"Enter the Portal"
The bioluminescent moss guided the villains down the cave. Katz led the way, followed by Le Quack and Eustace's Ma. Doc Gerbil, Foot Fungus, Cajun Fox, the Weremole, and the Queen of the Black Puddle made up the rest of the line in that order.
None of these villains particularly liked any of the others, which was no surprise, since they preferred working alone. The last time some of them collaborated to get rid of Courage (the 'dodgeball episode', of course), the dog nearly blew out their eardrums with his screaming. Despite their differences, here they were, walking down a dark tunnel towards a five million dollar payload.
"How do we know the treasure's really down here?" asked Doc Gerbil. Those who heard him agreed.
"Well, zat ghost certainly does not need it now," smiled Le Quack.
"True," added Katz, "but do you think the ghost sent us down here just to throw us off course?"
"Yeah!" yelled Cajun Fox. "How do we know he ain't leading us on a wild goose chase…no offense," he said to Le Quack.
A brief argument about Stromwell's truthfulness erupted until Eustace's Ma whistled and pointed to the wall. Scratched on the rock surface were the words: VALUABLE ITEMS THIS WAY. That pretty much brought the argument to a close.
The group kept walking until they came to several wooden boards that were blocking the way forward. There was a hole just large enough for a small man to walk through. The villains hesitated because there was no light beyond the boards at all.
"Ladies first," offered Katz.
Eustace's Ma and the Queen glared at him as they made their way through before everyone else followed. The tunnel made a sharp left turn before the moss revealed a dead end.
Just as the villains were about to get angry, they suddenly spotted two boards on the ground that crossed each other.
"X marks the spot!"
After they moved the boards, all of the villains attempted to start digging, but the dirt was tough and course. Only the Weremole could burrow into it, and even then it took a long time to dig down a considerable distance.
Finally, after a long, boring wait, the Weremole struck something about ten feet down. It seemed to be a small wooden chest about as big as a breadbox.
"That's the treasure?" asked Eustace's Ma.
"It doesn't look very big," said the Queen.
"And it feels really light too," said Katz as the Weremole handed him the chest.
"What the heck's in that there thing?!" complained Cajun Fox.
"Yeah!" added Foot Fungus.
"Maybe the treasure's in small bills," said Doc Gerbil. "Geez, 'bigfoot', don't get your feathers in a knot."
"Alright! Enough with zee bird jokes!" shouted Le Quack.
"Hey!" yelled Ma. "Stop arguing and open the darn thing!"
No one objected to that. Ma gave Katz a hairpin, and he started working the lock. Within minutes, Katz picked the lock and threw open the chest.
A bright orange light erupted out of the chest, blinding everybody. The villains looked inside the chest and saw a sphere the size of a cantaloupe. Katz picked the warm object up out of the box.
"What is it?" one of the villains asked. No one knew what it was.
"Look!" said Katz. The villains saw a swirling green mist appear inside the round object. It filled up the entire interior and grew hotter and hotter until Katz dropped the object on the ground.
In shock, the villains watched as the sphere began fidgeting back and forth erratically. The surface began cracking as if it was made out of glass. A high pitched whine grew louder and louder. The villains covered their ears as Ma yelled, "Let's get out of here!"
The villains smashed through the wooden boards in fear. They began screaming as a loud hissing and screeching sound blared behind them. They turned and saw the orb flying at them as if someone threw it! Just then, before it reached them, it exploded in a blast of light and energy!
On the surface, a mile behind Stromwell's house, the ground erupted in a geyser of dirt. The villains flew up into the sky like a firework (or like Team Rocket in every episode of Pokemon. This is actually the end of the villains' involvement with this story, but you're gonna see them again before this tale is through.)
"What on earth was that?" asked Agent R.
The blast shook the cave momentarily before everything clamed down. A plume of dust and smoke floated out of the tunnel the villains had gone down.
"You think the only thing I worked on down here was this portal?" asked Stromwell. "That was one of my other experiments…an ecto-bomb. It still works even after a century. To give a brief description, it uses artificial ectoplasm developed at an incredibly abnormal state. The slightest disturbance detonates it. There are a few more things I did to create it, but I don't have the time to explain."
"Are those wackos gonna be okay?" asked Gammon.
