Kubo and the Two Strings Page #15

He rushes over to shake Monkey awake. Then a groggy Beetle.

KUBO:

Mother! Beetle! Wake up! *

MONKEY:

I’m up. I’m up.

BEETLE:

(groaning)

I’m down.

MONKEY:

(to Beetle)

Ugh. Get off.

Beetle stretches, a pained expression on his face.

BEETLE:

I think I slept on something...

He reaches down and pulls out the sheathed Sword.

BEETLE (CONT’D)

“Sword Uncomfortable”.

KUBO:

The Helmet. I know where it is. I

saw it in a dream, Beetle!

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BEETLE:

A dream? Well that doesn’t mean

anything, in particular. I dreamt I

fought a giant skeleton with swords

in its head.

MONKEY:

That really happened.

BEETLE:

Oh. Yeah.

KUBO:

Beetle, Come on! This way!

Kubo picks up Little Hanzo and pops him into his bag,

fastening the flap over the top as he slings it over his

shoulder.

Kubo motions to the others. Beetle and Monkey exchange

curious glances and follow him.

(2700 ETF) ENTER THE FORTRESS

EXT. THE FARLANDS - SUNRISE

An epic panoramic landscape. The waking sun breaks through

boundless banks of cloud, and paints the landscape beneath a

blazing red. Dwarfed by the immensity of this vista are our

heroes, but their shadows grow and multiply out from the

horizon like an infinite family of paper dolls.

EXT. MOUNTAIN PASS - THE FARLANDS - LATE AFTERNOON

Our heroes hike a trail through the mountains. As they

traverse a particularly steep bluff, Beetle gamely lifts Kubo

up by his collar and plonks him onto his shoulder.

As they near the top of the mountain ridge they play a

cheerful game, spirits high.

KUBO *

I spy with my one eye, something

beginning with... “S.” *

BEETLE:

“Snow.”

KUBO:

No.

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BEETLE:

“Snowflake.”

KUBO:

No.

BEETLE:

Okay... “Snow-covered trees.”

MONKEY:

Nothing to do with snow.

BEETLE:

(looks at Monkey)

How about “serious?”

MONKEY:

(mutters)

“Stupid.”

Kubo frowns. From his perch on top of Beetle he hears a

sound. Soft, indistinct, but strangely familiar.

BEETLE:

Okay, I got it. “Snow.”

MONKEY:

He said it wasn’t snow.

Kubo looks up into the sky.

KUBO:

It’s a song.

BEETLE:

Well, that’s not fair! How do you

see a song?

Kubo leans over and gently tilts Beetle’s head.

KUBO:

You look.

Above them a hundred-strong flock of birds glide beneath the

canopy of cloud. They look like herons but glow with a

magical blue light and sing a symphonic version of the song

from Kubo’s own dream.

MONKEY:

Golden Heron. It’s believed they

hold the souls of the departed,

carrying them over to wherever they

may need to go.

*

*

*

*

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BEETLE:

What are they singing?

KUBO:

It’s beautiful.*

MONKEY:

Many say the song’s about what

happens when we die. How we don’t

just... disappear.

BEETLE:

We don’t? So what happens to us?

MONKEY:

Like Kubo’s paper, we shift. We

transform. So we may continue our

story to another place. The end of *

one story is merely the beginning

of another...

And at that they crest the top of the ridge to see the heron

flying over a pair of monumental stone faces, dozens of feet

high, carved into the likenesses of Hanzo and Mother. Cracked

and forlorn, they have fallen in against one another,

foreheads touching to create a crumbling arch.

A bridge painted with the beetle crest runs between them,

leading to the dark ruins of a massive island fortress. We

saw this once-majestic place before, in Kubo’s dream. Only

now it lists into the water, walls and rooftop shattered and

overgrown with wild bamboo. A broken home. *

(2800 MEM) MEMORIES

INT. ENTRY HALLWAY BEETLE FORTRESS - DUSK

Torn banners displaying the beetle crest flap in the evening

wind as the trio moves through the ruins. *

BEETLE:

I remember this place. *

It’s clear this place was once splendid, filled with weapons *

and armor and beautiful works of art. Now all that remains is *

covered over in dust and encroaching weeds and bamboo. *

INT. STUDY BEETLE FORTRESS - CONTINUOUS

Kubo slides open a door into a room overflowing with papers,

scrolls, and maps.

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There are drawings of Ningen and Odokuro, even sketches of *

the armor itself. It seems this place was entirely dedicated

to Hanzo’s search for the armor.

KUBO:

This was where my father prepared

for his quest. *

Our heroes walk through it, gazing around in wonder at the

various memories of their journey. Monkey examines up a piece *

of paper with an image of the Helmet on it.

Kubo spies a stand of intricately printed screens in front of

a doorway across the room. Upon one of them is an

illustration of an amazing golden helmet, just as in Kubo’s

dream! The sweeping lines of the helm curve around an elegant

war mask that mimics the facial features of Hanzo. *

Kubo excitedly pushes through the screens. *

(2900 UND) UNITED/DIVIDED

INT. COURTYARD BEETLE FORTRESS - NIGHT *

Moonlight seeps through a tangle of high bamboo growing out *

of the ragged remains of a once grand courtyard. Kubo runs *

out across a floor strewn by the broken remnants of hundreds *

of pieces of ornate samurai armor. *

BEETLE *

There’s something I don’t *

understand...Why would the helmet *

be here? *

MONKEY *

Kubo! *

Monkey and Beetle are right behind him, but already smoke is *

seeping amongst the shattered armor, thin tendrils snaking up *

beneath breastplates, gauntlets, and greaves. *

Fingers of smoke slither up around our heroes, constricting *

and hoisting them into the air. Beetle’s bow falls from his *

hand and CLATTERS to the ground. *

A familiar LAUGH echoes through the courtyard. *

The other Sister, stark and ominous against the full moon, *

floats down in front of her captives, smoking pipe in hand. *

MONKEY (CONT’D) *

Release us! *

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She floats closer. *

SISTER:

Oh, Sister. I remember how we *

looked up to you. Of all of us, you *

shone the brightest. Such a waste. *

All we ever wished was to be a *

family... in our home among the *

stars. *

MONKEY *

I think we have very different *

definitions of family. *

The Sister reaches out to Kubo. *

BEETLE *

Don’t you touch him, you witch! *

The Sister turns her horrible NOH mask to face him. *

SISTER:

And then there’s you. The thieving *

insect who stole my sister’s soul. *

MONKEY *

What? *

Noticing the confusion in Beetle’s and Monkey’s eyes, the *

Sister throws back her head and GIGGLES again. *

SISTER *

Oh, this is precious! You’ve been *

together all this time and you *

haven’t even realized? *

A beat of stunned silence. *

A puff of smoke drifts from the Sister’s pipe across the *

ground to Hanzo Origami, and lifts him into the air. She *

speaks directly to Beetle as she motions to Monkey. *

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