Aside from a few tight swerves and breaking, the Bagges arrived in the country of Ostania. With every slight movement of the truck's wheels, a heap of luggage would slide off the bed of the truck leading to other drivers blowing their horns in anger. Eustace just balled his hand into a fist to intimidate them.

"Oh, dear, I never imagined how big this place was going to be," Muriel remarked, "where are we going to stay at, Eustace?"

"Some apartment," he answered, "hopefully nothing too cramped."

Courage jumped on Muriel's lap to better look out the window. Muriel was right: with the city being that large and so many unfamiliar sights, Courage could spend the rest of his days sight-seeing. Eustace swerved the truck's wheel again, making skid marks on the road and knocking Muriel and Courage over.

"Blast! What do you think you're doing?"

Eustace smirked. "I found the place."

Muriel recalled them picking up a pamphlet that provided information on the apartment. "128 Park Avenue."

The apartment complex stood at five stories high. Eustace took the pamphlet and started to read it as well. "Says we get our own separate rooms."

Muriel scratched her head. "I don't know, Eustace. This place still looks awfully expensive."

Eustace frowned. "You said that you'd get paid a thousand dollars for every piece of candy you make, right?"

"Well, yes," she replied.

"Then this is not a problem. Now, help me get all our stuff to our room."

In one of the rooms of the apartment, a young man clutched a piece of paper so tightly, his knuckles turned a pale white. He trembled and shook bitterly like the branches on a twisted tree. His face was deprived of its color almost as if he were about to faint right on the spot. His daughter, a small, pink-haired girl with hair ornaments stared at the television having grown deeply enraptured by what she was watching. And a black-haired woman stood behind the man also looking at what was on the paper. She gently massaged the man's shoulders.

"Hey, Anya, maybe it's in your best interest to look into this."

The pink-haired girl hushed him. "Watching Bondman now. Two-eighth bullets left."

The man sighed. His daughter's grades were abysmal, but at the least, he did have some appreciation she somehow was able to latch onto that. "If only you paid more attention to school than this show."

The black-haired woman clapped her hands together. "How about I prepare us some tea and you and Ms. Anya start studying?"

The man smiled. "Thanks, Yor. That would be great."

Anya could be a tough girl to raise, but she was more than grateful for the parents she had. Even if technically speaking everything about their little family was a bunch of elaborate lies. For starters, the blonde-haired man who was freaking out over her grades was not just reacting because the grades were bad, but it was also putting his mission in jeopardy.

Loid Forger, or Agent Twilight, was a high-ranking spy who was tasked with keeping a watch of the notorious Desmond Donovan. His mission required that he adopt a child to better get into good graces with the man of mystery as well as be married.

Yor took some of the tea cups and ran some water out to clean them. While washing them, Yor couldn't help putting her fingers in front of her face to slightly smell them. Her stare became cold for a brief second. "Still smells like the guy I killed."

Anya shivered at the thought. Having a spy as a dad was already awesome on its own, but she also had a mother who went by the name of the Thorn Princess an assassin tasked with "offing" targets. Anya's eyes sparkled with adventure. This was the life and she would not settle for something less.

"Alright, Anya," Loid said in his stern voice, "you may finish your show, but we will start back to studying later."

Anya nodded her head with understanding. Loid looked at the newspaper as if contemplating before speaking again. "Wasn't there some word from our neighbors that another family was moving in today?"

"If I remember correctly, yes," Yor replied, "why do you ask?"

"No real reason," he said. Though, of course, the real reason would always have to be on whether he should play his role of the loving husband and father more so that no one would grow suspicious of him.

"You know, since they are new, maybe we should give them a housewarming cook."

Loid thought about it and shrugged. "I'll humor you: what did you want to do for them?"

"I can bake them something."

Anya and Loid's eyes widened. While Yor was a good cleaner, her cooking was...unpleasant to say the least. Yor always had the best of intentions when it came to something like that, but they were worried that she could probably accidentally poison the neighbors with the food she made.

Yor, without even waiting for a response from her husband spoke up. "I-I have been practicing a little more."

"Do whatever makes you happy, Yor," Loid replied.

With that, the black-haired woman went to the kitchen to prepare something sweet for the neighbors.

"Heave!"

Eustace held the door open to their apartment and stepped aside. Muriel and Courage were carrying Eustace's prized chair with Muriel struggling to carry the spine of the chair and Courage barely pushing the underside. Eustace looked around the room and made them drop it at his designated area.

"Perfect."

The Bagges had spent a good few solid hours getting all their valuables into the apartment room. In fact, almost everything was situated like in their house. To that degree, it was like they never left. With sweat beating down her forehead, Muriel collapsed on her rocking chair. Courage hopped on her lap and offered her a paper fan to cool down with.

"Thanks for the help, Eustace."

She was telling her husband that in a form of sarcasm, but the old geezer did not seem to notice. If he did, it wasn't like he cared either. Eustace rubbed his hands together just imagining all the money that would come swarming through. "First thing we do tomorrow is finding that candy factory."

"We could just take our time and really explore Eustace," Muriel said, "don't tell me that you only came here just for the money."

