Chapter 7: New Blood and Old Wounds Part 1

(I was honestly worried I wouldn't be able to get to this before April. In any case, this is where the story really begins to take off.)

"Shit! I'm late!" Lisa groaned as she rushed through the hallways. The school bell had rung, indicating the beginning of first period and Lisa was making a mad dash toward her homeroom. "Shit! I'm never late! My perfect attendance record just...just flushed down the toilet!" As Lisa ran, she could feel her backpack become heavier and heavier by the second. She felt herself slow against her will and grunted with effort as she continued forward nevertheless. "What is with this stupid backpack?"

Before the idea to take off the overweight pack and inspect it could pop into her head, she noticed the school's trophy case standing before her. Relief washed over her as this meant her homeroom was just around the corner. She could even make out the corner she'd have to turn. She let out a sigh of relief, wiped her sweaty forehead and prepared to make the turn...

...only for the right strip of the backpack to suddenly snap.

"Oh no!" Lisa breathed as she felt her heavy luggage fall to the hallway floor with a thud. She mentally swore she could have felt the entire building vibrate from the impact and stood perfectly still for the next few seconds, as if waiting for everyone to flood out of their classrooms to investigate the cause of the tremor.

No one came. She slapped herself on the head for letting her imagination run like that. "I don't have time for this! The tardy bell's gonna ring any second!"

With all the strength she could muster, Lisa dragged the backpack behind her as she turned the corner. In this hallway sat room 207. Her homeroom and the room she would still have to cross half a hallway to get to. With each step, Lisa swore that her backpack was getting heavier and heavier. She briefly considered just dumping it, heading to the class herself, and explaining to Mr. Brooks that she needed to go back for the backpack but dismissed the idea almost as soon as it arrived. Mr. Brooks wasn't a stern teacher but he was a stickler for the rules, one of which being that students can only leave his sessions if absolutely necessary. Even bathroom breaks were kept to a minimum, which served to degrade his popularity among the student body quite a bit. Nevertheless, Lisa respected him as she did all her teachers and so she forced herself to pick up the pace despite the ever-increasing weight of her backpack.

As she neared the doorway, she thought she could hear someone calling out to her. She looked behind herself and back toward the end of the hallway but found no one.

"lisa"

There it was again. Lisa looked back and forth in search of the source of that noise, decided it wasn't worth her time, and opened the door just as the tardy bell rang. All eyes fell on her as she literally dragged herself into the room and she could already feel her cheeks heating up with shame. This shame was only further increased by Mr. Brooks annoyed glare. "Lisa Marie Simpson!" The plump brown man asked. "What is the meaning of this?"

"I-I'm sorry I'm late Mr. Brooks!" Lisa defended sheepishly. "Time just got away from me somehow. And then of course my stupid backpack had to break so I had to drag it with me..." Lisa stopped herself with a sigh. "No. I shouldn't make any excuses. I'm late and I'm sorry but hey, I beat the bell, didn't I?" Lisa ended her sentence with a awkward chuckle, the kind she always did when she wanted to hide her embarrassment from others. Ironically, it only served to indicate said emotion. This as well as her tendency to blush without much provocation made it pretty easy to tell when Lisa was feeling self-conscious.

Mr. Brooks shook his head in annoyance. "That's not what I meant Lisa. I meant why did you drag your work into my classroom again!?"

Lisa's embarrassment was replaced by utter confusion. "Huh? What are you talking about? All I brought was my...back...pack..." Lisa froze. Her blood chilled and she could swear that her heart slowed down its beating to once a minute. Instead of the remaining strap of her backpack, Lisa was holding onto the hand of Mr. Wolfe's corpse. His face was locked in an expression of fear with his mouth agape and his eyes pleading. A trail of blood began at his feet and led out the now darkened hallway. No, it was the opposite. Lisa had been dragging the rotten lump of meat with her throughout the hallway and brought it into the classroom for all to see.

All to see.

Sweat covering her like a second skin, Lisa forced herself to face her classmates, half expecting them to scream in terror at her deepest darkest secret revealed. To her surprise, and further humiliation, all she was met with was looks of disgust and disapproval.

"Gross!" One girl whined as she pinched her nostrils together. "That thing stinks!"

"What the hell Lisa?" A nerdy boy asked. "Are you trying to get this place comminated?"

"Girl, I have to say it." A dark-skinned beauty with braided locks added. "Red is not your color."