"Hold on," said Stromwell, and abruptly vanished. Several seconds later, he reappeared and said, "Don't worry. They're fine. I just hope they all land in a pillow factory, that's all I can say."
"Yes, well," said Kevin. "As I was saying, for the last time, I'd like to know who is on the other side of this portal thing, and nobody interrupt this time!"
"Very well," sighed Stromwell. "It's just so painful to recall. You see, once on the other side, Abigail and I discovered that we were neither in heaven nor the underworld! We were in a place between worlds; a state of limbo or purgatory. The entire place is difficult to explain, but one thing is for sure: half of it goes up and the other half goes down.
"There were other ghosts there that looked at us with shock. I guess they had never expected to see living humans in there. Terrified, Abigail and I ran back to the portal, but we were too late. I don't know whether the agents that chased us destroyed the portal or not, but it was gone. We were stranded.
"No sooner did we start grieving for the loss of our way back, than a giant humanoid creature suddenly stood before us in a ray of light. It's hideous, dark voice said, 'I am Byleth, enforcer of the realm between the two final resting places of mortals. You two have entered this place before your time! You have violated sacred, liturgical codes, and I cannot allow you to progress to either world until it is your time. Until then, you will remain under my power!
"I found out that I was the first living creature to artificially create such a portal. Looking around, I saw portals just like mine opening up all around us. Obviously, the fact that my portal was man-made must've really shocked the entire world of the non-living!
"I was placed inside this strange prison made out of this material that was foreign to me, despite my vast knowledge of chemistry and alchemy. Byleth walked off, leaving me and Abigail in separate 'cages' fearing for our lives. From my prison, I could see portals opening up all around me. Spirits always came in, very rarely did they ever go out, but I knew I had to escape. The problem was, I didn't know how that world would affect my mind. You see, I discovered that the human body's functions are brought to a halt inside that world. Breathing, eating and other processes are stopped, but you are still alive and moving!
"Anyway, I don't know how long I stayed there with Abigail by my side. As I said, we didn't need to eat or sleep or anything. It must've been weeks or months, I don't know, but soon, two specters came and opened the cage door. They said Byleth would like to speak with me. I needed to get out of here, but I couldn't leave Abigail. I took a couple steps and saw a portal open up not far away. I didn't know where that portal when, but I needed to leave. I turned to Abigail and said, 'I will come back for you. I promise,' before turning and running for the portal. No one tried to stop me. I guess they were just too stunned.
"Anyway, I jumped through the portal and landed in a vacant lot. At that moment, I came to a horrific realization. Maybe my brain adapted so quickly to that world, so when I came back, it was too much of a shock. Or maybe my bodily functions were working again. Either way, I blacked out, and woke up with a low IQ and damaged speech. I could only say short words and sentences and couldn't think well…even though my inner thoughts were perfectly alright.
"And so, I somehow got the vet job, then the earthquake, and then the car. I was buried in San Francisco, a devastated soul trapped inside a lifeless body for almost one-hundred years. That's why I was so happy to be Katie's friend when my spirit leaped from my body to her teddy bear. Again, I'm sorry I caused so much mischief to everyone else. I guess my excitement was too much to hold in." Stromwell breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the portal. "I promised Abigail I would return," he looked at Courage. "And after all this time, you will finally help make that possible."
Courage managed to smile, slightly.
"There's one thing I don't get," said Agent R. "If you were held prisoner in there for a year or so, how come five years passed in our world before you were finally discovered by our government?"
"Maybe your government is a bunch of slackers," joked Stromwell. "Or maybe it's because time and space is different in there, I don't really know. I studied medicine, not quantum physics."
"Well," said Kevin. "I guess we'd better get to work then."
"Correct," said Stromwell. "I've waited almost a century for this moment, and I don't intend to wait a second longer. Let's go!"
As was mentioned in the previous chapter, a living being could only enter the portal if someone kept it open. The plan was for Courage and Stromwell to enter the portal while everyone else kept the gateway open. The controls, despite their complex appearance, had very simple commands, and it didn't take long for everyone to learn their role.
Just in case the "different time frame" option existed, Courage was to be tied up with a rope, so that he could be pulled back into the living world if anything went wrong. Stromwell had such a rope lying around and tied one end to a large heavy machine. The other end was tied around Courage tightly, so that it looked like a harness. Courage wondered what would happen if the rope broke and quickly decided he didn't want to know.
