Jaune and Courage the Cowardly Dog
Chap 63: Forbidden Hat of Gold
'This legendary hat was made of solid gold. And was kept by a secret society of monks. No one had ever seen the hat. No one except the legendary explorer who made a map leading to the Forbidden Hat of Gold.' The reporter on the television announced.
"Blah, blah, blah." Eustace complained.
"Do you know where the hat is located Iris?" I asked her while giving a light scratch to Courage who was sleeping on my lap.
"I know somethings about it and where it could possibly be but aside from that not much." She answered with a shake of her head.
'But the map and the hat has never been found.' The reporter continued.
"Do you know why its forbidden?" I asked.
"Not one hundred percent sure. I only know some rumors about it. But the most prominent and most likely one is that it is forbidden not to everyone but to those with greed in their hearts. For it will steal their soul and turn them to stone." She answered.
"If that's the case, it's kind of ironic that the hat is the same shape as the one that the greediest person in all of Nowhere wears." I said noticing how the forbidden hat of gold looks exactly like Eustace's hat.
'That explorer is this.' The reporter continued while showing a picture of the explorer.
"THAT'S ME BROTHER! THAT'S HORACE!" Eustace shouted in shock and joy.
'What's happening?' Courage asked as he woke up from Eustace's shouting.
"We might be going somewhere." I answered as Eustace got up from his chair and went over to the moose head that was hanging on the wall. He then reached into the nose and pulled out a picture similar to the one that was on the television.
"Hey Horace. Didn't you leave me a map?" Eustace mockingly asked the picture.
'Hmmm.' Courage hummed while trying to get a look at the picture.
"Get away from me." Eustace shouted.
'EEEEEE!' Courage whined already knowing that nothing good is going to come from this.
"This isn't going to end well." I said as Eustace ran up the stairs possibly to his room.
"No, it's not." Iris agreed.
"What's happening here?" Muriel asked walking into the living room.
"Eustace got excited over something before heading up to his room." Iris answered.
"How about we go check on him?" Muriel suggested before heading up the stairs as well. We all looked at each other before getting up and heading upstairs as well. As we neared the master bedroom, we heard Eustace shout out in excitement.
"But I ain't telling Muriel, the kid, his girlfriend or that stupid dog." We heard him declare.
"Tell us what Eustace?" Muriel asked as she opened the door so we could all enter the room. Looking towards him, we saw that he had a roll-up parchment in his hand.
"We all going on vacation." He bitterly answered. Clearly not happy that we heard him.
"Oh, how lovely." Muriel gasped.
'Yay' Courage cheered.
"Uh, oh." Iris and I both said at the same time as we knew exactly where this 'vacation' was going to take place.
Three Days Later
'Should have brought mosquito repellent.' I thought as we traversed through a dense jungle. All the while swatting away some bugs that tried to basically eat me alive.
"Eustace. I'm beginning to think you've gone daft." Muriel said as she continuously pushed to the side the vines that were in her path.
"Our hotel's just around the corner." Eustace said as he kept on reading the map that led to the Forbidden Hat of Gold. Me and Iris knew instantly what the parchment was and where it led to as soon as Eustace said we were going on vacation.
"Well, do you have any idea on how much longer?" Muriel asked.
"Maybe another hour or more." He answered.
"A bit more than just around the corner then." I commented.
"You can rest when- Huh?" Eusatce began but grew confused when we felt the ground shake a bit.
"Earthquake?" I asked worried. But the answer soon came in the form of an elephant appearing.
"Good day Jaune and rest." The voice of Dr. Oobleck called out.
"I see you all are on an expedition as well." The voice of Professor Port called out as well.
"Professor Port? Dr. Oobleck? What are you both doing here?" I asked shocked to see that they were here as well.
"To try and find the temple where the legendary Forbidden Hat of Gold is kept at." Oobleck answered.
"Do you know where it's located at?" I asked.
"Of course. I been there once when I was a much younger lad. It's about a half hour walk from where we currently are. Less if you travel by elephant like us." Port answered.
"We're going there now. Can we get a lift?" I asked.
"By all means." Port answered.
"Thanks." Muriel said as we all climbed on the elephant and took a seat. Though, Eustace only begrudgingly did so as he obviously didn't want more people on the trip than there already was.
