A/N: Based on crazycatshipper's prompt and C2ndy2c1d's AU timeline on tumblr.
Disclaimer: "Courage the Cowardly Dog" belongs to John R. Dilworth.
Humming an upbeat tune, Courage carefully lifted the tray of drinks and carried it out back. The sun was at its highest over Nowhere, though the heat didn't stop the busy bodies outside!
After Muriel's death, her garden had been left unattended for a long time. Courage didn't have the heart to manage it. However, with his new villainous caretakers, he's been able to adjust to his new life without the Bagges. Not long after he began to feel guilty for neglecting it. It wasn't much of a garden to begin with, but Muriel had cared for it. Courage wanted to protect her last belongings and set out to restore it…
With some help of course!
In the middle of the garden, Bigfoot could be seen plucking out the dry weeds and tossing them to the side, while Hunchback was dropping seeds into dug out holes and covering it with moist soil. Courage furrowed his brows in confusion and looked around. Where was—
"RRRRR!" Courage let out a loud shriek and tossed the tray up into the air as Were-mole popped out of the ground right in front of him. Courage placed a paw over his racing heart and let out shaky gasps. Were-mole didn't even bat an eyelash to his reaction. He merely caught the tray before it could crash atop Courage's head and carried it over to the others.
"Ahh!" Hunchback sighed, taking a slow sip of his drink. "How refreshing! Thank you Courage!"
Bigfoot bellowed happily, chugging his drink in a single gulp. Were-mole simply opened his jaw and tossed his drink in along with the cup and tray. Courage warily watched Were-mole munch and gulp down everything without any sign of pain or discomfort. Hunchback merely chuckled and gave Courage a gentle pat on the head before returning to his task along with Bigfoot and Were-mole. Courage followed suit and continued his work of covering the seeds with dirt.
A few hours later, Courage stood in front of the newly seeded garden and felt a sense of accomplishment. Bigfoot and Hunchback were clapping in joy, and even Were-mole let out an approving growl.
BOOM! CRASH! CLANG!
Startled, Courage whipped his head towards the house. Shouts and other loud noises could be heard, and Courage quickly made his way to the source, followed closely by the other three.
When Courage entered the living room, the sight that greeted him was not what he expected. At the center, Katz and Cajun Fox were circling each other and staring the other down. Katz was holding one of his spiders and looking ready to strike, though Cajun Fox held a large butcher knife above his head. On the side, the other villains were shouting encouragements and making bets on who would go down first. From what Courage could see the two had no injuries but the tension in the room was high.
"I don't believe I heard you correctly," Katz said, a frown forming on his face. "Care to repeat your statement?"
"You heard me, sour puss," Cajun Fox replied with a large grin. "This year I'm gonna be taking home first place at the Nowhere Sweet Stuff Contest!"
Katz snarled in response, surprising Courage but then he remembered that Katz was a very competitive feline especially when it came to the Nowhere Sweet Stuff Contest.
In the past forty-three years, Katz had always been in second place…
Second place to Muriel's caramel covered apples every year.
Courage let out a small whimper and became a little teary eyed. This year Muriel won't be in the kitchen whipping up a batch of her special caramel. This year Muriel won't let Courage lick the pot clean of caramel. This year Muriel won't be standing on stage receiving her first place trophy.
Oh Muriel…
Courage was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice the commotion dwindling and everyone dispersing until he felt a tight grip on his neck lifting him off the ground. Wide eyed and gagging, Courage stared into the angry eyes of Katz.
"Listen here dog. Make a list of groceries that we need and be ready to go to the supermart. We leave in an hour."
SLAM! The villains hopped off out of Eustace's truck and cackled as they raced into the store. Courage let out a shiver as he heard the first scream of terror. He allowed Katz to seat him in the shopping cart and together strolled into the building.
It was absolute chaos! The villains were running around vandalizing the store and terrorizing the customers and employees. Yet Katz acted as if nothing was out of the ordinary and went about picking up items down the aisles.
One bag of salt…
"Fungus relief cream!? Trying to be funny, ehh?! We're gonna put the squeeze on yea, see!?" Big Toe bellowed, dropping his weight on a terrified employee.
"Yeah! Put the squeeze, see!" cried Little Toes.
One bag of sugar…
"ROOOOAAAAAAR!" howled Black Puddle Queen within the frozen food freezers, scaring everyone running by.
One tub of butter…
"Good haul y'all! Good haul!" crowed Cajun Fox, carrying a large sack filled with meat products.
One bag of carrots…
"RRRRR!" growled Were-mole, munching on the display stands and vegetables.
One bag of potatoes…
"Hu hu hu hu! Zat is it! Zis is ze perfect place!" announced Le Quack.
Courage turned in his seat and let out an alarmed shriek. Standing in the cart, Le Quack was leaning out and placing a pack of dynamite into the banana pile!
Courage gave a sharp tug on Katz's arm and pointed at the lit dynamite in warning. Again, Katz continued on as if nothing was wrong. Whining, Courage covered his eyes with his paws, expecting to be blown to bits any second now.
Ten minutes had passed with nothing happening. By that time Katz had finished shopping and calmly walked through the escaping crowd and out the store. Half way through the parking lot, however, Katz suddenly stopped and took out the grocery list. He quickly scanned it and let out a hiss of annoyance.
"Darn. We forgot the milk."
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Hours after the supermart incident, Courage found himself in the kitchen with Katz and Le Quack. The feline was in the process of boiling his saltwater taffy mixture over the stove, while the duck sat across the table from Courage, muttering and chuckling over the development of his next con. Every once in a while, the two would take a break from what they were doing and discuss about the contest.
"So my friend, still worried of ze competition?" smirked Le Quack.
