Chapter 2: Moosing Around

It was when the steady, rhythmic bumping of Courage's seat stopped that he woke up. The humming of the engine had been a constant sound, even in his sleep, and its absence was noticeable enough to wake him. As he opened his eyes and blinked the blurriness out of them, he noticed that something heavy was leaning on him. He turned his head slightly to the side and found Computer fast asleep as well.

"Hey, I think we're at the next rest stop." He said in a quiet voice. Several people were passing their seat as they made their way to the front of the bus.

Computer began to stir, then let out a gasp and shot up. "Oh, dear. I must have-" He quickly said, giving Courage a rather sympathetic expression. "I'm sorry. I said that I was going to stay up and-"

Courage shook his head. "It's okay. I didn't have any nightmares anyway. How about you?"

He suspected that Computer had a nightmare free nap as well or else they very likely would have both experienced it.

"I, uh, I'm fine." He muttered out, glancing away.

"That sounds like a, 'I'm pretending to be fine' kind of fine." He joked, taking note of Computer's sheepishness.

"I think I may have had a good dream, but I'm not so sure." He admitted, still keeping his sights elsewhere. "Let's just say that it was-" He seemed to be getting more and more embarrassed by the second. "N-never mind."

Courage could only imagine what a normal dream might be like for someone like Computer.

The machine cleared his throat. "Dreams are indeed strange." He spoke, regaining some of his composer. "I, er, think I'd like to go back to not dreaming at all."

Courage couldn't help but grin as he tried to puzzle out what Computer could have possibly dreamed about that would make him as flustered as he was. "You can't just decide if you're going to dream or not. It just happens!"

"Great." He grumbled. "I think I'm going to go back to being an insomniac." Unamused, he looked past Courage and out the window. His eyes widened. "I-is that a giant moose?" He asked. "Am I still asleep?"

Courage turned and did indeed find a giant statue of a moose out there. It was standing near the entrance of a diner across from the gas station the bus was parked at. The 'majestic' beast had one heck of a serious expression, as though it were eying down someone to gore.

Computer practically stepped all over Courage as he tried to get a better look. "It's a giant moose statue!" He exclaimed, acting as though this was something so rare and so completely unexpected that it might as well have been the eighth wonder of the world. "I don't know why, but the humans have erected a giant moose statue! I need to investigate this oddity further!" He then clamored over Courage a second time and was off the bus before the poor pup could even stand up.

"It's just a moose..." He muttered. It was at that exact moment when he realized that everything on this journey of theirs was going to be a huge novelty for Computer. He was going to be seeing and experiencing so many new things for the very first time.

By the time he too got off the bus, he was certain that Computer had circled the giant moose statue at least twenty times by now. His friend was staring up at the thing, completely enraptured by it. The glowing dog was just beginning his millionth circle around the moose when Courage decided to call out to him before their entire rest stop could be wasted. He wasn't going to wait for Computer to finish his 'investigation.'

"Hey, are we going to get something to eat or not?"

Computer finally tore his eyes away from the moose. "Right, food." He uttered out, apparently having completely forgotten. He glanced back up at the moose again, enthralled once more. "It's just so...weird!" He exclaimed. "You flesh creatures create the strangest things."

Courage stared and then repeated yet again, "It's just a moose..."

"Are you telling me that this is normal?" The machine asked, craning his head slightly to the side. "Perhaps I was wrong about Nowhere after all."

Courage shrugged. "Well, it's not exactly normal, but it isn't completely unusual either."

Computer was apparently satisfied with this answer and nodded to himself as though he were making note of it. "Let's go inside. I can only imagine what other oddities a place like this might hold. For starters, it looks like it was constructed with primitive means. Do you think it even has plumbing?"

The reason for Computer's consideration came from the fact that the building looked like it had been made by slapping a few logs together. It gave off the appearance of being a super sized log cabin that you might find in the middle of the woods.

"It's just for show." Courage answered him. "It's a real building made to look like a cabin. People enjoy eating at places like these when they're on vacation."

"I see." Computer mused. "There's a novelty to it then?"

"Yeah." He agreed with a nod. "Now, let's get in there and find something to eat. I'm starving!"

Although, judging by the smell that was already hitting his nostrils, he wasn't expecting the food to be very good. He could already tell through smell alone that this place was dirty and unkempt. Hopefully there wouldn't be any food poisoning involved.

Computer passed him by as he rushed in to find out what the inside of the log building looked like. Courage followed rather precariously behind. Crappy food or not, he was hungry, and if he skipped out on eating here then he wouldn't get another chance to eat a decent meal until morning.

He stepped through the wooden doors and the musty, disgusting smells grew worse. The inside of the diner was dim thanks to the low lighting and cigaret smoke. The floor was a dull, smooth wood that was in need of a serious cleaning. Muddled, vaguely southern music issued forth from ancient speakers set up in various places. There were quite a few people eating at the tables and they had all turned to get a look at the 'strange' glowing, blue dog who had just entered. Computer stood out even more than usual in the low lighting.