Forty Minutes Later
"There it is!" Eustace shouted when we finally exited the jungle and saw a temple in the distance. "Our hotel."
"Why do I get the feeling they don't have room service?" Muriel asked as we all got off the elephant.
"He's tricking her again?" Port asked.
"Yup." I answered.
"And the only reason he is here is because the legendary hat is made out of pure solid gold?" Oobleck also asked.
"Again. Yes." I answered.
"COME ON!" Eustace shouted.
"He really gets on my nerves. I'm almost hoping he finds the hat so we can be rid of him." Iris said annoyed as we ran up to Eustace who was reading a sign.
"Whomever steps inside this place. Must vanity and greed erase. For if you're vain. Well, that's no good. Signed, all of us who wear a hood. P.S. We warned you." Muriel said reading the sign.
"Gobbledygook." Eustace complained.
"Sounds like people of love themselves and their money more than anything else aren't welcome here." Muriel surmised.
"We should heed their warning." Port advised.
"Especially considering those that leave a warning like this usually leave it with good reason. Not to mention, they could have traps in the temple to better protect themselves and warn off intruders." Oobleck added. But as usual, their warnings fell on deaf ears.
"Big deal. I'm going to be rich. ME! ME! ME! RICH! RICH! RICH! I love me when I'm rich!" Eustace shouted before running off into the temple. Hearing a yawn, I turned and saw Courage letting out a deep yawn.
"Tired?" I asked.
'Nah. Just that we seen and dealt with far worse than what this sign could possibly be warning about.' He answered.
"True. Either way, we all best hurry up before Eustace gets himself hurt." I said as we all rushed in after Eustace. Luckily, he was still at the entrance to the tunnel.
"Anyone got a light?" He asked while pointing to some torches on the wall.
"I got it." Iris answered as she summoned a cloud the struck the torches with lightning. Causing them to catch on fire and give us the light we need.
"So, this is the Storm Goddess that Ozpin and Ironwoods mistakenly believe is a maiden." Oobleck said as he took a sip from a flask. The smell telling us that it was coffee.
"Yes. Iris is the Storm Goddess. Please don't tell Ozpin or Ironwoods." I told them.
"Don't worry Jaune. We won't. From the moment Ozpin brought this to our attention, we knew immediately she was not a Maiden. And even is she was, we wouldn't take her away from here just to endanger her more." Oobleck told us.
"Not to mention, we wouldn't separate two lovers." Port added while pointing to the rings me and Iris were wearing.
We blushed and tried to respond but couldn't as Oobleck and Port laughed before walking past us to catch up to the others. Feeling Iris grab my hand, I looked and smiled before gripping her hand tightly. Smiling, we turned around and ran to catch up with the others.
"Not that I'm aching to know. But what's in there?" Muriel asked.
"It's where you check in." Eustace lied as we continued to travel down the tunnels.
"I'm beginning to think this isn't a 5-star resort." Muriel sad wearily of all the tunnels and different pathways she was seeing. We kept on going for a few more minutes until Eustace stopped.
"What's huh?" He asked confused. Looking around, we saw that we finally found the Forbidden Hat of Gold.
"Amazing." Port and Oobleck said admiring the hat.
"BINGO!" Eustace laughed as he ran up to the hat.
"Oh, my." Muriel said worried as we walked up to him.
"It's beautiful." Eustace said admiring the hat.
"You better not touch the hat." I warned.
"I'd sure look good wearing that hat." He said already imagining how he would look in the hat. He then tried to reach for the hat but Muriel slapped his hand away. "OW!"
"Can't you read? Do not touch." Muriel said while pointing to the sigh below the hat.
"Nope." Eustace answered.
"It would be wise not to touch it. There could be traps here." Oobleck reminded.
"Ha, ha, ha." Eustace mocked as he took the hat off the pedestal. But as soon as he did that, the whole place started to shake as if it was about to fall down all around us.
"Now see what you went and done." Muriel said upset.
"We can argue later. Right now, we have to get out of here." I told them as large rocks started to fall down all around us.