Lisa looked down at her body, afraid she would find herself exposed in more ways than one. While she wasn't naked, (for that she was thankful) she was only clad in what she had slept in the previous night, a white t-shirt and black shorts. What was more disturbing than her lack of attire, however, was the fact that she was covered head to toe in Wolfe's blood. She could fell the hot sticky liquid clinging to her bare stomach and shoulders. A puddle of the foul stuff had formed around her feet. She stupidly wiggled her toes and regretted the following sensation between them. Meanwhile, the jeering of her fellow students as well as her teacher intensified.

"Get it out of here!"

"It stinks!"

"Well Lisa?" Mr. Brooks said with disdain as he tapped his foot. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

But Lisa couldn't respond. She could hardly even think straight, most of her mental processes busy trying to understand just what the hell was going on. As they continuedly failed to do so, Lisa clutched her head in her hands as if she were suffering a brutal headache. The jeers grew louder. The stench of the corpse grew worse and as she finally opened her mouth to respond to the gory fiasco, all Lisa could think to say was-

"WHAT THE FUCK!?"

Lisa was still in bed. The Sun was just barely rising through her window and from downstairs, she could hear the sound of her mother cooking breakfast. She was drenched in sweat like in her dream but only sweat. No blood. No corpse. No jeering classmates. Lisa was awake.

"Oh...Oh...It...It was just a nightmare." Lisa let out a long and relieved sigh upon this epiphany. "That had to be the single most fucked up dream I ever had." Aristotle, who had been sleeping curled just above Lisa's feet, uttered an annoyed meow to let his owner know she had disturbed his precious beauty sleep. "Oh come off it!" Lisa fired back as she retracted her legs from beneath the furry body of her pet and planted them on the floor. "Well, might as well get up." She did so and after gathering a change of clothes from her closet and drawers, headed for the bathroom, her mind thinking back to her dream. More specifically, the voice in the hallway.

The same voice she heard laughing among her classmate's ridicule.

"They may fight and they may bite but in the end, their friendship makes everything all right! It's the New Adventures of Itchy and Scratchy!"

Maggie wiggled her feet excitedly as the cartoon played on. She had already finished her morning routines, save for eating her mother's cooking, and waited for this final checkpoint of her list by watching TV. Sitting on either side of her was her older siblings, neither of which shared her enthusiasm for the show.

"Today's episode: Sharing is Caring." The narrator said. The title screen gave way to the infamous blue mouse and black cat as they road along the beachside. "Wow Scratchy!" said Itchy. "I can't wait to have a long fun day at the beach with all our friends!"

"Yeah!" Scratchy agreed. "It's been ages since we've all hung out together." His gaze fell to the stretch of sand a few yards ahead. "In fact, I think I see them now!"

The screen cut to three animals waving to the duo as they stood over their beach setup. As the camera took turns giving each new character their own shot, Itchy's voice offered an quick name to the face.

"Kody the Kuddly Koala!" The first animal was a purple koala wearing blue trunks and a orange Hawaiian shirt with yellow flowers.

"Betsy Bat!" The next character, the sole female of the group, was a black bat with a tuff of blue hair with green bangs on her head. She was wearing a violet bikini.

"And Freddy the Flamboyant Flamingo!" The final creature to be shown was a flamingo in a green ascot. "Oh boys!" He thrilled.

"This bites." Bart muttered. "It breaks my heart to see what Itchy and Scratchy has become." He turned to Lisa. "Remember when Itchy used to disembowel Scratchy during the end credits?"

"Oh yeah!" Lisa giggled. "That was a riot!"

"Shhh!" Maggie pressed her finger against her lips. "I'm trying to listen."

"Sorry." Lisa turned to Bart. "Let's take this to the kitchen."

"Sure." Both elder siblings got up and head to the kitchen, leaving Maggie to enjoy her cartoon in peace.

"I just feel so bad for Mags." Bart sighed. "She'll never know the sheer gut-busting hilarity of the original Itchy and Scratchy." He held his hands up to the sky. "Why, oh why did they have to change companies!"

"It was Krusty's fault, remember?" Lisa cocked an eyebrow. "He lost them in a bet with Appleseed inc."

"Oh yeah." Bart said thoughtfully.

Any kid from Bart and Lisa's age barrack knew the story of Krusty's downfall. It all began with that fateful poker game in which he betted the rights to Itchy and Scratchy. This would prove to be his greatest error as he lost the hand to a straight flush from Rodger .P. Appleseed, chairmen of the up and coming Appleseed company, a network which catered to young children. Of course, this led to the Itchy and Scratchy show being removed from Krusty's timeslot and rebooted as the new and improved "The New Adventures of Itchy and Scratchy."

