Jaune and Courage the Cowardly dog
Chap 3 Part 1: Queen of the Black Puddle
It has been a month since the incident with the shadow, three weeks since the crazy duck incident, and two weeks since I got a job at Charlie's Diner. And just who is Charlie, you may ask; well, he is a giant mouse that not only speaks English but owns a diner and is a part-time delivery service person. Or mouse. Either way, from that day forward, with Le Quack and his attempt to steal the Bagge family's identity and money, I have stopped trying to make sense of everything and decided to just go with the flow and deal with each problem that comes my way.
But a week after Le Quack, I learned something that made me upset with myself. And that was that I barely did crap to try and save Muriel from Le Quack. Even though I wasn't a huntsman, I should have done more to try and protect the family that took me and gave me a home. That's why I was currently training in front of the farmhouse with the sword and shield I purchased last week in Nowhere town. And even though it started raining about an hour ago, I did not stop training and only took breaks when I was about to pass out. However, as I kept practicing, my mind kept drifting back to the person who helped me so much. She even tried to find a way to get me to stay after she learned I got expelled from Beacon. But, despite all she had done for me, I had yet to thank her properly.
'I do miss you, Pyrrha.' I thought as I sat down on the porch and took a sip from my water bottle. 'And the rest of the team as well.'
I really do miss each of my friends. Ever since I moved in with the Bagge Family, they have not left my mind. Well, the ones I can still call my friends anyway. After learning why I got expelled, Team Rwby no longer were my friends. But my team was different. Nora said that she did not care what caused me to get expelled and that we were friends no matter what. Ren said that he knew everything since the beginning but didn't care and still saw me as a good friend. Although, what surprised me the most was when Velvet clung to me and kept telling me not to go.
'Perhaps I'll see them again someday.'
Picking up my sword and shield, I readied myself to continue training. But before I could start, I heard Courage screaming from inside the house. Turning to the house, I noticed that Courage was already outside, standing next to the porch's support beam, trying to catch his breath. Walking up to him, I was about to ask him what happened but got my answer when I heard Muriel smack Eustace with her rolling pin again.
"You all right, Courage?" I asked once he caught his breath.
'Fine.' He answered while sitting down. Seeing no harm in taking another short break, I set my sword and shield down before sitting next to him. Remembering that he loved being scratched, I moved my hand to scratch his back. Smiling, he lifted his leg and started to scratch his lower back. We stayed like this for a while as the storm continued to rage on with no signs of stopping. Luckily, while it did continue, the storm soon moved past us.
'Huh?' Courage asked, getting up and looking out towards the field.
Turning to see what he was looking at, I noticed a puddle bubbling a dozen feet from us. Curious, we got up and went over to investigate the puddle. But I made sure to grab my sword and shield in case something tried to attack us. Reaching the puddle, we noticed that it was bubbling as if something was boiling the water. Yet, quickly touching the water revealed that it was cool to the touch.
'Huh?' Courage asked, confused while scratching his head when the bubbles suddenly disappeared.
Confused, we leaned over the water and saw our reflections. But they soon started to distort before merging to form the shape of a mysterious lady. She had a black robe, pale skin, violet eyes, and purple hair. Curious, we leaned forward to try and get a better look but nearly jumped in freight when the reflection began hissing at us. As she did so, her mouth opened slightly to reveal that razor-sharp teeth filled her mouth. Courage immediately howled in fright before running back inside the house. Not hesitating, I quickly grabbed my sword and swung it at the reflection, hoping to hit whatever was on the other side. Unfortunately, it disappeared right as my sword struck the water. Unsure of whether it was stupidity or genuine curiosity, I dunked my head into the water and looked around. However, I was unable to see anything as it was pitch black. Hearing voices behind me, I raised my head out of the water and turned around to see Courage carrying Muriel over to me. Placing her on the ground, Courage then began pointing towards the puddle while whimpering.
"Did you seem something, Jaune?" Muriel asked, confused.
"We thought we saw something underneath." I answered, never taking my eyes off the puddle as I didn't want any surprises from whatever we saw. Even though we saw a mysterious lady, I could not say for sure.