Not needing to be told twice, we all ran away from the pedestal as more rocks started to fall around us. Heading down one of the tunnels, we hoped it would take us out of the tunnel. Only to lead us to another room that had about twenty different paths that each had am exit sign above them. We were confused as to which one to take. Deciding to risk it, we went down a path that was on the left. And while there we no rocks falling down from the ceiling, which is a good thing, it was replaced by a boobytrap. Which was the wall shooting us with pies. Lots of pies. We tried to avoid them but that proved very difficult to do so as we got hit at least a dozen times.
'Thank Oum.' I thought when we no longer got bombarded with pies. But that quickly went away when another boobytrap came up. This time in the form of boxing gloves coming up from the ground and tried to hit us. They were much easier to avoid. However, that did not mean we didn't get hit a couple of time.
'YAY!' Courage cheered when we saw light coming from the end of the tunnel. Signifying that we finally made it back to the exit. But to our horror, that was just another trap. As behind it was just a thin ledge with a river of lava beneath it.
"AAHHH!" We all screamed as we ran of the ledge. Luckily, Iris and Courage thought quickly and managed to save all of us. Courage by using a dart gun and Iris summoning a cloud beneath us.
"Thanks for the save." We said as we tried to catch our breath.
But even that didn't last long as another trap was activated. This one being a giant watermelon rolling down the ledge to squish us. Getting up, we ran as fast as we could to avoid being flatten. After a few seconds, we entered another tunnel and away from the pool of river. Soon, we saw light coming from the end of the tunnel again. For a moment, we thought that it was another trap like the last one. But we kept going towards it as we were still being chased by the watermelon. Luckily, this one wasn't a trap and the watermelon was stopped by the tunnel which proved too small for the watermelon to keep chasing us. Though, because we were cheering and celebrating that we escaped, we were not paying attention to what was in front of us which led us to running into some people.
"Oh, what naughty people you are. You should not have touched the golden hat. Didn't ready our sign, did you?" The man asked.
"We told you." I said as I slapped Eustace on the back of the head.
Ten Minutes Later
'Never thought I would get arrested by monks.' I thought as the monks chained my arms.
"This will go a lot better for you if you tell us where you hid the hat." The leader of the monks told us as some other monks started searching us.
"You bluffing. Ya bunch of hippies." Eustace shouted back.
"Okay. You better give up the hat or one of you is going to be sacrificed." The leader warned. "You have one minute to think it over."
"They ain't sacrificing no one. Lousy stinking hippies." Eustace shouted again.
"They are not hippies. They are monks." Oobleck told him irritated.
"And they are being serious." Port added.
"Ah, they just blowing smoke." Eustace argued. Rolling my eyes, I turned to Iris.
"Do you know anything about these monks and if they could be just sacrificing us or sacrificing us to some god or deity?" I asked.
"I don't know too much about them. But I do know they chose to guard/safekeep dangerous items of greed that could potentially cause wars and countless suffering. These most be specifically selected ones to guard the hat as many would definitely kill for it. As for the sacrifice part, that giant statue out there that seemed to be sitting is their god. However, while it is usually still and lifeless, it does come to life when a sacrifice is being made to it." She answered.
"Great." I said annoyed that we were probably going to get sacrificed to a god because of Eustace's greedy ass.
"Speaking of which. Where is that hat anyway?" Muriel asked.
"Hat? What hat?" Eustace asked feigning ignorance.
"That's it." Iris said angrily as she summoned a storm and used it to electrocute Eustace a couple of times. Ending with him badly burnt and passed out. Though, he did regain consciousness a second later when the monks barged back into the room.
"Time's up." The leader said.
"EUSTACE!" Muriel shouted worried.
"Fakers. Hippie fakers." He repeated.
"We warned you." The leader said as some other monks released Muriel and began to drag her out.
"Eustace. Do something." Muriel begged.
"They're bluffing. Bluffing hippies." Was all he said before the door close.
"NO!" Courage and I shouted.
"We need to save her." I said as I struggled to get out of the chains. But failed.
'Wait.' Courage suddenly said. Turning to him, we saw him literally take off his head. Which allowed him to escape the chains.
"What can't he do?" Oobleck wondered. If I could, I would just shrug my shoulders as I didn't know. Turning back to Courage, we saw him head to the door and started banging on the door before trying to break the metal bars in the opening of the door.
"You should have paid attention to the poem." The monk that was guarding the door told him before pushing Courage back into the room.
"What are you trying to do? Get him mad. Stupid dog. Stupid hippies." Eustace shouted.