Ask any member of the original fandom and they'll tell you that the words "New" and "Improved" had never been more misused in a sentence.

Gone was all the blood, violence and rivalry between the title characters. Instead, the blue rodent and the black feline were now best friends who hung out together and taught kids the value of friendship, understanding and all that other bullshit, usually helped along by one or two of the new additions to the cast, none of which clicked with the audience.

As for Krusty's show, it never recovered from the loss. Despite his best efforts, not that they were very good to begin with, Krusty just couldn't bring in the ratings without the cartoon duo. Being forced to fill in their time slot with his performance made it all the more apparent that the clown just wasn't meant for comedy anymore and while the show still broadcasted at its usual time, Krusty the Clown was nowadays nothing more than a piece of nostalgia for Bart and Lisa's generation.

One that just wouldn't give up and die.

"Kids! Breakfast!" Marge called out as she set two giant plates on the table, one full of eggs and one full of bacon.

"Alright!" Maggie flipped the TV off and ran into the kitchen. All three siblings seated themselves at the table and while Bart and Maggie waited patiently for their mother to serve them, Lisa helped herself to two pieces of toast her mother had set down earlier. Her father came in just as she was buttering it, yawning heavily. "Good morning everyone!" He greeted. "What's for breakfast?"

"Eggs and bacon." Marge replied as she began fixing Homer's plate, giving a quick peck on the cheek as he sat down. Maggie smiled at this, feeling a little better than she had all weekend. For the past two days, Homer and Marge were hardly speaking to each other and not just because the former was bed-ridden for most of Saturday nursing his football injury. Maggie couldn't help but think back to what Lisa had said and felt a little resentment for her sister for the unintentional lie. But now, it looked they had finally gotten over their little tussle and were ready to get back to being the loving couple their youngest always saw them as.

"Aww! plain eggs?" Homer whined as Marge set the plate down. "Why couldn't we have loaded?"

Marge scowled. "Well I might have been able to put cheese in them if someone hadn't spent all night eating it out of the fridge.

Maggie frowned. Disappointment was the only constant in life.

"Eh. Whatever." Homer grabbed the morning paper off the table and opened it up. Initially, he only intended to read the funnies but as he scanned the thin sheets of paper for them, a interesting article caught his eye.

Or at least, one that he knew his daughter would be interested in.

"Look Lisa!" Homer showed her the paper and pointed to the article. "They saved the kitties and puppies from those guys the Animal Avenger killed."

"Huh?" Lisa grabbed the newspaper and carefully read through the article. "Cats and dogs simultaneously saved from mills after another Animal Avenger killing. Throughout the weekend, the Springfield Police Department brought in several employees of the Springfield Animal Shelter to take in several cats and dogs that were rescued from farmhouse belonging to Henry Wolfe and Jerry Gato, two known criminals hailing from New York. The fact that all the animals are either nursing mothers, their young, or pregnant females suggest that the two men were operating a kitten mill and puppy mill separately. Wolfe as well as his employees were found murdered at the kitten mill, most likely another gruesome attack from the zoophilist vigilante known as the Animal Avenger. Police are still searching for the body of Jerry Gato and his men who they believe to have also been killed.

"not that they're ever going to find him!"

"Huh?" Lisa turned to Bart. "Did you say something?"

"No." Bart muttered through a disgusting mouthful of unborn chickens and pigs flesh. Lisa gagged at the sight and placed the newspaper down. "Well, at least those puppies and kittens will get the help they need." Of course, Lisa was already well aware of this turn of events. She was even the one who set it in motion by tipping off the shelter about both locations, the police only getting involved after Wolfe's body was discovered. She felt somewhat disgruntled that the police were trying to act like they were the first ones on the scene, given what the newspaper said but what was she to do? In the end, all that mattered was that the surviving cats and dogs were on their way to a better life and those that couldn't make it were avenged. The thought put a smile on her face.

"Oh..That Animal Avenger again..." Marge sighed. "When are they going to catch that psycho already?"

"But Mom!" Maggie argued. "Thanks to him, they were able to save all those puppies and kittens!"

"I know and that's a really good thing." Marge agreed. "I just wish people didn't have to die for that to happen."

"There was no choice." Lisa thought, deciding to stay out of this conversation. "They did it to themselves."

"sure. keep telling yourself that."

