I hope this is good enough for you. Thanks for the class, Mr. Fike.

----

The Basics:

 

Who is the protagonist?

• The protagonist role is shared between a whopping 22 characters. They’re, starting with the programs; Rinzler, a scrappy young program training to be a master APS jockey, Sarian, his best friend, Anckret, a small, but rather snarky medical program, and Rin’s five older siblings; Calchas, the first, who is a skilled APS jockey, Lexi, the second, who has a small itch for archaeology, Cestro, the third, who is a fledgling mechanic, Bolen, the fourth, who considers herself in touch with nature, and Kanora, the fifth, who is the most altruistic of the five.
• Then there are the humans who got thrown into the mix; Hayashi, a Japanese misanthrope, Hakumi, a sassy Nicaraguan girl, Hiroshi, a nerdy Japanese boy, Rose, a wannabe clothing designer from Australia, Zala, a young psychic girl from Croatia, Kamala, an IB student with Muslim roots (no relation to Ms. Marvel), Micah, a wannabe rapper from Boston, Henri, a German girl with Asperger’s, Corrie, a Chinese girl with an angelic singing voice, Keanu, a Brazilian boy who is obsessed with computers, Loraine, a bratty young girl with Filipino roots, Andrea, a consistent honor roll student with French roots, Lou, an African-American boy with a single mother, and Cecilia, a Mexican girl who is grieving the death of her best friend.

Who is the antagonist?

• The antagonistic role is shared as well, mostly between the leaders of the two factions engaged in a war against each other.
• The first is the Lightheart Army, a paramilitary organization that seeks to avenge the deletions (which in the server is pretty much death) of key leaders in the Atlantean community, such as Kerrid and Jayde, the “King” and “Queen” of the LA and Commander Galev, one of the “Rooks” of the LA, and their leaders are Kerrid and Jayde’s children; Gaile, their son, and Nula and Aria, their daughters.
• The second is the Tsunami, a cabal of computer viruses that have holed themselves up in the Atlantean Hollows, battling off the LA’s forces to stay alive, led by Abraxas, a shadowy, powerful virus that is allegedly responsible for Kerrid, Jayde, and Galev’s deletions.
• Also, later, a third faction shows up in the form of the Marauders, a group of programs that use the war for their benefit, their leader being a King Candy-like program named Dakamas.

Who are the other important secondary characters?

• This role is filled by the members of the Atlantean Protection Service, or APS for short, a secret neutral faction consisting of programs that all fight side by side for one purpose: to put an end to the war.
• The APS’s leaders include Korolev, a LA general who is Rin’s father, and keeps tabs on LA developments in the war while secretly heading the APS’s Military Division, which acts as the brawn of the APS, mostly by going out on the field and openly engaging the other factions in combat, Myla, Rin’s mother, who heads the APS’s Housing Division, which, as the name implies, provides food, medical attention, and temporary shelter to programs who have lost their homes in the war, and Mibs, a program who heads the APS’s Tech Division, which builds the weaponry, transportation, and back-up weapons that the Military Division uses in combat.
• Other notable members include programs such as Kaskid, a program that acts as Korolev’s second-in-command (aside from Myla), Baytes, a program that acts as a drill instructor for incoming Military Division members, and Chrystal, a program in the Tech Division who has a crush on Cestro. The scrappy team also gets occasional assistance from the Runner, the mysterious program responsible for creating the Atlantis Server.

What is the Story Question?

• “Can this group of unlikely heroes assist the APS in bringing an end to the war, and in the process, find a way back home?”

The Opening Hook:

 

How will you grab your audience's interest right away?

• I’ll probably start it off with narration from the Runner, explaining what the Atlantis Server is, its creation and that it remains hidden away from human knowledge…until now, that is.
• We then cut to footage of news reports from all over the world, all of them reporting that thirteen children of varying ages have all mysteriously disappeared within the safety of their own homes, and each of them showing interviews with their parents, friends, and other assorted family members all worried sick, and trying to comprehend how this could’ve happened, with the ones in Japan negatively comparing it to when another son of theirs vanished, pictures of the kids on missing posters and the missing section of milk jugs and cartons (assuming they still do that), and as the news anchor finishes off the report with the question “Just how did all of these children disappear? And where could they have possibly gone to?”, we cut to a mysterious technologically-advanced world where people who match the kids in the news reports can be seen, each of them in a different location, clearly terrified by their new surroundings, and wondering exactly where the hell they are, answering the news reporter's question.