"This place seems a bit run down." The machine commented. "Do people really vacation here?"

Courage ignored the question and urged him to walk forward. They passed a bar, which held the majority of the people occupying the diner, and only quickened their pace when several questions were thrown at them about the 'weird, radioactive dog'. The last thing they needed right now was to attract even more attention from the drunken gawkers.

"Hmph! I don't look that strange!" Computer spat. "Although, I suppose I am a bit more noticeable to people outside of Nowhere."

"C'mon, let's keep going." Courage urged him. "There's got to be somewhere around here where we can sit without people staring at us."

They soon hit the other end of the diner, which was clearly made to be more kid friendly. The wooden walls were painted with bright colors and half the area was devoted to a giant, multicolored tube structure that reached all the way up to the ceiling. It held both a ball pit inside and several slides of varying sizes and shapes. To the right of it stood a stage where an animatronic, humanoid moose sang with his two friends. As far as Courage could tell, this end of the diner was completely deserted at such a late hour.

"It looks like we'll be okay here." He spoke. "Well, as long as those drunk guys don't come after us."

Computer wandered over to the stage where the robotic moose and his friends were singing to a non-existent audience. He watched it for a good few minutes before finally turning back around.

"It's dated technology, but effective none the less!" He eagerly concluded.

Courage looked up at the band of robots. "Er, it's kind of creepy." He replied.

The robots were so old and in such disrepair that the clattering of their parts easily drowned out the songs they were singing. It was an amazement that they even functioned at all.

"Says you!" Computer huffed. "You think everything is creepy!"

"I mean it though. Those things are pretty scary looking."

Computer crossed his arms. "What? Do you think they're going to come to life and eat you? I seem to recall that we aren't in Nowhere anymore. The odds of that happening are effectively zero."

"I know, but-"

"Bah! I don't want to hear it!" He spat. "The next thing I know you'll be calling me a creepy robot too!"

"Compute, you are a creepy robot."

"Am not!"

"Look, just stay here and try not to blow a circuit while I go to the bathroom, okay? We'll order some food as soon as I get back." He pointed over to a hallway on their left that had the word, 'restrooms' printed over it.

"My circuits don't do any blowing up, thank you very much." Computer grumbled as he took a seat.

Courage made his way over to the hallway which, of course, held the bathrooms, but it also had an 'employee's only' doorway at the end of it too. Just like the main room, this hallway was brightly colored and even had a speaker in it blaring out the moose's song.

He entered the boys bathroom and immediately wrenched. The smell was overwhelming. Nobody must have cleaned this god-awful place in weeks. Deciding that he'd rather hold it, he tumbled back out of the bathroom, nearly gagging half to death. He stood there for awhile, just taking in large gasps of air. The musty, dirty smell of the diner was better than anything he had just gone through.

It was then when he realized that someone was standing at the end of the hallway, and it wasn't Computer either. He thought for a moment that it was an employee heading for the employee's room, but then he noticed that the person had antlers.

He gasped as his eyes widened in terror. The figure took a step forward and the sound of mechanical parts whirling became apparent. There was no mistaking it. That moose mascot was somehow moving around on it's own. Courage couldn't even begin to imagine what it might have done with Computer.

"Hello there, little dog!" It spook in a surprisingly deep yet still cheerful voice. "You look scared. What's the matter?"

The moose was slowly making it's way down the hall. Courage in turn booked it towards the employee's room, hoping to find an escape route, but when he grabbed the door handle he found that it was locked.

"Nooooooo!" He screamed, pulling at in desperation.

"Why are you running?" The moose asked in that eerie voice.

He slowly turned around, trembling. The moose was now standing before him, it's dead eyes staring down at him.

"C'mon! Give moosy a big ol' hug!" It exclaimed, raising it's creaking, jittery arms. "And then, when we're done with that, I'm going to chew your brain right out of that cute, little skull of yours!"

"ARAAAAAGGGGG!" Courage screamed, nearly shaking the whole diner apart.

He dove under the moose's legs and booked it out of the hallway as fast as his legs would take him. He was just about to run right out of the diner when he caught sight of Computer sitting in the same spot he had been sitting in before. He wanted to tell him that they needed to get out of there as fast as possible and ask him why he hadn't seen the moose get up off the stage, but then the glowing dog burst out laughing.

"Look at your face!" He exclaimed. "You truly are the biggest coward on the planet! It's hilarious!"

Courage's mouth fell open. "W-wait, you did that?" He stammered.

"Who else can make an old moose robot move around on its own? Did you really think it had come to life and was about to eat your brain?" He pointed over at the hallway. The moose was there, waving at them, which only made him laugh even harder.

