1 Maegaki: Arlo & Erwin

INT. SABBAGE'S CLASSROOM - MORNING

Two years earlier. A silent classroom. A clock ticks. Pages turn. Pencils glide across papers. Kids cough.

On the far right side of the room, two kids doing their work on computers. But not really.

A short boy with long black hair, ERWIN (13).

A much taller boy with short black hair and glasses, ARLO (13).

Arlo opens a tab. He quietly chuckes as he slowly types into the search bar.

"furry porn"

ERWIN (whispering): The hell are you doing?

Erwin and Arlo begin to croak as they struggle to hold in their laughter.

Their teacher, MS. SABBAGE (30s), shushes them from her desk.

RRRRRRRING!

EXT. S. AMIKA MIDDLE - LUNCH AREA - NOON

Erwin and Arlo sit at a lunch table, having a conversation as they eat their food.

ERWIN: The hell was that?

ALLEN: I didn't think the VPN would work!

ERWIN: Well, now ya know it does.

Suddenly, they notice a sketchy group of kids wearing leather jackets with green bandanas tied around their arms.

ERWIN: Who are they?

ARLO: Not sure.

ERWIN: Well, they don't look very friendly. Whoever they are, it's probably best to steer clear. I'm trying to breeze through the year.

ARLO: They could be bad news.

ERWIN: All the more reason to stay away!

Erwin decides to turn his attention back to his food. Arlo remains fixated on the group. After a brief moment, he turns back to Erwin.

ARLO: I'm figuring out who they are.

ERWIN: Figure out who they are... how? Also, why?!

ARLO: I'll just keep an eye on them! Follow 'em around a bit after school. Could be interesting.

ERWIN: Sounds like a great way to get your ass kicked.

ARLO: Me? Getting my ass kicked? Right.

ERWIN: Height doesn't matter when you're getting ganged up on.

EXT. S. AMIKA MIDDLE - AFTERNOON

School is out. The sky is orange. From a large group, Arlo watches the suspicious group of kids walk behind the 400 buildings.

EXT. 400 BUILDINGS - CONTINUOUS

Arlo watches from behind a tree as three of these supicious kids walk down the hall.

TOMMY (13), a white kid with slicked back black hair.

JAXSON (13), a shorter white kid with long brown hair.

RYKER (14), the tallest of the tree. A brown kid with short and messy black hair.

TOMMY: Boss is waitin' for us. We should hurry it up.

JAXSON: He's a chump anyway. Honestly, he seems a little soft to be in this kinda stuff!

TOMMY (chuckling): Ay, don't let him hear ya say that. He might just show ya how soft he really is!

RYKER: Both of you, shut the hell up.

Ryker stops walking, Tommy and Jaxson follow.

JAXSON: The hell's wrong with--?

RYKER: I said shut up!

TOMMY: Listen, I'm sure he was jokin'.

RYKER: Someone's following us.

Arlo, watching from behind a distant tree, gasps and hides.

ARLO (internal): What the hell? Did he see me? Did he hear me?!

He peeks over again.

RYKER: Stay put. I'll be right back.

Ryker walks in the opposite direction they were coming from. Tommy and Jaxson stay put as he walks away.

CRUNCH.

Arlo turns around. Ryker stands behind him, his fists clenched tight.

He grabs at Arlo's neck, pushing him back into the tree. Arlo struggles, as Ryker is roughly the same size.

RYKER: Hey! Look what I found!

Tommy and Jaxson rush over to the tree. Ryker throws Allen on the ground in front of them.

TOMMY: What the hell are you doin' here?

Arlo stops to think.

BAM!

He charges at Tommy, taking him down to the ground.

JAXSON: Get him!

Ryker and Jaxson combine their strength to pull Arlo off of Tommy.

WAM!

Ryker lands a punch to the stomach.

BAM!

Jaxson lands a knee to the head.

Arlo falls to the ground, the three kicking and beating him on the ground. Suddenly, a fist connects with Jaxson's head. Erwin punches Jaxson, knocking him down.

Tommy runs up behind Erwin and takes him down, wrestler style. Jaxson gets to his feet. The three now surround Erwin and Arlo on the floor.

JAXSON: Who the hell do you guys think you are?!

TOMMY: Let's teach them a--!

BOOSH!

A huge flame emanates from Erwin's body, engulfing Jaxson in flames. He screams in agony as he burns to death.

A huge dark fist emerges from the ground, knocking out both Tommy and Ryker.

ERWIN: What the hell was tha?!

ARLO: No idea..

ERWIN: Shit.. shit.. shit..

ARLO: We should probably get out of here.

ERWIN: Yeah.. you got that right.

They slowly get to their feet, still injured. Slowly, they run away from the scene. The flames spread all over the grass as Erwin and Arlo book it out.

...