Eustace was going to speak when a knock on the door came. Courage's black ears stood on end in alarm. He was babbling some indiscernible gibberish to his owners. Eustace tossed a blunt object at the dog, but thankfully Courage avoided it.

"Muriel, get the dang door!"

Muriel crossed her arms. "Can't be bothered to open it yourself?"

"Nope."

Muriel opened the door without hesitation and saw a family of three standing on the opposite end. The old Scottish woman smiled at them and gave a slight wave. "Oh, you must be our neighbors from across the hall."

"We are, miss," Yor replied. She held out a purple food carrier with a cover on top. "Since you are new here, we all thought that you should feel more welcome."

"That is a generous gesture," Muriel said taking the tray and stepping aside. "Why don't you come in?"

Loid and Yor looked around the room soaking in all the sights. There was a crooked lamp by the red chair that belonged to Eustace. A grandfather clock droned as it reached the new hour. There was a stuffed moose head over the fireplace. It was...country-like in its rendition. Courage walked to the door to greet the guests as well.

"You have a doggy too?" Anya asked.

"You mean Courage?" Muriel asked, "he is a good dog."

"Bah!" Eustace remarked.

"Don't mind my husband, little girl, he is just grumpy."

Yor forced a smile on her face. "So, what brings you here?"

Muriel coerced Yor and her daughter to wait at the table alongside Courage. As she began to pour them so tea, Loid decided to sit on the rocking chair sitting adjacent from Eustace. He stared at the old man for a few solid minutes unsure of what to say.

"Um...How are you doing, sir?"

Eustace did not reply. At best, he gave Loid a vindictive look before gluing his eyes back on the newspaper. Loid inhaled sharply and expelled the air from his lungs. "This is going to be a long visit."

"So, your husband works as a doctor?" Muriel inquired. She sat down in one of the chairs with the food carrier in front of her.

"Yes, he is," Yor replied. He did not tell her that much on his job, but she never thought it was any indication that he was being untruthful with her. "And your husband is a farmer?"

"In a way, yes, but he never had grown anything."

"Hey!"

Muriel snickered. "Well, you did grow that one flower."

Anya turned to look at the old man. Eustace turned around not saying anything, but it was clear that he was feeling bothered by her stare.

"Why is this stupid kid looking at me like that? I really hope that she won't be dropped off at our house because of her parents having to work."

Since Anya could read people's thoughts, she heard the absolute venom spewing from Eustace's mind. She cuts her eye contact with the elderly man and instead turned her attention to Muriel.

"I really hope that we can become friends with them."

Anya sighed in relief. At least Muriel's thoughts weren't accusatory.

"I'm sorry, I have been speaking so long, I had neglected to ask you your names."

"My name is Yor Forger, and this is my daughter, Anya." Yor pointed at Anya. Anya looked at her adoptive mother noting that she was being put on script.

"My name is Anya Forger...and I like peanuts."

Muriel laughed. "Aren't you just the cutest thing?" Muriel started to open the carrier to withdraw whatever was inside of it. "It's good to know that you do; I'll make you some peanut brittle once my family and I settle in."

Muriel opens the food carrier and almost instantly, the smoke starts to fill the room. Inside were some burned cookies that stuck to the bottom of the food carrier. They smelled ghastly and ultimately inedible. "Oh...cookies, right?"

Yor buried her face into her hands. "It was supposed to be chocolate chip."

Courage sniffed the cookies and retched. Before Yor could respond, Eustace storms over and pitches the food carrier in the garbage. "What? Ya trying to poison us?"

"I-I"

"A wife that doesn't cook has no business being in the kitchen!"

Loid, hearing this, stood up on his feet agitated. His knuckles began to crack from the tight grip. Eustace was lanky and elderly. As such, Loid, being the trained spy he was, could easily snap his spine like a twig or tie him into a pretzel. Courage turned to look at him and his eyes almost exploded from his eyes. Nerves throbbed underneath his skin. He tried to be charitable with the old man, but he was already pushing his luck. He knew he shouldn't blow his mission on something as trivial as someone berating his wife's cooking. After all, why should he care? It wasn't like they were actually married anyway. And yet, his legs continued to pilot his body against his will.

Reaching Eustace, Loid balled his hand into a tight fist, raised it in the air, and...

BAM!

Loid stared at his fist confused. He hadn't even struck him first but Eustace was already bashed in the head. Instead, he saw that Muriel held a rolling pin in her hand and he could tell she had just used it since there was smoke emitting from it. Eustace rubbed his sore noggin.

"What did I do?"

Muriel then smacked his hand. "I am trying to make a good impression with this lovely family, and I will not tolerate you being this disrespectful."

Eustace protested. "But she burned the cookies!"

He shut up when Muriel intimidated him with the rolling pin again. She turned to look at Yor. "Besides, someone like her would never poison a soul."

Yor chuckled awkwardly. "Yeah, that is true..."

Muriel went into the living room and ruffled through her belongings. After leaving her guests unattended, the old woman finally returned with a tray in her hands. Lifting up the cover, there were some sugar cookies she had made. "It's a coincidence. When I heard that we were moving, I had made some cookies and almost forgot about them."

