Episodes 41 to 50

41) TITLE: The 100 Cats

SYNOPSIS: There is an old, tattered mansion where Ume (the elderly woman of the Umeya Variety Store) lives with her 100 Cats. (You know that whole thing with old, eccentric ladies living with many cats. ) I'm not sure if eccentricity is really Ume's character or not...but it will be in this story. One day the 100 Cats are playing in the front yard when a fancy-looking lady walks by. It's Pandella LeVille (Uhh, Pandella the Town...I guess. :) It's Pandaba in Cruella's role. ). She finds the cats to be annoying...but their fur fascinating. Very, very fascinating. She decides to visit Ume and get to know all about her...and her cats. After the two ladies finish their lunch, Pandella asks if Ume has ever thought about getting rid of all of her cats (like selling them, or something), and just living a nice, fun, relaxing life of her own? But Ume adamantly says no, saying that she loves her cats very much---they have been her friends for many years. Pandella LeVille is frustrated at this answer, and sternly leaves the house.

She goes home to her rich husband, Badtz LeVille, and tells him all about her day with Ume and the 100 Cats, and how she'd love to get those cats and kill them for their fur. Badtz comes up with a grand master plan to grant his wife this great wish of hers...and a way to cash in on some big bucks on the plan at the same time.

The next day, the doorbell sounds at the old mansion. Ume answers the door, and finds a little clown bouncing around happily on the front step (it is Hana-Maru dressed up as a clown). He waves an ad in front of Ume---it's a circus ad. Behind Hana, Badtz and Pandella LeVille walk up to the front step. Badtz introduces himself to Ume, and talks about how Pandella told him all about the 100 Cats, and how much she adores them. Then he says he's been looking for animals to perform in their very own circus show---and that he'd like to hire the 100 Cats. 100 cats performing many circus tricks would be very great and delightful for everyone. Plus...he'll pay her a whole lot of money. Ume thinks about for a while, but not that long...seems like the 100 Cats are very excited about being circus stars! Plus...the money could be used to spruce up the mansion and their life. So Ume agrees! She signs the circus contract, and turns the 100 Cats over to Badtz LeVille. Badtz in return rips off the carbon copy of the contract from behind, and gives that to Ume to keep. He says she will get her cats back soon. (Not. )

The circus training soon begins! A circus tent is set up in an isolated, open field area, where the 100 Cats, dressed up in wacky circus clothes, are training hard and having lots of fun practicing many circus tricks! At least...they THINK they're training for the circus. A truck with circus decorations on it soon drives up...Badtz LeVille is driving the truck. Pandella LeVille and Hana-Maru usher the 100 Cats inside the back of the truck, telling them that they're going to take them to their first real performance! The two lock the back of the truck securely...to make sure no cat escapes. Then they join Badtz in the front of the truck, and drive away.

Meanwhile, at the old mansion, Ume is looking at her mineral collection, with her eye-magnifying-glass (the kind that jewelers use to study jewelry up close) in her eye. The minerals are sitting on top of the carbon-copy contract. As Ume looks down to pick up another mineral, she sees the gigantic letters of the contract in her eye-magnifying-glass. But then she sees a paragraph in which the letters are normal-sized through the glass...and extremely tiny through the naked eye. Through the loupe, Ume sees the tiny print of the contract that she couldn't see with her regular eyes. The tiny print reads that Ume has given up custody of the 100 Cats to the LeVilles. Ume instantly freaks out at this, and goes out in search of her felines.

Meanwhile, the truck with the unsuspecting 100 Cats in it drives up to a building. Badtz, Pandella, and Hana jump out and get the Cats out from of the back of the truck. The Cats find the building kind of weird. But Badtz LeVille assures them to put their concerns aside, because it really is a circus building...and that their audience is waiting for them inside in the arena. So the Cats are lead to the backstage area (or what they are told is the backstage area). Pandella and Hana bring out 103 glasses of apple cider for everyone to toast with and drink before the Cats go out and do their show. What the Cats do not know is that 100 of the drinks have been spiked with poison. Pandella is careful to hand the three non-poisoned drinks to Badtz, Hana, and herself. She passes out the other 100 drinks to the Cats. Badtz LeVille preps the Cats up for the "show," and holds his drink up, wishing the Cats good luck. Pandella, Hana, and the Cats toast with him, and then they all drink. As soon as they finish, then Badtz has the "stage" doors opened up from behind him, and shows the Cats what they're really going into. There's no circus at all---they've all been tricked! The place is really a factory---a factory where machines will rip the fur off all of them, and make the fur into fur coats, fur hats, fur boas, and more. Half the fur clothes will go to Pandella, and the other half will be sold for money. The 100 Cats are shocked and outraged at all of this! They yell that the LeVilles can't do this---they belong to Ume, not to them. But Badtz points out that they are wrong about this---and tells them about the tiny print on the contract. The Cats are even more shocked about this---and now very scared. But then they yell that they can't touch them---not if they attack them first! There are 100 of them, and only three of the LeVilles. So the 100 Cats do a mad charge at the LeVilles, getting ready to pounce on them.......when they suddenly feel very weak and sick. Badtz LeVille then reveals to them about their poisoned drinks.......and the 100 Cats, slumping to the floor and slowly fading to unconsciousness, know that they are doomed now.

(How will the last part of this story go??? I don't know yet. ' . I need to take time to think about how the rescue will go...and then I'll write it down here.)

NOTES:

--I got the inspiration for this story from the 101 Dalmations movie. 101 Dalmations...100 Cats...neat, huh?

--You may not be familiar with Ume and the 100 Cats...but I did not make them up. They are actual Sanrio characters. Just lesser known.

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(More new episodes coming soon!)