The Inciting Incident:

 

How will you frame your story question in action?

• Firstly, I’ll show what all fourteen human kids were doing before their reported mysterious vanishings as a build-up to them getting sucked into the server and then show them in the server waking up to their new surroundings, them wondering where they are, them walking around the unfamiliar territory before one of the factions launches an attack, leading to a series of events that lead up to them meeting one of the programs affiliated with either the LA, the Tsunami or the APS, getting drafted into each faction in an attempt to find answers. For example, Hayashi wanders around one of the server’s metropolitan areas before running into Rinzler.
• Then I’ll have them all finally run into each other on the field of battle a few times, have them fight a bit, before they end up learning “Holy crap, these guys are human!” and they all find themselves stumbling to the Underground, the APS’s base of operations, after which the kids are drafted into the APS, and begin their journey searching for a way home, but not before acting as APS jockeys aboard an APS ship christened the Orion, since they may as well do something for them while they’re stuck in there.

Is the change or problem big enough to force your protagonists to adapt?

• Pretty much. Think about it; this motley bunch of kids have been thrown into a closed-off computer server with no way to contact their families, filled with a bunch of people they don’t even know. On top of that, the warring factions have been fighting each other for so long that any possible easy exits from the server have been either blocked off or destroyed outright. They’re gonna have to if they want out of the server. 

The Resistance: 

• Are there any ways it would make sense for your protagonists to hesitate or resist the change or challenge they're facing?
• At first, yes, mostly in the case of the few who get settled into the LA; they at first take a liking to the accommodations, the vanities, and the fact that they’re fighting to make the Atlantis server better for future generations…until they start to take a look at what they’re actually doing.
• For instance, they go against a few Tsunami members. They might look like monstrous demon-like creatures who were stealing stuff from LA camps, but upon closer inspection, they were actually stealing food, and three of the members didn’t have anything that felt demonic about them.
• Once the team all gets together at the midway point of Season 1, excluding Hayashi, who has practically been so fed up with humanity that he thinks he’d much rather stay in the server, no, not really. Most of the kids most likely have family members (from their perspective, anyways) worried sick about them, friends they’ll miss, and futures they feel they’ll probably miss out on if they stay cooped up in the server, (though they’ll probably re-evaluate that as the story goes on), so it’s either out or nothing for them.

First Effort: 

 

What does "the easy way out" look like?

• When a few of the humans (and later all of them) first join the APS, they bear witness to almost all the amazing tech they use in battle, such as plasma cannons, stealth armor, light-blades, laser-nunchaku, and of course their most well-known and popular weapon; the Code Medallions, small…medals that represent each of the Elements of Nature that allow APS jockeys to freely control them in battle by controlling their affiliated code, much like the four types of bending in Avatar: The Last Airbender, as well as the APS fleet using a recently-developed portal program that allows the fleet to easily flee the battlefield either once the fight is over, or they need to fall back and regroup.

What could your protagonists do to try to "get back to normal" and solve the problem with little to no cost?

• At first, with all the advanced tech the APS uses in combat, and the fact that the Code Medallions pretty much give their users insanely crazy powers a la The Matrix, the human kids think that this will be a cakewalk. After all, the tech the LA uses in battle barely holds a candle to the APS’s tech, the Tsunami fights barehanded most of the time, and it has been stated that apparently the war has pretty much been stagnant due to the APS’s continued interference. With all of this in mind, it seems like all they have to do is completely take down both sides in combat, craft a way to get out of the server, and they’ll all be home by lunchtime, right?

The Setback:

 

How and why does the first effort fail?