"We don't have too much time. We have to save Muriel. Courage. Get us out of these chains." I told him.
'On it.' He said as he came up to us and somehow managed to free us from the chains. All of us except Eustace.
"Now we need to escape this cell." Oobleck said as he rubbed his wrists.
"Leave that to me." Iris said as she summoned a storm and used lightning to blow the door of its hinges. Allowing us to escape the cell.
"Now where could they have taken Ms. Bagge." Port asked as we began to look around. But we quickly found her. She was tied up on a platform where their supposed god is sitting.
"AAHHH!" We heard Muriel scream in terror as the statute came to life and started to move closer to her.
"We don't have much time. We need to find a way to rescue her." I said worried.
'But how?' Courage asked as we made our way to ground level and hid behind some rocks to not get spotted.
"Wait. If this is their god, and they stand against greed and vanity. What if we make them become the very thing they stand against?" Port suggested.
"That could work. But the question remains, how do we do that?" Iris asked.
'Think Charlie could help?' Courage asked
"Maybe." I answered nodding.
"Who's Charlie?" Iris asked.
"My boss. He's the giant rat that owns the diner in Nowhere. But he is also a delivery driver." I explained while Courage began to call him.
"Even still, how is he going to find us?" Oobleck asked. Only to get his answer when a truck suddenly appeared with Charlie exiting the truck.
"You still have a lot to learn about Nowhere dear friend." Port said laughing.
"Hey boss." I said as he handed me a pda to sign.
"Hey kid." He greeted back as I swiped my card.
'Thanks.' Courage said as I handed Charlie back the pda.
"No problem." He said as he returned to the truck. He then opened the back of the truck to allow us to get our order.
"AAAHHH!" Courage and I screamed when the back of the truck suddenly raised itself. Dumping all the packages onto us.
'Wait. Where's the big-AAHHH' Courage began to asked but screamed when a giant packed slid down and fell on top of us.
"Are you okay Jaune?" Port asked as he and Oobleck lifted the packed off us.
"Yeah. Been through worse. Either way, let's get this packed to their stone god." I answered as I crawled out from under the package. Standing up, we all lifted the package and delivered it to the stone god. It picked up the package before opening it. It reached in and pulled out a lavish white fur coat.
"OOOH!" All the monks gasped in amazement.
"That's a fine and fancy coat you got there." Muriel said as I began to untie her while the stone god started to put on the coat.
"Nice coat." The leader complimented.
"That is a coat." Another monk said.
"Hmm. Could use some alterations." The leader said looking over his robes.
"You think I'd look good in that coat?" A monk asked his leader.
"Oh, it's slimming." The leader answered.
"Quick. While I untie Muriel, start handing out some coats to the monks." I told Oobleck and Port who nodded and began to do so.
"You both may want to hurry. The Stone god is destroying itself and the island." Iris warned.
"Done." Both Oobleck and Port said after a minute.
"AAHHH!" The monks suddenly yelled just noticing the destruction.
"We were warned that vanity would be our undoing. But who cares? Don't I look gorgeous?" The leader asked.
"How are we going to escape?" I asked as I finished untying Muriel.
"Hop on." Iris said as she summoned a cloud for us to ride to safety.
Half an Hour Later
"Well, it goes to show you. If someone takes the time to etch a poem on a plaque, you better take it seriously. Especially if it rhymes." Muriel told us. After iris flew us off the island, we saw a ship that would take us to safety and landed on it. Luckily, the captain agreed to take us back to Nowhere town.
"And especially if it is a warning to something that is being guarded." I added.
"I just hope Eustace makes it out okay." Muriel said turning to face the island.
"Though, I do wonder what he did with that hat?" Iris asked.
"He probably has it now and is also most likely suffering the consequences of being a greedy ass." I answered.
"Well. Not much to do now but rest until we make it back to Nowhere. So, let's use this as a mini vacation." Iris said grabbing my hand. Smiling, we went back to the room we got to rest.
Note:
(1) Invisible Muriel. (2) Courage the Fly with Ruby and Weiss. (3) Everyone wants to direct with Weiss and Winter. (4) Klub Katz with Saphron, Terra and Adrian. (5) Ball of Revenge with Team Rwby, Team Npr and Iris.