Lisa looked around wildly. Someone else was talking, someone who she didn't recognize. Her frantic searching bore no fruit but did catch her mother's unnerved attention.

"Lisa? What's wrong sweetie?"

"Huh?" Lisa looked at her mother as if she were a deer trapped in headlights. "Oh! Nothing! Just..Just thought I heard a fly!" With a nervous chuckle, Lisa aggressively bit into her toast and put all of her focus onto finishing her breakfast.

Marge opened her mouth to press the issue, decided their was no point in it, and sighed as she fixed herself a plate.

The rest of the Simpson family's breakfast went without incident.

"Hey bestie!"

Lisa nearly jumped out of her skin, thinking for a moment that it had to be that strange voice that's been plaguing her all morning. Once her brain reminded her that it was in fact the voice belonging to her friend, Allison Taylor, Lisa forced herself to calm down and turn to greet her friend. "H-Hey Allison! Didn't see you there."

"Are you alright Lisa?" Allison asked. "You seem a little...jumpy."

"Oh it's nothing. Just..." Lisa trailed off as she intended to tell Allison about the dream she had this morning, only to remember that it would involve outing herself as the Animal Avenger.

That, and the dream was just weirdly...embarrassing.

"I...just had a hard time getting to sleep last night is all. Guess I'm a little tired."

"No offense Lisa but you always seem to be a little tired." Allison replied. "You didn't even join the rest of the band class for lunch at the Frying Dutchman after the game."

"I need to help take Dad to the hospital." Lisa defended. "Besides, that place keeps jacking up the prices on their kelp balls."

Both girls started to snicker, only to be interrupted by a voice crying out "Make way for Springfield High's hottest couple!" in the hallway. They both zipped around and, as with almost everyone else by their lockers, watched as Nelson Muntz and Jessica Lovejoy walked side by side down the hallway. The head cheerleader had both arms wrapped around Nelson's left arm and her head was nuzzled against his chest. Despite the most popular girl in school being practically glued to his side, Nelson's face betrayed a look of quiet indifference. This seemed to go unnoticed by the audience who voiced either their approval or their envy at the situation.

Well, it went unnoticed by everyone except Lisa whose gaze was locked on to Nelson's face as he walked pass. Shortly before passing her, the captain of the football team turned toward Lisa and their eyes met. Unprepared, Lisa quickly looked away and lowered her face which started to heat up. Nelson also looked away and back toward the hall. Jessica remained none the wiser to the visual exchange as she and Nelson took a turn and vanished from sight.

"Well, I guess Lovejoy got what she wanted." Allison sighed. "In a way, I feel sorry for that poor bastard. There's no real love in that relationship. It's all for show."

"Yeah. We can both agree on that." Lisa muttered as she continued to tend to her books. She was painfully aware that she was blushing hard and from Allison's cocky smile, she knew her friend had noticed it. Thankfully, Allison was not the kind of person to tease about such things. She knew that Lisa and Nelson used to date as kids and that Nelson being roped in with her worse enemy in school made things awkward for her. Allison focused on her own belongings and before long, both girls were ready to head for Mr. Brooks class.

Mr. Brooks class. Where she had dragged Wolfe's body...

Lisa shook her head as hard as she could. "Stop it!" She mentally commanded herself. "It was just a stupid dream! No one knows you're the Animal Avenger and no one ever will."

"no one except you."

Lisa looked around wildly, determined to catch whoever the hell was speaking in that hushed voice. That same voice that she heard at the breakfast table...and in her dream..."

"Lisa?" Allision's inquiry broke Lisa out of her self-inflicted spell. "Are you alright?"

"Huh? Oh oh! Yeah! No! I-I'm fine!" Lisa giggled nervously. Allison gave her a look of disbelief but shrugged and led the way toward Mr. Brooks class. Lisa followed and all the while fought to keep from recalling last night's nightmare or the voice that seemed to follow her out of it.

She lost the battle once they turned the corner and that loss came in the form of sinister snickering.

Bart and Milhouse were standing by their usual spots next to Ms. Simon's class, waiting for the bell to ring. Seeing the new Itchy and Scratchy series made Bart pine for the old days and as he brought this up with Milhouse, it led to a full on conversation over what was the best episode of the original series. This conversation was cut short by the sounds of quiet gasp and hushed comments as Nelson and Jessica approached the classroom.

"I gotta head to class now." Jessica whispered in Nelson's ear. "See you at lunch, handsome."