• WRONG. It turns out things are a bit more complicated than that. What the Lightheart Army lacks in technical might, they make up for in sheer military might and numbers. And on the Tsunami’s side, the viruses in it have biology that makes them look more like aliens or hellspawn than computer viruses, such as spider-like legs, hoses that jut out from their arms and spew out an acid-like substance, bat-like wings, and unbelievably large vocal cords, so the kids (sans the programs) are taken completely off-guard by all of this. And to make matters worse, true to their nature as viruses, they can turn programs into “Husks”, which are pretty much program zombies in everything but name.

Is there any way that your protagonists' flaws could be a part of the reason it failed?

• There are three. 1; they get cocky. As I mentioned before, even though the Code Medallions give their users crazy powers, they ultimately mean jack when they learn that some of the tech the factions use was modified to have been upgraded with them in mind. As a result, they come in completely unprepared, which is even more egregious considering they have no combat experience whatsoever.
• 2; they bite off more than they can chew. Since some of them are convinced that this is some game, the “team” continuously went off battling high-threat foes that may look unimposing at first, but they’re stronger, more cunning, and more skilled in combat than they think, causing them to come out with more bruises than expected.
• And 3, the most important problem: THEY REFUSE. TO WORK. TOGETHER. The team constantly goes their way instead of following the game plan, constantly went off trying to play hero instead of working undercover (since the APS is supposed to do everything in secret) and nearly blowing their cover half the time, and, since they were on opposite sides at first and haven’t really had time since to build trust, they end up spending more time fighting each other than they do the weapons, battleships and actual big bad minions.

How are your antagonists involved? Have you shown how formidable they are to set the stage?

• On the LA’s side, Gaile is a very skilled swordsman, having mastered multiple sword styles and having sparred with some of the strongest fighters in the server (Korolev himself included), and only Calchas can take him on in battle with minimal injury. Nula is an unbelievably skilled “mage”, for lack of better terms. Sure, it may have sounded like she was spouting gibberish, but imagine the team’s surprise when the “spells” actually work and have insane destructive potential. And Aria has impressive tactical skills despite her age, coming up with battle plans that are almost completely immaculate. For example, the crew could see a bunch of LA troops walking straight into enemy territory like lemmings and go in to thwart them thinking that that’s their battle strategy, only for them to later discover that they were merely cover for a far more competent team sent in to engage in battle. And on the Tsunami’s side, Abraxas is an absolute beast in battle. With his shadowy body as his only weapon, Abraxas mops the floor with the Orion crew, and it’s only Korolev and Myla showing up in the nick of time that keeps Abraxas from killing them all.

Regroup: 

 

How can your characters, and your audience, catch their breath for a bit?

• I could show the teammates in the Orion’s infirmary, with Anckret patching them all up, and have them all explaining to Korolev, in their ways, how they nearly got killed in the assault, only for Korolev to stop them and scold them for going against the game plan, fighting foes that are way stronger than the team is now and nearly causing so much damage to the outside battlefield that they could have exposed the APS’s existence to the other factions, and isn’t pleased with them or himself, mostly because he made the mistake of sending them out onto the field without knowing they barely had any combat experience together as a unit.

What did your protagonist learn from the setback?

• Not only do they now know exactly how powerful the two factions are, in turn explaining why the war has been completely stagnant for the most part, but that they need to work together as a unit within the APS if they want to get anything done. Not to mention, if they wanna take down the faction leaders, they’re gonna need to put in a lot of time training with the weapons the APS uses in battle.

Counting the Cost:

 

Can you create a moment where your protagonist begins to realize what will be required of them to succeed?

• After a certain amount of drill training by Baytes, the newly formed Orion crew heads out on their first official mission. Only this time, bits from Baytes’s training start to fit into certain aspects of the mission, such as stealth being a huge factor, and the team starting to gain a deeper understanding of how the Code Medallions function, as well as the right element being used at the right time. Although they are detected by some LA troops in the final stretch, they ultimately manage to succeed in the mission with minimal injury and manage to get away clean. After they get back, it’s kind of a Eureka moment where they realize, “That whole teamwork thing, we should do that more often!”

Can you deepen or reaffirm your protagonist's drive and motivation?

