Jaune and Courage the Cowardly Dog
Chap 76: The Nutcracker
LaSalle's Junk
"OH!" Muriel grunted as she struggled to free a dented mirror from a mountain of junk.
"Why are we here again?" Weiss asked, disgusted at being in a junkyard.
"Because Muriel is a firm believer of one person's junk is another person's treasure." I answered while looking over an old car that seemed to be still intact. 'Maybe I could get this up and running.'
"Plus, you never know what others consider garbage or no longer want." Iris added as she admired a beautiful handwoven scarf.
"OH! 101 recipes for delicious cookies!" Ruby exclaimed as she pulled out a relatively brand-new-looking book from the trunk of the car.
"This is better than shopping." Muriel said as she smiled at the mirror.
"Yeah. Cause it's free shopping." Eustace agreed as he held some dentures in his hand.
'Heh, heh, heh. YES!' Courage shouted in joy when he found tons of different slippers.
"Check around, Weiss. You might find something you like." I told her as I managed to pry open the car's door.
"Like this wee little jewel box. Who would throw out such a gorgeous thing?" Muriel asked as she examined the box before opening it. She then blew off the dust, only for the jewelry box to crumble in her hands. "Oh, my."
"Heh, heh, heh. OH! Can't wait to go home and blow me a hole in one." Eustace said, smiling as he held a busted saxophone that had a dented golf club in it.
"Is he even able to play an instrument, much less a broken one?" Weiss asked as we watched Eustace try to play the saxophone only for no noise to come out as the golf club prevented it. But a second later, the pressure sent the golf club high into the air.
"OW!" Eustace shouted in pain when the golf club landed on his head.
"Weiss, I found you something." Ruby said as she handed Weiss an exotic-looking sword that had a handle covered in various jewels.
"Thank you, Ruby." Weiss said with a smile as she took the sword from her and examined it. It is undoubtedly a beautiful sword, even though it seemed more for decoration rather than combat. And aside from the blade being very dull, nothing a good polish wouldn't fix; it appeared to be in excellent condition.
"You're welcome, Weiss." Ruby said with a blush before asking. "Do you know what kind of sword this is?"
"No. But it is a beautiful sword." Weiss said while admiring the sword.
"It's a Falchion, a one-handed, single-edge sword of European origin. Though this one seemed to be leaning towards a saber." I answered.
"Um, Arc. Remember that Ruby and I live in Remnant. Not here, so we don't know what European means." Weiss reminded me.
"Right. Sorry, Iris has been teaching me more about this place in our spare time. Europe is another country." I explained.
"Then they certainly know how to make elegantly designed weapons." Weiss said as she continued to admire the sword.
"Is this from the same place as well, Jaune?" Ruby asked as she showed me what appeared to be a sickle attached to a chain.
"No. I don't know what it could be, honestly." I answered.
"That's a Kusarigama. A metal chain with a heavy iron weight attached to the end. It originated in another country known as Japan." Iris explained.
"Doesn't seem like it would be that useful as a weapon." Weiss commented as she holstered the falchion in a spare case she had.
"Only with experts can it be used as a weapon for offense and perfect for disarming opponents. However, for a beginner, it will do more harm to them than others." Iris explained.
"Either way. it might be useful." I said as I hooked it to my belt.
"Ah, Courage. Here's a little something for you, dear." Muriel said, catching our attention. Turning to her, we saw her give Courage a somewhat worn yet adorable-looking teddy bear.
'OOOOHHH!' He gasped in terror when the teddy bear's head fell off.
"Don't worry, Courage. I'll sew the head back on when we get back home." I told him as I picked up the head.
"You know how to sew, Jaune?" Ruby asked.
"My sister, Saphron, taught me." I explained.
"WHO NEEDS THIS PIECE OF JUNK!?" Eustace shouted, getting our attention. Turning to him, we saw him toss a toy towards us. Luckily, Ruby managed to catch this before it hit Courage.
