Slick Possum arrives in this chapter and hits Shifty and the girls up with a sob story like they've never even heard before.

The car pulled out in front of the theater and Shifty and Nutsy hopped out.

Nutsy's father smiled at them, "Now you two have fun at the theater, okay? I'll pick you up in a few hours."

And with that, Mister Koala drove off. Shifty smiled at Nutsy, "Thanks for choosing me to come, Nutsy."

Nutsy smiled back at him, "You're welcome, Shifty."

The dingo and koala walked up to the booth, "Two tickets, please." Nutsy said.

The booth guy smiled, "You guys are lucky, this place is gonna get torn down tomorrow."

"I know." Shifty sighed, "So how upset is Slick about it?"

"Really bad. The other day I saw him crying. Slick hardly ever cries, well not in front of others anyway." The booth guy said.

Shifty's ears wilted, "Gee, he must be really attached to this place."

"He goes way back to his childhood with this place. Means the world to him. Never seen him so depressed before." The booth guy said.

Shifty sighed and Nutsy patted him on the back, "Come on, Shifty, we'll be late for the movie."

Shifty sighed and smiled, "All right, Nutsy. If you say so."

The dingo and koala entered the movie theater and began walking down the aisle when suddenly, someone shouted from Shifty's backpack, "BOO!"

Marcia popped out of Shifty's backpack and Shifty jumped and glared at her, "Marcia, what are you doing here? There's only two tickets, meant for Nutsy and I. Were you in my backpack the whole time?"

Marcia grinned at Shifty, "Of course I was, dummy! Do you really think I'd sit back and let you two go to the theater without me?"

Shifty smiled slyly at Marcia, "Just so you know, there's probably gonna be a lot of kissing between Nutsy and I so you may wanna grab an extra popcorn bag to throw up in. Isn't that right, Nutsy?"

Nutsy giggled and hugged Shifty, "Shifty does have a point." the koala said, "We do get awfully affectionate."

"So why do you want to go to the movies so badly?" Shifty asked Marcia.

Marcia blushed and looked irritated, "Hmph! Like it's any of your business, Shifty Dingo!"

"Anyway, once the movie is finished, let's go see Slick and talk to him." Nutsy said.

Marcia blushed even more at the mention of Slick's name and the three took their seats and began watching the movie, which turned out to be the Lion King. When the hyena chase scene started up, Shifty began feeling scared and Nutsy put her arm around her dingo boyfriend to comfort him till he stopped shivering. After a while, Mufasa's infamous death scene came on the screen. Nutsy was crying pretty hard and Shifty was whimpering softly with a river of tears streaking down his muzzle. The dingo and koala were crying so hard they didn't even notice Marcia positioning her popcorn bucket under their faces to catch their falling tears in. Apparently, her popcorn wasn't salty enough. Shifty and Nutsy eventually threw their arms around each other, licking the tears from each other faces as they cried to the disgust of Marcia. Slick was watching from the projection booth with tears in his eyes. The scene always did strike an emotional chord with him. A few warm tears trailed down Slick's muzzle and he sniffled, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.

Then Timon and Pumbaa came on the screen. Everyone enjoyed them, Marcia even blushed a little when Timon came on, as if she had a little crush on him or something. After a while, the movie ended and everyone applauded. Nutsy, Shifty and Marcia made their way out of the theater and into the projector booth.

Slick gasped as he saw them, "Nutsy! Shifty! Marcia! How's it going? By the way, nice vest there, Shifty." The possum ran up to them.

"Thanks, it's denim." Shifty chuckled.

"It's going fine. I'm sorry to hear about the theater" Nutsy said.

Slick's ears wilted a little, "Yeah, this building and I go way back. I'm really gonna miss it when Buildmore destroys it. There's a new theater in town that Buildmore made. They don't use old film reels like in this theater, instead they use laser discs when they show movies. Out with the old, in with the new. I have so many fond memories of this place, parting with it's gonna be awfully hard."

Shifty sniffled a bit, "How did you get started in the theater business, anyway?" the dingo asked.

Slick sighed, "Well, it's a long story. My mother used to work at this theater. She and I would always watch movies together. I was born the runt of my family, so my siblings always picked on me. My mother would always pick me up, dry my tears and cheer me up by going to the theater with me." The possum shook his head and bit back the tears, "But Buildmore, our boss wasn't very nice. He was very controlling. He'd often hurt my mother and he one time threw a film projector at me because my mother let me have free popcorn. Buildmore's a greedy monster, all he ever cares about is money, money, money and shiny, expensive things. I heard he sold his own daughter off into slavery just so he could make a quick buck."