• Over time, as the Orion crew start growing in more than just their combat skills, they start to think about certain issues that were plaguing their minds either before they got sucked into the server or when they started to think about how their home lives were like before the war took over their lives, like the reaction of Micah’s family when he chooses to become a rapper over being a police officer like the rest of his family, and we learn that there was a very personal reason why he doesn’t want to go down that road, or Zala finding her growing psychic power as something to be proud of, or some of Korolev’s children wondering if they truly want to be APS warriors for the rest of their lives. Once they come to good conclusions about their issues, they decide that they’ll show both worlds the kind of people they truly are once the war’s over and the humans are sent back home, which increases their drive to do so.

The Second Effort:

 

What's the best approach to solving the problem that “should work” based on what has been learned or gained so far?

• So far, what the Orion crew just did in their first mission has proved to be rather effective, if they, by some miracle, can manage to pull off the team flow that they have right now with some form of consistency. Not to mention, the members of the Orion crew are assigned roles aboard the ship that they earn thanks to hidden skills that were revealed during the mission; for example, Hiroshi takes flying the ship almost like a pro due to the controls of the ship resembling a video game he spent most of his off-time playing, (almost because he does bang the ship up a bit) so he becomes the Orion’s helmsman, Micah and Henri are incredible shots with the ranged weapons they acquired for the mission and aboard the Orion, so they become the sniper and gunner of the Orion respectively, and Loraine modifying the plan in a way that accounts for certain aspects of the enemy stronghold, so she becomes the team’s tactician. So, their game plan is to become a good team by using the strengths of their respective elements, honing the hidden skills in combat, both in training and on the field, and overall…just working as a team. Korolev tells them that APS members live by a code; “We never leave each other. Nothing separates us.” Over time, it becomes less of a code and more of a way of life.

The False Success: 

 

How can it seem like things are working out for a moment?

• So, at this point, the team has become one of the most successful crews in the APS, having scored a few wins on their side due to their managing to be a good team with consistency. They’ve gotten to know each other better, they’ve almost mastered their Code Medallions at this point, and when it comes to taking on the other factions; they’ve (not just Calchas) managed to beat Gaile in a few battles, come up with plans that account for almost everything Aria has planned, they’ve gotten Nula to start thinking about what her faction is doing when it comes to the Marauders, they’ve managed to send them packing a few times, heck, they recently fought Abraxas…and won! At this point, the end of the war is almost in their sights, and once that’s done, they can finally go home!

Is there anything about the fall that you can foreshadow here to build suspense?

• There’s a lot. On Sarian’s side, she sometimes manages to do certain things on the mission that normal programs can’t do, and when she gets asked about this, she (and Rinzler) become apprehensive for a bit and try to cover her skills up. 
• Hayashi and Hiroshi’s relationship grows a bit stronger, but when they first met and Hiroshi mentions having a brother named Hayashi who vanished, you can see a small look of surprise and eventually guilt on his face. 
• They’ve started taking notes of how complex Aria’s plans are, especially when they start to account for things that the LA shouldn’t even know about, not to mention Abraxas seems to want her deleted for some reason, causing them to become a tad suspicious around her. 
• The Marauders have recently started making attacks on APS personnel (the Orion crew included) for the weapons the Tech Division has built and unfortunately managed to get a hold of a few Code Medallions, making them more dangerous than ever, as well as Kaskid going off by himself a few times when the Marauders made their debut. 
• Whenever they fight Abraxas, he denies being the one who deleted Kerrid and Jayde, and when this does come up in battle, all it does is make him angrier, mostly through balling his fists, growling a bit, or briefly becoming more aggressive in the fight, not to mention when Galev comes up, he rarely refers to him in the past tense, giving the team the implication that the programs he deleted might still be alive.

The Fall:

 

What has your protagonist been relying on so far in the story, and how can you take it away from them?

