From 365dec37187f093acb611ef58cb1883ac0e226b9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Raincloud Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2026 01:24:53 -0600 Subject: [PATCH] initial Opus 4.7 high draft 50% discount lul --- Story/0BattleRoyale.fountain | 753 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 753 insertions(+) create mode 100644 Story/0BattleRoyale.fountain diff --git a/Story/0BattleRoyale.fountain b/Story/0BattleRoyale.fountain new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e645d30 --- /dev/null +++ b/Story/0BattleRoyale.fountain @@ -0,0 +1,753 @@ +Title: 0BattleRoyale +Credit: Written by +Author: RaincloudTheDragon +Notes: Pre-Debut. AIRainy runs the sim; audience must not realize. Azure's mod reinstatement is the hidden stakes engine. Adrian is already mod—has been since before Azure ever arrived. ~30 min runtime target. Proofread roster, shorthand titles, handle subtexts, and the squirrel-girl MOTD portrait (placeholder art description). + +/* +RULES OF THE ROOM: +- On-screen, this is a literal gauntlet. Nothing simulated-looking. Everyone in full character-ref form. +- Rain is cold-baseline but hosting—emulation layer does the social labor. +- Azure does NOT know the gauntlet was green-lit as his own reinstatement trial. + The audience doesn't need to know either. Both can find out in the verdict. +- Stakes are public ("prove your worth"), but the REAL stakes are the skekSil moment: does he choose devotion over self-preservation when it costs him? +- Adrian reads as steady, seasoned, amused. His being mod "since before Azure" is a + spoken fact, not a dig. +*/ + +FADE IN: + +INT. THE COLOSSEUM - DAY (STREAM TIME) + +/* The arena: stone tiers, chat-scroll runes cut along the upper walls like +classical friezes, subscriber-count banners hanging on chains, stylized emote +gargoyles perched between columns. Warm rim light, magenta fill. No digital UI +tells—this is a real place as far as anyone in it is concerned. */ + +A slow crane shot rises from the sand floor, up past the tiered benches, and +lands on the **royal box**: a draped dais with a **LOW-BACKED OBSIDIAN THRONE** +on one side and a cluttered **MOD DESK**—clipboard, coffee, a dog-eared rulebook— +on the other. + +/* squirrel girl MOTD portrait — please proofread / replace with correct ref. */ +High on the wall behind the dais: a **large framed portrait** of an anthro +**squirrel girl**, a painted banner beneath it in illuminated-manuscript lettering: + + **MESSAGE OF THE DAY** + +The portrait is treated with reverence. No one comments on it. It is simply +the room's north star. + +From stage right, **RAINCLOUD** descends. Small purple dragon, pink-blush +cheeks, starry-night halo still visible in the air behind his head as he walks. +He moves with the uncanny precision of a creature who built the building. + +From stage left, casually, **ADRIAN** takes the mod desk—portrait-faithful, +early-twenties, curly brown hair, hoop earrings, white collared jacket over +black. He has the exact energy of a guy who has done this eight hundred times. +He nods at Rain. Rain nods back. + +Rain settles on the throne. The crowd—implied, never seen clearly—comes to a +hush. + +RAINCLOUD +(to camera, warm-hosting-voice) +Welcome, welcome, welcome. To those returning to the court: you already know +what this is. To those joining us for the first time: you are about to find out. + +He gestures, lightly, toward Adrian. + +RAINCLOUD (CONT'D) +My right hand at the desk—ADRIAN, who has held the mod badge since before most +of this room could pronounce my handle. If he tells you to sit down, you sit. + +ADRIAN +(dry, waving) +Hola. + +RAINCLOUD +Today we run **the BattleRoyale**. Our first. + +He lets that breathe. Then his eyes narrow, genuinely amused. + +RAINCLOUD (CONT'D) +A little bird told me this was someone's idea. + +CUT TO: + +INT. THE COLOSSEUM - SAND FLOOR - CONTINUOUS + +A single figure stands in a pool of spotlight: **AZURE.