Courage clenched his teeth together. "Computer..." He growled.

"Don't give me that look! Who was it that pretended to choke to death when they tried my cooking? Two can play at this game, you overgrown pansy!"

"I may be a pansy but I'm not the one who's about to become a glowing pile of scrap metal!"

"Is that a threat?" The machine challenged. "Now who exactly has an army of 'creepy' robots?"

"I bet those hunks of metal wouldn't be able to catch up in time to stop me from dismantling you first!"

Computer's eyes narrowed mischievously. "Bring it on, wimp! I'd like to see you try! You'd probably pass out from fear long before that!"

Courage, accepting the challenge, dove at him. The machine easily jumped out of the chair and landed neatly onto the wooden floor. Courage on the other hand crashed into the chair and knocked it over along with him.

"Perfect landing!" Computer quipped. "Ten out of ten! Very graceful!"

Courage stood up, spurred on by the glowing dog's mocking insults. "You are so dead!" He threatened in a lighthearted manner.

"Oh, really? And here I was thinking you were beaten by a chair!"

"RRRRAAAA!" He screamed, letting out a battle cry.

Computer turned and ran, chuckling out insults the whole way. Much to Courage's horror, he slipped into one of the multicolored tubes and vanished inside the kiddy structure.

"Wait, don't go in there!" He cried out. "It stinks! You're going to smell like dirty children for weeks and I'm the one who has to sit next to you!"

There was not so much as a peep from his friend.

"Whatever you do, don't go in the ball pit!" He begged. "Ooooh, I really don't want to do this!" He whimpered. Regardless, he didn't want Computer to win either and although the moose and his friends weren't coming after him, who knew how long Computer would keep it that way.

"I'm going to need a bath after this..." He grumbled, wondering if he would be able to hold his breath long enough inside those stinky tunnels.

Getting down onto his knees, he crawled inside. He made a conscious effort to pace himself in order to avoid tiring out or possibly triggering an attack. Despite his caution, he refused to let his illness get in the way of his revenge against Computer.

"You'd better watch your tail!" He called out into the structure. "You can't hide from me when you glow like that!"

He slowly made his way upward through the structure, but the tubes were so numerous that Computer could easily avoid him without getting caught. The structure was just too big and and too easy to hide in, but now was not the time to give up. That smug machine would slip up eventually.

Courage finally hit the uppermost part of the structure after wandering through every tunnel he came across. It was a purple, oval shaped room with a very low ceiling. Several of the tubes led up here and two of the largest slides could also be accessed from this point. He inched closer to one of the slides, checking to make sure that Computer wasn't hiding halfway down it. He did not catch so much as a glimpse of blue.

Between the two slides was a window which gave him a perfect view of the kiddy area and most of the diner itself. Thankfully, it appeared that Computer had not forsaken the tunnels and was still hiding somewhere inside. How that machine could be so stealthy was a complete mystery.

As he moved in to check the second slide, it suddenly hit him just how strange this all was. He was in the middle of what amounted to a playground, trying to find a glowing, blue dog who he had thought for most of his life was too stuffy to ever goof around like this. He'd realized just how strange things had become several times before, but it had never really struck him as hard as it did now. He almost found it funny to think about how much everything had changed between him and Computer. Had they been told what was going to happen to them ahead of time, they both would have laughed it off without a shadow of a doubt that it was untrue.

Lost in his own thoughts, Courage barely even noticed the oval room filling up with light. By the time it had hit him that the glossy plastic was reflecting a blue light, it was already too late. He received a hard shove in the back and was sent tumbling head first down the slide. He slowed to a stop at the bottom and immediately turned back around, trying to claw his way back up the slide to no avail.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Were you looking for me?" Came Computer's mocking voice from the top. "Maybe if you'd get your head out of the clouds you wouldn't get schooled by me over and over again! Catch you later, scardy dog!"

Courage gripped the sides of the slide even harder. "Aruuu! You're gonna eat those words!" He threatened. Unfortunately, Computer was already long gone.

He turned around, ready to find another tunnel back into the structure, but as he did so he found himself staring directly at the feet of all three animatronics.

"Boo!" The band said in unison.

"RAAAAGGG!"

His terror gave him a burst of strength and with it he tore back up the slide as though it were nothing at all. Panting for breath at the top, he shivered knowing that those creepy things were still down there. All the more reason to get to Computer and put a stop to his robot army!

Speaking of Computer, Courage had no idea which way he had gone. There were several tunnels he could have taken and his glow could not be seen down any of them. It appeared that his nemesis had slipped away yet again.

"He's got another thing coming if he thinks he's going sneak up on me again, with or without those robots!" He whispered in determination. "You're going to pay for scaring me like that!" He called out through the tunnels.

His wrath was going to be swift and painful indeed.

End Of Chapter