"What's this?" Ruby asked, confused as she examined the toy.
'AAAHHHH!' Courage screamed when he saw the face of the toy.
"Oh, Courage. It's just a wee nutcracker. Look how it works." Muriel said as she took the toy and moved the handle on the toy's back up and down before giving it to Courage.
'EEE!' Courage exclaimed happily as he played with the toy. Only for the toy's mouth to bite him on the nose, causing him to scream in pain.
"Careful, Courage. Those toys are meant to crack different kinds of nuts." Weiss said as she removed the toy from his nose.
'Ow. I can see that now.' He said as he held his now red swollen nose.
"Now, here's something I can really use." Eustace said, catching our attention. Turning around, we saw him pulling on a rope that was attached to something with horns on top of a mountain of garbage. After a couple more yanks, it was revealed to be a moose head that fell on Eustace's head.
"HA, HA, HA." We all laughed as Eustace fumbled around blindly before falling into a pile of garbage.
'OH!' Courage suddenly gasped. Turning to him, we saw that he was having a tea part with the teddy bear, a toy resembling Robot Randy, and the nutcracker. However, his party was interrupted when a garbage truck came and buried him in more garbage before leaving.
"You all right, Courage?" I asked as I helped him escape the garbage pile.
'Fine. But we're now trapped here.' He answered as he grabbed the nutcracker before pointing to the gate that is now locked.
"Don't worry about that. I can create a cloud to take us over the gate." Iris reminded him.
"Shouldn't we tell Muriel at least?" Weiss asked. Turning to Muriel, we saw her wearing a curtain, a crown, and holding a showerhead and was looking herself over in a mirror.
"Let her be. No need to worry her, as she's having fun." I answered.
"How about Eustace?" Ruby asked while pointing to him as he struggled to get the moose head off. However, before I could answer, it suddenly got dark. Looking to the sky, we saw that the sun had already gone down, and the moon quickly took its place.
'OOOOOOHHHHHH.' Courage said in fright as the shadows of the mountains of garbage towered over us.
"Wow, it got dark quick." Ruby commented as she activated the flashlight on her scroll so we could see easier.
"Indeed." Weiss agreed as she did the same.
'I think we should leave now.' Courage said, shivering.
"Yeah. I don't have a good feeling about this place right now for some reason." Iris agreed. Nodding, we headed over to where Muriel was digging through some trash.
"Great reception." Eustace said. Turning to him, we saw that he was sitting down on a chair similar to his own while 'watching' a broken television. He then took a brush and used it to clean the moose's teeth for some odd reason.
"Muriel. I think it's time to leave." I told her as she was testing to see how well a broom she found cleaned.
"Oh, okay. Let me just see a few more things, and we can leave." She said as she put the broom down before moving to another pile of garbage.
'Do you plan on taking the car back to the farm?' Courage asked as he put the nutcracker in his pocket.
"If I can find a way to bring it back to the farmhouse, then yes." I answered.
"Can you even fix the car, Jaune?" Weiss asked.
"Yeah. Aside from getting the car back, the only real problem would be getting the needed parts. But I know where to get them, and after that, it's relatively easy." I answered.
"OOH!" Muriel gasped, catching our attention. Turning to her, we saw her pulling on what looked like a pink tail. Yet, as she tugged on it, a pan fell to the ground. "And look at that."
'AAHHH!' Courage gasped when we saw that the tail belonged to a giant rat that hissed at Muriel.
"That's a big rat." I said, surprised at the size.
"Ugh, I hate rats." Weiss said, slightly disgusted.
"HELP!" Eustace suddenly shouted. Turning around, we saw that Eustace was gone with the moose head on the ground.
'EEE!' Courage shirked, afraid.
"OH!" Muriel gasped, getting out attention.
Turning to her, we saw that she opened a fridge only to drop the frying pan when she saw another giant rat. However, this time the rat had green eyes and a green tail. Not wasting a moment, I ran over to and slammed the fridge door shut as Courage picked her up. We then ran away from the place as the other red rat came to free the green rat from the fridge. Yet, as we ran away from the rats, we noticed that not only were they chasing us, but they were dancing all the while.