• Until this point, secrecy has been the APS’s bread and butter. The only way they’ve gotten anything done is everything they’ve done has been done in secret without knowledge from any of the other factions. However, they’ve started slipping lately, with them starting to break the masquerade at times to draw the leaders’ attention away from APS fleet ships. Eventually, this gets to a point where the masquerade is even harder to keep, to the point where all the factions have their suspicions on the “rogue programs” threatening their war plans, especially Gaile, who is slowly slipping into insanity. This ultimately boils over following the Marauders’ increased attacks on the APS, and Korolev ends up learning that the Marauders know about the APS’s tech because Kaskid sold the Service out to them a long time ago and that he was a spy for them, leading to the secret getting out to the Lightheart Army, leading to Korolev getting arrested for treachery and the LA adding the APS to their list of threats to be taken out, making ending the war seem further away than ever.

Are there any MORE problems, costs, failures, or setbacks you could add to the fall to make it even worse?

• It also doesn’t help that the Orion crew recently learned the reason between Sarian’s multiple-trick pony ways; she’s a virus, and learning Rinzler kept it a secret from all of them doesn’t make things any better, leading to her leaving the APS and running away, not to mention Hiroshi learning that the Hayashi he met during all this IS his brother, Hayashi, resulting in him letting out all the pent-up anger he’s had for his brother for years, and resulting on the trust in the Orion hitting a low point. 
• On the Tsunami’s side, they end up learning the truth about the relationship between Commander Galev and Abraxas; not only did Abraxas not delete Galev, he IS Galev, and with this knowledge, they’ve become hesitant to fight him. 
• All this pales in comparison to, after they defeat Gaile in combat with Nula’s help, they learn exactly why Aria seemed so suspicious; not only did she plan out almost every aspect of the war, Gaile’s descent into revenge-induced madness, the Marauders’ attacks, and was the one who had Kaskid sell out the APS to the Marauders, and later the Lightheart Army; she was the one who deleted Kerrid and Jayde and pinned the blame on the viruses. This was because Kerrid and Jayde announced that Gaile would be next in line to lead the Atlanteans in the Server’s mission, and instead of waiting, chose to start the war as a means to speed up the process. Galev was the only one who knew what Aria was planning, and Aria, not wanting any interference, turned his squadron against him as a means to silence him (though she wasn’t counting on him returning as a virus). And even worse, thanks to Kaskid and the Marauders, Aria now has a Code Medallion to call her own. 
• When the rest of the LA learns this thanks to Abraxas’s machinations, Aria simply just brainwashes the Army and a few of the other factions’ members, to build her army. With things getting more dangerous than before, the APS now scrambles to finish the portal leading out of the server and manages to put one together, but Aria launches a surprise attack on the APS that ends with the Orion crew, even the programs, being thrown into the portal and leaving the server before it falls apart. With Aria now in charge of the LA, she decides to simply wipe out the APS so she can rule the server as an Empress unopposed, and once she does, she just might take over the world outside the server once she’s done with that. With the APS under fire and the Orion crew in the real world, things seem darker than ever.

The Low Point:

 

Can you give your characters, and your audience, a moment to feel like all is lost? What does that look like in the story?

• So, good news: the humans are back home. Bad news: everything else. Aria has most likely taken over the Atlantis Server, Korolev and Myla’s children are worried about the wellbeing of their parents and home, and they have no decent idea of how to get back to the server. On top of that, even if they do try a server search, it’ll probably end up with minimal results since the server is heavily encrypted, which makes trying to locate it a nightmare, not to mention the Code Medallions no longer work outside the server, so for now, the humans have to head back to the former lives, and the programs have to come with them until they can come up with a decent plan to get back into the server and stop Aria. Not to mention, within the server, neither the APS nor the Tsunami can hold a candle to the corrupt army due to Aria constantly planning for almost every one of their battle scenarios. With all of this in mind, not to mention the Marauders supplying her in battle, both the Atlantis Server and the real world seem doomed.

Realization and Resolution:

 

What does your protagonist need to learn or become in order to succeed?