"That's awful!" Nutsy and Shifty gasped in unison.

Marcia growled, "I'd punch Buildmore so hard, he'd be sent flying to the moon!"

"Oh, he's much bigger than you are, Marcia. I wouldn't do that, he's a crocodile." Slick said.

"So what happened, then?" Shifty asked.

"Well..." Slick closed his eyes.

*Flashback*

Buildmore snarled at Slick's mother, "YOU'VE FAILED ME FOR THE LAST TIME, YOU STUPID BITCH!"

A 6 year old Slick watched in horror from a pillar as Buildmore swung a lead pipe at his mother. Again and again the pipe went down, making a sickening crack as it crushed his mother's bones. He could feel tears rolling down his cheeks as he watched his mother collapse into a bloody pile and Buildmore leave the scene. When all was clear, Slick ran up to his mother's battered body and held it, "Mama? Are you okay, did he give you an owwie?"

Slick's mother opened her eyes and she weakly reached up and wiped a tear from her son's face, "Slick...I...will...always...love you...you...are...my...son. Please...take...my...jacket."

Slick took his mother's yellow jacket off her body and put it on, whimpering softly as tears streamed freely down his muzzle, "Mama...are you okay?"

Slick's mother smiled at her son, "My...sweet...sweet baby...please...don't...cry...I'll...be...fine...take...over...my...job...at...the...theater...while I'm...away. I...love...you...Slick...with...all...my...heart."

Slick's mother's eyes closed and her heart stopped beating. Slick rushed over to his mother's lifeless body and started dragging it up the steps of the theater with all the strength in his 6 year old body. He carried her to the nearest seat, "Mommy, let's watch a movie together. Just like old times!"

The little possum ran to the projector booth and hopped up onto the stool. Slick put the roll of film on the projector and flipped it on. A movie began playing on the screen and Slick ran up to his mother's dead body and sat on the seat next to her.

"Come on mommy, let's watch." Slick said cheerily as he rested his head on his mother's carcass.

About halfway through the movie a scary part came on, "Mommy...please hold me. This part is scary. Mommy?" Slick looked at his mother with tears in his eyes. He touched his mother and she felt cold, "Mommy, you're so cold. Do you need your jacket, mommy?"

Slick's mother didn't respond, nothing but utter silence, "Mommy? Are you sleepy? Please wake up. Please, mommy?"

Slick hugged his mother and whimpered, "Why aren't you waking up, mommy? Was it the owwie Mister lizard gave you?"

Suddenly, it hit him. His mother was never gonna wake up. Buildmore had murdered her in cold blood. A waterfall of tears began flowing down little Slick's cheeks as he buried his face into his dead mother's bloody chest and cried himself to sleep in her lifeless arms. Mommy was never gonna wake up, not then, not ever.

*End flashback*

Shifty is now sobbing uncontrollably, "Just like in the Lion King!" the dingo bawled, hot tears rolling down his cheeks.

Slick nodded as a single tear dripped down his face, "Yeah, I knew exactly how Simba felt. I cry everytime I watch that scene because I can relate to him."

Nutsy hugged the grieving possum, "I'm sorry about your mother."

"It doesn't end there." Slick sighed, "After becoming an orphan, I dropped out of school and helped around the theater. The other employees helped raise me and provide me with food and shelter. They didn't dare revolt over my mother's death though, they were all too scared of Buildmore. One time one of the employees children went missing and she was later discovered in Buildmore's basement. Her head was missing from her body."

Shifty's eyes widened, "WHAT? Are you serious? Why didn't someone call the cops on Buildmore?"

Slick shook his head, "Buildmore had too much status and power. He owned his own mansion, helicopters, all sorts of fancy, expensive things. He would do some of the most horrific things you can imagine just for money. He even bragged to me that he stole the money from my mother's life insurance account so he could buy a yacht."

Marcia growled, "Oooh, if i ever get my hands on...I don't care how big he is, he needs to be taught a lesson, that overgrown handbag!"

Nutsy could feel tears running down her cheeks, "I...I thought there was good in everyone. But now...Buildmore. That's terrible. I...wow..."

