Young Pledges

Two young orphans living in the sewers are forced to find direction in a bigger world they don't understand when those who rule society pull them apart.

Transcript

1. INT. FROGAIA SEWERS-DAY Below the bustling streets of the Frogaia capital district lies the system of sewer tunnels, a small camp set up in a broken section of wall in the tunnel. Two children sit next to each other in the dingy setup. WILBUR (15) is a young boy with curly brown hair and purple eyes. RAT (15) is his twin sibling, who watches him scratch a heist plan into the dirt with a distant, dumbfounded look. WILBUR It’s a pretty simple distract and snatch setup, just do what you do best and I’ll handle the get away. Rat nods quickly and stands up with energy, holding a book close to their chest. RAT Yummies here we come! Rat scurries over to a pile of cloth lifts it to tuck their precious book under the sheets, other small trinkets hide in the pile. Rat hesitates, flipping through a few pages but closing it back on the cover. The title is in English but they can’t read any of the book’s text. They set the book in it’s safe place before joining Wilbur. The both of them giggle, running towards a ladder going up. EXT. FROGAIA STREETS-DAY The street above is still dirty as carts and people move through, and the sewer twins don’t stick out too much. The city guards do stick out though, their teal armor glimmering in the sun. A handful drift between streets. Rat stares at the soldiers as Wilbur examines the wares on the street. Wilbur gets Rat’s attention and points at a barrel next to a food stand. They both grin and share a nod. Splitting up, Wilbur gets into position to snatch the barrel. Rat takes off in the other direction, close to some guards.
2. 2. Spotting someone buying an apple, Rat smirks deviously. The person takes a step away from the vendor and nearly takes a bite from the apple when Rat cries out. RAT WAAAAH! Give it back! No fair! The person pauses, staring at Rat confused. Two guards are stirred by the outcry and approach. GUARDS What’s the matter? Rat turns to the guards with a pathetic, quivering face on the verge of tears. They shakily point at the apple. RAT Took my apple! No fair, NO FAIR! The man looks between the guards and Rat stunned. APPLE MAN Woah hey! I just bought this! At the other end of the street, Wilbur watches attention shift to Rat and snakes the barrel out of sight. Rat sees Wilbur disappear out of the corner of their eye. The apple man brings the two guards back to the vendor, and Rat stalks back into the shadows. The apple vendor cranes her neck to get a look at Rat. VENDOR It’s that one street rat! One guard dashes straight for Rat who breaks into a full sprint down a crowded alley. The guard easily catches Rat, grabbing them by the back of their tunic and hoisting them off the ground. The second guard catches up. GUARD 2 Seriously? Why bother with the kid? GUARD 1 Annoying street rats are exactly what the barracks were asking for right? Royal decree and everything. Rat struggles against the guard’s grip fruitlessly. 2.
3. 3. GUARD 2 The barracks will crush the little thing! It can’t even throw a punch. GUARD 1 Not my problem, just have to get the urchins off the streets. The two guards drag a struggling Rat away as Wilbur below pulls the stolen barrel into their little camp. WILBUR Yummies for all! Wilbur puts his arms in the air in celebration to silence. Wilbur quickly looks around the camp to find no sibling. WILBUR (CONT’D) No no no! INT. CASTLE BARRACKS-NIGHT Rat is lead through immaculate stone halls by an man with more impressive armor than the street guards. Rat’s face quivers as their gaze stays fixated on the walls. The older man opens a door to a large room filled with bunk beds. Rat stumbles into the room, amazed at the space. A bunch of kids and teens peek out from the beds to get a look at the newcomer. Rat breathes heavily in panic, pressing themselves against the door, finding it locked as the others approach them. INT. OLD SEWERS-NIGHT Wilbur sprints through older tunnels of the sewers. He jumps up to whatever viewports he can find to the streets above. Stumbling blindly through the tunnels, he pauses at a strange light further down. Cautiously, he peeks past a corner to see the altar past a broken down wall. Wilbur climbs up into the old worship space, a tall statue casts a shadow over the other half of the hall. 3.
4. 4. Wilbur stares up at the strange creature depicted, once he stands at the front of the statue he glares at the face. STATUE Monke. Wilbur takes a step away from the statue, scared. WILBUR W-what? STATUE Know my name child. Monke, the one you return to. WILBUR Can you help me? STATUE I so love drama, do explain. WILBUR My twin... the shinies have stolen them to a place I can’t help them. STATUE That’s easy, power against those who wrong you is a simple gift. WILBUR Really?! You can- STATUE Simple is not something I enjoy. If you desire a gift, then I want entertainment. WILBUR How do I do that then? STATUE How much do you value your sanity? Wilbur glances away from the statue, thinking. WILBUR Don’t think I use it that much? STATUE Fantastic news. The power I offer will come at the cost of your moral mind, your kind never needed it anyways. Do you accept? 4.