She placed the tray of cookies on the table. Anya and Yor looked at the baked sweets for a few moments. Muriel waves her hand at them. "Go on."

The cookies were definitely better than the ones Yor had tried to make earlier. Instead of a black, charcoal taste, the buttery sweets melted on their tongues. Rather than an ashy aroma, the little hints of sugar tickled their noses. Anya greedily took five of the cookies but shared some with Courage. Getting the "go ahead" from Muriel, Yor picks up a cookie and sinks her teeth into it. She nearly starts tearing up. "These are so good!"

Muriel smiles. "I'm glad you love them."

Anya tugs at Muriel's apron. "What is it, Anya?"

"Could you be our new mom?"

Muriel chuckles whilst Yor almost chokes on the piece of cookie she was scarfing. "You know I can't do that. Besides, I'm too old. Yor is your perfect mother."

Anya nods and wolfed down another cookie.

"How did you meet your husband if you don't mind me asking?"

Yor froze up to rake through her mind. "At a party that my job was hosting."

"Oh, that sounds wonderful," Muriel replied, "you must really love each other."

"Yeah, they flirt all the time," Anya answered.

Now, Loid and Yor were clamming up. "No-No we don't!"

"Well, it was nice getting acquainted with you Forgers," Muriel said. Eustace had already gone back to his room not even bothering to bid his neighbors a good night. Courage waved at the family as he was turning to go back inside. "If you need anything, we are across the hall."

"Well, there is one thing," Yor said.

Muriel raised an eyebrow her curiosity piqued. "What is it, Ms. Yor?"

Yor fidgeted her knuckles. "It is kind of embarrassing, but could you maybe teach me how to bake like how you do?"

"Of course, dear," Muriel answered, "I'm sure you will be making nice food in no time."

Yor smiled and waved at the grandmotherly figure. As she opened the door, a big avalanche of fluff exited the room. The gust of wind cleared away to reveal another dog. However, unlike Courage, this dog was larger and stouter. He wore a bow tie on his color. Stopping in front of Courage, it would not be surprising that this was a dog rather than a polar bear. Courage stared up at the large canine with bewilderment.

"Oh, don't worry, that is just our dog Bond," Yor explained, "he's a good boy."

"Another stupid dog!? Can this day get any worse?"

Muriel scoffed at her husband. "Look, Courage, you have a playmate now."

Courage continued to soak in the sight of the large animal. "Um..hey there."

"Warf! Warf!"

"Oh dear, what's wrong, Bond?"

What the Forger family had not realized was Bond's ability to momentarily peer into the future. He had gained that ability when he used to be nothing but a lab experiment for a dissolved project. In his mind, he could see brief glimpses, images of his young owner Anya. Everything in his vision was total darkness. Anya, away from her family, was falling into the darkness. The more she fell, the inky black engulfed her until she was just a tiny speck.

"Warf! Warf!"

Courage's eyes widened in panic. "Oh no!"

Courage ran towards Muriel and the Forgers and started muttering and rambling. Yor tilted her head in confusion. And, the most peculiar thing happened: Courage transformed himself to resemble Anya, then he shifted into an eye with an X marked over it. He resumed his normal appearance with his babbling becoming louder.

"Uh...does your dog do that all the time?" Loid asked.

"He does," Muriel said in a matter-of-fact kind of way.

Loid backed away clearly disturbed by his neighbor's nonchalance. "Well, you best be heading home now."

"Yes, good night," Muriel announced.

"Take care, Bagges," Yor responded.

Courage ceased his raving dejected that the humans did not understand his warning. Anya rubbed Bond's head and got on his back. Yawning, she waves goodbye to Muriel and Courage before entering her room.

Muriel busily brushed her teeth and gargled. It had been a long day, but it was good that they were in the Forger family's best interests. "Maybe I could do some sightseeing before I go to my job."

Courage nodded. He pulled out a cabinet drawer and settled down in it. He should have been tired, but Bond had given him such vivid details about what was going to happen to his owner. But then again, what Bond had seen was not a future completely set in stone. Perhaps they could work together to subvert it.

Eustace snored loudly in his room his body completely stiff. It wasn't like he even did any manual labor for the day. Scratch that, he did tell his wife and Courage where to situate his favorite chair. It was the thought that counted, right?

Muriel got into her bed and raised her arms in a yawn. "Well, goodnight, Courage. Tomorrow should be most interesting."

With that, the old woman drifted off to sleep. Courage followed shortly after.

Meanwhile, at the candy factory, the conveyor churned endlessly carrying candy on its belt. There were chocolate bars; jelly beans and gummy bears. Any piece of candy if you named it was present on the belt. Each piece landed in a box to be dispensed to the public. Instead of human workers, robots buzzed around with ease and loaded the candy products into the back of trucks.

A lone figure stood above the robots relishing in the heavy manufacturing. The observer turned his attention to a large vault that contained a green, luminescent substance in a giant glass structure. The vault was connected to another vault that one being where the actual candy was produced. A robot cranked a wheel on the glass vault. The green material glowed and combined with the candy batter in the opposite tank.

"Everything is going to plan."