"Oh, you two. It must have simply been a fish. Nothing to worry about." She said before heading back inside.
'But... but... but... oh...' Courage said, trying to get Muriel to come back but stopped when Muriel entered the house.
Seeing that he failed to get her attention, Courage sighed before heading inside. Knowing that I still had another couple of daylight hours, I stood up and resumed my training. Yet, I never took my eyes off the puddle. It wouldn't be good if something came out while I was distracted. Plus, if I can catch it before it comes out, I can take care of it before it causes any harm to Muriel, Courage, or Eustace. After an hour passed, I decided to take a break to catch my breath. Looking at the house, I saw Courage staring out the living room's window at the puddle.
'He's been like that since going back into the house.' I thought, concerned. Looking at the sky, I saw that the sun was finally setting. Deciding to call it a day, I grabbed my stuff before heading inside and going to my room. Entering, I stored my sword and shield underneath my bed before exiting the room and heading downstairs. Reaching the living room, I noticed that Courage was still looking out the window.
"I'll think I'll have some more tea myself. Would you like some tea, Jaune?" Muriel asked, standing up.
"Yes, please." I answered, smiling. I always did like tea, and Muriel makes some great tea.
Luckily, without vinegar.
"Alright. It'll be out soon." She said, heading to the kitchen. But when she entered the dining room, we heard an unusually loud dripping sound. "What's that dripping sound?"
Not sure where it could be coming from, we began to look around for the source. But when we heard a faint voice seductively say Eustace, we turned around and saw a tiny, transparent, nearly invisible illusion of the same lady we saw in the puddle earlier. Somehow, she had managed to appear in Eustace's teacup. She began calling his name a few more times before flicking some water on Eustace's glasses. Hearing Courage scream in terror caused me to snap back to attention. Rushing over to Eustace, I grabbed his cup before the lady could do anything else to him. Yet, instead of getting annoyed, the lady smirked at me before throwing some water at my eyes. Quickly wiping the water from my eyes, I looked back at the tea to see that she was gone. Feeling a sting in my eyes, I blinked a few times to try and stop it, only for a strange calmness to wash over me. And for some reason, I could only think about her.
"Are you both alright?" Muriel asked, snapping me from whatever that water did to me. Turning to her, I saw that Courage had run to get her.
"Huh? Yeah, yeah. Darn herbal-What? Where is my tea?" He asked, confused and angry but quickly realized that I was holding his cup. "What you doing with my tea?"
"You were about to drop it on your hat. So I grabbed it before that could happen." I lied. He growled at this before snatching the cup from me.
"The kitchen ceiling is leaking again, Eustace." Muriel said, pointing towards the kitchen. "You better go fix it."
Growling, Eustace got up from his chair and went to the closet to grab a bucket. He then headed to the kitchen to fix the leak. Feeling that the leak was the lady's doing, Courage and I decided to follow him. Reaching the door, we opened it slightly, peeked inside, and heard Eustace complaining about being unable to fix a cup of tea. Ignoring him, we entered and began to look around to try and figure out where the lady could come from next. Remembering that she somehow appeared in Eustace's tea, I figured she had waters powers and would try to do something similar.
'Better safe than sorry.' I thought, moving to the sink and ensuring it was entirely off and dry so no water would drip. However, as soon as I finished with that, we heard the lady's voice again. Turning to face Eustace, we saw that he was looking around, confused. After a few seconds, he turned his attention to the dripping water. Walking over, we looked closely and realized that the dripping had stopped with the drop closest to Eustace transformed into the lady.
"Eustace." She said seductively before taking out a spray bottle and spraying him with it. Knowing that I had to do something quick, I dashed towards Eustace and attempted to pull him to safety. But, as soon as I grabbed him, the lady splashed more water onto my face. And like last time, it caused my eyes to burn so much that I felt like I could go blind. Yet, the burning stopped a moment later and turned back into the comfortable feeling again. But this time, it was much stronger and made me want to follow wherever the lady went.