Slick wiped a few tears from his eyes and sighed, "Pretty soon this theater will be reduced to rubble. My little brother Stan will help lead the demolition protest. I wouldn't be surprised if Buildmore would run over innocent people just to get rid of this building."

Shifty snarled a bit in disgust at the thought of Buildmore, "What else has Buildmore done?"

"Well, this one time..." Slick sighed.

*Flashback*

Buildmore grabbed Slick by his throat and slammed him against the wall with one hand, in his other hand he held a little baby duckling.

"Mommy! Mommy! Where's my mommy!" the duckling screamed.

Buildmore sneered at the terrified possum, "You know the rules, Slick? No children allowed in R rated movies."

"She...she wandered in all by herself. She didn't know..." Slick started, tears running down his face.

"I DON'T GIVE A SHIT!" Buildmore shouted, "You know what happens when children go to R rated movies? They cry and when they cry, people leave and when people leave, WE LOSE MONEY! DO YOU GOT IT YOU STUPID SON OF A BITCH? Without money, I CAN'T GO ON VACATION!"

And so, Buildmore squeezed the little duckling so hard that a sickening crunch was heard. He dropped the duckling's lifeless body to the floor and Slick was sobbing by now. Buildmore kept stomping on the duckling's body until is was completely flat and lying in a pool of its own blood.

Slick whimpered softly, salty tears falling from his face, "You killed her...why?"

"To see your pathetic crying face and to teach you a lesson. Next time I see a youngster in an R rated theater, I will dismember the kid and force you to eat it, got it?" Buildmore growled.

Slick nodded, crying uncontrollably and Buildmore dropped the possum to the ground. Slick looked over to the dead body of the little bird and began to vomit.

*Flashback ends*

Shifty's ears wilted, "I think I'm gonna be sick. How could someone be so evil?"

Slick sighed, "I had to fight to survive at times. Buildmore even robbed me of my money and beat me with chains. The only reason I lived with the abuse was cause I just couldn't abandon the theater. There were so many memories attached to it. My mother having me watch movies with her up until the day she died."

Nutsy sighed, "That's really sad, I don't know what to say, Slick. I'm...sorry."

Slick blinked back the stinging tears at the thought of the theater being demolished, "Well, I guess it's time for you kids to go. Your parents are probably waiting for you."

Nutsy glared at Slick, "Us? Go? You have to be kidding! After everything you told us, we're gonna help you out!"

"You can count me in too!" Marcia said.

"Me three." Shifty Dingo added, "This Buildmore guy needs to be taught a lesson!"

Slick's ears wilted, "But you guys are just kids. If you get involved..."

"So?" Nutsy interrupted, "We won't sit back and watch your most beloved things get torn apart from you. Slick, you're our friend and what matters is us helping you out. We'll join the protest if we have to. We can even have the Australian FBI backing us up so Buildmore doesn't mow the people down."

Slick smiled, "Thanks, you guys. I don't know what to say."

Shifty smiled, "So, do we have a deal?"

Slick grinned, "Okay, we've got a deal!". The possum shook the hands of the koala, dingo and mouse in agreement and the four of them walked out of the theater and saw Nutsy's father waiting for her.

"I'll handle this." Slick said, walking over to the car and he began chatting with Nutsy's father.

Nutsy, Shifty and Marcia all sat on the theater steps and began talking.

"So do you think our parents will let us stay the night with Slick?" Marcia asked.

"I hope so." Nutsy replied.

"Everything that Slick went through, I'm rather disgusted he had to put up with Buildmore for so many years." Shifty said.

"That Buildmore sounds like a big fat dummy to me!" Marcia replied

"But Slick said that Buildmore has a lot of power. But if we expose him for the monster he is to the FBI..." Shifty began.

"...Then we can wipe him off the map completely" Nutsy said, finishing Shifty's sentence.

Shifty and Nutsy high-fived each other, Nutsy's father's car left and Slick walked over to them, "Your father says it's all right if we can have a sleepover."

"Wow. How did you convince him?" Shifty asked.

"I just told him I'm a kid, I'm certainly small enough to pass for one." Slick chuckled, "I'm also a pretty good liar when I need to be."

"Oh." Shifty said, "But isn't lying bad?"

Slick sighed and his ears wilted, "Sometimes, you have no other choice. I had to learn to be a good liar to survive. If I didn't tell Buildmore what he wanted to hear, he would've cut my throat."

And so, the koala, dingo, possum and mouse headed off for Slick's apartment in the city. They all boarded the car and drove off.