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Chapter 2

Unexpected Developments

Courage was slowly recovering his senses. While still seeing dark, he thought of what could have smashed him to the wall. "Probably a robot warrior used by the government. Or a big monster that decided to destroy the bank while I was robbing it. Or, maybe, some type of superhero." While thinking, Courage recovered the control of his ears, and listened to some voices. The poor dog couldn't believe his own ears: he was listening three, cute female voices.

Courage then managed to open his eyes and what he saw confirmed what he had heard: there were three little girls just in front of him, discussing about something. Courage realized that they weren't normal: they had big heads and huge eyes compared to their body, that was small. Their legs and limbs seemed to be without any type of fingers. They were wearing the same type of clothes, just different in colour. Courage realized that the colour was connected with their eyes' colour. Their colours were all light in shade, too. The red one had got long orange hair, with a big bow just on her head, and seemed to be the leader. The blue one had got blonde hair combed in two rolls, and was like to be the kindest of the trio. The green one had got short black hair combed upward, and was arguing with the loudest voice of the three in that moment. They were all discussing about Courage, who was just looking at them, stunned and frightened. "Are these three little kids the ones that broke in the bank?" asked himself Courage. He decided to take advantage of the situation, as the three girls were very angry between themselves.

He stood up trying to be stealth, and slowly moved through the debris, bypassing the girls, but he made an error. He squashed a small cricket while walking. It made a very soft, barely audible sound, but for the girls powered hearing it seemed that a giant insect had just been squashed behind them.

"Hey! Where do you think you are going?" asked the red-headed girl.

"I'm getting him!" said the green one, and before the other two could reply, she flew away and rushed to Courage. She caught him with his hand, while using the other to threaten him. Courage was frozen in fear and didn't say anything.

"Buttercup! You shouldn't have done that!" said the blue coloured girl, "We have already beaten him, and not in a friendly way!"

"Bubbles, just shut up!" said Buttercup, that seemed to be annoyed, "He is a robber, he is the enemy!"

"But watch him! He is terrified, he can't say a word without shuddering!" replied Bubbles, who was angry too.

"He took an hostage, he was going to steal the bank's money, and you are defending him?!" said Buttercup. Bubbles was about to answer, but they were stopped by the red dressed girl.

"STOP RIGHT NOW!" she shouted, then when she realized that the other two were become calm, she scolded them.

"Buttercup, you were just too hard with that dog when we arrived, it wasn't needed to knock him out that way. But she is right, Bubbles, when she says that this pink guy is a bank robber and a criminal." She then began to talk with Courage: "So, do you have something to tell us, before we bring you in prison?"

Courage, still held by Buttercup, started to say something, trying to tell them his story, but in his horrible way of speaking. To show the girls what was his situation, he also morphed into a similar-to-Le Quack monstrous form, and ate a doll representing Muriel. When he stopped to bark, he sighed as Buttercup and the red dressed girl were watching him: they had not understood a single word from his speech.

That's wasn't the case for Bubbles, that had the ability of speaking with animals. This special power helped her to understand Courage weird speech, and when she realized what Courage had said, she informed the other girls.

"Ahh, just shut up, stupid dog! Do you think we will trust you?" threatened Buttercup that was still holding him with his hand, ready to knock him.

"Wait, Buttercup," said the red eyed girl. In his eyes Courage could see she was wondering about who he really was.

"So, are you from Nowhere?" she asked Courage. He nodded his head.

"This clears up why you robbed this bank without even use some type of ruse against us. You don't know us, do you?" she said, and Courage did another gesture to say 'Yes'.

She decided to introduce herself: "My name is Blossom, and these are my sister, Bubbles and Buttercup," while Blossom was saying their names, Bubbles giggled and Buttercup muttered something.

"We are the Powerpuff Girls, and we are the superheroes of this city. We protect it from evil villains, monstrous beings and criminals like you," there was something in her voice that told Courage she was proud of herself.

"Who are you, instead? At least, what's your name?" She asked Courage.

"My name is Courage, and..." Courage was beginning to say something about Muriel and Eustace, but Buttercup shook him.

"Why do you think we have to trust you?" she asked angrily.