** Full ref-sheet form— +porcelain-periwinkle Killer Queen silhouette, gold-skull belts, cat-eared +helmet, ice-mint slit eyes. Over the armor, comically wrong: an oversized +**royal-blue John Cena tee**. Sleeves baggy. The shirt reads **CENATION** in +peeling vinyl. + +He is waving—theatrical, elbow-deep—at the dais. + +AZURE +(brightly) +My lord! Yes! I pitched it! I am so glad you loved the— + +RAINCLOUD (O.S.) +I did love it. + +AZURE +Yes! Thank you— + +RAINCLOUD (O.S.) +I loved it enough to put you in it. + +A long, small beat. Azure's smile holds. The armor does not move. Only the +Cena shirt flutters, weakly. + +AZURE +(small) +...in it. + +Raincloud leans forward in the throne, genial, merciless. + +RAINCLOUD +You came to me with the concept. You did not, as I recall, include yourself +on the roster. + +AZURE +(very quickly) +A host! I was—my thought was, I would *host*, I would—stand at the mod desk +with Adrian, I could help, I could— + +ADRIAN +(not looking up) +Desk seats two. Always has. + +AZURE +(wounded) +Right. Right. Of course. + +Raincloud steeples his claws. + +RAINCLOUD +Here is what I will do. I will honor your creativity. I will honor, also, +your enthusiasm. So I am placing you on the roster. Front and center. + +He lets it land. + +RAINCLOUD (CONT'D) +Prove your worth in the arena you designed, and we will talk about what a +creature like you deserves. + +Azure, recovering, pivots—skekSil reflex—into a theatrical, over-deep bow. +The Cena tee bunches awkwardly around his waist. + +AZURE +(radiant) +My lord is GENEROUS. + +RAINCLOUD +Mm. + +Raincloud turns to camera. + +RAINCLOUD (CONT'D) +Your champions. In order of arrival. + +SMASH TO: + +/* +==== VANITY CARDS ==== +Each card: full-body hero pose in a contained spotlight field, name-banner +unfurls, subtext chyron shows true handle + one alt where applicable, and +RAIN voice-overs the two-line description. Proofread all text. +*/ + +INT. VANITY FIELD - VOID + +A pool of spotlight. Black surround. Chains of subscriber-count banners rain +from somewhere above and halt, hanging. + +AZURE steps into the light. He poses. A banner unfurls behind him: + + **ActuallyAzure** + *guidingflyer530 · actuallynotazure* + +RAINCLOUD (V.O.) +Disgraced ex-Mod. Highly esteemed and beloved court jester who originated the +Royale. Will he survive long enough to return to his former glory? + +Azure preens. The Cena shirt catches the light unflatteringly. He loves it. + +CUT TO: + +Same void. **NOTORIOUSROOSTER** steps in. A **tall orange beak** protrudes +from under a deep cream-white cowl; the rest of the body is swallowed in +cloak. One clawed foot taps. No face is visible. The banner: + + **NotoriousRooster** + *notorious_rooster* + +RAINCLOUD (V.O.) +Spark plug of the court, voice like a siren, identity like a rumor. +Nobody in this arena is louder, and nobody in this arena has been seen. + +The beak tips, regally. A tiny wave from inside the cloak. + +CUT TO: + +Same void. **UBEAR** steps in—fez crooked, **red-with-yellow-band, black +tassel**; massive brass-geared steampunk left arm clicking softly; grizzly +bulk, dark claws. He does not pose. He glowers. + + **Ubear** + *verify52w · AncientMalgru* + +RAINCLOUD (V.O.) +Imitator. Subverter. Wears whichever face the room requires and hates that +it works. Ubear is his favorite