Pet Tamers, Episode 3

So I was strolling through TV Tropes, and I realized the last episode(s) was/were on the verge of MSTing. Not the sort of attitude I had in mind for this. So I'll be focusing on a character besides Chris this time:

PET TAMERS

EPISODE 3: Thieves and Kids

TV BROADCASTER: Police are still investigating the case of the mysterious dinosaur which destroyed Swaggert Tower and part of Chesterwood Park last Thursday. Police are baffled not only by its sudden appearance, but also by the near-total lack of civilian casualties.

EYEWITNESS: I was just... sitting in the park, and then these bulldozers roll up, and I... I just start running, and the next thing I know, there's a T-rex crushing a building.

TV BROADCASTER: Adding to the confusion are unconfirmed reports of wild animals apparently assisting in the destruction. No local zoos report any missing animals, but scientists say, these reports probably mean nothing.

SCIENTIST: There is a tendency among eyewitnesses to... exaggerate certain events, especially events that are odd or... fantastic to begin with. I think a... whatever it was, probably caused a lot of confusion, and lead to rationalizations that, perhaps these were ordinary wild animals instead of a dinosaur.

TV BROADCASTER: Despite the improbability or the impossibility, pictures of the giant creature and videos all independently show the same thing: a real-life Godzilla. But how could such a monster exist?

SCIENTIST: They say the universe is stranger than we can imagine, and... for this, I'm inclined to agree.

TV BROADCASTER: Experts still can't come up with a reasonable explanation for the monster, but they tell everyone to relax.

SCIENTIST: It didn't cause a massive amount of damage, and... We've had one impossible thing happen to the city, and frankly, I think that's plenty.

TV BROADCASTER: From WSQR, I'm Paula Sandberg.

(TV turns off, cut outward to see a dark room, where the TV is at the end of a long table)

GANGSTER 1: A dinosaur, in this city... can you imagine?

GANGSTER 2: Who needs to imagine it, when they've got pictures?

LEADER: Do you two know what sort of deeds we could accomplish if we got our hands on that dinosaur? The whole city would be at our knees with that monster on our side.

GANGSTER 1: But it disappeared as quickly as it showed up.

LEADER: Exactly. Which means it's still out there.

GANGSTER 2: I... don't follow.

LEADER: It's simple. All of a sudden, a dinosaur pops outta nowhere. Then all of a sudden, it's gone. That dinosaur's gonna come back. It's gonna reek more mayhem. What I want you two to do is find out where it went, and where it's gonna appear next.

GANGSTER 1: But how are we supposed to find it if it's disappeared?

LEADER: Listen, buds. There's an explanation for all this, I know it. I feel it. Stuff like this don't just spring up from nowhere. Find out what happened at that park, what that monster was doing, anything outta the ordinary. Question witnesses, steal evidence, anything. If anyone else gets their hands on that giant lizard, consider yourselves dead. You understand?

GANGSTER 2: No, sir.

GANGSTER 1: But we'll get on it, sir.

LEADER: Don't disappoint me.

CUT to the high school. Zoom into windows and FADE to hallway with lockers.

MAGGIE (before closing a locker): Okay, Lucy, be quiet while I'm gone, okay.

JASON: What are you doing?

MAGGIE: (wheeling around) Oh, uh...

JASON: Did you just put your cat in your locker?

MAGGIE: It's a long story.

JASON: Tell me.

MAGGIE: My parents are allergic to cats. I know what they'd say to me, if I asked if I could bring a cat home.

JASON: So you're keeping it here?

MAGGIE: Yeah. I guess it wasn't a long story.

JASON: But don't you realize that pets are not allowed on the school grounds?

MAGGIE: Yes, but what else can I do?

JASON (looking straight at the camera): I'd suggest that you talk with your parents and compromise on a solution that works well for everyone.

MAGGIE: Dang, when did you become such a pr--(MAGGIE conveniently enters a classroom and slams a door at this point)

CUT to a clock. No real reason, except to show that time has passed.

TEACHER (offscreen): And that's how the endoplasmic reticulum absorbs cellular phlogiston for the vitalization of microcosmic vehicular combustion.

MAGGIE: Dang, does our teacher know anything about science?

GIRL (whose name is CHELSEA): He lost me a while back, too; how come we get the toughest teacher in the whole school, while everyone else gets -

TEACHER: Chelsea, no talking in class. Now, the procedure of dynamic reformation (more vaguely sciency stuff)-

MAGGIE (whispers): Say, Chelsea, would you like a cat?

CHELSEA (whipsers): A cat? You have a cat?

MAGGIE: I got her a couple days ago, but my parents won't let me keep her. She's yours if you want her...

CHELSEA: Where is she?

MAGGIE: In my locker.

CHELSEA: You keep a cat in your -- Je(teacher's chalk conveniently snaps at this point), if they still had hall monitors around, you'd be dead.

MAGGIE: What did they do with the hall monitors?

