Jaune and Courage the Cowardly Dog
Chap 26: Robot Randy
Currently, we were outside just enjoying the beautiful day. Eustace got better over night and was now cleaning his truck. Me and Courage were sitting on the porch playing cards. Next to us is Penny and Muriel. Since Penny was meant to stay in Nowhere for a while, we decided to let her sleep over. Which made her really happy to the point she nearly crushed both me and Courage in a hug. Right now, though, she was being taught by Muriel on how to play the sitar. And to be honest, even though she is a robot, she is pretty good at this and is learning fast.
'Maybe, she might one day be able to play with Muriel in concerts?' Courage suggested as he picked up a card.
"Wouldn't surprise me. She is a fast learner and is getting better by the second." I answered as I put down a card.
"I wonder what our next adventure be Jaune?" Penny asked as she tuned the sitar like Muriel just showed her.
"Who knows? Maybe it could come from outer space or from deep underground?" I answered while grumbling as Courage showed me a winning hand.
"Do you think it could be a robot if it comes from outer space?" Penny asked as she plucked a string only to receive a sour note.
"No, no dearie. Like this." Muriel said as she showed Penny what she did wrong before correcting it and receiving a better sound this time.
"Thank you, Muriel." Penny said as they began to play again.
"Maybe. Who really knows? The universe is really big." I answered. But right after I said that, the ground started to rumble a bit. We looked around fearing that it was an earthquake, but that left our minds when we saw a giant flame suddenly appear near the farm followed by a giant rocket landing a moment later.
"OOO!" Eustace and Muriel gasped in surprise and wonderment.
"Woah." Courage and I said an amazement at seeing a rocket ship. But also, in slight fear as what could be inside that ship could be hostile.
"Amazing, a giant rocket ship from outer space." Penny said standing up and putting the sitar to the side. She then turned to me and Courage. "Should I inform Ironwoods of this?"
"Not yet. Could be hostile but at the same time, could just be a visitor. Let's wait and see." I answered.
'But be prepared to call that guy at any moment.' Courage added in fear when a door on the ship suddenly appeared and opened.
Penny nodded as we watched a ramp come down to the ground from the ship. A moment later, a gigantic red robot with a visor for a face, appeared holding a furled flag. The ramp then slowly brought the robot down to the ground as it let the flag unfurl itself to reveal it had an image of the robot. It then raised the flag in an almost triumphant stance.
"Oh, my." Muriel exclaimed worried at what might happen.
'AAAHHHH!' Courage screamed before moving behind me to hide.
"Eustace, I didn't know we were expecting company." Muriel told him thinking that this robot was a guest. But I had a strong feeling that he wasn't one.
"Hey, who the heck do you think you are? Get that tin off my property." Eustace demanded.
"My name is Robot Randy! I am the greatest and most powerful robot in the universe!" The robot declared before slamming the flag onto the ground. Right above the water pump, absolutely destroying it.
"That's it. I'm getting me mallet." Eustace declared before walking to the house.
"I don't think that's a good idea Eustace." I warned him.
"YOU DARE CHALLENGE MY POWER?!" Robot Randy shouted.
"Bah!" Eustace said before turning back to the house.
"I don't think that is an advisable course of action." Penny warned him as well.
"Shut up." Eustace shouted at her before entering the house.
"Um, we may want to move away." I said as I pulled Courage and Penny away from the house. Luckily, Muriel was already a bit away from the house.
"Why?" Penny asked curious.
'T-that's why.' Courage said pointing to Randy when the shadow that Randy is casting moved a bit. Looking back at Randy, we that the yellow part on top of his head opened up with what appeared to be a laser gun coming out a moment later. It then fired a green laser at the house. Destroying the entire upper part of it.
Half an Hour Later
I think we just set a record for fastest turn around. As in today started out a beautiful day to now us being slaves for the robot. Courage, Muriel, Eustace and I were dressed in rags as we serviced the robot. Except for Penny surprisingly. After destroying the farm house, Randy said that he sensed another robot nearby and wanted to challenge it to show his power. But he got surprised when he discovered the robot was Penny. And now, she was on top of his head asking him all sorts of questions.
Right now, the robot was on top of the barn cutting a plank of wood with a knife. As for us, we were on the ground picking at rocks to use to make more giant statues of Randy. Though, I did have to question where this river of sludge came from in less than an hour.
"So, you are really from a foreign planet?" Penny asked.
"Yes, I am. I'm from a race of powerful robots that are designed to destroy things." Randy answered.
"Fascinating. And you came here to conquer this planet why?" Penny asked curious. But before Randy could answer, Eustace's pained screaming caught our attention.
"AAAHHHHH!" He screamed in pain while holding his foot that was enlarged. And judging by Courage's guilty expression, he must have hit him on the foot with the pickaxe.