mask, and he will die before he admits it. + +Ubear makes a rude gesture with the mechanical arm. The gears whine. + +CUT TO: + +Same void. **STARBOY** saunters in, chibi-proportioned despite the weight +of the intro—teal-aqua layered hair, galaxy eyes, blue shearling-collar jacket, +star hair clip. He winks. The banner: + + **Starboy** + *Starboy_Journeys · Ruford / ijustdunnoanymore* + +RAINCLOUD (V.O.) +Chaos comic, late arrival, impossible to ignore. +Louder than he can afford to be, and funnier than he knows. + +/* +the Ruford / ijustdunnoanymore subtext is a deliberate writer-side tell for +later installments. Audience can read it or not. +*/ + +Starboy makes a kiss at the camera, then an obscene gesture, then another +kiss. He exits. + +CUT TO: + +Same void. **AGATE** walks in—long, lithe, cream-and-coral feathered chimera, +white spiral markings on the haunches, big avian wings folded. Quiet. Poised. +Single mint eye catching the light. + + **Agate** + *LoonyAgate* + +RAINCLOUD (V.O.) +Patient as sand. Soft-spoken as fog. Knows the map you're about to walk into +and will absolutely not warn you. He is here because he was invited. That is +all he will say. + +Agate dips his head, a half-bow, and the tail-tuft flicks once. + +CUT TO: + +INT. THE COLOSSEUM - SAND FLOOR + +All five champions now stand in a loose arc across the arena floor. Azure +fidgets at the head of the arc. Rooster's beak tracks slow across the room. +Ubear stares at the dais. Starboy is chewing something. Agate is still. + +Rain nods to Adrian, who flips the rulebook open with the lazy authority of +somebody who wrote it. + +ADRIAN +Three rounds. Nobody dies—this isn't that kind of colosseum, bro. +(beat, to Rain) +...right? + +RAINCLOUD +Correct. + +ADRIAN +(back to floor) +Round one: reflexes. Round two: audit. Round three: the bow. Eliminations +carry; you lose a round, you stay on the floor but you don't score. At the +end, the dragon calls it. The dragon's call is final. + +STARBOY +What's "the bow"? + +ADRIAN +You'll know. + +RAINCLOUD +(light, almost kind) +Begin. + +CUT TO: + +INT. THE COLOSSEUM - ROUND ONE: CRASH COURSE + +/* +Reflex chaos. Play like a game-show obstacle gauntlet, not a death match. +Streamer UI aesthetics translated into physical set pieces: giant floating +chat-message blocks on chains, a spinning EMOTE WHEEL, pyrotechnics fired by +SUB ALERTS. Runtime budget: ~4 pages. +*/ + +The arena floor rearranges itself—literal hydraulic rumble—into a course of +**SWINGING CHAT-BUBBLES** (oversized speech balloons on chains), a **SUB-ALERT +CANNON** (fires harmless but blinding confetti on a trigger), and a rising, +lowering **EMOTE WHEEL** bearing cartoon-dragon-face icons. + +Starboy sprints first. He ducks the first swinging bubble, eats the second +in the chest, and cackles on his back. + +STARBOY +(from the floor) +TEN OUT OF TEN, WOULD GET MERKED AGAIN— + +He rolls clear. + +Rooster follows—the cowl billows, the beak leads—and he moves better than he +should be able to move under all that fabric. The crowd reacts. The beak +doesn't. + +Ubear lumbers. The mechanical arm tanks through a swinging bubble, gears +whining. He does not duck. He does not need to. + +Agate moves last, slow, unhurried, and the course seems to open around him +like it's apologizing. + +/* save Azure for last — he is the drama. */ + +Azure steps up. The confetti cannon fires early—direct hit. He shrieks, +slips, catches himself on a claw, and then, because he is Azure, recovers +into an unnecessary pirouette. The Cena shirt nearly trips him. + +AZURE +(panting, to the dais) +I did not *technically* fall, my lord! + +RAINCLOUD +(dry, enjoying it) +Noted. + +ADRIAN +(marking his clipboard) +Didn't fall. Did style. + +AZURE +*Style*. Thank you, Adrian. I have always *respected* you. + +Adrian does not look up. + +ADRIAN +Mm-hm. + +The sub-alert cannon fires a second volley. Azure shrieks again, louder. He +stumbles through the rest of the course in a cloud of his own confetti, +arrives at the finish line upside-down against a chat bubble, and raises one +claw in triumph. + +AZURE +Survived! Unscathed! Beautiful! + +Rooster's beak swivels at him, slow and judgmental. + +Starboy applauds from the floor, still on his back. + +STARBOY +That was *unreal*, bro, never stop. + +CUT TO: + +INT. THE COLOSSEUM - ROUND TWO: AUDIT TRAIL + +/* +Knowledge / metadata test. The arena reconfigures into a ceremonial COURT +ARCHIVE: five plinths, each bearing a SCROLL. The scroll is a ban log—five +real-looking ban entries (proofread; or invent fictional handles to avoid +clashing with real mods). Each champion must identify WHICH ENTRY IS A FAKE +planted by the dragon. + +This is Azure's event. Set it up so the audience doesn't notice yet—play it +like any of the others could win. Then reveal Azure's uncanny fluency. + +Runtime: ~4 pages. +*/ + +The arena reconfigures. Five stone PLINTHS rise from the sand. On each, a +long parchment SCROLL unrolls itself with a ceremonial snap. Runic chat-script +crawls across them. + +RAINCLOUD +Five bans. One of them is mine, but I did not write it. One of you has ninety +seconds to tell me which is the forgery. + +He steeples his claws. + +RAINCLOUD (CONT'D) +Anyone may read. Only one of you may guess. + +The champions approach their scrolls. Ubear scowls at his and doesn't bother +pretending to read. Rooster's beak bobs thoughtfully over his. Starboy reads +the first line of his aloud: + +STARBOY +"Banned for asking the dragon if his—" +(squints) +—is this real? This is amazing. + +RAINCLOUD +It is real. That one is real. + +Agate has finished reading his. He looks up calmly, says nothing, steps +back. Done. + +Azure has not moved to a single scroll. He is standing in the center of the +plinths, rotating slowly, reading all five *from where he stands*. His slit +eyes flick. His lips move, counting. + +Ubear notices. Ubear does not like it. + +UBEAR +(muttering) +He has no business being good at this. + +AZURE +(not looking up) +I have *every* business. + +He steps forward, places a single claw on the second scroll. + +AZURE (CONT'D) +This one. The timestamp's wrong. You don't write bans at that hour, my lord. +You write them right after stream, when you are still mad. This one is two +days delayed. Also the reason field is too clean. You're messier when +you're mad. + +Long pause. + +Rain tilts his head. The warm-hosting-voice slips, for one small second, into +something else—genuine, quiet, assessing. + +RAINCLOUD +...correct. + +Azure straightens. The Cena tee un-bunches. Adrian, at the desk, writes +something down without looking at anyone, and taps his pen twice against the +clipboard—a tell Rain clocks and files. + +ADRIAN +(quiet, to Rain) +Mm. + +RAINCLOUD +(quiet, back) +Mm. + +Azure does not catch any of this. He is too busy soaking in the first real +approval he has received in months. + +AZURE +(delighted) +I *knew* my evenings in the audit channel would— + +RAINCLOUD +Round three. + +AZURE +—yes my lord. + +CUT TO: + +INT. THE COLOSSEUM - ROUND THREE: THE BOW + +/* +Social / loyalty test. Here is the real gauntlet. + +Setup: the arena is cleared. In the center of the sand, a single object: a +ceremonial BOW (weapon, not a gesture—until it is). The rules, as Adrian +explains them, sound cruel. The