'FUCK! WHAT IS SHE! WHAT IS SHE DOING TO ME?!' I mentally screamed as I stumbled back into the chair. All the while desperately fighting and wondering what she did to me. Hearing the door open, I looked over to see Muriel worried with Courage pointing towards Eustace and me.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Oh, Eustace. Jaune. You both don't look so well. Let's get you both to bed now." Muriel said, worried. Looking over at Eustace, I saw that he was sitting in the bucket with a dazed and dreamy look on his face. He was so deep in the lady's trance that he didn't realize the water dripping on his hat. "Courage, be a dear and help Jaune to his bed. I'll help Eustace."
'Alright.' Courage said, nodding.
He then walked over to the counter to grab a towel before walking over to me. Taking it, I thanked him while wiping my face dry. Standing up, we exited the kitchen and made our way to my room. Entering, I assured Courage that I could take it from here. He nodded before leaving the room. Moving over to my bed, I knelt down, reached undeath, and pulled out the storage I got from town to store my clothes. Taking out a white t-shirt and some pajama pants, I changed into them before turning off the light and getting into bed. Yet, I could not fall asleep as my mind kept wondering what that lady did to me and why she was after Eustace. After a couple of minutes, I felt my eyelids begin to droop and could feel sleep about to take me to dreamland. Only for them to snap open and sleep to leave me when I heard Courage scream. Getting out of bed, I raced downstairs to where I heard Courage scream. Running down Muriel's room, I stopped when I saw Courage and Muriel standing in front of the bathroom.
"Oh, my. I'm beginning to worry about you, Eustace. Tomorrow, we're off to see the doctor. That's all there is to it." Muriel said, worried. Curious, I moved to stand behind them and looked inside. And to my surprise, I saw that Eustace somehow got his head bathtub's drainage pipe.
'How the hell did he do that? Probably the lady tried to lure him again.' I thought, worried.
"Which reminds me." Muriel said, turning to face me. "Remind me tomorrow, Jaune, to sign you up for Dr. Vindaloo. You need an appointment as well."
"Alight, Muriel." I said, never taking my eyes off Eustace while trying to figure out how to get him out of there.
"Good. Now, be a dear and help Eustace out there." She said before heading back to her room.
Nodding towards Courage, we entered the bathroom and made our way to stand next to the tub. Grabbing Eustace's arms, we pulled with all our might to try and free him but failed. But after a few more tries, we finally managed to free Eustace from the bathtub's drainage pipe. Looking him over, he still seemed dazed and out of it, but a good slap to his head brought him back. Confused, he began to ask questions before growling, getting out of the tub, and returning to his room. Sighing at this man's stubbornness and just being an asshole, I left the bathroom and headed back to my room. Opening the door and entering, I got back into my bed and tried to fall asleep. It was hard, but eventually, I finally managed to fall asleep after some deep breathing.
7:00 A.M.
Groaning, I moved my arm to block the rays of sunlight that entered my room and pulled me from my sleep. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I got out of bed and changed out of pajamas and into my day clothes. Heading to the bathroom, I brushed my teeth and washed my face. But as I washed my face, my mind went back to the dream I had last night, which was about the mysterious lady.
'What could she want with Eustace?' I thought as I dried my face with a towel.
Turning off the faucet, I exited the bathroom and headed downstairs to the kitchen to grab something to eat. But as I neared the kitchen, I heard Muriel crying. Rushing into the kitchen, I saw that Muriel was sitting at the table and crying into a towel. Hearing the door open again, I turned around and saw that Courage had entered.
"What's wrong, Muriel?" I asked, walking up to her.
"Eustace is gone." She answered. "Oh, my Eustace. I knew something was wrong."
Not wanting to see her upset, Courage attempted to cheer her up. First, he offered her some tea and then an ice cream sundae. But neither worked, so he tried to cheer her up with a puppet show with each puppet beating each other up. Unfortunately, that failed as well. Giving it one last try, he pulled out a frying pan from thin air before hitting himself on the head with it. Yet, we still did not get a reaction from Muriel. Seeing that nothing was working, Courage grabbed my hand before dragging me into the living room.
'Looks like there is only one thing left to do.' He said with a whine.
