Courage and the Soul Taker
Chapter 1: Shao Khan's Agenda Afoot
It seemed like quite unlikely that a certain Shao Khan was going to rule Outworld easy as it was before. He had to send in his troops to squash a few riots that occurred. In effort to determine what to do, he summoned his advisor Shang Tsang to his throne room.
"Ah, Shang Tsang, my closest advisor" said Shao Khan as he got up from his chair.
"Why have you summoned me here?" asked Shang Tsang.
"I need your advice, we have managed to take the souls of many mortals in the past, but none have satisfied my need" replied Shao Khan as he headed toward his advisor, "I need a special soul, a soul that would ensure my total control over Outworld. Do you know of what such a soul I can take?"
"What kind of a soul are you looking for?" asked Shang Tsang.
"I'm looking for a certain soul which will ensure no one will oppose me" replied Shao Khan, "do you know where I can search for such a soul?"
The scene then quickly changes from the wastelands of Outworld, to the middle of Nowhere, where a certain Courage was quite busy chewing on one of Eustace's boots. Which of course made the farmer angry as when he approached Courage he noticed the pink dog chewing on it.
"Stupid dog, that's my favorite boot you got there" said Eustace.
Eustace then puts on his usual mask and scares the pink dog away.
"Finally, my boot" said Eustace as he took it, as he began to notice the boot it was covered in dog saliva, "yuck, look what that stupid dog did to my boot!"
Back inside the house, a certain Muriel was busy sipping some tea when Courage ran into the room.
"Courage what's going on with you?" asked Muriel as she continued to sip her tea.
Courage attempted to explain how he was frighten by Eustace with his usual mask. Just then, Eustace comes into the scene with his boot in hand.
"That stupid dog, look what he did to my boot!" cried Eustace as he was whining about it.
"Oh you boot looks fine to me Eustace" replied Muriel.
"Bah, you're always siding with that stupid dog" said Eustace, "when are you ever going to do things I want you to do?"
"Maybe if you were nicer to Courage, I might consider it" replied Muriel.
"Bah, I'll never be nicer to that dump dog" continued Eustace.
Suddenly, as they continued to argue, the front door bell began to ring.
"Oh, who could that be?" asked Muriel.
Muriel then leaves the scene to see who was at the front door. As she opened it up, she then noticed an old man in rags at the door.
"Please kind lady, could you spare a home for someone like me?" asked the old man.
"Oh my, you poor thing of course you can stay with us, we have a guest room in the attic" replied Muriel.
"Thank you for your kindness" continued the old man.
"Oh great, now you're bringing in a bum like this?!" cried Eustace who was outraged to see the sight of the homeless man.
"Eustace, I expect you be nice whenever someone as obviously poor like this needs our help" replied Muriel.
As the old man passed Courage, Courage could feel there was something wrong with that old man. Not that he seemed to be covered in filth or was quite smelly indeed. But something quite odd, that you don't seem to get that many homeless people in Nowhere that often. He then noticed there was also some sort of a strange glare in the old man's eyes, an evil glare at best which wouldn't be found in any homeless people like this at all.
"There is something strange about that old man, and I'm certainly not talking about his smell" said Courage to himself.
A few minutes later, Muriel led the old man to his guest room in the attic with Courage's computer there.
"Here is where you'll be staying until you'll be able to get back up on your feet" said Muriel.
"Thank you for your kindness" replied the old man.
Courage wanted to wait until night fell if his theory was correct on there being something strange about the old homeless man. To do this, he went up toward the window through using a ladder. Inside the guest room, as Courage peaked his head through the window noticed that the homeless man wasn't as weak as he seemed to be. Rather, the old man changed into another strange man he has never seen before. Courage wanted to scream, but not give off his location. As he looked even further, he noticed the strange man summoned some sort of a green flame in front of him.
"Have you found my target yet?" asked Shao Khan whose voice could be heard in the green flame.
"Yes my Lord" replied Shang Tsang, "I have successfully managed to locate the right soul for you to take."
"Excellent" replied Shao Khan, "keep monitoring that soul."
"As you wish" replied Shang Tsang to which the green flame then evaporated from the scene.
Courage couldn't believe he had just seen this. He immediately leaped down from the ladder, and then rushed to Muriel whom was once again taking another cup of tea this time watching television on her rocking chair.
"Courage, what's the matter with you again, you sound like you seen a ghost?" asked Muriel.
Courage then attempted to show Muriel how the old man really wasn't what he seemed to be. By trying to suggest he was a chameleon of some sort.
"Don't make such accusations Courage" replied Muriel whom seemed to understand his concerns a bit, "he needs our help to get back on his feet."
"Oh, I know there is something wrong with that so-called weak old man, and I'm going to prove it" said Courage to himself.
Yet what Courage certainly didn't know was the so-called old man was plotting to certainly take Muriel's soul, once he had the right time.