"Sure, whatever." Nelson replied. Jessica gave him a quick peck on the cheek and walked ahead to her own class, making it a point to sway her hips as she walked in Nelson's line of sight. Nelson, however, was already initiating conversation with his two friends. "Hey dingises. How's it hanging?"

"So far, so good." Milhouse replied. "So...Jessica Lovejoy huh?"

"Yeah...she kinda just...started making out with me after we won the game and I guess she's my girlfriend now."

"You guess? You guess?" Bart replied. "Dude, that is Jessica Lovejoy! Jessica. Lovejoy. She's only the most popular girl in school." Bart placed a hand on Nelson's shoulder. "Look man, I don't know why someone like her would go for you, no offense."

"None taken." Nelson had accepted that he had a homely face a long time ago.

"But you basically have the Goddess of high school on your lap. Don't fuck this up!"

"Alright alright!" Nelson waved his hands. The bell rang and Bart slinked inside.

"Guess he's still pining over her after all huh?" Nelson asked Milhouse.

"Yeah. Pretty bad too from the looks of it." Milhouse suddenly smiled. "So are we still on for training today? I think I'm finally strong enough to try my luck at the bench press again."

"Your call." Nelson replied as he walked into the class.

"Alright!" Milhouse followed him in. "Just a few more sessions and I know Lisa will fall for me!"

"Lisa," Nelson thought back to his encounter with the middle Simpson child in the hallway. Her star-shaped blonde hair. The soulful look in her eyes. The cute shade of red that appeared on her face when they..

Nelson shook his head and took his seat. "That was a long time ago Nelson. You had your chance and you hacked it against Skinner's house. Time to move on."

And for the rest of the day, that's what he did.

"Good morning class!" Mr. Brooks bellowed. "I hope you're ready for some exciting news!"

His excited greeting was met with almost complete indifference from his pupils. Even Lisa Simpson, one of the star students of his homeroom, simply murmured in place of a proper reaction. She had heard him of course, and a small part of her was tempted to know what he meant by good news, but her mind was preoccupied with rather personal matters.

Mr. Brooks realized at last the lack of interest in this "good news" of his and uttered a huff of contempt. "Glad to see everyone so excited." He droned sarcastically.

The following knock on the door returned the smile to his face.

"Ahh! There she is now!" Mr. Brooks turned toward the door and shouted. "Come on in!"

The door opened and all eyes fell upon the dark-skinned girl that walked in. She had curly black hair and gorgeous hazel eyes. Her outfit consisted of a blue denim jacket over what appeared to be a black T-shirt and blue jeans. There was a pink hoodie or sweater tied around her waist and on her feet was a pair of white sneakers.

"Class, I'd like you to meet Clementine Foster. Starting today, she'll be joining us for first period every morning!"

"A new student?" Lisa finally snapped out of her stupor as she studied the girl. "Why, we haven't had a new student in my class since-

(Please welcome our new student, Isaac Corman)

Lisa violently shook her head to free herself of that memory. "Oh god! Why did I have to think about that just now!?" She thought. "I'd rather have that other voice following me than think about HIM again."

Allison noticed her friend's distress and tapped her shoulder. "Hey. You alright?"

"Huh?" Lisa remembered she was in a public classroom and her face faintly turned pink. "Oh! I-I'm fine. I just thought a bug got on my head was all."

"A bug?" Allison asked.

"Y-Yeah." Lisa turned back around to watch Clementine give her introduction, kicking herself for spewing such an idiotic lie to Allison of all people. This was definitely a story Allison had a hard time swallowing as she was sure she would be able to hear a buzz if some insect really did land on Lisa's head. Nevertheless, she decided not to press the issue further and focused on Clementine as well.

"My name is Clementine Foster but the teacher already told you that." The new girl giggled nervously. Her attempt at comedy was met with a mostly silent class, save for one guy who coughed. She gulped and continued with her introduction. "I'm good at soccer and kickball and I've recently been looking into figure skating. My other hobbies include drawing, reading, and jazz music."

Lisa's ears perked up at the word jazz.

"I hope I can get to know you all." Clementine finished.

Mr. Brooks clapped his hands together. "Well done Clementine! Just go ahead and sit anywhere you want."

"Thank you Mr. Brooks!" Clementine tugged at her orange backpack and surveyed the class for an empty seat...

...finding one next to a certain spiky hair blonde. She walked up to her desk and asked. "Mind if I sit here?"