"I'm afraid she is right, Courage," said Blossom. "Your story is pretty amazing, but you have not brought us any evidence for it".

Courage tried to think of what he could show to the girls, and then he realized that while Le Quack was preparing his gun, he picked up the leaflet that was the cause of everything. It was dropped by Eustace on the floor when he was trapped in the cage. Courage had thought that it would have been useful against Le Quack if he had managed to tell the police what happened.

He took the miserable leaflet and showed it. Bubbles floated in front of him, took the paper and started to read it out to his sisters. When she finished to read the contest advertisement, the Powerpuff Girls watched themselves. This was indeed a good evidence for Courage story.

"Ok, Courage, you have gained at least the fact that we won't bring you to prison right now," said Blossom.

"You could have picked up this leaflet from somewhere and just use it to trick us!" said Buttercup that didn't believe a word of Courage's story.

"We can go to the place that is written down here on the paper," suggested Bubbles, that instead was believing Courage and was worried about him and his family.

"Good idea. We shall see if you are right, Courage," said Blossom, "but listen to me: if you have lied us, we will send you to the police immediately." Buttercup added: "And hope that the police will already have caught you when we will realize that." She finally let Courage away from his grip, and he could finally breathe normally.

Bubbles decided to transport Courage herself, so she grabbed him as she was carrying a little doll, without any strain. The Powerpuff Girls and Courage finally left the bank and headed to the 31° abandoned floor where Eustace and Muriel had been captured.

Meanwhile, in the top of a volcano rising just inside Townsville's city centre, Mojo Jojo had been watching and listening to what was happening at the bank. He had little interest in the bank robbery at first: Yes, the Powerpuff Girls arrive, beat the criminal, save the day, bla bla bla, he had thought when he saw the girls bursting into the bank. Mojo began to gain interest when he noticed that the girls weren't exiting the bank right away: he used his powerful telescope to spy the girls while they were arguing and the thief knocked out by Buttercup. He also sent one of his spy bugs to listen to their speech. When the bug arrived in the bank, Mojo could listen to the full conversation between the girls and Courage.

When Courage and the Powerpuff Girls left for the kidnapping scene, Mojo was pretty interested by the story. He was thinking of how he could use the situation for his purposes.

"Yes! Yes! With the girls trying to realize if the dog is right, I can prepare a lethal trap for the girls to destroy them at once! But how..." he remembered of the big black van that had rushed away when the girls arrived at the bank.

"Yes! All I have to do is to get in touch with this French thief... with Le Quack. He won't surely refuse to have the opportunity to rob all the banks he wants. It will be a business that will be good for each of us." Mojo Jojo grinned evilly while thinking of the shrewdness of his plan.

At the same time Mojo was creating his next evil plan, Courage and the Powerpuff Girls arrived at the 31° abandoned floor of the skyscraper.

"This place is a mess!" said Blossom when she saw the creepy appearance of the place.

"Yes, yes, let's just find what we are looking for," said Buttercup.

Courage brought the girls through the place, following the same path he had walked through with Muriel and Eustace. The thought of Muriel made Courage walk faster. They finally found the door for the Le Quack's fake office. It was opened. They entered the room: there was no sign of Le Quack or Muriel and Eustace. Courage had known that Le Quack was cunning so he wasn't surprised to not find his family. Despite this, a little tear flow from his eye. He immediately tore out it from his face: Bubbles was the only one to notice this, and she felt sympathetic with Courage.

Suddenly, Buttercup blurted out: "There isn't anything useful here! This stupid dog is only trying to deceive us! Can we just kick his butt and return school?"

"Patience, Buttercup," said Blossom. She was a bit annoyed, too. "Do you have anything to say, Courage? Because that little sign on the door is not enough to persuade us you aren't a thief."

Courage started to say quickly, "What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?!" He had no idea how to convince the Powerpuff Girls his family was in trouble.

Bubbles decided to help Courage: she flew behind the desk and searched in the various compartments that were there. She finally found something: Le Quack had forgotten to empty all the compartments of the desk.

Floating above the desk, Bubbles showed her sisters the various leaflets she had found. They were all alike the leaflet that Courage had showed them before.

"Blossom, I think that Courage is right," said Bubbles, hoping that Blossom will trust her.