• After some time, they end up getting a voicemail from someone claiming to be important, and after it doesn’t vanish after they try to delete it, they open it to learn it’s from the Runner, informing them of what’s going on within the server, as well as telling them all is not lost as long as they remember that they’re a team, repeating the phrase “We never leave each other. Nothing separates us.” With this in mind, they proceed to look for alternate methods to return to the server, gaining potential allies, dealing with the issues plaguing them here, and probably taking the programs out on a few trips out and in about to explore the human world for the first time. Within the server, however, both the APS and the Tsunami learn that they will need to join forces if they wish to find a way to bring the Orion crew back into the server and take down Aria, with Nula, Gaile, and a few LA refugees joining in.

Is there a “penny drop” moment where they could see that clearly for the first time?

• Mostly, it comes in the form of the human characters trying to go back to their former lives (with the programs coming to live with a few), but they find themselves constantly thinking about all the stuff they went through within the server, and try to live their lives without thinking about it…which they can’t. After the Runner’s voicemail, they just decide to face their problems, and work to find a way back to the server, as well as the programs still in the server remembering the Orion crew’s battles going well because of the “We never leave each other. Nothing separates us.” mindset.

The Ultimate Effort: 

 

How can your protagonist “lay it all on the line” based on everything they've learned or become through the story?

• Eventually, after both factions spend enough time working together, making a type of machine that allows the Code Medallions to work again so they can defend themselves outside the server, and a one-way portal back to the server, after successfully outwitting the governments of the world, they successfully send the humans and the programs back into the server, where they reunite with the now united APS army and begin planning Aria’s downfall. 
• While Aria has been advancing her Army’s tech by occasionally swiping ideas from the Tech Division and continues coming up with ingenious plans to destroy the rebels and take over the outer world, the APS has been upgrading their tech, coming up with battle plans that account for Aria’s scheming, and finally defeating the Marauders and causing Aria’s tech supply to hit a snag. 
• Ultimately it all comes to a head when word gets out that Aria plans to forcefully and permanently disable the Atlantis server’s encryption and open a portal to the outer world that’ll transport her and the entire LA fleet out of the server, through Obelisks that run on modified versions of the same program the APS used to breach the server’s encryption and send the humans home in the first place. With that, the APS scrambles to destroy all of the Obelisks to trap Aria within the server…though sadly the destruction of the last Obelisk results in Abraxas’s deletion.

What would be the most exciting and satisfying final effort if they gave it everything they had?

• Remember the battle of Endor from Return of the Jedi? Imagine that, but not in space. At this point, with all the Obelisks destroyed, Aria is so fed up with the APS constantly interfering with her plans that she just straight up plans to destroy them outright, steal whatever tech remains, and use said tech to rebuild the Obelisks, and she plans to do so by commanding the Army to raze down sites that are holding APS members. When the APS catches wind of this, they come up with their ultimate plan. 
• Aria sends out her fleet and lures the APS fleet into a trap, but Korolev, Nula, Rinzler, and the remaining leaders plan to have the brunt of their fleet attack Aria’s while the Orion crew tries to shut down the Army fleet, free the brainwashed soldiers and hack into Aria’s citywide system so she can’t use the fleet to her benefit. As such, a massive battle between both factions ensues, and Aria’s plans come tumbling down one after the other thanks to the Orion crew and the APS leader’s quick thinking. With victory closer than ever before, Aria is down for the count…or is she?

The Climax:

 

How can your antagonist give your protagonist a run for their money to create tension in the climax?

• With the security systems down, the Orion crew, with Korolev and Myla in tow, head straight into Aria’s throne room to take her down. She feigns surrender for a bit, before smashing a button on her throne, which activates a huge mech-suit with multiple weapons powered by all the Code Medallions she stole from the APS, as well as her own,, that smashes through the castle, ends up taking the entire APS fleet by surprise and even manages to destroy a few ships. Even worse, when the Orion crew tries to attack it upfront, the mech-suit merely shrugs them off since it was built with them in mind.

What is the clever, brave, or impressive thing your protagonist does to win the day?