"Um...wha!" Lisa was dragged away from her own crushing thoughts for the upteenth time that day. "Oh! No! Go ahead!"

"Thanks!" Clementine took her seat and placed the backpack at her feet. "I'm sure you heard my name already but I haven't heard yours."

"Lisa." The middle Simpson child responded. "Lisa Marie Simpson."

"No fooling? My mum's name is Marie." Clementine beamed. "It's a small world huh?"

"I-I suppose." Lisa agreed nervously. She heard Allison get up from her seat and watched as she held her hand out to the new student. "Hi! I'm Allison Taylor."

"Nice to meet ya!" Clementine shook her hand with gusto. "You Lisa's friend?"

"Yep! And we're the top students of this class." Allison smirked. "But don't think that means we'll let you cheat off our papers." She giggled.

"Allison!" Lisa whispered, afraid that the casual accusation of cheating would upset the new girl. To her surprise, however, Clementine only laughed.

"I-I'll keep that in mind." She giggled as she took out her textbook and placed it on the desk. "But don't worry. I may not look it but I'm a pretty hard studier myself. Who knows? I might just join you guys at the top before long."

"I'll hold you to that." Allison agreed. "And if you do, then we'll all go out for lemonade shakes." She turned to Lisa. "Sound good?"

"Huh? Oh yeah! Yeah." Lisa nodded as Allison took her seat and Mr. Brooks began today's lesson. Lisa brought out her own textbook and opened the page to what her teacher instructed. To the untrained eye, it would seem Lisa was just focusing on her studies as she always had. In reality, she was trying in vain to fight off memories that Clementine had unintentionally reawakened with her arrival.

Of the last time Lisa had a new student in her class.

"Yoy! These damn rats get bigger every freaking year!" Moe muttered to himself as he picked up the rat trap from the corner of of her bar. The giant black rodent that laid dead within it seemed to glare at Moe with its beady red eyes, which only served to anger the bartender even more. "What are you looking at punk? He marched toward the minifridge wedged underneath the bar and cracked it open, the scent of the numerous rat corpses lining it hitting him right in the face. "Ugh! Yeah! Go join your brothers in Hell!" He tossed the trap inside the fridge and slammed the door shut before wiping his brow with his good hand. "Sheez! Saving up these rats for my burger meat sure is thirsty work!" He reopened the fridge door, pushed aside some of the rat corpses and pulled out a Buzz Cola. He cracked it open and took his first sip right as the door to his bar swung open, it's bell alerting Moe to his newest visitor.

"We don't open till 6." Moe replied dryly without looking toward the door. "If you're here to use the john, the only working toilet is the last one from the men's room door."

"No thanks." A familiar voice beamed. "I already went in Flanders mailbox."

Moe turned around to see none other than Maggie Simpson approaching his bar, clad in a blue dress and light-up sneakers. His semi-permanent scowl turned into a bright smile as he set the Cola down and rested his elbows on the bar. "Well if it ain't ol Mags! You out of school already?"

"Yeah." Maggie replied as she sat down on the stool in front of him. "Bart's busy hanging his pals and Lisa went to the library so I decided to drop by here myself."

Moe uttered a laugh before asking "What will it be, Mags?"

"One lemonade please! Shaken, not stirred." She giggled.

"Coming right up." Moe opened the lower cabinet underneath his wall of booze and pulled out a gallon of store bought lemonade as well as an actually clean glass. He hummed to himself as he poured the lemonade into the glass, swirled it around for good measure, and then took a lemon wedge and impaled it on a toothpick. Placing the toothpick, as well as a clean straw, into the lemonade, he gently shoved it towards Maggie who grabbed it with gusto and took a sip. "Mmm! Thanks Moe!"

"Anytime, Mags." Moe placed the lemonade back into the cabinet, grabbed a cloth and began wiping the bar. "So, how's school been treating ya? That one-eyebrowed little punk still giving you grief?"

"Gerald? Yeah, he's a real pain in the butt." Maggie agreed. "But's I've been keeping him on the ropes. Don't you worry."

"Heh. Same old Mags." Moe chuckled. "Well if you ever need any advice on how to slash tires, you know where to find me."

"I'll remember that Moe." Maggie replied before taking another sip and sighing heavily. She meant for it to be a sigh of content from the relaxing beverage she was enjoying but Moe, being the expert on human misery that he was, picked up the trace of melancholy hidden in her voice right away.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked.

"Huh? Oh. It's nothing! Really." Maggie took another sip from her lemonade, hoping that Moe would drop it. But deep down, she knew he wouldn't and even further down than that, she counted on it.

