Sorry, my friends, I didn't mean to leave you hanging. Here's chapter 4.

At Katz's last sentence, all the villains instantly stopped what they were doing and looked at him. Even the Weremole, who was mindlessly gnawing on a wad of meat the others had given him as a reward, became interested. Five minutes ago they were expecting their leader to come in with news of their sworn enemy's death. Now, all Courage's death would be to them was the icing on the cake. After a minute of silence, The Queen finally broke it.

"Are- are you serious?"

Katz smiled wickedly. "Yes my friends, the event we've waited for so long has finally come!"

Le Quack asked the next question. "Who is ze awakener?"

Katz's look got even more sinister. "Why, it's our old foe, Courage Bagge."

At that statement, the other villains got excited. "It was really him?" Cajun asked.

"Yes, that stupid dog has no clue what he's just unleashed! Now, hurry and get packed, we must leave as soon as possible!"

The villains all scurried off, obeying their leader's command. However, Katz stopped the Weremole. "Don't eat Zalost just yet. He may prove useful." Weremole scowled in disapproval, but obeyed. Katz looked at all the weapons his minions had stolen. "After all our planning, these things are useless." He thought.

"Keep moving forward, doctor," Katz told his captive. The six villains were now in full disguise in an airport in the town next to Nowhere, forcing Zalost along. "Remember, Cajun has your little rat in a cage, and has orders to kill it if you do anything stupid."

Zalost knew this perfectly well, and did what Katz ordered. They approached the ticket seller's counter. "Seven tickets for Tokyo, Japan."

"I'm going to need some ID, sir" the man behind the counter said.

Katz simply pulled out a big wad of cash and handed it to the man. "Here's our ID."

"Thank you, Mr. Smith," the man said as he took the cash and pocketed it.

3 MONTHS LATER

Courage concentrated on his attacks. His targets were quick but so was he. He shot blast after blast. A POP was heard when he hit a target.

POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP POP

After nine POPs, Courage's final blast didn't make a sound. "Nice job, Courage, but you missed your final target." Shirley lowered the wooden target she was causing to float. "Tell me, has your magic been helping since your fight with Katz?"

"Oh yeah. Ever since that night, none of my more common enemies have come to kill me." Courage thought for a minute. "It's making me very suspicious."

"Why? I thought you wanted them away from you."

"I did. But I know Katz. He wouldn't give in so easily. And I suspected those other villains were working with him. Katz and the others are planning something." Courage paused for a moment. "Do you know where Mondo's magic came from?"

"I do," Shirley said. "But it's a long story," she warned.

"Well, I've got time."

"Okay. It started so long ago, no one outside of us magic creatures know it. Such a large chunk of man's history is missing. And in that time, man was more advanced than it is now."

"WHAT! How can that be possible?"

"I'm getting to that. You see, the world was destroyed once. Before that, it was so near perfection that another five years of progress would have put it in eternal bliss. This was because of a special group who used magic. They were known as the Keepers of Order, because they did keep Earth orderly, easily catching criminals and settling arguments. They could fuse any being with magic like I fused you, but they only fused beings they knew were wise and trustful.

"Unfortunately, they weren't careful enough. A group of seven of the Keepers of Order decided they wanted to rule the world instead of the Keepers. A cruel Keeper named Kachi led this group. Kachi and his six followers attacked the Keepers so suddenly, they killed them off by the hundreds. Only five Keepers remained. The seven betrayers, who eventually became known as the Doom Bringers, then enslaved the rest of the world.

"But, the remaining Keepers escaped their grasp and attacked the Bringers. Even though the Bringers had more people, the five Keepers were better trained. Eventually, their battle became so great that all traces of the Old World were destroyed, and all that remained were a handful of humans and other species. Finally, after days of fighting, such a huge magical blast went off that once it cleared, none of the Bringers, and only two of the Keepers, remained.

"With the Bringers dead, the world could be rebuilt. The remaining beings demanded that the Keepers fuse them so they could use magic to rebuild Earth. However, the Keepers feared that a similar catastrophe would occur and refused. Because of this, the rest of Earth's population shunned them. The Keepers hid themselves away, while the rest began rebuilding. This began the caveman era. In time, the non-Keepers forgot about magic, passed it off as a myth, and lived without it.

"The Keepers, however, didn't. Because of the fuse, they were near immortal. They couldn't die of old age or natural causes. They kept magic alive by picking non-Keepers, more carefully than before of course, and teaching them magic like mine, a kind they can do without being fused. They also wiped out any chance of another fuse.

"You see, the powder I fused you with was what they used as well. They needed to get rid of it, but they couldn't. The powder was indestructible. So they took other measures. First, they used a spell that brought all the magic that had been floating around as a result of the fight to them. You see, in that battle, so much magic was used that some of it was still there, floating around. Once they had obtained it, they converted the magic back into powder. They decided to lock away this magic, but they didn't know where.

"But, the non-keepers handled it. All those structures like pyramids and temples became perfect. Once abandoned, the Keepers hid the powder into them and, with a little magic, improved their defenses greatly. It took hundreds of years, but they did it. When all the bags were hid, they sucked the magic out of themselves and hid it. They told their disciples to guard them and make sure they didn't fall into the wrong hands.

"Over the years, they were inevitably found. However, everyone who found one was like Mondo, they didn't know its potential. We kept a close eye on them until they used up the powder. Eventually, only Mondo's bag remained, which I fused you with.

"So, I'm the last one who will be able to use magic?" Asked Courage.

"Yes, although you won't be to par with the Keepers. That powder lost some abilities with age, like making you immortal. You'll die of old age." Shirley remembered something them. "Well, there's one way someone else could obtain your powers."

"How?"

"Well, the object that made the powder was a magic stone buried deep underground. It could make more powder, but I doubt it will happen. It was made dormant by the Keepers after they expelled their powers. But it should be activated now that you have your powers, it's only usable when someone has already fused. But even if it was found, it can only be used if you know a really specific movement. So, it's safe."

But, Shirley couldn't have been more wrong. For at that moment, Katz and his cronies were underground in Tokyo, Japan, searching. Finally, Cajun called, "Found it!"

The six villains gathered around a huge red stone with strange markings on it. "At last, after all these years, we can get back on track," Katz laughed. He walked up to the stone and ran his finger on its surface in a strange movement. With that, the rock started glowing. Katz closed his eyes and concentrated hard. Suddenly, six bags of powder flew out.

The villains were excited. They each picked up a bag. Then Katz spoke again.

"Mystic sand and magic powder

Now relinquish all your power

And into us, you shall put

Your abilities, from head to foot!"

With that, an event happened similar to the one in Shirley's wagon. When it was over, Katz lifted his palm and pointed to a nearby stalagmite.

Suddenly, blasts of magic shot out of his hand and blew the stalagmite to bits. He smiled evilly as he watched his comrades do the same.

"My friends, our power is restored. We're back in business!"