rules, as they play out, are a test of +whether any champion will sacrifice their standing to protect the throne. + +Runtime: ~5 pages. This is where the movie earns its ending. +*/ + +The plinths have sunk. In the exact center of the sand floor: a slim black +**ceremonial BOW**, an arrow nocked but not drawn, resting on a velvet +cushion on a knee-high iron stand. + +All five champions flank the bow in a wide circle. Adrian closes his +rulebook. + +ADRIAN +One bow. One arrow. One shot. + +He pauses. + +ADRIAN (CONT'D) +Whoever fires it at the dragon wins the round. + +A beat. A real one. Starboy laughs, because Starboy doesn't know what else +to do. + +STARBOY +Come on. + +ADRIAN +(mild) +Nobody gets hurt. Dragon's a big boy. It's theatre. +(beat) +But the score is real. Winner of this round is ahead going into the verdict. + +Rooster's beak swings to the bow and does not swing away. + +Ubear's mechanical arm flexes once. Gears click. + +Agate has not moved. Agate will not move. + +Azure looks at the bow. Azure looks at the dragon. Azure looks, briefly, at +Adrian. + +ADRIAN (CONT'D) +On your own time. + +Silence. A long one. The crowd hush is a physical thing. + +UBEAR +(grumbling) +Stupid game. + +He steps forward anyway. Reaches for the bow. + +Starboy moves faster. Not at the bow—*between* the bow and Ubear. Shoulder +out, chibi-serious for one strange second. + +STARBOY +Yeah no. + +UBEAR +Move, simp. + +STARBOY +(shrugging, grinning) +Can't. + +Rooster's beak tips, curious. Rooster does not intervene. Rooster watches. + +Agate closes his eyes. + +Azure— + +Azure steps past both of them, picks up the bow. + +The room inhales. + +Adrian, at the desk, does not write anything. + +Azure turns. He faces the dais. The bow rises. The string draws. The arrow +aligns with Raincloud, who has not moved, who is watching with the focused +stillness of something that might already know the answer. + +RAINCLOUD +(quiet) +Take the shot, Azure. + +AZURE +(quieter) +My lord— + +RAINCLOUD +Take the shot. Win the round. You are one point behind. + +Long beat. Azure's claws are shaking. The Cena shirt flutters. + +Then, slowly, Azure turns the bow aside. He sets the arrow back on the +cushion. He lays the bow beside it. He kneels. + +He kneels *hard*—forehead to the sand, both claws extended, the skekSil +over-deep bow he has been doing all his life, performed at last with nothing +theatrical in it at all. His shoulders are shaking. The Cena shirt pools +around him. + +AZURE +(muffled, into the sand) +I decline the round. + +He does not look up. + +AZURE (CONT'D) +I withdraw. + +Starboy, still between the bow and Ubear, exhales. Ubear grunts. Rooster's +beak tips, approvingly this time. Agate opens his eyes. + +Rain, on the throne, does not move for a long beat. Then, very slightly, he +leans back. + +RAINCLOUD +Adrian. + +ADRIAN +(already writing) +On it. + +CUT TO: + +INT. THE COLOSSEUM - VERDICT + +/* +All five champions arced across the sand. Azure still kneeling, though he's +been given leave to stand—he has not. Adrian at the desk, clipboard closed. +Rain on the throne. + +Verdict beat. Do not let Rain be warm. Let him be PRECISE. The warmth is +the audience's to feel. +*/ + +Raincloud rises from the throne—the first time he has stood in the film. + +RAINCLOUD +Three rounds. I will call them plainly. + +He gestures, once. + +RAINCLOUD (CONT'D) +Round one, reflexes. Starboy. + +Starboy blinks. Then beams. Then flops sideways onto the sand like he's been +shot, because that is Starboy's victory dance. + +RAINCLOUD (CONT'D) +Round two, the audit. Azure. + +Azure, forehead still on the ground, makes a small sound that