"Hey come on Mags." Moe spoke. "You can trust me."

"Well," Maggie grabbed a coaster from the tray nearby and placed her drink on it. "It's..It's Mom and Dad."

"Midge and Homer eh? What's wrong with them?"

"They've been fighting a lot lately and I know that's not anything really new and all but usually, they make up by now and...well, they haven't."

"Are you worried they're gonna get divorced?" Moe asked.

"I don't know. I really hope not." Another sip from the now almost empty lemonade. "Bart told me how divorce could effect kids, make them...you know...weird."

Moe waved his arm. "Ah. I'm sure that's nothing but an old wife's tale."

"Adolescent Abnormal Samurai Hamsters! Adolescent Abnormal Samurai Hamsters! Better than Ewoks! Hamster power!"

"What the fuck are you singing?" Bart asked.

"I...I thought if I sang the Adolescent Abnormal Samurai Hamsters theme song, it would pump me up!" Milhouse explained as he lifted the weight. "I can feel it working! It's working! It-

The weight suddenly fell onto Milhouse's chest, prompting both Bart and Nelson to rush to his aid.

"The worst part about it is," Maggie sniffled a little. "That it all began with my stupid show and tell project. I just can't help but feel like it's my fault."

"Hey, hey, hey!" Moe rushed from behind the counter and wrapped his arms around Maggie, careful not to hurt her with his prosthetic. "Don't blame yourself Mags. I know Homer and he's my best customer. Has been ever since Barney got clean but he's also a freaking moron. It's his dumbass that made that thing that got youse in trouble and its him Midge is made at, not you."

Maggie sniffled again.

"Listen Mags," Moe continued. "Would it help if I talked to Homer? Got him to straighten out a bit?"

Maggie looked up at Moe with tearful eyes. "Do...Do you think that could really work?"

"Hey, if you can't trust your bartender, than who can you trust?" Moe laughed.

Maggie wiped her tears and wrapped her arms around Moe's torso. "Thanks Moe!"

Moe was somewhat taken aback by the affection but accepted it with a smile nevertheless. "Heh. Anytime Mags." He patted her on the head with his good hand. "Say, I still got an hour before I got to open up shop. How's about we go grab a burger at Krusty's?"

"But don't you sell burgers here now?" Maggie asked.

"Oh no. Trust me Mags. Those burgers aren't fit for human consumption. Not without some alcohol anyway. Now let's go."

"All right." Maggie shrugged as she took Moe's hand and followed him out the bar, leaving his lukewarm Buzz Cola and a minifridge full of rat meat behind.

"You know him, you love him! It's the Krusty the Clown show!" The TV announcer said with forced gusto. The screen displayed a purple stage curtain from which the titular clown jumped out of, only to fall flat on his face The very tips of his green hair were beginning to grey and all the makeup in the world couldn't completely conceal his wrinkles and when he got back up, one could hear a very audible crack from his body.

He winced in pain but continued the introduction despite the very apparent pain he was in. "Tonight, we got a really big show! With guest stars like..." Krusty trailed off and muttered to himself as he pulled out a piece of paper from his shirt pocket, unfolded it, and quietly read the words on it. "Teen sensation Millie Stylish! Oh voy!" Krusty rubbed his hand over his face, pulling bits of his makeup of in the process. "Let's get this over with." He took a seat and waited as a teenage girl with red and black hair walked onto the stage, earning applause from the crowd. Once she took her seat, Krusty sighed heavily and asked her "So, I hear you've a movie in the works."

"This sucks." Bart sighed as he watched the teen idol discuss her film plans. "Every time I try and give modern Krusty a chance, it disappoints me!"

"Bart, I understand that Krusty was your idol but it's clear he's never gonna regain the fame and vigor he once had." Lisa patted his back with her free hand, her other hand clutching her phone. "It's time to move on."

"I guess you're right." Bart sighed as he sank into the couch as Homer uttered one of his famous "Whoo-Hoos!"

"Alright!" He reached over and grabbed the remote from Bart's knee. "It's down with the clowns and in with the...uhhh...ohh I was trying to rhyme foxy boxing with in! All well." Homer changed the channel as Maggie walked into the living room. "Mom said dinner will be ready in five minutes."

Homer took a huge whiff and salivated at the aroma of the pot roast his wife was cooking. "Mmmm...five minute dinner."

