambei. To test that weapon, he uses it against a dune, rendering it into a massive wave coming right at the duo, forcing them to dash on the kamel and into any direction (doesn’t matter where)
With such awesome power he displayed and his dreams of conquest becoming apparent, he sees Kate’s usefulness complete, and orders his followers to send her out to the desert to die of dysentery. Unfortunately for him two of the followers on the camel ordered to do so are both Takeshi and Lukaku, making this her second time being saved. Still, they must recover the bells, but she found there’s a fourth one, bigger than the three, one that could foil Klang’s plot and sadly annihilated the city for good:
The Master Bell!
It was built as a last resort, should the city fall before it’s aggressors. But it was left unused due to the city abandoned by the Tinabulans. But now it’s their only chance of saving Ghafia, Loambei and the desert at large. It’s not as important as what’s going on with the larger world, but the desert and it’s nations are worth recognizing!
First though, Kate takes her revenge against Klang, with both Takeshi & Lukaku joining. But when Klang still has his followers, he orders them have them killed on the spot.
This could be the moment where our heroes die of a thousand stabs. But luckily or unluckily, this isn’t that kind of story.
The nomads who helped the duo have arrived, roaring out a battle cry then charge at their once brothers! Takeshi is about to cut the ropes hoping the ram to make sure it’ll never be used again, Kate stops him. Instead demanding Lukaku to use it at the massive Tiger Beetle statue, where the master bell hides. The three bells are placed in the administration building, just where Klang corners them with a gun.
As instructed though, Lukaku used The Sonic Cannon at the Master Bell, the loud sound causes Klang to lose focus and the two spring at him. Klang uses his tail to pin Takeshi down, chocking him before Kate smashes Klang with a bell. A couple nomads enter the building and bring both Kate and the gasping Takeshi outside and into the open.
With one more firing The Sonic Cannon at the Master Bell, Lukaku gets picked up by a nomad and rides out through the gate and join the rest of the tribe.
The ringers pull back, readying to hit the bell.
Klang regains consciousness and goes out of the administration building, only to see and hear the master bell rung. No body else around other than dead bodies of nomads who fought each other. Then, the ground starts shaking, buildings crumbling, the Sonic Cannon destroyed and walls collapsing around him. He desperately slivers out of the falling debris, only to get caught, killing him.
Having narrowly escaped the city’s destruction, Kate looks at the three bells in her hands and then what used to be the city, not buried but completely annihilated, serving its last resort on preventing an evil force from taking it. Takeshi comforts her, glad that she got what she came for, he can only hope the society can forgive them after what just happened.
Those once loyal to the now dead madsnake have given up their dreams of conquering the desert, now without a weapon to grant them conquest, obedience and glory. They wished forgiveness from their brothers, to which they accept and move on as nomads.
For the trio, they’ve be given back the BatCat to reach Ghafia one more time to inform the TPS the good news and the bad news. Inspite of this loss, the society thanked the trio for recovering the bells, much to Kate’s relieve and finally rests.
With the cargo all packed and their sights set on Milboulda, the trio are ready to start a new life together there. And as they take off from Ghafia and onward to an epic journey across the sea and into the oasis, Kate starts singing the song, with her boyfriends joining. As the song plays out, Day by day, they hop from one airport to another just kilometres closer to their destination. From returning to Loambei, Macadamia, Thembria, Panda-La, Sakura, Louie’s Place, Cape Suzette to finally Milboulda.
