The Dark Pearl Chronicles 1.1: Battle of the Half-Brothers (6 page)

JOSH: Shawn isn't my friend; he's Kara's.

AUSTIN: Whatever. You all hang together now. Either way, Shawn is the one who is the most suspicious around here. He's the back-stabber, not me.

JOSH: You're just holding a grudge that he left your band, Austin. Besides, Shawn is an only child.

AUSTIN: What does that have to do with anything? (Begins reading Josh's mind again) The Battle of the Half-Brothers, huh? You're really stuck on me being the bad guy aren't you?

JOSH: Austin, you've said it yourself. You're the only bad boy in this town.

AUSTIN (smiles guiltily): You're right, Josh. I am, and don't you forget it. (Grabs the entertainment center and shoves it across the room with one stroke of the arm.) Get out of my house!

(Josh leaves hurriedly.)

(Derek and Brooklyn walk in the back door laughing.)

DEREK: Austin, you just missed the best movie ever!

AUSTIN: Oh really? Was it another chick flick?

BROOKLYN: Well...

DEREK: Actually, no. It had a little romance, but it was actually more action-packed than I thought it would be.

AUSTIN: Oh, awesome. (Looks at his watch) Didn't that movie end over an hour ago?

BROOKLYN: Yes, but Derek took me to this nice restaurant that just opened. Your brother is so romantic.

AUSTIN: So I've been told.

DEREK: You alright, Austin?

AUSTIN: I guess. Your brother just came in yelling at me, though.

BROOKLYN: Who, Josh?

(Austin nods.)

DEREK: So what's new then? You act like you've never argued before.

AUSTIN: Yeah, I know. I don't know. He just really ticked me off this time. We used to just do our own thing, you know? But now he and his friends are spying on me, and he needs to just get off my back, man. I swear if I didn't tell Dad on his deathbed I wouldn't kill him I would have. I think that's about to change, though.

DEREK: Really? Why's that?

AUSTIN: I don't know yet, but I'll find out soon enough. (Stomach growls) Ugh! Now I'm all hungry!

BROOKLYN: What?

DEREK: When Austin gets upset, he gets hungry.

AUSTIN: What do you have to eat in here?

DEREK: I don't know. You ate last.

AUSTIN: Ugh. That's what I thought. You've got no good food in here.

BROOKLYN: Shopping time!

DEREK and AUSTIN: What?

BROOKLYN: Well, for groceries I mean.

SCENE: Back at Pete's place. The four told Pete what happened at Josh's.

PETE: Well, Mister Jones, you're lucky he didn't kill you there.

JOSH: Why would he do that?

PETE: The Battle of the Half-Brothers, Josh, you two could've fought it out right there.

COLE: He's right, Josh.

JOSH: Well, what do we do?

KARA: We have to lay low.

JOSH: How? He knows we're here. He read my mind.

JAGUAR (eating a tub of ice cream): Oh, that's not good.

COLE: How do you keep from getting fat? You are constantly eating!

(The others roll their eyes.)

KARA: So anyways, why didn't Austin battle Josh right there? I mean, we all know how arrogant he can be. Even if he did know we were spying on him from outside, he still would've tried to take us all on.

COLE: Kara's right. He had to have some reason for not battling Josh.

JOSH: Maybe Cole was right before. Maybe he does want to suck you all into the Dark Pearl first.

KARA: Well, if he's waiting on that, it's not going to happen.

JAGUAR: Aw, man! You ran out of ice cream!

PETE: You ate all of my ice cream?

JAGUAR: I'm sorry. I'll go to Wal-Mart for some more.

PETE: You shouldn't go alone.

JAGUAR: You forgot. I have super speed. If anything were to happen, he couldn't catch me.

PETE: All right, but if you're not back in fifteen minutes I'm calling you.

(Jaguar runs with his super speed out of the room. Five seconds later he arrives at the Wal-Mart.)

JAGUAR: Phew. That was my exercise for the day.

(He walks over to the freezers and is looking at the ice creams.)

JAGUAR: Hmm... chocolate, vanilla, cookie dough, hmm... what should I get?

SCENE: Derek, Austin, and Brooklyn at the Wal-Mart. Austin hangs up his phone.

DEREK: So who were you talking to, bro?

AUSTIN: Sam.

BROOKLYN: Is that the brunette?

AUSTIN: No, Sam is the perky blonde that you get along with so well.