• Much like before, the Orion crew simply works together. 
• Okay, there’s more to it than just that. They notice that the multitude of weapons on the mech-suit, much like the elements themselves, each has a weakness. For example, a lightning cannon on it will fail to work properly when water is thrown onto it, or a water cannon’s ammo will fail with fireballs, or the mech suit’s shadow arm blades can be sliced through with light, or wind blades cleanly cutting through some of the weapons. 
• With this in mind, the team attacks the weaponry with their polar opposite element, and once the weaponry’s down and the mech suit’s fists and feet are the weapons it has remaining, they then open fire on it, and once it’s too damaged to keep functioning properly, they all fire at it at once with all their elemental power, destroying it completely, and sending the insane wannabe-empress into a freefall to the castle’s demolished courtyard. 
• Korolev initially plans to delete Aria right then and there, but Rinzler instead chooses to use the Nether’s Key, a relic that they gained from Kaskid that they tried to use on Abraxas, but failed to work due to him not being guilty of deleting Kerrid and Jayde. This time, it works, and Aria is dragged down to the deepest pits of the Atlantis Server’s netherworld as punishment for everything she’s done.

The Resolution: 

 

What has changed in the world as a result of the climax, and how can you show it to your audience as efficiently as possible?

• The change is mostly in the Atlantis server, but if it’s a change nevertheless, it has to count for something. 
• With the war finally over, things are improving for the most part. 
  • Kerrid, Jayde, and Galev/Abraxas are given the funerals they were due. 
  • Relations between the programs and the viruses are steadily improving. 
  • Cestro, Lexi, Bolen, and Kanora leave the APS to pursue their dreams while Calchas, Rinzler, and Sarian stay after they’re all awarded for their heroism. 
  • Instead of the “one program leads the server” way, the server is now led by a council of programs in a democratic way, although tabs are kept on all of them to make sure another Aria doesn’t rise. 
  • As for the LA, Gaile is imprisoned for his war crimes, and Nula takes his place as the LA’s leader, though neither she nor Gaile consider Aria their sister anymore, and the server now remembers her as the selfish monster she truly was. 
  • The Tsunami is disbanded following the end of the war, and the viruses head out into the server to begin anew. 
  • The APS is currently inactive now, but it will rise again if something like Aria or any other being threatens the server or the real world again.

What would be a fun and rewarding payoff for the time the audience has invested in the story?

• I’d probably give them a “Where are they and what are they doing now?” epilogue, both for the humans and the programs in the server, put into the end credits. 
• For the programs, it’ll showcase the above. For the humans, it’ll show stuff like… 
  • Hayashi reconnecting with his family with Hiroshi’s help, 
  • ...him and Hakumi dating and eventually getting married, 
  • Corrie and Micah gaining their swim-legs on singing and rapping respectively in friendly competitions for them, and later collaborating on a song together, 
  • Zala showing off her mastery of her psychic power, 
  • Loraine casting aside her shallow old self, and becoming a respectable “class princess”, 
  • Lou and Andrea studying together for scholarships for colleges of Fine Arts, 
  • Rose entering a fashion design school with plans on building her own line in which the proceeds go to charity, 
  • Keanu working for an internship at a computer company and attending Kamala’s graduation, 
  • Cecilia placing flowers on the grave of her best friend, signifying the beginning of the end of her grieving period, 
  • ...and Hiroshi beginning his training for the Japanese Air Force and going on dates with Henri… 
  • …all of which culminates into a time-skip where the Orion crew gets together for the first time in 5 years after the programs restore the “leaving the server” portal, and all reflect on how they’ve grown since their adventure, and most notably, the epilogue ends with Hayashi, Hakumi, and Hiroshi revealing something big; Hayashi and Hakumi have a beautiful son named Hotaru, who Korolev has a small feeling will do great things for the Atlantis server one day.

Are there any final plot threads or character arcs that need to be wrapped up?

• Mostly the outside world’s reactions to how much the humans have changed since having gone into the server, the governments of the world having now been convinced that what they were stalking all these families for was nothing more than a science fair project, who (or what) the Runner truly is, what the programs inside the server were doing before the war, and ultimately what the server’s purpose is, and why it was hidden away; the server is essentially an archive for humanity’s history and contributions to the world as a whole and the server remains hidden even afterward because the Runner fears the governments of the world will try to edit the data in the server to their benefit.

----

Again, I hope this is good enough to please you, Mr. Fike.