CHELSEA: Remember when half the rules were let go last week? The hall Naz(teacher's chalk conveniently squeaks at this point)'s went with them.

MAGGIE: Well, that's good. (pause) I wonder if I should go check on Lucy...

CHELSEA: You mean, your cat? Right now?

MAGGIE: Yeah. I have this strange feeling something might be wrong with her.

CHELSEA: It's only 15 minutes till class lets out.

MAGGIE (speaking up): Mr. Winchester, could I use the restroom?

MR. WINCHESTER: Huh? Sure, just don't take too long.

MAGGIE: Thanks.

(MAGGIE gets up and heads to the hallway. She does not pick up the restroom pass, because there is no restroom pass.)

(She walks to her locker, which is ominously half-open. She opens it and gasps.)

(Lucy is still in the locker. But, seeing Maggie open the locker gives Lucy an idea, and she leaps out of the locker and into the hallway.)

MAGGIE (loud enough to scream but quiet enough not to attract attention): Hey, wait! Lucy! Stop! Come back here!

FADE to the school with lots of kids outside; school's out.

CHELSEA: She's gone? Are you sure?

MAGGIE: I looked up and down the whole school. Even the parts they were planning to tear down! But I can't find her anywhere.

CHELSEA: Did you check with the office? Someone must have noticed a cat running around.

MAGGIE: I can't let them know I had a cat at school! What am I going to do?

CHELSEA: Maybe it got outside and ran off somewhere. You go look around the school, and I'll take a look inside.

MAGGIE: Thanks a bunch. Meet back here in an hour, okay?

CHELSEA: By the way, do you want your biology stuff? You sort of left them in class when you ran off.

MAGGIE (running off): I don't care. I have to find Lucy!

CHELSEA: Okay... (starts up steps and stops) Hey, Maggie! What does your cat look like?

(no response; Maggie is too far away. She must be a good runner or something. Yeah, she's in the tennis team. That's it. Tennis players are good at running, aren't they?)

CUT to CHESTERWOOD PARK. Police tape covers the ruined section of the park. The GANGSTERS from before are still wearing their gangster outfits.

GANGSTER 2: Nothin'. They must've cleared this place out soon as that monster left.

GANGSTER 1: Keep searching. We can't go back empty-handed.

GANGSTER 2: There's just footprints and stuff. Nothing out of the ordinary.

GANGSTER 1: Let's think things through. Last afternoon, a dinosaur came up out of nowhere, destroyed this part of the park and some buildings. Let's think, why?

GANGSTER 2: Why what? Why it went smashing stuff? That's what dinosaurs do, you know.

GANGSTER 1: No, hold on. There were plenty of buildings it could have destroyed, but it only destroyed one. Which one was that?

GANGSTER 2: Well, if I remember right... Swaggert Tower.

GANGSTER 1: And who owns Swaggert Tower?

GANGSTER 2: Swaggert Incorporated, of course.

GANGSTER 1: And who do we know has an ongoing grudge against Swaggert Incorporated?

GANGSTER 2: You don't think this was an inside job, do you?

GANGSTER 1: No, not an inside job. I think one of our rivals committed this, specifically the Blackcoats.

GANGSTER 2: Isn't that what an inside job is?

GANGSTER 1: No, idiot. This is what's known as "something the Blackcoats did".

GANGSTER 2: So... so are we done searching?

GANGSTER 1: No. Now we have to play diplomacy. (leaves)

GANGSTER 2: Wait. Where are we going?

GANGSTER 1: To the Black House.

CUT to a BLACK HOUSE. Painted black, with boarded up windows. It looks condemned... but it's not.

MAGGIE: Lucy! Where are you? Please tell me you're here.

(LUCY meows from the window)

MAGGIE: Lucy! Come down from there!

(LUCY jumps into MAGGIE'S arms, to her great relief... just kidding. LUCY jumps through the boarded windows and into the building)

MAGGIE: No! Lucy! Come back!

(MAGGIE runs to the door and tries to open it, but the door is locked)

VOICE 1: What the?!

VOICE 2: Get that cat!

(meowing from inside. MAGGIE, frantic, bends over to the windowsill and peers in)

(inside, several men in silhouette try to grab LUCY, who mews loudly)

MAGGIE (ignoring the men): Lucy!

VOICE 2: What... that girl! Get her!

(the door flies open, and several men in brutish attire run out and grab her legs)

MAGGIE: No! (MAGGIE reaches into her pocket and grabs her whistle. She brings it to her lips and blows hard... just kidding again. The gangsters yank her away, she drops the whistle and braces herself from impact against the railing. She tries to scream, but the gangsters take care of that, too.)

(Thundering music plays, before we cut to a commercial break.)

Will Maggie be saved from the Black House Gang? Or could this be... the END of the PET TAMERS? Join in next week for the exciting new chapter that just might be the end! (melodramatic sting: Dun-dun-DUNNNNNN!! Or maybe: nunh-nunh-NUNH--nunh--DUNNNNN!!)