BROOKLYN: Oh, good! I can't stand the brunette.

AUSTIN: Why not?

BROOKLYN: Well, I mean, she's the only one who knows you have several girlfriends but she doesn't even care.

DEREK: Yeah, but that's Austin's kind of girl.

AUSTIN: True that.

(Austin looks up and spots Jaguar in the freezer section.)

BROOKLYN: So I say we split up. Austin, you go find some drinks; and Derek, you can look at the snacks.

DEREK: What are you going to do?

BROOKLYN: I'm going next door to the jewelry store! (Kisses Derek on the cheek and runs out the door.)

AUSTIN (laughs): You should've seen that one coming.

DEREK: Yes is should have.

AUSTIN: You know what she's going to look at.

DEREK: Rings?

AUSTIN: Yep. She's expecting a proposal soon.

DEREK: Yeah, yeah. (Smacks Austin on the back of the head) Go find the drinks. I want a Mountain Dew. 

AUSTIN: Watch it, bro. (Walking away.) And you better find those good chips, not the healthy ones Brooklyn picked out last time. You saw what happened when I accidently ate some of those.

DEREK: Don't worry. I threw those out last week. 

(The two walk in opposite directions.)

JAGUAR: Hmmm... okay. So I'm down to a final four. Chocolate chip, cookies and cream, fudge, and chocolate. Which one should I get? (Hears a noise behind him.)

JAGUAR (spinning around): What do you think? Oh... (Looks down to see a figure dressed in a long black coat holding the Dark Pearl in their hand.) What are you doing? Wait...

(Jaguar has no time to run. He is sucked into the Dark Pearl before knowing what happened. He drops the tub of chocolate ice cream.)

SCENE: Back at Pete's place. The three and Pete are all sitting in the living room.

COLE: How long has it been?

PETE: It's been almost forty-five minutes.

KARA: I think something happened.

JOSH: I've called him several times. It's going straight to voicemail.

PETE: As have I.

COLE: Do you think...?

JOSH: No, not Jaguar.

PETE: There's only one way to find out.

(The three and Josh go into Pete's machine room. Pete begins scrambling through his book and finds the code for Jaguar's jewel. He types in 011 on the keyboard. After a minute of loading, the screen shows "LOCATION UNKNOWN".)

JOSH: Nooo!

KARA: Oh no.

COLE: And Austin strikes again.

KARA: We have to find something to do.

PETE: You have any ideas?

(Kara stands with a suspenseful look on his face.)

SCENE: Back at Derek's. The three have just arrived home. Brooklyn walks in the house first; Austin pulls Derek over to the side outside.

AUSTIN: I can't believe you let her catch you, bro!

DEREK: Sorry, Austin. You'll just have to deal with her chips until I can get out and get more.

AUSTIN: Derek! I can't do that! It gives me-

DEREK (laughing): I know what it gives you, bro. You know what, how about you and I go back to the store. Will that make you happy?

AUSTIN: Yes.

DEREK: Good. We just need to think of an excuse to go without her.

(The two start whispering.)

AUSTIN (pokes head in door): Hey, Brooklyn! Derek and I are going back to town.

BROOKLYN: Can I come?

DEREK: I'm afraid not, honey. It's about jewelry.

BROOKLYN (excitedly): Ohhh... I can read between the lines. Okay, I'll just stay here and watch some chick flicks. Love you!

DEREK: I love you too sweetie.

SCENE: Pete's house.

KARA: Everyone understand the plan?

JOSH: Got it.

COLE: It's fool-proof.

KARA: It's time to take Austin out and get Zack and Jaguar back.

COLE: To the Wal-Mart!

(Pete stands quietly to the side)

KARA: You coming, Pete?

PETE: Yes, my condolences. I'm just a little nervous about seeing the Battle of the Half-Brothers coming to life, that's all.

Ten minutes later. Pete and the group walk in together.

KARA: All right, act casual.

COLE: That's hard to do here. He'll see us all here together and know something is up.

JOSH: How do we even know he's still here?

PETE: Oh, he's here. I have a Mesopotamian Jewel Tracker App on my phone. See?

COLE: Impressive!

KARA: Okay, nerd talk over. Where's Austin?

JOSH: Look, he's over there! (Points to Austin, who is looking at chips in an aisle)

KARA: Perfect! Everyone remember the plan?