Cleo Keeps a Secret From Frankie & Lagoona! is the fifth episode of the Monster Ball Homecoming webseries. It is the twenty-first YouTube episode of the third generation overall. It premiered on November 24, 2023.
Description[]
Volume 3, Episode 5: Frankie, Heath, and Lagoona make a great team which brings them one step closer to finding the Formal Phantom at the Monster Ball! Now it's time to find a totally normal and not sneaky explanation to why a certain ghoul hasn't been completely honest. Can Frankie and Lagoona find the answers to reverse a curse?
Summary[]
The countdown from 30 seconds continues on Frankie's computer screen, with only 5 seconds left. Frankie nervously cuts all the DJ equipment cables using their scissor hand prosthetic; this disconnects the laptop and the fog machines from the Formal Phantom's hacking and stops the prank. Lagoona and Heath cheer for them, but they warn to hold off the celebrations, due the unexplained portals and earworm prank. Finnegan arrives and plugs in another cable into Frankie's computer, thus turning it back on, and plays more music for the dance; Frankie and Lagoona note that he needs a break from playing his guitar and is better with wires than they are.
Frankie tells Lagoona and Heath, using a brain piece in their head that came from a Monster High historian, that the Formal Phantom was an evil being that tried to destroy the school and hasn't been seen since the previous homecoming from the 1970s - either this means the Phantom is back or someone is pretending to be them. Lagoona instantly interrogates Heath, due to his phone and song starting this night of disasters. Heath proves he's innocent - he shows his FitBat app (which tracks his steps to his iCoffin), which displays a map of "his" previous steps going all over the school in the last few hours, but he was attending the ball with Abbey the whole time. Lagoona apologizes to Heath (which he accepts) and brings back up the damaged glowing pyramid she found. Frankie and Lagoona decide to go to the library to find out what the pyramid is while Heath keeps an eye on the dance by being the stand-in DJ; he continuously blares the MLG air horn sound effect from his iCoffin.
Frankie and Lagoona check the Mummology section in the darkened library. Frankie finds the book "Scrolls and Such for the Modern Mummy" on top of a shelf. They magnetically detach their right hand to reach up and grab the book, but scarabs steal it from them. After Lagoona rides a rolling library ladder and lands in a book trolley that rolls into the dark, Frankie is left all alone. A mysterious being zooms around them, leaving them scared as they keep looking. The being directly apporaches Frankie, who believes it's the Formal Phantom and is about to lightning strike them, only for it to be Cleo, who admires their bravery. When Frankie and Lagoona confront her with their suspicions, Cleo explains what she's been up to.
Cleo knew how important the Monster Ball was, so before said dance began, she placed a protection pyramid, with the inscription "Protect dancers. Cast out uninvited guests." written on it, in a hidden location on the dancefloor. But when Dracula got abducted, she knew something had gone wrong (Frankie adds Deuce has been portaled too). After the Boo Crew split up to solve the case, Cleo immediately went to check the pyramid again - it was in it's now horrible shape, with the changed inscription of "Cast out dancers who speak [blank].". Figuring this was the cause for the portals, Cleo and her scarabs have been in the library since to find the Ancient Scroll of Returning, which has the power to reverse the curse and bring back their abducted friends. She reveals that whoever speaks the mysterious [blank] word triggers them getting abducted; she has fortunately figured out what the word is, and while she can't tell them what it is, she shows them the word through charades.
Despite her attempts, Frankie and Lagoona still can't figure out what the word is, causing Cleo to exclaim that this will never end - she is instantly regretful, realizing she has said the word. Another portal appears behind her - much to Lagoona's shock as this is her first time seeing the portals - and closes when it sucks her in; just before it does, Cleo's scarabs arrive with the Ancient Scroll of Returning, but when trying to give it to her, some scarabs also get abducted and the scroll is left behind with Frankie and Lagoona. Frankie tries to ask the scarabs what to do now, but quickly realizes they can't understand the little beetles.
Characters[]
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Notes[]
- Like the rest of the Nickelodeon G3 webisodes, this episode's upload on the official Monster High YouTube channel was set to private in September 2024 for unknown reasons.
- This has made the original individual episode lost media through official means, but it is still available, like the rest of the volume, as an upload on the official Nickelodeon YouTube channel, which compiles all eight episodes into a 40 minute special. Said upload is blocked in the UK and Ireland.
- This episode is alternatively titled "Secrets of the Shelves". It appears as text onscreen when Heath blares the DJ horn sound effect from his phone in Frankie's face.
- On November 17, 2023, this episode and episode 6 were set as unlisted in the Monster Ball Homecoming Dance playlist.
Continuity[]
- Just like in the volume's first episode with Frankie and third episode with Clawd, there is a zoom into Cleo's brain, which is shown in a stylized manner to represent his personality, when cutting to her flashback.
Errors[]
- In the shot in which Frankie goes to the library, their right shoulder pad is missing.
Shorts[]