"You okay Courage?" I asked him as I saw that he seemed a bit dazed from all the hard work.
"YOU STUPID DOG!" Eustace shouted and began to strangle Courage.
"Hold on a moment young one." Randy said to Penny before getting up and pointing the plank to us threateningly. "GET BACK TO WORK!"
"He hit me. It's all his fault." Eustace complained letting go of Eustace.
"GET BACK TO WORK!" Randy warned one last time.
"Make me." Eustace argued. In response, Randy got out his laser again and shot Eustace. Leaving him a charcoal mess. "OOW!"
"NOW. INTO THE SLUDGE AND START STOMPING!" Randy ordered.
"Are you alright Courage?" I asked him as I picked him up and placed him in the sludge next to me. As to block Eustace from Courage in case he tries something.
"Robor Randy?" Penny asked.
"Yes, little one." Randy answered turning to her.
"You said you don't like to destroy things, right?" She asked.
"Yes, I don't like to destroy things at all." He answered.
"Then why did you destroy the farm house and hurt the farmer?" She asked confused.
"Simple. I do not tolerate insults at all. Whether they be to me or someone else. And as for the farmhouse, I did not want to destroy it but I did only to set a point after the farmer ignored my warnings." Randy explained.
"Oh, I guess that makes." Penny said still not understanding everything. "But, if you don't like destroying, then how come you want to conquer?"
"That is not my decision. I don't want to talk about that right now." Randy answered hesitantly and from his tone, anxious and self-conscious as well.
"I apologize if I offended you." Penny quickly said.
"You didn't. It's just a personal matter. Let's change topic." Randy quickly answered still not facing her. Feeling a tap on my leg, I looked down and saw Courage trying to get my attention.
'Jaune, do you think Penny could get us out of here?' He whispered to me.
"Ah, I don't know Courage. She seems very interested in learning about Randy and his culture and race that he came from." I whispered back.
'Doesn't hurt to-OOF.' Courage began but stopped when sludge suddenly hit his face. Turning around, I saw Eustace grinning which told me that he threw it.
"Stupid dog." He said with a cackle.
"Oh, real mature Eustace." I said as I wiped the sludge from Courage's face. Only for Eustace to throw some more sludge at me and Courage. Courage then proceeded to tell Muriel about while I simply sighed and went back to stomping. Despite how much I just wanted to deck Esutace right now, I knew that would mean putting Muriel and Courage at risk as well.
"Eustace, isn't life hard enough?" Muriel asked while wiping off some sweat from her forehead. Which made me worry as she was sweating more than I would say is normal or safe. Not to mention, she seemed very close to passing out from the heat as for some reason, it got even hotter than normal for Nowhere.
"Not for this dog and kid." Eustace said before laughing.
"Ignore him Courage." I told him as I move a bit so that Eustace couldn't hit him. Only for Eustace to grab a bunch of sludge and throw it us.
'That's it.' I thought angrily and was about to go and kick his ass but stopped when I heard loud footsteps coming from behind us. Turning around, I nearly jumped in fright when I saw Randy tapping his foot impatiently. He then pulled out his laser and shot Eustace. Turning him into dust this time.
"AARRGGH." Eustace growled despite being dust.
"Now, you two, do not talk anymore and just do you work." Randy said pointing to me and Courage.
"Please don't hurt my friends." Penny said getting Randy's attention. He then raised his arm and softly grabbed her in his claw hand and brought her down to face level.
"You know, despite being a robot yourself, you have the soul of a human like your friends." Randy told her.
"My friend Jaune down there and my other friend Ruby Rose told me that as well. That I may be a robot, but I have the heart and soul of a person." Penny told Randy. He seemed to take this in for a moment before finally answering.
"Your friends are more right. Treasure them for friends like that are hard to come by. All right, I will not harm your friends." Randy said as he lowered her to the ground. He then noticed that it got dark extremely quickly. "All right. Your work is done for today. Get some rest for tomorrow you work begins early."
"Thank you, Robot Randy." Penny said as randy walked into the barn and shut the doors before turning on the lights.
She then went down and helped us out of the sludge. Except for Eustace. Once out, she helped us bring Muriel over to a safe spot so she can rest. Once there, I went back into the remains of the house and filled a glass of water. I then brought it over to Muriel and helped her to drink it.
"Thank you Jaune. Best we get to sleep now." She said before laying down and almost falling asleep instantly.
"How are you doing Jaune and Courage?" Penny asked us.
"Tired." I began.
'And uncomfortable.' Courage finished motioning towards the rags we are wearing.
"I apologize for not saying something sooner. I was curious-" Penny began but we stopped her.
"It's fine Penny. Don't worry." I told her with Courage nodding as well to reassure her. At that moment, we heard a loud noise coming from the barn.