5. 5. A small stream of mist extends from the statue in the form of a hand, shimmering in rainbow tones. WILBUR I just need my sibling back, whatever I need to do. STATUE That’s the spirit! Let chaos reign! Rainbow tinted mist pours from the statue as it giggles. The mist coalesces into a form similar to the statue. The figure swirls around Wilbur and the color of his eyes shift to reflect the rainbow coloration. He clutches his head. INT. CASTLE BARRACKS-DAY The group of teens come back into the barracks, all exhausted from training still wearing the thin cloth armor. Rat falls into one the bunks, not bothering to change out of muddy clothes. RAT How does EVERYTHING hurt at once? Some of the others giggle at the exclamation. ORPHAN It’s better than the orphanage, well at least the beds, the work is about even ugh. The children murmur in agreement, Rat sits up from their bunk RAT I’m not from an orphanage. ORPHAN Oh, no wonder you smell like a rat. Rat gives the orphan a blank stare before glancing back at the bunk, pulling the soft bedding between their rough hands. RAT I’m.. going to get changed. The other orphans turn to their own chatter as Rat leaves the room. Walking down the hall, they start undoing the armor. 5.
6. 6. INT. CASTLE WASHROOM-DAY The washroom has plenty of hooks to hang up the uniform cloth armor, and an intricate setup of simple mechanics for a early form of running water in the large basins in the room. Rat hangs their armor up before cautiously approaching the water basin. Curious, they fiddle with some of the knobs. Rat scrambles back as their efforts cause the water to spout forth. Amazed, Rat runs their hand under the water stream. Watching the grime wash off their hand, Rat quickly washes the rest of their arms. Shaking themself dry, they poke at the knobs bewildered. Unnoticed by Rat, a few bricks in the wall behind them slip out. Wilbur peeks through the hole he’s made. His face brightens as he sees Rat but he has to duck out of view when the other orphans come into the room. ORPHAN Aye! Rat, how’d you get the water on? After putting their armor up the orphans crowd around the basin excited. Rat looks at the other orphans confused before pointing at themself. RAT Me? ORPHAN Yes you, I think it’s pretty fitting anyways. RAT Haha... sure. The other orphans pass Rat to splash in the water, but Rat still stands separate than them. Wilbur glances around the space behind the wall and rushes off. Rat crosses their arms and leaves the washroom, gaze distant. 6.
7. 7. INT. CASTLE HALLS-DAY As Rat walks through the halls, a strange fire of shifting rainbow colors catches their attention. Rat approaches the fire and it zips away down the hall, Rat instantly going to chase it. The fire only leaves Rat’s view when it escapes through a strange opening in the castle wall. INT. SECRET TUNNEL-DAY The rainbow flame jumps into Wilbur’s hand and flickers out, leaving the crumbling stone space dark. Rat cautiously steps into the old stonework tunnel, hand extended to touch the wall as they walk forward. WILBUR Boo! RAT AAAAA! Wilbur?! Wilbur wraps Rat into a tight hug, they embrace for a moment. RAT (CONT’D) How did you find this place? How did you get here? Was the fire you? WILBUR It doesn’t matter now! We can go back and leave the shinies behind! Wilbur puts Rat’s book into their hands. Rat stares at the title, words they can’t read. Not yet. RAT What happened Wilbur? WILBUR I got help! I received a gift that would let me save you, Monke helped Wilbur confidently takes a step away from the hole in the wall, holding onto Rat’s arm. He pauses when Rat doesn’t move RAT Wilbur... maybe we could stay? WILBUR What?! They stole you! 7.
8. 8. RAT What’s there to go back to? Maybe we can work together to make a life here! Just wait until you- WILBUR I don’t care about any of that! I want you, I just need my twin. RAT Don’t worry! We’re always gonna be twins, let’s at least try. This could be our only chance at this. WILBUR I don’t like it. I don’t belong here anyways, their types wouldn’t like me at all. RAT You can stay in the tunnels! It’ll be our secret base and I’ll sneak you all sorts of stuff and we can hang out here in whenever! We’ll watch each other’s back. WILBUR Like we always do... RAT Yeah! Somewhere here... there’s a way to read the book, so much more we don’t understand. Maybe... Rat turns to Wilbur with a wide smile, clutching their book. Wilbur’s face brightens to match Rat’s smile. After a pause they hug again and Rat exits back into the castle halls. 8.