ACT I - SCENE 10
[A moment later in the dark of night, we see 10 bandits, cloaked in pale kimonos and basket heads, entering the Kingdom discreetly.]
[We see the bandits, one by one, enter the Kingdom, looking around for something.]
[We see a bandit hand grabbing some wood quietly from just outside a house.]
[We see a bandit hand grabbing a ceramic jar of herbs from just outside the almost complete infirmary.]
[We see a bandit hand grabbing a cloth bag just outside a nearly complete home.]
[We see a few six more shots of bandit hands grabbing wood planks, bags, ceramic jars, and logs.]
[Quietly, we see the bandits start to exit the Kingdom, but they are stopped by a bellow from Ashi.]
Ashi: HOLD IT!
[We see Ashi, The Girl, and the rest of the women volunteers, all in their kimonos with water dripping from their hair, standing in front of the Bandits.]
[The bandits' heads raise a little in curiosity, not sure what to make of this sight.]
[The camera pans up on the women, still dripping wet in their kimonos. Ashi, The Girl, and the rest are not playing around.]
The Girl: Thieves!
[A bandit clears his throat and regains his composure.]
Bandit: (clears throat) Oh, um, yeah. Well, excuse us ladies, we must go now.
[Ashi stops them with an ultimatum.]
Ashi: I said, "STOP!" I will give you a simple choice. Drop all the materials and run, or fight and you will be detained.
[The bandits start to chuckle, then start bellowing in laughter.]
[The laughter annoys the women, clearly not liking it.]
[The lead bandit controls his laughter.]
Bandit: (stifling laughter) So…the eight of you is going to stop us?
Ashi: Yep.
[The bandit still sounds smug as he and his team drops their loads and tosses away their swords and knives.]
Bandit: Ha! This will be the easiest theft, but just for fun, we will drop our blades. We wouldn't want to scar your pretty faces.
[The bandits chuckle as we see Ashi, The Girl and the women are still annoyed by the bandits.]
[The lead bandit points to another on his team.]
Bandit: You! Give the orange girl our warning.
[The other bandit acknowledges with a nod and darts forward.]
[The Girl, seeing that she's chosen to fight, nods to Ashi, who nods back to her. The Girl darts forward.]
[We see the bandit charge hard.]
[We see The Girl charge hard, not afraid yet focused.]
[We see a close-up of the unwavering bandit.]
[We see The determined Girl charge.]
[Suddenly, we see The Girl and the bandit exchange a sequence of 12 lightning-quick attacks: The Girl blocks three punches, evades a low kick, and blocks two more punches. Then, the bandit blocks two punches, evades a high kick, and blocks three punches.]
[Suddenly, we see The Girl's hand grabbing the arm of the bandit, and twists it HARD, making the bandit scream in pain.]
Bandit: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!
[The Girl knees the bandit in the abdomen.]
Bandit: AAAGGHH!
[The Girl head-butts the bandit.]
Bandit: UUUUUGGGHHH!
[Suddenly, WHOOSH! The Girl throws the Bandit into a tree, where he lands with a CRASSHH! He slowly tumbles down, unconscious.]
[The Girl, kind of surprised at herself, looks towards the women.]
[Ashi, also a little surprised, nods in approval, then directs her attention to the remaining bandits.]
[The bandits appear to be really stunned by what has transpired.]
[We see The Girl, Ashi, and the rest of the women staring right at the men. The Girl speaks with authority.]
The Girl: (with authority) Ladies, these gentlemen callers don't know how to treat a woman.
Ashi: Perhaps they need a lesson…..
[The Bandit growls and points as he shouts a command.]
Bandit: (growling) GrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRR…..KILL THEM!
[The Bandits charge yelling.]
[Ashi points and shouts with authority.]
Ashi: Teach 'em!
[Ashi and the women charge forward, towards the bandits.]
[We see an image from above of the bandits engaging the women in hand-to-hand combat. Ashi takes on two bandits at once, while the remaining women fight one bandit each.]
[We see Ashi fighting two bandits at once; Ashi in the center of the screen, a bandit on the left, and another bandit to the right. Ashi kicks the bandit to our left in the abdomen and simultaneously punches the bandit on the right in the abdomen as well. Those simultaneous attacks are swiftly followed by the bandit on the right getting punched in the face twice and kicked again in the gut, sending him to the ground. Then, Ashi evades a punch attack from the bandit on the right, somersaults over the bandit as he tries to grab her, and unleashes three vicious punches, two to the head and one to the gut. Then, KICK! Ashi kicks the bandit to the other bandit, sending them crashing to the ground HARD!]