"Competition?" scoffed Katz. "Hardly. I may have overreacted quite a bit earlier, but it is being dealt with as of now."
"Oh?"
In another part of Nowhere, a certain fox was getting ready to start cooking!
"Ooh wee! This is gonna be good!" stated Cajun Fox, mixing the ingredients in a saucepan. "Two cups of white sugar…one fourth cup of cocoa powder…half a teaspoon of salt…and one cup of whole milk! Mmm I can't wait to win first prize for my chocolate fudge!"
As he looked over the recipe instructions again, Cajun Fox stirred the mixture as it boiled over a low flame. Suddenly, it became difficult for him to stir as if the mixture became thicker. Confused, he looked into the saucepan and was surprised to find a purple mixture. He scooped a little bit of it and did an experimental taste.
"…jam?"
Unexpectedly, the purple jam shot up from the saucepan and towered over him. Cajun Fox was frozen where he stood and stared up into the one eye of the creature.
"Oh man."
Katz nodded his approval as he looked over his sweet creation. All that was left to do was to let the taffy settle for half an hour. Katz laid the tray out on the table then turned to Courage and held up a kettle.
"While we wait, would you like some tea dear boy?"
As they waited a quiet moment was shared between the two. Every once in a while, Katz would reach out and gently pet Courage who gave a little wag of happiness.
BANG! Startled, Courage jumped in his seat and quickly turned to the backdoor.
Standing there covered in what looked like purple jam was Cajun Fox. Courage warily watched as the fox moved and stood in front of Katz. The feline continued to sip his cup of tea but looked calmly up at the fox.
"Having problems with your sweets fox?" asked Katz. The fox remained silent and continued to look down on the feline.
Courage began to sweat as he glanced between the two. With each passing second, the tension in the room thickened.
"Ooh this is not good!" Courage whined quietly.
Finally, Cajun Fox made the first move. He reached for a large taffy rope and held it up. Katz became rigid in rage, but before he could angrily demand what the fox was up to-
SLAP!
Courage's jaw dropped to the ground at what he just witnessed! NOT GOOD! NOT GOOD!
Katz gingerly reached up to his cheek and winced slightly at the soreness. Cajun Fox had a smug grin on his face, but it was quickly wiped off. In the blink of an eye, Katz had grabbed the bag of salt off the table and with great force hit Cajun Fox's face. The fox fell back on the ground but before he could get back up Katz swiftly held him down. The feline pried open the fox's mouth and proceeded to pour salt down his throat.
Cajun Fox struggled fiercely, kicking the feline back against the table. Coughing and gagging, the fox scurried over to the sink. Katz stalked towards the fox, but before he could touch him Cajun Fox quickly grabbed a hold of one of the pots and proceeded to beat him back with swift blows. Again the feline was forced back against the table and with a single blow from the fox he toppled over with the table.
From the start, Courage had hid himself underneath the table. When the table flipped over, Courage let out an ear piercing scream and made a dash for the next room. There Courage ran pass the other villains who had heard the commotion. They had rushed to try and put a stop to it; however, before they could enter the kitchen, fast projectiles hindered their movements. Were-mole stood in one spot and consumed everything that came his way. Le Quack and Black Puddle Queen took cover behind Big Toe who took the brunt of the hits.
"Yeah, see! That all yea' go-"
SMACK!
A ridiculous amount of large pots came flying in, knocking out Big Toe and Little Toes. Black Puddle Queen tried to make her way to the doorway but took cover again behind Big Toe as a large bag of sugar and knives flew by.
"Oh for the love of- LE QUACK! Take care of these idiot males!"
Chuckling, the duck reached behind him and revealed a large lit bomb.
"It will be my pleasure!"
Courage carefully made his way into the kitchen, avoiding the mess of utensils and food all over the floor. In the end, Katz and Cajun Fox ended up being dragged to the hospital by the others. Remembering the state they were in, Courage winced in sympathy.
Courage surveyed the state of the room and released a heavy sigh. It will take all night to clean up everything and restore the kitchen to the way it was.
As he was about to leave to get the cleaning supplies, his foot landed on top of a rolling bottle and almost fell face first. He lifted the bottle off the ground and went to place it on the counter. Yet he paused to stare at the bottle label-
Vinegar...
He was almost injured by a bottle of vinegar.
"If you must know it's vinegar! I use it in all my recipes!"
Courage wiped away his tears and gazed around the kitchen again. There really was a lot to do but…
He needed to get his sweets ready for tomorrow!
The crowd was thrumming with excitement. This year's Nowhere Sweet Stuff Contest had many delicious entries and many were eagerly waiting for the winning announcement. Everyone shushed and quieted as one of the judges made their way up the stage and gave the microphone a testing tap.
"Hu hu hu hu! Zank you Nowhere for coming out to zis year's Nowhere Sweet Stuff Contest!" spoke Le Quack. "Today my companions and I have sampled all of ze entries, and have come to an agreement on zis year's winner!"
The crowd cheered on as the other judges behind Le Quack—Black Puddle Queen, Big Toe, and Were-mole—waved and posed at the crowd.
"Now many of ze contestants worked long on zeir creations, but zere can be only one in first place! And zat one person is—"
Silence reigned as everyone held their breath.
"—NUMBER FIFTY-ZREE! COURAGE! FOR HIS LITTLE DOG CUPCAKES!"
The crowd is ecstatic and madly cheering for Courage as he goes up the stage to receive his first place trophy. He was blushing madly and waving shyly at the crowd.
To the side holding the second place trophy were Katz and Cajun Fox. The two were in full body casts and tugging the trophy between them.
"Sad isn't it?"
"You don't say, sour puss!"
[End of "Sweet Memory"]