"Shall we go and check?" Penny asked.
We nodded before quietly heading over to the barn. Though, we did wish we did not have the rags on as they were chafing a bit. Getting to the barn, we peeked inside and were surprised to see the amount of wooden reindeer about the pace. And in the center of the room, Randy was whittling another one. He finished making it then examined it. Had he been a human, we were sure he would be smiling at what he made.
"I'm going to name you Ivana. That's a good reindeer name." He said before putting down the reindeer.
"Wow, he has some talent making those reindeer." I said amazed at how detailed they look.
'They're amazing.' Courage said agreeing with me.
"I wish I didn't have to conquer worlds and destroy things. I wish, I could make reindeer all the time. But robots don't make reindeer. If anyone found out, they'd laugh at me." Randy said as he picked up the reindeer before going into a fetal position.
"Poor Randy." Penny said upset thinking that other would laugh at Randy for his skill.
"They'd think I'm a failure. A FAILURE!" Randy said before shouting and tossing the reindeer through the window we were watching him through. Luckily, he did not spot us.
'I think we should go before we risk getting caught.' Courage suggested.
"Right." Penny and me agreed. But before we left back to the house, I ran over to the reindeer and put it into my pocket.
'Could come in handy.' I thought as I hurried to catch up to Penny and Courage.
Seven A.M.
"GET BACK TO WORK!" Randy shouted to us.
We were back in the same spot as yesterday. Working our fingers off by picking at the rocks with the pickaxe. Penny was back on top of Randy and asking him questions. Thankfully, she did not mention that we spied on him last night. I was tempted to show Muriel the reindeer but didn't as randy could have easily attack me and Muriel.
'Another time. Maybe when we're free I'll show her.' I thought as I continued to hit the rock.
Ten A.M.
The sun was high in the sky and blazing down upon us. It was even hotter than yesterday. I managed to check the temperature on my scroll earlier and saw that it was going to reach 110°F today. And can possibly get even hotter. Right now, we were struggling to pull a large stone block up a steep incline. We had tied a rope around it to make it easier but it still proved difficult. We were making progress but only very little. And it was made even harder as we were sweating profusely which made it harder to keep our grip on the rope.
"Oh." Muriel drowsily said suddenly. "Oh, my."
"MURIEL!" I shouted as we saw her faint from exhaustion. I immediately moved to her side and started to fan her with the fan Courage gave me while he went to her other side and gave her some cold water.
"GET BACK TO WORK!" Randy yelled when he saw us no longer working. Courage picked up Muriel before placing the rope in his mouth. Sighing, I grabbed the rope as well and began to pull.
"Stupid dog! Stupid kid! Why am I doing all the work?" Eustace yelled at us. I was about to say something but stopped when Eustace grinned before letting go of the rope. Courage and I tried to keep our grip on the rope but started to slip. Soon, Courages teeth popped out of his head which left me the only one gripping the rope.
"DAMN IT!" I shouted as the rope began to seriously burn my hand forcing me to let go. And as a result, the giant rock slid off the ramp and hit the statue of Randy that was at the bottom. Which then toppled over and hit the one next to it. This repeated itself over and over for there were thousands of statues next to each other which all fell down and shattered.
"Are you all right Jaune?" Penny asked hopping off Rand and walking up to me.
"I'm fine. My aura is already healing me." I answered as I felt the burn fade and my hand return to normal. Penny nodded before grabbing Courage's teeth and shoving it back into his mouth.
"You fools. Look what you have done. You made me a failure." Randy said angrily. He then grabbed both Muriel and Eustace in his claw. "I'll crush you for this."
"Wait please don't." I begged shouting to Randy. Courage was also whimpering and crying at the possibility of losing Muriel and Eustace.
"You won't change my mind." Randy declared.
"Please don't crush them, Randy. You said it yourself, you don't want to hurt anyone." Penny reminded him. But he was too angry to think straight.
"Stay out of this young one. It is between me and them." Randy told her.
"Don't talk to her like that." I yelled at him. "How about a challenge?"
"You dare challenge my greatness?" Randy asked surprised.
"We do." Courage and I both said at the same time.
"Are you sure this is wise?" Penny asked.
"Anything to make sure Muriel and Eustace come out okay." I told her.
"I accept your challenge. If I lose, I will free you all. But if you lose, you will perish." Randy declared before putting Muriel and Eustace in a deep hole and sealing it with the giant rock we were hauling earlier.
"What is the challenge?" I asked.
"We shall do what you humans call, a dance off. However, to make it fair as there is two of you and only one of me, only the dog shall challenge me. You human shall sit on the sideline with Penny." Randy answered before picking me up and placing me on the side. He then pulled out a giant piece of cardboard and boombox and placed them on the ground. He turned the boombox on and got into position.
