Rise and Shine/Transcript

"In "Rise and Shine”, Mei wakes up years after being cryogenically frozen to find that Overwatch has been disbanded, the world is very different than the one she knows, and that she is the last surviving scientist at Ecopoint: Antarctica. With limited resources and time, Mei must use science to figure out a way to get help."

Rise and Shine is an Animated Short by Blizzard Entertainment that details Mei's backstory. It was uploaded to YouTube on the 23rd August 2017.

It begins with Mei explaining in a video log that she and her friends are still stuck in an ice storm. Their resupply delivery window was missed because of it, are running low on rations and so Opara decided they're going to "hibernate" in the hope of rescue coming. Another team member hands Mei one last drink and reminds her they're an hour behind schedule. Mei is also going to leave the sensors online so she has a new dataset to work with when she wakes up, and signs off when the man calls for her.

It is only when Ecopoint: Antarctica receives a message coming through on a weak signal that Mei is woken up by her cryopod to deal with it. She wakes up Snowball from the room's charging port and says to her friends "Rise and shine, sleepyheads.". After brushing her teeth (blowing a mischievous Snowball away with a hairdryer) and putting a kettle on for the team's tea, she examines the dataset to find the anomalies on the surface are much worse than her team predicted. When she receives more and more data, she asks Snowball how long the team has been asleep, and is given the answer of 9 years.

Mei is stunned, unable to believe that Overwatch didn't rescue them. After she stores the data on a USB stick, Snowball pulls up relevant news stories from the news they received over the years before communications went down. She learns that not only was the Ecopoint considered lost in the storm, but that Overwatch is gone-disbanded by the Petras Act. She realizes that her team hasn't woken up yet; with growing alarm she runs back to the cryo lab to check on them and is devastated to find that they are dead: their cryopods malfunctioned and they all died in their sleep. After falling into a seated position with Snowball in her arms and grieving for several hours, she looks at the USB stick in her hand and wonders aloud that with 9 years worth of research data she could save millions of lives. She makes a promise to her friends that she will bring their work to the world. Or rather, she'll try.

Mei soon realizes this will be easier said than done-the radio tower is broken, the snowcat is full of snow, the standby helicopter's main rotor has a snapped blade, and although she contemplates journeying into the Antarctic on foot she backs away. She states that she can't do it alone and wishes her friends were still there, before Snowball brings her a cup of tea. She thanks the robot as there is a small power fluctuation, and she decides to find out a way of extending the life of the station's power supply batteries. As she minimizes the cryopod status window, she finds the message. The signal is still weak but it is broadcasting on the Overwatch Emergency Frequency. She thinks this might be a rescue message but she has to climb and reinforce the radio tower to know for certain.

Coming up with a plan, she uses various parts found around the Ecopoint to make an improvised aerial and construct a prototype Endothermic Blaster over a period of around two days. Just after she successfully completes an endothermic reaction test but before she has finished making the blaster, the power dies completely; she realizes to her growing horror that in her excitement over the message, she had completely forgotten about saving power. There are no more batteries left either. Without power the station will eventually become an icy tomb, and neither can she finish the blaster: either way means death. As Mei tries to think of a way to restore power-just enough for her work station for a bit more time-Snowball recognizes that there is one source of power left: himself. Not knowing, or even caring about, whether he will be able to recharge ever again, he plugs into the room's charging port and completely drains his own batteries. Mei notices the power restoring, but her renewed hope quickly turns to shock when she sees why this is happening just as Snowball shuts down. Initially distraught by this, Mei realizes the importance of why Snowball had made his choice, and after emotionally thanking Snowball Mei finishes the prototype, now truly on her own.

Mei climbs the tower using her blaster to create ice to climb and reinforces a missing section beside a hazardous materials tank, partially covering it. Nearing the top, a loose girder breaks off under her weight: she leaps to safety, but the section strikes the supporting ice below and weakens the tank, causing it to explode and sending the tower toppling over. Dangling by one hand, Mei desperately fires the blaster and is amazed at the resulting large pillars of ice supporting and securing the tower to the ice wall, and finishes climbing as it turns dark.

Using her aerial and her laptop, Mei manages to locate the signal to find it is Winston's recording recalling Overwatch agents to active duty. At the end of the message, he asks those watching if they are with him as she looks up at the aurora australis in the night sky, and she says "Yes Winston. I'm with you." After leaving each of her deceased friends' mugs full of fresh tea at the foot of their cryopods (as a funeral) Mei confidently sets out into the Antarctic on foot with a supply sled of survival gear, including her blaster and a recharge port hooked into a solar panel for Snowball. Sometime after setting out from the Ecopoint in the cloudless day, Snowball wakes up and Mei tells him "Rise and shine, Snowball. We're on our way!"