[We see Masako blocking a few punch attacks from the bandit, but then, BAM! The bandit punches Masako in the head, sending her groaning and reeling for a moment. The contact catches the bandit off-guard.]
Bandit: Wha-!? Oh, milady, I'm-
[Suddenly, BAM! WHAM! SLAM! With a vicious look in her eye, Masako punches the bandit in the face HARD, KICKS the bandit HARD in the abdomen, and then THROWS the bandit into a tree, where the bandit lands HARD.]
[Masako nods with an aggressive grunt.]
Masako: Hmm!
[Among the remaining fights, we focus on The Girl, who somersaults twice to evade around a high-kicking bandit. Then, CATCH! The Girl catches the high-kicked leg of the bandit, then swiftly TWISTS it around, sending the bandit screaming in agony.]
Bandit2: AAAAAAAAARRRGGHH!
[We see The Girl has wrapped up the bandit in a vicious leg lock. The bandit is pounding the ground, begging for mercy.]
Bandit2: AAAAAAAAAAAHHH! NO! NO, NO! DON'T KILL ME!
The Girl: Say you're sorry! Say you're sorry!
[The bandit defies and tries to rise.]
Bandit2: AAAAAAHH! NO! NO!
[The Girl bends his leg harder, making it crack slightly. The bandit surrenders as he pounds his hand into the ground in pain.]
Bandit2: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH! I SURRENDER! I SURRENDER!
[The remaining bandits, already exhausted on the ground in front of the women, also raise their hands in defeat.]
Bandits: SURRENDER!
[Ashi, smiling at what she sees, smiles in victory.]
Ashi: Let's go see what the Emperor has to say about this.
[A moment later, the surrendered bandits, all unmasked, some with scars and scratches from the fight, are kneeling in front of the Emperor, Empress, and Jack in defeat. The bandits are being tightly patrolled by Ashi and the women, who are joined by the men volunteers. The area is lit up by fire torches and campfires. The Emperor is shown to have regained some of his health, but still shows some malnourishment. The Empress has regained some black in her hair, but there is still some silver.]
[The Emperor speaks to the prisoners.]
Emperor: You made a choice to try and steal goods and valuables from our village. You also made a choice to fight our women to try and escape. Assaulting our women is a severe offense in my Kingdom, punishable by termination.
[The lead bandit points out something.]
Bandit: We did not use our blades…
[Jack is still not wavering.]
Jack: You still chose to fight my intended bride and our female volunteers. You are lucky that I was away with the men gathering food. We might have done worse.
[The Emperor interjects. Jack nods in agreement to his father's wisdom.]
Emperor: However, we are all still recovering from Aku's wrath, and enough blood has been spilled. Therefore, I will grant you this one chance….leave this Kingdom, never return, and you will live. But, if you choose to come back, I'm afraid we will have no choice but to extinguish your life.
[The bandits bow their head in defeat.]
Bandit: We will run….run somewhere where we can find more mercy like here.
[The Empress, still not happy with the men, nods to her husband. We also see Jack nod to his father.]
Emperor: The army will see you out.
[The male volunteers escort the defeated bandits away from the Kingdom, with the female volunteers right behind them.]
[We see the male volunteers release the bandits from their binds, and the women are still behind them. Jack barks a command.]
Jack: Run!
[The bandits swiftly run away, off into the moon-filled night.]
[The men and women stare to ensure that the thieves have run off. The Girl had a troubling thought enter her head, as inferred by her uneasy face.]
The Girl: I think….we had it easy.
Ashi: What's that?
The Girl: I think those bandits were being foolish. I fear there may be more bandits that are more like Aku than those….pretenders.
Ashi: I have to agree. Just because Aku is destroyed doesn't mean his influence has.
Jack: Do you suggest we take our training to the next level?
Ashi & The Girl: (simultaneously) Yes.
[The Girl and Ashi surprised each other again, but smile at their new-found admiration. The Girl looks around, and sees something off to her left.]
The Girl: The blades….
[All the men and women look to their left.]
[The Girl picks up a sword and examines it. Ashi and Jack also pick up a discarded sword off the ground as The Girl speaks.]
The Girl: I think we can use these….
[Ashi thinks for a moment.]
Ashi: Practice?
[Jack likes what he heard.]
Jack: Yes.
[The men and women appear wide-eyed, look at each other for a moment, then nod to their sensei.]