"We have to get Eustace back."
'But I won't like it.' "But I won't like it." Realizing that was said this simultaneously, we let out a small chuckle.
"Go to the puddle, Courage. I will be there in a moment. I am going to grab my sword and shield."
He nodded and went outside while I went upstairs. Entering my room, I went to my bed and got my sword and shield from under it. Giving a few swings, I nodded, satisfied, left my room, and headed back downstairs and outside to where Courage was. Although, I was surprised when I saw him in a dicing suit with an oxygen tank strapped to his back. Reaching him, he smiled before handing me another diving suit and oxygen tank. Smiling, I started putting on the suit while not questioning where he got it.
'Ah, the things we do for love.' Courage whined as we adjusted our goggles. Chuckling, we were about to dive in but stopped when we realized something.
"Wait. Is this puddle getting smaller?" I asked, dread in my voice. Taking a closer look, I saw that it was indeed getting smaller.
'It is getting smaller. We better hurry before it closes up.' Courage said, panicking before jumping in.
'Don't worry, Muriel. We'll bring Eustace back.' I thought while looking back at the house.
After taking a few deep breaths, I put the oxygen piece in my mouth before jumping into the puddle. Once in, I began looking around to see if I could find a clue where the lady took Eustace. Seeing Courage waving me over, I swam towards him, absentmindedly noting how it wasn't as dark as before. However, we wished it remained dark, so we didn't have to see the hundreds of wrecked ships and treasure chests on the floor. Although, we were curious about the figures in diving suits that were going for the chests but appeared frozen in time as they were not moving.
After what felt like ten minutes of constant swimming, we saw a castle nearby. Figuring that's where the lady took Eustace, we began to make our way there. Swimming through the gates, we headed up towards the highest window of the castle. Looking inside, we saw that Eustace was there, sitting on a giant clam. However, he seemed to be in some sort of a trace. And standing in front of him was the lady that kidnapped him. For some strange reason, she was dancing seductively. Yet, it seemed more like she was preparing something or doing a weird ritualistic dance. After a couple of seconds, she stopped dancing, walked over to a nearby chest, and pulled out a strange but familiar-looking necklace.
'Why does that look familiar?' I thought as I racked my brain, trying to remember. As I tried to remember, I heard Courage whimper next to me. He then grabbed my face and made me look at the thousands of human skeletal remains surrounding the castle. Confused, I was about to turn to him but stopped when I saw something that made my eyes widen in fear and shock. Around each skeleton's neck was the same necklace the lady got from the chest.
'Shit. Is she going to eat Eustace?' I thought, panicking.
Looking back inside, we saw her place the necklace on Eustace while saying his name seductively. She then took a few steps back before smiling. We wondered what she was about to do but got our answer when she transformed into her true form. Her hands became elongated, with her fingernails now razor-sharp. Her back became hunched with her mouth, now filled with foot-long sharp teeth, extended into a giant underbite.
"Courage, I'll draw her attention. You find a way to get Eustace out of there." I told him. He nodded and looked around before spotting a fishing rod resting on a nearby ship. He then swam over to the boat while I pulled out my sword and shield. 'I hope this works.'
Gulping, I began striking my shield with my sword in an attempt to create a distraction. If I had been in any other situation, I would have questioned how I could make a distraction using sound while underwater. Yet, it worked as the lady heard me and came storming out of the castle.
'Gotcha.' I thought, smirking.
She smiled before charging at me and tried to grab me but failed as I ducked out of the way in time. From the corner of my eye, I saw Courage use the fishing rod he got and use the hook on Eustace's pants to drag him to safety. Hearing the lady growl, I snapped back to attention and evaded her attempt to grab me. I then tried to counter with a strike to the head, but she easily dodged. We kept like this for a while longer, me trying to hit her and possibly take her out but failing. She kept trying to grab me and possibly bite me, but I avoided it each time. Our fighting was only interrupted when we heard a loud crash nearby. Looking toward the source, we saw that Courage had crashed into the castle's gate. Turning back to the lady, I saw that she had transformed back into her humanoid form.