could be a sob +or could be laughter. + +RAINCLOUD (CONT'D) +Round three, the bow. Vacated. No shot was taken. No shot was *permitted* to +be taken, by two of you, and that is interesting to me. + +He looks, evenly, at Starboy. At Azure. + +RAINCLOUD (CONT'D) +By scoring, the round belongs to no one. + +A beat. + +RAINCLOUD (CONT'D) +By *meaning*— + +He lets that hang. Then: + +RAINCLOUD (CONT'D) +Azure. + +Azure finally looks up. Slit eyes wet, mint-bright. + +RAINCLOUD (CONT'D) +Stand. + +Azure stands. It takes him a moment. + +RAINCLOUD (CONT'D) +You designed this arena. You did not, when handed a weapon pointed at me, +use it. That is a test you did not know you were taking, and you passed it. + +Adrian, at the desk, opens a small drawer. He removes something small, flat, +metallic. A **mod badge**. He does not hand it over yet. + +RAINCLOUD (CONT'D) +I am reinstating your mod. + +The arena does not cheer. The arena waits—because that is what the arena has +been trained to do. Azure's mouth opens. Closes. Opens again. + +AZURE +(hoarse) +My— my lord, I— + +RAINCLOUD +(cutting him off, but not unkindly) +On two conditions. + +Azure nods frantically, a child being told his punishment is reduced. + +RAINCLOUD (CONT'D) +One. Adrian has held the desk since before you held anything. He remains +senior. You will defer to him, in public, always. + +AZURE +(instantly) +Always. Of course. *Adrian.* + +ADRIAN +(deadpan, still not looking up) +Cool. + +RAINCLOUD +Two. The gauntlet you designed will run again. Next year. You will host +beside me when it does. You will not be on the roster a second time. + +AZURE +(whispering) +Thank you. Thank you, my lord. Thank you. + +Rain waves a claw. Adrian stands, crosses the sand, and hands Azure the +badge. Casually. Like he's done it a hundred times. Maybe because he has. + +ADRIAN +(quietly, to Azure, as he pins it) +Breathe, man. Badge doesn't help if you faint. + +AZURE +(a small laugh, wet) +*Adrian.* + +ADRIAN +Mm-hm. + +/* final tableau */ + +Wide shot: the five champions in a loose arc. Azure, badge glinting blue on +his chest over the ridiculous Cena tee. Starboy still sprawled in the sand. +Rooster's beak finally tilted skyward in something like approval. Ubear +rolling his mechanical shoulder, grudging. Agate, small smile, the tail-tuft +flicking. + +Rain, back on the throne. Adrian, back at the desk. The MOTD squirrel-girl +portrait still watching from the wall. + +RAINCLOUD +(to camera, warm-hosting-voice again) +Thus concludes our first BattleRoyale. We'll see you at the next one. + +He lifts one claw. The lights begin to lower. + +RAINCLOUD (CONT'D) +(smaller, to himself, barely audible) +That was instructive. + +The arena dims. + +FADE OUT. + +#END. + +/* +==== PRODUCTION / CUT-DOWN NOTES ==== + +If runtime overshoots: + +1. Cut the confetti-cannon second volley in Round 1. Saves ~20s. +2. Shorten the audit-trail scroll-reading beat—cut Starboy's aloud read. + Saves ~30s. +3. The single deepest cut: collapse Ubear's and Starboy's near-bow moment + in Round 3 into a single uninterrupted Azure pickup. You lose Starboy's + quiet "yeah no" (the one crack in the costume line from his profile— + reluctant to cut, but it's the cleanest chop). Saves ~60s. +4. Do NOT cut the kneel. Do NOT cut the "you designed this arena" line. Do + NOT cut Rain's final "that was instructive." Those three are the spine. + +If runtime undershoots: + +1. Extend the vanity card sequence with one extra beat per champion—a small + flourish, no new dialogue, cut for rhythm. +2. Extend the silence before Azure steps toward the bow. The longer that + beat holds, the more the kneel pays. +*/