"But this place could be simply some type of advertising office!" protested Buttercup.

"Blossom, if Courage is right, there are two persons that are in trouble," replied Bubbles.

Blossom thought deeply for a moment, then she made a decision. She stared at Courage, who was waiting for his fate.

"Ok, Courage, at least you had me have some doubts about you," she said. Courage gave a sigh of relief.

"I have decided that we are going to look for this French duck tomorrow. We will try to discover if he is really your enemy and if he is still keeping in hostage your family," Bubbles smiled while Blossom was saying this.

"I still don't believe completely you, Courage. You will stay with us at our home: if you are a real robber, you won't have the chance to escape without alarming us or the Professor," Bubbles and Buttercup could not believe what Blossom had just said. Their reaction was quite opposite: Buttercup was starting to complain when Blossom asked directly Courage:

"Do you accept this, Courage?".

Courage simply said "Yes!" and all the three girls understood him. He didn't find anything bad in staying at their house, and he would have done anything to save Muriel. He was glad to have them on his side, too, even if he was still a bit scared by them: three little girls with superpowers! If they managed to find Le Quack, he wouldn't have any chance against them, and Muriel would be saved. Courage couldn't believe that he was going to save his family without any exertion.

Therefore, Courage and the Powerpuff Girls finally arrived at the Utonium mansion. When the Professor saw his daughters entering the house with a pink dog, he thought the girls had taken another animal and brought it in the house once again. He was going to reprimand them when Blossom told the professor who was Courage and what was his situation.

Professor Utonium couldn't believe that little pink dog was a robber. Courage was harmless, as he was still thinking of how they would have found Muriel, and looked very sad. The girls then returned at Pokey Oaks kindergarten, so Courage was left with the Professor as long as the girls were at school. Courage watched the Professor while he was working in his laboratory. The Professor was pleased that Courage was quiet, as he was well educated by Muriel, but Courage was quiet because he was sad.

When the girls went home in the afternoon, they behaved differently with Courage. Bubbles was the only one to understand his thoughts, and she also tried to cuddle him to comfort him. Blossom and Buttercup were still hostile to him: Blossom was still suspicious about him, and Buttercup would have slammed him on the wall another time if she had had the chance.

Courage wasn't very happy, so he went to have dinner without having said a single word, apart from sighs. He sat down on a chair, then he realized that the girls and the Professor were watching him, surprised. He tried to explain that in Nowhere he used to have dinner on the table like any other person, unless Eustace told him to get out of it. He then started to complain about Eustace (Courage didn't have many friends in Nowhere to talk with, and the few he had could meet him for little time. This was an occasion for him to pour out his thoughts). Courage didn't hate him, but she was still bothered by his behaviour.

Buttercup was listening to Courage, and when he described the ugly mask he used to terrify him, she had a wicked idea.

"Excuse me, but I have to go to the toilet," she said, then she flew away from the kitchen.

Instead of going to the toilet, Buttercup entered her bedroom. She searched in the furniture, then she opened the wardrobe and searched it too. She finally found something: a big, ugly mask. The mask was very similar to Eustace's one, but it was less weird and more similar to a wolf. It was used by Buttercup for Halloween. She smiled while thinking what joke she was going to play on the poor Courage.

Courage was about to finish his last speech about Muriel, when the table began to shiver. He was frightened. "What's going on?" said Blossom while she and Bubbles positioned themselves, ready for everything.

Suddenly, Buttercup appeared from below the table, wearing the wolf mask. She tried to emit a terrifying scream, but she was laughing so hard that all she could do was a "Boga boga bogaaaa!", just as Eustace did. Blossom, Bubbles and the Professor were watching her, astonished. That wasn't the case for Courage.

Fuzzy Lumpkins was sleeping on his rocking chair when suddenly a loud scream coming from Townsville awoke him. He quickly got angry. "Who is disturbing me?" he shouted, and he started to uproot the trees near his house, furious, searching for the intruder.

There was a weird scene at the girl's house. Buttercup had taken off the mask and was laughing on the floor, as she couldn't stand up or float correctly. Bubbles was very angry with his sister, and also the Professor wasn't happy about the situation. Courage had jumped on Blossom's head, and he was still there, shuddering and frightened. Blossom was quite annoyed by the fact that a dog was hiding in her hair.