"Jaune. Oh, Jaune." She said seductively. For some unknown reason, I felt instantly drawn to her. Swimming closer to her, she touched my face with a smile before leaving. Yet, I didn't go after her as I felt stuck just thinking about her. It felt like an eternity that I was stuck there. However, I then remembered that Muriel was waiting for us. And she would be immensely devasted if we didn't make it back before the exit closed. This snapped me back to focus. Unfortunately, it was too late as I saw the lady charging at me with the intent of devouring me.
'CRAP!'I thought as I mentally prepared myself for what was to come.
Luckily it never came as right before she reached me, Courage appeared and placed a femur in her mouth. Not wasting this opportunity, I bashed her in the face with my shield as Courage bonked her on the head a few times with a leg bone before we swam away. Knowing that we could not outswim her, we decided to try and lose her. Heading into the castle, we placed Eustace on the clam, made sure the fishing hook was firmly attached, and then swam to hide behind the chest. After a few minutes, the lady swam inside the castle and began looking around for us. But she forgot about Courage and me when she spotted Eustace on the clam. She then dove for him, unaware that it was a trap. And right before she reached him, we pulled Eustace away, causing her to hit the clam with the top closing and trapping her inside.
"Quick." I said as we grabbed Eustace and swam out of the castle.
Once outside, we began looking for the puddle and quickly spotted it. But to our horror, we saw that it was rapidly closing, meaning that we had a limited time to get out before we became trapped here forever. Mustering the last of our strength, we swam as fast as possible to try and reach the exit. Unfortunately, it was fruitless as the exit closed the second we arrived, and we hit our heads against the ceiling.
'Damn it.' I said as we rubbed our heads.
Noticing that Eustace was slowly sinking, I grabbed him while Courage began looking for another way to escape. Luckily, Courage quickly spotted another exit not too far from us. But before we could start heading there, a loud growl caught our attention. Looking down, we saw the lady swimming towards us at high speeds with a vengeance. Not thinking twice, we swam as fast as possible to avoid her attack and head towards the new exit. If we were not filled with fear, we would have stopped and wondered where this puddle could take us. Luckily, as we neared the puddle, we heard Muriel's crying, telling us that it would take us home. But open swimming through the exit, we were tossed out and landed hard on the living room's floor.
"OH! EUSTACE! COURAGE! JAUNE!" Muriel said, shocked at what she was seeing.
Instead of answering, Courage pulled out a hairdryer and quickly dried up the puddle to prevent the lady from reaching us. And it worked as the puddle disappeared with the lady hitting the floor/ceiling a second later. The lady then started screaming before swimming away a moment later. Taking off my goggles and removing the tank on my back, I laid down and tried to catch my breath. Courage moved to sit next to me and did the same.
"Your back. Oh, Eustace, your back." Muriel said, relieved as she helped him up, inadvertently causing his back to crack in an unhealthy way. Yet, despite escaping the lady, Eustace was still under her trance.
"Where have you been?!" Muriel demanded before smacking him on the head with her rolling pin, freeing him from the trance.
"Ow. What did I do?" Eustace asked while rubbing his head.
'I can safely bet that is the only time where Eustace did not deserve the rolling pin.' I thought as I got myself into a sitting position with Courage doing the same.
9:00 P.M.
I was currently in the bathroom brushing my teeth after having a delicious dinner. Courage was with me in the bathroom, taking a bath. Eustace was asleep in his bed with Muriel reading a book next to him, happy that he was back. Finished brushing my teeth, I rinsed my mouth and turned off the sink. Grabbing a towel next to me, I began drying my hands but stopped when I heard a bubbling sound that sounded similar to the puddle that took us to the undersea world. Turning to the tub, I saw that the lady had returned. But this time, she had taken the shape of a dog in a possible attempt to capture Courage.
"Not this time, lady." I said as I ran over to the tub and slammed my shield on her head. She cursed and retreated to her world, leaving us alone for now. Turning to Courage, I saw that he was just as confused as I was. But instead of complaining or asking questions, we decided to simply go along with it. After all, we both knew that these strange occurrences would only get weirder.