"You can do it Courage." I shouted as Randy began to dance.
And to say that he was impressive was an understatement. He even used yellow dome on his head to his advantage in his dance. A second later it was Courage's turn. He began slow but quickly picked up the pace and ended with him using his ears to stand upside down. Now it was Radny's turn. He got onto the cardboard and began to dance even more impressively than the last time. Courage then got on and began to dance. This time, he moonwalked at first and then ended with him using his tongue to stand. Randy then got onto the stage and began to dance extremely fast. Almost too fast.
"WATCH OUT!" I shouted and pushed Penny out of the way when Randy lost control and flew into one of the few remaining statue of himself that were not destroyed.
'YES!' Courage shouted in joy.
"Nice going Courage." I told him while giving him a hi-five.
"Um, should we go and check on Randy?" Penny asked worried as he did take a bit hit from the statue.
"Right." I said as we went over to him and saw him basically crying at this point.
"I'm such a failure." He said while hitting his head with his claws. Feeling bad for him, especially when I recalled what we saw last night, I was about to try and cheer him up but stopped when we heard screaming in the distance.
"Right. Almost forgot." He said as he moved to where he put Muriel and Eustace and removed the rock that was about to flatten them. With it removed, we reached in and pulled Muriel and Eustace out.
"Thank goodness. You three saved us." Muriel said as she hugged us.
"Actually, it was Robot Radny who saved both of you." I corrected.
"Thank you, Mr. Robot, for sparing our lives." Muriel thanked him.
"I'm just a failure." He said dejectedly.
"No, you're not Randy." Penny said moving up to him and patting his hand/claw.
"Oh, you must be good at something?" Muriel asked.
"No, no, no." Randy answered lowering his head.
"Come on. Everyone is good at something." Muriel said trying to cheer him up.
"Wait, Jaune, don't you have the reindeer you found last night?" Penny suddenly asked.
"My reindeer? Randy asked confused.
"Yeah, I still do. Here it is." I answered pulling out the reindeer. And hoping that he would not ask how we got our hands on it.
"MY REINDEER! Where did you find this?" Randy shouted happily before asking.
"Did you make that?" Muriel asked. "It's lovely."
"It's nothing. It's just a wooden reindeer." Randy said trying to make it sound like it's not a big deal but was too happy to make sound like that.
"You're right. You are a failure." Eustace insulted. But he went silent when kicked him I the face and Penny hit him on the head with a rock. Luckily, neither Randy nor Muriel saw this.
"What I can't understand is why you need to build all these silly moments and blow things up. You're too talented for that." Muriel told him.
"Does it relate to that personal matter Randy?" Penny asked.
"Yeah. My race said that to prove that I am not a failure, I must conquer another world. But do you really think so?" He answered before asking.
"Oh, yes. Your reindeer would make lovely gifts." Muriel answered with Courage transforming into a present and then a cash register full of money.
"They truly are works of art." I added as well.
"Grand idea Courage." Muriel said patting him on the head.
"You're right. I was so worried of what others would think of me, that I stopped believing in myself. I don't want to destroy things. I want to whittle reindeer." Randy declared in joy.
"What a waste-" Eustace began but was silenced again the same way.
'What an asshole.' I thought bitterly at Eustace.
"You are slaves no more. I cannot undo, what has been done. But I can leave you my entire reindeer collection." Randy said as he gave us an entire fields worth of reindeer.
"Ooh, how lovely." Muriel said looking at the reindeer.
"Indeed." I agreed as I examined one and admired the craftsmanship.
"I do wish you all, a good day and life." Randy told us happily.
"Bye Robot Randy." Penny shouted.
"Goodbye." Randy said before turning to his ship and entering it and leaving.
"He's such a nice robot when he is not about destroying or conquering." Muriel said as we watched the ship leave the planet.
"I do hope he follows what he is passionate about and not let anyone tell him otherwise." I said hopefully.
"Well, as much as I want to keep these reindeer, we are going to have to use some of these to repair the farmhouse." Muriel said sadly. "Well, better get to it."
"Okay." We all said as we picked up the reindeer and began to rebuild the house.
Note:
(1) Conway the Contaminationist with Weiss and Winter. (2) Little Muriel with Ruby. (3) Bad Hair Day with Yang. (4) King of Flan with Terra, Adrian and Saphron.
Had this ready so I decided to post it ahead of schedule.
Have Mission to Sun and Windmill Vandals almost done. Expect them to be listed soon.
Going to make a poll for whether or not in Magic Tree of Nowhere Jaune makes Penny become human. To clarify, if yes at the end of the chapter, it will cut to Atlas and show her become human in front of everyone. Including her father. She will not appear in the main part of the episode/chapter.