"Who taught those rats how to dance?" Iris asked as we stopped to watch the rats.
"More or less how to ballet?" Weiss added, confused.
"And where is the music coming from?" Ruby asked.
"Oh, my." Muriel said, amazed at what she was seeing and not realizing the potential danger she was in.
'We better go.' Courage said when the rats stopped dancing and hissed at us.
Not needing to be told twice, we turned around and ran as fast as we could from the rats. However, no matter what twists and turns we took, the rats were constantly in front of us and set down traps. The first one was a giant mousetrap with cheese. Luckily, Courage managed to disarm the trap by tossing his nutcracker at the cheese, setting off the trap safely. Passing over the trap, we continued to run away from the rats as they continued to chase us while dancing. After a few more twists and turns, the green rat appeared in front of us again. It bounced a few times before rolling out a sticky mouse trap. And to our surprise, Di Lung was already trapped in it. Turning around, we tried to head back, but our path was cut off when a laundry machine fell in front of us. Looking up, we saw that the red rat was on top of a mountain of garbage.
"EEE!" It hissed at us before tossing down a destroyed car. The trunk soon opened to reveal the green rat hissing at us.
"WATCH WHERE YOU GOING, YOU FOOL!" Di Lung shouted as we jumped on him to cross the trap without getting stuck by the glue. We continued to run from the rats but were stopped when we reached the fence. Knowing the rats were gaining on us, Courage tried to dig a path under the fence using his nutcracker.
'AAHHHH!' Courage screamed as his eyes came out of the hole, soon followed by the rest of him. We were confused by what scared until the rats popped out as well. Luckily, they fell back into the hole after Iris electrocuted them with lightning.
"This should slow them down. Hopefully." Weiss said as she covered the hole with some ice dust.
'I doubt it.' I thought as we ran away from the spot.
Only to be proven right almost immediately when we heard hissing coming behind us. Not looking back, we continued to make twists and turns to try and lose the rats. Only for them to appear right in front of us a few seconds later. We even tried knocking down some mountains of garbage, but all it did was create a new platform for the rats to dance on. Next, Weiss and Ruby used their weapons while Iris threw lightning bolts at the rats. However, the rats gracefully dodged all the attacks while dancing. Seeing how easily they dodged our attacks, we continued to run away from them. After a few minutes, the rats grew tired of chasing us and started appearing from random places yet still danced all the while.
"That's a lot of tires." Ruby said as we entered a section of the junkyard that is filled to the brim with tires.
"Do any of you see or hear the rats?" I asked as I struggled to catch my breath.
"Don't see them." Iris answered as she looked around.
"They must have given up." Weiss surmised as she didn't hear anything while reloading her weapon and taking stock of the remaining dust she had.
"I don't think for long, though." Ruby said as she folded her scythe up.
'They sure are persistent.' Courage added as he sat down.
"They sure are." I agreed. I then noticed that Muriel had been silent this entire time. Turning to her, I was about to ask if she was okay, only to see that she was not there and tires were in her place.
'AAHHH!' Courage gasped when he realized this as well.
"What's wrong?" Weiss asked before seeing the tires instead of Muriel.
"How did they do that?" Ruby exclaimed as the weight of the tires proved too much and crushed Courage.
"We can figure that out later. We need to find Muriel quickly." Iris told us.
"But how we're going to find them?" Ruby asked.
"Courage can possibly sniff them out." I answered.
'All right. Hopefully, I don't get sick.' He said as he began to sniff the air.
After a few seconds, he caught a scent and started to follow it. We began to follow him as well throughout the junkyard. Although, we did become slightly confused when we opened a dresser and saw a lady that looked similar to Iris. We simply closed the door and continued without saying a single word. However, as soon as we started moving again, we heard Muriel and Eustace screaming from nearby.