"That was very bad, Buttercup!" said Bubbles.

"Ahahah! I didn't think he was so coward! This has been amazing! I should do this another..." said Buttercup, but the Professor hushed her with a gesture. He gently took Courage from Blossom's head, who then started to control her hair.

"Buttercup, Bubbles is right," said the Professor, "It is not kind to scare a guest like this."

"But he isn't our guest! He is a criminal, don't you remember he has tried to rob the bank? He..." she was stopped another time by the Professor.

"This doesn't justify your actions, Buttercup. Besides, we aren't sure that he is a dangerous criminal..." he watched Courage that wasn't listening but still shuddering "...and I don't think he could be a very bad one." Blossom watched Courage when he listened this last sentence. If she had not found him robbing a bank, she would have sworn that dog wouldn't have hurt a fly.

"Now, let's just have dinner calmly," said the Professor. Buttercup took a seat alongside of her sisters, moaning something, while Courage, that had not completely recovered, sat on the opposite side of the table.

While they were eating, Courage watched various times the three girls. He was curious to know about them and their story, and he also wanted to break the silence that fell in the house.

Finally, he succeeded in saying something, "So...you have superpowers, haven't you?" he said. Luckily, he had spoken correctly, and they could understand him immediately.

Bubbles giggled. "Of course, yes, we have!" she answered.

"It is true, Courage, my daughters are real superheroes," said Professor Utonium. "And I bet you want to know how did they gained them." He finished to eat the meat he was chewing. "Well, actually they were born with superpowers. I was trying to create the perfect little girl using three ingredients: sugar, spice, and everything nice. While preparing the mixture, I accidentally added an extra ingredient to the concoction: this black, mysterious substance, the 'Chemical X'. There was a big explosion, then I looked at the pot and saw that I had created not one but three, perfect little girls..." while saying this, she glanced at her daughters and smiled "...three girls that had various superpowers, too."

"We then decided to dedicate our lives to defend our city, Townsville, from any dangers," said Blossom.

"We fight evil beings and mean people!" said Bubbles.

"And we beat up all types of criminals and bad ones!" concluded Buttercup, while looking at Courage with a fierce look.

Courage was amazed by their story. He thought of Le Quack, being smashed by the girls and slammed in the jail at once. He also thought of Eustace and Muriel being rescued by the girls. The thought of Muriel made Courage so sad he stopped to eat.

After dinner, it was time to go to bed, as it was quite late. Courage would have accepted to sleep everywhere, even outside, but Bubbles felt sorry for the joke Buttercup had done to him, so while they were preparing to sleep, she said "Courage, would you sleep on our bed? I think you will be more comfortable than on that old pillow on the floor." Blossom and Buttercup watched Bubbles, as they didn't agree about this offer, but Bubbles hushed them with a gesture.

In fact, Courage was not Talking Dog. He went to bed before the girls did, and when they entered the bedroom with the Professor, Courage was already sleeping on the bed, as he was really tired. He was in the same place where he slept on the Bagge's bed in Nowhere, so he wouldn't have bothered much the girls, at least if he had not nightmares.

The girls went to bed calmly, without awakening Courage. The Professor sat down near them.

"Girls, I don't think he is a bad guy. He seems to be frightened and sad. How could this poor dog be an infamous bank robber?" he said in a low voice to the girls.

"Professor, remember that he truly tried to rob the bank," whispered Blossom.

"And he also took an hostage! He was determined!" said Buttercup while trying to be as quiet as she could.

"That's right, Buttercup. But would you rob the bank as he did, if I was kidnapped by someone who then blackmailed you and you couldn't do anything to save me?"

"We have superpowers! There is no one in the world that would stop us from protecting you," replied Buttercup.

"Yes, indeed. But Courage is not a superhero, he is a normal dog," said the Professor. Buttercup kept silent.

"I hope we will find and save his family tomorrow..." said Bubbles.

"Yes, and to do this you should take a little rest as Courage is doing," suggested the Professor. He was right, so the girls lay down.

"Good night, little angels," said the Professor while kissing them. He exited the door quietly and went to bed on his own.