"Scooch over." Maggie wedged herself between her two siblings. She watched the TV for a few seconds before deciding she wasn't interested in seeing two woman punching each other in their exposed midriffs and glanced over to the video playing on Lisa's phone. It displayed a kitten trapped in a old tire full of tar. "Oh no! That poor kitten!" She whispered.

Lisa noticed her younger sister watching and moved the phone so she could get a better look. As Maggie watched, a pair of human hands grabbed the kitten, pulled it from the tar and placed it in a giant bowl full of hot, bubbling water. Within minutes, the tar was washed away from the kitten's body, revealing its beautiful brown and white fur and bright blue eyes.

"Dawww!" Maggie cooed. "That was so sweet." Her view lowered toward the channel name underneath the video. "Animal Rescue Rangers huh? Are all their videos like that?"

"Huh?" Lisa quickly turned her phone screen off. "N-No! Th-They're a new channel. They don't have a lot of videos up yet."

"Oh." Maggie uttered in a disappointed voice.

"But I know a bunch of other, better animal rescue channels!" Lisa continued. "I'll send you a list later. Ok?"

"Ok." Maggie nodded, her mood improved somewhat but not all the way.

"Alright everyone!" Marge called out from the kitchen. "It's dinner time!"

Marge literally did not need to say it twice as they group was already rushing to the kitchen before she was finished speaking.

After helping her mother with the dishes, Lisa retreated back to her room to do her homework. She really intended to as well as tonight's helping consisted of five sheets worth of problems for her to solve.

But she had some personal homework to take care of first.

Starting up her laptop, Lisa logged on to You View and brought up the video she was watching on her phone. It was easy to find as it was one of the first results that would come up when one typed in the keywords. "Kitten Rescue." Before the double helping of ads proceeding the video could play, Lisa clicked on the channel name and started browsing through their numerous videos. She knew she'd find them there. She had been keeping an eye on this channel for quite some time now, even before the mills took up her priority.

She kept an eye on this channel alright but not because she was a fan.

Lisa scanned her laptop screen until she came across the video she was looking for. It was released three weeks before the tar video she had shown her sister and promised the rescue of a kitten and a puppy from a old sewage tank. The two animals on the thumbnail looked filthy and underfed. Through the muck and scum, however, Lisa recognized the bright blue eyes of the kitten from the tar video. She clicked on it, skipped the ad without mercy once the five seconds were up, and watched as the man off-screen lifted the puppy and kitten out of the tank with his bare hands before bathing them. The puppy that came out of the tub was a handsome black Labrador while the kitten sported a pretty coat of brown and white.

Yep. This was the same kitten all right.

"I've heard about these so called Animal Rescue channels before." Lisa thought to herself. "They pretend to save animals from terrible situations but the reality is that they keep putting the animals their in the first place! Those poor dogs and cats are constantly put in harm's way, just so these assholes can get some ad revenue!" Lisa gritted her teeth and fought the urge to slammed her fist against her desk. Instead, she uttered a annoyed sigh. "Usually, these monsters operate outside the U.S where they can just get away with this shit."

"but not this one, right?"

"No." Lisa smiled as she returned to the tar video. "This jackass made a grave error with this upload." Lisa waited for the moment the kitten was pulled out of the tar-filled tire and paused. Although it was blurry, she could make out the Springfield Tire Fire in the background. The tire filled with tar also seemed to be smoldering as well, suggesting it was taken from the burning pile and put out for use in the video. "Whoever these monsters are, they're operating out of Springfield! My Springfield!" Lisa gritted her teeth once again.

"but we'll take care of them, won't we partner?"

"Yeah!" Lisa chuckled. "We will. We'll find these bastards and make them pay for exploiting those poor animals. Just wait and see!" Lisa intended to say more, hell, she was ready to go on a whole speech about destroying these fake animal rescuers and saving their victims. But she stopped in her tracks and looked around her room. The door was completely closed. All noise in the house seemed to be concentrated to the living room, suggesting her family was there and out of earshot. Aristotle was sleeping peacefully on her bed, hardly making a sound. Lisa was completely alone in her room. That much was certain. She was alone and that left her with a very disturbing question that chilled her to the core.

"W...Who was I talking to just now?"

(I'm reluctant to call this an arc as I feel that's best reserved for comics and anime but what the hell? This is the beginning of the first major arc of the story and I'll do my best to make the ride as gripping as possible. I will warn you right now, this part of the story's going to get into some really dark themes down the road but you could have already guessed that. Until next time, BSC out!)