"Quickly!" shouted Stromwell just in front of the portal. "It's been open for an hour and I don't know how much longer it'll stay that way!"
"But if this portal has been open for an hour," spoke up the over-observant Kevin, "how come no ghosts have leaped through it into here?"
Stromwell scratched his ghostly head. "I guess it's unethical for ghosts to jump through portals their not supposed to jump through. Go figure." He smiled after saying that modern expression.
There was a considerable length of rope, so Courage didn't need to worry about running out of rope. As Courage headed towards the portal, the four agents walked up to him.
Agent R asked, "How're you feeling, Courage?"
Courage simply whined.
"Hey, don't worry," soothed Agent R as he ruffled the fur on Courage's head. "All you gotta do is go in, break out Abigail, and that's it."
"Yeah," added Agent Barsby. "And if you run into that Byleth guy, give a yank on the rope and we'll pull you back, okay?"
Courage nodded.
"And remember," added Agent Gammon. "Mr. and Mrs. Stromwell need to go up, not down."
"That's kinda self-explanatory," said Agent R.
Agent Darkest Moon patted Courage on the head and said, "Be brave."
"Yeah, have fun," said Gammon. The other three agents looked at him oddly.
Shirley the Medium came up to Courage next. She reached into her pocket and said, "Here." She gave Courage a dog biscuit. "It's all I have at the moment."
Courage chewed and swallowed it, hoping this wouldn't be his last meal. He didn't know what use it could be on the other side of the portal, since his digestive system wouldn't be functional, but Courage decided not to point that out.
Dr. Zalost walked up to Courage and said, "Dear Courage, I wish you the best of luck in helping out Dr. Stromwell. I wish to give you this." Zalost reached into his jacket and pulled out a bag full of Muriel's Happy Plums. "They might come in handy upon your return."
Courage woofed a 'thank you' and pocketed the bag.
The Duck Brothers walked up to Courage next.
"Uh, we didn't bring anything with us to give to you," admitted the green duck.
"Yeah, sorry," said the blue duck.
As they said that, the orange duck slowly walked behind his brothers and, without warning, reached over and plucked a tail feather from each duck. The two ducks yelped with surprise and pain. The orange duck then plucked a tail feather of his own and gave the three feathers to Courage. Courage pocketed the feathers and smiled at the ducks.
"You could've warned us before doing that," said the blue duck, as he and the green duck rubbed their tails.
"Well, excuse me for being friendly," argued the orange duck as the three brothers walked off to the side.
Kevin and Sandy were the last ones to approach Courage. Kevin gave Courage a big hug and secretly whispered into his ear, "Just try and come back, Courage. And don't forget to ask Stromwell where the treasure is."
Kevin stood up and stepped back. Courage then saw Sandy staring at him. Courage tried to think of what to say. He wondered what Sandy was going to give him, but the smile on her face spoiled the surprise. Sandy quickly walked up to Courage and gave him a big, passionate kiss.
After a few seconds, Sandy whispered, "Listen to what D.M. told you…and please come back."
Courage smiled and nodded. He felt glad and confident as he stared at the bright, shining portal. (He was also slightly embarrassed, since so many witnesses were around when Sandy kissed him.) Courage walked up to the portal next to Stromwell.
"All right, people, get into positions!" ordered Stromwell. "We…"
"Wait!!!" shouted D.M. She had finally found her spare camera. "I just want one quick picture!"
"D.M…" began Agent R.
"It's okay, I won't show it to anyone," said D.M. "I just wanna take one of everyone. Pleeease???"
"Oh, alright," said Agent R. "Let's be quick about it."
D.M. set the timer on the camera and placed it on a table. The light from the portal was shining from behind everyone, but the flash on the camera would show the front of everybody.
"Say cheese," said D.M.
The camera took the picture and everyone got back into position, but not before D.M. ran over and placed the camera in her pocket.
"Well," thought Courage to himself. "Here goes nothing." He turned and saw Stromwell. If he were alive, he would be crying with joy. Courage just hoped everything would go according to plan.
Repeating in his mind what D.M. told him, (be brave, be brave, be brave,) Courage stepped into the portal with Dr. Stromwell. The rope stretching out of the portal was all that remained.