"It came from over the garbage mountain." I said as we ran over to it. Courage then took out his nutcracker and extended its legs over the mountain before using it as a makeshift periscope.
"Huh. That's unexpected but convenient." Weiss said, not expecting that the nutcracker could be used as a periscope.
'AAAHHHHH!' Courage screamed, getting our attention.
"What did you see?" Ruby asked.
'Muriel in a cauldron with the rats preparing to make a feast out of them.' He answered, which I translated.
"What should we do?" Weiss asked.
"Courage can distract them while we save Muriel and Eustace." I answered.
"Not much of plan, but it's doesn't seem like we have much time." Iris said as she created a cloud to take us to the top of the garbage mountain.
Stepping on the cloud, we let it take us to the top and saw the rats dancing around the place while preparing to eat Muriel and Eustace. We tried to go in quietly; however, that plan went out the window when Courage leaned too much, fell off the cloud, and landed on the table. The table broke from the impact, with a piece of it flying to a nearby record player stopping the music.
"Ah, I'd knew you all would save us." Muriel said when she noticed us as the cloud lowered us to the ground before disappearing.
"Are you okay, Muriel?" I asked as we raced over to and tried to remove the ropes from her. Only to be interrupted when the music started again. Turning around, we saw the rats glaring at us before dancing towards us. They separated and started circling us before coming back together and spinning around really fast to use their tails as a weapon.
'EEE!' Courage screamed as he flew away from us while the rats backed off. Hearing a splashing sound, we turned and saw that the nutcracker had fallen into the cauldron. Courage soon came back and retrieved his toy from the cauldron before joining us.
"These rats are getting annoying? How are we going to get them to leave us alone?" Weiss asked.
'I have an idea.' Courage said before he took a stance with his nutcracker. We were confused about what he was getting at before he started to dance similarly to the rats before changing to various other dance styles. It became clear to us that he was using dance to defeat the rats.
"Weiss." Ruby said, turning to her.
"All right. Just follow my lead." She said, rolling her eyes yet was smiling all the same as she extended her hand, which Ruby took.
"Care to have this dance, Iris?" I asked as I took a slight bow.
She smiled and gave a bow back before taking my hand as well. We all started to dance around the area having a great time. Yet, for some reason, our dancing seemed to frighten the rats, which caused them to run away from us. But each time they tried, one of us cut off their escape path. Knowing we had them on the run, Iris and I ran over to the cauldron and freed Muriel and Eustace. Hearing a crashing sound, we turned around and saw Courage start to use his nutcracker to bring down piles of garbage. Remembering that I still had the kusarigama on me, I took it out and started to use it to help out Courage. Weiss, Ruby, and Iris soon helped us out as well, and in no time, we had everything crumbling to the ground. Seeing their home getting destroyed, the rats ran away from us.
"Yay. Hooray." Muriel cheered as the dust settled.
"Thank you for the dance." Iris said as we gave each other a slight bow. Courage and his toy doing the same as well.
"Do you think me how to ballet, Weiss?" Ruby asked.
"Of course." She answered with a smile.
"Blah, blah, blah. Give me that thing." Eustace interjected before grabbing the nutcracker.
'OOHHH!' Courage said, worried for his toy as Eustace put a walnut into its mouth. He then tried to use it only for the toy to fail to break the walnut and instead break its teeth.
"AAHHH! GARBAGE!" Eustace complained.
"That nutcracker's an antique, Eustace. You can't really use it for anything." Muriel told him.
"Blah, blah-OOF!" He complained before being knocked out by Iris, Ruby, and Weiss.
"Sorry, Courage." I said as I handed him the toy back.
'Ha, ha, ha.' He laughed while smiling, which showed us that his teeth were broken like the toys. We all smiled and laughed as well before leaving the junkyard.
Note:
Next chapters: (1) Campsite of Terror. (2) Scuba-Scuba Doo. (3) Curtain of Cruelty. (4) Feast of the Bulldogs. Just need to know which charcters.